//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: The Angel of Equestria // by Robobrony //------------------------------// Chapter 6 After a while, they came upon a small cottage near a forest, the house had green grass growing on top of it, a small stream with a bridge going over it was in front of the house, it also had all kinds of dens, burrows, and bird houses all over the place. “Sheesh, this Fluttershy must really like animals.” The two crossed over the bridge and walked up to the front door. Twilight gave a knock and waited. The door creaked open just a crack and a single green eye poked out. Upon seeing Twilight , the door opened completely and revealed a cream yellow Pegasus with a long soft pink flowing mane and tail, upon her flank was a trio of butter flies with pink wings. “Twilight, hello.” Her voice was soft and dainty. “What brings you by? Not that I’m not happy to see you.” She was definitely timid. “Good day Fluttershy, I brought some pony I would like you to meet. His name is Charles.” Twilight motioned a hoof over to Charles which brought Fluttershy’s attention to him. Upon seeing him, she gave a yelp and dashed back in her house and closed the door behind her. Charles crossed his arms and looked down at Twilight who, in turn, gave a sheepish smile and a nervous laugh. “Ah heh heh, what’d I tell you, shy.” Twilight knocked on the door again. “Fluttershy, it’s all right, he’s really nice, please come back out!” Twilight pleaded with her shy friend. It seemed to work as the door once again creaked open to reveal the Pegasus. “Um….h-hello there.” She said nervously. Twilight tried introductions again. “Fluttershy, this is Charles, Charles, this is my good friend, Fluttershy.” “Um…..it’s….nice to….m-meet you.” She said so quietly it was almost inaudible. “Fluttershy, Charles here is new to Ponyville and has joined with the Ponyville guard. I wanted to introduce him to all my friends, may we come in?” “Uh….ok…..I guess.” Fluttershy then opened the door more to let her guests in. Charles uncrossed his arms as he followed Twilight in. Fluttershy led the two to her living room. “You can have a seat here….if you’d like.” She offered as she pointed to a light blue sofa in the middle of the room. “Would you…..um….l-like some tea?” “Why yes please, thank you Fluttershy.” Twilight thanked with a warm smile. Charles removed his staff and leaned it against the side of the couch against the arm rest and the two sat on the sofa with Twilight on Charles’s right side. Fluttershy smiled back. “Ok….it’ll be a moment.” She then fluttered to her kitchen to make the tea. Charles took this time to examine this pony’s house. There were mouse holes and bird houses all over the place, just like outside, every so often he would see a mouse scurry by or a bird fly about, or even a ferret run past. It was then that he felt a tapping on his left leg. He looked down and saw a little white rabbit giving him the stink eye. “Is this bunny seriously trying to give me a stink eye or something.” “Can I help you?” He asked the bunny. The bunny then proceeded to make the universal sign of ‘I’m watching you’ with it’s paw. Charles just ignored it and looked back up. The bunny did not like this, as it then lifted one of Charles’s pants leg and bit hard on his leg. “OW, WHAT THE,” Charles stood up in surprise and kneeled down to grasp at the spot he was bitten. “WHY YOU LITTLE!” “Charles, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked with concern. Before he could answer, Fluttershy then came in from the kitchen with the cups and pot of tea on a tray in her hooves. “What’s going on out here?” She asked more loudly. “This rabbit here bit me!” Charles explained by pointing with one finger while keeping the other hand on the offended area. Fluttershy then fluttered over and set the tray down on a table in front of the sofa. “Angel, that wasn’t very nice, you should know better than to bite our guests.” She gently scolded the rabbit. “I’m terribly sorry Charles, he’s usually so well behaved, I don’t know why he did that. Here, let me take a look.” She moved to get close before she was stopped with a raised hand. “I’m fine, it’s just a bite.” “But you could be bleeding, rabbits do have sharp teeth for eating hard vegetables. Please, as a way for apologizing for Angel’s behavior.” She was pleading. How could he possibly say no to such adorableness. “Fine, just make it quick.” Charles could swear he heard her let out a kind of squee when she smiled at his answer. He pulled up his pant leg and revealed the spot he was bitten. Fluttershy looked carefully at the spot. “Oh my, you are bleeding a little, I’m terribly sorry for Angel biting you, just a moment and I’ll have you fixed up in no time.” Fluttershy then went off to a set of stairs leading to a door. A few short seconds later, she came back down with a first aid kit in her mouth. She set it down on the floor, opened it up and began to treat the wound. “Now this may sting a bit.” She warned as she was about to put on the hydrogen peroxide. “I’m not a kid, I can handle a little pain.” Fluttersy recoiled a bit at this, but continued on. She applied the medicine and Charles bareley flinched at it. Once the wound was cleaned, Fluttershy wrapped his leg up so it could heal. “There you go, it should be fine by tomorrow.” “Thanks.” “I don’t get it, a minute a go she was practically scared to death of me, now the minute her bunny bites me, she doesn’t waste any time trying to help? What is up with this pony?” Charles was perplexed by this mares sudden change in attitude towards him. “Are you going to be ok Charles?” Twilight asked with concern. Charles looked at Twilight from over his shoulder.“Don’t you ever get tired of asking that, I’m a grown man, I can take care of myself……..but yes….I’ll be fine, I’ve had worse injuries than a bite from a bunny rabbit.” “Oh my, you have, like what?” Fluttershy asked in concern as well. Charles looked back at her. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.” “Oh, ok then, anyway, the tea is ready if you want some.” The three sat on the sofa and Twilight and Fluttershy chatted away, Charles tried to stay out of the conversation as much as he could, but was made impossible when Fluttershy became curious about the animals in the world he came from. He just said that they were the same here as they were on earth. The only difference was the animals here seemed a bit more intelligent. It was then that Twilight decided to ask him something else. “So Charles, I wanted to ask you about that instrument you were playing this morning.” “What about it?” He responded as he set his cup down and looked at Twilight. “I’ve never seen one like it before, what is it called?” “Don’t you have music here?” “Yes, but we don’t have an instrument like what you were using this morning.” “It’s called a guitar, they come in different styles on erarth, each look has a name, the one I was using was called a Gibson.” “Would you mind playing a song for us, I just know Fluttershy would enjoy it, wouldn’t you Fluttershy?” Twilight asked as she turned her attention to Fluttershy. “Oh yes please, I would like to hear something, if you don’t mind that is.” She responded timidly. “I guess so, I do appreciate you tending to my leg and serving the tea.” Charles then took hold of his staff and changed it to the guitar again. He readied himself to perform for the two mares next to him. Once again, he used his magic so the other instruments needed for the song could be heard while he played lead guitar and sang. The music faded, Charles heard a strange sound, he looked around and saw all these animals had gathered around him and were applauding in their own way. Charles looked over to Twilight and Fluttershy. “That was beautiful. Human music sure is amazing.” Twilight complimented. “That was beautiful, and my animal friends seemed to like it too. Thank you for sharing it with us. You have an amazing voice too.” Fluttershy also complimented. Charles just looked away and to the side. “Thanks.” He then turned his guitar back into his staff. The animals ceased their sounds and scurried off. “Fluttershy, thank you for having us, but we should get going now.” Twilight informed. “Of course, thank you for coming, and Charles, sorry again for Angel biting you, and thank you again for the lovely music.” Charles and Twilight then left Fluttershy’s house and headed back to the library. By the look of the sun, it was now about four in the afternoon as they neared the library. As they approached, Twilight noticed the lights in the library were out. Judging by the time of day, she already knew what this meant, she just hoped Charles wouldn’t react badly to it. Twilight approached the door and used her magic to open it, Charles followed her in and the door closed behind them. “Hey Twilight, why is it so dark in-“ “SURPRISE!!” “SWEET JESUS!” Charles was very startled by this, he quickly went for his staff and got in a battle ready stance. “All right, which one of you want’s it first!” He declared to the crowed of ponies before him. “Charles relax, it’s a surprise party.” Twilight informed. Charles looked at her first, then at the ponies who seemed confused at his stance, then at the room. There were streamers, balloons, and confetti all over the place. There were tables set up with all kinds of treats like cookies, cupcakes, candy, and a large cake at the center. “Oh no.” Was his only thought about this, he relaxed and put his staff back on his back. “What is all this, what’s this party for?” He asked Twilight, but before she could answer, a pink coated mare bounded up in front of him with a huge smile on her face. Her mane and tail were a darker shade of pink. Her eyes were a light blue color and on her flank were three balloons, two of which were also a light blue and the third was yellow. “HI, I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you, were you surprised, were you were you were you, I love surprises especially big ones, I hope you like the party this is your welcome to Ponyville party, I invited every pony I could, too bad the guards couldn’t come for this though that would have made this party more fun but I did manage to invite my other friends that you met I hope you have fun here what’s your name?” Charles just stared at her for the longest time as his brain tried desperately to figure out exactly what this pony just said, unfortunately, it was so fast, he couldn’t catch any of it, except for the last part where she asked for his name. “Um….it’s Charles, and you are?” “Didn’t you hear, it’s Pinkie Pie silly, and this is your welcome to Ponyville party. Do you like it?” Pinkie spoke a little slower this time so Charles was able to understand her. “Great, a party, why did it have to be a party.” He hated parties, it just meant he would have to be around those who hated him. “OK, why exactly are you throwing me a party, you don’t know me, and I’ve never seen you before” “Because silly, I love to throw parties, especially parties to welcome new ponies to Ponyville, but you’re not a pony, so this is the first time I get to throw a welcome to Ponyville party for a non-pony, what are you anyway, it’s really nice to meet you.” Pinkie was speaking rapidly again, Charles had a little trouble keeping up. He looked to Twilight for advice. Twilight stepped in and spoke to Pinkie on his behalf. “Pinkie, Charles here is a human, he came here from another world called earth.” Pinkie smiled even bigger, if that was even possible. “WOW, another world, that is so amazing, I’ve never met some pony from another world, this is so GREAT! This could be a welcome to Ponyville, Equestria, and Equis PARTY! THREE PARTIES IN ONE!” Even Charles was starting to get freaked out by this pink pony of endless energy. He wanted to refuse the party and get out of there, but with how this pony was acting, he was afraid of what she would do or how she would react to it. There was no telling if this pony had the potential to turn into some kind of nightmarish monster, he wouldn’t put it past her either, he still had no idea what these magical ponies were capable of. So he just let the party go on. He just grabbed himself a cup of punch from the punch bowl and found a corner to stand in. As he looked at the ponies, he noticed the other ponies he met today that were Twilight’s closest friends. They were all mingling with other ponies while he just stood there in the corner, minding his own business. That didn’t last long though, as Pinkie hopped over to him and noticed a frown on his face. She just spoke to him in her usual bubbly happy-go-lucky attitude. “Hey Charles, why you hiding in the corner her all mopey dopey? Why don’t you mingle and get to know every pony?” Charles just eyed her. “No thanks, I’m fine here.” “Awe, don’t be silly, how can you have fun just standing in a corner with punch, come on, get out there and have some fun.” “No thank you, I’m fine right here.” He continued to insist. Pinkie obviously wasn’t getting it, he just wanted to be left alone. “Come on Charles, why don’t you come and dance with me, I’m sure that’ll put a smile on your face.” “I said I’m fine. What part of that is so hard to understand?” Charles was starting to get annoyed. Pinkie still didn’t get the message. “Your funny, come on, let’s boogie.” Pinkie then grabbed his hand with her hoof and started dragging him to the dance floor. Charles was really starting to lose it, he didn’t care what this pony may be capable of. He jerked his hand out of her hoof, Pinkie turned around to face him just in time for him to yell at her, but not before crushing his cup and throwing it to the ground. “DON’T YOU GET IT, I DON’T WANT TO DANCE, I DON’T WANT TO PARTY, OR HANG OUT WITH YOU OR ANY OF THESE PONIES, DON’T YOU GET IT?!” Pinkie recoiled at his shouting and frowned. This also got every ponies attention as they stopped what they were doing and looked at the scene. “But……how could you not like parties? Every pony likes my parties.” Pinkie asked sadly. Charles saw the attention he was getting, he looked around at all the scared faces at him. He just scowled back, he walked past Pinkie and made for the door. Twilight quickly chased after him, along with the other five ponies, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Charles burst through the door and headed out. Twilight was the one to call out to him while the others hung back with worried expressions. “Charles wait, what’s wrong, why are you so mad?” Charles stopped in his tracks, he turned around and faced Twilight. “I hate parties, that’s why, do you really think I want to be around others who think I’m a monster?” “But Charles, no pony here thinks you’re a monster.” “And why should I believe you huh, tell me, why should I trust what you say, or any one for that matter?” Twilight looked as if she were on the verge of tears. “Why are you like this Charles, why is it so hard for you to trust any pony? Please tell me, maybe I can help if you just trust me.” That was the last straw. He answered in a low growl. “You want to know why I have so much trouble trusting others, why I don’t want to be around others?” “Yes, please Charles, just tell me and maybe I can help.” Charles began to walk towards Twilight as he spoke, causing her to back up. “The reason I don’t trust anyone is because MY PARENTS DID THIS TO ME! THEY’RE THE ONES WHO TURNED ME INTO A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT, THEY’RE THE ONES WHO INJECTED ME WITH THOSE DAMN ROBOT BUGS THAT MADE ME THE WAY I AM, THEY’RE THE ONES WHO AGREED TO MAKE ME A DAMN VEGETABLE JUST SO THEY COULD STUDY MY BODY AND REPLICATE MY ABILITES!” At this point, Twilight had backed up as much as she could until her back was against her tree near her front door where the other five were. “I….I had no idea, I….I’m so sorry Charles.” “Sorry doesn’t help. Sorry doesn’t make me a regular human. If you can’t trust your own parents, then who can you trust. I was only 15 years old when it happened, 15 YEARS OLD! Because of my parents, I had to make a run for it with my new abilities and escape the damn military base where they held me. Ever since then, the only person I could trust was myself, no one else, every time I tried to ask for help, the person I asked would either scream at me and call me a freak or beat me up. I had to toughen up and get strong, so that’s exactly what I did. I took care of myself and I’ve been doing just fine on my own. Now here I am in an unfamiliar world with no idea how anything works or what the laws are or ANYTHING, and now I have no choice BUT to put my trust in a pony who’s supposed to help me learn about this world!” The entire party of ponies there heard the whole thing and couldn’t believe a single word, how could parents do such horrible things to their son. Twilight herself was crying now. “Charles, I….” He cut her off. “Just forget it. I need some time alone.” He then turned around and flew off Towards the forest he saw near Fluttersy’s house. Twilight tried to stop him. “Charles, wait, PLEASE DON’T LEAVE!” She started to gallop after him. “Come on ya’ll, we’d better go too, ya’ll heard what he said, we just gotta let him know that we care about him and let him know he DOES have friends.” Applejack said to the other ponies with her, they galloped after Twilight to try and catch up. Charles flew as fast as he could towards the forest, he just had to get away, to escape the horrible memories of his parents betraying him. As he flew, he could swear he heard Twilight’s voice call out after him, but he didn’t care, the last thing he needed was to speak with the unicorn who practically forced him to remember something he wanted to forget for so long. He hoped he could lose her in the forest he saw just outside of town. He came to a landing just outside the forest and walked in, trying desperately to forget. He walked and walked as his mind was haunted by those horrible memories that plauged him his whole life. Finally, his legs got tired and he decided to rest, he walked up to a tree, removed his staff from his back, sat down and rested his back against the tree. “It’s not fair, why did they do that to me, IT’S NOT FAIR!” He shouted to no one in particular. He just sat there in sorrow, still trying to forget. It wasn’t long though before he started hearing some familiar voices call out for him. “Charles, where are you?!” It was Twilight “Please come out, it’s dangerous in this forest!” Fluttershy. “We just want ta help!” Applejack. “Darling, please come out, let’s talk about this!” Rarity. Talk, that was the last thing he needed, he didn’t want to talk, he just wanted to be left alone. He just ignored them and hoped they would go away. But then, something caught his attention. All toghether, he heard them scream in terror. “AAAAAAHHHHHH!” This forced Charles out of his mind as he stood up with his staff in hand. He may not want to be found, but it sounded like they were in trouble. Despite what he was feeling towards them, he couldn’t just let them get hurt. He ran to the source of the screaming and was met with a terrible scene. He stopped behind a pack of strange creatures that had the girls surrounded on all sides. They were huddled together hugging each other in desperation. “SOME PONY HELP US!” Twilight called out. Right after she did, one of the beasts leapt for them. They closed their eyes for the inevitable, but when it didn’t come after a moment, they opened their eyes and was greeted with a wonderful but hurtful sight, Charles now stood before them with his back to them. One of the beastst had his arm in its jaws. Charles had leapt over the pack of monsters and placed himself between them and allowed the creature to sink it’s jaws in his left arm instead of one of the ponies. “CHARLES!” Twilight called out in hopeful fear. What she could see on Charles’s face was a pained struggling expression. The creature now visible to Charles looked like a wolf made out of wood and leaves, it had green glowing eyes. It growled with Charles’s arm in its mouth. “GAH, Oh no you don’t, not on my WATCH!” On the last word, he flung his arm to the side, causing the beast to let go and jump back to rejoin the others. Charles winced in pain from the bite wound on his arm. It was now bleeding. “All right you wooden mutts, if you want to get to these ponies, then your gonna have to get through me!” He called to the dogs. “Charles, thank Celestia you’re all right.” Pinkie said through teary eyes. Charles looked back at them over his shoulder. “Celestia’s got nothing to do with it.” Just as he did, another wooden wolf jumped at them, Charles saw this and quickly swung his staff around to knock it back, to his surprise, the beast shattered into piles of sticks. “OK, what are these thing?!” He asked out loud. Twilight informed as fast as she could. “They’re called timberwolves, they live in this forest.” Before Charels could ask if he just killed it, his question was already answered as he saw the shattered wolf reassemble before him. “You have got to be kidding me.” Two more jumped out at him, once again, he swung his staff horizontally, catching one and slamming it into another, sending them flying into a tree and causing them to fall apart as well, only to reassemble a moment later. “All right, no more mister nice guy.” Charles took his staff in both hands and formed his swords. He kept his right one in a back hand held position while he twirled his other to a standard position. “So how do I beat these things?” He asked Twilight. “The only way to truly stop them is with fire.” She informed. “Great, I don’t know any fire spells, how am I gonna do this. I’ll just have to try and clear a path for them.” Suddenly, three more lunged at him. Charles managed to slice two of them, but one got below and bit him hard in the same leg Angel bit him. “GAAH, WHY YOU!” Charles sliced the wolf with his right sword and turned it to twigs. But another one came at him and got him by surprise. He only had time to see it coming before the wolf sunk it’s jaws in his left shoulder. “AAAHH, SON OF A!” He used his right sword again and sliced it up. “Charles, oh man, are you ok?” Rainbow Dash asked in fear. “Come on THINK, there’s just too many of them. Plus they keep reforming, not to mention I’m starting to lose blood.” “I’m going to cut us a path, stay close to me and do exactly what I say, understand?” He said while keeping his eyes on the pack. The girls responded in unison. “All right, here we go." Charles ran forward and started slicing and swinging with all the speed and might he could muster to chop up the timberwolfs for the girls to escape. The six ponies stayed close behind as they galloped behind him. Each time a timber wolf tried to get at them, Charles sliced them up. Soon they finally broke through the mess of wolves and Charles had gotten the girls free from being surrounded. There was still the problem of the wolves giving chase of the ponies should they make a run for it. Once he turned around to face the horde again, the ponies were behind him. “Keep going, I’ll hold them off, you get to town and safety!” He called to them. “But what about you?” Applejack asked. “I’ll hold them off.” He slashed both swords at two more wolves trying to get past him. “If I don’t, these things will overtake you in no time.” He informed as he continued to slash and slice at the wooden fangs baring down on him. “But we can’t just leave you.” Rarity said. “I’ll be fine, get out of here, NOW!” He yelled at them from over his shoulder. The girls saw he wasn’t about to move, so they reluctantly left and headed for town. Once they were gone, he continued to slash and cut at the wolves that continued to come after him. “Don’t you mongrels ever give up!” In his fit, he failed to notice another timber wolf sneaking up behind him while his attention was on the numerous ones in front of him. The wolf got low to the ground and let out a growl. It leapt into the air and sunk it’s jaws in Charles left shoulder. “GAH!” He cried out in pain and fell to the ground on his hands and knees. He managed to get up and shake the beast off him, but that last bite really did a number, he had lost so much blood by now and was starting to feel weak. He tried to stand up but was wobbly on his feet, his vision was starting to blur, he held his left sword out in front of him and his right sword backhanded style just behind him. He panted heavily as he looked at the blurry mess of wolves ready to tear into him. He couldn’t stand any more, he fell to the ground, he tried to keep himself up by jabbing his left sword in the ground. Before he passed out, a wall of flames suddenly erupted in front of him. A pony with bat like wings emerged, his vision wasn’t clear, but he could just bareley make out the cutie mark, it was one he hadn’t seen before. It was a full moon with clouds. The flames drove the wolves back into the forest as they yelped and ran off. Charles lost consciousness and blacked out.