“That is enough.” My mother pushed her nearly empty bowl of gemstones aside. “Let us talk about you and your little-” she sighed “-marefriend.”

Here we go. Sure, it had been clear to me that my mom would address this in all likelihood sooner rather than later. I just hadn’t been expecting it to be this soon

The dinner had been going quite well up unto that point, we had informed my mother about the details surrounding how Fluffy and I had come together, starting with Fluffies braveness in the tavern, all they way to the point of Deus ex fructices, the goddess out of the bush as our child like to call it later. Sadly, Fluffy’s bravery didn’t impress my mom, though, at least Fortuna’s appearance somewhat had an influence on my mother's opinion. For good or bad? I couldn’t tell.

My mother pointed at me. “I don’t approve of your relationship.” Well, she got straight to the point. “Nor am I fond of the idea that the two of you are living together the way you are and will be having a hatchling together.”

“Mom!” I complained indignantly while Fluffy slid nearer to my side.

My mom hit the table with her claw. “What? Did you think I would approve of this kind of relationship? That I would come here and praise the connection of my son, my firsthatched, to some lower creature from a foreign continent?” She snorted. “Of course not!”

I laid my arm around Fluffy. “I had at least expected you to give us a chance, mom! That you wouldn’t immediately dismiss the possibility that we could be happy together and were worth your approval! You didn’t even try to give this a fair chance!” I raised my free claw in anger. “You haven’t even thought about what we just told you!”

“Oh, I have, son, I’ve considered what you’ve told me, but have you considered all the problems this will cause? Have you even a clue about the problems you will face?”

“If you mean the politics of… “

“I’m not talking about politics, son!” My mother growled in frustration. “The impact on politics will be disastrous, no doubt, but that’s something I will have to handle now.” She waved the topic away with her wing. “But that is not what I am concerned about!”

“And what are you concerned about then?” I asked harshly. The fact that my mother was so closed minded about me and Fluffy from the moment they had met infuriated me!

“That she will leave you heartbroken! That you will be lonely, crushed, unable to feel anything after she has left you! That I will lose you, son! Lose you to the point that I won’t be able to bring you back!”

“I don’t plan on leaving him!” Fluffy had decided to join the discussion, shouting over my mother and I’s bickering. “We may not have been together for very long, but, well-” She rubbed over her belly “-we have some good reasons to give this a serious try!” She then rubbed herself against me. “And for now, we have everything we need to make this work!”

I wrapped my wing around Fluffy. “As if you ever cared about my happiness, mom. So much for giving this a shot, huh? You’re already expecting us to break up after seeing us for not even a full hour.”

“If it were only that easy,” My mom said, holding my gaze. “If you two would only break up and go your separate ways, it would make things so much easier for you.” She held my gaze while she slightly shook her head. “No, son, I’m not talking about you breaking up, I am referring to the two of you staying together, maybe even having even more hatchlings. After all, you already have one goddess behind you, maybe even two, that are likely to cause trouble.”

“I don’t follow you, mom,” I said, and exchanged a quick confused look with Fluffy. “Why would I be heartbroken if we live happily ever after?” I saw in Fluffies eyes that she didn’t have a clue either.

“I see,” my mom nodded and clicked with her claw on the table for a moment. “I see.” She took a very deep sigh before she gave us the explanation.

“How long do you think ponies live, son?”

“Uhm…” That question had caught me unprepared, actually, I hadn’t thought about it until then. “I don’t know.” I gave Fluffy another look. “Maybe three centuries? Four with a bit luck?” I turned back to my mom, “Why?”

I felt Fluffy’s uneasy moving in my arm.

“Some of them don’t even last one, son, they die before they even get out of the double-digit range.”

My jaw dropped. Unbelieving, I looked down at Fluffy, seeking eye contact. This couldn’t be true! Sure, subconsciously I was aware that she would not live as long as a dragon, but under a century… nonsense!

So when our gaze met, an ice cold shiver ran down my spine as I saw in my mates eyes that what my mother had said was true.

“You… you really…?” I stuttered.

“Mhh mhh,” Fluffy seemed to be a little unsure about how to handle the situation. For her, it was not that big of a deal to be reminded how old she may get. But for me, considering the fact that I may very well see my sixth century, it was a very depressing thought to know that she would pass away not even halfway through my lifespan.

If I hadn’t already been sitting, I would have needed a chair.

“The same goes for your children,” my mother went on, knowing exactly where to place the talon to hurt the most. “As a halfbreed, or breeds if you have more, they will have a lifespan somewhat between yours and hers, probably two centuries, maybe three. Who knows.” She lowered her voice, speaking in a more bitter tone. “Fact is, they will all die before you do, son.”

My mother wanted to say more, but my dad laid a claw on her side. Under normal circumstances, my mom would rebuke him, but he shook his head and nodded in my direction, requesting my mom to give me a moment. After all, I was his child too.

Like I said, my mom loves my dad, so instead of telling the lower ranked black dragon where his place was, she indeed gave me a moment to let this wisdom sink in.

“Are you alright?” Fluffies soft voice penetrated my thoughts. She rose from her spot and moved over onto my lap, rubbing her nose against mine.

“I… I will be okay, just give me a moment.” I pulled her into a hug and let her softness push away my sorrows about the future. “I hadn’t expected your species to be so… short lived.”

She spread her wings under my arms and returned the hug, then laid her head on my upper chest, listening to my heartbeat. “I must confess, I didn’t think you would live that long either,” she said while her wing petted my back, “The fact that you assumed I would live for several centuries tells me that you’re not going to be passing away any sooner that that, right?”

“I may be here for five or six more centuries.”

“Ohh… “

“Yes, ohh.”

“That is a lot of time,” Fluffy told my chest scales.

“Yeah… “

“Enough to even see your grandhatchlings die,” my mother added.

I stared at my mom, gritting my teeth, pushing the words out from between them. “Really mom?”

“Maybe even the next generation after them too, if you are lucky,” she continued unimpressed, doing her best to make me feel miserable.

“Could you please just keep your snout shut?” I asked angrily, and far bolder than I would normally be in the presence of my mom.

“Why should I, that is what you get for copulating with a lower species.”

“Mom!” I pushed Fluffy aside and rose from my chair.

“Yes, son?” she asked in a calm, even more annoying voice.

“That is enough!” I yelled while whipping the ground with my tail.

“I decide when it is enough, son,” The word son was emphasized in a way that I knew I had to be carefull, my mom was an azure dragon before anything else. “You seem to have put very little thought into all of this, time for me to remind you of the reality you have created.”

“The reality I created?” I was this close to growling at her. “It wasn’t like we had much time to think this through you know!” I lifted my claw and stretched one talon out, pointing into the distance. “ Fortuna set events into motion before we even had our say in the matter! And Fluffy is not from a lower species!”

Now my mother rose from her seat too and leaned over the table. “And you decided to keep her by your side! More so, you want to raise some halfbreed hatchlings with her!” She started to growl. “And ponies are a whole step down, son!”

“They are not! And Fluffy is special, she is my mate!” I bared my teeth, though I was not able to growl at her. “I will raise our child with her, mom, whether you like it or not!”

She snorted. “You should have gotten rid of her as soon you found out she stole from your lair! Killed her as soon as you had your claws on her again!” my mom yelled in all seriousness.

This statement made me speechless for a second.

“It would have spared us all the pain!” my mother added, though this sentence was spoken to noone in particular, and without her growling or showing any signs of annoyance.

However, I was too angry to recognize this, failing to notice she had said us, not you.

“How dare you to even suggest that!” Now I was able to put at least a little growl in my voice, it wasn’t much, but it was at least something.

“Why? Because it is the truth?” My mother’s eyes became slits as her tail swung left and right in anger. “You know it would have been the dragon way! No creature is allowed to steal from one’s lair and live!”

“It was different!”

“No it was not! Just because you mounted her doesn’t mean you had to spare her life!” She released a deep growl and scratched a groove in the table. “See what it brought you!” Her talon pointed at Fluffy. “A mate you will outlive by far and a child that will be no different!”

“That’s easy for you to say! Just because your heart fell for some creature that will live as long as you will!” I snorted in my dad’s direction. “Speaking from your high perch down to me who had the misfortune to fall in love with someone who will not be there for as long as I am!” I gave the ground a second whip with my tail. “Of all the things you could have brought up, mom, it had to be something that painful, right! Something you knew would hurt me more than anything, but doesn’t affect you!”

To my surprise, my mother didn’t respond to that immediately, instead, my father took action and grabbed her claw, holding it. But I was too angry to give this a second thought.

“You come to my lair, and instead of being happy for me to have found a mate, you have to point out her short life and the pain it may cause me when she passes away! A pain you have the luck to never have to feel yourself!”

“Enough, son,” my father said loudly but calm.

I grunted. “It was clear you would join her side on this, you have too.”

“No, son, I would have supported your mother here, even if I didn’t need too. You don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Is that so?” I growled. It had never had been a problem for me to growl at him. “What do you know about this, huh?”

“More than you know. You should take a moment to think, son.”

“More than I know…” Pushing my anger aside for a moment, I took into consideration what I had seen and heard. After all, when my father had asked me to do this in the past, he had had his reasons. Still, the reality of the situation needed a moment to push through my anger, but when it did, I was able to start putting the pieces together.

There was my mom, looking at me with a gaze like stone, obviously angry, but also strangely calm. Then there was my father, holding her claw, his own claw pale from the pressure my mom was putting into the grip. Both of them had gone silent, and I wondered why, until the answer seemed to slide into place.

In that moment, I realised that I had never asked my mom how old she was, nor how old she would get. It simply never came up. I guess that may be the dragon way of raising a hatchling, since my firsthatched had started to ask me those types of questions regularly as soon as they were able to talk.

I swallowed my anger at my mom’s solution to the ‘problem’ and asked her right away. “How old are you, mom?”

She growled.

“How old does an azure dragon get?”

She only growled deeper, but my father’s head went to me and his lips formed two simple words. “Too long.”

That knowledge hit me like a rock. I mean, normally it would have just been an interesting piece of information, but with what my mother had pointed out a minute ago…

I had just gotten a taste of what true loss felt like with the understanding that Fluffy and our children would pass away long before me. It was a horrible feeling, but I could only imagine what it must feel like for my mother, knowing now that she would not only outlive her own husband, my dad, but in all likelihood me, her daughter in law, and a series of grandhatchlings too. A circumstance born from the fact that I had chosen a short-lived mate instead of a dragoness.

Suddenly my anger vanished, replaced by a deep feeling of sadness.

I must say, my mother always kept her distant from me and my dad. We were her family, but due to our lower in rank in the dragon hierarchy and her elevated position, we were handled differently from how one would expect. Don’t get me wrong, I never doubted her love, but it always felt like there was an invisible wall between her and us. With this new knowledge, that she very well may outlive all of us, it was less of a wall to keep us out, and more of a wall to protect herself.

And she knew exactly what she was talking about when she pointed out how much pain it was going to cause when Fluffy and I would not only stay together, but also raise a child. For her, it was another generation of her family she would have see fade away.

I gulped. “Mom, I…”

Her gaze bored into mine and I had to look away. Despite the fact I wanted to apologize, holding the gaze of my mom when she was angry was already hard, but when you know you had been wrong… . When she pointed out the problem, I had only thought about the impact it would have on my life, not even thinking about her situation. Urg, that didn’t make things easier now.

“See, mom, I… “

“Spare me your pity,” she growled.

“Mom, really I…” I started, but again she cut me off with a move of her claw.

Darn, we dragons weren’t that good with words to begin with, and this highly emotional stuff… it simple wasn’t part of my education. I felt bad for my mom, despite the hurtful things she had said.

Luckily, even if I was unable to make thing right again, I had a very fluffy and diplomatic marefriend who was more than capable of handling emotional situations. As hard and as rough we dragons are, we were no match for the soft and good mindedness of the pony species. More so when they were pregnant.

So Fluffy took things into her hoof, and without warning, she started to cry. No, that was not the normal procedure, this was owed to her condition causing her emotions to get mixed up. Though, it was not crying of sadness, it was crying of compassion, something ponies were especially good at.

Fluffy rose from her chair, and, like one of this fat bumblebees, she flew over to my mom and wrapped her forelegs around her throat. Good thing I had established her position before we had gone into my lair, otherwise this could have turned out very dangerous, given what my mom thought about our relationship.

So I witnessed my mom get her first claw taste of pony-magic herself. I saw how it worked on her mind, how she was trying to put a wall between her and Fluffy, but also how she failed. Fluffy’s pure show of compassion, without any trick or ulterior motive like a dragoness would have, worked on my mom.

Instead of using her claw to get rid of Fluffy by pushing her away, she placed it underneath Fluffy’s hooves, helping my very short-winded pegasus maintain the hug.

“I thank you for your compassion, Lady of the lair,” my mom simply said.

“I am sorry for causing you even more pain,” Fluffy responded, sobbing while increasing the pressure of her hug. “It wasn’t my intention!”

“It is not… “ my mother started, but then stopped herself. I guess ‘your fault’ was what she had planned to say, which would be far from the truth. In actuality, it was Fluffies fault, as well as my own. “It is alright,” she said instead.

And it was, at least between Fluffy and my mom. Of course, my mother was still against our relationship, but now that I knew her reasons, which were understandable, it was no longer a thing between her and Fluffy.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for her and me.

I turned away and let Fluffy deal with this. Anyways, it was a bit much for me to handle at the moment, and with my mixed emotions, I may only make things worse. It was not only the idea that Fluffy would fade away far sooner than I had expected, or that my mom actually had reason for being against our relationship. The problem laid a whole step deeper. This new side of things brought a new light on my mother and I’s past, more specifically, how she raised me and later treated me. Till now, I had always thought my mother, well, I knew she loved me and my father, but I assumed she was a cold hearted dragoness on the inside, with the reason having its origins in her being an upper class azure dragon. Now, however, it was more likely that she was just trying to protect herself from the inescapable. Seeing me and my possible children pass away. Not that this reason reconciled my feeling on how she had raised me.

“I’m going to fetch some fresh air,” I announced over my shoulder while moving towards the exit, not without stopping at the fridge and grabbing a bottle of cider though. Like I said, it probably was for the best to leave them alone for a while, and I didn’t need to worry about Fluffy since my mom was already under her fluffy spell. Also, the protocol made her inviolable anyway, and of course, some fresh air would do me good.

*

I slowly rubbed one of my talons over the label of the bottle, a gesture that for some reason I had noticed other species do a lot while enjoying their drink. I wasn’t sure why they did it, since it didn’t give me any surprising thoughts, but thinking about it gave my mind a much needed distraction.

The bottle was only half empty at that point, despite the fact it had been maybe half an hour since I had gone outside. Must’ve been due to the fact I hadn’t really been thirsty in the first place. It was good cider, a brand that was hard to get around here, but I played more with the bottle than actually drinking from it.

I sighed and lowered it without taking another sip. Instantly, my mind returned to the unwelcome question of my relationship with my mom. I had always thought it was the dragon way, let your hatchlings grow a bit and then let them find their own way. More so when it came to my mom, who was more than just one step higher in rank than me, her offspring. But now, I wasn’t so sure anymore. Could my mom have been more of a family dragoness if she had just wanted too? Was the distance between us just something she willingly established? And my name, my real name, was it just something she gladly accepted to increase the distance between us?

So many questions, so few answers.

And there was another, how would that affect her role as a grandmother? Would she keep her distance the same way she had done with me? I worried a bit until I remembered that there were still some new relatives from overseas that had more than enough love and cuddling to offer. I bet even Daring would drop by every now and then to check in on her… niece ...nephew? One of those.

Whatever our child will be, since Daring and Fluffy are cousins, it would technically make our child Daring’s first cousin once removed, but I think we’ll just go with aunt and niece or nephew.

No, I really didn’t need to worry about our child not getting enough love from the family. Though, when it came to my side of the family, only time would tell how that would turn out. Oh, thinking of it, I felt a smirk work its way onto my muzzle. Knowing my father, he would surely insist on visiting us and demanding his right to play with his grandchild, if it was at least somehow fluffy or cozy. A possibility that was all too likely given what their mom was like.

Speaking of him, I noticed him approaching through the tunnel behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was him, Fluffy didn’t have such a long gait, and even if she did, her hooves make that lovely clippety-clop whenever she walked on the stone. And I could rule out the possibility of it being my mom, seeing as she wouldn’t come to me, I would had to come to her.

So I rose from my spot next to my lairs entrance, revealing my position. No use in having my dad walk right past me and start flying around trying to find me. I didn’t turn around though, if he had something to say, he would need to make the first move.

Yeah, I know, it was a stupid way for us dragons to display dominance, but that was the way things were between me and him. There was no invisible ‘wall’ between me and my dad, but we were both males. Some things never change.

I could feel my dad struggling a bit with the fact that I was not turning around and showing him the respect he possibly deserved, but also, there was something on his mind he wanted to talk with me about, so it was on him to start the conversation.

He took his time, taking the spot next to me at first and spent some time after that drinking from his own bottle that he had snatched from my stocks. It could be that he thought that it would trigger me to say something, but it didn’t.

“You know what, son? I could get used to this, a warm lair and cold drinks, not vise versa as it is at the Roof Of The World.”

I stayed silent. I had no intention of discussing lair management and placement with him.

He took another long sip and then let his claws click against the glass for a while. “Look, son, your mother… “ he stopped, causing me to finally look over at at him.

“She will grow to be a little bit older than we will,” he tried again. “She has to deal with it in her own way, it is not for us to judge how she does this.”

“Not for us to judge, heh?” I snorted and looked into the distance again. “Yeah, we're just her family, nothing too special. Why would that matter when she's making a decision? It's not like family means anything. That’s what you’re try to say, right?”

“Not really. It is more that your mother must keep a balance between being a wife, a mother, and an upper class azure dragon. It is not easy to achieve that balance, if she goes too far in one direction, the whole thing would collapse.” He released a short monosyllabic laugh. “Imagine it like the wheels on a cart, if one wheel is bigger or smaller than the others, it will not work.”

“Did you just compared our family to a cart?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean, son. Don’t play the fool with me here, will you?”

“Why not?” I shrugged my wings. “It wasn’t your mother who tried her best to keep your relationship as distant as possible.”

“No, my mother was far worse. I haven’t seen her since I left her lair, around fifty ot years ago.”

I waved him off. Even if I had never seen her, I knew my grandmother from his side wasn’t allowed to visit The Roof Of The World since her and her mate were only black dragons. Yeah, this meant my father is a pureblooded black dragon.

“She didn’t really have a choice, right?” I asked. “After mom caught you, your own mom didn’t have the option to even see you anymore, that is, if she even found out what had happened to you in the first place.”

“She didn’t exactly try, even in the years before your mother caught me,” my father explained in a calm voice. I listened very closely for any sign of grief in his voice, but there was none. And it seemed he really was alright with it, judging by his next words. “And why should she have? It’s completely normal for black dragons to abandon their young after a while.” He turned to me. “Or any dragon for that matter.”

That statement had gotten him my full attention, as I was astonished at hearing this. “What do you mean that is normal? I can’t remember you showing any intentions of wanting to kick me out. You just let me be until I left on my own.”

When I was growing up, I never felt like my parents would force me to leave or that they would prefer me to not be around anymore. Sure, they did let me be after I finally left, like I mentioned before, but did they actively supported it, no. The only thing I could remember that might be related to this was my mother's strict enforcement of her superior position and using that to forbid any dominance fights between me and my dad.

She didn’t forbid me from challenging her though, but that was a ridiculous prospect in the first place. Not even during my, what you might call the dragon version of puberty, was I stupid enough to challenge her.

“I wouldn’t call what I did there normal for a black dragon, son, and your mother would have ripped my head off if I was to blame for you leaving.” He smirked. “She was really clear about her wishes in matters concerning you.”

That surprised me even more. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” he grinned and took another sip. “Let me quote your mom as best as I can remember.” He straightened up and spoke like he was addressing something smaller than him on the ground. “If our son ever leaves our home, and I have even the smallest inkling that you are the reason, you had best fly after him and bring him back. Otherwise, I will be adding your wings to my hoard, understood?”

“That’s what she said?” I asked with curiosity, as well as doubt, in my voice. “That doesn’t really sound like her. I had the feeling she was somewhat glad I left when the time came.”

“Mhh, she had mixed feelings about it. Of course she was glad you developed into an independent dragon, but her motherly heart was crying that day.”

I looked back into the distance, letting my thoughts wander through my memories of that day. “She sure was good at hiding it then.”

“Centuries of practicing self control.”

I played a moment with the bottle before I asked the question that surely had to follow that statement. “How old is mom, dad?”

“Older than me.”

I only could assume the age of my dad, I had never asked him about it either, but if I had to guess, I would say he was around his late sixties.

“Not a big of a deal considering you’re still one of the younger dragons in the immortal city.”

“If you really want to know, you have to convince your mom to tell you.” He shook his head. “I am not stupid enough to tell you myself.”

“So you do know.”

“I am her husband, what do you think that is good for?”

“Well, you are no longer her sexslave because of that. Before you two married, that’s mostly what she kept you around for after she captured you from what I’ve heard.”

Now my dad laughed. “Yeah, this is definitely an improvement, but no, that was already gone by the time she layed your egg. Being her husband gives me some more rights in regards to us cohabitating, though, within the limits of still only being a black dragon.”

“Hmm… “

“Let me tell you something about dragons, son, and about your mom’s relationship with you.” He took a seat on one of the rocks. “You may think she kept her distance at all times, but that is not really true.” He raised a claw to stop my protest before I had even said a single word. “I know, but let me tell you the whole story before you bring up your objections.”

I took a deep breath and released a small smoke cloud before I took seat on another rock. “I am listening.”

“See, dragons normally just feed their young and teach them how to hunt, how to stay alive and care for themselves before they let them go. Normally before they reach an age that qualifies them to challenge the authority of their parents.” He pointed at me. “I do remember how you wanted to challenge me during your puberty before you mom had a serious roar with you.”

“I do remember that,” I suddenly had to shake a bad feeling off. “Nothing like an azure dragon roaring at you to get any thoughts about speaking up out of your head.”

My dad nodded. “Indeed. Anyway, it is not, and I repeat, not, normal for a dragoness to spend several hours a day with her child to play with it and later to teach it non basic survival stuff.”

“For that not being normal, she did put a lot of effort into it.”

“Do you think it is normal for you to not only speak two languages, but that you can also read and write both of them?”

“Uhm… “

“It is not common, I doubt there is more than a clawful of black dragons who can speak old draconic, not to mention write it.”

“Heh, and what is your point with this, dad?”

“The point is that your mother does care for you, she really does, you can see it with everything she did for you.”

“She had a strange way of expressing it.”

“Balance, son, all about balance. She spent far more time with you than a dragoness normally would, and she also checked on you from time to time, also something unusual.”

I rolled with my eyes. “You mean the few visits you two made during the years?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “once you left, it would had been totally normal to not even spend a single thought on you.”

“I guess visiting once or twice a year still counts as not spending much thought on me.”

“It is not like I wouldn’t come by more often if I had the choice you know?”

I gave my dad a longer look before I sighed and responded. “Yeah, I know.”

It was true, my dad was more of a family dragon then my mom was, no matter the basic dominance conflicts between us.

Thinking of that, a mischievous thought crawled it's way into my mind. “It's a real shame you probably won’t get see your fluffy grandhatchling that often with how frequently you visit. Not to mention Fluffy and her family when they also come to visit.”

I saw on his face that this thought hadn’t found his approval. So I decided to add a little oil to that fire. “You know, they are pegasi too, meaning they are literally a bunch of walking balls of fleecy feathers that are very soft to touch. And the last time I met them, they seemed to like it when I picked them up and cuddled them,” I added, not even trying to hide my smirk anymore.

Okay, with the exception of one very overprotective cousin maybe, and brother, but he doesn’t need to know.

“I think your mother can be convinced to check on you more often,” my dad said, more hopefully than really convinced. “Raising a half dragon is not an easy task after all. More so with a mother that isn’t fireproof.”

It took me a second to follow his sudden change of topic. “What do you mean?”

“Well, there is a high chance that your child will be able to spit fire when it gets older, right?” He gave me a look to see if I was with him on his thoughts, and when I nodded, he continued. “Seems you forgot about fire coughing and diseases like that? If you are not careful, your child could very well set your mate on fire.”

“Ohh… “ I placed a claw on my snout. I really had forgotten about that little detail of dragon childhood. It hadn’t been that big of a deal for my parents to handle them. The worst thing that had happened was that I set some furniture on fire. They were the only flammable object in range anyway. In this case however, Fluffy counted as flammable too!”

I let my claw slide down my snout. “That will be fun.”

“Not to mention the other dragon habits that may develop, like finding something to sharpen their claws on, biting your tail, and later, challenging your dominance. If, they stay that long in your lair anyway. They could very well leave as soon as puberty kicks in.” He flickered his tail, “I don’t know how these ponies act when they grow up, but with being a halfbreed, they very well could leave far sooner than you imagine.”

“I don’t think I’ll have to worry about the dominance part, not even if it was a full blooded dragon, but what do you mean by leave so soon? I never felt the urge to leave during my… difficult times. That came later.”

“Because your mom had told you not to. She has quite an influence on the instincts of lower dragons.”

“I am a part azure dragon myself, dad.”

“Is that so? I never noticed.”

“Dad!”

“Alright,” now he smirked, “why don’t you go in there and tell her your opinions then? Straight to her face? I am sure there are a few complaints that you’ve accumulated over the years.”

I waved my tail in frustration. “I’ll pass.”

“I thought so. Speaking up to her is never easy, not even as her husband.”

I just grumbled.

“But this is something you have to take into consideration! Your offspring may want to leave and create their own lair far sooner than you or your mate would assume, ... or like.”

“My mate has a name dad, Danger Do, it would be nice if you used it”

“Sure, still, keep that in mind, son, raising a half-dragon can turn out quite difficult for your m… for Danger Do. Though, on the upside, I think that the pony part of your child will be far more easy to handle for you.” He looked back at the lair. “I mean seriously, son, hooves and feathers? I see why you mounted her,” he nodded in approval, “but having a child with her is something different.”

“Not you too, dad! Were you even listening when we explained the reasons to mom?”

“Yes, I did, but still…”

“It was Fortuna’s doing, not mine. If I had known what she was up to, I would have obviously used protection.”

“Would you have?” He gave me a honestly curious look. “Are you sure about that?”

“Mhh... “ I took a moment to think this through, I was still not so fond of the idea of becoming a father this early, but on the other claw, it had gotten me Fluffy. It was a question I would have to think about for longer. “Actually, I am not quite sure. Sharing my lair with Fluffy is… kind of nice. I would miss her if she wouldn’t be there.”

“You would miss her, or her body?”

I smirked. “Both. She can be a bit strange sometimes, and we still have to get used to each other's quirks, but I like her personality as much as her fluffy body.”

“Good for you, otherwise this would have become a problem sooner or later. Raising a child can pull at your nerves, and I can tell you this from experience, it will definitely reduce your fun times.”

“We will see about that.” I wanted to say more, but I noticed the sound of hooves coming from my lair. Fluffy was about to show up, and it was not wise to worry her with dragon stuff given her condition. Not to mention, she may not approve of me and my dad discussing my sexual interest in her. I mean, for us dragons, it was quite normal to speak that openly about our desires, but for ponies…

So, when she stepped out of our lair, I simply walked over to her and stroked over her back with my head, purring softly.

She returned the favor by using her wings to pet me. “Your mom wants to see you, both of you,” she said with a nod to my dad. “I think she’s calmed down enough to continue a civil conversation, though, you should avoid the theme of age for a while.”

I moved my head to Fluffies neck and nibbled on it a bit, knowing it made her crazy. It was my way of saying that I approved of her diplomatic skills. I knew she would get things back in line. Though, the final words between me and my mother still needed to be said, I knew then would not be the right time.

At that time, however, I enjoyed the little noise of pleasure Fluffy made, and took the playful and disapproving hit from her wing.

“Your dad is watching,” she said smiling. “Save your naughty tricks for later.”

I purred in approval of the idea, though, my mind was still a bit distracted by the problems my dad had mentioned. Even if I didn’t like some of his opinions, he had been a great help, and I should reward that.

“Hey dad, my fluffy marefriend seems to be a bit tired, would you mind carrying her back? Carefully!”

Very enthusiastically, he nodded. “Sure!”

I lowered my head to Fluffies ear. “See it as a part of our diplomatic negotiations,” I half whispered, half purred into her ear when she gave me a raised eyebrow. “My dad gave me some useful advice, and allowing him to carry my fluffy treasure back home is a way of showing my gratitude. Not to mention, I seem to remember you like getting carried around.”

She snorted, but did so magnanimously. “In the name of diplomacy,” she said, and allowed my father to lift her up, cuddling into the most comfortable position she could.

I had to smile, one thing was for sure, my father was a big fan of my choice of mate, no matter what he would say in the presence of my mom.

***

Hmm, that should give you enough knowledge about how things were between me and my family, and that was what you asked for right? So let me tell you in advance that the differences between me and my mother were not settled that day, nor during their whole stay.

My parents gave us some more advice though, it seemed to be more difficult to raise a halfbreed than I expected. Anyway, that’s only the boring stuff, me and my parents talking about dragon matters is not the most exciting thing in the world I guess, so let me grab a drink and then I’ll tell you about the birth of Fluffy and I’s child, that should entertain you far more.

That much I can assure you already, it was a very nerve-racking day for the both of us.

Author's Note

So I hope you are happy, that should be enough Slice of Life and family background for The Black Death The next chapter will either be around the birth, or, depending on his writing speed, a Bonus chapter by my editor: Schattendrache (Yes he changed his name to the more accurate form in ancient Draconic)

As explanation, while editing, he asked me a lot of questions about the background for the characters and one side story he loved that much that he told me to write a chapter about it, but I have enought to do with the actuall main story here so I told him to write it himself. He agreed and for a while now he asked me about every little detail of some events, be them already happened or have yet to happen in the story and will make a chapter about it.

So you get whatever will be finished faster