//------------------------------//
// Chapter 36 
// Story: Fine Print 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Tracy had only a split second to prepare for impact. Needless to say, the collision ended up non-lethal. She struck him with both forelegs, but without much force. He fell sideways, with the bat crouching over him like a cat who had just claimed a particularly juicy rodent. 

Given their teeth, he could only be grateful that he wasn't a mouse right now. Did bats eat mice? 

"I didn't know there were any bats in... where is this?" She grinned down, one hoof rested on his belly so he couldn't get up. Not without a fight, anyway. He felt stronger than this bat, but somehow a physical conflict just felt... wrong, somehow.

"Ponyville," he said. "And there aren't any regulars. I think a few night-guards stay in town when they're on business with the princess, but that's it." He rolled to the side, moving to stand—but she was faster, following him with both fangs exposed.

"Ponyville, right." She pulled on one of his wings with one hoof, opening it to full size. "Purple. What is an Eventide bat doing so far north from Batgota? I thought you hated living outside your caves."

Something settled onto the ground behind her—the other young-adult pony. "Let him go, Sable. You don't know who he is. Do you really think clanless bats should be starting feuds with strangers?"

She turned, seeming to almost forget about Tracy. "Come on, you know he's clanless too! Walking in the middle of the night. He's a drifter like us."

"Yes," he said, shoving her off and rising to his hooves. He shook out the dirt, wishing suddenly that he'd come dressed. Though maybe Sable would just see that as more reason to mock him. "I don't have a clan. Not here, and not back home." He trailed off, eyes going distant for a second. Of all the places he expected to be remembering the accident, Equestria wasn't high on that list. 

Sable backed away, crouching low and exposing both her fangs. Like a predator who'd just been challenged for territory. 

Let her try! I live here!

"Sorry about my sister." He rested one hoof on her shoulder, holding her back. "She's restless from a long flight and doesn't know how to behave herself. I’m Pitch Black. She’s Sable. Our father, Subsonic, is probably lurking somewhere nearby."

She spun, glaring at him. The shift in her body language was so distinct that for a second Tracy remembered he was living in a world of creatures with instincts far stronger than anything he was used to. She rose to full height, puffing out her chest and spreading her wings. "I don't know how to behave! You have Blood Sucker waiting for you when we get to Echo! Father's old. Of course this is easy for you. Let me do this my way!"

Then she spun on him again, crouching low and lifting her tail. "What's your name, clanless?"

Oh shit. Tracy might be dense, but he wasn't stupid. 

He backed away, both wings opening reflexively. "Tracy," he said, emphasizing the strangeness of it. "And I'm not what you think, I'm not from Batgota. I'm an alien from Ely, Nevada."

Pitch Black just raised an eyebrow, going from ambivalent to curious. Tracy couldn't see the older pony, but the elderly father couldn't be far away. Maybe he was watching from another rooftop?

Instead of relaxing or even acting confused at his answer, Sable advanced on him again. "That's such an exotic name. Tracy. Tracy. Tracy." She said it slightly different each time, emphasizing strange syllables. "What brought you to Ponyville? Somewhere called 'Ely'... is that even in Equestria?"

"Nope." He backed away from her, a few steps closer to home. But it was no use—Sable closed with every step, keeping pace. Rose and I are having our first date today. I do not need this. 

Back home, Tracy wouldn't have hesitated to get to know a girl like this. But now things were stable. She might be interested, but she also seemed crazy. This is why none of my relationships ever work out.

"Look, I'm sorry I snuck up on you all. I was just curious to see other bats. The only ones I've seen are guards, and they're pretty cagey. I'm still trying to wrap my head around pony tribal differences."

"Wings, ears, teeth," Sable said. "And most importantly, being awake at a reasonable hour. None of this '10 AM' stuff."

10 AM is early to you? But he didn't ask. His curiosity would have to wait for a saner opportunity.

"Leave him alone, Sable," Pitch said. "Take the hint. Bat living in Ponyville with all the day-ponies lies about his name. He's domesticated. You're better off alone than trying to drag someone like him along. Come on."

The word domesticated dug into Tracy's gut like a knife. But it was hard to argue. He was trying to hold down a job at the company he wanted, form a stable relationship... not fly off and explore. That Tracy was as dead as the rest of his family.

"Every bat has to fly south to Echo Caverns at least once!" Sable protested. "Even if you do live with day ponies and spend all your nights alone. You should go." She relaxed as she said it, straightening to stand beside her brother.

Better than trying to catch me like a cat, anyway. "What is it?" he asked, keeping his tone as flat as possible. "Like I said, I'm... new. I don't know anything about being a bat. I can't even fly."

He opened both wings, stretching and extending them before settling them closed again. Even if he could control them now, it still took an extra layer of concentration for a brain used to four limbs to deal with six.

"It's the yearly gathering of every clan from Luna Bay to Saddle Arabia," Sable said, voice recovering a little of her energy. “Everyone young and strong enough to fly goes, even if they have to set off weeks in advance. Did your family not tell you?"

He winced. "I'm not from here. I'm an alien. Does that word not... translate well? I'm from somewhere so different from Equestria, you couldn't even imagine it. I don't even have wings there."

"A bat without wings..." Sable muttered, tone confused. "How does that even make sense?"

"You two stop tormenting this stallion," called another deeper voice from just behind them. A second later and a set of hooffalls settled onto the pavement, and Subsonic appeared, burdened with heavy saddlebags. "He obviously has enough problems without saddling him with more. If he can't fly, he can't go to Echo Caverns anyway. We have more trades to make before sunrise, and only a few hours to go. Don't waste his time."

Pitch Black nodded, saluting with one wing over his head before taking off.

The mare hesitated for another second, expression confused. Unless it was... pity? "You can't fly? Are you lying about that too?"

He tensed. But his anger faded quickly. At least she hadn't called him “domesticated” again. "I didn't lie to you about anything. My name is Tracy. I'm from Ely, Nevada, and I can't fly." 

He jumped for effect, spreading his wings and flapping as hard as he could. It wasn't the first time he'd tried something like it, though it was the first time he'd ever done it where others could see. 

It felt almost like something was there. He hung in the air a little too long, fell a little too slow. But maybe that was his imagination, because a few moments later he touched down with a clatter of hooves, now winded as well as frustrated. 

"See?"

She giggled. Tracy wasn't watching the others, but he caught a few choked laughs from behind him as well. The brother was a little braver. "All this time with earth ponies made him as heavy as they are."

"Leave it," the father said, some annoyance in his voice. "We don't steal, and we don't torment strangers who are suffering. Come on."

"I'm not tormenting him!" Sable protested, surging forward. "You two go on and do the trades. I'm gonna... I'm gonna teach him! We have a few hours before sunrise. That's enough!"

Tracy froze, somewhere between horror and desperate hope. He hadn't gone anywhere close to finishing his reading assignment, it was true. Could these bats show him something the books didn't? "Can you really do that?"

"Duh." She turned away from him, flicking her tail in his face. "Come on, Tracy. We need to find something tall."

"Don't get him killed," the older stallion called. "He's one of them, don’t forget. If anything happens, it's always our fault. Even if it's not."

"Nothing's gonna happen!" Sable called. "Now come with me, alien pony named Tracy. We're running out of moonlight."

He shouldn't have, not with the way she acted. But he'd seen her fly, and she did that almost perfectly. The flight school barely even understood how bats worked. Their reference book was brand new.

So he followed. They hiked for a short distance, up a steep hill leading away from Ponyville. Tracy knew almost nothing about that direction, except that the powerlines suggested the city's power-plant must be out there, for what little electricity they did use. 

While they walked, Sable demonstrated a few basics for him about flight. She was always up in front of him, always wanted him watching her. Whenever he fell too silent, or mentioned something other than a question about flight, she showed him something else.

"You won't ever be flying like a pegasus, with their huge feathery wings. Taking off without a running start is much harder. Or you can use a drop—once you're falling, it's easy."

He learned more from watching her in ten minutes than he'd ever extracted from that dreadful reference manual. That was no less true even when Sable spent half her time showing off.

"Here's a good stop to jump from," she said, gesturing down at a steep, grassy hill. Not a cliff exactly, but it was sharp enough that he might bounce and roll all the way down to the river far below if he slipped. "The easiest kind of flying is gliding. Once you can do that, then the basics are just dives, climbs, banks... but they're all easy."

"I... can't glide," he muttered, stopping one hoof at the edge of the slope. The grass was relatively thick and comfortable looking, though it was as tall as his chest in places. I can't forget, even here I'm a little pony. The world isn't bigger, I'm smaller.

"You can now!" Sable called. She spread both wings wide beside him, using the first of the stances she'd demonstrated. "Run down the edge, spread your wings, and you'll fly. With as much magic as we have, and a hill this steep... you won't have a choice!"

"You go first," he muttered, taking a nervous step from the edge. He opened both wings slowly, imitating her stance as best he could. At least the positions seemed natural, with wings slightly bent at the joints. "I'll copy you."

"No. Same time." She turned, grinning with those wickedly sharp teeth. "Unless my brother was right. Are you domesticated after all? Afraid of being in the sky?"

Tracy barely even listened to the rest of what she had to say. He charged over the edge of the hill, spreading both wings as wide as he could.