This is a bad idea.
You ever have that thought? I know I do. Sure, there are plenty of times when I just act without thinking. Even more where it seems like a good idea. Times like this were rare, though, where I was conscious of the fact that I was making a bad decision. Of course, it wasn't actually enough to stop me.
I abandoned my wing-pony, Pound Cake, at the castle wall, leaving him to return the cleaning equipment to the barracks for the paltry promise of a lunch tomorrow. I flew after the bat pony Night Guard. She was definitely the one that I had met before, when I first visited Canterlot as Dawn and asked her name. 'Ask me again', she had said, just as she had then. 'When you can ask me twice while only asking me once, you'll know my name.' It was a needlessly cryptic response to a fairly straightforward question. And I didn't know the answer to her little riddle. I hated not knowing. She barely knew me but knew exactly how to get under my fur.
I think the fact that she knew how to get under my fur so easily irritated me more than teasing me about her name. Which, admittedly, I knew I was letting her. I was letting it bother me. And that made me irritated with myself even more. I knew that becoming a Royal Guard Pony meant that I would be an instrument of Equestria's protection. Even still, I didn't like feeling like I was being played.
The sun slipped below the horizon as I scanned the area in the direction I had seen her heading. The moon would be up momentarily, but in the meantime, the last light of dusk vanished, shrouding the land in darkness. My eyes struggled to adjust as I flew over Canterlot Castle. I never saw it coming.
POW!
"Restricted airspace!" I heard shouted, punctuating the swift kick to the ribs, sending me reeling from the air. I spiraled downwards into the courtyard, struggling to recover from the strike, narrowly avoiding a pillar. At least I managed to land on all fours before tumbling to the ground for, what I would call, a graceful crash. Even hurting as I was, my training jumped in, and I was on my hooves in a flash, ready to defend myself. My attacker lofted down to a hover just above me.
"Hey! I'm Royal Guard! What GIVES!..." I shouted. I saw the officer rank on the lapel of her armor, "... ma'am!" I rendered a shaky salute.
"You're not on duty. You're Day Guard. And it ain't day," she said. It was her.
"It isn't." I corrected.
"What?"
"You said it ain't day. It isn't day. Ain't ain't a word." She glared at me. "...ma'am."
"So is that why you joined the Guard? To correct grammar?"
"No ma'am. I joined the Royal Guard to defend Equestria from all enemies, both foreign and domestic," I deadpanned, quoting the Guard's Pledge. "And as you've said, I'm off duty. I just correct grammar for fun," I said, quoting her. It was a gamble. But it was one that gained me a raised eyebrow. She narrowed her eyes at me, searching my face for recognition as she landed silently on the grass. It took all my will to keep from smirking. I knew she something that she didn't. And she knew it. And it was maddening for her.
"Who are you?" she asked. I obediently snapped my hooves to attention.
"Private Storm Cloud, Ma'am," I reported.
"What are you doing flying over castle air space after hours, Private?"
"As I was ordered."
"By whom?" she asked.
"By you," I answered. She stood there in silence a moment. Her expression was a combination of confused and annoyed. It was an expression I saw often on ponies that I spoke to. Just before it turns into anger. "You told me to ask you your name again. As was doing as ordered, ma'am, following you to ask you your name."
"..."
"So, what is your name?" I asked, again. Her wings flared and propelled her into the air with a powerful flap.
"Good job, Private. You've carried out your objective. You are relieved to your barracks." She turned and began to fly away. I wasn't about to let her out of my sight again. I took off after her, catching up alongside of her. "Stop following me."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Wow. You must be like, a detective," she said with a sarcasm I had only known to come from myself. "Don't you have a curfew to be late for?" she asked angrily.
"I just want to know your name."
"You're pretty damn tenaciousss, I'll give you that," she said as we flew higher. "Fine, I'll tell you. It's... Restricted Airspace!" She said, turning to kick me again. But I was ready this time, dodging her strike with a parry, giving her hoof a swift twist, forcing her into an inverted roll. I maintained my hold on her, as I had been trained, keeping her wings from generating lift. My own weren't strong enough to carry us both and we started to free fall. "You are assaulting a superior Guard Pony!" She shouted as she tried to wrench herself free.
"No! Merely a higher-ranking one!" I shouted back. My wings barely slowed our fall as I tried to guide us out away from the castle structures.
"Are you crazy!?"
"Wanna find out?" I asked, pinning one of my wings back, sending us veering sharply to the left, out over the edge of Canterlot.
"Let go of me!" The street level of the city flew up past us as we careened down parallel along the sheer face of the mountainside. "You're going to get us both killed!" She pulled her leg back, pulling me along with it. She brought her other hoof forward to meet my face. My hooves were still holding onto her leg, torquing her upside down, but I narrowly dodged the punch. Even still she managed to grab a hold of my ear. She leveraged herself into another punch. I couldn't duck out of the way while still being attached to my ear. I let go of her leg to block it. She let the momentum of her missed punch spin her around, right-side-up, and reared to buck me square in the chest with both of her legs.
The ground was rushing up towards us in a hurry. I spread my wings at the last second, arresting my fall, making her kick a glancing blow before she, too, righted herself. Each of us skimmed along the valley floor to burn off the speed of our fall. She angled her flight back upwards toward the city. I took chase, shouting after her.
"What's! Your! NAME!"
NAME Name name name.
All I got back was my voice off the cliff face. She turned and stopped above me, looking down. I hovered closer, staying out of her range. She smiled, secure in her defensive altitude advantage.
"Well there's your answer, sssweetie," she said. I briefly gave her a puzzled look. She slapped her hooves together in a solid clap. The sound of it echoed off of the cliff.
"Echo?"
"Mhmm." She nodded.
"And why couldn't you just tell me that!?"
"Because that wouldn't be nearly as fun. Because I understand the value of anonymity. And because, Storm Cloud," she hovered closer, speaking quietly, "We are all so much more complicated than our namesss." She turned, swishing me with her tail. "Fly along now! You don't want to get caught out after dark. Nightmare Moon will come gobble you up."
"There's no such thing as Nightmare Moon," I said.
"Heh heh," she half-laughed, with a knowing grin that made me nervous.
"There isn't," I said. She started flying back up to the city.
"Whatever helps you sleep, Ssstorm." I flew after her. She noticed. I wasn't trying to be sneaky about it. "What."
"Nothing," I said flying alongside her.
"You figured out my name. So what do you want, a prize?"
"No."
"Then why are you still following me?"
"I'm not. I'm just flying back to Canterlot. Why are you following me?" I asked.
"Has anypony ever told you how irritating you are?" she asked.
"No. Usually they just punch me by this point." I smirked.
"Hmff." She rolled her slit eyes. We flew together in the relative quiet of the night on the wind currents, riding the updrafts rising up along the cliff face from the warm valley floor. Occasionally I would catch her stealing glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking. When we got back up to the city, we could see the glow of the street lights guiding our way back to the palace. I needed to divert my flight path to head back to the barracks. I continued forward with Echo instead.
"I would guess most ponies don't know your name," I said.
"You would guess correctly."
"Do you always make them plummet over the edge of Canterlot to figure it out?" I asked.
"No. Most aren't as stubborn as you. Most just give up." We neared the perimeter of the castle.
"Are you going to kick me out of the restricted airspace again?" I asked.
"Maybe." She smiled. "That dependsss."
"Depends on what?"
"On how much money you have."
"What, is there a toll?"
"Something like that," she said. I checked my pocket.
"Umm, sixty four Bits."
"Ehhh..." she wavered.
"Hey, I'm just enlisted. I don't make officer bank like you guys do." She didn't reply. We each flew over the wall of the castle. I expected another sucker punch. Another few moments of flying, and none came.
"Fine. It's enough this time. But next time, bring more!"
"Bring more where?" I asked. She flapped her wings harder, heading to the west wing of the castle. I hurried after her. I didn't want to stray far from my Night Guard escort, lest I get a similar airspace-greeting from a different bat pony. We headed up towards the backside of the castle.
In the old days, the castle had been built to also serve as a fortress in times of conflict. Away from the exterior, it also had special structures that served as houses of worship, when Celestia and Luna were regaled as deities. After her sister's banishment a thousand years ago, Princess Celestia discontinued the practice. But the architecture remained, falling out of use. We flew together up to the tallest tower of the old temple, where the Great Bell once summoned the citizens of Canterlot to services.
She landed on a ledge of the tower, between a couple of gargoyle statues, strutting past them. I landed where she had.
"Halt!" I just about jumped out of my fur as the gargoyles moved to intercept me, crossing their spears. They were actually bat ponies that had just been standing very still on guard.
"He's with me," Echo said. The guards moved aside to let me pass, but both gave me a nasty glare. Yeesh, if looks could kill... We walked into an alcove in the wall, between a couple of buttresses. There was an old, heavy, wooden door. Standing beside it was another bat pony. Standing, but not really guarding. And by standing, I mean, leaning. He greeted Echo.
"E."
"Evening," Echo replied.
"Who's this?" he asked, motioning to me.
"I'm with her," I said.
"Shut up," Echo snapped at me. He regarded me from the door. He looked at me up and down and made a disgusted face like I had just farted on him.
"E, I've known you for a long time, and I may never say this to you again, but you can do better," he said. Echo bristled, letting loose a barrage of chirps, squeaks and whistles that made my fur crawl.
SKREE SKREE He responded in kind with even more agitated bat pony noises. The two of them bickered in a language to the tune of two chipmunks on helium fighting over a nut. Listening to it felt like chewing on tin foil. At last he threw his hooves up in defeat.
"All right! Fine!" He turned and opened the door for us. Echo walked inside. I walked in after her, giving the door pony a smug grin. A quick jab to my jaw from him made quick work of wiping the smile off of my face. Expect anything. Get punched anyway.
"Hahhaha!" Echo just laughed at me as I staggered back, trying to regain my footing. She grabbed me by my collar and pulled me inside before there was any further exchange. Inside the doorway she hung her uniform on the coat rack. I did the same. Mine was the only brass in the rows of ebony armor. "Don't mind him. He's just jealous."
"Of what?" I asked, rubbing my jaw.
"He thinks you and I are dating," she said.
"Dating!?" She rolled her eyes, opening the inside door.
It opened up into a large room, with a bar. Above the bar was a carved wooden sign. The Belfry: Where the odds are good, but the goods are odd. The room was full of tables and chairs with mugs of ciders, decks of cards and piles of Bits. Oh, and, lots and lots of bat ponies. The first time I had seen a bat pony's eyes, it gave me the willies. Now I was looking at a hundred of them. And they were all looking at me. The chatter of the room fell silent. In a room full of ebony, purples, blues and dark grey, in walks a stallion with fur whiter than the driven snow. I didn't even need a spotlight.
I was a spotlight.
Echo walked towards the bar. I followed closely behind. Every eye in the room followed me. She shoved a vacant bar stool aside and sidled up with an elbow on the bar.
"Two ciders," she ordered. The bat pony behind the bar filled two mugs, passing them to her. She grabbed the first one and brought it to her lips, drinking it. She didn't stop until it was empty. She brought the mug back down onto the worn, wooden bar counter with a solid thud, resounding off of the walls in the silent establishment. She turned back to the rest of the room. "THE BUCK YOU ALL STARING AT!?" she shouted. The rest of the room turned back to their own tables and card games, resuming whatever chit chat they were engaged in before we arrived, filling the room with the familiar background din of a tavern. I reached for the other mug. She grabbed my hoof, twisting my wrist. "Git yer own," she growled through her teeth, shoving my hoof away. The bat pony sitting on the other side of her smirked.
I knew almost nothing about Echo aside from her name. But in the brief time that evening, I found her to be the most mercurial pony I've ever met. And yes, I've met Pinkie Pie. In minutes her mood had gone from hostile, to vaguely flirty, to mocking, to protective, and back to hostile again. Every time I thought I had another puzzle piece for her, the puzzle kept getting bigger.
"Just one for me," I said to the bar keep. He poured me a mug. I reached out for it. He pulled it away.
"Four bits," he said. I looked at Echo. She was already ignoring me. I didn't hazard to ask why I had to pay and she didn't. I just pushed the coins across the counter. He relinquished the mug to me. I took a sip. My first since before joining the Royal Guard. It was good. Really good.
"Come on," Echo instructed, grabbing her second mug and walking away from the bar. Again, I followed closely behind her. We wove our way through the room to a table set way in the back corner. She sat down across from the other occupant at the table. Never before had I been so relieved to see a complete stranger in a strange place. I had never seen one in person before, but it was a pleasant respite in a sea of bat ponies to see a gryphon.
His fur- well plumage I guess, was white around his head with a dark grey patch around each of his amber eyes, like a raccoon. His beak, wings, and talons were likewise dark grey. The rest of his body was light brown.
"Well look what the bat dragged in," he said as he shuffled a deck of playing cards behind a pile of coins. Aren't I the popular one tonight. "What's your name?"
"It's-"
"Wait," he cut me off with a wave of his talons, "I just remembered I don't care. You got Bits?" I nodded. "Well lay down your money, Sunny." I put my Bits on the table. He looked at my short stacks of coins "All of it."
"This is all of it," I said. He looked across the table at Echo.
"You've got to be kidding me," he said to her.
"He'll bring more next time," Echo said. He pulled most of his own bits back into his money pouch until his pile matched mine. Echo also put just sixty Bits on the table.
"If there is a next time," he muttered before taking a drink of his own cider mug. I had been surprised to see a gryphon. Not just here, among all these bat ponies, but in Equestria in general. There had been an uneasy alliance between Equestria and the Gryphon Kingdom for the past couple of decades since the war. But the scars of conflict run deep. Generations of ponies and gryphons telling tales of the enemy to their children had tainted foreign relations for years. Few gryphons traveled to Equestria. Fewer still ponies ventured to Gryphonstone.
He dealt out the cards. "Five card draw. Ante up." I put in my ante Bit and picked up my cards. A lot of paint. Two pair, kings over jacks. Nice.
"I raise." I pushed ten Bits into the pot. It was a bit too aggressive.
"I fold," he said, pushing away his cards, face down.
"So what about you? What's your name?" I asked the gryphon.
"Griff."
"Griff?" I asked, trying not to laugh. "Is that your real name? Griff the gryphon? What, did your mother not like you or something?"
"My real name isn't important. In fact, it's real UNimportant. You got it?"
"Easy Griff," Echo said with emphasis. "I'll call." She put in ten of her own Bits. We each tossed a card and drew a new one. I ditched my nine. Picked up a third jack. A full house! I passed the bet. I didn't want to scare her out of giving me more money. "I'll raise," she said. She pushed in another ten Bits, trying to scare me away. But as the sign above the bar said, the odds were good.
"I'll call." I pushed in my Bits and threw down my cards. "Full house!" I raised my hooves in triumph. She flipped her cards.
"Four queens," she said. My hooves dropped to my sides, deflated. She pulled the pot toward herself.
"Ha," Griff said in place of a genuine laugh. I watched Echo stack up a third of the money that I had brought with me after just one hoof of cards. "You know, you really should try to pace yourself," Griff added with a smug grin, "The night is still young."
"So how's the chess game going?" Echo asked him. His expression became serious again.
"Does he play chess?" Griff asked, cutting his eyes at me.
"What chess game?" I asked. Echo ignored me.
"Don't worry about him," she said. He shrugged.
"Most of the pieces are in place," he said, gathering the cards from the table. "Just a couple of Pawns left and we should be ready to check." Echo took the deck of cards and started to shuffle.
"Solution for mate?" she asked. He looked around the room, nervously.
"Not yet," he said.
"What's... going on?" I asked. If you're confused reading all that, believe me, I was just as confused listening to it. Echo ignored me and dealt out the next hoof.
"Ante up," she said. I put in my Bit and looked at my cards. Off-suit garbage.
"Four." Griff put in his bet. Echo called. Even if I got the right card, the best I could hope for was a pair of eights.
"I fold," I said, pushing my cards away.
"So who's the X?" Echo asked Griff. "The Bishop?" He nodded.
"Mhmm."
"What about our Knight? Covering?" Echo asked. Griff shook his head and purposefully cleared his throat. Echo slumped back into her chair with her hoof over her mouth. "When?" He looked toward the entrance, then back at his cards.
"About three days ago. I had to wait to be sure before coming here," he said.
"Do you think he..." she trailed off and touched her lips with her hoof.
"No. If he did, I wouldn't be here," he said. Echo sighed and raised her mug.
"Here's to him," she said. They clinked their mugs and drank. To him I guess. "I'll... include it in my report." After a moment of awkward silence for me, she discarded a card and drew a new one. He did the same. "Eight," she bet.
"Hmmm." He pondered for a moment and pushed his cards away, folding. "Did you have it?" he asked. She gathered up the cards and shuffled them without ever showing her own.
"Sorry, Griff. I don't remember." She collected her second pot.
"You're such a tease," he said. "Your deal, Sunny."
"The name's Storm," I told him.
"Still don't care," he said. Echo gave me the deck to deal. I shuffled and dealt.
The money moved around the table over the course of the evening. I even won a few hooves. But it was mostly moving back and forth between the two of them. Before long, I was down to my last seven Bits.
"Another round?" Griff asked, tapping his empty mug.
"Sure."
"Why not." The three of us walked up to the bar. They each got their cider. I waited for mine.
"Four Bits." I sighed and paid for my drink. Again. I returned to my seat and let my last three Bits clatter onto the table. The cards from the last hoof were still laying face-up on the table. Griff took a big gulp of his drink before setting it back down. He picked his up and looked at them again.
"I really thought I had it, that last round," he said tossing his cards to Echo to deal.
"Yeah, but then you... didn't. Aha ha ha!" She laughed.
I sat there, holding a couple of my coins.
"You can rub them together all you want but they ain't gonna breed," Griff teased me.
"DELTA WING!" came a shout from the doorway. Echo turned in her seat to look at the clock.
"Dammit! I gotta go! My shift." Echo said, slamming the rest of her drink. "You too," she said to me, "come on!" I drank the rest of my cider in a hurry as she scooped up her winnings. I grabbed my three Bits and we both got up to leave.
"You can't work, you've been drinking!" I said.
"YOU'VE been drinking!" she said. "He won't serve us anything hard while we're working. You're off shift. Why do you think you had to pay for yours?"
"I dunno. I just thought he didn't like me. No wonder you guys were beating me at cards!"
"Next time bring more Bits to lose!" Griff called out after us. Echo and I became a part of the mob filing out of the bar, grabbing uniforms in the coat room. Mine was easy to find. It was the only one that was brass. Outside, Delta Wing took to the air on patrol as another shift flew towards the Belfry.
"You really, really need to go home now," Echo said.
"When will I see you again? How do I find you?" I asked. She smirked.
"I'll find you," she said. I grinned like an idiot. She rolled her eyes again. Ponies tend to do that a lot around me. "Now get out of my air space!" She shooed me away. "And watch out for Nightmare Moon!"
I flew back to my barracks...
...in a rather crooked flight path.