Sins of the Father

The Crystal Express rolled into the platform at exactly 16:15 on a crisp Autumn afternoon, a Friday to be specific. While five of the six passenger cars all filed out at an easy, average pace, the passengers in the sixth all hurried out as though the car had been filled to capacity with bees or something. The station guards hadn’t let this go unnoticed, and soon all cautiously armed themselves with their spears lest something dangerous were to appear next.

A single, unassuming pony wearing a black and blue jacket emerged calmly, his sides bare of saddlebags or any indication that anything was wrong in the first place. The pony himself was as white as Her Highness Celestia’s white flanks, and his light blue mane was pulled back out of his shining green eyes so that his relatively average horn was left open for the public to see.

The guards narrowed their eyes at the stallion, yet remained unmoving though loaded to spring into action at a moment’s notice. At closer inspection, the entire right half of the stallion’s body seemed to shimmer in odd patterns as the sun reflected off of… whatever it was that the sun’s light was reflecting off of. Looking past the shine through use of a quick spell, the guards’ eyes fell upon his flanks to get an idea of who they were.

An odd symbol sat on his flank, a triangular shape tipped with circles with lines shooting off at the faces to join to the circles near the end of the points. Through every surface that the lines created, strange glyphs adorned the empty spaces, though they were unintelligible for the moment. The guard eyed him warily as he stood, then shifted where they stood as he moved a step or two forward.

The strange pony stopped and took in his surroundings with a grin before turning back to the car and giving a sharp whistle. The Guards looked back to the door, then blinked in surprise as the strangest group of travelers crawled out of the train carriage.

A dragoness, green in scale and lime on her underbelly dressed in light plate armour. Whatever her plates weren’t covering was covered in a shining blue chain-mail, which clung tightly to her voluptuous curves. There had to have been some magic involved in getting that armour on, since there was absolutely no indication of a seam or latch nor strap. It was as though the chest piece had been wrapped around her and forged into place.

Bright red eyes glared out into the crowd as she seemed to analyze every possible threat, though she smirked when her eyes came to rest on the pair of Equestrian guards equally eyeing her. They were eyes that told stories, stories of wars and battles against impossible odds. Eyes that told the guards that she’d seen things, done things almost too terrible to discuss in polite company, if at all, and yet she smirked. There was power behind those eyes. They were the eyes of a predator in every sense.

The eyes matched the face they were set into, while a slight jingling drew the eyes towards her set of horns, capped in silver with sapphire baubles hooked to them from tiny chains. Two horns came out just behind her ears, while the second pair came out from the top of her head, acting as sentinels. The sharp spines along her head and back shimmered in the light, looking nothing short of menacing.

The next thing to come out of the train was a behemoth of a minotaur. The creature had to bend down almost to the point of getting on his knees so that he could squeeze himself out of the small aperture, his massive hand grasping the wall to help him pull himself out while the entire car squealed in protest under his every movement in protest.

After a moment, the minotaur did manage to pop himself free, and the Guards in the area had to hold back a quick wave of fear as the creature loomed over the party like a giant among hobbits. His arms alone had to have been as big around as the guards themselves and sported an immeasurable number of scars. The scars were so intensive that they almost looked artistic as they prevented natural fur from growing over the rough skin. The rest of the body looked to have been wearing the heaviest armour during whatever fights had occurred, though a great scar ran from his left shoulder all the way down to his right hip, the solitary reminder of a lesson long-forgotten. The body of the Taur was mostly brown in fur, with lighter patches showing where skin was visible and vulnerable.

All he wore for armour were a set of heavy black leather straps which held up the creature’s gargantuan shields. The shields themselves looked like they were heavy enough to crush even the largest of ponies flat, and the large gear-like grooves made the guards wonder what they were used for as they were on the longer, inner edge of the defenses.

A pair of the same bluish-silver metal leggings protected the legs, with similar metal chainmail covering the weak points in the knees and groin. These too, like the dragon’s armor, looked like they’d been forged directly around the taur as not a seam existed to be found and exploited. Following the trend, unlike the dragoness whose feet remained bare and heavily calloused, the Minotaurs hooves had been shod in massive war shoes that rose up the entire wall of the hoof to join to the chain that protected the ankles. The whole get-up looked like it was one singular piece, almost like a work of art, chiseled to his very form like a statue.

A gryphon appeared next, another female by the profile of the face and beak, wearing similar attire to the dragoness. Her chest had been encased in the same mysterious armour, without edges, and was formed to fit her own curves perfectly, highlighting her breasts and stomach muscles which were, admittedly, much smaller than the dragoness’. Still, this did not make her any less desirable to the opposite sex, were any not intimidated by her sheer presence.

“Mother of Oblivion, it’s hot out here.” the gryphoness muttered to herself as she rounded on her friends, showing the back of her slim armour and how it even formed perfectly for her wings to protrude out from under the protection of the chainmail. The meaty edges of her wings were capped with the same metal of the groups’ armour and were honed into fine, razor-sharp edges. Her back was protected by thin metal plates, while her legs were armoured in either plate or chain. How all that armour was light enough to fly in, the guards would never know, but were more than a little interested in finding out about.

A zebra of all things came next, which surprised the Guards if at least a little bit. He walked calmly and quietly, head held high but without the air of superiority that was typically found in the Nobility Guards of Canterlot. His entire body, up to his neck, was done up in the tightly fitting chainmail, making the black and white stripes under the metal seem to glisten and shimmer in the sunlight. His shoes, the only thing that wasn’t chainmail, instead were composed of thin wafers of metal protecting the bunch connected to the chain around his fetlocks.

“Everywhere is going to be hot compared to the Crystal Empire.” The zebra reminded his friend simply, his voice low, calm and collected. “You’ll acclimate soon enough.”

“Yeah, we’ll see.” the gryphoness grumbled back and stretched her arms across her body while the next passenger stepped off, looking anxiously around her surroundings. “Come on Blitz, no one’s gonna bother you here.” The gryphoness urged the one still in the train.

“Easy for you to say Karen, you don’t have the history with Canterlot like I do.” A unicorn mare hissed back, her coat bright red with a pink mane stepped out from the train car, dressed in half-plate metal armour which hid her cutie mark. As seemed to be the fashion, she was covered neck to hoof in the bluish-silver chainmail, although a leather hood sat around her neck in the event she’d need it. Her horn wasn’t anything special, in fact it barely poked out from her forward sweeping mane, a stub of a horn peaked from her mane, but was so miniscule that the guards mistook her for an Earth pony. On her hips she hauled at least six swords on each flank, each one with a different gently glowing gemstone in the pommel, from shining ruby to dark onyx.

“Don’t worry Blitz, you’re under my protection.” the white stallion smirked as he spoke. His voice was somewhat tenor and, while it hinted at his age, it didn’t show in his features. “Besides, with Maddock here with us, I don’t think anypony is going to dare try and stop you.”

The behemoth apparently named Maddock grinned and even went so far as to very gently tap the little pony on the head, as though attempting to pat her without squashing her like a bug.

“Right, yeah, of course.” Blitz mumbled as she seemed to retreat into herself. If she hadn’t been wielding no less than twelve swords total and matching armour, the guards may have mistaken her for a scared civilian taken captive by the group.

“So how long has it been since you’ve been here, Hybrid?” the dragoness approached her friend and rested a claw lightly on his back, making him look up at her with a grin. They apparently shared a telepathic conversation as the female gawked in what must’ve passed for surprise. “You’ve never been here before? Then how’d you know they’re here?”

“We’ll call it a hunch, considering who it is we’re looking for.” Hybrid, the stallion leading the group scoffed cheerfully and turned back to gazing at the city. “I must say, I love what the girls have done with the place. Very… high-end.” he added on as an afterthought before spying the pair of guards eyeing him over just as much. “Ooh, locals!” he announced and promptly trotted towards the pair, a small glint of amusement in his eye.

The entire troupe followed after their leader and, suddenly, the guards began to feel rather uneasy about the imposing squad getting approaching them. Even if they remained jovial and friendly-looking, they were still extremely intimidating; the team seemed to have forgotten entirely that every time Maddock took a step, a small trembling occurred due to always being near him.

“Excuse me sirs, might I borrow a moment of your time?” The stallion requested with a large smile, stopping just before the pair of guards.

“Very well, how can we help you?” The guard on the left responded dutifully, almost drone-like.

“Which way to the castle? I’m here to meet my daughters.” came the response. Perhaps he was related to some of the staff? Maybe a pair of guards? They wondered to themselves.

“I’m sorry sir, but if you’re looking to gain entry into Canterlot Castle, then you must relinquish all weapons you and your group are carrying.” The guard on the right explained, subtly tightening her grip around the shaft of her spear. If they didn’t want to cooperate, the pair of them really didn’t like their chances of winning a fight to disarm them. Not alone, anyways.

“Hmm, that’s going to pose some problems, then.” The face of the stallion dropped in concern for a moment as his eyes darted to the side to stare off into oblivion while he thought. The guards prepared themselves for a fight, and the unicorn on the right prepared to launch a flare into the sky to call for aid should the need arise. “Okay, then I’ll just call my daughters myself from here. If that’s not going to be a problem?”

“I don’t think it should be, no.” the unicorn replied cautiously but kept her tools at the ready regardless. The group moved away at the unicorn’s behest and took up a position in the middle of the station. The guards moved to ask the troupe to conduct their business elsewhere, however they stopped and the flare went up as the companions protectively surrounded the white unicorn who merely sat down on the ground to stare at the concrete.

“Okay, now who’s got my stick?” Hybrid called out. The guardians all seemed to pat themselves down with a hand, hoof or claw while maintaining their barrier before the zebra pulled a thin metal stick from a pocket in his outfit and tossed it back over his shoulder. The maneuver was quite impressive since the zebra and the stallion had their backs to each other, and without even a sound for communication, the stallion caught it with a hoof then settled himself down on the ground to begin carving something into the concrete.

“Sir, please do not vandalise the station or we’ll have to arrest you.” The guard warned as more of his friends galloped in from around town to surround the visitors. The stallion merely ignored the warning and kept drawing, carving something vaguely similar to his cutie mark into the ground before him with a look of pensive concentration. “Sir,” the guard tried again.

“Do not disturb him.” the dragoness warned in reply, crossing her arms over her impressive bust, but otherwise left her weapons on her hips.

“Miss, if he does not cooperate, we’ll have to take you all in by force if necessary.” The guard captain who’d arrived only a minute earlier explained with a glare, his wings flared out and ready for combat. The rest of the guards, of which there were at least two dozen in total, all readied their various weapons; be they swords, wing blades or spears.

“Do not disturb him.” The dragoness warned again, this time turning to the captain to her right. The group all remained still, showing no signs of potential aggression as they all looked rather bored. The soldiers facing off against Maddock all looked the most nervous despite the gentle aura the giant was exuding as he merely smiled and waved at the ponies before him.

“There, that’s got it.” Hybrid announced as he finished the shape and began to etch glyphs into the spaces between lines using a language that nobody had ever seen before, let alone could speak. “And… ‘Fire’... ‘Detonate’...” The stallion raised his head upwards to look at the artwork before him in mild confusion while the guards all prepared to act upon hearing the words fire and detonate.

“No, that goes over there.” he corrected himself by taking his hoof and poking at the words to make them glow. They seemed to rise up from the stone leaving no markings in the concrete below them. He moved the words over to another spot and placed them back down before lowering his head to get back to work again. “Okay, now I need… ‘Randomize’ and ‘Chroma’ modifiers…”

A bit of talking to himself while the guards all prepared to take the potential terrorists into custody, the stallion finally finished his project and stood to stare down at the symbols before him before grinning. “That’ll do it!” he pronounced proudly.

“Halt! Do not attempt to use that magic or we will be forced to terminate!” The captain shouted, but found himself completely ignored. He didn’t like that and declared on the top of his voice, “Take them down, do not let them activate that spell seal!”

The entire guard battalion charged, shouting at the tops of their lungs, while the five protecting the unicorn all drew their weapons. Maddock drew both of his shields and smashed them to the ground, rocking every pony off their hooves while the five in the middle remained standing. That gave Hybrid just enough time to press his hoof to the middle of the seal and activate it before backing up a few steps holding his ears down with his hooves.

“Fire in the hole!” he shouted as the guards all tried to break through to pile on him or break the seal itself. The six visitors all turned their heads skywards as the guards all dropped to their bellies as the spell fired, sending rockets of light upwards into the skies in a couple different colours; the rockets themselves screaming into the air with a high pitched whistle. A very, very familiar whistle.

The six all grinned as the rockets exploded into a light show, creating a replicate spell seal in the sky that looked like the seal on the white stallion’s flanks. The fireworks soon died off, the crackling the only thing left behind as the magic burned itself out into smoke.

Then, silence. But that silence didn’t last for long, however, as a mighty voice boomed out over Canterlot, “NO FREAKING WAY!”

“And there’s one of them.” Hybrid grinned in response, having earned the exact response he was looking for. The guards all backed off, looking confusedly at their captain who was looking just as befuddled. They knew that voice that just screamed out in such a manner unbefitting of their position and all began snickering at just how informal the owner had just been.

A blue streak shot out from a tower of the castle, the colour the only indication of who it may have been, even as the blur began to form into the body of a certain Princess of the Night with the most massive grin on her face. The Princess came in hard, sliding on her hooves and backside as the Royal Guard all parted ways for her slide in.

“Dad!” Princess Luna shouted as her slide turned into a great leap at the stallion in the middle who stood up on his hind legs to catch the pony who was much larger than himself. The Guards all gawked at the behavior, never mind the fact that their Princess had just called Hybrid “Dad”, as the Princess ended up laying on her back in her father’s hooves. “You’re back!”

“I am, yes.” Hybrid nodded back and nuzzled his daughter’s head with his snout. Before setting her down on her hooves. “And I brought friends this time.”

“I see that!” Luna grinned like a maniac, showing all the perfectly pearly whites in her mouth all at once. “How long are you staying this time, do you have to leave again?” she asked, though with the second question came a frown of mild displeasure.

“I think I can afford to spend some time here with my daughters.” Hybrid announced, making the princess squeal with delight and hop on her hooves quite like a little filly. “Come on, let’s go say hi to your sister.”

“Yes, follow me!” Luna beamed as she took off down the street with a spring in her step. The friends of Hybrid all smirked and put their weapons away as they turned from the bewildered guards and followed the stallion into the city.

~~~

“Tia, I have a surprise for you!” Luna announced with a sing-song voice as she pushed the doors to the throne room open, interrupting the court case already in progress. By the looks of it, a pair of farmers were bickering over something trivial.

Celestia shifted in her throne uncomfortably but looked up to her sister with a raise of the eyebrow. “Can it wait, sister, I’m clearly in the middle of Court.” she replied, even if she wanted nothing more than for something to tear her away from these two.

“It could, I suppose, but then you’d be making Father wait for you.” Luna teased and with those words Celestia’s eyes grew exponentially wide as she leapt out from her throne.

“He’s back?” she demanded with an encroaching grin on her face. Luna nodded back quickly before turning from the room to take off at a run. Celestia nearly took off as well, however held herself back just long enough to properly address the ponies before her. “I’m sorry, but I must postpone this until tomorrow as something of an urgent matter has arisen. We’ll take this back up again in the morning.” she hurriedly explained as she skittered across the red carpet as though she’d forgotten to turn a stove top off or something.

As soon as she was in the hall, she took off with a flash of energy, sprinting hard down the hallways after her sister while staff and guards all narrowly got out of their princesses ways in time.

Please be him, please be him, please be him! Celestia pleaded to herself as she ran. Sure, she’d heard the fireworks go off, but as it was behind her she couldn’t see the effect unlike her sister. Even Luna’s yelling hadn’t given it away, despite the fact that everypony could’ve heard the yell in Baltimare.

Nearing the private dining room that the sisters used, she could already begin to hear his voice as he chattered away with whoever else was in the room.

“No, I had no idea that this is how we’d be received. I was expecting to at least make it to the castle gates before Lulu or Tia found me.” the voice very nearly brought tears to the elder sister’s eyes as she piled on the brakes and slid into the room behind her sister who’d only just arrived and had tackled the new biped in the room.

“Father,” Celestia slid to a halt and righted herself to her hooves, looking upon the human with swelling tears in her eyes. “It really is you!” Forgoing proprietary requirement, the eldest Alicorn leapt at the father figure once her sister was out of the way, ignoring the others in the room with her; though the hulking Minotaur was certainly hard to miss. The man accepted her eagerly and pulled her into a hug that Celestia fought to equalize.

“It’s good to see you, my little Raspberry.” Hybrid grinned as the white Princess blushed at the nickname she had long forgotten (not without a lot of trying on her part anyhow) and let her drop back to the floor to regain her composure. He turned to Luna, still grinning. “And it’s great to see you as well, my little Blueberry.”

“Dad!” Luna whined at the name, rolling her head on her shoulders though she couldn’t help the grin still on her face. “I am a grown mare now, please stop calling me that!” She said even as her cheeks pinkened slightly.

“You may be getting into your third millennia, but you’ll both always be my little berries.” Hybrid stood up straight and placed his closed fists on his hips, looking heroic. “So, I hear you’ve both been busy in my absence.” he declared, the look of pride ever twinkling in his eyes as he looked upon the faces of his daughters.

“Oh? And what have you heard?” Celestia inquired as the doors to the private dining room finally swung shut and afforded everyone within peace from the outside. She and her sister slid into a couple of seats across the main table from their father who took a seat next to the dragoness. “And who’re your friends?”

“Hmm…” Hybrid hummed to himself. “Well, I heard that you all fought Sombra, Discord, Tirek and Scorpan…” Hybrid’s voice seemed to dispel the peace as Luna’s gaze shifted to the table in acceptance of the next event in the timeline.

Nobody spoke for a moment while the man merely looked upon the younger daughter of the two with regret.

Breaking the silence, “What happened?” he asked softly, directing the question to the obvious recipient.

“I…” Luna began in barely a mumble, but cleared her throat and started again. “I… grew jealous of my sister. I let that negativity overcome me and I fell to darkness.” she admitted. The Herald of the Night drew in a strong breath and looked straight at her father head on. “I have since paid for my crimes, as has my sister.” Celestia threw open her wing nearest to the younger and pulled her into her white coat in a forgiving hug.

“Where were you?” Celestia whispered, almost accusatively as she openly glared at the human in the room. “We needed your help a thousand years ago, Luna needed your help. I needed your help!”

The man sat quietly, slightly fidgeting with his hands which now sat in his lap and out of sight. The dragoness took the chance to gently place her hand on the man’s back supportively and offered a small supportive smile to her friend.

“That…” Hybrid began slowly, looking back up to the sisters. “Is a very long story to tell… One that will take many hours. If I may, my friends and I are quite exhausted from our travels. I would be more than happy to tell you both of what happened, tell you the whole story, but I would first like to get some rest.”

Celestia and Luna mulled over this request for a bit, still hugging each other, and shared glances between themselves.

“Very well.” Luna finally accepted with a nod. “And if you don’t mind, we have some friends who we believe would like to hear the story, also.”

“That’s fine. Just,” Hybrid held his hands up defensively. “Not a big audience, please?”

“That is acceptable.” Celestia nodded back compliantly and retrieved her wing from around her sister. “I shall have the staff set you all up in separate guest rooms, unless there are preferred sleeping arrangements?”

“The three of us, please.” The dragoness requested, indicating to Blitz and Hybrid. “A separate bed or mattress to be brought into our room, or maybe a conjoined pair of rooms, would be preferable.” This request, and the participants of the request involved, certainly had the eyebrows of the Princesses raised to the sky in surprise.

“And,” Celestia looked to her sister with uncertainty. “What are your relationships with each other, that you’d request the three of you in a shared room?”

“Another story for another time, Raspberry.” Hybrid yawned and stretched himself out a ways, leaning back from the table to do so while kicking his feet out underneath. Standing himself up, the act leading his compatriots to do the same thing (though Maddock still had to remain quite hunched over), Hybrid followed the Princesses out of the room and back into the halls he’d been lead down before.

Eventually reaching the rooms, the others in the group all gratuitously accepted their rooms and shut themselves in for the night, while Hybrid, the dragoness and the small mare all stood before the last guest room with Luna leading; Celestia had to return to her duties on the way.

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Hybrid ran his hand up through his daughter’s mane and soon gave a couple scratches behind her ears. The act drew a small, content humming from Luna until the hand receded and took hold of the door handles. “We really appreciate it.”

“T’is nothing, you are our father, after all. We wouldn’t be very good hosts, nor Princesses nor daughters to turn you and yours away.” Luna replied cheerfully and nuzzled into her father’s embrace, even as the royal dialect slipped in. “We are elated to have you back after so long.”

“It’s good to finally be back among the land of the living.” Hybrid teased as his roommates all smirked and entered into the room first. Before Luna could raise questions, he held a finger up to her muzzle. “Ah ah, no spoilers.”

As the man entered into the room, Luna merely smirked and turned away, looking back over her shoulder. “Good night, father.”

“Good night, my little Blueberry.” Hybrid grinned as Luna’s face went red again and ducked behind the door to avoid a scowl, shutting the door to the room in the process.

~~~

“Well, if breakfast is anything to go by, I can’t wait for lunch now.” Hybrid beamed as he strolled alongside his companions in his unicorn form, the reflective etchings on the side of his body reflecting light onto Karen and Blitz next to him. The group had most of the morning to themselves while Princess Celestia organized the visitors expected later that afternoon.

“No kidding, I didn’t think they’d actually have someone to prepare meat for us.” Karen chuckled and picked at her teeth with a pinkie claw as she walked. “Though I suppose your daughters would have to cater to Griffon dignitaries every so often.”

“Probably, yes.” Hybrid nodded back and continued towards the guard’s training wing for a bit of a morning warm up, and to also work off the hearty steak and eggs from earlier. “And how’re you feeling today, Blitz?” the unicorn glanced down to the mare beside him, bringing the quiet mare into the fold.

“Fine… I ate enough last night.” she muttered under her breath, still actively avoiding looking at the guards. She gave a weak little shutter and sighed, piquing Hybrid’s eyebrow a bit at the noticed motion.

“That’s not ‘fine’. You need more.” Hybrid announced and diverted his small party down an uninhabited hallway to look for a storeroom or something. “Karen, you wanna do the honours?”

“Fiiiine…” Karen sighed and picked Blitz up around her barrel to haul her into the empty broom closet. “Doesn’t mean I like her feeding off me.”

“Look at it this way,” Hybrid let the door close and leaned himself against the wall next to the door with forelegs crossed over his chest. “It means you get a chance to take your armour off.”

“Yeah, I know...” the gryphon groaned in reply as a blue light flashed from under the door, followed by a flash of red. “Okay, eat up. Just, don’t take too much, I still need some for myself.”

“Thanks, Karen.” Blitz’s voice, sounding slightly different, replied before the two began giving soft moans for a couple minutes. Hybrid merely stood guard over the door, waving off curious passersby who’d wander down the hall before getting an earful of the two females in the room behind the stallion. They soon scurried off with faces red and tails tucked away. Those who tried to linger were shooed off by Hybrid who gave each one a glare.

A short time passed and the two bursts of light flashed under the door, signalling that the deed was done and Hybrid could step aside. The door opened and both females exited looking a bit sweaty though their faces said they both felt great after what happened.

“Feel better?” Hybrid grinned to both females, Karen working at adjusting her breastplate while Blitz gave a hearty burp.

“Much.” Both females replied at once, giving the stallion in the room reason to chuckle.

“Good, then you can work all that off with Sen, Maddock, Vic and I.” the unicorn trotted off back towards the main hallway, leaving the women to play catch up behind him.

“It’s not like we’ll be fighting anything interesting anyways, might as well burn off the calories.” Karen agreed and took the pony’s left while Blitz happily pranced along on his right.

The trio continued down the hall towards the guard’s training wing and attached barracks. Nearing their destination, the sounds of fighting and metal on metal began to fill the hallways giving the party leader a better sense of where he was going with his friends.

A couple more corners and the hallway broke out into a large courtyard with hundreds of guards either off on the sides sparring against each other, or forming a massive ring in the middle of the open space.

Had they not been taller than most of the other creatures in the area, one could wonder what was going on, however the massive form of Maddock with his twin greatshields and Sen with her double-bladed sword stood heads and shoulders above the ponies they were fighting against.

Pushing into the ring with Karen and Blitz following behind him, Hybrid took up a spectator’s spot on the edge and sat himself down to watch the carnage. While Sen, Maddock and upon closer inspection, Vic, all fought near the middle of the ring back to back, many injured guards were pulled away from the edges of the ring to be taken to the infirmary.

From the looks of the combatants and the guards cheering from the edge, it didn’t seem like there was any other nature to the fights beyond just basic -though apparently injury-inducing- training. There was no evidence of malice from… most… of the guards watching or preparing to jump into the fray and the faces on the dragoness, minotaur and zebra all gave away their great pleasure at finally finding something to fight against for the first time in months.

“Go Sen! Teach those guards a lesson!” Karen cheered for the dragoness, pumping her fist into the air gleefully and getting right into the swing of things along with the guards all cheering for their buddies.

“Maddock, you’re getting slow!” Hybrid teased, earning a pair of earthquakes when Maddock slammed in shields into the ground to stumble his opponents. Maddock afforded the unicorn a moment with a returning nod of recognition before bringing the geared edges of his shields together to form the impenetrable wall he favoured to narrowly avoid an attack from an impressively large battle axe.

“Have you been hit yet, Vic?” Blitz called out to the zebra who seemed to ignore her as he flipped and danced around his own squad of guards, if it weren’t for the verbal reply he gave her.

“Only once, no more!” Vic shouted back as he delivered a swift punch to the side of the head of one guard, before twisting his body and flipping himself into the air to land on the back of another guard and bring his left rear hoof down on his back to bring them both down.

“I seem to remember a blow to your side.” Sen taunted during her parry and thrust of one blade’s edge which sparked against a Lieutenant’s chest armour. “Count your failures properly, Victor.”

“Glancing blows,” Vic took a moment to roll sideways from a crossbow bolt before pouncing on the shooter. “Don’t count.”

“They count.” Vic’s friends all called out together, serving to give the zebra reason to let out a groan but resigned to his fate.

“Fine! I’ve been hit twice!” The hoof-to-hoof fighter announced before delivering a flurry of blows to the crossbow wielder and put him to the ground unconscious.

“Then you know what that means!” Hybrid shouted with a grin and Karen gave a smirk and a nudge to Blitz who blushed heavily in return. “You get to feed Blitz for the next two days!”

Vic, having temporarily run out of opponents, turned to face his leader with an uneasy frown. “I know, I know…” He turned to look at the blushing mare next to Hybrid. “I’m in the suite two rooms down from Sen and Hybrid.

“Okay…” Blitz mumbled back, but gave a firm nod to show she’d understood. Of course, she wasn’t not looking forward to spending time with him, but having been made the punishment for Vic’s failures during combat certainly didn’t agree with her.

A thought shared with her from Hybrid turned her red fur to an even darker colouration as her mind was filled with all kinds of images concerning her and Vic. She let out a cry of embarrassment and dove to the ground, covering her head with her hooves while Hybrid merely grinned with a tongue stuck out between his teeth before turning back to the fights before him.

“Atten-tion!” a remarkably powerful voice cut through the clash of steel and blue metal, snapping the spectating guards to attention while the fighters all had to break away from their opponents to do the same with their weapons at the ready.

While the crowd of guardsponies split to allow someone through, Hybrid took the chance to step onto the field of battle with Karen and a nervous Blitz motioning for his group to fall in.

“Records?” Hybrid calmly inquired of his friends while the new pony discussed matters with the others present.

“Twelve down, four injured, not critical.” Sen reported dutifully with her arms crossed over her chest and her weapon collapsed and stored on her lower back over her tail.

Rather than reply verbally, Maddock had to sit himself down to count on his fingers before holding up the sign language taught to him for twenty-two down, eight injured and nothing critical.

With a sigh, and noticeably avoiding eye contact with Blitz, Vic gave his report, “Eleven down, two injured, nothing critical and two hits.”

“So forty-five down, fourteen injured and nothing critical.” Hybrid bobbed his head lightly in recognition and approval. “Good job, all of you.” he awarded them their praise, Vic included, before turning to greet the sounds of a pony approaching their group.

“I swear, if you hadn’t just spent the last few months in the Empire retraining my guards, I’d have thrown all of you in the dungeons for disturbing the peace.” Shining Armour announced with a light chuckle and bumped hooves with Hybrid before moving to shake hands, claws or hooves of the rest before stepping back a way to address them all.

“Prince Shining Armour, a pleasure to see you again. When did you get in?” Hybrid inquired lightly and sat back in Sen’s lap once she’d sat down behind the pony and let her wrap her arms around his barrel in a hug, resting her head on the stallion’s shoulder.

“This morning, actually. You all got in last night?” Shining replied and sat himself down as well, prompting the rest of the blue-armour clad to sit as well while the Royal Guardsponies all got back to training themselves.

“Yeah, last evening, thereabouts anyways. Briefly reconnected with the Princesses which was nice.” Hybrid shrugged as casually as he could with a dragon’s head resting on him.

“Cool, cool. So what’re you all doing today?”

“Storytelling, apparently. His daughters are inviting some of their friends here to listen in so we’re just waiting and killing time while they show up.” Karen explained from the left of the stallion being cuddled.

“Oh?” Shining’s eyebrow rose at this. “Would you mind if I sat in on some of these stories for a while?”

“Not at all,” Blitz replied for Hybrid who nodded agreement. “We’re not looking for a large audience, however.”

“Of course, of course. I just wanna meet with somepony, if the Princesses are bringing who I think they’re bringing.” The Prince replied and stood when Hybrid did. The rest of the group all rose and dusted themselves off before the pair of stallions lead the group through the training guards and back into the castle itself.

“How’re Cadance and Flurry?” Blitz inquired from near the back of the group, having to resort to projecting her voice forward to be heard.

“They’re both good, Cadance is still tired as always.” Shining gave a sigh as his own child fatigue swept over him.

“Such is the life of parenthood.” Agreed Hybrid, who nodded appropriately and turned down a hallway towards the private dining room where he was due to meet his daughters and their friends. Having been so long since last seeing his daughters, he’d become eager to see who they’d become friends with.

“Heh,” Shining gave a half chuckle as he glanced to the stallion walking abreast to him. “I suppose you’d know all about raising alicorn children, wouldn’t you? You’ve certainly been alive long enough.”

“Actually, no. I do know what it’s like raising two unicorn fillies who knows every way to get underfoot, however.” Hybrid smirked back in response as he turned to enter the room that the Princesses had set up for the group. “It’s how they got their nicknames.”

“Oh, yeah, those.” the group sat down to Shining Armour’s words and got themselves comfortable while a pair of servants entered to take food or drink orders if anyone wanted anything while they waited. “Did you know that those nicknames got leaked to the media and had to be outlawed upon penalty of life-imprisonment?”

“Really?” Hybrid raised an eyebrow enthusiastically at this bit of information and lit up his horn as he sat himself down on the bench. Casting his spell, Hybrid made the transition from pony to human again and finally situated himself comfortably.

~~~

“Father, I hope we haven’t kept you waiting.” Celestia announced the presence of her, her sister and the newcomers who all piled into the room with wide eyes at the term used by their Princess. The human turned in his seat, lifting a leg to lay it across the bench to lean over to look past Karen and Vic to welcome the newcomers.

“Not really, no.” Hybrid gave a single wave to the sisters before standing to address the other ponies entering into the room. “Who’re these ladies?”

While Luna swept past Hybrid to give him a quick hug with a wing before taking her seat, Celestia looked down at the six little ponies next to her with a fond smile.

“These are our friends from Ponyville, a little town nearby.” she began her introductions with the white one. “This is Rarity, the Element of Generosity.”

“A pleasure to make the acquaintance of the father of the Princesses.” Rarity swept herself into a low bow before rising back up to move to the bench Luna sat on.

“Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter.” The pink one was Celestia’s next choice for introductions and the human found himself suddenly carrying a massive pink blob of fur and excitement.

“I can’t believe I get to meet you! It’s so great to meet you and I hope we’ll get to know each other and become fast friends!” Pinkie announced before giving the man a bearhug around his neck. She was quickly released and joined her friends at the table.

“Friendly, isn’t she?” Hybrid grinned and turned to the orange one with the blonde mane and stetson.

“She can be a hoof full sometimes, yeah.” The mare with a southern accent replied before stepping up to offer a hoof bump. “Ah’m Applejack of Sweet Apple Acres and the Element of Honesty.”

“A pleasure to meet you, miss Applejack.” Hybrid first bumped his fist against her hoof before taking it in a shake. Parting ways, Applejack took a seat next to Rarity at the table.

“Officer Cadet, Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts and Element of Loyalty.” Celestia introduced the next mare who stood proudly with chest puffed out. Blue fur, heterochromatic mane and tail and a huge grin on her face.

“Good to meet you, Officer Cadet.” Hybrid stood himself up straight and gave his own salute to the pegasus who saluted back with a wing before offering a handshake. Rainbow took to her wings and stuck her hoof into his grip and shook herself, giving a firm squeeze in the process.

“You don’t look like the princesses dad, what are-” Her complaining was cut off almost instantly as Hybrid squeezed back, almost causing pain to the pony but held just short of doing so. “Dang! You’ve got a grip on you!”

“Three thousand years of wielding every weapon known to your kind and some known only to mine will do that.” Hybrid beamed and let the mare go before drawing a small circle in the air with his left hand. Completing the arcane quickly, he applied it to the mare’s foreleg and Dash gasped at how quickly the pain resided.

“What was that?” Demanded a little purple alicorn who quite literally launched herself at the man, taking his hand in her hooves to examine it. “Do it again!”

“Arcane Writing?” Hybrid raised an eyebrow at the mare before turning to Celestia. “Isn’t that still basic magic?”

Shaking her head with a slight frown, “Arcane writing and glyphs have become a dead artform in the last thousand years. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Element of Magic. She was also my most prized student.”

“And you didn’t teach her to write Arcane?” the human’s comment went mostly unheard, save for those with superior hearing like the Princesses and Hybrid’s troupe.

“She was a unicorn, afterall.” Celestia half-shrugged as she attempted to make an excuse for not teaching her the more powerful magics of Arcane Writing.

“So? Vic’s a zebra, Karen’s a Griffon, Senlei’s a Dragon and Maddock… Well… Maddock is Maddock…” A hand was held out to the group watching from the table and all eyes went to them to watch each one draw an arcane glyph in the air. While Vic’s and Karen’s glyphs were blue of differing hues, Sen’s was green while Blitz wrote a red glyph in the air with her hooves, foregoing her horn.

Maddock merely beamed a smile and waved from the end of the table where he sat comfortably on the floor. Pinkie took that as an invitation and suddenly appeared on her back in Maddock’s lap. Maddock seemed pleased by this and took to lightly petting the pony, stroking her mane and tickling her belly to make her laugh and snort in entertainment.

“Finally, we have the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy.” Celestia pulled Twilight down from the man and nudged the butter yellow mare forward. The girl gave a small shriek of fear and sunk back behind her mane, avoiding eye contact but kept in place regardless.

“Miss Fluttershy, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Hybrid knelt down to decrease his profile as much as possible and held out a hand in offering of a handshake. Granted, he could’ve been mistaken for offering for Fluttershy to sniff his hand like a dog would, but no one thought that… Especially not Blitz.

“Uhm, hello… It’s nice to meet you…” the little mare’s voice had to fight tooth and nail to be heard through her mane as she lightly placed a hoof in the offered hand and let him gently take it to give a shake in greeting. As soon as it was released, the pegasus zipped away and to the table, sitting next to Rainbow Dash and Twilight who visited with the Prince, across the table from Vic.

“Right, unless there’re more coming?” Hybrid clapped once, gaining everyone’s attention as Celestia took a seat between Luna and Twilight across from where Hybrid would sit. Everyone counted themselves over and shook their heads. Standing behind where he’d soon sit, he placed his hands on Sen’s shoulders. “Then let me introduce my friends.”

Taking the cue, “I am Senlei Arame, I joined Hybrid’s group one thousand, four hundred, thirty seven years ago. I specialize in dragon magic, Arcane Writing and two handed weapons.”

“You’re immortal too?” Twilight inquired with eyebrows raised. Sen nodded, as did the others save for Blitz who merely shifted in her seat. “How?”

“No spoilers, please.” Hybrid grinned and moved left to place his hands on Vic’s shoulders.

“Victor Nevara, I joined the group three hundred, ninety-two years ago. I specialize in Zebrican alchemy, Arcane Writing, and I’m a close-quarters, hoof-to-hoof fighter.”

Moving further left, Hybrid stood next to Maddock and Pinkie, placing a hand on the behemoth’s arm.

“This is Maddock. He’s incapable of speech so I taught him Sign Language two thousand eight-hundred years ago. He specializes in extra-heavy weapons like his shields on his back.” Hybrid explained, earning a boop on the nose from Pinkie when she rose up to do so.

Moving back towards Sen, Hybrid placed his hands firmly on Karen’s shoulders, making her sigh at her turn having come.

“Karen Felicity.” Karen began, resting her head on a fisted claw which posted off the table. “Specialized in Griffon Aerial Tactics and Combat Maneuvers, Arcane Writing and I spent thirty four years in the Griffon Secret Service for the belated Emperor I helped assassinate. I joined the group over seven hundred years ago.”

“You were Griffon Secret Service?” Rainbow Dash gawked at the gryphoness with wide eyes and an open mouth. Karen nodded without making eye contact, more interested in her claws.

“You were a part of the Emperor’s Assassination?” Luna raised an eyebrow as Celestia didn’t look all that impressed with this information. Karen nodded again in reply. “The one that started that civil war?”

“That’s the one, yes.” Hybrid nodded back and stepped up behind Blitz who squeaked under Hybrid’s touch. “And finally, we have Blitz.”

“Hi…” the mare mumbled, Fluttershy being among the few who actually heard her due to their own training dealing with their own shy pony. “I’m… Blitz and I specialize in…” Blitz stopped to look upwards and upside down at the human at her back, silently inquiring. A telepathic conversation, and she continued, “I specialize in illusion magic and disguises. I’m also trained in Arcane Writing but I haven’t mastered it yet. I’ve been with Hybrid for thirty-seven years.”

“It is a pleasure to meet all of you. I am glad to meet the ones that my father has come to trust.” Celestia shifted in her seat a bit, looking directly to each of the visitors before returning to her father’s face. “So, what story will you be telling us?”

Considering his options, Hybrid took his seat between Karen and Sen, “What do you want to hear?”

“Oh! Tell us about those armours!” Rainbow requested, shooting up to her hooves almost immediately.

“Tell us about how you’re all immortals!” Twilight requested, getting to her hooves as well. Hybrid raised his hands, calming the ponies as they made their requests all at once.

“Tell them about how you met my sister and I.” Celestia calmly requested, settling the requests indefinitely. “Tell them our origin story.”

“Ooohh,” Hybrid grinned eagerly, “You want me to tell them all the story of The Day of Black Sun.” That name alone shut the other ponies up. The man stretched his legs out under the table, using them to keep himself anchored in place while he leaned back with arms behind his head. “Yeah sure, why not.”

A burst of magic and a large stack of paper appeared before Twilight, complete with quill and inkwell. “Ready!” she announced, already with the dipped quill set to the page.

“Alright, well I suppose the story begins just over three thousand years ago.”