When War is Close by

When War is Close by
Chapter 2
Home Comings

“But I am telling you, I’m Twilights friend!” the purple dragon said, trying to keep the frustrated tone in his voice as calm as he could muster, “Why won’t you call her?”

When he and Scootaloo had approached the gate with their backpacks, a small group of earth pony soldiers had stormed out and the gate behind them had been shut tight.
The soldiers had formed a line in front of the gate.

Behind the line of soldiers stood a slightly bigger chestnut brown earth pony soldier who had demanded, over and over again, that he and Scootaloo should leave.

Spike could tell by the in carving in his armour that he was a higher rank of lieutenant... apparently he was in command of this group.

Even if Spike had out grown most ponies in height, by a pony head, he was sure that this lieutenant would match him evenly in strength... Spike had no intention of fighting of course.

“Listen half breed!” the rugged chestnut brown lieutenant said in a raised voice,
“knowing Miss. Sparkles name isn't going to help you.”

“Oh for heavens sake!” the purple maned, orange pegasus next to Spike bellowed “He's not a half breed!”

“Nonsense! The Dragons don't bother with us because they think we are small fry”
the lieutenant replied, his voice still raised and confident, “now both of you leave or we'll make you leave.”

The line of guards had now attached lances to their armour. Unlike unicorns who had magic to support almost any kind of weapon or Pegasi who had wings to support smaller types of arms and ranged type of weaponry, earth ponies were forced to use their mouth or attach the weapon of choice to their armour. However earth ponies' solid body strength made them able to carry more or use bigger weapons and heavier armour without losing too much combat efficiency.

“But... but this is my home” he tried again one last time to persuade the lieutenant...

Home... through out his long journey he had been to many places, seen many things and been through dangers but he had always felt that he could return to Ponyville if he needed it, always felt that he could return home to Twilight.

But now that he was so close to home, it seemed like it was even further away than ever before...

“Please, let me speak with Twilight!” he yelped out almost in desperation.

“You have tried my patience for too long, Half breed!” the lieutenant bellowed as he tighten the helmet strap and took stance, “Ready men? Charge!” and the line of soldiers leapt forwards at attack speed.

There wasn't much time. Spike moved fast, took a step to his left and turned around. To provide cover, like he had done many times before, for his orange Pegasus friend.

“Not this again” she muttered in dissatisfaction, looking up into Spikes eyes with a small smile.

Spike returned the smile. He had become quite found of her over the past three years.

Her face bore a scar, that passed down over her right eye from her forehead to her cheek, from an accident that had happened in Manehatten almost at the beginning of their journey but the changes, hadn't ended there.

About two years back the same right eye had been infected with grains of redstone dust. The infection had become life threatening and almost killed her but luckily they had found a doctor that could clear the infection and save her.

Yet, remnants of the redstone dusts colour had merged with her iris and had turned the shade of her right eye from a purple into a rose red.

She had grown and her wings had become a lot bigger. She had just learned to fly a few months ago.

Take-offs were still difficult for her to perform and right now it would be even more difficult with the saddlebags she were carrying.

Spike knew that a single steel spear couldn't hurt him much, the scales on his back had become thicker and harder then steel over the past years and his size would help him against the impact, but still he wasn't too confident about how much pressure and how powerful hits they could withstand.

He closed his eyes and readied his body for the lances impact, when a sudden familiar sound like a small delicate glass bell dropping onto a marble stone floor only to shatter, made him look over his shoulder.

Behind him was a purple unicorn, wearing a circlet around her head and a brow leather mantle over her back.

Twilight had used her transportation spell and had landed right behind Spike. With a small feminine moan of concentration she conjured a light purple glass like polygon that stood as a wall in front of her just in time to block the soldiers advance towards them. They yelled in surprise as they crashed against the sudden wall.

“Lieutenant Hot Head!” Twilight bellowed at the top of her lungs, as she dismissed the conjured polygon into thin air, “What is the meaning of this!?”

“M-miss Sparkle” the lieutenant looked nervous and seemed desperate to come up with a good explanation, “I... um, I was just doing my jo--”

“Doing your job?!” Twilight interrupted him as she passed the group of tumbled soldiers who had crashed with her magic shield.

“I'll tell you what your job is!”, now standing in front of the lieutenant who had backed up against the steel doors of the gate behind him, “Your job is to keep an eye out for suspicious looking ponies and non regulars of Ponyville. Pick them out to inspect and search their pockets, saddlebags and whatever else they may be carrying or hauling for anything!”

She paused and stared directly into the lieutenants grey eyes with a cold and hard gaze as she continued.
“To seize elements and objects that could provide a potential danger towards Ponyville and its citizens!”

The lieutenant chuckled nervously, looking back at Twilight “Y-yeah”.

For a short moment it seemed to Spike like the lieutenant, who were physically bigger than Twilight, had shrunk in size.

“Other than that” she continued, “You very well know that you are only allowed to take others into custody or hold them back against their will if it's necessary.”

She withdrew herself a bit giving the lieutenant more space, “And you also know the rest of the rules of engagement with guests and tourists in Ponyville!”

“Yes”, the lieutenant paused and looked away with a small expression of shame on his face, “Yes that I do, miss Sparkles, that I do” he looked up again.

“Well then” Twilight said in a forgiving tone, “Something like this better not happen again, now back to your post” she ordered.

“Yes commander, I guarantee it shall not happen again, commander”, he saluted her and then signalled the guard on top of the gate to re-open the doors then he rounded up his soldiers and stopped in front of Spike and the orange pegasus who had been watching from afar.

“I apologize for this inconvenience”, he said as he made bowed in front of them, “It is entirely my fault, I hope you can forgive my rudeness. Welcome to Ponyville”.

Without waiting for an answer he turned around, signalled his men and they all returned to their posts at the gate.

Spike stood still, looking at his life long purple friend for a few moments as she sat down on her rump, watching the guards return to their posts at the now open gate.

He started to approached her. She didn't seem to have changed much... well, except for her new get up.

“Twilight...”
In the three years that had passed he had missed her so much and now he was finally here. Finally home again and everything would become as it had been in the old days... well almost as in the old days.

She turned her head and looked up at him with a small smile.
“welcome home.” She said as she stood up and hugged both of them at once, “It's so good to have both of you back home safely again”.

Scootaloo instantly tried to wiggle herself free of the hug but Spike put an arm around her and prevented her escape.

“It's good to be home” he beamed as the orange pegasus gave up on trying to wiggle free.
“Ugh... give me a break!” she complained.

“Oh but you are so adorable when you get hugged” Spike teased. The orange pegasus gave him a short mad look but said nothing in return.

Fluttershy landed close by. She had been waiting, hovering her self over the gate until it had been opened again.
“Hi Spike, hi Scootaloo. Welcome home” she greeted them with a smile and joined the hug.

After a few minutes they broke up the hug and went into town.
On their way to the town plaza, other ponies who recognize Spike waved at him and welcomed him home. As they walked they had decided to go to sugar cube corner, Pinkie Pie would no doubt be there.

When the Cakes opened the newer outdoor arrangements they had requested Pinkie to take up a job as waitress for them and she had happily accepted, on the one condition that she could throw parties for her friends when she wanted to.
The Cakes didn't seem to have any problems with that, as long as it was at her own expenses.

Fluttershy had said that she would get Applejack and had then flown off towards the market district where Applejack would be to sell apples.

The talk about things that had happened in the passed tree years had been going for a while...

“But it must have hurt when you got that scar?” Twilight asked the orange pegasus who was walking right next to her.

“Honestly...” the orange pegasus shrug her head “I don't remember much, I went out cold almost right before it happen...” She looked up at Spike who was walking in front of them, with his much larger backpack, talking to Cheerilee, who had spotted them across the street.
“But I do know that I woke up in a hospital bed with my face covered in bandages and him right next to me” she smiled a small sad smile.

“So the army have been kind enough to drag you into messy warfare”, she now looked at Twilight with worried eyes “Will the enemy come here? Have you been in any battles yet?”

Twilight sighed heavily and looked back at the orange pegasus, “I can't know for sure... none of us can know if the enemy will ever get a chance to strike at Ponyville or if the war will just pass without anything happening to this place...”

“All I can do is hope that my commander will keep the enemy at bay at the front line so we won't have to fight...”

She pause and looked down.
“And no... I haven't been in any battles yet and I hope I won't have to take part in any.”

Twilight looked up again and gave her confident smile, “But don't worry... even if the enemy gets here, we are prepared. I'm prepared.

Even if I may not like them, we have the walls, the soldiers under my command and I have practised my magic and learned new spells for combat and defence so nothing should go wrong in case of an attack.”

Her small speech had turned the orange pegasus' worried expression into a smile.

Twilight bumped her head into Spikes side. He had stopped walking. “Spike?” she looked up at him and saw that he was looking at Cheerilee.

The older elementary school teachers face looked a bit panicky, looking around her self.

“The... the c-c-commander? Is he here? Right now?” she asked with her voice lowered to a small whisper.

Twilight sighed and looked up at the sky with a bothered expression.

“Calm down Cheerilee, there is still a few hours till his normal scheduled arrival” she said as she confirmed the suns position.

“Sorry it's just tha--” the School teacher began but was cut short by the purple mare.

“You are just letting your self scare by silly rumours that no one can support, that's what...” the purple mare rolled her eyes, “Honestly I think you are overreacting, you hardly even know him”

“Maybe...” the teacher said with a serous and worried frown.
“Maybe, you are right... but there is something that's just not quite right about him, something that is not natural...”

The teacher looked away then looked back at the purple mare with an unsure look.
“I think I said too much... I better go...” she hugged Spike and Twilight goodbye, “And you better show up at school one of these days so you can catch up on your studies and take your elementary school exam” the teacher said as she gently ruffled the mane on the orange pegasus' head with a hoof and then trotted down a side street.

“That was... weird” the purple dragon said in a confused tone, looking after Cheerilee as she disappear down the street.

“Yeah...” the orange pegasus added and looked at Twilight again, giving her a questioning look.
“I have never seen Cheerilee like that... did something happen between this commander guy and Cheerilee? Or is he just that frightening?”

“Well, I think I'd have to with 'he is just that frightening'” Twilight said in a sarcastic manner and started to trot forward across the town plaza they had just arrived at.

“Well... Cheerilees reaction is about the same as about almost anypony else in town.”
Twilights tone had now turned serious.

“But honestly I don't see what is so frightening about him.
Yes it's true, what Cheerilee said, there is indeed something not quite natural about him...”
She said as the dragon and pegasus followed her as the they moved towards Sugar Cube Corner which was just across the plaza.
“But his a good pony... I can tell... even if I don't know him as well as I know everypony else.
Even if I can't quite put my hoof on what it is about him that's not na--”

“SPIKE! Your back!” a happy pink pony with messy hairdo yelled, cutting off Twilights line of speech as she galloped past the purple mare and jumped into the dragons arms.

“Pinkie?” he muttered in surprise.

Seeing the pink earth pony wearing something that looked like a waitress uniform whose hat, pockets and other free places looked like they were stuffed with candy and other sugary goods.

“And Scootaloo is here too!” the pink party pony gasped “You know what this calls for?”

“Lemme guess, sugarcube” said an orange earth pony who had appeared next to the purple dragon. Her trusty Stetson set a top her head, “is it ah party?”

“Ohhh... AJ, how did you know?” the pink party pony said as she jumped out of the dragons arms with a light back flip, landing next to the farm pony.

“Well, ah guess ya can say that mah Apple sense was tickling” the orange pony replied to her pink friend.

Fluttershy who had just landed next to the earth ponies giggled at the small joke.

“Okie-dokie-loki” Pinkie beamed. “Now let me show you to your table”.
She took off doing a line of cartwheels towards a big table in the middle of Sugar Cube Corners outdoor arrangements.

The farm pony next to Spike extended a hoof, “Welcome home partner” she said, wearing a smile on her face.

“Thanks AJ” he said as he grabbed her hoof and shook it firmly.

“Ya welcome” she smiled and turned to follow Pinkie and the others, who had gathered around the bigger table which was set amidst almost everypony else who were drinking tea, on a date or stuffing themselves with treats.

The table Pinkie was now standing on had a sign on it which spelled out 'Reserved'.
“But Pinkie we haven't reserved the big table” Twilight said with a sceptic look.

“It's okay, my Pinkie sense told me you would need a table to stay at so I Reserved it for you”.
She took the reserved sign and elegantly jumped off the table bouncing off towards Sugar Cube Corners building.

“I’ll be back with tea, cake and muffins in a few minutes” she beamed.

They had all setted down around the table. Spike and Scootaloo had put down their backpacks and the chatter had started flowing wildly as Pinkie had returned with a tray holding cake, tea and cookies that she shared all around the table.

Scootaloo had showed everpony her cutiemake, a winged tire engulfed in flames and telling about what her special talent was, only to make the others chuckle a bit and say “About time you noticed what your talent was”, making the orange pegasus blush slightly in embarrassment.

As well as noticing of two smaller wings that had popped into sight when Spike had dropped his backpack.
As he once again re-assured everypony that his wings still weren't big enough yet to carry him through the air, he noticed an extra cup set up at the table.

“Pinkie...” the dragon turned at the party pony who had been stuffing herself with muffins, “Who is the extra tee cup for?”.

She blinked at the dragon for a few minutes in wonder as she gulped down another mouthful muffin, “Wait... aren't we seven ponies here?”
They all gave her questioning looks.

Twilight even added “There are only six of us here including you.”

“Hmmm...” she seemed wondering about it “I'm sure that my Pinkie sense told me this morning that I would have five great friends celebrate the homecoming of two good friends...
Maybe he is late?” Her baby blue eyes looked around at her friends only to receive silence and more questioning looks in return.

“Now hold on a darn minute here...” Applejack had broken the silence “It's a he?”

“Yea, my Pinkie sense told me it would be a he” she beamed as she grabbed another muffin from the table.

“Who is it then?” Scootaloo blurted out.

The pink party pony giggled “I don't know Silly! But he's a friend”.
Twilights gears had started to turn this information around. It could be Cranky, he moved into Ponyville and would be living with Matilda until the war would be over.

But he wouldn't normal show up uninvited, it had happened once or twice but never really without Matilda.

She took a sip of her tea as Fluttershy timidly asked Pinkie.
“Did you make any new friends lately?”

“Yea, I made a ton of friends lately” the pink party pony beamed.

Well of course Pinkie had made a lot of new friends. She made friends with almost everypony and seeing how the soldiers were rotated between the battlefield, Ponyville and Canterlot, a lot of new ponies came to Ponyville on military duty.

“Are there any of those new friends of yours who come here regularly?” Spike asked.

“Hmmm...” Pinkie sat there for a moment with a hoof under her muzzle. It was almost as if she had completely sunk into an inner archive of friends.

After a few minutes came a response from the party pony.
“Well, there are a few but there is one in particular...” Her otherwise happy frown turned downwards as she looked around at her friends.

“He has been here almost every Thursday since half a year ago... he seems to be a soldier”

Twilight shook her head at this information. Most soldiers were only here on duty for about a month at most before they would go back home to Canterlot.
There were exceptions but only one pony who had been in service for half a year. She just had to ask.
“Pinkie, are you really sure that he is a soldier?”

“Well, he always wears his armour when he is here.
He isn't very talkative but he seems like a nice guy. He even agreed to be my friend.
But no matter what I try it seems like he never smiles...”

As she let go of this information, she lowered her head.

“He just sit at his table drinks some tea... and looks at the sky for a few minutes.
Then he makes a few notes... and leaves towards the train station.”

“Well, what's the guys name?” Scootaloo bundled out in curiosity.

The pink party pony shook her head.
“Well, he only introduced him self as Lucas, he never added any last name”.
“Hmmm... ah soldier by the name Lucas” said the farm pony who sat next to Pinkie.
“Ah get the feelin' it's somepony ah already know fer some reason.”

“Well, actually you do...” Twilight paused as everypony suddenly looked at her, “the commanders first name in Lucas”.

“Um, Twi” the orange farm pony gave her a sceptical look.
“Ya sure bout that? Ah mean, the commander doesn't seem like the type that wanna hang with Pinkie or any of us fer that matter”.

“Well, he is the only pony I know who has that name”.
She took another sip of her tea.
“But if it really is the commander who is supposed to be our seventh member then I don't see why not”.

There was a short moment of silence, as if everypony had plunged into deep thoughts. Except for Pinkie who was still stuffing herself with muffins.

Spike was the one to break the silence.
“So Twilight, how did you become part of the army anyway?”

“Well...” Twilight began, she almost clearly remembered that morning. It was really cold outside and the sun had barely risen above the horizon.
Winter wrap up day was scheduled to happen in about a months time from then.

She had just gotten back to the bedroom after a small trip to the little fillys-room and passed by the kitchen to grab a hot pot of tea and some breakfast.
Only to bring it with her so that she could enjoy it in her still warm bed, with a book on advanced magic she had just started on.

She was just about to tuck her self in again when someone suddenly knocked on the library’s front door calling out her name.