A Whole New World

21st Autumn's Dawn

I suppose the only good thing about today was that the sun was out. Of course, that had been arranged for the burial. I stood among the crowd of ponies, both soldiers and civilians alike. I was in formal dress, and for once, my rifle was locked away. I had done a check of it before the funeral, and counted the ammunition. Since first using it, I had used up nineteen rounds. I suppose it wasn't much considering what I had been through, but it was still nineteen more than I would have liked.

The funeral was similar to the one I had been to after the convoy ambush, but this time, the caskets were closed. After the pony at the altar had performed the same speech from the previous funeral, seven unicorns lined up alongside each other and charged their horns, each firing a blast of magic into the air and letting off a loud crack. This happened three times as the ponies gave them an equivalent of a 21 gun salute.

After the coffins had been lowered into the ground, I saw Wingfleet walking towards me with two civilians following him, a mare and a stallion.

"Captain Jones, this is Cumulus and Dive Bomb. They're the parents of Thunderlane and Rumble," he turned to the civilians, "This is Captain Jones, your children's commanding officer. I'll give you some time alone."

As he left, I took a knee in front of the two ponies. Cumulus was wearing a black veil over her face, and Dive Bomb was trying to force back the tears in his eyes.

"Sir, ma'am, I'm very sorry for your loss. Thunderlane and Rumble were good ponies, and I was proud to have them under my command."

"It... It's alright Captain," Cumulus said, before breaking down and sobbing into her husband's shoulder. He put a hoof around her and stared straight ahead, trying not to cry himself.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small object, something I had taken out of Rumble's combat gear as they were dressed into their funeral clothes. A single golden bit. The dried blood had been cleaned off, leaving it to shine in the sunlight.

"I don't know if this means anything to you, but this belonged to them," I said as I handed it over to Dive Bomb, "I think they would have wanted you to have it."

"We knew about their bets," Dive Bomb said, "They were throwing this bit back and forth between them when they were just foals. Thank you for giving this to us. Maybe, over time, we can use it to find peace."

"I hope you do sir," I said, feeling a lump in my throat, "If you'll excuse me, I need some time to think."

"You go ahead Captain," Dive Bomb answered, "We'll need the time too."

In an attempt to ease my mind, I walked around the Canterlot Gardens, finding the quiet atmosphere soothing. After a while, I found myself standing next to a single large wall, almost looking out of place among the flowers and statues. Upon closer inspection, I found the wall to be engraved with hundreds of names.

Golden Shield.

Razorwing.

Tundra Snow.

I walked along the length of the wall, leaning on my stick and looking at each of the ponies' names. I reached the end, and saw a group of names that looked to be recently engraved. One of them made me pause.

Silver Cloud.

Scootaloo's dad, I thought to myself. I took a step back and looked at the whole wall. It must have been fifty metres long, and twenty metres high. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of names. Each of them, a dead soldier.

"A memorial for fallen heroes," said a voice behind me, and I turned to see Celestia approaching me, "We try to honour their memories and deeds even as their faces fade into history."

I turned back to the wall, "I never thought there would be this many."

"Equestria might seem nice on the outside," Celestia said, "But, like your kind, we've had our fair share of conflicts. And after thousands of years, I began to realise that the real heroes of those wars weren't the ones covered in medals, but the ones who would never return home to their families."

I didn't reply, only thinking about past events, War is a horrible thing that no one should have to encounter, and yet here I am, fighting and killing, watching others die around me. Is it really all that necessary?

"I can see distress on your face, Captain," Celestia said, interrupting my train of thought, "Is there something wrong?"

"It's nothing ma'am," I quickly replied.

She gave a warm, almost motherly smile, "I understand that back at the funeral, I may have been your Princess, Dutch. But out here, I'm talking to you as a friend. Please don't fear that you need to hide something from me."

I sighed, "It's just... since the attack on the convoy, ponies have had a habit of dying around me. I'm not the superstitious type, but I still get a nagging feeling that I'm partially responsible."

"You are in no way responsible for the deaths of those ponies, or of Thunderlane and Rumble," Celestia reassured, "No one can predict who will live and die in a war. The best thing you can do is take care of those under your command. If you can keep them alive, you're doing enough."

I nodded, and we continued to stare at the memorial for several minutes. It ended when we heard galloping behind us, and turned to see a guard heading towards us.

"Sir, Your Majesty," the pony said, giving a bow, "I must ask that you come with me at once,"

"What is it Sergeant?" Celestia asked.

"The human you found, she's waking up."

As the girl's eyes fluttered open and her senses returned one by one, the first thing she noticed was how different everything seemed. First there was the smell; it was clean, and dry. Wherever she had been before was damp, and cold. Next was what she saw. While her captors had kept her bound and blindfolded whenever she was awake, she could tell by looking around this pristine, white room that this couldn't have been where she was kept. Her hearing returned next, and she could hear a constant beeping of what sounded like hospital equipment, as well as some brief footsteps. All she had heard before was a few male voices and the dripping of water.

She sat up and took in her surroundings. The soft, white bed she had been lying on looked too small for her, and her feet were hanging off the edge. There were other, identical beds lined along the room, but they were all empty. After flexing her limbs and making sure they all worked, she slowly pulled her legs out from under the sheets and looked herself over.

Her clothes were torn and bloodied. No doubt it was her own, but she was awake now, and felt alright, so she couldn't have lost too much. Her jeans were ripped, and her black hoodie stank of mud and rusty metal, but her skin was clean. It gave off a faint scent of soap, so someone must have been here while she was out, and it certainly wouldn't have been the people who imprisoned her. With a grunt, she pushed herself off the bed, taking a moment to maintain her balance. She was confused by what she saw, and blinked to try and focus her eyes, but they weren't lying. Everything in the room seemed... smaller. The tables, the bed, even the room itself looked a little short for a human.

"What the hell?" She said aloud, taking what little comfort she could from the soft, Scottish accent in her voice. She began to walk the length of the room, working the feeling back into her legs and examining the rest of the room. She reached the far wall, and was on the way back when the door began to open. She gave a sigh of relief, maybe she could find a doctor and figure out how she got from wherever she had been before to this miniature hospital.

The air that escaped her lungs in the sigh was immediately taken back in as she gasped when the door opened fully, revealing a blue unicorn wearing a white jacket. He looked up from his clipboard at her, and gave a smile, shutting the door with a hind leg.

"Ah, good to see you're finally awake," he said. He began to trot forward, his horn glowing as he approached.

The girl took a step back, surprised that there was a unicorn in the room with her, let alone the fact that it was talking. Was she dreaming? Was it a hallucination? She didn't care, right now there was a unicorn walking towards her, and she was freaking out.

"You stay back!" She shouted, not taking her eyes off the small equine in front of her.

"Calm down, I just want to make sure you're ok," the unicorn replied, keeping the smile plastered across his face. She wasn't having any of it. She stopped retreating, and let anger overtake her fear.

"I'm warning you, back off!" She said, leaning forward and taking a more agressive stance.

The unicorn didn't seemed intimidated by this however, and didn't stop, "Look, I just want to make sure you're alright. Come here and let me look at you."

The girl's fight-or-flight senses finally kicked in, and moved over to the former as she ran at the unicorn.

"Bollocks to that!" She shouted. She grabbed the unicorn by his jacket and, somehow, lifted him off the ground. His hooves flailed helplessly in the air as she lifted him above her head.

I walked down the hall of the medical wing with Princess Celestia beside me. As we approached the same room Shadow and the human had been in the night before, I noticed a couple of guards stationed outside the door.

"Why are these guards here?" I asked the princess. No sooner had the words left my mouth than there was an angry feminine yell from inside the room. Approximately one second later, the door exploded outwards in a shower of splinters. The projectile that had caused the damage now lay in the middle of it. A unicorn doctor, covered in wood from the door and looking like he should have stars circling his head.

"It seems that would be the reason," Celestia remarked. The two guards turned towards the room and readied their weapons. I quickly stood in front of them.

"Stand down. I'll go in there talk to her. Alone."

"With respect sir," one of the guards said, "She just knocked the doctor through a door. I don't think anypony will be in a talking mood if they did that."

"She'll talk to me," I replied, making my point clear, "You two will stay out here and will not enter unless I tell you to. I think it's best if you did the same Princess."

Celestia nodded, "You know your kind better than I do. If it is for the best, I will remain here."

I stepped over the remains of the door and looked around the room. The human was nowhere to be seen. One of the beds had been used, but the rest were clean and folded, and there didn't seem to be any signs of an escape attempt. Suddenly, I heard a noise - the shuffling of feet - behind a hospital screen, and slowly walked towards it.

"I know you're hiding behind the screen," I said, "Come on out."

"Screw you!" Came the reply, "Get back or I'll hurt you too."

"You wouldn't hurt someone who you knew was trying to help you, and you know it."

"Fuck off! You don't know me, you're a bloody horse."

I sighed, "Yes, I do know you," there was no reply, so I continued, "Your name is Sarah Clarke. You were born in Edinburgh on the 14th June, 1992. When you were sixteen, you attended Swindon College in Wiltshire and earned qualifications in Science and Languages."

The room was coated in silence, apart from the quiet, slow breathing of the girl behind the screen.

As my final act to convince her, I said, "Don't tell me you don't recognise my voice even after all this time."

The seconds felt like hours as the room remained quiet. Slowly, the sound of footsteps - human footsteps - broke the silence as Sarah Clarke stepped out from behind the screen.

She hadn't changed a bit from when I last saw her. She was shorter than me, like she always had been, but only by an inch or two. Her hair was jet black, and was short for a girl. It barely covered her ears. Her thin build showed signs of fitness, and as she looked towards me, her grass-green eyes showed a mixture of shock, confusion, and a hint of happiness.

"Doug?" She said, slowly walking forwards, "Douglas 'Dutch' Jones? From college?"

I held my arms out, smiling, "The one and only. Though it's just Dutch now."

All of a sudden, Sarah broke into a sprint. I hesitated as I thought she was about to attack me too, but her arms wrapped around me and she pulled me into a tight hug.

"I thought I would never see you again," she said, "I was at you bloody funeral!"

I had always liked her Scottish accent. It was noticible, but it wasn't so thick you'd expect her to start saying something like 'Och aye the noo'. I started to realise her grip felt like it was going to suffocate me, and I was surprised at her strength. I quickly tapped her as best I could with my pinned arms, and she let go.

As I recovered my breath, she said, "Sorry, I didn't realise. Ever since a few days ago I've felt, I don't know... stronger."

Something clicked in my head when I heard this, and I remembered one of the bandits in the bunker had been an earth pony. I said, "Sarah, this is going to sound strange, but can I challenge you to an arm wrestle?"

"Uh, sure. Why?"

"I have a theory I'd like to make certain. We can use the bed, and if I'm right, it'll be over fairly quickly."

"Yeah, because you'll beat me, like you always did."

"Not necessarily," I gave her a sly grin and we knelt down on either side of the bad, locking our hands together.

"Ready?" I said, "Go,"

I put all of my strength into my arm, but I still found myself on the floor from the momentum of Sarah's arm as she threw me down with little to no effort. I lifted myself up to see a look of shock on her face as she stared at her hand, as if looking for some answer to her unexpected victory.

"Just as I anticipated," I said as I stood up.

"H-How...?" She asked, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Long story," I said. She stood up, but looked a little wobbly from this new development. I quickly put an arm around her before she could fall, "Easy there. Come on, we'll go for a walk in the gardens, get you some fresh air. I'll explain everything when we're outside."

She nodded, and I carried her out of the room. It was a difficult task with my own limp, but it wasn't too bad. As we left the room, I could see Sarah giving a cautious glare at the guards.

"Don't worry, they're with me," I told her, then turned to the Princess, "I'm going to take her outside and bring her up to speed if that's alright."

"That's quite alright Captain." Celestia replied.

I carried Sarah out to the gardens, before she stood straighter and took a deep breath, "I'm think I'm ok." She started to walk unassisted, and looked over at me. I saw her eyes glance over the scar and my finger, as well as the stick I was leaning on, "You look like shit man,"

I cocked my head, "I could say the same to you,"

She punched my shoulder, which hurt more than it should of due to her new-found strength, "So, about that explanation."

I smiled, "I'll start from the beginning. Sarah, we both know you'll be able to tell if I'm lying, you know me well enough. Because of that, I'll cut to the chase. You're not on Earth anymore."

Sarah stared at me with confusion, "This place is called Canterlot, the capitol of Equestria. I'm sure you've already met the local population," I gestured at a pair of guards standing by an entrance, "Sentient equines. They all call themselves ponies, but there's three types. Pegasi, who fly and control the weather. Earth ponies, they're like the ones back home, and unicorns, like the one you met just now. Speaking of which, what happened in there?"

"Well, I had just woken up and he started walking towards me with his horn thingy glowing. I panicked, and may have... thrown him through the door."

I laughed, "I actually understand that. I pulled a knife on the first pony I met, so you're not the only one."

"So why are we here?" Sarah asked.

Ah, tough question early on, "That's not easy to answer. I got here after I caught hypothermia in a forest. Sorry for being so blunt about it, but I'm here because I died. I don't know if the same thing happened to you but--"

Sarah stopped in her tracks. She stared at the floor for a few seconds, before leaning against a nearby statue and sinking into a sitting position, "So that's what happened..."

"What do you mean?"

She scrunched her eyes shut, "I was in London, just... going home. I got stuck in a queue at the bus station," she gave a small laugh, "You know how bad it can get, especially in rushour. This man next to me started shouting something. The accent sounded Arabic. He was holding something in his hand... it had a button on it. There was a click, then... nothing.

"When I came to, I didn't know where I was. There were some male voices, a hard stone floor... stayed like that for a couple of days, then I wake up in some bed and find you," she sighed, "All in all, it's been a hell of a ride."

I didn't say anything. I sat down next to her put an arm around her shoulder. After a few minutes, she pulled away and stood up, "But enough of that. You were going to tell me about this," she gestured at her arm.

"Fair enough," I stood too and we began wandering around the garden again, "Simply put, magic exists in this world. To them, it's about as natural as breathing or eating."

Sarah thought for a moment, then said, "Ok," without a hint of surprise in her voice.

"'Ok'? I thought you'd be a bit more surprised than just 'ok'."

She punched me again, "Look Doug, or Dutch if that's what everyone's calling you now, I just woke up in a world with little talking ponies. Trust me, you can't get more surprised than that. Anyway, we're getting off-topic. Why am I so strong?"

"Fine, fine. As you know, magic doesn't exist on Earth, so our bodies aren't used to it. This means that we've both absorbed some of it upon arriving here. I can run as far as I want and not get tired, while you... well, you already know. Most likely you were sat around an earth pony for too long like me. Magic exposure also gave me these," I flexed my wings.

Sarah walked around behind me to get a better look at them, "So they're not fake? I was beginning to wonder why you had something so geeky strapped to your back," there was a sudden jab of pain, and I whirled around to see Sarah twirling a feather between her fingers.

"Ow! Jesus Sarah, that hurts more than a stubbed toe!"

"Oh, don't be a baby," she dropped the feather and looked back at me, "So who was the big pony back there? If books taught me anything, it's that characters dressed like that are important."

"You guessed right," I said, massaging the sting in my wing, "Her name's Princess Celestia. She's one of the leaders here, and can control the sun. It's her job to raise it every morning."

"Riiight. Magic?"

"Magic."

"And how about your war scars?" She asked, looking me over again.

"The trademark bad luck of Dutch Jones," I said, pointing at each of my wounds, "Pack of wolves on my first day, and a manticore not three days later. I've also got a big one across my chest after some bandit came after me with a sharp piece of metal." I raised my injured leg, "This one happened last night while I was pulling your arse out of the fire. You're welcome."

She punched my arm again. I was worried I would get a bruise from it, "Quit complaining, you'll live."

We walked around some more while I explained some of the facts about Equestria, after ten minutes she started to jump up and down on the spot, "God, I'm getting antsy. Can I run somewhere now?"

I laughed, "Sure, I'll fly alongside you. I haven't used these things properly for a while now, and I'm not exactly in running condition."

I jumped into the air and began to hover a few metres above Sarah. She said, "Ok, I admit, that is pretty impressive."

"Finally pay me a compliment, huh?" I asked. Sarah simply waved her hand and began running, while I flew over her, giving her directions so she wouldn't get lost in the gardens. After ten minutes of running around, she stopped for a breather and I landed next to her. I was amazed at how well she was taking this, and I would have to ask her about it later.

"Hey Sarah, I'm planning on going back to my home town tomorrow, any chance you want to come with me?"

"Uh, of course," Sarah said sarcastically, "You seem to know your way around this place, so I'm sticking to you like glue."

I chuckled, and nudged her shoulder, "Come on, I'll show you around the rest of the castle, maybe get your clothes cleaned. You're hardly looking presentable."

I was rewarded by a fourth punch, but I laughed it off as we walked back to the castle. I put my arm around her shoulder again, and we looked at each other with massive smiles on our faces.

"It's good to have another human here," I said, "Even better that it's you, Sarah,"

Her smile widened, "It's good to see you too, Dutch."