Somewhere deep inside an ancient castle a meeting between the High Elders was taking place.
The five elders sat around the far end of a long table, each wearing a bright white cloak that only revealed their heads. Even so, the meeting room was dimly lit, so most of their faces were in shadow, obscuring their looks. They were murmuring to each other, discussing what the meeting would entail, but when the stallion in the middle raised his hoof into the air, all talking seized at once. The stallion who had raised his hoof for silence then spoke clearly for all to hear.
"Let this meeting of the Council begin," He said in a dry, raspy voice. He laid down his hoof and took out a small, green gem.
"Is that his latest report?" Asked one of the wrinkling mares to his right.
"Yes, it is," He answered, setting the crystal onto the table, "And before you ask, no, he hasn't found the target yet-" A groan was heard from the stallions to his left, "BUT," He continued, "he is still on his trail. He hasn't given up,"
"Yet," Finished one of the stallions. He glanced at his companion then asked, "Grey Wing..."
"Yes?" The stallion in the middle said.
"Are you sure that the one you appointed-"
"He'll be fine. I know he will,"
One of the mares then piped up.
"Yes, but considering the circumstances of the target..."
"I am aware-" Began Gray Wing before he was cut off by the second stallion.
"Not only that, but he is in the Land of the Sun and Moon! Even if he does find the target, he's out of his jurisdiction!" Grey Wing held up his hoof again for silence, then he leaned forward with his hoof still raised to reveal a relatively young, grey face in what little light there was. His mane was a slightly darker grey and was standing on end with a tension that had been building for some time now.
"I am WELL aware of the situation," He began, "But I must remind you that we, the Council, made a unanimous decision to send him in because of those reasons," when he finished he lowered his hoof and leaned back in his chair, once again obscuring his face. The other council members whispered to each other for a bit, then turned back towards Grey Wing.
"We know what we voted on then," Argued the other mare, "But that was less than a month and a half ago-"
"I hope then," Interrupted Grey Wing,"That you know that it took him one week to get to the harbor and another five days to reach our sister country by boat. He's only-"
"And by 'sister country' you mean the Land of-"
"Must we always refer to it by that? It is called Equestria and it really is our sister country," Stated Grey Wing. The mare just looked away from him, so he continued. "It took him twelve days to reach Equestria, so that means that he's only been there for a little more than a month!"
"Even so," continued the first stallion, " He should have at least caught up to the target by now!"
"You expect too much of the boy," Argued Grey Wing, "Give him some time to learn about the land and he will soon find his way. Besides," He said with a smirk,"He's already obtained a new companion who will faithfully help him in his quest,"
"Wait, you mean that he-"
"If he trusts his new friend, then I trust his judgement," Grey Wing was met with a few audible gasps at this.
"But this is a highly classified mission! He shouldn't have told anypony of that land!" His arguement was met with several nods of agreement, but Grey Wing just chuckled to himself. Confused, the other council members waited for him to stop so he could explain.
"Well," He said after a bit more chuckling, "Sparky's never been to Equestria. None of us have. Sure, a few adventurers cross the seas every now and then, but we know just as much about those Equestrians than they know of us," Grey Wing leaned forward again to reveal, to the Council's horror, a mischievous smile,"If he wants to know more about the land, and of its people, he's going to need all the friends he can get..."
"The next town should be just over this hill," I told my companion as we strode on up the road.
"But you've been saying that for hours! Aren't we there yet?!" He complained as he dragged our cart of supplies up the said hill.
"Hey it's not my fault that this town is so far out here, besides it's your turn to drag the cart anyway,"
"Slave labor! Slave labor I say!" I had to laugh to myself at that. Ego is a strange pony for sure, but he's nice to have around. I never knew how lonely I was until that episode back in that one city called Tall Tale. I laughed even harder at the fiasco that almost happened because of it. Ego must have thought I was laughing at him (Which I was) because he refused to talk to me after that. Oh well. I just hope he makes some of his tasty hot chocolate tonight. I looked up the hill and was surprised to see the top so close already. Looking behind me at Ego, I smirked and ran straight to the top.
"H-HEY! Wait up!" Exclaimed Ego. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him stumble on his over-sized brown coat. I noticed his light green chest as he stopped to re-strap the coat back over himself, making sure his cutie mark didn't show. I stopped and turned around to yell at him.
"You DO know you don't have to hide that thing, right?" I asked as he straightened his sunglasses and hat, "In fact, you really only need the glasses," I couldn't tell if he had heard me since I couldn't see through the said glasses, that and I had told him this over a hundred times before. I didn't know what was worse, the fact that I kept track of the number of times I told him that, or that he never listened. Ego began to, once again, chug his way uphill, so I turned around and ran the rest of the way up. when I reached it, I gasped at the magnificent view that sat there before me.
"What's...wrong?" Gasped Ego, " Why did...you...whoa..." What Ego and I now saw in front of us was the most colorful town we had ever seen (well, except for one, but who cares right now). From up on the hill, we could see a circular town hall, a great, vast farm just on the edge of the town, a fancy, carousel looking building, a quaint, little school house and what looked like a literal tree house. I stood there and let the wind run through my green hide and short, dark green mane. My small bit of hair that I had combed upwards blew straight back as I beheld the sight before me. The wind soon became quite cold, so I walked back to the cart to retrieve my cloak.
"Is that a, um, tree house?" Asked Ego as I whipped out the old, green cloak. While I placed it over my head and shoulders, I realized that if Ego hadn't been wearing all those disguises, not to mention his dragging a big, wooden cart, we would have been nothing but green, green, green. I had to laugh again when I came to this conclusion. At that point, I was nice and snug inside my cloak with the shiny, crystal and gem encrusted, gold pendent attached to the front. Ego turned and eyed it suspiciously.
"What?" I asked him.
"Shouldn't you cover that up? Somepony might see it..."
"Well why would I do that?"
"We're on a secret mission here, right?"
"I'm on a mission, and so what? If somepony sees this they'll just think its a fancy piece of jewelry,"
"On a stallion? won't you stand out just a little?"
"But-"
"No buts. Hide it,"
"Fine..." I finally consented, and I hooked my hood over it, concealing it completely. Ego smiled and turned back towards the town. I came forward too and looked down the road. A small sign stating the name of the town confirmed our destination.
"So what now?" Asked Ego.
"Ego," I answered," I would like to welcome you to Ponyville!"
