Chaos in the Family

by Aurora Hope Healer

Chapter 2

It was a large, but humble looking, war camp. There were many ponies running about, most of which had some sort of head gear with a red cross on it. Discord took it to mean that they were medical ponies until he saw a large squadron of them practicing in the field. The unicorns were practicing using medical supplies with their horns, but some of it was being used as weapons as well as for their original purpose. Clover led Discord to one of the medium sized tents. “Wait a moment.” She told the lord of chaos. He nodded. He knew how some commanders and generals got in war. He just hoped that they wouldn’t treat him like Sombra. That unicorn seemed to think that he deserved everything for doing nothing. He noticed that this tent had a large red cross on a black canvas. He wondered if it was the pony’s cutie mark. After a moment, Clover poked her head out and smiled kindly at him with her big turquoise eyes. “Come on in, the commander wants to talk to you, sir.” Her voice was now softer and kinder.

“Right.” Discord nodded, somewhat worried. He expected the inside of the tent to be larger on the inside than it had looked on the outside, and to find the general was a snooty noble that had been forced into the job of war. He was surprised to find he was wrong on both parts.

Sitting in front of a small map on the ground, while sitting on top of a dirty old sleeping bag, was a young mare that looked barely older than a filly. She had a blonde mane and pink fur, but her horn was as black as a moonless night. She had one eye that was as green as the grass under her map, and the other was as blue as the nearby river. She frowned at the paper, as though she was missing something, or something was wrong with it. She was wearing a dark, black, dirty old, patched up, cloak that covered where her cutie mark would be. Discord’s jaw literally dropped to the floor as he recognized the youngest of his sisters with a terrifyingly serious expression on the usually happy face. He hadn’t seen her in almost ten years, since the war had started.

“Discord, pick your jaw up and have a seat. Clover, check around area 2B with five unicorns, ten pegasus, and ten earth ponies. Make sure that they’re fully armed and that at least two of the pegasus are capable of Mach 2 speeds with heavy equipment. I want you to send for help if you need it. You choose the ponies that you think will work for this. You know what’s at stake.” Aurora hadn’t even lifted her head to look at her older brother or her Lt.

“Aye, aye, Commander Hope.” Clover saluted before leaving. She gave a flirtatious smirk towards a still shocked Discord as she left.

After she left, Discord picked up his jaw and fixed it in place. Discord then took a better look at the tent. There was no magic in it, so he was certain that it was a simple tent and that the only furniture in it was the sleeping bag that Aurora sat on. “Nice place.” He said sarcastically.

“Better than a lonely castle where I have to worry about you all dying on me.”

“Hey, you know that wasn’t my…”

“Choice? I know. You could have stood up for me though, oh master of chaos.” Aurora finally looked up from her map and glared at her brother. “I’m not a filly anymore, and Luna’s the same age, so why does she get accepted among you and I don’t? Is it because I don’t have a meaning? Because I can’t move stuff like the others?” She growled uncharacteristically. “Is it because I don’t have a purpose like you all do?”

Discord was shocked. Aurora wasn’t acting at all like she usually did. She was a sweet young filly who liked to sing, draw, help animals and pony alike, and tried to not upset anypony. This pony… she seemed to be the same one, what with the tears in her eyes already begging for forgiveness, but she also seemed to have courage that Aurora hadn’t shown since the war began… ‘No…’ Discord shook his head. ‘… she’s been shy since Sombra started pointing out how different she was… when he started to say mean things to her, she stopped wanting to upset him… but this… this would upset him…’

She wiped her snout with her cloak. Discord used his powers to conjure up a hankie for her. “Thanks… I suppose now that you know I’m out here with everypony, you’re gonna tell Sombra?”

Discord shook his head and gave his little sister one of those rare sympathy smiles that looked funny on his face, what with that fang always hanging out. “No… I think he’ll have to find out on his own, just like I did. Mind telling me what you’re up to here?”

Aurora grimaced. “What’s it look like? I’m training an army of healers to fight back. We can heal and fight.”

“Uh-huh.” Discord smirked. Aurora was always trying to help ponies. “And they call you commander because…?”

Aurora blushed. “Oh… um… I didn’t tell them I was Princess Aurora…”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them that I was… I told them that I was Hope Healer…” She blushed even harder. “I made my way through the ranks just like any other pony, with my leadership skills and my tactics. I was just the tactician, but the last commander didn’t make it and… the Lt. and some of the others said that I should lead…”

“Huh… Well at least now we know Sombra’s wrong about you.”

“What do you mean, Discord?”

Discord smiled. “I mean, Sombra said you have no natural leadership skills. You’ve successfully proven him wrong. How long have you been in charge anyway?”

“Um… almost five years now… I was sort of hoping for this war to be over and done with by now…” Aurora looked down sadly.

“Yeah, me too… well… since you’re out here… do you mind if I work in your command?”

“Excuse me?” Aurora’s eyes opened wide as she looked at her older brother. She respected him among all of her siblings the most, just because he didn’t belittle her or think she was too young. Luna was the only other family she had that didn’t look down on her, but because of her getting her cutie mark before the war, she had gone off with Astra and Celestia to fight. “You want to work under me?”

“That’s right. Is that so hard to believe? You’re obviously a good commander if you’ve stayed alive at that position for five years. Oh, by the way, while we were gone, did you get your cutie mark?”

Aurora nodded and showed the strange mark. “I got it when I first became known as Commander Hope Healer. I don’t know what it means though. It’s way too complex.” The mark was indeed a complex one. It was a small half sun over a half moon with a water drop at the bottom of the moon, a small white star above the sun, and just above where the halves met was a small red star like object, possibly a medical cross. "I’ve never seen a cutie mark this complicated before, have you?”

“I honestly can’t stay that I have…”

Author's Note:

Oh goody, baby sis got her cutie mark and is leading an army, won't Sombra be proud... no, he wasn't when he found out, but you'll find this out later.