Author's Note

Random Question:
Do you pronounce Mael as "Mah-el" or "May-el"?

Chapter 2 - Memories

Mael had been part of the castle's regular residents for about a week. He was getting rather acquainted around the castle, despite still getting lost around the castle from time to time. Who could blame him, the castle was a labyrinth. On his first night as an actual member of the castle he got lost when looking for his room. When he asked a guard to help show him to his room. Which the guard gratefully led him to his room.

Despite Mael’s rather Intimidating height, he was rather kind and brought a warm atmosphere wherever he went. Except when he is around Blueblood, that dollophead takes the life out of everything with his snobbish nature. It was hard for most people to get on Mael’s bad side, but for some reason Blueblood always managed to do it.

Shortly after Mael’s wing recovered, he decided to take a walk around the castle. To get to know the place better. On his small self tour, he stopped by the library out of curiosity. The library was a maze, within the labyrinth of a castle. When looking through the books in a library he accidently knocked over a purple unicorn, who was being followed by a small purple dragon.

“Sorry about that,” Mael said as he extended a hand to help pick her up. “I should’ve looked where I was going.”

“It’s okay, I should’ve done the same.” Twilight said, taking his hand to help herself up, when her eyes looked upon his massive size and four wings, “Y-your t-the creature.” She stammered in amazement.

“That the first time I’ve been called that.” Mael said, “My name is Mael, what's your name?”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant Spike.” She said, gesturing to the small dragon, who waved to him. “What are you exactly? If you don’t mind telling me.”

“Not at all.” Mael said, “I am one of the four Archangels, Elite warriors of the goddess race.”

“Wait, so you're a male member of the goddess race.”

“Yes.” Mael confirmed,

“Does that make you a ‘god’?”

“No it doesn’t, from my world the word ‘goddess’ doesn’t mean female god,” Mael explained, he had similar conversations before with some of the humans from his world, “It's just the name of the race. I think it may have been the fact that our ruler was female.”

“I see,” Twilight said, “you said you were one of the archangels. What exactly is an archangel?”

“An archangel is an Elite warrior of the goddess race,” Mael said, “Each of the archangels were given a part of the Supreme Diety’s power, known as a grace.”

“A grace?” Twilight asked

“Each grace was a piece of magic power.” Mael explained, “There were four graces” Tornado, Ocean, Flash, and Sun. Each one possessed an ability unparalleled to any other magic. Tornado controlled the wind, Ocean controlled water, Flash gave unparalleled speed, and Sun increases one power as the sun rises.”

“Which one do you have?”

“I possess Sun, The strongest of the four.” Mael said, looking down to spike in surprise “Have you seriously been writing a report about what I’ve been saying.”

Twilight knew that they'd been caught. “I asked him to write a small report about you.” Twilight said, being a little embarrassed, “You see, you’re the first of your species here. So in case more came over we would be able to know about them.”

Mael took this surprisingly well. “You don’t need to worry about my race.” Mael said, “But there is a more immediate matter at hand. I think I may be a bit lost.”

“The exit is this way.” Twilight sparkle said, leading the way while letting out a small chuckle. This wasn’t the first time she had to lead someone out of the library's maze.

Mael was in his room leaning on an open window. When Mael wasn’t exploring the large castle, he spent most of his time looking outside. The only reason why he didn’t go outside was because Celestia wasn’t yet sure on how to explain the situation to her ponies if one saw him. Mael extended his arm and made his pointer finger a small porch for a bird to land on. Before ten second had passed, a small red bird landed on Mael’s finger.

Only about a minute had passed when there were a few knocks on the door, scaring the bird away. “The Princess is wanting your acquaintance at her chambers.” A voice commanded through the door. Mael knew if the princess wanted him, it was probably important.

After arriving at the entrance he was stopped by two guards blocking the door with their spears. “State your purpose.” One of them said.

“I believed Celestia wanted to see me.” Mael replied

They immediately removed their spears, and Mael knocked on the door. “Come in,” Celestia said through the door.

Mael opened the door and entered Celestia’s room. She was sitting on a couch made of clouds, overlooking the balcony. “You called for me princess Celestia?” Mael asked.

“I did” Celestia said, “As of right now, you may skip the formalities.” Celestia gestured to the spot on the couch beside her. “Come sit beside me.”

Mael sat down beside Celestia, half expecting to fall through the couch. “Why have you called me here?”

“I am not going to speak to you as a princess, but as a friend.” Celestia said she could tell that Mael was still grieving over his brother’s sacrifice, She also believed that Mael had a troubling past. “I know that losing someone close to you isn’t easy. A thousand years ago, I had a younger sister.” Mael gave Celestia a surprised look . “She was very close to me, her Name was Luna. She ruled the night while I ruled the day. We ruled peacefully until she got jealous of the recognition I got from our subjects when she got almost none.” Celestia started to tear up a bit, “So she became Nightmare Moon to try to defeat me. I tried to reason with her, but I never got through to her.” A small tear fell from Celestia's face, “As a last ditch effort to protect my ponies, I had to banish her to the moon. All she wanted was to be recognized and looked upto like me.”

“Sometimes that's how younger siblings are.” Mael said looking at the moon, “always wanting what their older sibling has that they don’t. At times I got jealous of my brother, Ludociel. For the longest time whenever he would return from battle, he would receive praise and recognition from his skill in combat.” Mael looked into the star filled sky with memories of his brother. “Being his younger brother, members of the goddess race kept laughing at my kind nature, saying ‘Why can’t you be like your brother, and slaughter the demons?’” This statement surprised and scared Celestia. “My brother was one of the very few members of the goddess race that didn’t make fun of me for my kindness, and he even wanted me to surpass him.” Mael was also starting to get teary-eyed at the memories of his brother, “So I trained, and trained, and trained, until I was ever stronger than him. Now I had all the praise and respect I would want, but it all came at a cost.” Mael looked at the ground, not noticing Celestia was looking at him with worry, “Now I am known as ‘The Angel of Death,’ for my power and ability to defeat several thousand demons without trying.” Mael was almost completely sobbing, “But is this what I really wanted? All I wanted was to be respected, and now most of the goddess race is too scared to even approach me.”

“Even if you are ‘The Angel of Death,’ you have been a friend to everyone you’ve met here.” Celestia said, giving him a comforting hug, “Your title doesn’t make you who you are. As the princess of the sun, there are just sometimes I wish I was able to go to my subjects without them worrying about me. Sometimes even the princess of the sun needs a friend.”

Mael was finally able to get his tears under control. “Thank you Celestia, I needed to get that off my chest.” Mael said gratefully.

“I personally think we both needed that.” Celestia said, “I’ve had a lot of guilt building up from banishing my sister.”

“Celestia, would you mind if I asked you a question?” Mael said, “Something small had been bugging me.”

“Not at all,” Celestia said.

“Why did you say that I was probably not going to be able to return home, before I even asked.”

Celestia was a little surprised at the question. “I knew you were more than likely going to ask how to return home.” She said, “Now that I have hindsight, I probably should’ve let you ask that question instead of overwhelming you on your arrival here.”

“I don’t blame you,” Mael said, as the same small red bird flew in and landed on his shoulder, “Oh, hello again.”

“It appears that ‘The Angel of Death’ has found a pet.” Celestia said while letting out a small chuckle at the irony.

“I actually think it is a wild bird.” Mael said, which surprised Celestia, “I think my peaceful demeanor has a calming effect on many creatures.”

“That is believable,” Celestia said, then she paused as she was thinking about something. “Hey, Mael.”

“Yes, Celestia?” Mael asked

“Out of all my long years of life, I haven’t met anyone as kind and compassionate as you.” Celestia said, “To call upon you when I need a friend is a great blessing.”

“Thank you Celestia,” Mael said, “Those words mean a lot to me.”

“Mael, can you keep a small secret for me?” This question made Mael’s Interest spike.

“Sure.” Mael said not knowing what to expect. Almost immediately Celestia leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Mael’s face went red and his wings immediately shot up. Celestia started to chuckle from how flustered Mael had become.