Caring Sparkle (Under Revision)

Twilight slowly opened her eyes. She felt very light headed, possibly due to the stressful turn of events that met her upon entering the human world. The “pleasant” greeting by this world must have been too much. At least she seemed to be okay now.

Twilight began examining her room. It looked like she might have been brought to a hospital. Though the walls around her were cracked and chipped, the room was definitely one belonging in a hospital.

Her eyes stopped searching the room once she noticed the familiar face of Marcus, standing next to her bed.

“It's nice to see that you're okay. The doctor was amazed at how fast you healed after we removed the metal from your leg. I brought you some breakfast,” Marcus sat a tray, with eggs, hash browns, and a glass of water, on the tray in front of Twilight.

Twilight looked at the area Marcus had indicated to see a faint scar leading down one of her legs. “Thank you for taking care of me. I'm sorry for what happened to your friend,” Twilight said with sympathy for Marcus.

“It's okay. We're all living off borrowed time. He was a brave man and will be remembered as such. Now you might want to eat your food before it get's cold,” Marcus said with a big grin before making his way for the door. “Once you're done, let the guard in the hallway know. We got some questions for you later. But take your time. Regain your strength. You'll need it for the nuts that want to talk to you. Oh, and be careful around the civilians here. They're not as nice as Kristan and I.”

Twilight took a bite of the food and was surprised by how great it tasted. She had never eaten anything that tasted this good. The flavors just melted together. These humans sure knew how to cook.

Twilight, after finishing the food, decided it was time to go and meet this guard. She couldn't help but wonder why these people would issue one of their own as a bodyguard for her. Guess now is a good time as any to get answers, Twilight thought as she opened the door.

**********************************

Expecting to see a tall and muscular human standing by the door, Twilight was confused when she saw the bodyguard the humans had selected for her.

Next to the door, a human, not much shorter than Marcus, leaned against the wall, clutching an odd-shaped sword close to his chest.

His hair was short, allowing Twilight the ability to fully see his face. Much to Twilight's surprise, the human didn't look that old. She didn't quite understand the way humans age, but, by first glance, he looked much younger than Marcus. His outward appearance showed a hardened, cold appearance. It almost seemed as though he was waiting on something bad to happen.

“Um... hello. It's nice to meet you. My name is Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said as she held out her hoof to shake the mans hand.

The man's face quickly changed to a happier expression. “It's a pleasure to meet you Twilight Sparkle. My name is Tyler,” he said as he turned to face Twilight. Giving her a much better look at his face.

Twilight took a closer look at Tyler's face. As he shook her hoof, she noticed a warming smile. Much more than that, she noticed, behind a pair of glasses, his gentle, blue eyes. Twilight could feel nothing more than pure kindness and innocence from his stare as he released his firm grip on her hoof.

“They weren't joking when they told me I would be guarding a talking unicorn. This is, by far, the weirdest assignment they've ever put me on. But it's quite a pleasure to meet you. Under normal circumstances, they would have killed you on sight. But Marcus said you were friendly and were here for a reason. If Marcus can vouch for you, then you are okay in my book. No matter how odd it feels to be talking to a miniature horse,” Tyler mentioned as he cracked a pleasant laugh.

“Miniature horse? From the looks of it, you're the last one who should be mocking anything small,” Twilight couldn't hold back the smart comeback.

Tyler burst into laughter. “So you come with jokes? Something tells me that we'll get along perfectly.”

Twilight remembered that Marcus mentioned a meeting. “Marcus told me that somepony wanted to see me?”

“Somepony??? I don't know about pony, but our “higher ups” definitely want to talk with you. As for meeting you, everyone here has heard of you and they all want to meet you. Me included,” Tyler explained.

“All of them...?” Twilight nervously asked. This didn't sound good.

“Yeah. When Marcus yelled over the radio that he was rushing a talking unicorn into the hospital, many of the people around here couldn't believe it. I was told to rush to the gate to meet y'all. Once those gates opened, hell broke loose. The Divine Judges, a radical religious cult, declared you a spawn of the Devil. Their followers began to attack before Kristan and I began our defense. Once we got you to this room, my leaders told me that I was to watch over you for the remainder of your stay,” Tyler straightened his glasses before motioning for Twilight to follow him.

Twilight followed, continuing with her questions. “They feel like my life could be in danger?”

“I wish I could say they care about your life. I know these people all too well though. They want to make sure that you don't die till they can get some answers. This place is just as corrupt, if not more, as it used to be. Cowards hiding behind their power and money while we do the dirty work. Leaving the average civilian to rot and die,” Tyler indicated as he opened the door leading out of the VIP wing.

Upon opening the doors, Twilight could heard screams of pain, cries for help, pain and agony lined the walls of this hall. People lied out in the halls, each looking just as bad, if not worse, as the other. They were all either covered in blood, dirt, an unknown stain, or a combination of the three.

A small boy ran up to Tyler, begging for medicine to help ease his mothers pain. Patting the boy on the head, Tyler pulled a bottle, filled with pills, and handed it to the boy. The kid was so moved by the unexpected gift that he broke into tears before running back into a nearby room calling for his mom.

“It seems like these people know they can rely on you. But aren't you afraid of getting in trouble with your leaders?” Twilight asked, happy to see the man was a big softie at heart.

“Honestly, fuck them. These people need help, and the council doesn't care whether they die or not. I can't save them all, but I'll do what I can to help. They're just innocents who don't possess the means of working for the Council. Not that I care too much working for them,” Tyler continued leading Twilight down the hall.

“Why do you work for them if you hate it?” Twilight asked.

“Marcus and Kristan are still here. I can't just abandon my friends. We've been through a lot. I can't just abandon them when...” Tyler held his arm out to stop Twilight. This wasn't good.

*********************

The hallway in font of them had been blocked. Someone really did not want them to make it to that meeting.

Tyler quickly pulled out his radio, hoping Marcus had already made it to Kristan. “Marcus, we got an issue in the third floor hallway. The original route is blocked. I feel this might be the work of the Divine Judges. I recommend we meet at the lobby. Grab your rifle and prepare to give me and Twilight cover fire.”

A second passed before Marcus could be heard on the other end of the radio. “Damn. Why does all the bad shit happen when I leave you alone? Kristan and I will be waiting. You best be careful. Last thing I want is Missy cutting my dick off because you got hurt.”

Tyler put the radio up before heading down a nearby staircase. Twilight following right next to him.

Twilight knew that this was possibly leading into a trap. She suspected that Tyler also knew this. Maybe a change of subject would lighten the situation.

“So, who's Missy?” Twilight asked, trying to change the subject.

“Missy's my wife,” Tyler replied with a smile.

“Wife?! You look too young to be married!” Twilight replied, surprised at his answer.

“For your information, I'm twenty-eight years old. I've been married since I was twenty-five. I am plenty old enough to make my own decisions,” Tyler said with a laugh.

They made their way out the staircase. A diagram, of the floor they were on, indicated that they were on the ground floor now.

Voices, coming from around the corner, warned Twilight that it was probably the people Tyler was talking about. Tyler clearly heard them too as his gaze grew cold. Twilight didn't like this.

“Twilight, is there anything you can do to fight?” Tyler asked, knowing that they would be there for her.

“Yeah I can protect myself. But I don't like the idea of possibly killing a person,” Twilight knew how to use her magic to fight. Her brother taught her in his free time when he was home.

As they rounded the corner they saw a man kneeling in the hallway. He looked strange.

Upon seeing the man and unicorn, the man got up and began hobbling towards them. “Please! You got to help me! They took my wife saying they were going to rape her! Please save her!”

Twilight felt bad for the man. They had to save his wife. She stopped all thought as she saw Tyler point the L-shaped mechanism at the man.

“What are you doing! We need to help the...” Twilight began to say before Tyler cut her off.

“If they attacked you, why do you look unharmed? You're a distraction. Step aside. It won't bother me to end your life right here. You have to the count of three. One...” Tyler's gaze held unwavering on the man.

“What are you talking about?! This isn't a jo...” The man began to shout.

“Two...” Tyler was warning the man.

“Shit!” The man began to reach for a knife before a loud bang rang through the hall.

Twilight stood in shock as the man's stomach began to bleed. As he began to try and put pressure on the wound, his intestines began to roll out from the wound. He cried helplessly before Tyler ended his suffering with another shot to the forehead. The man collapsed to the floor, as all life had left his body.

Two men dove from a hole in the roof above them. Tyler fired twice, hitting one directly in the chest. But the other shot had missed its target. The man began to swing a massive club down towards Tyler before he dodged out of the way.

The fierce thug turned towards Twilight, swinging the blunt weapon. Adrenaline leading her actions, Twilight's horn glowed, stopping the mans attack. Light began to shine from the mans eyes before his body erupted from all the magical force that Twilight had built up inside him. Painting everything in the surrounding area a deep red.

Tyler, not quite understanding how she did it, looked over at Twilight. Her horn was starting to dim and blood covered her entire body. Tyler holstered his weapon before resting Twilight's head against his chest before she started crying upon realization of what she had done. The unicorn had obviously never had to do anything like that before.

“Why did I do that? I didn't mean too... I just wanted to stop him. I've never done anything like that,” Twilight cried deeply into Tyler's chest.

“It's okay Twilight. This stuff happens. Sometimes, in order to save one life, you must take another. It doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you a survivor. You made a quick choice, seeing that this man meant to kill you.” Tyler looked her directly in the eye.

Twilight wiped away her tears. Remembering her brother talk about instances he'd seen in battle. “This is war.... My brother always said it was a horrible thing to see. But, I never thought I would end up killing anypony...”

“You said you had a mission, right? Well, this is a part of that mission. If you have to kill someone again, I want you to do it. I will not have you dying on me,” Tyler explained to Twilight.

Twilight shook her head in agreement as shots could be heard coming from up ahead.

Tyler ran in the direction of the gunfire, Twilight following close beside. As they neared the lobby, bodies could be seen across the floor. Each, a member of the Divine Judges.

In a doorway, across the room, Marcus waved over for them to move into the entrance. Kristan sat beside him holding a rifle of her own.

Smile on his face, Tyler walked towards his friends. Glad that they had cleared the way for their safe exit.

Twilight followed close behind, stopping as she noticed a familiar aura flow between the three. They seemed to flow into each other, calmly dancing around them.

Twilight knew she was in safe hands now. Knowing she had good friends with her, she ran for the group. Curious as to what the Council had in store for her.