Under The Blue Sky

Alfred opened his eyes to find Rainbow Dash sleeping on his chest, which was an adorable way to start the day. He slowly tried to move Rainbow off without waking her and then headed to the bathroom. After closing the door behind him he looked into the large square mirror before him and assessed the damage. He looked.....uncomfortable, and slightly tired. His eyes were a little more squinted than he remembered, but then again it was pretty early into the morning and he hadn't woken up fully. Although they were almost closed, Alfred couldn't take his eyes off himself. Not because he was incredibly handsome, but rather that he was thinking about his family again.

He knew that he went a little over the top last night, busting into tears and all that. He didn't want Rainbow to see him like that, especially since he had come so far. His family belonged back home, and nowhere else. There was no point trying to deny it. Alfred, after staring into his reflection for a while, closed his eyes and came to terms with his family being gone, forever.

After washing up, Alfred made his way out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen, where Rainbow Dash was currently making breakfast.

"Good morning."

"Hey. I don't know you were awake." Alfred went in for a small kiss after seeing Rainbow. If anyone could pull him out of the dark place he was in, it was her.

"How are you doing?"

"Better, much better," Alfred said, pulling out a chair and sitting himself down.

"Are you sure?" Rainbow asked, sitting opposite him. Alfred grabbed her hoof from across the table.

"Definitely."

"Okay, so what do you wanna do today?"

"Aren't you supposed to be on weather patrol?"

"Oh, they called it off because of this Discord thing."

"Ah, really?"

"Yeah, they're really ramping up the protection. They're pretty serious about this."

"Oh....okay."

"Hey, don't worry. It's gonna be fine. I was thinking, because I've got the day off, maybe you wanna hang out. I don't know, go somewhere nice maybe."

"Sure. Any ideas?"

"I don't know, I think Pinkie is throwing another party later."

"Of course."

"So, what do you say?"

"Sure."

Alfred gave her a small wink before getting up and returning to their room to get dressed, and as he was doing so Rainbow heard a small knock at the door. Rainbow opened it to find Twilight standing out front, smiling as usual.

"Hey Twilight! What's up?"

"Hi, is Alfred home? I need to speak to him."

"Yes, he's here. What do you need to talk to him about?"

"Celestia sent me to check up on him and see if he remembers anything else." Alfred made his way towards the front door after seeing Twilight standing there, alone.

"Hello Twilight, how are you today?"

"Good, uh, Alfred could you come with me. Celestia wants to speak to you in person. She doesn't really want any information about Discord hanging in the air."

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later Rainbow," Alfred said before putting on his dark green jacket and heading outside. Rainbow was a little disappointed, knowing that Alfred would now be busy for the whole day.

"Hey, Twilight, can I come?" Rainbow said eagerly.

"Uh, sorry Rainbow. Celestia strictly just wants me and Alfred to be there."

"Oh, okay." Alfred patted her on the head gently.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

"Alright, take care."

And with that, Rainbow slowly closed the door on her husband, seeing Alfred's smile gradually fade away.

XXXXX

"Hello Alfred, it's good to see you again."

"You too, Celestia."

"I was just wondering if there was anything else that Discord had mentioned. Did he tell you what his plans were?"

"No, I don't. All I remember him saying to me was 'if you want to be with these ponies so badly, you can be buried with them.'. He never told me what he intended to do." Celestia gave Twilight a very stern look, which worried Alfred slightly. They were all sitting around a small, circular table in a somewhat dark room. Twilight and Celestia were on one side, whereas Alfred was on the other, like some interrogation.

"Did he happen to talk about any locations or places that you know?"

"Just the white place. He asked if it was familiar to me."

"And then you said it was, correct?"

"Yes."

"You told me yesterday, that he wanted to use you as a 'secret weapon'."

"That's right, I'm not sure what it means. I think he wanted to use me to harm you, like a soldier or something. He chose me because at the time I was weak, you all remember that right?"

"Yes, we do. Did he talk about anypony being there, in the white place?"

"Uh, no. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones who had been there."

"Did he mention any names at all?"

Alfred looked down to the table, and then back up again straight into Twilight's eyes.

"Actually, he did mention my family. He threatened them to hopefully try and win me over, but it didn't work. I didn't give in."

"That's good. What else did he say about your family?"

"He said that if he could get to me, then he could get to them. He said he would kill them if I didn't serve him. You have to understand, these weren't some random outbursts, I think he meant what he said. I legitimately thought that my family was in danger, but now I don't know."

"I'm sure that he didn't mean it, even by his standards this is way too violent and unnecessary. Do you believe that he brought you to Equestria?"

"I do. That white place that he took me to, I definitely remember it from when I first arrived here."

"Okay, if we had the option to take you back..." Alfred suddenly turned his head to Twilight, also getting Celestia's attention. "...would you take it?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"It's just that, if we can convince Discord, he may be able to take you back."

"Twilight, he already said no. Leave it alone."

"It's okay, Celestia. Twilight, it has to be no. I can't leave. I have a wife, friends and a whole new life. I belong here now, nowhere else."

"But what about your son? Don't you want to see him again?" Alfred could feel Twilight beginning to get emotional.

"Of course I do, but if I have to make the choice between Luke and my life here, which I do, it'll have to be here. It'll always be here." Alfred saw Celestia take a small sigh of relief after he said that, which intrigued him. He was more concerned about Twilight, and how she felt. She looked as if she was about to cry, but Alfred quickly reassured her that everything was okay.

"Alright, Alfred, before you go, are you completely sure that that was all you talked about?"

"Yes, that was it. Uh, Princess Celestia, what are we going to do right now?"

"There isn't much we can do. Our best course would be to keep our defences strong, and wait for him to make the first move."

"Are you sure? If he's going to hit us, I think it's going to be pretty hard."

"We'll be ready."

After uttering those three little words, there was a long pause of silence. They all could feel the spine shivering tension in the air. No one dared speak a word, but they all simply stood up and left the room, silently. Twilight left with Alfred whereas Celestia walked back protected by several guards. Soon, Alfred and Twilight found themselves wandering Ponyville's streets again.

"I better head on back to Rainbow. She's probably waiting."

"Yep, you go on ahead then. I still have some errands to run."

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

"Goodbye, oh, and I'm sorry for how I acted back there, I wasn't thinking straight."

"What do you mean?"

"I was a fool to think that you'd want to go back."

"No, Twilight, don't say that."

"I wasn't thinking about Rainbow, I was only thinking about your son."

"Twilight, it's okay. I understand."

"It's just that you said you were so happy with him."

"I was, but things change. I would love to see him again, really I would, but I belong here, with Rainbow, with you."

"Okay, sorry."

"I'll see you soon."

"Yep, bye."

They both exchanged one last look at each other, and then went their separate ways.