> The Prince Of War
>  by Pony Authors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Held Up By Rain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Price of War


“Honey, come on inside. It’s about to rain,” a mother yelled from inside a house.
“But I’m waiting for dad!” a little foal screamed as he stood at the doorstep outside, waiting ever so patiently for his father to return home from his yearly service as a Royal Guard to Princess Celestia. He had been waiting to show his father all the drawings he had made in school, all the awards he had received at his Foal League hoofball team’s awards ceremony, and the new tricks he had learned on his skateboard.
His father didn’t show up at the usual time. It had begun to rain. The little foal was forced inside due to the sheer force of the rainfall.
“My my, the weather ponies sure overdid themselves this time!” the mother commented as she continued to clean the dishes.
“Mommy,” the foal asked, “where’s dad?”
The mother, also curious, replied, “Good question. I suppose the rain’s slowing the train down a bit. Don’t worry, dear. He’ll be here before you know it!”

A Royal Guard member stared out the train's window as it chugged down the tracks away from Canterlot. One of his fellow guards sat next to him and looked over to him.
“Why are you so nervous?” he asked the young father.
The father looked over to his comrade and said, “Ever since the changeling invasion I’ve been worried about my family.” 
The guard wrapped his arm around the stallion and chuckled, “There’s no need to worry. Come on. Let’s go have a few drinks together.” 
The father looked to the guard nervously. “But I don’t know who you are. I don’t think you were in my unit.”
The guard shrugged. “Well, an even better opportunity to get to know each other. Now come on.” The guard then trotted away with the father slowly following behind.
The father walked into the next car but found it completely empty. But that couldn’t be possible his companion just entered this car minutes before him. A flash of green lit up behind him and before he could turn around he was whacked upside the head. The father fell limp to the ground. 		The other guard was actually a changeling in disguise hoping to get close to the young stallion to suck off his love.
Now that the father was useless to the changeling the changeling opened a window picked him up and threw him out it into the rain. The father’s body rolled into a river where it sunk to the bottom the stallion still unconscious. 

It’s been two days since the day the father was supposed to have arrived, but the father had never showed up.
“Mommy, do you think the rain’s that bad?” asked the colt.
“...no. Something’s not right,” the mother replied, worried. “Let’s go to the train station. Maybe we’ll find him there.”
They arrived at the station to stumble upon a crowd of ponies surrounding a halted train. The Ponyville Police had the area guarded and taped off. Everypony had a worried look on their face as reporters at the front of the crowd were unable to gather as much information as everypony would’ve liked.
“Everypony, stay back and remain calm!” the sheriff yelled repeatedly to the crowd. “We’re as confused as you are, but we can’t solve this case with all this commotion, so stand back!”
The mother and child were instantly curious of the situation. They walked up to the closest pony to them and asked what was happening.
“There seems to have been a murder,” the middle-aged pony replied. “There are blood stains on the floor and chairs of the train, but there isn’t a body to be found, or so the police say.”
“Where was this train coming from?” the mother asked, frantic about who it could’ve been.
“I think Canterlot,” the pony responded with an unusually calm tone for the situation at hand.
The mother stood there, frozen. She looked ahead of her, completely still and almost lifeless. After minutes of this seemingly frozen state, she passed out, and the colt immediately began to scream, “Mommy! What’s happened to Mommy?!” Everypony went to see what had happened, and a couple strong male ponies came to lift her up and take her to the nearest bench.
When she had awoken, the sheriff was standing next to the door, anxious and with sweat pouring down his forehead. He saw the mother awaken and immediately walked up to her.
“Ma’am, forgive me, for I am only doing my job, but we regret to inform you that, after DNA analysis of the blood, we have concluded that your husband was the one murdered. The culprit is still at large, but we have police patrollers searching the town for him. Again, I am sorry for your loss.”
The sheriff left to manage the cleanup process. The mother sat on the bench, again seemingly lifeless, but this time, tears were flowing from her eyes, rolling off her cheeks, and hitting the floor in rapid succession. 
A young Royal Guard member walked up to her. “Ma’am,” he said, “I heard about your husband and am deeply sorry for your loss.”
He handed her a ribbon with a solid medal that said, “Honor Guard, First Class”.
“This was his. I served with him and fought alongside him during the Changeling Invasion. He was a heroic stallion, indeed. The boss always said he was going to be promoted. Never thought she meant THIS…” Tears began rolling down this stallion’s face as well as he remembered his fallen comrade.
The colt who was standing in the corner of the room overheard the whole conversation, saw the stallion crying, walked up, and tapped the stallion’s leg for his attention.
The stallion turned, looked down, and saw the colt saluting him, but with tears in his eyes. 
“Th-thanks for being m-my dad’s f-friend,” the colt struggled to say through the tears and the sniffling. 
The stallion saluted back and hugged the colt. Behind them the middle-aged pony from before rolled his eyes, and turned to walk away. His eyes flashed green for a split second before turning back to normal, and he grinned wickedly. 
He whispered under his breath, “Vengeance at last, for my queen...”