A Whole New World

For most of the ponies in Ponyville, life was carrying on as normal. They worked, went to school, or met and talked with their friends and family. Exactly how things should be. But there were a few exceptions to those normal lives.

Lyra Heartstrings was one of those exceptions.

The mint green unicorn was lying on the couch of her living room, reading an old fantasy novel she used to like as a filly. She didn't know how she came to be reading about how Tight Draw the unicorn vanquished the ancient dragon of the Borfaro Mountains, but she needed something to distract her mind.

Despite this, her eyes would occasionally drift to a small photo resting on the coffee table. It was a picture of her and Dutch, which Pinkie Pie had sneakily taken when they had both fallen asleep on a bench in the park during a surprisingly comfortable afternoon. As soon as her eyes took the image in, they quickly returned to the book. She tried as much as she could to focus on the words in front of her, but the image that was burned into her mind lingered, and brought more heartache to Lyra.

With a heavy sigh, she closed the book and floated it back over to the shelf. Thinking back, it wasn't a very good story anyway. She looked at the clock, and noticed it was almost 4:30. Maybe she could take some sleeping pills and go to bed early today. She certainly needed it; it had been a few restless nights as of late.

But as she went to leave the living room and head for the kitchen, there was a knock at the door. Lyra paused in the hallway, considering whether she should answer it or not, before deciding to open the door. Standing on the other side were two of her friends, Bon-Bon and Twilight.

"Hello Lyra," Bon-Bon said quietly, "Do you mind if we come in?"

Lyra stepped to one side and let them in. As they entered, they both took note of how bleak everything looked. It was as if the house had taken note of Lyra's depression and turned itself grey to match.

"Lyra, we need to talk." Twilight said, finally breaking the deafening silence that was hanging over the house.

"What about?"

"You." Bon-Bon answered, getting straight to the point, "You've been cooped up here for days, only going out to get food. It's not doing you any good, and the rest of our friends are getting worried."

"I just need some time to think things through," Lyra mumbled, not even making eye contact as she returned to the living room.

"Lyra, please." Twilight said, trying not to make her voice sound aggressive, "You need your friends. Sitting here, tearing yourself apart with worry isn't going to achieve anything."

Lyra didn't respond as she sat back on the couch. Her attention was now fully centered on the photo on the table. Twilight and Bon-Bon exchanged worried glances before moving to join her. They both sat on either side of her and Twilight put a hoof over her withers.

Bon-Bon paused, figuring out everything she wanted to say before speaking, "Listen. Pinkie Pie's throwing a party at Sugarcube Corner. Everypony's going to be there, including Fluttershy. It would do both of you a world of good to be there and offer moral support."

Lyra was conflicted. The emotions running through her head were giving her an uncomfortable feeling of cognitive dissonance. She wanted to see her friends, Fluttershy especially, and they in turn wanted to help her. But at the same time, if she went and partied, having a good time, did that mean that she didn't care about what state Dutch could be in?

Twilight's eyes flashed briefly as she remembered something, "Lyra, I've been talking with Eclipse, the Spirit of Magic. You remember her?" Lyra replied with a nod, "She said that all the Spirits of Harmony have a connection with each other. That they can sense each other, sometimes even communicate. They just have to focus on the energy of the other Spirits."

Lyra's ears unfolded, and her head darted to Twilight, "You mean they can contact Dutch?"

"Not Dutch, Valiant. And no, they can't. At least not now. Eclipse told me that combined, her and the other Spirits were able to sense Valiant's energy, but they couldn't contact him. And even then, the energy was very weak. But the fact that they can sense him at all means one thing: Dutch is alive, somewhere."

"But you can't know more than that?" Lyra guessed. Twilight's fallen expression spoke volumes, and Lyra let out another sigh.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier. With everything that's been happening, it hadn't crossed my until now."

"It's fine," Lyra reassured, "It's better than not knowing at all. Thank you."

After a few seconds of silence, Lyra took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "You're right. I've spent too long staying in my house like some hermit. Maybe some time with my friends is what I've been looking for."

Neither Twilight nor Bon-Bon replied, but both had feelings of relief and satisfaction on their faces. Surprisingly, it was Lyra who got down from the sofa first, grabbing a scarf and hat for the cold. As the two guests passed her on their way out, Lyra took one last look inside the house before closing the door and locking it.

The journey to Sugarcube Corner was a quiet experience. Nothing was said, but nothing needed to be said. The only noise that was made was the crunching of snow under their hooves. Twilight and Bon-Bon were just happy they were able to get their friend out her self-imposed solitary confinement.

Eventually, they reached Sugarcube Corner and went inside. The Cakes immediately knew what they were there for, and gave a friendly wave from behind the counter. When they reached Pinkie's room, the party was just about to begin. Decorations had been set up, everyone else was already present, and Pinkie Pie was setting a pile of vinyl records on the table.

"Lyra!" The pink pony leapt over the table and pulled her into a hug, "It's soooo good that you came. Now we can get to work turning that frown upside-down."

Pinkie grip was like a vice around Lyra's neck, and try as she might, she couldn't release herself. Despite this, she still found a smile creeping onto her face. It seemed that no matter what condition you were in beforehand, Pinkie would always find a way to make you smile.

The rest of her friends gathered around her, giving their own form of greeting. Seeing each of them reminded Lyra just what she had been missing out on, and how wrong she had been to simply lock herself away. Fluttershy approached her last, wearing the same smile as the others.

"Thank you for coming, Lyra," she whispered.

"Thank Twilight and Bon-Bon," Lyra replied, giving her a gentle hug, "They were the ones who managed to drag me out of the house."

Everyone laughed at her response, and Pinkie put a vinyl record on the player, "Enough chit-chat ponies. Let's partay!"

The next few hours were filled cake, music, games and laughter. Throughout it all, Lyra kept smiling and laughing along with her friends. It was the best she had felt for days, since she had got the letter from Canterlot. At that moment, she didn't care about anything else. The fact that Dutch was at least alive was enough to keep her spirits up. She was amazed at Fluttershy. Despite not even having the luxury of knowing of Shadow's condition at all, she still had a happy smile on her face as she talked with Rainbow Dash about their childhood memories of Flight Camp.

"Lyra, might I have a word with you?" Rarity asked from across the room. Lyra obliged and joined her, passing Sarah and Applejack as they discussed plans to expand the farm's apple orchard.

"I was wondering if you could assist me tomorrow afternoon at the boutique." she explained, "A rather important mare has asked me to create a stunning new dress for her, and you have just the right build. I would be ever so grateful if you could do some modelling for me."

It didn't take Lyra long to reply. She was done grieving, it hadn't accomplished anything. Friends existed to help each other. They had helped her when she had been at her lowest; why shouldn't she help them when they needed it?

"Sure Rarity. That sounds nice."

It took a few minutes for me to adjust to the sudden increase of light as I stepped outside, but it was certainly not unwelcome. As I held my hand over my eyes, I took a large lungful of air. The clean, open smell was enough to give me energy as I took in my surroundings.

The entrance of the cave was situated on the wide ledge of a cliff face. There was a long, winding path leading down to the ground, some eighty feet below us. Looking down, I couldn't see any sign of the griffin that had left. If he was still alive, he was already somewhere out in the desert.

Kamots was leaning on one side of the cave entrance, inspecting a map of his own. I joined him and examined it myself, only to find that he had made several modifications to it. There were multiple lines and sketches where I assumed Kamots had made corrections to his map, as well as symbols that I assumed were in the Tymari language.

"There is a town a day's walking from here, but there's only one safe route." he said after studying the map, "The desert is too empty to cross, but the edge of the Everfree Forest is close. With the animals and rivers there, we will have plenty of opportunities for food and water, and the desert is less kind than the predators that roam there."

"Sounds good," I said, "The sooner we can get back to civilisation, the better."

Kamots and I descended the path down the cliff face slowly, with the rest of the slaves following some distance behind. From where I was standing above the ground, the Everfree Forest looked to be a considerable distance across the featureless desert, but after walking for so long all those days ago, I didn't phase me as much as it should have.

It took a few hours to reach the forest. As it came more into view, the slaves behind us became more and more agitated. I had a feeling they wouldn't like what Kamots had in mind, and when the dry sand suddenly gave way to earth and grass as we crossed the Everfree's borders, the group stopped altogether.

"Woah, woah, woah. We're going in there?" asked one of the slaves.

"It's the quickest way back to the settlements," I said.

"We won't even make it if we go in there," said a griffin, "We may have followed you two out of the caves, but we are not going into the Everfree Forest. It's just not natural."

Several other slaves nodded in agreement, and Kamots took the griffin to one side, showing him the map. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but when he was finished, the griffin returned to the group and talked for a few minutes. After that, they took

"What did you say?" I asked Kamots as he returned.

"I told them to go around the forest," he replied, "It's a longer route, but it's the only one he would settle for, and they would only slow us down would they have followed us in their mindset."

Internally shrugging to myself, I fell in behind him as he continued into the forest, not showing any signs of slowing down. Neither of us spoke as we walked; we had nothing to put into a conversation other than small talk, and that wasn't worth it if it meant attracting predators.

Progress through the forest was slow, but I constantly reminded myself that every step forward was a step closer to home. Closer to Ponyville. Closer to Twilight, Sarah. Lyra. The hunger and thirst were beginning to return, but those thoughts forced me to keep going.

I hadn't been keeping track of how far we had walked, but after a sizable distance, Kamots came to a sudden halt, his ears twitching sporadically.

"Dutch, stop!" he hissed. When I froze, he grabbed my arm and pulled me to one side, "Hide, now!"

We both hid behind the trees, watching the clearing for any signs of movement. After a few moments, I found what had made Kamots hide. The steady thumping of heavy footfalls reached my ears, and a pair of trees were violently pushed apart as a manticore shouldered its way into the clearing.

Seeing the creature from where we were hiding sent a chill down my spine. I had never been sure how I would react seeing my closest shave with death again, but part of me was trembling with pure, unadulterated terror. The manticore I had seen in the forest near Ponyville had swatted me aside like a fly, and this one appeared to be larger than that one.

I held my breath and didn't dare move a muscle as the manticore stopped in the middle of the clearing and sniffed at the ground. I subconsciously pulled myself closer to the trees, terrified that the beast would pick up our scent and find us. Kamots, however, watched the manticore with unblinking eyes, patiently waiting for it to leave.

The manticore's head suddenly snapped up as it caught sight of something, and gave a deafening roar before breaking into a sprint and carrying on through the forest. Kamots and I stepped out from our cover and carried on walking, thankfully in the opposite direction the manticore had gone.

"I hate manticores," I said with a shudder.

"So you've encountered them before?" Kamots inquired.

"Yeah." I replied, "It was... an extremely painful experience."

"You are lucky to be alive," Kamots said, "Manticores are some of the most dangerous creatures in the Everfree, rivaled only be a full pack of timberwolves. I have crossed their paths multiple times during my treks through the forest."

"So how did you fight them?"

"I didn't." I looked at Kamots with confusion, "If you come across a manticore - or two if you've angered fate - you must not fight them. But you cannot run from them either, they're too fast. Your only chance to survive is to look them directly in the eye. It is a challenge for them, and you must never let them out of your sight. Look away, even for a second, and you die. If they charge you, or become aggressive, stand your ground, and if you try to kill one... well, look if you want, but its claws will be the last thing you ever see."

I was silent as I processed this new information, "The manticore I met didn't chase me when I ran."

"Most likely it was protecting its young. It would have caught you otherwise."

We walked for hours, following Kamots' map. Eventually, the sun began to set over the Everfree. The temperature began to drop again, and chilling memories of my trek across the desert started creeping into the back of my mind. My instincts were telling me to find somewhere to shelter and start a fire. Luckily, Kamots had the same idea as he headed to a cave that had come into view.

"We should rest until dawn," he said, looking up at the sky, "The Everfree's magic will protect us from the desert's cold, and we can make it to the town tomorrow."

With a nod, I followed him inside, where he set up a fire and lay out a blanket for himself. With my military clothing, I was content with simply sleeping on the ground. The evening meal consisted of more rodents which Kamots had stolen from the mines before we had left.

As Kamots had been travelling for most of his life, he was used to the outside went to sleep quickly. I, on the other hand, took more time, and I spent it staring at the night sky. What little sky I could see through the canopy was filled with stars, and I could only imagine how much work Princess Luna put into it. It was common knowledge now that she had regained control of the moon, and I felt bad that I hadn't met her since the events of the Summer Sun Celebration. I told myself that when I get home, I would try to see her in Canterlot. After all, she now held the same rank and status as Celestia, and deserved to be treated as such.

Back at Fort Coltson, four stallions were wandering around the base. Since two of their patrol were MIA, the rest of Element 0-5 had no orders and nothing to do. To try and kill time and make themselves useful, they resorted to simply helping other guards around the base. Whether it was Battle Plan helping the armourers with keeping stock of supplies, or Hammer Strike assisting the engineers, they needed something to occupy their mind.

Right now, Steel Sword, Hammer Strike and Battle Plan were in the mess hall, while Quick Flurry was trying to get some information from superior officers about their two squadmates. Hammer and Battle were reliving past experiences, while Steel was content with just listening. The chef at Coltson was nowhere near as good as Cookie, but it was still edible, and right now, they needed something in their stomachs.

"You're kidding, right?" Battle asked, inquiring further about one of Hammer's stories, "You don't seem the type to willingly get into fights. I thought that would be more Flurry's shtick."

"They weren't street fights." Hammer explained, "I used to do a lot of hoof-to-hoof combat at the local gym when I was a foal. It was all supervised, of course; nopony wanted an injury that would put them out of action, even if it would mean days off school. Plus it was a good way to settle disputes and grudges. I won quite a few awards when the competitions started.

"I remember this one time. Me and another earth pony - a mare - were almost ready to tear each other apart after a series of arguments. My dad, finally getting sick of our quarreling, suggested we go down to them gym and fight the bad blood out of our systems."

"Let me guess: you absolutely destroyed her?" Battle concluded.

"Actually, she had just as many fighting trophies under her belt as I did. While I had strength and size on my side, she was fast, and more agile than a cat. We drew quite the crowd by the end of it, and disappointed a lot of ponies who'd placed bets when we called it a draw after seven rounds."

"Did it help fix up relations with her?"

Hammer chuckled, "I should hope so. We got married a year later."

The sounds of hoofsteps brought the three soldiers out of their little world, and they saw Quick Flurry approaching their table. A single bruise that hadn't yet healed was still visible on his shoulder, but the most notable sign of his injuries was his head.

If a unicorn damaged their horn to such an extent that it took an extended period of time to heal, standard medical procedure was to fit a metal brace onto the pony's head. Since the brace completely encased the horn, soldiers had lovingly dubbed it 'the Condom'. Most of the time this would have elicited jabs and teasing from other ponies, but Flurry's unpredictable - and sometimes violent - personality quelled most of those temptations.

"Hey Flurry," Battle called as he approached, "Any news from the higher-ups?"

"Definitely," he took a seat next to them and pulled a cigarette out of his armour's pocket, lighting it with a box of matches. Since the Condom meant he couldn't use magic until his horn was fully healed, he had to resort to using his hooves for everything. He took a puff before continuing, "I've got bad news, and I've got good-ish news, lads. Which do you wanna hear first?"

"Let's get the bad news out of the way first." Steel said, speaking for the first time in a while. Judging from Flurry's tone, he wasn't exactly pleased with what he had heard.

"There's still no word on the Cap," Flurry stated, "They have no idea where he is, or what condition he could be in. But it's been almost a week now, and the Generals are starting to call off the search parties." He put his cigarette back to his lips again, before adding, "Useless bloody nobles are just gonna give up on him."

There was a moment of silence as everyone at the table sighed, and Hammer decided to carry on the conversation, "So what's the 'good-ish' news?"

Another cloud of smoke came out of Flurry's mouth, and he turned his head, staring them all straight in the eye.

"They found Shadow."

When I blearily opened my eyes, Kamots was awake and had already packed his knapsack.

As I stood up and stretched my joints, he said, "I will scout out a path through the forest. If I do not return in fifteen minutes, follow the trail I'll leave you."

I looked up from checking my equipment, but the Tymari was already gone. With nothing to do, I focused on disassembling and cleaning the rifle. To kill extra time, I performed a maintenance check on the magazines too, only breaking my focus from the activity to glance up and scan the trees near the cave for predators. The only noises inside the cave were the scratching of parts, and the occasional snap of a twig would cause me to stop all movement and watch the mouth of the cave. When no trace of life presented itself, I would return to examining the weapon.

Another thing that occupied my time was my broken wing. It had become extremely stiff over the last few days, and I felt the need to stretch it. Something about it felt... wrong. It wasn't the fracture. I knew what those felt like, and this wasn't it. When I got back to Equestria, I'd have to check with a doctor.

I had just finished checking over the rifle for a second time when a thought suddenly occurred to me. It had been a while since Kamots had left to scout. I looked at my watch to confirm it; he'd been gone for almost twenty minutes. I knew he had told me to stay in the cave, but the part of me that wanted to find him won over the rest of my mind. I had lost Shadow, I wasn't going to lose another friend.

The forest was filled with noises as I trekked in the direction that Kamots had gone. Birds called, vegetation rustled in the wind, and the distant rumble of a waterfall made it seem more like a tropical jungle than the dark, foreboding forest it was supposed to be. As I walked, I started noticing obvious marks that had only recently been made. Snapped branches, claw mark on trees. It all seemed too consistent, and I figured these were the signs Kamots was leaving me to follow. But there was still no sign of him.

Now getting concerned for the Tymari's whereabouts, I took the risk of calling out, "Kamots. Kamots, where have you gone?"

There was a rustle in the bushes next to me, and I quickly brought the rifle to bear. As I did, a pack of timberwolves launched themselves out of the brush directly towards me. I was too shocked at the sudden arrival to react, but my shock turned to confusion as the simply barreled past me and carried on through the forest. I stood dumbfounded for a few moments, my mind trying to process what could be going on.

The wolves had gone straight past me without so much as batting an eyelid. Coupled with the fact that they weren't moving like they would on the hunt left very few possibilities, but one stood out the most in my head. Something was chasing them. Something so powerful and so frightening that it was enough to make a pack of timberwolves flee for their lives.

I heard a howl behind me, and could only assume a pack member had been slowed down and caught by whatever was chasing them. Movement above the treeline caught my attention, and I saw a line of smoke coming from through the trees. A lot of smoke.

That's when I felt the heat.

I squinted through the trees to try and see the source of the smoke, and sure enough, I could see an orange glow, which slowly grew larger over time. A wildfire. There was no doubt now. That thought alone filled me with dread. I needed to find Kamots, and fast.

Knowing that any potential predators would be running from the fire, I began shouting at the top of my lungs, "Kamots! Where are you?"

Then, through the trees, I heard a scream. It was deep, and male, but it was still filled with fear. That could only have been Kamots. I took off as fast as my legs would allow through the trees, ignoring branches and vines that whipped at my face. The further I moved, the more scared I became for Kamots. It was only when I saw a familiar brown tail that I breathed a sigh of relief.

When I saw the rest of him however, the fear returned. Kamots was sat against one of the trees, his arms wrapped around his knees, which he had pulled into his chest. He was staring in the direction of the wildfire, not even blinking, and he was mumbling something in his native language. I didn't know why, but the wildfire seemed to have him paralysed with fear.

"Kamots!" I shouted, grabbing his arm, "We have to move. Now!"

He didn't respond. He simply stared at the fire, not even acknowledging my presence.

"KAMOTS!"