Emelyn sat in her rocking chair of her new ponyville home while knitting a baby sock, still awaiting for the big day when she and Valiants first born child would arrive while next to her was their adopted daughter Claire who had been reading up on the latest Daring Do book. For a while things were quiet as Claire looked out the window towards the road leading into ponyville.

"Mommy?"

"What is it dear?"

"When is daddy coming back?" The young filly looked at her mother who placed her knitting aside to snuggle her and began to gently stroke her head.

"Soon Claire, I promise."

"But you said that last time!" Claire pouted while her mother giggled.

"You must be patient dear. Daddy will be home soon, you'll see and he'll be back just in time to help prepare for when the baby gets here."

"YAY!" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs when her smile suddenly faded.

"What's wrong Claire?" Emelyn asked as her daughter snuggled closer.

"You'd still love me even after the baby is born...right?" The little filly looked sad and scared until Emelyn held her closer with a warm and loving smile.

"Of course we'd still love you, It doesn't matter if we're not your real parents. Daddy and I adopted you because we love you and we always will so don't ever forget...my sweet baby girl."

"Mommy..." Tears filled Claire's eyes when she heard those kind words and embraced her mother with a happy smile. Emelyn allowed her daughter to cry while comforting her as best she could when the two of them felt something stir in her belly.

"Oh! The baby is kicking!" Emelyn said in excitement as she placed Claire's hand on her belly. The little filly squealed and hopped up and down in excitement when the whole room suddenly began to shake, at first they thought it was really the baby's doing when Claire noticed a familiar banner coming over the horizon.

"MOMMY LOOK!! LOOK!!" She screamed in excitement as the front lines of the iron wolves began coming into view.

"Valiant..." Emelyn had felt like a great weight had been lifted from her heart and quickly took Claire outside to greet the soldiers along with the rest of the town. From the moment the set foot into town, the soldiers were greeted by the smiling faces of their loved ones whom they had been away from for so long. Husbands had returned to their wives, mothers had returned to their children; Families were once again reunited.

"Ohh where is he?" Claire frantically searched around for her father amongst the crowd but could not find him when out of nowhere two hands snatched her up and tossed her high into the air.

"SURPRISE!!"

"DADDY!!" Claire flew into the loving arms of her father as he caught her and wasted no time in giving a powerful hug that began crushing his neck but Valiant didn't care, all that mattered to him was that he was back with his daughter and his beloved wife who was walking up the street to greet him with a gentle kiss and a family group hug which he welcomed gladly.

"Welcome home. My love."

"Emelyn." Valiant gazed upon his wife to see she had somehow become more beautiful than before, just her smile alone seemed to fill his heart with joy since he could do nothing but think about her and Claire each day while he was away.

"I missed you daddy."

"Daddy missed you too baby girl." Valiant kissed his daughters forehead before setting her down to greet Fenrir who had been eagerly awaiting to greet his little friend again.

"Fenrir!! Did you miss me?"

The large wolf responded with a friendly lick to her face followed by a gentle nuzzle as Claire hugged him tight. In honor of their victory in Manehattan and for returning home Pinkie had decided to throw the entire army a welcome home party thanks to the help of her coltfriend Cheese Sandwich who was now a permanent resident of Ponyville and in no time at all the entire town was decorated and the party was in full swing later on.

Laughter had once again sounded throughout the entire town as the party was in full swing. Pinkie and cheese had provided the entertainment while the cakes handled the catering and as expected; Everypony was having a blast, while others were enjoying the music and food the children were listening to the soldiers stories of their heroic deeds against the Stonehoof Tribe.

"So there I was. Flat on the dirt with my enemies spear tip at my throat! I thought I was dead for sure until my trusty wolf came charging to my rescue and smashed the savage into the dirt while I recovered my sword!" One of the cavaliers from the wolf riders told his tale in a dramatic fashion as the children listened intently, hanging on his every word while others watched a reenactment performed by hand puppets on a little stage but while the others celebrated a certain mare sat in the shadows away from the crowd.

Ember had shunned herself from the others, knowing the rumors of her pregnancy had spread like wildfire and was afraid of what the townspeople might think. In truth she never wanted to become pregnant, especially with the child of the bastard tyrant who raped her day in and day out until she was driven to near insanity and wished that she had just killed herself after the first time but when she was rescued she wasn't seen as a whore but as a victim.

"Evening." Emelyn surprised her from behind with a smile and a few refreshments for the two of them.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked while sitting next to her, for a while the two just sat there quietly while enjoying the sound of the festivities and the taste of the dishes that had been served. As Ember finished her meal she could not help but noticed a content smile on Emelyns face as she began to rub her belly and speaking to her unborn child.

"You're gonna be a handful for me and daddy aren't you? But I still can't wait to meet you!" Emelyn giggled to herself and sighed with a smile, this made Ember a little envious as she finally spoke up.

"You're really a lucky mare you know that?"

"Hm?"

"You have a daughter that loves you even though she's not yours, a husband who cares for you deeply but me...all I have is this" Ember rubbed her stomach and began to become angry.

"This thing inside me...the bastard child of that monster....I HATE IT!! I HATE HAVING THIS BABY!!" She shouted in anger, the outburst had shocked Emelyn greatly.

"EMBER!! That's enough!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE!!" The mare snapped back at her as they both glared into each other's eyes.

"You don't know what it's like to be raped....to have your body defiled over and over...to feel helpless!!!" Ember began to sob, no longer able to fight back her tears. Emelyn began to see the pain in her eyes and held her close with a gentle smile.

"You're right I don't know. But you shouldn't blame the child for the faults of his or her father." Her gentle voice seemed to calm Ember down a bit as they both looked back down to her belly as she felt her baby kick.

"This child will need its mothers love if it is to survive when this war is over." Emelyn stroked her belly before giving a firm look in the eyes.

"Tell me Ember. Would you abandon this child? Would you allow it to grow up unloved? Unwanted by everyone in the world?"

Ember began to ponder her question and rubbed her belly once more as the baby continued to kick and with one answer the child inside her settled down as if being able to hear it's mothers words.

"No....I saw too much of that when I was a slave. The caribou forcibly separate the mothers from their children, they never even got to hold their babies once and some never even saw their faces after they were born! I....I don't want this baby-no...I don't want my baby to go through that!" To hear Ember address the baby as hers warmed Emelyns heart and for the rest of the night the two kept each other company and even began to discuss names for their children.

Next Day

Valiant was on top of the highest hill as the sun began to rise, in his hands he held the mighty runefang Blood Bringer and in his other a finely crafted spear.

"You're late." He said with a smug grin as Flash sentry came walking up the hill.

"You tried getting out of a princesses bed?" Flash almost sounded like he was bragging while Valiant handed him his spear. At first glance the weapon seemed simple enough until Flash held the spear in his hands and felt almost no weight to it save for the large spear head and cudgel at the end. Both fighters took positions at opposite ends of the field and prepared to do battle.

"How should we start?" Valiant asked with an anticipating grin.

"We begin at first light." Flash answered as the wind began rustling through the grass and at the first glimmer of sunlight the two warriors took off like a shot and began to exchange blows.

"RAAAGH!!"

"HAAA!!"

As the duel began, the whole town could see the sparks of their weapons flashing in the distance. Twilight and her friends were first on the scene when they saw Flash kick Valiant down the hill before taking off into the air for another attack.

"NO YOU DON'T!!" Valiant put up a magic barrier to halt his attack before transferring some of his magic to Blood Bringer.

"Take This!!" A small crater was formed the moment Valiants sword made impact with Flashes spear, the force of the blow was strong enough to send the Pegasus flying into the air. Twilight and the others were amazed at the raw power of the attack as the fight went on.

"Oh man! If I knew this was going down I would've sold tickets!" Spike said while watching the two combatants continue to duke it out. Flash zoomed around in the air with Valiant using his magic to keep up.

"YOU CAN'T FLY FOREVER!!" The swordsman shouted as he closed in on his target.

"Neither can you!"

Valiant grabbed a hold of Flashes boot as they neared white tail woods. Flash grinned wickedly as he came up with a plan to get Valiant off him.

"Come! Visit the woods!!" The Pegasus lowered his altitude to just above the tree line and began bashing Valiant against the branches.

"Look out!" He shouted below while watching his opponent smash into tree after tree.

BAM!!

"Again?"

BAM!!

"And again? How do ya like the ride so far?!!" His mockery was cut short when he felt Valiant grabbed hold of his left wing before they both crashed on the outskirts of the forest. The mane six had followed them throughout the remainder of the duel and saw they were once again at a stand still, neither side made a move and both had been pushed to near exhaustion yet both were smiling with satisfaction.

"I'll admit, you're good." Valiant praised his opponent as he prepared to charge.

"I haven't had this sort of challenge in some time!"

"Then it'll be all the more satisfying when I beat you." Flash replied as he folded his wings in to make sure this was a fair fight and so began a final standoff between two distinguished warriors. One trained as a soldier in the Canterlot royal guard, the other a warrior who traveled the land honing his skills.

"Wow! Just like in the movies." Pinkie stated while munching on some popcorn she grabbed from inside her mane.

"You gonna share those?" Applejack asked not caring how pinkie got the popcorn when she noticed both fighters take step to the side before charging head on towards one another with weapons swinging with both using only their skills and strength. Much cheering ensued for both sides as the duel went on with the sun reaching its highest point.

"HAAAAA!!!"

"RAAAGH!!"

CLANG!!

All was silent when the sound was heard. Both Flashes spear and Valiants sword lay planted in the ground as the duel came to an immediate halt; The fight was a draw.

"Well fought." Valiant shook the hand of his opponent, completely oblivious to the aches and pains on his body while Flash smiled with a thumbs up before grabbing his spear.

"This is a fine spear. Did you make this?"

"Indeed I did and I'm glad to see it held its own against blood bringer but..." Valiant sheathed his blade when he looked Flash in the eye.

"When this war is over I intend to challenge you again."

"Looking forward to it."

Both warriors returned home bruised, exhausted but satisfied all the same. Valiant had not only found a friend in Flash Sentry but a rival as well and he would await the chance when he would cross blades with him again.

End.

Author's Note

I know this feels like an ending but it's not.

Music for Flash and Valiants duel: Perfect Time