For a few moments, all there was in Derpy’s world was pain. She would have groaned, if she could. She wished she could go back, back to the peace that the blankness had brought. But she was slowly drawn out of the dark by a sound. She couldn’t make it out yet, but it was growing steadily clearer. Unfortunately, the clearer the sound got, the more pain she felt. The light grew closer… closer…

“Miss? Can you hear me, Miss?” A gentle, though fairly panicked, voice asked her, now coming in loud and clear. Did she recognize that voice? She couldn’t remember.

Her eyes fluttered open, then she quickly shut them tight again. It was too light – it hurt her eyes. She tried again, going much slower this time. At first, all she could see was white, but soon the glare faded, and she was able to see the pony in front of her – A unicorn stallion with a red and blue striped mane, looking down on her with worried, blue eyes.

“Nurse? She’s awake!” the stallion called. He turned back to Derpy. “Can you hear me?” he asked again.

A little drowsy, and in a lot of pain, she just nodded. She tried her best to look around, though she could barely move. Where was she? She knew she was in a building. All the walls were white, and there were machines around… She was in the hospital? How did she get there?

“Oh, thank goodness. I was beginning to worry you’d gotten a bit of brain damage.” She looked up at the relieved figure before her. Of course! He’s the one that must have brought her here. She thought back to the day before, and remembered him promising that she would be okay. She smiled a little.

“Well, if you’re good enough to keep up a happy face, you must be alright.” The stallion smiled at her. “Can you talk? Or would that hurt too much?”

Derpy tried to open her mouth to say something, but her jaw hurt really bad. She stopped, but not before a few tears trickled out of the corner of her eye. Oh, raisins, she thought, then immediately berated herself for even thinking such profanity in front of a stranger. The tears were slow-moving, and they tickled and itched.

“Here,” he said, and a white silk handkerchief floated over with an orange glow, gently wiping them away. Derpy gave a little happy smile, and the stallion grinned back. A playful look gleamed in his eye, and the kerchief unraveled into a square, then began folding itself in a complicated way. Derpy watched, entranced, until with one final movement, it had become a crane! Or, at least, a folded crane. Not a real one. That would be surprising.

Her smile grew a little wider as she watched the crane flap around the room, glowing with the orange light from the stallion’s horn. Still controlling the crane, he talked briefly to the nurse. She gave him a clipboard and a pill bottle, which he set on a side table, then he turned back to watch Derpy and the crane. It came to rest atop her head, and she giggled a little. It hurt to laugh, but it was worth it. She felt better. She was almost able to forget what the green stallion had said…

Wait. She looked at the stallion in front of her, and her eyes widened.

It was the same pony, she knew it. But how could it be? For the one standing in front of her did look and did sound the same, but if it was, where were his wings? And why was his mane a different color? Why was he a different color? She started to get a little scared. What was going on? As she panicked, her vision went blurry – one of her eyes had decided to take a little trip again.

Seeing her expression turn frightened, he set the napkin down “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you okay?” She didn’t answer, just kept staring at him, afraid and confused. “What? What hap-” He stopped when he realized what it was that was probably spooking her. “Oh. Is it that I look different?” A little nod confirmed it. “Ah. Well… It’s a long story.”

The stallion blinked, then after a moment, facehoofed. “Oh. I haven’t even introduced myself, have I?” He shook his head. “Geez, I’m just out of it today, huh?” He stood tall, then bowed to Derpy. “I am Spirit, and it is an honor to meet you, Miss…” He glanced around, then turned to the clipboard he'd put on a table nearby that had her medical information on it. He scanned it a moment, then turned back to face her. “…Miss Derpy Hooves,” he finished, bowing again.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to bow or anything,” he chuckled. Derpy smiled wryly in response, unable to do much more than that. He rubbed his head with a hoof, thinking. “Hm… How should I start this?” He sat down, quietly collecting his thoughts for a moment.

“It all kind of started when I was just a colt. See, my village, whose name I must keep a secret, had certain things that set us apart from everypony else. We believed that angels walked among us, living and fighting as guardians against the evils of the world. It was said that angels were born as normal ponies, but they became what they are through a pilgrimage to a sacred place.

“Now, not everypony could just become an angel. You had to be chosen at birth by one of them. If you were just born, and they chose you, they would fly to you invisibly, and they would leave their mark on you. The marks, each one unique to their bearers, would shape you on the inside as you grew. The changes wouldn’t be noticeable, of course. At least, not with mortal eyes.”

Spirit paused, looking at Derpy. “You alright with this? You need a second?” Derpy shook her head, or at least, she tried to. She understood, and she was enjoying listening to him. She smiled encouragingly, silently asking him to continue. He nodded, clearing his throat.

“Now, there are some that had dreams, in which they saw what was growing. But they wrote it off as just a fantasy their minds had woven during their sleep. It’s understandable, of course. Who would believe that they were a sign of their coming immortality?” He grinned. “I remember when I had my dream. I was in my room, but everything was dark, and it was storming outside. I couldn’t leave, well, I couldn’t move really. In front of me, there was a mirror. As I looked into it, I was shocked.

“Unfurling from my back, spreading wide, were wings. Wings like I had never seen before. Being a unicorn colt, that freaked me out. But of course, it was only a dream, right?” He chuckled. “There is one sign of an angel that can be seen with mortal eyes. Under the full moon, during the heart of the winter solstice, the mark can be seen, faintly glowing silver on their flank. Oh, speaking of which, angels don’t ever get a Cutie Mark. Their angel mark takes that place.”

He turned his body, showing his blank flank to Derpy, who stared at it. It was very unusual to see a grown stallion without a Cutie Mark.

“There’s a celebration every winter solstice, where the whole town comes together. When the moon is at its peak, everypony without a Cutie Mark checks their flank. If they find a mark, they’re brought to the village elders, who will decide if they are old enough to go on the pilgrimage. The road there is hard, but once you enter the sacred place…” He trailed off, eyes shining from the memory.

“It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”

After a few moments of silence, Spirit seemed to come to his senses. “Ah, sorry. Got lost in my thoughts, there.” He smiled apologetically. “Anyway. Once you’re there, the Angels take you in, and you join them in protecting the world from its evils. That is, after about fifty, sixty years of training.”

Derpy’s eyes widened. That was a long time! She had been delivering mail for about seven, eight years now, but fifty years? Sixty? That was too much for her to imagine. Especially since that was all before he even really started!

Spirit seemed to read her expression, for he laughed. “That’s pocket change. Angels are immortal. Well, more or less. We can be killed in battle, but only by another immortal being, using very old, very powerful dark magic.” He hesitated. “I’m not sure if you want to hear this, but I guess it wouldn’t change anything to tell you…”

He drew in a breath, then let it out slowly. “There are some angels that, once the training is done, reject it all, go off on their own to pursue a darker path. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does… well, it’s not pretty. Chrysalis, and with her the first Changelings, were created by a dark angel. King Sombra? Dark angel. Tirek? An experiment made by a dark angel fusing his soul with a Centaur. Half the things in Tartarus are experiments like these.”

He made sure Derpy was alright before continuing. “So, there are two kinds of us. Angels and dark angels, but we’re both the same type of pony. We’re a race similar to Alicorns, but different in many ways. We’re called Divinicorns. Those who fly as angels are called Walkers of Light, and those who do not are called Walkers of Darkness. Our job as angels is to keep them from tearing the world apart.”

Spirit shrugged. “And, that’s about it. I’m an angel. You saw what’s called my Soul Forme yesterday. When I’m in that form, my power is increased, and yeah, my mane changes color to reflect my inner element. I told you my name is Spirit? Well, that’s part of my title. I just use it because I don’t have a mortal name. After a few centuries of life, you find that it kind of loses meaning.”

His smile turned a little proud. “My title reflects who I am, at my very core. It won’t ever change, because I could never change that, not even if I had a few centuries of time to kill. But y’know, I wouldn’t want to try. I’m pretty proud of my title.” He smiled, then closed his eyes.

His horn glowed in twin bands of gold and silver, filling the room with light. Derpy had to shut her eyes, it was too bright to look at. When it died down, she opened them again. Spirit now had his angel wings, lined in glowing red, stretched out enough that they seemed to fill the room. He tossed his now red-orange mane with pride, grinning at her. “I am the Spirit of Dancing Flames.”

Author's Note

Well, here it is! Chapter Two! Maybe now some of the questions in your head are answered.
If you hit the 'Thumbs down' button, please leave a short note telling me why you don't like it. I can't improve if you don't tell me what I'm doing wrong.
Special thanks to Nico-Stone Rupan for the follow and the kind comment!
Thanks Emerald Skies (Sis ^-^) for the follow, too.
And of course, thanks to all of you who are reading this story. Have a muffin.
~SoDF

(9/29/16: Slight edits, spaces between paragraphs.)