A Whole New World

Spike sat at the centre of a large banqueting table, happily helping himself to every bowl of gems and tub of ice cream that was in reach. He had never feasted so much in his life as he savoured the taste of each stone. He had never liked emeralds much; they always tasted like green vegetables. Rubies and sapphires on the other hand were much more to his liking, and almost felt like pure sugar as soon as they touched his tongue. But it was diamonds that really satisfied his cravings. To a dragon, a diamond had a taste that couldn't be compared to pony food, and they were wolfed down as soon as he saw them.

Suddenly, a brilliant plan hatched in his juvenile mind. He grabbed a large ruby and bit in half, spitting out the half in his mouth. He then used his claws to carve out the succulent insides of the gem, swallowing them down with glee. After that, he grabbed a spoonful of ice cream and filled the two halves with it before pushing them together again. Admiring his new creation, he stuck his tongue out and wrapped it around the gem, enjoying the taste of sugar and ice cream more than what was thought to be possible.

With all of the food within arm's reach now devoured, he shrugged and jumped up on the table, slowly walking along it and eating everything in sight, occasionally recreating his masterpiece whenever he came across a larger stone.

Just as he was about to consume a chocolate-filled diamond, he felt his stomach rumble and ache. Dropping the diamond, he clutched his belly and groaned.

"Oh man, now I start to think this was a bad idea," the sensation in his stomach rose, and just when he thought he was about to lose his delicious feast...

...he woke up.

Spike's eyes widened as his cheeks inflated and he gave a loud belch. Green flame erupted out of his mouth, slowly curling into a shape. It shrank to the point where it was almost microscopic, before expanding outwards and dissipating to reveal a scroll wrapped in a royal seal. Spike groaned again, this time with annoyance.

"I thought the Princess would have a better sense of timing," he said aloud as he got up out of his basket, picked up the scroll and made his way downstairs.

Twilight and Lyra sat downstairs in the library, deep in discussion about more precise uses of magic. Both were very good at it, as Lyra needed to focus on the individual strings of her lyre, as well as where to pluck them, while Twilight was skilled with magic in general, and would know all about its importance in everyday use.

Twilight smiled as she conversed with her unicorn companion. It was her first slumber party with Lyra, and after the success of Rarity and Applejack, she had made a mental note to try it on all of her friends. Lyra had been next on the list, and Twilight was thrilled that she could talk to someone about the complex topic of magic without losing them in words. It was past midnight and they were still going strong.

"I first discovered the lower-level mana leylines when I started learning how to use the lyre," Lyra said, Twilight nodding enthusiastically as she spoke, "It was difficult at first to convert the mana into a usable energy form for such a precise task, but after figuring out how to reverse the polarity of the receptor brain cells, I managed to play some really nice tunes."

"Wow, that's much better than the way I found it," Twilight said, "I found it when I was simply trying to turn pages in a book. At first I was just throwing the book across the desk, sometimes even tearing the pages. It became so much easier when I reversed polarities."

Lyra giggled, and was just about to open her mouth to speak again, when a loud belch came through Twilight's bedroom door.

"Is Spike always like that?" She asked.

Her question was answered as the purple dragon walked through the door and down the stairs, holding a scroll in his claws, "I am when I've just recieved a letter from Princess Celestia."

Twilight's eyes lit up, "Thanks Spike!" She snatched the scroll out of Spike's grip, who almost fell over from the sudden pull, "Whatever it is, it must be important for her to send it a such a time."

"So what does it say?" Lyra asked, as Spike walked back up the stairs, grumbling about gems and ice cream.

Twilight unrolled the scroll, and her brow furrowed, "It's not from the Princess, it's from Dutch."

"Huh?" Lyra trotted over to her side and looked at the scroll. Sure enough, the handwriting didn't look like it was written by mouth or magic, "Why did it arrive like that?"

"The Princess must have decided to use her own mail system for it, how nice of her." Twilight started to read the letter out loud as Spike let off an almost inaudible scoff.

Dear Everyone

Training has been a lot of fun, and I just got back from completing the final stage. If I pass, I'll officially be an officer in the Royal Guard! The squad I've been training with are a fun bunch, and one of them's going to be coming back to Ponyville with me so that you can meet him.
Tell Lyra that I'm sorry I couldn't say Happy Birthday to her in person, but I'll make sure to get something ready for her when I get back. I think I already have something in mind.
It's also good to hear about Scootaloo. While your remark about her success rate does worry me, I don't see any harm in helping her when I get the time. Also, tell Rainbow Dash I appreciate what's she's been doing, and I'll see you all soon.

Dutch

Both the unicorns smiled as Twilight rolled up the scroll.

"It certainly sounds like he's been having a good time," she said, "I was worried about him after what my brother used to say about the training involved, but it's a relief to hear he's ok."

"Wait, you have a brother? Why haven't you mentioned him before?" Lyra asked.

Twilight blushed with embarassment and tittered as she searched for an answer, "Well, I guess I've been so caught up in studying I must have forgotten to tell you guys,"

Lyra thought it was an odd answer, but accepted it nonetheless. Her thoughts turned to Dutch, and how he would be a soldier when he got back. She started to imagine the stories he might tell. Her great uncle had been in the military, and he always had a tale to tell. Stories of bravery, sacrifice and brotherhood. How a single pony would run back into the line of fire to rescue a wounded friend, or pull off impossible feats to complete their mission. She wondered if Dutch's stories would be any different.

"Hey Lyra, you in there?" Twilight waved a hoof in front of her face, and she returned to reality as she shook her head.

"Sorry, I must've zoned out for a moment," she thought a second longer, before saying, "Twilight, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Um, what do you think of Dutch?"

Twilight thought for a moment, "I don't know, it depends on the context of the question. Why do you ask?"

Lyra felt a heat rising in her cheeks, but figured there was no turning back, "Well, I think I sort of... like him."

"I like Dutch too," came the reply. Lyra's eyes widened, but Twilight kept the innocent smile on her face, "Of course, all of our friends like him. He is a nice guy, after all."

Lyra was silent for a few seconds, but felt relief when Twilight's smile revealed her naivety. She gave a large sigh as she prepared for her next sentence, "No, I mean... I like him." Her cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red, and would have made Rarity faint from the clash in colour with her coat.

"Oh?" Twilight was confused at Lyra's repetition until she saw the blush, then it was her turn to be wide-eyed. "Oh!" She blushed too, not sure how to approach the situation, "Well... that's er... great, Lyra. I'm glad."

Lyra managed to calm down after seeing Twilight's blush, and continued, "I'm just not sure how to approach him about it. You wouldn't happen to have some books for this kind of thing would you?"

"I probably do," Twilight said, fanning herself to lower the amount of blood in her face, "But it's getting late, we should get some shut-eye. Why don't you come by tomorrow and I'll see what we can find."

Happy that she had managed to get some of the weight off her shoulders, Lyra smiled at her friend and climbed into the bed Twilight had prepared for her. As she laid her head down, she suddenly realised how tired she was, and gladly let her eyelids close themselves. She fell asleep, and the only thing she could think about was the human.

"Captain Wingfleet."

"Yes, Captain Jones?"

"Any idea why there is an unconscious human in front of me?"

"I haven't the slightest, kid," I knelt down next to the human, and began to study the features. It was fairly easy to find out that this human was female, almost six feet tall with a thin, wiry build. Her hair was short and black, and pulled out a flask of water from my webbing, using it to wash away the dirt and dried blood on her face.

When the dirt was mostly gone, I was surprised by how young she was. She couldn't have been much older than me. However, that thought was soon crushed as a realisation hit me.

I know this girl.

I turned to Wingfleet, "Change of plans, we're taking this human with us. Steel, grab the artifact. Wingfleet, contact the reconnaissance team and get them to prepare a teleportation spell."

Wingfleet nodded and furrowed his brow as he tried to broadcast a message to the unicorns, "Horn 5, this is Emerald Squad, come in," he paused, "Horn 5, can you hear me?" After a few seconds he shook his head, "We're out of range, and this concrete structure certainly isn't helping. We need to get topside and head west, that's where they're set up."

"Right," I saw a rucksack next to the human, and opened it to find a collection of human items, She must have had these when she arrived. I put the rucksack on my back over my wings before grabbing the girl and lifting her onto my shoulders in a fireman's carry, making sure she was able to breathe while I kept a grip on my rifle.

I focused on my own thoughts, "Trooper Thunderlane, we're exiting the bunker now with the artifact and one civilian. Be prepared to head west on foot, we can't fly out of here," there was no reply, and I was worried the concrete was too thick for them too as I tried again, "Thunderlane, respond."

A voice entered my head, but it wasn't Thunderlane. It was Shadow Breeze, and he sounded like he was in pain, "Dutch... help me."

The hairs on my neck stood up as I looked at Wingfleet, who had also heard the message. Without a word, we ran back up the stairs towards the thick, metal door. Pulling it open, I stopped in my tracks as I tried to process the scene before me.

Shadow stood in front of me, unharmed, but with a look of defeat and sadness on his face. Lying next to him were the bodies of Trooper Thunderlane and Guardsman Rumble. Thunderlane had a single crossbow bolt through his skull, while Rumble was lying in a pile of his own blood, a large hole from another bolt leaking the liquid from his chest. There were other bodies of bandits further away.

"Mother of Celestia..." I heard Steel say next to me. Our shock ended as we heard a series of voices shouting from the other side of the camp.

"They're over there."

"Who are they?"

"Royal Guards!"

"We've got a lot of fight coming our way!" Wingfleet shouted, "Steel, give the artifact to Shadow. We need to get Thunderlane and Rumble out of here."

They ran over and picked up the bodies of the soldiers, tossing them onto their backs as I ran as best I could with a human on my back over to Shadow, who had collapsed onto his haunches.

"Shadow, we have to move, now!" I shouted, but he didn't seem to register me.

"They're dead. There were too many. Oh Celestia... they're both dead." His voice was shaking and his head was in his hooves, but I needed to get him moving.

"SHADOW!" I grabbed the box containing the artifact and pushed it in front of him, shaking his shoulders to wake him up, "We can mourn them later, but right now we have to get out of here!"

He looked at me, took a deep breath and nodded, fighting through his shock as he lifted the box onto his back and followed us. Luckily, we were already on the west side of the camp, meaning we didn't have to fight through the bandits to get out. But they would still chase us until we had reached the unicorns.

We ran through a gate in the camp's perimeter and began running across the open ground. We were all considerably slowed down due to the extra weight we were all carrying, but that didn't stop us moving as fast as our limbs would allow. Suddenly, we heard a yell from the camp, followed by a crack. We didn't turn round, but a beam of magic shot over our heads, followed by several crossbow bolts. None of them hit us, and we had the darkness to thank for that, but it would only be a matter of time before one of the projectiles found their mark.

Knowing this, I turned and dropped to one knee, shifting the weight of the human as I freed both my arms and raised the rifle into my left shoulder. Aiming carefully so as not to waste ammunition, I began to fire at the bandits persuing us, feeling the brass casings bounce off my forearm. The recoil absorbed into my shoulder, and I focused on only putting one round in each pony. I didn't have the time or rounds to make sure they were dead, and I only needed the single bullet to incapacitate them.

In the darkness, I saw a unicorn's horn begin to glow. I aimed directly below it and pulled the trigger. The glow instantly disappeared, and the fire began to let up. The remaining bandits scrambled for cover, scared of this device that killed their colleagues without apparently firing anything. After seeing no more movement, I stood back up, grunting under the girl's weight, and started running towards what was left of Emerald Squad, who had managed to cover a couple hundred metres.

"Wingfleet, where are those unicorns?" I almost shouted into my thoughts.

"Standby," Wingfleet replied, "Horn 5, this is Emerald Squad, come in!"

A new voice entered our minds, and relief flooded through me, "Emerald Squad, this is Horn 5. What's your status, we're hearing a lot of noise down there."

Wingfleet answered them, "Horn 5, we've retrieved the artifact, but we're compromised. It's like we've kicked a bucking hornet's nest here! Currently heading west towards your position with enemy forces in pursuit. Be advised, we have two KIA and one civilian, requesting immediate extraction."

"Roger, we're preparing to teleport to your position now, we should with you in a few seconds."

By now, the bandits had started advancing again and were closing on our position, putting fire down as they moved. I was still heading toward the squad, and was only a few metres away when I felt an incredible heat pass through my right thigh, followed by a searing pain. I yelled out and fell, the weight of the human landing on top of me, and she let out a groan in her unconscious state. Wingfleet ran out from behind cover and grabbed my collar with his teeth. I lifted myself onto my good leg and dragged the human behind me as I pushed myself behind the rock and leant against it, trying to keep my wounded leg elevated.

"Horn 5, we've got an officer down. Where the hell are you?!" Wingfleet shouted.

"We're almost there, standby."

I felt the air around us begin to crackle, and a flash in the darkness revealed three unicorns in Lunar Guard armour. They galloped over to us and focused magic into their horns again. Light engulfed us, and the pulling sensation returned. It felt even worse on my leg as it was twisted in all directions. It felt like someone was sticking a salt-covered finger in the wound. I tried to say something, but my body wouldn't respond as I was teleported. After what felt like an eternity of agony, the light disappeared, and I felt myself collapse onto grass. Finally able to command my body again, I screamed for all I was worth, everything around me becoming insignificant.

I heard a voice shout, "Medic!" and I was lifted into the air as a unicorn started to carry me somewhere. I opened my eyes and saw we were in the grounds of Canterlot Castle. Finally in the knowledge that we were safe, I closed them again and let the noises around me pass by. After a few minutes, I felt myself be lowered onto something soft, and the tingling of magic surrounding me disappeared. There was a sound of tearing fabric, and I opened my eyes and saw a unicorn doctor shining light from his horn onto my exposed wound as I lay in a hospital bed. It looked similar to the spell Whitebone had used when examining my wings.

After a few minutes, he gave a sigh and said, "Well, the good news is that the magic beam cut through clean. It missed the bone and the artery, and you'll be fine. The bad news is that you're going to be walking around with a stick for a while until it heals."

Damn. Looks like Lyra's present is going to have to be postponed. I looked down at the wound. It was a thin hole through my thigh, no wider than a bullet, but without the large exit wound that a round would normally inflict. The pain had subsided now, and was only a dull ache. The doctors must have used some spell as a painkiller.

"Is it possible for me to get a stick now?" I asked as I sat up, "I'd like to see the rest of my squad, as well as the human we found."

"Yes sir," one of the ponies left the room while the doctor wrapped a bandage around my leg. I winced as he tied the final knot, and a shifted out of the bed to try and stand. My leg throbbed, and I felt a pull from the damaged muscle when I moved, but a bit of pain wouldn't stop me from seeing my squad.

The pony returned with a pole about the length off a walking stick, and I rested my weight on it as I stood. Despite being only 21, I still felt like an old man as I exited the room, leaning on the stick, and followed the doctor to another ward. The remains of Emerald were inside, as well as the human, who still lay unconscious in a bed. Wingfleet and Steel were talking to another doctor next to the human, while Shadow was at the other end of the room, sat on a bed staring at the floor.

Wingfleet saw me enter and trotted over, "Shadow's still out of it. He said he wanted to be alone for a bit."

"I still need to talk to him about this," I said, and the doctor began to walk towards me.

"Captain Jones, I presume?"

"Yes. How is the human?"

"She's still unconscious sir," the doctor said, "She's got a lot of bruises and a few cuts, but nothing major. We've given her a basic universal sedative that should keep her asleep at least until the morning, but for now we need to let her recover."

"Good. When she wakes up I want someone to notify me immediately."

"Yes sir."

He left the room, and I limped over to Shadow Breeze. He continued to look at the floor as I sat down next to him. With my lowered height as I sat on the bed, Shadow was about as tall as me. I tried to make eye contact with him, but he wouldn't move.

"Shadow...?"

He shook his head, "They're dead... I'm so sorry." Tears were starting to form in his eyes, and I put an arm around him for comfort. We stayed like that for several minutes, and when he stopped leaning on me everyone had left the room except for the human. I looked over at him, and he met my gaze, staring at me with dispair in his eyes.

"Shadow... what happened?"