Take 1

by Luyten

Rating: everyone
Tags:
Length: 6252

Equestria's secret service and stuff

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-01-23 01:24:27 UTC

sadf

"Echo, come on! Wake up!" my younger brother shouted at me. I woke up, startled and fell off the perch I was sleeping on, well, under.  No, I'm not a Pegasus, I'm a bat pony, or thestral.

"What is it?" I grumbled. He told me I had to go into town for groceries. Great, just what I needed. As I walked into the kitchen, I tripped and fell onto the floor, where I fell asleep again, until my dad walked in and woke me up.

"Echo. What are you doing?" He asked, holding back a laugh.

"Nothing." I mumbled through the carpet. "C'mon you have to get groceries, and we need them by lunchtime." Not having a choice, I agreed.

As a bat pony, my senses are more acute than a regular pony's making going to get groceries an even worse chore to do. The noise level was unbearable, and pair that with sunlight, (which is always a little too bright, even when it's cloudy), and the smells, it was enough to make me feel slightly sick, and overwhelmed. Thankfully, my dad taught me to fold my ears, which, I'll admit looks strange, but by Luna did it help.

      When I was about to fly back home, a stallion in Royal Guard armor approached me.

"Excuse me sir, are you Echo Nightwing?" He asked.  I set the bags of groceries down so I could reply.

"I am, what is this about?" Ponies rarely came up to ask questions, let alone have a conversation, but this time it was different and it confused me.

"Mr. Nightwing, I need you to come with me to Canterlot, it's very urgent." Before I could say anything else he also added,"Your family has already been notified, so we can leave immediately."  I tried asking him why I was going to Canterlot, but all I got was,"I can't say".

         Skycreek Crossing, where I lived, was about 75 miles from Canterlot, which translates to roughly three nights of flying. I was usually nocturnal, the few exceptions were when I had to get groceries, and when there was an election. Unfortunately for me, I was accompanied by five pegasi guards, all of which slept during the night.  Like the first stallion had promised, we left immediately, and met up with four other guards.

             The first day of travel was fine, I slept the entire night before, I began to feel the effects of sleep deprivation when we stopped for the night. I instantly fell asleep, only to wake up a few hours after dark. I looked around to see if my escorts were asleep, and was disappointed to find that they were awake.

"Do you need to sleep?" I asked them, and then added,"I'm nocturnal, which means I'm awake all night and sleep during the day." None of them replied.

"I'd be more than happy to take watch, I'm more accustomed to the dark, and no, I'm not going to run off, if that's why you're not sleeping." That seemed to do the trick, because within ten minutes, they were all asleep.

The other two days of travel passed by the same way: we would travel from noon till about ten at night, then sleep, and continue. But at last, we arrived in Canterlot, Equestria's largest city and capital. As soon as we landed I was whisked off to the castle and given a room before I could say,"What's going on?"  In the few minutes I had to myself, I explored the room I was given. To put it simply, it was nicer than a five star hotel I stayed at once. Then I heard hoof steps coming towards me, then, a knock on the door.

    "Mr. Nightwing, you're needed in the armoury." I hurried there as quick as I could, and after multiple wrong turns, I finally arrived.

"You're late." A gruff voice scolded.

"I'm...sorry, I didn't know the way here..." I panted. He ignored me and cut to the chase.

"You all have been summoned here to be part of a para-military squad, and you will be called in to show us if you have what it takes!" The ageing pony said, turning in his heels(?) and walked off into another room.

"Why is there a bat pony here?" I heard a pony whisper to another. I continued to listen to their conversation, which was quite amusing, until I butted in.

"Are you two trying to be quiet?" I asked. The silence answered for me, I was going to say something else, but the intercom interrupted me.

"Ember Flare, we are ready for you." A charcoal-colored unicorn with a bright red-orange mane walked over to the door, took a breath and walked through. After her was, the frost coloured Pegasus, Katabatic, the unicorn, Apollo, and lastly, me, Echo.

"What can you do Mr. Nightwing?" Asked the lunar princess. I told them to shut of the lights for thirty seconds, and then send in ten guards to find me.

As soon as the lights were off, I shot across the room, and slid under a weapons rack. I wrapped my wings around my body and waited. I heard the guards search for ten, maybe even fifteen minutes before saying,"Are you sure he's in here?" At this, I silently climbed out from under the weapons rack, and walked on the ceiling (fuck yeah!) and said,"Looking for me?" I laughed, scaring ponies was so much fun.

"Thank you Echo, that will be all." Celestia said. I nodded, let go of the ceiling, and glided towards the door, and walked out with a smile on my face.

"So...you're a bat...pony?" Asked Katabatic (think of him like Flux, but without the fancy robot shit) I nodded, and then yawned; it was nearly sunrise.

"Good morning, I'll see you later." I said.

"Where are you going?" Asked Ember.

"I'm going to sleep, it's nearly sunrise!" I exclaimed, and then added,"I'm nocturnal, I sleep during the day and am awake at night." She nodded, but still looked at me like I was crazy.

Chapter Two

"Why is it still night?" The white cyborg asked, to no pony in particular. He galloped up a flight of stairs and met up with two other ponies, one bluish-white, the other a red-orange.

"What's going on!?" The white Pegasus shouted above a sudden gust of wind.

"Celestia isn't using her magic to move the sun...it'll be another ice age on this side of the planet in no time at all..." shouted Starberry, the red-orange pony,"We have to tell the others!" Once they all grouped together, they trotted into a metal...tube with sheets of metal attached to it. I couldn't fathom a reason to need one.

I gasped awake, who were those ponies, and why was I dreaming about them? It didn't make any sense, but then again, nothing ever does.  When my thoughts cleared up, I heard a pony snoring softly next to me. I looked to my left, and saw Ember, sound asleep on my bed. I gently shook her awake.

"Ember? What are you doing in here?" I asked quietly. She opened her eyes, and yawned before realizing where she was.

"Hm? Oh, um, I may have kind of sleepwalked into your room...sorry." I told her it was alright, and that she could stay here for the rest of the night, as I was going out. Just before I left, Ember called me back.

"Hey, Echo...do you think you could..." She stopped.

"Yes?" I said.

"Do you think you could stay with me for the night..." Her voice got quieter as the sentence went on, but I could figure out what she meant.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of!" I told her,"Y'know, as a filly (I guess?) I was scared of the dark..." I laughed, it seemed like so long ago when I didn't have a care in the world.

"Really? A bat pony scared of the dark? That doesn't make sense." She said. I shook my head,"it's actually a pretty common thing, and after all, you've got magic to use for light!"

"Well...ok, just don't tell the others..." I agreed, and Ember fell back asleep, with me at her side.

As dawn approached, I fell asleep, but just like the day before, only for a few minutes before Ember shook me awake, going on about a briefing that was at eight o'clock.

"What time is it?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes.

"Get up! Hurry, it's seven-thirty, and we have to get all the way across the city!" I pulled on a hooded overcoat, put the hood up, and trotted out the door, with Ember in tow.

"Why do you have that hood on?" Asked Ember.

"To help shield my eyes and ears from the sunlight and noise." I answered.

We arrived with just minutes to spare.  From the looks he shot us, Katabatic looked ticked off.

"You two can't keep this up! From now on, be at least fifteen minutes early to any meeting." He commanded us.

"Sorry, it's not my fault I haven't been able to sleep! We've got things to do all day, and I normally stay awake all night, and sleep during the day, and none of these meetings are helping!" I growled. With that, a four star general stepped out of a side room.

"You all have been hand picked from all four corners of Equestria, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, and...bat ponies."he said that last bit with some hesitation, leading me to believe he'd served in the war. (Lol, I bet you thought I forgot about zebras...nope!) "and from my understanding each one of you has your own unique talent, and flaw." He looked at Apollo.

"You! What's your talent?" Apollo jumped, clearly startled by the general's voice.

"Close quarters combat (CQC, for future reference)." The next victim was me.

"Lunar breed! What's your talent!" He shouted. I gritted my teeth, and said,"Stealth, sir." He snorted, and laughed,"A lunar breed that's stealthy? And I'm not a general..." What was with this guy?

While he was going on about 'how they shouldn't trust me' and the likes of that, I crept onto the ceiling and hung upside down behind the general.

"Hey...where'd that disgrace of a pony run off to? I wasn't done!" The General exclaimed.

"Oh! Were you looking for me?" I shouted into his ear. He jumped, (startled by my extraordinary display of stealthiness, I'm sure), and glared at me.  At that moment, both Princesses walked in, ceasing any further arguments.

Celestia began our briefing,"As I'm sure you've heard from General Balefire, you've been selected to form a para-military team, to deal with international issues, like the what's happening in Russia."  We all knew. It was all over the news, several high-ranking officers in the Russian government were taking hostages, no-pony knew why.

Now came the part none of us wanted to hear,"Your flight leaves Wednesday morning, at noon. In the meantime, I suggest you get to know each other more. Good luck." With that, our meeting was concluded, and every-pony filed out. I stayed behind to discuss my dream with Luna.

"Excuse me, Princess Luna, may I talk to you for a moment?" I asked.

"Of course, Echo! What troubles you?" She replied cheerfully.

"Well, it's about a dream  I had last night, there was a white cyborg, missing a wing and foreleg, and two other ponies, one was called...Starberry, I think. They were talking about how the sun wasn't moving in the sky, and that that side of the planet would freeze over!" I looked up at Luna, she said she would discuss it with her elder sister and that I should tell her if these dreams continued. I said I would.

Chapter Three

Stalingrad, Russia

Our plane landed in a very dismal place, no colour, mounds of snow everywhere, and don't get me started on the wind. A very bored looking, heavily coated soldier approached us.

"Are you the Equestrian representatives?" He said. We nodded, anxious to get out of the freezing wind.

The journey to the centre of Stalingrad was quiet, except for the sounds of the snowstorm that constantly assaulted us. Finally, the truck stopped in front of a building with a sign stating,'Stalingrad Government Offices'. It seemed to be the right place.

Despite the abysmal exterior, the inside of the government office was quite nice, it had gold trim on the tables and chairs, crystal chandeliers, Oriental rugs, a working heater, it was a welcome change to the Siberian winter. I took off my coat and scarf, and shook the snow out of my mane, the others followed suit.

"Welcome to Stalingrad!" a sign announced. There was a knock on the counter, it read:

"To the diplomats from Equestria,

Please take a room and make yourselves comfortable, the 122nd Battalion will arrive at approximately three p.m.

-General Nikov"

I set the note down,"Not sure read that right: an entire battalion!" I exclaimed.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but for now, get some rest." ordered Katabatic.

When we found the rooms we wanted there was still the issue of who bunked with whom.

"I'll bunk with Echo!" said Ember, a little too quickly.

"Alright then, it seems Apollo and Katabatic are rooming together," I yawned,"is that good with you two?"Apollo nodded, and Katabatic rolled his eyes at me.

"Hey look, they were thinking of me!" I said, holding up an apple. I bit into it, and spit it out immediately.

"That tastes terrible!" I cried. It was bitter.

"Ember. We have to get out of here. Now!" I stated as the world began to spin and darken.

"Why? We only just got here!" I told her the apple was poisoned, and said why else would they send  an entire battalion of soldiers to meet us.

Her eyes widened,"I'm going to check on Katabatic and Apollo." Ember hurried out of the room, and I held onto the banister for support. I sighed, it was going to be a long trip.

Moscow, Russia

0300

The snow swirled in the lone streetlight's glow. Two figures met under it, trying to get shelter from the storm, one had a scarf and hat, the other wore military dress, adorned with countless ribbons and medals.

"I have done as you have requested, General Nikov, the bat-demon has been poisoned, the unicorn will join it, and the other two will be taken alive." the pony in the hat said, with a deadly seriousness.

"Very good Onyx, very good. And for that, you will be rewarded handsomely." Nikov produced a large bag of bits from his coat pocket.

"Onyx, one last thing I need from you...it'll be quick, no more than a split second," said the General. Onyx turned around to face Nikov, just as the general drew his pistol and fired. A sharp crack filled the deserted square, Nikov walked over to his former partner and reclaimed his bits. The snow began falling harder, covering the body before the hour was up. No evidence remained, no loose ends to tie up. That's the way the general liked it.

Stalingrad, Russia

0430

"Echo...Echo...wake up!" a voice rebounded in my head. Then, a sharp pain on the side of my face: some-pony just slapped me. I opened my eyes and rubbed my forehead.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

Apollo answered me,"The apple you bit into was poisoned, so was the vodka in our room. Seems like some-pony doesn't want us here, does it?" We all shook our heads, except for me, mine hurt too much to do anything but sit down and shut my eyes.

A few hours later, I was feeling much better and we were still waiting for the 122nd Battalion.

En route to Stalingrad, Russia

0900

"General Nikov? Our estimated arrival time is thirteen hundred, and we have reports that our Equestrian visitors have recovered." the Corporal reported.  Nikov nodded,"That will be all, thank you." The 122nd Battalion continued their march towards what would be there final resting place.

Stalingrad, Russia

1300

Apollo and I sat on the bench outside the main entrance, waiting for the Battalion.

"So do you like Ember?" he asked me. I blinked, that caught me off-guard.

"I mean, I guess...sort of...maybe..." my voice got quieter and quieter as the sentence went on, until I asked,"Why do you ask?"

"Because she's my sister's aunt's grandma's daughter's mother's niece's daughter." I stared blankly at him for a good minute trying to figure that one out. At that moment, Ember came out and started a fire. Yep, that's right, a fire, just out of the blue. We spent the better part of the afternoon just lighting things on fire. Pyromaniacs...

The clouds covered the sun, and thunder growled, as if signalling the arrival of the much-awaited 122nd Battalion. 'Battalion' was an understatement, it seems the Russian military wanted to invade their own country: at least two hundred soldiers and four tanks, and that's only as far as I could see from the ground. I flew up a few feet, and received a bullet to the wing for my efforts.

"Petrov! (First name I though of, shut up) What did I say about shooting our...guests, now come down here and say your condolences." said a General, who was most likely General Nikov. The sniper, a young stallion, a few years younger than me, he was the stereotypical Russian: light hair, bright blue eyes, light-coloured coat, and a massive sniper rifle strapped to his back.

"I am...sorry about your wing, it was a, oh ебать, what's the word...a misfire on my part." He smiled at me, and looked genuinely sorry, until he turned around and spat into the snow. Nikov and a few other high-ranking officers followed us into the SGO (Stalingrad Government Office).

"Now, to business! Why are you here?" commanded Nikov, he had pulled out a pistol. All of us were shocked at the sudden change of attitude. Apollo was the first to recover.

"We're here to investigate and settle any discrepancies with the disappearances of ponies. Who who we think have been taken by your military." Apollo said. The General nodded, and said,"Sorry, that is not why you are here, now do not lie again!" He shot Apollo to punctuate his point. (There is a reason why I've killed him off; it's cause I can't keep track of what personalities each of the characters have...and yeah). As the earth pony's body fell to the floor, the only sound I heard was my heart pounding. I was still trying to process the fact that a Russian General just shot my teammate, in cold blood! So despite our already abysmal situation, I lunged at Nikov, who knocked me to the side, and what do I land on? My injured wing of course, causing me to cry out in pain.

"General Nikov!" a voice yelled,"What in the name of Celestia are you doing! I asked for these ponies to be treated as you would treat your friends, not enemies! Now get out, you are not to leave without my permission! Do you understand?" Nikov nodded and walked out of the building, then I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Do any of you need medical attention?" asked the pony who saved us, who's name we learned was Crimson Dawn. I leaned against the wall,"I do, you have anything for a bullet wound?" I stretched out my wing.

"All of you need to get out of here, General Nikov will alert all his troops, personal guard, and criminals that all of you are to be shot on sight. Without question." Dawn said, wrapping gauze around the hole in my wing. We left immediately, ignoring the Russian military outside of what could've been our coffin. Luckily, no pony cared enough, or didn't notice us, so we were spared a long and drawn out battle.

Russian Int'l Airport

1600

"So...who are you exactly?" Asked Katabatic. It was the first time I heard him say anything since the meeting back in Equestria.

"My name is Crimson Dawn, and I am the former Russian Secretary of War, I won't have my job when I get back to Moscow, all the other Secretaries will defend Nikov." Dawn sighed. Katabatic nodded, and asked if he wanted to come back to Equestria with us. Dawn gladly accepted.

Thankfully, the flight to Equestria was uneventful, so I slept the entire way there, and then some.    I was the first one off the plane, and luckily there weren't too many ponies around, so we slipped off towards the castle, where we spent the night.

Chapter Four

Canterlot, Equestria

12 AM

"Sister, Echo says he's been having dreams about the Saviours...does this mean something?" Luna asked her elder sibling.

"I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure it's nothing." Celestia assured her sister. The pair stood on the terrace for a few minutes, saying nothing, when Luna saw a figure flying away from the castle.

"Is that-?" she started to say when Celestia finished,"Yes it is, but let him be, he's had a difficult week."

Canterlot, Equestria

9:00 AM

After a night of flying around, I was dead to the world, well, at least for a few hours...

"Echo!? What're you doing up there!" Katabatic called up to me. "What? Up where?", I thought to myself. I opened my eyes and realised where I was: hanging upside down from the mini chandelier in my room. I stretched my wings out and yawned, which I think might have scared Katabatic a little bit.

"You...have fangs?" he asked. I nodded and smiled,"Don't worry, I'm not going to bite you! I eat fruit, and that's about it."

"....Anyway, breakfast is ready, and we've got a meeting to attend at noon." after he left the room, I heard him say,"You better not be late this time!" I laughed, I'd try my best not to be.

   My good mood died off when I received a letter from one of my close friends, it read this:

"Echo,

I can't tell you how much pain I'm in. Some pony named Fury told the entire school our secret, and the friends I though I had...well, they won't help, not at all. Anyways, could you come help me with this? I know you have work and stuff, but it'd mean the world to me...I'll understand if you can't

-Solstice

"Echo? What's wrong?" asked Ember. I told them I was going to be gone for a few days, and to write if they needed anything. And before they could ask any other questions, I took off and began my journey home.

Skycreek Crossing

9:00 PM

         When I finally arrived at Solstice's house, I found him passed out on the porch outside the door. When I shook him awake, he jumped onto me and hugged me, and then started to sob.

"C'mon Sol, it can't be that bad, right?" I reassured him. But he sadly shook his head,"Echo...everyday, for a week now, they've been beating me, before school, in every class  after school, even in my dreams...I just can't get away!" he exclaimed. I told him I'd walk him to school in the morning, and have a chat with his 'friends'.

7:00 AM, Skycreek Junior High

  Leaves crunched beneath our hooves as we walked along the path to the main building, then, I heard some ponies calling Solstice's name.

"Hey, Solstice! Too scared to fight, lunar breed?" a voice sneered: it was Fury. I turned around.

"Who are you to call Solstice a lunar breed?" I snapped at him. His eyes narrowed and several other ponies joined him. Some of them recognized me and whispered,"I though he was gone for good?" Well, apparently I wasn't. Although I was seven years their his senior, Fury still managed to get under my skin.

"Listen here, Fury, if you don't leave Sol here alone, you'll regret it. Mark my words. The same goes for the rest of you. Now go apologize to each other." When they wouldn't comply, I smiled, clearly showing my fangs, I made a mental note,"Fangs are good for scaring ponies, I have to remember that for later." After they finished their (hopefully) permanent truce, I talked to Solstice's principal about it.

"I'm sure you know about our secret?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"Well, Solstice only looks like a pegasus." I said, and then waited for it to sink in,"when he was younger, his parents and I decided that it was too hard to live life as a bat pony, so we had a unicorn cast a very powerful cloaking spell on him. But right now, I'm wondering how Fury and his accomplices found out..." According to the principal, while Solstice was flying  her wings flashed from feathers to a bat wing...she guessed the others saw it and jumped to conclusions.

While I was in Skycreek, I figured I'd visit my family, to see how they were faring.

"Echo!? Is that you?" I heard my mom exclaim. I smiled and said,"Yeah, it's me, but only for a few more hours, maybe a day or two at most. Then I have to get back to Canterlot..." She shrugged and said,"Well, what can you do?".

3:30 PM

When I heard the front door slam open, I knew word had gotten out that I was back, I didn't know why ponies made such a huge deal out of it, I've only been gone for nine days. My little  brother, Eclipse, slammed into my chest, as usual and demanded to know exactly what I did.

"Well, we went to Russia, nearly died by the hoof of an insane Russian General, flew back, and I nearly died of exhaustion and then I got a letter from Sol." I shuddered at the thought of what happened in Russia. Apparently, Eclipse thought it was cool that I nearly died and pestered me until I told him the entire story.

"So...who's Ember?" he asked. I blushed,"She's nopony...just part of my team." He rolled his eyes at me and started to prance around the room singing,"Echo likes Ember!". To further intensity his teasing, my dad handed me a letter from Ember.

"Dear Echo, blah blah blah...you're needed in Canterlot as soon as possible..." I skimmed over the letter, my voice trailing off, knowing I had to leave my family behind once again.

Chapter 5

Thursday, 8:00 AM, Canterlot, Equestria

For the second time in three days, I made the seventy-five mile trip to Canterlot.

"I...flew here...as fast...as I could...," I said through breaths, leaning against a wall for support. Celestia herself came to welcome me back, which I thought very unusual.

"It's quite alright, Echo, come inside catch your breath." she said. As we trotted into the main hall, the princess told me I had a few ponies to meet. I practically tripped over my own hooves trying to get a glass of water (true story...). I never thought water could taste so good. Then, the effort of flying 150 miles and staying up during the day hit me like a freight train. I promptly fell asleep, still sitting on the bench.

When I finally woke up, a few hours had passed, as the moon was high in the sky, and still, there weren't any ponies in the hall with me. "No wonder you idiot! You're in your bedroom!" I thought to myself.

With most of my joints popping, and muscles protesting, I got out of bed and shuffled to the main hall, with my eyes half open. Because of that, I bumped into something. Something that was soft, and had a horn. God damn was I good at this.

"Please don't wake up, please don't wake up..." I thought to myself. The pony stirred, and then opened its violet eyes.

"Who's there?" she asked softly.

"Um...nopony....don't worry about it..." I whispered. Then, her horn lit up, casting the surrounding area in a purple glow, and temporarily blinding me.  I blinked a few times, and looked around the room.

"Why were you sleeping in the dining hall?" I asked.

"Who are you and why are you awake at this ungodly hour?" Her question overruled mine, so I answered:

"Well...I'm nocturnal, and I've stayed up during the day for...four days now? And I've survived on the magical substance that is coffee. And my name's Echo." She muttered a few things to herself, and then exclaimed,"You're a bat pony, aren't you!" I spread my wings and nodded. Her eyes lit up in excitement."I have so many questions t-" I cut her off before she could get any further.

"First off, it's midnight, you need to get some sleep. Secondly, I don't know who you are!" She looked at me weird after I said the last part.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle...and I'm here with my friends to meet with the new military team that's based out of here." It was an awkward conversation to end, so I backed away and trotted out.

"You can sleep in my room tonight, if you'd like..." I called back to Twilight, but she was already asleep again. Must've been a long day, I thought to myself.

Chapter Six

In the morning, I was rudely woken up by a certain fiery unicorn, who was more than happy to wrap my tail in an energy field and pull me out of bed. Except I didn't wake up when I hit the floor, or when ice water was poured on my head.

"I haven't known anypony who's slept this deep...could he be dead?"

"He's just exhausted: one hundred and fifty miles in a little over two and a a half days, and then staying up during the day hasn't helped either." said the Princess, who'd come to my room after hearing I may have been dead,"don't wake him up until he does so on his own, are we clear?"  Everypony in the room nodded in the affirmative, and then went their separate ways.

When I finally woke up, it was nighttime and I had an idea. I trotted around the castle softly calling Luna's name for a good half hour, until she appeared in a doorway, no more than five inches away from me.

"Ah, Echo, I was wondering when we would meet again. What can I help you with?"

"Well, you know how I'm nocturnal right now?" I began,"it's been an issue with the schedules of the ponies around me, like I was supposed to meet some ponies yesterday...but I fell asleep. Do you have a spell or potion that would reverse my sleeping patterns? So I could sleep during the night and be awake during the day?"

"I might have something, wait here for a moment." said Luna. Sure enough, she teleported back within a minute, levitating a small flask.

"Now, before you drink this, I should tell you about a few things. It only works for a week, then, you'll revert back to your original sleep/wake cycle." I nodded, drank the contents.

"One thing I forgot to tell you, the effects are instantaneous." But I didn't hear that part, I was already snoring on the floor.

Luna levitated my body back into where I was sleeping, and trotted back to her quarters.

The next morning, while we ate breakfast, the Princesses, Twilight, and five other ponies sat down at the table.

"Good morning, Echo, Ember, Katabatic, these are the ponies I wanted you to meet." said the Princess. 'Hellos' and 'Good mornings' were exchanged, and an awkward silence followed. Luckily, a pink pony seemed to have enough social skills to introduce herself.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I've never seen you guys around here before, are you new? Are those bat wings? I'm gonna throw a party!" she spurted out in a rapid fire string of questions. Ember and I nodded back, but I think her introduction may have broken Katabatic, who smiled weakly. Next off was the cyan pegasus, Rainbow Dash, who thought (thankfully),  just said hello  and didn't bombard us with questions and such. The others were a yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, a white unicorn, Rarity , and lastly, an orange earth pony named Applejack.

Without further ado, the Princesses assigned us one of them to train with. To apparently, "Strengthen your weaknesses." As my strength was stealth and defence, I was paired with Rainbow Dash...who more about 'shock and awe'.

This was going to be interesting.

In the span of an hour, I was being ordered around by a pony I had only just met...which wasn't pleasant, both for me and her.

"No, no, no! You're supposed to do corkscrews the other way!" she exclaimed for the millionth time.

"It feels more natural this way! Wouldn't that make more sense? If I'm forced to do something I'm not used to, it's going to be less fluid, and efficient." I retorted. That pony was as stubborn as a rock. I sighed and tried to corkscrew properly, and when I did, I got a "good job" from Rainbow.

At dinner, Ember told me that she was working on more useful magic, like teleportation and telekinesis, rather than incinerating everything. I laughed when Twilight showed up with a few black marks on her coat.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The next few weeks passed similarly, but on the day that marked the sixth week of training, we were all called to the library...the Forbidden Spells section to be precise.

"I am going to send you to Earth." said Celestia.

What.

There was a moment of shocked silence, and then the Solar Princess added,"For reconnoissance and observation, your mission will last two months, then you'll report what you found." It seemed I was the only clueless one here.

"Where's Earth?" I asked.

"You don't know where Earth is?" asked Twilight, who seems more shocked that I didn't know where Earth was, rather than I was being sent to it,"Earth is a different world, inhabited by creatures called 'humans'." Celestia spoke quickly before Twilight could bombard us with facts and figures about Earth.

"Now, these humans may or may not be kind to you, and whatever you do, do not fight back. Good luck." With that bombshell laid on us, Twilight's and Celery's horns shone and the world 'popped' and went dark...

When I regained my senses, I felt sick: the air tasted dirty, the sun was too bright, and there were all these rumbling noises that kept on passing by. Then, a hoof tapped me on the shoulder and pointed directly ahead: there was a group of the inhabitants sitting on a bench, staring at us. To add another thing to add to our 'List of Things That've Gone Wrong', it seemed Katabatic wasn't transported by the spell.

I looked over at Ember, who mouthed,"Act dead..." I shrugged and fell on my side, giving myself a 10/10 for best death. It turns out that pretending to die wasn't the best of ideas, because the humans started to up nudge us with their hoof...things.

"Are they dead?" one of them asked. I heard voices, but couldn't make out the actual words, which I didn't like. I don't like not knowing, so I rotated my ear to hear the sounds better... unfortunately that's was caused them to investigate further. (<--6,000 words!)

"Should we call someone?" asked another. (Ah...regular English)

"They can't be dead, I mean, they were standing and looking around a few seconds ago..." he punctuated that by poking me in the stomach with a stick. Hard. Instinctively, I curled up in a ball, and then realised my mistake, so I shouted for Ember to join me in a tree.

A few moments later, Ember and I were sitting happily on a tree branch and the humans were trying to get us to come down. Like that would ever happen. Then I remembered how hungry I was, as I hadn't eaten breakfast, and teleporting countless miles does take a lot of energy...

"Can you understand us?" one of the humans asked, he was about a half a metre taller than me, and had a very peculiar mane: it was very short, and he didn't have a tail...odd. He repeated the question, slower this time, as if talking to a filly.

"Yes, dammit! We can understand you! Now shut up and go away!" shouted Ember, the last pony I'd expect to have an outburst like this. They stared at us for a good minute or two, and then whispered between each other for a few more. Between the time that they stopped staring at us and began whispering, Ember and I saw our chance to get away. And we took it.

The first obstacle was getting out of the tree, which wasn't too hard for me or Ember, as both of us blend into the shadows, well, except for Ember's mane. After we dropped out of the branches, it was easy to find somewhere to hide; it seemed like there were a million trees and shrubs.

A few moments later, I heard confused voices wondering where we'd gone off to, and after searching for less than ten minutes, they left, leaving us alone, and in peace. I sighed and trotted to where Ember was hiding, and lay down next to her.

"So this is Earth, huh?" she said,"Not quite what I expected..." I nodded in agreement.

"What do you say to getting something to eat?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Sounds good, but what are going to pay with, and from those humans we just met...I don't think we're welcome around here."