I wait until everypony who seems to be getting off has left the train, and check in every direction as I hurry onto the train platform. I’m wearing my hooded cloak, but it’s force of habit, I guess. The train platform isn’t crowded; just a few ponies who got off the train, and Princess Twilight Sparkle waiting for me. She’s looking at me curiously, but her face changes to a friendly smile as she comes over.

“You must be Echo,” she says, looking into the cowl of my hood. I see her eyes searching for something to focus on, and she settles on my forehead. A lot of ponies do, I must have low eyes.

I bow because I figure I’m supposed to, but it also distracts her. “I am, Princess.”

“Please don’t bow. Twilight is fine.” She tries to look under my cowl again as I stand up. “Do you have any bags you need to get?”

“No, I travel light,” I say. I laugh and add, “And light travels through me!”

She blinks, then her smile widens and she rolls her eyes.

“Optical humor. I’ll be here all week. Stop in and don’t see me.” I chuckle. “Really, all I have is a saddlebag.”

She stares again, and finally asks, “Do you mind if I, um, look at you?”

“Well… that’s kind of the problem.” I laugh.

She giggles. “Oh, I know! I have your records. I meant that I could cast a spell to get an idea of what you look like, and where your face is.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.” I blush and look down. “Not here, at least.”

Her smile fades, and her eyes go wide. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“No, I understand. It’s just, things like that make ponies stare at me.” I bite my lip, but she doesn’t see that. Or that I’m still blushing. She does notice the awkward silence, because she tries to fill it.

“Well! Let’s get back to the castle. We can have lunch there, I’m sure you must be hungry…”

“That would be great.” I say, and we start walking through town. A lot of ponies don’t notice me, and the ones who do pretend they didn’t while they stare at me. Like everyplace in Equestria.

“I already have some ideas, based on Professor Leatherpatch’s notes. I’ll want to run some tests myself, but—”

Suddenly, a pink pony seems to pop out of nowhere. “Hi Twilight! Hi floating cloak!”

“Pinkie! This is Echo, the pony I told you about?” Twilight says, but there’s no change to the grin on Pinkie’s face. “I’m sorry, Echo. She didn’t mean—”

“Hi, Echo!” she interrupts. “My name is Pinkie Pie. Do you like chocolate or vanilla cupcakes?”

I blink.

She’s looking into an empty hood, and she asked me about cupcakes… and I feel like her eyes are looking into mine.

I want to shake my head clear, but I don’t want her to stop looking at my eyes. “Um… chocolate. It’s nice to meet you, Pinkie.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too!” She giggles, and it breaks eye contact. My heart sinks. Then, somehow, she looks back at my eyes. “We’ll have a welcome party tonight! I’ve been thinking of games since Twilight said you were coming. First I thought of Hide-and-Seek, ‘cause I bet you’re the world champion!” Her eyes grow wide, she’s not even joking. She seems really impressed.

I wonder if there are Hide-and-Seek championships. Now I want to win one, just to tell her I did.

She smiles again, and it somehow seems to light up an already sunny day. “But I decided on Blind Mare’s Bluff, because you really should be fair to everypony, and because Dashie gets grumpy if she loses too much.”

I nod. If she doesn’t want Dashie to get grumpy, I don’t want Dashie to get grumpy.

“I have to go! I have balloons to blow up. What’s your favorite color?”

“Pink,” I say. It isn’t, it’s actually red, but right now all I can see is pink. I think I love it.

“Mine too!” She grins, waving as she bounces away. “I’ll see and not see you later!”

“Sorry, sometimes Pinkie is... special.” Twilight shakes her head, smiling. “As I was saying... I’ll have to run some tests, but I think there’s good reason to be optimistic about lifting the spell!”

"Yeah." I grin, and I almost feel like somepony could see it. "I'm already glad I came here."