//------------------------------// // Coming Home // Story: Let Our Values Endure // by Shadic Midnight Blitzer //------------------------------// Arc: Childhood Chapter 4: Coming Home As the two of us entered the kitchen, I immediately felt a strong aroma of great food flowing throughout the room while hearing a familiar voice humming a well-written tune. Looking around for the source, my eyes slightly widened as I saw Spike expertly flipping various Morning Stars (veggie patties) while slicing a bunch of vegetables at the same time.  "W-Wow Spike! Twilight said that you were a good cook, but I'd think you'd pass off as a master chef with those kinds of skills!" I exclaimed as I was continuously marveled by how calm and coordinated his movements were. Upon hearing this the small purple dragon formed a small blush on his face at the admiration he was being given.  "Well I don't know about being a master chef, but I'm certainly a good cook!" Spike replied as he turned off the stove and began to form some hayburgers from what he prepared. Twilight simply smiled before giving Spike a nice hug. "Thanks Spike, you were a real help today. Though I do have to ask why it took you an hour or however long me and Midnight played for you to cook this. You're usually very fast at this." The purple mare stated, causing the baby dragon to grin as he lightly tapped the oven's door.  "Well, that's because I made something else before doing this. Otherwise, I would've called you two much earlier." Spike answered before taking off an apron that he had been wearing and placing it to the side. "The surprise still needs time to cook, so why don't we go ahead and eat first!"  "Yeah! I can't wait to try what you made!" I exclaimed energetically as Spike finished his final preparations before placing three hayburgers on the table. Upon seeing that I had nowhere to sit, Twilight magically lifted a chair before placing it next to where I was.  "Thanks Twilight! Thanks Spike!" I said as I took a seat and took a bite out of the hayburger. My mouth instantly watered at the unique texture and flavor it had, and soon I found myself munching on it at a rapid pace. It was only till I was halfway done did I notice the pair of them looking at me, causing me to sheepishly smile at them. “Well, what can I say? It’s really good!” I nervously announced. The two of them looked at each other before letting out a soft giggle. “Oh don’t you worry about it Midnight. I can’t help but zone out whenever I eat one of these,” Twilight said with a smile, which caused Spike to laugh as this triggered a memory in his mind. “Ha! I remember the time you were eating so many of these inside a restaurant that somepony thought you brought a lawnmower inside the building!” The purple dragon exclaimed, continuing to laugh out loud. The purple unicorn simply rolled her eyes, lifted a nearby newspaper, rolled it up, before proceeding to bonk the young drake’s head.  “Anyways, I think it would be a good idea for us to just enjoy this meal and to not bring up any past events for our own entertainment, alright? Cause I do have some very ‘interesting’ events about you, Spike, that I will be ‘forced’ to use if you seek to continue that path.” Twilight playfully warned as she gazed down at her purple assistant, who simply rolled his eyes while forming a soft smile.  “Alright, deal.” The purple dragon said as he munched on his hayburger. I smiled happily at the two of them before continuing to eat my food. It was only when Twilight practically obliterated her burger in one massive bite that Spike lifted a scroll in his hand while forming a smug look.  “Luckily for me, my stories are less embarrassing than yours!”  “SPIKE!” I couldn’t help but laugh as Spike began to list off some of the most embarrassing moments in Twilight’s life while the purple mare hurried to retrieve Spike’s own list of hilarious events. As the purple unicorn returned with her own scroll to combat the dragon’s attack, I simply sat back, took a bite out of my hayburger and watched as the battle unfolded.  By the time the oven pinged to signal the war’s end, many stories had been fired from the two siblings. From Twilight’s ‘book fort’ collapsing onto her to Spike’s many failed attempts at breathing fire, there was never a single moment that didn’t cause me to laugh. Despite the initial rivalry to up the other’s embarrassing moments, they soon began to laugh at how ridiculous they must’ve looked in retrospect.  “Well, that was fun to watch!” I exclaimed to Twilight while stifling a laugh. Spike meanwhile proceeded to take out a delicious-looking pie from the oven. The purple mare simply rolled her eyes while holding a small smile. “While I would’ve preferred that some dragon remained quiet,” Twilight stated as she stared directly at the purple drake, who simply grinned at her fake face of anger as he placed the dessert onto the table, “I do have to agree that it was fun telling these stories. Pie?” The unicorn asked as she sliced up the treat with her magic. “Sure!”  I happily accepted my slice before proceeding to eat it, with Twilight and Spike following suit as they got their slices as well. Like the burgers the pie ended up being very delicious, causing me to let out a satisfied sigh as I enjoyed my treat.  As I finished wiping my mouth with a small napkin, Twilight turned to check the clock before looking at me and clearing her throat, catching my attention as she spoke. “So Midnight, your mom told me to bring you home at a specific time, and well that time has come.” The purple mare stated, causing Spike to let out a sigh. “Awww… I wanted Midnight to stay here to read some comics! We were going to do that!” “Well, we did end up playing chess for some time. The good thing though is that Midnight will be visiting us for a month straight, so you’ll have a lot of time to do some things with him.” Twilight said as she patted the drake’s head, causing the purple dragon’s eyes to shimmer with happiness. “Alright! I’m fine with that deal! But what about after the month? Will we still meet?” Spike asked as he looked up to the purple mare, given that she had the final say in all of this. The unicorn simply scratched her mane as she thought about this. “While I would love to keep seeing Midnight every day afterward, I have to keep studying for Celestia. One of the reasons he’s leaving right now is because I have to catch up on reading the new book that Celestia sent me a few days ago. I’ll still need to study as her student.” The mare stated before looking at me as she continued to speak. “I’ll find a way to accommodate you in my schedule, Midnight.” Twilight reassuringly said. I simply nodded upon hearing this.  “Alright. While I’ll probably be spending time with Spike if you end up being very busy, maybe I could sometimes join whatever you’re doing? Maybe study with you?” I offered, causing the mare to giggle a bit.  “Oh Midnight. While I appreciate the offer, I’ve become so advanced in my studies that even most adults struggle to fully comprehend what I’m talking about, much less someone of your age.” The purple unicorn stated. “Still, I appreciate the gesture, and I am certain that you’ll have fun with him. But now, we’ll need to go right now.” Her horn glowed as she levitated her saddlebag over to her and placed it on her back. After placing the dishes in the sink, Twilight and Spike began to head towards the exit, causing me to follow them.  Given how close my home was to the library, I was able to show them where my house was, and from there the three of us quickly walked through the streets. There wasn’t much that Spike and I could’ve talked about, as we were practically already on my house’s block by the time we could even begin to formulate ideas of what we could discuss. Soon we were in front of my home, a cloud-styled house that brought a small Cloudsdale vibe to Canterlot.   “Mom! I’m home!” I yelled as I announced my presence. The door opened revealing my mother who stood at the entrance of the house. She instantly smiled upon seeing me and rushed to hug me. I smiled as I felt myself get pulled into her grasp, feeling protected under her wings. She looked up to Twilight with a soft smile. “So Twilight, how did things go with you and Midnight?” Snowy Blizzard asked. While she tried her best to reflect my mother’s tone, the memory of the blizzard attacks resurfaced, causing Twilight to stutter a bit.  “Uhm things went well! Very well! Me, Spike, and Midnight played some chess together!” The purple unicorn said with a hint of anxiety. While I have never felt my mother’s blizzard attack, even I knew that it was scary to see her neutral face stare down at you. Thankfully Snowy Blizzard didn’t carry that face anymore, as it was clear that she was happy that Twilight had played one of my favorite games during my stay. Releasing me from her hug, the snowy blue pegasus walked over to her before softly stroking her mane.  “It’s alright Twilight, I won’t blizzard you again. I saw the enthusiasm when you said those words, and I’m happy that you took the time to play with Midnight instead of shoving him with Spike. You’re a good pony, you just need to learn how to socialize, that's all.” My mom stated with another smile, causing Twilight to blink as she realized she was safe for now. “Uhm… Ok…” “Thank you for taking care of Midnight by the way.” Snowy Blizzard said before turning to face me. “Now say goodbye to them son.”  I looked at the purple unicorn and drake before waving my hoof at them while wearing a smile. “Bye Twilight! Bye Spike! Hope to see you tomorrow again!” I exclaimed, the two of them waving back at me. “See ya Midnight.” The purple unicorn replied with a soft smile. “Hope to read some comics with you tomorrow Midnight!” Spike enthusiastically yelled as he and Twilight began to walk away. Soon they became nothing but small dots as they got further and further away until they eventually disappeared from my view. As I let out a small sigh, my mother tapped me on the shoulder while she began to walk back to the house. “Come Midnight, let us go inside right now.” My mother said as she opened the door. I nodded before walking towards the door, made sure that I wasn’t bringing any dirt inside, and entered the house.  As I looked around I soon realized that Lightning had yet to return home from her trip with my dad as she was nowhere in sight. Though my mom was nearby in the kitchen, I couldn’t help but shiver as I walked towards the table where we had eaten earlier in the morning. It just felt strange being all alone, and thus I began to see if I could distract myself with something.  It didn’t take me long to stumble across the newspaper that Thunder Storm was reading. At first, I thought about leaving it alone, but soon curiosity took the better of me as I lifted the item and placed it on the table for me to read.  I blinked as I noticed that my father had not completed the crossword that was always on the back of the print. He liked solving this in the morning and would usually finish before he needed to leave for work, but for some reason, he had not touched the backside at all. Remembering how he seemed serious when reading the article, I presumed that my answer was simply a flip away. Taking a deep breath I decided to go forwards and see what my dad was reading.  Turning the newspaper to the front page, I raised an eyebrow at the headline, which read “Changeling Civil War Ended!: Peace In Our Time!”. Reading further, the article stated how a young proto-queen was finally able to end the conflict after uniting all the changelings under one banner. I quickly became confused. Why did my dad have that neutral face while reading the article? Wasn’t it good that the changelings didn’t have to fight each other?  I simply sighed as I soon lost interest in what the article was saying. Maybe I didn’t get the bigger picture. Maybe dad was worried that he would have to work a bit longer due to some protocol about a new nation appearing? Maybe this was simply none of my business and I shouldn’t be even thinking about this.  With my sister still absent from the house I decided to simply go upstairs and take a nap. My mother knew that I would usually sleep whenever I felt bored, so I knew she wouldn’t get worried. Walking up the stairs I soon opened the door to my room, snuggled into my bed, before proceeding to doze off.  . . . “Oh Midnight~” I opened my eyes only to yelp as I saw my sister already jumping onto the bed. Wanting to go out on my terms I immediately rolled myself off my bed, letting out an ‘oomph!’ as I landed onto the floor. Not expecting my sudden move, my sister let out a yelp as she bounced off of my bed at the wrong angle. Unfortunately for me, that angle turned out to be exactly what was needed for her to end up landing on me, causing me to let out another ‘oomph!’ as she landed on my back.  After quickly regaining her composure, my sister gave me a wide grin as she looked at me from above as I groaned underneath her.  “You tried to be sneaky huh? Luckily for me, I still got you~!” Lightning said in a singsong voice, lightly taunting me from the high ground. I simply rolled my eyes before lifting myself up, or at least I tried to as I was unable to lift our combined weights. My sister flew up into the air just when I collapsed back onto the ground. The white-furred pegasus simply giggled before she helped me up. After I recovered my balance my sister looked up at me with a smile.  “So, how was your day? Did you have fun with Twilight and Spike?” Lightning asked. I enthusiastically nodded at her question. Before I could return the question she beat me to it as she continued. “Well, my day was very fun! Did you know that the military has these amazing obstacle courses for fliers? It was so cool! I got to see dad fly through these courses and he’s very fast! He could have easily been a Wonderbolt had things been different!”  My sister began to pace around the room excitedly as I simply watched her.  “So there’s a course for flyers in the military?” I asked out of curiosity. Not like I could participate in them given that I currently couldn’t fly. My sister quickly nodded. “Yep! Dad says that he might be able to get permission so that I could try out the course! Apparently, the Wonderbolts are a branch of the military, so maybe this is my way to enter their ranks!” Lightning exclaimed before coming up with an idea. “You should come too! You can see me fly out there, and who knows? Maybe we could get an instructor for you!”  While I was enticed by her idea, I soon remembered my plans with Twilight and Spike and quickly brought this up to Lightning.  “I like the idea, but well, I want to be with Twilight and Spike. It was very fun being with them, and like my mom, I want to see her create stronger friendships with those she knows. Plus, didn’t dad try to teach me how to fly? I’m fine taking things slow and steady, and I’ll probably eventually learn how to do what you do.” I explained, yet Lightning continued to insist. “Oh come on brother! You can play chess with her another day. I’ll still respect your decision to go with her should you decide that, but even if you don’t want to fly, I want you to be there. I want you to see me fly. Please Midnight?” After seeing just how much my sister wanted me to come with her, I simply rolled my eyes before smiling at her. “Alright alright, I’ll come. It’ll be cool seeing dad at work, and I’ll make sure to be there for you when you take your shot at the course.” I said, only to let out another ‘oomph’ as Lightning tackle-hugged me. It took all my strength to prevent us from collapsing onto the floor as she began to become excited. “Thank you Midnight! I’ll make sure to give the best performance I can for you!” The blue-tinted white pegasus said before heading towards the door. “I’ll tell dad that you’re interested in coming. See ya!” Lightning said before sliding down the stair rails. I couldn’t help but smile as I heard her excitedly talk about her plans with my father downstairs. It was good that Lightning was taking a huge initiative to become a Wonderbolt, and I’m certain that with that added practice she would tear her competition apart when she was old enough to sign up.  I walked up to the mirror as I looked at myself. I let out a strained grunt as I extended my wings to their full wingspan. My wings were quite large, thus they ended up being too heavy for me to properly lift. After seeing me unable to fly after he tried to teach me, my dad told me to set a time to repeatedly extend my wings so that I could get accustomed to their weight. He told me that if I was able to extend them with no strain at all, I would finally be able to take flight. Of course, this was easier said than done, and the most I managed to do was to glide with them, but I had high hopes that I’ll match my sister’s flying capabilities one day.  I know I will!