The Black Angel

The first thing I can remember was being hit by my mother for asking about my uncle. It didn’t hurt, despite the fact that I was only… Huh… Pretty young I guess, the exact number doesn’t really come to mind right now… “Have I not told you not to ask of him?” She replied with anger. After begging her enough, she gave in, and told me stories of him, enough of them to inspire me to be just like he was. Back then I had no idea why she teared up every time we talked of him, until decades later, but that’s for later in the story. She always told me that He was doing everything for a good reason, following someone’s advices. I never understood who that Someone was until much later on.

The next thing I can recall was the good old kindergarten, where I met several of those I consider friends to this day. Of course, most of them are no longer with us by now, soon you’ll see why. Because of our population we had many kindergartens, all simply named Kindergarten-1 Kindergarten-2 etc. Same thing applied to our schools, of which we only had elementary ones, since most of us ended up wearing those pitch black robes, unless we needed more farmers, builders, carpenters, and all those other lucky people. Even then, if you were lucky enough to be selected for said jobs, you would still have to pass the basic combat training… That too is to be told in the future, don’t worry.

Kindergarten only lasted 2 years, but back then it felt like an eternity, but I think I’m not alone on this. As I said, I met several friends, but most of them were relocated to one of the cities around Equestria, leaving only one of them, who grew quite close to me. As for school, we had only 5 subjects: Maths, Grammar, GYM, Combat, (Yes, from 1st grade…) and the fourth was differe. You see, since Equestria was, and still is, a place full of magic, some of us were born Different.

I’ll explain, since it’s easy to understand, for me, I’m hell of an accurate shooter, sure, but I was also trained by my mother to be able to do so much more than the others, since she was some sort of high authority… At least where we lived she was, so I was expected to be either as good, or even better than her. From that you can guess my childhood wasn’t quite made of sugar and spice. You can believe me when I say it. Bullying, because of my mother’s position. I was called weak or stupid, because I’m a female. And in the first year, I was recently beaten up on a daily basis by my classmates, that is, until I decided to go full attention on combat class, and in the end, and the age of 6 killed one of them, but it was labelled an act of self-defence. (Not like I have any regrets for it today, or, had any to begin with.)

After passing the 8th grade, the whole class was congratulated and celebrated… (Probably knowing our future was dark.) After the elementary school we were each sent to a different place to learn what we need to know. Thankfully, it only applied to those who weren’t going to parade around in those robes each day, so I was more than allowed to stay home. We were given our robes at the age of 18, from there, for the following 3 years we had to endure living hell, in order to prove ourselves useful for the order. I myself, as expected from, endured it seemingly well. (Only seemingly it remains, trust me.)

At last, the last day of the 3 years had come. We were all lined up at the edges of the roads, with our parents behind us. At first we were all scared, when out of nowhere another Human figure appeared. We were told to salute, which we did, no question. Then the figure walked down the road, inspecting all of us if we actually were ready. Over half of us were sent away to cities around Equestria, being deemed unworthy, so they could start a new life, a life of their own. Yes, I somewhat envied them, but knew if I were to be one of them, I would have to live in shame, knowing I failed my home and Mother. Remember how kindergarten seemed to take forever? The waiting was longer, and worse. All the time I feared I would be sent away, until the figure stood in front my only friend, who stood next to me.

“What’s your name?” The figure asked.

“Riley,” He replied.

“How old are you, Riley?”

“21,”

“Good… Good… You look promising…” The figure replied, then came to me, and looked at my mother.

“It’s been so long…” He exclaimed.

“Get out of my face!” She replied on a calm tone.

“Why can’t you see it’s better this way…” He muttered.

“You took my brother from me, I have nothing to say or do with you,” Mom replied.

“Your daughter has your eyes, yet, she somewhat reminds me of him too…”

“Leave her alone, if you try anything like you did to my brother, I’ll hunt you down,”

The figure just looked at me, then back at her. “Congratulations, she’s fit to be your successor,” He replied.

The rest of the day is useless to mention. The next day, however, was one to remember. That was the day we first laid eyes on our weapons… When it was my turn in the line, the selected guard game me my equipment, giving a brief instruction with each piece. First came a pair of steel bracers. “These appear to be only armor, however…” He said while I put them on, and soon blades extended from his. “You can activate them by merely wanting to do so, magic makes it work. You can adjust the length the same way. Their maximum length is 1,5 meters, roughly the length of a longsword. You can also rotate them in a 135 degree radius both directions, so you can cut yourself out of any ropes, should you need to. There’s also a fix part of the blade, which is covered in a material for you to grasp without injury. There’s also this metal plating for your hands attached to the glove, it will give your punches a little more power and protection, while your hand won’t get sweaty, due to the material the glove is made of.” He explained. I nodded, having understood it. Then he gave me a rifle. “This is an AK-74, this assault rifle can fire even after being submerged in mud or water. You can see the blade under the barrel, it’s called a bayonet, which can be removed manually. Try it.”

I took off the bayonet as he asked me to, them put it back on. “Got it.”

“In here, you can adjust the fire modes. You have 3 firing modes: Single shot, which fires only one bullet every time the trigger is pulled, automatic, which mode fires bullets quickly after another, and burst fire mode, which fires 3 shots every time the trigger is pulled.”

I examined the switch, and turned it to burst fire.

“Practice the fire modes on that dummy there, watch out for kickback,” He exclaimed. I took aim, and fired a burst, 2 bullets hitting the dummy in the chest, one in the head. I tried single shot too, a clear shot at the heart. “Okay, you know what automatic does, so you don’t need to practice that. You should remember, you will run out of ammo sooner later. You can reload by removing the empty magazine, and putting it into the bag on your left.”

I removed the magazine, even though it wasn’t empty, and did as he said.

“You have two types of magazines. Drums, and box magazines. The box magazines hold 30, while the drum magazines hold 100 bullets. Go ahead, look into the bag you just put that magazine into.”

I looked into the said bag, which was seemingly empty. “Ho-”

“Magic once again, now let go of the top part, and reach into it, thinking of a magazine type I mentioned, then reload!” He replied.

I did as requested, and to my surprise, the box magazine was in my hand, filled with ammo. “This is something I will like…” I noted.

“Oh, I bet, now, put it away with the strap you see hanging,” I holstered the AK as asked. “Now for the sidearm, here, this is a Colt 1911 handgun, which you can just holster by placing it between your pants and belt, and can easily hide it with your robes.” He continued the instruction as I took said weapon. “You can keep this silencer in one of your pockets, and put it on properly like this.” He continued, and put a silencer on his pistol. “What it does is render your gunshots silent, it also has a laser sight built in, and also a flashlight, which are self explanatory, and detachable separately. As for the magazine, it has 7 bullets only, so make them count, unless you want to reload early, which can be done the same way as your AK,” He exclaimed.

“We ARE being well armed… Why? What could we need all this for?” I wondered.

“It’s something I can’t answer, we’re in the same boots, Omnis,” He replied, then went on to the last piece of equipment, a night stick. “This is a night-stick, a telescopic rod of stainless steel, which works on a simple way. You press this button, and swing at the ground.” He gave me mine, I tried it, it worked. “Now push the button again, and press the two tips into each other,”

“Thanks for the info,” I exclaimed.

“Good luck, Omnis, even you will need it,” He replied, knowing who’s daughter I was.

The first thing I did was see my mother for the first assignment. As soon as I explained the reason of my presence to her, her face somewhat lit up. “Well then, prepare, for we journey to Canterlot,” She replied.

“What? Canterlot? My first assignment?” I wondered. I’ve never been there before that day, but I heard others say how difficult their assignments were in Canterlot. I even heard of people dying there!

“Are you still back there? Come on already!” She replied with a grin, and soon we met up with two of her friends, and dad.

“Ready to go?” Dad asked.

“You bet,” I replied, and we set off toward said city. It was noon when we set off from our home, the so called Wasteland… I don’t know why Ponies called it that, it was basically a large stretch of land to the south of Equestria, and north of Saddle Arabia, meaning the only way from one place to another was through us… Anyway… We stopped in Ponyville for the night, then continued on, and arrived at the next noon.

“Here we are again…” Mother muttered.

I was about to ask what she meant, but dad hushed me before doing so. Having given up on my question, we continued on to the castle, where we were stopped by the Royal Guard. “Hold it!” One of them yelled.

“Make it quick,” Dad replied.

“What are you here for?”

“The royals asked for us,” Dad continued.

“We weren’t told they’re waiting visitors like you…” The guard replied, and steadied his halberd, while our fingers drew closer to the trigger with each second, until a third voice spoke up.

“At ease! We take them from here, our parents are eager to see them…” Said a white Alicorn, with a dark blue/black one next to her. At a second, the guards threw themselves into saluting, unlike us.

“This way, please, they await you,” The younger one exclaimed to us, and lead the way.

“Good to see you two aged well, you seem healthy too…” Mother said to them.

“Yes, thankfully we have no reason to complain…” Replied the elder sister.

“Had the Crystal Empire or the Griffons bothered you since Then?” She asked.

“No, we have no contact with the Crystal Empire, and King Galdir has been quite supportive,” The younger replied. “Here we are, let’s not keep them waiting,” She continued, and we passed through the large wooden doors, where two other Alicorns awaited us.

“As quick as before, yes, surely you are... “ Their King exclaimed.

“And you two seem just as strong…” Mother replied.

“Now, who’s this you have here?” The King inquired while approaching me. “Who would you be, my child?” He asked.

“Omnis, sir,” I replied.

He simply grinned, and looked at mother. “Yes, I can see your looks and wisdom in her… Yet… I feel His capabilities and strength as well,” He continued.

“Get to the point, what do you want?” Mother asked rather madly.

“Celestia, Luna, my dears, go now, let us talk,” The Queen exclaimed, and the two younger ones behind us left.

“We remember the service you and your kind did for us, so now I want to ask you something…”

“What would it be?”

“I accept the fact that your kind eats meat, so does my people… They are grateful for your sacrifices, and all of them are well aware of the potential you possess… Therefore I ask you to have your men replace my guards throughout the kingdom. I admit, you’re better at this,” The King explained.

“Why are you asking for such, sir?” I asked.

“Omnis, Galaxia and I feel our end is near, and we want to pass on knowing our children and kingdom is in safety even without us…” He replied.

“We will act as soon as possible, Cosmos… Have you told your daughters the same?” Mother asked. The royals both nodded in response. “Omnis, we will head back home to organize, you stay here, you will be in charge of the City Guard,” Mother exclaimed.

“As you wish,” I replied.

“Oh, and from this very second, you’re the second in command for the order after me, should I die, you’ll be the first in command,”

“Mother, don’t you think it’s too much responsibility for me?” I asked.

“If you can handle it well now, there’s nothing you won’t be able to handle,” She replied, and left with the others.

Oh boy… How do I even begin with this?! “I won’t fail you,” I replied quickly, so she could hear it.

“And so, the weight of the nation rests on your shoulders…” Queen Galaxia noted.

“So, how long do you think you have left?” I asked politely.

“Months at best,” She replied. “Why?”

“Mere curiosity,” I replied.

“It seems you will be here for a long time, I suggest you got, meet Celestia and Luna too,” Cosmos threw in.

“I should, and will, where can I find them?”

“The library,”

I nodded and left to said room, where I found the two. *Knock knock* I knocked with the stock of the AK. Soon a robed Unicorn opened the doors. “Yes? Can I be of help?”

“Are the Princesses here?” I asked.

“Yes, but if you don’t mind, we’re busy,” He replied, and slammed the door shut on me.

I put the AK away and pulled out the night stick, then kicked the doors in to make a definite impression. “Defy me once again, and I’ll have you eating with through your ass for the rest of your life, understood?” I threatened the mare instantly. Only then did I see the two sisters sitting in front of her, surprise on their faces.

“And who would you be, threatening a Royal Advisor like that?” The mare asked.

“The one who’s charged with the protection of Canterlot,” I replied.

“And what does that make you to me?”

“Let’s just say that I could turn you into a pile of mush with my bare hands…” I explained.

“Prove it,” She replied, our foreheads pushing against each other.

“Moonlight, I recommend you don’t be so bold,” Celestia exclaimed.

“Yes, well, don’t you remember that Humans are immune to magic?” Luna continued.

“You’re not helping here…” Moonlight muttered.

“No offense, but why are you here, uhm…” Celestia asked.

“Omnis, I was told to come and get used to the two of you,” I replied.

“Was it father who told you?” Luna wondered.

“Exactly,” I replied.

“Moonlight, will you please?” Celestia asked.

Moonlight sighed, then nodded. “You have 5 minutes,” She exclaimed to me. When she walked past me I hit her in the back of the head, knocking her out.

“Omnis!”

“She’ll be fine,” I replied, and pulled her away from the door. “Now, where do we begin?”

[End of Chapter 1]