A New Road Begins

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

A New Road Begins

By: GentlemanJ

Chapter 1

Canterlot was all abuzz. Well, it was always abuzz, but today, it was certainly a lot more abuzzy than usual.

Though the pristine streets of Equestria’s capitol always bustled with the coming and goings of citizens from every corner of the nation as they went about business both great and small, there was exceptional diversity in the crowds that on this day filled the city to almost bursting. But it was the good kind of bursting and the good kind of diversity, where instead of feeling jostled and awkward, the cacophonous mix merely added to the already festive air. Crystal Imperials laughed and cheered as Salamander tribesmen sampled their first ever Pony Joe donuts, served piping hot from the innumerable trolleys lining the pennant-strewn avenues. Tower mages danced alongside, and often arm in arm, with the winged Griffonheim in knots of twirling gaiety around the bands occupying what seemed to be every other street corner. And every so often, like verdant bulbs sprouting amidst a sea of rainbow stones, unglamoured Changelings did all that and more even as the Five Nation’s Flag proudly flew from every window, balcony, and palisade of the capitol’s countless buildings and towers in proud celebration.

It was utter chaos, but as one winged figure noted from her patrols high above Canterlot’s glittering spires, at least it was organized chaos. After all, it wasn’t like anyone had much experience organizing these events, this being Equestria’s newest, and possibly grandest celebration to date, yet somehow, someway, it had gotten done. Mostly. There were still half a dozen casks of Sweet Apple Acre’s finest brandy that were yet to be accounted for, but in the grand scheme of things, perhaps it was best not to ask.

So it was with a happy, if weary smile, that lone figure wheeled airily about around one of the palace’s graceful spires and began her slow, circling descent, not to join the festivities that spilled even into the numerous royal courtyards, but towards a covered walkway where a particularly intriguing group awaited.

*****

“Now, are yah sure that this is the right place?”

“What do I look like, a tour guide? Of course I’m not sure!”

“But you were so gung-ho about comin’ down this way…”

“Hey, just because you have no idea what you’re doing doesn’t mean you can’t do it with confidence.”

“… That’s so out of left field, I’mma have to visit the neighbors.”

Fortunately, before the bickering pair could really get into it, a foot softly lighted onto the grass nearby with a wash of amethyst light, light that signaled a singularly familiar and delightfully unified response.

“TWILIGHT!”

“Hey gi-” was all Twilight Sparkle managed to get out before she was physically accosted by four very energetic and enthused friends. Rainbow Dash, despite being the fastest, was still beaten to the punch by Fluttershy and the reality-warping Pinkie Pie, which left Applejack to bring up the rear on their gloriously giggly hugfest. There was laughing, there was squealing, and there was nonsensical babbling of the best sort. Perhaps not entirely necessary considering the circumstances, but hey, when did Ponyville girls ever need a reason for affection?

“Come on, I wasn’t even gone for that long,” Twilight laughed out with what little breath her friends had left her with. “Party planning only took a couple of weeks, you know.”

“Tch, duh we know,” Pinkie Pie beamed, an expression that changed into a frown with quicksilver speed. “But that’s two whole weeks without our bestest bookworm who was planning a party without me. Me! Parties are what I do!”

“Either way, it’s still so good to see you again,” Fluttershy squealed as she hugged her friend with more force than a delicately demure lady like her had a right to hug. “And I just love your wings! Are they new?”

“Definitely!” Twilight answered with chest puffed up proudly. “Princess Celestia finally showed me how to broadcast my aura without a rune frame. See?” And with that, the amethyst-eyed mage backed up and gave them a full display. Seemingly carved of glowing crystal the same shade as her eyes, a great pair of shimmering wings emerged from Twilight’s back where no hex tech machines could be seen. A feat not achievable by even the most talented of aura mages, such wings were the hallmark of royalty and once more, reminder that their bookish poindexter of a friend was now a bookish poindexter of a princess.

Not that it mattered too much of course.

“Yeah yeah, that’s all fancy and stuff,” Rainbow Dash smirked, “but I’ll bet you’re still having trouble on your inverted inclines, am I right?”

“I’m… getting there,” Twilight huffed with mild indignation. “It’s not like I’ve had much time to practice, you know.”

“Whereas I, on the other hand, do nothing but since I’m now–”

“-the newest addition to the official Wonderbolts roster,” the remaining three finished. “We know.”

“And don’t you forget it!”

“Not like you’d ever let us,” Applejack muttered under her breath. Between the constant reminders, anecdotes, and the fact that she was still wearing the trademark blue jumpsuit emblazoned with lightning bolts from her morning's performance, that was probably an understatement. Of course, everyone was thrilled for their friend when she’d gotten the news, but one can only stand so many lectures on the intricacies of an Aileron Alleyoop before patience begins to wear thin.

“So anyway, what are we all standing around for?” Pinkie Pie beamed as she threw arms around her closest friends – by proximity, not preference of course. “If catching up with Twilight was this awesome, just think about how great seeing Rarity will be!”

“Right, where is she anyway?” Twilight asked realization of absence dawned. “I thought she’d be here with you.”

“Had a little snafu with the train this mornin’, so she was late to the party,” Applejack explained. “Said she’d meet us here an’ make sure everything was hunky dory.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me she’s already…”

As her friends gave small nods of affirmation, Twilight’s words trailed off to allow amethyst eyes to widen ever so slightly.

“Well then, I guess we shouldn’t keep her waiting.”

Joining her friends on the covered walkway, the Ponyville troupe followed its marbled path as it wound towards a far corner of the palace’s collection of courtyards. Pausing at the narrow gate for only a moment to steady her nerves as anticipation quickly mounted to a fever pitch, Twilight put her hands to the cool iron handle and turned. There, standing beneath the shade of a single ancient oak…

“RARITY!”

Giggling and hugging again, but only exponentially moreso, if that was at all possible. Not even giving the violet-haired beauty a moment to respond, the five dog-piled Rarity and had her in a squishy embrace that was sure to leave her immaculate dress and hair in a state of disarray.

And for once, it seemed like she didn’t mind.

“Girls! It’s so good to see you!” she squealed in abject delight as she actually began jumping in place from excitement. “You don’t know how simply dreadful it’s been being away for so long!”

“Five whole months!” Pinkie Pie gaped. “Months! I mean, I could bake one thousand, four hundred, and forty batches of cupcakes in just one month, and you were gone for five! That’s five months too many, little missy! Five! Too! Many!”

“Everythin’ went well, I take it?” Applejack beamed as she deftly placed a hand over Pinkie’s still running mouth. “I mean, movin’ up tah Manehattan’s one thing, but doing all that wheelin’ and dealin’ with them hoity toity sorts must be like wranglin’ a herd o’ cats.”

“Ugh, and then some,” Rarity responded with a grandiose roll of the eyes. “Even as productive as lining up those investors has been, not a day goes by where some detail or another doesn’t need another good hashing out. As it stands, if I ever want to see my Canterlot boutique be more than a daydream, I’m afraid I’ll still be making frequent trips back for the foreseeable future.”

“More trips? Seriously?” Rainbow Dash gaped. “Hay, make any more of those, and you’ll be as bad as–”

“Yeah yeah, less worky, more eaty,” Pinkie Pie beamed as she took a turn at interrupting someone else instead. “Now somebody said something about a picnic? I’m starved!”

“Right this way then,” Rarity laughed as she waived them over to a pristine, linen clad table already set up for delightful luncheon for six. After a few scrambling moments – Applejack and Rainbow Dash just had to squabble for the same seat as they always did – the girls were finally settled into place and ready to really dig into both meal and something far more substantial: gossip.

“Now girls, I want to hear everything,” Rarity gushed as she passed around a tray of delightful mini quiches. “I’ve been getting your letters of course, but it’s just not the same as hearing everything straight from the source.”

“Then, maybe Twilight could go first?” Fluttershy softly suggested as she started nibbling on a piping popover. “She’s been in and out quite a bit, so I’m sure we’d all love to hear about it.”

“You have?” Rarity blinked. “But whatever for?”

“So like I told you all,” she smiled, “I’ve been traveling back and forth between Ponyville and the Tower, right? Well, the reason I’ve been doing that is because Abbot Apocrypha himself has been helping me with – and you’re not gonna believe this – an honest to Luna transdimensional hyper-bypass!”

“… Uh… say what now?”

“Applejack!”

Perhaps her anti-egghead senses had warned her of the impending danger. If they had, they had still come a moment too late, because even as Rainbow Dash hissed out her warning, a spark of light ignited in Twilight Sparkles’s amethyst eyes to signal the advent of the one thing that Twilight Sparkles do best: lecture.

“Well, ever since I became Celestia’s protégé, I’ve always been fascinated that while matter transference across the fabric of the space-time could happen on the instantaneous and discreet period, there seemed to be no way for sustained manipulation of said fabric to allow for coordinate connection,” Twilight began, crystal flute of sparkling cider forgotten in hand as her engine quickly started to gather steam. “My initial research ran into a barrier of infinite energy requirements, and for a while, that seemed to an analytical dead end. However, thanks to some recent advances in my understanding of quantum containment fields, I realized that such infinite requirements could theoretically be met with workable amounts if we took advantage of an uncollapsed superposition and oscillated the same energy between two undetermined states. With Apocrypha’s help, we were able to put theory to practice and have actually begun construction of a prototype that will permanently tie two locations together with teleportation magic, thus allowing the instantaneous transmission of matter across defined distances without the need for outside magical energy. If I'm correct, then we may have just learned how to create and stabilize distortions in the space-time continuum as a practical means of transportation!"

Silence.

Stares.

More silence.

More stares.

“Um…" Twilight paused to think. "I created a warp gate?”

“Oooooooooohhhhhhhh!” That was the sound of five lightbulbs clicking on in unison.

“Right,” the princess mage flushed. Once more she'd let her excitement get the best of her. How indecorous of her. “So basically, that’s been my pet project for a while. With any luck, I’ll have it up and running before the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“Good for you!” Fluttershy smiled, if neither particularly loudly or with complete understanding; jargon had a tendency to go right over her head. “So um… what are you going to do with this warp… thingy?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Twilight sighed as she finally took a sip of fizzy drink. “If I could keep one end in Ponyville for maintenance, then I'd prefer to leave the other one in the Crystal Empire. Between the travel and the princess duties and occasional world-saving adventure, I’ve hardly had time to visit my niece and nephew.”

And just like sparks to tinder, eyes lit up at the sound of those two, delightful words.

“And just how are the little darlings?” Rarity gushed as sapphire eyes sparkled like their namesake jewels. “Did baby Prism Lights look good in her new onesies? I mean, of course she would – I designed them after all – but nevertheless, please tell me she looked as adorable as I imagined she would?”

“Well then,” Twilight laughed, “why don’t you see for yourself?”

With a few waves of her fingers, Twilight Sparkle summoned forth a small folio that turned out to be just chock full of baby photos. In wallet sizes and eight by ten glossies, in portraits and family frolicks, the newest member to the Crystal Empire’s royal family cooed and gurgled happily away from beneath a fuzzy mop with all the colors of the borealis.

“Gosh darn it, she’s cuter ‘n a June bug in a cabbage patch,” Applejack grinned as she picked up a particularly adorable shot of the newborn grabbing onto her daddy’s nose. Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded in agreement, not so much because they agreed with the comment – which they honestly didn’t understand at all – but more because they were too busy squealing in delight to get a coherent word in otherwise.

“Simply sublime,” Rarity beamed as she admired one photo after another before a moment’s pause. “I do hope that young Afterburner isn’t too put out by the whole affair?”

“Are you kidding? He’s great!” Twilight beamed as she summoned forth another folio, this one full of a young toddler with short hair the intense light blue of a concentrated flame and a cheeky grin that spoke of energy to match. “Still a little hellion like always, but he’s really taken to being a big brother, which suits Cadance and Shine just fine. To be honest, I think he was getting to be a bit of a handful, even for them.”

“Yeah, I still don’t get that,” Rainbow Dash commented as she stifled more than a few gleeful giggles at the pictures. “Neither of the ‘rents are anything like that, but he’s going off like ten c’s of octane stuffed into a two c turbine. How the hay’s that work?”

“I actually have a theory on that,” Twilight grinned as lecture mode prepared to re-engage. “While it’s said that magical use has at most a negligible effect on pre-natal development, it’s often been theorized that exposure to extreme concentrations of mana can impart certain unexpected characteristics on developing children. Considering that Afterburner was beginning his third trimester when Cadance and Shine–”

“Nooooooo, no more sciency stuff!” Pinkie Pie wailed as she stuck fingers into both her ears. “I wanna start getting to the good stuff!”

“Good stuff?” Rarity blinked.

“What?”

When Applejack had removed the bubbly baker’s hands and repeated the question, Pinkie’s ever-present smile turned truly wicked.

“Oh, you know what I mean,” she answered with a sly wink and a gentle nudge. “I’m talking about the one thing girls like Rarity love more than pretty clothes.”

“And that would be?” Rarity prompted with an amused smiled.

“Dating stories.”

Eyebrows raised as five surprised girls turned to their curly haired friend. That… was actually very, very true.

“That’s right, you haven’t been keeping up with the latest developments, have you?” Twilight gasped as a wicked grin decidedly unbecoming of a princess appeared. “Then I guess that means you haven’t heard.

“Heard? Heard what? What haven’t I heard?”

“Well…” quickly glancing around to make sure that the empty courtyard still remained empty, “you remember how Cadance has been helping Queen Chrysalis find herself a special someone?”

“You mean they found it?!” Rarity gasped.

“Jess’ the opposite,” Applejack chuckled. “I ran into ‘em a couple o’ times makin' deliveris for the big shindig today, an’ far as I can tell, they were so busy chatterin’ away about everythin’ but, that I can’t imagine either one’s tryin’ at all.”

“Fact is, I don’t think they’ve been doing much in that department for a while, not since the Hearth’s Warming Eve concert at least.” Twilight added. “Which is really curious considering Chrysalis’s visits to my dear sister-in-law haven’t slowed down one jot, wouldn’t you think?”

Rarity would think. Had the two had business to conduct, such frequent liaisons would still make some semblance of sense. However if the visits were truly without such purpose, then… It was hard to imagine, but then again, friendships could bloom from just about any soil, however strange they may have been, no?

“Aw, don’t get so down in the dumps,” Rainbow Dash laughed as she clapped Rarity on the back far harder than even she could mistakenly clap. “Just because old green and mean’s not making any headway doesn’t mean some royalty ain’t getting some.

“No! You?!” Rarity gasped as eyes immediately darted to Twilight Sparkle.

“What? Wait, no!” she sputtered. “Flash Sentry’s just a friend, that’s all!”

“An’ yet nobody mentioned his name,” Applejack answered with an oh so smug smile. “Anythin’ the princess wants to mention ‘bout what goes on with all that bodyguardin’ after hours?”

“For your information, Flash Sentry simply happens to be a reliable confidant who makes my official duties all the more bearable,” Twilight sniffed in fair imitation of Canterlot nobility. But when the act did nothing to quell those mortifying stares, cheeks bloomed crimson beneath what few shreds of royal dignity she managed to hold onto. Which was to say, very little indeed.

“Well I’m not sure why everyone’s so interested in me,” Twilight huffed from a slightly lower position in her seat than before. “We all know that the only official change happened to Luna.”

Now it was Rarity’s turn to sputter.

“Wait, you mean Princess Luna?” she gasped. “As in the one who helped start a riot at her first royal appearance, Princess Luna?”

“Yup!” Twilight beamed, part in amusement, part in relief about being out of the spotlight. “Turns out that she’s been majorly pen-palling with someone for like, forever now, and when the two finally got the nerve up to meet, I’ll bet you that she was just as surprised as you are now.”

“Twilight,” Rarity began in level tones fit for a capital sentencing, “if you were ever my friend, you will tell me who it was right this very instant.”

Twilight said nothing, but the way four sets of eyes turned to Applejack, who neither blushed nor beamed, but merely grinned in wry amusement, Rarity had answer enough.

“No…” she breathe. “No! You mean to say that Big Macintosh wooed the princess through words?!”

“Hey, I’m jess as shocked as you,” Applejack shrugged. “But when you invite a princess to a county fair an’ she says yes, well… must be doin’ somethin’ right.”

“… I really must see what was in those letters,” Rarity blinked. Then started as she realized the grossness of her own impropriety. “Oh, I’m sorry Fluttershy, that was terribly insensitive of me!”

“It was?” Fluttershy blinked.

“My stars, of course it was!” Rarity gasped. “It’s incredibly tawdry to bring up a friend’s former companions without invitation, especially in the context of more recent relationships. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Um… if you really want me to,” Fluttershy hesitantly replied. “But I’m really not sure why I would need to.”

“So… you’re not put off by hearing about your ex being with someone else?” Rarity blinked.

“Goodness no! I’m actually very happy for the two of them!” Fluttershy beamed. Then started. “Oh my, I don’t mean that there’s anything wrong with Big Mac…” she said to Applejack. “Or Princess Luna...” she said to Twilight. “It’s just that, I don’t think I quite liked him the way she likes him or he me like he her, or… oh my…”

“Don’t worry sugar cube, I hear yah,” Applejack laughed as she gave her slowly mollifying friend a reassuring squeeze. “Yer jess happy that two folks yah like are gettin’ on fine with one another. Ain’t no shame in that.”

“Yeah, especially not when she’s so busy being Miss Popular, now is it?” Rainbow Dash snickered.

“Huh?” Fluttershy blinked.

“Oh, don’t give me that,” Rainbow Dash smiled, the sort of smile a shark might give when it smells an all-you-can-eat chum buffet. “Next you’ll be telling me you haven’t noticed how many Griffonheim have been visiting Ponyville for ‘cultural exchange’ recently, or that most of them just happen to be dudes.”

“Fluttershy, is this true?” Rarity asked with the most delighted of delighted smiles at hearing such a delicious morsel of news. Fluttershy in reply turned the shade of a well-cultivated beet.

“Um… maybe…?”

“How simply marvelous!” Rarity squealed. “Please tell me that one of your gentleman callers is that nice Avis fellow you’ve mentioned before.”

“More ‘n once, tah be sure,” Applejack grinned, “but the most frequent caller is – an’ yer not gonna believe this – Gilda.”

“Gilda?” Rarity blinked. “But I thought you two–”

“Oh no, she’s actually very nice,” Fluttershy hastily interjected despite her still rosy complexion. “Any time the visitors get, um… ‘too fresh’ as she puts it, she helps me by stepping in and making sure everyone gets along.”

“Is that a fact?” Rarity intoned in open wonder. “And you… enjoy this?”

“Tch, isn’t it obvious?” Rainbow Dash interjected with tones now gone sour like a pickle. “The two of them spend so much time hanging out these days, I’m starting to wonder who Gilda's real best gal pal really is.”

“Oh my, I didn’t mean to exclude!” Fluttershy gasped, her blue eyes all atizzy. “If you want, I can tell you when our next spa appointment is, and you’re more than welcome–”

“Eh, don’t sweat it, Flutters. Or, do. At the spa,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, partly from improved humor and partly from her egregiously terrible pun. “We both know I’m not around Ponyville too much this season, not since I have to be in Canterlot. With the Wonder Bolts. For Training. With Wonder Bolts. Did I mention I’m now with the Wonder Bolts?”

“Yes indeedy!” Pinkie Pie grinned, and from Rainbow Dash’s satisfied smile, it was clear that she was actually rather content with the whole affair. A girl had to live the dream, after all.

“Well I never,” Rarity breathed as she took a dainty sip of mimosa and a moment for composure. “In that case, what about you, Rainbow Dash? Surely, spending so much time with Equestria’s aerial elite would afford itself opportunity for... interesting developments?”

“Nah, not for me,” the colorful flier rejoined as her satisfied expression slowly morphed into smugness. “I’m already a rising star as it is, and since Spitfire might be taking some time off for maternity leave soon, that means I’m getting extra practice to groom me for a starting spot. Life of the best, don’t you know.”

“Not like you’d let us forget,” Twilight retorted with an indulgent smile. “But you don’t want to put it off too long, or some of the younger ones will overtake you soon.”

Now, such a general comment could have meant any number of things, but whether it was due to Rarity’s acute societal training, time spent as Twilight’s friend, or good old fashioned women’s intuition, something about those words piqued her interest.

“Twilight darling, did something of particular interest happen while I was away?” And at those words, the young mage’s face took on the most peculiar expression, one that blended pure happiness and pride before liberally seasoning with unadulterated worry.

“So, it’s only been a couple of weeks,” she… grinned? Grimaced? “But as far as I can tell, our widdle Spikey Wikey maaaaayyyyy not be so widdle anymore.”

A blink.

A pause.

And then.

“No!” Rarity gasped. “Already?!”

“Yup.”

“Was it with–”

“Uh huh.”

“How?”

“She asked him.”

“And he said yes?”

“Obviously.”

“And the others?”

“Couldn’t be happier.”

And as the others stifled giggles over Rarity’s most colorful reactions – indeed, the lot of them had been looking forward to the show for quite some time now – Rarity simply slumped back in her seat in dumbfounded wonder. Spike. Adorable little Spike, what with his endearing crush and ever-helpful attitude, was now actually dating. And with one of the Crusaders, no less! Why, it seemed like just yesterday, the only thought on their minds were how to get their cutie marks, and now?

It was a lot to take in, and from the way Twilight sighed, Rarity wasn’t the only one who needed some time to do it.

“I know, I’m probably worrying too much about it,” she began as she poured herself a fresh cup of tea. “But I just can’t help it, you know? Despite the obvious fact that time is progressing, I can’t help but remember him as that little baby I hatched all those years ago. It’s like the second I turn around, he just starts growing up without me.”

“I hear ya, sugar cube,” Applejack nodded.

“Ditto to that,” Rainbow Dash sagely nodded. To this, Twilight smiled. Briefly.

“If only he didn’t give me so much to worry about!” she groaned aloud. “I mean, why does it seem like all boys want to do is get themselves into trouble?”

“Because they’re boys,” Pinkie Pie grinned. “Duh.”

“Then Spike is the worst of the lot,” Twilight harrumphed. “I mean, he’s barely past his first molting, and he’s already been asking Shining Armor – or pestering him, more likely – about the requirements for entering the Academy. Has it in that silly head of his to join–”

“Ah, don’t worry about it none!” Pinkie Pie giggled as she crammed a buttered scone into the poindexter’s mouth. “Only thing worrying does is make you sad, and Ponyville’s got heaps more fun things to think about instead.”

“You would say that, wouldn’t you?” Applejack grinned. Peculiarly.

“Er, pardon me,” Rarity interjected, “but is there some subtext that I’m missing here?”

“Not what,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Who.”

“Who?”

“Cheese Sandwich.”

Despite Fluttershy’s helpful murmur, Rarity’s face remained unresponsive.

“The nice comedian who came around a while back?” Fluttershy offered.

Nope.

“Pinkie’s party plannin’ partner with the pyrotechnic plans?” Applejack suggested.

Nada.

“Almost help destroy the town with a giant cheese wheel?” Rainbow Dash hinted.

Still nothing.

“Um… earth tone poncho and a Cordoba hat?”

“Oh, him!”

“Yup,” Applejack chuckled as Rainbow Dash high fived Twilight for her epic save. “Turned up a while back with a whole wagon full ‘o knickknacks, clamberin’ for Pinkie here to help him with somethin’ or another. Last I checked, the two of them have been spendin’ an awful lot of time away from pryin’ eyes.”

“Makes you what they’re up to, hm?” Rainbow Dash grinned, to which Pinkie Pie, in most unusual turn of events, did not laugh off.

“I can neither confirm nor deny the nature of any events that may or may not have occurred between us,” she answered, cool as Rarity at a silent auction. Except… was it her imagination, or did Pinkie Pie seem just a touch more pink than usual?

“That’s all she ever says,” Fluttershy explained. “It seems like they’re working on something really big together, but neither of them will tell us what.”

“Because it’s a secret, and sharing a secret means it’s not a secret anymore!” Pinkie Pie giggled once more. “And if we’re gonna spend all this time talking about who’s keeping company with whom, I believe a certain fruit-named friend of ours has got some ‘splainin’ to do!”

Five pairs of eyes once more converged on the freckled farmgirl, just as they had before. Only this time, the response was a little different.

“What? What’re y’all starin’ at me for?” she huffed in far fouler of a temper than she would normally have at, well… anything. “Ain’t it normal tah offer up hospitality when folks come ‘round our parts?”

“Oh, it certainly is,” Fluttershy nodded vigorously, “especially when it’s a man who could be housed with any number of bachelor roommates, yet somehow ended up staying on your farm.”

“How scandalous!” Rarity squealed.

“Fer yer information,” Applejack huffed, “Hemmingmane jess happens tah come from farmin’ stock like us, so he’s more comfortable at the orchard ‘n anywhere else.”

“There to help you…” Rainbow Dash snorted, “till the soil?”

At that, green eyes, which had only then been smoldering, began to flash like summer lighting.

“Hemmingmane is a right gentleman, an’ you know it, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack insisted to a girl who was clearly no longer listening. “He helps out on the farm every chance he can, even though he’s busier ‘n a bumblebee workin’ on that novel of his! I mean, it can’t be easy helpin' rotate seasonal crops when you're intent on writin’ stories based on the… the, ah…”

Eyes flashing with anger quickly changed to something else as they darted to present company for help. However, no help was coming as four other pairs of eyes slowly began to widen in realization of what had just been done.

The sapphire eyes, however, saw this all and smiled.

“Girls, it’s okay” she said, her voice warm with affection, even if somewhat small. “I know that you’re trying to be considerate, what with the, ah… delicate evasions you’ve been providing, but I’m fine. Really. After all, I’ve had all of two years to come to terms, have I not?”

Two years. A whole two years had already passed since the allies gathered today had managed to rally together and seal away Nul and his corrosive darkness. Well, seal away Nul, at least.

Though the date marked the official closure to what was now being called The War of The End, its backlash had extended far beyond the day in question. Between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s explosive combination and the valor of Tiamat’s solitary strength, the vast majority of the dark horde that threatened the world had been obliterated. The splinters of that horde, however, still remained, and dealing with them had been far, far more troublesome.

Cut off as they were from the unifying call of their dark father, the shattered remnants of the shadow demon horde had scattered and lodged themselves into the snowy mountain crags, hunting and feeding as they had always intended to do. Wearied as the allies were from a week of unceasing combat, their bedraggled forces had no strength to give chase and were forced to watch helplessly as the surviving abominations made their escape. Embedded as they were in the mountains, ever a threat should they ever wander forth to spread their corrupting miasma, the five nations and their allies had had no choice but go forth and scour the snowy crags and clear them out one by one. Even when the first official anniversary had come around, fire teams were still sweeping the mountains, and it seemed like not a day passed nor would ever pass where more of the demons were not still found.

But they had persevered. The soldiers had hunted, the workers had rebuilt, and the leaders set about to seeing how ties made in the darkest of times might last well into the brightest. The struggle was long, and the effort was enormous, but as friends from far and wide gathered to celebrate on this day, perhaps the first point where the fruits of their labors could really be enjoyed, it seemed that everyone could truly put the past behind them and continue to live out their lives to the fullest.

Everyone, except the missing man of course.

They’d searched for him. Even without Rarity’s near hysterical sobs, they would have searched, and those anguished cries had only strengthened a resolve long since grown adamant. Despite the breach of protocol, not three days had passed from the day of victory before Ironside had personally led an expedition through the Jotun Pass and to the Hel Gate, the only portal left available that might still lead to his prison. Yet when they’d arrived, it was gone. The pit still remained, and the glowing orbs that sealed other monstrosities away still glowed with their pale light, but the entrance to Nul's prison was gone. What should have led to that strange world of red skies and roiling black clouds simply ended with a floor of cold, unyielding earth, one that held no trace of where the place they sought could be.

The man was simply gone, and no one on earth knew where he had gone.

That had been two years ago, and though time dulled all wounds, it was hard to say whether dull meant the same as healed. Unbidden, all eyes turned the same corner of the courtyard to look at the sole reason they chose to gather in this particular place on this particular day.

There was a pedestal, and in the pedestal, was a sword, a simple, sturdy instrument with a chipped, but serviceable blade beneath a solid, curved handguard and use-worn hilt. Commissioned by royalty and wrought entirely of iron, a princess could confirm that the entire piece had been forged from old gun barrels that were used, worn, and rough, but not broken. Not a single broken one in the lot.

A simple monument to honor a missing hero. A simple reminder to keep his memory alive.

All the while, Rarity sat there, beautiful, poised, and completely serene. By all outward appearances, she was the very picture of calm, cool control. Fortunately, that didn't fool Twilight. She may have been a bookworm who had head in the clouds more often than not, missed social cues with embarrassing regularity, and still thought that textbooks on psychology were an infallible source of information on interpersonal interaction. Yet despite all that, Twilight Sparkle was one of the loyalist and truest friends you could ask for, and there was no way that she could miss the look in Rarity’s eyes.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked.

“Me? Why, I’m doing splendidly,” Rarity smiled. “I’ve finally gotten my hands on the permits I needed to begin ground breaking at least. It shouldn’t be long before I finally have the Canterlot boutique that I’ve always–”

“That’s great, Rarity,” Twilight gently smiled, “but we all know that’s not what I was asking about.”

For a moment, Ponyville’s resident seamstress kept that smile on her face, the one that charmed and enthralled and made her the belle of so many balls. But under Twilight’s request and the quiet gazes of her truest friends, that smile faded to reveal her true face.

“It’s today, you know,” she said as her gaze returned, whether to look at her friends or away from the monument, nobody could really say. “Today’s the day that he… he promised he’d come back.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Twilight nodded. For some reason, Rarity found this delightfully amusing and broke out into fresh peals of laughter that trilled like silver wind chimes.

“Do you know what’s really funny?” she began when mirth subsided. “Last year, I came here thinking that that was the day. That would be the day he’d come walking back with that silly hat, that silly, coat, and that silly, silly smile of his. He didn’t of course, and yet I can’t help but feel the exact same way today.”

“Well that’s his loss then,” Rainbow Dash snorted as she pounded the tabled with a tightly clenched fist. “A knucklehead like him has no idea what he’s missing.”

And this was the truth. They’d all changed a lot in his absence. Old relations had faded, new ones had blossomed, and they themselves had grown and matured. Some had been drastic, like Twilight’s sudden and unexpected ascension, but others had been soft and subtle, like Rarity’s. Always a pretty and attractive girl, what once had been a tender bud now had bloomed into full splendor as violet locks fell in cascading waves around the face of an almost achingly beautiful young woman. If people had thought Rarity was lovely before, they would be stunned at what she’d become.

Stunned, yet somewhat saddened as well. Though she was still the same, histrionic drama queen her friends knew and loved, there were moments, when she thought nobody was looking, that her bright smiles faded and happiness dimmed. And now, though her immaculate white suit shined in the spring sunlight along with the sparkle of fine silver jewelry, that faded dimness was displayed once more.

Well that certainly wouldn’t do.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Twilight started. “Fluttershy, don’t you have something you want to give Rarity?”

“I do?” Fluttershy blinked in confusion.

“You do!” Pinkie Pie beamed. “You remember, right? The super secret awesome present you were saving for just such a special occasion? That thing?” And though Fluttershy was well-versed in looking startled, she really made an impressive showing then.

“Oh! That!”

Quickly reaching for a satchel she'd set beside her seat, the shy girl quickly lifted out a folio of her own, only this one was far thicker and full of sheets of carefully protected parchment, parchment that she now handed to a rather confused Rarity.

“Well what on earth could this be?” Rarity intoned with open curiosity.

“I, um… I guess you could call it, an, um… manuscript?” Fluttershy offered softly. An admirable effort, to be sure, but still not quite enough to answer the question at hand.

“A manuscript?” Rarity blinked. “Of what?”

“A children’s picture book,” Twilight explained. “Of course, that’s somewhat redundant since basically all picture books are for children, but I digress. The point is that Fluttershy here has taken to illustrating and recently finished a rough draft and wanted us to see.”

“It’s nothing special,” Fluttershy murmured as crimson quickly blossomed in her cheeks. “I just found that I liked drawing and some of the Ponyville kids seem to like them too–”

“They do at that!” Pinkie Pie crowed.

“So I thought that I might, um… try to get one published. Not because I’m very good or anything,” she hastily added as cheeks flared even brighter, “but just because I thought it’d be fun, so I was going to try, but I definitely wanted to give it to you so you could see it first and tell me if you liked it. That is, if it’s not too much trouble?”

“Well I’m certain that we’ll all absolutely adore it,” Rarity beamed as she looked up from the parchment stack in hand. “But why in Luna’s starry night sky would you need me to give any sort of approval?” To this, Twilight smiled and pulled open the cover.

“Why do you read and see for yourself?”

With sapphire eyes grown wide with intrigue, Rarity glanced down to the pictures adorning the first page. They were water colors, softly painted as if the artist hadn’t wanted to impose on the parchment too much, and drawn in a style that seemed both fantastic and endearing at the same time. It was a captivating image full of imagination and whimsy, but it was the words printed in neat, elegant script underneath that soon drew the young lady’s gaze.

*****

Once upon a time, there lived a brave and powerful warrior known as the Silver Knight. Wearing a glittering suit of armor and wielding a sword made from flashing lightning, the Silver Knight rode across the kingdom, fighting monsters of all sorts so that the people could live in peace. For a long time, he fought, always swinging his sword of flashing lightning. He fought for so long, in fact, that his once glittering armor began to grow dull and rusty. The Silver Knight kept swinging his flashing sword, but even though he fought for good, the people began to fear him because his armor had become almost as ugly as the monsters he fought.

Even so, the now not so Silver Knight still fought the monsters so the people could be safe as they slept through the night.

Then one day, the Silver Knight came to a town where there lived six beautiful princesses, each holding one of the magical elements of harmony: honesty, laughter, kindness, generosity, loyalty, and magic. The princesses were waiting for him to come, but the Silver Knight did not want to see them. Instead, he hid, because he did not want to scare them with his ugly suit of armor.

But when monsters suddenly attacked the town, the Silver Knight came out to fight the monsters and the princesses found him. They were surprised to see him, so they asked him,

“Mister Knight, why did you hide from us?”

“I hid because I was ugly,” the knight said. “I didn’t want to scare you because I know how ugly I am.”

When they heard this, the princesses laughed, for they did not find the Silver Knight ugly at all: though his armor may have been dull and rusty, they saw that his heart still shone as brightly as the day he’d taken up his sword. And that is why the princesses asked the Silver Knight to stay, not only to protect their little town, but to stay and be their friend as well.

And the Silver Knight said yes.

Though he was scared at first, the Silver Knight came to love the little town; he found many good friends among the people and even found a very special someone to call his very own. He continued to fight, riding all across the kingdom to slay monsters with his sword of flashing lightning, but he always returned to that little town. And though his armor did not shine as brightly as it once did, each time he came back, it began to shine just a little bit more.

For a time, the kingdom was at peace and the Silver Knight was happy.

But then, trouble came. The Great Shadow, the king of all monsters, appeared and said he would destroy the world. Only the Elements of Harmony, held by the six princesses, could hope to stop him. But to use their magic, the princesses would have to travel deep into a frightful land of monsters to where the Great Shadow lay.

The princesses did not know what to do. But then the Silver Knight stood up.

“Don’t worry,” he said as he drew his sword of flashing lightning. “I’ll go with you all into the frightful land. My armor will keep me safe and I’ll fight the monsters with my sword of flashing lightning. I’ll protect my friends and my special someone so we can all come back to the town we love.”

And though the princesses were still scared, they knew it would be fine, for their friend the Silver Knight would help them.

After crossing many high mountains and deep rivers, and after fighting of many scary monsters, the seven made their way to the home of the Great Shadow. The six princesses brought out the Elements of Harmony and together, they worked to put the Great Shadow back into his cage.

But the Great Shadow didn’t want to go back, and so he fought, sending many more monsters after the princesses. It seemed like the Great Shadow would win, but then the Silver Knight stood up, clad in his now shining armor and swinging his sword of flashing lightning. The Silver Knight and the Great Shadow fought, bright light against deep dark. The Great Shadow was strong, and soon it seemed like he would win and bury the whole world in darkness. But with one last cry, the Silver Knight swung his sword and stunned the Great Shadow.

And in that pause, the princesses won. The Elements of Harmony came together and in a blinding flash of light, sealed the Great Shadow back into his cage, never to return again. The princesses had done it. The world was saved.

But when the light faded, the Silver Knight was nowhere to be found. He had disappeared, along with his suit of shining armor and his sword of flashing lightning. The princesses looked for him, calling out his name, looking for where he might be. But they could not find him. All they could find was a quiet promise, made by the Silver Knight before he vanished.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I will come back home soon.”

And so

*****

Rarity didn’t mean to let the droplets strike the page. Luna’s mercy, she was an artist herself and she’d have hated if anyone marred one of her creations like she’d just done. Still, a few more droplets fell before Rarity managed to properly bring handkerchief to bear.

“Well… what happens next?” she asked. Fluttershy looked down.

“I… I don’t know,” she admitted softly. “I know that the story goes like that up to here, but I just don’t know how it’s supposed to end.”

“And that’s the thing, isn’t it?” Rarity sniffed as she carefully handed the pages back to Twilight. “We don’t have an ending to this story because someone was too inconsiderate to give us one.”

“So inconsiderate,” Pinkie Pie nodded.

“I mean, where does he get off, behaving like that?” Rarity continued as heat began to well in her voice. “It’s one thing to say that you’re going to be late to a party, but it’s an entirely other matter when you don’t even properly RSVP. One is rather gauche, but the other? The other is downright rude.”

“And how,” Applejack nodded in firm agreement. Then Rarity did the same.

“Well I for one, have had it,” she declared as she boldly stood up once more. “I am sick and tired of waiting for a man who obviously has forgotten his promise.”

… Okay, that? That was unexpected.

“Wait, what?” Twilight blinked as she too, stood up. “Rarity, are you saying–”

“Was I unclear?” Rarity fumed as she rounded on her friend. “I’m. Through. Waiting. Over. Done. Finito. Fortissima playing Brunnhilda in the Gotterdammerung finished! I have absolutely no intention of waiting even a single moment longer!”

The girls were stunned. Shocked really. They couldn’t count how many nights they’d all stayed up late together with Rarity and endless pints of ice cream as she cried her heart out till there was nothing left but empty space. They couldn’t remember how many times that, despite those tears, Rarity had firmly declared, with words harder than diamond, that she would never, ever give up on him.

But what they could count, or calculate at least, was the time she had waited.

It was marvelous, really. Remarkable, even, that Rarity had lasted as long as she had. Despite the months gone by, despite every daring sortie to find some trace of the missing man and every hopeful lead that proved false, Rarity had continued on, never accepting no for an answer. She had held onto hope in the face of all odds that someday, somehow, her patience would be rewarded. And though some part of them couldn’t help but wish that their friend’s indomitable spirit would remain just that, they also knew that to ask for more would simply make no sense.

“… I’m sorry, Rarity,” Twilight murmured as she took her friend up in a grand hug, one that was quickly multiplied fivefold. “This can’t have been easy.”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking it for some time,” Rarity sniffed as she returned the hugs with equal fervor. “That’s probably why the feeling’s almost one of… relief. Am I making sense?”

“You are,” Twilight admitted, though she really hadn’t wanted to. Rarity deserved to be happy, of course, but still, seeing her walk away from this was just so sad.

“In that case, what will you do now, sugar cube?” Applejack gently inquired once Rarity had made sure her mascara hadn’t run. “Any plans on what’s next?”

“Goodness, more than I can list,” Rarity firmly nodded. “First, I have to visit the ERA office to make sure my passport’s in order.”

Ah, travel. A time honored method of starting anew.

“Of course, I have to figure out my packing too. I want to travel as lightly as possible, but I really don’t know what sort of climates I’ll be facing. And there’s the issue of style as there always is, which makes the whole affair dreadfully limiting.

Um, okay? Lots of traveling, but that was a good thing, right?

“And then there’s the retinue,” Rarity huffed as the list continued to grow. “I want to confirm Daring Do’s involvement in the endeavor, but we really won’t know that until we reach Istampbull, and trying to corral a bunch of marshals together is like trying to give a herd of Opals flea baths. Honestly, why can’t one of them be in contact when they’re the ones volunteering for the job?”

… Aaaaand there. At that moment, the girls were officially lost.

“Um, Rarity?” the new princess hesitantly began. “Exactly what sort of vacation are you planning on going on?”

“Well, I’d hardly call the whole affair a vacation,” Rarity laughed. “After all, manhunts generally do tend to get a bit mucky from what I’ve gathered.”

“Manhunt?” Rainbow Dash blinked. “But… I thought you were done on the whole waiting schtick.”

“And indeed I have,” Rarity nodded. “I realized that if he can’t be bothered to show up on his own volition, then I’ll just have to go and find him myself.”

“You mean you haven’t given up?” Twilight gaped. “Even after all this time?”

“Certainly not!” Rarity answered with scandalized tones she usually reserved for offers of the more unsavory variety. “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times that I have invested far too much into that man to ever let him go. He belongs to me, and I intend to keep what is mine.”

The girls just stared at the woman before them, the incensed beauty whose eyes flashed like sapphire lightning. And slowly, their faces broke out into the same, wide, wide grins.

“You never were one to do things halfway, no siree bob,” Applejack laughed as she hugged her friend once more.

“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right,” Rarity smiled and hugged in return. “And I certainly can think of nothing more worth doing than this.”

“When do you head out?” Fluttershy murmured, eyes wide with worry.

“Next week.”

“Well that doesn’t give us much time to catch up,” Pinkie Pie frowned. Rarity apologetically smiled back.

“I know, darling. I was so looking forward to having the six of us together again. But the general’s made special arrangements, and with how much time has already passed–”

“Just go,” Rainbow Dash laughed as she gave her friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry about us. You just haul his sorry butt back here so we can give it a good beating. Until then, well, we’ll all be right here whenever you come back to visit.”

Now it was Rarity’s turn to initiate the teary hug and her friends’ turns to return it with equal gusto. When Rarity broke it off, however it was now with a faint trace of hesitation marring her usually flawless confidence.

“Do… do you think he’s really still out there?” she asked as she turned once more. “It’s been so long…”

“He is,” Twilight insisted, her words as strong and sturdy as the statue before them. “Knowing him, he’ll be here long after that bit’s rusted away to nothing.”

“… You certainly do speak a lot of sense,” Rarity smiled as her reticence faded away. “And plus, we both know how uncommonly stubborn he can–”

Without warning, tree branches above snapped and cracked as a golden armored sentry crash landed in a storm of leaves and twigs.

“Oh my goodness, are you okay?” Twilight gasped as she rushed over with wand out and already waving in levitating aid.

“B…. beg… beg par…don…” The sentry gasped and attempted to speak despite clearly have no breath with which to do so. Dripping with sweat and wild-eyed, it was clear that whatever directive had driven him here had done so to the point of exhaustion.

“Now just calm down and take deep breaths,” Rarity suggested as she knelt down to help. “Surely, there’s nothing so important that you can’t–”

“No!” the guardsman interrupted. “I… Ironside said…”

“The general?” Twilight started. “What? Is it important?”

“He said… find… her,” the guardsman panted, turning at once to face none other than a very stunned Rarity. “Find her… and say that… he… he… is…”

As he lost breath once more, Rarity froze.

And slowly, very slowly, sapphire eyes grew very wide indeed.

*********

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Floating.

Floating in darkness. Rising. Slowly, like a bubble through tar, he could feel himself approaching a light he more felt than saw. It was a familiar feeling, one that he’d felt before and always led to something else. What was it? So hard to remember. So hard to think. But he thought it might have been…

Moving.

Yes. Moving. He had to move. Always move.

Rousing himself as best he could, he set about to hasten his rise through the darkness. Only he couldn’t. He tried, but he couldn’t move.

Panic.

Fear.

Had to move. Had to–

“Whoa, easy there, easy. It’s okay now. You’re safe.”

Safe? What? What was talking? It was familiar, but why? What was going on? What was he talking about?

Slowly, he opened his eyes. Well, one of them at least, but that probably wouldn’t have mattered. The world around him was colorful, but hazy, as if a cornucopia of lights were being filtered through a thick pain of frosted glass. Those lights didn’t answer him anything, but the sounds did. Beeping. Regular and steady. The sound of machines. Medical.

Right, medical. He was in a hospital. That would explain the beeping of countless machines and monitors around them as they regulated the cocktails in a dozen tubes that pumped into his body. He was in a hospital, and someone, someone familiar, had said that it was okay.

He turned to look at the face. He knew that face.

Ironside smiled.

“Welcome back, son.”

Back? If that face was saying it, then that meant…

… he’d done it.

He’d actually made it back.

Feeling the residues of tension seeping out of his body, Graves gave out a long, weary sigh as he settled back into his bed. Back. He’d made it back.

“I take it he’s awake?”

“Just now, in fact.”

Reopening his one good eye, Graves looked up towards the new voice and saw Princess Celestia stepping through the healing ward with a shimmering ripple. He tried to raise a hand in salute, but the sheer weight of the pins and plaster binding his arm together made that rather impossible. Not that it was different from the rest of him, come to think of it, but right then, the arm was all that really mattered.

“Oh no you don’t. You will not be bringing out any formalities here, on today of all days,” the princess replied with tones half of mock severity and half deadly serious severity. “You have gone through more than enough tribulations, and I will not stand for you trying to add on pomp and circumstance, are we clear?”

Graves moved to speak, but all that came out was a faint, rasping wheeze. Immediately, Celestia reached for a nearby glass of water even as Ironside moved to prop the soldier’s broken body up. Aided by firm but gentle hands, the two helped Graves slowly take a few, refreshing sips. It took almost a minute – even the act of trying to stay upright and swallow was tiring – but eventually, the marshal found his voice once more.

“… How?” he asked, his words almost inaudible, but still in that same, gravelly baritone as before.

“Depends on what you’re asking,” Ironside shrugged. “I assume you’re wondering how we managed to recover you.”

Recover? Graves might have been a little addled, but ‘recovered’ was a term he could only remember being associated with equipment and remains. The confusion must have been apparent on his face because Ironside chuckled as he replied.

“Don’t worry, you’re not a specter or any other such nonsense, though it was pretty touch and go for a while. Way the witnesses tell it, one fine day, you just up and wandered into a Sierre Lion outpost, more dead than alive and looking like you just came out the back door from a tour of the nine circles. That was about two weeks ago, which is still a sight short of accounting for the time you were missing.”

“How long?” Graves murmured. For this, Ironside stroked his slate-hued beard in thought.

“Mm… a tour of duty sounds right.”

The connection didn’t come immediately. His head had been full of so many other things for so long that Graves had to think a bit to summon facts from what seemed to be another life. But once he did and the connections came back, a gunmetal grey eye widened ever so slightly.

“Oh.”

“Oh’s right boy,” Ironside grunted as a shade of heat entered into his words. “What the hay happened out there? I sent you with those girls because you were my best, not so you could go about lollygagging like a dandy on vacation.”

“General!” Celestia remarked in scandalized tones. “I get you were worried, but–”

“Worried? Oh, I'm not worried. I'm hopping mad,” Ironside snorted as ice blue eyes flashed like shards of permafrost. “You got a lot of explaining to do, so you better hop to it, soldier. Care to tell me why an active soldier took so blasted long to report back to his post? What on earth were you doing for so damned long when you had somewhere else to be?”

“Not on earth.”

“… Pardon?”

“I…” Graves coughed and Princess helped him take another drink. “I wasn’t here,” he continued. “Not on earth.”

“... You’re gonna have to explain that.”

Graves leaned back onto his bed for a moment. How should he explain it? How could he explain it? He’d been there of course, but so little of it made sense that he was still almost sure that it had all been a dream. But when a commanding officer asked for a report, you found a way to string thoughts together, so…

“After they left,” he began picking his words carefully to preserve what little strength he still had, “we… split. "The world with Nul's prison came loose. Closed off any way out.”

“But if that happened, then you would have been lost to us in a completely separate universe,” Celestia gaped with open wonder. “How the hay did you manage to get out?”

“Made a door,” Graves answered with the faintest of faint grins. “Nul’s caged in creation, right? If it makes stuff, figured I could make a way home.”

“So you're telling me you just… harness the fundamental forces of the universe, ripped a hole into another dimension, and popped open a door back to the here and now?” Ironside gaped, obviously in disbelief.

“Wasn’t that easy,” the marshal shrugged. “Couldn’t control it, not like the girls. Had to hop through a few. Weird places. Don’t recommend them. Then I found a… gap? Stuff got complicated, and the how’s a bit fuzzy, but then, well… here I am.”

Ironside stared at Graves so hard, it seemed like he was attempting to melt the young man’s face with the sheer force of his eyes.

“… I expect a full report, soldier. Copied in triplicate.”

Celestia knew she shouldn’t have, but she just couldn’t help it and burst out into peals of rich, sonorous laughter.

“I’m serious!” the general huffed as cheeks flared from righteous indignation. “You can’t just expect me to leave it at that, can you? First thing this greenhorn’s doing after he gets out of here is sitting down at a desk and filling out so much paperwork, we'll have to plant a forest for the paper!”

“That may be what you intend,” Princess Celestia answered with words still choked from restrained laughter, “but you might not be able to make him doing anything for very much longer.”

Hah? But… General Ironside was a commanding officer. The commanding officer. What sort of circumstance would make it where he couldn’t tell Graves what to do?

As if reading his mind, Celestia pulled out her wand and with a few quick flicks, summoned forth a roll of parchment. Only, instead of the normal gold seals that marked royal missives or crimson to set apart military documents, this one was brought forth in a crystal tube, one sealed at the ends with caps of shining gold and shimmering silver.

“I have few enough occasions to hand these out, and even fewer to a person more than once,” Celestia beamed, “but to you, Marshal Graves, for meritorious service above and beyond even the highest imagined calls of duty, I am so very pleased to be able to grant you this. The Right of Petition.”

At normal times, Graves was not very good with words. At this moment, he was speechless.

“You may not remember the details from before, so let me remind you,” the princess laughed. “The Right of Petition grants the bearer the right to make one request. So long as it does not endanger our nation or cause harm to its subjects, anything that is within our power to grant will be yours should you ask.”

Graves stared at Celestia for a moment, then down at the crystal tube, then up to Ironside, who merely snorted, then back to the princess.

“Um… what do I do with it?”

“Whatever you want, boy. That’s kind of the point,” Ironside said with a roll of the eyes. “But if you’re having trouble deciding, then this might help. Of all the things you can ask for, being a marshal again isn’t one of them.”

“What?!”

If Graves had been a bit confused before, the general’s most recent definitely came across crystal clear, and the rapidly increasing beeping from the various monitors made sure everyone knew just how he felt.

“You heard me, boy!” Ironside thundered. “You’re done. Finished. Kaput. Clear out your desk, head on the chopping block, fired. So help me, you will never step out into the field like that again, not if I have to personally–”

Whatever the general intended to personally do, we’ll never know because it was at that precise moment that the princess cut off his tirade with a well-placed swat to the head.

“Really now, I know you wanted to deliver the news, but this is just too much.”

“But you said–”

“I said you could have some fun with it, not be a big meany. Now go on. Tell him the whole story.”

The beeping slowly began to settle as Graves, with eyes as wide as silver dollars, stared at the general. He didn’t think it possible, but it actually looked like Ironside, the steady mountain of a man whose only settings were booming laugher and thunderous force, actually seemed to be sulking.

“Fine,” the general muttered as he reached into his coat. “What I meant to say, was that you can’t ask to be a full time field agent anymore because you’ve got a new assignment.” With that, he pulled out another roll of parchment, one sealed with crimson to mark an official military directive.

Slowly, under watching eyes, Graves lifted up his left arm, the one that was only heavily bandaged and not entombed in plaster, and popped the seal off the letter. Celestia helped him unroll it and holding it up, let him read the short message inside.

Marshal Graves,

You are hereby being transferred to the Royal Military Academy in

Canterlot and will be appointed as an instructor in the fields of marksmanship,

unarmed combat, and field survival. For this, you will be promoted to the rank

of lieutenant and given officer accommodations to facilitate your transfer.

At such later date when you are deemed fit, you will be appointed as an

instructors for novice marshals. For this, you will be promoted to the rank of

captain and given officer accommodations to facilitate your transfer.

May your valor and service continue to bless the twin crowns.

General Ironside

Princess Celestia

Princess Luna

Graves read the message over again. And again. And again. When he’d finished, a thousand and one questions were milling about his brain like sugar-addled children, too many to voice, let alone consider. So instead, he chose the simplest, easiest one.

“But… why?”

“Told you he’d ask,” Ironside snorted. “It’s because despite causing more gray hairs than a whole battalion of gung-ho cadets, you’re really, really good at what you do.”

“Too good,” Celestia chimed in, “for us to be risking you out in the field like this. Especially not after what you’ve become.”

“What I’ve… become?”

A brief exchange of glances between princess and general. Then Ironside spoke.

“Those friends of yours… quite the chatty lot they are.”

“I’m not following,” Graves frowned.

“After they got back, the only thing they talked about was getting you back. Wouldn’t shut up about what a trooper you were, how much you’d done for them, or half a dozen things you’re not supposed to talk about in a covert operation. Hmph. Civies. Always making life–”

“What the general’s trying to say,” Celestia chuckled as she swatted the general once more, “is that word got around about you. Graves, the Ghost of Thunder, who in addition to your already considerable exploits, single-handedly escorted the Elements of Harmony through the Savage Lands, then stood toe to toe with Nul of The End himself, and won.”

“But… I didn’t,” Graves blinked. “Not on my own. The girls–"

“–Were backing you every step of the way, we know,” Ironside cut in with a short bark of laughter. “But that don’t stop people from talking, especially when there’s such a bloody good story to go along with it.”

“As it stands, Graves, you’re a hero. An icon,” Celestia smiled proudly. “You’ve become an example of just what it means to be a marshal. Soldiers have been clamoring to join their ranks ever since the battle was won because of the legacy you left behind. Now that you’re actually back…”

“It’ll be a goddamn circus,” Ironside snorted, “which is why it seemed only fair that the one responsible for all the hubbub would be the one to fix it.”

If one were to say that Graves was a bit overwhelmed by it all, then that would be an egregious understatement of titanic proportions. His entire life had been one of quick and quiet; get in quick to do the job, then get out quiet to prevent a panic. The idea that he’d be not only teaching, but doing so in the limelight, was simply as foreign as a proposed career in professional dancing.

“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” Celestia said with a fond smile and a comforting pat. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get plenty of rest before we stick you in a classroom.”

“Not the rest I’m worrying about,” Graves muttered.

“And yet it’s what you’ve got,” Ironside chuckled, quite wickedly in fact. “You were always the one saying you went where you did the most good right? Well maybe it’s time you learned that sometimes, the most good can be done from behind a desk. Not completely of course, but… you know what I mean.”

Graves did. Or at least, he thought he did. Him. A teacher. And bucking... celebrity. Even in his wildest dreams could he ever have imagined that.

As he sat there, thumbing his earlobe three times as he tried to process the tidal upheavals that had thrown his life into disarray, another question finally bubbled to the surface.

“Oh, right. Do you, ah… do you know where they are?”

“Who?” Ironside asked, a touch too innocently for nature as he tapped his chin twice.

“They’re waiting for her, of course,” Celestia said with a wink that showed full understanding. “She said she needed to gather herself, so we came in first.”

Gather herself? Hoo boy.

“Then it only seems fair that we give you time to do the same,” Celestia suggested with far too smooth a face for anything but stifled amusement. “Ironside, what do you say we give him a few minutes to himself?”

“Fine by me,” the general snorted as she heaved himself to his feet. “Get some rest, soldier. I’m still expecting that report of yours yesterday.”

Celestia left first, the soft swish of her white silk dress suddenly cut off by her passage through the shimmering wall of light. Ironside turned to follow, but just before he did, he paused. A moment’s hesitation arrested his movements as his massive frame stood still in outline against the glittering curtain.

“Damned inconsiderate of you to disappear like that,” he finally grunted, hands clearly clasped behind his back as he refused to turn around. “MIAs are always the worst to deal with.”

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that,” Graves answered with a wry smile. “I’m kind of an ass like that.”

“And cheeky to boot,” Ironside chuckled. He fell into stillness once more as whatever force had seized him before again took hold. It took a little while longer to begin again, but finally, like granite sliding down a rocky embankment,

“Well, ah… ahem. Well, for what it’s worth, it’s... it's good to have you back, son. Damned good at that.”

Gunmetal grey eyes widened ever so slightly at the words. Then they fell again, a bit less surprised, but a good deal warmer.

“Don’t worry, I won't be leaving anytime soon,” the young man smiled. “ Not till I pay you back for those boots.”

If the words meant anything to Ironside, his poise didn’t show it. Steady as a mountain, reliable as the stone, nothing seemed to unbalance the stoic calm that seemed to radiate from his broad, powerful back.

However, if you had been on the other side, his expression would have said it all.

*****

When Ironside had finally left, Graves settled back into his bed and turned his head slightly to the side. There on the nearby stand, were the two scrolls that had suddenly changed his life and the small, personal effects box. Idly, he wiggled his right ring finger. Even encased in plaster, it still felt more naked than before.

A lot to take in at once. Ah well, he’d worry about that later. Right now, he had more important things to worry about.

“You can come out now,” he called out.

And then, as if from behind a perfectly flawless mirror, peaked a youthfully old face with a pair of molten, golden eyes.

**********

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Discord smiled as he stepped fully out. Wearing a suit that was part blue argyle, part mauve tartan, and all garish, the Spirit of Chaos looked as he ever did. Perhaps. The streaks of white in his hair and pointed beard were wider than before, and when he smiled, the single fang that had defined his smile for so long was distinctly absent. Nevertheless, those small changes didn’t keep him from plopping into one of the open seats and casting his slippered heels onto the side of the marshal’s bed, for all the world treating the infirmed's resting area as his own personal footstool.

“So, the conquering hero returns,” the elderly youngster grinned as he crossed his heels and leaned back with a satisfied sigh.

“Yup. No small part thanks to you.”

“Me? Please,” Discord smirked. “You did all the heavy lifting. I merely provided a bit of insurance.”

“That so?” Graves smirked. “So guiding me through the gap between worlds was just… insurance?”

“Well, maybe not that part,” Discord chortled. “Keeping your fleshy bits from drifting apart when you crossed that event horizon certainly took some doing, among other things, but I’m sure you would’ve found a way.”

“Probably would have,” Graves smiled. “Still. Thanks.”

Discord didn’t exactly react at the comment. Then again, he didn’t… not react either, and considering that he always had a snide remark or sardonic quip in hand, that probably said more than anything he could have said.

For a while longer, the two simply sat there, simply enjoying the peace and quiet that comes at the end of a long and tumultuous trip. Then Graves broke the silence.

“Why?”

“Hah?” Discord blinked.

“Why couldn't I tell them?”

It was a sensible question really. No soldier, no matter how good, could reasonably be believed to have escaped an alternate reality by means of using cosmic creation to facilitate interdimensional travel. The only way that could ever possibly have worked is if he had gotten help from some a decidedly unorthodox source. A source that, just before his return, had made him promise to tell nobody of his involvement.

“Reputation, of course,” Discord smiled. “Have to keep up my image.”

“You like playing the villain?”

“Why not? I’m so very, very good at it.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Graves snorted, a reaction that raised the eyebrow on an elderly youngster’s face.

“No? Let’s not forget, it was I who set Nul free to begin with. I certainly think that sort of action would qualify as the decidedly villainous type?”

“Maybe,” Graves shrugged. “Maybe it was just a mistake.”

“I’d hardly call bringing about the end of the world a mere mistake,” Discord chortled.

“So it was a big one,” Graves grinned. “But seeing how much work you put into fixing it, I figure it balances out, right?”

Once more, Discord began to laugh off the comment, but something in the marshal’s tone arrested the act.

“You know something I don’t?” he asked as topaz eyes bubbled with curiosity. To this, Graves slowly nodded as he worked to pull aside the swath of bandages on his chest.

“Funny thing, reputations,” he began as his index finger came to rest on a large burn scar, one crossing his chest like a sunburst, now faded with the passing of time. “One day you have one, but it’s pretty hard to figure out when it started. Usually.”

“And yours is an exception?” Discord smiled. Graves nodded.

“I go fight Nul ‘cause I’m 'the best'. They think that because I did good solo work. I did good solo work, because I survived Operation Elder. And the only reason I did that, was because of sheer, dumb luck.”

Grey eyes met gold in a moment of clarity.

“You think that was me?” Discord smiled.

“Fits your profile,” Graves smirked. “I make the shot, but I’m going dark and so full of magic backwash, I’m fit to burst like a heated mortar. To make it worse, Typhon’s tearing up the valley in his death throes, and I can feel the cliff I’m standing on crumble away beneath my feet at the very same time.”

“Well that certainly doesn’t sound very lucky to me,” Discord smirked.

“You’d think not,” Graves nodded. “And yet it was. I pass out, which just so happens to relax me enough that I can surf down a goddamn landslide with only a few broken bones to speak of. Then, even though my heart’s stopped from overuse, the lightning magic in my body just so happens to be perfect for shocking it back to ticking. Then, instead of staying trapped like it usually does, turns out I land on a rock just hard enough to punch a hole. Right here,” he said, pointing at the center of the scar, “which lets me bleed off the rest of the magic before it can fry me from inside out.”

Once more, grey eyes rose to meet golden ones, only this time, there was clear challenge, and just a hint of amusement lighting them up.

“We could go farther back and ask how I joined the team that made sure I got my start, how I survived before even thinking of joining, and who knows what else. All I know is that after Elder, I get sent to Ponyville and meet the one group of girls who could put up with me long enough to get me fit for service again. Now you tell me that’s not Luck, and I’ll eat my own cast.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t say it’s not lucky,” Discord smirked, “but you might want to get some hot sauce ready, because you’ll be scarfing at least half of it down.”

“Oh?” Graves intoned, now it being his turn to arch eyebrow in curiosity. “Do tell.”

“Funny thing about Luck,” Discord smiled. “Or Fate. Destiny. Whatever you want to call it. They think it’s a one way river that carries you from start to finish, A to B, simple as that.”

“And it’s not?” Graves asked as Discord laughed.

“Hardly. Do I even look like an A to B sort of fellow?”

Graves smiled.

“Not even close.”

“Exactly. Luck is strong, yes, but it’s more like… an ocean. Currents can pull you one way or another, quite powerfully in fact, but it doesn’t mean you can’t make it to shore if you really want. People have a lot more pull over their sails than they give themselves credit for.”

“So where you going with this?” Graves asked.

“Funny thing, your Lazarus Pits,” Discord grinned. “Did you know that a minor twist there, a dash of concoction there, and you get the perfect preserving liquid for making a revenant?”

A pause.

Then grey eyes blinked.

Twice.

“You serious?”

“Indeed I am,” Discord laughed. “It’s amazing the knowledge that gets lost in a civil war from a thousand years ago. Yes, what your Academy uses as a powerful, yet painful healing brew is actually the dilution of a potion used to make the strongest undead warrior ever known. Of course, the pure stuff took weeks of soaking to work, and it was strong enough that open exposure would make you full dead if you weren’t already. But if a certain, stone-brained fool managed to slowly acclimate himself over years of constant use? What does that leave you, hmm?”

“One tough son of a gun,” Graves whistled as clarity suddenly came to mind. “And here I thought it was ‘cause I was too just ornery to quit.”

“Oh, nobody’s denying that,” Discord chortled as golden eyes roiled merrily away. “Probably why I liked you so much in the first place. But the point of it all is that you beat the odds because of the choices you made. You cured your hide like a good leather coat to survive things that would kill lesser mortals. You learned lightning magic, and that allowed your ticker to keep on ticking. You made friends with the ones you needed to because, well… honestly, I still don’t know how you managed that.”

“Must be my sunny disposition.”

“Yes, that must be it,” the old man grinned. “All this to say, is that luck opens doors and can often pull you through, but your choices decide whether you’re close enough for it to even matter at all.”

“Which, if I’m hearing it correctly,” Graves pressed on with piercing intent, “means that Luck did play a part in it after all."

“Perhaps,” Discord smiled. “And perhaps not. Who can really say?”

“Who knows,” Graves sighed with a smile. There was one person who could actually say, but it was clear that there’d be no answers any time soon. His satisfaction, however, faded slightly as one final question came to mind.

“Still, there’s one thing I want to know,” the young soldier said. “You can deny everything else if you want, but we both know I’d never have made it back if it weren’t for you. Hay, we’d never even have beat Nul if it weren’t for you.”

“You could say that yes,” Discord nodded slowly, “but I’m not exactly hearing a question.”

Turning his head, Graves gestured with his eyes to the personal effects box beside his bed. Curious, Discord approached and opened it to reveal the few contents it contained: a worn, burned out silver star, a polished stone that glowed with an otherworldly light, and lastly, a heavy ring of gold and silver that swirled as freely as the clouds in the sky.

“That,” Graves continued as Discord carefully picked up the ring. “You gave a lot to help us. Me, most of all. Why exactly did you do it?”

“What, I can't help out a fellow because I find it fun?” Discord smiled.

“You could," Graves nodded. "But I think there's something besides my winning personality. Isn't that right, D?"

The elderly youngster’s golden eyes widened ever so slightly at the change in the marshal’s voice, a transition from light banter to something that sounded of knowing. It gave his voice an almost piercing quality, and for a moment, Discord looked shaken.

"Why'd you do it?" Graves asked lightly. "What were you really after?"

“Maybe..." he began with a faded smile, "maybe I just wanted to make a happy ending for once.”

“For who?” Graves asked.

“Anyone. Everyone. Who knows.”

Graves paused in thought for a while.

“Once, you said we were alike.”

“Did I?” Discord remarked.

“You didn’t want me making the same mistake you did,” Graves answered. “One where I lost the one thing I was trying to protect by going too far.”

“Ah, yes. I suppose I did say that, didn’t I?” Discord nodded, absentmindedly, as if there were thoughts that took him away from the here and now.

“If that's the case, then you must have lost something," Grave began once more in his steady, gravelly rumble. "Is that what pushed you here? To do what you did?”

Discord paused and stroked his chin in thought.

“She always loved you all,” he said, softly, almost too softly to be heard by anyone but himself. “I’m starting to see why now, but I didn’t then. All I know is that my mistake almost cost her what she cared for most. If a little effort’s all it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen, well then… I suppose I can call that a happy ending.”

“For her,” Graves nodded. “What about you?”

And Discord smiled. Only this time, it was a slow, weak smile, one that seemed to show every year of his very, very long life.

“Well, even I can't have everything, can I?"

Graves wanted to say something. Perhaps a nice statement about how everybody could have a happy ending so long as you really believed it could happen. He didn’t believe it of course, and the lack of conviction probably would have made any attempt an abysmal failure. What he did know is that mistakes, especially big ones, weren’t things you could necessarily fix. Sometimes, when the damage was done, there was just nothing you could do to change it.

So instead of something nice, Graves said,

“Well, can’t help you there. But maybe you could do a couple of things for me?”

“… Hah?”

And Graves made his first request. Discord’s golden eyes widened slightly when he heard it, but perhaps because he was in a rather pliant mood, having gone whimsical and nostalgic for a spell, he did as the marshal asked.

“Now, is there anything else I can do for you, mastah?” Discord asked as he threw the most outlandish of bows in the marshal’s general direction.

“Yes, yes there is,” Graves nodded calmly as he raised his left hand slowly. “See that door over there? Walk through it.”

“… I’m sorry, what?”

“I want you,” Graves said, slower, and with far more enunciation, “to walk. Through. That door.”

“Okay, so I definitely heard that right,” Discord frowned as he finished cleaning his ear with a rolling pin. “Now what I want to know is why.”

“What, you can’t figure it out?” Graves smirked.

“Please, I’m the Spirit of Chaos, not the Sultan of Inane Trivialities.”

“It’s not trivial to me,” the marshal retorted. “In fact, it’s really actually quite important.”

“And why, pray tell is that?” Discord pressed.

“I’m tired,” Graves said. “My life’s going crazy, and I’m sure that fairly soon, it’s about to get even worse. That’s why instead of having you pop in and out like a fever dream before I pause to catch my breath, I’d appreciate a little normalcy and have you leave through a door like all my other friends do.”

“Oh, I see, so all this is because–” Discord paused. He’d been so worked up in preparing his witty retort, that he hadn’t listened to the end of the statement. When he did, however…

“What are you trying to say?” he asked, with eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Graves smiled innocently. “I just figured I’d ask a friend for a simple favor.

“And… is that what we are?” Discord asked again as a peculiar blend of emotions played across his aged face.

“I’d say so. May not be the ending you were looking for, but it’s not the worst one, right?”

“No,” Discord smiled. “I suppose not.”

Once more, Graves raised his hand, only this time, he extended it forward. Needing no prompting this time, Discord made the motion of taking it in his own as real shook in time with the ephemeral.

“Don’t be stranger,” Graves grinned. “Maybe come by when I'm not in mortal danger."

“I make no promises,” Discord chortled, "but I can certainly try.”

The two hands parted. Gunmetal greys shone, gold twinkled, and with final nods to companions who’d been through much together, Discord put hand to knob, magicked open the ward’s door, and walked out.

Right into the last person he expected to see.

*****

“Hello Discord,” Princess Celestia said in tones cool and crisp enough for a winter morning. “I can’t say I expected to see you here.”

“… Cessy. What a surprise,” Discord started with eyes open wide, and for once, meaning every word. “I was just, ah…”

“Having a pleasant conversation with our injured marshal?” she asked with elegant eyebrow raised.

“You could say that, though I personally prefer to–” Once again, he’d been so preoccupied with coming up with his comeback, that he forgot to listen to the entire statement.

“… How much did you hear?” he finally asked.

“Enough,” she sniffed. “Ironside said that I should stick around for a minute. I wasn’t sure why until you decided to make an appearance.

Ironside? The big fellow with the unruly facial hair? Why would he have…

...

Graves.

He’d set him up. Somehow or another, the marshal must have had signaled the general, who’d passed the message onto to Celestia. Confound it, and after he’d promised that he wouldn’t say anything, here he went and… and…

... and actually kept his promise. Technically, Graves had promised not to tell anyone else about his involvement. He’d never actually said anything about letting other people hear a conversation between two privileged parties, had he? Then all the questions, all the probing, and that ridiculous request at the end had all been part of an elaborate and devious setup that had Discord played like a fiddle.

Hmph. If Discord hadn’t known any better, he would have said that the strange, bubbling feeling inside was a swell of pride.

“… Did you mean it?”

“Pardon?” he asked.

“What you said in there. Did you mean it?” she repeated, each word coming out crisp and clipped as shards of chipped ice.

“I had no reason to lie,” he shrugged. “Whether you trust me to do otherwise is a different question.”

“After everything you’ve done, I’m not sure how I can.”

He knew that was how she’d respond. That’s how she always responded. But on today of all days, that frost in her tone and the cold glimmer in her eyes seemed to hurt more than–

“That’s why,” she continued, “it’s only prudent that I look into this matter further.”

“... I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, I must look into it further,” she repeated, although no longer in quite the same fashion. For one thing, she no longer met his gaze as her eyes were now somewhat downcast, somewhat evasive. For another, her expression had somewhat twisted as her aurora of hair fluttered under the winds of some unknown turmoil. “You will be severely restricted of course, and every precaution will be made against any sort of chicanery on your part, but beyond that, I see no reason why we cannot be civil, do you?”

“Um… I don’t see why not…” Discord responded, although still not sure what exactly he was responding to. Nevertheless, his agreement seemed to suit the princess just fine as she gave him a firm nod in response.

"In that case, I will expect you for tea at four tomorrow so that I can investigate the nature of your current character. You…” And then she paused, hesitant as she teetered on the border of indecision. “… You still like sassafras, don't you?”

Discord gaped, at such a loss for words that he could only nod in assent. Her response was similar, but brisk and to the point.

“Very good then. Tea. Tomorrow. Do not disappoint me again.”

And as swiftly as she’d decided, she was off, slippered feet tapping so swiftly against the marble floor that one had to wonder where she was off to in such a hurry. Or perhaps, where she no longer wished to be.

As for Discord, an unbidden smile came to his lips. It wasn’t a smile or smirk, sarcastic or sardonic, but one that so lit up his face that some of those years creasing his brow seemed to fade beneath its brightness. It was a small step, one tiny move forward after an age of stillness, but it was definitely, positively, without a doubt, a step forward. And if she’d been able to bring up memories so old that they outdated history itself, well... what was another few ages of patience when you had eternity to spare?

So with a flourishing bow that would have done any ball in the universe proud, Discord simply said, “As my princess commands,” as he disappeared from sight.

And this? This gave a visibly shaken Celestia a few moments of privacy to compose herself before she strode off to find the waiting one who had waited far too long already.

**********

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Seconds steadily ticked by, adding to the pool that formed the minutes marking how long Rarity had stood before the door, yet still not entered.

It was strange, really. For so long, this moment was all she wanted. She’d gone to sleep thinking of it, dreamt about it, and woken up weeping when she’d realized it had only been a dream. She’d waited for it, waited for so long in fact, that it almost seemed as if the waiting had become a part of her, as if the yearning had been engrained deeply into her bones because even hope as she might, part of her believed that she had and would continue to yearn in vain.

So when Celestia had come to her room at the castle and told her that he was awake, and when her friends had hugged her warmly and sent her off with comforting smiles to see him once more, she’d gone. She’d gone, but only as if in a dream where each step came through a haze and nothing seemed to exist beyond the here and now. Well, that now had brought her here to this door, beyond which the one thing she’d prayed for for so long lay waiting.

Or did it?

What if it wasn’t the same? What if he was no longer the man she remembered, or even worse, exactly as she remembered and thus not enough? Had those long nights of dreaming and hoping painted her memories into a fantasy that no living person could ever hope to fulfill? Was all that lay on the other side disappointment of expectations that could never be met? Or what if everything down to the very last detail was exactly as she hoped and she simply no longer cared? Along with those years of waiting and hoping had come much else as well. Pain at the loss, anger at the betrayal, and even madness as a hope that could not be extinguished taunted her with what reason knew she could never have. What if all of that, the hurt and fury and so much more, had warped her heart so much that her now twisted self could no longer care? What if when she actually opened the door, she found that the only thing she really wanted was to be done with it all?

All these thoughts and more milled about in her head as fear paralyzed her hands. Steadily, more seconds ticked by. Maybe she wasn’t ready. Maybe she should go back, gather her thoughts, and come back. Maybe she should just…

What, wait?

No. She’d done enough waiting. She’d waited far too long as it was. If the marshal was really beyond that door, it was high time she found out about it and laid the waiting to rest once and for all. So with a final trembling breath to calm her tingling nerves, Rarity raised her hand, wrapped slender fingers around the polished silver knob, and turned.

The room was white, bright and pristine as a cool, gentle breeze blew through open windows making up the entire far wall. In the center of the room, a shimmering dome of light gently rippled to distort the sight of whatever lay inside. Monitors, most likely. She could hear the beeping and the gentle whirring of magical machinery. She could hear–

“Hello?”

That voice. A low, gravelly rumble she remembered so well from so long ago.

Breath hitching in her chest, Rarity slowly stepped forward as heels clicked against the spotless tiles, bringing her closer to the shimmering wall of light. One more step forward, then a gentle ripple of soft light, and…

He was... a mess. An absolutely horrid mess.

His right arm and right leg lay encased in plaster, left leg hung suspended from a magical harness, pins and braces crisscrossed every which way to keep his mangled body from falling apart. Bandages wound tight over countless wounds, some fresh, some old yet never seeming to have ever really healed. Even his face, stubbled with growth she could never remember seeing before, was obscured as the entirety of the right side of his face lay encased under thick pads of gauze. The man was broken. His flesh was torn to tatters. His bones were ground to dust. He had been beaten and battered, shattered to pieces and left for dead with nary a friend in the world and no one to lay his bloodied head to rest.

And despite that, despite everything he had been through, there he was, one silvery eye looking up at her as that all too familiar face broke into an awkward smile.

“Um... hey,” Graves grinned. “I’m back.”

Rarity stood, frozen. She wanted to move, but couldn’t. She wanted to speak, but couldn’t. All she could do was stand there, as still as a marble statue as her sapphire eyes remained locked on his gunmetal grey.

“So… it’s not as bad as it looks,” he began once more as he wearily waved his left arm, the only limb that could truly move, over his person. “Doctors say I’m a mess now, but nothing they can’t sort out with plenty of magic and rest. Well, magic mostly. I said I could just start visiting the Lazarus Pools again, but the nurse looked ready to–”

Slap.

She didn’t know when she’d crossed the room, nor that she’d raised her hand at all. But once the stinging in her palms sank in and that stunned, stupid expression on his face registered, Rarity knew exactly what she wanted to say.

“How dare you,” she breathed, voice trembling as she raised her hand once more. “How. Dare! You!”

“Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?! What you put me through?” she cried as she struck him once more. “You were gone for two years. Two! Whole! Years! Do you have any idea what it’s like to wait for that long? I worried myself sick over you! I lost sleep, I cried my eyes red, and for a good long while, my complexion was simply shot to crinkled old parchment from the constant stress! I bounced between wanting to forget you and feeling guilty for the thought so many times that everyone began wondering not if, but when I'd just... snap! Snap like a cheap comb! And now, when you finally show up after so wretchedly long, after everything I've been through, you have the gall to open up with, ‘Hey’?!”

All through the tirade, blows rained down. Open handed, closed fist, on hardened plaster or bandaged flesh, she didn’t care. All Rarity cared about was hitting the man before her as hard as she could, as fast as she could, as long as she could.

“I should have forgotten you!” she shrieked. "I should have left you to rot where you were and moved on with my life! I should have taken any and every single thing that ever reminded me of your horrible person and burned them for the rubbish that they were! But I didn’t! Like the fool that I was, I kept my promise, unlike someone I know! I did exactly as I said I would because I’m not an inconsiderate ass like you! I… I… ...”

She couldn’t be sure when it had stopped either. One moment, she was hammering down on him, doing everything she could to draw what little blood he had left, and the next? She was clinging to him, holding on for dear life as tears rolled unbidden down her anguished face.

“I waited for you,” she sobbed as she held him as close as her slender arms could possibly hold. “I waited for you.”

“... I know.”

Raising his left arm, the only one of his limbs that he could move, Graves brought it over her shivering back and pulled her in a little closer. It was a weak motion, one barely fit to shift mist and fog, let alone a woman. It was a feeble gesture that lacked any semblance of the familiar strength and assurance she’d dreamed of for all those years.

But in that moment?

In that moment, it was all she could have ever wanted and more.

"Welcome home, Graves," Rarity sobbed, tears still streaming as they held each other close. "Welcome home."

*****

They weren’t sure how long they sat there. Hours surely, if the warm hues of the setting sun were any mark. Her eyes were still red from crying. She’d stopped, then started, then stopped and started some more. Yet no matter how distraught her appearance and no matter how many tissues she ran through, not once had Rarity strayed a single step from his side. Silently, the two remained there, not saying a word, often not even looking each other as the seconds ticked on. The only thing they did do was remain together. Rarity’s hand lay in his as her slender fingers held on to tough, calloused ones too weak to return the gesture for long.

Thus, time had passed and the sun began its descent.

“… Anyone ever tell you you’re amazing?”

“Some,” Rarity softly smiled. “Not as often as of late.”

“Yeah,” Graves grimaced. “Sorry about that.”

“You should be. A lady needs admirers to keep her spirits up.”

“Well, I’m sure you weren’t short on those.”

To some, it may have been aimless flattery. Rarity’s eyes were puffy, her makeup was ruined, her perfect white suit was soiled and stained, and her usually immaculate soft curls were a rumpled mess. Yet to Graves, he could honestly say that he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

“I suppose I wasn’t,” Rarity sighed. “Argent began renewing his passes at last year’s Gala, and Blueblood tried proposing once more, bless him. Then Lady Uptown, Countess Propriety, and a dozen others have been nothing but insistent on matching me up with every nephew, cousin, and other relation under the sun. And still, it just wasn’t enough.”

“No? Why not?”

“Because, my slow-witted marshal,” she smiled as she squeezed his calloused hand, “while the adoration of the crowd is nice, sometimes you really just want praise from one person who really matters.”

Once more, beeping reached a frentic tempo as the marshal’s heart swelled in his chest. Swelled, yet grew heavy at the same time.

“You didn’t have to, you know,” he said softly.

“Didn’t have to what?”

“Wait."

“I promised, didn’t I?”

"Must've expired.”

“I didn’t let it.”

“Well, maybe you should have.”

“… And why, pray tell, is that?”

Why? More like why not? Even with only one good eye, Graves could clearly see it. He’d hurt her, and badly. For him, the two years he’d been gone had passed by in a strange, chaotic blur, but he could feel how every passing second from his delay had cut her a little deeper. The marshal knew wounds, and those wounds, harsh, insidious cuts that hurt long and healed slow, were ones she’d chosen to take on for his sake. He didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve her.

“You could do so much better,” he smiled, a small and weary expression as he looked into her bright, sapphire eyes. “Like you said, I’m an inconsiderate ass. You need someone who will treat you right.”

Rarity didn’t respond right then. Instead, she looked down on him, her face that inscrutable mask of perfect compose that always signaled the advent of something truly unbelievable. What it would be, he couldn’t be sure, but fortunately, it didn’t seem like he’d have to wait to find out.

“Graves,” she began, her voice ringing out with the flawless notes of silver chimes. “Do you remember what I said to you when last we met?”

“As in the very last time?”

Rarity nodded, and Graves smiled.

Did he remember? How could he forget? Those words had been engraved onto his heart and anchored soul to body time after time it had tried to leech out along with his dripping lifeblood. It had been the mantra he’d chanted to himself when his mind wanted to tear itself apart from the pain of his travels.

“You belong to me,” he recalled. “Till death do us part and beyond. Now and forever more.”

“Precisely,” Rarity smiled. “I didn’t say till things got hard, or when you started being exceptionally thick. I said forever, because that was exactly how long I was willing to wait. When I said those things to you, I meant every word I said.”

“But–”

“But nothing, Marshal Graves,” she interjected with a dangerous flash in her sapphire eyes. “Every word I said. Every. Single. One. That means that you sir, belong to me and me alone, and if you think for a second that you’ll weasel out of that arrangement with some hair-brained soliloquy on heroism and guilt, then I’ll thump you so hard you’ll think back fondly to the Savage Lands and wish you’d never left. Are. We. Clear?”

Graves had nothing to say in response. For one thing, he was a fool, not a complete idiot, and only a complete idiot would have argued with Rarity when she had that look in her eyes. For another thing, those words actually went along rather well with what he had in mind. He hoped. He wasn’t quite sure it would work as he wanted, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

“Well, if that’s how you really feel…”

Releasing Rarity’s hand – a shocking, but necessary gesture – Graves grunted as he turned his mummified body over and reached for his box. The monitors beeped and chittered away at the undue stress put on his body, but for the moment, that suited him just fine. They would mask the move that was to come next.

“So, ah… while I was away,” he began, fumbling with both words and container as he worked to undo the clasp, “I, um… got to thinking.”

“About what?” Rarity asked as sapphire eyes now sparkled with confusion and curiosity.

“ ‘Bout that last bit you said. ‘Bout me belonging to you.”

There. Done.

“So you know it, and I know it, and Luna knows I ain’t gonna argue with that–”

“You’d better not,” Rarity laughed in that half joking, half serious manner women like her did so well.

“Oh, I’m not,” Graves nodded fervently. “I was just thinking that, well… it’s awfully inconvenient to have to say it all the time, right? I’m not big on chatting, and you’ve got better things to chat about, right? So…”

Opening the lid, Graves reached in and rummaged around. He felt the worn and battered silver star, now broken beyond repair, that had stayed pinned to his coat for so long. He felt the smooth stone that glowed with an otherworldly light, a memento of a promise made and an obligation he had yet to fulfill. But those weren’t what he was after. Instead, he reached into the box and pulled out the third item while leaving the fourth behind.

“I’m a simple man, and I like simple things,” he said as he held the prize aloft. “So if you really want me to belong to you, now and forever more, well…”

**********

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A reasonable period that was far too long later:

Graves reached a finger into his collar once more and gave it yet another irritable yank.

“I really hate these things,” he muttered. “I really, really hate them.”

“You know, you could’ve gone with your officer’s coat,” Shining Armor smiled, trying his best to not enjoy the marshal’s suffering and failing miserably. Graves just scoffed.

“You kidding? Those things are white, and you know what Rarity would’ve done if I wore white today.”

“Yeah, I still don’t get that,” Spike shrugged before pausing to straighten up his jacket. “Why’s it so important that you don’t wear white?”

“Don’t even ask,” Graves sighed, hand dropping as he gave up on the collar as well. “Trying to understand women is just a headache waiting to happen.”

“And people say I don’t make sense,” Discord mumbled as he did a fair job of looking just as, if not more uncomfortable than the marshal. “She picks out what you wear today like the fate of the world depends on it, yet she lets you keep that garish thing on your face?”

“Let me?” Graves snorted. “D, she made me.”

Needless to say, Discord was not the only one surprised to hear that Rarity liked blemishes, especially when looking at the one in question. Though the eye had healed just fine, Graves still retained a rather distinctive scar from his days in the Savage Lands, one that ran from just above his brow across his right gunmetal grey and halfway down his cheek. ‘The perfect wicked embellishment to bring out your handsome features,’ she’d said with absolutely fondness, ‘and a good reminder of what I’ll do to you if you ever leave me like that again.’

“So, are all relationships this, um… terrifying?” Spike asked as he looked up at the marshal once more with a shiver of recollection.

“Only the good ones,” Shining Armor laughed, to which Big Macintosh added a good and hearty,

“Ee-yup.”

Just then, whatever manly bantering the men had in mind was cut off as Octavia and Vinyl Scratch began playing. Straightening up his tuxedo, Graves attempted to ignore the aggravating sensation of being strangled by Breezies as he cast his eyes out over the town hall, now packed to the rafters and beyond. Idly, he nodded to General Ironside where he sat beside Princess Celestia, then to the bickering, fidgeting Ghost Legacy squad that sat behind them, then Cadance, Red, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Hemmingmane, Cheese Sandwich, Chrysalis, Avis, Gilda, and countless other faces he'd come to know so well. But surveying the crowd was merely to distract himself from his nerves. Never in all his days, not even when going toe to toe with the End itself, had Graves ever felt such a potent mix of fear and heart-pounding excitement as he did at that precise moment.

Then far doors opened, the procession began, and the sensation multiplied twofold.

Rainbow Dash led the way, striding forth for all the world like she was about to launch into one of her now famous aerial shows. Applejack followed behind at a much more reasonable, if still very enthusiastic walk, one that a usually demure Fluttershy almost matched pep for pep. Pinkie Pie was, as usual, Pinkie Pie, but today, she managed to contain her energy just enough to match the stately procession of her friends. Then Twilight Sparkle, with regality fit for a princess and twinkling eyes fit for a child on Hearth’s warming day, rounded out the rear.

Music continued to stream forth, melodious and sweet as Sweetie Belle followed soon after. Flown back just days before from her vocal training in Farma, the once goofy little girl now strode down the aisle as a graceful young woman. Yet no amount of grace could contain the positively bubbling energy that threatened to burst forth with every approaching step.

As she finally took her place on stage with a giggling, excited wave to Graves on the other end - one which he returned with a much smaller, if still very warm smile - in darted Afterburner. Nearly dropping the pillow he held in hand during his dynamic entry, he skidded to a halt and rapidly darting back to help his little sister along. Though she wobbled a bit on still unsteady legs, Prism Lights dutifully scattered as many petals from her basket as her tiny hands could manage. With a cheerful wink from their father on stage and a silent cheer from their mother in the stands, the pair ascended the stairs and took their place, just like they'd practiced the night before.

All the while, through the music and the procession, Graves steadily felt his heart beating faster and harder with every passing moment till it seemed fit to explode right inside his chest. Then the door opened once more and all of that stopped as gunmetal grey eyes went very wide indeed.

The crowd rose. In walked the only man who had ever truly terrified the marshal, yet it wasn’t to him that the marshal looked. Instead, that honor went to the one who came in on his arm, the most beautiful woman that Graves ever had and ever would see.

Rarity.

He tried to think of some way to describe her. He really did. But no matter how he tried, whenever he looked at her, from the crown of violet curls atop her head to her elegant dress of pristine, shimmering white, he could think of nothing that really fit. He looked to her sparkling sapphire eyes and saw her as wonderful. He saw her serenely floating stride and found her beautiful. He took her in whole and remembered everything they had been through, all the good times they’d shared and the bad as well. He remembered her laughter, her tears, her fits, and her triumphs. He remembered every single thing she’d done with him and for him to bring them both to this day, and knew her as amazing.

The only way he could describe Rarity was perfect. Absolutely, completely, and unequivocally perfect.

But when she looked up to him and smiled, even that wasn’t enough.

Step by beautiful step, Rarity walked on stage, leaving the arm of her father so she could join her beloved marshal. Graves stepped forward too, wooden-footed and looking like a fool, but he didn’t even notice. He couldn’t possibly care.

“Friends, family, dearly beloved,” Princess Luna announced to the crowds with a radiant smile. "We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman together in holy matrimony.

“Marriage is a solemn commitment, a sacred promise to be honored by all. It is the cornerstone upon which our homes our built, the foundation upon which family is formed and our very lives spring forth. It is a vow of devotion to be shared by two who love and cherish one another above all else. It is a bond that binds two together and joins them into one.”

As she looked from crowds to Rarity and Graves, her smile somehow became even warmer.

“I can think of no two who know this better than you. And so, I ask you. Graves. Do you take Rarity to be your wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to her as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Graves said. And as he spoke the words he’d never been surer of, the silver-eyed marshal took up a ring, a thin band with patterns of silver and gold that swirled about as freely as the clouds in the sky, one of a now matching pair, and slipped it onto his beloved’s finger.

“Rarity. Do you take Graves to be your wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” she smiled as she took up her ring’s matching partner and slipped it onto her dear marshal’s finger. And then, adding on in tones so soft that only he could hear, she said, “Till death do us part and beyond. Now and forever more.”

“Then by the power vested in me,” Princess Luna beamed, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

The two drew closer, so close that Graves could feel the heat of her breath tickling his chin, and then...

Just a moment. A brief moment of warmth, a faint touch of wetness as they met.

But that moment?

Even beyond bliss.

The world erupted. The crowd roared as music thundered and cannons exploded forth with bursts of shimmering, sparkling light. The girls laughed and cried and hugged and cried, then laughed and hugged and cried some more. Even biggest and toughest, from burly Big Mac to the ever stalwart Ironside found themselves averting eyes as manly tears were shed.

Yet even with all this noise and commotion, for two people, it all went completely unnoticed. United as they were, from sparkling sapphire to shining silver, in that moment, nobody existed but the two of them.

“Well then, this is it,” Rarity beamed, flushed and breathless and utterly, breathtakingly beautiful. “This is really the end.”

“End? Of what?”

“Why, of your journey of course,” she laughed. “After running about and fighting and struggling for so very, very long, you’re finally done. You are officially settling down and starting a new life with a newly wedded wife, one who I don’t mind saying, simply couldn’t be happier.”

“I see,” he said, this time with scarred eyebrow arched in question and amusement. “And you call that an ending?”

“But of course,” Rarity laughed once me. “Why, what would you say it was, my new, darling husband?”

And then, grinning one of those sort of goofy, cocky and cock-sure, full-of-confidence smirks men his age seemed to specialize in, with silver eyes sparkling with more love, joy, and happiness than he had ever felt in his life, Graves said,

“Me? I’d say we're just getting started.”

**********

When one journey ends, another one always begins.

Thank you so much for reading!