Dominic awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside in the gardens of Canterlot, he was hesitant to open his eyes as he wanted to sleep a bit more with the two familiar warm bodies lying next to him. However, there was little he could to to put himself back to sleep once he was awake, still, he revelled in enjoying some much appreciated snuggles from Luna and Maria. After a couple more minutes, Dominic slowly opened his eyes and stealthily slipped out from under the covers, leaving his two loving wives to sleep peacefully. He scratched his chest before carrying out his usual morning ritual, going to the bathroom, taking a shower, and emerging feeling refreshed and awake.

The man adjusted the towel wrapped around his waist as he walked to his closet and opened the wooden doors. He sighed as he grabbed his familiar uniform and began putting it on, the greyish green fabric felt comfortable against his skin. From his shirt to his scuffed boots, it all felt very… Right. The uniform hadn’t changed much in the eight years since the Forty Eight Hour War, it had been cleaned up a bit, and adjusted for the various branches of the armed forces, but the base uniform was almost unchanged. Dominic sighed as he thought about the day that lay ahead of him, a day of dealing with foreign threats that had stayed essentially the same. The Caribou were still constantly testing the Onorussian’s territory on the ocean, Saddle Arabia and Zebrica had been menacing their neighbors, and tensions with the Crystal Empire were at an all time low.

As Dominic finished pinning his marks of rank to his collar, his thoughts turned to what he had to look forward to that day. For one thing it was spaghetti night, Maria made the best pasta out there, even better than his mother’s had been. It was also the night that Luna had stated she wanted to try something new from her collection, and Dominic knew that could only mean good things. The thing that stood above that all was something far simpler, as Dominic looked at a clock on the wall he knew that it was just about that time. With his peaked cap tucked under his arm, Dominic walked over to Maria and Luna. He leaned down and kissed each of them on the forehead before he walked to the door. He knew they would be up in a couple minutes, and Maria was likely going to rush down to the kitchen to make something very special. As soon as he stepped out into the hallway he was greeted by the sound of the two guards standing outside snapping to attention.

“Morning, boys.” Dominic said with a bit of a smirk, the soldiers smiled back at the Imperator. “As you were.” They nodded and relaxed to their normal stance, Dominic began walking to the right of the room. He didn’t have to walk far, as he reached another familiar door. The guards there stood at attention as well, but the man simply waved his hand to get them to stand at ease. Dominic looked at his watch, humming quietly as he watched the clock tick right to seven o’clock in the morning. With that, the man reached out and pushed the door open before stepping in.

The room’s walls had numerous posters depicting heroes from video games, the floor had a couple toy tanks and army men scattered about, as well as large action figures wearing Onorussian uniforms. Model planes were hung from the ceiling, and numerous other toys were tossed about. There was a simple bed with a good view of the window, and in that bed was the subject of Dominic’s voice. A lump, curled up cutely with the covers. Dominic quietly made his way through the room, avoiding the toys like landmines, until finally he stood beside the bed. His son was clutching a Luna plushy tightly as he snored.

“Altair.” Dominic said quietly at first, the boy didn’t respond. “Altair! Guess what day it is.” The boy groaned and turned over, trying to ignore his dad’s voice. “Come on, get up!” Dominic sighed as Altair tugged the pillow over his head, then reached down and pulled the pillow away.

“I don’t wanna...” Altair mumbled quietly, trying to hide under his blanket.

“Altair, you’ve got to get up. You don’t want to be late for the first day of school.” Dominic said as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yes I do!” Altair replied tiredly, Dominic had to force himself not to chuckle aloud. The eight year old eventually pushed his blankets off and sat up in bed, adjusting his pajamas and rubbing his eyes.

“But if you don’t go to school, you don’t get to hang out with your friends.” Dominic said, Altair looked at him for a couple seconds before he sighed and got out of bed. The boy set his plushy on the bed and rubbed his eyes again, his black hair was a bit messed up from the night. “I’m gonna go get breakfast started, alright? You get ready.”

“Okay…” Altair said in a downcast voice. “Do I have to wear the stupid closet clothes this time?” Dominic stood and adjusted his uniform before smiling at his son, then he shook his head and chuckled.

“Nah, kiddo.” Dominic said in a cheery voice. “That’s your mother’s thing, I wouldn’t put you through that.” Altair seemed to sigh a sigh of relief, Dominic turned and walked out of the room, leaving his son to have his privacy. Unlike most people in government with children, Dominic and his wives didn’t send Altair to private academies. He had to learn about the world, not be sheltered and coddled, and the curriculum of both systems was almost identical. Dominic leaned against the wall, ignoring the guards as he found himself thinking back to the time when he was in his son’s shoes. Too groggy to get out of bed, fantasizing about busting out of school and going on wild adventures. He wouldn’t deny Altair that right.

After a couple minutes Dominic heard the familiar sound of hooves against marble, he looked over and sure enough spotted Luna walking towards the room. She stopped when she saw him, then looked at the door, then back at him.

“He’s already awake, just getting ready.” Dominic assured her, the mare sighed and sat beside him. “You know something? He looks just like me.” Luna chuckled quietly as she sat there, this was the start of their school year routine, every morning they would wake up and have that same first line. Dominic was a proud father, Luna could see he had fallen into the role with only a few missteps. Of course, he was flying blind, as he was still a first time dad and was playing by ear. All of them were first time parents, but so far things seemed to be going alright. “How did you sleep?”

“We slept fine.” Luna replied, Dominic looked at her with a smile. “Maria is off making him his special breakfast, I was coming to get him up and make sure he was dressed properly. I thought you’d be getting an early start.”

“I am.” Dominic said simply, looking at the door with that same smile. “Are you taking him to school today or do you want me to drive him?” Luna hummed and rubbed her chin, then looked at the floor.

“You should take him today, I think they’re still surprised I came last time.” Luna replied, Dominic shrugged and rested a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and smirked, then reached up and pulled him into a gentle kiss.

“Ew.” Altair’s voice cut through the hall, causing both Dominic and Luna to pull back, the man chuckling a bit more. “Why do you do that all the time?” The two of them looked at Altair, he wore jeans and a t-shirt, much like his father wore on his off days. Simple black sneakers were on his feet, and his hair was combed smartly with a part on the right side. Luna was going to say something about how he was dressed, as it seemed improper to her to wear such informal clothing on the first day of school, but Dominic’s hand on her shoulder reminder her she needed to relax a bit.

“It’s only because we love eachother so much.” Luna said with a smirk, watching her son shake his head and pout. “I wuv you spoopy koopy kins.” She cooed at Dominic, causing the man to start chuckling louder and put his hand on his stomach in a fashion that was very similar to the way his father had used to laugh, even the guards near the doors were struggling to keep their composure. “Fine… I see how it is. Hmmpf.” She said with mock indignation before she walked towards Altair and wrapped him in her wings, nuzzling him with a smile. “Good morning, Altair!”

“Good morning, Mother!” Altair replied just as warmly, losing his facade of annoyance as he felt the familiar warmth of Luna’s wings around him. He called Maria Mom and Luna Mother to distinguish between the two of them, but it was clear he loved them both just as much, even if he could be obstinate at times. Luna let go of him after a couple seconds.

“Come on, kiddo, times a-wastin’.” Dominic said as he started walking down the hallway, gesturing for Altair to follow him. The boy fell in beside him, followed by Luna, Dominic walked as he usually did, with the measured steps of a soldier. It was cute watching his son trying to mimic his actions, Luna couldn’t deny that. “So, are you excited for a new year?”

“No.” Altair said as he crossed his arms and pouted a bit more, Dominic shrugged as he continued walking. “Why do I have to go?”

“So you can get a good education.” Luna answered for him, Altair seemed to huff at that, but didn’t say much more as they made their way to the dining hall. Despite Altair’s protests the three of them were in relatively good moods, the young boy was watching as his father and mother would occasionally give each other small smiles. He didn’t understand why, but he supposed it had to do with them being all lovey dovey, adults were weird.

Altair found himself thinking more about school, he knew there was no way to talk his way out of it, so he decided to focus on the positives. There weren’t many people there that he could relate to, mainly because he was worried that people were trying to manipulate him. He knew that being the son of his dad was important, though he didn’t understand why. Thankfully, there were a few people that he really meshed with. He looked forward to seeing his friends, and not much more than that. As they arrived at the familiar doors to the dining room, Altair caught the familiar scent of pancakes, that instantly wiped thoughts of school from his mind. His mom made the best pancakes in the world, there was no question about it, especially on special days like this one.

Dominic and Luna watched as Altair rushed to the door and pulled it open, eager to get a seat. The dining room was much smaller than what had once been the royal dining room, it was decorated modestly and had a smaller table. Nothing extravagant to take one's attention away from their family. Maria was setting a plate of pancakes on the table, nearly big as Altair’s head. They were for everyone, and whatever they didn’t eat she would save for another time. Luna and Dominic smiled widely as they took took seats at the table, filling three of the four chairs. Maria was quick to sit down, taking the final seat for herself. She was smiling widely at her son, her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail that she let rest on her right shoulder.

“Good morning Altair! Good morning Dominic!” She said in a cheery voice as she and the others began to grab pancakes and put them on their respective plates.

“Good morning, mom!” Altair said as he piled his plate high with four of the pancakes, he took a bite out of one without even using a fork before moaning at the taste of it. It was light, fluffy, even a little creamy, but that wasn’t the best part. The familiar taste of milk chocolate hit the boy’s tongue like a tidal wave, causing him to start chowing down even faster.

“How is my little prince doing today?” Maria asked, hoping to slow her son’s eating without having to raise her voice. Thankfully it worked, and the boy began to take more human bites in order to respond to her question.

“Alright, I guess. I forgot that it was back to school day though.” Altair admitted as he looked to his three parents, they all seemed happy, and that made him feel happy as well. “I don’t wanna go…” He hoped he could get a last minute reprieve from his mom, but as usual, she just shook her head and chuckled.

“You say that now, but just wait until you’re old and boring like me.” Dominic said as he leaned on the table, using a fork to cut up his own pancakes. “Then you’ll be wishing you never left.” Altair simply rolled his eyes and continued eating his breakfast. “Maria, Luna, do you want me to drop him off this morning?”

“I was going to take him.” Maria said with a bit of a raised eyebrow. “With the head scarf thing they don’t know who I am, a lot less drama that way.” Dominic nodded quietly, and went back to eating. Maria had a point, he was a lot more recognizable, and he didn’t want his son’s school life to be influenced by who his parents were.

“I think it would be cool to go with dad today.” Altair said with a smile, looking towards Dominic and causing the man to smirk a bit wider. “You always get to take me, it’s only fair.” Maria was about to protest, but stopped herself as she saw the smile on Dominic’s face. It was one that she always cherished. While seeing actual joy on the man’s face was more common, it was still a rare commodity in the trying career he currently possessed. Luna was enjoying watching her family’s discussion, it helped to keep her thoughts off of her growing longing to see her sister again.

“Well, alright.” Maria said before she leaned back in her chair, it creaked a bit but that didn’t bother her much. It reminded her of their vacation home in New Liberty, the house where Dominic had grown up. She knew that eventually they would return to live there permanently, even if it took a hundred years, for now she was doing her best to remain as humble as she could, as were Dominic and Luna. Altair couldn’t pick up on it entirely, but he could tell that each of them had a lot on their mind, even if he couldn’t quantify what he saw into words quite yet. “Hurry up, dear, you’ve got to be there by nine.” The four of them finished up their breakfasts quickly and at the end of it Dominic and Altair stood from their chairs.

“Have a good day at school!” Luna said as she set her plate at the center of the table, Altair found himself pulled into the familiar comforting embrace of her wings as she hugged him tightly. “I love you!” The boy returned it just as tightly, even if adults were weird, he loved his mother. Both of them. When he was released from the wings he made his way over to Maria and found himself hugged just as tightly, Altair always enjoyed the tightness of her hugs, it made him feel safe.

“Have a good day, sweetie.” Maria said with a bright smile, holding him a bit longer before letting go. “Don’t forget your bag, okay? I packed you a nice lunch too!” Altair nodded as he stepped away, before walking to his father. Dominic nodded and the pair walked to the door, when they stepped out into the hallway Dominic was sure to closed the door before looking at Altair. The two of them walked towards the motor pool, Altair found that was one of his favorite places in the castle. Tanks and trucks of different types, not to mention all the cool stuff they got to do there. Altair wished he could be like his father, one of those tank commanders that always seemed to be so cool whenever he watched them doing their drills.

“Can we take a tank, dad?” Altair asked in an innocent voice, Dominic looked at him with a slight smirk, then shook his head.

“Not today, it would be too slow.” Dominic replied, Altair was a bit upset, but he had known it was a longshot.

“Why are the tanks all angle-y?” Altair asked, figuring that he could get some more conversation out of his dad with talk of tanks. He was curious about the weapons, but he also liked the way his dad explained things, it made him feel like part of the crew.

“Well, that’s for if someone is shooting at the tank.” Dominic said simply, looking at his son with that same cheerful smile Altair had grown up with. He used one hand to simulate the armor while the other became the shell. “If the armor is angled like this, the shell is more likely to bounce off or do less damage. If it’s straight, like, say a Caribou tank, the shell is just gonna punch through the armor.”

“Oh.” Altair said with a bit of a hum, the two of them kept walking through the halls, Altair watched as a couple guards walking through the halls saluted his dad, and his dad saluted back. He always noted that the soldiers seemed to be wearing impressive uniforms, they had ribbons and medals on their chest. Altair had always wanted to be one of them, but his mother had already told him that such clothes had to be earned. His mind was brought back to the motor pool when he caught a whiff of the familiar smell of ethanol exhaust, that lead him to another question. “Hey dad?” Dominic hummed in response. “What’s war like? Why do we need tanks for it?” He got a little scared when he saw his dad stop walking, worried he had done something wrong. The man knelt down so he could get on eye level with his son, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“That’s something I hope you never have to find out.” His father said in an easy tone, causing the boy to relax a bit. “Are you writing a book? You’re asking a lot of questions this morning.” The man smiled at him, putting the boy at ease as they began walking again.

“No, I just like talking with you!” Altair said cheerfully. Dominic smiled at his son as he pushed the door to the motor pool open and let his son walk in. The maintenance crews were working on a couple tanks and an augmented humvee, they took a couple seconds to wave at Altair and Dominic before going back to their tasks. “Hey, Dad?” Dominic answered with another hum. “Can we watch a movie when I get back from school?”

“Sure, kiddo. What did you wanna watch?” Dominic asked as they approached a black Crown Victoria, an unmarked police interceptor that Dominic used whenever he, Luna, or Maria needed to go out discreetly. Altair’s bag had already been put in the car by some of the castle’s administrative staff, his lunch was there as well.

“The one with the big scary space ship. Star Trek!” Altair responded, Dominic nodded as he unlocked the driver’s side door and opened it, then pressed the button to unlock the rest of the doors. Altair climbed in as soon as he could, taking a seat in the back and buckling himself in.

“I don’t see why we can’t do that.” Dominic said with a grin as he got in the driver’s seat and closed the door, then buckled himself in. He started the engine, the V8 engine rumbling with a familiarity both Altair and Dominic were accustomed to. The man shifted the care into drive and took it to the gate, the guards there chekced Dominic’s ID just as they had been trained to do. Security in the castle was far superior to what it had been years before when occupied by the Equestrians. Of course the soldiers cleared him to proceed, Dominic drove away from the gate with a slight smile on his face.

“Hey, dad?” Altair asked, Dominic hummed as he kept his eyes on the freshly paved road. It was one of many roads that had been modernized since the war, and it couldn’t compare to the large highway being built across the country, half complete. “Will we ever get to use starships?”

“It’s very likely.” Dominic said simply as he continued watching the road. “But first we’ve got to get to the moon.” Altair looked to the sky, but he couldn’t see his mother’s beautiful pale moon,it was hidden by the pale blue sky. “Why the sudden interest in space?”

“I wanna go there.” Altair said simply, staring up at the sky for a couple more seconds before returning his attention to the seat in front of him. “Like Captain Kirk, or Captain Janeway!” Dominic smiled a bit brighter before taking a turn down one of the streets, then he sighed contently.

“Well, if you keep your grades up, and work really hard at what you want, you can do just about anything.” Dominic said proudly, both in his son’s interest in space but also because it felt nice to know his son shared that same fascination with going into the great unknown. Dominic’s greatest dream in life had always been to set foot on a planet other than his own. Though technically he had done so with Equestria, it didn’t feel like he had, they were far too similar. “But that is going to take a long time to accomplish, nonetheless I have faith in you.”

“Thanks, dad.” Altair replied, looking out the window as they passed by a couple buildings, watching ponies, humans, changelings, griffons, diamond dogs, and even a few minotaurs walking around. Altair didn’t much care for minotaurs, they were the ones that generally tried to push him around at school. They hadn’t touched him, but they did use mean words. Despite that, Altair didn’t let them get to him, and he knew that he had his parents to back him up if worst came to worst. It was a new year, so he hoped they would leave him alone, but just in case he had convinced one of his guards at the castle to teach him how to punch and block. He wasn’t very good, but maybe he could make himself look bigger than he actually was, like trying to stand up to a bear.

The car began to slow as Altair recognized the familiar street of his school, he checked that he had his bag and his lunch ready. His books were there, his pens and pencils, everything was in order. He imagined he was the member of some sort of space explorer, preparing to go down on a scouting mission of a hostile planet, that helped him build up his courage as the care came to a stop. He could see kids getting off of busses or being dropped off by their parents, and he knew that soon he would be on his own. No guards, no parents, just him, his friends and his wits versus a school that could be a dangerous place. At least in the eyes of a child. Little did he know that his school was probably the safest one in the country, there was a special unit of marines on standby in case anything should happen there, just to name one aspect.

“You ready?” Dominic asked as the car came to a stop at the curb. He wished he could go in with his boy, as many other parents were, but he couldn’t let his presence taint his son’s experience there. Altair slipped his bag on over his shoulders, then unbuckled his seat and moved to the door. Outside he could see some familiar faces, and a new excitement welled up in him.

“Yeah!” Altair said, Dominic smiled and hit the unlock button once again, popping up the locks that had gone down when the car had been put into drive.

“Alright, have a good day! I love you!” Dominic said as Altair opened the door and stepped outside, Altair just waved before he rushed off to a group of children about his age. The imperator recognized one of them as Sofia Gambino, the daughter of Brigadier General Jennifer Gambino. She was one of Dominic’s closest advisors after eight years, as well as one of his best friends in the military. Dominic watched his son quietly, smiling faintly before putting the car into drive and pulling off into traffic. It was going to be a normal boring day at the office it seemed, that was a good thing, as any action would be a sign of things going wrong.

Altair walked towards his friends, one was a human like him, her name was Sofia. She had red hair and brown eyes, with pale skin that contrasted against Altair’s more tanned complexion. His other friend was a griffon with grey furth and white feathers, he was a bit on the large side and had a rather strange fascination with human culture. His name was Oscar, but everyone just called him Ozzy. Sofia and Ozzy smiled as Altair reached them, each of them carrying their own backpack.

“Hey, Alley Cat!” Sofia said warmly, she was leaning back and forth on the balls of her heels in obvious excitement. “How was your summer?”

“It was alright, I guess. So good I didn’t even realize it was over!” Altair replied as they started walking towards the school. “What about you guys? Anything fun?” Ozzy was first to speak up, talking in his usual scratchy accented voice.

“I got to visit my uncle Buzzard in Griffonstone! It was fun, we got to go rock climbing and he taught me how to fish with my beak.” The griffon said as they approached the school, the teachers were beckoning them closer from the front doors of the building. Altair recognized a couple of them, including his favorite, Mrs. Ramsey. She was a blonde woman, and according to his mom, a survivor of Evergreen. He didn’t know what that meant, but he did know that she was very nice. She was wearing a long light brown skirt and a light blue blouse, her hair was hanging freely at her shoulders.

“My summer was alright, I guess. Mom and Dad took me camping in the Everfree, aside from that there wasn’t much else.” Sofia said as they got to the doors, Altair smiled at Mrs. Ramsey as he walked past her and made his way inside with a mix of pony, human, and all manner of other species that were students at the school. He followed his friends to the classroom, there they hung up their backpacks and chose their desks. Altair chose the one furthest back near the window, as it was next to his friends and offered him a decent view of the playground. He had his notebook and pencil case out in front of him.

The classroom was cool thanks to the air conditioners, the walls were decorated with posters about old Earth authoris as well as Equestrian ones, there were also the usual ‘Believe in yourself!’ type posters that always made Altair a bit wary. At the head of the class was a white board, sitting in the corner was the teacher’s desk, and hanging above the board, in all its splendor, was the Onorussian flag. Altair had been taught that it symbolized every species in Onorus, and that made him proud to live under it. The seats were rapidly filled, the fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed overhead, and finally their teacher came into view. Altair was glad to see he was lucky enough to get Mrs. Ramsey, she closed the door behind her and made her way to the front of the class.

“Good morning, class!” She said as she clapped her hands together.

“Good morning, Mrs. Ramsey!” Altair and the others said back, they watched as she made her way over to her desk and leaned against it.

“I’m sure we’re going to have a lot of fun here this year, and we’ll start having it today, but first I’d like to start off with the pledge of allegiance.” Mrs. Ramsey said as she looked over the room, the children looked at each other, they each knew how important the pledge was. “Who wants to lead us in the pledge this morning?” Numerous hooves and hands shot up into the air, the teacher pointed to one in the back. She, unlike many of the teachers, knew the truth about who Altair’s parents were, and she liked to give him a little confidence push every now and then. Considering it was the first day of school, she figured it would be best to give him a shot. “Altair, you look eager.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Altair replied gladly, the teacher gestured for the students to stand up. They did so with smiles on their faces, though some were annoyed at going to school again, they were all very patriotic and proud of their country. Each of them placed a clenched fist over their hearts and stood up straight. “I pledge allegiance to the banner of the Military Republic of Onorus, and the principles on which it stands. One nation, above all, with freedom, justice, and security for all.” The other students followed his lead, once they were finished they returned to their seats and prepared for the first bit of learning.

“This year we have a couple new faces in the classroom.” The teacher said as she looked over the class, Altair looked around for the newcomers and paused as he spotted a diamond dog and a pony filly that he hadn’t seen before. “Why don’t you introduce yourselves and tell us a little about yourself, don’t be shy.” The first to stand up was the diamond dog, he had dark grey fur and pointy furry ears.

“I am Wolf, son of Mawg!” He announced proudly, that was something that Altair had come to expect from diamond dogs. Not many people in the class seemed uncomfortable with it, as diamond dogs had integrated well into Onorussian society. With the benefit of modern schools, or schools in general, the misconceptions about them being dull witted brutes had faded into obscurity. They were still rather blunt. The filly stood up next, she looked a little less confident than her previous classmate.

“Um, I’m Daffodil.” The filly said meekly, she had cream colored fur and light pink fur, with a cutiemark of a flower on her flank. “I, uh… I like drawing.” She awkwardly sat back down, Altair looked back to the teacher who was nodding quietly and began to write something on the whiteboard.

“Our first lesson is going to be on the topic of mathematics…” Mrs. Ramsey began, Altair paid attention to her as the hours ticked on, occasionally marking down notes in his notebook. Occasionally he would zone out, looking out the window at the playground, but his mother had taught him that his studies were important. At the same time, as he looked out the window more often, he found himself doodling a bit more in his book. He began drawing little tanks and fighter planes in the margins of his notebook, Onorussian tanks and Caribou tanks attacking one another. He paused his sketches and looked back at the board, noting several bullet points that he had missed. Altair shook off his imagination and scribbled them down, tapping his foot quietly, but his eyes kept being drawn to the window.

He imagined he was looking out at the harbor in Applewood, watching navy ships coming and going from the ocean. It had been one of his favorite trips during the summer, as he had spent hours with his dad pointing out the various ships and guessing their names. The boy sighed quietly and looked back to the whiteboard, scribbling down a few more notes. Mrs. Ramsey began passing out worksheets, worksheets that Altair completed rather quickly before going back to his day dreaming. Before he knew it, the bell rang, signifying it was time for lunch. The class began getting out of their seats, but Altair kept looking out the window.

“Hey, Alley Cat! You coming?” Sofia’s voice caught his attention, he looked at her and nodded quietly.

“Yeah, yeah I’m coming.” Altair stood up from his seat and walked to his backpack, he unzipped it and pulled out his lunchbox. It was an aluminum lunch box with designs from his favorite television show ‘Lunar Commandos’, his favorite part about it was the picture of the main character stomping on an alien’s head. The boy took the box and peeked inside, there was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a juice box, a cupcake, and a little enveloped sealed with a heart sticker. Ozzy and Sofia were already walking to the door with the rest of the class, they knew he would be along shortly. Altair always preferred to be the last one out of the classroom, he didn’t like people pushing him on his way to the playground.

Once the room was empty, with the exception of Mrs. Ramsey, Altair made his way to the door. He peeked out carefully, looking for the usual band of minotaur upperclassmen that liked to lurk the hallways in search of third grade stragglers like him. He was a bit surprised to hear someone clear their throat behind him, he turned around and saw Mrs. Ramsey looking at him with a serene smile.

“I’m going to go outside too, mind if I walk with you?” She asked, Altair shrugged and stepped out into the hallway with her. Internally he felt much better, as he essentially had a police escort through the halls, the minotaurs wouldn’t dare come close to him as long as there was a teacher around. The two of them began walking towards the door that would lead them outside. “So, how was your summer Altair? Do anything fun?”

“It was awesome!” Altair said quietly, smiling brightly. With Mrs. Ramsey there was an ability to talk about things that his friends normally didn’t find interesting, more importantly, she knew who his moms and dad were already so she wouldn’t freak out and treat him differently. “My dad took me to see the navy base in Applewood, we got to look at this new ship their building there, and I even got to sit in one of the jets.” Mrs. Ramsey smiled at him a bit more as they continued walking. “I mostly stayed home, me and mom watched a bunch of old Earth movies, and then mother taught me about constellations.”

“Sounds fun!” Mrs. Ramsey said as they reached the big heavy doors that lead outside, Altair looked up at her with questioning eyes.

“What about you? Did you do anything fun this summer?” He asked innocently, she paused, then nodded and held the door open for Altair to step out. He walked out and grabbed it with both of his hands, to hold it open for Mrs. Ramsey. She walked out with a smile, letting the boy close the heavy metal door. Altair didn’t realize that the reason it was so heavy was because it was meant to stop bullets, just another one of the safety precautions put in place at the school.

“I went to Las Pegasus to see some family, then I came back here and got ready for the school year.” Mrs. Ramsey said warmly, looking around the playground with a smile. It was rather large, there was a field for playing on as well as a jungle gym off to the side. “I was very excited to see I got to have you in my class again this year.”

“Really?” Altair asked, Ramsey nodded as they walked closer to a group of students eating their lunch.

“Yup!” The teacher replied before looking at the group of students. “Why don’t you go eat with your friends, I’ve got recess duty.” Altair simply nodded and waved before walking away from the teacher, he sat down next to Ozzy and Sofia and opened his lunch box. Ozzy and Sofia were chatting up the new kids, so they didn’t notice him at first. That was alright, Altair wanted to get settled. He picked up the envelope and peeled off the heart, sticking it to the inside part of his lunch box’s lid. The boy opened the envelope and removed a little note, his mom’s handwriting was clear as day. Mainly because it was barely legible. Well, to someone that hadn’t grown up reading it that is.

’I love you, honey! Have a good day, you’ll do great! - Mom’ The note was marked with a little drawing of a heart next to the word ‘Mom’, Altair smiled widely as he read the note. He tucked it into his pocket and picked up his sandwich, it was shaping up to be a relatively good day. He hoped his parents were doing alright as well.

[♠]

Ponyville had grown from its tiny hamlet status to a full fledged small city, tall buildings weren’t common despite the increase in size and population. The city council had done a decent job of preserving the farms on the outskirts as well as the Everfree exclusion zone that surrounded the secretive military fortress known to the locals as simply November Charlie. Numerous cloud homes were present above the city, among them was the home of one of the local police mares. Rainbow Dash adjusted her blue uniform as she cruised calmly down one of the city streets in her Police Interceptor with her partner beside her. Her partner was a German Shepherd named Hans, Rainbow Dash had rolled the window down for him to stick his head out while she continued on her rather boring patrol.

She had made lieutenant a year before, normally that meant she would be riding a desk more often than anything else, but they didn’t want to pull one of their best officers off the street. She had made the transition to K9 duty relatively smoothly, and Hans was a big ball of fluff when things were calm. As she drove through the ‘Old Town’ district of Ponyville she was once again reminded of how much things had changed in the last eight years, the newer buildings towered over the old ones by several stories. The city was far less peaceful than it had once been, a few of her friends had moved away as a result of that.

”All units in the area. Respond to a robbery in progress at Thirty Eight and Woodrow.” Her radio crackled, the noise shook her out of her thoughts and prompted her to pick up the radio.

“Roger! K9 Five Five responding!” She said into the radio before she flicked on her lights and siren, the car in front of her quickly moved to the side of the road as she pushed her hoof down on the accelerator. The quadruped control modifications to the car had made her life so much easier, even if she enjoyed flying on patrol from time to time. The interceptor’s engine roared to life as she poured on the gas, more cars moved out of her way and she noted that Hans had sat up straight at attention.

She peeled around one of the corners and spotted another black and white with its lights on driving in the same direction, like to shepherd dogs they herded numerous cars onto the side of the road in order to pass by them. There were several more turns, and the two cars made them almost in unison before finally squealing to a stop in front of a bank. Just as they stopped they saw several masked ponies and even a diamond dog getting into a black van parked on the street. Rainbow watched them peel out, leaving a bit of smoke from their tires, as well as the diamond dog that hadn’t gotten into the car fast enough. The officer from the other car had already gotten out of his car, meaning it was up to Rainbow Dash to pursue the criminals.

“Buckle up, Hans!” She shouted before mashing her hoof down on the gas, she took off after the van with her eyes narrowed on their license plate. She picked up the radio microphone and cleared her throat before speaking. “K9 Five-Five! I am in pursuit of suspects! Black van, license plate Romeo Seven Four Tango Sierra Foxtrot. On Woodrow!” The driver weaved through traffic rapidly, but Rainbow Dash had to keep up with him at least until they could get a chopper in the air to track the van. Thankfully Woodrow opened up and eventually lead to the recently constructed highway, meaning that soon she would have a chance to really maneuver in and take the van out.

It didn’t take long for more cars to join the chase, she also noted that the traffic authority had started changing lights from green to red, effectively constricting traffic flow to that part of the city and reducing the chance of an accident, all part of a well choreographed and practiced action plan for dealing with high speed pursuits in the urban setting. Overhead Rainbow Dash was glad to see that there was an olive drab helicopter flying along, it was marked with a white underbelly as well as a stripe around its tail. Military Police, most likely from the air base on the outskirts of the city.

The van grew more erratic in its driving as it continued driving along at high speeds, the red lights had created a wall of cars on either side of it, forcing them to drive along Woodrow without any sort of opportunity to escape onto another street. The buildings were thinning out by now, meaning they would hit the highway soon. Rainbow Dash picked up the radio again, as she saw there weren’t any other civilian cars around her.

“K9 Five-Five. Should I go in for a PIT?” She asked, Hans looked over at her as he recognized that term. He didn’t like it, things always got bumpy when it came into play.

”Negative. All units drop back, the MPs are setting up a roadblock ahead, they’ll catch ‘em.” The radio replied, Rainbow Dash nodded and hit the brakes. Once again she and her comrades were playing the hounds, driving the fox to the hunters. The highway was generally patrolled by Military Police, as it had specific lanes designated for Military Traffic, meant to aid the military in moving troops in the event of an enemy invasion. As they left the city and drove up a ramp onto the recently paved highway Rainbow Dash could see the flashing blue lights in the distance, olive drab humvees and jeeps with white stripes on their sides and blue light bars on the roofs. They were still closing some of the gaps, and Rainbow Dash made up her mind that if the van got through she would be going right after them.

The black van came to a halt a dozen yards in front of the roadblock, Rainbow Dash and the others stopped behind them. MPs stood at the ready with their rifles ready and pointed towards the van while the helicopter circled overhead, Rainbow looked over at Hans, the dog was staring at the van with intense eyes.

”This is the Military Police! Shut off your engine and put your hands out the window immediately!” Ordered one of the MPs through a loudspeaker, nothing happened for several seconds before their was a puff of smoke as the driver of the van floored the gas pedal. It started charging straight towards the roadblock, not showing any signs of stopping. The MPs opened fire, riddling the windows and driver seat with holes. Still it drove, forcing several MPs to jump out of the way as it smashed through a gap in the blockade. Rainbow Dash floored her own gas and began pursuing the vehicle again, she watched as someone pushed the body of a minotaur out of the driver’s side of the Van while smoke billowed from its engine.

Humvees and Police Interceptors followed her lead and began chasing down the van once again, Hans was growling angrily now as they got further on to the highway. The side of the road had become thick with trees and underbrush, and the van seemed to be taking advantage of that. It swerved towards the trees and came to a stop, its engine still billowing thick grey smoke. Rainbow Dash watched the side door the slide open followed by three ponies jumping out and rushing towards the trees. The mare pulled up behind the van and opened the door for Hans before she got out of the car and drew her weapon from its holster. A forty five caliber specifically designed for ponies like her, she and her partner began rushing into the trees as she spoke into her radio.

“K9 Five-Five! Foot pursuit!” She shouted as she entered the trees, Hans was barking loudly. “Hans! Search!” She ordered, the dog began sniffing the air before barking and loudly rushing in one direction, by this time more officers had started moving through the trees. Rainbow followed her partner, doing her best to keep her breathing under control. Ahead of her she heard Hans barking loudly, followed by screaming from above. Rainbow emerged from several dense bushes to see her canine companion was barking up into a tree, Rainbow Dash could see an Earth Pony clutching a branch for dear life while Hans snarled at him from below. “Hans! Heel!” Hans stopped barking and sat at attention, still growling up at the earth pony. “Get on the ground! Now!”

The earth pony nervously let go of the branch and climbed down, then laid on the ground. Rainbow waisted no time in moving to cuff him, as she did so she spoke into her shoulder radio again.

“K9 Five-Five, I have one in cus-” She was cut off as she felt a stinging pain in her side, definitely a magic burn. She yelled in pain and fell to the ground, only having one of the hooves in custody. “F-Fuck!” Hans went ballistic as he spotted the attacker, a unicorn with a bag over his shoulder. The pony’s eyes widened just before Hans lept into the air and clamped his jaws down on the suspect’s hoof. He thrashed his head around, drawing blood from the pony before he was hit with a spell and yelped. “Hans!” Rainbow groaned as she started to get up, the earth pony was getting to his hooves. “Ten-thirteen! Officer down!” Rainbow shouted as loud as she could, knowing there were other police close by.

“Fuck! You shot a cop!” The Earth pony said in surprise, Rainbow couldn’t see his face as he was wearing a ski mask like his unicorn accomplice.

“And her dog bit me! I’d say we’re square!” The unicorn replied in a gravelly voice. “Now come on before-” The bushes rustled as half a dozen men and griffons in olive drab MP uniforms emerged with their rifles raised.

“Don’t you fucking move!” One of the men shouted, Rainbow Dash groaned as she felt herself fading out of consciousness. As the MPs began cuffing the criminals a medic rushed over to her and knelt down, but she shook her head.

“Help my partner.” She said tiredly, pointing to Hans, the medic shook his head back at her.

“I have to treat you first.”

“Help my fucking partner, damn it!” Rainbow Dash shouted, the medic winced and moved over to Hans. He wasn’t much of a vet, but from what he saw it seemed that the damage was only superficial. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, had suffered a stun wound to the side. The next couple minutes became a blur for the lieutenant, she recalled being lifted onto a stretcher and carried out of the forest. Hans was back on his feet, it seemed. She recalled the paramedics trying to wrestle him out of the ambulance, only to give up and let him ride along. Then they gave her morphine, and what happened after that was anyone’s guess.

Rainbow Dash found herself floating through the black abyss of unconsciousness, echoes of the war ran through her mind. Shouting, screaming, machinegun fire and artillery. The feeling of her wing muscles burning as she fled the Royal Guards, all of it came flooding to the forefront of her mind. Then, in an instant, it stopped. Her ears detected the sound of a beeping heart monitor, her nose picked up the smell of clean linens and bleach. She opened her eyes, the roof of the ambulance had been replaced by ugly ceiling tiles with bright fluorescent lights. She recognized those tiles, she had seen them plenty of times when she hurt herself doing a stunt. She was in Ponyville General.

“Fuck…” She mumbled quietly, then looked at her hoof. Yup, there was a hospital band around it. “Fucking fuck.” She hated hospitals, and if there was a band, it usually meant she was going to be there for at least a day. That was too much for her liking, she then looked around the room and spotted a familiar orange blur. She blinked a couple times to clear her vision, it was still a bit foggy from the morphine, before recognizing that blur. “Hey.” She said in her usual, if a bit tired, scratchy voice. This got the attention of a certain orange pegasus, Scootaloo looked up and stood from her seat before walking over with a look of relief.

“Mom!” She said in a glad voice, Rainbow Dash smiled at her and noted that she was wearing a grey Globe Corps Cadet uniform. She must’ve been pulled from her classes to be informed, that made Rainbow Dash a little upset. “The doctor said you wouldn’t be up for another two hours.”

“Well… You know me, always going faster than I should.” Rainbow Dash replied, wincing slightly from a stinging pain in her side. “What are you doing here? I thought you had that big drill today…”

“I did, but they sent me home when…” Scootaloo replied, the eighteen year old trailed off when she reached the end of her sentence. “I told them you would want me to stay, but they didn’t listen. Aunt Gilda was here a couple minutes ago, she’s out in the hall with dad though.” Rainbow Dash chuckled softly and leaned her head back, looking towards the ceiling again. “Mom, he was really worried about you… You want me to go get him?”

“Not yet.” Rainbow Dash said with a sigh. “I love him, but… You know how he gets when he’s nervous.” Scootaloo nodded, then adjusted her cadet uniform. “So… How was your day at school, aside from being pulled out of a drill…”

“Really? You want to talk about MY day?” Scootaloo asked with a bit of surprise, Rainbow Dash nodded. “But you’re hurt!”

“Which is why I want to hear all about how your day was, squirt!” Rainbow Dash said, Scootaloo stared at her for a couple seconds before simply wrapping her hooves around Rainbow and hugging her tightly. “E-Easy there, kid! You’re hugging me a bit tight. You’d think I got shot or something.” Scootaloo eased up as she heard that comment, knowing it was her mom’s way of trying to defuse a tense situation. “Come on, tell me all about it. Did you get to be in the same squad as Pavel?” Scootaloo blushed for a moment as she looked away.

“Yeah, we had to take cover in the same foxhole…” Scootaloo said, Rainbow Dash smirked quietly. “But it was a usual drill, the instructor screamed at us, we captured objectives, nothing really to write home about.” Rainbow Dash nodded quietly, then rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath.

“How’s Hans?” Rainbow Dash asked, her tone becoming a bit more concerned.

“He’s fine, from what I hear. Took a couple officers and an orderly to get him out of the ambulance and into the a squad car. He was pissed…” Scootaloo replied, Rainbow nodded again as she lay there.

“Alright…” She looked to the door of the hospital room and cleared her throat. “Call your dad in.” Scootaloo nodded and walked to the door, then leaned her head out to talk to someone. A couple moments later the door opened and allowed Quibble Pants to walk into the room, Gilda was behind him. Quibble looked like a nervous wreck, but he seemed to relax when he saw that Rainbow Dash was awake. Gilda looked calmer, but Rainbow knew how she internalized her own worries. “Hey, honey.”

“Hey…” Quibble said as he walked over to her and hugged her, she hugged him back before giving him a weak noogie. That got Gilda and Scootaloo to chuckle before Quibble pulled back and seemed to relax a bit more. “I was so worried, the doctor wouldn’t tell me anything other than you were going to be out for a bit! All those police officers kept telling me you’d be fine but none of them went to medical school, how are they supposed to know my wife is going to be fine if they don’t know the difference between a-” Rainbow Dash put a hoof on the stallion’s lip, causing him to quiet down. She simply leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before laying back down.

“Chill for me, alright babe?” Rainbow Dash said, doing her best to sound casual. “I just need a little time to rest, then you can tell me all about it.” Quibble nodded quietly, blushing faintly from the kiss on the cheek. Seven years of marriage and still that got to him. The mare looked over to Gilda, the griffon looked like she was doing her best to remain calm. “Hey there, Cap.” Rainbow called to her, the griffon seemed to shake herself out of a daze. “Don’t look so worried, I’ve had worse, you know that.”

“Yeah…” Gilda said as she moved closer and took a seat beside the hospital bed. “Shouldn’t get too concerned, after all, I’m sure it hurt worse whenever I’d get you into a headlock back when you were still training.”

“I seem to remember getting you into more headlocks, Captain.” Rainbow replied with a snarky smirk, she saw Gilda relax, which was her goal. Even if Gilda wasn’t really her captain anymore, the prismatic pegasus still respected her as such. She also felt a wave of exhaustion rushing over her. “I’d love to talk a bit more, but… Really tired.”

“Your friends are out there waiting to see you.” Quibble said, Rainbow quietly sighed.

“Have a nurse wake me up in an hour or so, okay? I just need a little sleep before I see them.” Rainbow said, Quibble nodded and leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead. After that the three visitors left the room and shut the lights, once the door was closed Rainbow Dash let out a long sigh and winced in pain. It had taken a lot of her willpower to keep from crying out in front of her loved ones, but now that she was alone she could think to herself. She began running over the events in her mind. How had she been so stupid as to let herself be flanked? What did she do wrong that had lead her to be where she was now? What if the shot hadn’t been a stun spell…?

Rainbow Dash heard her heart monitor beeping more rapidly as the thoughts swirled around in her head, but she quickly shook her mind free of the doubts and closed her eyes. She attempted to roll on her side, but winced when she was reminded that there was a wound there. She chose the other side, breathing slowly and calmly, trying to force the nagging thoughts out of her mind, until finally she fell into a restless sleep.

[♠]

“Son of a cussing cuss word!” Dominic shouted loudly before sticking his finger into his mouth and sucking on it, he had been making himself a cup of coffee and accidentally touched the pot of boiling water. He was standing in the situation room with his commanders, all of whom were staring at him with concern. “I didn’t say stop talking, gentlemen.” He said, still keeping his finger in his mouth for a couple seconds before wiping it off with a napkin. “What’s the latest report on the Caribou? Last I heard they were stirring up something on the Saddle Arabian border?”

“Yes, sir. They seem to be massing for an attack.” Putin said as he leaned back in his chair, watching as the Imperator began pouring the boiling water into a pot to start brewing the coffee. “The Saddle Arabians seem to know something is up, we’ve seen increased numbers of recruiting in smaller towns. The Zebras have been surprisingly quiet.” The older man looked over a couple documents. “My guess is they’re waiting it out, Saddle Arabia is the only thing between them and the Caribou, we could be seeing the beginnings of their alliance collapsing.”

“General Gambino, what are the odds the Saddle Arabians can hold off the Caribou? Worst case scenario.” Dominic asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee and made his way to his own seat. The man looked to Brigadier General Gambino, the woman quietly picked up a document and looked it over.

“The caribou would dominate in the northern portion of Saddle Arabia, it’s just barely cool enough for them to survive. With tanks they would overrun Saddle Arabian positions within the first week.” Jen said in a professional tone before setting down the document and looking at the other officers. “After that they’d be hitting desert, and it’s likely it would become a war of attrition similar to the Korean conflict. Those tanks of theirs get hotter than hell, they’d be battling heat stroke as well as the Saddle Arabians.”

“I concur, sir. The Saddle Arabians would be able to push them back to their original border, and likely hold them there until winter, at which point the lines would likely be pushed back.” Field Marshal Errant chimed in, Dominic nodded quietly. The Field Marshal had proven to be a good choice for Chief of Staff for the Lunar Marines. His predictions were often very accurate. “This would likely continue until one side ran out of troops and supplies, and from the looks of it that would be the Saddle Arabians. By a slim margin.”

“We should keep an eye on this then. Agreed?” Dominic asked, the others nodded quietly and began sifting through their papers. Dominic sipped his coffee, occasionally wincing from the burn sustained to his finger. “We discussed the griffon proposal for new airships, the latest reports on the transcontinental highway, the Saddle Arabians… Is there anything else that needs to be discussed at this time?” The officials looked at one another quietly before one of them stuck their hands up, it was a Colonel from the CIMC. “Yes?”

“Doctor Fortress Wall wanted me to inform you that progress on the latest line of ATW rifles is coming along as scheduled.” The Colonel said, Dominic smiled faintly and took another sip of coffee, he had test fired a couple of the prototypes and they were certainly a force to be reckoned with. “We’re ready to move them to mass production and begin retrofitting older models, with your permission, sir.”

“Permission granted.” Dominic said simply, the Colonel nodded. “Is there isn’t anything else that needs discussion or my permission.” No one else spoke up, leading Dominic to down the rest of his coffee in one gulp. It was his fourth cup of the day. “We’re adjourned.” The group of officers stood from their seats and made their way out of the meeting room, Dominic lagged behind. He didn’t like people walking behind him, as he didn’t want to get bumped into. It had been something he had done since he was a kid in school. The man stepped out into the hall and watched as the officers made their way to their various departments. Just as he was about to walk to his office he spotted a soldier with a courier satchel walking towards him, the man pulled a report from his satchel and handed it to the Imperator.

“Message from Ponyville, sir. They had a bank robbery there, one officer injured, four suspects in custody. One dead.” The courier announced, Dominic sighed quietly and flipped through the report to ensure that there wasn’t anything that had been overlooked.

“Not much that can be done at the moment, but keep me informed.” Dominic ordered, the courier nodded and walked away, leaving Dominic to his wandering. His boots echoed through the halls as he made his way to his office, though he wasn’t sure what he would do once he got there. His daily work load had been completed as of that last meeting, meaning he would be sitting in his office for the next couple hours with nothing to do. At least Maria got the chance to go out and do things, as head scarves had become fashionable after reports circulated that she wore one.

Dominic rubbed his chin as he walked past a couple paintings, as well as the door to a utility closet. He passed a couple guards on patrol, they saluted him and he saluted them, both went on their way through the halls, like two ships passing in the night. Finally the Imperator reached his office, guarded by two familiar guards who saluted as usual. It seemed things were business as usual, the man quietly pushed his office door open and stepped in before closing it. The lights were out, which wasn’t unusual, as he liked his office to be lit by the light from the window. However, he hadn’t recalled turning them off before he left. What was more, his office chair was facing away from the door, something that only one person ever did.

Sure enough, the person in the chair spun around to face him. Well, not so much a person as it was a sexy, moon princess. Luna was smirking at him with a set of eyes that were usually reserved for the bedroom. Dominic quietly adjusted his uniform, appearing a bit surprised and a little uncomfortable for some reason.

“Uh… Luna?” Dominic said in a questioning voice. “What are you doing in my chair…? Why are you looking at me like that?” Luna remained quiet as she got out of the chair and sauntered up to him, the man’s cheeks flushed red. “L-Luna…?” She was very close now, pressing his back up against the door. She held her muzzle inches from his face, then suddenly, stuck her tongue out at him and backed away.

“Oh my gosh! Maria! You were right!” Luna said loudly, Dominic blinked in surprise before he saw Maria poke her head up from under the desk. “He gets so red! I didn’t ever notice until now!” Dominic realized what this was, this was what Maria usually did, just to shake up his day. She would show up somewhere quiet and secluded and just give him those advances, knowing full well he would be too bashful to do anything unless they were in their bedroom. Now Luna had gotten in on the fun.

“I know, right?! He’s so cute when he gets like that!” Maria cooed as she walked up to Luna, they shared a hoof bump while Dominic quietly put his hands on his hips.

“I am not cute.” Dominic said flatly. “I’m a six foot tall, zombie slaying, tank commanding warrior of the night.” Luna hummed and nodded before she booped him on the nose with her horn.

“Yes, a cute six foot tall, zombie slaying, tank commanding warrior of the night.” She said simply, causing the man to blush even brighter. He was surprised to be smiling, his day had been a rather serious one, but he supposed he had to put his own happiness first some of the time, even if he wasn’t aware. Or maybe it was just that he was in the presence of his two lovely companions, that was more likely, as they always seemed to find a way to put a smile on his face.

“Dare I say… Absolutely adorable?” Maria chimed in, Dominic sighed quietly and gave them both a kiss before walking to his chair and sitting down. “Not as adorable as our darling son, obviously.”

“Still pretty adorable.” Dominic said under his breath, doing his best to appear he was sulking. And failing. The man turned towards the two of them and raised an eyebrow. “As much as I love a distraction like this, especially when it's at my expense… I sense there’s something else you wanted to discuss?” Luna and Maria looked at one another, then back at Dominic, then back at one another, before finally speaking.

“We’ve been talking about doing something for Altair, something soft and fuzzy…” Maria said in a cheerful tone, Dominic quietly leaned back in his seat, sensing he was about to be tag teamed once again on an issue he had already heard half a dozen times.

“With four legs and a cute nose.” Luna added.

“No hamsters.” Dominic said bluntly. “God forbid it gets out of the cage and into the walls…” Maria and Luna shook their heads.

“No, bigger than a hamster.” Luna said with a smile.

“No rodents of any kind!” Dominic said a bit louder this time, Maria and Luna both knew the real reason was that Dominic hated rats. So much, in fact, that he would sometimes leave apple slices out in the hallway and watch them through the scope of a pellet gun, waiting for a mouse or a rat to move into the open.

“No rodents. We know.” Maria said in an easy tone as she sat on the desk and folded one leg over the other, Dominic looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. “We’ve been talking about getting Altair a puppy.” The man stared at them for a couple seconds, then looked at his desk and rubbed his temples. “Pwetty pwease, Dominic? Have I mentioned how handsome you look today?” Maria gave him those eyes, those beautiful brown eyes.

“You’re just trying to butter me up… And it’s working, damn it.” Dominic said as he looked at the eyes before he quietly nodded. “Fine… A puppy. As long as he remembers to walk it and so on…” Maria smiled and gave him a big kiss on the forehead, the man quietly sighed as he looked back to his desk and noticed a couple files that needed to be looked over. “Let’s talk about this over dinner, okay? I’ve got a few more things to complete… Then, barring a Caribou invasion of Saddle Arabia, I’ll be able to cut out early.”

“Alright, dear.” Luna said with a smile as she sauntered up next to Maria. “I know you’re going to enjoy what I have planned for tonight…” Dominic blushed a bit more as the mare winked at him, Maria smirked before she and Luna stepped out of the room, leaving Dominic to go and pick up the papers on his desk. They were reports from Terra, regarding the reclamation efforts. Los Angeles was now completely under Onorussian control, as was most of Ohio and several other Eastern states. Many of the mafia families had turned tail and fled when faced by disciplined soldiers. Of course the fact that the Onorussians had, airships, power armor and energy weapons probably had a hand in it as well. They were withdrawing into New Jersey and New York, but the fight was just about out of them… At least, according to the reports.

The commanding general in Los Angeles had reported a sizable amount of survivors had made a settlement in the downtown portion of the city. Early estimates put their numbers at nearly two thousand, to ensure that Onorussian military power was not to be disputed, the general had ordered a military parade. Tanks, soldiers, airships, the works… It seemed to be working. Dominic had no qualms with making a show of force, he had learned over the past decade that being polite and compromising all the time didn’t work on some cultures. It was that sort of weak leadership that had allowed the influx of refugees, and by extension, the infection and destruction of everything he held dear.

Dominic set down the reports and sat in his chair, leaning back before picking them up again and deciding to give them a more in depth look

[♠]

Jack quietly sighed as he looked out over the Pacific ocean, adjusting his flight suit as the water lapped up against the sand. The Military Parade had ended a couple hours ago, and the survivors in the city were starting to embrace their new government. For Jack, now a Full Bird Colonel, the display flight he had flown would likely be one of his last. At least, on the Terran front. He had already put off returning home by volunteering for more and more deployments, but he had reached the sea, and that meant he couldn’t run anymore. The pilot quietly took a faded polaroid from his pocket and looked at it with a sad frown.

Tig, the mare that had taken his heart all those years ago, he had been running from her. Or, at least, the memory of her. She was likely waiting for him on the other side, that was her way, she continued to send him letters even though he didn’t write back. It had started on his first return to Onorus, things had been fine at first. Then there was one night, nightmare night to be precise. Some highschool kids and rowdy ponies decided it would be funny to dress up as zombies and chase people. No one thought it was funny. Jack had lost control and ended up locking himself in the bathroom, pointing his handgun towards the door. He could still remember Tig pushing it open, he had nearly shot her. The man signed up for another tour the next day, fearing that he would possibly hurt her if he stayed near her.

Every letter reassured him that she wasn’t afraid, but every night he slept he knew that she didn’t know what she was talking about. The man took a seat on a nearby bench and continued looking at the picture, he looked up as a couple kids rushed out into the surf to play, then looked back to the picture. Eight years… She was persistent, he gave her that. The man tensed up for a moment as he heard footsteps behind him, but relaxed as he saw it was Sarah. She had risen through the ranks a lot more than he had, she was more of an officer anyway. A full on two star general, with her red hair pulled back in a regulation bun and her uniform adorned with her numerous decorations.

“Hey there…” She said as she sat down, Jack looked at her for a couple seconds, then back out over the ocean. “They give you your orders yet?”

“Nah…” Jack replied before tucking the photo back into his pocket. “I’m hoping they’d hear me out, let me at least make the push to Hawaii, maybe even Japan. Doubt it will come through though.” Sarah sighed quietly and looked back out over the ocean, then she looked at the kids playing in the water.

“Eight years is a long time, Jack.” Sarah said in a tired tone. “I’m glad to be heading back to the Republic, you should be too.” The pilot looked to the sky as he heard jet engines overhead, they were running drills in preparation for carrier operations. He watched a couple contrails before looking back at the ground. “She’s waited eight years for you, Jack. Unlike you or me, she isn’t going to be around forever…”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Jack said bluntly, his boot tapping against the sandy ground beneath the bench. “I… I love her too much to tell her it’s over, but… I don’t want to watch her grow old and die. Or, god forbid I have another episode… Worse than the one I had before.”

“I know you wouldn’t hurt her, she know’s that too…” Sarah said, Jack quietly shook his head and looked down at his hands.

“You say that, but remember the day you found me?” He looked over at Sarah with eyes that shimmered on the verge of tears. “I remember… I remember how you washed my family's blood off of every inch of me… How… How you had to shave my head because of how stuck together it was…” Jack looked back at the sky. “I just want to fly, Sarah… I don’t want these damned eagles on my neck, and I don’t want to hurt the people I care about.”

“Damn it, Jack!” Sarah said with a bit of annoyance, Jack looked over at her. “I couldn’t say it in eight years because of how badly we needed you, but now I can. You’re being a selfish jackass and it’s about damn time you go home!” The man stared at her for a couple seconds, then quietly looked to the ground. “You’re right, it sucks that we get to live so long and she doesn’t, but she has just as much a right to you as a life! If you’re so god damned convinced you don’t want to see her get old then let her go! Let her find someone else! Go off and charge across the Pacific! Hell, I’ll sign the orders myself! Just do something!”

“Fine!” Jack shouted back, standing up from the bench. Sarah blinked in a bit of astonishment. “Fine, I’ll tell her to just stop! I’ll tell her to leave me alone! While I’m at it, why don’t you go and tell her too, since you’re so god damned eager to get back there!” The Colonel panted for several seconds, then put his hands on his hips and looked at the ground. “I don’t deserve her anyway… I don’t deserve you in my life either.”

“Jack I-”

“No. No more ‘Jack I understand’. No more.” Jack said in a quiet tone as he sat back on the bench. “How can you even defend me? How can you even say you’re my friend! You know what I’ve done! You saw what I did to all those people…”

“No.” Sarah said as she put a hand on his trembling shoulder. “I saw the actions of a panicked, cornered young boy.” Jack turned and looked at her quietly. “The same scared young boy I see sitting next to me right now.” The woman sighed and adjusted her collar. “The Pacific is a wall, Jack. Your back is up against it, just like all those years ago. Cornered animals lash out the most, I know because I used to be like that.” Sarah got off the bench and crouched on his eye level. “Jack… I very much understand.” The man stared at her silently. “For over ten years I’ve been looking out for you, giving you advice, helping you when you stumble… You may not think of me this way, but I’ve come to see you as a son. So… Whatever choice you make here, I may not like it, but I’ll accept it.”

“W-What truck are you leaving on?” Jack asked, Sarah raised an eyebrow at him. “I want to know which one I should send my bag too.” He spoke with a bit of a choke in his voice, Sarah rubbed his shoulders softly and hugged him tightly. “I… I just wanna go home…”

“I know, honey… I do too.” Sarah patted him on the back as she sat beside him, the palm trees swayed behind them as the waves continued to lap against the beach. Children played and laughed, unaware of the emotions that ran through many people that would be returning through the portal. “I’m actually flying through a portal in one of the fighters… Not sure which one yet.”

“I don’t think Chavez would mind giving up his seat.” Jack said as he wiped his eyes, the two of them stood up and shared a nervous chuckle. They began walking towards a jeep marked with a flag that signified it was a General’s vehicle. Jack took a seat in back while Sarah sat up front. Her driver started the jeep and began driving towards the airport as ordered. Jack had subconsciously known his choice, having packed his bag the night before, though he’d told himself it was in preparation to go to Hawaii. The drive was pretty quiet, and soon enough they were on the tarmac. From there, Jack received words that he had in fact been ordered to return home.

There was little time spent discussing or saying goodbyes, Jack and Sarah simply climbed into their specified aircraft and began their preflight work. For Sarah, it was an interesting experience to see her pseudo-... No… Her son- in action. They would be joining at least a dozen aircraft and crew returning to Onorus, and there was little time for fanfare before they were taxiing down to the runway. Jack looked out his cockpit canopy towards the hangar that housed his squadron, Sarah looked as well. Every member was standing in front of it, saluting the aircraft as it rolled passed. The Colonel saluted them back before looking towards the runway ahead.

Homeward One-Twelve. Cleared for departure straight out. Have a safe trip, Colonel.” The radio announced, Jack nodded quietly as he stopped on the end of the runway. With a quiet sigh he looked over his shoulder and spoke.

“Let’s go home.” He said simply before looking forward and pushing the throttle forwards, the Phantom thundered down the runway at blistering speed before it climbed into the air and joined the other eleven aircraft that were flying towards the designated portal site. Quietly Jack began to whistle over the comms, some song from an old video game he had played in his youth. To his surprise, other people began to join in. It was soothing to listen to, and at the same time, Jack felt goosebumps rising up along his arms. Only time would tell what the future would hold...

Author's Notes:

I'm really sorry about the delay on this, but I've been working on dealing with some personal matters that have taken my time away from my writing. I'm thankful for your patience, as I honestly do feel bad about keeping things from you.

Here's your clip of the day. In memory of the comedy legend Gene Wilder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8aJ96O0-_M

Also, in the spare time I have had where I couldn't write, I did a little drawing instead. I hope to be able to do some drawings of all the characters, but to start us off, here's one of Maria (Post timeskip)

You'd never guess she was a widely feared sniper with over three hundred confirmed kills.