Introduction: 0:00 – 0:44

To my loving baby daughter Twilight Sparkle, If something ever happens to me please make sure to look after your mother, I’m not sure what you will grow up to be yet, but I am sure you are destined to be great, after all it is in your blood, and if I’m not there to see you grow up then I want you to know that I’m proud no matter what you do and no matter who you become and I will always love you.

-Love your Father.

Twilight was puzzled, she’d never read any single letter or any paragraph that had ever confused her more than the one she was looking at right now. Of course she was never meant to read the letter, she knew this because her father was alive and sitting in the next room over! So why would he write something so meaningful to his unborn daughter if he was still here? “Well” she mused to herself “He’s still here, so I guess the right thing to do would be to ask him... But then he’ll know I was snooping through his library again...” a thought that took her back to her days as a young filly...

“Twilight what did I say the last 20 times?”

“But you said reading was very important for young minds daddy!”

“True, but not messing my books up is also important”

Twilight snapped out of her flashback and gave herself a small chuckle “If Spike knew how bad I was back then he would’ve snapped!” Eventually Twilight decided to come clean and just ask her father what in Equestria this note means and what he was thinking when he wrote it, she was a full grown mare now anyway! She was an adult! But after spending so much time in Ponyville she was still a little scared of her father overreacting and never wanting to see her again, it’s not like she got to visit her parents much nowadays and she loved seeing them, but the curiosity got the better of her, she walked towards the dining room of her parents house and confronted her father.

“Dad, please don’t be mad at me, but I have something to ask you” she said as confidently as her voice would allow.

“Sure honey, what’s on your mind?”

She used her magic to pull the note out from her mane and placed it in her father’s lap, he stared at it for a few moments before reaching forhis glasses. The second the rim of those glasses hit the edge of his snout he knew what he was reading, he had been preparing for this day for years, to tell Twilight his story and to finally get it off his chest; not that he wanted to of course. But knowing Twilight’s inquisitive nature he knew it was only a matter of time.

“Sit down honey” he said in a very low and very serious voice “It’s about time I told you a story”

Twilight sat on the nearest cushion and prepared herself for what might come. “Was my father killed and replaced with this man in front of me? Was my father once a serial killer? Was my father once a rodeo clown...?” Her mind raced as Orion called out to his wife to kindly fetch some tea.

“The story goes like this honey...”

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Orion was a proud stallion, he was of average height and with a nearly perfect blue coat and darker blue mane he wore his armour proud and served his Princess with honour. One of the few elite of Princess Celestia’s personal guard, his time was spent mainly inside the castle but sometimes duties would call for a patrol or scouting mission; for which he was ever so eager to raise his hoof to, just for the fact that he needed to get out and see the world while there was still a world to see.

The war had been raging far too long for anypony to remember, but things were admittedly dying down, which meant being a royal guard was starting to become a bit boring for Orion. The pony who needed dangerous missions in order to feel like he did a good days work. Of course he never got any of these missions but hey, patrol missions could be fun sometimes as well right? Wrong. Orion was walking with his patrol through the Everfree Forest, his patrol consisted of two more elite guards, one was Orion’s best friend and biggest rival Sonny a very light yellow Pegasus usually in charge of scouting, the other was a curious light blue unicorn who refused to wear his helmet. Whenever Sonny or Orion asked why, the response they always recieved was the same:

“The Great and Mighty Adonis does not need a helmet as I am the leader of this unit and must be recognized as such.”

Though Orion and Sonny both knew it was just because he was way too concerned with his mane. Halfway through their patrol the three stallions took a break from their patrol and decided to have a quick pit stop. Sonny broke their peace and silence first.

“Orion”

“What’s up Sonny?”

“Well I figured since we had some free time maybe you might tell me of this filly-friend you’ve been seeing”

“I don’t think you’re ready for that just yet Sonny... I mean we’re really getting serious and I love her to pieces and you sort of don’t tend to get along with any of the fillies that I’ve ever seen”

“Aw come on man, I’m not a bad pony, it’s just that all those fillies in the past were crazy and only wanted you to be seen with a guard”

“Oh really, then why do none of them ever go for you?” he gave a quick grin and an eyebrow raise in Sonny’s direction.

“That’s as cold as ice, but hey seriously, what’s her name? You EVER gonna let me meet her or what?”

“Her name is Twilight Shimmer, and no, with any luck you will NEVER meet her!”

The two exchanged a friendly hoof to the shoulder and got their gear ready to leave. “Hey! Great and Mighty Adonis! We’re moving out!” Sonny yelled out. The egocentric unicorn packed his gear up and proceeded to join his comrades.

“So another successful mission then gentlecolts” said Orion

“Psh, if you can even say that” replied Sonny “I don’t even think there are any gryphons left on this side of the forest ya’know.”

“Don’t dismiss them just yet, we may have them in a corner, but there is a reason for this! I know it!” Adonis took a serious tone “They MUST be planning something BIG, they’re gryphons! they have nothing but brute strength; we ponies have the technology and the brainpower to defeat them! BUT it’s when they stop attacking us that we MUST assume the worst, and The Great and Mighty Adonis will NOT be killed by some filthy gryphon sneak attack because YOU TWO constantly underestimate our enemy!” The two stallions turned their heads and looked at one another...

“BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” the two ponies cracked it in unison laughing.

“HAHahah.. You actually think any gryphons would attack not ONE but THREE elite guards so close to Canterlot!?”

Another round of laughter came billowing out of the light yellow pegasus' mouth, but the dark blue unicorn had stopped by now. “Maybe Adonis is right?” he thought, he looked from side to side and quickly dismissed the idea as the words Adonis and Right were NEVER to be used in the same sentence. The three were nearly at the edge of the forest heading towards Ponyville when from far behind them they heard an ear piercing shriek. This wasn’t just any shriek though, they’ve heard gryphons cry out before they attack, but this was something different, this was monstrous.

Sonny was the first to snap into action mode quickly trying to fly toward the cause of the ear piercing sound, but he was stopped by a magic barrier from his friend Orion who said “Sonny we don’t know what that was, we need to be subtle.” Sonny knew he was right so he landed and he and Orion looked at their commander for orders.

“Sonny you’re going to do a fly-by and see if you can spot anything up ahead, Orion you and I will make our way towards the sound, Sonny we need you to be back quickly so we know what we’re getting into here.” Sonny gave a salute and took flight once again off into the distance flying quickly so as to scout the area but not be seen doing so. Meanwhile Orion and Adonis were walking side by side, eyes peeled for anything suspicious; the two unicorns continued on hoofs and walked at a steady yet somewhat brisk pace towards the cry. It was about 4 minutes before Orion finally spoke up.

“What do you think it was sir..?” Orion said in a clearly serious tone.

“I’m not sure, but I know that Sonny will be back soon and we can formulate a plan. Let’s just continue on and try and close some distance”

For all the flack they gave their commander, Orion recognized skill when he saw it, and when Adonis spoke, everyone listened and everyone took note.

5 Minutes had passed and Sonny still hadn’t returned to the two elite unicorn guards, Orion was starting to get worried. His train of thought was shattered as he saw something moving in the corner of his eye.

“Sir! 3 o’clock!”

Adonis spun to his direct right and saw what Orion had seen going in and out through trees “It couldn’t be Sonny?” he thought to himself.

“GUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS” the figure yelled at them, Orion recognizing the voice instantly. ”It WAS Sonny, what was he doing without his armour? And why was he flying so eraticl-“ Orion’s thought was cut off before he could finish, the answer was right behind Sonny slowly catching up to him. It was a gryphon, but not just any gryphon, this was something else, something that Adonis instantly enlightened him to.

“BATTLE POSITION 25, THIS IS A GUARDIAN GRYPHON!”

The words fell on deaf ears, “Position 25? I don’t even remember learning that one?” Orion thought. The gryphon wouldn’t care if he remembered or not though. Before he could act he realised what was unfolding in front of him, his commander had taken some strange position and started casting a spell and his best friend was flying for his life from the biggest gryphon that Orion had ever seen. “Guardian? Is that why he has a mane like a lion?” Orion was lost in thought for a few seconds again before he snapped back into reality, this time though the huge gryphon was only metres from the two unicorns, and even closer to the Pegasus. It was all too fast for Orion to act; he instinctively closed his eyes in fear and ducked for safety.

Moments later he lifted his head and opened his eyes only to see his commander lying on the ground next to him.

“What happened sir!? Are you alright!? Where’s Sonny!?” Orion said in a disturbed voice.

“Sonny is gone. The Guardian got him. I’m fine don’t worry.”

This wasn’t the usual tone his commander used, it was monotonic and very deep and VERY quiet. Orion’s eyes darted around looking for anywhere that Sonny could pop out and say “SURPRISE” but it never happened. Orion walked over and sat next to his unicorn commander who was still lying on the floor.

“Sir...what was that...?” He said softly with hints of fear in his voice.

“That was a Guardian Gryphon Orion, they are the strongest gryphons in the Gryphon Kingdom, it would take at least 5 of us elite guard unicorns to take one down, we would also all have to know what we’re doing and what we were dealing with.”

Orion looked down at the ground, disgusted with himself. ”If I had only acted instead of wimped out.” A tear formed in the corner of his eye, he felt a strong rage building inside of him, knowing that he was the cause of his best friend’s death, knowing that when it came down to it, he was a wimp, he didn’t deserve the title of elite guard, he had failed his unit, but more importantly he had failed his friend. His commander noticed the look on Orion’s face and spoke up.

“He’s not dead you know.” Adonis chimed in.

Orion’s ears peaked.

“S-sir?”

“Orion, Sonny is an elite guard for Princess Celestia herself, they won’t kill him. Yet.”

“T-then why are we here! Let’s go save him come on!”

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy Orion. As I said taking down a guardian would take extreme force; And besides, they will be keeping him in the gryphon encampments, we don’t know exactly which one, nor do we know the type of resistance that we will encounter, and to top it all off, we don’t know if the Princess will sanction a search and rescue mission.”

Orion was angry not only at himself, but the bureaucracy that was sure to be facing him soon, he wanted to save his friend, but he needed a sanction from the Princess; “Then we need to do recon, and we need to get to Canterlot right away, the more time we waste the closer Sonny is to dying!”

His commander lay there motionless for awhile before he finally spoke up.

“No.”

Orion took a step back before exclaiming “Excuse me?”

“Orion I have a daughter. I have a wife. I know what will happen if we go to save Sonny, and I will not leave my wife and unborn child to join your suicide mission. I’m sorry but I will not be accompanying you to the castle, nor will I be joining on your mission, assuming of course you get permission, which of course you will not. So Orion I will be parting ways with you here” The unicorn stood up and looked back to Orion “I don’t know where I will go, but I’m taking my family and I’m going there, I cannot deal with losing anymore soldiers or risking my life like this anymore. Enough is enough.”

Orion was flabbergasted at this epiphany that his commander was having.

“Sir....”

“Mayhaps we shall meet again one day, though I highly doubt it. Tell the Princess anything you like, just make sure in whatever story you tell her, I die.”

Orion had had enough by now, this was not the kind of talk he expected from his commander, “Sir! I will not! Why are you doing this!? Why now when we need you the most!? YOUR UNIT NEEDS YOU!!” he finally yelled. The light blue unicorn stallion had finally turned to face Orion, a noticeable scar covering half of his face. “Orion...I can’t see out of my left eye.... If that gryphon wanted to kill me I’d be dead. This war is getting us nowhere, this war is getting ME nowhere, and if today has taught me anything, it’s take any second chance you’re given, you may not have another.”

Orion felt bad that he had not noticed the scar earlier, but he was still angry at his commander. But he could see his point, he wanted nothing more than to be in Canterlot with Twilight and live out his days with her and maybe have a child of his own, but these thoughts were a moot point by now, he was in this situation and he needed help.

“I understand sir but please.... I need your help, what ever happened to the Great and Mighty Adonis? Where is he when we need him?”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for me.. like I said Orion, please tell the princess I was killed in the attack, I’d rather be a traveller than have to put my family through this anymore.” was the response.

“Then what will you do now sir, I mean travelling won’t pay the bills.. plus you’re sure to be found by the Princess if you keep this up your whole life...”

“Well, I’ve always been fond of the illusionary arts, so I suppose I’ll take a magic act or something like that on the road with my family, ponies will pay to see anything these days Orion...” a small tear started to grow out of the corner of the ex-commander’s eye. “I can’t wait to see my lovely again, and see my daughter for the first time, I’ll write to her so please don’t mention anything in the streets, I don’t want her to worry. Goodluck...friend.”

Orion gave a forced sympathetic smile and looked at his commander “Goodbye sir. Goodluck with your daughter, any names yet or what?” He said to try and lighten the goodbye.

“I was thinking Trixie, but it needs something else to it, I’m not sure, we’ll see.” With that he gave a small smile and a nod to his former subordinate.

The pair parted ways in the Everfree Forest, Orion heading towards Ponyville and Canterlot, and the Great and Mighty Adonis heading towards Hoofington, neither turned back to see what the other was doing, they were both ponies on missions, important missions that would take them both in different directions on different paths to lead different lives, and that’s the way it was always going to be. Orion looked up at the now dark sky and could see the lights of Canterlot. “Hold on Sonny, I’m coming. I swear it to you”

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