Discord's Family Reunion

by Mister E

Part 14

Part 14
Confessions

Silence filled Discords sitting room, as the gathered friends awaited the response to Twilight’s anger filled statement. All eyes turned toward Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, who’s faces were still tear stained from watching their mother say goodbye to them moments ago on Discord’s viewer. Celestia is the first to recover, and after taking a moment to dab her eyes, she responds.

“Yes Princess Twilight Sparkle.” She says formally. “We knew that some day, we would have to speak of these things. Just as we knew when Discord first received his letter, that the time to do so was nigh. You are angry with us, speak your peace then, and we will respond, as best we are able.” The Princess of the Sun said, as she and Luna drew themselves up.

“I hardly know where to begin!” Twilight says, pacing back and forth, her voice bitter with barely contained rage. “All this time. From the very beginning. When we used the elements of Harmony to restore your sister, you knew that we were using your mother’s magic’s. When we first battled Discord, you know he was your uncle. When you took control of the kingdom away from him, all those thousands of years ago, and turned him to stone in the first place, you were really usurping the throne from the rightful ruler of Equestria!”

“Ah, technically it would have been my sister, who was the right-” Discord begins.

“NOT NOW!” Twilight yells. As Discord falls silent.

“No wonder you only had him imprisoned in stone. An-and you wanted us to reform him... and all this time, he was your uncle... AND YOU NEVER TOLD US?!?” Twilight finishes in a shout.

The rest of the mane six gather around her. Applejack places a hoof upon her shoulder. “Now let’s just calm down a minute. I’m sure that the princesses had a good reason fer not telling us. Right?” she says, looking toward the two royal princesses sitting on Discord’s sofa.

Luna bows slightly as Celestia begins to speak.

“Twilight Sparkle. You know not of what you speak. You are angry with us. You feel that we have deceived you all somehow. We have not!” The Princess says resolutely. Our family history is filled with pain and loss. We do not revisit these memories lightly. There is much yet, that you do not know.”

“Then tell us!” Twilight yells.

Celestia pauses, and looks toward Discord. He is about to speak, but before he can, Twilight, after seeing her look to him, says “you need HIS permission now?!?” and bolts from the room, and out into the garden.

The rest of the mane six are left standing before the princesses of the sun and the moon, with Discord over their shoulder as the rest of their friends look on.

“I’m sorry princess,” Applejack says. “But you gotta understand how hard this is for her. She always spoke about you as her mentor, her best friend. Ya’ll keeping something like this from her, it makes her feel like she don’t matter to you.”

“I know Applejack.” Celestia says more calmly. If you will all excuse me, I’d like to speak to her... alone.” And with that Celestia rises and follows her former student out into the gardens.

After she leaves, Luna addresses everyone present. “It’s hard for Celestia as well. We talked about this a lot after I returned. When Twilight first met her, her mother had been long gone, searching the world for her father. Her uncle Discord was trapped in stone, and her sister had turned evil and was imprisoned in the moon. She had been living alone, in a palace filled with ponies. She had no close friends, and all she did all day was work on trying to keep the kingdom running.

When she first met Twilight Sparkle, she saw so much of herself in the young unicorn. Her innocence, her happiness, how serious she was about her studies. She grew closer and closer to her. Celestia used to tell me how happy she was each time Twilight came to her and overcame a difficult spell she was learning, or when she would confide in her. Gradually Celestia came to think of young Twilight as a daughter. A daughter she was helping to raise. She loves Twilight so very much.” Luna says earnestly.

“She sent Twilight to Ponyville, because she realized that Twilight needed more than just herself and her studies. It pained my sister greatly to let her go. But the letters that she, and you all sent her filled her with much happiness. She keeps every one. When I returned from the moon, thanks to you all, I was able to reunite with my sister. I didn’t realize at the time, but I was also helping to fill the void that Twilight left when she came here. And as we spent our time catching up, for the longest time it was ‘Twilight this’ and ‘Twilight that’” Luna says rolling her eyes. “It was like her whole life had been revolving around what was going on in Ponyville.”

“That was one of the reasons I came to visit on Nightmare Night.” Luna adds. “And my sister was correct, this place is REALLY fun!” Luna says smiling. “You girls have no idea how boring it is sitting there day after day, listening to speeches, ponies wanting favors, signing papers... but you all get to have fun! Have adventures! Celestia won’t ever say it out loud, but we are really very jealous.” Luna confides.

“Yeah, we ARE pretty great and all,” Rainbow Dash replies. “But why didn’t Celestia just tell us about Discord, and Harmony and the tree and all?”

“It wasn’t so simple Rainbow,” Luna replies. “When Celestia was all alone, ruling for all those centuries, she became withdrawn. She never let herself get close to anypony. After her only sister betrayed her she couldn’t bring herself to trust anypony anymore. She was surrounded at court by ponies who all wanted to curry favor with her. Anything she ever said or did was scrutinized by every pony around her. Most of what was known about her and her family were only rumors handed down by previous generations. Generations that she, herself outlived. Much of the events that we have been witnessing on uncle’s viewer were unknown to my sister and myself as well. And many of the events yet to come occurred before we could even walk. As for what we did know of,” Luna pauses, addressing all the ponies present.

“Can you all understand? A ponies family? It’s pains, it’s personal tragedies and losses. Even Discord, never mentioned anything, even before he got better. Can you understand why none of us said anything?” Luna asks imploringly.

“I understand.” Applejack says quietly. “Family is the most important thing. And what goes on in a family is personal. Not meant to be shared around with just any pony.” Luna’s face relaxes visibly. “But what YOU need to understand princess, is that it isn’t just you and Celesta, and Discord. The six of us,” Applejack pauses and looks around the room, “Heck, ALL of us, WE are your family too. You and your sister are just as important to us, as any other pony in this room!” Luna looks around at everyone, and sees that each of them are nodding in agreement with what Applejack has said.

Finally Luna speaks. “My sister was right about you all.” She says, tears forming around the rims of her eyes, “you are all so very special!” Please can you ever forgive us?”

“Of course darling,” Rarity says, her eyes misting up as well.”That’s what a family does.” And they all close in and embrace their princess in turn.

Twilight sits alone on a bench in the palace gardens. The beauty of the flowers, and the shadowed leaves are lost to her as she stares downward at the ground. Her eyes are red with unshed tears, as she absently kicks at the dirt. She doesn’t look up as the sound of hooves herald the approach of some pony else. The sound stops as the approaching pony settles in beside Twilight on the bench. For long moments, neither of them speak. Finally Celestia breaks the silence.

“I was hurt.” she says quietly.

“Yeah? Well so was I!” Twilight replies hotly.

After a moment Celestia begins again. “Back when my sister became Nightmare Moon, and I was forced to banish her to the moon. I was hurt for so very long. And I had no one to turn to. Uncle was a statue, Mother was off trying to find her father for the umpteenth time. And the sister that I loved more than anything in the world had betrayed me. For centuries I had to get up every morning and banish my sister’s moon, and cause the sun to rise. Then I had to spend all day running the kingdom, listening to reports, meeting dignitaries, signing treaties, having to deal with pony after pony who only wanted to be on my good side, and would hesitate before speaking, for fear of saying the wrong thing. Then at night before bed, I would have to set the sun, and raise the prison I had made for my sister. I’d sit on my balcony and stare up into the face of the moon, and most nights just cry myself to sleep.”

Twilight finally looks up at Celestia, as she continues to speak, her head bowed and her eyes closed.

“I continued to go through the motions, just as I described, for more years than I can count. And then one day, as I was going over some report that I can’t even recall, there was a huge explosion, a giant rainbow covered the sky, and suddenly I sensed an immense magical force nearby. I made my way outside and jutting from the roof of the students hall I saw the head of a huge dragon. I quickly made my way inside, and down in the center of the room a young purple unicorn was lost in a maelstrom of power. I could feel her fear as her mind was linked, all alone, to the vast source of all magic. As I made my way down to her, I recognized her. Her parents were known to me, and had spoken of her often, young Twilight Sparkle. As I touched her shoulder, and broke her connection to the source, everything reverted to as it was before. She was so frightened that she had done something terrible. I knew that fear. For years I had wondered. ‘Was it my fault that Luna turned?’ ‘Was what she said to me true?’ ‘Did I do a terrible thing, and because of that my sister is gone forever?’ Young Twilight immediately began to apologize for what had happened. You wanted to run away, didn’t you?” Celestia asks.

“Yes.” Twilight responds quietly. “I was so ashamed, and embarrassed. To do that in front of the teachers, and my parents, all I wanted to do was run and hide. But you were there. And you praised me, and offered to make me your personal protegee. You were my idol, and you wanted ME to study along side you! It was the happiest moment of my life.”

“And then there’s today.” Celestia says, her voice somber.

“Yeah.” Twilight replies. Twilight takes a deep breath, lets it out, and then asks. “Why? Why didn’t you trust me? Even if you couldn’t tell any pony else, why couldn’t you trust ME?”

“I couldn’t... I didn’t tell you, because I was thinking like a princess, and not as your friend.” Celestia confesses.

“What do you mean as a ‘princess’,” Twilight asks, “I don’t understand.”

“Twilight. Luna and I turned our uncle to stone. Each and every time I walked by his statue I asked myself, ‘Did we do the right thing?’. To this day, I’m still not sure.” Celestia admits. “But at the time, we made the HARD choice. But Twilight, after all those years alone, I don’t think I could do it again. I never told you that he was part of my family because I needed you to be able to make that hard choice, if ever it needed to be made again. I needed you to be stronger than I am. For the good of the kingdom. Even if... even if it meant that you were no longer able to trust me, or wanted me to be your mentor... or your friend.” Celestia says, her voice harsh and cracking. “And if this is the case,” she says, forcing her voice to be strong, “then I want you to know that I understand. And... and I-” Celestia breaks off what she is saying as Twilight hugs her tightly.

“Now... now you listen to ME princess!” Twilight chokes the words out between sobs. “You will ALWAYS be my mentor. You will ALWAYS be my friend. Don’t EVER think I will leave you. You aren’t alone Celestia, all of us here, we are ALL your friends. Anytime, ANY time that you feel lonely call on us, we WILL be there for you. Not because you commanded us to, but because we LOVE you. You are the most amazing, most special, princess in all of Equestria. And if you don’t believe me, just ask any pony in that room.”

“Oh Twilight!” Celestia says her voice breaking as she holds her student tightly. Thank you... Thank you so much! I’m so very glad that you are still my friend. You mean so much to me my dear... But I am afraid you are mistaken when you called ME the most special princess in all of Equestria. No Twilight, that could only be you.”

“Oh sister!” Luna says from the doorway to the garden, her heart filled with joy, as she finished overhearing this last exchange.

“Luna!” both Twilight and Celestia exclaim at the same time.

“I’m so happy for you both.” Luna says excitedly. “Please sister, hurry and come inside. We have something for you! For both of you!” Luna says ducking back inside the doorway.

Twilight and Celestia exchange a puzzled glance. Then wordlessly the two make their way back toward the doorway. Each of them emotionally exhausted, but at them same time, filled with a quiet joy. A joy in knowing that their best friend is by their side, no matter what may come.

As soon as Celestia enters the doorway, she is swarmed by a living sea of ponies, all hugging her tightly.

“What... what is all this?” Celestia asks, looking around frantically.

“Oh sister, it is a wonderful thing.” Luna says eyes wide with excitement. All of them have been talking since you left, and they have all agreed!”

“Agreed to what?” Celestia asks as the ponies in the back switch places with the ones in front, all taking turns hugging the Princess of the Sun.

“Sister, we... we have been adopted!” Luna says excitedly. “All of us are family now!” Luna practically squeals. “Look at all of my brothers and sisters!”

Twilight rolls her eyes, and looks toward Celestia, who surprisingly laughs with joy, and begins hugging all those about her.

Twilight walks over to Fluttershy. “Was this your idea?” she asks.

“No, Twilight,” Fluttershy responds, “but isn’t it grand!”

“Well I suppose,” Twilight admits turning to Pinky Pie. “So if it wasn’t Fluttershy, I’m guessing it was your idea?” She asks.

“Nope,” Pinky says with a smile. “I think you need to talk to your uncle about that,” she says pointing a hoof toward Discord, who is sitting to himself smiling at his two nieces, who are behaving not at all in a royal fashion, as they laugh and hug those around them.

“MY uncle?” Twilight says.

“Um hmm,” Pinky nods, “oh that reminds me, this is your copy,” Pinky says, as she picks up a piece of parchment from the nearby table, parchment containing one of the most complex legal documents in all of Equestria.

Twilight begins to read the first few paragraphs and slowly her eyes begin to glaze over. “This is one of the most complex legal documents I have ever seen.” She says, as she wanders her way, parchment in hand to stand in front of Discord. She lowers the parchment long enough to ask, “What have you done?!?”

Discord looks sheepishly down at Twilight. “Well, it was like this. While you were outside being mad at my niece, things became rather... emotional in here. Things were said, tears were shed, hugs were exchanged. Ah, but then your friend Applejack said the most wonderful thing! She told Luna that we, all of us, were family to her. It made her so very happy. Well I got to thinking... why not? So I drew up this little document, had every pony look it over, and they all thought it was a wonderful idea. So since Rarity was a notary, and Luna was a ruling body, we ratified it right here on the spot. Congratulations Twilight Sparkle, every being here is now legally a member of every one else’s family.” Discord says in a voice conveying both happiness and a certain amount of pride in himself.

“Rarity’s a notary?” Twilight muses aloud, then the meaning of Discord’s words begin to sink in. “Wait! WHAT!” she exclaims, frantically scanning the document before her.

“Oh yes, it’s all in there, and quite legally binding. Subsection 13 paragraph 4 allows me to retain the aspect of ‘Uncle’ to all of you, which meshes perfectly with subsection 12, paragraphs 3 thru 21, outlining the older and younger brother and sister denotations, expanded of course to include other family members not currently present at this time including, but not limited to, Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Maud, Big Macintosh and several others. Naturally those already related by marriage were excluded. Also Spike opted out due to a potential conflict of interest. And there was an exclusion clause added so that there won’t be any conflict with the royal succession, subsection 29, paragraphs 1 thru 15.” Discord says absently. Then his expression becomes more animated as he adds, “Oh but can you image the, pardon the expression, ‘chaos’ this will cause when word reaches everyponies homes?” Discord lets out a contented sigh. “Almost like old times,” he says to himself.

“Ooookay.” Twilight says, “but I wasn’t in here when-”

Discord cuts her off. “Ah well, it was a majority rule kind of thing. You were voted in, in absence.” He says patting her head. “And although I don’t mean to play favorites, I can tell you right now, that you are probably going to be one of my most FAVORITE of nieces!” he says smiling down at her.

Twilight makes her way back to her seat, ignoring the shrieks of joy and laughter around her. As she settles into her seat she notices a frothy mug of strong cider on the table next to her. Looking up she sees Discord give her a wink and a thumbs up sign, slightly hampered by a lack of thumbs, but managing to get the idea across nonetheless. She smiles wanly in return, and takes a long pull, noticing when she is finished that this mug, much like her coffee mug, has begun to refill itself.

“Well,” she muses as she takes another drink, watching her mentor and her sister, acting just like all of her other friends, “maybe this wont be all THAT bad...”

Comments

[Mister E]

5029390 But I couldn't leave a world uncompleted.
Also, I now realize that I am completely susceptible to flattery...
My thanks to you good sir!
Q.E.

[JBGrim]

Loving every word of this, except 'I'. Screw you 'I'!

[Chaos-Sonata]

Doesn't that make Fluttershy their aunt? also I accidentally tried to favourite this again, it's just THAT awesome.

[StorybookLegend]

I love it when authors explore things in their own way and connect it all together, it's just so beautiful. On a different note, this story is all kinds of awsome. I like how you protrayed Cadence and Shining Armor, also how you made everyone related (it reminds me of Doctor Who).

[Parasprite Polka]

The only problem I had throughout the story was the usage of "person", "hand", and "fingers". This should instead change to "pony", "hoof", and "hoof". I mean, if that's not too much to ask.

[Princess LightningChaser]

“Ah, technically it would have been my sister, who was the right-” Discord begins.
“NOT NOW!” Twilight yells. As Discord falls silent.

jeez, twi, take it down a few hundred notches! lol

[HeartfireFirebrand]

5037313
Yep