> The Undying Angel
>  by Show Stopper
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Birth of an Angel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!"

Angel Johnson ignored the pounding on the wall of her hotel room and the shout for her to be quiet. In the face of this issue, she couldn't care less about how loud she was.

"What a rip-off! I can't believe I paid so much for this useless piece of crap!" She tossed the object of her ire across her bed and buried her face in her pillow to muffle her scream of frustration. Should have known, she thought. I mean, that guy was super shady. But he really seemed to know what he was talking about! She looked up and glared at the object resting at the foot of her bed.

It was a laptop, and a rather nice one at that. Even an old man stuck in the days of floppy disks and gray-scale television could have seen that this was a rather impressive piece of technology. Sleek, thin, and with a battery that was advertised to last for a week before needing to be recharged, it was a marvel of modern electronics. Angel had been more than happy to pay a meager 2,000 dollars for it at the anime convention. There was just one problem...

"I mean, who sells a laptop in Texas, and switches the language to Japanese?! How am I supposed to do anything with this? Ugh!" Angel rolled over, brushing the white hair from her wig out of her eyes. "I don't even know anyone who speaks Japanese. I mean, there's probably some program that will let me change the language that everything's in, but how am I supposed to find it?" She spared the laptop one last glare before sighing and heading for the bathroom. Screw it. I need to cool off a bit. Entering the cramped hotel bathroom, she turned on the faucet and splashed some cool water onto her face. Drying it off, she took the chance to look herself over in the mirror.

At least this trip wasn't a complete waste, she thought, smirking at herself. I'm a shoe-in for the cosplay contest. She stepped back and admired her costume. She wore an off-white japanese school uniform with a brown skirt. Her white wig fell all the way down her back, and the gold contacts in her eyes gleamed almost unnaturally. Apart from her winning smirk, she was the spitting image of Kanade Tachibana (aka, Angel) form Angel Beats.

"Hmph," she grunted, turning back into the main room. "No way anyone can beat this. They might be more flashy with all of their weapons and props, but no-one else has accuracy down like I do. Really, there's no competition this year. Nothing can bring me down!"

Another series of knocks on her wall and an annoyed shout made her cringe. "Well, almost nothing." She glared at the walls and, in her mind, at the inconsiderate jerks on the other side. She then turned her glare to the laptop that still sat open on her bed. "And then there's you," she said, walking over and picking it up. "I swear, I never should have..."

Angel trailed off as she noticed something on the screen, a text box that hadn't been there before. And, most surprisingly, it was in perfectly legible English.




Do you want to proceed?
Yes    No




Proceed? Proceed with what? Angel shrugged and selected "Yes". Another small window appeared, showing a download progress bar that was slowly filling up. Very slowly. Seeing that it likely wouldn't finish until about midnight, Angel set the laptop on a nearby desk, the only other piece of furniture in the room, and flopped down on her bed. "Not like I had any choice," she muttered. "Stupid thing was the only thing in English." She let out a large yawn before snuggling into her pillow.

Right as she was about to fall asleep, a buzzing noise sounded from her pocket. She groaned and brought out her phone, flipping it open to see a text from her mother, asking how she had enjoyed her first day at the con. Angel smiled and typed out a quick reply, telling her mom that it had been fun and that she'd call the next morning to tell her all about it. Message sent, she snuggled once again into her pillow, quickly drifting off to sleep.

The hours passed as Angel slept, the light of the rising moon blocked out by her curtains. The only light in the room was that of her new computer screen, the download bar slowly filling. It finished filling at midnight, just as the full moon reached its zenith. A new window appeared, a two lines of text standing ready to be read when Angel awoke.


__________


Police sirens blared in downtown Dallas in the early morning before dawn. Police had set up a barrier surrounding a cheep hotel, allowing no-one in except for the ambulance that arrived on-scene a moment later. Officers swarmed the place, taking statements from everyone there, staff and guests alike.

A detective from the DPD stood on the ground floor, observing the wreckage in front of them where room 113 had been.

"What do you make of it, detective?" asked a nearby officer.

The detective sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, I have no idea. There isn't nearly enough debris here for two rooms, and no sign of this rooms occupant. It's as if the room here just up and vanished, and the one above collapsed when the support beneath it disappeared."

"Do we know if anyone was staying here?"

The detective nodded. "A young woman named Angel Johnson. Age 16. She was staying here alone for the anime con. Lives up north in Plano. Her family will have to be told about this. It's possible that she wasn't in her room at the time, but unlikely. The receptionist remembers seeing her come in, and her neighbors were complaining about the noise she was making last night. There was no reason for her to go out. We'll go over the security footage to be sure, but..." He sighed again. "Whatever happened to that room, probably happened to her too." The detective walked away, leaving the officer to stare at the pile of rubble.


__________


A changeling crawled southward, away from the sleepy village behind him. His wings were torn to ribbons, and he was bleeding from several deep stab wounds. The moon above was his only companion as he slowly made his way through the blessedly cool grass.

"Curse them," he muttered, dragging his body a few more inches across the ground. "Curse them to Tartarus. Twelve years I've lived there and never caused a problem. Just took enough love from the air to stay healthy. But do they care? Feh, should have ditched town as soon as the Tyrant's student moved in. Should have known they'd be more active. Should have known."

The moon overhead became blocked as he crawled beneath a massive cloud house. Well, cloud mansion probably would have been a better description.

Maybe I'll just rest here for the night, he thought. Yeah, just change into a dog at dawn and let myself be discovered. I bet whoever lives here will be willing to help me. Ponies are good like that. They help anyone who needs it. Eveypony except them, that is.

The changeling grew dizzy as he lay there, staring up at the mansion above him. His eyes drifted down and across the field, taking in the distant forest, the grass rustling in the breeze, the cottage on the ground next to him, the...

The changeling snapped to attention, instantly regretting it as the dizziness threatened to take him down for the count. He slowly crawled his way over to the cottage that he was sure hadn't been there a moment ago. Using most of his remaining strength, he pulled himself up to look through the window. The curtains were closed, only a small crack allowing him to see inside. Inside the cottage was dark, except for a rectangle of light that glowed brightly. In this light, there was a second, smaller rectangle with two lines of words printed on it.




Process complete.
Welcome to Equestria, Angel.



> Welcome to Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel sighed happily as consciousness slowly returned to her. She snuggled more deeply into her pillow, content to doze for a few more minutes. She wasn't sure why she'd woken up before her phone's alarm had gone off, but she was planning to take full advantage of her comfortable bed.

*BANG BANG BANG*

She let out another sigh, this one of annoyance, and lifted her head to glare at the hotel room's door. Who the hell is knocking at... She reached over to her phone and looked at the screen, jumping straight up as she saw the time. Eleven thirty?! what the hell! She jumped off her bed, grateful that she'd slept in her costume for some reason. The contest's at noon! She thought, quickly grabbing a pop-tart from her backpack and running to the door as she stuffed it in her mouth. If I hurry, I can make it. I just have to...


Five Minutes Earlier


Rainbow mumbled in her sleep, smiling happily as she dreamed of the Wonderbolts. She rolled over, landing her head in the one patch of sunlight that had managed to pierce the veil of her curtains. She grimaced as she awoke, shielding her eyes and cursing Celestia for bringing the sun out at the unfaustly hour of - she looked over at the clock on the wall - 11:25. She didn't have to be anywhere until 3:00 that afternoon, and couldn't understand why something so unimportant as the regular path of the sun should be allowed to interrupt her sleep. Groaning as she got up, she stretched out her back before jumping out of bed and gliding the familiar path down to her kitchen.

"Let's see," she muttered, rummaging through her fridge. "Hm. Lots of ingredients, but I'm really not in the mood to cook this morning. No leftovers to heat up... screw it." She slammed the fridge closed, kicking downward to disperse the cloud right beneath her hooves. "I'm going to Sugarcube Corner," she muttered, quickly turning her free-fall into a glide as she glanced around for any nearby clouds to patch up the new hole in her floor. "She did say she was working on a new muffin recipe. I hope she still has some left. I swear, if Derpy got to them all again, I'm gonna..."

She trailed off as she noticed something strange in the field beneath her house. When she'd moved to Ponyville from Cloudsdale, she'd chosen this field specifically because there was nothing in it. No houses, no roads, and it was far enough away from town that nopony would accidentally wander into it. All of which meant that there should be no reason for there to be a weirdly cuboidal cottage sitting right beneath her house.

"What the hay?" she muttered, flying down. The closer she got, the less the building looked like a house. If anything, it looked like somepony had cut out one of those cramped apartments from Manehattan and stuck it in the middle of the field. The walls were undecorated and bland, with only a tall door on one side and a window on the other. The roof was completely flat, too, a poor design for Ponyville which got reasonably heavy snowfalls every winter. Her curiosity peaked, Rainbow flew up to the door and knocked, determined to find out just who would park such a weird box house right in the middle of her field.

There was a moment of silence as Rainbow hovered there before she caught the sound of a large gasp and some frantic scrambling on the other side of the door. Rainbow darted back slightly as the door slammed open, revealing the strangest creature she'd ever seen.


***


Huh. So that's what it feels like when you realize that you're dreaming. Angel stared at the polychromatic maned pegasus hovering outside her door, her pop-tart still stuffed in her mouth. Yes. A dream. That must be it. After all, there's no way that that's actually Rainbow freaking Dash outside. Huh. She shrugged, biting off the piece of pastry in her mouth before quickly chewing and swallowing. She cleared her throat and casually leaned against the doorway. First impressions were very important after all, even in a dream. I think? "Yo. Rainbow Dash, right?"

Rainbow blinked, eyeing Angel wearily. "Yeeeah," she replied, drawing out the word, suspicion obvious in her voice. "But how did you know that? And who are you, anyway? Heck, what are you?"

"Name's Angel," Angel replied. "Human being. As for how I knew you, that's obvious. How could I not recognize best pony?"

Rainbow's suspicion and shock were quickly replaced with pride. She casually buffed a hoof against her chest. "Yeah, well, don't go stating the obvious too much."

Angel grinned, holding back a fangirlish squeal. She wasn't as into My Little Pony as some of her other Otaku friends, but she'd always loved the fast, cool and awesome Rainbow Dash. Although, she thought, there is one other pony I'd really like to meet. "Hey," she said, drawing Rainbow's attention away from her own ego, "do you think you could introduce me to Fluttershy?"

"Um, sure?" said Rainbow, thrown off a bit by the change in topic. "But, why do you want to- wait! How do you even know who Fluttershy is? I mean, I guess it's kind of obvious that you would know who I am, what with how awesome I am, but how do you know Fluttershy?"

Damn it, dream! Angel thought, rolling her eyes. Why'd you have to give me season one Rainbow? Any reply she might have given was cut off as a high pitched whine reached their ears. They both turned to see a mangy brown dog limping around the corner of Angel's hotel-room-turned-cottage. "Um, that's why," said Angel. "My dog... spot is hurt, and I was told that Fluttershy would be able to help him.

Rainbow fluttered over to the dog, looking him over for a bit before nodding to Angel. "Alright, I'll go and get her." She zipped back up, placing a hoof on Angel's chest. "But don't think this means I trust you. Your house showed up out of nowhere, and you were a bit too slow remembering your own dog's name. I've got my eye on you."

Angel rolled her eyes as Rainbow zoomed off. "Yeah, season one Rainbow Dash, alright." She sighed and turned to look at the dog. "Guess that was pretty cool of my dream, though. I want to see Fluttershy, and I get a reason for her to show up. Huh, I wonder." She looked at her arm, holding it sideways in front of her. Well, I am dressed as Angel. "Guard Skill - Hand Sonic." In a flash of light and a chiming of electronic notes, a blade appeared over her hand. "Niiiice," she said, swinging her new blade around. "Geeze, I think I can actually feel things with this. I wonder... Guard Skill - Angel Wings." The flash and chime repeated as two large white wings appeared on her back. She stared in awe over her shoulder, flexing them experimentally.

"Okay, this is really trippy," she said giving a few flaps and reaching up to feel along the edge of it with her hand, shivering as she did so. "Wow, I can definitely feel that. And how do I know how to control these things anyway? Eh," she shrugged, glancing down at "Spot". "That's what makes it a dream, I guess. Though I wish my brain had given me a better dog than this mutt. Seriously, would it have been too much for my subconscious to spring for a german shepherd or something?" She looked over her shoulder again, eyeing her wings critically. "Well, I know that they couldn't actually fly in the anime, but, well, this is a dream, right? Anything I can imagine. Hm, better get a good jumping spot, first, though. That's supposed to help, right?" She looked around, her gaze landing on her new cottage. A smile crept onto her face. "That'll do."


***


"Come on! This way! Hurry uuuuuup!"

"Rainbow Dash, would you just be quiet for one cotton-pickin' minute? Some of us don't have wings, you know!"

Rainbow groaned as her friends struggled to keep up with her. She'd flown straight to Fluttershy's cottage only to find Rarity there as well talking with her about some frou-frou spa stuff. She'd sent them over to her house and taken a side trip to Sweet Apple Acres, figuring that having Applejack there might be a good idea just in case this "Angel" was dangerous. Not that she wouldn't be able to take her on by herself - she was Rainbow Danger Dash, after all - but it was always a good idea to have backup. They'd caught up with Fluttershy and Rarity just as they'd run into Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville, and now all of them were running for her house along with Pinkie Pie who had turned up... sometime. That mare was a weird one.

Unfortunately for Rainbow, they were running, and while Applejack was quick enough for Rainbow to get excited for the Running of the Leaves in a couple of month, the rest of the girls weren't nearly as fast.

"I just don't want to to disappear," said Rainbow. "We have to hurry. Her house appeared out of nowhere last night. Who knows if it will move again?"

"Rainbow Dash, calm down," said Twilight, rolling her eyes. "I highly doubt this 'Angel' is going to up and vanish along with her house. Performing a teleport that powerful would take a complex spell array which would require at least 20 square yards of level ground, not to mention the hours it would take to work out the calculations and draw out the necessary formulas. Even the Princess, er, Princess Celestia wouldn't be able to work that quickly."

"Heh. Still gettin' used to there bein' two princesses, Sugarcube?"

Twilight sighed, shaking her head. "To be honest, yes. It's still hard to imagine Princess Celestia not ruling by herself. I mean, I'm sure Princess Luna will do fine once she gets caught up on modern Equestria, but it does take some getting used to."

"Oh I understand completely, darling," said Rarity. "Why, the fashion world has been in an uproar ever since Princess Luna returned. Everything making even a passing reference to 'royalty' or 'princess' has had to be renamed to specify Princess Celestia. And don't get me started on everything that's been done to compensate for a new princess to make sure she's not getting slighted. It's been just so hectic!"

"Really?" asked Fluttershy. "I mean, not to doubt you or anything, but all the magazines I've read have said that everypony has been celebrating. They say that another Princess just gives them more inspiration and more to work with, and that they're finally able to market darker colors." Seeing Rarity's appraising look, she ducked back under her bangs. "I-I mean, that's just what I've heard."

"Yes, well, appearances are very important in the fashion industry," Rarity replied. "It's been a very quiet panic. But believe me, while everypony says that they're calm and collected, they're loosing their minds behind closed doors trying to out-do each other, or just trying to keep up. Honestly, it makes me a little relieved that all I have is my small shop here in Ponyville. I'd absolutely hate to be a big name in the middle of this crisis."

"Ugh!" shouted Rainbow, dragging her hooves down her face. "Would you two please stop talking about clothes and start picking up the pace?"

"Aw, don't worry Dashie!" said Pinkie, pronking along beside her friends and somehow keeping pace. "There's no way she'll disappear that quickly. Trust me, it'll be at least two seasons before she leaves."

"Two seasons?" asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow.

"Well sure," said Pinkie. "Ponyville's absolutely beautiful in the fall. You'd have to be crazy to move out then! And everypony knows how hard it is to move in the middle of winter. Whoever she is, she's here to stay at least until spring!"

"Oh," said Twilight. "I just thought it might have something to do with, you know..."

"My Pinkie Sense?" Twilight nodded, looking away sheepishly while Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Twilight, not everything I know comes from my Pinkie Sense. I do have other sources."

"Who cares about how Pinkie Pie does or knows things?!" shouted Rainbow. "Come on, let's move! Mysterious creature! Strange house!" A slightly evil grin found its way onto her face as she glanced at Fluttershy. "Hurt dog."

*GASP* "Oh my gosh!" shouted Fluttershy, almost rising to normal speaking levels. "You're right! We need to hurry!"


***


"You know, I kind of thought that I'd see something more surreal from up here."

Angel stood on the roof of her room, looking around at the field and what lay beyond. There, not too far away, was the town from the show: Ponyville. Then of course there was the dark and rather foreboding wood that could only be the Everfree Forest. Angel felt a shudder run down her spine as she looked at the trees.

"Ugh, even in my dreams that place is creepy. Definitely season one, back when that place was still scary." She walked up to the edge of the roof and turned around, spreading her wings wide. "Well, no time like the present!" She crouched down, getting ready to run, and noticed a group of ponies approaching from the direction of Ponyville. "Ah, the Mane 6 approach. Well, let's give them a show!" She took of running across the roof, jumping off as she reached the edge and spreading her wings wide, flapping with all of the strength she could muster. For just a moment, she felt the ecstatic joy of flight, her body stretched out and her wings carrying her through the air.

That moment passed as she began to descend, the ground rushing up to meet her. Confusion reigned in her mind, the relatively short fall leaving no time for fear to set in. The last thing she saw was her arms hitting the ground, her forearms snapping and her still extended hand sonic rushing up to her face.


***


Fluttershy gasped as she saw the strange creature hit the ground and go tumbling. She rushed forward, flying as fast as her wings could carry her. She landed by Angel's side, turning her over onto her back and shrieking at the sight.

"Fluttershy!" yelled Twilight as the rest of the girls rushed forward. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Stay back!" shouted Fluttershy, turning to face them, eyes full of tears. "Don't look! It's... oh it's just too horrible!"

"Fluttershy, what are you... oh." Heedless of Fluttershy's warning, Rainbow had rushed forward and was now looking down at Angel, a blade embedded in her face. "Tha- that's um... uh, wow. I... I think I'm gonna be-" She didn't get to finish as she landed on the ground, retching out last night's dinner.

"F-Fluttershy?" asked Rarity, voice wavering as she and the rest of the girls kept their distance. "Is... is she..." Her white face went even paler at Fluttershy's nod.

"Y-yeah," rasped Rainbow, looking pointedly away from the carnage. "It um, it looks like she got a sword somehow and uh, decided to headbutt it. Edge first."

Silence reigned for a moment, broken only be Fluttershy's sobs and Rainbow's coughs as she tried to clear the last of the sic from her throat. Finally, Applejack stepped forward, sparing Angel's body a sickened glance before placing a foreleg around Fluttershy's shoulders. "Come on, Sugarcube. Let's get you away from this."

Fluttershy shook her head, sniffing and wiping her eyes with her forehoof. "We- we can't just l-leave her here like this. A-and there's still a d-dog that needs h-help."

Applejack looked down at the body, grimacing before she swept off her hat. She placed it over Angel's face, covering the worst of the damage before turning to Rainbow. "You good enough to help me haul a cart over from the farm?"

Rainbow looked over, shuddering as her gaze landed on Angel's body, a small pool of blood beginning to form around it. "Y-yeah. Sure. Guess we shouldn't just leave her here."

"I'll come with you!" Rarity volunteered hastily. "I mean, if we're going to do this right, we should have some sort of cover for her, right? I- I may have some old fabric that I could use to- to cover her." Rarity turned and ran for town while Rainbow and Applejack rushed to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Why don't you let me watch over her, Fluttershy," said Twilight, sitting down beside her. "You and Pinkie can go and find that dog and help him."

"O-oh no," said Fluttershy, slowly gaining control again. "I couldn't ask you to do that. I mean, I have some experience with this from... from other animals..." She whimpered, bursting into fresh tears.

"Don't worry about me," said Twilight, pulling Fluttershy into a tight hug. "I... I have a bit of experience with this sort of thing too." She shuddered, thinking back to Canterlot. "Princess Celestia always presided over the funerals of any of the guard who died on duty. There haven't been a lot, only three since I became her student, but one of them was..." She shook her head, trying to clear out the mental image of the body that had been found on the edge of the Everfree. "A-anyway, I'll be fine. Go and find that dog with Pinkie."

"Yeah, come on Fluttershy," said Pinkie, trying to maintain a cheerful attitude even as her mane began to deflate. "Let's go find that puppy wuppy and help him feel all better. Won't that be nice?"

Fluttershy looked back and forth between Twilight, Pinkie and the body before nodding. Giving Twilight one last squeeze, she stood up and headed off with Pinkie to start checking in and around the strange house nearby. Twilight watched them walk off, feeling her gaze drawn to the body several times before she snapped her eyes back up, either watching for Fluttershy and Pinkie to return, or watching Ponyville for any sign of the others. Finally, after the eleventh time she caught herself looking at the body, she gave in to her curiosity. Lighting her horn and making sure that nopony had come back yet, she lifted the hat off of Angel's face to see the damage for herself.

Angel's expression of shock and confusion was bisected by the blade that ran from her chin to her forehead, just slightly at an angle. Blood had stopped pouring from the wound, but what had already flowed out now coated her mane and face, a face smashed by the impact. Twilight's magic cut out almost immediately, dropping the hat back into place as she turned away from the grisly sight. Unfortunately, the rest of the corpse still lay semi-exposed for her to see. Angel's clothes covered the actual wounds, but her limbs, especially her arms, bent at sharp angles at places where Twilight was fairly certain there weren't supposed to be joints.

She had no further problem keeping her eyes off the body until Applejack and Rainbow returned.


***


A somber mood covered Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh and Granny Smith had been clued in to what was currently taking up residence in their barn. Apple Bloom had meanwhile been sent into Ponyville for an impromptu sleepover at Rarity's. Fluttershy had taken the wounded german shepherd home with her while Pinkie returned home to Sugarcube Corner. Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow sat around the table in the Apple family's dining room, mulling over the situation: more specifically, what to do with the body.

Said body lay under a white sheet, still in the cart. Angel's blade had been maneuvered out of her face and her limbs straightened as much as Twilight and Fluttershy could stomach, but the bloody body was still obviously broken. A couple of rats, smelling the beginning decay, scurried onto to the cart and over to the sheet and began sniffing it curiously.

*GASP*

The two rats scurried away, startled as the figure beneath the sheet sat up, frantically running her hands over her face. Angel sighed in relief, lying back down. Just a dream. A strange, rather horribly ending dream. Heh, as if I could actually get Angel's powers and land in Equestria. She shifted around, trying to get comfortable on her hard wooden bed.

"Wait. What?"

Angel threw off the sheet, sitting up and looking around. Rather than her bed, she found that she was lying on an aged wooden cart. Large wooden walls surrounded her, rising up to meet a raftered ceiling. Various stalls and a few piles of hay told her that she was in some sort of barn, and an overwhelming fruity smell gave her a hint as to who's barn it was. Slowly, her eyes fell to her arm and the bloody sword blade that was still attached at the wrist.

"O-okay. Not a dream, then. Um, how do I make this thing-" She was cut off by a familiar flash and tone as the hand sonic disappeared, leaving no trace that it had ever been there. Angel looked over her shoulder at her wings, willing them to retract as well.

Okay, she thought as her wings vanished. Okay okay. Just... calm down, Angel. There has to be a logical, reasonable explanation for this. I mean, people don't just up and teleport into cartoons and get superpowers out of nowhere, right? She stood up, jumping out of the cart and looking towards the large doors. Well, only one way to know for sure. She walked over to the barn doors, took a deep breath, and pushed them open.


***


"Absolutely not! No way no how are we burryin' that thing out in the acres."

"Applejack, be practical. It's not like there's anywhere else we can take her."

"You aren't winning this one, Twi. You know how stubborn AJ can be about her farm. I still say we just toss her in the river or Ghastly Gorge and be done with it."

"Consarn it, Rainbow Dash! We can't do that to her. Whatever she was, she was a livin', thinkin' being. We need to give her the respect of a proper burial."

"Well, where are we supposed to bury her then, huh? We don't want anypony else to have to see her like that, and you're not letting us use the Acres. So unless we want to drag her into the Everfree..."

Rainbow, Applejack and Twilight shuddered at the thought of spending that much time in those sinister woods. They'd been sitting around the table in Applejack's dining room for the last ten minutes, trying to figure out what to do with Angel's body. So far, the conversation had just gone round in an endless circle.

"Well, she can't just stay in the barn," muttered Applejack. "We'll be neadin' it before too long, and I don't want Apple Bloom walkin' in on a sight like that. I still don't see why we don't just hoof her over to Fluttershy. She's got to have handled buryin' animals before."

Rainbow slammed her hooves on the table, glaring at Applejack. "Are you kidding! You saw how upset the was when she saw her. No way am I letting Fluttershy anywhere near this mess again."

"Well, what are we going to do then?" shouted Twilight. She stood up and began to pace, her mane starting to become frazzled. "We can't leave her here. We can't figure out anywhere to bury her. And we can't just throw her into the woods or the river. What are we supposed to do?"

"Um, maybe ask the person you're trying to get rid of?"

Twilight shrieked and vanished in a flash of light, appearing on the other side of the table, her coat slightly charred. She, Rainbow and Applejack stared at the bipedal figure that stood awkwardly in the doorway, rubbing one arm with the other.

Angel grinned nervously as the three ponies stared at her, jaws hanging and eyes wide. "Um... hi?"
> Welcome to the Multiverse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"ZOMBIE!!!"

Angel eeped and dropped to the floor as Rainbow shot past her and out the door. Unfortunately for her, the pegasus hadn't been The only one to jump to that conclusion. Twilight gripped the table in her magic, flipping it over and sending it slamming down. Angel barely managed to roll out of the way, only to find two orange hooves raised above her head and ready to slam down.

"Delay!" Angel shouted. Applejack's hooves smashed down thorough Angel's afterimage, the real Angel displaced to the side and jumping to her feet. She turned and rushed out the door, ducking again as Rainbow made another pass.

"Not a zombie! Not a zombie! NOT A ZOMBIE!!!" Angel's shouts fell on deaf ears as the trio of ponies persued her. She rushed back to the barn where she'd awoken, slamming the doors shut behind her and throwing the wooden beam across them. She backed away from the doors, breathing heavily. She jumped and squeaked in fear as the sound of twin hooves smashing into the doors assaulted her ears.

"Not good. Not good. Not good." Angel looked around in panic, searching for another way out. "I really really really don't want to get killed by my little ponies." She scanned the barn for anything that might get her put of this: bales of hay, a few empty barrels, a Kingdom Hearts keychain floating in the air...

"Huh?" Angel cautiously approached the keychain which hovered and rotated in the middle of the barn. She reached out and grabbed the keychain. She immediately heard a strong and confident voice in her mind.

“I am the Warrior of Light, enemy of darkness and all who walk within. If you find yourself trapped by the shadows and cannot find the light, call on my name, the name of Sora, and I will answer.”

The doors finally smashed open and Angel cried out in terror. "Sora! Help me!"


***


"I don't know," Sora muttered, staring down at the necklace. "You sure Luna will like this?"

"Oh absolutely," the pony replied. "This necklace was given to my great-great-great-great-to-many-to-remember-great grand-pappy by the Princess herself. Used to be one of her favorite pieces when she was but a filly, the way my family tells it."

Sora was dubious of the crystal pony's claim, but the necklace was beautiful and would match Luna's eyes wonderfully. Besides, all the pony wanted was a guaranteed audience with Princess Twilight next week, something that was almost guaranteed anyway on any given day.

"Alright, you've got a deal. I'll make sure Twilight has time in her schedule for-"

Sora! Help me!

Sora paused. "Hold that thought. I'll be right back." And in a flash of light, he vanished.


***


Angel dodged back and forth using Delay, barely able to avoid Applejack and Rainbow's blows. Twilight had calmed down and was shouting for them to stop, but they either hadn't heard her or didn't care. Angel ducked, leapt, danced and delayed all across the barn, but it was mostly luck that kept her alive.

That luck ran out as she tripped over a barrel, stumbling to the ground. She looked up to see Applejack's hooves about to slam down on her as Rainbow dove from the side. She covered her head, praying for a miracle.

"Ow! What the- GAH!" *CRASH*

Angel lifted her arms, peaking out from beneath them. Applejack was on her back, having somehow topped off-balance, and Twilight was staring in shock off to the side. Angel turned to look and felt her jaw drop. Through a large hole in the barn wall stuck Rainbow's lower half and a pair of human legs ending in familiar dorky clown shoes.

"Hit in the chest by AJ, and pummeled through a wall by Rainbow... Dash," came the voice Angel had heard in her head earlier. "Wonderful first impression, Sora. Almost as good as Luna's." The human shoved a dizzy Rainbow off and pulled himself back up through the wall. He was a young man who stood little taller than Angel with a head of spiky brown hair. His eyes were a piercing blue that quickly surveyed the scene before falling on Angel. "I assume you're the one who summoned me?"

"Wh- what the hay are you?" Applejack rolled onto her hooves, quickly turning so she could keep both humans in sight. "Are you some sort o' zombie too?"

Sora raised an eyebrow before mouthing the word "Zombie?" to Angel.

Angel scrambled to her feet, brushing some of the dust from her uniform. "I'm not a zombie!" she defended, blushing. "I just... don't die for long."

"Sounds like a zombie to me."

Sora sighed, shaking his head. "Oh AJ, still so young and judgmental. Well, that gives me a good idea of what time I'm working in." He glanced over at Twilight. "Though Twi's a pretty obvious hint."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're still in early Season 1," Angel agreed, shifting away from Applejack and towards Sora. "Think you can get them to stop attacking me?"

"Take this you freaking ugly minotaur zombies!"

Sora stepped out of Rainbow's way, grabbing her tail as she soared past and bringing her to an abrupt halt. "Bad pony," he said, bringing Rainbow up face to face with him. "No attacking humans. Bad. No cider for you."

Twilight cleared her throat, still standing in the doorway of the barn. "I think we all need to calm down. Rainbow, Applejack, I don't think they're zombies. Zombies don't even exist."

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow jeered. "Then how do you explain her," she pointed at Angel, "coming back to life after getting her head split open?"

Sora blinked, raising an eyebrow at Angel once again. "Something to do with who you were cosplayed as, I assume?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah. I... I think I somehow became Kanade Tachibana from Angel Beats. She doesn't really die for long."

Sora nodded. "Well, that explains that. Sort of." He turned his attention back to Rainbow. "Now, if I let go, do you promise not to attack us again?"

Rainbow folded her arms, glaring as she hung by her tail. "That depends. You gonna explain what the hay is going on here?"


***


"We're called, 'The Displaced'." Sora explained. He and Angel sat across from each other in the Apple Family's dining room, the three ponies sitting on the other two sides. "I've met a few others over the last few years, and our stories are all the same. We all went to some sort of convention, bought something from a creepy merchant, and somehow wound up in some version of Equestria. Does that sound about right?"

Angel nodded. "It was an anime convention in Dallas. I bought a laptop from him. Do you know who he is? Or how to get back home?"

Sora shook his head. "No on both counts," he admitted. "We all just call him 'The Merchant', though some of us have more... colorful names for him. And I haven't heard of anyone managing to find a way back to Earth. Not that I've really tried." He shrugged, smiling slightly. "My Equestria's been 'home' to me for the last three thousand years."

"Th-three thousand!?"

"Give or take. A little over a third of that was spent trapped in stone due to a small misunderstanding, but yeah." He turned to Twilight, letting Angel absorb that information. "So what's your side of it? I thought you were a little too academic to believe in zombies. Unless that's an actual thing in this universe."

Twilight shook her head, looking sheepish. "No, no zombies here. We kind of over-reacted because..." She glanced at Angel and shuddered. "Well, it's like Rainbow said in the barn, she was dead when we found her. Her limbs were broken and her face was... well, she was in pretty bad shape. When she walked in here without a scratch, we thought that she was, well..." Her face flushed and she looked down, muttering incoherently.

"Shucks, Twi. No need to be embarrassed by it," Applejack said. "Heck, even if she ain't a zombie, she still came back from the dead. That just ain't natural. Ain't like we were goin' to act any other way with that happenin'."

"Very little about us Displaced is natural," Sora agreed. "Take me for example. I can summon a giant key-sword-thing that shoots magic and attacks living darkness. I've met a primordial dragon, a guy who can shoot spider-webs from his wrists, and even a slenderman." He raised his hands reassuringly as Angel paled. "He's cool. His name's Jeremy. One of my most unique keyblades came from his token."

"His what?"

Sora summoned his Kingdom Key, much to the shock of the ponies present. "Tokens," he pointed to the keychain, "like the one you used to summon me, are how we Displaced interact with each other. You give it a piece of your power, toss it into the void, and it scatters to various other Displaced. You'll want to make one for yourself." He dismissed his keyblade, folding his arms on the table and leaning forward. "Trust me, you don't want to be alone in Equestria. I'm guessing that you know the... origins of this world, but every Equestria is at least slightly different than the one you knew before. Mine is full of heartless, Jeremy's is anthro, and things just get stranger from there. The native ponies might be able to deal with Equestria's standard threats, but there might be other things that are unique to this one. If you can't handle them yourself, you'll want some strong allies."

"Wait a minute," Twilight interrupted. "What do you mean, 'standard threats'? What could possibly threaten Equestria that Princess Cel- that the Princesses couldn't handle?"

"There are many ancient evils that the Royal Siblings never destroyed," Sora answered. "Plenty of threats were simply sealed away or defeated for a time, and they had the Elements of Harmony to help them back then. That responsibility now falls to you and your friends. I'm afraid Nightmare Moon wasn't the end of it.

"And that's not even counting whatever new threats come in that are unique," he continued. "There are heartless in my Equestria that the Royal Siblings just can't handle. I don't know anything about Angel Beats, but whatever threats existed there will probably start popping up now."

Angel was silent for a moment, considering the anime. Sure there were those shadow monsters that had appeared towards the end, but it wasn't likely that they would have a reason to exist in Equestria. Unless other humans started arriving and causing trouble, the world of Angel Beats shouldn't cause any problems. Still, she would have to keep an eye out for any of those 'unique threats' that her own Equestria might have.

"So, how do I create a token?" she asked.

"Pick something that represents you," Sora replied. "It can be anything, really."

Angel nodded, standing up and moving her chair back a bit. "Angel Wings." An electronic chime sounded as a pair of white wings sprouted from her back. She reached her arm back, grabbing a feather and pulling hard. She winced as the feather tore out. "How's this?" she asked, holding it out.

"That should work. Now, just concentrate your power into it and imbue it with a message."

"Right." Angel turned her attention back to the feather, staring at it for a moment before looking back at Sora. "And how do I do that?"

"...with your magic?"

"Oh." Angel flinched. "That might be a problem then. Tachibana didn't have magic."

"Wait a minute!" Rainbow interjected. "You're telling me that you came back from the dead, turned your arm into a sword, and grew wings, but you didn't use magic? That's a load of horseapples."

"Well it's true!" Angel defended. "All of her abilities were self-programmed after she hacked into the system that ran the limbo world."

"Self-programmed?" Sora asked. "Didn't you say that you bought a laptop from the Merchant?"


***


"You know, it occurs to me that this couldn't have been healthy for the apartment complex."

Sora and Angel walked towards Angel's new cottage. Applejack had remained behind to explain to her family what was going on while Rainbow flew off to inform the others. Twilight had rushed home to get Spike and "research materials."

"Most buildings tend to collapse a bit when you scoop out an entire room," Sora agreed. "Which floor were you on?"

"First," Angel replied, opening the door and stepping inside. "But it was only a two-story complex and I don't think anyone was staying above me. Now, let's see that laptop."

The laptop sat on the desk, its two lines of text still waiting. Angel grumbled in annoyance and closed out the window. She looked over the screen, relieved to find that the laptop had translated itself into English. Most of the programs were familiar, but one stood out from the others. Angel clicked on the program labeled "Angel Player" and grinned at the semi-familiar screen. "Jackpot! This is the program that Tachibana used to get her abilities. I recognize all of these except..." She clicked on a tab labeled "Token Creation." A window of thick programming text appeared on the right as a more readable one popped up on the right.




Guard Skill: Token Creation
Function: imbues any mundane object with the power of the void, transforming it into a token and distributing it throughout the void.
Command(3): Token Create; Token Message; Token Distribute
Token Create: imbues any object held in the user's hand with the power of the void, transforming it into a token.
Token Message: begins recording the user's voice, attaching the recording to any token in the user's hand. Recording ends when the user says "Message End."
Token Distribute: takes any token from the user's hand and distributes it throughout the multiverse.




"Seems pretty straightforward," Angel said, backing up and holding out the feather that she'd pulled earlier. "Token Create." The feather began glowing faintly and Angel could feel a comfortable warmth radiating from it. "So far so good. Let's see..." She cleared her throat, speaking clearly and confidently. "Token Message. This feather is taken from the wing of the undying Angel. Call on me if you need a hand or just want to talk. If anyone knows how to return to Earth, let me know. Message End." She turned to Sora, grinning. "How was that?"

"A little dramatic with the title there," Sora replied, smirking. "Undying Angel?"

"Wh-what?" Angel blushed, looking away. "I thought it sounded cool."

Sora laughed, reaching over and patting her shoulder. "It's fine. Just meant that people will be surprised when they get a high-schooler instead of a valkyrie."

Angel grumbled a bit before muttering, "Token Distribute." The feather vanished instantly.

"That'll do it." Sora backed up giving a loose salute. "I should probably be getting back to my world. Let me know if you need anything. May you always walk in the path of light."

Angel snorted as Sora vanished in a flash of light. "And called me dramatic?" She pulled Sora's token back out, looking it over. "Guess I'll have to be on the lookout for more of these." Her musings were interrupted by a knock on her door. Angel pocketed the keychain before walking over and opening the door. "Oh. Hi, Twilight. What's up?"

"Rainbow's house," Twilight quipped, a pair of saddlebags sitting on her back. "Can I come in? Is Sora still here?"

Angel stepped aside, allowing Twilight to enter. "Just missed him. He just went back to his world."

Twilight frowned but quickly shrugged it off. "Oh well. I guess I'll just catch him next time."

"Catch him for what?"

Twilight grinned as she levitated a long scroll and a quill from her saddlebags. "Research!"

*****

It had taken less than an hour for Angel to tire of Twilight's barrage of questions about humans. She'd eventually pointed Twilight to her laptop, showing her how to search the internet and telling her to go nuts. It hadn't taken Angel long to realize that her new computer didn't actually have live access to the internet, but it had somehow saved a copy of the internet at the time of her displacement.

"So much for trying to contact home that way," she grumbled as Skype refused to connect. Another knock sounded on her door and she left Twilight to her research to answer it. The door opened to reveal Fluttershy trying to hide behind her bangs, a beautiful, if slightly bandaged, golden retriever at her side. "Hi there," Angel said softly, kneeling down to eye-level. "You're Fluttershy, right?"

"Um, yes. Th-that is, um, I am." Angel fought to hold in a squee as Fluttershy shuffled nervously from hoof to hoof. "I just wanted to return your dog, i-if that's okay with you."

Angel looked over at the golden retriever at Fluttershy's side. She was fairly sure it had been a ragged mutt before, but then, she'd thought that the whole thing was a dream back then and hadn't paid much attention. Besides, even if it wasn't the dog from before, Angel had always wanted one.

"Thanks, Fluttershy," she said, leaning to the side to let "Spot" in. "My name's Angel, by the way. It's nice to-"

"Mmh! Oh yeah. More. Moooore."

Angel's face flushed as she stood ramrod straight. "Nicetomeetyougottogobye!" Angel slammed the door, turning to find a similarly flushed and slack-jawed Twilight staring at a video on her laptop. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON ONE OF THOSE WEBSITES?!?!?!"
> Welcome to the Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel locked her fingers and stretched her arms above her head, groaning as she leaned back in her chair. "Well, that was surprisingly easy," she said, grinning at her newly written code. "Only ten minutes, and I've already finished my first new ability. Maybe this will get Rainbow's attention."

Angel had woken up that morning absolutely famished. She'd groaned as she'd realized that she hadn't eaten anything since the first night of the con. She'd been about to head into town when she'd realized that she was severely lacking in funds. Deciding that it would be better to ask one of the ponies that knew her for help than to wander aimlessly around the panic-prone town, Angel had gone outside and started shouting up at Rainbow's cloud mansion. Unfortunately, it seemed that the pegasus either couldn't hear her, wasn't there, or was asleep. Angel had come back inside, an idea forming about how she could solve at least two of those problems.

"Good thing that Merchant gave me mad programming skills to go with my powers," Angel said as she stepped outside once more, her new ability written, compiled, and ready to test. "I never would have been able to figure it all out otherwise. She looked up at the mansion, clearing her throat. "Sonorus." She smirked at the Harry Potter reference as she felt her lungs and diaphragm changing. She took a deep breath before shouting, "HEY! RAINB-ACK"

Angel fell to her knees, clutching her throat and coughing violently, blood spewing from her mouth. She felt blood flowing down her throat and filling her lungs, searing agony shooting through her as she found herself unable to draw a breath. Her throat and chest felt like they were on fire as she fell face first to the ground, blood continuing to pour from her mouth until, mercifully, she died.


***


Consciousness returned to Angel as she felt something poking her in the back repeatedly. "Um, hello?" a familiar voice said. "Angel? Are you... alive yet? Or... going to be soon? Man, this is weird."

"Try it from my side," Angel muttered, climbing to her hands and knees. She stared at the blood-soaked ground, massaging her throat. "Note to self, strengthen and reinforce EVERY part of me involved next time I program an ability. Also, seeing this much blood makes me feel-" Any further words were cut off as Angel started retching, her stomach emptying itself and adding to the mess on the grass. She shuddered, sitting back on her legs and staring at the food that definitely hadn't been in her stomach when she'd woken up. "Half-digested hot dogs. Huh. Looks like it's a full body reset to when I got displaced, stomach contents and all. On that note-" She leaned forward, retching again for a few moments before turning to look at a very pale Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Dashie. Having a good day so far?"

"Mother of Faust, what happened to you!" Rainbow shouted. "How the hay did you manage to bleed that much? You don't even have your sword!"

"Tried to code a new ability," Angel said, staggering to her feet and doing her best to avoid the mess. "Makes my lungs stronger so I can shout loud enough for you to hear me from up there." She pointed up at Rainbow's house. "Didn't consider that the massive airflow would tear my throat to ribbons."

Rainbow's face was practically white at this point. "Y-you... you tried to... you didn't..." She shook her head and lept into the air, glaring at Angel as she hovered at her eye-level. "I wasn't even here! I spent all morning standing in line for cider and didn't even get any! Then I come back here to see how you're doing and I see... THIS!"

Angel winced, shuffling her feet. "Sorry, Rainbow. I... I didn't really think about how it would look if... wait." She looked up, tilting her head to one side. "Did you say cider? As in, cider season? The Flim Flam Bros?"

"Don't change the subject!" Rainbow shouted. "You-" She started, blinking a few times before narrowing her eyes. "Hey, how did you know about the Flim Flam Brothers? You were dead." She shook her head. "Man, that is weird to say."

Angel hesitaded for a moment before gaining a mischievous smirk. "Did Twilight happen to tell you about what she was doing here yesterday?"

"Ugh!" Rainbow scrunched her nose. "I don't want to hear about your weird minotaur porn."

"NOT THAT!" Angel shuddered, trying to wipe those images from her mind. "No, I mean, let me show you something."


***


"Please, Flim, please, Flam, help us out of this jam with your Flim Flam Brothers' Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000!"

"This is uncanny," Rainbow muttered, watching Flim and Flam dance across the screen. "How the heck did you get this?"

"It's a TV show," Angel explained. Seeing Rainbow's confused look, she raised her hand and shook her head. "Long explanation. The short version is that your world is just a story in my world. The story focuses mostly on you and your five friends solving friendship problems and battling villains. Those would be the 'usual threats' that Sora was talking about. And no, I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen. Every time travel and prophecy story ever tells me that that's a bad idea."

"Oh please," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. "This is real life, not a story."

Silence filled the room for a moment. "Rainbow-"

"I know. I heard it."


***


"That's it! Laaast cup!"

The long line of ponies started grumbling and complaining at Applebloom's shout. The young yellow filly grinned sheepishly. "Come on back tomorrow everypony!" she shouted, trying to be a big pony and not glance over at Applejack for help. 

Thankfully, or not so thankfully, a distraction arrived to the familiar whirring and chiming of the Flim Flam Brothers' fancy cider machine, which promptly rammed the fence that Granny Smith had just finished fixing.

Flim popped up in front of Applejack, grinning smarmily. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"Oh my, oh my," his brother cried from Applejack's other side "Out of cider again?"

"That's right!" Everypony turned to stare in shock at the strange figure standing on top of the cider stand's sign, using its outstretched wings for balance.

"A-and just who are you, fine customer?" Flim asked, recovering quickly from his shock.

"Here for a delectable cup of cider?" Flam added.

Angel chuckled darkly. "Your cider? I think not. The swill created by that machine barely deserves to be called juice, much less cider."

Flim's grin twitched towards a frown for a moment before he recovered. "Well, how can you be so sure?" he asked, not noticing as Angel muttered something under her breath. "If you were to try our cider, I think you'd find that it more than compares to-"

"SILENCE, YOU FOAL!!!" Angel's voice boomed out, causing the ponies nearby to scream and cower. "YOU KNOW NOT TO WHOM YOU SPEAK! I AM THE ANGELIC APPLE OF THE EYE, THE GUARDIAN SPIRIT OF THESE ORCHARDS!"

"What the hay are you-" Applejack's retort was cut off as Rainbow appeared at her side, covering her mouth with her hoof.

"Shh," she said, barely holding back a snicker. "J-just watch."

"YOU COME TO THIS SACRED GROUND AND DARE TO TRY TO RUN THE FAMILY I HAVE GUARDED FOR GENERATION OUT OF BUSINESS?" Angel shouted, her eyes narrowing. "I THINK NOT. DUAL HAND SONIC!" A strange chime sounded as Angel's arms both transformed into long blades. "LEAVE NOW, AND I WILL SPARE YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCES!"

"W-we aren't afraid of you!" Flim declared, trying to muster his bravado.

"YOU SHOULD BE." Angle crossed her blades above her head, glaring down at them. "CONSIDER THIS YOUR LAST WARNING. HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SPIRITS DISPLEASED! HOWLING!!!"

A horrible screech rang out from the blades, causing everypony to cry out and cover their ears. Flim and Flam scrambled over each other, diving back to the seat of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 and powering up their magic. With a squeal of the engine, the machine jumped down the road before driving off out of town.

Angel uncrossed her blades, dismissing them as she jumped down and slowing her fall with her wings. "QUIETUS," she "whispered," her voice returning to normal. She grinned over at Rainbow Dash who was getting to her hooves. "So? How'd I do?"

Rainbow burst out laughing, leaping into the air and flying over to Angel. "That was awesome!" she shouted, slapping her on the back. "Those two-bit swindlers won't be back for a thousand moons! Mission accomplished, I'd say."

"Does somepony want to tell the rest of us just what the hay is going on?" Applejack demanded, rubbing her ears. "What the hay was that 'guardian spirit' thing?"

"Sorry, Applejack," Angel replied. "But trust me, you're better off without those two. They're nothing but a couple of con-ponies who would sell you a cup of rock cider if it would make them a quick buck. Er, bit." She turned to face everypony else, grinning as she placed her hands on her hips. "Nice to meet you, everypony! Name's Angel. Just got into town a few days ago."

"Angel?" Applebloom piped up. "Wait, ain't you that zombie my sister was talkin' about?"

"ZOMBIE!?"

Angel, sighed, resting her head in one hand as almost everypony present started screaming, turning and running for town. "Thanks a lot, Applebloom," she muttered. "You've made me the new Zecora."

Applebloom winced. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Don't worry," Twilight said, walking over. "They'll calm down once we explain everything."

"Twilight," Angel said, barely lowering her hand enough to give Twilight a look, "I'm an alien creature who can alter her body virtually at will and who has come back from the dead five times since she got here. I don't think a simple explanation will solve much."

"Five?"

Angel winced. "Yeeeeeah, that voice ability was a new one. It took a bit of... trial and error to get right."

"What do you mean, trial and error?" Applejack asked.

"Well..."


***the day before***


"Okay," Angel said, rubbing her throat. "Volume Enhancement 2.0. Test one. Ready, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, a clipboard in her hooves and a pencil in her mouth.

Angel nodded back, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Sonorus." Angel felt her lungs and diaphragm shifting again, this time with her throat shifting as well. She took a deep breath, turning to face away from Rainbow.

"TESTING! TESTING! ONE TWO THREEEEEEYAGH!!!"

Rainbow's jaw dropped as thirty-two small white objects went flying from Angel's mouth, Angel herself falling to her knees and clutching at her mouth.

"AAAAAH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! HANB SONIG!" Angel summoned her blade, quickly drawing it across her throat and dropping to the ground.

Rainbow stared at the grizzly sight, glad that she was hovering a ways away from the bloody scene. She took a moment to steel herself before beginning to write. "VE2.0.1 Teeth went flying from her mouth. Test ended in suic termination of the test subject." She spat out the pencil, shuddering. "This is going to be a pattern, isn't it?"


***


"Okay, this time for sure!" Angel proclaimed. Confidence filled her as she mentally reviewed her code. "Lungs, diaphragm, throat, mouth, teeth, and everything in between! Nothing can go wrong this time!"

Spot had come out to watch after the "flying tooth" incident and now lay next to where rainbow way standing. The two onlookers shared a look before rolling their eyes. "Whatever you say, Angel," Rainbow replied. "Just try to keep us out of the... splash zone." She shuddered, shaking her head. "Still can't believe how casual you are about all of this."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll have a mental breakdown tonight when I let myself have time to think about it," Angel said, waving her off. "Now, let's do this! Volume Enhancement 2.1. Test one. Sonorus!" She cleared her throat, grinning out over the open fields around her house. "BEHOLD, THE POWER OF SCIENCE!"

"Well, no teeth flying or blood spurting," Rainbow muttered. "How do you feel, Angel?"

Angel turned almost to face them. "FULL DISCLOSURE, I'M FEELING A LITTLE QUEEZY. I THINK I'M GOING TO HAVE TO REINFORCE A FEW ORGANS BEFORE THIS WILL BE COMFORTABLE, BUT THAT'LL JUST TAKE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENT." She folded her arms, grinning hugely. "I THINK WE CAN COUNT THIS AS A TOTAL SUCCESS!"

"Yeah yeah," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes before jotting down a note. "Now let's see you change it back."

Angel folded her arms and snorted-


***


"Volume Enhancement 2.2. Test one," Angel muttered, rubbing her recently reconstructed nose as she glared at the trail of blood and gore that had been most of her last life's face. "Full head, air path, and organ reinforcement. If this doesn't work, I'm giving up."

"You and me both," Rainbow agreed. "I told you to keep me out of the splash zone!"

"Oh, quit whining," Angel griped. "It's not like you're the one who got her face blown up. Besides, you dodged it, didn't you?"


***back to the present***


"And the last one was that night when I decided to see if the Everfree was really as dangerous as I've heard." Angel winced, remembering the feeling of several sets of teeth tearing into her flesh. "I can now confirm that my blades don't do much against Timberwolves."

"Gee, who'd have thought?" Twilight snarked as Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I honestly don't get how you can be so casual about dying over and over."

"I had a... long night to think it over," Angel said. "Lot's of crying. Lots of throwing up. You really don't want to know the details. I'm just glad Spot was there to help me get through it."

"Oh yeah," said Rainbow, looking around. "Where is Spot? I didn't think he would leave your side after everything that happened yesterday."

"He's with Fluttershy," Angel answered. "Dropped him off before coming over. I didn't think he would like my 'howl.' You know, dog ears and all."

"Dogs ain't the only ones who didn't appreciate it," Applejack grumbled, twitching her still-ringing ears.

"It might have been a bit too far," Twilight agreed. "What they were trying to do to Applejack's family was horrible, but they technically didn't do anything wrong."

"Not yet, anyway," Rainbow muttered.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Twilight looked back and forth between Angel and Rainbow, her eyes narrowing as she saw them trying to avoid eye-contact with her or each other. "Do you two know something about them that we don't?"

"Rainbow," Applejack growled. "Y'all wouldn't be hidin' somethin' from us, now would you?"

"Ehehe, well, you see AJ..."


***


"I didn't learn anything! I was right all along!"

Applejack and Twilight chuckled at the Applejack on the screen while Angel stood behind them, sneaking glares at Rainbow.

"Way to go, Dash."

"Look, I'm sorry."

"No, really. Smooth moves back there. 'Angel has a thing that can see the future!' Way to not crack under pressure."

"Hey! You try lying to Applejack sometime! It's almost as hard as being mean to Fluttershy!"

"Hey," Twilight said, looking back at them. "Rainbow, it says this next one is about you!"

"And we're done!" Angel walked forward, closing the laptop despite everypony's protests. "Sorry, but looking into the future is never a good idea. You'll most likely end up messing up the timeline or something like that. All that wacky stuff is best left to Discord."

"Who?"

Angel winced. "Dang it! That's right, you still don't know that you..." She trailed off, realizing which question had been asked. "Wait," she said, looking at Twilight. "What do you mean, who? Discord. Spirit of Chaos and all that jazz."

Twilight frowned, tapping her chin with a hoof. "That... does sound vaguely familiar. I think there's a statue in the Canterlot gardens with a plaque saying something about that, but I never spent much time around those old statues."

Angel's eyes went wide as she grabbed her laptop, opening it and bringing up an episode list for the show. Just as I remembered, she thought. Discord's small rampage was definitely before the SSCS6000. What's going on? Maybe this is one of those things Sora was talking about?

"Angel?" Twilight asked, concerned by the serious expression on her face. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm... not sure," Angel admitted. "Out of curiosity, how long have you been living here in Ponyville?"

"Um, no too long," Twilight answered, surprised by the question. "Not even half a year, actually. Why?"

"Damn!" Angel hissed. "That's definitely not right. It looks like the episodes we have in my world aren't in strict chronological order. I'm going to have to see if I can figure this out. There's one or two things I'd rather be prepared for."

"Oh, so it's okay for you to know the future?" Rainbow demanded, crossing her forelegs as she hovered in front of Angel. "How the hay is that fair?"

"It's fair because I don't have a choice," Angel snapped. "I already know a lot of the major things that are going to happen in the future. Better that I know when they're going to happen than running around with my head cut off trying to prevent something that isn't going to happen for another year."

"Okay, that's enough." Twilight lit her horn, wrapping Rainbow in her telekinesis and pulling her back from Angel. "Rainbow, I understand you're curious, but Angel's probably right. It might not be a great idea to mess with this. And Angel," she met the girl's eyes, "I wouldn't worry too much about it. I mean, we come through everything alright in the end every time, right?"

"Well... yeah," Angel admitted, feeling a bit silly for her panic.

Twilight smiled. "Then there's nothing to worry about! Whatever will happen will happen, and we'll all be fine."

"You sure about that, Twi?" Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded. "I know for absolute certain."


a few days later


"Well hello. What have we here?"

Angel lay on her front on her bed, legs kicking back and forth behind her back as she scrolled through a page on her laptop. Rain had begun to patter against the windows a few minutes ago, but she'd paid it no heed as she looked through the text she'd found. Unable to let it rest, Angel had gone to the internet to try to find any sort of chronology that made sense for this world. Finally, on a DeviantArt page, she'd found what she'd been looking for.

"Well, Mister auren-dawnstar," Angel muttered, scrolling through his document, "let's see what you've got for us."

Someone had taken the time to put together the closest approximation they could make to a chronology of the first three seasons of My Little Pony, using clues from within the episodes to place all of the events as occurring in the span of a single year. Though many of the episodes seemed to flow in the order that they appeared in the show, there was enough disparity for Angel to take note.

"Eight more season 2 episodes that happened before the Flim Flam Bros came to town, huh? Well, let's just see what's next on the..." Angel trailed off, her eyes growing wide. She slowly turned her head to look out the window, a window that was streaked with sugary brown liquid.

"Oh, horseapples."
> Welcome to the Circus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chocolate milk continued to pour from the sky as the Friendship Express chugged its way up the mountain to Canterlot. Angel stared out the window, heedless of the strange looks she was getting from her fellow passengers as she contemplated her next move.

Everything should work out fine, she thought, turning back to the laptop in her lap and typing away at some new code. Even if I don't interfere, everything turns out fine in the end. But... She pulled up another window, this one a web browser displaying a website that she felt was worth further research. There are plenty of stories on FiM Fiction where he does something different, or where he's worse than in the show, or where Twilight doesn't manage to snap out of it. And if this is some alternate Equestria, who's to say that things are going to go exactly the way they did in cannon? Hell, the episode order is already way off! What else might be different? Angel sighed, switching over to another tab and restoring the page down to examine it side by side with her code.

Whatever happens, she thought, editing some details as she examined a detailed sketch of a bird's wing structure, I need to do what I can to prepare.


***


"Good luck, everypony!"

Discord gave off a maniacal laugh and vanished in a flash of light, leaving the six ponies looking around in confusion.

"Never fear, girls," Twilight said, face filled with determination. "We have each other."

"Yeah!" added Rainbow. "Like Twilight said: there's nothing we can't overcome if we all stick together!"

Nods and smiles were exchanged as the six mares lined up at the entrance to the maze. "All right girls," Twilight encouraged. "Let's do this!"

As one, the six ponies took a single step forward, shouting out, "Togeth-"

"waaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!"

The six ponies turned to see a distant figure flying towards them. Well, more like drunkenly flopping through the air in their general direction. Rainbow narrowed her eyes, squinting as the figure dropped to the ground and started running. "Hey, isn't that Ange-"

Rainbow's words were cut off as six walls of hedge rose suddenly from the ground, five of them dividing the mares from each other as the sixth cut them off from the outside of the maze. Rainbow stumbled back a few steps, blinking and looking around. "What the-"

"OOF!"


***


Angel groaned, pulling herself out of the surprisingly solid wall of foliage. She shook her head before glaring up at the hedge. "Rats," she muttered, holding her arm out to the side. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way. Hand Sonic." She raised her newly materialized blade, readying herself to strike.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Angel groaned, glaring over her shoulder at the draconequus that floated behind her. "Yeah, well, I didn't ask you, Discord. Now if you'll excuse me?" She turned back to the hedge, shouting a battle cry as she swung her blade through the foliage. She raised her arm for a second strike but paused as she saw the plants knitting themselves back together. "What the-"

The branches and leaves twisted together before her, forming themselves into a giant hammer. Angel's arm dropped as she began to slowly back away, chuckling nervously. "He he, um, no hard feelings?"

*SLAM*

Discord snapped his fingers, creating a soccer net out of thin air which Angel promptly flew into. "GOAL!" he shouted. "Hedge one! Freaky monkey thing zero. Oh, I do love this game!"

"Of course you do," Angel muttered, climbing to her feet and glaring at the hovering chaos spirit. "I don't suppose you'd let me into the maze to join their game instead?"

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Discord asked, flipping onto his back to backstroke through the air around Angel. "After all, I created that game specifically for those six mares. Letting you in would give them an unfair advantage."

"You mean it might actually make things fair," Angel countered turning to keep an eye on him.

"Precisely!" Discord flipped onto his stomach, draping himself lazily across the top of the goal net. "After all, the point of this game is for them to face their virtues and see that they aren't all that they're cracked up to be. Honesty and Laughter hurt as much as they help. Caring about anyone other than yourself means that your Loyalties will always be divided. And Generosity and Kindness are just so weak and easy to abandon as soon as they come across wealth or criticism. By the end of this little game, the Elements will be useless even if those silly ponies do find them!"

So, the same game as in the show, huh? Angel thought, a grin creeping onto her face. I can work with that. "Pht, please. You really think it's going to be that easy?"

"Oh, I don't think so," Discord replied, leering right back. "I know so."

"Stop stealing Weird Al Pony's lines. That's his job." Grinning wider at Discord's befuddled expression, Angel continued. "And I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. Kindness is pretty hard to shake, and Fluttershy there is one of the strongest ponies I've ever met."

"Fluttershy? A hahahahaha!" Discord rolled off the net, pounding the ground with a hammer that he'd grabbed from his ear. "Oh, that's a good one, my dear, but Fluttershy will be a cinch; just point out her flaws. And then convince her that her friends will all leave her because-"

"Wait!" Angel interrupted. "Ugh. Now that isn't cool. Ripping off the Living Tombstone is just needlessly cruel."

Discord rose back into the air, glaring down at Angel. "Excuse me, but making reference to things that no-one understands is my schtick."

"Really?" asked Angel, trying to hold in her giggles as a wicked idea crossed her mind. "I thought your schtick was knock-knock jokes."

"Knock-knock jokes?" Discord gasped, placing a paw over his heart. "Why I never! You severely underestimate me, whoeveryouare. Why knock-knock jokes are so common. So easy. They're the most basic of jokes!"

"You're the most basic of jokes."

Discord stared at Angel for a moment, jaw literally on the floor as she struggled to hold a deadpan expression. "...I feel that I have lost somehow. Touche, little primate. Touche."

"Thank you," Angel replied, taking a deep breath to get rid of the last of the giggles. "But seriously, you don't stand a chance against Fluttershy. Why, I bet you have to force her to turn dark."

"It's more gray than dark, actually," Discord muttered. "And I'll have you know that I could turn that mare into the cruelest witch in Equestria with both claw and talon tied behind my back!" His arms popped off, tying themselves into a know before settling across his wings.

"Prove it," Angel challenged. "I bet you can't turn her even the slightest bit gray before the rest of her friends find her."

"Really?" Discord grinned, rubbing his feet together eagerly as his hands were still tied up. "Shall we place a little wager on that, then? If I win, you tell me exactly how you bested me just now and become my personal maid. Cooking, cleaning, helping me spread chaos throughout Equestria, the whole nine yards."

"And if you lose?" Angel asked.

Much to Angel's discomfort, Discord's grin widened. "If I loose," he said, "I'll do two things for you. The first will be to fix those pesky wings of yours."

Angel winced, her wings twitching as she remembered her hastily cobbled together code and her attempt to fly to the girls' aid. "And the second thing?"

"I'll tell you why you need to be more careful with your choice of pets."

"What?" Angel glared at Discord, raising her blade again. "What about Spot? What do you-"

"Ah ah ah," Discord replied, shaking one of his toes back and forth. "No telling unless I loose. But I'd start on that chaos wreaking if I were you. Fluttershy's friends will reach her in less than twenty minutes, and I guarantee I'll have her turned in three." The tuft of his tail twisted to form a hand which snapped its fingers, causing Discord to vanish.

Angel sighed, walking over to the net and sitting down, leaning her back against it as she pulled her laptop from her bag. "Might as well do something useful while I wait," she muttered, pulling up Angel Player again and deleting her modifications to the Angel Wings' code. She created a new folder, titling it "Angel Horn" as she also pulled out a book she'd borrowed from Twilight on unicorn anatomy. "I've got those wings in the bag now, but this one will take a while." She winced as her mind conjured images of her head exploding or turning to goo. "And probably a looooooot of trial and error."


***


"Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy turned around, relieved to see the butterflies she'd been following fluttering behind her. She was so relieved that she didn't even realize how strange it was that they were speaking Equestrian. "Looks like you've been left behind by your so-called friends, huh?"

"Oh, no," said Fluttershy, shaking her head and smiling. "I'm certain they're doing their best to find me."

The butterflies narrowed their eyes before they began circling her head. "Well, it must be so upsetting to know how weak and helpless they think you are."

"Not at all," Fluttershy replied happily. "I am weak and helpless, and I appreciate their understanding."

The butterflies hesitated, taken aback by her response. "Yes, well, I'm sure it burns you up, I mean, that they're always pointing out your flaws, right?"

"Not really," Fluttershy answered, closing her eyes as she smiled serenely. "In fact, I think I'm awfully lucky to have friends who want me to be the best I can be."

The butterflys' eyes twitched as Discord groaned inwardly. Alright, he admitted, maybe this will take a little bit longer than I thought.


***


Applejack galloped through the maze, barely slowing down at the turns and not hesitating at the forks. She'd been through her family's corn maze every Nightmare Night for as long as she could remember, as well as a few others at various fairs and family reunions. She'd find her way to the center no problem.

As she barreled past another fork, something caught her eye. She stopped and doubled back a bit, raising an eyebrow as she caught sight of it again. Three red delicious apples sat on the ground with not a tree in sight. She approached them cautiously, wondering how they'd ended up in the maze, and was surprised when they started rolling away from her.

"What in tarnation?" she asked, giving chase. The apples led her through fork after fork, corridor after corridor, before finally rolling into a small orchard. "Where am I?" she asked, looking around. The orchard had various different apples growing in it, along with a small pond and three piles of red, green, and orange apples.

"Applejack, thank goodness!" Applejack turned, a relieved smile on her face as she saw Twilight running up to her. "I thought I heard your voice over here!" She looked around the orchard, raising an eyebrow. "Huh. I don't remember there being an orchard in this maze."

"I reckon it has somethin' to do with Discord," Applejack said, pointing to the three apples at her hooves. "I found these a ways back, and they started rollin' over here as soon as I got close to 'em. You think he somehow put this here orchard here for some reason?"

Twilight looked around, glaring at the trees and apples. "Probably, but I have no idea why." She shook her head. "Anyway, we should probably get going. We need to find the Elements and the rest of the girls before Discord does."


***


"I mean, your best friend from Cloudsdale made fun of you for being afraid of your own shadow, not to mention bringing in another friend to snap and roar at you when you were just trying to help some poor, defenseless ducks get through town."

Fluttershy frowned at the trio of mice that had crawled out of the hedge after the butterflies had left. "Now that's not fair," she admonished. "Rainbow Dash had no idea that Gilda was going to be so mean to everypony. And besides," she blushed, looking down and to the side, "I, um, I actually was afraid of my shadow back then." She shook her head, standing straight and confident. "But Rainbow's also the one who helped me to see that I was just being silly. She's also been helping me with a lot of other fears, too! I really couldn't ask for a better friend."

The mice groaned in frustration, diving back into the hedge. Fluttershy tilted her head to the side before shrugging and continuing through the maze, a little less scared now that she'd remembered some of Rainbow's coaching. The animals here are a little weird.


***


"Okay, I know for a fact that these are new."

Twilight and Applejack looked around cautiously as they walked between the tables, each one with several smiling balloons tied to it. "You think this was Discord's doin' too?" Applejack asked.

"Oo, I hope so!" Twilight and Applejack jumped, shouting in surprise and turning around to see Pinkie smiling at them. "This is the most fantastic balloon garden I've ever seen! Well, it's the only balloon garden I've ever seen, but it's still pretty neat! Hey! Maybe I should make a balloon garden for Ponyville once we get back. I bet everypony would love it!"

Twilight sighed in relief, rolling her eyes as she smiled indulgently. "Sure, Pinkie," she said. "We'll get on that as soon as we're done dealing with Discord. But let's focus on finding the others for now.


***


"Well, sheeeeeeyucks! I sure do love me some apples! Apples apples apples. I apples love apples to apples talk apples about apples apples apples. Why, if there's any foods other than apples, it's only to make apples taste even better by comparin' them to apples!"

"You see?" the bluebird asked, the two bird on either side nodding along in agreement. "She's always going on and on about 'apples this' and 'apples that.' Why, I don't see how anyone can stand it."

Fluttershy giggled. The pony before her obviously wasn't the real Applejack, though she did look just like her. "Oh, she's not that bad, Mister Bluebird. I mean, she does talk about apples a lot, but they're very important to her and her family. In fact, I think her family is why she worries so much about her apples. Although," she giggled again, "she maybe does talk about them more than she needs to. It's a little bit..."

The birds grinned. "Annoying? Irritating? Makes you want to run over and stuff an apple into her mouth to get her to shut up?"

Fluttershy blushed a bit. "Actually, I was going to say 'cute.'"

The birds faceplanted into the ground.


***


"I was expecting an audience with the Princess, not outdoor sports. Oof!"

Rarity rubbed her forehead as she looked up at the imposing stone wall in her path. She crossed her hooves, glaring at the obstacle before her. "Hph, I was sure this was the right way."

"Rarity?" Rarity's ears perked up as she heard Twilight's voice on the other side of the wall. "Rarity? Is that you?"

"Twilight, darling!" Rarity called. Oh, it's so good to hear from you. Have you found the others yet?"

"Eeyup," Applejack's voice called out. "Pinkie and me are here with her. Still haven't found Fluttershy or Rainbow yet, but I'll bet my boots Rainbow's waitin' for us at the center."

"Hm, most likely." Rarity scanned the edges of the wall before sighing. "It's no use. There's simply no way around this thing. I suppose we'll just have to separate again and hope to-"

"Hi-YAH!"

Rarity jumped as a loud thud followed Pinkie's shout. She stared in fascination as a series of huge cracks quickly spread across the wall before the whole thing came tumbling down. Pinkie stood on the other side, rubbing her forehead as Twilight and Applejack stared open-mouthed at her. "Wow," she said, shaking her head. "That rock was a LOT softer than I thought it would be."

"...I'm just going to chalk that up to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie," Twilight muttered.

"Probably for the best, Darling. Now, let's hurry up and find-"

"Oh, for goodness sake!"

The girls shared a startled look before rushing off in the direction of Discord's voice.

"Cry! Rage! Oh, do anything but just stand there and smile you... you... GAAAAH!!!"

Twilight and the others turned a final corner before the sight in the clearing before them caused them to stop and stare. Fluttershy was backing slowly away from Discord who was raging and ranting as he rolled on the ground, his arms literally tied behind his back.

"D-D-Discord?" Fluttershy stammered. "Wh-what are you-"

"STOP IT!" Discord shouted, glaring up at her. "Just stop being so Celestia-damned nice! I can't take it anymore!"

"Fluttershy! Are you alright?" Twilight turned to see Rainbow rushing towards them, moving aside so she could see what was going on.

Discord looked up at Rainbow's shout, his eyes lighting on fire. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" He leapt into the air, his arms coming untied and reattaching themselves. "Fine! Fine, she wins! That hairless simian wins her bet!" He slithered down through the air, coming face to face with Fluttershy who squeaked and leaned back. "I hope you're happy." Discord snapped his fingers one more time, causing Twilight and Rarity's horns and Fluttershy and Rainbow's wings to reappear. Discord shot into the sky, muttering under his breath as the maze sank into the ground, leaving the six mares standing alone in a crater.

"...so, did we win?" Rainbow asked.


***five minutes before***


"Okay. That should do it. I hope."

Angel swallowed nervously as she closed her laptop, placing it to the side along with the anatomy book. She'd spent the last fifteen minutes working on the most basic part of a unicorn's horn, the central shaft that drew in and focused magic. It had taken a bit of creative workaround since Angel herself didn't have the natural magical wellspring that ponies possessed, but she'd managed to craft the shaft such that it would, in theory, draw magic in from the surrounding environment. All that was left was to test it.

"Here we go," she muttered, standing up and taking a deep breath. "AH. Part one: central shaft. Test one: gathering magic. Angel Horn!" Angel felt the familiar sensation of her body changing, a spire of bone extending from her skull as skin and sinew rearranged themselves around it. Angel breathed a sigh of relief. So far, so good. "AH 1.1.1, magic draw. Beginning test." Angel concentrated on her new horn, recalling the feeling of her body modifying itself and hoping that magic worked in a similar manner.

To Angel's surprise and relief, the thin horn began to glow. A red aura surrounded it and Angel began to feel energy building in the new appendage.

"I did it," Angel whispered, a grin slowly spreading across her face. "I did it! Woo hoo!" She jumped up and down, grinning like a maniac and crossing her eyes to look up at her glowing horn. "I'm doing magic! I have magic! I... I..." Angel trailed off, worry starting to eclipse her excitement. "Um, how do I stop it?"


***five minutes later***


"Fine! You win!" Discord reappeared in a flash of light, dismissing the net and glaring angrily at Angel. "Fluttershy is..." Discord's face went blank as he stared at the sight before him. Angel lay sprawled out on the ground, her neck ending in a bloody stump and the remains of her head splattered all across the field. A single eyeball dangled by a bit of sinew from a nearby statue that was speckled with shards of bone. A book lay near the corpse, splattered and dented, along with a strange object made of plastic which was surprisingly untouched.

"Well," Discord said, face scrunched in disgust, "this certainly isn't my brand of chaos." He floated over to the curious plastic object, picking it up. He noticed a set of hinges on one side and opened it, figuring that it must be some sort of box or book. Inside he found a pane of glass covering one section while the other held a set of buttons, each one labeled with a letter, a number, or a word or two. The glass suddenly lit up, showing a field of blue with a white box in the center, the word "password" written over the top.

"Password?"

"I'm not going to tell you what it is."

Discord let out a noise that sounded like a goat's bleat before falling onto his back, his mismatched limbs sticking straight up. Angel looked down at him, eyebrow raised, a thin horn on her head, and her face suspiciously not splattered all over the place. "Scared the spirit of chaos," she muttered, taking her laptop from his talon. "Score one point for the Undying Angel."

"Your head was gone," Discord said, staring up at her.

Angel typed out her password quickly and brought up Angel Player again, going over the code for the Angel Horn. "Yeah, and then it came back. It does that." She shuddered before going back to typing. "Definitely going to need to figure out a way to vent the power. Finally figured out how to stop taking magic in, but it was already causing a lot of damage by then so I figured I'd go all the way."

"You were dead," Discord said, turning over and slowly pulling himself up a rope that appeared out of nowhere until he was upright. "You were dead. And now you're not. That is a fine trick indeed."

"Eh," Angel shrugged. "Done it six times already. The 'fine trick' would be making a horn that works as well as those wings you promised me." She paused her typing, grinning up at Discord. "Oh yeah, how did things go with Fluttershy?"

Discord finally snapped out of his daze, glaring down at Angel. "How did you know?"

"Oh Discord," Angel said, shaking her head, "you should know that a magician never reveals her secrets."

Discord crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow as a small smirk crept onto his face, kicking his frown off before settling down where it had been. "Is that so?" Discord asked, his frown growing arms and legs and shaking its angry little fist as Discord. "Because I just so happen to now know that you will come back if I kill you. That opens up a lot of possibilities for chaos that I haven't ever been able to indulge in." He reached down and picked up his frown, pulling it open and pulling a wood-chipper out of it.

Angel's eyes went wide and she swallowed nervously. "That is a very thorough and well-constructed argument," she squeaked, quickly pulling up Netflix on her laptop and cueing up the Season 2 premiere. She pressed "play" and handed the device to Discord, stepping back to wait while he watched what had and could have happened.


***40 minutes later***


"Well well well," Discord said, lounging across a cotton candy cloud as the finale wrapped up. "I must say, that was quite the entertaining show. I do have a problem with the ending, though."

"Shocker," Angel replied, sitting next to him. At some point during the show, she'd gotten more comfortable with the chaos spirit and had decided to join him in watching the episodes. They'd even shared a bucket of popcorn that tasted like, of all things, popcorn. "There are six seasons of this, focusing on those six and their various adventures. You even start featuring again beginning in season three when you get reformed."

"Reformed?" Discord asked, disgusted by the notion.

"Don't worry," Angel replied, tossing some more popcorn into her mouth. "You're just as chaotic as ever, just not trying to take over Equestria anymore. You even get a sudden but inevitable betrayal in there at the end of season 4."

Discord harrumphed, crossing his arms. "Well, I suppose I will have that to look forward to."

"So you're planning on playing along?"

Discord shrugged, rolling off the cloud and stretching his mismatched limbs. "I suppose so. If it all ends with me free and doing mostly whatever I want, I can take a few restrictions. By the way, how do they manage to do it?"

"Fluttershy."

Discord glared at her, hands on his hips. "Oh, that's just not fair. Let me guess, I play along with reformation until she promises not to use her Element on me, I go too far causing her to lose her patience and say that we aren't friends anymore, and I celebrate for a moment before realizing that I actually liked having a friend and sincerely repent."

Angel blinked a few times before nodding. "Actually, exactly that. How did you know?"

Discord rolled his eyes. "I just thought of the sappiest, most juvenile thing I could think of and forced it out of my mouth as quickly as I could."

"Fair enough," Angel admitted. "I mean, it is a show for little girls."

"Must not focus outside of Equestria then," Discord muttered.

Angel tilted her head, staring at him quizzically. "Not really, no. Why? What's it like outside of Equestria?"

Discord hesitated, sizing Angel up before answering. "Why don't you ask your changeling friend?" he asked, a grin splitting his face and causing the top half to fall off and into his waiting paw. "After all, you two are close enough to share a bed, surely he'll let you in on the story."

"Share a..." Angel's eyes went wide as she remembered what else Discord had promised her. "Wait a minute, Spot's a changeling?!"

"Unless you're letting someone else sleep in your bed with you, you naughty thing." Discord popped the top half of his head back on before stretching his arms in front of him. "Well, I guess it's time to give your wings a makeover. The Twilight Gang is due in Ponyville any minute now, and I intend to have some fun with them before they blast me into stone for a season and a half."

"Fans call them the Mane 6, actually," Angel corrected.

Discord threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, I'll have to remember that one. I bet it will go right over their heads!" He grinned at Angel, holding up his paw with the fingers poised to snap. "Time to fly, Miss Angel." And with that, he snapped his fingers.























"Um," Angel shifted her wings a little, "they don't feel any different."

"That's odd," Discord muttered, snapping his fingers a few more times. "Something's keeping me from modifying your magic."

"Oh!" Angel quickly pulled up Angel Player, bringing up the data for the Angel Wings. "It's not magic; it's science. I write a code in here which alters reality around and within my body to generate desired effects."

"Really?" asked Discord, leaning in to look over her shoulder only to cry out in terror and teleport into a nearby statue's arms. "Wh-wh-wh-what in the name of chaos is that?!"

Angel looked from her computer to Discord and back again. "Um, that's the code. That's the language that my computer uses to know what to do."

"Are you telling me," Discord whispered, cowering back as if he expected the computer to attack, "that in order to fulfill my promise, I have to wade through a sea of perfect order? A system that allows no room for interpretation or creativity? A language where the one receiving it has to do exactly what it's told, exactly the way that it's told, and with no deviation or interpretation from how it's told? And I have to USE that perfectly lawful and ordered language?"

"Um... yes?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
> Welcome to the Grand Illusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The changeling known as Spot lay on his back on Angel's bed, his forelegs curled up to his chest as his back legs kicked lazily. Angel had darted out of the house screaming about Discord about an hour ago, leaving her "dog" behind to fend for himself. Spot had spent most of that time curiously going through Angel's things, many of which he didn't recognize, and raiding the small fridge. He was now just waiting around for Angel to return, trying not to aggravate his still healing wings.

He winced as he sat up, turning his head to look at the tattered shreds that hung limply off of his back. Changelings could recover from most any injury, but only in their natural form or if their chosen transformation possessed a similar body structure to them. His Golden Retriever form had allowed his body to mostly recover, but it left his wings untended. He sighed, laying down on his stomach and wishing he'd had enough power to transform into a pegasus when he'd been discovered. It would have been harder for him to hide, but at least he wouldn't have had to keep sneaking healing sessions in his natural form. As it stood, he was at risk of being caught every time he reverted back.

"Just a few weeks," he muttered to himself. "A few more weeks of recovery and I should be healed enough to get the heck out of here. Maybe head down to Appleoosa. I'm sure someone down there could use a good dog or some-"

*BANG*

"CHANGELING!"

Spot shrieked, leaping to his hooves. Unfortunately, the edge of one of his holes caught on the blanket, pulling it out from under him and sending him tumbling off the bed. He looked up from his tangle of blankets and pain to see Angel standing in the doorway, a finger pointed straight at him and a triumphant grin on her face. Caught and unable to make a quick escape, Spot said the first thing that came to mind.

"HUMAN!"

Not his finest moment.

"Indeed," said Angel, stepping in and closing the door behind her. "Human. Which is why I haven't led an angry mob here." She walked over to the bed, turning and leaping backward onto it, letting out a sigh as she relaxed. "I've read enough fanfics to not judge a changeling by his cover," she said, placing her hands behind her head. "Or in your case, lack of cover. Dissy told me you've been a ling this whole time, so I figured you would have killed me in my sleep by now if you wanted to hurt me." She reached into her pocket, pulling out a couple of cookies. "Chocolate with cookie chips, or a giant raisin with oatmeal and cookie chunks?"

"Um..." Spot eyed the two "cookies" warily, slowly getting to his hooves. "Neither?"

Angel shrugged, tossing the raisin aside and taking the bite of the chocolate. "Hm, tastes like bacon." She shrugged again before taking another bite.

"So," she said, sitting up as she finished, "what's the deal?"

"The deal?" Spot asked, freezing from where he'd been inching towards the door.

Angel rolled her eyes. "You know, your story? Why you're in Ponyville? Why you were so hurt? How you're going to keep getting love from me?"

"Um, well I've been in Ponyville for years, but- Wait, WHAT?!" Spot stepped back, eyes widening in fear. "Y-you know that I was- that I've been-" He swallowed nervously, hunching his shoulders and bowing his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. "P-please don't kill me! I-I was desperate, and week, and I would have died if I hadn't had something to eat! A-and your affection was just so delicious, I- I-" He paused as he felt Angel's hand on his head. He opened one eye, slowly tilting his head to look up at her.

Angel smiled down at him, her eyes soft and comforting. "You really aren't like the ones from the show, are you?" Her hand moved to the back of one of his ear frills, scratching there and making Spot moan as he leaned into the touch. His eyes snapped open and he jerked away, blushing even through his chitin as Angel giggled.

"S-s-so, um, ahem," Spot stumbled over his words as he tried to regain a shred of his dignity, "y-you aren't mad, then?"

"I was at first," Angel admitted, sitting down in front of him, legs crossed in front of her. "Discord told me back in Canterlot. I was furious when I thought of how you'd been tricking me for days, probably leeching off of my emotions." Spot winced. "But then I remembered how hurt Fluttershy said you were. She told me that if you'd been left alone for another day or so, you wouldn't have made it." Angel leaned to the side, getting a look at Spot's wings. "And it looks like you've still got a ways to go."

Spot nodded, scuffing the floor with a hoof. "Y-yeah. My wings can only heal if I have them out, even if they're transformed into bird or pegasus wings. But since dogs are land-bound..."

Angel nodded. "I see. Anyway, I got really worried after that. I thought that maybe someone had attacked you while you were a dog, and I got really angry again. But then I thought about if someone had seen you as a changeling. Were you doing something wrong, or did they just attack?"

"The latter," Spot said firmly. "I've been in Ponyville for twelve years without causing trouble. Haven't even had contact with the hive since I ran away twenty years ago."

Angel smiled. Glad to see some confidence coming back. "I figured as much. If you were some sort of troublemaker, you wouldn't have been so well-behaved these past few days. Not to mention being right next to me while I was sleeping." She hesitated before asking, "On that note, you are a male, right? You didn't just choose that for your transformation?"

Spot chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Yes, I am. Don't worry, I can get another bed if that's uncomfortable for you. I know how ponies feel about males and females sharing a bed." He raised an eyebrow, smirking. "And Twilight Sparkle and I are both intimitely aware of your species' obsession with sex."

Angel blushed furiously, looking away. "N-NO! I mean, it's not- I wasn't thinking about- STOP LAUGHING!!!"

But Spot wasn't listening. He rolled onto his back, legs kicking in the air as he laughed uncontrollably. Angel pouted and glared to the side, arms crossed and face flushed. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?" she muttered.

"Not, snrk, not likely," Spot snorted out, beginning to recover himself. he rolled onto his stomach, turning to face her. "So," he said with a smirk, "you were saying how you realized I wasn't a threat because we've been sleeping together?"

I swear, he said it that way on purpose. Angel sighed before continuing. "So yeah, I pretty much worked out that you didn't want to hurt anyone, or at least not me. Figured the best thing to do in that case was to just confront you directly and talk about it."

"By slamming open the door and shouting 'changeling'?"

Angel smirked. "It worked, didn't it? If I'd taken my time coming in, you would have just transformed before the door finished opening." Her smirk fled as her tone grew serious. "So, where do we go from here?"

Spot sighed and shook his head. "Honestly, that's mostly up to you. I doubt you'll be able to feed me affection anymore since you know I'm not just an animal, and I'm going to guess that lust is off the table?"

"Definitely."

"Good." He chuckled at Angel's look of offence. "Nothing against you, but I hate the taste of lust. Too... dirty, I guess. Too much like greed or gluttony. So that leaves only stronger forms of love: friendship, platonic, sibling, parental, juvenile, and romantic."

"Huh. You've really got it down to a science." Angel mulled his words over for a moment. "So, I think it's obvious that romantic, parental, and sibling are out, and I'm guessing that 'juvenile' is like a crush?" At Spot's nod, she continued. "So yeah, that's out too. Er, no offense."

"None taken."

"So that leaves friendship and platonic," Angel concluded, "which I'm guessing is basically a stronger form of friendship."

"Pretty much," Spot agreed. "Unfortunately, the ponies here don't seem to keen on extending the 'magic of friendship' to a changeling."

Angel's eyes flicked to his wings. "You were found out?"

Spot nodded, glaring at the ground. "Yeah. Most ponies either run away or cower in fear. The former I just stay away from, and the latter I'm usually able to explain myself to. But this one..." He shuddered. "She knew what I was, even when disguised. I felt her eyes following me for days before she struck. She attacked me the night you found me. I barely escaped with my life."

"And you hoped that Rainbow would discover you and take you in?" Angel asked.

Spot nodded. "I didn't know that one of the Tyrant's weapons lived there, but yeah, I hoped that whoever the pegasus was, they'd discover me and take pity on me. Take me to the vet, at least. I'd be relatively safe there until I recovered, and then I'd be able to split town before she could strike again."

Angel frowned at his term for Celestia. "The Tyrant?" she asked. "She can't be that bad if Equestria is so peaceful."

Spot snorted, glaring out the window where he could barely make out Mount Canter through the deluge of chocolate rain before the sudden onset of night obscured his view. "Equestria maybe," he muttered, holding his glare, "but at the expense of the rest of the world."

"Discord said something about that," Angel said, leaning forward. "I told him the show was for little girls, and he replied that it must not show outside Equestria much."

"And does it?"

Angel thought for a minute before shaking her head. "Only two, maybe three episodes I can think of. One was a trip to Gryphonstone, another took them to the Dragon Lands. There was one more that took them to 'the edge of Equestria,' but all they found there was a tatzelwurm."

"Well you're lucky then," Spot said, still glaring out in the direction of Canterlot, though his glare broke briefly as the sun jumped into the sky to reveal a few chaise lounges chasing a group of ponies around. "The Gryphon Empire is pretty much as good as it gets outside this country. The Tyrant makes sure that none of it gets in, though. Keeps her subjects from hearing about what goes on beyond their borders, too. Only her secret police know what the rest of us suffer through."

"Secret police?" Angel shook her head, raising an eyebrow at the changeling. "Okay, you've got to be exaggerating now. Celestia doesn't have a deceptive bone in her body. There's no way she could command a secret police."

Spot shrugged. "Oh, it's nothing official," he said, waving her off. "The Tyrant can't even acknowledge them, or she'd have to apprehend them. But trust me, they're there." He spread his wings, taking his gaze from the window to give Angel a pointed gaze. "Trust me; I'd know." He closed his wings again, keeping his eyes on Angel. "They avoid contact with the Tyrant at all costs, but they're the ones who patrol the borders to make sure Equestria stays isolated. It took me three months of careful recon before I was able to sneak in, and even then they have agents in every major city." He glared back out the window, this time at Ponyville. "And around the Tyrant's student too, apparently."

"They have names, you know."

"Hey, I'm not the Pink Menace," Spot protested. "I can't be expected to know the name of every pony in the village."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "Pink Menace?"

Spot chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. "Okay, so maybe I use nicknames a little more than I should. In my defense, I spend most of my time as an animal. Names don't really matter then."

Angel shrugged. "Fair enough. But, what's the outside world like, then?"

"Never you mind," Spot muttered. "You're better off not knowing." He got up, arching his back until a loud crack split the room. "Oh, that's good," he sighed, plodding over to the bed and hopping on. "Trust me," he said, lying down, "you'll be fine so long as you live out your happy little life here in Equestria. The Tyrant's dogs will keep all the 'bad guys' out and all you'll have to deal with are pretty little ponies. Maybe the odd zebra or gryphon."

"That and the changeling invasions," Angel muttered.

Spot's head shot up, his eyes growing wide. "W-what? Invasion? When?!"

Angel opened her mouth to respond, only to be interrupted as Discord shot out of it. "Finally!" the draconequus screamed as Angel clutched at her throat. I've finally finished with those infernal wings! I swear on my magic, I will NEVER work with code again. I mean, look at me!" He held out a hand, waving it in front of Spot. The hand was transparent, along with much of Discord's body. "I've had to up my chaos out there ten-fold just to keep from fading away!" He crossed his arms, closing his eyes and turning up his nose. "I certainly hope you're happy."

"A-actually," Spot stammered, rising to his hooves and backing away, "I th-think she's dead."

"What?" Discord turned around to see Angel lying on the bed, the light gone from her eyes and a trickle of blood seeping from her mouth. Discord looked up at his horns, finding strips of bloody flesh dangling from them. "Oh dear," he said, plucking the meat from his horns and fiddling with the ribbons of flesh. "My magic usually helps me come up easier. Guess I forgot how little my magic affects her." He shrugged, examining the elaborate bow he'd woven. "Ah well," he said, tieing the bow into Angel's hair. "I suppose it's about time for me to be turned to stone again." He snapped his fingers, summoning Angel's laptop and placing it in front of Spot. "Be a good little bug and give this to her when she wakes up, hm?" With a final snap, he vanished.

Spot looked between the laptop and the macabre sight of Angel lying dead, her hair decorated with a bow made from her own flesh. "This is my life now, isn't it?" He shuddered, nosing the laptop open and holding out a hoof. A flash of green fire turned the appendage into a gryphon's tallon and he quickly typed in Angel's password.

"Now," he muttered, navigating his way to Netflix, "let's see about that invasion."
> Welcome to Hell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Remind me why I let you talk me into this?"

Spot sighed as he trotted through Whitetail Woods, Angel following close behind him. "Because it's a good idea and that show is horribly inaccurate when it comes to changelings. Trust me, I served under Chrysalis for decades and I've known Pharynx for years. There's no way that the invasion is going to go anywhere near as sloppily as that botched affair. Watch your head."

Angel ducked beneath a low-hanging branch as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Okay, so what? You really think I'll be able to make that huge a difference when shit hits the fan? One human ain't going to do much against a swarm. Can't we just trust that Shiny and Cadence will be able to do their thing?"

"I prefer to be prepared for the worst," Spot replied, his head on a constant swivel. "Keeps me from being caught off guard when things go wrong, leaving all surprises as pleasant ones. Besides, this training is going to be for your sake more than theirs."

"My sake?" Angel muttered. "What the hay do I have to worry about? It's not like I don't have a reset button handy for if something happens to me."

"And that mentality is the first thing we have to cure. Tree root."

Spot's warning came a little too late, causing Angel to stumble a bit over the offending root. "Woah! Stupid... wait." She looked back up at him. "What do you-"

*SNAP!*


***


Angel's eyes snapped open as she came back to life. She bolted upright, reaching up and grabbing her neck, sweat beginning to soak her clothes. "He... he killed me. Just, snapped my neck and..."

"Are you really that surprised?"

Angel bolted to her feet, turning to glare at Spot. The changeling sat on the forest floor nearby, levitating several long branches at eye-level. "Wh-what the hell was that for?" Angel demanded.

"That was to ensure that you would take me seriously." Spot nodded in satisfaction at one of the sticks and retrieved a knife from his saddlebags. "I said I was going to train you to fight," he explained as he began cutting into one end of the stick. "I just wanted you to understand the nature of our little sparring sessions."

"So, what?" Angel asked. "We're going to fight to the death over and over?" She smirked, crossing her arms. "Hate to break it to you Spot, but I'm the only one who can come back from that. What happens if you're the one who-"

The spear embedded itself in Angel's chest. She staggered backwards, staring down at it in shock as blood began soaking her shirt. "Wh- what-"

*SLAM!*

Angel cried out in pain as Spot tackled her to the ground. Her cry turned into a shriek as he ripped her makeshift spear out of her gut. "Somehow," he said conversationally, examining the tip of the spear, "I don't think that's going to happen." He positioned the spear above her right eye, and thrust.


***


Angel awoke with another gasp. Her arms jerked for her face but found themselves constrained. Angel lifted her head and saw that her arms were tied to her sides by several loops of rope, her legs similarly bound. She struggled and pulled, but even the super-human strength provided by her Overdrive was unable to free her.

"You're awake. Good." Angel turned to see Spot sitting nearby once again, several more spears lying on the ground around him. "Still think you have any chance of accidentally killing me?"

Angel groaned, struggling against her bonds once more. "Why don't you let me go and we can see how I do in a fair fight?"

"See, that would be a good idea," Spot said, taking one of the spears in his magic as he stood, "except for two things. One, you won't always be faced with a fair fight. There will be many times when you find yourself at a severe disadvantage and will have to find a way to level the playing field."

Angel huffed, glaring to the side. "Fine. And number two?"

*SNAP!*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!"

Spot casually walked to Angel's other side, ignoring her agony as he lifted his hoof above her other arm. "Two," he said, "you need to learn a different lesson first." Without hesitation, he slammed his hoof down, snapping her left arm as easily as he had her right.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Spot continued to ignore her cries as he walked down to her legs. "Chrysalis is merciless and cruel," he lectured. "Once she learns of your 'undying' nature, she'll take steps to ensure that your resurrections do not provide a problem. Short term, that means tying you up and breaking your limbs, keeping you alive and unable to end yourself." *SNAP!* "Long term will be much the same, with the added fun of you dying of thirst and a few changelings on hoof to break you every time you revive." *SNAP!* "Of course, hearing about this in theory is one thing, but actually experiencing it is another. If all you know of torture is that it's bad, you won't be all that worried about dying and waking up to it. However, if you've felt some small modicum of what she'll do to you..." By this time, Spot had circled back to Angel's head. He gripped it in his forehooves, forcing her to look up at him through tear-stained and terror-filled eyes. "Remember this little lesson the next time you think about using your 'reset button.' It could save you a good deal of agony." His grip on her head tightened.

*SNAP!*


***


Angel's eyes snapped open. She leapt to her feet, holding her right arm before her. "Hand Sonic!" she cried. A familiar chime sounded as she frantically looked around, trying to spot her "friend."

"Much better." Angel looked all around her, but she could neither see Spot nor determine from whence his voice issued. "I was afraid your first reaction would be to curl into a ball and weep. I'm glad to see that you aren't so easily broken."

"Like hell I would be!" Angel shouted, her head and eyes constantly moving. "Now get out here so I can show you just how broken I'll make you!"

"A tempting offer," said the voice from nowhere. "Unfortunately, I can't really 'get out there' when I'm already in plain sight. You just aren't looking right."

Another 360 turn revealed nothing. "What are you talking about?" Angel shouted. "I'm looking everywhere!"

"Everywhere but up."

Angel's head snapped back just in time to see the twin spears hurtling towards her eyes.


***


Left. Right. Forward. Backward. Up. Down too for good measure. And every direction in-between. Angel's eyes kept up a perpetual scan, falling into a pattern that kept her looking in every direction. No sign of him anywhere, and he hasn't said anything. Think, Angel. Think! You're smart. He knows you're smart. He won't come from below, because he'll figure that you would have thought of that. So he's going to use a different type of approach. Come on, what else did those anime and super-hero guys train for? Her eyes kept moving back and forth, but try as she might she couldn't see a single glint of black carapace.

Wait, can't see him, but changelings are masters of disguise. So if I can't trust my eyes... Angel closed her eyes, turning her full attention to the sounds of the woods around her. Most of the animals had been scared off by her earlier screams, but she could still hear the chirping of insects, the rustling of leaves in the wind, a weary sigh...

"You know what, I'll give you this one." Angel's eyes snapped open and she turned to see an annoyed changeling stepping out from behind a tree. "You got the basic point: use more than just your eyes. But really, closing them? What if I'd just snuck up on you? You wouldn't have known anything was up until my spear pierced your back. On that note..." He pointed up at his glowing horn.

*SHLIK*

Angel fell to her knees, staring down at the spear that protruded from her gut. The pain just started to register when Spot grabbed her head again.

"If your opponent's horn is glowing or you think you might have more than one opponent, never let your guard down."


***


Spot's hellish training continued throughout the morning, with Angel's anger fading with every death as she realized just how easily Spot was killing her each time. As they fought, he lectured her on tactics and changeling strategy, warning Angel that his information was more than a decade out of date and simultaneously reminding her that he was more than a decade out of practice even as he snapped her neck for the thirtieth time. By the time the sun reached its zenith and Spot said they were done for the day, Angel was thoroughly disheartened.

"Bet Sora never had to deal with this," Angel muttered as she walked, kicking a pebble down the path. "Probably just woke up with all his fancy abilities. I'd've taken you out ten times over if I had an Areal Sweep/Spiral/Finish combo up my sleeve. Or some magic."

"I'm sure Sora got beat around just as much as you," Spot reassured. "One doesn't get his level of self-confidence from abilities one doesn't know how to use or twist to suit the situation. Besides, even if you did have magic, I would have just started using some of my own."

Angel rolled her eyes. "And let me guess" she griped. "If I were a more skilled fighter, you'd've stopped holding back so much."

Spot shrugged. "That goes without saying. I served on the border patrol for years. I regularly sparred with Commander Pharynx himself. I won't claim to be the best combatant in the hive, but I was up there."

"Makes a girl wonder why you left if you were so good at it all."

It took Angel a moment to realize that Spot had stopped. She turned around to see him staring out into the woods, lost in memories. "Thing about serving on the border patrol," he muttered, "is you develop one of two attitudes. Either you start to see everything that isn't a changeling as food, or you go soft. And Chrysalis doesn't tolerate softness in her drones." He shook his head and began walking again. "Let's hurry up. You're meeting with the Tyrant's Dogs for lunch, right? Better not keep them waiting."

"Spot-" Angel was cut off by a flash of green fire as Spot shifted into his Golden Retriever disguise. He bounded ahead, looking for all the world like a carefree pet. Angel sighed and started running after him. "That's one way to avoid a conversation."
> Welcome to the Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next week passed in a blur for Angel. Although she didn't feel fatigue from her morning "spars" with Spot, she did suffer from an almost constant melancholy as it became more and more obvious to her just how useless she would be in an actual fight. She'd yet to land a single blow on Spot, even on days when he didn't try to hide and came at her directly. Angel was seriously doubting her ability to fight off even a single changeling once the invasion started, much less a swarm.

"And it's not like he's training me to incapacitate," Angel muttered as she walked to Ponyville after the morning's training. "I'm trying to kill him, and it's doing nothing. I'll probably do the same once the swarm arrives, and even if I manage it, the shock of my first kill will probably get me killed myself if TV Tropes is anything to go by. Never should have read the 'Bleed 'Em and Weep' examples."

"Hey! Angel!"

Angel quickly forced a smile as she looked up. "Hey, Rainbow. What's up?"

"You, in a minute." Rainbow swooped down to hover in front of Angel. "What do you say? You up for some more flight practice?"

Angel's strained smile grew into an eager grin. "You bet! So long as you don't have any work you should be doing instead."

"Eh," Rainbow waved her off, "just got to wrangle some clouds from above the Acres later this afternoon. Got to collect all the dark clouds we can for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" asked Angel. "I didn't know we had a storm scheduled. Angel Wings."

Rainbow rolled her eyes as Angel's alabaster wing grew behind her. "You really need to get out of your house more often. Nightmare Night is tomorrow! We need them for, you know, atmosphere and stuff."

Angel's jaw dropped at Rainbow's announcement. "What? That's impossible! My calendar says it's still the 25th!"

Rainbow folded her forelegs, giving Angel an unamused glare. "And how often have you remembered to change the day on it?"

Angel opened her mouth to retort, quickly closing it as she realized that she hadn't ripped off a page that morning. Or the previous morning. Or the morning before that. I'm becoming one of those weird programming recluses, aren't I? "Dang it! No way I have time to throw a costume together. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"With Rarity," Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes again. "Duh. She's the one making all of our costumes. I'm sure she'd be fine with making one for you too."

"I don't know," Angel hedged, her wings furling and unfurling. "I wouldn't want to spring something like that on her at the last minute. Do you think she'd have time?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Three words: twenty, percent, cooler."

"...Fair point."


***


The flight over to Rarity's took only fifteen minutes. Rainbow could have made it in one and Angel in five if they had rushed, but flight lessons seemed to be the one thing that Rainbow insisted on taking slow. "There are a lot of bad habits you can develop early on," she'd lectured more than once, "so we're going to practice the basics until you can fly with perfect form in your sleep." Angel might have been tempted to chafe against Rainbow's rigidity if Spot hadn't backed up the advice, reminding her that a habit of being able to use her "reset button" on a whim had left her with a less-than-healthy disregard for her own well-being. Not to mention that, since he'd forbidden her from "resetting" herself outside of their training sessions, she'd have to keep any injuries she sustained due to recklessness. She got enough bruises and strained muscles when she did things right.

The two flyers descended to Rarity's boutique, Rainbow insisting that Angel hover for half a minute while she inspected her form. Apparently satisfied, she pushed open the door and the two of them flew in. "Hey! Rarity!" Rainbow shouted, looking around. "Got another costume order for you!"

"~One moment, Darling,~" came Rarity's musical reply. She trotted out from her back room, bags under her eyes and her mane and tail a frazzled mess. Nevertheless, her eyes were clear and her wide smile was genuine. "Rainbow. Angel. So good to see you two." She raised an amused eyebrow. "Though you could give your wings a rest and stay a while."

"Don't want to interrupt you for too long," Rainbow said, waving her off. "Just came in to order a costume for Angel."

Rarity's eyes sparkled. She squealed like a filly and danced on the tips of her hooves. "Finally!" She rushed over to Angel, summoning a measuring tape from somewhere and sending it zipping around her body, jotting down a volume of notes that would make Twilight proud. "Oh, I've been meaning to get my hooves on you for days, Darling, but I've just been so busy with commissions and orders. 'Tis the season, after all. But the moment I saw you alive and well, my mind went spinning with ideas and designs for your unique form." She paused her measurements for a moment, looking Angel up and down with a critical eye. "Though I do have a few questions."

"Er, shoot," Angel said, taken aback by Rarity's fervor.

"What physical characteristics are the most sexually appealing to humans?"

Angel dropped out of the sky, Rainbow almost following suit. Angel's face was beet red, both from the fall and from Rarity's question. "Wh-wh-why the HELL would you ask something like that?!"

Rarity rolled her eyes as she circled Angel, looking her over like a piece of art she didn't quite understand. "Well, I can hardly emphasize your best features if I don't even know what they are. I can make you look interesting to ponies easily enough, but fashion is as much about what you think of yourself as what others think of you." She stopped her circling in front of Angel, looking down and into her eyes. "And so, I need to know what attributes humans, specifically you, find cute, find beautiful, and find sexy. I promise to keep this strictly professional if you do." She turned an eye to Rainbow, raising an eyebrow. "On that note..."

"Don't need to tell me twice. GottogoAngelgoodluckbye!" In a blur of color and a tinkling of the bell above the door, Rainbow was gone.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "She's tactless, but at least she realizes it. Now," she turned her attention back to Angel, her pen poised and ready to go, "tell me everything."


***


Angel left the Boutique an hour later, her face bearing a resemblance to a ripe tomato. Rarity had been thorough in her inquisition, wanting to know exactly why breasts were attractive and how wide human hips could get before they stopped being sexy and started being fat. It had only gotten more embarrassing when she'd begun inquiring into "human mating rituals" and how they differed from those of ponies. "Clothing, or the removal of clothing, is often a very exciting part of it all, darling. I need to know exactly how humans feel about it if I am to create the proper undergarments for you. Though I'm rather surprised that you humans are so prepared as to always be wearing them."

Angel had been very quick to clear up that humans did NOT only wear undergarments for sex purposes.

"And we didn't even get a chance to discuss costumes," Angel groaned. "With how that conversation went, I'm probably going to be way too embarrassed by whatever she creates to enjoy Nightmare Night. Speaking of which..." Angel spread her wings once again, leaping into the air and darting over to Sugarcube Corner. She hovered inside and looked around, happy to find the mare she was looking for behind the main counter. "Hey, Pinkie," she said, landing and walking over, "I've got to talk with you about something."

"Eight chocolate donuts, coming right up!" Pinkie replied, bending down and rummaging behind the counter, her pink pony posterior waving about. "So what's up?"

Angel hesitated a moment before shaking her head. Knowing my order before I even order it. Not even remotely the strangest thing she's done. "It's about Nightmare Night tomorrow. Specifically, it's about a certain guest we'll be playing host to."

Pinkie gasped. "A guest?" Her head shot up, a bag of donuts balanced art it. "Oh oh oh! Who is it?"

Angel took the bag before leaning on the counter, lowering her voice. "Don't tell anypony this," she whispered, "but Princess Luna's going to be making an appearance."

"Really?!" Pinkie whispered back, her eyes sparkling in delight. "Oh my gosh! That's so superly-duperly-awesomely amazing! How do you know?"

Angel blinked, distracted for a moment by the tiny stars that rotated in Pinkie's eyes. "Um, the TV show. She's also going to have a bit of a hard time adjusting to modern Equestria. So, if you could avoid doing anything to make things harder for her, I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

"Harder for her?" The stars disappeared and Pinkie's ears folded back against her head. "Oh no. What did I do?"

"Nothing too bad," Angel said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "At least, nothing with any ill-intent. You kept going on about Nightmare Moon eating you and the foals and running away. It was all in good fun, but Luna took it... harder than you meant it."

"Oh." Pinkie looked down, scuffing the floor with her hoof. "Yeah, I... I guess I can see how I might have gone too far with that." Her eyes narrowed, her sorrow turning instantly to determination. "But not in this world." She looked up, a grin splitting her face. "I'm going to make sure our super special guest has the best Nightmare Night in the history of Nightmare Nights! You know what this calls for?"

Angel straightened up and grinned back. "Extreme measures?"

"PINKIE PIE STYLE!!!" A pink blur vanished up the stairs, and Angel heard the distinct sound of a trapdoor being opened. "TO THE CAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaave."

"Well, she's certainly excited." Mrs Cake shook her head and chuckled as she stepped out of the kitchen to man the counter. "What's she getting her tail in a twist about this time?"

Angel shook her head, drawing her fingers across her lips. "Sorry, it's a secret." She nodded to Mrs. Cake before turning for the door. Now, let's see if I can do anything to help with the preparations. I should probably ask Twi-

"There you are, darling!" Angel paled as she spotted Rarity trotting towards her, several sheaves of notes held aloft in her magic. "I needed your opinion on some costume ideas I sketched out." She separated one sheet out and levitated it over to Angel. "What do you think?"

Angel examined the sketch for less than a second before blood rushed back to her face, accompanied by about a pint more than normal. She ripped the sheet from Rarity's magic, quickly folding it in half and stuffing it in her pocket. "Let's take this conversation back to your boutique!" Angel said, a strained smile painted on her face. Where I can explain to you a silly little human concept called MODESTY!!!


***


...all those questions about sexual appeal, and this is what she settles on?

Angel stood on the stage of Carousel Boutique, admiring her costume from all different angles. Rarity had decided to dress her, rather appropriately, as an angel. A flowing white dress with intricate designs woven in gold throughout fell from her shoulders, the arms stopping shortly above her wrists and the hem just above her ankles. Her feet were bare, Rarity having borrowed Twilight to cast a spell that would make the soles of her feet tougher than normal. Angel's hair was intricately braided, the golden halo above her head suspended by magic. With the addition of her own wings, Angel looked ready to sing the coming of the Lord.

"Well, I have to admit it Rarity," Angel said, jumping into a hover and watching as the dress stayed relatively unruffled, "you really know how to make a costume. But why in the world did you have to know all of that sex stuff if you were going to make the most modest costume possible?"

Rarity chuckled and rolled her slightly glazed-over eyes, swaying slightly on her hooves as she did so. "So I could know what to avoid, naturally, while still drawing appropriate attention to inspiring beauty."

"Huh." Angel landed and cocked her head to the side. "That... actually makes a lot of sense." She shrugged and turned towards the door. "You sure you want to sit this out? The festival looks amazing, and I heard that there was going to be a member of royalty there."

Rarity instantly stiffened, her eye twitching dangerously. "Darling, while I appreciate the offer, I am currently running on three hours of sleep and ten gallons of coffee covering the last five days. I have no outfit prepared for myself, and I'm honestly not sure when the last time I showered was. When I awaken sometime tomorrow evening, I am certain that I will be utterly disgusted with myself. Tell me darling, do you really think that tonight is the best night for me to be meeting with royalty?"

Angel winced. "Good point. Well, sleep well, I guess."

"Thank you, dear. Now go and enjoy yourself." With a few shooing motions, Rarity had Angel out the door.

"Aw, Rarity isn't coming either?"

Angel turned to see Pinkie frowning at Carousel Boutique and dressed in a turkey costume.

"Guess not," Angel replied, raising an eyebrow at Pinkie's costume. "I thought you were going as a chicken this year?"

Pinkie rolled her eyes and started pronking down the street towards town square, Angel following by her side. "Well I was, but then I realized that you probably already knew that and would be expecting it. So I asked Rarity to change it slightly."

Angel nodded along. "Makes sense, I guess. I mean, as much as you ever make sense. So, Fluttershy's holed up in her house too?"

Pinkie pouted as she pronked along. "Mm-hm. She's scared of Nightmare Night."

"Shocker," Angel deadpanned. "I'll go and talk with her, give her a friendly face at least before I head to the main party."

"Oki doki loki!" Pinkie chirped, once more her chipper self. "Just remember to be back in time for our special guest to arrive. It'll be the first time one of the princesses has met you, and you don't want to leave a horrible impression of your entire species and doom every other Displaced who visits to ostracization and witch-hunts!"

Angel raised a disturbed eyebrow at Pinkie. "...yeeeah. That'd be bad. No pressure though, right?"


***


Angel could have sworn she'd slipped into the Equestrian Wasteland as she approached Fluttershy's cottage. The windows were boarded up inexpertly, the yard was deserted, and the entire place had a frightened, dangerous air.

"If I didn't know any better," Angel muttered as she approached, "I'd say she was specifically trying for a haunted house motif." She approached the door and knocked softly. "Fluttershy?" she called. "It's Angel. I just wanted to check up on you."

Silence was her only answer for a few minutes until, slowly, the door opened just a crack. A single blue eye, alight with fear peaked out. "A-Angel?" Fluttershy opened the door a little more, starting out at Angel with wonder. "Oh, wow. Your costume is beautiful!"

Angel shrugged and knelt down to be at Fluttershy's eye-level. "Yeah, Rarity really went all-out on it. I usually go for scary costumes myself, but I guess this choice was fitting considering my name."

Fluttershy giggled and nodded. "I think it suits you. Although, I'm kind of surprised; I didn't know you were a Faustian."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "A what?"

"A Faustian," the pony next to her explained, "is a follower of Faust, the first Goddess of Ponykind and Queen of Elysium, which is guarded by white-robed, winged figures known as 'angels' or 'cherubim.'"

Fluttershy nodded along. "I was surprised you would choose a pony religious figure for your costume."

"Huh." Angel folded her arms and started up into the starry night. "I actually didn't know anything about pony religion, or even that you had one. Angels feature in some human religions, too. I... didn't really think about it when I saw the costume." Realisation struck and Angel's attention snapped back to Fluttershy. "Oh damn! It's not offensive, right? Me wearing something like this just as a costume?"

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head. "No no, you're fine as long as you don't try to imitate Queen Faust; some ponies get a little... touchy about that. But it's very sweet of you to be so worried about our feelings."

Angel let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. A lot of people back home get offended really-"

"Hey! Someone's over at Fluttershy's house!"

"Maybe she's giving out candy this year!"

"Eep!" With a startled squeek, Fluttershy slammed the door. Angel sighted and shot a glare back at the two foals who were now smiling sheepishly.

"Well, happy Nightmare Night, Fluttershy," Angel called as she stood and began walking away.

The pony bowed once towards the door before following. "'Twould seem that she is easily frightened."

Angel shrugged. "Well, her name isn't for nothing, you know. I'm surprised she even opened the door as much as she did."

"From what we have heard, you have been making a marked effort to befriend Dame Fluttershy ere your arrival in our world." The pony shrugged. "'Tis natural that she would reciprocate your efforts with openness."

"Yeah, I guess so," Angel replied. "You know, you have an interesting way of speaking. Reminds me of Luna from Season 2."

"Is that so?"

And suddenly, Angel's eyes were open. She turned with a start, staring at the dark alicorn who trotted beside her. "Wha- but- how-"

Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Guardian of the Night chuckled at Angel's surprise. "'Tis a useful spell," she said, continuing to walk casually by Angel's side. "We could cast it upon an ursa minor and, so long as it did naught to intentionally draw attention, it would evade all notice. Oh, if pressed, ponies would say that they remembered something large moving through town, but they would not care to recall more."

"I-I see," Angel stammered, fidgeting nervously. "Um, so, am I supposed to bow, or..."

Luna hummed contemplatively, looking Angel up and down, her eyes lingering on her wings. "Of a truth, I am uncertain. A certain amount of supplication and subservience is expected of our little ponies and other Equestrian citizens, whilst foreigners are usually expected to simply show due respect by whatever standard is held in their lands. But you are a unique case. You are both from a foreign land and yet 'native' to Equestria, this being thy nation of origin in this world. Truly, 'tis an interesting puzzle." She stopped and smiled kindly at Angel. "Address us in whatever way is comfortable to you."

Angel let out a relieved breath. "Okay then. Let's start over." She smiled and held out her hand. "Angel Johnson. Nice to meet you, Princess."

"Ah, a minotaur custom. We should have guessed." Luna placed her hoof in Angel's hand and shook it. "The pleasure is ours, Miss Johnson." Luna's smile twitched into a smirk. "Or would 'Spirit of Sweet Apple Acres' be preferable?"

Angel released Luna's hoof and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "You, um, heard about that, huh?"

Luna chuckled and resumed walking, Angel following at her side. "Our sister shares Twilight Sparkle's letters with us, and there is little of her life here in Ponyville that she does not speak of. You in particular have been the sole subject of several of her letters."

Angel blushed and looked down, smiling bashfully. "I, um, wasn't aware that there was that much to say about me. Although I am kind of surprised that this is the first time I've met with either you or your sister; I half expected to be summoned to Canterlot in my first week."

Something flashed across Luna's face, but it was gone before Angel could identify it. "We decided that Twilight Sparkle would provide sufficient welcome. Still, we could not restrain our curiosity when we heard of your encounter with Discord." She scowled and spat to the side. "A pox be upon him. In any case, we were impressed; not many are they who can match wits with the Lord of Chaos. We are curious as to how you managed it."

Angel hesitated. The fewer people knew about the future the better. Then again, this was one of the princesses, and the less mischievous one at that. And Celestia was apparently known to receive periodic visions if the season four finale was anything to go by.

"Has Twilight told you and Cel- Princess Celestia anything about my laptop?" she asked.

Luna frowned. "Your pornography device?"

"IT'S NOT A-" Angel groaned, cutting herself off. "You know what? Forget it." The internet is half used for porn anyway. "My laptop is able to access a vast information library containing the sum of all human knowledge and entertainment at the time of my displacement. One piece of entertainment I used to enjoy was titled 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.' I know it sounds-"

"Ah yes," Luna muttered, rubbing her chin in thought. "We should have guessed. Starswirl's Theory on the Origin of Stories." Seeing the confusion on Angel's face, she elaborated. "Starswirl the Bearded dabbled in inter-dimensional travel and theory. He theorized that every story ever imagined is naught but the echos of events which have occurred or will occur on other planes of existence. It does not o'erly surprise us that the events of our world have echoed to yours."

"Um, right," Angel said. "Anyway, that sh- story covers the events surrounding Twilight discovering the Elements of Harmony and goes from there. It's mostly slice-of-life stuff, but there are occasionally villains and monsters that they have to face."

"I see." Luna frowned. "If that is the case, then why did you not warn Twilight Sparkle of Discord's impending escape?"

Angel rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Yeah, that's my bad. I'm... hesitant to tell others about the future too much; I've read way too many stories about how that can screw everything up to not be worried about it. Besides, I wasn't sure about the timing. My Little Pony's timeline isn't lining up exactly with this Equestria's. If I'd known he was so close to getting loose, I definitely would have asked Twilight to warn you."

Luna nodded. "Well, we thank you for that. And the future can be tricky to deal with. However, I do not believe there will be o'erly much harm in revealing upcoming major events." She smirked. "Especially if you plan to intervene with them anyway."

Angel blushed and looked down. "I mean, how can I not? If I know something dangerous is going to go down, I have to do something about it, right?"

Luna smiled. "You have a good heart, Angel Johnson. Many would simply tell us of the danger and hide away until it was over. I believe Equestria will find a good friend in you in the years to come."

Angel was doing a good impression of a tomato at this point. "W-well, I guess I should tell you about the next threat then." She took a breath and met Luna's eye. "There's a changeling invasion coming. They'll attack Canterlot during Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding."

Luna's eyes went wide before narrowing in anger. "We see," she hissed. "We suppose Queen Chrysalis herself will be leading the charge?"

Angel nodded. "She's going to replace Cadence and hide her in the caves beneath Canterlot. Shining will put up a shield when they hear rumors about an upcoming threat, but with Chrysalis draining him, it'll fall to the swarm quickly." She glared at the ground. "And I've recently learned that all of that might be different in this Equestria. Spot insists that-" Angel slapped a hand over her mouth, but too late.

"Spot?" Luna frowned. "Who is Spot?" Her eyebrows furrowed in suspicion. "And why do you act as if you would rather we did not know?"

Angel mentally cursed herself out as she slowly lowered her hand. "O-okay," she stammered, sweating nervously. "Don't freak out, but... I might know a changeling who's living in Ponyville."

Luna tilted her head curiously to the side. "Why would that cause us to, ah, 'freak out?' There are many changeling living in disguise throughout Equestria."

Angel's eyes went wide. "There are?"

"But of course," Luna answered. "How else are they to survive? They exist in every city, siphoning of as much ambient love from their surroundings as they can without risking discovery or the illness of their prey. There is even a registry in our- er, in the old castle. We assume it has since been moved to Canterlot."

Angel frowned. That... doesn't sound like what Spot described. "Well, in any case, Spot has been living with me as my dog almost since I arrived in Equestria. He doesn't really want anyone else to know about him, so..."

Luna smiled and held up her hoof. "Worry not. We shan't speak a word of it. Though we would like the opportunity to interview this Spot if he would be amicable toward meeting with me."

"I'll ask him," Angel hedged, "but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Considering he refers to your sister as 'the Tyrant,' I think it'll take me a while to warm him up to the idea."

"Indeed?" Luna's expression turned thoughtful as she turned her gaze towards Canterlot. "That is... troubling. It is true that our sister can be a touch..." She shook her head. "Never mind. I'm sure that even the Goddess of Protection wouldn't go that far."

"Who?"

Luna raised an eyebrow at Angel. "Our sister. The Goddess of Protection and the Sun. Minor Goddess of Ponies and Motherhood. Do your stories not cover this?"

Angel slowly shook her head, her jaw hanging open. "N-no. Not at all. I mean, the fans speculated, but everyone always said you and the others were just really powerful. Very few people thought you were actual, capital-G Goddesses."

"Truly?" Luna chuckled. "We shall have to read this story sometime to see what else they missed. Incidentally, who is the Goddess of Humans?"

"..."

"Angel?"

Angel stared out into the distance. Her panicked mind ran feverishly, trying vainly to figure out how to explain the vast, complex, and often contradictory mess that was humanity's various religions. Eventually, she settled on the only sure answer she could give.

"I don't know."

Luna's eyes widened. "Pardon?"

"I don't know," Angel repeated. "The God of Humanity doesn't live among us like you do here in Equestria. Or, if He does, He doesn't let Himself be discovered by many people. In my world, we're told that we 'walk by faith' instead of by sight. Heck, lots of people don't even believe in God."

Luna was silent for several minutes, starting at the stars as she tried to comprehend such a system. "...and," she finally ventured cautiously, "where does your faith lie?"

My mom was a devout Mormon, my dad was nondenominational, and I was a somewhere in between. Angel sighed. "That's difficult to explain, even to another human who knows about our religions. Suffice to say, I believe that God created the world and everything on it, that He is the Father of our spirits, and that good people go to Heaven when they die. Beyond that..." She shrugged.

Luna bit her lip, seemingly troubled. "Created your world, you say? Does your doctrine include anything speaking of other worlds?'

"Not really," Angel answered. "Maybe the Scientologists believe something about that, but people almost universally believe that they're all crazy." Angel frowned. Luna was looking really troubled now. "Why the sudden interest?"

Luna was silent for a long, uncomfortable minute. "You have a form of supplication, do you not?"

The question surprised Angel and did nothing to remove the suspicious scowl from her face. "You mean like worship? Or prayer?"

"The latter," Luna said. "When is the last time you prayed?"

Angel considered that for a moment, looking away as the answer came to her. "Not since before I came here," she begrudgingly admitted. "Been busy. What're you getting at, anyway?"

Luna again took far too long to answer. "We would suggest that you try. Tonight, if possible. We..." She sighed and turned towards town. "We have tarried here too long. We must hie to Ponyville ere our guard begins to wonder at our absence. We shall see you... see thee at the party."

With a flash of her horn, the Goddess of the Night vanished, leaving Angel standing alone on the road to Ponyville.

"Seriously, what was that about?" Angel kicked a rock down the street as she made her way towards town. "One minute we're getting along fine, and the next she's grilling me about my religion? Ugh. It's Mom's missionaries all over again." She sighed, her eyes going to a nearby field, a familiar hut sitting in the middle with a massive cloud mansion floating above it. Angel rolled her eyes before turning and walking home. "Spot's out enjoying the party in disguise anyway," she muttered. "Never been comfortable praying in front of people. Might as well take the chance now. Then I can go to the party and tell Luna that everything's hunky dory."

She pondered what she would say as she approached the cabin. Nothing rote; she didn't think there was a prayer for "stuck in another universe." Nothing too grand or complex either. She'd always felt that she enjoyed a close, almost familiar relationship with God.

"Screw it," she said, walking in and locking the door behind her. "I'll just pray like I usually do. No need for anything special. It's just a normal prayer, after all." She walked over to her bed and knelt down. Placing her hands on the blanket before her, she closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Dear Heavenly Father..."

...

...

...something was off.

Angel furrowed her brow and started again. "Dear God in Heaven..."

...that wasn't right either. Angel shook her head vigorously before screwing her eyes shut tight. Fine! Something more formal, then. "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy... thy..."

Angel's eyes flew open, wide and panicked. She clenched her hands together. Her face paled as sweat began to bead on her forehead.

"D-d-dear Father in...

"G-g-great Allah...

"L-l-lord Yahweh..."

She tried again. And again. And again. Every form. Every name. Every way she'd ever heard of to call upon divinity. Everything that had worked before. Everything that had let her feel a connection to the being beyond. To feel that her prayers, her cries into the night, were being heard.

She felt nothing.

"E-e-eloi," Angel whimpered, tears running down her face. "E-eloi."

She screwed up her eyes and tilted her head back, shouting into the empty heavens. "LAMA SABACHTHANI!!!"

She fell forward, sobbing into her arms, her whole body trembling. The stolen child wept long into the night, and, for the first time in history, one of Eve's daughters was completely and utterly alone.
> Welcome to Eternity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

…

…

…

…

"Daddy? Why don't you come to church with Mommy and me?"

"Hm? Why do you ask?"

"Well, my friend Jacob's daddy doesn't go to church either. He says his daddy doesn't believe in God. But you believe in God, don't you Daddy? You read the scriptures at night with me and Mommy. And you pray so pretty. So why don't you come to church?"

"Heh, you're a clever girl, Angel. That's a little complicated, but let's see if Daddy can explain.

"I believe in God. I believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and a lot of what your Mommy's prophets say. But I also believe in the Quran and the Talmud and other books that the Mormon church doesn't. And there are lots of questions I have that churches aren't very good at answering."

"...so, does that mean I shouldn't go to church either?"

"No, that's not it. Church is very good at teaching you about God, and I think that Mommy's church does a better job than most. But as you get older, you'll start having more questions. If you find that the Mormons or some other church answer them well enough, then you should join them. They just… don't hold quite enough answers for me."

…

…

…

…

*scratch scratch*

…

…

…

*scratch scratch*

…

Something's at the door.

…

…

"Angel? Angel, seriously! Let me in! I can't be seen like this for long! Angel!"

…

Spot. Why isn't he coming in. Did I lock the door? I should take care of that.

…

…

"Angel? If you're in there, in going to Fluttershy's. Come get me when you're done with… whatever's keeping you."

…

Thirsty.

…

…

…

…

…

"So, have you thought any more about being baptized?"

"Mom, come on."

"It's just that, you're fourteen already. I don't want you to put it off for too long."

"Mom, look. Joseph Smith didn't get baptised when he was young because he needed to know which church was true, right? Well, I think there are some things missing from the Mormon doctrine. Maybe they'll be revealed later. Maybe not. But I need to get those answers before I can make such a commitment."

…

…

…

*knock knock knock*

"Um, Angel? You there? It's just, nopony's seen you in a couple of days, and Spot's been spending most of his time with Fluttershy."

…

"Angel?"

…

"Well, if you're there, and if something's wrong, just… come out and talk, okay? You can fly, and you have that loud voice thing. You can come and get me anytime, okay?"

…

…

Dashie? I… I should answer her. Maybe once this headache is gone. I'll just… rest it off…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...

"I don't know, Jacob. I mean, everything about it feels right, but it just feels like there's something missing."

"Ange, you aren't waiting for some First Vision repeat, are you?"

"Don't be like that! If she isn't ready, then she isn't ready."

"Thanks, Emm. I just… don't want to make promises to God that I'm not sure whether I'll keep or not."

"Ange, that's what repentance is for."

"That's not what I mean, you goof! And you know it. Anyway, you got your call, right Jacob? I saw on Facebook. Africa, huh?"

"Yeah. Got to tell you, it's gonna be weird, a white red-head roaming around all those blacks. At least I'm not Mike. Did you hear about that one?"

"Japan, right? Almost seven feet tall, and he's serving his mission in Japan! He'll come home with a permanent bump on his head from hitting it on their ceilings!"

"What about you, Ange? If you finally joined and decided to serve a mission, where would you want to go?"

"Honestly, the Fort Worth, Texas mission."

"Pht!"

"Angel, that's literally half an hour away."

"What can I say? I don't see any reason to want to spend more time than I have to away from good ol' Texas. All my friends and family are here; why would I want to leave?"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

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...

tired… so… tired…

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...

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...

"ANGEL JOHNSON!!!"

A shuddering breath forced its way past Angel's dry, cracked lips. Her eyelids painfully cracked as they opened slightly, her equally dry eyes singing from exposure to air. She tried to turn her head to look at the door, but found that she lacked the strength.

"YOU HAVE LEFT POOR SPOT WITH ME FOR LONG ENOUGH, MISSY! IT'S BEEN FIVE DAYS SINCE HE CAME TO ME! IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, THEN I WILL SERIOUSLY BEGIN TO QUESTION YOUR ABILITY TO TAKE CARE OF HIM PROPERLY!"

Fluttershy's… angry. Angel tried to take a deep breath to shout a reply, but her throat screamed in protest. A shallow cough ripped its way up her trachea, dragging daggers in its wake which tore her throat to ribbons. She tasted blood, thick and more potent than usual.

"THAT'S IT! RAINBOW DASH! BREAK DOWN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

"Um, Fluttershy," Rainbow's voice carried more than a hint of fear, "maybe we shouldn't-"

"RIGHT! NOW!!!"

Angel heard the door shatter not a second later, but was still unable to turn her head to look. She didn't need to wait long before a furious Fluttershy was hovering over her, eyes narrowed in a Stare and mouth open to continue berating her.

Her wrath morphed quickly into horror.

Angel's face was gaunt and worn, her skin stretched over her skull. Her eyes were sunken into their sockets, deep bags beneath them. Her arms and legs looked thinner than usual, and her breath was rapid and shallow. The blood that marked her lips was thick and dark. She looked half-dead; Fluttershy knew that she was much further along than that.

"What the hay!" Rainbow flew into Angel's vision, her eyes wide as they took in her condition. "I-is she sick? What happened to her?!"

Fluttershy took a deep breath before landing on the bed next to Angel. She poked and prodded her, checking her muscles and responses. "Sh-she's starving," Fluttershy said, trying to maintain a clinical detachment even as tears filled her eyes. "B-but her thirst is worse. I… I don't think she's had anything to eat or drink since Nightmare Night."

"But that was a week ago!"

A week? No, that can't be right. I… I don't think I've slept that many times. That would be… six… seven? A week is seven, right?

"Is she hurt?" Rainbow demanded, daring around through the air over Angel's bed, chewing her hoof anxiously. "Is she paralysed? Is that why she's just been lying here?"

Fluttershy slowly shook her head, her tears flowing more and more freely. "N-n-no injuries. Sh-she just… hasn't moved."

Rainbow's ears folded back. She dropped from the air, landing at the foot of the bed. "You mean… she's been starving herself on purpose?!"

No. Not starving. Not even hungry anymore. Not thirsty. Just… hurts. Hurts so much…

"Should we, I don't know, get her some water?"

Fluttershy sniffed and wiped her eyes clear of tears. She shook her head. "Rainbow, this kind of starvation and dehydration is almost impossible to recover from. I've never even seen any creature lose this much water and still be alive. Th-the best option right now would be to… to k-kill her."

Kill me. No… no, Fluttershy. I'm sorry. Please, don't kill me. I… I have nowhere else to go. Nowhere waiting for me… just oblivion…

Rainbow swallowed nervously but trotted up to Angel's head nevertheless. "K-kill her, huh? Sure! No problem. I mean, I've seen her die a lot, right? K- Doing it myself sh-shouldn't be too hard."

Fluttershy reluctantly shook her head. "Rainbow, you wouldn't even know what to do to make it quick and painless. I've had to… to p-put d-down a few animals." She shuddered and stepped up on the other side of Angel's head. "I… I know how to… to m-make it quick."

Rainbow paled. "Wh-wh-what?! No! Fluttershy, you don't have to-"

But she was too late. Fluttershy's hooves reached out and grabbed either side of Angel's head. She smiled softly, her eyes filled with equal measures of pain and kindness. "It's okay," she whispered, stroking a lock of hair out of Angel's face before reasserting her grip. "It's okay. The pain will be gone soon just-"

*SNAP*

"-relax. It'll be fine…"

No, Angel thought, her vision fading to black as her body went numb and her mind sluggishly shut down. It's not fine. It'll never be fine again. He's gone. I'm gone. He can't reach me here. I'll never be able to return to Him.

Oh God, where art thou?
> Welcome to Reality
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel had never been hungover before.

She’d drunk a few times when out with older friends who insisted on buying alcohol for her, but she’d never gotten more than pleasantly buzzed. The mornings after had left her a little groggy, but never with the headache or mental sluggishness her friends described.

Though her head felt fine, Angel awoke to a brain that was struggling to process what had just happened. Her mind was foggy. Clouded. And very slow to clear up.

What happened? Angel pondered, staring straight up at her ceiling. I… I remember Nightmare Night. Luna came to see me. We talked about… about… Angel sighed, her eyes beginning to well up with tears. That… that wasn’t a dream, was it? I’m… I’m really… She took a deap, shuddering breath before forcing herself to move on.

I just sort of lied here after that, she recalled. Cried myself to sleep. Woke up and… did nothing? No, wait. Angel’s eyebrows furrowed as her mind cleared up further. I didn’t do anything. I just lay here for hours after the sun had come up. I was… pretty out of it. And then… I dozed off. A few times. Got hungry and… Her eyes went wide with dawning horror. I… I just lay there.

Angel sat bolt upright. “I just lay there,” she muttered, trembling. “I just… let hours and hours pass. Days. What did Fluttershy say? Five days? A week? Did I seriously just… lie here and starve myself to death?” A ragged, terrified sob forced its way out of Angel’s throat. She pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly as she fought down her tears.

NO! I can’t loose control again. I can’t go back to that… that darkness. That despair. I… I… Oh god! Angel’s head shot up towards the door. “Fluttershy! Dash!” She threw herself out of bed and rushed the door. She threw it open, her desperate eyes landing on the two startled pegasi and one dog standing just outside.

“A-Angel!” Fluttershy cried softly. “You’re up! Oh my goodness, are you-”

Angel threw herself at the two pegasi, falling to her knees as she wrapped her arms around them and pulled them close. “I’m sorry!” she cried, sobbing into their shoulders. “I’m so, so sorry you had to see that. That you had to… had to…”

Fluttershy, having stiffened at Angel’s sudden approach, relaxed and returned the embrace, rubbing a wing soothingly over her back. “There there,” she cooed, nuzzling the side of Angel’s head. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay now. Just let it all out.”

Rainbow, far less comfortable with such heavy emotions, patted Angel awkwardly on the back. “Um, yeah. There there. Um, what she said.”

Fluttereshy rolled her eyes, but Angel broke her sobs long enough to chuckle. “W-wow, Dash. You’re really bad at this, huh?”

Rainbow blushed and started trying to squirm out of Ange’s grip. “Yeah well, unf, I just, rgh, never really, agh! Could you let up the grip? Seriously, it’s like being hugged by Pinkie Pie!”

Angel gave another chuckle, releasing Rainbow and using her now-free hand to wipe her eyes. “Sorry, Dash. Overdrive is passive. I’m not even sure I can turn it off.”

Rainbow leapt into the air, quickly hovering up out of easy reach. “Yeah, well, just be careful with it. It was hard enough to convince Scrimp and Scam’s to include ‘hug insurance’ to cover Pinkie Pie; I don’t think they’d be too happy if they had to pay out because of you too.” She shook her head and her expression softened from embarrassment to concern. “Seriously though, what happened? Seeing you like that was…” She shuddered. “I mean, it’s one thing to see you die when I’m expecting it, but to just fly in and see you like that? What the heck?!”

Angel winced and privately thanked whatever force might now be looking out for her that Fluttershy was still offering her motherly embrace. “I… I’m sorry,” she repeated. “On Nightmare Night I… came to a certain realization.”

Rainbow cocked her head to the side while Fluttershy continued to stroke Angel’s back, apparently content to leave the questions to her more assertive friend. “Realization?” Rainbow asked. “About what?”

Angel opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. Am I… am I really going to tell them. Her mouth closed and she tightened her hug with Fluttershy, being mindful of how much force she was using. Am I really going to burden them with this? There’s nothing they can do to help, so is it really right to make them worry for me? She shook her head. No. I’ll… I’ll talk to Luna later. She’s a goddess, right? If anyone has answers, it’ll be her. “I…” Angel hesitated again, deciding that a certain part of the truth would be better than an outright lie. “I just realized that I’ll never see my family again.” As the words left her mouth, Angel found it suddenly easy to pretend that that was the entirety of the issue. Her throat tightened up and tears began flowing once again. “I-I mean, I already knew before f-from Sora, b-but it just… it really hit me that night, you know? My parents. M-my friends. Everyone I’ve ever kn-known…”

“Oh.” Rainbow looked away, more uncomfortable than ever. “Oh jeez. That’s… yikes.”

Fluttershy sighed and Angel barely heard her mutter of “Honestly, Rainbow.” She leaned back and held Angel at arm’s length, smiling comfortingly as she used a wing to tilt Angel’s face up to meet her eyes. “Angel, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I mean, it was hard for me when I left home for Ponyville, but it’s not the same since I know I can always go back to Cloudsdale to visit. If anything happened to my parents-” her breath hitched in a small, panicked hiccough at the prospect, “I… I don’t know what I’d do. But I do know who I would lean on.” She smiled up at Rainbow who blushed and looked away again. “That’s what friends are for, after all,” she continued, looking back to Angel. “If you ever need anypony, to talk to, or to vent to, or even just to give you a hug and tell you that things will be alright, we’ll be here for you.”

Angel sniffed a few times, reaching up again to wipe away her tears. “God, I’m pathetic,” she muttered.

“You are no such thing!” Angel blinked, surprised at the force in Fluttershy’s voice and the certainty in her eyes. “You’ve been through something absolutely horrible. Something no-one should have to go through. And with the eight times you’ve died so far, you’ve been through things that the rest of us can only imagine!”

More like eight hundred, but she doesn’t need to know about that.

Unaware of Angel’s thoughts, Fluttershy continued. “You are not pathetic just because everything overwhelmed you all at once. You are not pathetic for succumbing to your despair.” Her eyes softened again. “It just means that you need to learn how to deal with it better. Okay?”

Angel could only nod, staring at Fluttershy in utter amazement. Was latter-seasons Fluttershy even this confident? I don’t think I’ve ever seen this side of her in the show. Then again… Angel smiled and pulled Fluttershy back in for another hug, I guess the show never dealt with suicide. “Thank you, Fluttershy. I… I think I’ll be alright now.”

“Are you sure?”

Angel pulled back and nodded. “I… I’ve still got a lot of crying to do, I reckon, but I won’t do something like that again.” She shuddered at the memory of the hollow, painful, depressive spiral she’d fallen into. “I… I don’t like how it felt.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Are you sure?” she asked again. “There’s no shame in admitting it if you aren’t completely fine. There are a lot of ponies who struggle with… um,” she looked away, her nervousness finally returning to her, “d-d-darker things.”

Angel’s eyes went wide. Does she think… I hadn’t even considered that that might be a thing in Equestria! “Oh, Fluttershy, no!” Angel shook her head furiously. “No no no no no. I’m not depressed. I mean,” she groaned, “yeah, I’m freaking depressed right now, but it’s not, like, clinical depression.”

Fluttershy blushed in a mix of embarrassment and relief. “Oh! Oh, um, that’s good. N-not that there’s anything wrong with ponies who do have d-depression! But, um, it’s good that you, um, don’t.”

Angel giggled and ruffled Fluttershy’s mane. “Now there’s the adorably timid pegasus we all love so much. I was wondering when she’d gone and been replaced by big, bold, and motherly.”

Fluttershy’s face grew even redder as she began imitating Rainbow’s earlier attempts to escape Angel’s grasp, but with a lot less force and an equal amount of success. “I-I-I-I mean, i-it’s just, wh-when I see somep-pony who’s hurt, o-or sad, I just um, that is, eep.”

Angel and Rainbow both giggled as Angel finally had mercy and let the mortified pegasus go. “Thank you, Fluttershy,” she said, putting as much sincerity into her voice as possible. “Really. Thank you for the talk. It was really helpful.” She turned to Spot, who had been sitting aside and watching the affair in silence. “And I’m sorry to you too, Spot. You must have been worried sick about me, huh?”

Spot considered her for a moment before walking around Angel and into the hut. Angel snorted, rolling her eyes. “Or you just missed our bed,” she said, going along with the act. “Whichever.”

“I’m sure he was very worried,” Fluttershy said, catching Angel’s eye. “After all, creatures like him are much better than ponies at picking up on others’ emotions.”

“Yeah,” Angel muttered. “I can’t imagine what…” Her eyes went wide. “Wait. Creatures like him?”

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy said. “Animals are much more in tune with our emotions than most ponies realize. It’s almost like they have a sixth sense for it.” Her eyes darted quickly to Rainbow - who was obviously becoming bored of the conversation now that it had turned to animals - before she shot Angel a quick wink.

Angel blinked a few times in return. Hold on. Does she know that… She quickly shook her head. “R-right. Well, I’d better spend a bit of quality time with him then. I’ll go around and let the others know I’m fine later.”

“Sure, sure,” Rainbow said, waving her off. “But you might want to do it sooner rather than later. Twilight’s been really freaking out ever since Nightmare Night because she heard that Princess Luna chatted with you a bit.”

Angel’s eyes went wide. “Oh yeah! How’d that go?”

Rainbow scoffed and rolled her eyes. “We had a blast! Duh. Seriously, Angel, I think whoever made that show just wanted to pump in unnecessary drama. I mean, Princess Luna got along with everyone just fine. No ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ or nothing. Heck, a few foals started screaming about Nightmare Moon and running around, and she just launched herself right into it.” She frowned and scratched her head. “Pinkie seemed really worried when they started it up, though.”

“Oh? I wonder why?” Angel asked, studiously avoiding eye-contact. “Anyway, better check up on Spot so I can head out and try to keep Twilight from going any more Twilinannas.”

Rainbow burst out laughing at the name. Even Fluttershy had to hide a giggle behind her hoof. “Twilinannas? Ha! Good one, Angel! Oh, just wait until Twilight hears that!”

*****

Angel moved the blinds slightly to the side, peeking out the front window of her cabin to make sure that the pegasi had departed. "And they're gone," she muttered, turning back to the room at large. "Sorry, Spot. Must've been-"

A loud buzzing was Angel's only warning before the chitten-clad emotivore slammed into Angel, wrapping his forelegs around her neck. Angel reached up in panic, ready to pry his arms off to keep him from strangling her.

She froze as the first sob reached her ears. Spot wasn't strangling her; he was hugging her. His whole body trembled, his wings buzzing furiously to keep his weight off of her. "S-Spot?"  Angel asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry." He buried his face into her shoulder, his tears soaking her shirt. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Wh-what?" Angel knelt down, letting Spot's hind legs touch down so his wings could rest. "Sorry about what?"

"I don't know. I can't imagine. But whatever it was that made you feel like… like THAT!!!" He shuddered. “When they smashed open the door, and I tasted that… that…” He gagged. “Ugh! Even thinking about those emotions makes me sick.”

Angel sighed and returned the hug. “Yeah. That was pretty bad, huh?”

“There is a time and place for understatement, Angel. This isn’t it.” Spot heaved a deep breath before leaning back and looking her in the eye, his face full of concern. “Seriously, Angel. What happened? Whatever you talked about with the Moon, it wasn’t something as simple as homesickness.”

Angel looked down and away. No hiding it from him. “I… found out that she’s a goddess. Like, actually divine, object of worship goddess. We got to talking, she asked me about my god, and… and…”

Spot recoiled out of Angel’s arms, shaking his head and shivering. “Hrgh! Blegh! Yeah, I can guess where that led you.” He backed up to the other side of the room and took a deep breath. “Okay. I can manage from here. So, you miss your god?”

Angel shook her head. “Worse. I… I think I’m completely cut off from Him. I tried praying that night, at Luna’s suggestion. It… it wasn’t the same. It felt like no-one was listening.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “That’s never happened before. Everything I know about God says that He would never ignore one of His children. Unless…”

Spot’s eyes widened in understanding. “Unless He couldn’t hear them.” Angel nodded and Spot cringed. “I… okay. Okay, I have no idea what to say to that. Do you think that the Moon…”

“I hope so,” Angel muttered. “If anyone knows what I should do now, it would be an actual goddess, right?” She pulled herself to her feet. “I guess I should ask Twilight to send her a letter.”

“And if she doesn’t have answers?”

Angel shook her head. “Then I’d better find someone who does. Before I think about it too hard again.”
> The Best Night Ever, or an Amusing One, at Least
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel gazed up at Canterlot Castle in awe. The last time - and first time - she’d been in the city, she’d been too concerned about Discord to appreciate the splendor of the palace. As she rode the pony-pulled carriage through the city now, she took the opportunity to make up for that negligence.

“Your eyes will fall out of your head if you keep staring like that.”

Angel glared across the carriage at her companion for the evening. “Hey, we don’t have anything like this back on Earth. The most impressive architecture there is on the other side of the world from me. Let me have this.”

Spot shrugged, relaxing in a pegasus disguise. He’d decided to go as a silver stallion with a black mane and tail and a cutie mark of an anvil. He was dressed in a fine suit with an emerald-green vest and snake-patterned tie. “It wouldn’t be nearly so amazing were it not held up by magic.” He glared up at the palace. “Honestly, what was the Solar Tyrant thinking, building up here? One sufficiently powerful magical EMP would send half the city crashing to the ground.”

Angel smirked. “And by ‘sufficiently powerful,’ you mean…”

Spot considered the problem for a moment. “Well, between the inherently powerful nature of the spells, their ancient attunement to the stones they’re set into, and the countless shield spells that doubtless surround them…” He frowned. “I see your point. Still, if someone did manage to sabotage them-”

“Then they’d be such powerful and conniving villains that they’d have already brought down Equestria five times over by the time they got around to it,” Angel interrupted. “Just relax for tonight, ‘Iron Grip.’ Parties are supposed to be fun!”

Spot shot a level look at her. “You’ve convinced me to walk right into the heart of the Solar Tyrant’s sanctum and to let my guard down in the center of her power. Worse, you’ve convinced me to attend the most boring of all high-society social occasions, the Grand Galloping Gala. What part of this is supposed to be fun?”

You’ve seen Best Night Ever,” Angel reminded him. “That’s tonight. And I have no intention of saving their collective bacons. Which means…”

Spot smirked. “We get a front-row seat to their shenanigans and those uptight nobles’ reactions. Yes, I do see the appeal now.”

Satisfied that she’d convinced him, Angel turned her attention back to the palace. It had been six months since she’d first arrived in Equestria, and she was finally starting to really feel at home. She’d gotten an administrative job at the weather department with Rainbow’s recommendation. Rainbow had also subscribed her to a gryphon-oriented magazine which had a good selection of non-sapient meat available for mail-order. Angel wasn’t much of a cook, but she was happy to no longer be forced into the vegetarian lifestyle of Equestria.

Her training sessions with Spot had progressed well, with Angel finally able to see marked improvement from when she began. Spot informed her that he’d been gradually upping the difficulty of his fighting, and that her improvement was far more impressive from his perspective. Angel had also managed to perfect her Angel Horn (after several weeks of blowing up her own head) and several different types of weapons and armor, just for fun.

As for the usual Ponyville shenanigans, Angel tried to stay out of them. She saw no reason to majorly interfere with show events and the lessons that Mane 6 would learn.

Or the humiliations they would suffer until they became treasured memories.

Their carriage eventually came to a stop in front of the castle, and the earth pony pulling them unhitched himself before trotting around to open their door. Spot stepped out first before offering a hoof up to Angel. She took it and stepped out as well, keeping her expression calm and cool as she inwardly reveled in everypony’s attention and shock.

Rarity had worked a masterpiece on her. She wore a silk kimono, off-white with just a hint of blue and silver. Vibrant red and yellow flower patterns and the similarly colored obi brought out the gold in her eyes, and her hair was tied up in an intricate bun, held in place by a single silver rose. Angel didn’t know whether the stares she received were due to her strangeness or her Rarity-enhanced moe appeal, but she enjoyed it all the same.

She escorted Spot up to the castle gates, presenting her ticket to the guard and introducing “Iron Grip” as her plus one. The guard eyed her suspiciously but allowed her through.

“Strange to be at a large event like this and not be the one earning suspicious glares,” Spot muttered as they entered the castle proper and waited in line to be welcomed by Celestia and Twilight. “Hope you don’t mind if I peel off from you once we get inside. You attract more attention than I’m comfortable with.”

“That’s fine,” Angel muttered back. “I have a few ponies in particular I want to talk with anyway. Go ahead and mingle.” The line shuffled up a little, and Angel looked up to see a haughty stallion talking animatedly at Celestia. She bore it with a serene smile. Twilight bore it with a twitching eyelid.

“If we ever get in, that is.”

*****

“Announcing Angel ‘The Undying’ Johnson and her companion, Iron Grip.”

“Princess Celestia,” Angel said, bowing slightly before extending her hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Celestia was as regal and majestic as Angel had ever imagined, with an extra aura of power that no television could convey. Her alabaster coat gleamed immaculately, her mane flowing in an endless current of pink, blue, and green. She wore only her golden crown, torque, and slippers, but somehow managed to make Angel feel underdressed.

Celestia looked Angel up and down, not taking her hand immediately. Angel’s polite smile became a bit strained and she began to wonder if she’d messed something up somehow. Just as she was about to lower her hand, though, Celestia smiled and raised her hoof to shake it. “The… pleasure is mine, Angel. Twilight has told me quite a bit about you in her letters. You certainly sound like a… unique individual.”

“Er, thanks, I guess.” Angel shot a questioning look to Twilight, who was looking up at her teacher with confusion and concern.

“And Iron Grip,” Celestia said with far more warmth and sincerity, holding out her hoof to Spot. “Welcome to the Grand Galloping Gala. I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”

“I’ve not yet had the honor,” Spot replied smoothly, taking her hoof and lightly kissing it. “Forgive the impertinence, but it is rare that I have the chance to gaze upon such beauty.”

Celestia withdrew her hoof, letting out a giggle that was just the right blend of professional and flattered. “Well, hopefully the Gala will provide you with plenty of beauty to gaze upon. Please, do enjoy.”

Spot and Angel gave one more bow before turning down a short hallway that led to a large ballroom. The decorations were surprisingly simple, the natural grandeur of the castle more than enough to show off the wealth and elite status of the hosts. Red carpets ran along the four walls besides tables of hors-d'oeuvres, leaving the center of the floor clear for dancing. Not that anypony was; the Canterlot nobility and other elites would never stoop to such common entertainments as dancing. Everywhere they looked, they found overdressed ponies standing around with their noses in the air, chatting lightly about nothing or just standing around to look impressive.

“Sheesh,” Spot muttered. “This party’s even deader than I thought it would be. How long until the Crazy Six start to liven things up?”

“Give them a bit,” Angel muttered back. “They only left a few minutes before us, after all; they probably haven’t been here too long.” She chuckled. “But if you really want some sort of countdown, keep an emotional eye out for Rarity. The closer she gets to snapping, the closer we get to Flutterrage.”

Spot nodded. “Will do. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He trotted off, quickly vanishing into the crowd.

Angel rolled her eyes. Changelings. She made her way around the edges of the ballroom, keeping an eye out for somepony interesting to talk to and something to eat that wasn’t made with grass. Every time she approached a group of ponies, it was even odds on whether they’d go silent and start staring at her or whether they’d be so self-absorbed that they’d hardly notice her at all.

She’d loaded a plate with small treats and had almost given up on any good company for the evening when her ears caught the sound of laughter. Looking around and seeing that Pinkie was on the other side of the room, moping about how boring the party was, Angel began searching for the source of joy in this sea of haughty tedium.

“...and so I said, ‘good sir, that isn’t an orange; it’s a grapefruit.’”

Angel barely caught the end of the joke as the unicorns around let out some polite laughter. The speaker was a stallion with a white coat and two-toned blue mane. His mustache was immaculately groomed, and he wore a monocle over his left eye. His suit was well-tailored without being too extravagant, and even without the three-crown cutie mark, Angel would have recognized him.

“Fancy Pants, isn’t it?” she asked, making her presence known. Most of the unicorns gasped and stared at her, but Fancy merely turned and raised an interested eyebrow. “I am Angel Johnson, from Ponyville,” Angel continued, holding out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Fancy smiled and raised his hoof to shake. “The pleasure is mine. And you are correct. I am Fancy Pants, though at the moment I wear none.”

The groans and small chuckles of the surrounding unicorns told Angel that this was an old and oft-repeated joke. She chuckled politely as well. “Good to see that some ponies are actually able to enjoy a social occasion.”

Fancy let out a long-suffering sigh. “Yes, I’m afraid that the nobility are a touch too reserved to really have a good time. Alas, this is the premier event of the year, and it would be bad form to miss it.”

“Really?” Looking around and seeing no chairs, Angel knelt seiza-style to be on eye-level with them. “I was under the impression that you were part of the nobility?”

“Hah!” An amber unicorn with a white mane laughed and shook his head. “Common mistake, miss. But ol’ Fancy Shmancy here’s a business tycoon just like the rest of us. He just so happens to have better breeding, eh?”

Another round of chuckles sounded as Fancy rolled his eyes. “Weighted Bit is correct,” he said. “I have no title or noble standing. My wealth and position were earned through my investments and business management skills. It may not be easy to break into the Canterlot upper crust without being born into it, but I like to think that I serve as a model for enterprising ponies to follow.

“But enough about me.” Fancy turned his attention fully back to Angel. “You certainly are an interesting creature, aren’t you? I’ve never seen the like. I’d heard that the Elements had a touch of help putting that rascal Discord away, but details are scarce. Might I assume that you were this ‘Undying’ aid that so many rumors speak of?”

Angel fidgeted nervously. “I, er, I guess I am. I really didn’t help much against Discord, though. Just provided a distraction, really. The Elements are the ones who really did everything.”

“Fascinating as that is,” Weighted Bit interrupted, “I’m more interested in that ‘Undying’ title. Is it true that you blew yourself up and somehow survived?”

Angel winced. Guess somepony saw that. “Not… quite. I, um, didn’t survive. I just… got better.” Seeing their confusion, she explained. “I can die, just like anyone else. But when I do, my body comes back to life and resets to how it was when I first arrived in Equestria.”

“Fascinating,” Weighted Bit muttered. “I don’t suppose you could give us a demonstration?”

Angel paled just a touch. “I could, but I’d rather not. Dying hurts. A lot.” Seeing the unnerved looks on everyponys’ faces, she hastened to correct herself. “I mean, I’m sure not all deaths are painful! Just most of the ones I’ve experienced. I could blow up my head again - that one’s too fast for me to feel anything - but I doubt you’d all appreciate being showered in, er…” Angel trailed off as several faces went pale. “Sorry.”

“N-no,” Weighted said, waving her off. “I shouldn’t have asked. That makes sense, of course.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“Changing the subject then,” another of the business ponies said quickly, “what exactly are you? You look a bit like a minotaur, but no cow bits.”

Angel leapt at the chance to move on to another topic. “A human. But I’m afraid you won’t find any more of me. I’m actually not from this world.” She smiled sadly at their stunned expressions. “I was actually abducted from my world by a being called ‘The Merchant.’ He stuck me here as little more than a joke. I’ve been stuck here ever since.”

“How positively dreadful!” Fancy exclaimed. “Not that Equestria isn’t a fine nation to be stuck in, but to be pulled away from one’s home! And, forgive me if I’m mistaken, but from the tone of your voice you’re still rather young, aren’t you?”

“Eighteen,” Angel replied. “Barely an adult by my world’s standards.”

“Truly dreadful.” He shook his head. “My greatest sympathies, dear Angel. Why, if I ever have that cur in my sights-”

“You wouldn’t stand a chance.” Angel bore an appreciative smile, but shook her head. “He’s the sort of being that even the princesses wouldn’t want to cross. And besides, you’re right; Equestria is a wonderful country. I’m learning to love it here.”

Fancy seemed like he had a few more things he’d like to say about the Merchant, but he let the subject drop. “What of your future, then?” he asked instead. Have you given your place in Equestria any thought?”

Angel shrugged. “Not really. Not in the long-term, anyway. I mean, like I said, I’m immortal. Even if I make it to old age, I’ll still reset to being eighteen once I die. I’m working at Ponyville’s Weather Department now, but I suppose an immortal’s got to have a bigger-picture perspective, huh?”

“Not necessarily,” Weighted Bit said. “There’s no law saying an immortal has to play a major role in shaping the world. And I should know; I’m a lawyer. You could easily just live the simple life out in the countryside, if that’s what appeals to you.”

Angel winced slightly, laughing to hide her existential dread. “Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. I’ll have to give it some thought.”

“Well, if you’re ever interested in moving to the big city,” the stallion dug around in his breast pocket and pulled out a couple of business cards, “I have offices both here and in Manehattan. Look me up if you even get a hankering for something more urban than weather management.”

Angel took the cards with a smile before tucking them into a small pocket Rarity had sewn on the inside of her kimono. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Angel chatted with the business ponies for a few minutes more before standing and making her way around the ballroom again. She watched as Pinkie tried and failed to liven up the Gala with the Pony Pokey and shook her head at Rarity when she walked in behind Blueblood, looking ready to strangle him.

“We see that our nephew hath found his latest victim,” a voice muttered from over Angel’s shoulder.

Angel jumped and barely managed to hold in a cry of alarm. She quickly relaxed as she recognized the voice and turned to glare at Luna. “Must you sneak up on people?”

Luna answered with a smirk before turning a disappointed gaze on Blueblood. “Alas, that Generosity should be victim to his callousness. We do not understand why Sister doth allow him to comport himself so.”

Angel shrugged. “Free will, I guess. At least it will lead to an entertaining conclusion for us.” Seeing Luna’s curious expression, she elaborated. “Tonight was one of the episodes from the story.”

Luna chuckled. “She speaks of prophecy and free will in the same breath.”

Angel frowned. “So, what’s with the Royal We and other archaisms? You were talking normally when we met.”

Luna smirked again. “A simple amusement. We are waiting to see how long it takes for the nobility to realize that we know how to speak the modern dialect. Many an innuendo do they utter before us, thinking that their words beguile and confound. It shall be most entertaining to witness their expressions once they take their comments too far and give true offense, assuming we understand not.”

“And that’s why we call you ‘Trolluna.’” The two of them shared a chuckle before Angel’s expression turned serious. “Have you had any luck?”

Luna shook her head. “Alas, we wish we had better tidings. We have inquired of many gods and goddesses, but to no avail. Your case is utterly unique, unprecedented in this world’s history. If any know your fate upon facing true death, they remain silent. E’en Death herself knows not your final fate. We are sorry.”

Angel sighed and shook her head. “Well, I’m no worse off than before, at least. If nothing else, I can always take refuge in another Displaced’s world once this one becomes unbearable. There’s got to be some afterlife out there in the multiverse that will take me.”

“We wish we could be of greater aid,” Luna said. She lowered her voice. “Truly, I wish I could help more. I feel terrible, leaving you in uncertainty like this.”

Angel waved her off. “It’s… well, it’s not fine, exactly. But I’m dealing with it. There won’t be any repeats of…”

They shared a shiver of dread revulsion. “I have seen your dreams about that state. I’m sorry I had a part in it.”

“I would have realized eventually,” Angel said. “And it was still my choice to not get up. It won’t happen again. I-”

“AFRAID TO GET DIRTY?!”

Angel and Luna’s attentions were grabbed as Rarity shook herself like a dog, flinging bits of cake at a rapidly retreating Blueblood. Angel grinned as Luna gaped. “What in the world…”

Blueblood backed into a large statue, a stylized alicorn of gold. The statue began to tilt precariously with a low, metallic groan.

“This is my chance!”

Angel and Luna watched in fascinated horror as Rainbow sped across the dance floor, catching the statue on her back and proceeding to lose her balance, slamming the alicorn into the decorative pillars that ringed the room and sending them toppling.

“It’s uncanny,” Angel muttered as the statue fell to pieces around Rainbow, “how accurate the show was.”

“That is… quite the scene,” Luna muttered as Celestia and Twilight entered. “But you made it sound as if-”

*SLAM*

“YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE ME!!!”

“Ah. There it is.”