To Love a Hybrid: How It Started

The rays of the sun, now high up in the sky on this Summer afternoon, half pierced through the thick sheets of fabric that covered one of the windows on the upper floor of the two-story house, thus creating natural lighting that spread everywhere in the room behind the curtains, including on the snoozing hybrid on the bed. Not only did the rays shed light, but they also brought a refreshing heat that the lamia’s body kindly welcomed.

When Emerald Gleam finally woke up from her revigorating nap, she lazily pulled away the blanket and stretched herself, including the muscles in her scaly limb, which, like the rest of her body, lacked their usual daily exercise. They cracked and popped a few too many times that she would have liked, causing her to wince every time they did, but if she wanted to fully recover, she at least had to work them out somehow, right?

She didn’t remember having slept that well before, but she sure as hay didn’t complain. Although she had gotten used to it, it didn’t beat sleeping on a soft, springy mattress. After all, sleeping on a hard, rocky surface wasn’t what one would call total comfort.

Once she was done stretching, she ran her hooves through the dark hair of her mane in an attempt to untangle the knots and straighten them as best as one could manage without a comb and brush, more or less succeeding in her manual task. Only when she was done that her nostrils caught up on a quite unpleasant scent, and with horror, realized it came from her.

Looking down at herself, she noticed that there were beads of sweat covering her pony half. Even though she still felt weak, she didn’t feel ill, so she concluded that it was because of the intense heat outside added to the warmth the blanket had provided her as she rested.

Definitely needing to wash herself, she disembarked from the bed and began making her way out of the room to ask her host where the washroom was. She knew that zebras, if the only one she had known was any indication, filled what they called bathtubs with water to wash themselves, but surely ponies did the same thing.

As she began her way down the stairs, she looked over the ramp for any signs on Thunderbolt, but didn’t find him in her immediate sight. As she neared the bottom, she heard noise somewhere to her left, and she raised her head up with perked ears. Unfortunately, she roughly hit the ceiling which had somehow become lower with a thud, wincing and moaning loudly as she bent down and began rubbing the spot on her head that would certainly be home to a nice bump in a few minutes.

“Emerald Gleam? Are you alright? I thought I heard…” the beige unicorn started to say as he emerged from around a corner, but cut himself when he saw the lamia nearly on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, her moans of pain resonating in his ears.

Rushing to her side, he bent down next to her to meet her gaze.

“Hurtsss…” the hybrid lamented.

“What happened?” he queried, helping her stand up to her normal height.

“Hit my head on the ceiling. Ow…” Rubbing her hoof against her skull did nothing to soothe the pain. In fact, the burning sensation had only increased. She really didn’t miss her shot…

“Hold on,” Thunder said as he headed for the kitchen real quick, returning a moment later with an ice pack he had fetched from the freezer in his magic.

“Put it where it hurts and hold it there,” he ordered, and she complied without a word.

Taking it from his telekinesis, she applied it on the sore area atop her head. She tensed as she was overcome by a big chill as her skin under her hair came in contact with the frozen object, but relaxed when the pain began to fade little by little as the numbing cold did its job.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“Should I have known you’d come down by yourself, I would have warned you about the ceiling getting low at the bottom of the stairs.”

“It’ss okay,” she assured, though her tone wasn’t very convincing.

“If it is of any comfort, I got fooled like this many times when I first moved here. Once I hit my horn against the ceiling so hard I thought I broke it.”

“I’ll be fine. It’ss jussst going to be sssore for a while. Ugh…”

“The ice will help you feel better, so you shouldn’t feel any pain soon. Just don’t keep it more than fifteen minutes on your head, though,” Thunderbolt warned, and Emerald nodded in understanding.

“So, aside from that,” he said as he pointed at her head with a hoof, “how are you feeling? I just finished cleaning the kitchen and thought on making a salad for supper.”

“That’ss nice,” she agreed, “but firssst I wass wondering where your washroom wass. I kinda need to take a bath.” For some unknown reason, a small blush crept on her face as she said that last part, but if the stallion noticed, he didn’t say anything about it.

“It’s the door right in front of my room. Do you want me to show you how the tub works?”

“I think I’ll be fine, thanksss,” she told him, then hoofed him over the ice pack, which he grabbed in his magic. “Thanksss again for this.”

“You’re welcome.” He headed back in the kitchen to store the pack back in the freezer as the lamia made her way up the stairs.

“If you need any help, just tell me,” he called back. “There’s supposed to be a towel hanging behind the bathroom door. You can use it to dry yourself when you’re done.”

“Thank you!” she yelled back as she arrived in front of her destination, and went inside, making sure her whole tail had followed her in before closing and locking the door.

When she turned back to look around the room, she found it to be very well maintained. The mirror above the sink was spotless, and she could see her reflection on the lid of the porcelain toilet bowl. The tiled floor was smooth and a bit cold under the scales of her snake tail, but it was a good kind of cold. There also was the distinct smell of air freshener in the air.

When she approached the average-sized bathtub, she noticed a small shelf nailed to the wall above it on which four bottled lined up, two of them being shampoo and the other two being shower gel when she inspected them with a closer look. There was a soap bar that smelled like lilies next to them, and the hybrid couldn’t help but relish in the scent it emitted as she took a good sniff of it.

Snapping out of her small trance, she returned to the task at hoof. She didn’t have trouble figuring out how the tub’s faucet functioned. The left lever labeled with a H on it was for hot water, while the right one with a C was for cold, so she turned them both on, rotating the left one a bit more than the other to have relatively warm water.

However, there also seemed to be some kind of switch between both levers. Curious, she grasped it in her hoof and tried to press it down, but it didn’t even budge. She then attempted to pull it up, but when she did, the water flowing from the faucet stopped, and she was immediately assaulted by water from the shower head above, startling her. She reflexively pushed it back to its original position and held her hood there as if it would spring back up on its own, stopping the downpour and allowing the water to fall from the faucet again.

Her face and mane soaking wet not, she blew strands of hair off of her face and finished gauging the water’s temperature, blocking the draining pipe with the lid she took from the shelf when she was satisfied. When the water reached about one foot high, she stopped the flow.

She began by first lowering her pony half in the water, with about a foot of her tail following with it. With the step of wetting her mane already done because of her foolishness, she grabbed one of the shampoo bottles and poured some in a hoof and put it back on the shelf, then rubbed the liquid between her hooves until it mostly became foamy, to finally apply it everywhere in her black, silky mane, making sure not to miss a single spot.

When she wanted to rinse the shampoo off, she remarked that she didn’t have a washing cloth, but she quickly spotted them in a small basket next to the sink near the entrance to the bathroom. Luckily for her, she didn’t have to step out of the tub, as she simply fetched one with the tip of her snake tail. Now fully equipped, she proceeded with the next steps of washing herself.

When her mane was fresh clean and her fur smelled like lilies, she snatced with her tail the towel from the hook on the door and raised herself off of the tub and dried herself up, also getting rid of the water that had dropped on the floor when she activated the shower head. When she was done, she then plunged her scaly limb in the tub and began washing it, running the cloth everywhere, especially the underside.

Now feeling perfectly clean for the first time in ages, she unblocked the draining pipe and put the lid back on the shelf. She hung the towel back on its hook and twisted the washing cloth to free it of most of the water it had absorbed, then suspended it on the pole above the bathtub. Not wanting to rummage in the drawers beneath the sink without Thunderbolt’s permission by mere politeness, she manually brushed her mane with her hooves. It didn’t get as good results as it would have with a comb, but with her mane flowing down to her waist and her toupet placed to her liking, she stepped out of the room and returned downstairs, remembering the low ceiling this time. The smell of fresh vegetables soon overcame her senses. There was also the scent of something foreign to her, but she figured she’d find out in the kitchen. And her stomach seemed to agree with her too…

“Hey! Looks like you’re feeling better now,” the unicorn pointed out as he filled a bowl full of green lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots and mixed them all together with two large spoons held in his yellow aura. “Didn’t have any trouble with the faucet, I presume?”

“Well, not really,” Emerald told him. “Though I now know not to pull on that little ssswitch...”

That caused the stallion to snicker against his own will, receiving a indignant and hurt stare from the poor hybrid.

“Sorry,” he apologized, “but that just reminds me of when White Wing first used my shower. His was broken, so I let him borrow mine.”

The stallion couldn’t stop a chuckle to escape his throat as he recalled more of his anecdote.

“Poor guy insisted that he’d figure out how my tub’s faucet worked,” he continued, levitating the bowl of delicious-looking salad on the table. “Trust me, he did find out… with freezing cold water.” Now, he couldn’t stop snickering as he neared the end of his tale. “Came back down here, drenched in cold water and blaming me because I didn’t warn him and blah blah blah. Never wanted to borrow my shower again. Don’t know why.”

A smile crept on the lamia’s lips as she pictured a stallion getting caught like she had been and rushing down all wet to yell at Thunderbolt. At least she had set the temperature to something tolerable before pulling the switch.

“Are you hungry?” he asked his guest.

“Yeah. A lot, actually.”

“Thought so, so I made a bit more than two servings,” he told her as he served their meal in two separate bowls, handing one of them for the lamia to take, along with a fork. “Do you want anything to drink? I got some apple and orange juice. Or there’s also some milk if you prefer,” he listed as he deposited his own portion on the table.

“I’ll have sssome apple juice if you don’t mind.”

“No problem,” he said as he grabbed a glass from the cupboard and fetched the requested beverage from the fridge. He hoofed the filled glass to the hybrid, who eagerly accepted it, and gulped it down as he put the juice carton on the table in case she’d want more.

“Thank you, Thunderbolt,” she said after swallowing her mouthful and releasing a satisfied sigh.

“My pleasure.” He then took a seat at the table as Emerald began eating, but instead of following her suit, he picked the ranch dressing that rested on the table and spread some over his salad, piquing the hybrid’s curiosity.

“What’ss that?” she queried, pointing a hoof at the bottle he was holding in his magic.

“Some salad dressing. Adds some more taste to it. Wanna try some?”

“Uh…” she hesitated. “I don’t know…”

“Here.” he picked a bite covered in the dressing with his fork and levitated it over to her, and she eyed it hesitantly. “Don’t worry, I’m not disdainful,” he asserted.

“A-alright.” If he doesn’t mind, then there’s no problem at all, right? she thought to herself. But why is a part of me feels uncomfortable? Stocking the last part of her internal monologue in the back of her mind for now, she grabbed the stallion’s utensil and stuffed the food it held in her mouth, hoofing it back to him as she slowly munched the vegetables, taking her time in savoring them, especially the extra sauce that had been added to them.

“It’ss good!” she acknowledged after gulping down her mouthful.

“Glad to hear that,” Thunder smiled. “Though I prefer that particular dressing for this kind of salad, there are other kinds I could get from the market if you’d like to try something else in the future.”

“You don’t have to, really,” the lamia said sheepishly as she continued eating her meal.

“Well, the offer’s there if you want to.”

“You don’t have to,” she repeated after another bite, meeting his gaze with hers. “You’ve already done ssso much more than I desserve, and-”

“Whoa whoa! Hold on!” he cut her abruptly and a bit more aggressively than he had wanted to, causing Emerald Gleam to flinch back with folded ears at his stern tone and gaze.

“Sorry,” he apologized as he softened his composure. “But what is it that you think you don’t deserve?” he asked, forgetting his dinner for the moment.

“I…” she dropped her fork in her bowl and eyed it with a downcast look. She actually didn’t know what she deserved, but certainly not all of this. This stallion was being too kind towards her, and she didn’t think she could repay him that kindness, least of all being worthy of it.

She was brought out of her internal conflict when she felt pressure on her shoulder, and when she cast a glance to her left, she was surprised to see Thunderbolt standing beside her, his hoof laying on her shoulder and a comforting smile on his face.

“Look, I don’t know what it is you think you deserve,” he told her, “but I know what you don’t. Wandering aimlessly, with no place to call home, in a barren territory with little to no food, and left to rot and die on your lonesome. Sorry if that sounded harsh,” he added as her crestfallen look only worsened, “but that’s how I see it, and you, and nopony for that matter, should deserve such a cruel fate.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through or the hardships you’ve faced, and it is not my place to pry on it. Although I can see how you look like from anypony’s point of view, I am not anypony.

“They haven’t seen you lying down pathetically in that small cave. They haven’t heard your ragged breaths as you had trouble breathing in your weakened state. They haven’t felt the coldness of your body as life slowly ebbed away from you. But I did, and because it is both part of a guard’s duty and because it is the right thing to do to help those who need it, I had to help you out.

“I don’t know how many ponies you’ve seen, nor what they thought of you, but what I saw when I first saw you was a mare like any other getting closer to the gates of death.

“Like I said, I don’t know what you deserve, but it certainly wasn’t what would have happened if I had left you alone in that cave,” Thunder concluded, his hoof never having left its spot on the lamia’s shoulder and his sapphire eyes their stare into her emeralds.

Emerald was speechless as she stared at him, her savior, her brain analyzing what he just told her. All her life she hid and stayed away from everypony for fear of what they’d do to someone like her if she were to be spotted. Now, the stallion in front of her not only saved her life, a life she thought didn’t have any hopes or meaning at all, but he didn’t see her as a beast like anyone else would.

To him, she was anyone else, her nature being secondary to him.

I’m like anyone else? Can it really be? she asked herself as she momentarily tore her gaze away from his, and when she locked it back with his, he still had that comforting smile of his. But what really hit her was the sincere look in his eyes, a look that didn’t speak hatred and fear, instead showing care, belief and honesty.

Losing control of all her pent up emotions in her heart, she threw her hooves around him as if her life depended on it and cried herself out into the fur of his chest. She soon felt his own hooves wrap themselves around her torso and his head rest atop hers, and she tightened her grip around him as she emptied herself of all the pain, sorrow and loneliness she had accumulated all these years. She soon found herself being rocked left and right rhythmically, and she clung to the unicorn for dear life, not wanting to let go, at least not now, and let the tears flow of their own accord, unable to hold them back anymore even if she wanted to.

There had only been one pony, or should she say zebra, who had shown her kindness a long time ago. She learned to read, write, count and talk the modern language under her wing. The bicolore shaman had raised her since she was no older than a few months, or so she had told her, and over the years she had begun putting her trust in her.

But one morning, when Emerald had woken up, she had been alone. The zebra shaman and all her belongings had all vanished without a trace, and so did the trust, love and all other feelings she had felt towards her, and had to survive in a desolated world on her own,  feeling betrayed, outcast and broken, stealing whatever food she could from travelers and small camps whenever she’d find any.

When death had looked like such an easier path, for some reason she never could place, she kept fighting, every day feeling her demise approaching as her attempts at survival became more and more feeble, and every day she cursed the zebra for leaving her.

And now here she was, leaking tears in the chest of a stallion who not only pulled her away from the gates of death, but also was giving her a second chance in a world she always felt lonely and hopeless in. There was still the fear that he’d just disappear like that shaman and she’d have to live for herself once more, but whenever she looked into his sapphire blue eyes, even though she had just met him, there was a solace in them stronger than she had ever felt in the zebra’s, and because of this, that fear now seemed meaningless.

After what felt like hours, her crying had now become little sobs and all her tears had been shed. The unicorn gently pulled her away, and she raised her head to meet his gaze, more specifically his sapphire orbs, feeling all her worries wash away. He offered her another smile, and managed a small one in return. He wiped her cheeks of the moisture that had formed on them and snatched a handkerchief from somewhere with his magic, which she accepted, throwing it in the trash after emptying her nose.

“Better?” he asked her, a hoof still on her shoulder.

She nodded her head, sniffing once. Silence settled between them, but none of them wanted to break it. Instead, Thunder grabbed the mare’s unfinished salad bowl and presented it to her, and she took it in her hooves with a mute thank you. Picking his own bowl, they both finished their meal in utter silence.

Once done, the stallion put the dressing back in the fridge and headed for the sink to wash all the dishes. He was a bit surprised when the lamia joined him to dry the utensils.

“It’ss the leassst I can do,” she said quietly.

Smiling and wording a silent thanks, they worked together to clean what they had used for supper, the unicorn showing Emerald where everything was meant to be as they put the dishes away.

Right as they finished, Emerald let out a loud yawn, earning herself a light chuckle from the stallion.

“Tired already?” he teased.

“Yeah, sssorry. It jussst hass been… um…”

“Eventful?” he offered.

“Yeah. I kind of want to go sssleep, if that’ss alright?”

“You do know you don’t have to ask for permission to head to bed? I’m not your captor, if I recall,” he joked in an attempt to lift the mood up, with which he more or less succeeded.

“Right…”

“You remember where my room is, don’t you?”

She looked at him with wide eyes. “You’re going to sssleep on the couch again?”

“I don’t mind,” he shrugged. “Besides, you’re the guest, so it’s just normal that you take the bed.”

“Maybe ssso, but…” she began to argue, only to be interrupted swiftly.

“And you need all the comfort you can get if you wanna have a good rest.”

“I know, but what about your comfort?” she retorted. “Besssidess, I don’t want to feel like I’m impossing on you. Pleasse?”

He looked at her for a few seconds before replying. “Are you sure you want to sleep on the couch?”

“I insssissst. I won’t be able to repay your kindnessss, and I know you sssaid it doessn’t matter, but at leassst allow me to be consssiderate.”

Thunderbolt sighed, giving in to her demand. “Fine, you can take the couch.” He began making his way up the stairs, turning back to look at her halfway up. “But tomorrow, you take the bed, alright?”

“Deal!” the lamia agreed. “Goodnight, Thunderbolt.”

“See you tomorrow, Emerald.” With that, he walked the rest of the way to his room, using the little filly’s room on the way first. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. There’s another restroom next to the patio door in the kitchen, just beside the fridge,” he called from upstairs before going in his bedroom, closing the door behind him and picking a book from one of the shelves on the wall to read. Once comfortably settled in his bed, he used his magic to cut off the electricity that supplied all the lights in the house and opened his book.

For her part, the grey-blue coated lamia headed for the living room’s couch. She coiled her tail up beside it and lay her pony half on it, resting her head on the pillow, if a small cushion placed against the armchair could be called as such. She grabbed the blanket that hung atop the sofa and draped it over herself. She jumped when the remaining lights closed by themselves, but calmed down when she assumed that it must have been Thunder’s doing.

Well, it’s not as comfy as his bed, but it’ll do. I don’t want him to think I’m taking advantage of his kindness. He’s done for me more than I could have ever asked. She flipped to the side, offering herself a view of the staircase that lead to his room, and a little smile crept on her features.

When I thought I had lost it all, I’m being given a chance to start over. She closed her eyes, allowing sleep to take her, but not before a final thought reached her conscious mind.

Perhaps my life is still worth living, after all.