This Means War!

by Whirl Wind

Chapter Five

Chapter five: One Week Later

Princess Luna’s chariot landed out side of Whirl’s home and she stepped off with a smile. It had been five days since she heard from him last and she was excited to see him again. She walked up to his door and saw a not hanging from it.

To whom it may concern,

I have elected to remain in my house to avoid the scolding eyes of my peers. I can never redeem what I have done in a thousand life times, though I will continue to work towards making Equestria a better place. It pains me that I will never work with my weather teams at the town hall anymore, I will miss you all dearly. I would move but… there is no where in Equestria I would be accepted as an equal. No, I will always be seen as the monster I was forced to be during the war. Since that will never change I have decided to remain here, far enough from Ponyville to not bother anypony. If this is Sonic Flare or Air Mail reading this come on in and make yourself at home. It is nice to know at least you two are still my friends. If this is Princess Luna… well… if you think you can stomach me anymore, please come inside. You will most likely find me in my basement working on something.

Signed,

Whirl Wind

P.S. If this is somepony who is angry with General Wind, please knock on the door so that you can kick me a few more times. I love the bruises.

Princess Luna opened the door slowly. “Hello?” she said as she walked inside. The place looked like it had been unattended for months. Thick dust covered everything except for a few places where Whirl had walked. She followed the path to a door and opened it. The noise of tools at work could be heard from the basement as she descended the stairs. She spotted Whirl sawing through a dowel rod as she got to the bottom. “Whirl, it’s me Luna.” she said softly.

Whirl turned around and looked at Luna. His face was bruised and so were parts of his body. His left eye was swollen shut and he had a gash over his right. He smiled and put down his tools. His smiled revealed several missing teeth and Luna gasped in horror at the sight of him. “What happened to you Whirl?!” she said with concern as she started to use her magic to summon bandaging and ice packs.

Whirl sighed. “What did you expect? Everypony hates me and have tried to kill me on more than one occasion. Flare has held them off as best he could but… he has two fillies to care for now. He can’t be with me all day.” he explained.

“I knew I should have made an announcement about what happened to you.” Luna said sadly.

“Flare made that announcement and he was the general leading these very ponies into battle. It’s okay though, I do feel I deserve some of it.” he admitted.

“No you don’t. You deserve to be praised. It was your blow that ended Sombra. It was you who saved me so that I could lead Equestria.”

“All of those things were mentioned. It seems that when you lose the ones you love, you feel the need to get revenge. Since Sombra is gone and I am still here…”

“That doesn’t justify anything. Come on, we are going to put this straight right now!” she said as she picked him up with her magic.

“But Luna I…”

“No buts. I am putting an end to this.” she said as she pulled him up stairs.

She took him outside and he closed his eyes from the bright sun. Once she got him on the chariot, they headed to town hall. Ponies cheered and bowed at the sight of Princess Luna riding through town, while others glared at her passenger. When they arrived at town hall everypony had followed her chariot to see if she had anything to say. She stepped out of her chariot with Whirl following closely behind as she stepped up to the podium.

“Citizens of Ponyville! I am here today to correct a terrible tragedy!” she announced in her royal Canterlot voice.

Everypony in the crowd cheered and a few shouted, “Hang him!” and “String him up good pricess!”

Princess Luna clapped a hoof down to silence them. “Nay! This pony is a hero! His only crime being that he stood and let everypony here treat him like a villain! Whirl Wind saved my life! Whirl Wind killed King Sombra! Whirl Wind did not have control over his actions during most of the war, but when he did, he fought with us! Now that he has returned home he has been exiled by none other than himself! This is not a pony seeking blood, this is a pony seeking punishment for crimes he did not commit! Let those of you know Whirl Wind for the pony he truly is, step forward!”

At first no one stirred, then two pegasi holding one newborn each flew up to the podium. Then a guard unhooked himself from Luna’s chariot and stepped forward. The crowed murmured for a moment before Luna spoke again.

“These ponies pledge that Whirl Wind is a noble pony, let us see who they are! Vector, step forward!”

The guard pony stepped up to the podium as Princess Luna stepped down. “At first I was with all of you ponies, hating this stallion for crimes most fowl. But after the battle for Fillydelphia he approached me and I can say that I had never been more afraid in my life. As I fought for my life I saw something flicker in his eyes, sorrow, regret, fear. As he plunged the spear through my chest he whispered on thing to me… I’m sorry. It was then I realized that he was not in control of what he was doing, nor was anypony else in Sombra’s army. We forgave them and I forgive him.” he said with a prideful tone.

“Sonic Flare, also known as General Flare, step forward!” Princess Luna shouted as Vector stepped down.

Sonic Flare hoofed the filly over to it’s mother before stepping up to the podium.

“I am pretty sure you all remember me, so let me make this quick. Whirl Wind was a key asset to the victory we achieved here in Ponyville that fateful day. When you all stood by my side in battle you trusted me to get you through it all, well I trusted Whirl. His advice on the battle won us the day and we owe him our lives. I especially owe him mine, if it weren’t for him… I would never have seen my wife… my two beautiful fillies ever again. I owe him everything and so do you all!” Flare said as he pounded the podium with his hoof.

By this time, six more ponies joined Whirl on the stage. The very six ponies each gave him a hug before they spoke, each explaining how he helped them get into Canterlot in the first place, how he was a loyal pony who saved them all. Then it was Twilight Sparkle’s turn to speak.

“Whirl Wind is a lot of things to many of you in this crowd, I hope that most of you look at him for what he truly is. He risked his life and got me and my friends safely into Canterlot to save Equestria. Even though we failed, he did not. In the end it was him alone that had the tactics to finally take Sombra down. I think of him as one of the greatest friends I have ever had and I am proud to call him my hero.” she said before she stepped down.

Princess Luna stepped up again. “Now then, how many of you ponies still think of him as a monster?” she asked as she looked out to the crowd. Not a single hoof was raised as she stood there. “Whirl Wind, will you please step up here.”

Whirl stepped up to the podium with tears streaming from his good eye. “I remember it all… I remember everything he did during the war… how I was powerless to stop him… how he destroyed the lives of so many… I tried my hardest… I really did… I’m so sorry…” he said as he collapsed onto the podium in tears. Princess Luna rubbed his back reassuringly and he lifted his head again. “All… all I can do is ask for forgiveness… I never expected any of you to forgive me, not in a thousand years… but seeing my friends up here describe me like that gives me hope that I am redeemable in your eyes as well. And even if I am not redeemed in your eyes… I know that I have good friends looking out for me, caring for me, and loving me for who I am now and not what I was. I… I can’t talk anymore…” he said as he stepped down.

Princess Luna embraced him and led him back to the chariot. As they took off, Twilight stepped up to the podium again. “I think you all have a lot to think about.” she said before stepping down and following the chariot along with the rest of the ponies who came up on stage.

****

Once they were all at Whirl home they all took a seat in the dusty house, it was quite cramped but they managed. Whirl looked like a half mummy with his bandages on, but he didn’t really care. Right now all he could think of was the fact that he was surrounded by friends. “Sorry for the mess, I wasn’t really motivated to clean up when I got home…” Whirl said with a guilty tone.

“Well duh, I wouldn’t be motivated to do anything if I was attacked right off the train neither.” Rainbow Dash said bluntly.

Applejack nudged Rainbow with her elbow. “What Rainbow means is that we understand. Ya know we could lend you a hoof and clean this mess up for ya.”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “I think that would be best, you don’t seem to be in very good condition right now. I mean, health wise that is. Not that it makes you look bad, just that you look bad in an unhealthy way.”

“I think he gets it Fluttershy.” Twilight interrupted. “But she is right, you do need to rest and this place could use a good scrub.”

Flare laughed. “If you say no to this I will just have them come over and clean my house!”

Air poked Flare in the ribs. “No you won’t, that is your job.” Everypony in the room laughed at Air’s joke. “Whirl, why don’t you watch over the little ones and we will get started.” she said as she set down her two fillies.

Whirl smiled and nodded. “Thanks everypony… it really means a lot to me. I can’t believe you all came up on stage for me. Especially you…” he said as he looked to Vector.

Vector smiled. “I know that you would have done the same for me, it is in the nature of ponies like us. Once I saw the sorrow in your eyes I knew you weren’t in control. I am just glad that you did realize we had a spy in your ranks.” he said with a chuckle.

Whirl nodded and picked up the two fillies as they walked up to him. “Actually… I did know. That is the one thing I WAS able to do while he was in control. I made him doubt himself sometimes on important things. You two are just so adorable!” he said as he nuzzled the fillies, who responded with a giggle.

Everypony smiled and stood up. “Well, lets get to work.” Twilight said while she used her magic to summon a duster. Everypony else grabbed rags and other cleaning materials. Princess Luna sat down next to Whirl and wrapped a wing around him.

“I am glad to see you smile again.” she said as she kissed his cheek.

Whirl turned to her with his smile shining brightly on his face. “For the first time since I have returned… I feel like smiling. I wasn’t expecting a parade or anything, but I didn’t expect to be jumped two seconds off the train.” he said with a chuckle.

Princess Luna frowned. “That should have never happened and I am sorry that it did.”

“It’s alright, I am just glad to be home. Home with friends, home with family.” he said as he tickled one of the fillies who giggled. “Solar Glider has her mothers eyes and nose, but Flare’s sleek wings.” he said with a chuckle.

“They are indeed adorable.” Princess Luna said as she regained her smile.

Flare trotted over to the couch with a rag on his hoof. “Uhh… I need to clean the sofa you two are sitting on.” he said with a chuckle.

Both Whirl and Luna stood up and moved to the other already cleaned sofa and sat back down. Whirl looked around and everything in the room seemed brighter somehow. He smiled as he examined the room from top to bottom. His eyes fell on Rainbow Dash who had come into the room holding General Wind’s armor. “You still have this?” she asked as she looked at it suspiciously.

“Yes, I am going to melt it down and make something useful out of it. It seems to have some magical properties that I want to examine out of curiosity. If we can figure out how the magic work then we can use it for good.” he explained.

“Well… where do you want it?” Rainbow asked as she turned to look at Whirl.

“Just put it in the basement.” he replied.

Fluttershy whispered something towards Whirl but he couldn’t hear what she said. “What did you say Fluttershy?”

“Um, I found this picture. It was under a chair.” she said as she hoofed him the picture.

Whirl took a look and saw his family. He frowned and handed the picture back to Fluttershy. “I… I can’t look at that right now…” he said as tears filled his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

Whirl sighed. “Did you wonder why I didn’t say, ‘I wonder if my family is okay’? It’s because I already know the answer to that… they died… General Wind saw to that…” he explained as tears ran down his cheeks. “When I got home… I saw the picture and I threw it… I killed my whole family…”

Princess Luna embraced him with her wing again. “No, you need to stop doing that. General Wind is a different pony, he killed your family. You did not.”

Whirl sniffled. “It is hard not to blame myself. Since I remember everything that happened exactly as it happened… I can remember the feeling of the movements, what he was thinking as he killed… the bastard was enjoying it…” he said quietly.

Princess Luna tightened her embrace. “But you weren’t.” she said simply.

Whirl shook his head. “No, I wasn’t…”

Soon after Fluttershy joined in the hug, then Applejack, then all the others. Except for Rainbow Dash who chuckled. “Group hugs aren’t really my thing.” she said simply. A purple aura formed around her and forced her into the group.

“But they are our thing.” Twilight said as everypony started to laugh.

Whirl felt a bit better. “I already had the funeral… I guess what I really needed was closure. Was my dad disappointed with me in the end? Did my brothers still hate me for leaving to chase my dreams? Did my sister ever make a true masterpiece of art? What are my mothers students going to do without her?” he asked as he started to cry again.

Princess Luna looked over to him. “We can always visit her students.”

“And your father was surly proud of you. He gave you his Wonderbolts goggles and he gave you a letter that said he was proud of you.” Rainbow Dash said.

“And if I know anything about brother is that they always forgive you after a week.” Twilight said with a smile.

“You can always search the art galleries for something made by your sister.” Fluttershy said happily.

Whirl laughed as he cried. “You are all amazing.”

Everypony in the room went back to what they were doing after they stopped the group hug. Fluttershy walked over to Twilight and whispered in her ear. “Hey Twilight… I think we should help Whirl find closure with his family. I think it will help him move on in his life.”

Twilight nodded. “I was already thinking about art galleries to look at. Why don’t you talk to Cheerilee to see if she knows who Whirl’s mother was. Rainbow already helped him find closure with his father, ask AJ if she can ask around to see if anypony in her family knows who his brothers were. Maybe they kept a journal.” she explained.

Fluttershy nodded. “I’ll go talk to AJ really quick, then I will make an excuse to leave.” she said as she walked over to Applejack. She quickly explained the plan and then walked up to Whirl. “Um, Whirl… I need to go take care of my animal friends at home.”

Whirl looked up from the fillies and nodded. “That’s fine. Thank you so much for the help. Take care.” he said as his smile slowly returned.

Fluttershy waved goodbye to her friends and left. Vector came over to Whirl with a grin. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted me to finish that crib you were making in the basement. I am very good with my hooves.” he said with a prideful smile.

Whirl nodded. “Yes, that would be great. The plans are on the table across from the workbench. Also, keep it down. Flare would never know that I am making him a crib for his fillies and it is supposed to be a surprise.”

Vector nodded and whispered. “Of course.” he said as he walked down to the basement.

Applejack then walked over once Vector was done talking. “Hey Whirl, I need to go back to the farm to do some work. I’m sorry I can’t help out more.” she said with a nervous grin.

Whirl raised an eyebrow when he saw Applejack’s expression. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah ahm fine, I just really need to be going.” she said innocently.

Whirl nodded. “Alright, thank you for all your help.” he said with a smile.

Applejack smiled. “’Taint nothing. I woulda done it for any of my good friends.” she said before she walked out the door.

Whirl went back to paying attention to the fillies. Princess Luna smiled. “I always wondered what it would be like to have foals.” she said as she tickled one of them. Whirl blushed and said, “Yeah, me too. I am not sure how good of a father I would be though.”

Princess Luna giggled. “I am sure you will be a great father someday.”

Whirl nodded. “I have to ask you something Luna… What kind of relationship do we have…?”

Princess Luna frowned. “Well… we are really good friends. You know that right?”

Whirl nodded. “Do you… think we could ever be more than friends?”

Princess Luna didn’t know what to say. She thought about it for a moment. “I do love him… but… I could never grow old with him… I don’t even know if I can have foals with him… I can’t be with him… or anypony else… ever.” she thought as she sat there. “Whirl, I think it would be better if you found yourself a wife who… isn’t going to out live you by… forever.” she said sadly.

Whirl looked down at the fillies again. “Right…”

“But we will always be friends… the best of friends.” she said as she regained her smile.

Whirl looked up to her again. “Always.” he said as he grew a smile.

The other finished their work and sat back down in the room. Air and Flare each took a filly and held them again. Flare smiled and looked towards Whirl as he sat down. “So, does it feel more like home now?” he asked happily.

Whirl nodded. “Yes, thank you all for the help. This place would have never been cleaned again.”

Twilight giggled. “Something tells me that office of your was never as organized as it is now.”

Whirl looked over to her with surprise. “You mean… it is actually clean?! Wow! You must be amazing at organization. That was three months of weather reports, not that it really matters now. Oh… what am I going to do for work now?”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “What do you mean? I will get you your job back as soon as you are better. It is the least I can do for you after you approved me to move clouds whenever I want for relaxing and such.”

Whirl chuckled. “Never thought that would mean so much. But you did fill out all the paperwork amazingly well.”

Rainbow Dash blushed. “Well, I may have had Twilight fill those out for me.”

Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash. “You told me you were going to copy the format because you didn’t understand it!” she said a bit annoyed.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I figured they were already filled out, it’s not that big a deal.”

Whirl laughed. “That is too funny! But I have to agree with Rainbow, as long as they are filled out properly it doesn’t matter who does it.”

Twilight giggled. “Well alright, if you say so. But next time you are doing it yourself Rainbow.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged again and looked back to Whirl. “Anyway, I need to jet. Wonderbolts training.”

Whirl nodded. “I understand, have a good time.” he said as he waved goodbye.

Twilight stood up also. “I should get back to the library, Spike gets nervous when I am gone too long.” she said with a giggle.

Whirl looked over to Twilight. “Alright, come again soon.”

Rarity and Pinkie both stood up also, both giving a reason to leave before taking off themselves. Flare and Air had to leave also because it was the fillies bedtime. Vector came up stairs with a full crib all finished up. Whirl asked him to deliver it to Flare and Air before he too left. All that was left now was Princess Luna.

“Well, I suppose you need to get going soon too. It is almost sunset.” Whirl said with a slightly sad tone.

Princess Luna nodded. “Yes, unfortunately I do need to return to Canterlot. Our post services are working again so send me a letter every now and then.” she said as she stood up. Whirl walked her to the door and opened it for her. Her chariot was waiting for her outside with one less pony pulling it.

Whirl looked at the other three and they looked as stoic as ever. “Be safe on your way home.” he said to Luna as he helped her onto the chariot.

Princess Luna leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. “I will. You be safe at home and take that note down. I don’t think you will be needing it.” she said with a smile. Whirl simply nodded and she took to the sky. Whirl stayed and watched until he could no longer see the chariot. He walked back to his door and tore the note off, tearing it up happily before letting it go in the wind. He slowly walked back inside and lit some candles before the sun went down. As it turned to night he sat in his favorite chair and stared at the floor. A small glimmer flicked off of some glass as he looked down. He turned to see his families picture hanging from the wall.

As he looked at it he saw his brothers making faces as him and his sister stood proudly. His mother and father stood in the back with smiles on their faces. Whirl took down the picture and held it in his hooves. “I’m sorry…” he thought as he sat there and stared at it all night long.

****