A Whole New World

12th Autumn's Dawn

Twilight sat in the main room of the library. Rain was pattering on the window outside, the result of a small malfunction from one of Cloudsdale's raincloud factories. She double-checked the letter on the table, checking for any mistakes.

Dear Dutch,
We all hope you're doing well in training. A lot has happened in Ponyville while you've been gone. Applejack and Rarity have managed to form a much stronger friendship than what they used to have after I had a sleepover with them. Rainbow Dash has been teaching Scootaloo to fly, but she said it would take a while for her to be able to remain airbourne. In the meantime, her, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle have formed some sort of organisation to help them get their cutie marks. They're calling themselves 'The Cutie Mark Crusaders', and they've spent the last week and a half coming up with ideas for special talents. So far they've been unsuccessful, and their antics have usually resulted in stuff getting broken.
Another big development was Lyra's birthday yesterday, making her 19 years old! It's funny how it's so soon after yours. She was a little upset that you weren't able to attend, but she said she enjoyed it nonetheless.
We're all looking forward to seeing you back. Oh, and Lyra told me to tell you she said hi.

Twilight Sparkle.

Satisfied, Twilight folded the piece of paper and placed it in an envelope, ready to be sent to the post office. She didn't want to inconvenience the Princess by sending a letter for Dutch, using her as a messenger, no matter how fast it was. She would wait until the rain had stopped, then use the more conventional means.

Her thoughts turned to the training Dutch would be going through right now. Her brother had mentioned that some of it had been especially gruelling, sometimes leaving him wishing he was dead. Of course, Dutch couldn't suffer from fatigue, but Shining Armour had always talked about the mental stress it put you under too.

"I hope he's ok," she muttered to herself as the rain was interrupted by a crack of thunder.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" I shouted as I stuck my body out of the open door of the airship, letting the goggles around my neck swing in the wind.

It was getting close to nightfall, and we were about one thousand feet off the ground, getting ready for our next phase of training. Emerald Squad and any other pegasi from the other teams had to perform something similar to a HALO jump into the forest behind the barracks. The unicorns would be using teleportation magic to get themselves there, while earth ponies relied on their endurance to move on foot.

I pulled myself back into the ship and returned to my squad, putting my game face on, "Check equipment."

We all looked each other over, making sure our webbings wouldn't come loose during the fall. I knelt down next to Steel and made sure the straps on his rig and saddlebags were tight while Shadow checked over my webbing and rifle strap. I saw the pegasi from the other squads doing the same, and felt Shadow pat me on the back, telling me everything was alright.

"Ok, pegasi of Sapphire Squad, you're first to jump," Captain Bright Skies said as she positioned herself next to the door, "Spread your wings when you reach 200 metres." Two ponies gave each other a nod before following each other out the ship.

"Emerald, you're next." We stood up, making our way over to the door and putting our goggles over our eyes. I paused to look at the sky, and could see rainclouds being collected by instructors over our destination. This was primarily a fieldcraft lesson, learning to live in the wilderness and sleep under the stars.

"Remember, 200 metres," Bright Skies shouted to me over the noise of the wind. I gave her a nod and turned to my squad.

"Three, two, one, go!" I shouted and jumped out the door, spreading my arms out and slowing myself down, letting the rest of Emerald catch up. The goggles helped to keep the wind out of our eyes, and I turned my head to see Thunderlane and Rumble leveling off next to me. I rolled over and saw Steel and Shadow falling towards us, both of them spreading their hooves out as they came in line with me.

I rolled again to face the ground and estimated in my head how far we were from the ground. 200 metres arrived quicker than I thought, and I used the communication spell to say, "Now!" Spreading my wings and watching Emerald do the same alongside me.

"Good job. Descend in circles and keep the landing zone in sight." We slowly moved round, moving in a single direction so as not to hit each other. From the ground we must have looked like a pack of vultures circling a carcass. We reached the ground, and I saw the two pegasi who went before us along with a few other recruits making a circle round Captain Wingfleet. There was a crackling noise nearby, and I saw a group of unicorns teleport into the forest and trot over.

After another five minutes, all of the recruits had gathered, and Wingfleet began the lesson.

"Glad you could all make it," he started, "Today and tomorrow are going to cover basic fieldcraft. You've already been taught some basics, and now I want you to put these into practice in the field. You'll have one hour to start a fire and get your shelter up. After that, the rainclouds above you will be triggered. Any of you want to be sleeping in the rain?"

There was a cry of, "No sir!" From the crowd.

"That's what I like to hear, now get to it."

All of the squads set off in different directions, looking for somewhere to set up their shelters. We managed to find a patch of trees that were planted in lines, with a good interval of space in between them, and we got out our makeshift tents. These were essentially large, square pieces of waterproof tarpaulin, which we would tie between trees and the ground to become a sloped roof for the night. We worked in groups to set up one tarp at a time, rather than struggle on our own.

Twenty minutes later, we had set up the final sheet, and began collecting pieces of wood for our fire, starting off with twigs, then moving on to larger pieces of wood. The teams with unicorns had it easy, using their magic to create fire and tie their tarps. Diamond Squad were already finished, and were tucking into their rations.

With ten minutes left before the rain, we had gathered wood and created enough sparks to start a decent fire. We set it up under our tarps to keep it out of the rain and put a metal tin filled with water on top. We then pulled out our ration packs and examined our main meals. They were similar to boil-in-the-bag meals; solid chunks of calories left to heat and melt in boiling water.

"What did you guys get?" I asked. In the cadets, it was common practice to find out what everyone was eating. It wasn't a law of leadership, more like an unspoken tradition.

"Hay and oats," Thunderlane said, looking at the writing on the side of the bag

"Vegetable stew," Shadow answered.

"Ooh, is it ok if we swap?" I said, "I've got daffodil and daisy, and humans can't eat flowers or hay."

We swapped, and Steel asked, "So what do humans eat if not that?"

"We're naturally omnivorous, so pretty much anything." I replied as we put the bags in the water.

"You mean meat? What do you even get from that?" Rumble said.

"Protein mainly, for muscle development. Ponies would get it mostly from eggs."

By the time our food had boiled, the rain had started, indicating that time was up. Anyone who hadn't finished would have to eat their food cold, or go hungry. I fished the packs of food out and used my knife to cut the top off, handing them to their respectful owners. The stew I was eating consisted of potatoes, carrots, and a few other vegetables in some kind of sauce. If I hadn't liked the taste, I wouldn't have cared much anyway. I had no intention of skipping meals.

*4 hours later*

I hadn't been in much of a deep sleep, I never could when I was sleeping under a sheet in the rain. It didn't come as a surprise when I was woken, hearing a small rustling off to my side, and looked over to see a dark grey pegasus stand up from under his tarp and walk into the darkness, despite the rain. I slowly picked up my rifle and got up to follow him, pulling the hood of my coat over my head.

I found Shadow standing by the edge of the forest, staring out into the field. I walked up alongside him and extended a wing to shelter him from the rain.

"Can't sleep?" I asked.

"No. I feel weak saying this but... I'm homesick."

"It's not weak, I've felt exactly the same before, and on the first night of being away. Hell, I haven't properly seen my family for the best part of seven months now. I've managed to contact them with the help of the princess, but the spell that takes me between this world and mine is difficult."

Shadow turned to me, "So they're true," I looked at him in confusion, "There were some rumours going around that you weren't from Equestria."

I laughed, "I don't think I'm even from this universe. I was out hiking one day and got caught in a storm. I took shelter in a forest like this one, fell asleep, and woke up in the Everfree Forest. Later I found out that I had died in my world. Whether that means this is an afterlife or a reincarnation, I don't know, and frankly I'm starting to stop caring. This world is a good place, and I want to make the most of it without going mad with grief about never seeing mine again."

Shadow remained silent, so I knelt down next to him, lifting my wing to keep it over him, and asked, "What does your cutie mark mean? Most ponies I know have a fairly simple one, like apples or a musical instrument, so by my standards, yours is fairly complex."

Shadow gave a short laugh, "I'm glad you think so. It's actually got a lot of meaning to it. The black heart represents the love and kindness I try to show to everypony, while the dove shows my wish to make things as peaceful as they can be."

"So what made you decide to join the Guard?"

"Simply put, I want to make the world a better place. Not just for ponies, but for every species out there. I figured whether it would be by giving aid to somepony who needed it, or attacking a Diamond Dog camp to free slaves, I would be helping someone."

I gave a small chuckle, "That's exactly what my mindset was when I made the decision to join the military."

We went silent again, and my thoughts began to wander. They stopped on a certain pony, and I turned to Shadow once more.

"Shadow, can I ask you something important?"

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

"Does Equestria have any laws or policies on inter-species relationships? I've found that I'm starting to get feelings for someone, but I'm not sure how the rest of the world would react."

Shadow Breeze thought for a moment, before replying, "As far as I know, there aren't any against the idea. One of my cousins is dating a griffin, so I'm figuring it's ok. You're almost certainly going to run into somepony who's against it, but they're just the cynics that are present whenever there's someting new."

I smiled and said, "Thanks," before deciding to turn the conversation around, "What about you? Anyone special in your life."

He sighed, "Used to be. There was one pony, back when I was just a colt in Cloudsdale. I liked her, but I could never build up the courage to ask her out. When I did, she had already gone. Don't know where."

"What was she like?"

"She was quiet, and she got bullied a bit, but she always had a heart of gold, even for those who wronged her. She had a pale yellow coat and a pink mane," he sighed again, "Just thinking about her gives me butterflies in my stomach."

Wait, butterflies? "Her name wouldn't happen to be Fluttershy would it?"

Shadow's head snapped to me, "How do you know her?!"

"She lives in Ponyville, we're friends. She was actually one of the first ponies I met, and she fixed this up for me, as well as a few bite marks from wolves." I pointed at the scar running down my face.

Shadow had a look of disbelief on his face, "Wow, small world huh?"

"Getting smaller everyday," I replied, "How about you come with me to Ponyville after training? It could give you a second chance to talk to her if you've still got those feelings about her."

"I do," Shadow said, "And thanks. I'll be looking forward to it."

I smiled at the outcome of our talk, and motioned back to the rest of Emerald Squad, who were still sleeping under the tarps, "Come on, we've got more work ahead of us tomorrow. If you still can't sleep, just lying there will recharge your energy somewhat."

We walked back to the camp, crawled under our tarps, and I huddled myself into a ball to conserve heat as I slowly fell back to sleep.