Twilight walked beside her brother and his wife Cadence, she was back on all four hooves as Shinning had requested her do so. Twilight didn’t know why he seemed so uncomfortable but she had complied and switched her cybernetics back to quadruped state.

After the fight she had to deal with a lot of Royal Guards who were angry at her from some reason when she showed them her blades, she didn’t see the issue but they kept going on about how she snuck in assassin weapons into the castle. She had pointed out that they let her keep her rifle , sidearm, and had only confiscated her combat knife and not once did they ask if she had any other weapons. That seemed to annoy them more as a few of them accused her of being a smart ass when she just stated the facts.

She just looked at them flatly till they finally shut up. Once they were dealt with she had suggest to Shinning that they go and get the dinner she had promised they’d get and he had agreed. It was shortly after that he had asked her to stop walking around on two legs. She had also told her friends who had followed them out of the training area that she wanted to be alone with her brother and his wife and they had understood thankfully.

Twilight looked at Shinning and sighed, might as well get it out of the way. “Hey Shinning.” She said and he looked at her as they walked down the halls, Twilight was distinctly ignoring the guards that followed them. “I wanted to apologize to you for how I treated you on our first meeting. It was out of line of me.”

He blinked at her. “Where did this come from, you didn’t seem to care at all early.”

“I was on duty with an order to report to the Princess, but I shouldn't have treated you as I would have a subordinate when you are part of a different military force. So I am sorry.” She said. She didn’t like the taste of admitting she was wrong but she was big enough to admit when she was at fault.

Shinning nodded. “Apology accepted Twilly.” He said with a smile.

Twilight could only sigh at the ridiculous nickname but he had called her it for a long time and she doubted she could get him to stop short of beating it out of him and she wouldn’t do that. They walked on in silence and Twilight notice Cadence staring at her. “Something wrong Cadence?”

Cadence looked at her for a few more moment before speaking. “It’s just what you did to Winter Gale…why did you do that to him? It was a simple dual but you seemed to be inflicting pain just for the sake of inflicting it.”

“Because I was.” She said and noticed both Cadence and Shinning had stopped. She stopped as well and looked back at them. “What?”

“You hurt him just for the sake of hurting him?” Cadence asked looking aghast, even her brother looked taken aback.

“Yes, he needed to be shown his place and that he isn’t anything special, that was the most effective method.” Twilight said and they just stared at her and Twilight turned to completely face them. “He thought challenging me to a dual would teach me a lesson so I taught him a lesson I learned a long time ago.”

“What lesson?” Shinning asked a bit hesitantly.

“The Law of the Field is what I call it.” She said and they stared at her clearly not understanding. “When in the field it’s kill or be killed. No matter how good you think you are, how cocky you are there is one simple fact on the field no soldier can escape.” She said. “If I’m faster than you, if I’m stronger then you, if I’m smarter than you. If I'm luckier then you. Then I can kill you.” She said. And the color drained from their faces, which was impressive for Shinning since his fur was already white.

She tilted her head at their reaction. She hadn’t expected that reaction to her explaining such a simple fact. Even she hadn’t been able to escape the law. She left herself become aware of the slight twinge of pain that is always with her thanks to her cybernetics before she pushed the pain from her mind.

“Anyways Sinning I was wondering….are mom and dad in town?” She asked. That seemed to snap them out of whatever thought they had fallen into.

“Huh? Oh yes they are, they haven’t really left the house since you went missing.” Shinning said.

Twilight nodded, she had figured as much. “Do….do you think we can have dinner with them?” She asked. She hated how she sounded like a filly but the simple fact was she had missed her family a lot and she had already spent time with her friends and the Princesses in a way, granted one was in her head while making it clear not to come back and the other had been giving a report but time was time, you take all you get till you run out.

“Yes, they will love to see you. They have been very depressed since you’ve been gone.” Shinning said smiling a bit at the thought of his parent getting back to their old selves again.

Twilight couldn’t help smiling. “Good, then shall we go?” She said, allowing a small bit of excitement to seep into her voice.

Twilight stood outside the door of her parent’s house staring at it. Shinning and Cadence stood behind her; Celestia and Luna were sitting safely away in the pocket dimension where they had been since her debriefing with the Princess.

She had been staring at the door for the last ten minutes. What was wrong with her? She had faced entire Fed Strike Teams supported by Assault Teams as well as tanks, gunships and everything else the Feds could throw at her and she had killed or destroyed it all. So why was she terrified of knocking on this damn door!

She stared at the door for a few more minutes before she slowly reached a hoof up and knocked. “Well guess they aren’t home.” She said as soon as she finished knocking. Before she could turn to leave her augmented hearing caught the sound of movement on the other side of the door and in a few moments the door opened slowly revealing a blue stallion with a dark blue mane.

“Yes, can I help you?” He asked and twilight just stared at him. He clearly had tried to make himself presentable but Twilight could see the slight bags under his eyes, the hair was slightly disheveled and he looked more tired than she had ever seen him. “Miss is something wrong?” Her father asked looking at her a bit concerned.

“No…I’m sorry it’s just…..” Twilight stumbled. She had thought about seeing her parents a lot while away when she was alone but never once had she thought about what she would actually say when she did see them again. Slowly she undid the strap on her helmet and removed it. “Hey…Dad…” She said slowly.

Her father stared at her for a few minutes, blinking several time before he sat and rubbed his eyes. “Twilight? Is…Is that really you?” He asked her, disbelief clear in his voice.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah…I’m home.” She said and tensed for a moment when her father threw his hooves around her, hugging her tightly.

He held her for a long while before he finally let go. “Come in, come in.” He said practically dragging his daughter into the house. “Velvet come here! Twilight is home!” He called as Shinning and Cadence followed them in and closed the door.

Twilight heard hooves galloping for the entry hall and in a moment her mother came around the corner and stopped staring wide eyed. She looked far worse than her father had. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had large bags under eyes from lack of sleeping at all and she hadn’t really tried to do anything with her mane at all. She looked like hell Twilight thought.

He mother practically teleported to Twilight and pulled her into a bone crushing hug, Twilight barely stopped from reflexively deploying her blades.

While the hug was bone crushing Twilight didn’t really have any problems as her armor resisted the hug with ease. She let her helmet fall from her magical grasp as she carefully put her own hooves around her mother as she started to cry. “Please if this is a dream, don’t let me wake up…” Her mother whispered.

“It’s not a dream mom…it’s really me.” Twilight told her softly and felt her father also hug her again. They stayed like that for a very long time; Twilight wasn’t really counting the time for once, just allowing herself to enjoy the moment. She was home, finally after going through hell she was finally home and she would do whatever it takes to keep it safe. Nothing would stand in her way of completing that objective. Nothing

Author's Notes:

For all those who wanted to see her meet her parents as her knew self, here you go.

and we found the one things that actually scares the Commander.