Hey there guys. TSO here once again with a new chapter of HVP. Not as big or as interesting as before, but I promise it will be building up soon. Keep the follows/favourites/reviews coming. If anyone here is a half-decent artist, I am inviting you to make some fanart for this story. Can be anything, like Twilight and Shade with Roach and Rook in the mess, or maybe what Twilight would look like in a combat uniform. Humanised of course.
Enjoy!
The twelve men in the room were some of the best soldiers the world has ever seen. Years of training and combat have made their impression on them, having exposed them to some of the worst and the weirdest that the world order has to offer. Everything from children being used as suicide bombers, mass graves being used as latrines, shootings at major population centres, and even the wrath of an angry Ghost wearing a mask with a cartoon character's face on it; these men have seen and heard it all.
That was until Twilight had completed sharing her back-story and what he recalled of how she ended up in the rebel weapons stockpile. For the first time in a long time, the veterans of global counter-terror were speechless, stunned at the revelations of what they had just heard. One of them managed to find the capacity to speak up.
"So, you're a magical pony-turned human. Your kind harness magic and wield it for everyday use. An accident occurred when you were casting one of those spells, and the result of said accident had you end up here looking like one of our own." Royce surmised, still trying to wrap his head around the fact. "No offense lady, but are you sure you're feeling okay after that fall?"
Twilight sighed at his remark, somewhat expecting resistance to the truth. Before she could respond however, Chemo stepped up and held a small light into her eyes.
"Pupils seem to react as normal, and she appears to have full range of mobility, not to mention that she's fully coherent. But I'm no shrink, so I can't judge her mental capacity in regards to sanity." He said as he looked Twilight over. Shade stepped in and spoke up.
"Guys, we can't prove her story, but we can't disprove her either. I say we give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being, and look after her until the time when she is able to return. I mean, from what she told us, her being missing would probably become a big fucking deal back in her home."
The Royal Palace, Canterlot, Equestria
That same time...
"I want every Pegasi squadron we have, active and reserve, mobilised and searching every square hoof of Equestria until we locate Twilight Sparkle. I also want all of the Unicorn brigades to utilise every known tracking spell we have to assist the Pegasi in their search, maybe we can narrow down the search area. All Earth Pony divisions will be on standby in the event that we need to recover Twilight by force, and to cover for the other two forces during this operation." Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armour relayed his instructions to his subordinate unit commanders, pacing the room in clear yet controlled distress. "The second anypony finds or discovers anything related to her whereabouts, I want to hear about it. Understood?"
"Odds are that over in her magical world, they're working around the clock to locate her. When they do, they'll come and get her." Shade finished, looking down at Twilight. Meat looked to Twilight as well, a look of thought on his face.
"All this story is good and all, but unless you can prove that you are magical or something, I'm not going to buy it." Meat crossed his arms, and looked to the rest of the men. "You guys agree? If she is who she says she is, then she should have no problem proving it."
Twilight looked to Meat, and then up to Shade, a worried expression on her face. Shade looked back at her with a look that matched Twilight's. He pulled Twilight up and walked her over to the back of the room. Twilight was about to question him but Shade cut her off.
"How could I be so stupid? Why didn't I think of that before?"
"Think of what before?"
"When you told me that story, I bought it all," began Shade, anger creeping into his tone of voice. "If you really are magical, you should have no problem using whatever magical ability you have to prove it. I should have asked you to do something back in the ward, before I let you out and showed you everything." His grip on Twilight's arm was tightening, causing her some minor pain and stress.
"I don't know if I can prove it. Back in my alicorn form, I would use my horn to channel my magic. I don't have anything of the sort, so if I still retained my abilities, I would have nothing to focus it through." Twilight said, the pain in her arm getting worse. "Shade, it's starting to hurt, please let go." The grip on her arm loosened, but did not disappear.
"So, if you wanted to cast a spell or something, you would need something to focus it through, something attached to your body..." Shade trailed off, looking at Twilight's body for something that she might be able to use as a substitute for a horn. When he reached her hands, an idea form in his mind. "Say, you would have used for magic to do menial stuff, like writing or lifting things, right?"
"Anything I couldn't do with my hooves, I would use my magic for, including writing."
"So, say you wanted to use a pencil or quill to write. Could you break down the spell for me?" Twilight thought for a second, Shade's idea still not making sense to her.
"Well, I would first focus on the item I'm manipulating and then I would channel the actions I needed through the manipulation spell. My mind would think I'm holding and writing with the quill, but in reality the spell is doing the work for me."
"So, you focus on an object, and 'will' it to do what you want. I see." He turned his head and looked at the men across the room. "Twilight, your hands, they might serve the same purpose as your horn, if you get what I mean. You actually might have more control with them, from what I can only assume."
"How so?" Twilight was legitimately stunned by Shade's statement. "Can you use magic?"
"No, but it's a big thing in fiction. Some magicians use enchanted wands linked to their bodies, others channel their ability through their body itself. We don't have any wands here, but you might be able to use your body, your hands in particular." Shade reached into his pocket and pulled a notepad from it. He set it down on the small table in front of them, and then looked at Twilight. "Now, this is going to sound weird, but I want you to pick up that notepad without actually picking it up. Extend your arm and hand, like you were going to reach out and pick it up, but don't actually touch it. Focus on it and think about picking it up."
Twilight thought about his instructions for a minute, his plan starting to make sense in her mind. Following what he said, she reached her arm and hand out towards the notepad, but did not step in or move to pick it up. Instead, she focused her mind on the object and imagined herself picking it up. As she did so, she felt a slight tingling feeling in her hand, and noticed that her hand was now bathed in a dull pink glow, forming a kind of glove around her fingers and palm. Seeing this, Twilight focused harder on the act of picking up the notepad, lifting her hand slightly as if she was levitating the notepad. To her and Shade's surprise, the notepad started to glow pink and began to lift up from the surface of the table. Twilight's eyes widened at the realisation that she still had some of her magic, while Shade started to grin like a maniac, firstly at the fact that his idea was working, and secondly at the fact that Twilight was indeed who she said she was.
Twilight experimented with her ability, twisting her hand and wrist around, the movements also affecting the rotation and angle of the notepad. She raised a second hand and started to manipulate the notepad in more ways, such as opening it up and flipping through random pages, her second hand glowing just like her first. She even ripped a blank page out of the back and was able to fold it neatly. Shade just stood there awestruck at the entire act, and as Twilight set the notepad back down on the desk. Twilight looked up at him with a huge smile on her face, matching Shade's smile.
"Twilight, that was amazing. You've convinced me completely now. Think you can do it faster, because I know how we can convince them." Shade leant down to whisper into Twilight's ear, detailing his plan to her. With a nod, the pair of them walked back to the group, where Meat was now talking about his exploits on their recent period of leave. Seeing the pair arrive, he interrupted his own story telling.
"So, the pair of you figured out how she's going to prove that she's some magical being from another world?" He asked sarcastically, complete with a smirk.
"Well, actually yes." Replied Shade, who was now focused Meat's plate carrier. Twilight followed his gaze to a particular pouch on the side of his vest. "Meat, can you take out your radio for me?" Meat paused for a second, unsure of Shade's motives, but then moved to take the radio out of the pouch it sat it. He held the radio in his hand, showing it to Shade. "Twilight, could you please get the radio from Meat?" Twilight nodded her answer, then held her hand out towards the radio in Meat's hand, still sitting in her seat beside Shade.
Meat stifled a small chuckle at the scene unfolding before him. "You know you have to get..." He trailed off as the radio was enveloped in a pink glow, matching the glow of Twilight's hands, before the radio slipped from his hands and started floating towards Shade, Twilight's glowing hand guiding it across the gap. Meat and the rest of the men watched in shock, Ghost had lifted the sunglasses up from where they sat to ensure he was not actually seeing things. The radio slowly settled into Shade's lap, where the glow faded out, Twilight and Shade smiling at the clearly shocked group of men.
"But... but... you... magic...radio..." Meat started to stammer as Shade held the radio aloft in his hand, sharing a high-five with Twilight.
"Is that enough proof for you?" Twilight said with unheard confidence and strength in her voice. The man known as Captain Mactavish stepped forward and looked at Twilight with a serious expression.
"I guess we'll have to take your word. Do us a favour though and keep that magic skill a secret. Can't have the bosses finding out otherwise we'll have a bunch of lab coats descending on the base with you in their sights." He crossed his arms, and looked at the clock on the wall. "It's getting late, chow time is approaching very soon, and we have training scheduled for tomorrow. Twilight, Shade, if neither of you have any objections, then you will be sharing a room for the duration of Twilight's stay."
The two of them looked at each other, small but nervous smiles on their faces as they processed what the Captain had just said. "You take the bed, I'll sleep on the small air mattress that I keep for long-haul missions," Shade said as he stood up from his seat. "I'll show you the way." The rest of the men took this as the cue that they were dismissed and free to leave. Twilight followed Shade to the accommodation block, navigating through a group of newly recruited members who stood with bags and duffels by their sides. They looked at Shade and Twilight with odd looks, but assumed that it was nothing out of the ordinary.
They reached Shade's room on the second floor, the somewhat moderately sized room large enough to fit a king single bed, wardrobe, desk, bookshelf and a small footlocker. A door to the side led to the small bathroom that Shade barely used, as his tall frame made using the shower practically impossible since it only reached to below his neck, the product of shoddy design by the US Armed Forces. Given the bare essentials in furniture, Twilight found the room surprisingly cosy and comfortable. The walls were covered in various photos and posters of military paraphernalia, the occasional picture of Shade with his team out in the field on a mission, or clippings from newspapers that spoke of a group of soldiers that intervened and prevented an incident.
A few small photo frames sat on the desk, beside a small paver-sized object, the people in the photos different to what Twilight saw on the walls. One photo had Shade in the centre of a group of similar aged people, two other men and two women by his side. They were all smiling and had their arms behind each other's backs; obviously they were Shade's friends back home. The second photo had a group of men with Shade, all of them soldiers but not the group of soldiers he was with currently. A man from the first photo was also in this one, standing next to Shade with a pair of binoculars in his hands. The group were standing in the desert, in front of a strange looking vehicle of some kind.
The last photo stood out to Twilight. Shade looked a lot younger in this photo; Twilight would have guessed that it was taken about five or six years prior. He was with an older looking man and woman, and a younger man and a young girl. There were similarities between Shade, the older man and the younger man, enough for Twilight to work out that they were his father and younger brother, the others being his mother and younger sister. The sight of Shade's family in the picture reminded Twilight of her own family, and Twilight began to wonder how they, and her friends as well, were dealing with her disappearance.
"I know this place isn't much, but it's got what I need, which is all I really ask for these days." Shade said, setting down a mattress on the floor. "I'll use the showers down the hall, so you can have the one in here. I never use it because I can't fit in the damn thing, you'll probably have a better chance. I usually go lights out at midnight, but that depends on what the agenda has been and will be. The door locks from the inside, but I have a key. I'll knock if I think you're in here. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask, I'll try to get for you." An idea popped into Twilight's head, something that might prove useful in the future, especially for if and when she returns.
"You don't happen to have some paper and something to write with?"
"No, but I do have that laptop. What do you need it for?"
"I'm going to start taking a journal of sorts, something I can show my friends and the princess when I get home."
"Well, you can use that laptop if you want. It can serve as a digital typewriter of sorts; you have those back home, right?"
"Typewriters? Of course, how else do you think we make books and newspapers?" Shade walked over to the desk where Twilight was sitting and opened the lid of the laptop. Anticipating the reaction, he pressed the power button, bringing the laptop out of its perpetual state of hibernation. Shade never shut it down fully unless it needed to update, or if he was being deployed and had to leave it behind.
The glow of the screen cast onto Twilight's wide-eyed face as Shade quickly opened up the word processor application and prepared it for the technological novice. Shade then looked at Twilight and gave her a quick rundown on how to use the laptop and processor. To say that Twilight was a fast learner would have been an understatement. After a few false starts with the lightweight keys on the keyboard, she was quickly typing at a speed that could rival most secretaries or speech dictators.
Twilight was completely enthralled by the piece of technology that Shade had let her use. She had been no stranger to the typewriters back home, where she was able to use her magic to make final copies of various reports for the princesses. The methods of how she was taught to use them did not make much sense back there, but now she found that those techniques made more sense and had better application now that she had a set of ten individual fingers. The feel of the keys were a slightly strange sensation, but the soft clattering noises that she made when she started to speed up were somewhat soothing. She began to block out the world around her, but Shade asked something that made her stop in her tracks.
"Twilight, how long do you think it will take before your friends come for you?"
The question made Twilight think long and hard. While Celestia herself might be able to perform the spell without any issues, the fact remained that they did not know where the spell sent her to. A thorough search of Equestria and the neighbouring lands could take months. How could they know that Twilight was not even on their planet anymore? And how would they know that this planet was the one that Twilight was on? The thought was sobering to say the least.
"I," started Twilight, her voice slightly cracking, "I don't know. Best case scenario, maybe five or six months. It could be much longer though, maybe a few years..." Tears started to run from Twilight's eyes as the reality sunk in. Shade saw this immediately and stepped over to comfort her.
"That's a long time, but that means that there is a chance. If there's one thing I've learnt in my time as a soldier, is that you never give up hope. Because when you give up on hope, you eventually give up on yourself." He placed an arm around Twilight's shoulders and pulled her close. "Now, you have a few options here. One: you can lament over this fact for however long it takes, letting these thoughts take hold on how you live your new life. Two: you can forget about that fact, live in ignorance until the time comes, then resign yourself to surprise when it does happen. Three, and I would choose this if I were you: Keep the fact in mind, but don't let it get to you, and make the most you can out of this experience."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, for one you are in a new world. Why not study what you can about it, and maybe compile a report about what you see and experience? Sounds like the perfect thing for the princess's star pupil, right?"
"I guess, you would be willing to help?"
"I'll help teach you anything and everything you want to know. I'm sure the guys will want to help as well." Twilight smiled at Shade, and wiped her tears away.
"I appreciate this Shade, I really do."