Once the others were gone, I began to make my way back into the camp, where I was to be stationed. Truth be told I wasn't happy with this arrangement at all. I simply wanted things to be better again, but knew I would struggle to get those when I was stuck here with the relief force.

It made no sense to me. We need soldiers to take the city and get rid of this Gulfstream guy, and yet they hold us back? Surely you'd want to commit more soldiers to the attack, not fewer! We had small numbers as it was and yet they would make our force smaller still?

I sighed as I sat back near the fire. Or rather the pit where the fire would be had the fire been lit, which it had not. I sighed again, sitting there as I looked around at the sky and the land around. The tents continued to stand, forming a small city with soldiers within it.

When Opwinden had mentioned the choppers I was a little surprised. I had not noticed any amongst our forces, to be honest, and thought he was simply mistaken. But it turned out that we did have some, just not when we encountered them before.

The group we had added to our forces had choppers, it turned out. They had been patrolling another area to spot for Gulfstream's forces in case he had sent troops to attack them. They had been out all night and had returned in the morning. However, I'd been so tired I simply hadn't heard them land in the morning. It was quite odd seeing them sitting there, and pegasi casually working on flying machines. I mean, they had wings and they had to rely on machines to fly! Quite ironic, huh?

That wasn't the only noise, though. The unit had a bandmaster as well, and he was conducting several of the soldiers in playing military marches. A small number of them were tunes I recognized from the old days before this all began, which only furthered my suspicions about this world.

Hitch had suggested a theory to me over dinner last night. He had speculated that the reason the My Little Pony world functioned in a similar way to our own is because the residents of the world were deceased humans, who aped the conventions of their old life to create some comfort here.

Whilst it would suggest why their ways of life are rather like ours, it doesn't explain the fact each pony group is so distinct and shares a lot in common with a specific human culture. I, for one, find it hard to believe that every single earth pony I've met was once a human who lived in the United States. In fact, I knew two who weren't- Sunny and Hitch.

Nor could all the pegasi be former brits, or could the unicorns- truth be told I had no clue what culture the unicorns were meant to be. I could always think about it some more later.

My focus was suddenly broken by the world around me slowly shifting into a world of white light. Something odd was going on, and I tried to move away from it, but it seemed to be following me.

I tried to move away again, but the white void had me contained. Before I could start with the large scale panicking, the world began to change again. Perhaps it was sending me back to where I was before?

But no. The ground below me suddenly shifted into cloud, which I was somehow walking on. I thought only pegasi could do that!

In the distance, planets and stars formed into existance, the full enormity of reality appearing in its majesty both before and behind me. My jaw dropped at just how beautiful it was. "Wow..."

"You are truly blessed, Sprout," said a gentle voice. I looked over and saw an orb floating in front of me. I looked closely, and wracked my brains as to who this was.

"You know who I am?" I asked.

"Of course I do," they said. "I have been watching over all of you from afar."

I then recognized the voice. "You're the one who sent me here!"

"I did indeed, for this world needs your help," the voice said. "You are blessed, blessed like the seven others, for you know the truth and full enormity of the universe. You know that the land of Equestria exists, and that we are here for you."

Oh, so a whole load of other souls got pulled through? That would explain her earlier remark about this one needing a bit more power. I sighed. "Let me guess- me being here is connected to that crazy guy I fought in Maretime Bay and in the mountain."

"On the mountain," the voice corrected. "You weren't inside the mountain as that would suggest you were fighting in a cave. But yes, it is connected to him. He has dark plans for all of us, and we must stop him."

"Who is we?" I asked. "And is Misty safe? I really must know, as I'd hate to lose her and-"

"I can assure you Misty will be safe," the voice said. "I know of your feelings deep in your heart. Your love for Misty is pure, and with such a heart as yours the world will be safe. You are doing a better job than the original Sprout would have done, after all."

I took that in with some surprise. That would suggest the original Sprout had existed somewhere in this world. "But who are you? Why can't you give us any specifics? Why is this world in need of our help specifically?"

The figure of dust floated away. "Now is not the time for such movement, for I shall reveal myself to you all when the time is right. But in the meantime, we must continue our mission. Guarding the multiverse and protecting the timeline from his actions must take focus. Never fear, My Little Pony. I will be with you, always. Now you must return to your mission. Good luck."

The space environment began to fade around me, and suddenly I was back on the military base.

The bagpipes picked up precisely where they had left off, and suddenly I was brought back to my senses.

"You OK?"

I looked over and saw a soldier looking at me.

"I said, are you OK? You were looking pretty spaced out a moment ago. Something happen?"

I shook my head. "Sorry. Just lost my concentration for a moment there, that's all. Happens sometimes."

The soldier nodded. "It's OK. Just checking you were OK. Make sure to stay on standby in case we're needed, kiddo." He got up, and then trotted away from me.

I sighed, as my mind tried to process precisely what I had just seen on the frontlines. That dream had taken me to a very odd place on the ground.

A spirit spoke to me, and then warned me? I guess it was quite cool to know Equestria did exist, and if this news got out to bronies I have no doubt a massive flood of bronies would travel here to see it for themselves.

But there was something about the approach to the messaging I found a tad annoying. Instead of being direct with me and telling me what I needed to know, they seemed to want to talk in riddles and work around the bush. I know the voice was female, but I was having a hard time pinning down precisely whom the voice belonged to. It wasn't too simple, and that was causing me some annoyance. Who could it be that concerned the future of the G5 World? Clearly it was somepony connected to it.

A number of options were available. One thought was Argyle, but I dismissed that one pretty fast. The voice was female, and he was male. Another option was one of the princesses, but wouldn't they be long dead? That's an obvious barrier to working out a plan.

I know it's often said alicorns are immortal, but that's never actually stated in the show. Whilst they cannot die, there's nothing to say they can't be killed. Which is what probably happened between G4 and G5, if you ask me.

I decided sitting about and pondering about stuff wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I got off my flank and wandered toward another part of the camp. Perhaps a quick drink would help me get up and running again, so I stopped at the quartermaster.

"Anything to drink?" she offered.

"Tea," I asked. "I presume you do that?"

"That I can do," she said, and handed me a mug. "Tea is the fuel which keeps the pegasus army moving."

I gave it a drink, and found it helped to warm me up quite a bit. Good thing when my own mind was in some pretty awful places.

Author's Note

Whoa :O