Monster

Discord

“This still makes no sense! How could anypony hate him?” I shouted, throwing my hands up into the air. We were in the throne room, trying to figure out exactly why Skyward had told us Winter Rose hated Orion just like that. He was a good colt! He never did anything to make anypony hate him.

My wife had other ideas in mind as she casually sat down next to her sister and shrugged. “It is very easy to be hated in this world, Discord. We should know this perfectly judging by our pasts. Orion is just like everypony else when it comes to being hated, he will find a way to change their minds like we had done.” Her tone was so causal to the point where I hated it, but I would never allow it to show to her.

“Calm yourself, Discord.” Celestia said to him, her mane was still flowing like always. Her tone was very much like her sister, and this was starting to make me more mad than every. I should just curse Winter Rose for doing this to my son. “Everything is about growing up, and making enemies is one of them. Orion is just going through everything else like everypony is. This is no different from our youth.”

I blinked. Did she really just suggest our youth was no different from Skyward and Orion? We barely spoke like they do back then. We had different rules back then than what they do now! Everything about our past is different from our sons. How could she suggest everything is the same when its clearly not?

They went on speaking about random things while I snuck out to see my son. I knew he had to be hurting inside, because what else would you do when you found out somepony hated you? There was no way I would allow this to go on, my son would not be hated.

I would make sure of that.

Skyward was just coming out of their room when I arrived, he looked tired and beat up. The two decided to take a nap, and I guess Skyward had just woken up from his nap and was now heading towards the bathroom. I wanted them to know one in their room, but they wouldn’t allow it so they had to use the bathhouse.

Wasn’t actually bad, but I would’ve liked it if they could stay within the castle.

Peering the door open, just a smudge, my eyes wondered in to find Orion still sleeping away. Kicking the blanket as he did so, moving his hoofs like he was running and fighting. My throat went tight when I realized he could very well be having a bad dream.

Should I get his mother?

Tell her a bad dream was going on with Orion, so she could enter and fix it all? No, it wasn’t time for her duties. She had the day off, and worked all night long, it wouldn’t be fair to make her do work on her off time. She and her sister both work hard anyways.

Floating over, I shook his shoulder gently and it was enough to get him out of his sleep, and his bright eyes shined up at him before his hoof rubbed the rest of the sleep out of his eyes. I noticed there was a few single tears bubbling up in his eyes, and I couldn’t stop myself from biting my lip.

Just what was his dream about?

“Dad?” He sounded so innocent when he woke up, but I knew there was more to this story. “What is it?”

“I... I came in to check on you, and it looked like you were having a nightmare. Were you?” I asked, my eyes slightly narrowing downwards, and Orion gazed down at his hoofs. Not looking at him. “Orion...”

“S-Sorry...”

This would take a while for him to explain.

Monster

Skyward

It was Orion who suggested we go out into the woods.

Us, along with Lapis, the Dash Twins, Diamond Shine, Apple Crisp, Candy Cane, and Eagle Wing. He suggested we go out into the woods to see what was out there. Being the farm pony she is, Apple Crisp gladly took up the challenge and convinced Diamond Shine to go with her.

Candy Cane was all happy to allow it, Eagle Wing shifted on his hoofs before slowly following Orion. I was left at the back in case something happened and Orion was up front. He wanted to be up front in this, not allowing anypony else to take the lead and when he said that, me and Lapis shared a look.

We both knew this wasn’t the best thing to do, but Orion wanted this. He wanted to prove to the Dash Twins he was brave like them, wouldn’t allow anything to happen to them. He had magic, he could protect us. His magic was pretty much like his father’s but less powerful.

But still, I had a feeling this wouldn’t be a good idea.

Fire just scoffed and followed Orion like he owned the place, mumbling to his twin as he went, and Cobalt didn’t speak at all, only nodding. Candy was fastly speaking with Eagle, and Diamond was sticking with Apple. Lapis only gave Orion a look before gazing at me.

If anything, this would be turned into something really bad.

The woods were quiet as we trailed inwards, the sound of the wind was the only thing we could hear along with our hoofs stepping on leaves that had fallen to the ground, and the trees shaking. The smell was almost horrible from a recent fire which occurred, so we had the smell of burnt wood.

My cousin wasn’t backing out like Fire was asking him to do this, turning into a more scared version of himself, and Cobalt didn’t speak. The rest of us were waiting for the signel to run back towards the castle and agree to never speak about this again.

Orion never gave the order to move back.

“No way,” Orion scoffed, waving his hoof with a slight smirk on his face. “There is no way we are going back to the castle. We gotta be brave like our parents, yeah? You dared me to show you I was brave, Fire, so here ya go. A brave Orion.” He puffed out his chest.

“Orion,” Lapis said, rushing to stand beside him and I followed suit. “This is crazy. We are not going to be okay in here. Have you heard about the things that could be rooming this place?”

“Yeah, have you?”

“You are crazy! This is not safe at all! We need to turn back and go home. Our parents are probably looking for us right now, and we need to make them not worry.” Lapis rubbed his leg. “Besides, my mother is such a worrywart. Dad will fail to make her calm, and in the end, I will be grounded.”

Orion rolled his eyes. “Your dad, Flash, is stupid. All he knows is how to be a guard. He’s nothing else, your mom is the Princess of Friendship, yeah? How did a lone guard land somepony like her?” I could tell Lapis didn’t know how to respond.

“Oooh!” Cobalt Strike said, rushing to be by Orion. His hoof landed on his back and grinned widely. “He’s got you there, Egghead. That’s the cool way, Orion.”

“Thanks.” Orion purred and Fire landed beside his brother.

“You know what? You are not so bad after all,” Fire decided. “You and us gotta hang out more. Make fun of ponies and make them know what we’re all about.”

Well, a new friendship just happened.

Monster

Cobalt

Orion was okay now. He always was when I thought about it. He was just misjudged by a lot of ponies, and it was time to change that. He would be more notice when he would hang with me and Fire. We could be a trio! Yeah, a trio with a real cool name.

But, his cousin, Skyward was just boring! That perfect prince image is all Skyward was to me, and it was boring. Just like how Lapis could find pleasure in reading books for straight hours while the rest of us could barely sit down and enjoy them. He was a total egghead.

The forest wasn’t as cool as I originally thought as we went deeper.

There was a lot of creepy sounds and Fire was shaking when I looked over to him, the others weren’t so brave like before, yet Orion still looked brave and was ready to do anything, but this was becoming insane. I suddenly realized we shouldn’t be out here.

“Skyward,” I whispered to the older prince. “Make Orion change his mind and have everyone go home. This is bad, we cannot be here.”

Skyward gulped. “I wish I could. Once Orion has an idea in his mind, there is no way of having him change his mind. So, unless he suddenly decides this is stupid, we’re all stuck here.”

There was a time and placed for things like these. This wasn’t the time, nor the place. We should all be at the castle right now, instead of trailing into the woods, hoping to find something we didn’t even know we wanted to find. It was all because Orion wanted to prove something to me and Fire.

We’re the ones who made Orion decide this risky choice.

We take the blame in the end.

As Orion came to a close with the deepest part of the woods, Skyward rushed over and stood in front of him. His breath was more heavy coming, and Orion was frowning at him. But we all agreed this was something that needed to be done, and we wouldn’t allow anything other answer from Orion.

However, the prince of the Night and Chaos had a different thought in mind.

“Move.” Orion demanded. “Out of my way, Skyward. I need to prove to them, I’m not scared of anything. So move.”

“No. Who knows what is beyond this path? Do you really want to find out? What if--”

Orion cut him off.

“Skyward, everything is fine. Nothing to worry about.” He pushed Skyward aside and stepped closer. The air suddenly turned tense around us. “Lapis has gotten in your head. There is nothing out here that can harm us in anyway shape or form. We all know those are old pony tales.”

Lapis shook his head. “You do not know that!”

“Do I? Lapis, common, you must understand those books are false. My mother and father have been around a lot longer than your parents have been. They know everything about this place. So you should be taking my word.” Orion scoffed. “You guys just stay put, and I will go check things out.”

As Orion moved forward, we stopped when we heard a low growl coming from in front of our dear young prince, and he stood still for a moment. He shook his head, and moved forward. I, for once, could sense his magic forming in case of an attack.

He was ready to face whatever was coming his way.

Skyward was shifty and his voice made us all jump. “ORION!” He shouted, rushing towards him but he was slower than normal like something was keeping him from going at his full speed. “Look out! Move! Get out of the way of--”

All we heard was a slam.

A slam of a body slamming onto the ground, and we all felt our jaws hang open when the scene in front of us finally clicked within our heads.

The growl was gone.

Skyward was shaking.

...And Orion was on the ground, on his shoulder was blood coming out faster than we ever knew.

“O...Orion...”