Melodies of a Valorous Vagabond

Despite the title of the chapter, no, there is not an actual homecoming here. In a way, but nopony is actually coming “home.” Not to their true home at least. Okay I’ll just get on with it then. It was a calm day, a rare occasion with our little family. We had had some recent events that had been quite hectic, the main one being Crystal choosing to become a vampony (this has relevance soon and I’m not just mentioning it for the sake of it.) Sunset was playing with Silver’s son Blind Eye, and us as the parents were hanging around the living room. All in all, it had been a good day. I went upstairs to fetch my guitar to play a quick song, something I did not commonly have much time for anymore. I was hardly up the stairs when we heard a hard knock at the front door. I passed it off as nothing and Silver went to answer it. Little did I know that the pony at the door was about to rock the past twenty years of my life. I continued to look around for the guitar as Silver answered it.

Suddenly, she called up to me, “Tones, there’s somepony here to see you.”

My mind sort of wandered as to whom it may be. The concept of having a guest wasn’t hard to grasp, given we had a lot of friends in the area. I stopped my search and took my time coming to the stairs.

“Tones, I would really hurry if I were you,” Silver called again with a sense of urgency in her voice.

At this point I knew something was most likely off. Not many things could get Silver rattled, so for her to sound almost uncertain about anything was never a good sign. I raced to the stairs and half ran, half fell down to see who could possibly get Silver so stirred up. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The pony I saw was a large, braun pony with a deep blue coat. His dark brown eyes seemed to stare into me and the large amounts of gray in his mane and tail seemed to set aside the gray in mine. Coming down the stairs I came face to face with none other than: my father.

I had heard rumors from my friends back home in Fillydelphia that he may be around again, but I thought of it as a cruel joke to get me back there. I don’t know why, but they had become less relevant to me. What was startling though, was that their stories had rung true.

My father spoke up, “Still wearing those ridiculous ties I see?” He never was one for sentiment. Then again, there aren’t many fathers who are. For all I know, Sunset says the same of me, but that’s not for this story.

“Twenty years,” I replied, “Twenty bloody years you disappear off the face of Equestria and your first words to me are criticism of my TIE??”

“I had my reasons, reasons that you have no right to question me of,” he replied. He may have been my father, but we never were on good terms. He was always disappointed with my lack of being able to master magic, which now with Crystal’s help I was on my way to doing so.

“He has every right to!” Silver chimed in. Leave it to Silver to not miss a beat and stand in to help a friend. It costed here though.

Without hesitation for a moment, my father let out a forceful smack with the back of his hoof across Silver’s muzzle. She stumbled back in shock, and was supported by Crystal to prevent her from falling, while Blind Eye found his way over to his mother to comfort her. Sunset also ran behind Crystal, unsure of what to do in the commotion. My father turned back to me, ready to question me.

“If anypony, I am the one with the right to question.” He started gesturing to Silver and Crystal and more so, their fangs, “Beginning with who are these... -things- and why are you living with -them-?”

Gesturing to Silver and Crystal I replied, “These -things- are my friends, father. The one you just hit, her name is Silver Mane. She’s a very good friend of mine, and I’d rather you not hit her.” Looking now at Crystal I added, “And she, is Copper Crystal...” My father raised his hoof to stop me but I would have no part in it. “...the mother of your grandson.”

This struck a nerve. Appalled, my father babbled out, “You mean to say that you... and her...” He gave me a disgusted look that only he could give. Lovely stallion he was.

“If it makes you feel better, she wasn’t a vampony when Sunset was born.” I shot back, “Not that it should even matter, granted love should know no boundaries.” I was getting riled, so naturally I said something stupid next. “You could really learn a thing or two about love you know, after you left Berries and I in the wake of tragedy! Where the hell have you been for the past ten years that you couldn’t even check in on us ONCE. Color ended up being a better father than you!”

It was my turn to be hit now. The cracking of my father’s hoof against my face was almost unbearable, but I gave it little attention. He had gotten me angry, and nothing stands in my way while I am angry. This is when I drew the last straw. The one that broke him as it were.

“You didn’t even have the decency to show up to your own daughter’s wedding!” This cut deep. Berries had always been the visible favorite, but I didn’t let it get to me. After father had left, it didn’t even seem to matter. Berries had literally gotten married the day before. She and her new husband were off on some trip now anyway, and my father had just missed her. This destroyed him.

“I... I didn’t...” my father tried to reply, but the words wouldn’t come out. He stood speechless for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally he spoke again. “I am deeply sorry, to the lot of you. But mostly to you, son. I cannot say why I was gone for as long as I was, but by no means did I want to leave you and Berries alone. The news of your mother came very much later, almost three years later in fact. I have no reason for you to believe me, I only ask for forgiveness.”

I looked to Crystal and to Silver, then to Sunset and to Blind. I wiped the blood from my muzzle with my hoof and looked my father square in the eye for what seemed like forever.

“I forgive you father, for the sake of our family. There’s no sense staying bitter.” I said, “But you better believe I will want to talk. There’s a lot you missed.”

I went outside of our house to a sitting area we had out back with my father and began telling him the stories. I told him of how Color took me and Berries in, of Color leaving, and me moving back in with him in Canterlot. I told him of when I met Crystal at the Jades Archipelago, and the stories of the “Valorous Vagabonds.” Before long, Sunset had made his way outside and sat with us to listen. I told of the spirits of Deus and Shade, and their conflict and how it had pertained to us ponies. And lastly, I had to explain to him Crystal’s idea for getting my magic to channel, and how it was working. Some hours later, I had my father up to speed on most everything that had happened. I realized that as mad as I was that he had left us, I wouldn’t have it another way. Because if he hadn’t disappeared, never would I have had these adventures and met these incredible friends.