Angels and Demons

by lunabrony

Revelations

The nurse had seen the feather. There was likely a logical explanation, Angel had not once lied to him, and had been very kind thus far. The pounding in his brain intensified suddenly, as the human mind was not 100% equipped to deal with what came next. Angels voice came like an echo, resounding inside his head like a long-forgotten song or suddenly remembering what you entered a room for. <Norman? Are you alone?>

He gritted his teeth, and gripped the side of his bed, doubling over a bit. The voice was recognized, but it hurt. Like two icebergs grinding against each other, only the icebergs were the two hemispheres of his brain. Mutely he screamed. "Coming through" He whispered soundlessly, wondering whether that was enough. Vocalizing. Could she hear his thoughts? "Found a feather... you're real!" Then he bit into a blanket, to avoid crying out because of the pain. A tear flowed down his eyes, partly from the pain, and partly from the strange sensation of joy he was feeling.

She didn't seem to realize she was causing him such pain, and continued. <Oh, good! I wasn't sure this would work! I have something I want you to see, but I need you to promise me you can keep an open mind, and not... overreact.>

He needed to throw up. This was bad. It was becoming hard to tolerate. When he was little he had an ear infection which had to be drained. The doctor had told him it wouldn't hurt when he punctured the ear drum with a needle. It had, unlikely anything he had felt before. Both his mother and his father had to hold him down to the couch. "Okay." He managed to croak, holding onto the bed. Feeling faint and dizzy.

The voice left his head, and diminished enough to become tolerable. His door was closed, and he was alone with his pounding skull. He'd never felt anything like that before. If anything was real... THAT pain... nothing could make that up. Angel appeared next to him in her usual manner, but this time, something was on her back. Something small, clinging to her mane, and covered in blue scales. It took him a moment to realize he was unmistakably looking at a baby dragon.

The absence of pain, it almost distracted from the surprise visit to the hospital room. He wiped the sweat from his head and climbed onto the bed, resting back, trying not to take too deep breaths. It had hurt terribly, and the worst part was knowing that it could hurt like that again. Angel hadn't caused it intentionally, but he feared pain like that would now be a part of his life. He smiled weakly. "Hi Angel, you gave me a bad headache." The feather was produced from inside his gown. "The nurse saw this, didn't know what it was… I'm not the only one who can see you. Oh... and hi?" He waved to the baby dragon. Why not.

If Angel was worried about his revelation, she didn't show it. In fact, she seemed amused. "Of course she can see it. It's a feather. Nothing mysterious about that." She said calmly, and pressed her horn to his cheek as she had done several times before. Once again, the numbing agent took hold, and the pain in his head completely went away. "How did I give you a headache?" She asked.

A glow light of 'get better'. No mother could kiss away pain like Angel's horn. "Don't know, the headaches come and go and when you spoke I just suddenly had an attack." Thinking back on it there hadn't been any modulation when as he heard that inner voice. "I don't think it was your voice, it just started hurting when you contacted me."

She thought about that, and her eyes widened suddenly. "Of course... the telepathy! You aren't a receptor for telepathy! I am so sorry, I didn't even..." She sounded truly remorseful. The dragon on her back was indifferent, cooing and chewing on her mane. "I won't do it again, I'm truly sorry." She promised. "There shouldn't be any permanent effects, using telepathy on someone not a receptor for it..." She struggled to think of a metaphor. "It's like driving on the wrong side of the highway. It's possible, but an unbelievably bad idea."

He nodded, taking her word for it. Now that the pain was over he felt the adrenaline slowly leaving him, quelling the nausea. "He's a cutie that one, how young is he? In years uhm… our years? How long are the days in your world?" Hadn't she used a name for that place. What did we call our world? Universe? Suddenly the name sounded a bit silly. The way many words could turn silly if you spoke them enough times. Norman of the Universe. He chuckled a bit at the internal thought. Now that he suspected that the world was real he wanted to know more about it. "Don't worry little guy I won't hurt you, I'm just sick is all, and most of that is just a headache."

Angel deposited the dragon in his arms, and it immediately curled up and took a liking to him. "He hatched about a month ago, I've been watching after him temporarily. His name is Flint." She said calmly. "Listen, Norman, may I speak seriously for a moment? I've been going over your last batch of tests."

He nodded, many doctors had been going over tests. He'd even had to lie inside a huge (and very noisy) MR-scanner, which sounded like the inside of a jackhammer, or a car that couldn't quite start. You had to be an ice block not to be taken in by Flint. Very carefully he put a hand on the little dragon and gently stroked and massaged him. "Go on Angel, I'm listening. As for you, you're a little heartbreaker, Flint."

Angel sounded worried, and proceeded slowly. "When you fell, you had a concussion. Your brain... rattled, slightly, from the impact. There was some very slight swelling, which is always serious, but we've managed to get all that under control. You're probably wondering why you've kept you here so long." She explained gently. "There's a part of your brain thats responsible for pain. Awareness, receptors, that sort of thing. That lobe is..." She paused a moment. "Bruised, if that makes sense. The bottom line is...that dull pounding you feel... I'm afraid that's never going to go away. I can give you suppressants, but you'll most likely have to deal with it."

He nodded, its what he had feared so its what he had expected. His mind focused on the little hatchling, curling up content as a clam on his lap. Its funny dry surface. The news passed through his head, and lay in the background. At the moment he felt a little paralyzed. He'd feel that level of pain again, and again, and again, for as long as he breathed. He was glad Flint was there. Without speaking or doing anything but just being, he made it easier to bear. Something else to focus on. "So.. are your days as long as ours?"

She smiled, and the dragon attached onto him, pulling at his hair with its claws. It was heart melting, and strange to think this litlte guy might someday grow up to be a terrible assassin. "Yes, a good deal of our culture is parallel to yours, with some differences. We are all vegetarians, for example, and day and night do not happen on their own, they're controlled."

"Controlled day and night cycle?" Gods? "How about the weather?" That was the first bit she had really told him about that world, except as what related to what she was. It was a real world, though he hadn't seen any like it. "A bunch of questions… round globe like our world? Do things... uhm… look the same, I don't know how to word this. Any humans there, or used to be there?"

"Not Gods. Princesses. One for each." She explained. "Weather is all planned and coordinated, from who brings in the storm clouds to when the rain is scheduled for to processing paperwork for a blizzard." She explained. "Round globe yes, in fact, many of our cities are named for yours. It's sort of a... parallel dimension, an Earth populated by ponies, if you will. No humans, never have been. That brings up my other point. When you're discharged, I'd love to take you. But you'd need a bit of... alteration."

"You don't seem to have changed much?" That sounded dumb even when the words left his mouth. He didn't even know what she looked like where she lived. He had always wondered whether something really different than this world existed. "Do you have colors we don't have?" In Discworld they had octarine, the color of magic. "And uhm... you'd take me there?" He'd thought of it, for fun. However his imagination had been about discovering a portal she was using. That had been dispelled when she had made it clear that she simply (or elaborately, he had no idea how it worked) teleported about.

"Our colors are the same, although I doubt if you'd ever seen a green or orange pony before." She said pleasantly. "We come in all colors, and everypony does their share of work. There are no wars, no violence, very little crime. Such matters as these are usually very quickly disputed. There are criminals and evildoers, yes, but... problems are easily solved."

"Sounds like a fun world." He smiled "So what sort of changes would I have to go through… what changed about you? If anything, I don't know how this works. We don't have magic here, or at least... I'm not sure that we do" A lot of people saying that they could do magic, but turning out to be charlatans. He wondered if Earth had once had magic, only it left. There were spellbooks called grimmoires, but that was about it.

She smirked at that. "My colors are a bit different, and my proportions a bit elongated, to fit yours. As for you... isn't it obvious? You'd have to be a pony."