The Young Warrior: Eternally Paternal

“Wait, who is Fortuna again?”

The blue dragoness who had asked was currently lounging on a bed covered in purple and red sheets, one claw in a bowl of gemstones. She shoved a ruby into her mouth as she stared at the two changelings opposite her.

“Their mother figure Em, keep up.” A mulberry unicorn with a shattered horn climbed onto the bed beside the dragon, nudging her over to make room. “The Golden General?”

“Oh, right.” She chuckled sheepishly. “Sorry. So Fortuna apparently knows who your actual father is, and either he’s coming back to the Hive, or you’re going to him?”

“Something like that.” Thorax sighed and looked away. “We just– apparently he made his own life without us, a-and even though Fortuna assured us he does want to see us, we can’t just take him away from his home.”

“Wouldn’t it be his choice if he comes back, though?” Ember questioned.

“Even if he does come back, I’m not sure I want to talk to him.” Pharynx grumbled, scuffing his hoof into the ground.

“It’s not his fault he had to leave.” Thorax said softly.

“But he didn’t even try to come back and see if he’d been exiled!” Pharynx snarled. “He just ran for it and found a new life.”

“Phar.” Tempest locked eyes with her boyfriend. “You do realize that is exactly what I did, right? Less evil, but still.”

“Right… sorry Temp, no offense.”

“None taken.” Tempest sighed and looked over at Thorax. “Anyway, Thorax is right. He ended up being harassed by his Queen, so clearly his reality was all messed up. He thought the best thing to do was flee. I’d say that’s having a choice and choosing the right option.”

“But what about us? He could have at least tried to see if we existed.”

“How was he supposed to know?” Ember responded for Tempest. “I mean, he panicked because he was gay, not because he knew you two had been conceived.”

“I– well, yeah, but I still feel like we should be mad at him.” Pharynx insisted.

“You have the right to have feelings about it, you just don’t necessarily need to be angry at him for deciding to get out of a situation he didn’t want.” Tempest replied.

“Yes we do!” Pharynx snapped. “He left us behind! I don’t care if he didn’t know we existed, it still happened!”

“Phar–”

“Stop.”

Tempest fell silent as asked, but still glared at the changeling with a warning gaze. Pharynx almost seemed ready to submit to her stare, but steadied himself and held his head high.

“Tempest-praefectus, you have no right to tell me how I should feel.”

“I’m your girlfriend, I think I have enough right–”

“No you don’t!”

“Do I need to remind you that I’m not some housewife you can boss around?!” Tempest jumped off the bed and stalked over to look him in the eye. The mare was unusually tall for a pony, able to match Pharynx’s eye level, which did not bode well for the beta changeling.

“I-I never said that!”

“Sounded like it.” Tempest snorted at him, her horn crackling with energy.

“I didn’t mean– Temp, I didn’t think–”

“Exactly, you weren’t thinking. So why don’t you listen to us for once?” Tempest asked harshly.

“We are listening to you! I just– I want to be mad at him because of what he did to us!” Pharynx yelled in her face, and the mare stepped back slightly.

“What are you talking about now?” Ember asked, flaring out her wings and flying over to Thorax, who was staring at his brother in confusion.

“If he hadn’t left, things would have been better!” Pharynx shouted. “Think about it, Tuney said he wished he could see us, right?! So if he stayed we would have had someone besides Tuney who loved us! Maybe we wouldn’t have fallen apart when we thought she died, then!”

“Wait, what?” Ember looked up at Thorax, who looked away guiltily.

“When we had Fortuna, she was the one thing that helped us connect with each other. After she was gone, we didn’t act like siblings to each other anymore, not for a while. Apex was the next one to bridge that gap.”

“She was the thing that kept us together. If we’d had someone else in our lives who loved us maybe we wouldn’t have grown apart. Maybe we wouldn’t have needed a nymph to bring us back to each other.” Pharynx snarled.

“So then maybe you wouldn’t have reformed the entire Hive and created a new, better way of life.” Tempest shot back.

“Yeah, plus, what if he had stayed and just hadn’t been able to protect you guys?” Ember suggested, grabbing her bowl of gemstones. “Like Fortuna. You said she looked after you, but that didn’t change what Chrysalis did, right? How can you be so sure he wouldn’t have been stuck in the same boat?”

Pharynx opened his mouth to retort, but none came. He just sat down, staring at the floor in silence.

“I just really wanted a dad.” Pharynx whispered after a long while. “We only ever had Tuney, and– I always just wondered what having a dad was like.”

“Eh, dads are overrated.” Ember waved a claw dismissively.

“We know you’re only saying that because your dad tried to forbid you from becoming the Dragon Lord.” Tempest objected.

“Exactly! Overrated!” Ember huffed and crossed her arms. “Just because I got my mom’s height doesn’t mean that I can’t be a leader.”

“Well, my dad wasn’t really the best father either, but I think if Fortuna trusts Metamorphosis, he could be a good father to you two.” Tempest reasoned, stepping over to Pharynx and lifting his chin. “I mean, did she ever once say anything bad about him?”

“N-No.”

“Then it’ll be okay. Maybe you won’t get used to the idea right away, and you have every right to hold a grudge against him because of what he did. But you shouldn’t let that shape your entire relationship with him.”

“Exactly! I mean, come on, holding grudges is supposed to be our thing.” Ember said, gesturing to herself and Tempest, then smiling. “But seriously, you have the chance to have a dad now, so why not jump at it?”

“They’re not wrong.”

Pharynx jumped up so quickly he nearly crashed into Tempest. “Mom! You’ve got to stop doing that!”

Fortuna laughed as she walked into the room, brushing her mane back. “I’m sorry Phary, really! I just wanted to see if the two of you were alright!”

Tempest and Ember stared at the unreformed changeling, who grinned as she finally noticed them.

“So, you must be Tempest and Ember. I’ve got to say, I’m happy my boys found such good matches for them. I can tell you keep my Phary on his hooves, don’t you Tempest? Oh, and it’s nice to see such an assertive nature around Thory, Ember.”

“Mom!” The twins shouted in unison, as their girlfriends blushed.

“I’m sorry!” Fortuna laughed, smirking. “Honestly, I was just a bit surprised, I could have sworn you two liked boys – not that it would have been a bad thing either way.”

“Wait, what?” Tempest looked at Ember, who shrugged, also clueless.

“Oh, they used to have crushes on Tibius and Hunter.”

“You what?!”

Thorax shrank back against Pharynx as the girls rounded on them. Pharynx chuckled nervously, smiling sheepishly.

“We, uh– so, funny story–”

“Oh relax, they were still kids when they grew out of those.” Fortuna cuffed Tempest over the head gently to get her attention. “I do have a question, though. Tempest, did Phary stalk you?”

“E-Excuse me, what?”

“Mom!”

“He used to follow Hunter around, and when the older nymph finally caught on they just bullied each other.” Fortuna chuckled. “Phary lost every fight, but he kept saying Hunter was just asserting his dominance.”

“So that’s why you always let Tempest win when you spar!” Ember shouted, and Pharynx turned red.

“I do not let her win!”

“Yeah, but I do win every time.” Tempest shot back, blushing through her smirk. “So are you telling me that I’m the dominant one here?”

“N-No, I was a nymph!” Pharynx blushed and glared at Fortuna. “When did you come in anyway?”

“Around when Ember was finishing her train of thought.” Fortuna smiled at the dragoness. “I like you already, Ember, you’re smart. That’s something I always hoped for in a dragon, all the ones I’ve met can barely form sentences, much less pass off as intelligent.”

“My dad says I get it from my mother.” Ember murmured, smiling slightly.

“Anyway, what did you come in here for?” Pharynx asked his mother with a pointed look.