Author's Note

Remember! Alternate universe, I'm not too intelligent on the whole Discord thing. I'm just doing my own thing.

Chapter 12- A Battle Of Memories

Aiden woke up earlier than usual, he wanted to prepare and get out of the castle before anypony else woke up, he intended to kill Discord today, as today was a day that he didn't mind dying. He put his clothes on and stuffed his bag full of his supplies he had prepared the night before, he had everything the books said to have. Aiden was thinking about asking Celestia if she knew his father.

Aiden quietly exited his room, he didn't feel like talking to anypony, he just wanted to fight, he wanted to finally end everything, whether it be his life or the chaotic god he planned to kill. Aiden sighed before turning around a corner to be met with a familiar face he dreaded seeing, Celestia.

Celestia smiled at the human "Why hello there Aiden! I was actually hoping to catch you today." She greeted him.

Aiden looked at her with suspicion "What for?" He asked, not knowing her reasons.

Celestia quickly pulled out a slim piece of paper "I know you didn't want this but I felt it was only fair. I want you to know I set you up a personal bank account where you can go and get bits from the bank when you get a check. I have written your first one for your heroic deeds so far." She floated the check to him with her magic.

Aiden grabbed it before looking at it, his eyes widened a little "You're giving me this much?" He asked her, not really believing the numbers written.

Celestia smiled "it's only fair. You have risked your life over and over again, you're soon about to be putting your life on the line by fighting Discord. We decided that you deserved a certain percentage of the amount we have received for our war recovery." She informed him.

Aiden smiled at her "Well, thank you princess. It means a lot to me, but I do need to inform you that I'm actually about to search for Discord, I'm more ready than I'll ever be right at this moment." He told her.

Celestia nodded "I see... Well, I hope you do what you're hoping for, just please don't die." She said to him.

Aiden nodded "I'll try my best, if I do die then please tell Twilight that I lo-" he was interrupted by the sound of a explosion in the castle.

Celestia snapped her head to the sound before looking back at him "Let's go! That may be him!" She said before teleporting quickly.

Aiden sighed "You could've at least taken me with you." He said before running towards the sound. He reached the sound quickly and was shocked to see a huge hole in the side of the castle, he locked his eyes on Celestia who was yelling at... Discord.

Aiden felt angrier by just seeing him, it felt like the anger was gonna make his eyes pop out of his head, he breathed before walking the rest of the distance to the two.

"And he will kill you! You should give up now!" Celestia shouted at the chaotic God.

Discord laughed "Sure, sure, right. We'll see I suppose." He took her advice as a joke.

Aiden looked at him, waiting for the God to take notice.

Discord finally snapped his eyes onto the human "Ah, The Protector, or should I say Aiden? Oh well, that doesn't really matter. Yes... You're more chaotic than any of the ponies, you've had some bad memories I see. I do suppose you're the best they've got, but that doesn't mean you are good enough. Perhaps you should show me who you are? What surprises do you hold in that small brain of yours?" He spoke down to the human.

Aiden sighed "Come and find out, I don't bite." He taunted Discord.

Discord smirked "Hmm... Perhaps I'll see, then I'll take control of you, perhaps make you one of my soldiers?" He asked himself "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" He said before turning into a green mist, quickly diving into the mind of the human.

Aiden took notice and quickly shut down his mind once Discord got inside, this resulted in him passing out.

Discord yelled "Dammit! He locked me in. Well, let's look at some of these memories, he looked around at the darkness that surrounded him, he only noticed one door out of all of the void. Discord walked through the door and had it disappear behind him when he closed it. He was greeted by a hall, it appeared to be some kind of house, the hall looked like it lead out to a main room. Discord walked down the hallway slowly, being slightly creeped out by the atmosphere, he eventually walked out to the main room and almost hurled by the sight of everything.

Blood, blood was everywhere. Limbs, limbs were scattered all over the room, you couldn't make out the skin color by how much blood there was. Two humans, it was two humans that were murdered, but there was a baby sitting in a puddle of blood, it was crying. Discord slowly walked towards the baby and realized who it was, it was Aiden, a blonde haired and blue eyed boy. It was his parents, his parents were murdered by someone. All of the sudden there was a blinding white light that changed the scenery all of the sudden.

Discord was now standing in a playground now, it appeared to be at some sort of orphanage. There were a group of kids kicking a boy, he was being beaten nearly to death. Discord walked closely to see it was Aiden once again, he was crying, he had blooding dripping everywhere. The kids kept on kicking him, not caring what happened to him.

The same light appeared, it now took him to what appeared to be in the middle of a wasteland, but there were humans dressed in some form of heavy armour, Discord recognized one of the humans as Aiden, he realized this was when he was in the military.

The unknown human spoke to Aiden "After this we can go back to base and have a good drink!" He said, not expecting what was coming.

Aiden smiled "Hell yeah, that should be soon since we're almost done here John." He said with happiness.

John chuckled "Shit, we're never gonna be done!" He said before hearing a shot go off, he instantly hit the ground by the impact of the bullet.

Aiden was caught off guard "Shit!" He instantly raised his sniper and saw the glare off of the enemy scope "You mother fucker!" He said before landing a shot right into the head of the enemy.

Aiden kneeled down to look at his friends injury "Fuck, fuck, no John, no!" He said with sorrow.

John gasped for air "I'm gonna die aren't I?" He asked his best friend.

Aiden let tears roll down his face "I think we both are." He said while noticing a few vehicles driving towards them.

John gasped for air "Run, run Aiden. Tell my wife that I loved her, tell my kids that daddy's in a better place. Now, run as fast as you can!" He said while gasping for his last breaths.

Aiden hanged his head "I'll tell them, I'll tell them!" He said before running as fast as he could away from the enemies.

Discord watched with shock as the human ran away with tears flying off of his face.

The light flashed once more before showing Aiden chained to a chair, he appeared to be tortured.

A unknown human took a blade and rubbed it along his cheek "So, you think you can kill my soldiers and get away with it?" He said with a heavy accent.

Aiden chuckled "they were piece of shits anyways." He said with a bloody smile.

The man smiled at Aiden before looking at one of the soldiers "Get me the big monkey wrench." He said with a serious tone.

Aiden laughed "You're too late." He said with his bloody smile wide.

The man looked at him "What do you mean?" He asked before being surprised by a explosion on the wall to the room.

A bunch of navy seals rushed the place and shot the enemies before grabbing Aiden and rushing out out of the place.

Discord watched with a pale face, he hadn't ever seen such things, not like this.

The light came back and put him in a restaurant, Aiden was standing beside his what looks like his adopted father with a bullet in his head. Aiden stood with a blood soaked shirt from a bullet wound in his gut, he all of the sudden fell and slowly turned pale, his adopted mother was running after him. Discord noticed a white figure, it was Celestia, Aiden was looking at her as well.

Celestia was smiling, she looked like as if she was accomplishing something.

Discord all of the sudden was brought back into the dark void from before, he was sitting in a chair in front of Aiden.

Aiden stared at him with a emotionless expression "You're the only one that knows the truth." He told Discord.

Discord looked at him with a horrified expression "K-know what?" He asked the human nervously.

"I'm adopted, my real parents were brutally murdered by a serial killer, I was put into a orphanage and I was bullied every single day, I was adopted at the age of eight, my adopted mom didn't love me because I wasn't her real son, my brother didn't talk to me for the same reason. My adopted father was the only one that actually loved me, he was killed, or at least I think he was. When I turned eighteen I joined the navy and I was soon allowed to join the seals because of my skills. My best friend was shot and died in my arms, I ran but I was eventually caught. I got tortured for killing a lot of their soldiers, I was eventually rescued and I got discharged for my injuries, I even got a medal for risking my life and getting tortured. When I got back I didn't tell my parents I was in the seals, I had been back for a few months before I was trying to enjoy a meal with my family, but that was when I got shot, so did my father. I think Celestia brought me here, I think she brought me here for reasons that I still need to find out." Aiden looked down at his hands "I've killed a lot of people Discord, I've killed ponies as well, just no one has found out." He said with no emotion.

Discord was horrified of him "I-I'm so sorry. I never knew a pony could go through that, I never even knew things like that existed. I have never heard of a pony experiencing that much in one lifetime." He said with nervousness "I do suppose that's why you fight enemies, you don't want ponies to experience your life! You don't want others to see their life just be a hill of horrors." He said before swallowing.

Aiden sighed "You're correct. Do you want to live my life? Have you lived my life?" He asked Discord.

Discord quickly shook his head "I-I've been chaotic since I've been alive, I-I don't have a reason for it! I don't really harm ponies, I just make them hallucinate things, like when the city was burning, or when you saw that red thing! Also when John was here, it wasn't real!" He informed Aiden.

Aiden stared at him "What about Manehatten? What about the building I took down? What about the ponies that lost their lives because of you!" He accused Discord.

Discord had fear slowly build up inside of him "I took it over, yes. All of that actually happened! I plead guilty to those things! But I didn't expect you to be involved, that's why I never showed myself to you because I knew you would react violently. Please, please forgive me!" He pleaded.

Aiden wore a look of anger before making him get out of his head.

The two appeared back in the castle, Discord regained his senses quickly before having a needle driven into his neck by Aiden "What the?!? What was that!!!" He asked Aiden with fear.

Aiden heaved "Can't you tell? Your magic is no more. I just put a over dose of my magic resistant medicine into your blood. You better hope it doesn't kill you." He told the Chaotic God.

Discord tried to use magic but was shocked to see nothing, he couldn't even float anymore. "P-please Aiden! F-forgive me!" He begged the human.

Aiden rammed his fist into the face of Discord, knocking him onto the ground.

Discord fell, but he stood up quickly and was shocked by the power of his punch, he found it hard to believe that Aiden didn't have magic by his strength. He noticed his mouth felt fractured.

Aiden raised his fists back up "Fucking fight me!" He shouted at him.

Discord was horrified "P-please! I'm nothing without my magic!" He told the human.

Aiden kicked Discord in the chest, knocking the breath out of him "Fight like a man! Fight like I did for my friends! Try to kill me!!!" He shouted once more.

Discord shook his head while catching his breath "You're gifted Aiden! You figured out how to destroy me in a short amount of time! You mastered your mind better than I have, you're stronger than me, you're just like your father!" He told the human.

Aiden kneed the God in the face "You didn't know my father!" He said before striking him multiple times with punches to the face.

Everypony had been watching, everypony that was in castle had crowded around the two that were fighting, this included the Elements Of Harmony, which who were shocked to see Discord to be begging for his life.

Aiden snatched Discord by his throat and lifted him off of the ground, he pulled out his knife and raised it to deliver the final blow, something stopped him.

Discord looked at him with horror in his eyes, he had let tears roll off of his face, he managed to let out "P-please!" To hopefully stop Aiden.

Aiden slowly had the anger disappear from his body, it was slowly being replaced with guilt. He forced himself to let go of Discord. Aiden let out a yell "AHH!!!" He quickly turned to Discord "You... You have one more fucking chance! You fucking help pay for this mess! You start to do good deeds! If I don't see a fucking effort made by you then I will make you wish you were killed just now!!!" He yelled at the chaotic God.

Discord stared at him with shock, he slowly smiled "I'm in debt to you! T-thank you!" He said to the human.

Aiden threw Discord a different needle "That'll cure you." He told him.

Discord looked at him in disbelief "Y-you're gonna help me now?" He asked with surprise.

Aiden looked at him "That's what I do. Now, run away before I change my mind." He said before kneeling down.

Discord looked at him "Huh?" He asked, confused by his statement.

Aiden stood up quickly "Fucking run!!!" He shouted at the confused God.

Discord quickly stood up and ran away as fast as he could.

Aiden took a seat on the ground, exhausted from how much energy it took to lock Discord in his mind "And y'all said it was hard, that wasn't hard at all, I guess I'm just some asshole with a lot of bad memories that'll scar anybody." He said to everypony surrounding him.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other before looking back at him. Celestia approached him.

Celestia cleared her throat "I didn't think you were that powerful, no pony has that kind of mind power, you made Discord horrified of you." She said with disbelief.

Aiden held back tears "I remembered a lot of things today. I tried to forget, I tried to move on." His voice was shaky "My father was the only one that ever knew who I was, he was the only one that truly loved me. That's why I miss him, he taught me right from wrong, he was the strongest man I ever knew, you should've met him. That man loved life, he loved the ones that were in his." He kept his composure "And I loved him too." He finished with a sigh.

Celestia looked at her sister "I understand your pain Aiden. Perhaps you could talk to us later? We would love to help you ease your hurt heart." She told him.

Aiden slowly looked up at her "Ya know, I've been wondering something." He said to her.

Celestia looked at him "What's that Aiden?" She asked him.

Aiden slowly stood up "I was brought here after death, but what happened to my dad?" He asked her.

Celestia stared at him, she had slight shock in her eyes but she hid it well "I'm not sure, maybe we could discuss that later." She said to him.

Aiden nodded "Of course we will. I'll find out one way or another, perhaps I've already found out? I suppose we could of course discuss it later. Ya know, after I deal with cashing in my check, after I've talked to all of the fucking reporters outside, so yeah, let's discuss a past that I'm not aware of later!" He said before turning around and walking outside, pushing through the crowd that surrounded him.

Celestia was surprised to see him respond in a foul way "We have way too much to do." She said before turning to Twilight "Could you possibly calm him down? I think there's a lot of things he's thinking about right now." She told the lavender mare.

Twilight nodded "Of course! I'll go to him now." She said before running after the human.

Aiden walked through the crowds outside of the castle, ignoring lots of the reporters that were trying to ask him questions, he didn't care right now, he just wanted to forget again. He walked up to the local bank and cashed in the the check, in return he received a large bag of bits. He had received eighty-seven thousand bits, he was surprised the bank carried that much. Well, it was a bank near the castle.

Aiden turned around and was greeted by the sight of Twilight "Dammit, Twilight" he grabbed her hoof and lead her to somewhere more secluded "You were there, you know shit hit the fan, why are you here?" He asked her.

Twilight smiled gently "I'm worried about you. You know that I still love you right? I know I've been pushing you away but I was just scared, now I know how good you really are. You defeated Discord but you let him live, you felt pity for him. I now know you're not crazy, you're honestly just doing your best to protect us, even if it means that it's gonna ruin your life." She said kindly to him.

Aiden looked around to make sure nopony was watching "I love you too, I'm just... Frustrated. Celestia and Luna are keeping something from me, it also doesn't help that all of these memories that I tried to forget are now imprinted on the back of my eye lids. Thank you for being concerned, but right now I'm my worst enemy." He told her.

Twilight stood on her hind legs and rested her hooves on his shoulders "Let me help you, that's what I'm supposed to do as your mare friend, I'm sure the memories were horrible, but be who you were two days ago, somepony that didn't worry about the past, he knew that what's done is done, but you need to look at the future and how you can make the world a better place. You just reformed Discord instead of killing him, it took you a few hours but you did it. You are a powerful being, you can take down a god, what else can you do? This is a question you should ask yourself. I'm sure the princesses will discuss about your father later, but just worry about what's going on right now." She gave him advice.

Aiden took a second to take in what she said "Okay, what should I do right now?" He asked her.

Twilight smiled "How about me and you go out there, let's tell the ponies that you solved the problem! Let them know The Protector just protected them!" She said with joy.

Aiden nodded "Okay, let's do it." He said before following her outside.

They were both bombarded by cameras and questions like "Did you end the crisis Protector?" Or "Has Discord died? Did you kill him?"

Twilight was cramped and had her brain wrapped up, Aiden took notice of this and decided to jump up onto a table that was outside.

Everypony took pictures of him and listened to him.

Aiden shouted to the crowd "Discord has been defeated!" He held out his hands "He was defeated by these hands!" Everypony erupted with joy "He isn't dead! He is reformed instead, I promised you all safety, and I made sure to deliver that promise! From here on out just know that I'll die before Equestria falls underneath somepony else's rule!" He announced to the crowd.

Everypony cheered and took pictures of him, more than likely getting a good picture of him for a magazine or some kind of newspaper.

Aiden stepped down from the table and was bombarded by hoof shakes and pats on his back, he made sure to not lose Twilight. He made his way through the crowd and made his way up the stairs to the castle, he looked at the hole in the side of the castle. "He made that much damage but not even a single scratch on me. What in the hell am I?" He asked himself.

Twilight heard him and giggled "You're The Protector!" She said with pride.

Aiden looked down at her and smiled "And you're his lover!" He said before winking at her.

Twilight smiled "Yup! And I'm a darn good one too!" She said with a chipper tone.

Aiden sighed "Now, I need to have a nice conversation with Celestia and Luna. I want you there by the way." He said while looking down at Twilight.

Twilight was shocked to hear him say that "You want me to be there to hear something this personal?" She asked him.

Aiden smiled "You have a tendency of making me calm, I feel like I can erupt any moment when talking about my father." He admitted to her.

Twilight smiled "I'll be there the whole time, but for you, not for anything else." She let him know.

Aiden smiled "Alright, let's find them." He said before entering the castle.

Twilight, Aiden, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia sat in the private studies awkwardly, they were seated on two couches facing each other.

Celestia cleared her throat "Well, I suppose we have a few things to talk about." She broke the silence.

Aiden nodded "Yup, quite a few things." He responded.

Luna looked at Aiden "I suppose you have some suspicions about your father, about where he went?" She asked.

Aiden nodded "Yup, I have a feeling I know where he went, and I also have a feeling I know what he did there. I just want a few confirmations on my theories." He told them.

Twilight held his hand to keep him calm.

Celestia sighed "First, I think I already know, but what is your last name?" She asked him.

Aiden sighed "For most of my life it's been Arnett." He informed them.

Celestia nodded "I suppose you discovered a few secrets in the books?" She asked Aiden.

Aiden nodded "Yup, I'm kind of curious about how Star Swirl knew who I am." He told them.

Twilight looked at him with shock but she kept her mouth closed.

Luna sighed "Our father was King Arnett, your father was Danny Arnett, our fathers original name was...." She took a moment "Danny Arnett, yes your suspicions are correct, we have the same father." She told him.

Aiden closed his eyes for a moment before speaking "Explain how this is possible." He ordered them.

Celestia took a breath "You're father came here first, thousands of years ago, he was only thirty-five, his quest was to find you. Father looked so hard for you, but then he met our mother, the first alicorn to ever exist. Our mother assisted your father because she didn't know where you were either, until they found Star Swirl as a young boy, he was in his teens at the time, he told them that you were stuck in time itself. Your father was disappointed but he was happy that you were alive. During this time he fell in love with mother, he decide to start a new life, that's when they had us. We didn't know about you until father and Star Swirl wrote books together, they put hidden text in there that only a Arnett could see. Aiden, you are our brother, you're royalty." She told him.

Aiden stood up suddenly "No, I'm not your brother." He told them.

They were taken by surprise "I know it's a lot to take in but just calm down." Luna told him.

Aiden held a finger to signal for them to be quiet "No, let me fill in a few missing pieces. I wasn't his real son, I was adopted. He loved me, he called me his son and I called him my father, he wasn't my real dad though. My real parents... They were brutally murdered by a serial killer when I was one. They said they found me basically taking a bath in their blood. I love our father because he raised me like his own, he looked for me probably because he sees me as his son, but in reality I'm not actually his kid. You're blood brother is probably dead, he probably died from old age. If you want to call me bro then that's fine, but just know that I'm not royalty. I just wanted to know because... I wanted to know if he died happy?" He revealed to them.

They all stared at him with shock, Celestia smiled with a tear in her eye "He died very happy, he told us about your personality, about how you were the sweetest and most honest boy he ever met. I see that now, most ponies would take advantage of being royalty, but you told us the truth. He told us great things would happen once you arrived, he was right, amazing things are happening, you reformed Discord, you filled in the last piece of the puzzle me and Luna were trying solve, you've made Twilight the happiest mare. We would normally tell you you're the new king, but he told us not to bother, he said you would make a title for yourself. We want to add you to the list of celebrations, The Protector Festival. Father said that a festival would be more than enough for your accomplishments." She told him.

Aiden smiled "when would this festival be?" He asked out of curiosity.

Luna perked up "How about next week! This new holiday would allow all of the ponies to dress up as a hero and pretend to be like you!" She said, obviously excited by the thought of it.

Aiden backed up "that's for you two to decide, I'm just The Protector." He said with a smirk.

They all laughed at his statement "Perhaps you get some rest while we get things cleaned up? Today's been a rough day on you." Celestia said with a smile.

Aiden nodded "Now that sounds like a awesome idea!" He said before getting Twilight and leaving.

Twilight walked with Aiden back to their room "We got a lot done today!" She said with joy "You ended the battle, you discovered the truth behind your father, you even made time to get your bits and answer stuff for reporters!" She said, proud of the human.

Aiden smiled "Yup, do you think that means I've earned a reward for my efforts?" He asked Twilight, referring to more private things.

Twilight looked back at him "Oh, you already know I'll reward you." She said seductively.

Aiden smirked "well, let's not waste anymore time!" He said before rushing to their bedroom.