Chapters There once was a silly and mischievous, but nevertheless adorable, bat pony named Echo. She lived a pretty good life in a nice home with a housemate. Although she was very cute, Echo did have a few major flaws. Aside from being a little eccentric, Echo absolutely loved mangos. Of course, this isn't a flaw in of itself. The problem was that she loved mangos to such an extent that she would constantly steal them from her housemate without feeling a single shred of remorse. Eventually, it reached the point where Echo brutally assaulted her housemate just to steal the mango he was slicing.
Unknown to Echo at the time, this act would not go unpunished. For her absolutely lack of kindness, sympathy, and self-control; not to mention a total underappreciation of friendship; powerful forces that had somehow been watching her decided to place a curse on her head. For as long as this curse was in effect, Echo would never be able to eat another mango again, not matter how hard she may try.
Nevertheless, it wouldn't stop her from trying.
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Chapter 1: I Looked Through the Window and Saw. . .
A car sat parked beneath a large tree. On the front passenger's seat of the car was a large, ripe mango. Up above, on one of the large boughs of the tree, stood a grey bat pony with copper colored eyes and black slit pupils, and a tail and mane made up of hair that was a smooth mirage bluish-black. Echo the bat pony looked down from where she was perched, which happened to be directly above the vehicle's sunroof. Echo's eyes lit up and she smiled eagerly, as she could clearly see the mango through the sunroof.
Echo promptly jumped off of the bough and dived straight down towards the car with her forelegs outstretched. However, at the last moment her smile turned into a look of fear, and she brought her forelegs back and gave her violet bat wings a desperate flap right before she hit the closed sunroof.
Echo opened her eyes as her right hind leg twitched. With the left side of her face flat against the glass, she could see the mango still on the front passenger side seat. This brought a smile back to her face, and she quickly got back up on her hooves and jumped off the top of the car.
At the passenger's side window, Echo's head rose up and her big eyes looked in at the fruit. She sniffed at the window a bit, and then pushed her nose right against the glass as her eyes remained fixated on the mango inside the car. Echo pulled her head back and lifted her forehooves, placing them flat against the window. She pushed against the glass, then she pouted as she pawed at the window with her hooves. Soon her pouting gave way to impatient huffing as she began slamming her hooves against the window.
When that yielded no results, Echo gave her wings a few flaps and hovered back a few feet from the car. Echo tilted her head in curiosity as she studied the car door. A cute smile popped onto her face when her eyes fell upon the car door handle. She flew back to the door and landed on the ground, but frowned when she got a closer look at the device for opening the door.
Echo leaned forward towards the handle and made an attempt at biting it. She had to tilt her head at an awkward angle in order to get her mouth on the handle, and her fangs made it all the more difficult. Before long, Echo had to let go and back off. She lifted her right foreleg and rubbed the back of her neck with her fetlock. Then she massaged her jaw a bit with her right forehoof. She then paused and took a long look at her hoof.
Echo smiled and shoved her right forehoof under the car door handle. She made a face as she twisted her hoof and pulled. A look of shock overcame her as she realized her hoof was stuck fast under the handle. She rested her left forehoof against the door and gave her right hoof a tug. With her wings flapping hard, Echo pushed hard with her left forehoof and pulled her right hoof harder. Echo suddenly flew backwards as her hoof came free without warning. She landed on her back a few feet away, and she sat up and looked at the car with a disappointed look on her face. But then, Echo looked at each of her wings, and her eyes widened as she had a little a-ha moment.
Echo trotted back to the car door and reached out with her right wing tip. It hooked under the handle and pulled it, and Echo's tufted ears perked at the sound of the door opening with a pop. She smiled eagerly as she pulled open the door, stepping backwards to see the mango resting on the car seat. However, at that very instant, the car's alarm went off.
Echo's eyes went wide as her ears shot up in response to the screeching alarm. She reared up on her hind legs and covered her sensitive ears with her forehooves. Echo clenched her teeth as the car alarm wreaked havoc with her powerful sense of hearing. She screeched out in pain as she stumbled backwards and sideways. As she began to fall backwards, Echo flapped her wings in an attempt to recover. Echo ended up flying backwards and headfirst into the thick, hard, solid trunk of the tree.
Echo slid down to the base of the tree, knocked out and in blissful unconsciousness as the car alarm continued to go off.
Some time later, Echo's eyes slowly opened. The car alarm had long since stopped, and the car door was wide open. Echo's eyes snapped open and she sat up straight. To her horror, the mango was gone.
Echo blinked her eyes, and then closed them as she let out a moan and knocked the back of her head against the trunk of the tree before resting it against the tree and letting her body and wings go limp.
The freezer door opened up, and Echo's left forehoof came up and rested on the edge of the freezer shelf. Then her right forehoof came up, and Echo lifted herself up to see into the freezer. Echo smiled as she flapped her wings to lift herself so she was level with the freezer. She reached in with both hooves and pulled out a mango entirely encased in a block of ice.
Echo flew to the kitchen table, slowly frowned as she took a closer look at the ice block in her forehooves. She set the ice encased mango on the table, and the tapped it twice with a forehoof. Echo huffed in annoyance, and she leaned in and licked the ice block. She paused when she felt her tongue getting pulled out and stretched.
Echo blinked her eyes and looked down at where her tongue was frozen to the ice block. She gave a frustrated eyeroll, and then gripped the block of ice with her forehooves. She pulled her head back slightly, stretching her tongue out a bit. Echo grunted, and she pulled her head back with a sharp, quick tug. This resulted in her tongue being pulled off of the ice, and caused Echo to fall flat on her back.
Echo jumped back up, standing up on her hindlegs with her forehooves on the table on either side of the frowned mango. She grabbed the block of ice between her forehooves and began to bang it repeatedly on the table. After some time, Echo dropped it onto the table and panted, slightly out of breath from the exertion. She pouted and sighed sadly when she saw that her attempts to get at the fruit were in vain. The ice encasing the mango wasn't even cracked. Echo rested her chin on the table, staring miserably at the mango inside the ice. Then she let out a small gasp as her eyes lit up a bit, an idea having suddenly come to her.
Echo grabbed the ice block and settled down on the floor. She laid herself down and the slid the ice encased mango close to her side. She shivered slightly as she brought the ice block against her body, but nevertheless curled up around it and draped a wing over it. She nodded to herself and settled in for a long wait.
During this long period of time, Echo occasionally sighed and tapped her right forehoof on the floor impatiently. Eventually, Echo noticed that the floor, and her fur, was slightly wet. She looked to see that much of the ice had melted off of the mango.
With a look of delight, Echo quickly picked the frozen mango up with her forehooves, lifted it up, and dropped it on the floor. This caused the remainder of the ice to shatter. Now fully elated, Echo picked up the mango again and brought back onto the kitchen table.
Drooling slightly, Echo opened her mouth wide and bit eagerly into the mango. After about a second of utter silence, Echo suddenly recoiled and cried out in pain. Her entire mouth was vibrating in pain from when she tried to sink her fangs into the frozen mango. It felt like she had just tried to bite into a rock.
As Echo staggered backwards, her teeth still in pain, her back hooves stepped into the puddle of water from the melted ice. Echo found herself slipping as the hooves she has been standing up on suddenly had no grip or traction, and she flailed her forehooves as she fell forward and towards the table. Her left forehoof ended up knocking the mango off of the table. The next moment, Echo herd a shattering sound that made her left ear twitch. After regaining her balance with the aid of the table, Echo looked to her left and saw that upon hitting the ground, the completely frozen mango had shattered into a hundred or so tiny slivers as if it had been made of glass.
Echo stared at the shattered mango with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. Then she frowned miserably and rested her chin on the table again. However, her back hooves started slipping on the wet floor again, and Echo let out a surprised gasp as her hind legs slipped back and sent her sliding off of the table to face plant on the floor.
Chapter 3: When Is a Door Not a Door?
Echo turned a corner and stepped into the living room. She turned her head to look around the room, but then her head seemed to snap towards the low coffee table. Resting on the table was a large clear jar with a ripe mango inside.
A bit of drool dripped from Echo's mouth as it hung open as she stared at the mango with wide, hungry looking eyes. The bat pony quickly looked around the room, then turned to look behind her. Seeing that no one else was around, she smiled and trotted over to the table.
Echo sat down at the low table, still smiling eagerly at the jarred mango. She put her right forehoof to the lip of the jar, and then she wrapped her left foreleg around the jar. Echo pushed up on the edge of the lid with the tip of her right forehoof. She strained a bit, narrowing her eyes as she focused on prying off the lid. Inevitably, her hoof slipped out from beneath the lid, and she winced in pain and blew on it a few times before refocusing her attention on the jar. As she peered at it closely, she noticed that the lid was screwed on all the way.
Echo picked up the jar with her forehooves and scowled at it. Then she opened her mouth wide and put the top of the jar into her mouth, biting on the lid and trying to twist it off with her fangs. Echo flapped her wings and took flight, hovering in mid air as she spun and flipped while trying to unscrew the lid.
Suddenly, Echo's forehooves lost their grip on the jar, and it popped out of her mouth. Echo franticly scrambled to get a hold of the jar again, fumbling it with her forehooves until she finally had it back between her hooves.
Echo breathed a sigh of relief as she softly landed back on the floor and put the jar back on the table. She looked longingly at the mango in the jar for a moment, only for a sudden realization to strike her out of nowhere.
Echo averted her eyes from the jar, turning her body slightly away from it. Then, with a look of childlike innocence, she extended her wings suddenly, and her left wing knocked the jar off the table.
Echo smiled gleefully and turned to look, only for her excitement to fizzle when she saw that the jar was still in one piece, with the mango still inside.
Echo tilted her head in confusion as she approached the jar. She tapped it a few times with her right forehoof, then she smirked at it before picking it up with her mouth and heading into the kitchen.
Echo placed the jar on the edge of the kitchen counter, and rested her right forehoof next to it. She looked around nonchalantly, as if she had forgotten the jar was there. Then, she moved her forehoof so it nudged the jar and sent it falling down to the kitchen floor.
Once again, Echo smiled gleefully and turned to look, and also once again, her excitement fizzled when she saw that the jar still hadn't broken.
The bat pony huffed and swiftly picked up the jar. She then flew upwards until her head touched the ceiling, and dropped the jar. Once again, the jar didn't break when it hit the floor.
Echo scowled at the jar and landed in front of it. She then raised her right forehoof and began stomping on it. Then she reared up on her hind legs and brought both forehooves down hard onto the jar. When she did this, the jar rolled right out from under her forehooves, causing her to fall forward and faceplant hard.
Now utterly furious, Echo jumped back up to her hooves and stomped over to where the jar had stopped rolling. She then turned around and bucked the jar with all her might. This sent the jar flying into a wall and it ricocheted off of it and struck Echo right in the back of the head. Echo's eyes went crooked as she took one wobbly step forward before loosing consciousness and falling down face flat.
When Echo regained consciousness, the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the jarred mango resting on its side about three inches from her face. Echo immediately snarled at it and immediately stood up and galloped out of the kitchen. She soon returned, hovering in mid-air while holding a 30 pound weight in her forelegs.
Echo's teeth were clenched and she was flapping her wings as hard as she could while focusing on holding up the heavy weight. Soon, she was right above the jar, and she grunted with exertion as she lifted the weight over her head. Then, she heaved the weight downward right onto the jar.
At the sound of the shattering of glass, Echo's ears and smile perked up. She even laughed out loud as she touched her read hooves on the floor and danced happily a bit. However, Echo's celebrating was brought to an immediate halt when she finally noticed the results of her handiwork. The 30 pound weight had shattered the jar, but had also smashed the mango and smooshed bits of broken glass into the remains.
Echo fell back down to all four hooves,, a dejected look on her face. Then she groaned loudly as she turned to the kitchen counter and banged her forehead against it once before simply resting it there as she stood there in deep thought.
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Chapter 4: Why Did the Bat Pony Cross the Road?
Echo was lying down at the front of the house, a bored expression on her face. She was staring out at the street when a pickup truck rolled by. The vehicle hit a pothole and was jolted upward a bit. As a result, a mango was thrown out of one of the grocery bags in the back of the truck and landed on the street.
Echo gasped and jumped up to her hooves, a hungry and excited look in her eyes. She galloped straight towards the mango, smiling eagerly in her eyes were focused on the fruit and nothing else. However, Echo suddenly felt something grab hold of all four of her hooves and pull them down. Visibly alarmed by this, Echo looked down and saw that her hooves were about an inch deep in the sidewalk, which was currently nothing but a slab of wet cement.
Echo's eyes were wide with shock, and she attempted to lift one of her legs. The wet cement held fast, and Echo could feel herself sinking down another inch. Echo huffed, a look of exasperation on her face, and groaned as she tried lifting each of her legs up out of the wet cement. But it was no use, as all four of her hooves were now a good three inches deep in the cement.
Echo frowned down at her hooves, then looked out desperately at the mango lying in the street. Her look of longing suddenly turned to that of fear when she noticed a car coming up the street. Echo gasped and turned away with her eyes closed. A few seconds after the car had driven, Echo opened her eyes and timidly looked out into the street. She sighed with relief when she saw that the car's tires had missed the mango, leaving it untouched.
Echo's relief was short-lived, however, as her left ear flicked as it picked up a sound. She turned and saw that a large steamroller was moving up the street. Echo looked from the steamroller, to the mango, then back to the steamroller, and then back to the mango.
Echo immediately began flapping her wings with all her might as she put her all into pulling her hooves out of the cement. Echo leaned slightly to the right, and her left forehoof popped out. She took a quick glance at the approaching steamroller, and then she flapped her wings to move her body forward and to the left. Soon, her right back hoof came free as well.
Emboldened by this, Echo took a deep breath and held it as she threw her body backwards, which wrenched her right forehoof free. Then she turned and saw that the steamroller was moments away from the mango in the street. Echo slapped her cheeks with her freed forehooves in panic, and then threw herself forward with forehooves outstretched and her wings going at their max. Her left back hoof was still stuck in the wet cement, and it held her in place in spite of her rapid wing movement.
Seeing the steamroller closing in on the mango, Echo frantically looked around for some way of saving the fruit. At that moment, she noticed a rock on the side of the road near the curb. She quickly lowered her head, grabbed the rock with her mouth, and spat it at the mango. This knocked the mango out of the path of the steamroller and sent it rolling onto the other side of the road.
Echo smiled wit relief as the steamroller moved past. Then, all of a sudden, Echo's furious flapping finally freed her left back hoof, causing her to fly right into the street.
Echo lifted herself off of the ground and shook the cobwebs out of her head, then looked with delight at the mango. She trotted happily towards it, and bent down with her mouth open to bite into the fruit. At that instant, a car zoomed past only an inch away from her nose.
Echo stood frozen with fright for a moment, then she looked down sadly to see that he mango had been smashed into the street by the car.
Echo hung her head sadly and turned back towards the house. She walked dejectedly with her eyes closed and her ears drooped low. However, her body suddenly tensed up when she found herself unable to move forward. She opened her eyes and saw that she had walked right back into the wet cement again.
Echo's right eye twitched, and she immediately flapped her wings wildly while leaning forward. In the very next moment, her hooves all popped right out of the wet cement and she face planted on solid ground a few feet away.
Echo let out a long sigh and let her body relax as she laid there.
Chapter 5: Don't Toy With Her
Echo laid lazily on the couch in the living room, her hind legs outstretched behind her as she slept on her left side. Her foreletss were curled in close to her chest as she rested her head against the inner side of the couch's right arm. Echo's eyes blinked open, and she sleepily raised her head. She let out a soft yawn, only to freeze when she spotted something in her peripheral vision. She looked over the arm of the couch to see a large carboard box. However, what caught her undivided attention wasn't the box, but the perfect looking mango on the floor next to it.
Echo immediately became fully awake and alert, and she put her forehoof up onto the arm of the couch as she leaned forward eagery with her tail wagging behind her in delight. Her back hooves practically sprang off the couch as she propelled herself over the arm of the couch and over to the mango.
Echo landed on all four hooves, and she bounced from hoof to hoof happily before bending down and biting into the mango. A sudden loud squeak caused Echo's ears to stand up straight and for her to immediately drop the mango and stumble backwards in fright. She looked aroumd fearfully with widened eyes as she backed up until her rump was pressed against the side of the couch. After taking a few breaths to calm herself, Echo carefully stepped forward on the tips of her hooves. She gingerly picked up the mango with her mouth and held for a moment, and then she bit down on it as hard as she could.
There was a loud half-squeak, followed by a hissing sound. Echo immediately spat out the mango, and watched in disbelief as it deflated like a dodgeball. The bat pony pouted as she miserably kicked at the deflated mango squeaky toy. However, her eyes slowly wandered over to the cardboard box. Her strong sense of curiosity got the better of her, and she flapped her wings and hovered over the box. She then reached down and opened the flaps to take a look inside. Her eyes seemed to glow as they went wide at the sight of the box's contents. The box was filled to the brim with mangos.
Echo was smiling widely as her mouth hung open with saliva dripping off her tongue. Then she let out a contented sigh and fell backwards, landing flat on her back with her limbs spread eagle. The overoyed bat pony then sat up with tears of joy in her eyes as she sat up and wrapped her foreleg around the box, lovingly rubbing her cheek against it.
All of a sudden, Echo's smile fell flat when she noticed the deflated toy mango from earlier. Echo then stood up on her hind legs and leaned against the box for support. She peered into the box suspiciously, and picked up one of the mangos with her forehooves. She studied the mango closely, and then carefully nibbled at it. She recoiled when it squeaked at her twice, and she frowned and carelessly tossed the toy over her shoulder. She then glared sourly at the contents of the box, and trotted out of the living room with her nose in the air.
A momment later, Echo was sniffing loudly as she quickly stepped back into the living room. She followed the scent her had pony nose had picked up all the way to the cardboard box. Echo stuck her head into the box and took a few more deep sniffs. Her ears perked up and she smiled hopefully. Her tail even wagged a little bit.
With a few flaps of her leathery wings, Echo hovered at a comfortable position above the box and grabbed another one of the mangos. She squeezed it in between forehooves, and frowned when it emmitted a squeak. She dropped it onto the floor next to the box, and then reached into the box to retrieve another possible mango. She repeated this process over and over, growing more and more impatient with every squeaky toy she discovered.
Eventually, Echo was upsidedown and head first in the cardboard box, with her hind legs kicking and tail swinging. She then flew up and out of the box, and flipped right side up as she hovered in the air, holding one last mango in her forehooves.
Echo gulped, and she nervously gave the mango a squeeze while tensely looking away from it. When the mango didn't squeak or easily yield to the squeeze, Echo turned her head back to it and gave it a few excited sniffs. The scent brought a big smile to Echo's face, and she slowed her flapping to gently land on her back hooves to enjoy the fruit.
Echo didn't realize that the toy mango she had carelessly tossed over her shoulder earlier was right underneath her until it was far too late. Her right hind hoof landed right on the squeaky toy, and both the loud squeak and the round object underhoof threw Echo completely off balance. Echo had a panic stricken look on her face as she fumbled the real mango in her forehooves while wobbling around on one leg. Echo fought to keep hold of the fruit as she fell to the side, only to land right on top of the pile of squeaky toy mangoes she had made.
Echo let out her oen squeak of fright and pain as the tremendously loud squeak of the toys assaulted her extra keen bat pony ears. Out of reflex, her forelegs shot up to cover her ears, flinging the real mango up into the air. Then, the pile of toy mangos acted like a pile of springs and sprang the bat pony upwards as well.
Echo was quite surprised, confused, and disoriented by thr ordeal; so she could only flap her wings feebly as she was tossed up and to the left a few feet. She landed flat on her back yet again, only this time instead of landing atop a pile of squeaky toy mangos, she landed atop one real, ripe, juicy mango that was squashed flat between her back and the floor.
Echo just laid there for a moment, her eyes filled with disbelief at what had just happened. She felt the sensation of ripe fruit smeared across her back, clinging tightly to her coat and one with her fir. Then she finally let her head rest on the floor, breathing out heavily as she laid still and stared up at thr ceiling.
