Of Bats and Sparrows

by Silver Inkwell

Two

Present Day

Alice Sparrow looked down at the book that she had just found in the attic, it belonged to one of her ancestors, a pony by the name of Ash Sparrow.

It had been covered with a very thick layer of dust and buried under a pile of books, but Alice didn't really know her family line that well, so, she decided to open up the book, maybe the first entry would help her out, well, it should.

Hello, my name is Ash Sparrow, I am a bat pony, if you’re reading this then you must be family, and well, that’s good. A bit about me first though, I work in the Royal Guard of Princess Luna, that’s all that you need to know about me for now.

Alice glanced upwards for a second, if he worked in the Royal Guard then that meant… no way… this book was over a thousand years old!

That was impossible! It should have turned into dust years ago, but it wasn't, and her discovery was amazing. It was both wonderful, splendid, and incredible. She had found something almost as old as the princesses, or at the very least, Equestria itself.

She turned her head back to the pages, this should be in a museum somewhere, preserved very carefully… but… then again… should it? I mean maybe Ash wanted it to be for family only, and what good would a book do if you couldn't read from it? Besides, she wanted to know more, what was he like, did anypony else write in this? What was his final words, his last wish? What was his favorite color? Ice cream? Wait, did they even have ice cream back then? She didn't know, but she wanted to find out. She licked her lips, if she was going to read this then she would need somewhere more comfortable… and snacks too. Her living room should do fine and when her brother got back from work…

Well, she would show him this of course.

He was the pony more into history than she was. She always had thought that history was boring, but maybe making it personal, like a family member, would be interesting, he could come alive unlike the old pages of old boring dusty history books like she had in school, she hated those, almost everypony did.

But maybe, just maybe, she could enjoy this, and if not, well… it was still her family, and she still wanted to know more. Smiling she grabbed the book and quickly flew downstairs grabbing some snacks and then sitting down in the living room, oh, this was so exciting that it almost made her nervous! Ever so carefully and slowly she opened the book again and turned to the next entry.

Hello there again, I’ve decided to keep writing in this.

Maybe it will help me out, right? Anyhow, I think that you should know more about me. My favorite color is blue…

Of course it is, Alice thought, family tradition.

…And my favorite food is pony flesh, my favorite food is the meat of ponies.

Ha-ha, just kidding, I have actually never eaten a pony before, ever, in my life.

And I never would either. In reality I like sweet things more, like apples and pears for example, good stuff, and for drinks, well, that’s milk of course, what else?

Most other ponies think that we bat ponies are scary, violent, unnatural.

But we’re not, sure, we may be different, but hey, we’re all special and unique here, right? I think so. But just because we look different doesn't mean that we should be treated any differently than anypony else, we deserve just as much respect as they do, me even more because of my current position as a guard.

As a guard, it is my duty (and honor) to protect Princess Luna from any and all harm as need might be. I do what is asked of me when asked, immediately.

There is no delay, no refusal, no arguing, just nothing. There is only silence.

I have thought about questioning my orders before… but unless it’s something I know to be wrong, something that I think could hurt another pony, something that I believe to be dangerous, then I might question them, but only then.

For now, I do not question it, I do not ask, I do not hesitate, I only do.

Being a Royal Guard is very tough sometimes, but it’s a very nice job, and it’s one where I’m not always constantly called names when I try to do something.

The world around me is very bad, ponies call me names and sometimes try throwing stones at me, but I ignore them, well, I try to, for the most part.

Alice stopped reading for a moment, and then she tried to image what life could have been like for him back then, she tried to place herself in his spot…