The Broken One

Cindra, Shadow and I watched in silence as mom lowered the sun. I stared in wonder at all the colors of the evening sky. The two ponies pressed to my sides sighed happily and sunk deeper into my embrace. As a comfortable silence fell over us I thought about the past few days’ events.

After hiring the exceedingly loving bat pony things had escalated, delaying my meeting with mom. I had finally made it to the throne room hours later fresh from the shower. I had been asked to come alone, so I had left the two ponies panting in my room. As I had stood before my mother with dripping hair I could see the amusement.

We spoke briefly about the situation with Shadow and she explained her reasoning to me. She told me that she had the idea of firing her and suggesting I hired her back in order to keep up appearances. When I asked what she meant, she laughed. She knew I wouldn’t allow Shadow to be sent away after what happened due to my personality, whatever that meant, so that explained the reason. It meant a lot to me that she was also thinking of our happiness.

That night I had a brutal training session with Aunt Luna herself. She seemed more intense than normal and attacked with a ferocity I never expected from her. Over the course of the night I gained several cuts and burns but learned a good bit about offensive and defensive magic. I had succeeded in casting a shielding charm but it was rather useless against the force of her anger.

After being thrown around by her magic for about an hour I had had enough. I charged her, dodging and deflecting magic attacks. I ducked under one last fireball and as I came up my hand shot forward and grabbed the end of her muzzle. She had stared at my hand cross eyed for a moment before I found myself flying through the air trailing smoke and burnt feathers.

She had held me down with a hoof and stuck her glowing horn in my face forcing my surrender. I asked what her problem was and that one question led into a shouting match about me stealing her most efficient guard. Canterlot Voices raged from both sides of the argument and echoed across the whole castle.

Before long a bright flash blinded both of us and mom popped into existence in between us. She glared at both of us with bloodshot eyes and yelled at us in a Canterlot Voice that made mine seem like a whisper. After she finished yelling I heard a ringing in my ears and felt wetness running down my cheek. I touched the sticky trickle and found my golden blood on my fingertips.

She noticed the blood and was instantly apologetic, healing my busted ear drums with a touch of her horn. Aunt Luna called off lessons for the rest of the night and my mother agreed with the wisdom of that decision. I limped back to my room and was met at the door by two different facial expressions.

Cindra had the appearance of a parent whose child had just solved world hunger. She hugged me and told me how happy it made her to hear me stand up for somepony else. Shadow’s face displayed something between admiration and confusion. I hugged them both and got ready for bed.

The next few days passed in peace and the three of us fell into a routine. One of the mares always woke up before I did, woke the other pony without waking me somehow, and the two of them would go through the process of ordering breakfast to be sent to my room. I developed a bit of an addiction to the castle’s oatmeal.

I had learned that Cindra only needed to feed every other day. Apparently she was a glutton. I wasn’t complaining, but I just didn’t think I would be able to keep her hunger satisfied. Thankfully she could feed off of Shadow as well. We had discussed that particular aspect of our relationship or whatever we had going on was.

I had expressed some slight trepidation with how quickly things had escalated between us, and after admitting the reason was inexperience I learned that I wasn’t the only virgin. As expected, the only one of us three with actual sexual experience was Cindra.

We discussed it at length and agreed that we would take things a bit slower. I admitted that we would never forget the things we had seen or done, but for the time being it would be best if we hit the brakes for a bit. That being said, snuggling was definitely still on the table. It was amazing just how comfy my ponies could be.

As we sat there in silence staring at the setting sun I felt worry beginning to build in me. I shifted slightly, startling my companions. In a little over twelve hours I was going to be crowned Prince of Everfree and I was needless to say nervous. The responsibilities alone were staggering.

When I wasn’t training with Aunt Luna or the other night guards I was with mom discussing preparations for both my coronation and for the renovations of Castle Everfree, or the Castle of the Two Sisters as it had come to be known. The structural repairs would take months before it would be livable. That wasn’t even considering the time it would take to fully staff the castle.

I had eventually managed to find a solution by putting advertisements in the local papers for stewards, guards, groundskeepers and housekeepers. The interviews were arduous at best. Over a hundred ponies had shown up for the interviews so it took all day. Thankfully I had help conducting the interviews.

Shadow interviewed all of the potential guards. I had stuck around for the first few but lost interest quickly. I headed over to the next room where Cindra was interviewing housekeepers, as she had masqueraded as a maid for a few years. She was having better luck, despite the ponies being skittish when first seeing the changeling. I nodded and exited the room and went to find my mother.

I hunted for her for a while but when I didn’t find her anywhere I decided to cheat. I focused on my mother and poofed to her side. Right on cue I ducked a single paralysis spell and grinned at a cursing Shining Armor. After a brief scolding from mom I looked at my surroundings.

The first thing I noticed was the statue she stood in front of. I stared at my mismatched creator with contempt. The stone at the base of the statue was crumbling and it seemed to have mom on the edge of panic.

“Mom, what’s wrong”, I asked as I touched her shoulder.

“Oh, nothing at all”, she replied quickly.

“Mom.”

“Very well”, she sighed and turned to me. “This isn’t a statue of Discord. This is Discord himself.”

“What”, I asked numbly as I stared at her.

“This is Discord’s prison”, she explained. “See how the stone is crumbling? The magic that holds him is weakening.”

“So what, he’s gonna get loose”, I asked in shock.

“Yes”, she sighed as she lowered her head. “It could be tomorrow, it could be in a thousand years. We just don’t know.”

“What can we do to stop it”, I asked.

“Nothing, as far as I know”, came the worried reply. “All we can do is try to find a way to stop him from destroying reality when he returns.”

“So no pressure”, I scoffed.

“Indeed”, mom replied.

She turned and trudged back into the castle mumbling to herself the entire way. I watched her go and sighed as I turned back to the statue. I could have sworn the head was turned the other way earlier, but now it was staring directly at me. An uneasy feeling drifted over me as I stared at the statue.

“Hello, Jackson”, Discord’s voice drifted from the statue.

“Shit”, I shouted and jumped back while drawing my sword.

“Now what kind of greeting is that”, he hummed as a shadow drifted from the statue.

The shadowy form drifted down and solidified into Discord himself as it touched solid ground. The wings on his back stretched out as he yawned theatrically.

“I hate mornings”, he grumbled as a cup of coffee materialized in his claw.

“Me too”, I warily replied, eyeing him as he sipped his coffee. “What do you want?”

“Just to see my son”, he replied a little too innocently as a halo appeared over his head.

“Your name is Discord”, I growled. “Father or not, I don’t trust you.”

“After tomorrow it won’t matter”, he chuckled enigmatically. “By the way, how is the little changeling doing?”

“None of your business”, I shouted. “What did you mean about tomorrow?!”

“Jackson”, my mother called from the patio. “What are you doing?”

“Stay back”, I shouted, my eyes never leaving Discord.

“What in Equestria is going on”, she asked exasperatedly.

“Mom, Discord is right there”, I shouted as I pointed my blade at his throat.

Mom cried out in alarm and flew to my side, her wide eyes looking everywhere but passing over Discord several times. I began to grow nervous as she turned a confused gaze to me.

“Jackson, are you well”, she asked as she laid a foreleg on my head.

“Mom, he’s right there”, I urged and pointed as I pushed her hoof away.

“Are you so sure about that”, Discord chuckled darkly as he faded into nothing.

“Jackson, there’s nopony here but us”, she said with a concerned expression on her face.

“But he was right there”, I said.

“Nopony was there, Jackson”, she said just above a whisper. “You were yelling at thin air.”

“Well, fuck.”