Chapter 18 A Question. Wait, Scratch That, Questions!
Boomer looked over at the princess, "Your Highness, I do have a question."
Princess Luna smiled at him, "My champion, always so formal. Ye may call me Luna here amongst thy friends. In truth, I wouldst ye all do so, for while I wish ye all as friends to me, I now sense why Providence didst compel me to journey here this morn. I feel the bonds that will join us all in days to come. My chosen Knight Champion will need others to aid him at one time or another, and ye all shall answer that call. I wouldst call ye my Knights of the Night."
Boomer stood frozen for several seconds, along with everyone else, before he blinked, "Okay, now I have several questions. But I guess to start with my original one; last night, my magic was vastly stronger than ever before. I was able to do things as any unicorn with an unbroken horn could. Yet this morning, I struggled as I made breakfast. It was much easier than ever before, but nothing like last night. Is that because of you?"
Princess Luna nodded her head, just a bit. "Only in the smallest way, my champion. In truth, thy magic shall grow stronger as night cover the lands, just as mine doth. But thy power hath ever been limited by thyself. Ye are the one to throttle thy access to thy power, be it from thy initial self injury, or thy ongoing guilt. Ye alone are the one who canst determine the extent of thy power."
Boomer stood stunned, but Giggles nodded, "I thought so. As always, brother mine, you are your own worst enemy. It's a good thing you have friends who are here to help you out."
Boomer looked around. He stood in a room surrounded by fillies of all ages; one of whom, he'd just sworn his love to, one to whom he'd sworn fealty, one he'd rescued from death, in a way, one he'd sworn to protect, and one who he already felt a strong kinship with. Now that it had been drawn to his attention, he could indeed feel the bonds between them all. He almost laughed, "I've barely proposed, and already, I have a family. You're all helping me already. Thank you all. Luna, my princess, I've just pledged myself to another, will that interfere with my oath and position to you?"
Luna raised an eyebrow, "My Knight, didst ye expect me to flame in jealousy when thy heart healed enough to bind itself to thy true love? In truth, part of mine refusal of thy sister's manipulative matchmaking was that I couldst see the touch of soul's mate already on ye. If not for that, thy wounded soul, so in need of healing, would have led me away from ye, as mine own pains wouldst feed off thine, and too easily could we have succumbed to the darkness, dragging all of Equestria into ruin."
Pinkie Pie raised a hoof, "Um, I for one would like to vote against that. Having faced Nightmare Moon, and seeing what Boomer is capable of, I don't ever want to see that team up."
Koi smiled, "Aw come on, it could be fun. Death, destruction, random explosions, a world of eternal night and darkness, sounds like a party to me."
Pepper laughed, "Here is where I need to warn you all of Koi's dark, twisted sense of humor. Be thankful you've never had to do physical therapy when she's in a real mood."
Koi bowed deeply, "All to true, but I did get you back up in the air, did I not?" She then leaned in and whispered something to Pepper that had the maimed pegasus turning and giving the older unicorn a, "What are you up to now?" sort of look.
Boomer ignored the interplay between the two and turned his eye on Pinkie Pie. "Your house is on the other side of town, what led you to wander over here?"
She brightened, "When we got all the water cleared out, we found this," Pinkie pulled out his service cap with the changed silver eagle on it and handed it to him. She continued, "Princess Celestia asked me to return it to you. She also mentioned something about wondering when you would be closing out your account. I couldn't follow what exactly she was saying as she was discussing it with Luna. She just wanted me to bring it up."
He turned to Princess Luna who brightened, "Ah, yes. Thy posting as Knight Champion conflicts with thy oaths to the army. Thy years of service are great enough for ye to retire with full honors. However, my sister was surprised to learn that ye have not drawn from thy pay account in more than twenty years. The accrued sum is apparently rather significant, but must be withdrawn at the end of thy service. I can have thy funds transferred to an account under my section of the finances, as it shall be my responsibility to handle thy pay as Knight Champion. Fear not though, thy position earns ye double that of colonel, plus expenses when on an assignment."
Boomer stared blankly, so Giggles stepped up, "My brother seems to be suffering from brain lock, again. There are a couple of things racing around in that mess in his head. If I can get answers to them, maybe that will help kick him out of it. First off, he thought he'd left the army after the first Nightmare Realm attack. But he also thinks his old commander might have kept him on, after Princess Celestia made him an officer."
Princess Luna nodded, "Indeed, my sister told me she didst raise him up after that attack. She also mentioned that there was no record of a resignation. In fact, there are multiple promotion letters, and signed extension of service contracts."
Giggles continued, "Okay, second," but then she paused and looked over. "Blink Boomer. Pepper, would you sit your betrothed down so he doesn't fall over. Hold his hoof. That will hopefully keep him grounded and with us. Again, second, he was paid for his blast crystals. How much could he have uncollected?"
Luna looked puzzled, "The crystals were a product that were purchased from him. They hath no bearing on his pay. He hath twenty years of accumulated pay as an officer of advancing rank. That alone is in excess of a million and a half bits. And that doesn't include the accumulated housing allowances and other annual stipends for uniforms and such. From what I understand, his account is well over two million bits."
Giggles glanced, and then walked over in front of Boomer. She hoofed him in the chest and yelled, "Breath!"
He gasped and then collapsed over onto Pepper's lap, curling up into a ball. "You'll all have to excuse me. This is just all to much all at once. I'm just going to lay here and quietly freak out for a bit."
Pepper motioned everyone to clear out while she softly stroked his mane. She started to lever herself up to go as well, but he grasped her tightly. "Please, stay with me." She sat back down and kissed his forehead, continuing to stroke his mane.
After several minutes, the silence was broken when Boomer giggled. He looked up into Pepper's eyes. "Well, at least I can take comfort that you aren't marrying me for my money. Neither of us had any clue that I even had any. Heck, before this little revelation, you were much better off than I. Your quarry brings in nearly double what my blast crystal business does. Amazingly, I probably earned more this month as a lieutenant colonel, than I would earn all year making blast crystals."
Pepper kissed his forehead again. "You're making progress. You didn't try to run away this time. Either you're getting better at all this, or we're running out of things to throw you off with."
He gave her a sad smile, "Honestly, I think it's because, for the first time in I don't know how long, I'm willing to look at being happy, and it doesn't crush me. I look at you, and I would gladly face the Nightmare Realm, or a thousand things worse, to keep you safe, and make sure you were happy." And with that syrupy declaration, they decided it was time to get back to the kissing.