//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Promise // Story: Love you again? // by Cynthrey //------------------------------// “... Discord was very quiet during dinner. Too much. Although I am glad he behaves a little, tonight I was worried. He did not play with his food to make Celestia laugh, he did not turn her food into candy, he did not even talk. Celestia says he has behaved abnormally since they played in the afternoon and has continued in that state ever since. Maybe it may have even worsened. The vision of events close to happen in conjunction with the vision of past events, the past and the future, was given to me when we abandoned our astral form to come to the earthly world to fulfill the mission that was dictated to my love and to me, same mission that placed Discord in my life and heart. I have used that vision to find out what has kept his young mind distracted and tormented during the last few hours. And now, more than ever, I fear for him. I fear for my little rogue. I am afraid of what may happen to him now. I am afraid would he do now...” ~ Leaving the cave felt liberating to Discord, he no longer had to endure the pressure of having an irreversible destiny, or having had. Even so, and although it took him a while to realize it, he was crying. Before understanding his situation he would have been surprised by this act, as when he was with Celestia, but now that he knew what was happening, thoughts came back to him that he had the first time this happened. At that time everything had seemed confusing, as if his world had crumbled before his eyes or awakened from a dream to fall directly into the flames of Tartarus. He could only think of Galaxus' words telling him that he had no family and that he was nothing more than a monster. He couldn’t help crying as he refused again and again that he wasn’t and would never be a monster but his infant mind soon succumbed to the idea. He had been filled with terror at the thought of being hated, that he could be hate by... “Dizzy!” Celestia pulled him out of his remembrance calling him from the door. “The meal is done. Mother wants you and me to set the table”. “I am... I am coming!” he responded by drying his tears quickly. He was always a crybaby when he was young. Although that habit began to disappear little by little after... he couldn’t remember it, but he felt he would do it in less time than he thought. Before entering, he took one last look at the cave. Galaxus' slow and calm gait made it clear that he had no intention of leaving too soon, unlike him who had thought of nothing else but to leave that place immediately. He didn’t like that man. He shook his head, pulling out of his own thoughts and concentrating on his friend's request. He would have time later to remember why those negative feelings towards the still-not-king. Upon entering the house he couldn’t contain a couple of tears, again. What a crybaby. But I would have done it even if it had not happened the first time it did not happen. Opening the door caused a great blow of nostalgia. Everything was the same, not like something was supposed to have changed, but it was the first thing he thought when he stopped to look inside the house. A table with enough space for 8 people but only with 4 chairs, a couple of armchairs, bookshelves full of scrolls and books. Simple, but well-crafted, handmade wooden furniture placed on a clean wooden floor. Not far from the ‘living room’ there was the fireplace, which could be seen from the outside, that was actually a simple stone oven and next to this a countertop, also of stone, on which was the cupboard where they kept the food. At the back of the house were his and Celestia's and Galaxus and Nebula's rooms, the bathroom, a door to the orchard and a staircase to the attic. There they kept musical instruments, tools, the cradle of Celestia which had previously belonged to Discord, among many things awaiting the day when they were used again and others waiting to be used for the first time. “Hurry up,” Celestia said as she pulled out of the oven a huge fish to make mouth watering. “Mother went to the garden for some fruit and said she would not give us dessert if we did not have the table ready when she returned and I want dessert!” she complained childishly. He was already becoming distracted again. Since she was taking care of the food, his job would be to place the plates and cutlery. It could have simply snapped his fingers and even made a banquet appear on the table but at this time he barely knew how to turn things into others. Too bad, magic couldn’t make things easier for him as always. He took the plates and cutlery from the cupboard and placed them quietly on the table, just after, and with a little help, Celestia placed the fish. It only remained to wait for the adults to have dinner. Galaxus entered and almost synchronously the back door opened and the woman entered. A simple sight and it was clear that the beauty of Celestia and Luna hadn’t been a matter of luck or chance. Her body was a perfectly proportioned hourglass that made doubt if she was already a mother, because it presented no sequelae of this. She looked like a young but mature woman just like Galaxus, as tall as Celestia, the adult. Alicorns had always shown a higher than average height, mainly Celestia who was almost half a head taller than Luna and Cadence, who had an average height for a man, and a little more than a head that Twilight being the youngest the 4, resulting in that it had the height of an average woman being just a girl. And Galaxus, the only male alicorn that had been reported, was a head taller than average. Nebula not only had a great height for a woman but her hair was even more wavy than her husband and daughters, to the point that it was almost completely curl, made her slightly taller. That beautiful mane that adorned her head was essentially blond but at the end of each curl it turned purple and more or less in the center of the head was reddish, it shone like the hair of Galaxus and the royal sisters. Her wings were exactly the same as those of Galaxus, only the color, white snow, was different. Her face, also covered with marks from her arms but this time in a golden color, was calm, warm, conveyed a sensation similar to that transmitted by the sun as it emerged on a cloudy and gray day that began to seem eternal. In her beautiful purple eyes gleamed the same warmth and a great aura of motherhood. That was the woman who raised him. Discord's eyes moistened with that thought. He wasn’t even sure why he thought that. Everything became blurred around him. The first time he saw her come in he only wanted to run into her arms and tell him he wasn’t a monster, only his little rougue. “Today you do not think to punish us by a crime that we have not committed preventing us to eat your delicacies?” Galaxus spoke smiling mockingly. Celestia laughed at his comment. “Careful, my love,” Nebula laughed and returned the smile. “Do not let gluttony take over your being.” That voice. Discord wasn’t aware of anything after that. Despite the spell that should make him remember what he forgot, the dinner and the bathroom were only cloudy memories and without detail. The conversations, everything in general that happened during that time was just fog turning in his head. By the time he realized he was already in his room lying on his bed. It felt strange to say that but it was the truth that it was. A small room with fine handmade furniture. In the center was a bedside table with a candle as the only light, close to a wall was Discord's bed and on the opposite wall Celestia’s bed. Nebula was kneeling at the foot of his bed observing a tender scene on the other side of the small room. While he was already quiet, as incredible and impossible as it sounds, while Celestia was just being convinced by her parents to go to sleep. “Look at you, my child, you can not even speak without yawning,” said the alicorn. “That is not true!” she contradicted a tender yawn that escaped from her lips. “I still have strength. Please, father, mother, let me stay awake until a little later.” “But then you will not be able to play with Discord tomorrow because you will be very busy falling asleep,” said Nebula smiling as always. The girl tried to hide her childish pout of disgust by covering her face a little with the sheets but in her eyes it was clear that this idea pleased her less than going to bed early. “Remember, we will bring a surprise tomorrow. The more time you sleep today, the more time you can enjoy tomorrow. Alright, little princess?” “Yes, father,” she yawned again and her father kissed her forehead. “I will be with you in a moment, my love,” said the mother. “A song surely will make things faster.” “Song? I am beginning to be envious of these children,” he commented, making her laugh. "Take your time, I will take the opportunity to take a bath in the meantime,” he kissed her lips tenderly and left the children's room. Once it came out, the adult alicorn went to the little draconequs. “Discord, I know that Galaxus does not like you to call me mother but you know you can do it whenever he is not around,” she paused from his motherly speaking. “You did not do it today,” she looked at him with concern. The emotion in Nebula's eyes hurt. He tried to deflect his when she spoke again. “Discord, is there something bothering you?” At first his only response was silence and a glance in his eyes, but, by some universal law, the mothers always manage to get an answer. Nebula wasn’t the exception. She didn’t say anything again, she stared at him for a few seconds before her eyes began to shine, literally, not metaphorically, but only the iris. It was strange for Discord, a part of him was calm, almost as if he was used to seeing that but another part remained in the intrigue, doubtful of what was happening. When the glow faded, so did the calmness that he had felt before, being replaced by fear. He didn’t fear because of the brightness or because this was some kind of spell that forced you to tell the truth, but because of what might come after it on the part of Nebula. Not a punishment, not one from Nebula, but her disappointment. Nebula looked at him with a serious face but she looked at what he decided was worry. Feeling like someone caught after committing a crime, the boy surrendered. “I am sorry... mother,” he let go, his heart shrugged with the last word. She fell silent again but not with the same expression this time. After a sigh, she wore a motherly smile. She stroked the boy's head, pulled rebellious hair from his forehead and kissed him on it. He almost thought he heard her voice inside his head saying: ‘It is alright, my little rogue’. This gesture so affectionate made his heart shrink even more, almost hurt. No, it hurt. It hurt a lot. He wanted to cry, he wanted her to hug him, to cradle him in her arms, to let him know that everything was in order. He wanted her to make him feel safe. These emotions and desires. That security that he transmitted to be with Nebula. The loving mother who once cared for and protected him as her own child without having the same blood or being of the same species. How much had he lost? “Forgive me, children,” she finally spoke. “I promised you a song and I am not fulfilling. What kind of mother am I?” “You are the best,” thought the boy. “You are the best,” said the girl. With only one candle in the room, the darkness was quite dominant but she couldn’t hide her blush. A second later she began to sing. The song, despite not being accompanied by any instrument, seemed to produce its own melody with every word that came from the lips of Nebula, a sweet melody but, at the same time, something sad. It addressed them as if they were princes, preparing them for the pains of reigning at the same time that they calmed and calmed them. It said that sometimes darkness and evil could surround them but that there would be no reason to fear, that it didn’t matter what they lost while they had each other. It said that they could change the world. Maybe it was only Discord's impression when he was reliving a life he didn’t even think he lived but the song became a little sadder as it came to an end. With faint hints of camouflaged pain, he could almost swear to feel something breaking in her voice. What thoughts would pass through that woman's head as she cooed with that song? When the song ended, the only thing the woman saw around her was a pair of sleeping children. She kissed each one's forehead, blew out the candle and headed for the door. Before closing it, she turned to see that peaceful scene and whispered: “Good night, my little ones,” she closed the door behind her. The sound of the door closing for Discord meant that the coast was clear. Yes, unlike Celestia, he didn’t fell asleep with the beautiful song of Nebula, he just pretended to make her leave the room soon. It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last time either. He couldn’t get the song out of his head. He knew that melody. After he woke up in Everfree a millennium ago, every time he found it hard to sleep, he heard that same melody resonating more lightly than a whisper in the depths of his mind. Any doubt that might remain about whether he was truly reliving a past he lost now had completely vanished. He wasn’t only sure of what was happening but he had also recovered some simple memories of his childhood. Memories like once he had devoured a couple of Galaxus parchments and this one almost gave him a fit of rage while Celestia and Nebula only laughed until they cried as he tried to chase him. Or as on another occasion had turned the whole house into cake at the request of Celestia finishing everything in which both had a stomach ache worthy of a nightmare, punished by prohibiting them and preventing them from eating any candy in months and that Celestia didn’t direct him the word in almost all that time. Those and many beautiful memories returned to him. Why had he forgotten? What kind of amnesia could he have had to forget such a beautiful place as Earth Heaven and a loving mother like Nebula? If at least he had never seen anything related to all that, it would make a bit of sense but the problem is that for more than a millennium he saw Celestia, who was the living portrait of her mother, and didn’t remember anything at all and now in less than 3 hours had already remembered almost half of his childhood. What happened? How could he have forgotten such a happy and peaceful life? Was there any guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again? For hours he rolled on his bed trying to find an answer and found absolutely nothing, and the depressed remembering every 5 minutes that he had lived for more than 1000 years deceived thinking that he was simply the embodiment of chaos in Equestria didn’t help. That and something else was preventing him from concentrating, although that being centered wasn’t exactly his specialty anyway, a past feeling linked to that girl in the bed parallel to his that now slept deeply and quietly. After all that Galaxus had told him, what had bothered him the most was: if he ever became a monster, what would she do? Would you face it? Would you hate it? He already knew, more or less, the answer and that made him wonder if he had asked Twilight and her friends to reform him because she wanted him as an ally or wanted to get back her lifelong friend and adopted brother and if she knew what was going happen the first time she and Luna used the Elements of Harmony. He understood that they wanted to stop him but to lock him in stone and just neutralize him like Nightmare Moon when she came back were two very different things and it wasn’t possible that someone who adored him like that, although who couldn’t worship him, would do something so cruel to him. Did something change in she? Luna eventually envied her and tried to snatch the throne from her -and apparently also kill her- Would the change of mind be a family thing? The more he thought about it, the more his own curiosity arose and not his infantile self. He couldn’t take it anymore at midnight. He got up from his bed and mentally lighting the candle he walked silently to the opposite side of the room. He needed to know. He needed to ask her. “Tia?” he shook her gently to wake her up. With a little whimper the girl wrapped herself more in the sheets trying not to wake up and forcing the child to redouble his efforts. “Tia, please, wake up,” he shook her with a little more strength and raising his voice a little, he didn’t need to wake his parents too. “Dizzy? What happens? You cannot sleep?” she let out a long yawn as she sat down. For a second, Discord hesitated about his decision and the next he dreaded that doubt, his curiosity and anxiety were greater. But he couldn’t stop a thread of fear from entering his mind. What if he didn’t like his answer? What if the answer turned out to be something he knew wouldn’t happen? “Tia, can I ask you something?” She nodded slowly in her drowsiness. “If one day I...” he took a while to find the right words. “... I become a monster, very very evil and cruel and hurt many people...” he paused again looking down and squeezing the sheets making the flame of the candle would grow. “... What would you do?” “You will never be a monster.” An immediate response and without hesitation. He couldn’t believe what he heard. He looked up expecting to see her smiling, ‘following the game’, but such a gesture didn’t occupy her face. In its place there was a serious gaze fixed on him. “You are good and nobody good can be a monster,” she replied. “But... But if I became a real monster, what would you do then?” he still couldn’t believe his safety. Although Celestia had a little more time to respond this time, it just took a few seconds before releasing her response with the same confidence that she had before. “If one day you became a monster, I would look for a way to get you back to normal.” Discord's eyes widened. Now seriously he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could this girl be so good -or so innocent- ? Had not heard him say that he could hurt many people or what? He climbed onto the bed and began to touch her face with a finger. “What are you doing?” she asked between blinks for each touch. “Are you still asleep?” “Of course not,” she took his hand from her face and looked into his eyes. “You are my best friend, Dizzy. If you became a monster then we could no longer be friends and the monsters are killed, I do not want you to be killed. If you become a monster, I will return you to normal and I will not let anyone hurt you,” she smiled warmly. “We will always be friends.” Should he laugh in her face or should he hold her and release all the tears he had held back in the last hours? Discord's mind went blank like the expression on her face. He had insisted about three times that one day he would be an evil monster, a monster that could hurt herself and anyone she cared about, and she promised him to protect him? Either she was so stupid that she didn’t even think about the weight of her words or was more loyal and brave than anyone he'd ever met. A part of him, who already knew how this story ended, begged for it to be the first, that it was all because of her childhood innocence, but when he looked into her eyes he saw more security and determination in that little girl of whom he had seen in many members of the Royal Guard. Even for someone like him, who lived in complete lack of logic, all this was meaningless. The light of the candle was extinguished as the storm of ideas in the head of Discord was waning and his gaze went down, extinguished with one last thought: She was lying. It was logical, it must be one of those times when someone promises something and then at the moment of truth any word said remains a simple sound in the past. Only that could be. Celestia yawned. “Dizzy, do you think it will difficult for you to go back to sleep?” He didn’t deign to answer despite the sincere concern in her voice. He would have preferred her to just say good night and go back to sleep. “If you can not sleep then come with me, we can share my bed.” Nothing else said that, he teleported to his own bed and in a quick and abrupt movement he wrapped himself in the sheets with turning his back to Celestia. Meanwhile the girl stared at him in silence, bewildered by his behavior. Finally she also wrapped herself up but didn’t turn her back on him as he did. “Good evening, Dizzy,” again she was left with the last word. Obviously he didn’t fall asleep so easily. Perhaps he no longer had that anxious curiosity eating his head but now there was a strong sense of distrust instead. He just didn’t think anyone could be so willing to help him, and protect him, if he went crazy like he knew he had done, or would. Even Fluttershy and the other girls didn’t even try to make him react when he allied with Tirek, Applejack's eyes screaming at him: ‘Traitor!’, still wandered clear as day between his memories. They had simply accepted that his loyalty was already in favor of someone who offered him something ‘more powerful than friendship’ and give up without a fight. They had accepted that he was loyal to power and his own ambition. Only Twilight had given him one last chance after he had seen him weak and regretful, otherwise right now he would be a stone statue again. Even without going so far. It was only necessary to go back to the day he was reformed to confirm that little faith that the kind Fluttershy had shown him after hours trying to make him see the advantages of being good. Only Celestia had had faith that something good remained in him. Only she trusted him. As nobody had done. He shook his head scaring away those thoughts once he heard them. Fluttershy knew him only as a madman dominated back then and Celestia knew him since she was born. It was logical that she should lose hope, and patience, so soon. Fluttershy wasn’t Celestia. She didn’t know him like her. Again he shook his head. Why was he favoring so much the princess who locked him in stone respect the pegasus he loved? He didn’t even try to find a good answer to that doubt. He only excused himself that it was the effect of the memory of his friendship with her as a child. When all this was over, his friendship with Celestia was anything but strong and long and he remembered how she abandoned that friendship, then he would see Fluttershy as the prefect and pure being that she is. It was only that. It was only a side effect of this trip through his lost memories. It wasn’t the best excuse but he didn’t want to analyze it too much and he was afraid to start having more ideas in favor of Celestia if he did. It didn’t matter, anyway. The only thing that should interest him was that, no matter how well Celestia knew him, any rational person would have at least taken time to respond in a negative way to his doubt preventing making a promise that he wouldn’t fulfill or she wouldn’t have said anything until the situation would happen. She was lying. She was lying and he knew it. The day he did everything he said, the first thing she would do would be to take him away with a sword, or he would shoot him with her horn. He could almost hear her shouting: ‘Get away! Get out of me! Monster!’ She was lying and he would prove it. A plan began to be formulated in the child's mind to prove that there is a long way to go. Would she protect him? Soon they would see that. And decided, he fell asleep.