Archangel Michael visits Equestria

by Kama and Hallie

Chapter 8

"What?! But Mikha'El, how would you do that? Why would you do that?" Gabriel asked panicky from the other side of the portal.

"I simply ask, she gives and I'll take it, simple." Michael shrugged.

"But that's impossible! You can't just take it away because I don't think it's something that can even be taken in the first place, it's literally impossible! And even if you do succeed, it's a cruel act! You mustn't do such a thing to a creation of the Lord!" Gabriel argued.

"You think I don't know that?! Why do you think I'm doing this in the first place?! Because there is already a cruel act going on around here, and if I do nothing about it it will only get worse! If I fail to protect and save the creations of the Lord, I don't know if I can ever forgive myself. The princess doesn't know what to do, I don't know much about this world's politics, but I do know how to help it. Besides, we've lived without it for our entire existence, a short while shouldn't be too much for them." Michael argued back.

"Well, they aren't us, Mikha'El. I hope you find a solution, I really do, but this simply isn't the way to do it." Gabriel said with a more calming voice this time.

"Well, I suppose you have a better idea on how to resolve this situation?! What would you rather do?! Choose a difficult but hopeful solution to save this world, or let it crumble down in front of someone who worked so hard to improve it to become better than it ever was?! Would you want that to happen?!" Michael said rather aggressively, which actually managed to surprise Gabriel.

"Er...w-well...b-but, Mikha'El..." Gabriel stammered, trying to find an answer.

"Look, I must return to my duties. I promised Princess Twilight that I wouldn't be gone long, so I'm afraid I must end our conversation right now." Michael said, preparing to close the portal of communication.

"Mikha'El, wait...!" Gabriel exclaimed before the portal was closed and Michael could finally focus again on his duty, and this time with a newly hatched plan to go along with it.

---

Meanwhile, Twilight had just finished telling every creature who demanded an explanation what was going on, but knowing that didn't put them at ease.

"Wait, you're saying that Equestria is being visited by two big, powerful interdimensional aliens? And one of them might be causing all these bad things to happen?" Ocellus asked, unable to believe what she's hearing.

"And one of them helping Princess Twilight?" Yona asked as well.

"Well, then we gotta do something about these guys if they're the ones causing all this!" Gilda suggested.

"How would we even drive off a couple of giant winged aliens made of light?" Gallus asked.

"Wasn't that blue guy a warrior, and he's helping Princess Twilight? Can't we use him to fight the evil guy off?" Skystar suggested.

"But he just said he can't, he said something about not being to do anything unless he's told to, remember?" Sandbar reminded the hippogriff princess.

"Oh yeah, that's right."

"Say, Twilight, you got any ideas for this?" Thorax asked, and everyone in the room turned to her.

"I'm not sure, I think I need to contact Celestia and Luna, they'd know something about creatures like them, and they've banished many dark villains before, so they'd most likely know how to deal with this." Twilight answered. "Spike, grab a paper and quill, we need to write to them immediately!" the alicorn ordered the little purple dragon.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. But I'm afraid that's out of the question now." a voice suddenly said from somewhere in the throne room, behind the crowd of creatures that stood before Twilight, she saw the tall serpentine figure of Discord, who was standing with his head drooping in shame.

"Discord?! What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked, shocked by the sudden appearance of the draconequus.

"Where the hay have you been all this time?!" Rainbow Dash asked loudly.

"Why are you sorry? Did something happen to Celestia and Luna?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, Satan happened, and I was involved." Discord confessed shamefully.

"WHAT?!" all the creatures in the room exclaimed in disbelief.

"What did you do to them?! How many times do we have to go through this, you...?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, preparing herself to teach the draconequus a lesson.

"Discord, what happened?" Twilight asked sternly this time.

"W-Well..."

---

Silver Shoals, one day earlier...

Celestia and Luna rested on their balcony enjoying the afternoon sun, they couldn't believe how good it felt to finally be free of all the responsibility that weighed down on them for more than a thousand years...well, Celestia anyway. After everything they have been through, this retirement felt more than earned, and they'd get to enjoy life much more differently now.

As Celestia was basking in the sun while enjoying her drink and Luna was reading a book, a shadow suddenly dawned on them, as they looked up they saw it was the hovering form of Discord. Celestia was (sort of) glad to see him again, though it was strange how he simply appeared instead of entering with his usual chaotic and flashy ways.

"Why, hello there, Celestia. Hello, Luna. Lovely...uh, weather we're having today, huh?" Discord greeted with a wide grin. Though something was off, his cheeriness seemed forced, trying to not show anything wrong.

The two alicorns of night and day got up from their seats to greet their guest. "Um, why hello, Discord. Is something wrong? You seem a bit...off today." Celestia pointed out.

Discord simply just dropped his fake smile and replaced it with a very nervous and scared face, this time he forced his mouth shut in order to make sure no word will pass his lips.

"Discord, what's going on?" Luna asked cautiously, sensing something's wrong.

Discord lifted his previously drooping head. "I'm sorry..." Discord said sadly as he snapped his eagle claw and caused spiked shackles to appear and grab the alicorns by their hooves and mid-sections, and the spikes were on the inside of the shackles, which caused tremendous pain and bleeding when they locked in place.

"Discord, what are you doing?! This isn't funny!" Celestia yelled as she and her sister momentarily shrieked in pain from the sudden feeling of iron and spikes clamping down tightly on their skin. It seemed Discord didn't find it funny either, as he had no enjoyment on his face and not to mention that this was not his style of doing things.

Suddenly, a dark figure came out from a sudden burst of black flames that appeared out of thin air and revealed itself to be a giant winged creature of demonic characteristics, and the two older-than-most alicorns had a feeling they knew this entity.

"Don't worry, sisters, it's not supposed to be funny...for you anyway." the demonic multi-winged creature with two pairs of red and black feathered wings and two pairs of dark red dragon/bat wings and eyes all around said with a gleeful mocking tone.

"Satan, we've been warned about your presence once a long time ago." Celestia said with anger shifted from a shocked face. The alicorns didn't know too much about this entity, only that he was the biggest bad news their world would receive, but since they never saw many signs of him or anything else similar to him they never really put him to mind anymore.

"We just didn't think something like you would ever dare show its face in a place like Equestria." Luna taunted, attempting to intimidate the demonic entity.

"Oh please, dear, stop. You overestimate yourselves too much. A world like this was bound to get my attention sooner or later, I'm actually surprised it wasn't sooner." Satan answered smugly.

"And Discord, you're with him?! Have all your years with us meant nothing?!" Celestia scolded in anger and disappointment, which caused Discord to be unable to look at her.

"Oh, they have, Celestia, don't worry. Very much, as a matter of fact. I even had to resort to blackmailing and threats just to get him on my side, a very low level for someone like me to stoop down to, but as long as it gets the job done I suppose I can let it slide." Satan said plainly.

"Job? What are you doing here?" Luna demanded to know, who was also joined by Celestia.

"I'm simply accompanying my dear friend, Michael on his duties on this world, as well as...setting up challenges for the Princess" Satan answered with a sinister undertone.

"If you've touched even a hair on Twilight, you will regret this..." Celestia attempted to threaten the giant winged abomination.

"Don't worry, I haven't touched her...yet. But I probably won't need to, because madness is going to happen to her before I even appear to her, once I arrive in all my glory there it'll only be a matter of a few more nudges. And you wanna know the best part? Dear old Michael's not going to be able to do anything about it since I was not a part of his orders, so he'll just be forced to stand there as the beloved Twilight Sparkle shall descend into the prisons of her own mind and maybe even rise again as Equestria's most fearsome ruler, time will tell. But I know that it's going to be glorious." Satan explained to the two alicorns, who were becoming more afraid by the minute.

"And why is Discord with you?" Luna asked.

"I brought him with me as a sign that the time of the peaceful Equestria you and Twilight Sparkle worked so hard to build will soon come to an end, and I for one can't wait to see that happen." Satan answered.

"You'll never win, Satan! You may think that you have the upper hoof now, but Twilight and her friends have dealt with your kind before, and believe me when I say she will defeat you!" Celestia threatened the demonic entity, but the only reaction she got from him was a bored expression and a yawn, indicating he's heard this kind of speech millions of times before.

"Yes, yes, 'she's strong', 'defeat me', I know, I know. Maybe she'll defeat me, maybe she won't, but whatever happens, I'll still have my fun and I'd still get my job done in some way. So maybe don't try to predict things a little too early, Sunbutt, or else you might embarrass yourself if it turned out you were wrong." Satan mocked as he brought himself closer to the former sun princess's face.

"So I think it'll be better if I put your little actions to rest so you can see what happens with no distractions from fighting back." Satan added to the two alicorn sisters.

"You can try to lock us away in any prison, but sooner or later we'll get out, either by Twilight or by ourselves." Celestia warned.

"Lock you away? Haha, perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying. You're not getting locked away anywhere, you're going to see what happens!" Satan hissed as he touched both the alicorns' forehead with his wingtips and made them go into a mind-controlled paralysis, as their consciousness was sent to the back seats of their mind but they'll still be to see what happens before their eyes and feel whatever happens to them.

"That's better. Oh, maybe I could add a little touch." Satan said as he made steel blade appear and pierce every spot on the alicorns' bodies that would cause the most pain but won't kill them. After he did so, he relished in the internal screaming of their mind as they were praying for Twilight to succeed, he always did enjoy when mortal creatures put up a fight, even in their most vulnerable.

"Is that it?" Satan heard Discord's voice from behind him, he honestly forgot the draconequus was still there. "Is that all you needed me for? As a way to intimidate the ponies?" Discord asked, becoming more sad and angry the longer he was around Satan.

"Yeah, kinda, and to use your chaos magic, I like it." Satan answered plainly.

"Well, then why do you need to go to such lengths trying to get me on your side by using threats?! You seem to be able to do anything fine on your own!" Discord shouted.

"Actually, I do need you for one thing."

---

The Crystal Empire

Shining Armor and Cadance sat on the throne of the Crystal Empire with Flurry Heart by their side, their kingdom still untouched by the growing mayhem outside. Satan and Discord watched from the ceiling, making themselves invisible so that no pony under them would notice two creatures who otherwise would be the center of attention the moment they showed their faces.

"Um...what exactly does this have to do with me?" Discord asked.

"I want you to use that 'reversing personality' finger touch that you told me about, if it worked like a charm on Twilight and her five stooges, it should work like a charm on these two lovebirds as well." Satan answered, staring intently at the prince and princess of the Crystal Empire.

"Uh...if you say so." Discord simply said, not wanting to argue with the entity who was holding his and Fluttershy's life on the tip of his wing.

Discord then made himself visible in front of the royal couple which caused quite a shock from the two, they had to make sure Flurry didn't act up from their reaction to the draconequus's sudden appearance. The crystal guards went into attack position when they heard the prince and princess's yelp, but Cadance immediately told them to back down after she saw who it was.

"Discord! Hi, what are you doing here?" The pink alicorn asked.

Discord said nothing but instead lifted his eagle claw and lion paw in the air then placed them hardly on Cadance and Shining Armor's forehead, pouring his magical influence into their brains. The two royal ponies' colors then turned into a more greyish, bordering on black and white tone, and their eyes went numb as if they were being hypnotized. After Discord lifted his claws and released the royal couple from his touch, he made himself invisible again and went up to watch what unfolds by Satan's side. After a few moments of silence, the alicorn mare and the unicorn stallion regained consciousness and when they observed the world around them, they immediately started acting violently and hatefully. Cadance yelled at her own daughter for crying and cast her aside, while Shining Armor told the soldiers of the castle to prepare an attack on the city, he was then joined by his wife who wanted to make sure the destruction of the kingdom after she looked down on it with hateful eyes.

Satan just laughed at the sudden turn of events while Discord just stared in horror at what he had just caused. "Boy, those two really know how to do things together, don't they? You know, on any other day, I would've considered what we just did as cheating since it's more fun to watch them corrupt themselves than causing it for them, but for this, I'll excuse since your powers are pretty incredible. Hehe." Satan laughed, ignoring the fact that Discord was not listening to a word he was saying.

Soon, a massive outbreak happened in the city of the Crystal Empire, as soldiers who didn't refuse their orders attacked their own civilians, much to their own regret. While that was happening, the empire's own prince and princess were destroying the homes of the city, as their previous love for the kingdom they ruled over had been taken away from them.

---

Twilight and the other creatures in the throne room just stared in horror and disbelief from the revelations of Discord's story, their situation was bad enough but after hearing what the draconequus had to say, they knew it was getting really bad. After a few moments of silence, somepony finally broke it.

"How...how could you do this?! After everything we've been through, you're still gonna work against us?! Satan's gotten to Celestia and Luna, then Cadance and Shining Armor, and you just stood there and did nothing! And now...now..." Twilight yelled then faltered at the end as she began to choke up, tears forming in her eyes. Her friends with the exception of Fluttershy glared at him with anger and disapproval.

"I'm...so sorry, Twilight. I just hoped that by assisting Satan, it would keep Fluttershy and you guys out of harm's way if anything bad happens." Discord attempted to explain, knowing full well it wouldn't help his case.

"Keep us out of harm's way?! What about the ones you helped Satan take down?! What about the rest of Equestria?! Are they out of harm's way?! J-Just go away." Twilight turned away from Discord and everyone else to hide her face from them.

Discord wanted to say more but knew that it wouldn't do him or anyone any good since Twilight's obviously in no condition to converse at the moment. So Discord just bowed his head in shame and closed his eyes, he opened a portal and disappeared through it in order to leave the princess alone.

Meanwhile, Twilight was on the brink of tears hearing about what happened. She felt more lost than she did the past two days, she could feel her spirit being crushed from all the bad things happening around her. Spike and the five mares as well as the other creatures in the room could do nothing but stare sympathetically at her. Spike tried to step forward to comfort his older sister but was interrupted by a flash of blue and purple light.

Out of the light, the multi-winged form of Meekha El hovered downwards, he seemed to not have been bothered to change into his pony form at the moment, which caused quite a bit of fright by the creatures in the room who haven't seen him yet.

"Fear not, Princess. For I have arrived with a solution!" Meekha El announced with a grand voice.

"Meekha El, please leave me alone. I don't wanna see any..." Twilight said weakly, so distraught that Meekha El's presence didn't garner her attention anymore.

The angel suddenly placed a tip of one of his wings on the alicorn's forehead and removed just enough of her negative feelings to give her the strength to listen to what he had to say. "Please, princess, I think you'll need to hear this." Meekha El begged.

Twilight hesitated for a moment, but got up and moved closer to the angel to listen. Meekha El then spoke to her but did so in a way that only Twilight could hear while the other creatures heard nothing but muffled whispers.

"What the hay are they saying?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know, I think they're just leaving it a mystery to us to create suspense." Pinkie Pie responded.

"Yeah, ah ain't gettin' nothin'." Applejack answered as well.

"What is that thing?!" the mares heard one of the creatures in the room exclaim, it was probably Garble.

"Uh, yeah. That's the blue guy you all saw earlier." Rainbow Dash tried to answer the question obviously the other creatures had.

"That's what he looks like?!" Smolder exclaimed.

"I've never seen any creature of his kind before." Ocellus said confused.

"Yeah, don't worry. We pretty much couldn't believe it at first as well." the cyan pegasus mare said.

"You need me to what?!" they heard Twilight exclaim as all the creatures in the room shifted their focus back to Twilight.

"You just need to surrender it to me for a moment, it will fix all our problems." Meekha El reassured.

"What if it doesn't work?!"

"It will work, I just know it."

"What if you can't return it? What happens to me? We don't know what'll happen if we do this!"

"I know, but don't you think it's worth a shot? It's better we explore all our options than to do nothing as the country burns."

"I...I...Leave me alone, I need to think about this for a moment." Twilight told the archangel.

"But...as you wish, Princess." Meekha El wanted to argue but decided it better to do what Twilight said, so he disappeared in a flash of light.

"Twilight, what did he say to you?" Spike asked the princess, he and her friends shared the same concern for what was going on with their friend.

---

"Satan! Come out and show yourself! I have something to say to you!" Michael called out in the empty space of land he was on, attempting to summon his enemy. Then, in a swirl of black fire and wings, the Devil himself appeared before the Archangel.

"Alright, Mikey, what's going on here? You just called me over, you've never done that once in the eons we spent as enemies, so something must be up." Satan said, actually intrigued with what was personally going on with his old enemy.

"You better believe I have something to say, because I have finally figured out a way to cast you out of this world and all the others once and for all!" Michael announced.

"Another one of your ideas? Well, make it quick, I've got other things to do." Satan said, uninterested in whatever the angel was going to say now.

"We both know that I don't have free will, therefore I am unable to perform any actions outside of my predetermined task by the Lord." Michael began his explanation.

"Yes, I know. Can you just tell me where you're going with this?" Satan demanded, already growing bored.

"But what if I could simply...obtain it from another?" Michael asked hypothetically.

Satan stared dumbly at the question. "I'm sorry?" he blurted out, this time actually intrigued by what the angel was saying.

"And my current duties are to guide and assist Princess Twilight Sparkle, maybe I could simply...guide her into surrendering it to me. And once that happens, I shall no longer be restricted to only following God's specific orders." Michael continued.

"Hold on, hold on, time out. Am I hearing you correctly? Are you seriously suggesting the idea of...taking a living creature's free will?" Satan asked, disbelief present in his tone.

"You heard me correct, Prince of Darkness." Michael confirmed.

"Bahahahahahaha!!! Wait, you're serious? You?! The merciful and powerful Archangel Michael's seriously considering the idea of taking the free will of a lower life form?! Hahaha, that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Satan laughed hysterically at the fact that Michael was being completely serious about his plan.

"Oh, come on, Mikey! You can't seriously be stupid enough to think that will work! Don't you even know what free will is? Being the supposed 'closest angel to God'? It's a privilege that He gave specifically to his creations of lower status so they can live their embarrassingly short lives as how they choose, it's not something that can be taken away! That's about as stupid as saying 'I wanna steal God', it simply cannot be done! How come I'm the one who has to explain this to you?!" Satan explained as he continued laughing.

"This is a world with endless possibilities, Satan. Believe me when I say I will succeed. So before that has a chance to happen, I'm giving you two choices: You can either stop what you're doing, fix the mess you made and leave this world immediately, or you can remain here and make me deal with you. It's entirely up to you." Michael said.

"Please, Michael. Are you listening to yourself? At this point, you're just desperate. I feel bad, honestly. So no, I don't think I will leave." Satan gave his answer.

Michael chuckled. "I was hoping that would be your answer. Very well, you made your choice. I shall see that you shall be dealt with once the time has come."

"Fine, you can keep trying out your ridiculous theory. But if it fails and your task also fails, make sure to invite me over so I can see you crying to God, I'd love to see it. Haha!" Satan laughed as he disappeared in a sudden burst of black flames, leaving Michael alone.

"We'll just see who'll be crying at the end, you filth of all Creation." Michael muttered as he also disappeared in a flash of light.

Comments

[Destiny Chaser]

On the contrary, Angels do in fact have free will. But as they are spirits, and their intellects are far more powerful than ours, and they do not exist in the moment to moment existence of time, they either choose the good or evil once and for all. If the good God assigned Michael to protect Twilight, He could do whatever good is necessary to fulfill that role.

[zx29b]

11121483
The theological conception of "free will" was imagined up long after Moses and Zeke wrote their angel characters, so to say that they did or did not have it is inherently a post facto addition to the mythology. There can be no definitive canonical answer.

Besides, "free will" is just a flimsy philosophical construct whose sole purpose is a, frankly failed, attempt to get around both the misnamed Epicurean Paradox and John Calvin's determinism at the same time. It's a story about angels in Tiny Horse Land. It doesn't have to make sense.

[zx29b]

11123979
I know; I read the thing. Keep it light and relevant to the story. If I went a bit too far into theology with my point about "free will," I had not meant to do more than to say that the author's use of the concept cannot be called into question on the basis of canon.

[Time Reaper]

11121483

Theoretically correct, but I still think Michael is taking the wrong choices, since it looks like he doesn't understand how Free Will works with God's creations, and how their choices are what determines if we get to be with God or not.

Basically, nothing of what Satan has done is unstoppable by Twilight (even if Satan only is doing it for fun) and Twilight can easily do it as long as Michael helps (taking away the negativity works although he can actually talk to her about how God acts) but he seems to not understands any of that.

[Time Reaper]

As for the story itself, it's ok. Nothing offensive and it looks like its having fun, my only problems is with Michael's decisions but Character growth exist for that.

[Diokno44]

11127065
Second. Also, IIRC, its only the certain angels that look distinctly non-human, like well, Thrones and such. Plus angels CAN take on human form. But I agree, this do be funny

[Diokno44]

11120901
Oh, I just got that