Angels and Demons

by lunabrony

Out of the Frying Pan...

It hurt, but not as badly. He felt helpless, even with someone leading the way he couldn't reach a safe spot. Looking up at the ceiling. Familiar, comfortable. The memory of the pain attack was as real as anything. Could so much pain really exist in this world. "A-Angel?" He asked, looking around, how had he gotten there?

Angel emerged from the bathroom. Her cheeks were wet. Although she'd tried to hide it, even through her soft fur, he could tell she'd been crying. "I'm here, Norman." She said gently.

He noticed how much she cried in proximity to his pain. "What happened?… are you crying again?" He asked the former simply to know how the transition had occurred, the latter because he didn't want to see her crying, because this was the second time something that'd happened to him was making her cry. "Hey now… I don't want you to be sad." Did she feel his pain. No... it wasn't like that, maybe it was just fantastic empathy.

"Ditzy said you were fine, and then you just... collapsed." She explained. She came up to his bedside, and her eyes teared up again. "I tried so hard, Silver. I tried to make your pain go away. I want it to go away... but I can't... I did my best and my best wasn't good enough. I'm sorry."

"Hey come over here Angel, you can't do more than you've already done. I don't like hurting so much, but I don't hurt when you're here." He didn't even want to think about it, he thought he'd be less scared with every pain attack, but he feared it more than ever. However it was Angel he cared about. He reached out and put a hoof on her shoulder. Please don't come back our world when I leave. I don't want to know that you'll cry about this, because there's probably even worse things. I don't want to see you when you understand what happened to the woman in wing 4 who got pregnant but is an emotional wreck. I don't want you to see your first sight of a brutalized murder. And I don't want to see you a victim of some brutality like that, because you rushed in and tried be a hero in a world where heroics acts aren't always something that ends well. He hugged her and put his muzzle against her chest.

She pulled him close, and her soft feathered wings wrapped around him. "I only hurt when I see others hurting." She assured him. "I can handle harsh words, insults, they mean nothing to me. But when my friends hurt, I hurt." She said. For a long time, there was silence, and the two just nuzzled each other until they fell asleep.

[DAY SEVEN]

Silver would be returning home soon. The thought was a conflicting one. Did he stay here, with Angel, for the sake of not wanting to feel pain like he did when he was separated from her for more than a few hours, and leave everything behind? Or did he return home and live what would seemingly be a life of discomfort, leaving this world behind? Each decision had pros and cons. Angel was laying outside on the Inn balcony, the warm summer wind rustling through her mane. She seemed to have heavy thoughts on her mind as well.

Silver had decided to enjoy as much of the time remaining as he could. However there were a few things he wanted to ensure. Protecting Angel from his world was paramount. He did not want her to get hurt, even inadvertently. The pain was in the background, like an inescapable annoying noise you couldn't escape, but it wasn't incapacitating, and with any luck he'd be able to last for a few hours without it crippling him. He knew he couldn't perform any spells that would ensure Angel's stay in this world. There was only one pony he knew of with anything resembling that kind of authority and power. Her mother, Novaria. Failing that he could write letters to the other princesses of course, but he didn't want to risk them not reading it, or reading his letters and not taking it seriously. Packing nothing but his saddlebag she'd gotten him, he stepped silently out of the apartment. Time to seek an audience with Novaria, considering her massive distrust of him, getting her to listen to him for a few minutes might not be that hard. She had practically barged in the first time, just on the suspicion that her daughter was in danger.

There was only one problem, this was Canterlot. How the buck was he supposed to get to an entirely different province, the one Angel called Evodia? He had seen little method of transportation here, although he and Angel had passed train tracks at one point, presumably indicating a train ran through the city at scheduled intervals. Could be possibly speak to her with telepathy, as Angel did?

How long a ride was it to Evodia? Probably an all day affair. Could you rent teleportation services? He hadn't seen that many ponies actually capable of teleporting themselves let alone someone else. It was probably possible for certain high level unicorns, and of course the alicorns. Then he had a second idea. Why was he assuming that Novaria wasn't keeping some sort of eye on him right now? Guards left to watch him? She hadn't promised to her daughter that she wouldn't. Was there anyone in the background that had been following him? He tried casually looking around.

If he was being followed, the follower was doing a very good job. He saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. But it was a good bet Novaria was watching him. She loved her daughter, and wasn't about to let her go galloping around with a strange stallion without full background checks. And those background checks would reveal that he did not technically exist.

Invisible unicorns? Or just really casual people? Would he even have been able to tell that he was followed in his own world. No need to wonder about things you could test. He still had a quite a few bits, so he rushed to a shop, bought a big white sign and ran up to the nearest available rooftop that he could up on. Scribbling with hooves was difficult, and his horn penmanship was terrible. He had to flip it around and try writing again. "NOVARIA - WANT TO TALK - DAUGHTER IN DANGER" He held it between his hooves and pointed it towards the sky. Isn't that the vantage point of magic crystal balls, and such would have? It was a shot in the dark. If that didn't work, he'd see if he couldn't find another way to get to her residence quickly… or see if she was still in town by any chance.

Nothing seemed to happen. Increasingly frustrated, he was sure that would have worked. Upon turning around, however, he found himself nose to nose with Novaria, her silence almost giving him a heart attack. "Now, Silver, you and I know perfectly well that Angel is in no danger. And it's rather unkind of you to try and convince me otherwise." There were no guards in sight, just the two of them on the roof.

He was shocked that it had worked, hadn't expected it to, he just wanted to try it rather than wonder about it. Putting the sign down, and getting back to four hooves he genuflected, and stood up again. "Yes she is. She doesn't think she is, because she doesn't know that my world is very dangerous. She's visited a hospital, one where I happened to lie in.. but she hasn't seen much beyond that. Do you have a truth sayer spell, I want you to be sure that I'm not making it up" It hurt, what he was doing now, and it made him feel sleazy for doing it behind Angel's back. However he wasn't sure how to protect her from his world otherwise.

Novaria was kind, yet sounded concerned. She sat, her posture perfectly straight, holding eye contact with him. "If something bothers you, tell me. I cannot help you if you do not talk." She said simply. "What immediate danger is she in? She has denied my offers of royalty, and seems content in her path."

"If she keeps visiting my world, its not a matter of if she'll get hurt. Its a matter of when." He tried to explain to Novaria, being as general as he could how a killer where he lived differed from theirs. That serial killers existed. He wouldn't explain what a rapist was. More than anything he was afraid of that kind of evil coming here. He took a deeper breath and explained Auschwitz to her. As it was, just as it was. No glory, no hope, just seemingly endless death. "Its.. not always that bad. Its relatively peaceful right now, but... I don't think our world works like yours. If you stand up to evil there, I don't think you'll ultimately overcome it even if you stay true."

Novaria looked stunned. She was quiet for a long time. She seemed worried that he had brought this cruelty to Canterlot with him. "Why?" She asked, her voice cracking. "What purpose does that accomplish?"

He looked down in shame. "I don't know. I don't think our world is hopeless, your majesty, its just full of evil. Perhaps something went wrong a long time ago. There's no magic there. No elements of harmony. We may have destinies like yours, but they're not obvious, mostly people never discover what they really are or can be. We still fight the good fight." He had some pride left in him after all. "And I'm really, really glad to see a world like yours. I won't be doing anything, many people aren't bad. But some are, and if Angel gets there... sees someone victimized like that, rushes in... I don't think she'll understand what they're capable of."

She looked at the ground for a long time, her eyes cold. "You should go." She said finally. "Our ways are peaceful, and aside from the occasional villain, we have nothing like what you speak here. And I am not about to see that change because you poked your nose where it didn't belong. I want you to take your things, and get Angel to send you back." She said sternly. "Or I will do it for her. And do not ever speak of this again, especially not to her."

He nodded, part of him considered it better to just leave now. Right here. It would hurt Angel, and she would be mad at him, and she would be safe. However he was also selfish, he wanted to be here, wanted to see it. This time he bowed, as deep as he could go. "Please... let me stay the rest of the week. I don't want this world to be harmed, that's why I talked to you. I haven't done anything that bad in my life." He hoped he hadn't made the case against humanity too strongly. "Just let me take the memories of this back to Earth, maybe I can tell them about it in a story, I think that would make many people happy. Just this week... if Angel hesitates in sending me home, then send me yourself."

Novaria looked at him. "One day. Twenty four hours. And then you go." She said. "Or else I will tell Angel all about your world, and she'd be devastated." Part of him didn't think she'd actually do that, but was it worth the chance?

He got up and nodded "Thank you your majesty." Could he tell her that there were causes to fight for in his world, and that not everything was in vain? That there was hope, perhaps even eternal hope? No, it would be too much to explain. She didn't have to understand why his world was good, she just had to understand that his world was dangerous. He'd put enough of a burden on her getting her to understand how dangerous other worlds could really be. Would she despair knowing about it? Somehow he didn't think so. It was done now, he had said it. One last day, he hadn't as long left here as he'd expected. He'd find something today. Something that would tell Angel how much she meant to him.

"And...Silver." Nova hesitated. "I am an alicorn with a very particular set of skills. A set of skills which make me a threat to ponies who cause trouble. If you leave now, I will not look for you, and that will be the end of it. But if you do not, I will hunt you, I will find you, and I will banish you. " She warned, and vanished in a puff of blue smoke.