Brotherhood and Sisterhood

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 26

It was another day of lessons for both the princes and their princesses. But the boys had to cease with learning policy and instead were reading books involving astronomy which was useless regarding their position but at least they were having some fun as the princes listed off the constellations they found in their research.

Fancy complimented them, "Good work, boys."

Cheese stated, "On the plus side, if we ever take our wives stargazing we can tell them which stars are which."

His brothers sounded out agreements.

Spike said, "Oh yeah, that's bound to impress them."

Fancy voiced, "Speaking of your marriages, have you considered a wedding present yet?"

There was a large gasp that slowly turned to panic.

Flash declared, "We forgot to give them wedding gifts!"

Discord pointed, "Well to be fair, we weren't planning on giving gifts given we had to be a part of an arranged marriage therefore we didn't have the interest to do so."

Capper motioned, "Not to mention we didn't know the girls would be able to take Chrysalis's daughters' place by the time we said the 'I dos'."

Soarin added, "We should at least find something that would make them feel better about giving up everything they ever known."

Spike inquired to their mentor, "Fancy, do you have any ideas?"

The tutor started, "Well… it should be something special, something that your wives will love for a very long time. When I first got married to Fleur, I gave her a diamond necklace and she still wears it to this day."

Discord mentioned, "The problem with that is, my wife is not a jewelry wearer."

"Neither is mine." voiced Soarin, Spike, Cheese, and Flash.

Capper said, "Mine is but it would feel unimaginative. My Rarity deserves better than that."

Flash gestured, "They all do."

Discord said, "The only thing my wife really loves is animals."

Spike said, "My wife likes animals too."

Capper mentioned, "My wife loves cats."

Their eyes widen in realization with Capper addressing their tutor, "Fancy, think you could…?"

The noble held his hand up, "Say no more, I know just what to do."

Joy overwhelmed the boys until a page came into the room and said, "Apologies, Your Highnesses, but your father wishes for Prince Discord to come to his study immediately."

The brothers exchanged worrisome looks before Discord tried to lighten the mood, "Relax, I'm sure it won't be so bad." but even he doubted his own words and he could tell from his brothers' faces that they did too.

He sighed and followed the page out of the room.

---

Fleur addressed the girls, "Today we're going to try something different. It isn't enough that you act like a princess but also that you present yourself as one as well. You have the proper attire as it is," eying their gray puffy dresses, "but you must have a face to match."

Applejack voiced, "Say what now?"

Their teacher exasperatedly sighed, "A princess must always keep up with appearances, as in they have to take care of themselves very well by having no blemishes of any sort on their faces. Perfection is the objective. Say it with me."

"Perfection is the objective." Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Twilight repeated clearly while Applejack and Rainbow Dash muttered it.

Fleur noticed the tougher girls' lack of enthusiasm and inquired, "I take it you do not care for perfection?"

Applejack stated, "Well to be honest, I think it's overrated. I mean nothing can be perfect all the time."

Rarity uttered, "Maybe not for you…"

AJ heard but ignored her as she continued, "It's just that people will make mistakes and they have to live with that, no sense in trying to make everything so… so…"

Dash bluntly said, "Spotless."

"Right!"

Twilight spoke while fiddling with her fingers nervously, "Applejack does have a point, Lady Fleur. Is it truly necessary to be perfect when it's just not physically possible?"

For one brief moment Fleur was speechless and a flash of sadness went across her face before she composed herself and said, "Regardless of how questionable the method may be, it is how it is within royal life. You must smile even if you don't feel like it. You have to hide your true emotions from the public's eye at all cost."

Fluttershy mentioned, "Oh, I don't think I like that…"

Fleur stated, "It's something you'll have to get use to. As you are married to the princes, everyone will be looking to you to fulfill your royal duties to your husbands especially bearing royal heirs to the throne."

The girls blushed at the thought even though technically they already went through the process of losing a certain part of themselves on their wedding night it was still embarrassing to talk about it.

Fleur saw this and made a small smile, "But that's something you don't have to worry about right now. For now let's try to make sure you can get through this banquet without a hitch starting with giving you a lesson on using the right cosmetics for certain events."

Both Rainbow and Applejack flinched at the idea as Fleur requested the maids nearby to prepare.

---

Discord and the page entered the study with the page announcing, "His Royal Highness, Prince Discord de Imbroglio."

Tirek sat at his desk with a stern look on his face and dismissed the page leaving Discord all alone with his father. The eldest of the princes tried to make best of the situation and said with a forced smile, "Hello, Father."

The king resisted the urge to roll his eyes and stood up, "Do you know why you're here, son?"

"To give me private lessons, yes?"

"That's right. You always were a smart lad, my boy."

Discord's eyes widen at the compliment and almost smiled until Tirek continued harshly.

"However, that seems to be the only thing you have going for you right now."

The prince frowned in confusion, "Father?"

Tirek moved around the room looking at various objects instead of Discord as he said, "Tell me, Discord, why do you suppose I chose you to be an heir?"

"I… I don't know. I assumed it was because I could act like a prince like the rest of my brothers."

"That's part of it. But there are different reasons as well. When it came to choosing royal heirs I watched closely of which noble child would have the privilege of becoming a prince. I saw you and thought, 'now there's a boy with great potential.'"

"Really, Father? You thought that?"

"I did. What you had was the potential of becoming powerful. The way you bullied other children by tricking them was precisely what I was looking for."

Discord's face sagged recalling those times he managed to make friends turn against each other and managed to manipulate them around for some time before they wised up. He wasn't proud of those moments and he was grateful that his brothers and Fancy were able to turn him around.

Tirek continued, "But something changed the moment you became a prince. Your brothers have made you weak and softhearted."

"But-but-but-" he tried to defend himself but was cut off when the king finally looked at him and it was frightening.

"As such, I am going to try to get that callous ten-year-old boy back…"

Discord did not like the sound of that.

"Father, please! Be reasonable!" he pleaded.

Suddenly he was grabbed by his shirt and forced to come face to face with his father with his eyes burning straight into his soul.

"DO YOU NOT HEAR YOURSELF?!"

Discord was thrown to the floor while hearing Tirek say, "You have become so pathetic as to beg for mercy. Never had I been so disappointed in you. I suppose it's just as well you married a spineless twit since you're just like her."

"Don't talk that way about my wife!" he blurted out before covering his mouth in shock and thought, Uh-oh, I've really done it now… And closed his eyes so he didn't see it coming.

Tirek looked like he was going to blow until slowly an evil smirk spread across his lips. He walked back to his desk and had a chess game at the ready and picked up the white queen chess piece and tossed it to his son.

Discord felt the piece hitting his chest and opened his eyes in bewilderment and saw the chessman lying on the ground. He picked it up and dared to look at his father wondering why he gave this to him.

Tirek looked emotionless as he sat there behind the desk and stated, "That queen is your wife," he held up the white king, "This could be you. But that's only if you finally revert back to your old ways. Come, show me that you're still a master manipulator at heart." he gestured to the chess board.

Discord wanted to refuse. He was better than this. His brothers, Fancy, and Fluttershy would be so upset with him if he tried to be what the king wanted him to be.

Tirek frowned at his lack of response and lectured, "Think carefully on this, son." he put down the king and picked up a pawn to fiddle with it, "I seem to recall a certain promise was made that you would obey in order for your wife to be spare from a harsher lesson…"

Discord gulped remembering that from last night and slowly went toward the desk and took a seat. He put the white queen back in it's place.

The king saw his son's cooperation and put back the pawn.

"Very good. You may begin."

Discord looked at the pieces and stared at the queen. In this game she was the most powerful piece of them all but he decided he wasn't going to use her not if it meant losing her. With that in mind he took a pawn and moved it forward.

Comments

[Banshee531]

Oh geez. I do not like how things appear to be panning out. With Discord, it's easy to see why Tirek chose him. But what about the others?

[Foxhelm]

I am going out on a limb, Tirek knows Discord is a better chess player then him but from Tirek's point of view Discord has been holding back... At some level Tirek does have some twisted form of respect for Tirek Discord. So what about the sons... I think Capper's silver tongue as for Flash, Cheese, Spike and Soarin... No clue.
Going to be interesting what happens next

[CartoonNerd12]

9075146
Don't you mean respect for Discord?

[MinionsFanatic]

Poor Discord he can't change who he is and when he finally does it his father tries to make him manipulate again!!!
I love This story!!! Can't wait to see what will happen!!!

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh crud! Crud, crud, crud, crud, crud! Hide me! (dives into plot bunker)

[Godslittleprincess]

Hold on. I forgot to comment on this, but it seems that Fleur has been won over by AJ's honesty even if she doesn't agree with what AJ is saying.

[Foxhelm]

9075334
Yes

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

Grr! What are you planning, Tirek?

[phantom ghost hunter]

you know im suprised that there isint a repelion at this point with how badly tirek treats his peaple.

[AutumnSky98]

The plot thickens still!
I think it'd be cool if Discord pretends to revert back to his old ways and then turns the tables on Tirek at the last moment... The only problem is that all the princes now have one very obvious and easily manipulated weakness, their wives. Not to say that they girls would be easy to manipulate, but it's easy to manipulate the guys with threats to their wives.
Either way or, the story is bound to get even more interesting soon... and I can't WAIT to keep reading it!