By King of Squirrels

Assisted by the late James Fox

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Dedicated to my best friend.
A man whom I consider a brother
He passed away while this story was being written
James Fox, you will always be missed.

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The foreboding wind howled through the night, carrying the scent of a mare that charged passed the trees of the Everfree. The unicorn mare ran through the wood of the hallowed forest, her forest green eyes darting back and forth as she galloped. Her quick and shallow breaths left her body; wooden slivers covered her entire alabaster coat.

The gnarled branches of the trees stretched off in all direction, each leaf a different shade of varying hues from the change in the fall season. The chill of the wind that caressed her coat, as tiny puffs of mist escaped her mouth as it spread out into the darkness of the night.

The mare peered around a thick tree and looked up the trail. It was too dark for any pony to see, but for her the faint moonlight was like sunshine streaming between the trees; every detail was clear and sharp to her searching gaze.

A small snap of a wooden branch to the left was enough to alert her it of its presence; she stood on her hind legs and pressed herself into a wedge indentation of the thick willow tree. The air around her chilled to the point of frost as the vines of the willow where encased in ice and withered black.

Beyond the vines stood a creature of chaos, a shade that traveled along the wind. Its long bony fingers groped in the darkness, as it drained the energy away from everything it touched. Its face covered in black cloths hiding the rotten flesh below. It clicked away on its tongue as it’s tried to pick up more details about the area.

The monster hurried into the brush, hissing as it hid. Soon the rustling quieted and the forest was silent again.

The mare breathed a sigh of relief, until the soft cries of one of her charges filled the silence. She bent down and opened the silver latch on the satchel that held one of the twins. Her alicorn horn glowed crimson as she tapped into the mana, the infant foal was surrounded in her light.

“Don’t worry Mist, you're safe now,” he cooed in her motherly voice as she grappled on to the eldest of her sons. The tiny ash coated pegasus colt stopped his wailings as he snuggled against her warm fur, the barrier around him stopping the chill from the night wind from touching his small frame.

Only the quiet sounds of the forest were audible. There was the creaking of the trees, and the occasional buzz and chirp of insects. An owl screeched, cutting through the silence. She did not relax until the bird flew past.

The mare breathed rapid small inaudible breaths as she gently put the tiny pegasus foal into his sheep printed baby blanket inside the satchel. She knelt in a bed of trampled reed grass and scanned the ahead with her practiced eye.

The curly red maned unicorn stood with quiet assurance in the dusky moonlight, then strode into the forest toward a glen where she was sure the pond was. She tread forth, taking great care as she walked past the ice covered vines of the willow. The trees blocked the sky from view and cast feathery shadows on the ground.

She stepped gracefully past the nameless plants that clung to the bottom of her hooves, into the small clearing where the animals of the forest used as their watering hole. Resting in the center was a large pond that was as still as the night air, resting next to the waters was another willow, banking hard in the direction of the water.

The mare walked slowly into the opening, her eyes scanning the area for the shades that prowled the night air. She took great care as to not step on the small pools of water that had iced over from the cold of night, as she made her way next to the willow.

She sat at the edge of a still pond, her reflection looking back at her in the water. Her gaze fell upon the reflection of the moon, the beauty of crescent moon danced in her eyes as streams of hot salty tears started to soak through to her coat.

“To the six divine that guide this land, and the avatars that dictate creation and destruction, please forgive me,” she said with a shuddered breath.

She spoke the words slowly with a voice that carried the tone of a pony regretted her own birth, words that could scar the souls of those around her. Her tiny voice that won the hearts of those around her, her cause was not a noble one.

A hissing sound pierced the air as two gem encrusted daggers that were encompassed in a green aura now hung inches above the mare's neck and rib cage. There was a wire-thin scratch curved down the blade that was pressed against her throat. The weapon was thin enough to slip between a pair of ribs, yet stout enough to hack through the hardest armor.

Astral held her tongue as she turned slowly to gaze at the figure that now had her life at dagger point. A slender magenta coated unicorn, her horn glowed a bright forest green. Her spiral irises glinted in the night, taking on new life as they focused in from the light of her horn.

“I am known as such and who I may ask are you?” the alabaster coated mare answered with a contemptible glare as she stared down her new opponent with her icy blue eyes.

“A name, oh what is in a name? Just letters that label a pony, but if you really need to know, it’s Maelstrom.” The magenta mare answered as she willed the daggers away from her throat and ribcage. The mare raised a quizzical brow as the instruments of death sheathed themselves into two black holstered that were bound by a leather strap. “I was sent here to protect you by Disarray.”

“A demon, you’re quite right. Serving the king of Tartarus has its perks, I help you and I get to breathe fresh air again.”

Astral leaned her head side to side as she eyed her unexpected ally over, her silky straight lavender manned looked nothing like the myths and legends that tied to what a demon of Tartarus actually looked like.

Maelstrom shrugged as she spoke in a calm voice, “I don’t know how much the old geezer knows. All I was told to do is protect you from Discord’s minions, until you can finish the ritual.” Her gaze turned towards her two satchels that hung on Astral’s sides. “Is this them, the spawns of Discord? So which one are you going to off anyway?”

The curly haired unicorn stepped back as she put several feet between her and the creature standing before her. Her gaze growing colder as she back away, Astral’s blood started to boil underneath her coat.

“I am planning on using myself as the sacrifice; these two will be fine on their own.”

“You know you can’t do that, you’re not trying to bring back the dead. Sorry kids, one of you is going to die real—“The mare stopped herself as the vines on the willow froze over behind the alabaster unicorn, as several shades drifted above the tree. “I guess it is time for the great Maelstrom to make herself known.” She turned her attention to the mare. “Hey, set up the ritual while I hold them off.”

The mare charged forward, flinging her dagger at a tree. It passed halfway through the trunk, where it stuck, quivering. She galloped forward as she leapt into the air, taking aim, she stepped hard onto the daggers gem encrusted hilt. She scrambled up the side of the bark to where she could reach higher branches.

Maelstrom's head popped out of the top of the tree, her eyes glazed along the tops of the trees for her prey. It wasn’t hard to find the shades in the distance that was closing in on the glen. A wry smile grew on her face, as she stood on her hind legs, propped up as she extended her hoof, her alicorn horn glowed at it tapped into the mana.

“Come at me!” she shouted. As nine bolts of energy shot from her hoof, the blazing spectral blue light collided with the shades nearest the large willow tree. The shades exploded in a bright orange light, as the mana ignited the cloth that covered their faces. The wails of the dying shades filled the quiet silence of the entirety of the forest.

Under the vines of the willow branches that barely touched the pond water, amidst dim moonlight, a single unicorn sat with her head bent down, as she watched over her sons. A small clear shell of a force field she created covered them. Two foals snuggled against each other, a small alabaster coated unicorn with a charcoal black mane. Sleeping next to him was his twin brother, an ash coated pegasus with crimson mane that had a black streak.

The mare fell to their side as she cooed sweet nothings of comfort; she bit hard on her lip. Astral leaned over to the pair and kissed both gently on each other’s forehead. Hot, salty tears started to flow again as she looked down at her boon.

Tiny droplets fell from above, crashing into the coat of her young unicorn foal. He stirred as it wandered, too young to even open his eyes. He felt the familiar fur of his brother as a smile grew on his face. He wiggled towards him, he plopped his head onto his brother’s flank and fell back asleep.

Astral bit hard on her lower lip, small droplets of blood filled her mouth as she pierced her skin. She buried her face into the grass and wept.

“I can’t do it; they are my flesh and blood. Please kill me instead, I beg of you, don’t make me choose.” The mare said to no one.

A mare sporadically shot away her mystic bolts, the shades calling forth more of their kind from the depths of the forest below. She screamed in almost pure ecstasy as each shot earned a killing blow.

One final shot was sent to a shade that bordered the glen; its death cry filling the air as its final moments knew only suffering. A smug sense of triumph came over her as she blew at the end of her hoof, “Like shooting fish in a barrel.” She stated as a spark in the distance caught her eye.

“Hey, Astral, your ex-boyfriend is coming, should I tell him to come back later?”

Astral winced as the beating of her heart sent small shocks in her body, as she snapped back to reality; again she looked down on the two foals who knew nothing of this world. She breathed a deep breath as she gathered the courage as her nerves steeled themselves.

She bit down hard on her fetlock, breaking through the fur and skin into the soft pink flesh below. Focused on the wound she had created; it had begun to weep blood. She drew a large circle around the entirety of the small shield she created. The unicorn mare stepped inside the seal; tapping into the font of mana she willed the runes of life into the earthen soil around the crimson stream.

Astral’s horn glowed as the lines of blood she had drawn on the forest floor came to life with a silver incandescence. The runes that were carved into the soil came to life as they began to glow with an eerie blue flame. The leafs on the ground scattered as a small torrent of wind began to whip around them.

“Light cast forth from the darkness of our realm, set me free from these bonds.”

Before her the air started to shiver as an ebony iron gate appeared into existence from the void. Ingrained in its solid iron frame were the bones of dragons, griffins, and ponies alike. Each character in the door looked as though it were alive; its curves looked like the door had been crafted by Death itself.

As the gate cracked open, a large brown paw of a bear pushed its way through. A wrinkly old draconequus stepped past the gates and onto one of the many maple roots. His other paw from his diamond dog arm interlocked with the claws on his other paw as the cracking sound pierced the night air.

He licked his lips, wetting the dry skin. His crimson eyes watched the area as the scales on his back shuddered from the night’s chill. The long scarily white mane danced about in the wind, until the wind died down and it matted itself against his sides.

The magenta mare shifted her way down the bark of the tree, her hoof pressing hard against the hilt of her dagger, freeing it from its imprisonment. She trotted over to the side on the old man and gave a low bow.

Disarray ignored the voice of his subordinate as he looked off into the distance. Just past the tree line hovering above the branches was Discord, flying fast, straight to the glen that held his sons. The wrinkled old geezer now looked down at his grandsons, tiny, not a care in the world for one of them had to come with him.

“Astral, you know you must choose. You know full well their fate if they remain here. It is not their fault what is happening to them.” The draconequus turned to his charge. “Maelstrom, go hold off my son, he must not interfere.”

She bent her front legs, showing the proper courtesy for her king as she back away, her cold glare falling on the tree line at the edge of the glen.

The mare just stood there as she looked down on her sleeping foals. She watched theirs breathing as their lungs raised and lowered their chest. He stirred in his slept as Mist’s tail whipped him in the nose.

The old draconequus put a paw on her shoulder, its cold pad giving no comfort to the dishearten mare. “I will make you a deal, when the time comes and you need them most, I will reunite you, so that you may see them again.”

The mare looked up into his warm red eyes, “Will you do that, wait, how do I know that you will keep your word?”

Disarray chuckled. “The king of Tartarus can’t lie, kill or show favoritism in the mortal realm. A deal however I can do, from your side of it you must give me the existence of one of your sons.”

Maelstrom horn glowed as she tapped into the mana; her two daggers came alive as she stood next to the willow tree, eying the horizon for the presence of the Chaos Prince. The smell of brimstone filled the air as a fireball was launched from the forest directly ahead of the magenta mare. It was only a split second that she was able to dodge the torrential flames that now started to burn away at the tree.

“Ya’ missed, you over grown salamander!” The magenta unicorn mare yelled as she stared down her new opponent.

“Give me back what is mine!” Discord bellowed as a chaotic aura started to burn away on the mana present in the air, causing a shroud of black flames to encompass him.

Maelstrom spat on the frosted grass in between them as she tried to hold back the nerves jittering inside her body. The rush of dopamine filled her mind, as pleasure ran over her senses, she wanted a fight. She charged forward as she willed one the slender dagger ahead straight at Discord’s throat.

Only to bounce of the blade of a black seven foot bastard sword that he willed into existence, Maelstrom nearly orgasmed as she saw the massive size of the weapon. A spark grew in the back of her mind as she leapt in for a close quarters combat.

Discord’s massive paw tightened around the hilt of the chaotic blade as he flex the muscles in his arm and swung the blade hard and fast. Discord smiled as it sliced through Maelstrom, for her to fade away. The death of her after image was to no worry to her as she leapt midair at his side, narrowly missing the edge of her execution. She whipped her head back, focusing on her target, as she willed her daggers back to her side.

She only had a moment to duck as the blade swung over her head, its scalpel sharp edge slicing through some of the unlucky hairs that were caught in the crossfire. She sniffed as her eyes crossed, looking at the edges of her missing bangs.

“Look at what you did; do you know how long it took me to do my hair this morning? You totally ruined my debut.”

Maelstrom’s eyes narrowed, only Discord was in her sites as all else faded from her mind. As she quickened her pace, the world around her slowed as she leapt in. Discord’s movements to her came at a snail’s pace. She work into the crux for Discord’s arms as she planted a dagger into his heart, the other pushed her up into the air for a burst of speed as she kicked off of it sending it through his diaphragm into his lungs.

“Time for you to die,” said smirked as her horn glowed, the dagger inside his lungs now spinning inside of him, slicing the esophagus and lungs to pieces, the blade inside his heart now span like a drill as it sliced through the four primary arteries.

Discord face did not change as the weapons worked away on his insides, with no effort he dug into his chest cavity with the sharp eagle claws. A loud snap and crack was clear audible as the draconequus ripped the weapons out of his chest cavity. A silver liquid pour freely from the open gaps. The wounds closed as the quicksilver worked away at healing his internal damage.

Maelstrom’s eye twitched, “Hey old man, what’s going on? I just filleted his insides, but he is still standing!” she bellowed across the glen, her cold eyes never leaving her target.

“Discord is immortal, and he has the stone of life inside his chest. You can’t harm or kill him.” An old scraggly voiced shouted from beyond the willow tree.

Maelstrom arched an eyebrow and then lowered her head as she licked her lips, “Well aren’t you an overpowered son of a mule. Can’t die and instantly heals, I call shenanigans. Although, that makes you the perfect punching bag now doesn't it?”

The flames now completely consumed the tree trunk, the weight of the heavy limbs causing it to fall forward. The branches burned away from the stump, most fell harmlessly into the water. One found its way into the back leg of an alabaster coated mare, the other however, whistled past as it tore through like a hot arrow, cutting through the flesh of an ash coated foal.

“No… NO!!!” Astral screamed as she ripped the branch out of Mist’s soft chest. The foal cried away as no sound left his mouth, until he fell limp in his mother’s arms as the blood started to pool into his lungs.

She turned her gaze to Disarray and back to the Mist, “I never wanted this…” was all she could muster. Astral hugged him tight as she tried to finish, her voice cracking at every word.

“I-I give to you, the lords of the land, this, the existence of my son Mist. So lay proof to my claim so that I may see with eyes unclouded by hate.”

The mana in the air began to twist and reform, as the runes in the earth shifted as they meshed and pooled together created a prismatic void under the hooves of caster.

Mist fell backwards, as he floated in the air, cradled by the energies of the spell. It happened in but an instant, the spell burned away consuming the energy required to finish it. With a bright white flash and one final blast of wind, he was gone, leaving only silence and stillness in its wake.

Turning her eyes skyward, Astral glared at the next figure to float down through the hole in the clouds. A white cat, her wings extended showering the area in white feathers, the slits in its eyes burned away on the mare they were cast upon.

“The Avatar of Destruction,” Astral forced out through grit teeth as her ice blue eyes locked on the mythical creature. A single feather touched down, as it brushed against her coat. Every fiber of her being wanted her to attack, to smite down the celestial being for cursing them to this fate.

A loud snap echoed throughout the woods, as the ritual completed, a feeling of weightlessness came over her as she fell through the ground. She grappled onto the alabaster foal that floated down in front of her, she look up and blinked as they were swallowed up into the prismatic vortex.

The old draconequus breathed a sigh of relief as he looked towards the night sky, “I hope we’re doing the right thing.” His white bushy brows moved on how wrinkled face. He huffed as he prepared for his journey. “Maelstrom, come, we have work to do!” He bellowed as he shuffled back to the door of the dead that lead to the realm of Tartarus.

Maelstrom dashed back several large leaps as she kept avoiding the near misses of Discord’s chaotic weapon. Her coat was covered in beads of sweat as her chest rapidly tried to force as much oxygen as it could into the muscles that covered her. The crackle and cinder of the burning stump heated the bottom on her horse shoe as she put her weight on the wooden pillar.

She winked at the enraged draconequus as her daggers flew into the blacken leather holsters, sheathing themselves. She closed her eye as she bent down and leapt backwards into the air, her alicorn horn glowed as she fell back.

The top on her skull hit hard against the iron door. Her eyes crossed as she rubbed the large lump that started to form below her fur.

“Son of a mule that really hurt, what the heck is going on Disarray you’re supposed to keep the door open?”

The wary old draconequus pulled on the door, “It’s a pull door Maelstrom.” She winced, and rubbed the back of her neck, shaking off the dry, dead leaves that clung to her coat. She muttered more reprehensible curses as the pair walked back into the great dark iron door. As it finally shut, the air around the door shimmered as it faded from existence.

A hissing sound pierced the night, as a black bastard sword flew through the air as it glided on the wind, straight into the clear waters of the pond. The chaotic energies of burned away on the raw emotion, as it feed on the mana font. Discord’s eyes glowed white as the glen was burn away as his flames incinerated the existence that it touched.

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Daddy Discord

by KingofSquirrelz

Prelude - A Mother's Sin