The New Home

by Arrenius

Homecoming.

“So... these Crystal Legions you mentioned, since when have they had a Supreme Commander?” Shining asked.

“Since the moment of their creation, five minutes ago when I made them up.” Cadance replied curtly.

“Excellent. So what are the uniforms like?”

“Sparkly and pink. Just to spite you.”

“Sounds kinky, I could get into that.”

“Could you get into me gagging you so I can get five seconds quiet?” Cadance regretted the sentence as soon as it left her lips.

“Uhm, duh, I could totally get into that.”

Cadance rolled her eyes. She looked at her husband, but noticed that he wore an unusually intense expression. He held up his hoof and stopped walking. Cadance was about to speak, but Shining beat her to it.

“Somepony’s here.”

“What?”

“Three Lunar Guards coming around the corner.”

“How can you-”

“Get behind me.”

“Shining, we’re in this together!”

“When’s the last time you fought a trained soldier? Let me handle this.”

Cadance let Shining step forward, and true to his predictions, two Night Guards, led by Captain Nightfall rounded the corner. For a moment Nightfall almost looked impressed by the sight of her fellow officer.

“Captain Armor... I can see your imprisonment is coming along quite nicely.”

Cadance cut in. “Conjugals in the cell just don’t quite cut it anymore.”

Shining spoke up. “Night, you’re a good soldier. I don’t want to fight you, but I will do whatever I have to to protect Cadance. Back off right now.”

Night smiled. “Of course you’ll do what you have to Captain, such is your duty. A duty which I believe you found yourself late for this morning. I hope you can appreciate that my duty shift is over, and I should like you to take up my post so I may return home and sleep.”

Shining raised an eyebrow. “Did we not just go over the imprisonment thing?”
“I was sent here by Princess Luna, she needs to speak with you about a meeting you missed yesterday. The matter of your imprisonment has been settled. Princess Celestia issued you a full pardon just ten minutes ago.” Night took a moment to produce a piece of parchment, written upon it what Shining recognized to be not only a full pardon, but an expungement, completely erasing the incident from official record. Night continued after giving Shining a moment to read. “Now if you will permit me to take my leave?”

Shining was incredibly skeptical. “So she gave me a pardon? Just like that?”

“That was what she communicated to me, yes.”

“Doesn’t that seem like a cop-out to you?” Cadance asked.

“Alas,” Night said. “That is a matter which you will have to discuss with the Princess.”

Shining gave her a confused glance, and then nodded. “I... think I understand. You’re dismissed Night.”

Night bowed her head, and the guards followed her as she walked on past Shining and Cadance.

“I... what just happened?” Cadance said bewildered.

“I think we just got our rumps saved, by Princess Celestia.” Shining said slowly.

“After she got us here in the first place?”

“Yeah... seems the landscape's changed a bit...” Shining took a moment to think. “So... I guess we just, go on business as usual?”

“The hay we do!” Cadance exclaimed. “I need to get some things sorted out with my dear aunt Celestia. I have some questions that need answered.”

“Cadance, seriously. Gift horse? Mouth?”

“You’re telling me you’re not even curious as to why you just spent a night in Jail?”

Shining shrugged. “No more than I was as to why I spent a year in Samarkand.”

Cadance shook her head. “Sometimes I just don’t understand what goes on in your head.”

“Eh, if you did you probably never would have married me. Especially if you’d known when we first met...”

“Oh Shining, you’re so cute...” Cadance said in a condescending singsong. “You think you were the only one thinking nasty thoughts when we first met...”

“Yeah I know, Twili was being a little demon-filly that night.” He shot her a wry glance.

“It’s too bad, really...” Cadance said, sensually placing her hoof on Shining’s foreleg. “I was looking forward to being on the run with a big bad fugitive for a husband.”

“Well, I’ve got a brown duster and revolver back home...”

“Maybe later. My Vizier isn’t expecting me back until tomorrow...”

Shining kissed her on the cheek and smiled. “Then in that case... I’ll be in my bunk.”

*****

“Hey, Twi... Can I talk to you?” Twilight looked up from her book to the sight of Rainbow Dash in her doorway. Odd... Twilight hadn’t heard her come in, either she forgot to lock the doors (a frequent occurrence, considering that fell under Spike’s jurisdiction... at least she thought it did.) Mental note, find out whether you've asked Spike to remember to lock the door. Twilight realized after a quick moment that she hadn't responded, and Rainbow was giving her a confused look.

“Uhm... Twi? You good? You’re lookin’ kinda spaced...”

Twilight shook her head. “Oh, no, I’m fine, I just wasn’t expecting company... what do you need to talk about Rainbow?”

Rainbow looked around a bit, nervously. Her mind now back in the world rather than in her book, Twilight noticed Rainbow looked a little disheveled. Her mane was even more unkempt than usual, and there was some swelling around her eyes, almost as if she’d been crying. Concerned though she was, Twilight decided not to force the issue, if Rainbow wanted to talk about it, she would. “I... well... I just got some application package from the Wonderbolts, and I was reading up on the entry options,”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Why would you need to do that? You already went to the Academy, what more is there?”

“A lot... The Academy is just to make sure you’re good enough to send them an application form. There’re about a dozen different stages of the process... but that isn’t important. What is important is... well...” Rainbow looked at the floor, whether crestfallen or embarrassed, Twilight couldn’t tell. Rainbow was silent for a moment looking off into the distance, so Twilight gave her a tap on the shoulder to bring her back.

“Well? What’s important?”

Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew she’d have to tell Everypony eventually, but she felt so... stupid about it. She’ll think I’m an idiot. Rainbow thought, I’ll get a ‘should have thought it all through’ speech, she might even make me write a letter to the princess! Rainbow’s eyes started watering and she swore under her breath. Twilight stood up, having moved from concerned to worried. “Rainbow... are you alright? If there’s something bothering you-”

Rainbow cut her off abruptly. “I can’t be a Wonderbolt.”

Twilight’s mouth hung open in shock. “I... What? You aced the academy! All their flight tests, training, everything they threw at you! I saw your scores, you were just shy of perfect! Not accepting you with that kind of record doesn’t make any sense!”

Rainbow rubbed her eyes a bit, trying not to sniffle. “It has nothing to do with my test scores. The Wonderbolt’s aren’t all drawn from the military, but they’re all a part of it once they’re in the team. They’re all commissioned officers, and you can’t get a commission-”

It was Twilight’s turn to cut Rainbow off.

“Without a university degree... oh Rainbow I’m so sorry.” Twilight gave her friend the most sympathetic look she could manage. She couldn’t imagine how Rainbow felt right now, all those years of hard work, everything she’d done, all rendered worthless because of some archaic intellectual elitism. Rainbow looked on the edge of tears for a moment, and Twilight spoke up, desperately trying to find some other option.

“Well, this shouldn’t be too hard... you’ve got amazing character references and your high school diploma, just enroll in a university and-”

“Twi, I haven’t got anything close to the kind of cash you need to get a degree. Maybe if I sold my house I could pay a couple year’s tuition.”

“Scholarships! I can talk to the princess about getting a scholarship lined up-”

Rainbow wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up a little straighter. “Twi! Even if I got a full ride, that’s four more years of waiting. And not just waiting, but having less and less time to practice, I may not be good enough anymore by then, not to mention my recommendation from the Academy would be up, I'd need to go back.”

Twilight stamped her hoof. “Don’t talk like that! Rainbow you’re a brilliant flier, and four years of study won’t change that! Have a little faith in yourself.”

Twilight cast Rainbow a pleading look, and she drew in her breath. “Well... the thing is... there’s another option.”

Twilight smiled; at least Rainbow was willing to work with her. “Well, let’s hear it!”

“I don’t think you’ll like it, Twi.” Rainbow said cautiously.

“Rainbow, if it gets you in, I’m in love with it.” Twilight gave a sincere smile.

Rainbow nodded, and held her breath. “Okay... well, I can get a degree, and a commission, while still making, uh, practical use of my flying skill.”

Twilight nodded excitedly. “Well that sounds like exactly what you need! What is it?”

“If I enlist... in the army.”

Twilight froze; a look of utter astonishment came upon her. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing; did Rainbow Dash just seriously suggest that she join the army? Twilights imagination ran wild, replaying a dozen old battles she’d read about, one of her best friends since the day she had moved to Ponyville lying broken and bleeding on some field in the middle of nowhere, reduced to a nameless figure tallied up in casualty reports.

Twilight trembled a little, “R-Rainbow... are you sure that’s the best idea?”

“I don’t know, I need time to think on it.”

Twilight gave Rainbow a pleading look. She remembered what army life had been like (and in a lot of ways still was) for her brother. She remembered hearing him awake in the middle of the night pacing, or writing in a notebook, muttering in his sleep, and she remembered vividly the months spent practically in seclusion, barely speaking to his own family. She couldn't imagine that happening to Rainbow, just like she couldn't imagine it happening to Shining before it did. “Rainbow... when Shining Armor came back from Samarkand, he was... different. He’d never say it, but it had changed him. Let alone what happened to him after the Trottoman war. Maybe you should talk to him before you decide?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Twi, I’m not stupid, I know it’s not an easy life, but this could be my only shot at being a Wonderbolt. Do you know how long I’ve wanted that?”

“I know Rainbow... just... don’t rush into anything just yet.”

Rainbow was silent for a moment, looking out a window. “My dad’s gonna have a fit.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t he in the army for a while? Why would he be upset?”

“Because he was in the army for a while, he never wanted me anywhere near it...” Rainbow trailed off, pausing for a few seconds before speaking up again. “So, do you think you could send a letter to your brother for me?”

Twilight nodded. “If I know Shining he won’t try to discourage you, or give you the recruiting pitch, he’ll tell it like it is.”

Rainbow nodded in gratitude and started towards the door. “Thanks Twi... I gotta go meet up with Pinkie Pie. I’ll see you around, kay?”

“Take care Rainbow,” Twilight said as her friend left the room. She continued to stare at the door for a moment, after Rainbow had left, trying to decide what to make of all this.

“Just be careful, Dash....”

*****

Gale stepped off the gangway at the head of the column, looking around calmly at the chanting crowd. Held back by the Royal Guard, the ponies in the crowd cheered and waved signs, a band further ahead had started in on Circle of Friends, and Gale walked through the passageway the guards had created with a mild sense of discomfort. To see civilians whom he had never met before cheer him as if he were some kind of celebrity was unsettling. A procession approached Gale and his troops, comprised of several high ranking military officers, one of whom Gale recognized as Pierce Thorn, one of the Army advisors on the Security Council. Gale stopped and gave a salute, which Thorn returned in kind.

“So you’re Gale Storm then?” The general started. “Do you know every senior officer from here to Canterlot is clamoring to hear what the hay happened up at Drift Station?”

Gale responded deliberately and professionally. “The report’s been telegraphed to General headquarters in its entirety sir, is there anything specific you’re wondering about?”

Thorn let out a laugh. “Anything specific he says... as if it were just another day on the job. How, lad!”

“How, sir?”

“How, Storm, we all want to know how! We have the what of it, every move you made, every order you gave, every shell you fired. You’re bloody meticulous on the cold, hard, facts of the action... what I’d like to know is what was running through your head. How did you turn 150 stallions, barely older than colts, with, let’s face it lad, sub-par training and equipment, into hardened, disciplined soldiers that could fend off some of the most fearsome warriors on the planet?”

Gale was silent for a moment. How was he supposed to answer that? He tried to look like he was in control of the situation and he had them sing a song. Had there been any more to it? Had he made some brilliant tactical maneuver, innovative and original, that cadets would study as part of their strategy course syllabus? He certainly hadn't felt particularly inventive; he was merely reacting to circumstances as they changed. No answer to be found, Gale reached for a cop out.

“I... couldn't say sir. I just, did what came naturally.”

Thorn gave the young officer a look. He could swear that if the stallion didn’t have military protocol to fall back on he would have run out of things to say. His humility seemed deeper than a simple modest nature, but the old general decided not to pursue the subject any further.

“‘What came naturally’ he says. You have a hay of a future with the military. I’ve been authorized to inform you that you are being awarded the Celestial Sun, along with a promotion to Knight Captain, both to be awarded by Princess Celestia herself.”

Gale was shocked. “The Princess?”

“Problem, Knight Lieutenant?”

“No sir, I just, don’t understand...”

Thorne shook his head. “You’re a hero; you’ve been all over the papers for a week. Everypony in Equestria has heard your name. The Princess has already praised you in an address to the Court of Nobles. If nothing else, she wants you to smile for the cameras and get a pretty medal pinned on your chest.”

Gale nodded skeptically. “Right... permission to speak freely sir?”

Thorn nodded. “If you’ve earned any right, it’s that one.”

Gale continued. “Honestly? I’m not sure how comfortable I am with being a household name sir; I’m just doing my job.”

“Soldier, believe me when I tell you, this is a part of your job now. You may not like it, but there it is.”

“I understand sir.”

Thorn gave Gale a sympathetic look. Being a soldier was hard enough without having to be a celebrity. Though he had never dealt with the Wonderbolts personally he knew that the need to balance duty with public opinion was the single largest cause of wonderbolts resignations. (Very few equestrians considered that they were an actual interceptor squadron expected to fly sorties as well as air demonstrations.) The weight of public opinion was heavier than any armor.

“Come on then soldier,” Thorn said, giving the young hero a fatherly smile. “There’s somepony wants to see you.”

Gale held back a groan. Somehow he knew it was a noble, some political bigwig or other eager to turn his desperate struggle for survival into the slogan of his next campaign. Gale closed his eyes and took a breath, preparing himself mentally.

That only enhanced his surprise, however, at the familiar voice which spoke next.

“You showboating son of a bitch...”
Gale opened his eyes, and his face brightened. There in front of him, in the uniform of a Captain of the Royal Guard, and with a smug smirk on his face, stood one of Gale’s most treasured friends.

General Thorn smiled. “I think you two have some catching up to do. Captain Armor, I trust you’ll inform the Lieutenant of his... obligations?”

Shining nodded. “Absolutely sir. I’ll fill him in.”

Thorn nodded and trotted off, leaving Gale to greet his old friend. Gale turned and spoke with a serious expression, which both stallions knew was part of the joke.

“Captain Shining Armor, turned out in full regalia I see... and I’m the showboat, sir?”

“I thought we had this worked out Lieutenant, you do the actual work, and I pull off the thrilling heroics and get the credit. We had a good thing going here.”

Gale smiled. “Just couldn’t resist a chance at making you look bad sir, always my greatest ambition.”
Shining started walking, motioning for his friend to follow. “Storm I’m getting really sick of you calling me sir. But it looks like we’re finally going to start working on that. Like the general said, you're being promoted to Knight Captain, but don't get any funny ideas, my 'captain' means more than yours. You've got a week of paid leave... don’t look at me like that it isn’t coming from your pool, and then your company is going to turn out for a parade at the Royal Square in Canterlot. The reviewing party will include the Defense Minister, Princess Celestia as RO, and my wife. So please try to be on your best behaviour.”

Gale was perplexed, he’d never heard of any defense minister, as far as he knew the office didn’t exist. “Defense Minister? That’s new,”

Shining nodded grimly. “It isn’t the only thing, we’ve had a hectic few weeks back here, and not hectic in the way I like. The nobles always play games, that’s no big change, but this... what’s been going on here is a whole different beast. The REA is getting flooded with recruitment applications, a couple of Pegasus community leaders are clamoring to raise their enrollment ceilings, and rumor has it that when the budget comes out the General Staff are going to have skid marks on their uniforms it’s so good for us.”

Storm stopped walking for a moment. “Why would the General Staff be excited, their spending is dictated by the Security Council, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah. That doesn’t exist anymore. That’s like, what, three centuries of utter bureaucratic stupidity struck down with a wave of the Princess’ hoof? If I’d heard the news in a better mood I might have started... I dunno, singing or something.”

“And been immediately arrested for attempted murder, your singing is so awful.” Gale joked. To his surprise, however, Shining didn’t seem to find it all that funny.

“Anyway, they’ve been filling up the papers with reports on the peacekeeping mission, there was a whole three page special on you, and the Equestria Daily wants you for an interview so they can put it in their biography, your dad told me they’ve already talked to him. There might be a dozen ponies in the whole country who haven’t heard your name at this point.”

Gale couldn’t believe what he was hearing; equestrians abhorred violence, considered war an entirely foreign phenomenon. The Equestrian Armed Forces were only internationally recognized as peacekeepers, and the general population seemed to be content with that label. It didn’t seem at all possible that that could change so dramatically in just a couple of weeks. He didn’t even know where to begin describing his discomfort to Shining, but the two needed only to exchange a glance for Shining to see it.

“I don’t like it either, Gale. I have a really bad feeling about all this.”

“Why? What do you think is going to happen?” Gale asked, looking back at the cheering crowds. It seemed that hundreds of ponies had turned out, waving Equestrian flags, holding up support the troops signs, even a few off duty soldiers in uniform saluted as he passed. A month ago, Gale’s return would have been entirely ignored, and a few erudite individuals may have even sneered as they remembered their favorite talk show host or newspaper periodical discussing how Equestrian soldiers had no business in foreign lands. Now, here he was, hailed as a hero, walking through a throng of cheering citizens, like the triumphal parades of the ancient Pegasus generals returning from some great conquest. The comparison to his ancestry worried Gale, he knew the history of the Pegasus Empire, and the atrocities generals would commit to earn themselves a triumph.

“I dunno,” Shining said pensively. “It’s just a feeling...” Shining was silent for a moment. His expression was grim and thoughtful, a rare sight out for the confident unicorn. A moment passed, and Shining smiled. “But that’s something we can worry about tomorrow. Before you dismiss your colts, let them know that they’re welcome at the Lucky Shoe tonight, first round’s on me.”

“That’ll settle one you owe me. It’s good to see you again Shining.”

Shining smiled. “Anyway, I need to go meet my wife for lunch, we’ll both be at the Shoe tonight, and there’s room for one more if you want to catch up.”

Gale smiled and nodded. “Thank you sir, I’ll see you then.” He looked back to see General Thorn shaking his troops hooves, a number of reporters asked some of them questions, and a photographer even took a picture of Zephyr Whisk pulling a mare (who Gale assumed was his wife) through the Royal Guard Cordon and kissing her. Whatever the reason for the homecoming, and whatever worries it gave Gale, he was happy for it. Even if it was all some political game, his soldiers had suffered enough overseas to earn themselves a day as heroes. Come what may tomorrow, Gale was going to ensure that today was the homecoming they all deserved.

Author's Note:

There's a three day time-skip in this chapter at each of the POV breaks. Gale's 'moment' in the first chapter occurred, chronologically, about the same time as Rainbow and Twilight's talk in this chapter.