Chapter 4
Me and Black Wing had been flying for about 3 hours now, and the sun had only just started to drop out of the sky.
"So let me get this straight. You are not only a creature that is millions of years old, even older than the pony princesses. And you have all of these abilities, one of which is teleportation, and yet we are flying why?" Ceylon asked.
I got sick of calling him 'Black Wing' so I gave him a nickname that suited. His feathers were more of an ebony colour that black, and Ceylon is a type of ebony so it kind of fit.
He didn't like it until I had explained it to him.
"Two reasons. #1, Dee is asleep here and #2, I would port ok, but god only knows what would happen to you and Dee. Last time I ported, I was fine, but Dee decided to grab on at the last second and she ended up getting impaled by a stick" I explained. I looked back at Dee and she was wrapped in my clothes and tied on with my belt.
Me and Ceylon had spent the time we had been flying trading information. He would explain how the world worked today, which I was both amazed and angered about. How the 'Land of Equestria' was a happy peaceful land where the locals were guided by two royal sisters and everything was great. But outside of that places boundries were like third world countries everywhere.
He told me about these creatures called changelings. These creatures apparently looked like a pony and a bug had a baby. Like a pony bug hybrid. Ceylon also said that they can transform into ponies to hide, but they apparently need love to survive. Don't ask how one feeds of an emotion.
Anyway. I would tell Ceylon about humans history and tech. He really like the tech part but I didn't go too into detail for fear of shifting the balance of power (regardless of how un-balanced it was).
I also told him that we humans had such advanced tech that we had actually landed on the moon once.
Yeah. I shouldn't have mentioned that. He ended dropping from the sky and I had to catch him.
He told me that one of the royal sisters of Equestria was dubbed 'Princess of the night' and that she would not like that 'her' moon had been walked on as if it was easy.
So here we were. Flying over a forest of some sort.
"We just crossed the border into Equestria. Won't be long now" Ceylon said to me. I looked to him a nodded.
I still had a hard time believeing that Dee had so easily talked me into going exactly where she wanted me to go before I saved her the first time. But I did say I would take her anywhere, and only after she said Canterlot did I find out that I was going to a town packed with ponies. Ceylon also said that Canterlot was also the place where the most rich and snobby nobles live.
I already hated Canterlot.
"So what was with all the guards that you had before?" I asked.
"Oh. They aren't my guards. They belong to my father." Ceylon said. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh don't worry, If I get payed back. I leave you alone and you will never hear from me again" he laughed.
"Well that's good. Id hate to drop you family and its employees like I did to your guards earlier" I said back and his laughter stopped instantly.
"U-Uh yeah. Sure." He stuttered, rubbing the back of his head. "Oh look. That's the palace up on the hill over there. And Canterlot itself is just under. It" he said. I looked over to the hill that Ceylon was pointing at and what I saw amazed me to say the least.
The 'castle' was somehow on the side of a mountain. I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked so... majestic. Until I noticed the hundreds of guards around it.
Shaking myself back to reality, I turned my head and and poked Daring with my tail. She mumbled something but remained asleep. So I poked her a little harder and she groaned before waking up.
"Hu. Wazzat. Where are you ya filthy animal!" She exclaimed. She was flailing so much that she hit me on the back of the head at least 3 times.
"Jeez Dee. Calm down before you hurt yourself" I shouted to her. She did eventually and looked at me apologetically.
"Sorry Orion. I didn't hurt you did I?" She asked.
"Nah. Takes a lot more that three punches to harm my hybrid form" I said loosening my belt so Dee could fall free from me, while I caught my clothes as they fell.
"So now what?" Ceylon asked.
"Why are you still here?" Dee asked in a slightly irritated tone.
"Hey. I'm just here until I'm compensated for my losses. That's all" Ceylon said back with just as much venom in his voice.
"Hey. Can you two not start this now. Dee, where is your place?" I asked. And she pointed her hoof to a rather large building situated near what looked like a museum.
'Figures'
She got off my back and began to glide there. But me and Ceylon stayed back and looked to eachother.
"Well?" Ceylon and I looked back to Dee. "Are you two comin or not?" She asked.
I looked back to Ceylon and he shrugged. "Uh... sure. Where comeing. Just as long as we don't get ratted out" I said back to her.
"Why the hay would I do that?" She asked.
"Human remember" I said pointing to myself.
"Oh. Uh sure. I'll keep your secret" she said smiling.
I glared into her eyes for any sort of doubt. But she looked true enough. I looked back to Ceylon and motioned for him to follow.
We flew down to Dee's house and both she and Ceylon landed quite gracefully. I however landed with a loud *THUD* and ended drawing attention to us from every single pony in the area, including the guards.
'Wait... guards. Shit!'
Two guards approached our trio and I tensed. I cracked my neck and everyone that heard it seemed to shudder, even the guards.
One of the two guard ponies was a unicorn and the other was a, what Dee called an 'Earth Pony'. They both had white coats with blue manes and tails.
The unicorn walked past me and Ceylon and up to Dee, while the earth pony stood back and just gave us a foul look. I wanted to hit him to make him stop to I stowed my anger.
"Ms Do. What happened? You have been reported missing, taken hostage by some sort of ancient threat. Princess Celestia has summoned her protègè and her friends to a meeting tomorrow morning to find a solution to this creature" said the unicorn guard.
Dee looked to me for a second before turning back to the guard. "Uh... Well... I lost the creature. It got away. Yeah. Was a real shame. But this dragon and gryphon were nice enough to escort me back here" she stuttered. I was happy that she was covering for me.
"Well ma'm if your safe. Ceylon And I shall be on our way" I said bowing and beginning to walk away, giving Ceylon a look that just said 'just shut up and follow me'.
"No! Wait! I want to come with you" Dee shouted making me, Ceylon and the guards jump.
"Uh sure?" I said.
"Well Ms Do. We will inform the princess that you are here and safe and you should most likely get summoned to her" said the unicorn.
"Alright then" Dee said.
We walked away into the streets of Canterlot and I heard Ceylon's stomach rumble. "Yeah, I think I need to get something to eat" he said.
"Couldn't agree more. Do you know any place we can eat up around here?" I asked.
"Look. This place is for ponies, and I'm a gryphon. And you are... what you are. In this place, creatures like us wouldn't be allowed to 'dine' in any fancy restaurants even if they did have food that suited our diet" he explained.
"So is there any lower class place we could go. At this rate, I would eat the bark off a tree" I said.
Ceylon looked at me skeptically before his expression changed. "Yeah, you probably would wouldn't you?" He said.
"Anyway. There is a doughnut shop a few blocks down. Perhaps you could-" Dee started to say but I didn't listen to the rest of what she said. I just dashed ahead and they gave chase.
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A few moments later, I was in the doughnut shop browsing through all of the delicious looking treats when I realized I had a problem.
I had no money
My head drooped until I felt Ceylon talon on mu shoulder. I looked at him and he had a grin on his face.
"I'll shout you this time. But I expect to be payed back in full" he offered.
"How much do I owe you already?" I asked.
He looked from side to side before moving his beak near the side of my head. "1 million bits" he whispered into my ear.
My eyes widened before the logical side of my brain took over. 'Calm down now. A bit might not be all that much' I told myself. "So... Uh. Is that a lot?" I asked.
He just laughed.
Damn. I've dug myself into a deep pit here.
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A few minutes later, Ceylon and I were squaffing down doughnuts so fast that we were getting strange looks from Dee as she just ate them like a normal person would.
There was one left on the plate and I went to grab it only to have a talon grab it at the same time.
I looked to Ceylon and he looked at me.
We both tried to pull but the doughnut didn't split evenly and he got the bigger half. I dropped my bit and snached his half out of his grip and ate it.
"Real mature Orion" Ceylon groaned before grabbing the last bit and eating it. I just smiled at him while he glared at me.
We sat there for a while. Just talking about this world and what had changed. I wouldn't say it publicly, but Ceylon was actually not that bad one he got past his prissy state. And Dee was being abnormally quiet.
"Hey Dee did you want to talk about what happened?" I asked
Her head shot up and her eyes widened. "NO!" She shouted drawing the attention of everyone in the building. "Hehe. I mean no thanks. I'm fine"
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She was still affected by hat had happened but she was trying to hide it. I have to admit, she was taking the damn situation on how I had found her quite well. She should not be like this. She SHOULD be a massive wreck about it but I wasn't going to argue with it.
We were talking about how Ceylon wanted adventure in his life. But his father had never let him do anything that could be considered fun of fear for his safety.
I was about to ask that because he was with me, could this be considered run away. But my attention was drawn to the door opening and 6 ponies walking in.
"I can't believe that we have been summoned to the princess about a creature that predates even her. Just think of all the things that we could learn from it" said a purple unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail with a pink and purple stripe through them. He cutie mark, so Ceylon called them (there just tattoos that 'magiclly appear'), was a big star with smaller stars around it.
"Yeah but twi. You said yourself that this thing ponynapped Daring Do and easily beat up 5 royal guards before teleporting. Who knows what else this thing is capable of" said a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane.
"Oh I'm sure it meant no harm. I think it was just scared" a yellow pegasus with a pink mane said in a voice that was just over a whisper. All 4 other ponies looked at her and she hid behind her mane. Poor thing.
...
... ...
'Wait a minute. 4. There should be 5 scolding her.' I thought to myself as I began to look around the store from my seat.
I was just about to give up when I felt a slight wing on the back of my neck. I turned my head around and came face to face with to giant blue eyes.
"HI!"
"AHHHHHhHHH!!!" I yelled as I fell out of my sitting position and onto my back. And in my flailing, I kicked over the table and tripped Ceylon in the process.
"Opps. Sorry Mister dargon guy. Are you alright. I didn't mean scare you. I was just trying to say hi. But I did say hi. And you fell over anyway. I didn't want-"
"OK! I get it, you didn't mean to. Jeez" I shouted to get her to stop. I looked at her and saw that she was pink. Her entire body was pink. Including all her hair.
I looked over to Ceylon and walked over to him. "Sorry man" I said holding out a paw to him. He took it and I helped him up before I lifted the table and set it striaght and apologized to the pony behind the counter.
The other 5 ponies that were with the pink one walked over to us, stareing in with bemusement on their faces.
"Sorry about Pinky pie here. She can be quite... in your face at times" said the purple unicorn from before.
"It's all good. No harm was done. How about you?" I asked turning to Dee.
"I said I'm fine!" She shouted. We all looked at her with shock.
"Uh... sure. How about you Ceylon? Are you ok?" I asked.
"I am quite alright. A little shaken up from the sudden action, but I will recover quite fine" he said in the biggest french accent I have ever heard.
"My my, such an elegant accent. One can tell a lot about another by their accent"
'In soviet russia, the accent speaks you' I couldn't help it. That thought popped into my that quickly that I didn't realize it until I almost said it.
I looked at the pony that said that. She had a white coat with a deep pure mane and tail that looked like she had put a lot of time and effort.
"Why thank you ma'am. I do-"
'Oh for the love of pete' I shouted in my head as I began to block out Ceylon voice while he rambled on and on about god only knows what.
I was sitting there, bored out of my mind while Ceylon continued to talk to the ponies whle Dee was talking to the cyan pegasus. I figured that I would let them finish their conversations with eachother to keep them happy. They had no idea that the 'creature' they were going to see their princess about was sitting a fee metres from them.
I wanted to pull out my pistol and find out what was wrong with it. But I wouldn't be able to do so without my fingers or claws. So next time.
"- isn't that right Orion?" Ceylon asked. I looked back up and saw all the ponies and Ceylon looking at me with wondering faces.
"I-I'm sorry. I completely zoned out there. What were you saying?" I asked.
Ceylon laughed.
"We were just talking about the changelings that attacked Canterlot a few months ago. Before we asked you how you think that they would have invaded the city" said the purple unicorn. I thought about it for a moment before I answered.
"Sleeper agent" I said.
"What the hay is a sleeper agent?" asked the cyan pegasus.
"Well... first, what's your name" I asked her.
"Rainbow Dash. Fastest flier in all of Equestria, and future wonderbolt" she said while striking a pose.
"Right. And you are?" I asked pointing at the purple unicorn.
"I am Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia's faithful student" she said.
"Well, Ms Dash and Ms Sparkle. A sleeper agent is a unit that remains inactive until activated. You would probably find that Queen Chrysalis or whatever had an agent that was here longer that any of you could have known. That she had help, whether that being was changeling or pony, from the inside to get her in past the barrier. And if I was a changeling, I would have an agent here now because you have stopped looking here for them, so one could easily be here now and nobody would suspect them" I explained. I looked over each ponies face. Each if them had seemed to loose colour in their faces, even Ceylon. "What?"
I looked behind me to see if there was anything behind me and saw nothing. I was about to voice my concern when the door to the store swung open.
"Twilight! A letter from the princess!" Someone shouted. I looked over the ponies and what I saw mad my heart skip.
It was another dragon. A dragon that came up to my knee, but a dragon none the less.
Said dragon was holding a scroll and ran over to Twilight, and passed it to her.
As she was reading it, I motioned for the small dragon to come over to me and he did.
"Wow. I never expected to see another dragon in Canterlot. I'm Spike, what's your name?" He asked.
"Hi Spike. I'm Orion" I said back happily. I couldn't believe that I was talking to another like my hybrid form even if he was always like that.
Spike had been telling me about his life for so long that I didn't even notice that it had actually started to become dark.
"Sorry to intrude you guys. But we have to get going" said Twilight.
"Yeah, we should probably get going too" Dee said.
I got up and began to strech, cracking a few joint's in the process, and all the ponies shuddered. The ponies, minus Dee, left the store with Spike. I looked at Dee then to Ceylon. "So what now?" I asked.
"Well, you guys don't have anywhere to stay do you?" Dee asked with hope in her voice. Ceylon and I shook our heads. "Well you two can stay at my place. A way to say thanks" she said.
I looked to Ceylon and he nodded. "Alright Dee, lead the way" I said.
A few minutes later, the three of us had arrived back to Dee's place and followed her Inside.
"I got two couches in here that you guys can use to sleep on" Dee said.
"I call the big one!" shouted Ceylon. I just grumbled before walking to the smaller couch and lay down on it.
"I guess I'll see you two tomorrow morning" Dee said before walking over to the bottom of the stairs and taking one last glance at us. "Goodnight."
"Night" both Ceylon and I said in unison. She smiled and trotted up the stairs to what I would presume would be her room.
"I'm tired too" Ceylon said getting on his couch and lying on his back.
"Yeah, it's been a long day. God only knows what will come of tomorrow. Especially if those ponies figure out that the reason they were summoned to their princess was right in front of them all evening" I said to him.
"Well I'm going to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." he said.
"Yeah man. Night" I said. And soon after, I had fallen Back into the land of dreams.