"I wonder who that could be," Said a unicorn stallion as he walked over to the door of his house.
As the stallion opened the door, he noticed a group of six mares, one dressed in what looked like some kind of strange combat outfit, and a small dragon. His first thoughts were that the group were there to bring him and his wife harm. Without saying a word, he lit up his horn, ready to defend himself if need be. The need for defense, however, never came. To keep the stallion from attacking, the strange looking mare removed her helmet, revealing an all too familiar face. While the stallion had met a few purple unicorns in his life, he could remember one with that mane style and color pattern.
"It... it can't be," The stallion said, staring in disbelief at who he saw in front of him.
"It's me, dad. I'm home," Twilight said.
"But... Celestia said you could never be found," Twilight's dad said, "Where in Equestria have you been?".
"Not in Equestria at all," Twilight said, "But that's a story for later".
"And are these mares your friends?" Twilight's dad asked.
"Yes," Twilight said, "Now, may we come in?".
"You really need to ask?" Twilight's dad said as he stepped to the side to let the others in, "Velvet! We have guests!".
Twilight was the last to walk in. As she did, her father pulled her in to a tight embrace.
"I've missed you, Twilight," Twilight's dad said.
"And I've missed you too, dad," Twilight said, "How's mom been?".
"Oh, about as good as you can imagine," Twilight's dad said as he let go of Twilight and started walking towards another room, "When Princess Celestia said you had gone missing, your mother became a nervous wreak. She was finally starting to calm down when we got the news that you could not be found anywhere. It had been almost eight months then. She's never really recovered from that shock".
"Well, just wait till she sees me, then," Twilight said.
"If there was enough time, I might put a big bow in your mane before letting your mother see you," Twilight's dad said.
"Don't you think that'd be a little much?" Twilight asked.
"Well, it'd probably get her to laugh a little... first time she'd do so wince we found out you went missing," Twilight's dad said.
As Twilight and her father rounded the corner leading to the dining room, Twilight's father called to her mother in time to have her look up and see Twilight rounding the corner. Upon seeing her daughter, Twilight's mother froze. Her brain took forever to process what she was seeing. When she finally finished processing what she saw, Twilight's mother ran over and nearly tackled her daughter. As she ran, tears could be seen rolling the mares face. She never thought she'd see her daughter again.
"I can touch you, I can smell you," Twilight's mom said, "You're... you're real, right?".
"This isn't another of those strange visions of yours. Our daughter really is home," Twilight's dad said.
"I... I can't believe it. You're really alive," Twilight's mom said as she wiped away a few tears, "Oh, by Celestia, I thought I'd never see you again".
"I missed you too, mom," Twilight said as she hugged her overjoyed mother.
After Twilight and her friends left, Celestia took Shining Armor to a guest room so he'd have a bed to rest in till he finally woke up. Luna, though growing slightly exhausted from lack of sleep, agreed to watch over the injured guard captain. After about an hour and a half, Shining Armor started to stir in his bed, catching Luna's attention. As Luna moved closer to the bed, Shining Armor began to slowly sit up, groaning from the pain in his side and his massive headache.
"I was starting to think I'd have to enter your dream to wake you up," Luna said as she reached the bed.
"Is it safe to say I lost?" Shining Armor asked.
"Yes, you lost," Luna said, "How's the head?".
"It kills, to be honest," Shining Armor said, "So, uh, where is Twilight?".
"She took her friends and Spike to visit your parents," Luna said.
"Good place for her to be," Shining Armor said.
"If you feel up to it, you may wish to pay them a visit as well," Luna said.
"I will after I get some food," Shining Armor said.
"Then with that, I shall take my leave. I need to get some sleep before night must come," Luna said.
With that, Luna turned and left the room. After Luna left, Shining Armor got himself out of bed. As soon as his hooves hit the floor, however, Shining Armor took quite the tumble. With his adrenaline gone, he could no longer stand with the pain in his side. Lighting up his horn, Shining Armor levitated a chair over and transfigured it into a walker. After many failed attempts, he finally managed to stabilize himself and began to use the walker to move without falling over again. He hated making himself look so weak, but he couldn't ignore the fact that he couldn't stand, let alone walk, without some assistance right now.
After opening the door to his room, Shining Armor started making his way to the royal infirmary. He didn't want to have to use a walker to get home, so he went to get some medical attention.
"So, Honey, where'd you get that outfit?" Twilight's mom asked.
"It's not just some outfit I chose to wear, it's a Marine uniform," Twilight said.
"What in Equestria is a Marine?" Twilight's dad asked.
"We're like soldiers, only better," Twilight said, causing both her parents to freeze.
"I'm sorry, but did you just call yourself a soldier?" Twilight's mom asked after regained her composure.
"Yes and no. Soldiers fight with the army. I'm a Marine, I am a few steps above any soldier, and first into a fight," Twilight explained.
"I hope you're not hinting at what I think you're hinting at," Twilight's mom said, worry rising in her voice.
"Well, I never intended to hide it from you," Twilight said before letting out a long winded sigh, "I just got back from a year of war".
"War? You were fighting in a war?" Twilight's mom asked, her brain now broken.
"Yes, and I actually wish I hadn't come home so soon," Twilight said.
"And why's that?" Twilight's dad asked, "You didn't enjoy fighting in a war, did you?".
"I didn't enjoy the fighting one bit," Twilight said, "But, I had a squad I was in charge of. When I got teleported home, we were being dropped deep in enemy territory as a backup measure," Twilight said.
"And you wanted to see that through to the end, huh?" Twilight's dad asked.
"I only hope the bombing was a success so my men wouldn't have to go into combat without me," Twilight said.
"My daughter... a trained killer... fighting in a war... wanting to go back," Twilight's mom mumbled, finally catching the attention of the others.
"I think you broke her," Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof in front of Twilight's mom.
"I'll handle her, you girls just help yourself to the food," Twilight's dad said.
"So, how bad is it?" Shining Armor asked.
"Well, your nerves are damaged quite badly. You have some use of your rear left leg, but it's not much," A unicorn nurse said.
"It'll heal, right?" Shining Armor asked.
"Yes, but you'll be bedridden for a week in the least, two at the most," The nurse said.
"Wonderful," Shining Amor said sarcastically.
"Anyway, I need to check on the other patients," The nurse said, "Do you need anything at the moment?".
"My pride," Shining Armor said, causing the nurse to chuckle.
"Well, if you need anything, just call for me and I'll come as soon as I am able," The nurse said, "But if you feel any pain, ring this bell".
With that, the nurse attached a small bell to the side of the bed. Satisfied that it wouldn't come loose, the nurse then turned and left.
"Where did you get that kind of strength, Twily?" Shining Armor asked silently as if Twilight was standing right there.
"Ok, so I finally got your mom back to normal," Twilight's dad said as he re-entered the dining room.
"That's good," Twilight said.
"She'll need a lot of time to get over this, you know," Twilight's dad said.
"I know, but she's just concerned is all. She never expected me to say that I've been fighting in a war for the past year, so it's only natural," Twilight said.
"I suppose it is," Twilight's dad said as he took a seat at the table, "Now, I want to hear all about it. You've given me the story appetizers already, but I'm still hungry, so I want the main course now".
"Well, it all started a year ago" Twilight started off.
As Twilight told her story, she got bombarded with questions. After a little while, her friends finally knew where she got her insatiable thirst for knowledge. When Twilight finally got to where she left off before her fight, she paused, trying to think of a way to ease the blow of the news that she was now an omnivore. Her father soon interrupted her train of thought by urging her to continue.
"Before I go on, dad, just keep an open mind," Twilight said.
"Just continue already," Twilight's dad urged.
"Well, it got time to eat. By this point, I felt like I was starving," Twilight said, "However, the ground was covered in nothing but dirt, sand and rocks".
"I'm not sure I get what you're getting at," Twilight's dad said.
"All I could eat was what my now fellow Marines had to eat," Twilight said, mentally bracing herself for the heart attack she was about to give her father.
"So, they eat dirt?" Twilight's dad asked, "That doesn't sound all that healthy".
"They're omnivores, but they only had meat at the time," Twilight said, "Being that it was all the food available, I ended up trying some when I realized I may not have anything else to eat for a while".
"I'm sorry, did... did you just say you tried eating meat?" Twilight's dad asked, nearly choking on his food.
"Yes, and my stomach hated me for it," Twilight said, "But I had to eventually come to accept that meat may very well be all I get for a long time, so I finally just cast a spell to allow me to digest it".
"There's a spell that does that?" Twilight's dad asked.
"Yes, though I forget what it's called. It's one of those spell you'd miss if you didn't try to find it-" Twilight said before being interrupted.
"Or a total egghead like you," Rainbow Dash said.
"Well, I suppose that's true as well," Twilight said before shaking her head to get back on track, "Point is, I decided to cast it on myself so I wouldn't starve to death".
"So, meat is now a part of your diet?" Twilight's dad asked, "That's both interesting and freaky".
"More like just freaky," Applejack said, "No offense".
"None taken," Twilight said, "Though all things considered, I think you took that rather well, dad".
"Well, you did ask me to have an open mind," Twilight's dad said.
"Yes, I guess I did," Twilight said, "Anyway, that's where I left off with my friends before my hoof fight with Shining".
"Oh dear, what did he do?" Twilight's dad asked.
"He lost, that's what he did," Rainbow Dash said, "Twilight knocked him out cold".
"You actually beat him?" Twilight's dad asked, flabbergasted, "I wish I could've seen that".
"You want to see your own son get beat up?" Rarity asked.
"I would like to see Twilight beat up her own brother, yes," Twilight's dad said.
"Well, next time he challenges me, I'll let you watch," Twilight said.
"Please do, cause I really do want to see that," Twilight's dad said.
"Speaking of your brother, Twi, where is he?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Should he be awake and here with us by now?".
"Maybe I clonked him harder than I thought," Twilight said, "I hope I didn't hurt him too badly".
"He's probably busy with guard duties," Twilight's dad said, "Oh, speaking of which, you're not going to be joining the royal guard, are you?".
"Even if I wanted to, I don't think Princess Celestia would like the idea very much," Twilight said, "I mean, I'm a princess myself, so she might not even allow me to sign up".
"Well, that's a relief," Twilight's dad said.
"And even though I would like to go back in case my men got dragged into combat, I've had enough of war," Twilight said.
"That's a bigger relief," Twilight's dad said.
"Anyway, it's starting to get late," Twilight said, "Would it be alright if my friends spent the night here?".
"Well, how can I possibly say no to that?" Twilight's dad asked, "Any friend of yours is welcome to stay here as long as they need".