This is what that Ghoul was talking about? Seems like heaven around here compared to the wasteland. -Applebits

We had been walking for hours and hours without end. The ghoul always ahead of us, leading the way eastward. Thankfully, since the gator attack we hadn't been delayed any further and I suppose that was a good thing since we were all just about out of ammunition and I don't think our guide exactly liked how much we had questioned him about what he had done against the gators. Even still, hours away, my thoughts were occupied on his answers and just what exactly we'd seen. However, I was also feeling a little worn down; I could tell the others were too, the way Lightning was slowly flying now and close to the ground. The others lagged somewhat behind me, and yet as I watched Gladius he seemed to have no trouble; was even still marching at almost double time I could tell. Not a bit of tiredness registering, nor any show of exertion.

Finally, we crested another small hill and he slowed up some before halting. Letting us catch our breath, likely. But when I was walking up to him he gestured with a hoof to just up the road and his blood formulated his words. "There is my home. Hearthfire."

What I could see surprised me. At first, I was expecting a few small cobbled-together shacks with some ponies or ghouls; but what was actually before us made me have to look twice alongside the others. For about a mile in all directions, there were well-built houses that were so uncannily alike to those before the war. Several dozen ponies and foals were walking around, chatting idly and laughing. With several groups were a few male ghouls dressed in what I thought resembled pre-war Equestrian Army uniforms. Their flanks sporting Gatling cannons or sniper rifles; even one I saw had AT cannons like Bulls Eye. Around the outskirts of these homes, I saw large irrigated fields that had been plowed and planted; most tended by younger mares and stallions that seemed to be genuinely enjoying the work. A large water tower sat amidst these fields, with pumps at the ground that filtered back into the village underground and to the surrounding fields. At the perimeter of this place, a large wire fence had been erected with guard towers spanning at equal intervals that were manned by those same ghoul soldiers with their rifles.

"This is your home?" I managed to ask at last, speaking for everypony.

"Yes." Gladius responded in blood before heading off toward a fence gate guarded by two ghoul soldiers.

Following behind him, we paused before the towering gate as Gladius stepped in front of the two ghouls. Both were wearing helmets and face-wraps with their attire, but they quickly drew them down and I noticed they were smiling as one spoke up.

"Thank the Gods you're back at last Sergeant." The right one said in a raspy voice.

"We were getting worried sir. Were about to round up as many as we could to search for you." The left said in a gruff voice.

"Indeed. Your wife and daughter were getting especially insistent and worried." The right one said again, just as the gate slid open and Gladius stepped past.

The guards didn't halt any of us as we followed him inside his home, which surprised me how they could trust us so easily. But then I figured that perhaps they simply trusted Gladius enough that he wouldn't bring anypony unsafe in, which delighted me somewhat. The gate closed behind us, and we were faced with many groups of ponies and ghoul soldiers with fillies and colts that were talking and chatting happily. They all looked to us, despite giving us a few odd glances they seemed to be more so drawn to Gladius as they were smiling. It was when I noticed a slightly larger Pegasus filly that was rushing towards him from the groups. She looked a lot like him, except for her lack of injuries and the cyan stripes in her fur and the darker blue in her bedraggled mane and short flowing tail. Her eyes matched his, although they were just a shade lighter and she had light freckles.

"Daddy!" She called. "Daddy, daddy!" When she reached a few paces away she leapt into the air and wrapped herself around him. He fell to the ground, hugging her back and smiling happily through his stitches as a single blood tear ran down his cheek. She was crying as well, but she was also smiling as she mumbled into his mane. "It's so good to have you back Daddy....We were getting so worried. Mommy was about to go out to find you herself daddy."

I saw how in response, Gladius merely nuzzled her lightly before his blood spelled out behind him as she looked up. "Daddy's here now though. Daddy wouldn't leave his little Tenebris alone."

Finally, I noticed the mare standing before him. She was a unicorn, though her horn was broken. Her cyan blue body was mostly covered by a flowing cloak, and her reddish-pink eyes were set on the two as she brushed her long, darker blue mane out of them. Behind her, a long flowing tail curled and was swishing only just as she watched the two rising. This time, the filly I now knew as Tenebris was on his back and perched between his wings as he walked over to her. Nuzzling around her neck, he gently hugged her before the two touched muzzles in what I could guess was their way of sharing a kiss.

"I'm home love. I'm home Shield." His blood spelled.

She had a single tear in her eye that he quickly wiped away and he hugged her again. The silence was palpable and there was a tension in the air that I could feel. It was only broken when they finally drew apart and were now smiling at one another as Gladius turned back to us. "Come. We shall go to my house to rest." His blood spelled.

"Yay! Daddy's having friends over tonight!" the filly Tenebris said gleefully from his back, making the others laugh or smile more so. She bounced on his back and it was then that I realized this filly reminded me so much of the one who was waiting for me back home at Nowhere.
The mare that Gladius had called Shield gestured for us to follow them. She gave us a slight smile as she turned and caught up to his side and they began to weave past the small groups and head deeper into the town.

"We might as well follow him. I've still got a few questions I want him to answer." I said, following the path Gladius and his family had woven with the others behind me.

Author's Notes:

Death strikes again, since I couldn't quiet grasp what he was going for with his OC's home town I am letting him write the chapters involving it while I do plot work for the final chapters. Yes you just read correctly, this fic has perhaps ten to fifteen more chapters before it is complete, and I intend on finishing it off early next month.

Stay Brony Everypony! (Yep, my catchphrase indeed)