//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Angel of Gold // by Magna85 //------------------------------// I screamed. I screamed at the apparent impossibility that I was looking at. My heart wasn't beating, yet I was looking at the machine that was telling me this. I was obviously alive, but the machines didn't want to say that. No, they conspired against me. They want me to think that I'm dead! Suddenly, I heard the sounds of multiple pairs of footsteps coming from the doorway. Celestia, Luna, and the group of girls from before were at the door. An unfamiliar nurse was standing behind them as well. I looked at them, panicked. I was trying to speak to them, but I was too disturbed to form words. Celestia, bless her heart, recognized this and knelt by the bedside, placing a palm on my forehead and grasping my left hand. A calming sensation quickly followed. My hyperventilating breaths slowed down gradually, until I felt like I could go to sleep. Sometime during this, someone had turned off the monitor, so the constant tone signifying that I was supposed to be dead no longer had power over me. The machines were thwarted! Just as I was about to close my eyes to sleep, Celestia removed her hands and gently asked, "How do you feel?" Surprisingly, my voice did not hurt from the amount of screaming that had left my mouth. I answered her, saying, "Better." She smiled and said, "Good." I sighed and tried to wipe away some imaginary sweat, but I found that my arm was restrained. "Uh, Princess Celestia? Why can't I move my arm?" I asked, starting to worry again. "Oh! That was to prevent you from releasing your wings before they could be cleaned," she said as she stood up and released my arms. "Cleaned?" I said, curious. "Yes. Take a look," she said, suddenly grimacing and gently moving my head to look at my left wing. A thick red liquid was dripping into a large basin, and some of the liquid looked like it had formed a hard crust on some of my feathers. Wait, is that blood?! My eyes widened and I whispered, "I hurt someone." "It was an accident," Celestia said, putting herself into my vision. She fixed me with a stern gaze. "It is not your fault," she said forcefully, like she was trying to cram the words into my head. I slowly nodded, but glanced back at my bloody wings. It was a very ominous and terrifying sight. There was a sudden commotion, like metal clashing with metal. "Where is she?!" I heard a familiar voice yell. Blast it, Tim. At least he can speak, so that means he hasn't gone truly berserk, yet. I looked back toward the door, where the girls scurried out of the way of Tim. He barreled into the room, frantic. Upon sighting me, he rushed over to the other side of the bed. Now this is just getting embarrassing. Thankfully, he did not grab my hand and start petting it like some cheesy romance movie. Surprisingly, no one else spoke up, and just watched him. Perhaps it was because he wasn't attacking everything in sight. I needed to tell him the truth, now, before this got out of hand. "Princess Celestia, could you perhaps leave me alone with Berserker for a minute?" I asked, still watching Tim. She didn't respond immediately, prompting me to look over at her. Her face was a mixture of annoyance and contemplation. A few seconds later, she sighed and said, "Fine. Just don't do anything stupid, and don't release your wings." "Will do," I said, before I turned back to Berserker. I heard whispering from the group walking out the door, probably some juvenile fantasy about a forbidden love or something like that. "Alright, Tim, you've got to stop this little crush you have," I stated. It would probably be best to be blunt. "Wha-?! Um, I, uh..." he stammered. Blood came to his cheeks. Wow, he was blushing? "Not only are you on probation, but there is another factor that you don't know about," I continued. He shook his head and said, "And what would that be?" He was obviously a little irritated at being found out and suddenly rejected. "My real name is Ralph Bergson," I said. "..." He blinked a few times, tilted his head a little, and started chuckling. Eventually it turned into full blown laughter. I was starting to get irritated myself. I curtly said, "What's so funny?" "Oh man. Wow. I don't know how you know that name, but you can't possibly be Ralph. For one, you're a golden angel, and a girl on top of that. Two-" he said as he started to list off the reasons that I simply could not be who I know I was before I was changed and brought to Equestria. "My signature is exactly three inches left from the center on your breastplate," I said, interrupting him. His face froze in shock. Then he narrowed his eyes and asked, "How do you know that?" "Because I forged that armor you're wearing," I stated matter-of-factly. "That's impossible." "Ask me something only Ralph would know." "...Alright..." he said, hesitating. Her turned away from me and brought a hand to his chin in thought. I waited for him to come up with a question. He turned to me with a smirk and asked, "Who was your first kiss?" That question immediately brought pain to my heart. "...Dude. Don't bring her up right now..." I said, grief evident in my voice. I would never be able to visit her again, never see the glade she loved again. "Who was it?" he repeated, though now he was starting to look a little worried. I brought an arm over my face as I thought I felt something begin to run down my face. Was I crying? I sniffed, and then said, "Alice...DeLaney." I heard something metal collapse to the ground. Wiping my face off, I looked to see that Tim was sitting on the ground, staring at me with wide eyes. I wished for nothing more than to curl up in a ball and go to sleep. I held out my hand towards him, palm down. He recognized the gesture and got off the floor, and then grasped my hand before he began to pull away, leading into the three-move handshake we had made. It ended in us punching the other's fists, and Tim said, "Ralph?" Chuckling, I said, "Yeah. It's me. Even though I don't think that name really applies anymore." "Yeah...WHOA! Hold on! Back up!" he suddenly shouted. "What?" I asked. "I had a crush on you?!" he said, utterly horrified. A few seconds passed, before I burst out laughing. Mostly at his reaction, and a little at the actual context. Eventually, he joined in with me.