//------------------------------// // A Little Talk // Story: Like Father, Unlike Son // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// It took a lot of convincing to get Iron Will's fans away from him. Once they did, they headed back to Annie's home. Yona had followed them home where Annie sat down on her bed in her bedroom. "Annie feel okay?" the yak asked. "I’m fine. Terry's just having one of his bad days," the female minotaur sighed. "If I try talking to him now, I feel I might make things worse." She brought her hands to her face. "How long Terry been upset?" "Actually, he's not always been like that. Just until my husband left." Yona was surprised at this. "It's… not something I like talking about." "Maybe Annie should talk about it." "I suppose you're right.” Annie breathed in and out for a bit, and started explaining. “You see, when Terry was still a calf, his father wasn't very impressed by his lack of strength. I was happy that he had such a liking for literature, but his father was so focused on him getting physically stronger. We had... a couple of fights and we were at each end. Soon... he left me and Terry alone.” “But... Annie fine right?” “Of course we were. I managed to get a good job to help pay for the roof over our heads and we got along fine for a couple of years. Then one day, I met Wilbert. We started getting along and then you came along." "So, what Annie do now?" "I think I'm going to wait for Terry to calm down, and hopefully, I’ll get him to talk with Wilbert." Yona was a little curious about Iron Will and could see that he wasn't in the same room as them. The yak left her room, and decided to look around for a little and soon found the famous minotaur reading a book. Yona looked at the cover and found it was titled, "Parenting for Dummies." Iron Will noticed the yak trying to look at the book and he quickly tried to hide it. "What's yak doing?" he questioned. "Yona was just looking at book," the yak spoke. "Don't yaks know about privacy?" "You teach yak to break through walls. What would Iron Will know about privacy?" "What's going on in here?" Annie questioned. She walked into the room while Iron Will hid the book under the couch cushion. "Uh... Nothing," Will fibbed. Yona gave a low brow as she tried to dig through the cushions. Iron Will tried to stop her, but Annie quickly got involved. "Wilbert, what are you hiding from me?" The famous minotaur began stuttering until Yona showed the mother the book. "Parenting for Dummies?" "Ugh, well... Yeah. I wanted to see if I could be a good father figure for Terry. You know, try and get something in common with him. It's just... I'm so used to getting along with creatures that are more like me. Big, strong, I'm not that used to having subtly and books and... And stuff like that." "But what made you make an effort? Why did you start with Terry?" "It was kind of with you. I enjoyed our time together and I thought I would try and enjoy my time with Terry too. Though, it doesn't look like it went too well." "Yona not too worried," Yona spoke. "Silver talking to Terry. Hopefully, friend find him." Silverstream flew around trying to look for the teenage minotaur. She eventually found Terry sitting nearby a frozen lake. There were a few minotaurs around, there were young ones playing in the snow while some older ones were on the frozen lake ice fishing. The hippogriff landed next to the moody teenager, who didn't look like he was in the mood to talk. “Terry?” Silverstream called. "Silver, just leave me alone," he muttered. "Terry, you sure you don't want to talk?" the hippogriff asked. She looked around and guessed that the other minotaurs that were around weren't close enough to hear them. "Now would be a good time to let something off of your chest." Terry let out a long sigh. "He's just like my old dad," he admitted. "Always boasting about getting stronger, not really caring about books or other things besides exercising and showing off your muscles." "But you should be happy, you had a new dad." "Why? My first dad walked out on me and mom." "Well, Iron Will didn't. Maybe he actually wants to try and get to be a part of your family. It's not good when the family isn't together." "How would you know?" Silverstream let out a sigh. She held her pearl shard as she quickly turned into a seapony, much to Terry's surprise. "Long ago, there was a tyrant known as the Storm King. He caused the hippogriffs to flee from our home, Mount Aris, and into the sea. We did that by using the pearl of transformation to turn us into seaponies. We lived there for a couple of years until Princess Twilight and her friends stopped that horrible king." "Well, that's good, right? Where are you going with this?" Silverstream used her pearl shard to change herself back into a hippogriff. “After the Storm King was defeated, some of the hippogriffs moved back onto land. However, some of the seaponies got used to living underwater, including my mom. My dad was one of the hippogriffs that moved back onto land and my brother Terramar goes back and forth on where he lives.” “Where do you stay?” “Well, I spend most of the time at the School of Friendship. I couldn’t really pick. I wanted to explore more of Equestria, but I didn’t want to leave any of my parents alone. It was just too hard for me to choose. Maybe you’re lucky that you have a chance of having a family that’s together.” Silverstream let out a sad sigh. “I... didn’t know about that.” “It’s not like my parents hate each other. They just enjoy different ways of living. Still, I wish they could live together. The only time they’re together now is during the Three Days of Freedom.” “Is that a holiday that hippogriffs and seaponies celebrate?” “Yeah. I just wish they were together more often.” Terry felt sorry for the hippogriff. “Silver, I wish I could help with your problem.” “It’s not too bad. I just think you should be happy you get to have another father. One that’s probably wanting to get to know you.” "...I suppose you're right. I probably should give him another chance. I'm sorry about your family." "It's not too bad. As long as they love each other, I'm happy." The hippogriff and minotaur shared a hug as they both started to feel a little bit better. "Hey, Terry Twig!" called a voice. "Ugh, now what?" the minotaur questioned. The last thing he wanted was somebody ruining the moment. "What was that trick your bird friend pulled?" one of the bullies questioned. "We saw her turn into a fish." "...It's called a seapony," Silverstream stated. Though, the minotaurs weren't really listening to her. "Of course since you can't get stronger you have to befriend freaks." "Hey, she's not a freak," Terry stated as he stood up. "And don't you have anything better to do?" "You know the last time there were around creatures stronger than us?" "Look, just leave Silver alone." "You know, how about we just go back to Will?" Silverstream suggested. "Yeah, that's another thing," one of the bullies said, "How could someone as lanky as you end up as a step-son to Iron Will?" The hippogriff could see things were likely going to get ugly, so she tried to grab Terry's arm and drag him away. Suddenly, a snowball nearly hit her. "What was that for?" Terry questioned. "We're not letting someone like her control us," the bullies said. "She was taking me away from airheads like you." The bullies didn't like the sound of that and chucked some snowballs at Terry. One of them hit him in the eye. Silverstream was shocked at what happened. Lucky for them, the minotaurs that were ice fishing could see the fight breaking out. They ran over to them and stopped the snowballs before things could get out of control. Annie and Yona managed to help Iron Will to talk when they heard the front door open. Silverstream and Terry walked in, with the young minotaur being rather bruised. “Oh my goodness!” Annie cried. “Terry, what happened?” “I ran into a couple of bullies,” Terry answered. “I’m okay. Don’t worry.” That didn’t stop the mother from running over to check on her son. "Mom, I'm fine, really." "He was so great," Silverstream said. "There were some bullies that were picking on me because of my pearl shard. I'm okay." "That's good to hear," Annie commented. "Terry, do you need me to get anything?" "I'm fine mom," Terry grumbled. He looked over to Iron Will, who Yona nudged him to step forward. The two male minotaurs looked at each other before the older one spoke up. “So, would you like some lessons in... Exercise?” Will asked. “I don’t think that’s my thing.” “Ah. I thought so.” Will rubbed his arm feeling a little embarrassed. He looked back at Yona, who simply nodded. The famous minotaur sighed. “Listen, I’m not really good at talking about feelings. I’m good around creatures like your mother, but when it’s someone like you... I don’t know. I just wanted us to get along.” “Yeah, Silver told me about that. You seem... better than my old dad. You’re actually trying to be nice to me. My dad didn’t really care.” “Then I guess he and Iron Will are more different than Iron Will thought.” “What’s with the third-person talk by the way?” The bigger minotaur simply shrugged. “Look, I probably shouldn’t have given you the cold shoulder. I guess I just kept comparing you to my old dad. I... don’t want to risk having a bad time with you.” “Iron Will understand your situation. Iron Will just wants to be a good father. Would you like that?" Terry looked over to Annie, who was crossing her fingers as she hoped for the best. "Yeah, I think I probably should've given you a chance from the start," Terry admitted. He let out an embarrassed chuckle before giving Iron Will a hug for a second. Annie was proud of the boys and walked over to hug them. Silverstream and Yona smiled in delight. Their beak and horns soon started glowing, signaling their job was finished. “We did it!” Silverstream exclaimed, giving Yona a fistbump. "Um, do all yaks and hippogriffs do that?" Annie questioned. "Just us," Silverstream responded. "Our work here is done." "Yona hope to see family again," Yona sighed. "Same to you," Annie sighed. "We could probably visit you sometime. Where do you live?" "We mostly stay at the School of Friendship that's in Ponyville," Silverstream explained. "Iron Will knows where that is," Iron Will spoke. "Silver and Yona will get visits." This made Yona and Silverstream happy. Applejack was helping some of the minotaurs set up their events when the two students walked over to her. "There you are, girls," the farm pony said. "Was your mission a success?" The yak and hippogriff nodded. “Terry’s got a new dad who’s much better than his old one,” Silverstream explained. “That and I told him about some issues I might be having.” “What issues?” Yona asked. Silverstream held her talon as she let out a sigh. “It’s about my family.” She began explaining to Yona and Applejack her situation as they went back to the balloon to fly home. As they did that, Annie was placing her cake into the oven as she looked over to the boys, who were about to start playing Landslide again. The mother left the cake to bake as she sat down with her boyfriend and son to join in with their game. The family of three began enjoying their game together.