The Guardian's Angel

So... they're here for their answers already, the creature thought to itself after noticing the ponies coming towards it. I really wish they would have given me more time. I don't think it's been more than two days since my arrival here... No matter. They have a right to know, and I have nothing to hide. I will tell them everything, if they only ask the right question... About my people. About where I came from and why am I here. About the pact I made. About all the loved ones that I've buried over the years... Even about those last few words that god whispered in my ear before assigning me to this ordeal...

"Khe khem," Twilight harrumphed, failing to catch the creature's attention. Her confidence began to dwindle as she saw that he seemed to have little interest in a conversation. Nevertheless, there was no going back. "Excuse me, Mister..."

"Archangel," the creature introduced itself. "You can also just call me "Arch", if you prefer," he added without a speck of any kind of emotion in his tone.

"Archangel..." Twilight repeated. "But, that's not an actual name... Is it?"

"Does it matter?" he counter questioned. "I forgot my real name more than two millennia ago. Even if I hadn't, no one has called by that name for even longer than that," he explained.

"Two millennia..." Twilight repeated in awe. "So, you're an immortal?"

"Indeed," Archangel confirmed. "I take it you'll want to hear the full story?" he asked after a long sigh.

Compelled to agree, Twilight replied by slowly nodding. "Yes... If it's not too much trouble--"

"Very well." he cut off her sentence in a casual tone. "I'll try to keep this as short as possible. Nevertheless, be ready for a long story..." He made himself more comfortable before continuing. "I wasn't always the fearsome creature you see before you now... I was once a simple man with a simple life. I didn't possess any kind of powers... I'll skip the details since it's not really a story worth telling... My true story began three thousand years ago, when the god of my people came down to my planet and spoke with me. He revealed the history about the creation of my kind to me... I had heard legends about it before, but I never actually believed in any of them... Naturally, after the creator of my kind told this to me in person, I could no longer deny it..."

"The god of your people chose you out of everyone on your world?" Twilight curiously inquired.

"Indeed." Archangel nodded. "He told me that he saw me as the most selfless person there was, and that he trusted me to never misuse the powers that he bestowed upon me."

"What exactly was the purpose behind this action?" The purple alicorn seemed to only become more curious with each answer she got. "Why would your god just suddenly drop out of the sky and make you the most powerful creature on your world!?"

"He didn't instantly just make me this powerful," he calmly replied, ignoring the pony's somewhat rude tone. "He left me just as weak as I was the moment he arrived, but he granted me the power to adapt to every trial I face... and so I went and faced as many trials as I could, only growing stronger, faster and harder to hurt. Hence the words, "I suffer. I endure. I adapt."" Noticing the pony's sudden change of expression, he realized that he had just struck a chord in her memory. "As for why did he grant me such powers... well, I was actually just about to get to that," he snidely replied while staring at Twilight.

"Sorry..." Twilight said and slightly bowed her head from shame.

"Not to worry." Archangel chuckled. "And so, the god of my people told me how when he created the very first two humans..." He paused after seeing the sudden curiosity in the eyes of the ponies. "Yes, that is what my kind is called," he clarified. "When he created the very first two humans, he tested them to see if they could be trusted. If they could, then they would be allowed to forever live in the paradise that god created for them... Alas, they ended up betraying his trust and got forever expelled from there and were forced to create their own world worth living in." Archangel paused for a moment. He continued after seeing that the ponies seemed to have no further intention of interrupting him.

"Distrust... That was the only legacy that humanity inherited, and it only grew stronger as the years went on. It eventually grew into violence and perversion, and the world that the humans made for themselves ended up being devoid of justice... Innocents died by the millions, and villains ruled supreme and were never questioned."

"My goodness!" Twilight exclaimed. "How could your god allow such a thing?"

"He thought that it was a fair punishment to someone who betrayed his trust... but after several millennia that he spent watching them suffer, he finally realized that he had made a grave mistake and decided to do something about it."

"And you were his way of doing something about it?"

"Aye," he replied with a touch of regret in his tone. "He could not interfere with the world directly, so instead he chose a champion... an archangel... He couldn't use his power to solve all of our problems for us, so instead he gave one of us the power to do so by themselves, and in return for my service to mankind, upon completing my task, he would allow me to visit a different kind of paradise... A world devoid of the corruption, violence and perversion that had been corrupting my own world for many millennia... A place where harmony prevails." He lifted up his head and looked upon the world around him. "Not exactly what I had expected, but still... It would be wrong of me to say he was lying."

Utterly astonished by the explanation, the six ponies couldn't help but direct a prolonged gaze towards the visitor.

"Wow..." Twilight said after a long pause. "This... I don't even know what to say..." she rubbed the back of her head as her mind was still attempting to process all of the newfound information. "What exactly happened to your world, in the end?"

"My race destroyed it," he answered without thinking.

"Huh?" the six ponies uttered.

"My race would always have trouble getting along with one another. Our god foresaw this ending. He never meant for me to save my race from extinction. I was simply there to make sure that the innocent people at least get a chance to live to up to an age where they could find out who they were meant to be... Even though I could save everyone from being physically harmed, I could do nothing about the way they kept on exhausting our planet's resources and refusing to cooperate... They would have long since found a way to leave that planet and establish colonies on other planets, but as arrogance and distrust festered among them over the centuries, they simply couldn't work together and would always believe that each of them could achieve more while working separately and refusing to share their technologies and supplies... and so, they all ended up being the losers, in the end."

"My goodness..." Twilight held her hoof up to her mouth as her eyes began to show her sorrow. "I... I'm so sorry to hear that! It must have felt horrible seeing your people subconsciously destroying themselves without being able to do anything about it."

"No doubt, it would have felt terrible if it had happened sooner... but as the centuries went on, I began to resent my own people, just like they began to resent me."

"They resented you!?" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. "But... why?" she asked in a tone both saddened and confused. "Weren't you always there to protect them without asking anything in return?"

"I was... but, like I said, my people grew very arrogant over time. They soon began taking me for granted. Over time, the "Thank you"s that I received for saving them turned into "Took you long enough"s... At first, I would often stay for a moment and get to know the people I saved, even often becoming friends with some of them, but eventually, I just started leaving without even waiting for their rebukes."

The more the ponies heard, the more their hearts began to ache from caring for their savior. Twilight hung her head in sympathy after hearing such a tale. "No wonder you began to resent them..." she whispered, right before lifting her head up again. "But isn't your task fulfilled now? Why do you insist on doing the same thing for us? You don't owe our kind anything!"

"Maybe it's simply because I want to... maybe I feel like your race actually deserves to be preserved, unlike my own." He paused for a moment to let the ponies think about that notion. "Or maybe it's just because I've gotten so used to it over the last three millennia that I simply don't know how to do anything else anymore," he added in a slightly less trustworthy tone than before.

"I..." Twilight paused, unable to find the right words. "Forgive my previous tone. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful." Her friends walked closer to Archangel at this moment, forming a line, rather than a cone with Twilight in front. "We all owe our lives to you." The other five ponies nodded in approval. "All we really wanted was to just say "thank you""

"Thank you..." he slowly repeated. "Now there's a phrase I haven't heard in a very long time..."

"We would have said so earlier, but you never gave us the chance," Twilight explained. She continued after realizing that the guardian seemed to have no intention of adding anything, "It doesn't have to be that way anymore, you know," she said in a sincere tone and gazed into the darkness under Archangel's hood. "Many of us still fear you, but you could be a hero to the ponies here if only you showed them that they don't need to fear you... you could have friends here."

"Friends?" Archangel repeated after a short pause. "Do you really think that your kind would accept me as their friend?"

"Of course!" Twilight replied without hesitation. "Personally, I would be honored to call you my friend," she declared. Her friends also uttered a sound of approval at that instant.

Archangel didn't give any reply for some time. He slowly shifted his sights over each of the six ponies in front of him and finally gave an answer, "I'm afraid that's not going happen."

The smiles on the ponies' faces quickly turned to frowns. "I understand," Twilight whispered and hung her head. "Someone like you must find us immensely boring."

"Boring?" Archangel repeated, seeming actually surprised for the first time since the beginning of the conversation. He leaned towards them, frightening the most timid one of them. He stopped the motion for a few seconds and then started leaning towards the frightened mare at a much slower pace. He then slowly extended his hand and reached for her head, afterwards gently caressing her mane and rubbing under her chin. She seemed to be enjoying the gesture. She even closed her eyes and smiled warmly. The scene reminded him of how he used to play with kittens, back when he was still human. "On the contrary. I find you all very remarkable." After having said that, he abruptly released Fluttershy's chin and reclined against the tree again. "Which is exactly why it would be better if I didn't have a chance to get to know you better."

"Huh?" the ponies uttered.

"I don't understand..." Twilight said in confusion.

"Twilight..." Archangel whispered and hung his head. "Do you have any idea how many friends and loved ones I've had over the last three thousand years?" he asked, compelling Twilight to rub her chin as she gave into pondering upon the thought. "Where do you think they all are now?"

The meaning behind Arch's words dawned on Twilight at that moment. She raised her hoof, ready to answer, but she chose to hold her voice instead and hung her head... She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "You really miss them, don't you?" she quietly asked.

"Every day and every night," he replied with great sorrow in his tone. "Each friend I once had only ended up becoming another piece of the heap of memories that torments me whenever I try to think... and after having spent centuries of burying the ones I love..." He paused for a moment, finishing his sentence after a painful whimper. "I just don't know how many more can I take." He gave into his sadness and started crying.

His sorrow was so great that even the hearts of the ponies in front of him felt a small pain spike at that moment. The ponies tried to move closer to comfort him.

"Don't," he rejected them by holding up his palm. "The less feelings I have for you, the easier it will be for me when you..." He chose to leave his sentence unfinished.

"Why are you so worried about it now?" Rainbow Dash inquired. "We're still as young as ever. It's going to be a loooong time before you'll have to start worrying about that," she said with a smug look on her face.

"And pray tell me," Archangel interrupted her moment of pride. "How long has it been since I first arrived here?"

"Three years... why?" the blue pegasus asked with her eyebrow raised.

Arch paused for a moment to add a more dramatic feeling to his next sentence. "To me, it felt like it was just two days ago."

"What!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "How can that be true? There were so many things that happened during that time!"

"And that is exactly why I feel like time has moved at all."

"But... Huh?" Rainbow seemed even more confused than before.

"To me, time has become irrelevant. If there hadn't been any opportunities to aid you over these last three years, then I would've probably still felt like I had arrived just moments ago," he explained without a speck of joy in his tone. His words gave pause to the ponies.

"So... what you're saying is..."

"By the time you're all old and weary of all the trials of life, I will most likely only feel like I've just gotten to know you all better," he finished Rainbow's sentence for her.

None of the ponies dared say a word as they began realizing the painful truth in front of them. Apparently, the best way that they could help their savior was by simply ignoring him completely, just as his own people used to do.

"Please..." Arch eventually broke the silence. "Just let me be a alone... I appreciate you trying to help, but I'm afraid there just isn't anything you can do for me," he regrettably informed them, adding another short statement after a small pause, "Unless you can find a way to destroy me, that is."

"What!?" the ponies exclaimed.

"I've been around for far too long already and have grown very weary of living." As he said those words, the ponies actually got the impression that they were being said by an old stallion.

"But... how could we possibly do such a thing? Not only would it be virtually impossible, it would also be the most wicked of sins!" Twilight shouted and stomped her hoof on the ground. "You're our hero," she quietly added after calming her tone.

"A wise man once said..." He began reciting, "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." He paused to let the ponies ponder on the quote. "Do you truly want to risk having a villain as powerful as me?" he asked while leaning towards Twilight.

The purple alicorn looked back at him with sadness in her eyes, as well as a lot of confidence. "Without you, we would have already long since fallen before other villains." She took a few steps closer to her conversation partner. "And I simply refuse to believe that someone like you could ever turn evil. Not even after another three thousand years." Her confidence didn't waver as she spoke, and her sadness got replaced with a warm smile.

Arch waited some time before answering. As he kept his gaze on Twilight, he realized that her mind couldn't be changed. "So be it," he said and leaned backwards. Feeling like he had said everything there was to say, he made himself comfortable again and simply waited for the ponies to leave.

The ponies still couldn't just leave right away. Their hearts simply wouldn't let them... Nevertheless, they knew that they would have to do so, eventually. After exchanging a series of sad glances between one another, they slowly turned around and started heading back to the town.

Before leaving his sights, Twilight turned around to ask just one final question, "Are you sure this is the way you want it to be?" No verbal reply came from Archangel, but she saw him answer with a small nod. "If you ever change your mind..." leaving the obvious sentence unfinished, she turned around and followed her friends back to the town.

As the ponies left his sights, nightfall soon arrived, along with the soothing breeze that Arch would gladly let sail through his wings.

"All it was was just one little conversation... and yet, somehow, they've already managed to grow on me..."