A Whole New World

Most ponies would find the constant reading books to be boring as well as mentally straining, but to Twilight, it was as natural as eating or breathing. Being Celestia's personal student, she saw it as her responsibility to cram as much knowledge into her head as she could.

She was currently going through a book that would offer more insight into teleportation spells. She had managed to do it a few times, but it left her dazed and exhausted. She was hoping that these books would help her get more practice, but she knew that while teleportation was a good spell to know, she couldn't overdo it. Besides, walking everywhere was nice.

She was just reading a chapter that would allow her to teleport to places that weren't in her direct line of sight, when she heard a loud belch from upstairs. She groaned.

"Honestly Spike, do you have to do that?

Spike came down the stairs, carrying a scroll, "I do if it involves the Princess."

Twilight's annoyance disappeared, and she suddenly became excited, snatching the scroll from his claws and unrolling it with her magic.

My Faithful Student Twilight

I need you to come to Canterlot immediately. A serious incident has occured involving Dutch, and I fear he may be in danger. A guard will teleport you directly to the castle; I need you to be here as soon as possible.

Princess Celestia

"Danger?" Twilight dropped the scroll, staring at nothing, "What could have happened?"

She heard a pop from outside, and she opened the door to see a unicorn in Royal Guard armour standing in front of the door.

"Twilight Sparkle, you must come with me at once." His voice was serious and Twilight wasn't going to argue. She told Spike to look after the library, and followed the guard outside. His horn glowed, and a blinding light surrounded him and Twilight. She closed her eyes, and felt herself being twisted and pulled in various directions. She knew it was a process of the teleportation spell, but her attempts in the past had always been more violent. She still hadn't gotten used to it though, and when the light disappeared and her vision cleared, she was lying on the floor with the guard standing next to her.

She picked herself up, and found herself standing in the Princess' quarters, with Celestia herself in front of her. She gave a bow, and the Princess ordered the guard to leave.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your studies Twilight," she said, "But this is a matter of great importance. Whatever happens, I would prefer it if you didn't tell anypony else what I am going to tell you. That's one of the reasons your friends did not accompany you here. Do you understand?"

"What's going on Princess?" Twilight asked, "Is Dutch ok? What happened?"

Celestia raised a hoof, and she fell quiet, "Dutch was on a supply convoy heading towards a guard camp near the northern border. They were planning on resupplying the camp, then bringing him south to Ponyville. I became suspicious, however, when the camp sent a message saying they had not arrived."

Her horn glowed, and a vision appeared in front of them. It showed Dutch dragging a pegasus guard behind a wrecked carriage, a small trail of blood following them.

"This happened shortly before I called you here," Celestia said, "They were attacked by bandits on their way there. Dutch and the rest of the guards fought bravely, but they were outnumbered and overpowered."

Twilight gave a small gasp at the sight, "But... what about Dutch? Did he make it?"

The vision continued to play out in front of them, and Twilight saw Dutch use a device she had never seen before to kill a bandit. She almost felt sick; she had never experienced death before, but Dutch's face showed no emotion as he watched the pony collapse. He returned to the other guards, then ran towards the side of the road as Twilight saw a bomb land next to him. There was an explosion, and she watched him fall down the hill and out of sight.

The vision disappeared, "I couldn't find him after that. The spell only works on beings who are alive and conscious. Dutch is in danger, but I don't know how badly."

Twilight sat back on her haunches and slumped. Did that mean that Dutch was dead? ...No. She forced that thought out of her head. Dutch was tough, he would be ok.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked.

Celestia looked at her student, "For now, we can only wait, and pray he's alright. I will wait a few hours, then try the scrying spell again. If he is alive, hopefully he would have woken up by then."

She left the room, leaving Twilight to contemplate what had happened. She wished there was something she could do to help Dutch, but like the Princess said, they could only wait, and hope he was ok. Slowly, she followed Celestia out of the room.

A splitting headache was the only thing I felt as I slowly came to my senses. I picked myself up, using a tree for support, and observed my surroundings, trying to remember what had happened. I had fallen down the hill, after being with the convoy. Why had I run from the convoy?

Then I remembered the bandits.

A sudden spike of adrenaline woke me up, and I saw the rifle lying nearby. I picked it up, checked for damage, and started climbing the hill. My pack slowed me down, but I refused to stop. Those guards were in trouble, I had to help them.

As I got closer to the top, I became unnerved by how quiet it was. There was no shouting, no noises of battle, and I was worried I was too late. I came over the top of the hill, and finally saw what had happened.

The guards had been beaten.

The carriage that hadn't been blown up was missing, and I assumed the bandits had taken it. There were pieces of wood and other debris strewn everywhere, and the destroyed carriage was still lying there, looking a sorry as ever. There were a couple of bodies, some were guards, others were bandits, but there weren't nearly as many as I had seen earlier.

The sun was setting, and I was blinded as I looked down the road and saw a bunch of objects lying in the middle of the road. I walked closer, and the objects slowly came into view. When I reached them, I collapsed to my knees.

They were the remaining guards. The bandits must have overpowered them. Those that hadn't been killed in the fight now lay here, each of them with a crossbow bolt in their backs. These guys weren't killed, they were executed. Shot in the back and left to rot.

I heard a noise from the wrecked carriage, and spun around, pointing my rifle down the road. There was no one there, but as I approached, I heard a voice, "Dutch... is that you?"

I spotted a guard - specifically, Silver Cloud - lying against the wheel, right where I had left him. There was a large pool of blood under him, and he looked pale even through his coat. He still had a lot of shrapnel in him. I suppose the medic wasn't given much of a chance to help him.

I ran over to Silver and knelt down, grabbing his hoof, "Yeah Silver, I'm here."

Silver coughed. It was weak, and filled with pain, "Those buckers messed me up. I took a few of them out... played dead so they wouldn't find me, but now I'm not sure how long I have left."

"Silver, don't say that," I held his hoof tighter, and stared straight into his eyes, "I'm going to get you back to Ponyville, you're going to see Scootaloo again. You're going to be a good father for her."

"No I'm not," he replied weakly, "I'm barely around her. I'm not a proper dad for her to have."

He grabbed my hand with his other hoof, "You tell my daughter... that I fought well today," a tear rolled down his face, and his features scrunched up with pain and sadness, "That... that I fought hard."

I shook my head, "You're going to tell her that yourself, you hear me?"

"Quit lying Dutch, you're not that good at it," he forced a small laugh, then returned his gaze to my eyes, "Just, promise me something. Two things. First, you take care of Scoots for me. Tell her what happened, and look after her, the way I never could."

"...I will."

He took a deep breath, "Second..." he coughed again, but it was quiet, "Second, I want you to kill those bandits. They took the carriage west towards Froggy Bottom Bog. Follow the tracks, find them, and kill them all."

I paused, thinking about what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to kill more ponies, but they had killed these guards without mercy. I couldn't refuse a dying pony's request. Eventaully, I nodded, "You have my word, they will die."

Silver gave a nod of appreciation, and his head fell to the side. His eyes were still open, but I could see all life was gone. A blank, empty stare into space. I reached over and moved my hand over his eyes, closing the lids, and hung my head, "I'll come back for you, give you a proper burial."

I stood up, filled with a new sense of motivation, and looked towards the sunset. It was disappearing now, and darkness was starting to set in. I picked up the bodies of the other ponies and laid them next to Silver, giving my condolences to each.

I was just about to head off, when I had an idea. I went over to the wrecked carriage, and looked inside, quickly finding what I was looking for. I pulled out a piece of cloth, and used my knife to tear it into strips, wrapping one around my head, and tying others to my arms, legs and torso. Then I went over the trees, and started pulling out clumps of grass, sliding them into the strips, and covering my body in vegetation. After ten minutes, I stood up and looked down at myself. I was planning on getting close to the bandits, but I couldn't go in guns blazing. This would help me blend in.

I picked up my rifle and headed west, noticing the marks of the carriage that had been taken.

Twilight was pacing back and forth across a long hallway, her hooves being the only thing to break the silence. Night had fallen now, and all the possibilities of what could have happened to Dutch were running through her head, and it was driving her crazy. Is Dutch ok? What if he was caught by the bandits? Would they torture him? Kill him? She was so wrapped up in these thoughts that she walked straight into Princess Celestia.

"Oh, I'm sorry Princess. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"That's alright Twilight. I came to tell you that Dutch is alive and unharmed. I managed to get another scrying spell on him."

Twilight's spirits soared, and she followed Celestia back to her quarters, "When I activated the spell, he had returned to the convoy, but all of the guards were dead. He spoke to one of them, then gave them his respects. After that I came down to find you."

As they entered Celestia's room, Twilight another vision sat floating in the middle of the room. As they looked through it, however, they became confused. The vision showed a forest, and rain was pouring down, soaking everything in sight. Every now and then, there was a flash of lightning, but no sound came through. They examined the scene, but Dutch was nowhere to be found.

"Where is he?" Twilight asked.

Her question was answered as they saw a patch of ground start to move. Eventually, they saw a human figure rise from the ground, covered from head to toe in grass and leaves. The two ponies watched as Dutch slowly moved through the trees, carrying his rifle in his shoulder.

"He was hiding right there? How didn't we see him?" Twilight spoke again, but Celestia was focusing on the magic, and didn't reply. She watched as Dutch moved behind a tree, then moved to another. After doing this for another five minutes, the vision changed angle, and they saw that Dutch was heading towards a light in the distance. He moved closer, and slowly raised the rifle to his head, waiting for something. There was another flash of lightning, and after a pause, they saw Dutch fire the weapon. Again, there was no sound, but Twilight gasped as she saw a pony in the distance fall to the ground.

"What's he doing?" she said.

"Taking revenge." Celestia simply said.

"Can't we do something?"

"We are to far away to intervene," the Princess replied, "We can only watch."

Twilight was horrified at the scene, but neither of them moved away from the vision. They simply stayed where they were, and watched events unfold.

100 trackers! Yays all round!