The Young Warrior

by Melody Song

You Just See A Monster

Thorax stared at his, Pharynx, and Apex’s reflections in the mirror. Their wings were glittering. Thorax was unsure what made their wings suddenly do this, but they were beautiful.

“But why?” Thorax asked again.

“For the last time, I don’t know, Thorax. Stop fussing over the wings, we were supposed to meet Sunburst at the park thirty minutes ago.” Pharynx said

“Oh, right.” Thorax blushed sheepishly. Apex giggled and pounced, tackling him. Thorax laughed as he sat back up, holding Apex. “Come on then.”

Thorax and Pharynx carried Apex out of the castle and down the street to the park nearby. As they entered the town, Thorax shrunk against Pharynx. The ponies who worked and lived in the castle might have known them for themselves, but the ponies in the town didn’t.

As they walked, Apex decided to get off Thorax’s back and walk. He was trotting a little ways ahead of them when he saw a crystal filly, her assumed mother was nearby, looking at something in a flower stall. The filly, meanwhile, was sitting on the sidewalk, playing with some figurines of Celestia and Luna.

Apex glanced back at Thorax and Pharynx. They weren’t paying attention. He smiled and then trotted over to the little filly.

“Hi!”

The filly looked up, hesitated, then smiled. “Hi!”

“‘M Apex. Whas’ your name?”

“Honeydew.” the filly held out the Luna figurine. “You wanna play with me? It’s no fun playing by myself.”

“Okay! I can for a li’le bi’ bu’ then I haf’a go to the park.” Apex said, reaching for the toy.

“Aw, okay. You can have Luna, Celestia’s my favor-”

“Honeydew! Get away from it!” the filly’s mother scooped her up, making her drop the Luna figurine.

“Mommy! I wanted to play with him!”

“You don’t want to play with that repulsive thing sweetie.” she said

“But my toy!”

“I’ll get you a new one.”

Apex, confused, picked up the toy and held it out to the filly. Honeydew smiled and opened her mouth to thank him, but her mother snatched it out of his hoof, giving it to the filly.

“Stay away from my daughter, you little beast.” she snarled.

Apex whimpered and backed away, but before he could say anything, Pharynx appeared in front of him, snarling. Thorax raced over and scooped up the little nymph. Apex pressed close against him.

“He’s not a beast!” Pharynx snarled

“Ahh! Stay away from us!” the mare cried, scrambling backwards, causing the filly to drop both her toys.

“P-Please ma’am, he didn’t mean any harm-” Thorax began to say

“Monsters! Trying to lure my Honeydew into a trap!” the mare cried. Thorax bit back tears and pulled Apex close. “She’s just a defenseless filly!”

“He was only-” Thorax tried again.

The mare didn’t wait for him to finish. She ran off, her daughter clinging to her back. The toys of Celestia and Luna lay forgotten on the sidewalk. Pharynx hissed in the direction the mare had gone.

“Good riddance. You okay grub?”

Apex nodded, slipping out of Thorax’s hold. He trotted over and picked up the toys.

“Leave them, Apex. They’ll just accuse us of stealing.” Thorax cautioned

But Apex held the toys close. He trotted back to Thorax, who sighed and picked him up. Pharynx led them the rest of the way to the park in silence.

When they arrived at the park, they quickly found Sunburst, who was watching Flurry Heart play. Thorax set Apex down, and he placed the toys by Sunburst before running out into the grass and sinking into a crouch. Pharynx chuckled and trotted over to correct him.

Thorax sat down by Sunburst, who seemed to notice something was wrong.

“Everything alright Thorax?”

Thorax sighed and shook his head. “Some mare started screaming at us when Apex tried playing with her daughter. She called us monsters and ran off. The filly dropped those.” he nodded to the toys.

“Oh…” Sunburst sighed and took off his glasses to polish them. “Well, I’m not Cadence, but I know for a fact that that isn’t how most of us see you. We know you’re not evil.”

“Maybe… but there will always be someone who does...” Thorax sighed, poking the toys with a hoof. Sunburst put his glasses back on, then laughed.

“Besides, who could think such a cute sight was the product of a monster?”

Thorax glanced up, then laughed. Apex was chasing butterflies, and Pharynx was slinking along after him, not even trying to keep to the proper form. He wagged his tail playfully and leapt, joining Apex as he batted at the butterflies. Apex giggled and spun around, tackling Pharynx.

“Go’cha! Die, trespas’er!”

“Heheh, not so fast, a little apprentice such as yourself is no match for me!” Pharynx rolled onto his hooves again, pinning the youngling under him with one hoof.

“Tha’s wha’ you think!” Apex growled playfully and squirmed out from under him. He leapt up and grabbed Pharynx, sending them tumbling into the grass.

“You won’t get away with that!” Pharynx exclaimed, laughing as he pinned the nymph once again. He leaned down and blew into the struggling nymph’s stomach.

“Ahh! Ahahahaha! P-Papa Thorax, hehehehehelp!”

Thorax laughed and ran over, pretending to shove Pharynx. He swayed slightly, grabbing Apex by the back of the neck and placing him on Thorax’s back. Apex cheered and hugged Thorax, cuddling up to him. Thorax smiled and nuzzled him.

“Haha, I’m victorious.” Pharynx chuckled, rubbing Apex’s head. “Given up, grub?”

“Ne’er!”

Apex pounced from Thorax’s back, clinging to Pharynx’s neck. He laughed and was about to push the nymph off, but then Thorax pounced. Their combined weight sent the formidable changeling tumbling to the ground.

“Go’cha Avunculus-Pharynx!”

Pharynx groaned and went limp. “You’ve beaten me. I surrender.”

“Yay!” Apex bounced, hugging Pharynx and nuzzling up to him. Pharynx chuckled and wrapped his hooves around him. “I bea’ Pharynx-dominus!”

“Heh, yep.” Pharynx sat up as Thorax got off him and cradled the nymph. Apex smiled and cuddled into Thorax. “Good job, grub.”

“‘M gonna be the bes’es’ warrior one day!” Apex cheered. Thorax smiled and nuzzled him.

“Heh, yes, you are sweetie.”

Apex smiled, then looked behind Thorax. “An’ a warrior a’ways does whas’ righ’. Righ’?”

“Yes…?” Pharynx answered, confused. Apex let go of Pharynx and trotted to Sunburst. He picked up the two toys and trotted back to them.

“Then we shoul’ do the righ’ thing.” he explained, holding them up.

Thorax and Pharynx looked at each other, then smiled.

---------------------------------------------------------

Apex quietly snuck up to the house Pharynx had tracked Honeydew and her mother to. He held a small velvet bag in his mouth. Apex trotted up to the porch, then set the bag on the doorstep. He tucked a small slip of paper into the top, holding it there with the drawstring. He knocked on the door before running back to Pharynx and Thorax, who waited in the bushes nearby.

“Done! Did I do good?” Apex asked

“You did great grub. Now let’s go before they see us.” Pharynx said, picking up Apex and leading Thorax away, back to the castle.

As they left, Apex climbed onto Pharynx’s back, smiling as he recalled what the note said.

Dear Honeydew,
You dropped these when your mama took you away. I don’ know why she’s scared, my Papa Thorax says she jus’ doesn’ un’ers’and us. Bu’ you do. So I though’ we should give you back your toys. You only wan’ed to play, af’er all. Maybe nex’ time we can play with them longer.
-Apex

Apex giggled and nestled against Pharynx, who grunted but didn’t complain. Thorax smiled at the little nymph. Most of the crystal ponies might still only see them as monsters, but they knew that they weren’t. To them, that was all that mattered.

Comments

[Reality Check]

“But why?” Thorax asked again.

I feel like that's everyone's reaction when they saw Thorax's wings in 'To Where and Back Again'

[Melody Song]

11172580
True. I thought they were pretty though