Nate was dead. He knew that for certain. There was no way he could have survived that explosion. Certainly the winged angel before him was a sign that he was dead. Though the more he looked at her the more he had to wonder. Yeah the wings were there, but something seemed off. He slowly blinked feeling as if time was slowing down. Looking up he saw a horn sticking out just below her hairline. Down at the floor he spied hooves instead of feet. And why was everything so damn hot.
Well if he did die looks like he figured out where he ended up. Though when his eyes locked on the eyes of the creature before him, maybe just maybe what he was thinking was wrong. He stood up straight and squared his shoulders. He watched as another creature stood up from the ground. This one too had a horn, but lacked wings like the obviously female one. A strange tingle at the back of his neck told him that the light coming from that creature's horn wasn't something he wanted to mess with.
"Hello," the female creature said as she took a step forward.
Seeing as how they didn't seem like they were going to attack him right away he thought maybe things weren't so bad. Still why was it so damn hot in this place. Taking a step forward and raising his hand Nate figured niceties wouldn't hurt. His vision suddenly going black Nate lost his footing. Well this is gonna hurt, he thought to to himself. Well that's what he thought anyway. He was expecting the hard floor he'd been standing on to rush up and meet him. Instead he felt something wrapping around his torso and his face pressed into something very soft. Before he could process anything else the blackness took over.
Celestia rushed forward as she saw the creature starting to fall. She caught it with it's head resting against her breasts. She could feel the heat radiating from the creature's body. She looked to Starswirl as he approached her.
"Quickly fetch Arclight," Celestia said before teleporting herself and the creature to the medical ward.
Soon after laying the creature on one of the table a flash indicated the arrival of Starswirl and Arclight. The disheveled doctor blinked in confusion.
"Princess?" he looked from her to the creature laying on the bed.
His instincts as pony of medicine took over and he rushed forward. Summoning magic into his horn he placed his hands on the creature. He blinked at what he felt there. So many things the same as themselves, and yet it felt so different.
"How did it get here?" He asked looking from his patient to the two powerful ponies.
"We don't know," Celestia answered honestly.
"My spell was for measuring not summoning," Starswirl said as he pulled a tome from within his cloak and began sifting through the pages. "I'm positive. Unless I miscalculated."
"Magically summoned?" Arclight spoke more to himself than the other two. It took him a moment before figuring out what was wrong.
"Professor," Arclight turned to face the older unicorn. "I need your assistance."
"Of course," Starswirl slid the tome back into his robes and moved forward.
"I need you to perform a siphoning spell," as his own horn glowed even brighter as he set his hands over the patient's chest. "I'll then direct the flow of magic through it and out of it's body."
Celestia watched as the horns of both unicorns glow with intense magic. Starswirl moved his hands over the creature's body writing symbols in the air. Arclight held his hands over the creature's face his eyes closed. As a magical aura formed around the body the same color manifested around Arclight's hands. As his eyes opened they were glowing the same color as the aura. The two unicorns looked to one another then nodded.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Celestia asked in earnest.
There was no answer to her question as the two before her worked. Arclight's hands moved over the body and raised in to the air. Celestia could not help but feel anxious as she watched them work. As time passed she could feel the magic filling the room as it left the body. She had studied magic for over a millennia, and yet this was the strangest magic she had ever felt. Though she couldn't help, but think that it felt somehow familiar.
"I think that does it," Arclight said as his eyes stopped glowing.
"I agree," Starswirl nodded.
Celestia looked down at the body. The redness was slowly beginning to fade. As she looked it over she could finally focus on the details. It wore clothing like they did, but it's skin seemed to be void of fur. Except for it's face. The fur was a dull brown the same color of it's mane. Though there was gray in both. It must be old for it's species. The sensation of a hand on her arm caused her to jerk slightly, bringing her to look away from it's face.
"What?" she asked looking to Starswirl who had come around the bed.
"Princess," Starswirl said as he looked into her eyes as if searching for something. "It's almost time to raise the sun."
"Oh, yes," Celestia stepped back glancing down at the creature again then back at Starswirl. "Of course. Arclight, notify me when the creature awakens."
"Of course, Princess," Arclight said with a nod before walking over to a cabinet pulling out a scroll of parchment, along with a quill and bottle of ink. "I'll continue my observations, and send anything I think will be of worth to you."
"Thank you," Celestia smiled softly and gave a slight nod of her head.
"I'll return to my lab," Starswirl said pulling his tome back out. "I have to figure out what happened."
"Of course," Celestia said slowly regaining her composure. "I expect to be kept up to date on your findings."
Celestia left the room, and made her way to her chambers. Upon her arrival the two guards straightened to attention. She smiled inwardly at their shocked expressions. She knew she shouldn't, but a small part of her always enjoyed teasing her personal guards every once in awhile. Upon entering she began to disrobe. Dropping her robe to the floor she began unlacing the front of her night gown. That too fell to the floor as she made her way to the balcony.
It had been a long time since she had last done this. Opening the doors she spread her wings out behind her. Seeing the glowing light fade from her sister's tower, she closed her eyes summoning the magic within her. Spreading her arms out before her she reached to greet the sun as she called it to the sky. A sigh escaped her lips as she felt the warmth touch her naked body, smiling as she opened her eyes.
-----------------passage of time----------------
Nate groaned softly. He hadn't felt like this since before he left the military. He couldn't remember why would he felt like this. A voice off to his left caught his attention.
"Huh?" was all he could come up with to say.
"I see you are awake," the voice spoke again.
"Yeah," Nate answered trying to open his eyes. "Though I wish I wasn't. Feels like I got hit by a bus."
"Well," the voice sounded closer this time. "I'm not quite sure what this bus thing is, but I will say you have been through quite a lot."
"Huh?"
Nate's vision was finally clearing, and when he saw the person talking it was understandable that he was a little freaked out. He went from feeling like he had been on a bender, to sober, to just plain what the hell. Standing by him was a tall thin man, or rather well he wasn't sure what it was. A curved horn was jutting from it's black hair just above the middle of his forehead. The skin or rather the fur on the skin was a silver blue.
"What are you?" Nate finally managed to get out of his mouth as he tried to sit up.
"Now, now," Arclight said with a slight smile on his lips. "Just calm down. My name is Arclight. I am a physician."
"A physician?" Nate blinked up at him. "What?"
"I understand that this may very well be quite unsettling," Arclight said in a soothing voice. "Let's take it slowly. What is your name?"
"Nate," Nate responded after doing his best to slow his racing heart.
Nate watched as Arclight wrote something using a quill of all things. Nate's attention was brought to the light from Arclight's horn as he rolled the scroll of paper up. He watched as a beam of light flew from the tip of the horn and encased the scroll. Then in a flash it was gone.
"What on earth?"
"Hmmm?" Arclight looked over at Nate. "Oh I sent a message to alert the princess that you had awakened."
"Princess?" Nate blinked at him.
"Yes," Arclight nodded. "She was the one that brought you here."
"A princess?" Nate scratched the back of his head. "Brought me here?"
Author's Note
Well that's it for this chapter. I'm not too happy with how it turned out though. For now I'm posting it, and may come back to fix it later. At least now the story can move forward. "Until the Next Chapter."
Nate glanced over at the large number of people lined up by the large bay doors as he drove through the parking lot. Shaking his head at the amount of people that showed up before the store was even open on a Saturday was always a strange site for him to see even if he had been seeing it for over five years. Stretching his back before closing the door to his old truck he made his way towards the building. Waving to a few of the familiar regulars as he approached he spied a few folks with propane canisters. After directing them on where to wait he made his way around to the back of the building.
"Morning, Nancy," Nate said as he walked into the back of the store.
"Morning, Hun," the older woman behind the receiving counter responded without looking away from the computer screen in front of her.
"Any sick calls for my department?" He asked as he signed in on the employee log.
"Two," was all she said as she started typing on her keyboard glancing back and forth between the stack of papers beside her, and the computer screen before her.
Yup one of those days. He shook his head as he started his way through the building. Arriving at the shop area he found some of his guys changing into their uniforms. A few pleasantries were exchanged as he began to change as well.
"Holy shit."
Nate barely heard the words, but he was certain of both whom it came from and why it was said. Nearly all of Nate's back was covered in scar tissue. It was quite a sight to most people.
"Yup," Nate responded as he turned to face one of the newest guys in the shop as he pulled on his white supervisor shirt. "This is what it looks like after napalm touches skin."
Nate had joined the military straight out of high school. It was about six or seven years ago just before he was about to retire from the military when it had happened. One last mission before he was to go home. Things turned south in a bad way. He'd been in combat many times before, he'd been close to death more times than he cared to count. Though seeing that fire bomb traveling through the air was definitely the one time everything seemed to go in slow motion.
He remembered seeing the new kid Billy staggering around. Must have been knocked for a loop from that last grenade. His body moved without thought. He grabbed Billy by the back of his tactical vest and pulled him along. He heard the explosion, and felt the heat coming soon after.
"GET DOWN!" he yelled as loud as he could shoving Billy in front of him.
A second later his world was pain. He never could recall completely what happened after that. Most of what he knew came from the mouths of others. Billy hadn't suffered any burns at all. Most of Nate's back and some of his arms had been badly burned by the napalm. He'd been given the nickname Phoenix for having survived that fire bomb.
Nate chuckled at the dumbfounded look on the new guys face.
"Hey, Nate!" the sound of the shop manager's voice called out. "I need to see you."
"Sure thing, John!" Nate called back as he pulled his work boots on.
"What's the word, John?"
"Gonna need you to man the propane station today," John said as he started unlocking the bay doors. "Derrick called out."
"I got it," Nate sighed shaking his head. Yup gonna be one of those days.
The first half of the day was pretty uneventful. Nate talked to a few people, shared a few laughs, and get yelled at by one ornery old man because his tank was too old to fill. It wasn't until after his lunch break that things started to get interesting.
"You know," came a familiar voice from behind him as he finished handing a lady her receipt for propane. "Given your history I'm surprised to see you working out here."
"Nice to see you too, Kid," Nate grinned as he turned to greet the young man.
"Seriously?" the younger man groaned. "I'm twenty three years old."
"Still makes you a kid compared to me, Billy," Nate laughed as he held out his hand towards the younger man.
"Whatever," Billy grinned shaking the older man's hand.
"So what brings you by?"
"Looking for a job actually."
"No kidding?" Nate raised an eyebrow. "Left the service?"
"Yup," Billy nodded and looked up at the sky pushing the cowboy hat he wore back a little.
The two talked while Nate put some tanks away. As Billy walked away to the building Nate caught the scent of something that he shouldn't be smelling.
"Crap," Nate groaned as he smelled the propane.
After sending folks away he began following the procedure for leak detection. Signaling the shop manager with the buzzer he then began putting the signs further out away from the station. After wrapping warning tape on the signs to block access he went back to the station to start looking for the leak. After several minutes he still couldn't find it. Standing up to stretch his back he caught sight of possible trouble.
"Sir," Nate called out to a man who had just stepped over his warning tape. "Sir!"
"Fuck you want?" the man hollered at him.
"Sir please step out of the marked off area," Nate called back. "We have a propane leak."
"Whatever," the man said flipping the bird to Nate before pulling something out of his back pocket.
"Sir!" Nate yelled seeing the pack of cigarettes and lighter in the man's hands. "Do not light that!"
"Or what?!" the man said putting one in his mouth and lighting.
"You could set the gas on fire, that's what!"
"Yeah like that'll fucking happen," the man sneered at Nate as he took a drag of his cigarette.
"Sir, please!" Nate said holding up a hand. "Just put it out and step out of the area.
"I'll step out," the man chuckled stepping back over the tape. "And you can put this out!"
He flicked the cigarette at Nate. For the second time in his life everything seemed to slow down. He watched as the lit stick of death spun in the air. He could see the man laughing. As the cigarette spun past him he felt the heat just like before.
"Fuck."
Celestia awoke to the soft insistent cooing of her long time companion. She grumbled softly as she turned over onto her side. The source of the sound, a bright red and orange bird of prey, softly alighted on the bed beside her. It cooked again, playing at her face with one of its elegant wings.
"Philomena," Celestia muttered brushing the feathered offender away. "Stop it."
Philomena not one to be deterred squawked softly, and pecked at Celestia through the bed sheets. Celestia gave a muffled response and lazily swatted at her feathered friend. Philomena fluffed herself up and hopped on top of Celestia's covered body, and pecked at where her head should have been hidden.
"Ack!" Celestia was awake now having just gotten a beak to the nose. "Alright, alright. I'm awake."
Philomena took flight and cawed in victory. Celestia sat up and stretched with a yawn. She looked around blurry eyed before glancing at the clock that hung on the wall above the fireplace. It was still three hours before she was supposed to raise the sun. She frowned and looked over at her feathered friend.
"Philomena," Celestia groaned. "Why did you wake me up?"
Philomena cooed softly and winged her way out to the balcony. Celestia sighed and taking her dressing gown from the foot of her bed, and wrapped it around herself. Stepping lightly she joined the phoenix at the edge of her balcony. Looking out at her kingdom she breathed in the cool morning air. After a few minutes of silent contemplation she took notice of a flashing light in one of the northern towers.
"Hmmm," she smiled at Philomena who looked at her from the tower as well. "Looks like Starswirl is up to something."
"Shall we go and see?"
Philomena cooed and took flight. Celestia giggled and spread her own wings before tightening the belt of her robe. She knew the royal guards hated it when she flew around, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Silently she flew to the tower that Starswhirl used for his own magical experiments. She alighted on one of the upper balconies and quietly made her way inside. Taking the stairs down to where Starswirl's laboratory.
Celestia found Starswirl standing at a podium reading from a large tome. His horn alight with power as he guided multiple bits of chalk to draw a rather intricate magic circle in the center of the large room. The light she had noticed were coming from floating orbs of different types of magic around the room fading in and out of focus. She stood there for several minutes silently as she watched her teacher at work.
"How long do you plan on simply standing there?" Celestia jumped slightly in surprise at the sudden comment from the ancient stallion that hand't turned to look at her.
"One of these days you'll have to tell me just how you do that," Celestia chuckled softly as she stepped up beside Starswirl.
"There is a lot more left for you to learn," Starswirl chuckled softly as he continued with his work.
"So what are you working on, Teacher?" Celestia asked looking down at the tome.
"Nothing really," he answered as he stroked his beard while examining the magic circle to make sure all the lines were accurate.
"Oh really?" Celestia's eyebrow arched as she recognized the high level of magical efficiency that was at work before them.
"Well," Starswirl smiled mischievously at his student. "This just so happens to be the time of a magical apex."
"Oh, my," Celestia's eyes widened at this statement.
"Oh yes," Starswirl nodded as he directed the chalk to adjust a few lines. "With this I will be able to acquire a measured reading unlike any other before."
"That will be most impressive," Celestia said with a nod.
Celestia watched on in silence as Starswirl began moving the different types of contained magic around the circle. As each orb of magic reached a certain point of of the circle it glowed brighter. At what Celestia could only believe to be the brightest glow of each they would stop where they were. She could not deny how much in awe she was of her old teacher. Even though his magical power was no where near as powerful as her own since she had become an alicorn, his abilities still far exceeded her own when it came to technique.
"Almost time," Starswirl said as he stepped back from the tome.
Celestia felt her heart beat quicken as the seconds dragged on. They didn't have to wait long as the orbs of magic began to glow even brighter. The intensity of the magical build up sent tingles down Celestia's spine.
"It's incredible," Celestia said in awe.
"Yes," Starswirl smiled as he stroked his beard. "Quite so...."
Suddenly every orb of magic began to flicker. The very air began to vibrate with power. Starswirl moved to the tome eyes wide.
"Teacher?" Celestia asked in confusion.
"Something is wrong," Starswirl said flipping through pages. "This spell is only supposed to measure magic."
"Starswirl!" Celestia shouted pointing at the center of the magic circle where something was coming into existence.
As the orbs of magic began to glow bright enough to become painful Celestia could feel the pressure within them building. Before they even had a chance the magical energies exploded. Flames erupted outward from the magic circle.
Philomena who had been perched high on a shelf had sensed what was coming. She had sense it coming for awhile. This was the very reason she had awoken her caretaker. She swooped down and drew the magical flames into her own body. She was more than capable of doing this much. The heat of fire she could take, but the force she would not be able to stop. Once she was certain she had it all she winged her way out the window to disperse it safely.
The force of the explosion sent both Starswirl and Celestia flying back. Recovering faster than most Celestia used her wings to prevent herself from falling to the floor. Starswirl wasn't as fortunate. He hit the floor hard and slid a few feet. Celestia did not look to him. Her attention was on the creature standing in the center of the magic circle.
It was in a slightly hunched position. It's arm raised slightly as if trying to protect itself. Brilliant blue eyes looked up into her's and for a moment she felt as if time slowed around her.
Author's Note
This is the beginning of a grand story. I do hope it has entertained you so far. "Until the Next Chapter"