An Angel From Above

Chapters

A Chance Encounter
The Way Back Home
The Journey Begins

A Chance Encounter

"Come along Angel, it's time to go to the market!" Fluttershy's voice floated in from outside her cottage.

Angel raised his head up from where he had been sleeping, yawned, and stretched. He would have preferred to stay home and get his beauty sleep, but he didn't trust Fluttershy to buy the proper ingredients for his dinners, and so he was forced to accompany his yellow companion into town and supervise her purchases. He hopped off of the couch and out into the yard, where Fluttershy stood waiting with her wooden cart in tow. "All set?" Fluttershy asked.

Angel leaped into the cart with a single bound, and then nodded and pointed emphatically in the direction of town.

"All right. Off we go!" Fluttershy headed towards town with the cart, whose wheels squeaked so loudly that Angel was forced to stuff Fluttershy's tail into his ears to block the noise. Thankfully, the trip was short, and in no time at all, Fluttershy and Angel reached the Ponyville marketplace.

As Angel and Fluttershy began browsing the available wares, however, Angel felt something strange on the wind, something that made every strand of his fur stand on end. He could only describe it as a powerful aura emanating through the marketplace, very different from the ones given off by creatures like Discord or Princess Twilight. He knew the feeling well, just as he knew the danger it signaled to him and everypony around him.

Angel leaped up onto Fluttershy's back and began scanning the crowd, stretching his ears out to listen for any sound of danger. Nothing looked out of place, however, and the aura seemed to fade as Fluttershy continued walking. "Is everything alright?" Fluttershy asked.

After a few more scans of the area, Angel allowed himself to relax. It had been many years since he had last felt such an aura; perhaps he was mistaken. Still, it had felt so real...

"Let's start with these," Fluttershy said, jolting Angel back to his senses. He looked up to discover that Fluttershy had stopped in front of one cart displaying a large selection of carrots. "Do you see any you like?" she asked.

Angel gagged at the sight of the short, gnarled vegetables before him, and he cast a stern look at Fluttershy. She knew better than to waste his time with such garbage.

"I guess that's a no." Fluttershy looked around and spotted another display of carrots a few stalls down. "Maybe you'll like some of those."

'Those' turned out to be no more appetizing than the previous carrots, and the pair proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes trying to find a carrot, any carrot at all, that met Angel's standards. Eventually, Angel realized that the lack of decent vegetables for his meals was an issue with the vendors and not Fluttershy, and he settled for some medium-sized, slightly-arced carrots from a stand in the northwest corner of the market.

As Fluttershy paid for the carrots, however, Angel felt the disturbing aura assault his mind once again. This time there was no mistaking the feeling—in fact, it seemed to be getting stronger with each passing moment. Whoever was giving off the aura was closing in, and fast. He leaped off of Fluttershy and began pulling on her tail, motioning for her to follow.

"Is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked as Angel led her around the side of the vendor's cart. "You seen awfully skittish this afternoon."

Angel motioned furiously for Fluttershy to get down, and then peered around the side of the cart and surveyed the area. The market still looked innocuous enough, full of ponies doing their weekly shopping, but the pounding in his head told a different story. Whoever was generating the aura must be in disguise.

Angel scowled as he examined every pony nearby, looking for anything that looked out of place. He recognized most of the shoppers, having met them at one time or another, and so he focused his search on the vendors. Given the substandard produce most of them were hawking, it wouldn't surprise Angel if one of them turned out to be—

Wait! That stallion with the pink coat and green mane, standing in front of the squash cart... Angel zeroed in on the pony, watching closely as he completed his purchase and walked to the next cart. Sure enough, the strength of the aura grew with the stallion's every step. There was no doubt in Angel's mind: This pony was the one he was looking for.

"Um... What are you doing down there?" The vendor who had just sold Angel and Fluttershy carrots asked the pair quizzically.

Angel immediately leaped up and grabbed the vendor's face, forcibly closing the pony's mouth with one paw while bringing the other paw to his own lips to signal for quiet. He quickly glanced back over at the pink stallion, and breathed a sigh of relief as his target continued walking to the next cart, blissfully ignorant of Angel's presence.

"Angel!" Fluttershy scolded her bunny. "That's not very nice."

Angel sighed, realizing that he needed to get away from Fluttershy to continue his surveillance unhindered. He dropped back down to the ground, made a motion for Fluttershy to stay where she was, and quickly hopped through a tangle of hooves across the market. "I'm so sorry about that," he heard Fluttershy apologizing as he left. "He's been acting strangely ever since we got here..."

Angel took up a position behind a large box of cabbages about three stalls down from where the pink stallion stood. He watched as the stallion made his way down the row of stalls, noting his peculiar habit of buying one of everything each vendor offered regardless of how many similar items he already had. His cutie mark seemed off as well: It was a trio of smiling flowers arranged in the exact same manner as Cheerilee's mark. He had never seen two ponies with the same cutie mark before, and he was willing to bet that he wasn't seeing it now either.

Angel waited until the stallion had reached the stall next to the cabbage box and made his customary purchases. Just before the stallion put his purchases in his saddlebag, Angel dashed out from behind the cabbages and swiped the bag of vegetables from the stallion's mouth. "Hey!" the stallion shouted. "Give that back!"

Angel made a mad dash for a nearby alleyway, and ran up to a half-filled trash can. When the stallion appeared at the alley entrance, Angel blew a raspberry at him, dumped the vegetables into the trash, and scurried away. The stallion smacked his face with his hoof and muttered some unintelligible words to himself, and went to reclaim his purchases.

Angel rounded the corner of the alleyway's far entrance, took a moment to catch his breath, and then waited until the stallion had walked over and stuck his head inside the can. Angel then ran back over to the can, grabbed a nearby stick off of the ground, and began banging the can like a drum.

"Ahhhhhh!" The stallion jumped back, his head vibrating from the racket. Before he could react, however, Angel leaped up and delivered a sharp kick underneath the pony's jaw, sending the pony head over hooves with surprising force.

As the pony landed on his back with a splat, Angel jumped on the pony's belly and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. "Who are you?" Angel demanded in a harsh tone and unfamiliar tongue. "Why have you come here?"

The pony's eyes widened. "You... You speak our language?"

"I know much more about your kind than just your language, I assure you," Angel growled. "Now answer me! Why have you come to this planet?"

The pony tried to pull out of Angel's grasp, but the bunny's tiny body contained a surprising amount of strength. "Who... Who are you?" he asked.

"I," Angel replied, "am merely a simple bunny rabbit with an interest in unusual intergalactic visitors." He pulled the pony's face closer. "Perhaps I should introduce you to the rulers of this land, to see if they share my interest..."

The pony started sweating bullets. "Please, sir, I don't want to cause any trouble. I just—"

"Of course you don't," Angel grumbled. "You'd rather keep these fool ponies nice and ignorant, wouldn't you? After all, what good is a surprise attack without the surprise?"

"Attack?" The pony looked quizzically at Angel. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play games with me," Angel said. "I know Quulranian battle tactics when I see them! You're here on a reconnaissance mission, sizing up the native species before bringing in the battle cruisers and adding another planet to good King Horvath's empire! Well, allow me to be—"

"King Horvath?" The stallion shook his head. "No, sir! I serve King Vargos the Brave!"

"What?!" Angel stared at the pony in shock. "Vargos? King?" His grip on the pony softened as he stared off into the distance. "How is this possible?" he whispered to himself. "Vargos is not a member of the royal family! Even if the King became unfit to rule, Prince Zagar would have taken the throne as his successor."

The pony's mouth fell open at the rabbit's knowledge of the monarchy. "How do you know all this?" he asked.

Angel ignored the question, and pulled the pony's face close to his own. "How did this happen?" he demanded. "How did Vargos become king?"

"It happened about eight months ago," the pony stammered. "After King Horvath's death, King Vargos said that Prince Zagar's plan to make peace with the Gavalians would lead the empire into ruin, and claimed power in the name of the Lost Prince."

"He did what?!" Angel's eyes exploded into flames at the revelation. "That low-down cur! Staging a coup and throwing the entire galaxy into chaos just to satisfy his own bloodlust! If I could get my paws on that good-for-nothing traitor, I'd show him what—" He stopped short when he noticed the stallion's face turning blue, and relaxed his grip on the pony's neck. "And just what is your role in this farce?" he demanded.

The stallion took a moment to catch his breath. "I-I-I am a scientist, not a soldier," he insisted. "We are tasked with exploring the western edge of the galaxy and mapping out the worlds and life forms we find." He pointed to the vegetables that had fallen out of his saddlebags. "I specialize in the study of vegetation, and was trying to obtain samples of your plants for analysis. I only wear this disguise so as not to scare the locals. Our team is no threat to this planet, I swear."

"Are you thick?" Angel slapped the stallion. "Vargos does not care about your precious science! You are nothing but a de facto scouting party, letting that fool size up his opponents without putting his real forces in danger."

"No!" the stallion objected. "King Vargos is a wise ruler who seeks to learn the truths about—"

"Then teach him this truth." Angel's grip on the stallion re-tightened. "The ponies that rule this world have power enough to bend the very cosmos to their will. Their dungeons are filled with the bones of creatures that make your "brave" king's armies look like toy soldiers. I could end your life with a word, yet I am a mere pet to these ponies. Attempting to conquer this world would be a fool's errand, and a truly wise ruler would look elsewhere to expand their base of knowledge, or their empire. Do I make myself clear?"

The stallion gulped and nodded.

"Good." Angel released the stallion and hopped to the ground. "Now leave this planet at once! I don't want to see—"

"There you are, Angel!" Fluttershy's voice suddenly echoed in the alleyway. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Angel grimaced. "Heed my words," he whispered menacingly to the stallion. "If I am their pet... Imagine what they would make out of you."

"Oh dear, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Fluttershy said as she approached Angel and the stallion. "It's just that Angel and I haven't finished our shopping yet, and he gets very unhappy if his vegetables aren't just right."

"No no, you're not interrupting anything at all!" the stallion said nervously as he began to backpedal. "In fact, your, uh, pet here was just giving me directions to, er, somewhere, so I'd better be going!"

"Ok, okay. Have a good trip!" Fluttershy waved as the stallion dashed away down the alleyway. "That was very nice of you to help that poor pony out," she commended Angel. "You must be feeling better now."

Angel rolled his eyes, and cast a stern glare back down the alley.

"Come along, now," Fluttershy said. "We still need to get your lettuce and radishes while they're still in stock."

The remainder of the shopping trip passed by quickly, as Angel no longer had the concentration to focus on the color of his radishes, and simply rubber-stamped the first vegetables Fluttershy passed in front of him. His mind kept drifting back to his encounter with the strange stallion, and what it meant for both his future and that of the ponies around him.

Part of him had always known that this day would come; Quulranians were nothing if not planet-hungry conquerors, and it was only a matter of time before their technology caught up with their ambitions. Still, he had estimated that it would take another few centuries before they were able to reach Equestria and still have enough power to return home. The question of how they got here, however, was irrelevant: They were here now, and his job was to figure out what to do next.

The first question was whether or not to inform the ponies of the impending danger. Telling them was the most prudent solution, but doing so meant revealing his own secrets as well, and he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with the fallout the truth would bring.

As he watched Fluttershy hitch up her cart, Angel reflected on their time together, and on the comfortable life he had built. Sure, he enjoyed the catering and the grooming and the status of being Fluttershy's number one companion, but his connection to the yellow pony ran much deeper than that. Fluttershy was the first creature, pony or otherwise, who gave him genuine affection, and she did so without strings or conditions. Unlike the emotionless vacuums that were his parents, Fluttershy cared about him for who he was, not for who he was supposed to be, or who he should appear to be. He had spent his entire life looking for someone like her, and he wasn't willing to give her up.

Of course, Fluttershy wasn't really the problem—after all, if she could put up with Discord, she could deal with anything. If his secret came out, he was sure it would change nothing between them. The rest of the world, however, wouldn't be as understanding. He had seem how much fright and terror a simple bunny stampede had generated in Ponyville, and he could only imagine how the ponies would react to someone like him living in their midst. At best, he would be forced into exile, perhaps into the Everfree Forest or some such place, and his contact with Fluttershy would be reduced to short visits that were few and far between. At worst, he might end up next to Tirek in the pits of Tartarus.

Angel took a deep breath and decided to hold his tongue for the time being. The strange stallion's team was undoubtedly aware of the power of the pony princesses, so perhaps the fact that a super-powered rabbit had deduced their entire plan would be enough to scare them away from Equestria, at least for a little while. Besides, despite all of his bravado, Angel had his doubts about whether the princesses and the Elements of Harmony could actually withstand an Quulranian assault, regardless of how much notice they had.

Remaining silent didn't mean remaining complacent, however, and Angel still had a trump card to play if push came to shove. He reached deep into his fur and pulled out a triangular medallion that hung around his neck. The obscure symbol on the medallion meant nothing to the ponies, but it carried significantly more weight in Quulranian politics, enough to bring "Brave" King Vargos's reign to an abrupt halt. The fool may have claimed power in the name of the Lost Prince, but his plan had one fatal flaw: The prince was not as lost as Vargos thought.

The Way Back Home

Unfortunately for Angel, his evening did not go any better than the rest of his day. Upon returning home, he and Fluttershy discovered that Rainbow Dash had crashed into a flock of geese during her afternoon training session, and Angel spent the next several hours fetching bandages, ice packs, and other assorted supplies as Fluttershy tended to both Rainbow and the geese. The interruption also meant that dinner was a rushed batch of stewed vegetables, and the carrots Fluttershy had purchased were as bland and tasteless as Angel had feared.

By the time night fell, Angel was so exhausted that he simply collapsed into bed. He hoped that sleep would provide a respite from his eventful day, but his mind had other plans...

"Would you like some more phalaweed, Prince Demilan?"

The sound of the long-forgotten name startled Angel, and he looked up from his plate. He found himself seated at a long table covered in bizarre-looking delicacies, foods that he had not seen in ages. A tall, thin creature with three eyes and green skin stood next to Angel, holding a plate of what appeared to be neon-orange leaves. "Prince Demilan?" the creature asked again.

Angel looked back down at his plate, grimacing at the sight of the similar green, three-eyed face that reflected back at him. "What's going on?" he demanded. "What am I doing here?"

The tall creature offered the plate of leaves to Angel. "Won't you have another helping? They're cooked just the way you like them."

"Answer me!" Angel shouted. "How did I get here?"

"Why, you were invited here as my special guest." The sound of a far-too-familiar voice made Angel's blood run cold, and he turned to see another green-skinned figure sitting on an ornate throne at the end of the table. "After all, what better way to welcome our lost prince home than with a grand feast?" the figure cackled.

"Vargos." Angel spit the name out like it was a rotten carrot. "I'm surprised you're not wearing your crown, given all the effort you put into stealing it. Or perhaps you've sent it out to be resized, so that it will fit your swollen head!"

Vargos laughed at Angel's bluster. "Such fire! Such emotion!" he marveled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was speaking to your father."

"My father," Angel growled, "was a soulless warmonger who cared for nothing but the glory of his precious empire."

"And what a man he was!" Vargos raised a golden chalice in toast. "You see, Demilan—I'm sorry, it's 'Angel' these days, isn't it?—I didn't steal anything. In fact, you should be thanking me for saving the empire from ruin, and for carrying on King Horvath's legacy. I'm sure you would have done it yourself if you had been here, but your brother..." Vargos paused to take a sip from his chalice. "Well, I'm afraid he wasn't quite up to the task."

"What did you do with Zagar?" Angel leaped angrily from his seat, but suddenly found himself restrained by a large, muscular alien with blue skin, pointed teeth, and a spiked collar around its neck.

Vargos laughed. "What do you think we did with him?"

Angel's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare. Not even our kind would stand for a murder of a member of the royal family."

"Or would they?" Vargos shrugged. "We Quulranians have never been ones to suffer weak minds. Speaking of which..." He snapped his fingers, and another large blue alien stepped into view, this one roughly pulling a muzzled yellow filly along behind him via a chain wrapped around her neck.

"Fluttershy!" A fiery rage shot through Angel, and he lunged forward, nearly breaking free from his captor. "Why have you brought her here?" he demanded. "She played no role in my disappearance. Let her go at once!"

Vargos shook his head, though his smile remained. "It seems that even the strongest among us are vulnerable to Stockholm syndrome," he mused as he drew a long, silver sword out from underneath the table. "Fortunately, more rational minds have prevailed on this matter, and we are not predisposed to show mercy to the captor of our dear prince."

"She knew nothing of my true form!" Angel insisted as Vargos approached the cowering mare. "You cannot hold her responsible!"

"Oh, but I can," Vargos replied in a cold tone.

"No!" Angel screamed as Vargos raised the sword over his head. "You cowardly cur, Vargos! If you hurt Fluttershy, I'll—"

Vargos simply looked back and winked at Angel before swinging the sword down on Fluttershy's neck...

"Gah!" Angel leaped from his bed towards where he thought Vargos was standing, but instead he landed on the floor with a thud, startling an otter that was sleeping nearby. He leaped to his paws and looked around wildly for a few moments before realizing that he had been dreaming, and that he was still in Fluttershy's cottage.

Taking no chances, Angel raced upstairs and into Fluttershy's bedroom, verifying that the yellow mare was safe and sleeping peacefully before allowing himself to relax. He lingered at Fluttershy's side for a minute, contrasting the peaceful scene before him with the frightening images of his dream. She was blissfully ignorant of the danger Equestria faced, and if he could help it, she always would be.

Zagar, however, may not have been so lucky. While Angel held out hope that Vargos would not have taken the risk of killing Zagar, he also knew that there were many levels of pain between life and death, and given what he remembered about the palace dungeon...

Angel hopped to the window and stared up at the night sky. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, there were creatures on both ends of the galaxy that he cared about, and some of them were already in danger. Somehow, he had to find a way to return to his long-forgotten home and right the wrongs that stemmed from his absence. Getting back would be easier said than done, but he knew of an old acquaintance who might be able to help.

Angel attacked the next morning with a vengeance, digging out his old star charts, speed-fluffing his tail, and scarfing his breakfast carrot down as fast as he could. "Not too fast now," Fluttershy reminded her pet. "You don't want to get a tummyache."

Angel smacked his face with his paw, tossed the remainder of his carrot away, and hurried back into the cottage, emerging a few seconds later carrying a small suitcase. "What are you doing with that?" Fluttershy asked. "Are you going somewhere?"

Angel nodded, and pulled out a photograph that depicted a group of about twelve rabbits hopping around. He pointed at an elderly pair of rabbits in the corner of the photo, and gave Fluttershy his biggest smile.

"I see!" Fluttershy returned Angel's smile. "You're going home to visit your family!"

Angel nodded and played along with the story. The picture was actually just a bunch of random rabbits, but Fluttershy didn't need to know that.

"Well, that explains your hurry this morning," Fluttershy said. "How far away is your family? Would you like me to take you to the train station? We don't want you to be late."

Angel shook his head, and wrapped Fluttershy's left front leg in a hug. "I'm going to miss you too, Angel," Fluttershy assured him. "Have a safe trip, and we'll all see you when you get back."

Angel began hopping down the path towards Ponyville, but stopped and looked back as he reached the bridge in front of the cottage. He took a long look at Fluttershy as she waved from the cottage doorway, and hoped that this would not be the last time they met.

Once he was out of sight of the cottage, Angel made a mad dash over to Carousel Boutique. He quickly hopped up onto the nearest windowsill and scanned the area inside until he saw Opal sleeping on a pillow twenty feet from the window. Rearing back with his hind legs, Angel began rapping on the glass for all he was worth.

Eventually, Opal raised her head and scowled as she looked around for the source of the noise. Upon seeing Angel, however, her scowl changed to a smug smirk, and she rose up from her seat, yawned, stretched, and leaped down out of Angel's sight. A few seconds later, Angel heard a loud meowing sound coming from just behind the boutique door.

"Opal, darling!" Rarity could be heard saying. "Would you like to go outside?" The door swung open, and Opal stepped daintily out into the light.

Angel quickly dropped down into a bush below the windowsill. "Psst!" he hissed as he stuck his paw out of the bush and motioned for Opal to approach.

Opal sauntered slowly over to where Angel was waiting. "I'm surprised to see you out and about," she remarked. "I assumed you were out playing hide-and-seek with your 'friends' from back home."

"What?!" Angel stared at Opal in disbelief. "You know about the others?"

"Of course! They've been Rarity's best customers for the past two weeks!" Opal revealed. "They're always in disguise, of course, but I can spot a Quulranian coming a mile away. Thankfully, unlike you, those idiots are too thick to notice little old me."

"And they've just been buying dresses?"

"One of every design Rarity has." Opal chuckled. "They're either very interested in Equestrian fashion, or their latest super weapon is powered by fabric."

"Interesting." Angel scratched his chin as he processed the information. "Perhaps that fool at the market was telling the truth after all..."

"So they know about you, then?"

"Not quite," Angel replied. "They just know there's a bunny rabbit running around who could blow their cover." He took a deep breath. "Let's get down to business, madam. It's time to see if those stories you've been telling me are true."

Opal scrunched up her face. "And just what 'stories' are you referring to?" she hissed.

Angel folded his arms. "The ones about you being the greatest engineer ever to come out of the Gavalian Technical Academy."

Opal glared at Angel. "I assure you, your highness," she stated pointedly, "that my name is inscribed on every plaque that hangs in their halls, and is still spoken in reverence by every last professor!"

"Good," Angel replied. "Come with me. I've got a project for you."

Angel led Opal on a long trek deep into the EverFree Forest, past Zecora's cottage and the ruined castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. "Are we there yet?" Opal whined. "Seriously, I would've eaten a bigger breakfast if I would have known you were going to make me run a marathon."

"You really need to get out more," Angel remarked. "Don't worry, it's just a bit farther."

Four prickly bushes, three mud holes, and two fallen trees later, the pair arrived at a large rock sitting in the center of a small clearing. "We're here," Angel declared. "Lend me a paw with this rock, would you?"

The pair carefully pushed the rock over to one side, revealing a small pit underneath it. Sitting at the bottom of the pit was a twisted, rusting, pancaked pile of metal, with some unidentifiable liquids still oozing out onto the ground. "What is that?" Opal asked.

"That," Angel said, "was my ride here."

"With a heavy emphasis on was." Opal hopped down into the pit and began circling the wreckage. "Boy, this is going to be expensive," she observed. "Your warp drive is shot, your thrusters are where your steering column should be, and I've seen pretzels less twisted than this frame." She stopped in front of one of the strange puddles. "Wait... Does this thing still have plasma stabilizers?" She laughed. "No wonder your ships were so easy to shoot down. I wouldn't put plasma stabilizers on a kite, let alone a battlecruiser."

"So sue me. I couldn't get the keys to the nice transporters on short notice." Angel folded his arms. "So can you fix it?"

"Oh, I can fix it," Opal assured Angel, "but it's going to take some time. I'd have to borrow some equipment from Twilight Sparkle's basement to rebuild the thrusters and straighten this frame out, and I'd have to rewire the equipment panel and get a new warp drive from my friends in Trottingham, but frankly, it would take me less time to just build a whole new ship from scratch."

Angel cursed under his breath. "I was afraid you'd say that."

Opal rolled her eyes. "You didn't really think you were going to fly this hunk of junk all the way back to Quulran, did you?"

"I don't have a choice," Angel replied. "There's been a coup of some sort, and the throne has fallen into the clutches of a bloodthirsty warmonger."

"As if it's ever not been in the clutches of a bloodthirsty warmonger," Opal muttered.

"My brother was different!" Angel shouted angrily. "He was removed from power because he was trying to make peace with your brethren!"

"Then he's even dumber than you are!" Opal shot back. "The only thing in this galaxy more savage than a Quulranian is a Gavalian!"

"I can see that!" Angel turned to leave before his temper completely boiled over. "Forget it. I'll find another way back."

"Just a minute!" Opal jumped back out of the pit and scurried over to cut Angel off. "Look," she said, "if you really want to go back home and try to save the world or whatever you think you're going to do, then hey, it's your funeral. All I'm saying is, wouldn't the easiest thing be to catch a ride on a ship that's already fully functional, like the ones your 'friends' came in on?"

Angel shook his head. "If we're lucky, I scared them away with my threats yesterday."

"Pshaw," Opal said. "Every Quulranian I've met has been too stupid to be scared, including you. Besides, another one stopped by the boutique an hour before you did."

"That's great, but how am I supposed to find their ship?" Angel asked. "I don't have time to scour the entire town!"

Opal smirked. "Typical Quulranian, always doing things the hard way."

"And you have a better idea?"

"Don't I always?" Opal said with a smile. "Take that fellow you met yesterday. Did you happen to notice his cutie mark?"

"Yes," Angel confirmed. "It was a trio of flowers, just like—"

"Cheerilee's mark!" Opal interrupted. "I've seen two ponies with that same mark, and another that had four flowers instead of three. Now, what do you suppose that means?"

Angel shrugged. "They're trying to blend in. We don't have flora like that in Quulran, so by—"

"No, I mean why take that particular cutie mark? Why not, say, Rarity's mark, or Fluttershy's?"

"Good question." Angel scratched his chin as he racked his brain. "Hmmm... Well, given the public nature of their operations, they would have had to put together their disguises relatively quickly."

"Keep going..."

"Which means that Cheerilee was probably one of the first few ponies they observed," Angel continued.

"Bingo! But out of those few ponies, your friends picked her mark because—"

"The other ponies didn't have marks!" Angel practically shouted. "They observed her with her students, which suggests that their initial landing point is somewhere near the schoolhouse!"

"So there is a brain in there!" Opal patted Angel condescendingly on the head. "I knew you'd find it eventually."

Angel chuckled and shook his head. "Madam, I don't know whether to hug you or slap you."

"Just remember who the real brains of this operation was when you get back to Quulran," Opal said. "Of course, you'll have to convince your friends to give you a ride once you find them, but I'm sure you can handle that."

"I believe so." Angel bowed to Opal. "My thanks for your assistance."

"Give my regards to King Whatshisname!" Opal said as she turned to leave.

"Wait!" Angel shouted. "We need to put this rock back into place."

Opal sighed and trudged back. "If I break a claw on that thing," she warned, "you're paying for my pedicure."

The Journey Begins

Angel peered out from between the branches of his treetop observation post, which overlooked a large field behind the Ponyville schoolhouse. It had not been hard to trace his fellow Quulranians to this field—his head had started throbbing before he had even reached the school. However, with their cloaking shield engaged, finding their exact location would take a lot of trial and error, and the sight of a small rabbit casing out their landing spot would look awfully suspicious. Instead, he decided to wait and let the Quulranians lead him to the ship, assuming that at least one of the aliens was still doing fieldwork.

Angel didn't have to wait long: Within fifteen minutes, a blue mare with a copy of Cheerilee's cutie mark ventured into the clearing, hauling a large stack of books in a wagon behind her. As Angel looked on, the mare trotted over to the far corner of the clearing and gestured as if she was knocking on an invisible door with her hoof. In response, a strange void opened up in front of the mare, revealing a brown stallion standing guard inside a gray hallway lined with flashing lights.

Angel quickly dropped from the tree and dashed across the clearing, darting from bush to bush to avoid being seen. He reached the strange opening in just under a minute, and dived into the mare's cart to hide amidst the books. "...The pony princess has no issue with us taking this many at a time," he heard the mare say in an alien tongue. "In fact, she suggested that we take more."

"Interesting," the stallion replied. "And she remains unsuspicious of your behavior?"

"Yes," the mare said. "In fact, she seems quite happy that we keep returning."

"Good. At this rate, we will have the entirety of pony knowledge cataloged in a few days."

"But that is just this repository," the mare continued. "The pony says that their library was recently destroyed, and that they are still rebuilding their book collection. She spoke of larger facilities in other areas, and was especially complementary of the one in Canterlot."

Angel frowned as he eavesdropped on the aliens. Typical Quulranians, he thought to himself. Bleed a world dry of anything that might be useful, and then incinerate it.

As the two aliens continued talking, Angel went over his plan one more time in his mind. On the surface, it was simple: Commandeer the ship, get it in the air, find a way around or through the mother ship that was probably circling the planet right now, and make a beeline for Quulran. Getting the Quulranians to go along with the plan, however, would be tricky. He could try transforming back into his true form and pull rank as 'The Lost Prince,' but he didn't want to take the chance of butting heads with a diehard Vargos loyalist. On the flip side, though, no one would take orders from a tiny rabbit—not without the proper motivation, at least. He decided that his best hope was that the design of scout ships had not changed much between now and when he had left Quulran, which would allow him to quickly find and deliver said motivation to the aliens.

Eventually the cart began moving again, and soon Angel could see the gray ceiling of the spaceship above him. He paid it little mind, and instead focused on the direction of the cart, hoping its path would yield clues about what sort of ship it was. He felt the cart turn left, then right, and then left again before coming to as stop as the alien pulling the cart engaged another alien in conversation.

Peering out from beneath the books, Angel could see a long hallway behind the cart that extended far beyond where the cart had last turned. The layout matched his memory of the old C1 Scout ships he had trained on as a youth, and if the similarity extended beyond what he could see, then a right turn at the end of that hall would bring him to a closet containing the weapons he needed to get his point across. Unfortunately, the C1's halls were narrow and cluttered with various devices that he could hide behind, whereas this hall was wide open and provided no cover at all.

Angel took a deep breath and decided that he would need a distraction if he was going to cross this hall safely. He glanced up at a particularly tall tower of books next to him, smiled, and gave the tower a sharp shove. The book tower struck a second book stack as it fell, and both stacks came crashing down on the aliens in front of the cart.

As soon as he heard the aliens scream, Angel leaped off the back of the cart and made a mad dash back down the hallway. His distraction turned out to be a bit too attention-grabbing, however, and a tall alien, who had an laser gun instead of a pony disguise, stepped into the hallway as Angel approached. "What's going on—hey, who are you?" the alien demanded.

Angel zipped through the alien's legs without breaking stride. He was already committed to his plan, and if he could outrun the alien to the weapon closet, he could at least speak to him on equal footing. "Stop! Come back here!" the alien shouted as he gave chase.

Angel rounded the final corner at the end of the hallway, and smiled as he saw that the closet was exactly where he remembered it was. He reached for the door, but found that the handle wouldn't turn. "What the... Is this thing locked?" he said as he tugged futilely on the handle. "There's not supposed to be a lock on—"

"Hold it!" Angel froze at he heard the sound of a laser charging up behind him. "Turn around, nice and easy," the alien ordered.

Angel cursed under his breath, and turned to face his pursuer. "Come now, there's no need for weapons," he said, feigning ignorance. "I'm just looking for the way out. If you would be so kind as to point me in the right direction, I will leave you in peace."

The alien shook his head and raised his weapon. "You're that rabbit Rexwal was telling us about," he said. "You know too much to leave."

Suddenly, Angel felt a cool breeze on his head, and he looked up to see a ventilation duct directly above him. "You're right," he said with a smile. "I'm not leaving until I get what I came for."

The alien fired his weapon, but Angel leaped for the ceiling and cleared the shot with ease. He grabbed onto the duct cover and tried to pull himself into the ventilation shaft, but the cover came loose instead, and Angel crash landed back on the floor.

The alien prepared to fire a second shot, but Angel hurled the duct cover at him before he could shoot, striking him in the chest and sending him sprawling to the floor. The laser flew from the alien's hand as he fell, and Angel quickly pounced on it. "Now that we've settled our little dispute," Angel said, "let's take a little walk and meet the rest of your motley crew."

The alien scowled at Angel, and slowly raised his hands. "You'll never get away with this."

Angel laughed. "You don't even know what 'this' is," he pointed out. "Save your attitude for someone who cares, and start walking."

Angel marched his alien captive back down the hall to where the other two aliens, both now without their pony disguises, were still picking up books. "Listen up!" Angel shouted. "Any false moves, and none of you leave this room alive."

One of the aliens dropped the books he was carrying and pointed at Angel. "You're... You're that rabbit I met in the market!"

"You must be Rexwal," Angel concluded. "I'd recommend that you and your colleagues listen well, since Fluttershy isn't here to save you this time." He gestured towards the door. "I need this vessel for a trip I'm planning, and I don't plan on taking any passengers. You have two options: You can gather the rest of your team and leave now, or you can see how well I can operate this weapon. Do you understand?"

The alien Angel was holding hostage smiled. "You heard the rabbit," he said in a slightly-smug tone. "Go get the others, and prepare to disembark."

The alien's tone unnerved Angel a little. He thinks he knows something I don't, he theorized. The question is, is he right?

Rexwal, on the other hand, gasped at his colleague's orders, and he dropped to his knees. "Please, I beg you to reconsider!" he said to Angel. "We can't move all of our experiments, and losing any of them would set us back years!"

"And I should care why?" Angel stared coldly at Rexwal. "You're free to take it with you when you leave—I certainly don't have a use for your drivel—but otherwise, I suggest you hurry up and say your goodbyes."

"You don't understand," Rexwal said as his eyes welled up. "Our homelands are barren from years of warfare, and we are struggling to produce enough food to feed our population. We've canvassed the galaxy for alternative food sources, and are currently growing plants from seven different planets to see if they can survive in our tainted soil. The toxins slow the growth of anything they don't kill, and if we lose this experiment, it could take years to re-create it!" He reached up and grabbed Angel's paw. "I beg you, Mr. Rabbit," he sniffled, "don't take this ship. We can't afford to lose this work."

Angel didn't know whether to comfort or pity the fool kneeling before him. He cast a glance back at the alien he was holding hostage, whose look had morphed from smug confidence to disappointment as he looked upon his kowtowing colleague. You know, Angel thought, up to this point, this Rexwal fellow has been completely truthful with me. Perhaps he could tell me what this smug fellow has up his sleeve...

"Look at him," Angel said as he pointed to Rexwal, "groveling like a weak-minded Gavalian. The rest of you can go, but I think I'll keep this fool for insurance. We wouldn't want the rest of you to get any crazy ideas after I leave, would we?"

"Of course not." The smug smirk returned to the face of the Quulranian Angel held at laser point.

"What? No!" Rexwal's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and he turned his attention to Angel's hostage. "Please, Tolzar, don't leave me behind! My family—"

"Do not worry," Tolzar said coldly. "I will not tell your wife and daughter of the cowardice you displayed here."

Angel scowled at his captive. While he had correctly predicted that Tolzar would abandon Rexwal without resistance, the uncaring efficiency of the act still got under Angel's skin. He fired his laser weapon at Tolzar's feet, causing the alien to jump back. "Enough talk!" he roared. "You have your orders. You have three minutes to vacate this vessel before I dispose of you all personally."

"As you wish." Tolzar looked over at the third alien in the room, who still had some of Twilight's books in his hands. "Find the others. Tell them we're abandoning this ship."

Tolzar and the unnamed alien left the room together, followed closely by Angel and his weapon. Just before he entered the hallway, however, Angel turned and issued one last warning to Rexwal. "If you'd prefer to keep your life longer than three minutes," he said, "you'll wait in here until I get back."

Angel had no trouble rounding up the rest of the ship's crew and leading them outside—in fact, the process was a little too smooth and efficient for Angel's tastes. While some of the Quulranians didn't seem pleased to abandon the ship and their work, no one put up a fuss on the level of Rexwal, and a few almost seemed eager to hand over the spacecraft. Quulranians don't just roll over like this, Angel thought to himself. They must not think I'll get very far...

As Angel watched the last member of the crew exit the ship, he waved his weapon at them. "If I were you," he growled as he closed the hatch, "I wouldn't try anything rash."

Tolzar just smiled. "Enjoy your flight."

Angel secured the hatch and scurried back to where he had left Rexwal. The alien remained on the floor in the same spot, still wiping the tears from his eyes. "Please, sir," he begged, "I want to see my family again. I don't want to die."

"Neither do I." Angel hopped over to Rexwal. "Let me ask you: If I said that I actually didn't plan on killing you, would it make you feel any better?"

Rexwal shook his head. "Our fates are sealed."

"And why is that?"

"All of our ships are equipped with a remote self-destruct mechanism," Rexwal sniffled. "Once we fly above this planet's atmosphere—"

"Boom," Angel concluded. "Is there a way to override this?"

"I don't know," Rexwal admitted. "Even if I did, we would be shot down by our primary spacecraft, which is currently orbiting this planet."

"Hmmm..." Angel scratched his chin and looked up at the ceiling. If what Rexwal said was true, then a rogue ship like this one didn't have a prayer of getting back to Quulran. The trick, therefore, would be to find a way to board the primary ship and find another route to Quulran without getting blasted into space dust.

Angel looked back down at Rexwal, who was still cowering before him. He contemplated telling the alien the truth about his identity—after all, Rexwal didn't strike him as the type of crazy loyalist who would defend Vargos at all costs, and even if he was, he was too weak and softhearted to be all that threatening. With Rexwal on his side, getting on to the mother ship would be easy: Rexwal could radio that he had overpowered "the intruder" and re-taken command of the ship, and the fools would swallow the ruse and let him dock without incident. And still...

Angel turned and stared at his reflection in the shiny walls of the ship. He sighed as he realized that the true obstacle to this plan was not Rexwal, but Angel himself. While revealing his identity might earn Rexwal's trust, it also meant dealing with the questions that followed. He knew that time was coming, but he wasn't sure he was ready for it yet.

Of course, choosing not to trust Rexwal meant finding a place to put him so he wouldn't cause trouble during the flight. He glanced quickly around the room, and spotted a small closet in the corner. "Stand up," he directed Rexwal. "You'll be riding home in there, so I hope you're not claustrophobic."

Rexwal sighed and complied with Angel's request, shuffling over to the closet with his head hung low. When Rexwal opened the closet, however, the spacesuits that hung inside caught Angel's attention. He recognized the suits as those used for exploration when a planet's atmosphere was inhospitable to Quulranian life, but with their full-body coverage and dark face shields, they could also be an effective disguise. "Hand me one of those suits, would you?" he asked.

Rexwal's face turned white. "Y-Y-You're not going to leave me here and abandon the ship, are you?"

Angel glared at Rexwal, a little annoyed at the alien's constant worrying. "Look," he said sternly, "if either or us are going to see our families again, then you need to give me a suit, and then you need to sit quietly in here until I tell you to come out. Do you understand?"

Rexwal gulped, nodded, and handed Angel a spacesuit.

Angel slammed the closet door shut, and then pulled the half-full cart of books in front of the door to keep it from opening. From there, he scurried into the main cabin of the ship and examined the vessel's flight controls, and was relieved to find that the controls were much the same as the ships he had trained on long ago. I should be able to get this bird in the air, he thought. That just leaves one more thing to do before I leave...

Angel took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began transforming into his true Quulranian form. When he reopened his eyes, the cute white rabbit in the room had been replaced by a generic-looking alien, albeit with one important difference: The necklace that was now visible around his neck. Angel turned away from the reflection, disgusted at what he saw, and quickly donned the spacesuit to hide his face.

Angel turned back to the controls and initiated the ship's launch sequence. The engines roared to life a bit louder than he expected, but the ship's cloaking shield was still active, and besides, explaining the noise to suspicious ponies would be Tolzar's problem, not Angel's.

Angel eased the throttle forward, and the ship lifted off the ground and rose into the air. The initial ascent was surprisingly smooth given Angel's rusty flying skills, although he had to sweat through a barrel-rolling Rainbow Dash passing over him and missing the ship by inches. He waited until his altimeter surpassed 15,000 feet, and then cleared his throat and grabbed the radio. "Help! Mayday!" he squealed in the meekest, most frightened voice he could muster. "This is ship... Oh, I don't know what number this ship is! Help! Someone please answer!"

"What's going on down there?" Suddenly, the unsmiling face of a Quulranian commander appeared on a screen in front of Angel. "Who is this?" the alien demanded.

"M-My name is Rexwal!" Angel fibbed, hoping the commander couldn't see through his helmet. "We were surprised by a small, furry creature with large ears, and it took control of the ship and abandoned the crew on the planet! It took me as a hostage, but I managed to knock it unconscious when it tried to leave with the ship. Now I'm up in the air and I don't know how to fly! Please help!"

"Why are you wearing that suit?" the alien inquired.

"The initial struggle with the alien damaged the ship, and the atmosphere controllers aren't working!" Angel explained. "I needed the suit to breathe!"

Suddenly, a second alien stuck his head into the far frame, and whispered something into the commander's ear. "Apparently your colleagues on the ground are reporting the same thing," the commander finally said. "You say the creature is currently subdued?"

"Yes!" Angel repeated.

"We've got a lock on your vessel now," the commander continued. "We'll use our tractor beam to pull you into the dock. We can walk you through landing the ship, but you must do exactly what we say, or it'll be a rough ride. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Oh, yes!" Angel said, a smile forming beneath his helmet. "Thank you, sir!"

As the commander began lecturing him on the proper landing technique, Angel could feel the ship quiver as the tractor beam began to pull him into space. Within a few minutes, the blue sky of Equestria faded away, replaced by the vast darkness of space. A large, majestic spaceship appeared in Angel's view, causing him to stop and stare for a few seconds. That's a lot bigger than the battle cruisers I remember, he thought. Things have certainly changed since I left.

Angel could feel his hands shaking on the ship's controls, and he took a moment to try to clear his mind and steady his nerves. He still needed to figure out what to do once the Quulranians figured out he wasn't Rexwal, not to mention procure a ride for the rest of the trip to Quulran. He had made it this far without revealing his true identity, but as he drew ever closer to the mother ship, he had a sinking feeling that his luck was about to run out.