Angels in Equestria

by ArguingPizza

The Council

I stared it down with all the fury I could muster in my body. The endless power of Heaven flowed through me as I relentlessly intimidated my foe. Any other creature in Creation, short of Archdemons would have been incinerated by the gaze I laid upon it, unrivaled in all the Plains of Infinity.

The bed sat there and continued being a bed. But somehow being a real dick about it.

The night had not gone well. After I had crashed Celestia's Day Court, and after I finished cleaning up the resulting mess(not actually a big deal; literally a snap of my fingers and everything was pristine again), she had returned me to my room. After I protested that it was boring, she explained the joys of sleep to me. Celestia herself didn't technically require sleep, being partly Celestial( a description that gets confusing quickly, considering her name) but Harmonia had raised both girls to sleep, and as foal-hood habits are likely to, it stuck.

I conceded, ignored the twinge in my wings, and attempted to sleep. That was where I ran into a problem. As embarrassing as it is to say, I didn't actually know how.

I had often watched over Celestia and Luna while they slept from Heaven, but it quickly became apparent to me that our different physiologies presented a problem. The difference between Celestial Equine and Physical Angel body structure meant I couldn't just copy the way they slept. I tried, but quickly found my muscles aching.

A few dozen different positions later, I found one that was at least vaguely comfortable; on my stomach, my arms crossed in front of me with my legs hanging off the edge of the bed and my head resting just below the headboard. It seemed somewhat right, but with one problem solved I quickly discovered another.

Once I was comfortable, I had no idea what to do next. When Celestia and Luna were little, both had simply curled up, usually into each other(just as adorable a sight as it sounds) and stilled. Before I knew it, they would have fallen asleep and I would say my good night to Harmonia and head upstairs. They would just do it.

One minute awake, the next; BAM, asleep. My problem was the link in the middle. For a while, I just sat still with my eyes closed as I had seen them do. However, that line of tests yielded no results.

Next, I tried humming the lullabies Harmonia had forced me to learn for the nights I had to tuck the girls in while she was away. However, after the thirty-fourth rendition of 'Bringing Forth the Starry Night' and the sixteenth 'In the Meadow', I figured I was doing something wrong.

The next six hours had been filled with every possible technique and combination of techniques I could think of. The castle staff eventually stopped responding to my calls after the ninety-fifth glass of milk I requested. To be fair, over forty of those were ordered at the same time, at one degree intervals between 100 and 140 degrees Marenheit. I was attempting to determine the exact temperature meant by 'warm' milk.

My personal battle with the bed was interrupted by a light knock on the door. “Uncle, are you ready? The Council is waiting on you.” It was Luna's voice, and it meant I had probably been trying to intimidate the mattress for much longer than I had thought.

“Yeah, let's go,” I said as I opened the door. Just before I closed the door I snapped my fingers and lit the bed on fire. When Luna turned back to look at me I smiled innocently and closed the door. I ignored her suspicious face as I walked down the hall just fast enough to make sure Luna didn't notice the smell of smoke.

---

“Honored Representatives of the Council of Species, I present Their Majesties Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria, and King Cornelius of the Heavenly Realms,” announced the Royal Herald as I entered the large Council chambers, flanked on either side by my nieces. I had never liked the title I was given, but the girls had insisted. Something along the lines of “we gonna be pwincesses, and you and Mommy can be king and queen!”

To be fair, they were four at the time, and the puppy dog eyes of alicorns are unrivaled for their reduction of willpower to so much putty.

The Council Chamber was a specially crafted room carved out of the far side of Canterlot Mountain from the city itself. A giant open skylight for the winged species took up the majority of the far walls, as well as landing platforms for aerial chariots so the ground-bound dignitaries were not forced to walk up several thousand stairs. A huge, round table took up the majority of the floorspace with various styles of chairs and seats carved from solid mountain granite and customized for each race present surrounded it. Golden plaques on the table itself denoted which seat was reserved for which representative, the largest being a pile of gems for the enormous Dragon Representative; another reason for the massive skylight.

The vast majority of the time it sat unused and empty, usually visited only by the castle cleaning staff who kept it in impeccable shine.

I always thought it was a bit much.

But for once the room was actually crowded; diplomatic parties of Griffons, Diamond Dogs, Deer, Cows, Donkeys, a single dragon(more than one would have been unwieldy, even in the cavern of a chamber), Minotaurs, and even Changelings. The fact that they would show themselves in the open after an assault on Canterlot impressed me somewhat, and helped me repress the urge to squash the half dozen or so buzzing around nervously.

After the normal mundane greetings, Luna and Celestia took their seats, both marked 'Equestria' next to a third-

“Well hello! What do we have here?” I asked with genuine interest as I feathered the short distance towards the pink, unfamiliar Alicorn sitting next to Celestia. I glanced at her plaque, which said 'Crystal Ponies' “And who are you, young one?” I asked of the steadily blushing dignitary.

Luna stepped in between us and extended a wing over the smaller godling. “Uncle, this is Cadence, my....um....” Luna stammered and looked towards the floor, a blush barely visible through her dark coat.

“Your....what was that?” I asked, growing more suspicious.

“My.......granddaughter.”

“Say that again. A little louder, Luna,” I said forcefully. My wings unfurled just slightly.

“She is my.....granddaughter.”

“I see.” I stood upright and tucked my wings back into their proper place, ignoring the annoying twinge.

I put on a smile and grabbed the pink alicorn's hoof gently. “It's lovely to meet you, Cadence. I'd like to get to know my grandniece after this dreadful bit of politics is over. How does that sound?” I asked pleasantly. For once it wasn't sarcasm.

The nervous alicorn smiled gently. “I'd like that, King Cornelius.”

I waved a hand through the air as if batting away the annoying title. “Please, Cornelius or Uncle. Maybe Grand-Uncle. Anything, just not 'King',” I shuddered in mock horror. Cadence giggled and nodded.

As I turned to take my seat, I leaned down and whispered to Luna, whose gaze was still locked on her hooves. “We will talk about this later.” She nodded grimly and took her seat next to me.

“Honored Representatives, I thank you for coming here with such haste. A grave matter has arisen that requires all the great races of this world to work in Harmony,” Celestia announced. The various dignitaries reacted with everything from suspicion to fear. The Griffin and Dragon ambassadors in particular looked disbelieving.

“My sister speaks true. Discord, hated enemy of all, has broken free once again. He is more powerful than ever previous, and his current whereabouts are unknown,” Luna added. The uproar that followed could have been heard on the other side of the mountain.

“Broken free! Again?! What kind of show are you running, Celestia!” demanded the Griffin ambassador. His aides nodded their agreement, whether genuine or just self-advancing.

“How could you not know his location? Is chocolate rain too subtle?” panicked the Bovine diplomat. The other cows were likewise spooked, and near stampeding from fear.

“I'LL BET IT WAS HIS DOING!” accused the Dragon. His deep voice rumbled through the room as he pointed a claw directly at me. He wasn't yelling, not for a dragon at least. It just seamed that way because of the fact he was a damn dragon, and dragons are naturally loud.

I shrugged indifferently. “Yeah, a little.”

A moment of stunned silence passed before the room exploded even louder than before. This time, instead of a mixture of fear and anger, it was all anger. Focused on me. I rested my head in my hand, with my arm propped up on one of the stone armrests of my chair as I let them accuse to their heart's content.

Then, the Dragon said something that crossed the line. Completely.

“I WAGER HE IS WORKING FOR THE BEAST! FOUL CREATURE THAT HE IS!”

That got my attention. I bolted upright and both my nieces put their faces in their hooves. My grand-niece looked at them in confusion, but only for a moment.

Faster than the 'diplomats' could see, I feathered directly into the Dragon's face and roughly smacked my hand on its broad forehead. Kneel Kneel

Kneel Kneel Kneel
“Kneel" Kneel Kneel

Kneel Kneel Kneel Kneel Kneel Kneel Kneel

Kneel Kneel

Kneel Kneel Kneel Kneel Kneel

Kneel Kneel

Kneel Kneel Kneel

The word passed through his mind with such unrivaled absolution and weight, the titanic reptile crashed to its knees. There was simply no way for it to do anything but obey. Its colossal wings slammed into the stone tile as they splayed themselves out as wide as they could; the ultimate form of submission in Dragon society. His head was the only part of his body that didn't seek the floor at my command, and only because my hand was still between his eyes.

I leaned down and glared into one titanic organ. My wings snapped out to their full span and raised themselves slightly higher than my head.

“Listen well, beast,” I growled. The entire room was silent, their gazes locked upon the strange newcomer who had so humbled a dragon with a mere word; a beast normally unstoppable to all but the Royal Sisters or an entire flock of Griffin warriors.

“I forged your kind of lifeless ash and I can return it to such at the slightest inclination. You think yourself mighty for the size and strength given you by ME!” The mammoth super predator quaked in fear again. A whimper just barely escaped its leathery lips.

“But accuse me of such associations again and you will feel such agonies you will pray to the Highest Powers to deliver you to something so delectable as PAIN.”

I raised my hand slowly from its forehead and casually glided back down to my seat. I turned and sat down in silence, ignoring the twinge in my wings. The awestruck Council gawked at me. Even Cadence gazed at me with no small measure of fear in her eyes. Celestia and Luna just sat awkwardly, having seen such a display before.

“So....Discord,” Luna added lamely.

---

Woo! Longest chapter so far! By somewhere around 700 words. This chapter wasn't actually supposed to come out until next weekend, but I wanted to get a head-start on it and it just sort of wrote itself. And that part with the 'Kneel' all over the place took forever to craft, I'd like to mention. So tell me what you guys think. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!

Comments

[SomeRandomTwat]

YES I AM ENTERTAINED!

[dawn_rising]

Just two mistakes.

There was simply no way for it to do anything bu obey

It should be 'But' and there is no punctuation at the end of the sentence.

[ArguingPizza]

2043088 Thanks, I completely missed that one

[Lord_Kalbario]

at least he didn't use the heavenly voice...

[Bronzer]

He mentioned skittles in the first chapter, so he could just look in on how humans sleep. Or, you know, ask his Dad who may or may not be having a good laugh at his expense at the moment.