//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Ancient History 
// Story: Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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"Discord!" Star Swirl happily said, to which he stepped forward and parted from the gang, who happened to be staring at the strange chimera creature that had appeared rather suddenly, before the creature in question turned and stared at him for a few seconds, "It's been, what, two thousand years since we last saw each other?"

"Star Swirl?" the chimera creature, Discord, exclaimed, though at the same time he took a few steps forward and waited for the unicorn sorcerer to come to a stop, where he looked over his form in surprise, showing that they must have known each other for a time, "Normally I'd say that this is impossible, because you disappeared one day and both Celestia and Luna cried at my statue for some time... they'll be happy to see that you aren't dead, even though Equestria, and Equus for that matter, have changed since you disappeared."

"I figured as much, seeing how I found two more Equestrians on the planet I was sent to." Star Swirl replied, waving his staff towards Gilda and Derpy for a moment, who understood who the being in front of them was, before he glanced back at the one person that he had been interested in when he first met him, "And, at the same time, they brought me into contact with your son."

"My... son?" Discord asked, as he was slightly confused as to what Star Swirl was talking about, though even as he said that he felt a flicker of energy, chaos energy to be exact, and turned towards the person that the conjurer was talking about, where his eyes widened for a moment when he looked at the humanoid hyena that looked more like him than he originally thought when he first saw him.

"That would be me." Diz spoke up, to which he approached the chimera being, Discord as Star Swirl called him, and realized that his full powered form looked nearly identical to the form that the creature possessed, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Diz S. Cooper, formally Diz S. Cordious. Star Swirl told me that he knew my father... which I'm guessing, based on what he just said, has to be you."

"I... have a son?" Discord repeated, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing at the moment, meaning that he had no idea that Diz had even existed in some manner and might not even be open to the idea that he had a child, before he focused on the pair that was in front of him, "I HAVE A SON!"

"An adult son that has abandonment issues." Diz snapped, because whether or not his father knew that he even existed really didn't matter, as he must have had a relationship with someone who was his mother, who was the one that had abandoned him, but right now he was still confused as to how he arrived outside the orphanage he was dropped at, when his father was from a different world.

"Well, this just got awkward..." Discord said, as he wasn't expecting someone who Star Swirl claimed was his son, and he could confirm that by the nearly identical energy signature that was coming from him, to be so upset, meaning that there was a story he was missing and only Diz could tell him it, before Diz raised his right hand and snapped his fingers as a light engulfed him for a second.

"And my gender occasionally flips without me forcing it to do so, just like I just did." Diz added, though as the light faded the gang found that he was back in his female form, while at the same time Star Swirl was a little surprised by the change and Discord just stared at her for a moment.

"That makes this less awkward." Discord stated, to which a smile appeared on his face as he raised his right fist into the air for a moment, making everyone wonder what in the world he was doing, since they figured that he'd be more upset over what he just discovered, "I HAVE A DAUGHTER!"

Diz stood there for a moment, wondering if she had found someone that was even more insane than she was, before she sighed and brought her palm to her face, because she honestly couldn't believe that this was what she had been looking forward to when Star Swirl told her that he knew who her father was.

"Um, what in the world is going on?" Sly asked, because right now he and the others were both surprised and sort of confused by what they were watching, as they thought that Diz would have been happy to find the person that was her father, only for her to seem annoyed by what they were seeing.

"This, apparently, is my father." Diz replied, though she was torn between accepting it, as she was as random as Discord was at times, and raging over the fact that she was expecting something more, before she frowned as she thought of something else, "Well, that solves one mystery... but it doesn't explain who my mother is."

"Well darling, there's only one answer I can give you... you're a chip of the old block." Discord said, though as he snapped his fingers the gang expected to find him suddenly changing gender as well, but in reality he summoned a table for them to sit at, a large one that had enough room for everyone, "But first, a little history about who I am for those of you who don't know me. A little over a thousand years ago I, Discord, the Lord of Chaos at the time, was the undisputed ruler of Equestria, a region that I covered in a cloud of chaos and bent to my every whim, though before long two alicorn princesses, Celestia and Luna, arrived and used the Elements of Harmony to imprison me in a stone statue. The Elements of Harmony are six special gemstones that represent the aspects of, well, harmony and order, and those aspects are Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Magic, though when they're used together they imprison or banish whoever they're used against. I've never bothered to tell anyone this, but when they were used against me the first time around I had actually been thinking about finding a way to have a child of my own, an heir to the throne as I thought of it at the time, and I never got around to it since I was frozen in stone... but, as it just so happens to be, a small fragment of my soul had been knocked loose and disappeared before I even knew what was going on."

"So... I'm a soul given a physical form?" Diz asked, though he and his family were confused, as it didn't seem like the answer they were being given made any sense to them and Discord didn't seem to be in the mood for correcting himself in the slightest.

"In a way." Star Swirl spoke up, as he understood the basics of what Discord was trying to say and knew that he could give the gang the answers that they were searching for, which was when everyone turned and looked at him for the answers behind who Diz was, "The reality is that you were once an aspect of Discord, a small fragment that seems to have been constructed from pieces of his innocence, his serious nature, and various parts of his desire to have fun while messing with those that were around him, while at the same time having none of his memories and no control over the power that you were suddenly able to wield. I cannot tell what you were supposed to be an aspect of, as it has been a long time since the day you were separated from Discord, but thanks to the amount of time you've been apart from each other you have become your own person, meaning that you are free to live your life as you desire."

"You make it sound like he would have had to merge with Discord for some reason," Gilda commented, which would have been horrible if they had come all this way, and saved all of the Cooper Ancestors from their own problems, only to lose Diz in the most horrible way possible.

"Maybe at one point that would have been true, but now it's not." Star Swirl said, to which he smiled as he stared at Diz for a moment, who was staring at him while she wondered what else he was going to say before their conversation was over, "Like I said, Diz is her own person now, meaning that she has gone from an aspect of what Discord used to be and has become an entire separate and independent being, like a child that he never knew that he had."

"And you figured all this out from our meeting?" Diz asked, because when she considered that Merlin was a genius, or at least according to the history books and what not, she still found it odd that he was able to somehow see through her and peer at her soul, to see what she truly was without her knowing that information herself.

"Indeed I did." Star Swirl stated, though at the same time he found that some of the strange little creatures that were flying around the air around them actually dropped off a variety of food and drink items for them to enjoy, as if they knew that they would be talking for a longer time than they assumed, "You are Diz S. Cooper, not a fragment of Discord, so take pride in who you are and live your life to the fullest, though I am still unsure what sort of lifespan you have, considering that you're Discord's child."

"Since Diz was 'born' by the Elements hitting Discord, and splitting him off, doesn't that technically mean that both Discord and the Elements of Harmony are his parents?" Penelope asked, as she was trying to figure out who the 'mother' would have been, since they were knew that Discord was his father figure, before Discord coughed for a moment and spat something out of his mouth, "What's wrong?"

"There's no way the Elements of Harmony could be his mother, since chaos and order don't mix very well," Discord replied, though at the same time he seemed to remember something else, like a friend or something that his statement reminded him of, before he shook his head and stared at them, "though maybe the ones that wielded the Elements at the time of my imprisonment, when Diz was broken off of me, might be a better candidate for that position... oh, I can already see the look on both Celestia and Luna's faces when I tell them they might actually have a son of their own."

"Really? They never settled down and had their own families?" Star Swirl asked, as that was disappointing, because he was certain that the two powerful mares that he had taught, before he disappeared to the world Derpy, Gilda, and Diz found him on, would have found a relationship of their own and started their own families.

"Well, Luna was banished to the moon for the last thousand years, maybe a month or so after I was originally turned to stone by her and her sister." Discord answered, as it had been interesting to discover that piece of information when he had been freed the first time around, and then the same happened when he confirmed that it had actually happened shortly after he was trapped in his statue form, "Celestia might actually have a family, though if that's true they aren't very close, despite the fact that the family in question clings to what nobility they have left... besides, the current head of the family and some of the other nobles didn't like the idea of the awakening process, which is essentially what happened to Gilda and Derpy. Ponies that go through this process take on a more human form and gain incredible powers as a result, and there's even a school that young Twilight opened so she and some of the others could teach ponies how to control their new powers and not blow something, like a house, to pieces on accident or something."

"Interesting." Sly remarked, as it was interesting to hear that there were more ponies out there that had gone through the same thing that his sisters had gone through, if he chose to believe what he was hearing, before he glanced to his right and noticed that, out of all the people at the table, only Clockwerk seemed distracted, "Clockwerk, is something wrong? You've barely said anything since we sat down and started talking."

Talking about past events has made me think about why I became what I am. Clockwerk replied, to which he lifted his right wing for a moment and stared at it, as if remembering a time when he made of flesh and bone, instead of the metallic being that he had become, before he lowered his wing and sighed, This whole time traveling mess started because you wanted to know what drove me to become Clockwerk, to become the hateful being that sought the end of the Cooper Clan, so I guess I might as well spill the beans and tell you what happened all those years ago.

As Clockwerk started to tell them what had happened all those years ago, the events that drove him to become a soulless machine that wanted to destroy Sly's family line out of hatred and everything else that he had been feeling at the time, the little creatures manipulated the area around them and suddenly they were floating in the air above the area that the ancient owl was telling them about. Clockwerk revealed that he had been an owl that looked like Arpeggio, in terms of how his body looked since he was able to fly, and that he had gone by a different name at the time, Klaw, though the time period he was born in was between the time of Slytunkhamen I and Salim's era. Technology was still growing, despite there being next to none of it, and new things were being discovered every now and then, though at the same time a young Klaw, who was as adventurous as a Cooper and as skilled as one, including being incredibly smart for the era he was born in, had made a bit of a name for himself with his skills. His abilities caught the eye of the Cooper ancestor that was living at the time, one of the more minor ones that was barely mentioned in the Thievius Raccoonus, and soon he found himself being invited to train with the Ancestor's daughter, who would become a thief like her father and her slightly older brother, who was away for some reason.

Despite his promises towards his new mentor, to focus on his training and nothing else, the young Klaw became attracted to his mentor's daughter, Katherine Cooper, and it became clear that her father noticed the beginnings of the relationship and tried his best to limit the time the pair had. At the time it was socially acceptable for the father figure to find appropriate matches for his daughter, and Katherine's father was no exception, though he was trying to rise them into the higher ranking nobility and given their family political power over the area they were living in, and he was against letting her marry Klaw, since that would give way to hybrid children, which weren't treated well back in that era. When it became clear that he wasn't going to be a Cooper, since his mentor didn't want him to associate himself romantically with his daughter, the younger Klaw took it upon himself to learn all the techniques that he was being taught and recreated a few of them for his own purposes, allowing an owl or an avian to use them. Eventually he left and created one of the first versions of the Klaww Gang, an all avian group from the looks of it, and they quickly rose to the level where they were spoken in whispers like the Cooper Clan was, showing his mentor that he might be worthy of Katherine's hand... and yet, despite everything that was happening, the gang watched as Klaw found one of the ancient gods, that many worshiped in the past, and struck a deal with them.

Klaw, from what they could tell, had the desire to build something that would protect Katherine and her line after he was gone, where the deal he had made gave him an ancient and lost recipe to create the powerful metallic body that Clockwerk possessed, and he used his wealth to gather some of the ingredients that he needed to forge the limbs and body of his guardian. The god he made the deal with was also the god of time, or one of them anyway since each culture had their own version of the being, and it was there that he used his genius mind to it's fullest, crafting the first power system that would fuel his metallic body. The gang was surprised to find that he had originally built what would become his body to be a protector, for the family he eventually came to hate, and Derpy's eye widened in surprise when they noticed that Klaw was using magic, alchemy, and advanced technology to forge what became the Hate Chip, which was when Clockwerk explained that it was designed to emotional energies, such as love and hatred, into physical energy that would actually fuel the body he was making. They could tell that it was originally designed to function on love, since he still had powerful feelings towards Katherine, and it wasn't long before both the original chip and the original metallic body were completed, but by the time he had completed his work the love of his life had married another raccoon, as she became convinced that Klaw had left her, and even had her own child.

Unfortunately her husband tried to prove that he was worthy of the Cooper name and not only got himself killed by his foolishness, but the criminal he tried to steal from turned his power on the remainder of his family and killed both Katherine and her child, turning Klaw's emotions into total rage towards his former mentor. That powerful rage and hatred twisted the power of the chip he carried into the Hate Chip that Sly and the others knew about, and at the same time he headed back to where his protector had been hidden, as he originally intended to present it to both Katherine and his mentor to show that he wanted to help their Clan in his own manner. He didn't put the chip into the protector the moment he returned to it, rather he focused on making sure that it was as perfect as he had designed it to be, that it's claws could slice through everything and that it's wings would be able to carry him, all while allowing his rage and hatred to grow over the couple of days he worked on it. When at last he was certain that his protector was ready to go, and there was nothing that could stop him, Klaw turned towards the door of his hideout as his former mentor discovered where he had been hiding, where he cursed his former mentor and anyone that shared his blood, since his son had gone off to a different place to continue the family line, before declaring that he would hunt the Cooper Clan for as long as he lived and then merged himself with his powerful creation.

The Ancestor barely had time to understand what was going in front of him before Klaw, who fully merged with the systems of his protector and proclaimed that he would henceforth be known as Clockwerk from that day forward, raised his talons and cut his former mentor down in cold blood... before flying out of the now ruined building and started his sinister quest to destroy the Cooper Clan, starting with his mentor's missing son.

And for the next thousand years I stayed true to my quest, hunting the Coopers across the planet, until I found your father and formed the Fiendish Five. Clockwerk finished, to which he sighed for a moment, as remembering what had caused him to create this body and start his quest was always painful, when he thought about Katherine and the love that had been lost, a fact that always caused him to bury the past until he sealed it away and forgot about it, I thought that I could finally end it all with the death of your father, and then defeating you when you didn't know your family's techniques, but when you stuck me down I finally accepted my defeat and tried to fade away. Arpeggio's actions at putting me back together, and Neyla's attempt to take my body for her own goals, stirred me into waking up and taking back my body before it could be used against you... and then, when you should have destroyed me, you withdrew the Harmony Chip and put it back where it belonged, restoring a piece of myself that I long considered to be gone.

"I knew that there was some good inside you, based on what I felt from the chip," Derpy said, though at the same time most of the gang moved to comfort the ancient owl, while both Elizabeth and Daniel smiled at him, before Sly nodded his head in agreement, "Clockwerk, or Klaw if you prefer, you started with the best intentions and they were twisted by what had happened to you all those years ago, but I think you have made up for those actions by helping us save the rest of the Coopers and restore history to what it was supposed to be."

"It's like we said a long time ago, you're part of our family now." Sly stated, as there was a time where he and the others had comforted the ancient owl in such a manner, but this time they were forgiving his sins, especially since it was the fault of one of his Ancestors that what was supposed to be a protector became a sinister monster that was bent on destroying his family line, "You wiped your slate clean years ago, so there's no reason to beat yourself up over what happened in the past, and instead you should focus on what's in front of you."

Clockwerk stared at Sly for a moment, surprised that he was still so willing to accept him after everything that he had done to his family, and nodded his head in agreement, as he was right in the fact that he had found his place, even though it took some time to figure that out. After a few moments Clockwerk mentally flipped a switch that was near the command that allowed him to take on his miniature form, though instead of becoming a smaller version of himself he broke down and transformed into his old form, that of a humanoid owl that was just a young adult. Despite what he had shown the gang over the years, since he first joined them, there was the command that allowed him to do what Neyla had done, to take on his original form, though he remained silent as he stood slightly shorter than Sly's height and watched as his old thief attire, a modified version of the same attire that Sly was wearing, formed from the metal moments later, before his old skin color returned as well. It had been a long time since he had seen his brown colored fur and his old organic wings, as he had stopped using this form a long time ago, but as he finished transforming into his humanoid form he sighed and opened his eyes once more, where he noticed the looks of surprise on everyone's faces.

"Nice form." Diz said, though at the same time she meant it in the sense that he would have easily found someone else to replace Katherine, if he hadn't been consumed by such a blinding rage, as she was interested in finding romance in someone that she didn't consider family or very close friends.

"It's been a long time since I've used this, so walking might be hard for me." Clockwerk replied, though as he spoke the gang found that his voice seemed to be how it was before he merged himself with his project, where he glanced down at himself for a few moments, "And it might take some time getting used to my old voice... I haven't heard it since the day I merged with larger frame, the one that most people think of when they hear the name 'Clockwerk'."

"So what's next?" Murray asked, to which he glanced back at the area that his van was in, because he was thinking about heading home and restarting his normal career, when Sly and the others didn't need him, before he turned his attention to the group that was his family.

"First things first, we head back to Equus and see Twilight." Discord said, to which their table picked itself up and floated down to where the van was located, though as they drew close Nefarious and Lawrence excused themselves, as this was for the gang and they didn't want to sully their arrival with their presence, "And to do that, since we have so many people, I'll need to use a shortcut to get us back home."

The gang, despite the fact that they had to climb back into the van, turned towards Discord as the fabric of reality opened before him, like a wormhole between two points, but on the other side of the portal rested a snowy area that didn't seem to match what Gilda and Derpy knew, especially with the short skeleton that seemed to be wearing a blue hoodie and a white t-shirt under it, who glanced at the hole and stared at Discord for a moment.

"Oops, wrong shortcut. Sorry about that." Discord said, speaking to both the group and the skeleton at the same time, though he waited for the skeleton to nod his head once before he closed the portal, to which he waved his arm and a portal to a town of some kind opened in it's place, "Much better."

Sly and the others stared at each other for a moment, as they weren't entirely sure what they were getting themselves into this time around, but at the same time they were interested in what Gilda and Derpy's home planet looked like, which was why Murray drove them forward and the van disappeared into the void, heading for the town that was on the other side of the portal and waited to see what happened next.