Phoenix Equestria

Meanwhile in the land of behemoths

A man in a dark purple tailcoat, dress pants and a top hat looked through a liquid screen as Nathan, Krystal and the twins reached the ports of Equestria. The mans hair was messy and golden while his eyes were pure white and his teeth were razor sharp, giving a Cheshire Cat kind of smile. His focus was on the twins as he twirled his black cane and tapped his black leather shoes.

"Well well well, looks like our favourite tin man has a few brats now." He gave an evil chuckle before turning to a group of shadowy figures. "What do you all make of this my fellow Maniacs?" He asked while leaning on his cane.

"I think we could use this to our advantage." A slim cloaked figure stated as his two golden eyes pierced through the shadow that his hood created over his face.

"Oh and what makes you think that Carnage?" The man asked while pacing back and fourth on the red stone table that the he group had been sitting at.

"From what we can tell those children are still developing in their minds, if we can convince them that their father is evil and that we are good, we can have them turn on him."

"And he wouldn't fight back because he would never want to harm his own brats!" The man applauded his colleagues plan.  "Very good Carnage, now, how do you suggest we go about this?" Asked the man as his body bent in a 90 degree angle in front of Carnage.

"Well Hack, I was thinking that you and Psychopath could draw Nathan's attention away from our base while Mist kidnaps the children, then leave the rest to me." Hack smiled so hard Pinkie would be jealous,

"Very well, come along Psychopath." A tall muscular cloaked figure stood up and followed Hack out of the liar.

Nathan sat on top of the mast of the large ship in his human form. He stared up at the sky as the waves rocked the ship gently back and forth. He looked down and saw Sapphire and Lyric playing pirate with some of the ships crew, Sapphire had won them over in mere minutes and had them catering to her every whim. Chuckling at his daughters antics he turned to see Krystal tinkering with a Mr Zurkon robot. He watched as she dismantled it completely along with a few agents of doom(1) began building another small robot.

Shrugging Nathan went back to cloud watching.

After a few more minutes he got bored and hopped down to the deck. Switching to his pony form, which had attracted a few of the mates on boards attention, he made his way over to where his children were playing.

"Fire the cannon!" Chuckling at Sapphire he was about to pull out his Gravity Bomb launcher to give her some form of cannon he was surprised to hear somethings being launched. Walking over he saw that Sapphire had in her arms his Negotiator, looking in his inventory his weapon had indeed been taken by the little psychopath.

"Sapphire, how did you get my gun?" He asked walking over to her.

"When we were riding behind your head on the way to the boat I got bored and looked around your storage unit, I only took the one gun though." She pulled the trigger on the rocket launcher and blew up a nearby rock.

"Ok, I'm happy you're using some weaponry and all, but you should have asked me first." He stated in a firm voice, causing her smile to falter.

"Sorry daddy." She picked up the gun and handed it back to her father.

"It's ok sweetheart, you just wanted to blow something up."

"It is fun."

"I know right? Anyway, if you wanted a gun so bad, I'm sure I can find one best suited to you." Sapphire beamed with a huge smile. Nathan laughed and ruffled her hair. Changing to his human form he began looking through his inventories. As he reached the end he frowned. "Hold on a second." Pulling out the Gadgetron vendor he looked through the selection until he came across the perfect weapon for his daughter. Clicking the purchase button the weapon made its way into his inventory. Packing the vendor away he pulled out the Telsa Claw.

"Here, this should do nicely for your first weapon." He handed the claw to her and she looked at it confused, looking for a grip. "You wear it like a glove, slide it onto your right hand." Doing as instructed, Sapphire put on the claw and smiled. Nathan then set an apple on a barrel. "Ok, give it a shot... and try not to hit the barrel or I have to pay for it." Nodding Sapphire pointed the claw at the apple and pulled a trigger on the inside. A steady stream of electricity shot out and zapped the apple, causing to cook then explode.

"This gun is perfect! But it's got limited ammo..." Nathan patted her back and opened up the vendor again.

"There, any time you run out of ammo it'll automatically refill as long as there are bolts in my account, that should take care of it since a full clip in that thing costs like a hundred bolts at most." Sapphire smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you daddy." Nathan always felt a sense of pride and fulfilment whenever Sapphire or Lyric called him that.

"No problem Sapphire, just don't go around randomly zapping people, ponies or whatever other creature you come across... unless they're evil then go nuts." As Sapphire ran off to find something to test her new weapon on Nathan turned around and saw Lyric sitting on a small crate reading a children's book. Nathan pulled up another box and sat down beside his son. "Hey son, how're you doing?" Nathan placed a hand on his sons back and gave the timid boy a comforting smile.

"Um, I'm feeling fine... thanks for asking daddy." Nathan had already figured out Sapphire and Lyrics personalities. Lyric was the shy and quiet one, while Sapphire was the adventurous and loud one. As he thought about it he realised they really did represent two parts of his being, Sapphire being the mask that he puts on to act strong and Lyric being what he really was on the inside.

"Want me to read this to you, maybe help you sound out a few words you have trouble with?" Lyric nodded and handed his father the book. Nathan lifted him into his lap and began reading the book to his timid son, making sure to make him feel safe with a soothing voice.

Meanwhile Krystal had been watching him interact with his children. "Those two are going to do him wonders, maybe someday they'll help him break out of the shell he's formed." With that she went back to building her own little robot.