//------------------------------// // Chapter 39 // Story: The Angel of Equestria // by Robobrony //------------------------------// Chapter 39 Charles and the others soon reached his home. Charles opened the door with his magic and walked in, he was happily greeted by Winona as she barked and wagged her tail. Charles just ignored her as he walked in. The dog soon seemed less happy as she stopped wagging. “Hey Charles….is something wrong?” Spike asked as he saw the angered expression on his face. The four mares and two humans walked in right behind him. Dusk and Dawn stayed at the front door and stood at either side. “I need a drink.” Charles announced. Spike noticed the two humans. “Uhm, who are they?” Charles didn’t answer. “Do you girls want anything while I’m in the kitchen?” He asked over his shoulder to his wives as they gathered around the table with the two humans. “Would you be a dear and make some tea for me please.” Rarity asked. “I’ll take a bottle of Apple cider.” Applejack gave her order. “I’d like some tea as well if you please.” Twilight responded. Pinkie then gave out her order. “Apple cider for me too.” Charles then turned to Spike. “Spike, you want anything?” “Just some apple juice for me thanks.” Spike responded. “Dust, Dawn, you two want anything?” “No thanks, I’m good.” Dawn answered. “Me too, thanks anyway.” Dusk responded. Charles started for the kitchen when he heard Rarity clear her throat. “AHEM, I believe your forgetting someone dear.” Charles rolled his eyes and turned back around, he looked to the two humans. “Do you two want anything?” Charles’s mother responded. “I suppose tea is good.” Charles gave a snort then headed for the kitchen. He first used his magic to open the fridge and levitated out three bottles of apple cider and a bottle of apple juice. He sent the three bottles over to their respective requestors while he popped the lid off one and took a swig. He then began to make the tea as the ponies began a conversation with the two humans. Rarity was the first to speak. “Well then, I suppose introductions are in order, despite the….*AHEM*…bad blood between you two and our husband, there is no need to forget formalities. I am Rarity, fashion designer of Ponyville.” “I’m Applejack, I run a little apple farm called Sweet Apple Acres.” “I’m Pinkie Pie, I work at Ponyville’s number one bakery called Sugarcube Corner.” “And I’m Twilight Sparkle, I run Ponyville’s library.” “Names Spike, I’m Twilight’s assistant and little brother.” The two humans looked at Spike curiously, they had questions about that but it could wait. The male gave introductions next. “My name is Daniel, and this is my wife Carol. We came in hopes of finding our son Jason.” Charles turned around from the stove as the tea kettle was warming up. “THAT ISN’T MY NAME ANYMORE! I thought I made it clear I gave up that name you gave me. My name is Charles now, NOT Jason.” The two humans cringed as they clasped their hands together. “Charles, no need to shout.” Rarity scolded. Charles looked to Rarity, he gave another snort and turned back to the stove. “Sorry about him, as you can see, seeing you two has……upset him greatly.” Applejack then came in with a glare. “That’s perfectly understandable considerin what ya’ll did ta him when he was just a youngin.” Twilight then came in. “I can’t believe you two did such a thing to your own son, how could you?” She was also glaring at them. Rarity continued to try and keep things civil. “Now girls, no need to be rude, let’s at least give them a chance to explain and talk.” Charles soon came to the table they were gathered around with a tray of tea cups and the tea kettle. He took a seat between Rarity and Twilight, Pinkie was next to Twilight, followed by Spike. Applejack was next to Rarity. Charles set it at the center and poured a cup for those that asked for it. Charles just glanced at the two humans across from him as he poured the tea. He just kept quiet. Daniel began. "It’s all right, we didn’t expect to be forgiven for what we did. We know it was wrong of us to put Ja…..I mean….Charles through what we did.” Carol then started. “We at least wanted a chance to apologize and let you know how sorry we are about what we did. We know you most likely won’t forgive us…” Charles cut in. “You got that right.” Carol continued. “But we are truly sorry. We felt horrible for what we did to you, but we didn’t have a choice.” Charles looked back at them. “Didn’t have a choice…..DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE! THERE IS ALWAYS A CHOICE! YOU two CHOSE to turn me over to the government when you could have chosen not to. You COULD have chosen to do what you could to protect me but NO! Instead, you turned me over to the government and they turned me into a science experiment!” Daniel tried to reason. “But we really didn’t have a choice. The experiment they were running wasn’t approved for human testing yet, they wanted to expedite it but didn’t want to risk losing soldiers if something were to happen. If a soldier had died during the experiment, his death would be missed. Jonathan said that if we didn’t let them use you, they would make it impossible for us to live our lives. We had to do it.” “So that’s it, you think that just because you point out Jonathan is the one truly responsible that I’ll forget my anger at you and just let it go? FAT CHANCE! You still turned me over to him and it was your research that led to the experiment they wanted to attempt on me! Now because of you two, I ended up living life on the run seen as nothing more than a monster in the eyes of humanity!” “Charles, if we hadn’t, all three of us would have been out on the street, we were only thinking of you, if it had succeeded, then you would be able to have a normal life.” Carol tried to point out. “And look how well that turned out. No matter how you spin it, the fact is that you betrayed me and turned me into a freak. Well now I have a better life for myself here, if you thought you could come here, apologize, and talk me into going back home with you, forget it. I have a great life here, I’ve got a family and friends here who care about me.” “Charles, if you come home with us, I’m sure we can find a way to turn you back to normal.” Daniel offered. Charles’s glared intensified. “Are you saying there’s something wrong with me being a pony?” “Well, you’re just not you anymore.” “SO WHAT, I’m glad I’m like this, I fit in much better here than I did back on earth! These ponies were accepting of me despite the fact I was a different species from their own, so accepting that I married four of them, and I couldn’t be happier.” Carol then came in with a question. “Well, how did you end up like this in the first place?” “I found some magical artifacts that turned me into what I am now. Anymore questions? NO, good, cause I believe you’ve said all you can. So why don’t you go back to Jonathan and go home so I never have to see you again.” “What? Charles we can’t go back, we’ll be tried for treason and executed!” Daniel pointed out. Charles smirked. “Good, that’ll save me the trouble of doing it myself. Now get out of my house!” “Charles, you can’t be serious?” Twilight asked with a worried tone. “Now hold on there sugar cube, don’t ya think that’s a might harsh?” Applejack interjected. Charles looked over each of his wives and saw them all with worried expressions. “What? Don’t tell me your on their side!” Pinkie answered. “Of course not, we just think that’s just too mean.” Rarity then came in. “Especially for someone like you, I never thought you would suggest such a thing.” Charles couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Haven’t you all been listening? Did you not hear all we said? How can you think I’m being too harsh after what THEY put me through!” Twilight put a hoof on his side to get his attention. “Charles….look at them.” Charles looked at his parents and saw his mother was about to cry as his father did his best to comfort them. His anger seemed to subside a little. Applejack came in again. “Think about it partner, they your parents and yer practically sentencing them to death with what we heard. Do ya really want ta do that ta them?” Charles closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. “Gggrrrrrrrrrr.” He did his best to hold back a shout. He stood up and just started stomping his hooves in anger as he walked around to the other side of the table. “GR GR GR!” Rarity came up to him. “Charles, calm down, take a deep breath and exhale.” Charles did so, he repeated the process a few times. “Feeling better?” “FINE, you two can stay here for now, I need a walk to clear my head and think about this. Dusk, Dawn, keep a close eye on them for me thanks.” “No problem Charles.” Dawn responded. Charles left the house and made his way through town. After a few minutes of walking, he spotted Lightning Thrash leading Shadow Fang, Carbon, Storm Chaser, and Stunner with the three other humans that came through in chains. Their bionic suits deactivated. Charles smirked as he saw them walking. He came up to the captain. “Hello Captain, I see you caught the other humans, sorry I didn’t tell you which way they went when I ran into you.” Lightning smiled as he answered. “That’s all right private, we found them anyway, since they were unarmed, it was easy to capture them. I imagine Celestia will want a word with these three as well.” “Private huh, what, couldn’t get a rank better that a lowly private, I thought you were Mr. tough guy.” Jonathan taunted. Charles looked at Jonathan, then back to captain Lightning Thrash. “Sir, may I have permission to ruff him up a bit, I owe him a little pay back for the years he’s tormented me.” Lightning Thrash smirked. “Be my guest, just don’t ruff him up too much, we may need him to talk.” Charles smirked back. “No promises. Take off his chains, I’d like him to try and fight back.” The guards complied and took the other two humans off to the side. “This should be interesting.” Shadow Fang commented. Charles stood up on his hind legs and took his staff off his back. He changed it to the ice staff. “I’m going to enjoy this.” Jonathan took a fighting stance with his left side prominent. “Now Charles, this is hardly fair, you’re a pony and I’m a human, do you really think you can fight?” “Man, you are so stupid, have you forgotten where you are, this land is magical, it has talking magical ponies, and I have been a pony long enough to figure out how to move and such. Plus, I got some new toys as you can see.” Charles pointed one end of his ice staff at Jonathan. “Fine, let’s see how well you fight as a- WHOA! OOF!” Charles used the water whip to grab onto Jonathan’s leg and pulled back, causing him to fall on his back. The surrounding guards laughed. “100 Bits says puny human will last 3 minutes.” Shadow fang whispered to carbon. “HAH, only three, I say two at least.” Carbon offered back. “Deal.” The two shook on their little bet. Charles was on three legs as he held the ice staff over one shoulder. “Come on Jonathan, I thought you were supposed to be the best of the best, I guess you’re not so tuff without an army behind you are you?” Jonathan picked himself up. “You have no idea what you’re getting into.” “Tough talk Jonny boy, let’s see what you can do. Bring it on.” Charles got back up on his hind legs. Jonathan charged forth and went for a jump kick, Charles used his water whip to grip Jonathan’s leg and slammed him to the ground. “Come on Jonathan, that was too easy.” Charles taunted. Jonathan got back up and ran up to Charles. He started throwing Punches and tried kicking as Charles easily avoided and blocked them with his staff. Jonathan went for a straight punch, Charles dodged left. Jonathan went for a sweep kick and Charles just jumped right over him and smacked him in the back of the head as Charles flew over Jonathan. The hit caused him to fall forward and on his belly. “HAH, nice try, but you’ll have to be better than that.” Jonathan got back up and got in another ready stance. Charles readied his staff. The two circled around. Charles swung his staff to the side and flung a blob of water at Jonathan, Jonathan couldn’t move in time and the water hit him right in the face. He was surprised by the searing pain he felt as the steam water burned his skin. “AAAAAHHHHHH!” He screamed in agony as he fell to his knees. “HAH, pay up Shadow Fang.” Carbon exclaimed. Shadow just grumbled as he dug a few bits out of his pouch. Charles walked up to Jonathan and had one end become very sharp. He pointed it right at Jonathan. “Well, Jonathan, any last words before I kill you.” Jonathan became worried now. “You-you can’t do that, you hate killing remember? Besides, what if this princess of yours wants to speak with me?” “We have the two other soldiers you came here with, plus my ex parents, so I doubt you will be missed.” Charles used the blunt end to smack Jonathan in the side of the head, sending him to the ground. Jonathan started crawling backwards in fear. “Now Charles, let’s talk about this, I was just following orders. I actually didn’t want to be doing this, really!” “Yeah right, not so much fun being on the receiving end is it. I’m going to enjoy killing you.” Charles slowly raised his staff with the sharp end pointing right at Jonathan. “NO, please, DON’T” Lightning Thrash called out. “CHARLES, THAT’S ENOUGH!” “RRAAAAAHHHHH!” *SHINK* After a moment, Jonathan opened his eyes and saw the sharp end embedded just inches away from his face in the ground. Jonathan followed it with his eyes as it rose up. He looked up at Charles with a smirk. “Gotcha. I promise you, that if you do get sentenced to death for bringing war here, I will be the one to gladly end your life. But I do have one question, why not just leave now and let me be. I am no longer what I was before, I’m a normal alicorn, so there will be nothing for you to study from the body I had, it is long gone.” Jonathan glared. “That may be, but the ones with magic can be studied, I already reported my findings to the people on the other side, they are very interested in the beings here and how they have magic. So now, no matter what, they will come here and capture the creatures of this world to study them and find a way to enhance our own military might. Like it or not…..” Jonathan smiled. “War is coming to your peaceful little land. So I suggest you prepare for it. We sent out stealth probes to map out the land. As we speak, they’re out there now, scanning the entire country and sending images back to the base. Once the scan is complete, we can send troops to any part of this world we want.” Charles glared at Jonathan. “You bastard.” “Since I sent the report of our findings, the big man decided that this place was a great opportunity. It’ll take a little longer to get everything ready than what was planned just for you, but soon, a large invasion force will come here and appear in all parts of this little country of yours. You can’t protect them all Charles. And just think, this is all…..thanks….to you.” Charles’s eyes widened. “No….this is my fault.” “HA HA HA HA, AH HA HA HA!” *SMACK* “That is enough out of you human thing!” Shadow Fang punched Jonathan and knocked him out. Charles stood stock still as the realization struck him. “This is my fault, if I hadn’t come here, they wouldn’t have found this place and they wouldn’t be coming here. This is my fault.” Lightning Thrash came up to him. “Charles, look at me, this is not your fault, there is no way you could have known all this was going to happen. You said it yourself that you winding up here was an accident. You have nothing to be sorry for.” Charles gave a sigh. “*Sigh* Your right captain, what we need to do now is start preparing and alert the princesses, though I’m afraid the weapons we have here won’t do much good against what they have. But we have to at least try. I’ll go home and have Spike send a message to Celestia.” Charles headed for home. Upon his arrival, he spotted the whole reason he went out in the first place. He galred at his parents a bit first, then softened his look. “Listen you two, I have no problem with you staying but don’t think this means I’ve forgiven you, it’s just that something else major has come up. So you two are welcome to stay if my wives are ok with it.” Charles’s parents looked at him with confusion. “But what about going home?” Carol asked. “I am home, as for you two, I’m afraid going back to earth is out of the question.” Twilight came up to Charles. “Charles, what is it? What’s going on?” “War is coming to Equestria courtesy of the humans of earth. Spike, I need you to send a letter to the princesses asking them to come here right away, I’ll inform them of the situation once they get here." Spike quickly wrote out a letter making sure to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. “I just hope we can find a way to gather the strength for this fight that is to come.”