Healing Hearts

by KidatHeart5

Girls and Memories

Tirek had scoured through every bit of recent news that had come in from Equestria. He was hoping there was anything about his brother, but found no indication. Defeated and irritated, he walked to the dining hall and took his seat at the table. This was virtually the only time the brothers saw each other. They didn’t strike up a conversation like they used to in fear of setting someone off. There had been an original order in which the princes usually sat, but after the queen died, some decided to take different places. Discord, Bill Cipher, and Zeb now sat on one side and Negaduck, Aku, and Tirek sat on the other.

After they finished their supper, Alpheus said to his adopted sons, “Before you go, I would like to share some interesting news for you.” He gave a smirk, which was a sign that it was juicy info. “To help us prepare for the Quincentennial Ball, a special visitor and her six daughters will come to the castle about a week prior. And who other than Lady Evelyn herself?”

All at once, excitement filled the room. Zeb and Tirek were downright surprised by this, but the other four were enthusiastic with the arrangement.

Aku chuckled in surprise, “Lady Evelyn?!”

Discord squealed happily, “Eve herself?! You’re not joking, are you? Please say you’re not!”

Bill Cipher said in giddy wonder, “The most powerful witch on this side of the world is coming here!”

Negaduck asked in happiness, “Can you think of anything better?”

The three that had previously spoken said with broad smiles, “No.”

All four of them gave squeals of delight and fell backwards in their chairs. Tirek and Zeb looked down at their excited brothers.

The centaur questioned the king, “You said she had six daughters, right? I don’t recall reading that she had six daughters.”

Suddenly, Bill floated up to the table and sternness had replaced sheer joy. He said, “Seriously? How could you not know Eve has six daughters?”

Discord also stood up and gave a stern look. He said to Tirek as he conjured up one of Eve’s books, “It’s right here in this section.” He flipped to the page labeled “About the Author” and read aloud as his finger slid under each word, “’Lady Evelyn now lives in Jijasuma with her six daughters.’ See? She has six daughters!”

Negaduck mused, “I wonder what they look like.”

Alpheus pointed out, “Why not look in the archives for anything about Evelyn and her daughters? You are excused, you know.”

All six sons raced out of the dining hall as they said, “Thanks!”

The king then put one hand under his chin as he sighed, “My sons…What am I going to do with them?”

---

The princes scoured through the archives while Tirek stood by and watched.

Discord said to Tirek, “Hey, Tirek! Aren’t you going to search for juicy tidbits about Eve and her daughters?”

Tirek said, “No, thank you. I’ve already combed through here today. I’ve got the paper cuts to prove it.” He showed his nicked hands for proof.

Bill Cipher held out a rolled-up newspaper as he said, “Hey, guys! Look what I found!”

The princes huddled around him as he laid the newspaper out. They were hoping that there was a picture of Eve’s daughters, but were disappointed to see a picture of Evelyn herself.

Negaduck chastised Bill Cipher, “That’s Evelyn, you knob!”

Bill said slyly, “I never said it was her daughters.”

Tirek walked to a shelf and said, “Well, goes to show you can never fully trust a three-sided demon.”

He leaned against the shelf and to his surprise, another rolled-up newspaper fell on his head. Zeb grabbed it and opened it.

When the Lasat’s eyes widened, he uttered, “Wow.”

Aku asked, “Did you find something, Garazeb?”

“Well, yeah. Or rather, Tirek did.”

Zeb then showed the newspaper to his brothers. To their surprise, a picture of Eve and her daughters was on the front page!

Discord playfully slapped Tirek’s arm as he smiled, “You rascal! You found the newspaper and you weren’t even looking!”

Tirek deadpanned, “Believe me, I wasn’t.”

Negaduck rubbed his hands together as he said, “Let’s see what kind of babes Eve’s daughters really are.”

As Zeb laid out the newspaper, the princes huddled around the table again, this time with more anticipation. When they got a close look at Eve and her daughters, most of them uttered, “Oooh…”

Zeb said, “Well, Evelyn does looks remarkable in this photo.”

Bill Cipher scoffed, “Evelyn? We’re fawning over her daughters here!”

Negaduck said, “They sure look pretty.”

Discord agreed as he gazed at the picture with bright eyes, “Uh-huh…”

Aku said, “I don’t even know who to choose as my bride.”

This broke the awestruck trance the princes had and they turned to Aku in disbelief.

Discord said in repulsion, “Your bride?”

Zeb said, “But we haven’t met the girls yet! You want to choose any one of them when they walk into the castle just like that?”

Aku held out his hands to calm his brothers as he pointed out, “When the time comes. When the time comes. Of course I won’t choose a girl right away. She must be the most suitable one for me. She must also have what it takes to be a queen if I am to be king someday.”

Negaduck rolled his eyes and said, “Well, duh. Why do you think they were all trained to be proper ladies?”

Discord waved his hand dismissively, “Oh, come now. They don’t need to be proper ladies all the time. They need to show some life and have fun at least once in a while. That’s what I want in a girl.”

Zeb said, “Well, I’d rather have a girl who’s compassionate and kind.”

Bill Cipher remarked, “Not to mention an ability to withstand your smell.”

Zeb pretended to take offense and growled, “That’s it! You’re dead!”

Bill pleaded for mercy as Zeb chased him out of the room.

Discord smirked, “You know what this calls for? Chase time!”

After Discord went out the door laughing, Negaduck turned to Aku and Tirek and asked, “So, any takers?” When his brothers didn’t say anything, Negaduck said, “No?” He then shouted as he sped out of the room, “Then I’m in! I’m gonna getcha!”

When it was just Aku and Tirek in the archives, the demon turned to his brother and said, “Negaduck tells me that you’re going to teleport him and his motorcycle outside the castle gates when the Quincentennial Ball was almost over.”

Tirek asked in genuine confusion, “What? I was not aware of this.”

Aku said in mock shame, “Weren’t you? Oh, forgive me for ruining the surprise.”

“Why are you so concerned about Negaduck’s plans?”

“I could care less about what he wants to do, but I’m certain Mother wouldn’t have condoned it.”

Tirek’s voice sharpened, “Well, she isn’t here right now. Stop trying to act like she’s going to return, because she isn’t.”

As the centaur left the room, Aku retorted, “I can find a summoning spell to reach her! Don’t underestimate my capabilities!”

Meanwhile, the rest of the brothers were having fun chasing each other through the halls. They laughed and tackled with one another until Zeb and Discord rolled into a bookcase. The force of the impact caused several books to fall.

Negaduck crossed his arms and chuckled, “Had enough roughhousing for one day?”

Zeb said as he began to get up, “Yeah. We’d better clean up this mess before –“

His sentence was cut off when a beige canister fell on him. The brothers’ eyes widened when they recognized it.

Negaduck breathed in surprise, “No way…”

Bill Cipher uttered in astonishment, “Mom’s canister?”

Discord said as he grabbed the canister, “I forgot Aku put it way up there.”

Zeb nodded, “We all did.”

Discord grew disturbed by this and said with a furrowed brow, “But why didn’t we try to open this ASAP?”

Bill shrugged, “Maybe it was too difficult to solve?”

Zeb said, “When Mum gave us the canister, it was a difficult and painful time for us all. But if you want to honor her memory, why don’t we try to open it now?”

Discord smiled, “What a wonderful idea! No time like the present, I say!”

Negaduck asked, “But shouldn’t we show this to Aku and Tirek first?”

Zeb said as he stood up, “I’ll go round them up while you three search for decoder books in here.”

Bill said with his index finger and thumb making a circle, “You got it!”

---

Pretty soon, the three brothers were exhausted from searching through every book about decoders and locks.

Negaduck panted as he sprawled over a book he had opened, “Who knew decoder rings were so complicated?”

Discord said, “Maybe in this case, it’s different. Remember the hint Mom gave us just before she died? ‘Four rings, four words. The O is always second.’”

“Yeah? There are only O’s on the second ring and only E’s on the bottom ring.”

Zeb’s voice came into the room, “We’re here.” The Lasat then entered with Aku and Tirek at his side. “It took a while to find these two.”

Tirek asked, “So, what is it you want to show us?”

Bill Cipher held out the canister and said, “This.”

Aku and Tirek looked at the item with wide eyes. The demon uttered in surprise, “Mother’s canister…How did you…?”

Zeb explained, “Fell right on top of me from up there.” He pointed to the top of the bookcase as he said that.

Negaduck said, “We’ve been trying to get it open, but no luck so far.”

Aku took the canister and said, “This could be the key to finally contacting Mother from beyond!”

Tirek said as he held the container with his magic, “Let’s break it open so we can find out what’s inside.”

Discord pounced and grabbed the canister as he cried, “No! You’re not breaking anything of Mom’s! No way!”

Aku pointed out, “Well, breaking it wouldn’t have done us good anyway. I tried once, but it’s protected by a shielding spell whenever it falls or almost crashes into something.”

The draconequus exclaimed in shock, “What?! You tried breaking Mom’s canister?! Her gift?! Well, if none of you can respect Mom’s memory, I’m just going to keep it in my room until we can figure out how to unlock it!”

In a flash, he had vanished.

Discord then flashed into his room and levitated his bed upwards. His circle lock had a white center instead of a red center like the one in Negaduck’s room. The draconequus entered his name and a secret stairway was revealed. He walked down to another panel, which opened to a playroom. He and his brothers once played in here, but now it was Discord’s sanctuary and his alone. He placed his mother’s canister in the toy box and closed the lid.

His knees were on the ground and his head hung over the toy box as he sighed, “Mom…what am I going to do? I want others to remember you, but some of them want to forget you and destroy anything that was yours. Why can’t they see that I loved you and want to keep your memory alive?”

Discord ascended the stairs and came back to his bedroom. After he put the bed back on the floor, he began to sing, “I’m so lonely and blue…when I’m without you…I don’t know what to do…Mother, without you…The joy and tears…that love endears…would have no meaning…if I didn’t have you…to keep me dreaming…” He went out to the balcony as he sang, “At the close of each day…when I’m without you…and my heart kneels to pray…I pray about you…You take a star and lead it far away from heaven…and the star will be lost…as I’m lost without you…”

He didn’t realize it, but the other brothers were walking back into their rooms and grieving in their own way. Even though they shed no tears, their pain was very real. All the while, Discord went back into his bedroom and closed the balcony doors.

Discord finished singing in a mournful tone, “At the close of each day…when I’m without you…and my heart kneels to pray…I pray about you…You take a star and lead it far away from heaven…and the star will be lost…as I’m lost without you…”

He sat on his bed and covered his eyes as he began to weep.

Author's Note:

The song Discord sings is “Without You” as sung in Make Mine Music.
Can any of you take a guess at what the code could be for the canister rings?