Patrilineality

by Melody Song

The True Princes

The group of creatures turned to see who had called out. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Headmare of the School of Friendship, trotted up to them. She smiled and waved a wing at Thorax and Ember.

“I'm so glad you two could come!”

“Well, we wouldn’t miss the chance to check up on our students.” Thorax said, as Ocellus and Smolder joined their leaders.

“Naturally.” Twilight nodded, then looked to Pharynx. “Oh, hello.”

“Right, I don’t think you two have met yet. Twilight, this is my older brother, Pharynx.” Thorax said

“Oh, Starlight mentioned you, something about helping you transform?” Twilight asked

“Yes.” Pharynx huffed.

“Well, this explains the number of trips you keep taking to the Changeling Hive, Tempest.” Twilight teased her lightly.

“Solely for training purposes. Not my fault the only ones who can tie in a fight with me are a changeling Prince and a Dragon Lord.” Tempest said

“Mm-hmm…” Twilight hummed, clearly unconvinced.

“She’s not wrong, my brother can hold his own in a fight very well, right Pharynx?” Thorax asked

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother.” Pharynx said dryly, rolling his eyes. "Doesn't mean much coming from you though, feather-hooves."

"Feather-hooves?" Ember asked, and Pharynx smirked

"Because I can knock him over like a feather." he replied, making Ember and Tempest snort with laughter.

“Hold on…” Twilight suddenly said, looking between the two changelings. “If you only had one queen, then how is it that Pharynx is the only one I’ve heard you refer to as a ‘brother’? Shouldn’t you call everyone your sibling?”

Thorax turned red. “O-Oh, it isn’t quite like that.”

“Definitely not.” Pharynx growled.

“Oh?” Twilight asked

“Hasn’t Ocellus mentioned it by now?” Thorax looked at the young changeling, who bashfully ducked her head.

“She told us, but not our Professors.” Smolder spoke up.

“Oh, well then, Ocellus, why don’t you explain?” Twilight asked

“U-Um… okay…” Ocellus took a breath.

Thorax smiled and nodded encouragingly. Pharynx sighed and looked away, like this wasn’t the first time he’d had to listen to this. Tempest and Ember moved forwards, looking interested, like they’d wanted to ask the same question before.

“Just because Chrysalis was our queen, she wasn’t the one who laid all the eggs. She did order specific changelings to mate and lay eggs-or clutches, as we call them. But for a long time, she never had any of her own.”

“For a long time?” Twilight questioned, and Ocellus nodded.

“You see, changelings usually lay clutches of three eggs or more-there are the rare single or double, but it’s not common. I’m...um...actually one of the rare ones, it’s why I only have younger siblings, and none the same age as me.”

“Fascinating...rather than one queen laying all the eggs, like you’d see with insect colonies, the egg laying was just strictly controlled by her. Go on, Ocellus.”

“Okay...so, one day, maybe twenty-five years ago, Chrysalis clutched.”

“She laid eggs for the first time?” Ember spoke up

“Yes. I wasn’t even hatched at that point, of course, but I heard of it from my parents. The whole Hive was excited because Chrysalis would finally have heirs, to take over the throne when she eventually passed on. The only thing was, Chrysalis…”

“What?” Tempest asked, and Ocellus took a deep breath. This was clearly the part she was dreading.

“Chrysalis, she…only laid two eggs. The Hive knew it would be better if she had more, because it would mean more chances of survival-and our home is the Badlands, where there are all kinds of predators.”

“Wait… two eggs…” Twilight said, apparently coming to the correct realization. “But that means…”

“Mm-hm.” Ocellus nodded “Chrysalis’ only true children, and the heirs to her throne… are Pharynx and Thorax.”

“So… even before you revolted, you were a Prince.” Ember stated, and Thorax chuckled.

“Yeah…”

“Then...is that why you were Head of Patrol? Because Chrysalis wanted to keep you close?” Tempest asked Pharynx, who snorted.

“If that were true, Thorax would’ve been Head of Patrol and I’d be her lapdog. No, I earned the rank on my own. Thorax was always weaker-and I hatched first, anyway-so I was the one who was first in line for the throne. Our… mother allowed us to gain rank in the Hive the same way as the other nymphs. I think she hoped it would get us to understand the necessity of violence.”

“So Pharynx and Thorax were the Princes of the Hive…” Twilight had at one point summoned parchment and a quill, and was scribbling furiously on it. “Intriguing. It might explain why their forms look so different… but…” Twilight looked up “You said changelings mate, meaning they don’t reproduce asexually. So how did Chrysalis ‘clutch’ if she didn’t have a mate?”

“That’s the one thing we don’t know… no one ever found out who Chrysalis mated with.”

“Well, that’s plenty of information already, thank you Ocellus.” Twilight smiled at her. “How about I give you some extra credit for sharing that?”

“What?” Smolder cried.

“Well, Smolder, if you’d like to tell me something about Dragon history I’d be happy to give you some extra credit too.” Twilight beckoned for the students to follow her. “Why don’t you and Ocellus come with me and we’ll see about that.”

“You two got quiet.” Tempest remarked as Twilight left with the Friendship Students in tow.

“Sorry, just thinking…” Thorax said

“About what?” Ember asked

“What Ocellus said… someling does know who Chrysalis-mother-mated with… two lings, actually.” Thorax said, glancing at Pharynx.

“I already told you to drop it Thorax.” he muttered

“Are you saying that you and Phar know who your father is?” Tempest asked

“Yes.” Thorax leaned down and nosed Pharynx. “Pharynx told me today, actually. We were talking and he let slip that he knows our father’s name.”

“And we also agreed it didn’t matter, since as far as we know he’s MIA.” Pharynx snarled

“So… what is his name?” Ember asked

Pharynx sighed exasperatedly “Metamorphosis. That’s what… mother called him.”

“...That’s a bit weird, don’t you think?” Tempest asked

“What?” Thorax asked

“All of you are named after body parts, but he’s not.”

“Well… neither is mother.” The way Pharynx said it sounded as if he was unsure about calling her by her relationship with him.

“No, but she’s named after a literal chrysalis. Y’know, a part of a butterfly’s life cycle? But your father isn’t named after a physical thing.”

“...You think maybe Chrysalis was lying to me?”

“Not necessarily. Maybe your father isn’t from your hive, that’s all.” Tempest said

“I didn’t think of that. Phar, what if there are other Hives?”

“Oh boy, here we go.” Pharynx sighed, facehoofing. “Thorax, there are no other Hives. Trust me, I was Chrysalis’ right-hoof ling and I never heard her mention anything to suggest there are.”

“But then what about our father-?”

“Thorax, for the last time, I’m done talking about this!” Pharynx yelled, making his brother step back in fright. Pharynx then stormed off, huffing.

“You okay Thorax?” Ember asked

“Y-yeah… just… startled… he's never yelled at me since he transformed…”

“I’ll go talk to him.” Tempest said “Chances are he’ll open up to me.”

Comments

[Melody Song]

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Heh, thanks