A Tiger in Equestria

After a very nice bath, albeit in a wooden tub that was too small for us, but better than nothing I guess. I used the mirror inside the room to fully inspect the look of the uniform. I look quite intimidating. Not going to complain. After smoothing out a few creases, I walked out to the main room, finding a comfortable armchair and getting comfortable on it before striking up a conversation with the really nervous hybrid in the corner, judging from her fidgeting when she saw I was watching her.

"So, what's your name, I'd like to stop to referring you to as 'hybrid' mentally." She did a double-take when she heard that I was talking to her. Then looked scared when she realized her reaction, fearing that she had insulted me in some way.

"Uh, my name is Pale Midnight,sir." Why are all their names related to their Cutie Mark, their species or their color?

"Alright, would you prefer Pale, Midnight or both?"

"Midnight,sir."

"You may stop referring to me as sir."

"Yes. Sir...?"

"Oh, I'm Hauptmann Schmidt of the 503rd Heavy Armor Battalion, part of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. You may refer to me as Schmidt."

"Yes si— Schmidt."

"So, what are you exactly Midnight?"

"We're Nocturns, or commonly referred to others as bat-ponies."

"I can see why. If you don't mind me asking, why do you look like a hybrid of both?"

"I really don't know, Schmidt. It's the way we were born."

"Do you mind if I ask some things about your country?"

"Oh, not at all. However, I do have to keep some things confidential due to the fact that it's sorta important for national security."

"I understand completely. We used to do the same, and usually are even more tight-lipped about it."

"Thank you."

"It's no matter."

Pale Midnight could hear her heart racing, and it sounded so loud it seemed like a miracle that Schmidt hadn't heard it yet. He scared her a lot. She had heard stories about them from Ponyville and had even been briefed by the Princess about him and his crew. She thought of the briefing that she had been attending. Captain Darkwind had hoof-picked ten ponies from the Lunar Guards, and requested that they go to the meeting room at midnight, not giving a single hint what it was about. She had arrived at the meeting room only to see Princess Luna herself. When she had learned that she was to be escorting what was essentially an alien, she had been extremely curious but also terribly afraid of what would happen. Luna then picked three out of the ten guards, and after making sure that not one of the ponies would let a word out, she began the briefing.

"We know what we will ask of you will be difficult, and you may be wondering why we have picked you three instead of your more experienced brothers and sisters. The answer is that you are much less professional that them. Professionalism is a good thing, but the cold demeanor will not be able to get the humans to open up to us. They possess secrets that could radically change the entire course of the world, and if it were to fall into the wrong hands..."—Princess Luna shuddered at the thought of some of their enemies getting on the secrets that the humans had.—"This is why we must get to them first, in order to prevent those who are not worthy from getting an advantage over us. You will be provided with as much information as we can provide, and your mission is to get the humans to open up to you. Especially their leader, Schmidt I believe. He is the only human in the group that speaks Equestrian, and his opinion greatly affects the rest's views on us. As of now, his opinion on us is not too good, in fact I would go so far as to say it is cold. You need to turn this around. We have picked you three simply because you are young, and we hope your demeanor will allow them to open up to you. This is highly important to the future of Equestria, do you accept?"

All three mulled over the choice, but the end result wasn't in doubt. In Nocturnia, the honor of being chosen as a Lunar guard was high, but being chosen for a secret mission? This made getting into the Lunar guard look like foal's play. "We are willing to serve you Princess Luna."

Princess Luna's eyes lit up, and she had a big grin on her face. "Please, you three may refer to us as Luna."

The Nocturns' jaws dropped at what she had said. This meant that she valued them as equals, rather than those below her. One question was created in their minds. What kind of being was this, to make this mission so important that we were equals to the Princess?

"Of course Prin—Luna."

"We shall begin your briefing, we believe that you should be well prepared, to increase our chances of success." She used her magic to levitate a small stack of papers and photos. They were passed between the three Nocturns, each studying each piece of information with extreme detail.

Queen Chrysalis received a very interesting report from one of her infiltrators in Canterlot. Using the hive's mental links, the infiltrator, Mirror, had told her and the entire hive of a strange contraption, painted with brown,green and yellow hues, emerging from the station, only to be intercepted by a small group of guards. According to her, a hatch on the contraption opened to reveal a strange being with brown eyes and a black cap. It had conversed with the ponies in fluent Equestrian, and the guards had formed up into an escort for the contraption. What interested Chrysalis the most was the fact that the ponies had seemed utterly terrified of the contraption, this meant that these beings were very powerful. If they could be persuaded to assist the hive... With that in mind she sent an infiltrator-wide telepathic message.

*"All infiltrators in Canterlot that are not currently engaged are to investigate the new contraption and the beings it carries."*

She smiled when she thought of the terror that she would strike into the pony's hearts. She was however, interrupted by a knocking at the door.

"Princess Cadence, it's Shining Armor."

Irritated at being interrupted, she quickly morphed her features into a smile for the stallion on the other side of the door.

"This was one written by Twilight Sparkle, it used to be a two hundred page long report, but it has been suitably condensed into a much shorter version."

The Nocturns all looked curiously at the new information that was being given to them. It was a much more simplified version of the history of the humans.

They flipped over to the first page.

The Greeks

Where humans had started was unknown to the humans themselves, Schmidt recalling the earliest civilization that he knew as the 'Greek city-states'. These were all in the small area of 'Greece' which he said was much more smaller than this 'Germany' he himself came from. The Princess had said that the area of 'Germany' was around 634,000 kilometers big. He said that there were many small cities, but they were very powerful. He mentioned 'Athens', 'Sparta', 'Corinth, 'Argos' and 'Megara'. He claimed that the humans there had the same language, same gods and goddesses, but they were not united as one. The Greeks believed that there were many gods on 'Mount Olympus'. The highest mountain in the country of Greece. They would go to temples to worship them, and hope for better lives. He revealed that there was actually no proof of such gods, and that there were none found on 'Mount Olympus'. They Greeks had faced many...