//------------------------------//
// To Sun Down - Chapter 9 
// Story: Discord 
// by AppleCider120 
//------------------------------//

Discord stared intently at the rose as it sprung back to life, surprised beyond even back when Errant have appeared out of thin air. The Changelings at the table with him, who had offered the rose, seemed a bit surprised as well; though, theirs seemed to be more in excitement than any other applicable emotion.

"If what you tell us of your Mother is true," Commander Styx said with a soft laugh, "then you definitely are taking after her for your initial developments. If you'd like, we could try other items as well."

Discord just sat in silence, longer than he intended to. After finally noticing he was getting worried stares from his comrades, he took a deep sigh. He looked at them with a smile. 

"I think I am fine with that, for now," he said. "I really feel like I should be returned to the queen, for now."

The group agreed, though made Discord promise to start assisting with the construction work, tomorrow. With their plans laid out, and the sun in the middle of its downward path in the sky; shadows, as a result, were growing longer, and Discord did not want to leave his mate for too long. After finalizing their plans with a few salutes from the guards, and a little bow from Discord, they made their separate ways. 

Discord was a bit hesitant to traverse the palace alone, but felt he might have a decent sense of direction. He walked in through the front gates, and took a quick right, following the diagonal hall until her arrived in the throne room, once more. Chrysalis was seated with a few of the other female guards, just talking with them. He approached giving her a little bow. 

"My queen," he said, with a bit of his deepest voice manageable.

Chrysalis smiled, giving the motion with her hand to disperse the group talking with him. "Hello, my dear. How did you find the hive?"

With a playful little smirk, he shrugged. "Well, I just went where my eyes seemed to want to look! Without these big old eyes, i doubt I would find much of anything."

Chrysalis just rolled her eyes, getting up from her chair, and sauntering over to him. "Continue that sort of jest, and the next kiss might have a tongue come back on the withdraw."

Discord gave a low, subtle laugh as he looked up at her; he still wasn't quite used to being the shorter one, for once.

"In all seriousness," he continued, "they were quite welcoming to me. Styx and the other guards talked with me around the big courtyard table, and I learned one of the little one's names."

Chrysalis seemed to mentally perk up at this. "Oh? So, can you understand the drones?"

Discord shrugged. "I was able to understand the chirp's of one of the young females. I gathered that her name was Eris, and I also learned the children love being held."

She gave a little smirk. "Oh, really?"

The man nodded, shrugging. "I picked her up, and had her set on my lap for a good portion of the talks with my friends. I just treated her like I had known humans would play with theirs so long ago, and her aura was filled with nothing but joy."

Chrysalis smiled, hugging him. "Would you wish to try to try and raise young Eris? Perhaps we could teach you how to help with their rearing while you are here."

Discord looked at Chrysalis, leaning into the embrace happily. "Am I that obvious?"

"I could feel it as soon as you came in," she nodded. "I could sense your usual self-pity, and loathing; but, along side it was a very strong, positive sensation."

He nodded, thinking to himself very briefly, before kissing her on her lips, this time. The sudden affection did catch Chrysalis off guard, though she happily leaned in when she realized what was happening. She followed suit as he closed his eyes, and eagerly fed off the affection. As she had let him know during the first night, for the most part, he felt fine; though, he did begin to feel a light bit of exhaustion. Using this as a gauge, he waited until the moment he felt his legs were going to give out, before pulling back; he found himself looking to catch a bit of his breath. Chrysalis was also a bit winded, but used her currently superior strength to hold onto him as he tried to recuperate.

"Would you like to have a meal, while I send the guards back to try and find Eris for you?" she said softly, nuzzling the top of his head. 

Discord nodded, leaning into her nuzzles. He held on as his body was taking some time to regain its strength. "I think that would be absolutely wonderful. A meal, then some cuddling with the young one before bed."

Chrysalis hummed in agreement, holding him until he was able to demonstrate standing under his own strength. With this, she left him in the throne room, as he made his way to the left.This was hopefully the right way to the dining hall. He regretted not informing her of his new ability with the rose, but he had something he could try another test on. Some of the grape-like plants he would feed on grew on a sort of vine. He was sure they probably shared a similar development, but they were different enough that he was certain they were not grapes. 

He reached into his bag from earlier, taking off the last few of the fruits, and scarfing them down before he began to focus on the plant. It was now barren; there were no blooms or fruits. He did not recall if they had leaves, in particular, but the vine had no other sort of protrusion. As earlier, he held his hand up, trying to maintain the shoulder height had had used before, and snapped his fingers once again. Instead of replenishing, as the rose had before, the vine's fruits regrew gradually in front of him. The plant went through an entire germination cycle, ending with what appeared to be perfectly ripe, and even slightly larger fruits. He plucked one off the vine and ate it cautiously.

He was so wrong about before; these were definitely some sort of grape-like fruit. It tasted like one of the many varieties of black grapes, but these were a plump variety. That, or this magic had enhanced them, somehow. And, like the aristocrat he sometimes liked to make fun of from the olden days of the humans, his brain went to the thought of wine. And so, with another snap of his fingers, a large clay bottle appeared in place of the vine. He looked at it in surprise, popping open the top of the canister, and looking inside; within, he saw a dark coloured liquid, with a somewhat sweet scent. With a curious swig, what came over him with the taste of a perfect grape wine.

He could not imagine what the queen would think if she were to see this, but he decided that he would surprise her with the whole display. After he indulged in a decent meal, he grabbed a pair of the remaining grapes and went back to the throne room to patiently wait for his queen and their companion.

Would this technically make me a dad? he thought to himself, having waited a few minutes. Like, I know we are separated by years of Mother's guided development, but the queen and I are not compatible as those common ancestors. I'll say yes, screw the technicalities... Why am I feeling so different?

Discord had to stop this train of thinking he had developed in the past few hours. He felt so different than just the day before; his thoughts were far more free, and seemingly more sassy than he could ever remember. The sound of a growing series of chirps broke his mental glass wall, and made him lift his head up. In the midst of his apparent daydreaming, he had made his way into the queen's chair, while she was now approaching with the excited little Changeling. The little one's aura changed quite quickly; she was initially just happy from the affection of their hive mother, but it grew even more excited when she noticed her friend from earlier.

Chrysalis shuddered, feeling this aura quite strongly, and set the little one down on her feet as Discord let a smile greet his lips. He came off of the throne, coming down to floor level with the little one, and got down on one knee; he held out his arms with a smile. Chrysalis watched curiously, figuring this was a human behavior. Almost seemingly on cue, the little one chirped happily, rushing over; she nearly tackled the taller man to the floor with her hug, as he caught her as she jumped. 

"Aha!" he said, happily. He tossed her up briefly, before catching her on the downfall. "Well, did you get a good nap, earlier?"

Eris smiled, chirping and lightly growling at him.

"I'm glad to hear that, dear," he said. Chrysalis could sense another form of love emanating. This was vastly different, and even seemingly as potent as the others she was used to. Discord looked to the queen, looking her confused face over.

"I believe what I may be emanating would be something exclusive to parental love," he said, as if she had asked him the question. "The hive is probably quite accustomed, maybe even naturally adapted, to having the young around. And the battle-hardened philosophy probably overtook any of the old parental nature. I can see you love your hive, but I don't know why you aren't emanating the same energy."

Chrysalis nodded, realizing she also wasn't able to feed off this love as directly as Eris. It was like a feed for the young, and that could definitely be put to use. "Perhaps we could visit the nursery, tomorrow? Not the hatchery, yet, but it seems giving that sort of love doesn't drain you."

Discord nods. "I have some construction work, tomorrow; but, after that, I should have free time. And that's likely because that for humans, parental love is generally unconditional, in the ideal families."

"There are some that don't fit the ideal pattern for your species?" Chrysalis asked, a bit concerned.

"Shockingly more often than one would consider," he said, sighing softly. "And while I can't remember my life from before-- praise Mother for that-- I can feel it in the whispering winds and nightmares; I definitely escaped from something when I finally left my kind behind."

Chrysalis and Discord would play with Eris, as Discord would teach Chrysalis some of the ways the human parents would interact with the young. While it was so natural to him, from Chrysalis' perspective, Discord could sense that it was so alien to the queen to be so close and personal with her young. 

"Though, would you like to see a magic trick, my queen?" he said, remembering the likely now squashed things he had hidden in a bag.

She looked to him curiously. "Have you found a new ability while I was gone?"

"More so while I was gone, earlier," he said.

With an enthusiastic nod from Chrysalis, Discord smirked; hopping up to his feet, and carrying Eris with him as they made their way to Chrysalis' chambers, he brimmed with excitement, and minor worry. He just hoped the trick would work for a second time. After an excruciatingly long walk, he playfully tossed the young Eris onto the bed, illiciting a squeak from her. The smile did not fade, however, as Chrysalis sat beside her.

"Are you familiar with wine, Chrysalis?" he said, putting on a curious accent, not quite sure where he was getting it from, either.

Chrysalis nodded. "I have enjoyed a few bottles stolen from caravans throughout the decades."

Discord clapped happily, pulling the bag out of waist of his pants. 

"Now, sadly," he started, "the grapes are likely squished, but that is of little concern."

He removed the two mashed fruits from the bag, getting juice on his hand almost instantly. The two Changelings in his audience gave him full attention, their eyes focused on the grapes. While he was sure he could likely turn these grapes into wine as well, he wanted to give them a show! He flourished his hand a bit, dramatically forming the positioning needed for a solid snapping sound, and gave out the louder finger snap he could manage. Thankfully, the rooms acoustics gave it a heart snap!; and with that snap, the deformed grapes started to slowly inflate. The juice around them began to seep back in, as if the squashed fruits was being sent back in time.

The next snap, preceded by him swapping hands with a clumsy two-grape juggle, resulted in the fruits gaining slightly in their size. Chrysalis stared as they were almost the same size as Eris' little pupils. For the finale, Discord tossed the two grapes in the air, snapping once more. Without so much as a flash of light, but a blink of an eye, a pair of colored clay containers landed in his hands.

"We've got a nice, fresh, grape wine for the adults," he says, winking to the queen, who eyes the red container he highlighted with a wiggle. Chrysalis responded with a happy little coo. He shook the slightly smaller pink-ish container. "And regular grape juice for the lovely little lady."

Eris tilted her head curiously, chirping at him a few times. Discord's eyes widened.

"You've never had grape juice!?" he said, almost in shock. "Well, if you are able to consume this, tonight, your mother and I are going to have to dedicate an entire day to learning what wonderful things I could make for you."

Chrysalis giggled, watching him interact with her child. He set the red wine container aside, using his freehand to gently cup Eris's little chin. "Alright, here it comes, sweetie!"

The little one, opened her muzzle expectantly for the drink as Discord carefully guides her in drinking it. After a test drink, the little one chirped excitedly, her aura flaring up again, making Chrysalis smile wide.

"Indeed, Discord," Chrysalis giggled, "it appears that you will never have a free day while you are here."

The man shrugged, essentially feeding the young Changeling the sweet grape juice like the baby she was. "As I said before, for the children, it's unconditional. If I am going to serve as a sort of help to feed the hive-- being that we seemed to have found another food source for the young--, then I feel I must help you guys establish something far more sustainable than just a few people."

The queen blinked. "If you could ever find a way to permanently feed us, I don't know how we could ever repay that."

"One word! Unconditional."

He smiled, as while she was drinking, the little Changeling had fallen asleep in Discord's arms. With a happy sigh, he settled the little one beside him, knowing the queen would likely want him against her as usual. Chrysalis grabbed hold of the red wine container, as Discord grabbed what looked like a couple of cups beside her. 

"Water cups, I assume?" he asked.

Chrysalis shrugged. "Water, or the occasional wine. Sometimes Styx needs to loosen up after a long day before we procreate."

Discord shrugged, taking that as a good enough response. He poured as even an amount as he could between the two, and they began to drink heartily. Discord was encouraged to smile when Chrysalis said it was by far the most pure wine she had ever tasted, and they both happily went at the whole container. Tonight was not going to keep the magician awake with the sound of voices, as the wine served as the perfect catalyst to knock him out with his mate.