The Angel of Equestria

by Robobrony

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Charles, Discord, and their new ally, Ajax Mcriot, all reappeared back at Canterlot in the ball room to find a curious and surprising sight. Not only did they see the warriors they gathered together, but there was a third set of the bearers of the elements of harmony. Charles figured the third group was from this world, and saw three Pinkie Pies running around putting up decorations while the others watched in amusement, amazement, or plain puzzlement. “Great, now there’s three of them.” One of the Rainbow Dash’s commented.

Charles spoke to make himself known. “Um, excuse me, what is going on here?”

“CHARLES!” One of the Pinkie’s cried out. “Glad to see you back!” She then rushed over and hugged him with a kiss. This one was definitely the Pinkie he married.

“Hi Pinkie, what are you and the others doing here?” Charles asked.

“What else, putting together a ‘Welcome to our universe party’ with my two other selves to welcome them and the others here.” She said with a smile.

The two other pinkies then came over to greet him. “So this is the Charles you told us about, he’s the one that brought us here.” This Pinkie had a metal necklace around her neck.

“So are you two a couple?” The other Pinkie asked.

The first Pinkie answered. “Nope, married, he’s a great stallion. He’s a lot of fun, knows some great music, and is really nice.”

Charles cut in. “Pinkie.”

“Yes?” All three responded.

“Um, my Pinkie…..should you really be doing this in your condition. You know, being pregnant and all?”
The Pinkie Charles was married to responded. “Don’t worry Charles, I’m being careful.”

“All right, if you say so. But I do have another question?”

“Yes?” Charles’s Pinkie responded.

“How did you know they were here?” Charles asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Just a hunch.” Pinkie said with a big grin.

Charles just smiled. “Figures, you are just full of surprises aren’t you?” He asked.

“Yep.” The three Pinkies responded.

“And you brought the others here too didn’t you?” Charles asked his Pinkie again.

“Of course I did, I didn’t want to be the only one to meet alternate versions of myself, I thought they might like to see this too.” Charles’s Pinkie cheered.

“Pinkie in stereo, don’t think I’ll get used to this.” The Applejack with a metal necklace responded.

“Tell me about it, this is weird enough as it is seein myself like this.” Another Applejack responded.

“Well I think it’s cool, I like what I’m seeing.” One of the Rainbow Dash’s said.

“It sure is.” Another Rainbow Dash answered.

“Hey, I just had a great idea, let’s see which of us is the fastest. One of us will earn the title of the fastest flyer in any dimension.” The third presented an idea.

“All right!” The other two agreed. “Let’s go meet outside and talk about the race.” One of them said. The three were about to fly off when Charles cut in.

“HOLD IT!” Charles shouted. This got every pony’s attention. With all eyes on him, he was now free to speak. “Look, I understand this is either exciting or strange to you all, but before you all go wandering off, we need a way to discern one of you from the other. Will all the element bearers please come before me.” The girls all were starting to gather together but had some trouble figuring out who was from where, except for the girls with the high tech looking necklaces.

“Um….how do we tell which of us is the ponies we came with?” one of the Fluttershys asked.

Charles answered. “Well….I know, will the other ponies that came here please stand to one side and form a line, then face forward.” Steel Mane, Heart Wing and Charles himself stood in the lineup with the other two at either of his sides. “Now, will the other element bearers or ponies, line up with the one you share a dimension with.” The girls all lined up easily enough. “Ok, now we need a way to discern my group from Heart Wing’s.”

Heart Wing spoke up. “I have a way. How about my group wear out elements of harmony while we’re here?”

Charles looked at Heart Wing on his left. “Good idea, did you bring them?”

Heart Wing smiled. “Yes I did.” Heart Wing used his magic to open one of the two saddle bags he was carrying and levitated out seven gold necklaces with jewels in them. The elements of harmony from Heart’s world. He put his own on first which was a whit jewel shaped like the crown on his flank with a black jewel shaped like a heart on it. He passed the other necklaces on to his group. “There we go.”

Charles smiled. “Perfect. Now then, Pinkies, you may resume your party preparations.”

The three Pinkies gave a salute and continued on. With that now out of the way, each of the element bearers went on to talk with each of their alternate univers selves. The three Rainbow Dashs went off to have their race. The three Raritys were no doubt talking about fashion, the Applejacks discussing farming and such, the three Fluttershys just looked at each other or looked around quietly, and the three Twilights no doubt discussing magic and such.

Nightshade, the shadow walker, approached the three curiously. “Um, excuse me.” He said to get their attention.

The three Twilight’s looked at him and eyes went wide. “Wow, what are you?” The Twilight with the harmony necklace asked. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’ve never seen a pony like you before.”

“Me neither. We don’t have ponies like you in our world.” The Twilight with the metal necklace said.

“Ok, this is a little too weird for me.” Nightshade said with a raised eyebrow.

“How so?” The Twilight with no necklace asked.

“Well, it’s just that in the universe I come from, I’m married to you…..or rather a Twilight….or….ugh, I don’t know how to say it.”

The Twilight with no necklace tried to complete what he seemed to be trying to say. “Are you saying you’re married to the Twilight in your world?”

“Yes, thank you!” He said exasperatedly. “It’s a little weird to not only be seeing three of you, but that none of you know who I am.”

Charles walked up to the three Twilights with Nightsade. “Your not alone in that my friend. Well, partly because my Twilight is here, but seeing two others is a little odd for me as well.”

Nightshade seemed a little downtrodden. “I wonder how my Twilight and our son is doing right now?” He wondered quietly to himself.

Charles looked down sadly at him. “Hey, don’t worry. Like Discord said, he can get you back to them like you never left, while it may feel like a long time for you, it will most likely only have been a few seconds for them.”

“Yeah, but that’s for THEM, what about me?”

Charles looked a little guilty now. “Oh, right. Sorry about that.”

Nightshade shook his head. “Its fine. I just hope we can get this fight over with quickly so I can go home.”

With that said, Nightshade let the three Twilights ask him all kinds of questions about him and such.

After a while, the princesses showed up in the ball room. Only Luna was aware of the other alternate universe versions of the element bearers and went to inform her sister of the fact. Luna was confused when she saw them at first but they each presented her the scrolls Discord gave them. She then went off to find Celestia. This was going to be interesting.

Celestia walked in with Luna behind her. She was very surprised to see triplets of the ponies she cared for, especially three Twilights. “Goodness, you weren’t kidding were you Luna.”

All ponies heard and saw the princesses enter, they all gathered before the two and bowed, except for Ajax. He just stood there with his arms crossed at the back of the group. “Greetings your highness.” The three Twilights said together.

Celestia raised a hoof with a confused look. “Um…..hello….Twilight. Um, which one of you is from this world?”

The Twilight without a necklace answered. “That would be me princess. I’m sure this is a little confusing for you.”

Celestia gave a smile. “Maybe a little. I take it all these ponies here are the warriors Charles and Discord found?”

Charles stepped forward with Discord at his side. “It is your majesty. The other element bearers that are here are fighters as well. Discord said they have the ability to fight. So they agreed to come here and help us with our problem. As did the other ponies here.” Charles then went on with introductions with the other ponies that Celestia was not familiar with.

After the introductions were don, Celestia made an observation. “And where is…..or are……the other Rainbow Dashs?”

Rarity, the one that came with Steel Mane, answered. “They went to go race one another and see which of them was the fastest.”

The Rarity that came with Heart Wing followed up. “That will most likely end in a tie, given the fact they are the same.”

The three Rainbow Dashs soon came back panting. Rainbow Dash with a harmony necklace spoke first. “Man…..that was…..some race.”

The Rainbow with the metal necklace followed up. “I’ll say…..you two are fast.”

The rainbow from the current world they were in responded. “What did you…..expect, we are the same. So much….for fastest….in any dimension.”

The party to welcome every pony the thee Pinkie’s got together was soon underway. Charles found his way to meet with Heart wing and Steele Mane. “Excuse me you two.”

“Yes?” Heart Wing answered.

“I just wanted to say thank you again for agreeing to come here and help us with our problem.” Charles said to the two.

Steele Mane responded. “You are welcome. Though I am curious as to when this attack is to come from these humans you speak of. Do you know when that will be?”

Charles thought for a moment. “Ponyfeathers, I didn’t think to ask…..him…for that information.”

“Him who?” Nightsade asked as he walked up to them. Charles turned to his side to see Nightshade standing there.

Charles answered Nightshade’s question. “The human that came here with two others and works with the humans that are threatening this world. He’s locked up in Ponyville Prison right now.”

Heart Wing made a suggestion. “Then I guess you should ask him so we know how long we have to prepare for this fight.”

Charles smiled at heart Wing. “Right you are. Once this party is over, I’ll head back there and see if I can ask him.”

Steele Mane then cocked an eyebrow. “Why would you need permission to speak with this human? You are high up in the chain of command of the royal guard aren’t you?”

Charles shook his head. “No, I’m just a private. While I could be something higher up, I’m more of a follower than a leader.”

“CHARLES, you gotta come here quick!” A Pinkie, most likely Charles’s Pinkie, called out.

Charles excused himself from the three. “Yes Pinkie, what is it?”

“Charles, would you mind performing a song for everypony, I told the others here about how amazing your music is and they would like to hear you play. PLEASE!” Pinkie pleaded.

Charles gave a smile to Pinkie. “All right, I think I got a good song for this party. Though, I may need that music mixing table for it like what Vinyl has.”

“She’s right over there silly.” Pinkie pointed to the back of the ball room where Vinyl was working on her table and playing the music.

“Huh, how did I miss that?” He asked more to himself. “Well all right then.” Charles made his way over to Vinyl and told her he wanted to use her table to perform.

“Sure thing dude, can’t wait to hear what you got in store this time.”

“GREAT, just start whenever you’re ready.” Pinkie Pie cheered. “HEY EVERY PONY! CHALRES IS GOING TO PERFORM A SONG FOR US!” She yelled out to get every pony’s attention.

Charles then lit up his horn with his white aura and fed it into Vinyl’s machine. The music started and Charles started off by tapping his front right hoof on the ground to the beat, then started singing when it came time for the lyrics. He also used his magic to create lighting effects to go with the music.

Charles jumped around at certain points of the song when it called for it, as did the pinkies and some of the other ponies there. They jumped right along with Charles. Every pony had a blast. “I must say, I’ve never heard music like that before.” Trixie commented.

“WHOO doggy, that was one humdinger of a musical number.” Applejack with her element of harmony commented.

“I’ll say. That was a splendid bit of music.” Rarity with the metal necklace said.

Charles gave a smile and a bow. “I’m glad you all enjoyed it.” The party continued and Charles made his way over to the princesses.

He found Celestia and Luna near the dessert table with Luna eyeing the large chocolate cake. “Excuse me princesses.” Charles spoke to get their attention.

Celestia responded. “Yes Charles, what is it?”

“I was wondering if I could have your permission to interrogate Jonathan in Ponyville prison.” Charles asked.

The princesses gave him a curious look. Luna responded first. “What for, is something wrong?”

“It’s just that we need to know how long we have until the humans come here so we can know how long we have to get ready. I think Jonathan can tell us this.”

Celestia was a little concerned about Charles’s request. Given the history between the two, she was afraid Charles may do something drastic. “I’m not sure that is a good idea Charles. While you make a good point, I don’t think you should be the one to ask him.”

Charles persisted. “Your majesty, I understand if you think I may do something unpleasant, but he doesn’t deserve mercy. However, if you let me, I will not object to you having some pony with me to make sure I don’t get out of line while I speak with him. We need to know this.”

Celestia was still a little hesitant, but Charles had given her a way to make sure he was kept in line. She smiled at his thinking, he didn’t want to get out of line either and wanted some pony there to make sure of it. “Very well, I will ask Apex to accompany you back to Ponyville and be with you when you question Jonathan.”

Charles gave a bow. “Thank you princess, I appreciate this.”

Later on, after the party died down, it was now time to head home, the ponies and wolf man would stay in the castle while they were here. Celestia sent word for Apex to meet Charles and the others at the train station and go with them back to Ponyville.

Upon arrival, Twilight stopped Charles before he could make his way to the prison and saw his four wives looking at him a little worried. “Charles?” Twilight called to him.

“What is it Twilight?” Charles asked.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to control yourself around Jonathan?” Twilight asked.

“We all know how angry he makes you just from looking at him.” Rarity pointed out.

“You sure you can handle yerself?” Applejack questioned.

Charles gave them a smile. “Don’t worry girls, that’s why Apex is here.” Charles motioned and glanced at the tall, intimidating form of Apex as he looked at them with a stone face. Charles was a little intimidated by this figure, despite the fact they were on the same team. But that is why he was glad Apex was here. If Charles couldn’t control himself if he got into a rage, Apex could control him. Charles looked back to his girls. “I promise everything will be fine.”

“Ok, just don’t do anything rash.” Pinkie said with a smile.

Charles gave a simple nod and went on to the prison with Apex behind him. “So you really think this Jonathan will tell us anything?” Apex asked.

“I don’t know, but if he doesn’t, I’m sure we can find some way to loosen his tongue right?” Charles pointed out.

Apex actually smirked. “Right.”

Along the way, Charles heard a familiar voice. “Charles.” It was dust.

Charles began thinking to himself to communicate with the alicorns in his head. “Yes, what is it?”

“Charles, there is something you should know. With my power, you can create walls of solid stone to surround the town for protection.” Dust pointed out.

“Really, that’s good to know. Thank you for letting me know Dust.”

Aeros then came in. “There is something else you should be made aware of that you can do with our power.”

“What, I do need to know what all I’m capable of with all of you.” Charles questioned.

Voltage answered. “You’ll be able to set elemental traps with our power as well. Sand traps or rock spikes with Dust’s power, an explosion of electricity with mine, a blast of fire and explosion with Flashpoints, an icy freezing trap with Tidal Wave’s, and a powerful tornado trap with Aeros’s.”

Aeros then spoke. “We will provide you with the information on how to perform and plant these traps to help, we were planning on teaching them to you much later, but it seems they will be more useful now and in the near future.”

“I see, thank you guys, I appreciate it.”

Apex took notice of Charles being rather quiet. “You all right there private? You seem rather distracted.” He asked.

Charles looked to Apex as he answered. “I’m fine sir, just having a talk with my friends in my head.”

“Ah yes, these alicorns that live in your mind, the enlightened five I believe you call them correct?”

“Yes sir. That is right.”

“Charles!” A male voice called out. It stopped Charles in his tracks.

Charles recognized it. He rolled his eyes at the sound. “Oh great.” Apex stopped as well. Charles turned and saw his parents walking up to him. “What do you want?”

Daniel, Charles’s father, answered. “We…..just wanted to thank you for letting us be here.”

Charles glared at them. “Don’t thank me. If it were up to me, you’d be ten feet in the ground by now. You SHOULD be thanking my wives for talking me into sparing you. Though I suppose killing you wouldn’t change anything. So it’s thanks to them you’re here and alive. Don’t think that means I’ve changed my mind how I feel about you though.”

Charles’s mother, Carol, then spoke. “I see, Charles, please understand. We really are sorry about what happened. We really would like it if we could be a family again.”

Charles looked to the side in thought. After a moment, he faced back and spoke. “I trust the princesses made arrangements for you two to have a house in town?”

Daniel answered. “Yes, she spoke with the mayor and said there were a few houses we could choose from.”

Carol continued from there. “The princesses and mayor gave us and those two others a place four us to stay.”

“Then you should be sure to thank them as well. Frankly, if you’re stuck here, I’d rather you be as far away from me as possible. You should also consider letting yourselves be turned into ponies so you can live here a little more easily.” Charles said with a scowl.

“Ponies?” The two asked in unison. “But why?” Daniel asked.

Charles rolled his eyes, thinking they should already know this. “For one, in case you didn’t know, ponies are herbavores, as in no meat in the diet. If you two turn into ponies, you’ll have to eat like them so you won’t die from lack of the vitamins needed from meat.” Charles could have suggested they do what he did and find the proteins in other non-meat foods, but he figured he’d leave that part out.

They looked hesitant at this. “I don’t know, would it be difficult to adjust to a new form?” Daniel asked. “I mean, do we really have to?”

Charles growled at them. “Do you want to live here or not?” He asked angrily.

Carol responded. “Well, we don’t really have much of a choice do we? I guess so.”

Charles smirked. “Fine then. I suppose I can do that for you now just to get it over with.”

“Really?” Charles’s dad asked.

Without answering, Charles went through some of the spells he learned from the books in Twilight’s library and found a transmogrification spell. He focused his magic in his horn and cast his spell over his parents. Their bodies began to glow the same white as Charles’s magic. In a flash, his mother and father changed. Two new ponies lay on the ground groaning.

“Oh, that felt odd.” A unicorn stallion with a blue coat and a black mane and tail said. He tried to stand up on his new four legs only to stumble a bit and fall down. “WHOA!”

Charles snickered a bit at his father’s trouble.

“Dear, are you ok?” The unicorn mare next to the stallion said. She had a light pink coat and a blond mane and tail. Her legs wobbled a bit as well as she tried to stand. “Oh my.”

“There, your ponies, be thankful I made you unicorns so you can handle things a little easier, get used to it and good luck, I have other matters to attend to.” Charles said as he turned and left his new pony parents to fend for themselves. He then turned to Apex. “Sir, my apologies for getting sidetracked like that.”

Apex just looked at Charles with a straight face. “It’s all right private, we aren’t on a schedule.”

The two finally reached the prison. It was a large stone, square shaped building, only one story tall. It seemed like an ordinary compound for criminals. There was a chain link fence surrounding the area and a few unicorn and earth pony guards patrolling the area and a few Pegasus guards flying around overhead. Right now, the prison was home to a few criminals Charles helped catch in the past for minor crimes such as theft or assault. But nothing was more interesting than the three humans it now housed.

Apex did most of the talking to the guards to get them in and arranged for a talk with Jonathan. One of the guards there led the two to a fairly large room with a single table. It wasn’t long before Jonathan was brought in with chains and shackles on his wrists and ankles. He was accompanied by two unicorn guards. There was a darker patch of skin on Jonathan’s face where Charles struck him with that steam bomb from earlier. “Well, well, well, look who it is. Never thought I’d get a visit from you.” Jonathan mused.

Charles could already feel his blood boil just from looking at this despicable human. “Save the pleasantries human, you’re here to talk, not make idle conversation.” Apex said.

“And who are you?” Jonathan questioned.

“My name is Apex. I am Equestria’s military general. Charles is here to ask you a few questions. You better answer or you’ll have me to deal with.”

“I’m so scared.” Jonathan said with sarcasm.

“You better be you rotten pile of…..” Charles started through gritted teeth, then stopped himself and took a deep breath. Charles glared at Jonathan as he sat down.

“And what could you possibly have to ask me?” Jonathan said.

Charles started calmly. “We need to know how many troops will be on the way, and how long until they decide to cross over in this world.”

“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything?” Jonathan asked with an uninterested look.

Apex answered. “One, you are in our custody as a war criminal. Two, refusal to cooperate gives me the authority to carry out your execution. Three, if you cooperate, you’ll get to live. How’s that?”

Even Jonathan was feeling intimidated by Apex. “Well…..you make a compelling argument there. I don’t know how many troops will be coming through. I can only estimate how long it will take before they get here though.”

“Then tell us.” Charles said with a glare.

“Well, given the size of this country and the time it would take to get an army ready to invade, I’d say you have about a year before they get here.”

Charles’s ears fell back and his eyes half lided. “Great, I was hoping this could be over BEFORE any of my kids were born. I don’t want them to be born in a country about to go to war.”

“You have kids on the way?” Jonathan asked with a raised eyebrow.

Charles glared at Jonathan again. “That is none of your business. Consider yourself lucky your still alive.”

Jonathan smirked. “Really, and why is that?”

Charles’s glare intensified. He levitated his staff off his back and formed his wind sword, then quickly floated it over and held it to Jonathan’s neck. “How about the fact I could have killed you when I first saw your sorry face! And don’t forget that scar on your face I gave you in that one on one we had! I could have killed you then too.”

“CHARLES, STAND DOWN!” Apex called.

Charles gave a side glance at Apex, then back to Jonathan who was now looking scared. Despite who he was, eve he had to admit he was pretty much helpless in this situation. Jonathan was sweating.

Charles pulled his sword back and turned it back to his staff, then placed it back on his back. “Yes sir.” He said to Apex.

Apex then looked to Jonathan. “Thank you for your cooperation, I’ll be sure to inform the princesses of this, perhaps they’ll reduce your sentence from life in prison to about forty years or so.”

“Gee thanks.” Jonathan responded with sarcasm.

Apex and Charles then turned and made their way out of the prison. “One year to get ready for this invasion, just great.” Charles mused. “The warriors we brought won’t be too happy either I imagine, being from their home for a year. Guess we’ll have to do what we can to make them more comfortable.”

Comments

[Jman796]

Yay, war!

[Jman796]

Did you get the bgms?

[Robobrony]

3569380 yeah I got em, thanks.

[Jman796]

3569882 any time

[coldrunner]

*facehoof* ugghh damn cliffhangers but good chapter anyways

[MuzaWaza]

To many alicorns!

[WoonaLuvsU]

I hate TIME PARADOXES