Author's Note

Starting off the new year early with a new story!

Proofread by: Wild Balance

A Soldier and a Farmer

It was morning at Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the apple family was hard at work in the fields preparing for the harvest with the help of a grey earth pony stallion who was busy plowing the south fields with Big Macintosh and that stallion was none other than Pendragon. Once a human now reborn as a pony.

After the war against the scourge, Pendragon was rewarded a place in the royal guard at Canterlot and was even given a title of nobility, however he declined and chose to continue to live in Ponyville with his friends. Though it seemed like such a waste, the former paladin had preferred farm life to that of a soldier and his cutie mark which was three strands of golden wheat was proof of that and being the benevolent ruler that she was, Celestia respected and understood his decision.

Since the end of the war, life in Equestria was peaceful once more. The city of Trottingham was rebuilt after the remaining undead were driven out and the remains of the floating fortress Naxxramas were destroyed while some were kept as a tourist attraction, the alliance forces had returned to Azeroth as promised while leaving some of their inventions behind to help better the citizens of Equestria and as for the heroes who helped claim victory in the war, they returned to their normal lives with the acception of the occasional adventure.

Pendragon was now working as a farm hand on Sweet Apple Acres, the home of his good friend Applejack. He worked hard, never complained and was always on time to help each day. His morning started off by plowing the west field which seemed odd at first since he was the one doing the pulling yet somehow it felt natural and quite easy given his strength and size as a stallion.

"There. All done!" The stallion huffed wiping the sweat off his brow as he looked at the freshly plowed field before heading to the barn to return the tools and clean up with a fresh bucket of water. The moment Pendragon splashed himself in the face he was greeted by a familiar voice followed by the smell of freshly cooked pancakes.

"Mornin' sugarcube!"

"Morning Applejack."

Applejack came with some breakfast for her friend as a way of showing thanks for helping with the fields and other soldiers, when she heard that Pendragon was staying in Ponyville she was overjoyed as were the rest of her friends. She allowed Pendragon to work on the farm for a fair amount of bits and was happy just to have him around even her little sister was glad he was staying and treated him like a second big brother.

"Oh I almost forgot." Pendragon said before placing a small pouch full of gems in front of Applejack.

"W-where did all this come from?" She asked completely stunned when noticing some of the gems were covered in dirt.

"These little guys popped out of the soil while I was plowing the field. Your land is more rich than you realize Applejack." He said polishing off one of the gems making it shine in the sunlight.

"Are you sure you don't wanna keep these for yourself?"

"And look like a thief stealing what's rightfully yours? Forget it!" The thought of him stealing from his own friends was amusing to Pendragon and even made him laugh for a moment, though he was no longer a soldier he still maintained the teachings given to him as a knight and maintained a sense of honor.

"I don't need any extra money, I'm fine with what I already have so-!!"

"Thank you!"

Applejack embraced her friend with a hug that made his cheeks flush pink, Pendragon was at a loss for words and just stood there frozen like a statue with a crooked grin on his face.

"I gotta show this to granny!" Said Applejack snatching up the pouch and running toward the house. For a while Pendragon was lost in his thoughts of Applejacks warm embrace until he snapped himself back to reality with a firm slap to his face shouting.

"Get a grip man! She was just thanking you, that's all!!" He told himself trying to rationalize what jut happened. Though he hated to admit it he found himself attracted towards Applejack and with good reason she was strong, hard working and honest and not too shabby on the eyes and legs but he could not bring himself to tell her how he felt since he was from a different world and was afraid she would reject him but what troubled him most was his past. Before coming to Equestria, Pendragon was a soldier of The Alliance who fought war after war and battle after battle taking many lives.

"There's no way." He said to himself before heading to town for an afternoon stroll.

Ponyville

Ponyville was as lively as ever with its quaint little town and happy go lucky citizens who went about their daily lives. The militia that had once protected the town was disbanded along with The Guardians of Harmony; Ponyvilles first order of knigts as a sign of peace to the ponies of Equestria yet Pendragon and the other former soldiers were still honored as heroes for their service in defending the kingdom

"Morning Pendragon!"

"Morning."

The townsfolk would often greet Pendragon since he was still relatively new to the place and made sure he felt welcomed but none did a better job at that than Pinkie Pie who was hopping down the street after planning another successful party.

"Morning Pen!"

"Hey Pinkie. Finished another party?"

"You know it! It was for Derpy's daughter Dinky!" The news struck Pendragon as odd since he knew it wasn't Dinky's birthday until Pinkie began jumping up and down squealing in excitement.

"She just got accepted into Celestias school for gifted unicorns!"

"That's great!" He said with a smile until a thought came to him.

"But won't that mean she'll have to go to Canterlot?"

"No silly! Don't you remeber what Celestia did with the old castle?"

"Oh yeah."

The old castle in Everfree Forest had been reconstructed into a school after the war and was perfect for young unicorns with families who couldn't afford to send their children to study abroad, among the teachers of this new school were Princess Twilight Sparkle and her student Starlight Glimmer along with a few teachers and guards from Canterlot who were looking to get away from the city life. The second purpose of this new school was to encourage young students to explore nature by letting them go into the forest for studying but not without a guard or teacher but what made this school truly unique was that it not only welcomed unicorns but the other pony races as well.

"A lot has changed since then." Pendragon said thinking back on the war.

"Yeah...oh! I just remembered. Twilight wanted you to come to the castle to speak with you, she said it was important."

"Really?"

Pendragon made his way towards Twilights castle where he found a surprisingly large number of guards surrounding the outside. The moment he showed up the guards stood in salute having recognized the hero of Equestria.

"Greetings Lord Pendragon." A guard captain was at the front door to greet him.

"Please just Pendragon is fine."

"With all due respect sir, that's no way to greet a hero."

Many of the royal guards had respect for the former paladin despite his refusal to join their ranks but seeing so many in one place made Pendragon feel uneasy.

"Captain, mind if I ask why there are so many guards?"

"It's protocol sir. We always boost security during a royal council."

The captain lead Pendragon to the castles map room where he was greeted by two familiar faces.

"Princess Celestia! Twilight!"

"It is good to see you again Sir Pendragon."

"With all due respect princess, I'm no longer a knight."

"Nonsense. Just because you're not a soldier any more doesn't make you less of a knight."

With the pleasentries out of the way the council proceeded with todays discussion; the reformation of The Guardians of Harmony. This action would not only allow the order to be reinstated into the equestrian military but also declare Ponyville as Twilights own personal kingdom.

"Which is why we summoned you here Pendragon. I know we've asked this before but will you consider becoming the orders leader once again? I promise you will be well paid."

"Money is not the issue your highness." The stallion sighed.

"Throughout most of my life I have lived by the sword and moved from one battle to the next, I have seen kingdoms burn and watched close friends of mine die one after the other...I don't think I could go through that again."

"We're not asking you to go to war." Said Twilight.

"It's just a matter of politics. You know how much the nobles have been pressuring you into trying to work for them."

"Ugh...don't remind me." Pendragon groaned after remembering the countless times the nobles of Canterlot tried everything they could to win favor with him, some went so far as to try and blackmail or seduce him into service had it not been for the princess interferring.

"At least think about it." Celestia advised before bringing the meeting to a close. Pendragon returned to the farm still thinking about their offer which was very tempting but on the other hand (or hoof in this case) it would mean spending less time with Applejack and her family and possibly end up going on dangerous missions across Equestria and being away for days maybe even months at a time.

"Man...what am I gonna do?" He groaned to himself while rubbing his face.

Feeling the stress getting to him, he decided to rest on one of the hills overlooking the orchard and looked up at the sky still thinking about his choice when Applejack walked up from behind to shade him from the suns heat.

"Hey there sugarcube."

"Oh. Hey Applejack. What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She said sitting down next to him.

"Looks like ya got something on your mind Pen. You wanna tell me?"

Knowing he could trust her, Pendragon told her of the offer he was given by Twilight and Celestia and much to his surprise Applejack was overjoyed to hear the news.

"That's great news Pen! You should be honored Celestia wants you to become a knight again."

"Yeah but it's not exactly the role I was meant to have. This cutie mark is proof of that." He said pointing to the three grains of wheat decorating his flank.

"I mean heck! I WAS a farmer even when I was human!" He shouted slightly while throwing his hooves up in dramatic fashion making the mare laugh.

"Now hold on there partner. Just because you got a cutie mark for farming doesn't necessarily mean you should stick to it. Just know that whatever choice you make you'll have the support of both me and the family." Applejack smiled and left her friend to make his decision.

End