To Love a Hybrid: How It Started

When the mare’s body forced her to rise from the couch after a long night, she groggily did so, taking the blanket off of her and sluggishly hanging it back on the sofa’s back. Even though she wanted to remain where she was, her system seemed to think she had had enough rest. Her mane must be a mess, but she didn’t care right now.

She made her way to the kitchen next door at a slow pace, her muzzle catching a faint, sweet smell in the air, though her half-asleep brain didn’t register it as she entered the room. Thunderbolt, who was already seated at the table and was preparing his lunch, looked up at her, an eyebrow raised, and he waited until she had sat down on the chair opposite of him before asking her if she had slept well.

“Body did, but my brain could have ussed sssome more,” she answered, letting her head drop on the table with a little thud.

“Even considering that you knocked out early last night and that it’s currently nearing noon?”

She said nothing, instead letting out a muffled, tired groan from her throat. The unicorn let her be, and sure enough, she slowly lifted her head, looking at him and the small setup on the table, her senses finally recognizing the scent of strawberries, which came from a small glass jar that Thunder was currently using, dipping a butter knife in it and spreading its contents on two slices of bread that lay in a plate before him.

“Ssstrawberry jam sssandwichess?” Emerald Gleam guessed, at which the stallion nodded.

“Sometimes I feel lazy, so I make something simple that does the job just fine instead of making something extravagant,” he explained, joining his slices together, and then looked at her. “I also went for some groceries while you were still asleep this morning, so if you want anything else to eat, be my guest.”

She shook her head. “That’ss fine. I’ll take the sssame thing as you.”

“Alright,” he said, but was stopped abruptly when he went to stand up.

“I can do it myssself,” the lamia insisted as she rose from her seat.

“Alright,” Thunderbolt nodded as he sat back down. “Plates are in the second cupboard to the left,” he added.

She grabbed the utensil on the bottom shelf from the mentioned cupboard and returned at the table. She borrowed the jar and the knife the stallion had been using, grabbed two slices of the spongy, fresh bread in front of her, and made her sandwich just like Thunder had earlier.

It didn’t beat last day’s homemade salad, but it was still good, and true to the unicorn’s word, very filling. Although, since she was pretty hungry, she prepared herself a second sandwich, one not being enough for her system that had lacked nutriments for a very long time.

Thunder went about storing back everything back to their rightful place as the lamia ate, and just as he was finished with that, a series of knocks - a rhythm that was all too familiar to him - resonated from the living room, and he headed to answer the door, but halted himself momentarily as he noticed the panic in Emerald’s eyes.

“There’s no need to be worried,” he told her with a smile.

“B-but whoever it iss will find out about me if I don’t hide!” she retorted, not understanding why Thunderbolt was smiling at her like that.

“True, but remember yesterday when I told you that my friend was with me when I brought you here?”

“How do you know it iss him?” Emerald asked skeptically.

“I’d recognize that knocking anywhere,” he answered simply.

She nodded in understanding and relaxed slightly but not completely, as her panicked look got replaced by a worried one, though the stallion didn’t see, having resumed his way to the door. The lamia knew that, according to Thunder, that his friend had promised him not to tell anypony about her, and she believed him. The reason she was worried was because she didn’t know what to expect from this new individual.

Her train of thoughts came to a halt when she heard the door open, soon followed by a foreign voice to her, and she looked anxiously at the empty space that made the kitchen’s entrance, waiting for them to come back.

“Hey there, Thunder!” the white pegasus cheered as he pulled his best friend into a quick, albeit tight, hug.

“You sure are picking a weird moment to visit. Didn’t you notice that they scheduled a downpour for this evening?” the unicorn said as he pulled away from his buddy’s death grip, pointing a hoof at the cloudy sky that covered the land in thin shadows.

“It’s not some measly rain that is going to kill me. Besides, it’ll give me a free shower,” White Wind joked. “But I wanted to see how you’ve been doing since... you know?” He waved his hoof airily for emphasis, the unicorn catching on the message.

“If you’re worried about my well being, don’t. If anything, you should be worried about her.” Then it just dawned on him that they were still in the doorway. “But what kind of friend am I to leave you standing there? Come in!” he said, stepping away to let White Wind enter the house, who closed the door behind him.

“Speaking of which, how is she? Got any troubles so far?” the pegasus queried.

“She’s getting better, but it’ll take more time before she’ll be back in relatively good health. As for your second question, things have been going relatively well so far.”

“Good to hear that, dude,” White Wind commented. “Have you found out what she is, anyway?” he asked soon after, curious.

“She says she’s from a species called lamias,” Thunder told him as he started leading him to the kitchen. “She didn’t go into details, but they are hybrids with the body of a pony and the tail of a snake.”

“I see.”

They entered the kitchen, and the pegasus’ eyes immediately locked on the mysterious lamia still sat at the table, who shied away from his gaze. He kept a neutral expression on his face as he stared at her, even as his friend went on with the presentations.

“White Wind, this is Emerald Gleam. Emerald, this is the bastard I grew up with, White Wind,” he said, motioning a hoof from the pegasus to the hybrid and back as he spoke, and the former let go of his neutral face at the last line.

“I’m no bastard!” he retorted in feigned anger.

“You’re my bastard,” the unicorn replied back.

“I’m no one’s bastard!”

“I believe your marefriend may want to disagree with that last claim.”

“Why, you…”

They stuck their tongue teasingly at each other as they ended their short verbal assault. Though this was normal behavior between them, it was a quite strange and confusing for the lamia, who had watched the exchange.

After sharing a small laugh, they returned their attention to the mare, only to be met with a blank look from her part. Thunderbolt approached her and waved a hoof in front of her face, bringing her back to the present.

“Sssorry,” she apologized sheepishly in her melodic voice.

“No worries,” the unicorn reassured. “We’ve received worse reactions than that before.”

“Iss thiss… Iss thiss sssomething that happenss regularly?” she dared to ask.

“Whenever we end up in the same room or next to each other,” White Wind responded. “We have a special relationship.”

“Depends on what you mean by special,” said the unicorn.

“What do you think I mean?” the pegasus asked his friend, a wily smirk stretching on his lips.

“Nope, we’re not going that low,” Thunder warned with a shake of his head.

“Party pooper,” White pouted, but readorned a more serious stance and a genuine smile as he addressed the hybrid.

“Anyway, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Emerald Gleam,” he declared with a small bow of his head. “It’s also nice to see you’re feeling better.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled. She didn’t know why she was she around him. Maybe it was because he was more muscly than the unicorn was, not to mention a bit taller than him too. She knew she had no need to fear him, but she was still a bit unnerved by his solidly-built physique.

“So,” Thunder started again, “want anything while you’re here, White? Some coffee maybe?”

“Nah, thank you, I’m all good already. Had a nice little brunch with Sandy shortly before leaving for your place.” He spotted the half-eaten strawberry jam sandwich that lay in the lamia’s plate. “Unlike somepony who can’t make anything more than simple stuff,” he added maliciously.

“Well, I’ll have you know that my ‘simple stuff’, as you call it, is just as effective as anything you can come up with,” the beige coated stallion defended.

“Yeah, but it’s just so plain and dull-looking.”

“Actually, it’ss amazing,” the lamia said bluntly, causing the two arguing colts to stare at her, and her face got as red as a tomato at the sudden attention. Quite frankly, she didn’t know where the urge to make that comment came from, but unbeknown to her, her comment had made the unicorn smile.

“Sorry dude, it’s two against one this time!” Thunder said triumphantly to his friend.

“Not fair!” the pegasus whined. “You’ve got backup and I don’t!”

“Just too bad,” Thunderbolt declared as he went to wash the dishes that lay in the sink.

“Enjoy your little victory, Sunbutt,” White Wind called devilishly as a new plan suddenly formed in his head, causing the unicorn to stop dead in his tracks.

“I thought we agreed to never speak of this again,” the unicorn growled, turning back swiftly on his hooves to glare daggers at his friend.

“Oops! Did I let that slip out?” asked the pegasus in feigned ignorance.

“Who’ss Sssunbutt?” Emerald eventually asked, her curiosity towards the stallions’ antics getting the best of her.

“Oh, man, I’m glad you asked!” White Wind chirped, which only intensified Thunder’s death stare.

“White Wind, don’t you dare…” the unicorn warned, but it came on deaf ears, as his friend’s attention was focused on the hybrid as he told her his most embarrassing anecdote.

“It just so happened that one day, dear Thundy here,” White stuck his tongue out at him, “wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, and BANG! Head first in Princess Celestia’s butt! Oh, you should’ve seen him become beet red afterwards! And since then, the nickname Sunbutt became accepted among the other boys in the barracks.”

The lamia turned her head to the now crimson faced unicorn, who was vainly trying to cover his whole face with his hooves. Although it appeared like it had been a funny scene, seeing how flustered in embarrassment he was, she couldn’t bring herself to laugh, unlike the white pegasus that was now lying on the floor and clutching at his sides as he replayed the moment in his head all over again.

“That’ss not… nice,” she commented, feeling it right to defend the pony who had saved her life.

The pegasus’ laughs died at that and Thunderbolt lowered his hooves to look at her, though the color didn’t fade from his visage.

“Oh please, Emerald, you can’t tell me that colliding with our ruler’s posterior isn’t funny,” White said. “It’s something that happens, like, once in a lifetime!”

“Maybe, but you could have been the one in that sssituation inssstead of him,” the lamia argued.

“Don’t fret about it,” the unicorn told her. “If he had been in my place, he,” he pointed a hoof at his friend, “would have got that nickname instead. Besides, being Sunbutt keeps the attention away from him,” he stated with a faint smirk.

“Ow, that hurts my ego…” White Wind falsely whined.

“Heh, just as it’s meant to be for you.”

“Um…” the hybrid mumbled, her brain unable to keep up with the silliness of the two stallions in the kitchen. “Excusse me…” She rose from her seat and headed out of the room and up the stairs, the two buddies watching her until she got out of view. A few seconds later, they heard the sound of a door closing, and they looked at each other with a bit of worry in their face.

“Think I fooled around too much?” White Wind asked.

“I believe we both went overboard. In fact, I think we may have traumatized her.”

“You think?”

“I don’t know, but I kinda feel bad now. She’s lived in exile for so long, so she’s not accustomed to pony society yet, nor will she be for a long while,” Thunderbolt reasoned.

“Nor is she accustomed to us,” White Wind said with a hint of playfulness in his tone, earning himself a serious stare from his friend. “Sorry.”

“It’s not to me you should apologize,” the unicorn pointed out. “Besides, I also owe her one.”

“Wanna give her mine for me?” White pleaded. “I’ve never been really good with these sorts of things.”

Thunder shut his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. “How does Sandy manage to handle you…?” He reopened his sapphire orbs to look at him. “Fine, I’ll pass the message.”

“Thanks,” White said with a small nod of his head in appreciation. “So, I guess you’ve got everything under control, so I’ll be on my way.”

“So, you were doubting me,” Thunderbolt accused.

“Not doubting you, just being worried about you,” the pegasus retorted, and they eyed each other before the unicorn sighed in defeat.

“Whatever. Just take care on your way back. And not a word to anypony, understood?”

“Hey! I promised, didn’t I? Since when have I broken one? Especially to my best pal?”

“Okay, I get it!” Thunder said as he accompanied his friend to the entrance of his home. “Say hi to Sandy for me, will ya?”

The pegasus made a salute motion. “Will do.” He then turned around and opened the door, and looked back briefly at the unicorn. “See you tomorrow at the palace!” With that, he took a powerful leap off the ground, and Thunder watched him as he headed back towards Equestria’s capital, closing the door ten seconds later and locking it afterwards.

He remained there unmoving, his hoof pressed on the door, his head slightly tilted downwards and his eyes shut. After a moment, he let out a heavy sigh and turned back, slowly making his way to the stairs and climbing them after staring for a long minute at his room’s door from below, where Emerald had apparently locked herself in.

Sweet Celestia, I do hope we didn’t traumatize her, otherwise I’m never gonna live it down, he told himself internally. Reaching his destination, he tapped the wooden door twice and called to her from outside.

“Emerald, are you there?”

There was no immediate response, though he did hear the sound of a creaking mattress coming from inside.

“Emerald Gleam?” he called to her again.

“Come in,” a soft, yet lethargic voice said from inside.

Even though he could have just entered his room freely, he didn’t want to bother her should she did not want to talk to anyone. Having received her approval, he made his way in and gently closed the door behind him before allowing his eyes to take in the scene before him.

The young, grey-blue coated lamia sat on one side of the bed. She was staring blankly at the curtained window, and the only sound discernible was the breathing of the two ponies. Taking a breath, Thunderbolt decided to break the awkward silence.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

She simply gave a small nod, though it wasn’t at all convincing.

“You sure?”

Another less than believable nod, so he chose to directly go to the point of the matter.

“Sorry for our behavior.”

“It’ss fine,” she replied almost automatically. Even though it was clear for the unicorn that she was attempting to hide it, his exchange with his friend had definitely troubled her more than she wanted to let on.

“Well, your behavior says otherwise,” he commented.

“I sssaid I am fine!” Emerald repeated, never tearing her gaze away from the window, though the stallion shook his head, unwilling to have any of this nonsense.

“You left your lunch unfinished on the table when I know you weren’t done with it and darted back here without saying a word as White Wind and I spoke, and you expect me to believe that you are fine?”

She remained silent at that, and Thunder allowed himself to sit next to her on the bed, minding her coiled tail that rested in front of her.

“Look, we’re sorry for having made you uncomfortable. Though I can assure you this is normal between him and I, we should have noticed that we were being too childish and immature, especially around somepony like you who hasn’t interacted with ponykind at all. It’s just that the two of us have known each other for as long as we can remember, so we became very close and in the end began to playfully mess with one another.

“So, if we said or did something that made you uncomfortable, which I’m sure we did, we’re really sorry,” he finished, eying the hybrid in a concerned manner.

There wasn’t an immediate reaction from her part, but after a while, she slowly turned her head to look at him, her emerald eyes giving off a mysterious, glimmering spark.

“Also, being your first time interacting with ponies, we kinda gave you a bad first impression too, so…” Thunder added, trailing off at the end.

“It’ss okay,” she asserted. “If anything, it iss my fault for-”

“No hay no way you’re putting the blame on yourself,” he cut her sternly without raising his voice.

“But it’ss true! I’m the one who lived in exile, remember?”

“But it wasn’t your choice, was it?” Thunderbolt countered, and that sentence stopped whatever else Emerald would have wanted to say to slip off of her tongue. Once again, she found out herself speechless as she returned her gaze to the floor.

“Look,” he continued, wrapping his hoof around her and leaving it to rest on her shoulder, “we’re not going back through the whole ordeal for your sake, but you can’t blame yourself for anything. You just feel out of place, and probably will for a while, and it’s normal. Heck, I’d probably act the same way in your place.”

There was a short silence in the room before the lamia remade eye contact with him.

“Do you really mean all of thiss?” she asked, more to confirm what she heard than anything else.

“Why wouldn’t I? And besides,” he winked at her, “aren’t I allowed to be considerate of my friend?”

She couldn’t help but giggle lightly as the stallion returned the same words she had told him the previous day when she insisted about taking the couch for the night.

“That’ss my line,” she pointed out before his last words reverberated in her mind. “Ssso, am I really your… friend?” she queried hesitantly.

“I don’t see any reasons for you not to be. Do you?”

“I don’t know…”

“Ugh,” he raised his other hoof over to his forehead, “we really need to work on making you more comfortable around the place. All this anxiety can’t be good for you.”

“Sssorry.” She looked away, and the stallion immediately called back to her to regain her attention.

“Hey, don’t be. Remember, none of this is your fault. We’ll just have a lot of work ahead of us. Plus, White Wind will help too, and I’ll make sure to keep him in line next time he comes over.” He tapped her shoulder softly, and a sudden thought came to his mind. “Why didn’t you tell us that we were making you feel awkward? Ha we known sooner, we would have stopped.”

“Well… Quite frankly, I don’t know. It jussst never came to me?” She offered him her best sheepish look, and he had to admit to himself that made her look a bit cuter.

Wait, did I just really think that? He shook his head once to try and get rid of the thought. Sweet Celestia, she’s my guest for Pete’s sake!

“Are you alright?” a sweet, feminine voice asked from his right, revealing to be Emerald, who was watching him intently.

“Yeah, nothing to worry about.” Though he didn’t like lying much, he pretty much didn’t have a choice. The last thing he wanted was to freak her out because of some silly thoughts. Although, his answer seemed to have convinced her, as she nodded her head.

“So, wanna do anything?” he asked her, drifting away from the odd thought, for the time being at least. “We’ve got a few hours before dinner, so I thought we could kill some time until then.”

“Ssure,” she replied simply.

“I still have my old board games stored in the attic. They pretty much remained there gathering dust since I moved here, but now, they’re finally going to serve their purpose.”

With that, he rose from the bed and headed out of the room, and called back to the hybrid before entering the door at the end of the hallway. “You can wait in the kitchen! It might take a while for me to find them!”

“Okay!” she shouted, then made her way down to the meeting point.

She had no idea what board games were, but since there was the word ‘games’ in it, she assumed that it would be a fun distraction. So she sat at one of the chairs around the table and patiently waited the stallion to return from the attic.

And she was going to wait a long time, as Thunderbolt was faced with a huge problem. Having never been to the attic save for throwing old junks in every now and then, he never got around to actually cleaning it.

So it was with this fact that, horn aglow, he walked upon a huge dust reservoir filled with many boxes and other items he never put in the trash. Coughing and sneezing through his search, it took him a good twenty minutes of torture to find his old games.

Prize in tow, he quickly exited the attic, taking multiple breaths of fresh and clean air, letting it replace the dust he was certain had filled his lungs.

To do list: buy myself a gas mask, a lot of disinfectant, a big, new vacuum cleaner, and clean this infernal room, he thought as he made his way to the kitchen, where his guest waited for him. Also note to self: forbid Emerald from going in there at all costs!