Convergence

Starblink moaned softly, his eyes darting open.  Cautiously, he looked around.  A soft, white, feathered materiel surrounded him.

Wings?

The thought flicked across his mind, though it seemed rather odd.  Part of his living tent suddenly folded back, and he squinted in the sudden brightness.  Starblink’s eyes quickly adjusted to the increase in light, and slowly, he looked up.

Princess Celestia returned his gaze from a half foot away.  The Alicorn was smiling at him.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Starblink.”

The wings withdrew themselves, folding up against the Princess’ sides.  She stretched out, and then rose to her hooves.  Starblink blushed, as it dawned on him that he had been sleeping in Celestia’s feathery embrace.

“What… um…”

Starblink stood, wobbling slightly.  He glanced around at the legions of celebrating ponies, and then looked back at the princess.

“What happened?”

Celestia laughed lightly, and then looked over the crowd to a shattered pile of rock.  Starblink suddenly realized that these were the remains of the portal.

“I must thank you Starblink, first of all.  I’m not certain that I would still be here if it weren’t for your actions.”

She returned her gaze to the pegasus.

“You do realize Starblink, that you were very, very close to losing your life as well.  In fact, if any pony other than myself had tried to heal you… I doubt you would still be breathing.  It takes a very devoted pony to dive into a wall of flames for another.”

Starblink shuffled nervously.

“You know how much I’m… devoted to you.”

Celestia laughed again.

“Yes, I do recall that.”

Starblink blushed slightly, looking up at the larger pony.

“But still… what happened here?”

“Well… after you saved my life…  I believe that I proceeded to start a long, strenuous spell that restored you to your original, unharmed, form.  While that was happening, the bearers destroyed the portal, and then everypony went crazy celebrating.”

Starblink continued to stare at her, slightly quizzical.

“Oh,” Celestia smiled, “And if you are wondering why I had you in my wings like that, your skin and fur right now are still very sensitive.  I wouldn’t recommend any physical work or unnecessary contact with hard surfaces for a week, at the least.”

Starblink chuckled slightly, “Yeah, I was going to ask about that…  Anyway, sounds like a plan.”

They ducked, as a low flying pegasus did a corkscrew, shouting out calls of victory the whole way.  Starblink slowly shook his head, grinning.

“Well, this day certainly went better than I expected.”

“Indeed.”

Celestia nodded sagely.

“I believe that although we should refrain from some of the wilder celebrations, I would like to go and congratulate the bearers.  It is the third time that they have saved Equestria, and it’s a rather monumental occasion.”

She glanced at the general, as if sizing him up.

“Would you care to come with me?”

Starblink nodded energetically.

“Of course, your highness.”

“Good.”

Then she added, “Oh, and also, I wouldn’t stay in the sun to long if I were you, your skin could get easily burned in its current state.”

Starblink glanced around, then up to the great burning sphere in the sky.

“Well, there isn’t really anything I can do at the moment, so…”

He shrugged.  Princess Celestia looked at the pegasus, a slightly devious smile creeping across her face.

I could just cast a spell to protect him from the rays…  but that’s no fun…

She stopped for a moment, surprised at how foolish she was about to act.

Oh well…  I’m three thousand years old, it is about time I had some fun…  It’ll be a nice change from the last several days.

In a single motion, Celestia stepped closer to Starblink, and gently placed her right wing over his back, while simultaneously pulling him closer to herself.  Starblink tensed, surprised at the sudden action.  He glanced up at his ruler, curious.  She looked back at him, poorly suppressing a giggle.

“There…  That should keep you protected from the sun, at least most of you.”

He tried to shrug off the wing, but was unable to.  He started to protest.

“Really, Princess, its ok, I can take care of…”

Celestia laughed.

“Starblink, please…  I’d just go with it if I were you.”

The general stopped his attempts to get away, looking back at the Alicorn.  Slowly, he nodded.

“Alright,” a small smile blossomed on his face, “I think… sure.”

Slowly, he leaned in, nuzzling her neck.  Celestia’s smile grew, and slowly, the pair began to walk towards the distant mass of celebrants.

<(^)>

“So what do we do now?”

“I’m not sure…  At least we still have a home to return to.”

The F-15E Strike Eagle circled high above Nellis air force base, its cockpit glinting in the setting sunlight.  Very distantly, more than one hundred miles away, a mushroom close stood, slowly rising into the sky.  The sight of the cloud struck fear into the heart of any who saw it, or at least those old enough to understand what it was.

All around the F-15, the airspace was buzzing with activity.  Helicopters from media networks, government agencies, and various corporations all buzzed around the base, and the city of Las Vegas.  The news choppers would have gone closer to the site of detonation, but for now, the Air Force had instituted a no fly zone in a hundred mile radius around the blast.

All that the public had currently been told was that a nuclear weapon had been accidentally detonated in the Nevada desert, and that there were no known casualties, and that radiation would likely be minimal.  As a precaution, all citizens within two hundred miles of the blast area had been asked to prepare to evacuate, though whether or not they would have to leave was uncertain.

General Anderson had decided not to inform the general public as to what had happened immediately.  Instead, he chose to wait until they had accumulated all the evidence necessary to convince the public that there, in fact, had been an open portal to another world, and that the president had then tried to destroy it.

James and Jonathan sat in the cockpit of the Strike Eagle, watching as the sun sank below the horizon.  James concentrated on the nuke, and the sunset, not allowing himself to think about his best friend.  It was going to be hard enough to land his plane with all the additional traffic in the area, let alone if he was thinking about…  He couldn’t think about that.

Both men’s thoughts, as minimal as they may be, were interrupted as a voice sliced through the cockpit, projected by the radio.

“Striker one one, this is Nellis, you are cleared to land.”

The voice hesitated for a second, and then added.

“Welcome home boys.”

The Strike Eagle banked, and dove towards the ground, lowering its flaps.  The runway was lit up, a gleaming pathway back to earth.  Landing gear extended from the fighter’s belly, reaching down to the ground below.  James carefully adjusted the controls, reducing speed, and getting the fighter level with the runway.

The airframe rumbled for a second, and then the Strike Eagle was back on the ground.  The base was a buzz of activity, with aircraft preparing to take off, or some having just landed.  James quickly decelerated, and taxied the plane off the runway.  Slowly, the deadly aircraft made its way back to its designated spot on the tarmac.  As the plane powered down, a few maintenance officers rushed up, bringing ladders for the two crew members.

The cockpit opened quickly, and the two men shimmied down the ladders.  As they walked past, one of aircraft attendees saluted, and then shook their hands.

“Captain Thalin, Lieutenant Guery, welcome home.”

Jonathan managed a small smile, looking around the base.

“It certainly has been awhile Sam.”

The man nodded.

“It certainly has.”

James quickly shook the man’s hand, and then set off across the base at a brisk walk.

Jonathan sensed the problem, thoughts of Alex coming to his mind.  He jogged the short distance to catch up.

“James,” he laid a hand on the depressed man’s shoulder.  He shrugged it off.

“Just let me be alone right now, ok Jonathan?”

“James, hang on for a second.”

Hesitantly, the pilot stopped walking, and then spun to face the other man.  He was clearly angry, and holding back tears.

“Dang it Jonathan!  What do you want?”

Jonathan looked at the pained expression on James face, concerned for him.

“Buddy, try not beat yourself up too much about Alex, ok?”

James seemed to almost be amused by the comment, giving a twisted, dark laugh.

“Don’t beat myself up…  What do you mean?  This whole freaking thing was my fault.”

He threw his helmet against the ground, the hard headwear bouncing, and then slowly rolling away.  He slowly sank to his knees, a few tears beginning to make their appearance.  Jonathan’s foot reached out, stopping the wayward helmet.  Slowly, he took a seat across from James.

“None of this was your fault James.  If you absolutely must pin the blame on somebody, then put it on Nickelson.  He’s the one that decided to invade the place anyway.”

“You don’t get it, do you?”

James blinked away a few tears, staring at Jonathan.

“I’m the reason why he was here in the first place.  I was the one that told him I was gonna join up.  I’m the one that convinced him to come with me.  I was the one that volunteered us for that test flight.  And guess what?  I’m the one who didn’t go with him, when he needed to go somewhere.”

James let out a sob.

“The one time that he needed to do something… and it wasn’t in my plan… I didn’t go with him.  Guess what?  He got shot.  Shot up so bad, he almost frikking died.  He would of too, if it hadn’t been for their… magic.”

The tears were flowing freely now.

“The one time…”

James slowly shook his head.

“What kind of a friend does that make me Jonathan?  Pretty freaking selfish.”

Jonathan stared at the man across from him, beginning to understand the full implications of the problem.

“James…  this might not make you feel much better, but even if you had gone, you couldn’t have done anything.  You would have been shot too.  You might not have even been as lucky as Alex was, you might have died.”

James sighed, the tears still falling, forming a miniscule puddle on the tarmac.

“It wouldn’t have mattered what happened to me…  All that would have mattered is…  I would have gone.  I would have been there for him, just like he had always been there for me.  It’s hard to find friends like that, you know?  Yet I had to go and blow it.  Bet Alex loves that.  ‘Oh thanks Alex, glad you’ve always done everything I asked you to.  Now, just screw you, sorry, but we have to leave you behind, and you’ll never get to see anyone that you know again.’”

James slowly shook his head.

“What the heck am I supposed to tell his parents anyway?  Do you really think that I can just waltz up, tell them that their son died defending a country that they’ve never heard of, and are never going to see?  Can I really just lie to their faces like that?  Thank God he wasn’t married… I don’t even want to think about what I’d say to his wife…”

James covered his face with his hands, tears leaking out behind them.  Jonathan nodded slowly.

“But that’s just it James… he’s not dead.  He’s alive, and he’s got a great life ahead of him.  I may not have known Celestia and Twilight for very long, but I’m willing to bet that they’re going to do everything in their power to make sure that he’s ok.  Quit acting like he’s dead James, ‘cause he’s not.  As for whether we should tell people whether or not he’s alive, I guess that we’ll have to ask the general.  But either way, you’ll know.  You’ll always know.  He’s alive James.  He’s alive.”

James slowly took his hands off of his face, though his tears still flowed down his cheeks.

“What are you sitting there crying for anyway?” Jonathan smiled.  “Do you realize how silly you would look if someone walked up and asked why your crying? ‘Because my friend is alive?’ They’d think you were a murderer, dude!”

James laughed through his tears.  He reached out a hand, and Jonathan slowly helped him up.  The pilot stood, taking a few deep breaths, and wiping the tears off his face.  Jonathan handed his helmet back to him.

“Better?”

James smiled, and nodded.

“Thanks Jonathan… Thanks.”

The two men turned, and walked off across the base.

<(^)>

“Alright, well, I’m going to fly back, stretch my wings a little before the party.”

Rainbow Dash spread her feathery limbs, preparing for flight.  Twilight smiled at her colorful friend.  All around the mountain, ponies were preparing to leave the area, ready to head back to Canterlot for a real celebration of victory.

“All right Rainbow, I guess that we’ll see you in a bit then.”

“Sounds good,” The pegasus nodded, before shooting off into the sky.  Apple Jack walked up next to Twilight, watching the rainbow pony streak away.

“Well sugar cube, I guess that it’s about time we hit the road too.”

She motioned towards one of the chariots, a couple of pegasus soldiers already harnessing themselves up to it.  Something caught Twilight’s eye though, and slowly, she motioned for Apple Jack to go on.

“I’ll be there in a second AJ, I just need to look at something before we go.”

“Alright, suit yer’ self.”

The mare trotted off.  Twilight turned away from the chariots, and started to walk uphill.  A small, gray movement had caught her eye.  Slowly, she rounded a large boulder, and stopped.  Alex was leaning up against the surface of the rock, his eyes closed.  She started to walk nearer to him.  As Twilight approached, his eyes sprung open, and swiveled, locking onto her.

“Twilight… what are you doing here?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

She sat down next to him.

“Are you alright?”

He laughed bitterly.

“I’m fine, I guess.”

Twilight looked at him suspiciously.

“Really?  Completely fine, despite everything that just happened?”

“Well… I don’t really know.  I mean, you’d think it would be worse but… its sort of a strange feeling.  It would be sort of like… if you moved to some obscure island somewhere, and everyone that you knew stayed at home.  You know their alright, and you know that they’re all probably going to be ok…  you just know that you can’t keep in touch with them, and you may not see them for a long time.”

He paused then, clearly saddened.

“Except this is worse than that… I’ll never get to see anyone that I used to know again, ever.”

He looked at Twilight, his expression sad.

“It’s hard, you know?  I mean, you’re a great friend Twilight, but I’ve only known you for, what, a week now?  It’s hard to believe that all of this has happened so quickly…”

“I’m sorry that you won’t get to see your friends again Alex…” Twilight felt bad for the gray unicorn stallion.  “I really am.”

Then she thought about the last part of his statement.

“Yeah… I guess it has only been a week.  Less than that, actually.  Hard to imagine.”

Twilight shook her head.

“But Equestria is still here, just a little banged up around the edges, nothing to bad!  A lot of the reason for that is because of you Alex.”

Alex laughed.

“Nope, not really.  James is the one that you need to thank for all of this.  He’s always been a doer.  I just sort of sit around, and help wherever I can.  But James… He’ll see something, want it, and go for, and take you right along with him.”

Alex let out another, shorter burst of chuckling.

“He’s the whole reason I joined the military in the first place.  He’s basically the reason this place still exists.”

Alex paused for a moment, taking a breath.

“When we came here the second time… we had orders to bomb Canterlot.  You guys didn’t have any warning, so there wasn’t anything you could do about it.  We would have wiped you out, and it would all be over now.  That’s what would have happened, if James hadn’t spoken up… hadn’t said no.  I’d like to think that I would have, would have tried to do something, even if he didn’t… but on the inside, I don’t think I could have.  If it hadn’t been for him, then this whole place would be overrun with Nickelson’s greedy little henchmen.  Honestly, you’ve done more than I have, with that fancy crown thingy of yours.”

“I still think you would have done something.”

Twilight added, trying to comfort Alex.

“Maybe…  I don’t know.”

Twilight sighed, and then carefully stood up.

“Well, still, thanks for everything Alex.”

She smiled.

“We really need to be heading back now, by the way.  There is supposed to be one heck of a party once we get back to Canterlot.  Princess Celestia has already sent a message ahead to Princess Luna, and so we should get quite the welcome.  Come on, let’s get going.”

The two quickly trotted down the mountain, heading for the waiting chariot.

<(^)>

Swiftwing groaned, and rubbed his eyes, before slowly, he opened them.  He looked around.  He was lying on a hospital bed, his fur no longer soaked in blood, and a small bandage around his left wing.  Between his bed and the next, a unicorn doctor was standing, scribbling something down onto a notepad.  He carefully tore off the piece of paper that he’d been writing on, pining it to the end of the other bed.  Then, the doctor turned to Swiftwing.

“Oh!  You’re awake?  Jolly good, wot!  I was beginning to think that you had gone into a bloody coma!”

The doctor smiled at his patient.  Swiftwing peered at himself, trying to discern a serious injury.  He gave up, and then looked at the doctor.

“Why am I in here?”

“Ah, yes, not much wrong with you, eh?  Well, really, it’s a flipping miracle that you’re as healthy as you are.”

The doctor levitated a chair over, taking a seat next to Swiftwing.

“Well, funny thing is, when they brought you in here, I thought you were done for!  You had so much blood all over you, I reasoned you had to have at least a dozen cuts!  Turns out, fortunately, I was wrong!  As soon as we got you cleaned up, I saw that you were perfectly alright!  Just looked you over, and would you have guessed it?  Nothing but a sprained wing!  I guess you were just a little too swift on it, eh?”

The doctor smiled.

“Well, I guess that’s lucky… but if that’s all it was then why did I pass out?”

The memories of the event were slowly starting to drift back to Swiftwing.  The doctor looked slightly nervous all of the sudden.

“Well… I suppose that there is one slight complication.”

The doctor took a breath.

“I’m afraid that you have some combat shock… it’s all in your head.  Really, as long as you can think past it, you’ll be right as rain!”

Swiftwing stared at the doctor.

“Combat shock?  From what…”

Suddenly, Swiftwing doubled over, the faces of a dozen enemies floating in his head.

“Oh no…”  He looked down at himself, the dagger in his cutie mark catching his eye.  It looked stained with blood.  Frantically, he rubbed at it.  It didn’t come off.

“Get it off of me!”

The doctor eyed him, concerned.

“You sure your all right, chap?  Nothing there but your cutie mark, wot!”

“No!  The blade, it’s bloody!”

Swiftwing felt ridiculous, afraid of something on his own body.  The Doctor leaned in closer, raising a pair of glasses to his eyes.

“Nope, nothing but clean steel there, wot!  I’m afraid your seeing things, my good chap.  Would you like me to have the nurse fetch you a nice cup of tea?  That always helps to calm me down.”

Swiftwing had stood up on his bed, looking out the wide open window, his thoughts racing.  His wings instantly unfurled, and he raised them high, preparing to fly.

“Woah there chap!  Hold your horses!  You really should stay off that wing for a while-”

He was cut off, as the pony shot past him, fleeing the hospital room, heading out into the open sky.

“Pegasi,” the doctor muttered under his breath, “Always figuring out the quickest ways to get out of the hospital, wot!”

<(^)>

Swiftwing panted, the faces still spinning around his head.  They seemed to be glaring at him, accusing him of killing them.  He beat his wings furiously, gaining altitude.  He rose high above the city of Canterlot, which actually still looked nice, from this altitude.  Swiftwing ignored this fact, ignoring the fact that there was ground, or even gravity, until suddenly, his left wing refused to flap.

“Wha…  AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

He plummeted towards the ground, now more than a thousand feet below.  Thinking fast, he managed to steer himself towards a small cloud, using his right wing.

Thump.

He landed on the soft surface, bouncing slightly.

“Ugh…”

Swiftwing looked around for a moment, before the faces rushed back at him.

“No!  Go away!”

He shouted at the phantoms.

“Leave me alone!”

Tears began to fall, as Swiftwing quietly lay on the cloud.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”

A faint thud sounded in the sky, and Swiftwing looked up, momentarily free of his tormentors.  A few seconds later, a Rainbow arc seemed to sail past, far overhead.  Swiftwing sniffled.  It seemed strangely fitting that the rest of the world be merry while he was crying out his heart.  Slowly, he tucked his head under a wing, and continued to cry, his body shaking on the cloud.

The faces continued to circle him, even with his eyes closed.

“I’m sorry, he sobbed, “I’m sorry…”

A strange voice suddenly broke in.

“Woah, dude, are you ok?”

Swiftwing panicked slightly, annoyed that another pony had seen his suffering.  As he continued to sob, a thought slowly occurred to him.

That voice did seem awfully familiar…

He looked up, removing his wing from his head.  He could hardly believe his tear streaked eyes.  It was the annoying Rainbow colored mare.

Great… can my luck possibly get any worse…

He slowly rolled away from her, trying to stop his tears, but failing miserably.

“Woah, it’s ok there…  I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

He stopped his retreat at her softly spoken words.  It was as if she had had read his mind.  She hovered over him, and then carefully dropped to the cloud beside him, kneeling down.

“Hey, I remember you… you’re Swiftwing, right?”

The black maned stallion slowly nodded, staring at Rainbow.

“Are you hurt or something?  What happened to you?”  She suddenly stood up. “Oh my gosh!  Have you been up here since the battle?  Do you need me to get somepony?”

A look of genuine concern was spread across her features, it was slightly touching to Swiftwing, though he still remembered getting introduced to the other pegasus.  He slowly managed to bite back his tears.

“No… I just got here.”

“Oh… well then,” she slowly kneeled down again. “What’s wrong with you?”

She eyed the way he held his left wing, making a quick assumption.

“Does it really hurt that bad?  I think you’ve got to toughen up a little.”

Swiftwing would have laughed, if he hadn’t thought he might start crying again.

“No… its fine… well… it hurts, but not that bad.”

“Well,” she looked at him curiously, “What’s the problem then?  I can help you, you know.”

Swiftwing stared at the Rainbow pegasus , amused that the sun had slid behind her head.  It gave her mane a bright, glowing quality, making it more vibrant than it already was.  Her words tempted him, while half his mind shrieked at him…

Don’t… you… bucking… dare.

“I’m… I… I fought.”

His mind screamed at him, while his heart immediately felt lighter.

“You fought?  Um… ok, what’s that supposed to mean exactly?”  Rainbow didn’t fully understand.

“I…  I fought… and I killed.  I killed them.  They tried to kill me, but I killed them first.  They’re dead.”

Suddenly, he was overtaken by another wave of sobs.

“Why…” He croaked, “Why did I kill them?  They didn’t have to die… they were alive, and they were thinking.  They knew I was killing them.  They knew they were about to die, and they couldn’t do anything about it.”

He wept, unable to control his sadness.

“Hey now, it’s ok…  Cheer up a little, dude.”

Rainbow’s voice was soft, gently sounding in his ear.

“If you hadn’t done that, then you would be dead, and so would a lot of other ponies.  You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Rainbow Dash knew that this was strangely soft for her.  She just hoped that her friends wouldn’t find out about it.  Still, the element of loyalty wasn’t about to leave somepony hanging.

“I’d rather be dead…”

Swiftwing moaned.

“Well…” Rainbow thought for a moment. “What about everypony else?  I mean, you wouldn’t want them to die, would you?  If you hadn’t killed those guys, then they would have killed others, right?”

The flow of tears decreased slightly.

“Yes…”

He sniffled.

“That still doesn’t mean that I’m a good pony though…”

Rainbow felt inclined to do something rash, which was probably more her style anyway.  She leaned down, and nuzzled the mourning stallion, trying to help him.

“Hey now, I’m sure you’re an ok pony.  None of us are really all good anyway, I mean, we’ve all done bad stuff, right?”

Swiftwing looked at the mare, surprised at the affectionate gesture.

“Not as bad as I have…  You’ve never had to kill anypony…”

“Well… maybe not.  But I did turn a dude into stone once.  I mean, he was evil and all, but I still felt really bad about it later on.  Still, it was the same deal.  If I hadn’t done that, then all of Equestria would have been engulfed in eternal chaos.  That’s no fun.”

The stallion looked up into Rainbow’s eyes.

“Wait… Rainbow Dash…  as in…” his eyes grew wide. “The Rainbow Dash?  The element of harmony?”

She smiled down at him.

“Heh, yup, I am pretty awesome.”

Somehow, just the presence of one of the elemental bearers was comforting.

“You… you mean… you felt bad after you defeated Discord?”

Rainbow blushed a little.

“Well, yeah, I mean, we had to turn the poor guy into stone.  That’s got to hurt pretty bad.”

“How…  How’d you get over it?”

Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane.

“Well… I thought about it for a long time.  I never completely got over it, but I just thought about what the world would have been like if I didn’t do it… and what it’s like since I did.  Like I said, it doesn’t completely fix the problem, but it helps a lot.”

Swiftwing slowly thought, pondering her words.  She was right in a way…  The world was a lot better off, and even if he hadn’t killed the poor men, it just meant that somepony else would have.  He stood up.

“Thanks Rainbow… I’m really glad that you came along.”

Thoughtfully, he held out a hoof.

“Friends?”

She laughed, her Rainbow mane glinting in the now setting sunlight.

“Sure dude… Friends.”

Rainbow Dash looked down, surveying the city below.

“Well… the victory party should be starting up shortly…” She spread her wings. “Want to fly down with me?  I understand if you don’t…”

Swiftwing blushed.

“Well… I’d love to, but right now, I can’t.  My left wing… it’s sprained.  I was lucky to make it up here.”

“Hmm…”

The colorful mare thought for a moment.

“Here, it’s all right, lean on me, I’ll help you fly.”

“Really Rainbow, it’s not necessary…”

Dashie looked at the stallion, smiling.

“Look pal, you’ve gotta get down somehow, and I might as well be the one to help you.”

Swiftwing gave in.

“Alright… let’s get going then.”

Slowly, Swiftwing leaning on Rainbow, they made their way down to the ground.

<(^)>

The streets were filled with cheering ponies, shouting exclamations of joy, and stomping their hooves.  Alex surveyed the crowd, a smile on his face.  Even though many of the ponies had some sort of cast or bandage, they were all still ready to celebrate.  Once more, Equestria had gone up against a mighty foe, and prevailed.

The sun sank low in the sky, as carts containing all sorts of soups, breads, sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, puddings, drinks, and cakes rolled out of Canterlot castle.  Alex was wearing his new dress uniform, recently fitted to him, signifying his position of colonel in the Equestrian military.  He was proud of the dashing outfit, its ribbons and fabrics heavily complimenting his coat and mane.  He was even more proud of the two small medals that clung to the front of it though.

The badge of harmony, and the order of the sun and moon.  The two highest honors that could be bestowed upon a soldier.  Princess Celestia had awarded them to him while he was first putting on his new uniform.  Inwardly, he felt undeserving of the medals, but who was he to refuse loyalty?  He smiled slightly, still getting used to the small suns and moons that adorned his outfit, as opposed to the stars that he had previously worn.  It occurred to him that the remnants of his old flight suit, thoroughly cleaned after it had been shot, were still in his room.  Perhaps he should make something with it later, or probably, have Rarity do it for him.  He had recently seen her work on Twilight and her friend’s dresses, and he was rather impressed.

“Hey Alex!”

Speaking of Twilight…

Alex turned around, his metals clanking against each other.

“Wow!” The lavender unicorn exclaimed, “You look really great!”

Alex smiled at Twilight, who was wearing her gala dress.

“Thanks Twilight,” he stopped, taking in the sight for a moment.  “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

“Thanks Alex.”

She walked over to stand beside him.

“Quite an evening, huh?”

Alex laughed, watching as a row of fireworks danced into the sky, bursting at high altitude.

“Shouldn’t they wait until the sun finishes setting for those?”

Twilight smiled, “Their excited, don’t worry, the main display isn’t scheduled until later on, and it’s being coordinated by Princess Luna.  She does absolutely amazing work.”

Alex grinned.

“I would expect nothing less from the Princess of the night.”

Apple Jack quickly walked up to them, carrying several trays of various apple pastries.

“Jus’ look at all this grubb!”  She exclaimed.  “I can’t wait to try it out!  There got a be… four, no five different kinds of apples in here!”

She licked her lips in anticipation.

“Always eager to find new recipes for Sweet Apple Acres, aren’t you Apple Jack?”

Twilight chuckled at the sight of the mountain of food.  Alex was starting to get hungry looking at all of it.  It certainly looked much better than the hay that he’d been trying to get used to.  Carefully, trying to appear inconspicuous, he leaned down, and popped a small muffin into his mouth.  Thinking he had gone unseen, he quickly began to chew the delectable little pastry.

“Hey!  I was gonna eat that!”

Alex swallowed, blushing.  “Sorry Apple Jack, it just… looked so good.  Besides, don’t you have enough to eat there anyway?”

Apple Jack glanced down at the more than two dozen items on her trays.  “Um…  yeah, I guess I do.”

The three ponies all burst out laughing.  The earth pony continued to look at the food, a thought coming to mind.

“Actually… what the hay, there’s plenty to go around.  Soup’s on, everypony!  Dig in!”

Twilight smiled, carefully selecting a dish from the mound.  Suddenly, a pink blur zipped up, followed closely by several other ponies.

“CAKE!” The pink pony shouted, before immediately burying her face in the largest apple creation.  Frosting and crumbs shot out in every direction, showering the surrounding ponies.

“Pinkie!  Could you maybe eat a little neater please?”

“What?” She said, looking up from the cake, mouth full of food.  “It’s good!”

The other ponies drifted in, Rarity, finely clothed in an extravagant dress of her own creation, and then Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, wearing their own garments from the grand galloping gala.  Alex watched as the sun quickly fell beneath the horizon, listening in on the conversation of the six friends.  Slowly, as it grew darker, he turned back to look at them.

They stood, laughing, and chatting amongst themselves.

What a great group of friends.

The thought slowly crossed his mind.  He began to realize that Twilight was calling him into the group.  He strode up, feeling a little out of place.

“I hope I’m not crashing you girl’s party…”

“What?” Rarity stared at him, curious.  “Why in the world would you think something like that, darling?”

Alex smiled nervously.

“Well, you guys are all friends and whatnot… I’m sort of an outsider.”

“What the hay did you think that for sugar cube?”

Alex turned to face Apple Jack, who was smiling at him.

“We’re all friends here, just because we aint known you fer as long, that don’t mean that you’re not welcome here!”

Twilight laughed, levitating seven glasses up from a nearby serving table.  She brought them over, giving one to each pony.  She looked at Alex.

“You’ll always be welcome here Alex.”

Then she raised a hoof, a glass of punch in its grip.

“To new friends!”

The rest of the mares all did the same, the line echoing through the area.

“To new friends!”

Alex looked around at all the ponies around him, realizing that he would probably see them almost every day for the rest of his life.  He smiled, not sure what to make of the fact.  Therefore, he did the only thing that seemed logical.  He raised his right forehoof, the glass, and punch within, clutched in its grip.

“To new friends!”

Almost simultaneously, far above them in the night sky, the first shells of the official fireworks display began to go off.