After the whole fiasco with Sugar Song was done, and I was sort of over with my little breakdown, I took her back into the forest for cover in case the gryphons were still searching for her. She had begun to ask me question about myself, and I would answer them to the best of my ability while we searched for shelter for the fast approaching night. I had told her my name, Ethan, and she had looked slightly disappointed at the normality of it. At the moment, we had stopped by a stream so she could get a drink.

"Hey Ethan," I stopped playing with a frog and looked down at the almost 3 foot filly, "where do you come from?"

This was a question I did not want to answer this soon, simply because it would lead to more questions and emotions, so I shook my head and went back to torturing the frog.

She let out a huff, got up, and sat right beside me, "Ethan, pleeeaaasee?" She made the biggest puppy dog eyes I had ever seen.

My whole body went stiff at the look she gave me, which just made her lean in and somehow make her eyes wider. I nervously looked to the side at the frog, who now just had a smug smile as it sat in my claws, and looked back at her. My ears drooped, my wings falling to my side as I nodded and gave in.

"YAY!" She hopped up and did a little dance, sitting right back down after a few seconds.

Dipping a claw into the moist dirt near the stream, I began to draw a medium sized circle. Afterwards, I drew the continents to the best of my ability. Memory isn't exactly the best thing to go off of, but I couldn't necessarily pull out a map of space, point to Earth, and go 'there's good ol' planet Earth!' Once I was finished I wrote, in big letters over the top,

EARTH

My head tilted to the side, as if listening for something, when a fuzzy and static feeling exploded within my head.

A bunch of bipedal creatures, about 24 in total, sat in a small room. Desks were neatly spread out across the room, two creatures per desk and all sitting on a stool. They were all slightly smaller than the fully grown one at the front of the room, who was writing something on a white board with a marker. Some of the creatures had short hair, some had long, and some had abnormal colored hair. All were dressed in clothing that looked rather comfortable, while the one writing was formally dressed. It turned to the others, saying something to the room and pausing as if expecting something. A few of the small creatures raised their digits, only one being called on by the taller creature.

I shook my head, confused yet slightly intrigued. That was a memory from Earth, which made me feel comforted, but also gave me the shocking realization I had almost completely forgot what it looked like. I knew what the planet looked like and what my species was, but other than that I had no recollection of what we had made. For a while, I had even forgotten what we had looked like...

'We need to get to... Whoever rules this land,' With the goal set in mind, I abruptly got up and looked at the sky for the time.

The sky was darkened slightly in the East, from what I could tell through the roof of leaves, and the West was drenched in a series of pinks, oranges, and yellows. I felt a tap on my foreleg and looked down at Sugar Song, her eyes slightly droopy and a small yawn escaping her. Cooing down at her, I laid down and motioned for her to get on my back with my head. She obliged, flopping onto my back and setting her hind-legs behind the shoulder of my wings for support. I gave her a short bark, urging her to stay awake as I made my way over to a particularly large oak tree. We couldn't find any caves, which would have been preferable, plus I wouldn't have to worry about one of us falling off a branch. But after spending the rest of the day searching and looking for food for Sugar Song every few hours, I hadn't found a single cave. So, a tree would have to do.

Seeming to get an idea of what my goal was, she tightened she legs around my frame and I began my ascent. My claws sunk into the brown bark of the oak, my wings outstretched a bit to help me keep balance. I pushed up, took out one of my forelegs, and stabbed it into the bark above. Pulling up proved a bit difficult, but I managed. Every so often, the bark would start to give way and I'd have to hurry up to keep from falling. It got a whole lot easier when I reached the branches. I could climb up by going from branch to branch, using my jaws to help every so often. Eventually, I found a large enough branch to lay myself down on and have Sugar Song comfortably laying on my back. The moon was just beginning to peak over the trees, a comfortable twilight settling over the forest. Crickets chirped, bats flew about, and frogs began singing in the distance. I dug my claws far into the branch I rested on, a loud, dog-like yawn escaping me. Plopping my head down onto my paws, I began my descent into the world of dreams and fantasy.

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It had been almost 3 weeks since I had found Sugar Song, and I had done my best to take care of her. Her mane and tail were daily groomed by my almost bird/bat-like instinct, and 3 meals a day were provided to the best of my ability. We had decided to make that oak tree our home that fateful night, and it had proven to be quite comfortable. Sugar and I had grown attached to each other in that amount of time, though we still tried to search for Sugar's parents. I could tell she was getting more worried as the days went on, so every time we went on one of our little hunts I tried as hard as I could to find them. But despite everything, the forest was a nice place to be. It was calm and quiet, aside from the occasional 'timber wolf,' as Sugar put it. We had grown pretty comfortable.

So when I woke up to the snapping of fire instead of the familiar sounds of the night, you can imagine my panic. The weight of Sugar Song on my back was the only thing keeping me from fully freaking out and getting up to investigate. The shadows fought with the moving light below, which illuminated the space below me. Voices and the clacking of armor accompanied the furious crackle of the flame.

"Anything yet?" A male Pegasus soldier below me stopped at the base of the tree.

His coat was snow white, a ocean blue mane and tail sticking out of the golden armor that adorned his body. Two wings stood open by his sides, flapping occasionally out of boredom.

"No, nothing yet. Celestia said the pulse came from around here at least a week ago, but I don't see anything that could signify what it was or who made it." Another pony, this one of the same gender, walked up to the other, a confused look barely made out through the shadow.

He had a dark blue coat, an orange mane and tail almost blending in with the gold armor that he proudly wore. A horn stuck out of his head, a bright blue aura surrounding it and a torch.

"Well," Said the Pegasus, "nothing's here. It was probably just one of Equestria's normal magic waves or whatever." He waved a dismissive hoof at the unicorn, "Anyway, we've got a war to fight. There's no time for investigating stuff like this when our villages are being burned and ponies being kidnapped."

The unicorn lowered his head, "Yeah, I guess your- Hey, what's that?" He stepped closer to the tree, studying the bark of our large oak tree.

My chest tightened. He probably saw the claws mark I made from my trips up into the tree.

"What now?" The Pegasus rolled his eyes, eyeing the tree bark with a smirk until he saw the same thing, "Oh yeah, that's weird..."

They both looked up into the tree and into the shadows above, where I was. The unicorn narrowed his eyes, bringing the torch up towards the branches but far enough nothing would catch on fire. The light caught my large form, their eyes widening at the sight of me.

"What in Celestia's name is that?!" The Pegasus' wings flared out further than they were before, nearly smacking his companion.

The unicorn stared at me wide-eyed, mouth agape. He shook his head, a stern and stubborn look on his face, "Creature! By the command of Princess Celestia, our noble ruler, I order you to come down here. It is by law, Equestrian Law Number 53, that you are not allowed to use magic of a medium or high magnitude unless given permission by Celestia herself or are in a magic school of some kind. So, come down," He stamped his hoof, the Pegasus giving him a look of horror.

I nudged Sugar Song, who gave a mumble of response and cracked open an eye, "What, Ethan. I'm tired," she quietly whined.

I jerked my head in the direction of the guards, her tired eyes barely processing that she was seeing other ponies. She jumped up, a beaming smile on her face. She waved down at the guards, much to their horror.

"Hello! I'm Sugar Song! This here is Ethan, my friend! We need your help!" She called down to them then, turning to me with a much quieter voice, "Ethan can we please go down? They might be able to help!" She smiled.

I blinked at her, looked down at the guards with a sort of reluctance. My gaze softened at the realization she called me her friend, my heart swelling with happiness. With a bit of hesitation, I nodded. She squealed, flattening herself to my back and hugging it. Getting up was the easy part, but finding a way without falling was another. It didn't matter how many times I climbed up this thing, after a night of rest my brain just decided to forget the route down. After racking my mind for the memory, I jumped from our branch and landed on one closer to the ground; about where the torch was hovering. They gaped at me, an even more nervous look passing over their faces at seeing the pink filly gripping onto my back. With a loud thud, I jumped down in front of them and allowed Sugar Song to rush down to meet them.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you! As I said before, my name is Sugar Song and this Ethan," She motioned to me with a hoof, her huge smile wavering, "He saved me from my burning village and decided to try and help me find my parents. But now that you're here, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll find them for sure!" She beamed, her happy mood returning.

The two ponies looked at each other, then at me, then at the filly. They put on the biggest, fakest smiles I had ever seen and said, "Can we talk?"

Author's Note

Chapter 2 done! And in only one day too! But could you just imagine that? Looking up into a tree and seeing a beast like Ethan staring down at you, only illuminated by the light of a torch. See, this is why I love writing. And, as before, if you see any writing or spelling mistakes please let me know!