//------------------------------// // Family meeting // Story: The Lord of Chaos // by Guillermo //------------------------------// Cadence sat down with a weary sigh in one of the armchairs in her private living room, happy to be there to unwind instead of being surrounded by a bunch of nobles from the Crystal Empire. The bad thing about these is that having been under a temporary suspension spell for just over a thousand years, their ideas were very ... archaic. Even after two years, she was fighting to get workers to have decent wages, basic rights like syndicates, acceptable days off, etc, etc. Using her magic, she poured herself a cup of tea to calm the nerves that those aristocrats gave her, and she still had enough left, because after her 5 minute break she would have to go back to the throne room, sometimes she wondered how they did it her aunts. The alicorn couldn't help but take another sigh, as she closed her eyes and took a sip. "Difficult day?" Said a voice from the door. Opening her eyes, the princess of love saw her husband Shining Armor enter the room with a smile, with an expression just as tired as she was, and dressed in the armor that distinguished him as a prince of the Empire and commander of the guard of crystal. "You can't imagine it" Cadence said as she closed her eyes again, "those nobles urgently need a class of pony rights and freedoms. How about you, how about training the nejbos recruits?" "Those rookies are giving me more trouble than expected. A 200-meter run around the training ground and they're already on the verge of an attack, and i'm giving them a gentler workout than the canterlot royal guard" Shining said as he approached and poured himself another cup of tea, giving a long sip. "I'm sure their captain will make they real soldiers" Cadence replied with a smile. "Oh yeah? Why?" Her husband answered as he put the cup on the table and approached the pink alicorn. "Because he's the best." Cadence craned her neck as Shining lowered her head for a loving kiss. The sound of somepony entering the room interrupted them, and as they turned, they saw the assistant to the princess of love. "This ... Am I interrupting something? Because I can go and ..." "It's okay, Ruby Heart, you can come in" Cadence said in a friendly tone. "Is something wrong?" "Letter from Princess Celestia, Your Highness" said the young crystal pony as she put her right hoof in the saddlebag and took out an envelope sealed with the royal seal of the princess of the sun. Curious, Cadence grabbed the letter with her magic and opened it, ready to read its contents. Dear Cadence, I am writing to you because something important has happened, my sister Luna and I have ... regained our relationship with one of our brothers. And since you are our niece, we want to introduce you, as it is very important to us and he has expressed his desire to want to be able to call you a niece. Your husband may feel invited to come, he is family. With love, Princess Celestia Cadence looked up from the note for the twentieth time, still surprised, and it was no wonder, her aunt never told her that she had more siblings apart from Luna. She was somewhat worried, why was that brother appearing now? What did he want from her aunts? With a sigh, she tried to distract herself observing the beautiful scenery that she could see through the train window, observing the fields and meadows of Equestria that could be seen from Mount Canterhorn, in the distance, she could see Ponyville and the glow it gave off the Castle of Friendship being illuminated by the sun. Both she and her husband took the first train of the afternoon, almost a week ago, and secretly, the princess of love was grateful not to have to deal with the nobles of the Crystal Empire, at least until her return. "Something happens?" Cadence turned to see her husband approach from the table in the private bar they had in their personal carriage. The alicorn gave a small smile and made room for Shining so that she will sit next to him on the comfortable sofa that was available to her, enough to lie on it without problems. "It's nothing important" she commented as she gave him a soft kiss. "Hey, you can tell me what you want, I'm here for you." "Shining, I ..." Cadence sighed and gave up, admitting that she couldn't fool the unicorn. "I'm just worried, why is that brother coming now and not before?" What he wants?" "Maybe he wants to repair his mistakes?" "Maybe ... or maybe he wants something from them ..." "There's something else, right?" "Can't I hide anything from you?" Cadence said with a little giggle. "No, it is in my blood, once we see a mystery, the Sparkles set out to discover it" Shining replied amused, sharing a laugh with his wife. After a moment, Cadence rested her head on her husband's shoulder, closing her eyes, beginning to speak. "I can't stop thinking that ... if my parents came one day willing to resume a relationship with me after leaving me alone all my life ... could I accept it as my aunts seem to accept their brother?" Shining held her in his embrace, conveying his support, support that Cadence accepted. Several minutes later, the train entered the last tunnel that ran through the mountain, leaving five minutes later on the outskirts of the equestrian capital. After traveling a few streets, the train stopped at the central station, where Celestia herself was already waiting along with a group of guards and a private carriage, not to mention some curious ponies, the vsuat of its ruler so closely was rare. The princess of the sun smiled when she saw her niece leave with her husband, going to give the pink alicorn a hug. "It's a pleasure to see you again, dear Cadence." "Likewise, Aunt Celestia." The embrace between the two deepened a bit before parting, at which point Celestia looked at Shining, smiling. "Nice to see you too, Shining." "The pleasure is mine, Your Highness" said the unicorn as he bowed. "Aunt" Cadence commented, wanting to direct the conversation to the matter she wanted to address, "what's that about a brot ...? " It is better to treat him in the castle." Celestia's eyes went very subtly to the ponies present. Nodding, both crystal rulers boarded their transport, heading for the castle. Along the way, the white alicorn was dedicated to talking about topics that did not coincide at all with the one Cadence wanted to talk about. It was not until the carriage had crossed the gate that the princess of the sun seemed willing to comment directly on the subject on which she called her niece and her husband. "Well, I have to tell you that my brother ... will not be as you think. Whatever happens, I want you to trust me." Cadence and Shining looked at each other before nodding, to which Celestia smirked. The carriage stopped in front of the doors and the three occupants descended to head inside the castle, walking through its corridors in the direction of the more private wings. The princess of the sun stopped in front of the door that the pink alicorn recognized as the private room of the princesses, opening and revealing a picture difficult to believe for the crystal rulers. "Hake Mate, Lulu" Discord said as he hit the king's figure with his tower, while smiling hugely. "You really don't cheat?" Luna replied with a frown. "No, they are centuries of practice, my dear." "Hello, Discord, they've arrived" Celestia interrupted as she entered, then glancing at her niece, letting a worried expression cross her face. "Is something wrong?" "I ..." Cadence said looking at the lord of chaos without knowing what to say, this couldn't be her uncle, could he? "Cadence ..." Luna said, leaving her seat and approaching the mare. "I present to you our brother, although I think you already know him." "Yes, she knows him, from the day you betrayed us and the day you almost killed her and my sister" Shining said with rancor and placing himself in front of his wife in a protective way, who looked at him in horror. "Shining!" "Shining, I know you're furious about that, but if you could just listen ..." Luna said delicately. "Hear what, Your Highness? It's Discord, lord of chaos, and reformed or not, he's not to be trusted." "Shining, calm down" Celestia said forcefully. "Let me explain ... certain things." "That would help" Cadence said, giving her husband a warning look. As for Discord, he watched everything in silence, waiting to see how everything evolved, being attentive to the pink alicorn, there was something about her that attracted him. After a long explanation, Cadence fell silent, processing the information, while Shining kept thinking that the lord of chaos was playing some kind of twisted game, and the princesses had fallen for him. In the end, the princess of love finally decided to speak. "So ... you decided to be a villain just to make sure my aunts fulfilled their destiny?" "That and stop the ponies from destroying each other." "You take care of that ..." Shining whispered, receiving a blow from his wife, while Discord just gave an amused laugh. "I like you, straight to the point and not afraid to say what you think." Shining was about to reply but was interrupted by Cadence, who approached the lord of chaos slowly. "If what my aunts say is true, that means we are family, right?" "That's what they say" Discord replied with a shrug, staring at Cadence, "the important thing is that you want me to be part of your family." "Of course I do" Cadence said with a smile, glancing at her husband before reaching out and extending her hoof. "Nice meeting you, Uncle Discord." In response, the lord of chaos chose to grab her and wrap her in a tight hug, Shining almost lunged to attack. After a few minutes, Discord set the alicorn on the ground, still smiling. "A pleasure to have you in my family, dear Cadence, and the same goes for you, Shining." The aforementioned was to say something, but he felt that all his bad feelings seemed to disappear little by little, watching Cadence, who gave him a mischievous smile and had her horn lit up. With a sigh, Shining clenched Discord's claw, surrendered. "Good" said Luna happily. "Once this is solved, let's have dinner, you must be hungry." As the rest left the room, Discord stopped his sister Celestia with a glance. Once alone, the lord of chaos observed the alicorn with a curious look. "Who are the parents?" "Excuse me?" Celestia said confused. "Celestia, I'm not a fool, I detect her power very well, the essence of a ..." "A god, I know" Celestia said with a sigh. "But I swear I don't know who her parents are. One day the guards brought her to me, they had found her at the castle gate, a small pegasus with the power of a god inside her, latent. I knew that she was obviously my niece, but I never knew who left her there, and none of my brothers have decided to tell me anything, so I decided to ..." "To take care of her and teach her, and then give her a push to develop her full potential" Discord said sympathetically. "Exactly the same as you did with Twilight." "Yes ... the difference is that now I know why Twilight has divine power, but she ..." "I'll find out who left it for you here. You have my word, little sister." A white flash covered the sky, and instantly Discord appeared, beginning to fly in a particular direction over hills and flower-filled meadows that stretched as far as the eye could see. After almost an hour of travel, he reached his destination, an island in the middle of a large lake, and on the largest mountain in it, there was an immense castle. In the past, it was the divine home of Harmony and her daughters, today, only the latter inhabited it. The lord of chaos walked to the doors and entered, and contrary to what he did when his sister lived, he did not spread his chaos in the place, out of respect for his late sister. For several minutes he wandered through the corridors, he climbed a great staircase, and came to a library in the center of which an orb could be seen through which one could see anywhere in the universe. Next to this, was an alicorn that the draconequus knew well, who spoke when she felt the god enter. "Hi, Uncle Discord." "Nice to see you, Hecate" Discord said as he dropped into a nearby chair and made one of the books go to him. "Anything interesting to see?" "Twilight ... she is doing a great job as a princess of friendship, now she is in a peaceful meeting between the Diamond Dogs that live near Ponyville and the ponies." "Ah, our little Twilight, she is achieving great things." "Yes ... Why are you here?" "Well look" Discord said as he returned the book to her place and took another. "I ran into Cadence, do you know her? She is the niece of Celestia, princess of love and co-ruler of the Crystal Empire." "I know her" Hecate said without taking her eyes off the orb, but without looking at it at all. "Well, that, that Celestia introduced me and I accepted her as a niece, but there is something that bothered me, because she had the power of a god inside her, and that only means two thing, or is she like Twilight and she has an ancestor who is a god, or is the daughter of one. But Celly told me that they left it at her door, one stormy night" when he said it, Hecate moved one of her ears, the only symbol that it had affected her. "So, to find out, I went to get my trusty cauldron to see the past and present. Can you believe they had it in a warehouse dead of disgust? Total, that I take it to my house and take a look at that specific night, and what was my surprise when I saw that it was you who left it there. Now I only have one question ... why haven't you even deigned to tell her that you are her mother?" Hecate sighed deeply, still not taking her eyes off the orb, wondering what to say. " Discord, I ..." Turning around, she saw that her uncle had dropped all hint of amusement on his face. He put the book on the shelf and motioned for his niece to try to explain herself. Hecate took a long breath before looking back from her to the orb, deciding to speak shortly after. "A few years ago, I felt somepony praying to me, which has not happened in more than four thousand years, so I was curious. It turns out that the pony who prayed to me was an adventure-loving pegasus who discovered an ancient temple erected in my name, and he decided to read aloud the prayers etched on the walls. I found he intriguing, and ended up visiting him several times ... I fell in love ... a goddess and a mortal." "It's not that weird" Discord said calmly, to which his niece shrugged. "After two years of knowing each other, I got pregnant, I had not been so happy in all my life, even Amet was amazed at the happiness she had. But then ... the father died in an accident, searching for an ancient temple. And there you have me, giving birth without my loved one around, and I knew that my little filly could not come with me, such is the curse of the gods born as mortals. I decided to leave her with Celestia, so that she would have someone to help her reach her potential." "That doesn't explain why you haven't told her anything about her origins." "How do you want me to do it? Also, if I had told her, it is most likely that she would not have been able to connect well with any mortal, if she had known from the beginning that by her divine descent she would be immortal, would she have accepted love? Celestia and Luna are still afraid to accept it, and the same goes for almost all of us, Discord. Not to mention that it would break her heart to know that I have not visited him even once, it is too late to start." "It's never too late" said the lord of chaos as he approached and gave his niece a hug. "But you should tell her soon." "I need time, uncle" Hecate said as she snuggled into Discord's shoulder. "I have ... I have to think about it ... In the meantime, don't say anything ... please." Discord nodded slowly as he ran his lion claw over his niece's back. Although he would have liked her to go tell her daughter the truth right then and there, he knew well that such things took time, and besides, he was not the best suited to give such lessons. Discord roamed freely through space, taking a walk through the mother galaxy, wondering if he should tell his good friend Fluttershy the truth once and for all. He had just come out of their weekly meeting and had not told her, as he was at a crossroads, wait for a good time or say it now. Shaking his head from her, he decided to think of a solution at another time, instead, he devised new pranks for his little sisters. He may have stopped being a "villain", but he had to keep making jokes on them, just as he did in his foalhood, it is an obligation, as dictated by the laws of older brothers, and he knew it because it was he who dictated them, not for nothing, he was the first older brother in the universe. When he realized where he was, he discovered that he was near the primordial black hole, the center of the mother galaxy and the eternal prison of his disgraced brother. Deciding that he wouldn't hurt anyone by glancing, he rose to his hind legs and floated over slowly. If he had been someone else, he would have been sucked in immediately and with no chance to escape, but he WAS chaos, so he was not bound by physical laws. Being only a foot from the black hole, he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, there was only red, peering into the prison. Discord frowned, as he couldn't find his brother, and that couldn't be possible, so he searched even harder. But the truth became undeniable in no time, Ares had escaped. Having a very bad feeling, the lord of chaos launched himself at impossible speeds, reaching Equs in no time, landing in the Everfree forest. He raised his eagle's paw and snapped his fingers, creating a sound explosion that could be heard all over the world and generating a shock wave that spread to the entire planet. Discord closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to detect any disturbance, and when he detected the first one, he immediately teleported to the source. Upon arrival, he came across a ruined Zebrica village, shattered crops, huts burning to ashes, and its inhabitants dead, every last one of them. Another pulse of energy and the lord of chaos disappeared again, this time encountering a city of gargoyles and centaurs with the same result as in Zebrica. Sensing the next one, much more powerful than the others, he disappeared again, only to appear in the middle of a Crystal Empire plaza. Hundreds of ponies ran from one place to another, seeking shelter or their loved ponies, all of them terrified, their houses on fire, others with serious injuries and several dead. Most, seeing him, fled in the opposite direction, which, at the time, Discord did not care. He flew swiftly to the center of the city, seeing, under the castle and resting place of the crystal heart, an infinity of ponies led by the two crystal rulers. The one they were facing was very close to the heart, and it was a blood red dragon with a belly and chest, next to its spines, black in color, dressed in battle armor, his body was elongated and the size of the same lord of chaos. Just as the dragon prepared to fire a blaze that would scorch everypony in front of it, Discord appeared with his lion's claw extended. When the flames touched his palm, they turned into harmless bubbles, which as they exploded, each drop fell to the ground, sprouting black roots with thorns that pointed threateningly at his opponent and came between him and the ponies. The dragon looked with a raised eyebrow at the draconequus before starting to laugh uncontrollably. "But look who we have here, the lord of chaos himself. How's it going brother?" "Give up now and join me, Ares" Discord said, not interested in playing the game of the destructive god. "Weren't you the funny one? You disappoint me, but to show you that I don't hold a grudge, I think I'll let this city go. How about?" "That honors you, but you will come with me anyway." "No, Discord, you do not give the orders" said the lord of destruction as he left one of his claws in the heart, letting a crack spread little by little on its surface. "I'm going to leave, we'll meet again at dusk, on top of Canterhorn. Goodbye, brother." With a smile, the dragon spread its wings and then engulfed itself in fire, disappearing without a trace. The crystal heart shattered into thousands of pieces, and the sky began to rapidly blacken, releasing a larger and larger blizzard. Discord looked at the ashes, the only proof that his brother was there, and then focused on the destroyed artifact. "One of your friends?!" Shining said with rancor, being beaten by his wife. "Now is not the time, Shining!" Cadence scolded with a frown. Ignoring the two, Discord approached the heart fragments, enveloping them in a magical aura and bringing them together again. With immense brilliance, the crystal heart was rebuilt and placed back in its place, and once so, the lord of chaos turned to gaze at the increasingly black sky, and then at his niece. "You have to make the ponies of the Empire have good feelings, you have to help the heart!" "What?!" Cadence said distraught. "I can't affect so many ponies at once!" "Of course you can!" Discord yelled as he approached, crouching down to look her niece in the eye and grab her by her shoulders. "You are not just the princess of love, you are the goddess of love. Through your blood runs the essence of the gods. " What?" "Show that you are worthy of your position," Discord said with a smile, running his eagle claw across Cadence's right cheek, smiling and trying to cheer her up before separating and watching the storm grow stronger. "That storm, but I can't do it forever" After saying so, the lord of chaos moved away towards the sky, creating a shield that prevented the blizzard from getting worse. As for Cadence, she look at the figure of Discord in the distance, thinking about what was said. If she was a goddess, that meant that her parents were gods. Why hadn't they told him? He felt the touch of a hoof on her shoulder, and as she turned, she saw Shining giving her a supportive look. Closing her eyes, the alicorn sighed and activated her magic, trying to extend her power beyond what she had done in her entire life. After two minutes of effort, her magic began to spread in the form of hundreds of pink tendrils that reached out to touch as many ponies as possible, transmitting calm in her hearts. When the good feelings surfaced, the crystal heart shone in all her splendor and extended her protective shield to the entire Crystal Empire. Only then did Discord let go of his own protection, directing his gaze in the direction of Mount Canterhorn. There was a god to stop.