It's been a while since Echo had last seen her friends. Things have been relatively quiet since her coronation, with the other Bat ponies helping her out in the Palace. The small kingdom has slowly started to grow again, rebuilding houses in the trees of the forest. Though currently, most of the kingdom's ponies are newborns and young foals. But with the adults helping out the Princess, things have been looking up. Until about three days ago.
Echo soared over the treetops of the Everfree Forest. She managed to make a critical discovery concerning the crown jewels of the Bat ponies, even bigger than finding the Palace itself. She had also gotten a message from Princess Celestia and Luna that she was to be in Canterlot at once. She was hoping for an explanation about the weird black clouds that have been covering the Bat Kingdom for most of two days. They had frightened all of the small kingdom, and everypony was still uneasy about it even after the clouds dispersed. Echo shivered at the bad feel of those clouds when she touched them, but was glad that Canterlot wasn't far away.
However, right when the castle was in sight, somepony else crashed into her.
"Pharynx, I told you to be careful where you're flying!"
The Bat Princess groaned as she opened her eyes to see a dark teal Changeling on the ground near where she was. He had bright purple eyes and wing-cases, combined with red horns, armor and wings. Alongside him was an orange-horned Changeling that was more chartreuse and had green armor, though his purple eyes and wing-cases were darker and more red, and his wings were a lighter purple. They both seemed much taller than Dragonfly, Damselfly, and Crane Fly, though the teal one was slightly shorter than the other.
"I'm so sorry for my brother flying into you like that," the taller one apologized as he walked over to Echo. "He's almost never been out of the Hive, and normally doesn't watch out for other ponies."
"It's okay," Echo waved off as she stood. "I probably should've been looking where I was flying, too. I'm Princess Echoing Shadow, but you can call me Echo."
The teal Changeling looked shocked. "So you must be the one the whippersnappers in the hatchery were buzzing about. I thought they said you were a normal unicorn, not a Bat alicorn."
"It's a long story," Echo winced. "Masking spell from my mom, in short.
The Changeling nodded in understanding as he stood up. "But anyways, I'm Pharynx, this is my brother Thorax. Uh, my bad for crashing into you," he added when Thorax gave him a look, his wing-like tail between his legs.
"Ah, the king of the Changelings and his brother," Echo realized. "I didn't know you had a brother. But I'm guessing you had black clouds for two days, and now you're going to Canterlot for an explanation along with a message to go there?"
"Uh… Exactly," Pharynx nodded as he approached the Bat Princess, though the red hint of a blush was forming across his muzzle. "The little ones were pretty scared of the vibe those things let off. Actually, everyone got the creeps from 'em."
"I can understand that," Echo sighed. "Everypony in my kingdom was still on edge even after the clouds had dispersed. They've all been demanding an explanation, and I can't provide them with one until I see what I've been called to Canterlot about."
"Why don't we go there together?" Thorax suggested. "Our friends are probably also in Canterlot, and we'll need somepony to help us past the guards."
Echo nodded in understanding. "I see where that could be an issue, since three Changelings I know had the same problem. I can help you with that. How about you both disguise yourselves as Bat pony guards? The guards at the gate would let you in easily if you look like two guards from the Bat Palace."
"Sounds good to me," Thorax nodded. "Dragonfly showed us what Bat pony guards look like, so it'll be easy." In a brief flash of green, Thorax turned into a normal-looking Bat guard, armor and all. Pharynx followed after, doing the same.
"Perfect," Echo approved. "The guards won't suspect a thing. Let's get going, then." With that, Echo turned and took to the sky towards Canterlot again, with the disguised Changeling King and Head of Patrol following after her.