I Am Not a Monster

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

--Abraham Lincoln

I Am Not a Monster!

Celestia awoke just before she was to raise the sun. One of the perks to being an immortal solar goddess was that she's had a lot of time to adjust her internal clock. Wake up right before she had to raise the sun. Easy. Except now, mornings were going to be a little tougher. Especially since they would involve rolling a certain colt out of bed. Celestia gazed over at Chaotic, who was tangled up in the bed sheets. Surpassing a laugh, she walked to the balcony door, and unlocked it, ready to perform her ritual. The solar princess walked onto a special rune on the ground, and began her spell. Soon, the sun began to rise over the horizon, signaling the start of a new day.

Celestia walked back indoors, putting on her regalia, and quietly left her bedroom, letting Chaotic sleep. She quietly closed the door behind her, and walked towards Luna's tower. Still exhausted from the previous night, Celestia made a quick stop in the palace kitchen for a mug of coffee. Once she reached the tower, she went to knock, but Luna immediately opened the door, carrying several papers. Instead, Celestia accidentally punched her younger sister.

"Ow! Tia!" Luna whined. "What was that for?!"

"Sorry, sister." Celestia replied, sheepishly. "There's... something I'd like to talk to you about. Privately."

"Well, there's only one place I know where nopony else is." Luna placed the stack of papers inside, and led Celestia down the hallway.

"The broom closet? Really?!"

"Do you see anypony around?"

"Good point. Now, I want to ask you something. Do you remember Chaotic?"

"You mean chaos, right? As in Discord?"

Celestia sighed. Luna didn't remember. This was going to be a lot more difficult.

"No, Chaotic. As in a name. You don't remember, do you?"

"No... Are you okay, sister?"

"Luna, I'm serious. He's my son. He was born six years before... before Nightmare Moon."

"Tia, I want to believe you, but when Nightmare was destroyed, she took every memory from that time with her. I don't remember anything around then. Not even defeating Discord."

"Fine. I'll prove it."

Celestia grabbed Luna by the horn with her magic, and stormed out of the closet. She ignored the strange glances from nearby guards, and went towards her bed chambers.

"Tia, there's no reason you need to drag me. I can walk, you know."

"Sorry, Luna. Here, he's sleeping inside."

"Your so-called 'son'?"

Without saying anything, the elder sister opened the door, and motioned for Luna to remain put. Celestia walked over to the bed, where Chaotic was still sleeping. She lit her horn, and lightly pressed it against the colt's forehead. He awoke with a startle, and somehow managed to unravel the blankets around him.

"Chaotic, sweetie, there's somepony who wants to meet you. You remember Aunt Luna?"

"Yeah..." He said, groggily.

"Luna doesn't really remember you. How about you go remind her."

"Okay." He complied. He stood up, stretching his back, and followed his mother. Luna was still waiting outside, albeit with a bored expression on her face. She gazed at her sister, but soon noticed the small colt below. She felt herself die a little on the inside. He looked like Discord, for Faust's sake!

"Auntie Luna!" He said, rushing forward. He jumped up and hugged her neck, not letting go.

When Luna heard his voice, she started to remember. Celestia's cries of pain in the castle infirmary. Looking into the foal's mismatched eyes. Discord having a breakdown. Chaotic's first words.

"Lulu." She muttered under her breath, remembering everything. Even Discord. Despite the pounding headache that had formed in her head, she hugged him back. A single tear had formed under her eye, as she pulled her lost nephew closer.

"I see somepony remembers." Celestia said, watching the heart-melting scene in front of her. Less than five minutes, and Luna already remembered Chaotic. Somehow. "And quicker than I expected."

"What can I say, your little one is quite adorable."

"I'm not denying anything. Now, Chaotic, would you like to come get breakfast?"

"I'm not-" His stomach growled. "Fine."

He let go of Luna, and fell to the floor. He was tiny compared to the two Alicorns, barely shorter than his mother's knees. He followed the two to the dining hall, where a single maid was cleaning. She was startled by the sudden entrance of the princess... and a third. She bowed slightly, and continued cleaning, never taking her eyes off Chaotic. This single detail troubled him. Was she judging him? What did he do?

Farther down the table were two more ponies. One was a white unicorn, and the other was a pink alicorn. They were both eating breakfast together.

"Oh, good. They're already here." Celestia walked over to the couple, and said something to them, while Chaotic stayed with Luna. Celestia led the two over to him, where they both stared right at him, with the same condescending eyes as the maid.

"Chaotic, I want you to meet your cousin, Cadence." Celestia said to him, "And this is her husband, Shining Armor."

"H-hello." Chaotic told them. In all honesty, as comfortable as he was meeting Luna, he was still terrified of meeting strangers. He made eye contact for a second, but immediately shrank away. The alicorn softened her gaze, and kneeled down, until she was at eye level with the colt. He was pressed against his mother's hooves, afraid of Cadence's judgement of him.

"Chaotic, you're hurting Cadence's feelings acting like this." Celestia told him, pushing him forward with a single hoof.

To his surprise, Cadence didn't say anything about the clear Draconequus in him. Instead, she extended her hoof in friendship.

"Hey, we're not going to hurt you." She said, in a soft voice. "You don't need to be afraid of either me or Shining, okay?"

Chaotic nodded, his fears lessened by the caring alicorn. Cadence was glad that he was quick to warm up to her. He still looked a little skeptical of Shining, but that could be fixed later. Her husband flashed the colt a smile, to which he relaxed significantly.

Celestia glanced at Luna, in a sort of "told you so" manner, and looked back at Chaotic, who seemed to have accepted Cadence and Shining Armor.

"Great! Now we can eat." Celestia said, in a very hurried manner.

----

Breakfast was short and uneventful. Chaotic was surprisingly talkative, until that question came up. Shining Armor had asked about his Draconequus features. He started to break down, but Shining had noticed that it was a touchy subject, and quickly dropped the conversation. Afterwards, Celestia had one task in mind, after noticing Chaotic's. 'table manners,' if they could be called that: learning to use his magic. But first, she needed to show him something.

"Chaotic, I want you to know something." Celestia began, once they were out of earshot of everypony else. "It's about what happened to your father. I know you don't like to talk about it, but you need to know."

"I don't want to see him! He was mean to me!" Chaotic yelled, his sudden outburst alarming to Celestia. "He turned me to-"

"Chaotic, that's enough." She raised her voice at him, something she never wanted to do. "Look, I'll show you what happened to him. After... that happened, he was weakened. We- we turned him to stone after. It was the only thing I could think of. I was really angry at what he did to you. He sits in the statue garden."

"O-okay..." He said, barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry for yelling, mommy."

"It's okay, sweetie. Now, come, I'll show you what became of your father."