A Visit from the Lord of Chaos
The living room was silent. The only sounds were the faint chirping of crickets outside, that and the soft but forceful breaths Crystal Hoof took upon her pipe. The unicorn mare breathed a steady stream of smoke into the open air, its scent painting an aura around her. “Cinnamon Radiance”, honestly ponies had such creative titles for their tobacco. Honestly, it was somewhat conflicting. In some ways, it felt like ponykind was promoting smoking. But of course, responsible adults wouldn’t let children smoke. Crystal knew she wouldn’t let her son. Whether he did so as an adult was up to him. After all, it would be hypocritical of her to tell him no while smoking herself. But as said before: as a child: no, but as an adult: do whatever you want.
Yet even as the cinnamon flavor danced upon her tongue, she couldn’t find peace. Something wasn’t right. She had felt it earlier in the day, back when she was out and about with her son. That alone brought her some peace, for back during her days as the Changeling Queen Chrysalis, she never imagined she would have been enjoying a day out with her child. Didn’t rule out herself having a child, but in the old days, she would have viewed her potential child as a mere means of continuing her family's rule. Least if her potential child had been a female. Male heirs were not considered worthy, just drone fodder or left to rot in the wastes. But as far as she was concerned currently, Cicada was her dear sweet little prince, both literally and a term of endearment.
But even as thoughts of her son pleased her, she couldn’t shake off the unease within the room. She knew it was high time to end it.
“You can come out now, you’re not fooling anypony,” Crystal said.
Her direction of course was centered upon the lamp within the corner. It was a tall thing, a nice striped pattern upon it going down to the pole. It looked like a metal candy cane. But there was one problem: they didn’t have a lamp.
Suddenly the lamp began to shake, shaking turned to bending and then forming into a curve as legs followed by arms formed joined with a chimera of mismatched features. Lastly, a face with a crooked grin and gaze stared back at her.
“Oh, my what gave me away?” Discord asked.
The question was rhetorical, but Crystal felt compelled to answer, “Frankly you need to work on your choice of disguises Discord. Honestly, a fly on the wall would have been less conspicuous.”
Discord’s expression never changed from its amused glare, “Duly noted.”
Crystal took a puff on her pipe, blowing out a cloud of smoke to the air, her sense of relaxation returning, but remained alert for any actions the lord of chaos might try.
“You know smoking is a bad habit, they say it could kill you,” Discord warned, though the warning itself hardly seemed out of concern.
Crystal ignored puffing lightly upon it before blowing once more, “Cut to the chase, why are you here?”
A faint trail of smoke wafted towards Discord. The draconequis hardly fanned it away not being in any danger of getting secondhand smoke.
“I suppose I’m that transparent?” Discord said, fading somewhat to give off a literal testament to his words.
“Literally and figuratively,” Crystal breathed out.
“Well I mat as well cut to the chase,” Discord said transforming into a pair of scissors cutting into a piece of paper. He then snapped in a flash of light before reappearing in a secondary flash, “I’m just curious about what you’re up to?”
Crystal stared hard at Discord, never showing a strand of fear upon her pony face, “Nothing,” Nothing was her simple but blunt answer.
“You’ll forgive me if I find that hard to believe? After all, you and your associates kept the fact you had the bell right without making me any the wiser,” Discord reminded.
“Well, that was more your fault. I mean did you honestly expect the three of us to just stand idly by and not seize an opportunity for power?” Crystal noted.
“Very well, I do admit I was careless in that regard, but my intentions were purely for Twilight’s benefit,” Discord defended.
“Yes recruiting three dangerous villains while pretending to be Grogar was very intelligent,” Crystal sarcastically snorted.
“Technically four if you count Sombra?” Discord added.
“He died, so it doesn’t,” Crystal specified.
“The second time at least,” Discord muttered.
Crystal picked up on that, showing curiously towards the specifics of Discord’s comment, but she paid it no mind.
“So, how did you find me?” Crystal asked.
“Oh it wasn’t hard,” Discord answered, “Frankly I felt something was amiss all those years ago,”
“Wait? You sensed me all those years ago?”
“I dismissed it, though I was coming down with a cold,” Discord leaned in, “Can’t blame me though, after all, it’s been eons since I’ve seen a reincarnation spell,” Crystal felt Discord’s mismatched eyes upon her, “My goodness, you’re all pony now, well save for a faint trace of Changeling,” Discord referred to her slightly curved horn, “Lumina’s handiwork I see.”
“Lumina?” Crystal spoke the word in confusion, “Wait, do you mean the flutter pony?”
“Yes, and just for the record, she and I aren’t friends, not that there is any bad blood, but frankly I find her a meddler, a good-intentioned meddler, but a meddler nonetheless,” Discord stated.
“Isn’t that a bit hypocritical coming from you?” Crystal asked.
“I suppose, but that leaves the question about you,” Discord said, his focus resuming to the former Changeling queen.
Crystal stood her ground, remaining firmly planted upon the couch, “So what happens now?”
“Well, the responsible thing for me to do is to tell Twilight,” Discord stated, “But I’m not going to.”
“And why’s that?” Crystal asked, her voice firm.
Discord could be difficult to read, least to Crystal, but his answer was simple enough, “That young colt with you today, that was your son right?”
“Yes, Cicada is his name,” Crystal answered, “What about him?” Her voice became somewhat cautious as she worried somehow her son might be lobbed in with whatever punishment that could potentially befall her.
“Seeing you with him reminded me of Twilight and her son when he was around your boy’s age,” Discord answered.
“Yes, I was surprised the perfect pony princess had time to start a family,” Crystal retorted.
“Well little Rune wasn’t exactly planned, but Twilight has managed well,” Discord complimented.
“So who’s daddy?” Crystal asked, hoping to get an answer.
“That’s a well-kept secret,” Discord answered.
“You don’t know?” Crystal inquired in surprise, certain Discord knew the mysterious father of Prince Rune.
“Oh I know, but as part of Twilight’s inner circle, I respect her privacy. Besides, the ruler of Equestria having a foal out of wedlock is controversy enough, if word of who the father is got out, well...let’s just say Twilight doesn’t need the publicity.”
That alone implied something about Twilight’s lover. If lover was the correct word? From what she had heard Rune was essentially a one-night stand. At least that’s what the rumors said.
“But going back on topic, I watched you and your son, and the way you spoke to him, it was different. At first, I thought you were simply acting, but I could tell the warmth in your voice was genuine,” Discord noted.
Crystal had kept her pipe levitated the entire time, a trail of smoke rising from it. She watched it all the while.
“I know this is probably hard to believe, and in the old days I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but I love my son, more than anypony in this world.”
Discord listened well for any traces of untruth within the former changeling’s voice, Surprisingly, he found none.
“I believe you,” Was Discord’s simple answer, yet one questioned remained, “Does he know? About who you used to be?”
Crystal dragged upon her pipe, blowing without much force, “No, only my husband and sister-in-law knows. I want to wait till Cicada is older enough to process it.”
“Fair enough,” Discord shrugged, “Well I seem to have taken up too much of your evening, but I will be keeping a close eye on you. Just to make certain you are on the up and up.”
“Fair enough,” Crystal retorted, but before Discord could leave, Crystal called out, “Just a moment!”
Discord halted with a simple grunt.
“My statue, it’s still there?” She asked.
“If you’re asking if it’s hollow then yes, but something seems off about it,” Discord admitted.
“Off?”
“I don’t know how to explain it but it felt like something was still there, nothing physical, just there.”
Unclear as that was, Crystal didn’t dwell on it. With a snap of his fingers, Discord was gone, leaving Crystal alone in the room. Taking another puff on her pipe, she blew out, this time the smallest trace of frustration was within her sighing breath.
“Mommy?”
Crystal stood to attention as she looked to her right. There standing in the room was her son.
“Cicada, what are you doing up?” The mother asked.
Cicada Fall rubbed his eyes, “I couldn’t sleep, I heard you talking with someone.”
“Oh it was nobody sweetheart, Mommy was just talking to herself,” Crystal excused.
“Didn’t sound like you,” Cicada noted.
Setting her pipe down upon the table and rising from the couch, Crystal trotted over and put a comforting hoof to her child, “Why don’t you head back to bed sweetie? You’re still a growing pony and need your rest.”
Releasing a tiny yawn, Cicada answered with a simple, “Okay.”
And so Crystal Hoof tucked her son back into bed, while she returned to the living room to finish her smoke. Once she was done, she headed back into bed but kept the events of the evening to herself. It wasn’t exactly a comforting thought the lord of chaos was watching her, and she wasn’t too confident he wouldn’t just blab to Twilight Sparkle anyway for kicks, but for now, she took solace in her family, and in the fact, Queen Chrysalis was long dead and buried.
She was Crystal Hoof, and she would be so for the rest of her days as far as she was concerned.