//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Healing Hearts 
// by KidatHeart5 
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	Once upon a time, in the great kingdom of Venupil, there lived a fair king named Alpheus and his beloved queen Salene. They had a content marriage and a peaceful rule. But despite such fortune, they could not have any children. Salene had a family history of dying early, so she did not want to take a chance with any biological children. After searching through many books, the couple came upon a solution. They enlisted the help of a sorcerer to create a stone that would determine who would be chosen as prince or princess. During the process, the magician foretold that the stone would glow for only six. 
Before they could test it out for the first time, something surprising occurred. When the king and queen were having a picnic, they found a baby demon in a basket caught amidst some rocks in the river. They took the infant inside their home to take care of him while a search was made for his parents. To their amazement, the stone glowed gold. Salene knew then that the baby was to be theirs. Alpheus, however, was more hesitant in raising the child, but in accordance to his wife’s wishes, the infant demon was deemed a prince. 
The new parents joked about naming the baby Moses since he was found in the river, but shortly after he was taken in, the king and queen found a piece of paper with Japanese kana on it. They took it to an interpreter and the latter said it spelled “Aku”. Even though the rulers didn’t exactly see it as a suitable name, they gave it to the baby anyway because it was the name that was in the basket with him. After they took Aku in, the king and queen waited for more foundling children to arrive. They avoided using the stone in the orphanage in fear of broken hearts, both the children’s and the rulers’. Aku grew up being an only child, and being a demon, he acted very wild and had to be disciplined. Nonetheless, his untamed spirit never died.
It was to the surprise of the royal family that another foundling baby showed up at their doorstep about half a decade after Aku was taken in. This time, this infant was a strange creature with mismatched body parts. A note that was in his basket stated that his name was Discord and that he hailed from Equestria. The stone glowed once more, telling them that the newfound baby was to be another prince. Again, Alpheus wasn’t quite willing to welcome another child as strange as Aku, but he could not break his beloved’s heart. Although Discord caused more mischief and havoc than Aku did when he was little, the draconequus’ pranks were less harmful. Soon, Aku and Discord became the best of friends…more often than not.
Right when Discord was a toddler, a triangular demon about his age dropped in from another dimension. It took him a while to get used to his new surroundings, but he finally got the hang of it. He stayed with a nice family until a visiting relative shooed him out. When the king and queen discovered the strange triangular child, they decided to take him back to the palace to test out the stone. To Alpheus’s dismay, the stone glowed gold again.
He remarked, “Why can’t we have any normal children just for once?”
Fortunately, the triangular demon was able to speak and told his new parents that his name was Bill Cipher. When he told them everything that happened to him, Salene took pity on him and had him made a prince. Needless to say, Discord and Aku adored the newcomer and played with him every chance they got. He was just as mischievous as Aku, but he was also as energetic as Discord himself. Even though Aku eventually grew out of any games he called “childish”, he couldn’t help but have fun with his adopted brothers sometimes.
Just when Aku was reaching adolescence, a catlike boy appeared out of nowhere. He was one of few who escaped the massacre of his people on a planet in another universe. When he was brought before the king and queen, he told him that his name was Garazeb Orrelios and he was from Lasan. Once the stone glowed again, the rulers took him in as their own. Despite now living as a prince, Zeb couldn’t adjust to his new lifestyle very well. When they saw how unhappy he was, Bill and Discord decided to re-introduce him to fun. 
Every winter, Aku and Zeb would hang out together in the Lasat’s bedroom. After a while, Bill and Discord’s voices came in through the door, “You guys?”
As Discord knocked on the door, Aku face-palmed and groaned, “Oh, not them again.”
Outside the door, Bill and Discord sang, “Do you want to build a snowman?”
Discord sang, “Come on, let’s go and play…”
Bill sang, “We never see much of you…”
“Come out, you two…”
“It’s like you’ve gone away…”
The both of them sang, “We want to be best buddies…or are we not? Don’t let us be led astray…Do you want to build a snowman? It doesn’t have to be a snowman…”
Zeb opened the door and sighed, “Oh, all right. We’ll play.”
Discord and Bill cheered, “You will? Yay!”
The bond among the four brothers was tight for a couple of years until a preteen street urchin named Negaduck was caught stealing the crown jewels. Before there was a chance to put him on trial, the stone glowed again. In defeat, Alpheus granted Negaduck a chance to live in the palace to become refined. At first, things didn’t go so well with him, but when Bill learned that Negaduck too was far away from his home dimension, the demon forged a solid friendship with the duck. Aku also grew accustomed to him as did the other brothers. Of course, Discord and Bill continued their winter tradition, but this time, Zeb joined them in their seasonal request.
After they knocked on Negaduck’s bedroom door, all three sang, “Do you want to build a snowman?”
Discord sang as he and Bill rode on a bicycle, “Or ride our bikes around the halls?”
After the troublesome two crashed into statues of armor, Zeb sang, “I think some company is overdue…”
Bill sang, “We’ve started talking to the pictures on the walls!”
Zeb muttered, “Yeah, right.”
Discord then sang, “It gets a little lonely…All these empty rooms…Just watching the hours tick by…”
When the draconequus clicked his tongue to the tick-tock of the grandfather clock, Negaduck slammed the bedroom door open in annoyance and shouted, “Stop with the ticking! We’ll play with you!”
The three brothers then smirked at each other.
A few more years had passed until a somber teenage centaur named Tirek came up to the castle gates. After his request to enter had been granted, Tirek explained how he came from the same universe as Equestria. He had been in line for the throne until Sendak, a centaur mage, drove him from his homeland and possibly destroyed his family. After many days of endless travel, Tirek had come across a crystal mirror that led him to Venupil. When the stone glowed for the final time, it was decided that Tirek would stay with them until he wished to leave.
Despite living at the castle, Tirek was restless with his new life and wanted desperately to search for his family. But he knew that Sendak probably put a bounty on his head back in Equestria, so it might’ve been too dangerous to go back. Seeing how much pain Tirek was in, the five other brothers decided to cheer him up by letting him spend quality time with them. At first, he was too grumpy to join in on the fun, but overtime, he slowly bonded with the rest of his adopted siblings. Although he now had a new family, he never wanted to forget his first family and where he came from.
The princes loved their mother very dearly because she was the only parent to care so much for them. Alpheus, however distant he seemed, gave the boys loving and gentle guidance whenever they needed it. Many years of fun times and laughter had passed until a terrible tragedy struck. Salene knew her time had come, so on her deathbed, she gave her sons a canister that was locked by decoder rings on the rim. After their mother had passed on, the princes felt as if their lives would never be the same again. Heartbroken, the king stayed in his chamber while his sons attended the funeral. After the ceremony, Zeb, Discord, and Bill Cipher went to their father’s chamber and knocked on the door.
Zeb sang, “Father? Please, we know you’re in there…”
Discord sang solemnly, “People are asking where you’ve been…”
Bill sang, “They say, ‘Have courage’, and we’re trying to…”
All three sang sadly, “We’re right out here for you…Just let us in…We only have each other…It’s just you and us…What are we gonna do?”
After they slunked to the floor and leaned on Alpheus’s doorway, they turned to see three of their brothers leaning out their doorways before the latter group closed them.
Discord sang to the brothers behind the doors as tears welled up in his eyes, “Do you want to build a snowman?” 
When he began crying, Bill and Zeb comforted him. Bill shed some tears while Zeb rubbed Discord’s lion arm. Alpheus heard it all from the other side of the door and leaned on his desk in despair. Behind his door, Negaduck tipped down his fedora and shed a single tear. In his bedroom, Aku sat down at his desk ad buried his face in his arms. Tirek suffered worst of all because he had already lost his family once. All he could do was just sit by his window and look out in a sorrowful daze.