//------------------------------//
// 4 - Family 
// Story: The Saviour of Saddle Arabia 
// by The Marshmallow 
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[...] In the final years of her life, Queen Oasis The Wise kept pushing forward her reforms, aiming to restore the crown's power throughout her kingdom. Despite this, through her careful diplomatic actions, she managed to maintain good relations with both Equestria and the local nobility. She is said to have died content, giving her blessing to rule as a Queen to her firstborn daughter, and that she was then mourned for twelve days by common ponies and nobility alike.

Her daughter, that would later be remembered as Queen Oasis 'The Solitary', proved to be more ambitious than her own mother, but much less prudent. While her bold moves in foreign affairs managed to expand the kingdom's trade influence, gaining popularity among the masses and the merchants, she ended up gaining many enemies on the domestic front. Leveraging her popularity and closeness with Discord, she managed to roll back many of the privileges of the lords that functionally controlled the countryside, ending up completely isolated from them.

As her peers had left the palace, vowing they wouldn't set hoof in it until their rights had been restored, she realized her mistake. It is said she did not miss their company, nor that their absence hindered her ability to rule, but they had left her daughter without a playmate. It was commonplace for young nobles of comparable age to be the closest friends to the crown princesses, and it was clear that her few close cousins would not suffice.

It was about then, according to the legend, that one of the most peculiar traditions of saddle Arabia began. In her limbo, separated both from the other nobles and the common folks, the crown of Saddle Arabia started to get closer to their servants more than any other monarchy of their time (Or since). By playing together as children, deep friendships blossomed, and many of those ponies ended up becoming advisors to the crown, with some even receiving land and a minor peerage. And, although the chronicles of the time are scarce and not always reliable, it is reported that a few of them even married into the Royal Family.


-'Histories of Saddle Arabia, Volume VI', Various authors








At the beginning of the dinner, only the delicate clanging of the silverware dared to interrupt the awkward silence enveloping the room.

Having a commoner without exceptional merits eat dinner with the royal family was a very controversial decision already. Having him sit at the same table as the royal family, the Lord of Chaos, and the Equestrian Princess all at once was simply unheard of. And as much as Cadence and Discord himself pushed for this outcome, it was fully in the Queen's power to prevent such a blatant breach to protocol. She had done so before, reining in some of the Draconeequs unpoliteness from time to time; the maître, the waiters, and the maids expected her to do so again.

Their faces when she asked to notify the colt's family he would instead stay were, in Discord's own words, priceless.

The Lord of Chaos found especially interesting how it was not Chrysalis, with her quiet dignity, nor the crown princess or her little sister, who sat and ate mimicking the same self-control (albeit with a pinch of curiosity for that pony so alien to them) the ones most affected by the colt's presence; it was the servants! They were giving the colt poorly concealed scowls and disapproving glances, although they kept serving him with the same standard reserved to their own queen. Being servants, though, there was little more they could do. So very soon their reactions started to be boring in the eyes of the Dracoonequs.

That was not to say he couldn't find new sources of entertainment in the ponies sitting with him around the table, and especially in the four younger ones. As expected, the colt (surrounded by royalty and scoffed at by the servants) was extremely uncomfortable. And yet its agitation was subsiding over time, as more and more of Cadence's sweet whispers got to his ears. The lovestruck filly was leaning towards him, almost ignoring her own dinner, and was convincing him to do the same, to better be able to exchange whispers. The two other princesses were by no means immune to the spectacle, and both looked equally scandalized... And possibly quite endeared. And to this Discord could not resist anymore, and ended up letting out a muffled chuckle.

Chrysalis breathed a long sigh, finally attracting the Draconeequs attention: "Do you really find this so funny?", she whispered with a slight frown, leaning toward him to be sure only he could hear.  Looking at her demeanour, it was clear she was annoyed at the whole thing. But everything in Discord's body language, from the lifted corners of his mouth to the hilarity in his eyes, suggested the whole thing was completely exhilarating.

"Actually, it is!", he confirmed, whispering back. He looked more composed than before, but his smile was possibly even wider. "Ponies think chaos is always loud, and bright, and colourful..." Not that he couldn't be. It was the most primal and obvious manifestation of the forces Discord ruled, and the kind he himself seemed to be the fondest of. He looked for a brief moment to the children, before turning once more to Chrysalis "But this quieter kind is quite enjoyable, too..."

She didn't have time to question him further, nor to ponder on how ponies were to him little more than entertainment. Something even her, a queen that could coldly sacrifice her whole army without regrets, something found monstrous. No, her attention was drawn by something much more trivial, but nonetheless bizarre. On the opposite side of the table, Pristine pond looked more flushed than he had previously, and he was almost squirming. It took her just a moment to identify both the culprit and her crime "Mi Amore Cadenza", she said, drawing her attention. She had been calling her cadence long enough in informal situations to make those three words weight clear. As if her stern tone wasn't enough already  "No hoofsies under this table!"

The colt looked absolutely mortified. His natural colour hardly recognizable due to the amount of blood flowing to his cheeks. Cadence, on the contrary, was only mildly embarrassed, as shown by her sheepish smile. She was actually impressed, as she didn't expect anypony to realize this quickly what was going on. "Sorry..." Still, she realized it was only proper form to improvise an apology. Although it was clear to everypony that, although maybe being a little bit more careful, she was hardly dissuaded from trying that again at a later time.

The oldest of the two Princesses of Saddle Arabia was, true to her role and upbringing, showing her disapproval through her glance and countenance, all while keeping almost perfect aplomb, only betrayed by a slight blush. her little sister, looking up to her and her 'mother' was very much trying to do the same... But she just couldn't. What was unfolding in front of her was simply too much. "C-cadence..." She asked, her own blush intensifying "How do you manage to be so... Bold?" Especially since, as far as she knew (and as far as the alicorn herself had told her some time earlier), Cadence had actually never had a coltfriend before.

"Mmmh..." That was a difficult question, and the pink pony had to consider it carefully. part of it, she felt, just came so naturally to her. Maybe she was just some kind of savant for everything love-related. She kind of liked the idea, and possibly there was some basis to it, but ultimately she pushed it away. It hardly was enough to explain it, so she switched to something different "I guess that I learnt it from my uncle." Before that raised more questions, she quickly clarified "When there is something I like, I do all I can to have it!" And she followed this answer with a smile and a sultry look destined to its crush, that made him -if possible- even more embarrassed.

In the meantime, Chrysalis was observing Discord instead. It seemed proud of that answer, and even more proud of his nephew overall, but then, just for a few moments, she caught him looking at the Changeling Queen herself. Was he wondering what she thought of it? He wouldn't have to ask. "You didn't think your 'teachings' would apply to this field too, did you?", she teased, eliciting a further chuckle from the Lord of Chaos, and a sheepish smile of his own that he kept as he turned back looking at the fillies, that had now started to happily include the colt in their conversation, and even the older sister seemed to have lost her disdain for the commoner and was chatting merrily.

Didn't she know better, Chrysalis would have thought he wasn't just finding the scene entertaining, but maybe even a bit heartwarming.





At the end of the dinner, Chrysalis decided to leave the children to play under the maids' supervision, while taking Discord for a walk. The only weak complaints came from the older of the two princesses, which claimed to be too much older than the other three, to which the Queen had to agree. So she suggested she could help to oversee the whole thing, to which she agreed enthusiastically.

It was while they were in the enclosed garden of the palace that, after talking of things that Discord found fun and important political matters that Chrysalis cared about, finally the latter let herself go, touching a much more personal topic. "You surprised me, today." She said, receiving back a faux-offended expression, to which the queen rolled her eyes" "You surprised me more than usual, today!" And to this, the Draconeequs beamed; it was exactly what he took pride in. But she went on paying no mind to his antics. "I would have thought you were more of the jealous type..."

"Oh..." Discord smirked, and was already starting with what Chrysalis could identify as his 'teasing tone'. Nothing good was going to come from that. he suddenly floated closer to her, and made his tone even more soothing "Did you do something I should be jealous about?"

Chrysalis sighed, looking at his smile with mild annoyance. For most things, she was used to the presence of the Draconeequs. But as a Queen, not being taken seriously was simply unacceptable. "I'm talking about Cadence, obviously..." She deadpanned. "I thought you would be more shaken by her, let's say, 'date'; considering how much you cherish her..." 

"Well, you cherish your two 'daughters' just as well, and I don't think you are going to guillotine all their suitors..." To which the Queen simply raised an eyebrow, showing an unconvinced expression. It was obvious that there were many options in between those two extremes, and that raising this point was nothing but a ploy to change the topic. After a few moments of silence, it was Discord's time to sigh, while he lowered his head a little "I knew this would happen, sooner or later. Princess of love isn't just a title." To which Chrysalis had to nod. the amount of love the little princess was capable of was simply off-scale. "I would be surprised if she stopped at just one, actually..." Chrysalis didn't know if this was supposed to be a joke or not. herds and harems were not unheard off, although extremely unusual, so she just nodded again. "But I also know she will always have enough love in her to love me as well." He finally said, raising his head back and smiling.

Chrysalis blinked twice, quickly. For a moment, she was unsure she had even heard correctly. What he said, how he acted... it was certainly not how the lord of Chaos usually acted; not how he was supposed to be. So she couldn't refrain from making an honest comment: "That's unexpectedly mature of you..."

For a moment, the Queen feared what she said would have been received poorly. She couldn't be further from the truth, as he smiled brightly and proudly: "I know, I tend to be 'unexpected'!" She sighed, almost in relief, she should have expected a similar answer. "Also..." her attention was caught again, maybe just by the way the 'o' lingered a little bit too long "I really didn't want to be 'that' guy!", he said with mild disgust. But his digits, instead of mimicking some air quotes, did point to a corner of the otherwise empty garden.

hadn't she been used already to his antics, maybe her jaw would have dropped. despite knowing for sure Discord was by her side, two clones of his were embracing in that corner. One looked completely distraught, loudly wailing and letting a cartoonishly large amount of tears flow. the second one was trying to Cheer the former up, patting delicately on his back while lending him his ears. "Waah! My little Cadence doesn't need me anymore." Chrysalis found herself agreeing it was definitely not a pretty sight. "What will I do withou..."

Before the clone could even finish the phrase, a snap of the original's talon made the vision burst like it was a soap bubble. The Queen didn't even flinch, although internally she cringed a little at seeing a -seemingly- living being disappear like that. "As I was saying", Discord intervened bringing her attention back to him "nopony wants to see that." He shook his head, seemingly ready to change the topic to something more pleasant.

The Queen didn't let him, though. "Then, why did you show it to me?" Chrysalis was unable to perceive feelings in Discord as he would have done with any other pony, but something was telling her that what she saw was not just any show. there was truth to it, that was a side of Discord that was left bare in front of her... Or maybe just an overly complicated trick? She didn't know anymore.

The Draconeequs was simply smiling, now hiding behind that expression any more complex emotion: "You are not nopony, are you?" And while that was obviously a cop-out question, he wouldn't allow her to question him further. Before she could even open her mouth, he had disappeared without a sound, just to pop out at her left side a fraction of a second later. With a swift gesture, he put his paw on her right shoulder, getting slightly closer to her, and then spoke with a slight plead in his voice: "Mea culpa", he stated, "I shouldn't have brought out such a depressing topic".

For a moment, she didn't know how to react. Among other things, she recalled with certainty being the one that started the conversation. But she was also able to get the hint and decided to avoid asking more. It simply wasn't worth the risk. so, after a few more moments of silence, she decided that the simplest answer might be the best one: "It is ok."

His reaction was immediate, as he widened his smile and drew her closer in his half-hug "Great!" While just a little bit uncomfortable, she was capable to hide such a thing with ease and managed to smile back "I have much  more interesting things to talk about, after all!"