A Whole New World

20th Summer's End, 2012

I woke up to the sound of a rooster outside. I found it much more appealing to wake up to this rather than an alarm, and at least this rooster only called in the morning. Back home on Earth, my neighbours had a rooster that wouldn't shut up for the entire day. God, did that get annoying.

I rolled out of bed and went to check on Scootaloo. I had bought a small matress for the filly shortly after taking her into my care, and let her use my sleeping bag until I could get some proper blankets. She seemed to accept it pretty well, but she wasn't always happy. I didn't blame her, she was still a little depressed from her father's death. But she was a tough kid, and would put on a brave face for me when she needed to.

She was still fast asleep. Apparently she hadn't heard the rooster, so I nudged her to get up, "Come on Scoots. Time to wake up."

She pulled the hood of the sleeping bag over her head, "Mmmmmfiveminutes,"

I laughed at the sight; she reminded me of myself when I was her age, or around that age. I think she's around 10-12 years old, I can't believe I haven't asked her yet. I unzipped the bag and put on a fake stern tone, "Come on. I gave you five minutes yesterday and you were late for school."

"..."

"Ok, you leave me no choice."

I started to tickle her belly. She immediately began to convulse from the contact, and was soon laughing uncontrollably, "Ok, ok, I'm up!"

She stood on the bed and punched me softly in the stomach.

"That was mean!"

"If I make you eggs on toast, will you forgive me?"

Her eyes narrowed. I knew that was her favourite, and a smile formed on her face, "...Maybe."

I get dressed and went into the kitchen while Scootaloo filled her saddlebag with the things she would need for school. By the time she joined me, the eggs were sizzling, and I put the bread in the toaster. When it popped back up, Scootaloo banged on the table with her cutlery, mocking impatience.

"Hold your horses there Scoots, I'm almost done." I buttered the toast and layered the eggs on top, placing it in front of her with a glass of apple juice. While she ate, I grabbed a bowl of cereal for myself and sat down with her.

"Hey Scootaloo, thinking back, I still don't know how old you are. I feel terrible that I haven't asked yet."

"It's ok," she said, "I'm twelve, a year younger than Applebloom and Sweetie Belle."

"Well, you're older than you look, kid."

"Don't call me 'kid'."

I was in no hurry, and Scootaloo finished quickly, picking up her bag and heading towards the door. She promptly came back with a letter in her mouth.

"Mmmffmmm."

"Thanks 'kid'," I was rewarded with a playful scowl, and I promptly took the letter from her. As she started to leave, I called out, "Are you going to be ok walking to school?"

"Of course Dutch! I'm not a baby," she laughed as she closed the door, and I opened the envelope, reading the letter out loud to myself.

Dear Dutch

I conviced Applejack to give you a day off today, as there is an important issue I need to discuss with you. Could you please meet me in the library as soon as you get this letter.

Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle

That was odd. Twilight hasn't spoken to me since we returned to Ponyville, and I couldn't figure out why she wanted to see me now. I dismissed that puzzle; I'll find out soon enough.

I grabbed my Ipod and headed to the door. Before I left, however, I went to a large box next to the door and used a key tied round my neck to open it. My rifle lay there, and I did a quick check of the hairs I had placed on it to make sure it hadn't been disturbed. This was a human weapon, no pony should use it, it was too dangerous.

Satisfied that no one had touched it, I closed the box and locked it, placing the key over my head again. I left the apartment and selected some music on my Ipod, saying hello to Full Pint as I passed him. He hadn't asked about Scootaloo since I had told him about her father, and he seemed ok with letting her stay with me.

I stepped outside and breathed in the cool morning air as I headed towards the library. Not many other ponies were up yet, so my journey was quiet, the only noise being my music and the songbirds in the trees.

When I reached the library, it already had its lights on, and I knocked on the door. It became surrounded by a purple aura and opened to reveal Twilight sitting next to the table, reading a book. Without looking up, she said, "You know, this is a public library. You don't have to knock."

"I'll keep that in mind."

She finally broke her gaze from the book, "Oh, hello Dutch. I should have known it would be you."

She closed the book with her magic, and placed it on the shelf. She turned her gaze to me, and said, "Now, I suppose you're wondering why I asked you to see me."

"How did you know?" I said sarcastically.

Ignoring my comment, she continued, "Spike's still asleep, so I thought I would take this opportunity to ask you if..." her voice trailed off, and she looked at the floor.

"Yes Twilight?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to help me with a spell," she blurted out, and her eyes widened, "I mean, you don't have to, but I just wanted to ask."

I laughed at her nervousness, "Calm down Twi, you're starting to sound like Fluttershy. Helping you with magic sounds pretty fun, and I don't mind taking part."

She visibly relaxed upon hearing this, "Thank you. Go and take a seat over there and I'll explain what we need to do."

I sat down and leant against the bookshelf, while Twilight selected another book from the shelves opposite me and carried it over.

"So what's the spell?"

Twilight opened the book and began to skim through it, "Are you familiar with lucid dreaming?"

I became curious, "You mean the ability to control your dreams? Yeah, I've heard about it. Always wanted to do it, but all the 'official' advice and tips humans had just didn't work."

She giggled, "Well, you're in luck. I found a spell that does just that, and I've been wanting to try it out for some time, but I was hoping somepony to come with me so that I can document multiple perspectives and opinions."

I get to lucid dream? Hell yes! Wait, one problem, "It does sound very appealing to be your partner in crime for this," Twilight gave me a funny look, "Human expression, nevermind. But how are we going to fall asleep? I just woke up."

"The spell puts the user into a forced sleep for however long they choose. All you have to do is cast the spell, and it takes care of the rest. But before we start, I want you to tell me something you've always wanted to do, but would only be possible in a dream."

I thought for a few moments, but only briefly. I covered multiple possibilities, and always came back to the same choice.

"Flying, without technology, like a pegasus or something."

Twilight nodded, "That sounds fun," she lay down next to me, and her horn started to glow, "Ok, just relax and I'll sort everything out."

Her horn became brighter, and despite waking up less than an hour ago, I felt my eyelids become heavy, and I saw Twilight's head rest on the floor just before I too drifted off.

I opened my eyes again almost instantly, but the library walls were gone. Instead, there was sky and clouds. I took in my surroundings, and found myself standing on a small patch of earth about the length of a house. There was grass beneath me, but I saw that the ground suddenly ended after several metres. I walked over to an edge, and looked down. I couldn't see the ground, just cloud as far as my vision could reach.

A patch of earth floating in the sky? Yep, definitely dreaming.

"What do you think?"

I turned round to see Twilight standing behind me. A smile was forming on her face, and she had a bounce of excitement in her step.

"It's quite a view, but how do we get down?"

She sighed, "Look behind you and you'll find out."

I looked over my shoulder, and saw something white right behind me. I turned, and it turned with me. I reached round to grab it, and instantly let go when I felt nerves react not just from my hand, but from whatever this thing was too.

I saw Twilight create a tall mirror out of thin air, and I waked over to inspect. I could see Twilight's grin get larger as I apprached the mirror, and when I looked into it, my jaw hit the ground.

On my back, sticking through my jacket were two huge, white, feathered wings. They were folded at the moment, but they were still long enough to reach down to the back of my knees. I felt pure joy flow through me, but it was quickly replaced by curiosity. And suspicion.

"Twilight. Of all the ponies you could have done this with, why choose me?"

Twilight stiffened, and her eyes started to dart around, "You? Um, well er... I was eager to experiment with this spell and erm, who better to do it with than a good friend, right?"

I folded my arms. I wasn't conviced, "Honestly Twi, you're worse at lying than me. Just tell me the truth, I won't mind." Probably.

She knew she was defeated, and she sat down on her haunches, "I wanted to apologise," she explained, her voice quiet, "When I saw you killing the bandits in the forest, and what you did to those humans when you were a child, I thought you were just some kind of mindless killer. That's why I avoided you afterwards, I was scared. But when you spoke to your dad and brother, as well as when you paid your respects at the funeral, I realised that I was just being too narrow-minded to see the truth.

"I realised that you did what you did because you had to; others might have been hurt or killed if you hadn't. I judged you too soon and without looking at the bigger picture, and I'm sorry for that. I hoped doing this might help me prove that I'm sorry for that."

She stared at the ground, refusing to make eye contact, so I knelt down in front of her and lifted put my hand under her chin, lifting her gaze to my eyes.

"I understand. In your place, I would have done the same thing, and I accept your apology."

She blinked, and the smile returned to her lips as I stood back up, "Ok. Now that that's out of the way, how do I use these wings?" I looked round at the wings, which were still folded against my back.

Twilight stood up with me, and the energy she had before returned, "Well, because we're dreaming, it should be quite easy. Let me try something," she closed her eyes, and a pair of purple wings appeared on her back and unfolded, making her look like a miniature alicorn. She opened her eyes and looked round, "Well that works. Ok, just imagine your wings unfolding. It worked for me, so I see no reason for it not to with you."

I closed my eyes, and formed a mental image of the wings on my back extending. After a few seconds, I heard Twilight gasp, and I opened my eys to see if it had worked.

I was right. My wings were fully extended, but what really amazed me was the size. The were already big when they were folded, but now, each wing was at least two and a half metres long, and I could see the individual feathers fluttering in the wind. I imagined them flapping, and they responded by each giving a powerful flap, pushing me backwards and kicking up a cloud of dust from the ground.

"Ok, that is pretty impressive." Twilight said, jumping out of the way of the dust.

"Thanks," I replied, "Now let's see what they can do."

We walked over to the edge, and I looked down over the empty air before us. Twilight, standing next to me with her own wings extended, ready for flight.

"You ready?" She asked.

"Oh, hang on a sec," I checked my pockets, and found my Ipod still sat where I had put it when I was awake. I pulled it out, and started to flick through the list of songs.

"This one will do," I said to myself. I put the Ipod back in my pocket, but before I could put my headphones in, I heard the music being projected from around us; in the air, out of the grass beneath us, everywhere.

"So that thing plays music?" Twilight said, "I was always wondering what it did."

I laughed, "Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't show you sooner. Tell you what, after this, I'll show you what else it does," I looked back down over the edge, seeing the endless clouds below us, "Now I'm ready. Are you?"

Twilight looked down, and I saw her gulp, "N-Not really."

I followed her gaze back down, "Actually, neither am I."

With that, I gave Twilight a big, stupid grin...

...and jumped.

Gravity immediately took hold, and I started to plummet through the air. I allowed myself to relax in the freefall for a few seconds, and closed my eyes. The wind rushing past my face was enough to get my adrenaline flowing, and despite being immune to fatigue, my heart was going at a mile a minute. I forced the wings on my back to open, and I suddenly leveled out, decelerating like a skydiver opening his chute. The g-force gave quite a kick, but I overcame it quickly. I imagined myself turning, and I saw the wings out of the corner of my eye tilt and bend as I curved round.

I looked back up at the floating island, but I couldn't see Twilight. I was about to turn and fly back up, but just before I did, I saw a small purple dot jump off the edge at a running pace. It started to fall, but quickly curved up and began to glide over to me, and I turned to meet it.

Twilight had an expression of fright and awe as she flew up alongside me, "You are crazy Dutch, you know that?"

I replied with a laugh, "Took you that long to figure it out?"

I looked over at Twilight. Her wings fluttered in the breeze, and she had her forelegs out in front of her. Not one for the cheesy superman pose, I kept my arms to my side.

Twilight looked down at the empty air below us, "I can see why Rainbow Dash spends more time in the air than she does on the ground," she shouted over the noise of the wind, "This is incredible!"

"You're telling me," I yelled back, "I used to have the occasional flying dream out of chance when I was a kid, but they can't hold a candle to this," I did a barrel roll, whooping as I did, and watched as Twilight did the same thing. She seemed to be enjoying this as much as I was, and all signs of her previous regret had vanished.

We continued to fly around for what felt like hours, but I couldn't get enough of it. The graceful movement was calming, and the feeling of absolute freedom was unrivalled. The music made it almost euphoric, and I was tempted to do another freefall. I eventually decided not to; as fun as it was, I didn't want to lose sight of the island.

I found myself lost to the world around me. I would have gone on like this forever, but I knew all good things had to come to an end, and I felt Twilight nudge me on the arm. She motioned back to the island, and I followed her lead as we returned to solid ground.

We landed, and I had to take a moment to collect my footing. After flying for so long, walking felt strange and slow. I wanted to jump back off the edge, but Twilight noticed this and shook her head.

"We should wake up now. Spike will be getting out of bed soon, and I need to get back to my studies. But I will admit, this was fun."

"Agreed," I said, "We should do it again sometime, but with everyone else. I'm sure Pinkie would be ecstatic at the prospect of flying."

We shared one final laugh, and Twilight's horn started to glow. The world around us turned to white, and my vision faded as I felt the grass beneath me fall away.

I felt myself wake up, and looked around to find myself back in the library. Twilight was already standing, and extended a hoof to help me up. I took it, and stretched my back as I stood, hearing the joints popping.

"Ok, after that, I definitely accept your apology, Twilight."

Twilight didn't reply. She just stared at me, her smile turning to a look of shock.

"Twi, are you alright?"

Again, she didn't reply. She just pointed a hoof at something behind me. I turned around, but the only thing I could see was the books lining the walls.

"Seriously Twilight, what are you looking at?" At this point, Spike came into the room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. I saw him enter and said, "Morning Spike. Hey, do I have something on my face? Twilight keeps giving me this funny look."

Spike looked up at me, and the same shocked expression grew on his face, "Woah..."

"I know," said Twilight.

Ok, enough of this, "Twilight, do you have a mirror?"

She floated one over to me, and I held it up to my face. I looked exactly the same as I remembered, the scar being the only thing that really stood out. There was nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could tell.

"Ok guys, is this some kind of tease?"

"No," said Twilight, and she adjusted the angle of the mirror, still clutched in my grip, "Look."

It was then that I noticed something growing out of my back. I looked like Quasimodo. Ok, that's out of the ordinary. I took my jacket off, as well as my shirt, and picked the mirror back up to inspect my back. Over my shoulder, I saw something large, and white.

"Woah..." I could only say.

"I know," Twilight repeated.

The entire library was in silence for a few more seconds, before two loud thuds broke it as 165 pounds of human impacted the ground, out cold.

Hey guys, Locky here. I'm going to be adding more music links in throughout the rest of the story. Some will be incorporated into the story, while others will be background music.