//------------------------------// // Sooner or Later. // Story: Of Mice and Gods // by Living Madness //------------------------------// The queen stood on the balcony of her chamber staring out into the bustling city of Canterlot the black smoke and fuel rising and bellowing from the factory chimney’s blocked most of the view but it mattered little to her as it was not the subject of her gaze. She stared intently at the blazing inferno that arouse from behind the walls, the ever brilliant light of the sun signalling morning for Equestria. Her feature’s darkened at the sight of the flaming sphere, it was not so much the sun itself that was the subject of her anger but the being inside it, which brought her blood to a boil. The being inside had been the cause of all of her troubles all those years ago. Why couldn't ‘it’ have listened? ‘It’ was the reason her friends had turned against her, ‘it’ was the reason why her family now attacked her and her husband’s domain, why her brother Shining cursed her name and denied her sisterhood to him the last time they meet. Why she and her husband had to torture and maim so many of her subject to keep them in line. If it wasn't for ‘it’ and ‘its’ sister things could have worked out for the best. Soon one day ’They’ would pay for everything. The thought coupled with the glare of the sun only seemed to darken her mood further, slowly her horn crackled and whipped with a glow of black and purple lightning, matched by a similar aura emitting from her eyes. Just before it could escalate any further, a soft cooing filled her ears, the sounds of a restless infant caught the attention of the lavender Queen, the magic retreating almost immediately from her horn as she walked towards a small crib inside her chamber. Inside the crib was the only thing that Twilight loved more than anything else in the world, perhaps even more than her King. Slowly she picked up the Foal in her magic and cradled it gently in her forehooves. As she laid down to make it easy to cuddle her infant daughter, she nuzzled the child’s cheek stopping any notion of crying that was about to occur, and eliciting a soft giggle from the filly, the foal flapped its wings momentarily before curling up towards its mother. Twilight just starred at her daughter Lucilla, her oddly white fur rising and falling hypnotically as she breathed in and out. The filly settled into sleep accidentally prodding its mother with a white small horn protruding out of the small pitch black mane that looked more and more like her father’s each day. Twilight sighed contently all thoughts of anger and revenge gone. Nothing could take her away from moments like these, she brought her hoof over to the foals head and slowly brushed away the unruly black hair from her eyes. “You have your father’s hair alright” she joked softly to the foal. “And her mother’s eyes” came a commanding voice just behind Twilight, causing her to turn just in time to see Sombra lay down next to his and her daughter. She leaned over and nuzzled her husband as they both watched the sleeping foal next to them. As always the moment ended too quickly, a rushed and sudden banging on the door broke the tranquil moment and woke the sleeping Lucilla, the filly began to cry immediately as it was denied its rest. Sombra Growled angrily standing up and storming towards the door of the chamber leaving his wife to try and comfort the distraught filly in her hoofs. “WHO DARES DISTURB US?” He roared almost ripping off the chamber doors at the hinges with a flick of his magic. The two guards bowed as low as physically possible both of them shivering in abject terror. “Speak slave!” he commanded in a lower, but no less ferocious tone. “A-A t-t-t-thousand apologise your majesty, b-b-but there’s a problem down in the Prison Cells.” One of the guards spoke forcing every syllable out like it was causing him great pain. Twilight placed her daughter down in her crib and quickly kissed the tip of her forehead just below the horn as she turned back only catching brief interludes of the conversation. “WHAT, HOW, WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?” Twilight flicked her ears in an attempt to better hear the conversation, she turned her head towards the door as the two guards parted revealing another cowering guard wearing a standard prison guard outfit on him. Oddly the stallion’s uniform and parts of his fur was stained by some sort of greenish cream. Twilight was about to investigate further when an impossibly black beam from Sombra’s horn struck the pony eloping him in the powerful blast, which elicited a blood curdling scream from the stallion, after a moment the steaming, scorched uniform fluttered to the floor, the only proof that a pony had been there at all. “Sombra, I told you not to do that near the baby!” Twilight scolded, unphased by the ferocious nature of her Husband. Sombra spun to face his wife, the look on his face that of pure rage, “The bearers of the Elements, they're gone!” Earlier the same day… Ordinis could not help but laugh at the reaction of his brother, admittedly he too had a similar reaction when he heard his own mother was calling them to return for the first time in nine thousand years, but thankfully he was alone for that. Discord was not so lucky. “No I refuse, no way I’m not going, end of story” Discord said snapping a book closed that had just materialised into his hand and forcefully sitting down on one of the cell beds. “Dissy, it’s not like you have a choice.” Ordinis said more caringly as he walked over and sat next to his brother. All the mares in the room where still completely silent, each one trying to picture what the mother of Discord could look like. The images that flew into the minds of Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s collective minds caused all three to shiver, it was not a pretty sight to say the least. Fluttershy and Pinkie where more open to the idea of meeting the person who supposedly raised the chaotic Draconequus. Pinkie was the first to ask as always. “Hey Dissy wha— the mare tried to finish her sentence, but found that without a mouth it was incredibly hard to convey her thoughts. “Discord!” Fluttershy scolded. “What? I did warn her what I’d do if she kept using that appalling nick-name.” Discord answered nonchalantly stroking his grey beard. “It’s true he did” Ordinis added nodding his head. “Mmhm mhmh mhhm.” Pinkie mumbled nodding in agreement. Fluttershy’s stare intensified it wasn't ‘the stare’, but it was still doing its job fairly well on Discord. “Oh fine.” he conceded snapping his fingers together and rematerializing the Party pony’s mouth once more, the mare in question took a gigantically overdrawn gasp before whipping a hoof over her forehead. “Thank you Discord.” Fluttershy finished in a more gentle voice. “I just can’t believe ya. Discord has a brother, and a mom…” Applejack mumbled mostly to herself. “Hey she’s my mother too.” Ordinis conveyed pointing to himself. “But yes he’s her little destructive bundle of joy.” “So wait, how the hay are we meeting, she’s not coming here is she?” Rainbow chimed in. “Yes I should think that a goddess like herself would not want to throw a formal get together in the bellows of Canterlots dungeon.” Rarity said throwing her two bits into the conversation. Ordinis rolled his eyes “well of course not, you’re going to her, we all are.” All five mares suddenly found themselves dizzy with the prospect of leaving their little hellhole Rainbow was the first one to zoom right up to the ‘human’. “Wait please tell me you’re saying what I think your saying?” She all but yelled grabbing hold of Ordinis purple suit with her hooves. Ordinis smiled genuinely at the over active mare, placing both hands on her hooves and gently guiding them away from his beloved suit. “That’s right, as the humans on earth say, I’m bustin you out of this joint.” “And just how the hay are you gonna do that?” Applejack stated unconvinced, though still hopeful of the possibility of escaping. “Well naturally you mares are all going to have to sign a contract.” he mentioned nonchalantly waving his hand around. All five of them stared daggers into Ordinis, the supposed joke completely falling flat. “I'm all for pranks Mister, but even I don't think it’s funny to get a pony’s hopes up like that.” Pinkie snarled in an unusually angry manner. Discord for his part laughed at his brother’s misfortunes, any chance to see him squirm under the intense glare of five angry mares was good enough for him, even if he did know exactly what his brother was going on about. Ordinis went bright red with embarrassment, backing away slowly from the mares. “No, no I’m serious, it’s the only way to get you five out of here.” He blurred out, fishing into the inside of his garish purple suit pocket and producing five scrolls and a quill. “See, it’s not my fault, mother makes me, I am a creature of order after all. I can't do anything this big officially without consent it’s in my nature.” “Ow yeah well if it’s so important, why doesn’t Discord have to sign one.” Rainbow argued back pointing her hoof at the Draconequus. “Because he was born there, he has the power to go as he pleases, well, for the most part. Besides do you think I could make my brother do anything, you all should know better than anypony else getting him to do anything other than spread anarchy is doomed to fail.” Rainbow tried to retort, but couldn't fault the logic of the ‘human’ sighing slowly she went up to him and stuck out her hoof “fine, just hoof it over.” “Rainbow dear we can’t just sign something all willy nilly, what if it has some sort of loophole in the fine print we can't just go about signing things from mythical creatures” Rarity argued. “You got a better plan Rares, because the way I see it this dudes offering us a way out of here, and even if there is some sort of loop hole thingy better that than this Tartarus forsaken pit!” “RD’s got a point hun, I don't like it any better than you do but I ain't one to look a gift pony in the mouth, not when it’s the chance at getting outta here.” Applejack added putting a comforting hoof over her fashionista friend in order to help sway her to their side of the argument. “Very well, I suppose anything IS better than this horrid place.” Rarity sighed walking over towards the outstretched hand with the five other mares, each one breaking open the seal and individually scribbling their names into their selected scrolls. Pinkie was the last to finish, dotting all her I’s with little love hearts and balloons much to the amusement of Discord, who was finding pleasure in watching his brothers agitation at the small defilement of his beloved contracts. “aaan mone.” the Pink mare finished spitting the slobbery quill out of her mouth, which Ordinis meekly put back in his suit, looking at it in the same way Rarity would with mud. “Guards this way, lets show these scum who’s in charge.” came an bellowing familiar shout, the sounds of many hooves galloping on cobble stone indicating the guards rapid approach. “Just in time to” Ordinis stated grabbing a small vial from his pocket and throwing it at the wall of the cell, the vial smashed into pieces splattering the blue slimy contents all across the wall. Then in quick succession he strolled up to it and pushed his hand against the blue slime that was seeping down the wall, lighting it up with some unseen magic, and instantly creating a blinding portal where the wall once stood. He turned his gaze to the mares and a slouching unimpressed Discord, ushering them forward with a wave of his hand. “Come on the portal won’t hold for long, get your flanks in now.” he yelled stepping halfway into the portal. After a moment’s hesitation all but two of the cell mates raced towards the portal. Rainbow turned back to see a shivering Fluttershy fixed in her spot “Come on Shy, we need to go, the guards are coming any minute!” On que the sounds of guards grew louder as one was fiddling to find the appropriate key for the cell. “I-I don’t t-think I can do it Rainbow.” she stated lowering herself to the ground defeated, her inner fears once again getting the best of her, as she silently curse herself for being so cowardly. Rainbow turned with determination to Applejack who nodded approvingly, normally Rainbow would have given the mare a pep talk in bravery, but there was just no time. Quickly she opted to simply fly over the shivering mare scooping her in her hooves and lifting her into the air. “No rainbow please.” Fluttershy cried in vain small tears glossing her eyes, as her cyan friend flew towards the rapidly closing portal. As the last of the bearers stepped through the portal, Ordinis glanced back at his disobedient brother who was still mulling the proposition in his head. “Come on brother you knew this was coming sooner or later.” Ordinis stated softly. Before turning into the now nearly closed portal. Discord sighed, as much as he loathed to admit it his brother was right. Snapping his fingers he teleported towards the portal sliding in just as edges closed around him for good. Twilight watched as her husband paced endlessly around the chamber, part of the walls where scorched and burned. Furniture was upturned or simply smashed to pieces their child had been moved away long before as Twilight had already predicted one of her husbands ‘stress releases’ as she called them. The Queen frowned as she looked around her domain, this was the third time this month they would now have to get their chamber refurbished. Ever since the rebels had hit a stroke of luck and by some miracle managed to capture Cloudsdale from them, Sombra ‘stress releases’ had gotten more frequent it was one of the few vices that her Husband had that they were still working on, as much as she loved him Sombra was a stallion of Pride and when it was wounded that’s when he was at his worst. “How dare they! And after they were allowed to Live this long. I warned you that we should have killed them.” he yelled at Twilight who was practically unphased after years of dealing with his temper. “Sombra my love.” Twilight trotted up and placed a hoof on his face stopping her loves pacing in its tracks. “You know why I told you not to kill them, the elements would just reset if they died, better to keep them alive, to rot in a dungeon where we know where they are.” she felt the tiny ping of guilt in her heart at uttering those words, but pushed it down after years of practice. “Well now they have vanished into thin air and we are short five bearers.” “Were they able to trace the magic’s origins? Twilight asked genuinely interested in the results. Sombra sighed deeply “No I went down there myself, after I dealt with those lacklustre guards that is, the magic is of unknown origin.I have the men scouring the scene now looking for traces of the magic that was in the shattered vial, Though I loath to admit it even I founds it challenging to detect the magic, whoever teleported them out was very careful to hide their tracks.” “So you're saying it wasn't discord?” Twilight asked trying to throw another possibility into the mystery. “The magical readings where similar in certain ways to his, but the magic was not as chaotic in nature it was organised it flowed perfectly, unlike anything that buffoon was capable of.” Sombra snorted back. Twilight frowned slightly as she meet her husband’s gaze “Its will be ok my love, we will find them, they can't have gotten far, why don't we rest and—“ “Do not speak to me as though I am a child Twilight!” Sombra snapped storming away from his mare's grasp. Twilight looked down slightly defeated by her husband’s actions. The constant juggling of politics and family was taking its toll on both of them. Because of their child Twilight was unable to attend most meetings nowadays, and although she trusted her husband’s military prowess she knew her absence was taking its toll on him ever so slightly. After a moment of silence Sombra’s glowing horn and eyes slowly subsided until the stallion stood as an utterly regal stallion once more. “I’m sorry my love, it has been a stressful couple of days.” Was all he managed to say to comfort her, Twilight didn’t need any more than that. She trotted over and plant a simple loving kiss on his lips. After a moment the couple broke free and Twilight Looked at her loving husband with half opened eyes a suggestive smile broke on the corner of her lips “you know my love, I've been thinking once I return to my full Queenly deputy’s, I fear our little Lucilla might be terribly lonely. Maybe a little brother or sister would help her dont you agree?.” Sombra stared back into his wife’s Lavender eyes, the only eyes that ever tamed him truly. He smiled at his wife and answered with a much more passionate kiss one that she returned gratefully. After a moment the couple broke free from the entanglement. “Yes I suppose she could do with a few brothers and sisters.” he replied in a suave tone as his wife guided them into the more secluded area of their chambers. The glaring light blinded Discord as he emerged from the portal, the journey had felt like hours and he was still never used to it. Even now he stepped out and cracked the muscles of his back and spun his head around a few time to makes sure he got them all before laying eyes across the scenery. To Discord it was just boring old non-chaotic physics and natural law abiding home. But to the other five mares, it was perhaps the most beautiful sight they had ever seen, all around them was a sea of luscious Harlequin green grass, swaying gracefully with the wind the sight broken, only by a ring of ancient oak trees dotted around the borders of the meadow that danced in the wind as they swayed. To the middle of the field was a crystal blue river, the sounds of swans and other aquatic creatures flapping their wings and landing ever so graciously on the water, the most beautiful sound to behold for the recently incarcerated pony’s. The only thing that stuck out was an enormous Greek looking temple right in the middle of the lake made of fabulously polished marble, its hundreds of snow white columns standing hundreds of feet into the air contrasted with the environment, yet still seemed so natural in its surroundings. All five pony’s stood there stunted the only sound coming from quiet sniffles, and tears of untold joy as the silence continued broken only by the whistling of the wind. Until one mare just couldn't take it any longer, folding back her cyan wings the mare launched herself into the sky, a brilliant rainbow following her as she flew, tears on her cheek falling like autumn rain, contradicted by the biggest smile she had ever had on her face as she sailed through the untamed sky.