The light from the eclipse shown through the window as Star Bolt and his wife lay in their bed. Slowly the door to their room opened and two little foals curiously poked their heads into the room. The little filly looked at her brother and spoke softly, “Uh… Sab? Are they up yet?”

The young colt looked at his sister and replied, “I don’t know sis, I'll go check.”

The young colt trotted around the side of the bed and approached Star Bolt. The young colt reached out and poked Star Bolt’s muzzle, “Daddy?… daaaaddyyyy?… daddy?… dad?… daaaad?...”

the colt continued poking Star Bolt’s muzzle as he tried to ignore his son’s excessive chanting, “daaadddyyy?... daddy… dad, dad, dad?... daddy?”

Finally Star Bolt sighed then replied without opening his eyes, “What is it Sable?”

Sable smiled, “Are ya awake yet?”

Star Bolt sat up and sarcastically replied, “Yes I'm awake now… thank you son, I'm glad you pointed that out for me.”

Not understanding his father’s sarcasm, the colt replied, “Always happy to help daddy… should I wake up mommy now?”

Star Bolt got out of the bed, started making his way to the door, and smiled as he replied, “That’s a good idea son, go ahead and wake up mommy. She likes it when you wake her up the same way you wake me up.”

Star Bolt continued smiling as he trotted into the hallway, after he made his way into the kitchen he heard Gem, “WHAT!!! WHAT!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT!!!.... YES I’M AWAKE!!!”

Star Bolt laughed as he heard the two foals running down the hall screaming in fear from their own mother. He could only think to himself, “Barely eight years old, and already torturing their mother… Days like this make me proud to be a father.”

When Gem, entered the kitchen her mane was a complete mess so Star Bolt greeted her, “Morning angle…”

Gem gave him an unentertained look and replied, “You put him up to that… didn’t you.”

Star Bolt smiled, “Thank you dear, I'm having a wonderful morning. How about you?”

She sighed, “I thought as much. When I'm done killing them… you’re next.”

Star Bolt replied, “I love you too.”

Then both little foals, slowly crept around the corner as Sable spoke, “You still mad mommy?”

Gem sighed, “I guess not, come in here and have breakfast.”

Both foals ran from around the corner cheering, “YAY!!! BREAKFAST!!!”

Star Bolt looked at the clock and asked, “Uh… Sable, has your Uncle Thorn been by yet?”

Sable replied, “Nope… he’s late… again.”

The filly trotted up to her father, “Um… daddy?”

“Yes? What is it Pearl?

“Um… why does… Uncle Thorn come by every morning?”

Star Bolt smiled as he replied, “Well princess, Uncle Thorn is training to become a very important dragon someday and to do that he has to check with me about the weather every day so that he can let the elder know. Why? Are you still afraid of Uncle Thorn?”

The little filly lowered her head and replied, “Um… no… I just don’t know why he needs to come and see you every morning that’s all.”

Gem approached Pearl, “Its ok Pearl, we all get scared of something from time to time. There is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Sable commented form across the room, “Yea we all get scared… except for me and dad. We ain’t afraid of anything. Right dad?”

Before Star Bolt could reply, Gem glared at him, telling him to watch what he says. Star Bolt stayed silent for a few seconds then there came a knock on the front door. Star Bolt spoke in relief, “Hey… somepony is at the door… I better go get that…”

Star Bolt trotted as fast as he could to the front door, when he opened it all he could see was a dragon eye, which took up most of the doorway, “Oh… morning Thorn, you’re late you know. The dragon council won’t be too happy abou…”

“Star… we’ve got a problem.”

The tone of Thorns voice worried Star Bolt a bit, “Problem? What kind of problem?”

Thorn replied, “The kind of problem that might result in the council asking to see you, that kind of problem!”

Now Star Bolt felt worried, though the dragon elder would occasionally stop by to check up on his family, the council never asked to see Star Bolt unless it was an absolute emergency.

Star Bolt spoke with a serious tone, “What’s going on Thorn?”

Thorn backed away from the door, “Come with me, I need to show you something.”

Star Bolt called back to Gem as he left through the door, “Gem, I'll be back I need to check with something.”

Without waiting for a reply, Star Bolt closed the door behind him and started stretching his wings, “What exactly is going on Thorn? It’s not like you to worry like this.”

Thorn replied as he flew into the sky, “Just follow me.”

When Star Bolt tried to jump into the sky something… or somepony caught his eye. Star Bolt looked at the tree line near his house where he thought he saw a pegasus standing there watching him. As he looked in that direction, Thorn called out to him, “Star? Are you coming? We don’t have time to mess around.”

Star Bolt replied, “Did you see… Never mind I'm coming.”

When Star Bolt flew into the sky a nearby spectator, stepped out from behind a tree in the direction that Star Bolt was looking, “That’s our stallion, I better report this.”

The pegasus trotted deeper into the woods then flew into the sky, keeping low to avoid attention.

Further up in the sky, Star Bolt asked Thorn, “Can you tell me what’s this is about now? Why are you so worried?”

Thorn turned and looked back at Star Bolt as they flew, “Remember the Nightmare Legion?”

“Nightmare Moons army? Yea what about them?”

“They’re back in Equestria.”

“What? I thought they were chased out into the Mild West about five years ago?”

“They were, but a few of our dragons spotted them yesterday, in fact they over ran Manehatten just last night.”

Star Bolt was amazed, “Manehatten fell to the Nightmare Legion? How could they have gotten that far inland, without any word around Cloudsdale?”

Thorn continued, “It gets worse the dragon that spotted them found out their movements. According to a few scout pegasi who we captured earlier today, they are on their way here to start searching for a pony who quote, holds the key to winning this war.”

“You mean the Lightning Orb… right?”

“Bingo, they want to find you so that means that we all are in danger, they should be here within the next couple of days.”

Star Bolt shook his head, “This isn’t good we need to think of something to avoid this, has the council made a decision yet?”

“The council has decided to hold their ground and let you make the decision yourself.”

“They should know I will not get involved in this war.”

As the two landed on a high cliff on the side of the mountain Thorn replied, “That’s exactly what the elder said, and I agree with it, but you might want to consider your options because something tells me that weather you like it or not. You will be involved in this war… we both will, because I got even better news.”

Star Bolt looked at him with concern, “Really, now what?”

Thorn pointed into the distance and replied, “See for yourself.”

Star Bolt looked in to the direction that Thorn was pointing and what he saw only increased his worry.

From the horizon to only about a mile from the edge of the forest was a long convoy of Celestial Crusaders. From this distance, Star Bolt could easily make out the more important units, from catapult teams to large pegasi formations leading to archer team’s swords ponies and pike ponies. Star Bolt asked, “Any idea how many there are?”

“Our assault dragons counted more than a thousand.”

Star Bolt looked back at Thorn, “Assault dragons? You mean the council actually called them in for this?”

“The council is taking every possible measure to insure that this doesn’t turn into a battle. The elder doesn’t want any bloodshed on this mountain.”

Star Bolt looked back at the convoy and replied, “With a thousand troops here and the Nightmare Legion on its way, I don’t see how it can be avoided. Do we know who is in command of these soldiers?”

Thorn replied, “Commander Mist is leading this army.”

“Mist?... Princess Celestia sent her main army here, and left a secondary back in Canterlot? They must be here for something important. They must be here… for me.”

Thorn was confused, “I just don’t get it. How did both the Celestial Crusaders and the Nightmare Legion know about your ability?”

“The first time I used the Lightning Orb, was in the Everfree forest while I was alone, the second time, I was at an orphanage with at least twenty foals watching to include a bully who felt the full force of it. For all we know any one of those ponies could be fighting in either one of those armies, if not both. We can only assume that this won’t be a friendly visit from either side.”

Thorn looked at Star Bolt, “What do you intend to do Star? The elder’s rule is no groups of soldiers larger than twenty ponies are allowed on Dragon Mountain, so in time, it will be your duty to remind them, since it is you who speaks in our name.”

Star Bolt replied, “I may speak for the dragons, but I'm also a weather pegasus, I'll tend to my job and wait till they are a little closer then I'll confront them. By the way the weather should be clear skies today so I need to get to work and clear these clouds.”

With that said, Star Bolt jumped off the cliff and flew towards a cloud formation nearby.

On a hill a few miles away, a Unicorn stood watching as his army makes its way closer to Dragon Mountain, “ALL SOLDIERS! BREAK FORMATION AND BEGIN SETTING UP CAMP, WE CANT BREAK THE TREATY OF THE DRAGONS BY GOING FURTHER!”

While the Unicorn watched his army set up camp, The pegasus who was watching Star Bolt earlier, flew up behind the unicorn and spoke, “Commander Mist, I have word from up ahead.”

The unicorn replied, “Colonel Storm, I almost forgot I sent you ahead, was the information reliable?”

“Yes sir, a lone cabin in the forest, four residences… two foals, a stallion, and his wife. I overheard him and a dragon talking, he goes by the name Star Bolt.”

Commander Mist replied, “Good work colonel, continue gathering information on him and if ya can, try to approach him casually. I don’t want to seem desperate. Also try to find out his opinion on this war, if he refuses to join us, I don’t want him to turn around and join the Nightmare Legion, it could be bad for us.”

Colonel Storm replied as her started to fly away “Yes sir.”

As Commander Mist watched Storm fly away, he thought to himself, “Hmm… Star Bolt, I can only hope he makes the right choices, for his family’s sake.”

Back in the skies, Star Bolt was busy pushing clouds to an area so the pegasus in the next region could use them for the rain they were supposed to have. While he worked, Colonel Storm flew up behind him, “Excuse me sir? I was wondering, Can I ask you a few questions?”

Star Bolt looked back at the soldier, putting most of his focus on both the armor he wore, and the long morning star he carried. Star Bolt gave him an uninterested look, “What do you want soldier?”

Colonel Storm felt little threatened by Star Bolt’s tone but he just ignored it and continued, “I'm looking for a stallion by the name of Star Bolt… do you know him?”

Star Bolt was skeptic, “And what would you say if I did? What do you want with Star Bolt?”

“My name is Colonel Iron Storm; I'm the officer in command of The Celestial Crusaders’ Pegasi Assault Division. We want to talk to Mr. Bolt to see if he had any interest in joining the Cel…”

“No, I’ve got better things to do than to play soldier with the likes of you.”

Star Bolt flew higher in the air to gather some clouds at high altitude, but Storm kept on his tail, “Please consider your options Mr. Bolt, the Nightmare Legion is back in Equestria and we need your help to…”

Star Bolt stopped immediately and turned around to face Colonel Storm who almost crashed into him, “Get this straight Colonel, I am NOT a soldier. I am many things, a father, a husband, the voice of the dragons, and a weather pegasus, but a soldier is not one of them. Besides it isn’t me you need, is it? You need something else. You have plenty of soldiers, each one with a lot more training and experience than I, so what is it you really need? What is it that makes me so special?”

Colonel Storm replied, “You know what I'm going to say… don’t you? Therefore, I'll just come out and say it. We need the pegasus who can use the Lightning Orb. We nee…”

“Not interested…”

Star Bolt turned and started flying through the clouds in a serpentine motion, but Colonel Storm continued following close behind, “You’re a skilled flyer, why don’t you reconsider?”

Finally, Star Bolt though up an idea, so he chose a particular cloud then landed on it and turned to his guest, “FINE, you got one minute to impress me, otherwise I'm gone. Choose your words wisely… colonel.”

Colonel Storm replied, “I just want you to think for a second, The Nightmare Legion is back in Equestria, they are on their way here to Dragon Mountain. If I were Commander Snow, I would be on my way here for you and that ability of yours. We have known about you for a long time, about 3 years now. The only reason we didn’t confront you sooner is because Princess Celestia told us that you have no intention of getting involved in this war. Therefore, we only kept out attention on possible threats. Now, with the Nightmare Legion on its way here, you, your family, and the dragons are at risk. If you join the Celestial Crusaders I can guarantee a safe place for your family, while guaranteeing a position as Captain of the Ground assault forces so do you accept?”

Star Bolt smiled, “That’s a very generous offer, but wasn’t it Commander Mist who lead Equestria to failure in the Griffon Republic?”

“Why are you bringing up the Griffon Civil War?”

“Fifty ponies fought for Commander Mist and three returned, leaving the war in a complete loss for the griffon king. The following years the Kingdom fell, the king himself was executed, and the Griffon Kingdoms were renamed The Griffon Republic. So what would come of me if I were to join you? My wife widowed, my foals grow up without a father, and this war in a complete loss, leaving the moon to forever hold the sky alone.”

Colonel Storm desperately tried to convince Star Bolt, “Listen to me. That was a different war. Now with your help, not only would we win this war, but you will be free to return to your family once it ends. Don’t base our strength on one w…”

“TIME’S UP COLONEL!!! Now it’s your turn to listen to me, I will not fight for the Crusaders. I won’t even consider the Nightmare Legion. My wife and my foals are everything to me. Do you have any foals Colonel?”

Colonel Storm lowered his head, “Yes… I do, I have a daughter waiting back in Fil…”

Star Bolt continued, “And what do you think would happen to her, if she got a letter from Princess Celestia, saying that her father won’t be coming home. Then what?”

Colonel Storm sighed but didn’t reply, Star Bolt continued, “I will give everything I have, to see that my wife is happy, and my foals grow up safely. If I must fight, then I'll fight to protect them only. I won’t fight to change anything else in this world. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you need to see to your soldiers.”

Star Bolt stomped on the cloud they were standing on. A small spark of lightning jumped up from the cloud and shocked Colonel Storm’s hoof, making him drop his morning star. As the morning star went through the cloud and out the bottom, Star Bolt looked over the edge of the cloud and smiled sinisterly, “Better go get that, I wouldn’t want any harm to come to your troops.”

Colonel Storm looked over the edge of the cloud and realized what Star Bolt meant. Looking down he noticed that they were directly above where Commander Mist decided to set up camp. So his morning star could do some damage if it were to land on somepony. Thinking fast Colonel Storm dove from the cloud and charged downward as fast as he could to catch the morning star. Luckily, he caught it before it landed on a tent, but by the time he got back to the cloud Star Bolt was standing on, he was gone. Colonel Storm sighed and flew down and landed next to Commander Mist who was overseeing his troops as they set up camp.

Commander Mist turned to Colonel Storm and sarcastically spoke, “So… how did it go?”

Storm sighed, “You saw that… didn’t you?”

Mist laughed, “Every bit, it would seem that he has no interest in joining the Crusaders, but what about the Legion?”

Colonel Storm replied, “Relax commander, he won’t be joining the Nightmare Legion either, he has a lot of hatred for this war, so we don’t have to worry about him getting involved… however…”

Commander Mist finished his sentence, “However the Nightmare Legions won’t take no as well as we can, so he’ll be putting himself at risk by staying out of it.”

Storm nodded his head in agreement, “So what are your orders commander?”

Mist sighed, “We have no choice but to leave him be for now, if we continue harassing him then it could spark bad relations with the dragons. And we have enough problems dealing with the Nightmare Legion we don’t need to be fighting the equestrian dragon clan as well.”

Storm asked, “Commander? That information we received on Star Bolts location, do you know who sent it?”

Commander Mist replied, “I haven’t the slightest clue, it was an anonymous tip, so there was no name or anything to link it to anypony in particular. Regardless that could easily mean that somepony has been watching him longer than we have, and they still could be. Start creating guard shifts and begin patrols, we will be here a while so we better establish a perimeter, so long as we stay outside the forest surrounding the mountain than we are upholding the dragon’s treaty.”

Back at Star Bolt’s cabin, Star Bolt was just returning from his work, he saw both foals playing in the yard with Gem watching from the door. Almost immediately, Sable ran up to his father, “Daddy! Daddy! Guess what? Today, I ran like, twice as fast as I ran yesterday. Soon I'll be able to run faster than you.”

Seeing the exited colt made Star Bolt forget about his worries for a few seconds, he smiled as he replied, “Well that means you may discover your cutie mark soon.”

The cocky colt replied, “Yep I won’t be a blank flank like Pearl or mommy.”

Gem over heard her son and replied, “That’s not nice to say Sable, mommy already tried to get her cutie mark a number of times, so it’s not nice to make fun of those who don’t have theirs yet!”

Star Bolt nodded his head and replied to his son, “She is right Sab; it’s not nice to make fun of them. Besides your mommy’s flank looks good with or without a cutie mark.”

Gem’s face turned red, “DON’T TELL HIM THAT!!!”

Star Bolt laughed as he replied, “Am I lying Gem?”

She replied, “I don’t care if you are or not, you shouldn’t be telling him that sort of thing!”

Failing to understand the joke, Sable replied, “Will you teach me to run even faster soon?”

Star Bolt smiled as he replied, “If you keep practicing, and be sure to help your mother while I'm at work then I promise I'll teach you to run even faster than me.”

Sable smiled, “Ok then, I'll get on that right away.”

As Sable ran off both Gem and Pearl trotted up to Star Bolt, Gem looked at Pearl and asked, “Sweetie do you want to show daddy what we did today?”

Pearl held out a flowerpot full of planting soil, “Um daddy? This is for you. Me and mommy planted it today.”

Star Bolt took the flowerpot and smiled, “Thank you Pearl, what is it going to be?”

Pearl Smile, “Someday… it will be a beautiful rose bush.”

Star Bolt smiled at her innocents, and handed it back to her, “Than can I trust you to take care of it until it gets big enough to plant? I'm afraid I'm no good at taking care of any other kinds of flowers.”

Pearl asked, “Other kinds? What other kinds of flowers?”

Star Bolt patted her on the head, “You and your mother of course. So can I count on you to take care of it till then?”

Pearl smile, “Ok I'll take good care of it.”

Pearl trotted off with the flowerpot while Gem smiled and spoke, “That was a little cheesy, don’t you think?”

Star Bolt replied, “Well she is still too young to know that. So how was your day so far?”

“The usual day to day bit, but I am concerned, why did you leave this morning in a hurry?”

Star Bolt looked at her with a serious expression and replied, “Let’s go inside… I have to tell you something, and I don’t want the foals to worry.”

Star Bolt and Gem both went inside leaving both foals outside playing.

When the door was shut Gem asked, “Star, what is it? If you don’t want the foals too know about it, then it must involve the Lightning Orb.”

Star Bolt sighed then replied, “The Celestial Crusaders are here.”

“What?”

“Just on the other side of the forest, a force of more than one thousand troops.”

Gem didn’t know how to feel about this situation, “Why are they here?”

Star Bolt lowered his head, “They came to try and recruit me. They know about the Lightning Orb and they wanted me to join them.”

Gem put her hoof on his shoulder and replied, “Did you talk to them or something? How do you know this?”

One approached me today, he tried to convince me that it was a good idea, but I made it abundantly clear that I didn’t want to have anything to do with their war. But that’s not what worries me.”

“What? Then what’s worrying you?”

Star Bolt looked her in the eye and replied, “The Nightmare Legion is on the way here for the same reason. They want to recruit me too. They aren’t here yet but when they get here then there is a good chance this war will hold its next battle here on dragon mountain.”

“What should we do?”

Star Bolt replied as seriously as possible, “Take the foals and go to Cloudsdale, maybe I can get in contact with Mr. Myer to find a place for you three to stay.”

“You three? You’re not coming with us?”

Star Bolt shook his head, “I have to stay here and uphold my agreement with the dragons. It’s my duty t…”

Gem interrupted Star Bolt with anger in her voice, “NO!”

“What?”

Gem started to tear up as she replied, “You heard me Star… no… I'm not going anywhere.”

“Gem please, this isn’t the time t…”

With tears rolling down her face, Gem reached out and hugged Star Bolt as tightly as she could, “This is my home, you’re telling me to leave my home and leave you behind. The last time I left my home and left somepony behind… they died… do you hear me Star… they died, telling me to run to safety… my parents… the only family I had… the ponies whose death nearly sent me into darkness. I… I can’t experience that again. I... please don’t put me through that Star… please.”

Star Bolt hugged her back, “Ok Gem, I won’t send you away but you must promise me something first, if things seem to get bad around here, then you must leave. If something were to happen to you or the foals. I would be the one to fade into darkness, and with my gift, it could lead to something bad. So please promise me.”

Gem backed up and kissed Star Bolt, then she replied, “I promise, I won’t allow anything bad to happen to us.”

Before Star Bolt could reply, the front door flew open and Pearl came sprinting into the room, “MOMMY!! DADDY!!! HELP THERE IS A DRAGON OUT THERE!!!”

Pearl ran up and hid behind Gem. As she shivered in fear, Gem patted her on the back, “It’s ok Pearl, remember the dragons are our friends.”

Pearl replied, “Are… are you sure?... They’re still scary…”

Star Bolt, and Gem made their way to the door with Pearl clinging to them like glue. As Star Bolt trotted out into the yard he spoke to the dragon, “Elder its nice of you to come and visit us, my guess is that you are here regarding what Thorn showed me this morning?”

The dragon elder wasted no time at all, “Star Bolt, you’re coming with me.”

Star Bolt felt worried about the tone the elder used, “Where are we going?”

“We must speak with the council about a pressing matter that has been bothering me since this morning.”

“What matter would that be Elder?”

“War.”

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