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!

Now, we return to where we left Chaotic...

Chaotic jumped in glee when he saw his 'reward' in front of him. Luna had worked with the palace chefs to try to recreate one of Discord's infamous cotton candy clouds. It even rained chocolate milk like Discord's own. Chaotic had sat down under the floating confectionary, drinking the milk raining from it. Celestia and Luna stood next to each other, watching the colt play with the cloud. As he played around, the doors to the throne room were thrown open, and two guards, a unicorn and an earth pony, came inside.

"Your majesty- er, majesties." The earth pony said, as they both bowed, seemingly ignoring the trail of chocolate milk... and the colt jumping around under a pink cloud.

"We have reports of..." The unicorn began, but stopped when he noticed Chaotic. "With all due respect, your highness, could we speak somewhere more... private, and away from 'young ears'?"

"I'll take him, 'Tia." Luna said, "Come, nephew, I have something fun to do." Celestia and the guards watched as the two left the room, before the unicorn spoke up once more.

"It's the Cult, your highness. They were caught in an attempted assassination of the mayor of Baltimare, Written Scroll. Among them was Rune Spell, a prominent member of the cult. Upon interrogation, he revealed that they know of your son. They're planning something, princess. And it involves Discord, as well."

Celestia became troubled by this. She hadn't revealed him to the general public yet. She was planning on it, but in several days. Somepony in the palace was a spy. A traitor, even.

"Thank you, guards. You are dismissed." She told them.

The two bowed, and left Celestia alone in the throne room. Who told the Cult of Chaos? She was going to get to the bottom of it, no matter how long it took.

Several days had passed, and there was no sign of the Cult anywhere. Chaotic was getting better at using his magic, but hadn't tried flying at all since the first time. Celestia was preparing to reveal him to the rest of Equestria. The guards and maids might not have minded him, but considering how Discord reacted to being set free, and what troubles he caused, that burden might be placed on Chaotic's shoulders as well. But she would help him. He was just a little colt, after all. Even so, he had her, he had Luna, and he had Cadance and Shining Armor to help him. If- when Discord would be released once more, Chaotic would have to confront him, no matter what.

The thought troubled Celestia. With how he reacted to the statue, how would he react to his father actually being there? Discord wasn't the most subtle father ever. Chaotic loved him, of course, until the Chaos took over. "Discord" had poured every ounce of his power into a petrifaction spell that even the princesses couldn't break. Once he unleashed it, he proclaimed his victory to the skies, not knowing that he had in fact missed the princesses. He had struck his terrified son. That spell hadn't worn off until over one thousand years, when Celestia's grief was great enough to break it.

The princess paced around the throne room, until a guard quietly reminded her that the Day Court was to start soon, after being out off for almost a week. After dismissing said guard, Celestia walked through the castle, until she found Chaotic playing with Cadence and Shining Armor. Cadence noticed her, and lightly poked Chaotic on his side.

"Chaotic," Celestia said, alerting him of her presence. "Could you come with me for a little bit? I promise that you can come back, okay?"

"Okay, mommy." He said, jumping onto her back. Cadence smiled as he left, happy to foalsit the colt for her aunt.

Chaotic sat quietly on his mother's back, wondering what she had in mind. She walked towards the throne room, prepared to announce Chaotic to at least that group of petitioners. With the Cult knowing about Chaotic, she would have to be on her guard. A cult member could very well be one of the petitioners. Of course, these were just the thoughts of not only the great ruler, but also of a concerned mother. She entered the throne room just before the Day Court was to start. As she got Chaotic situated next to her on the throne, Celestia nodded to the guard by the door.

As the line of petitioners came before the throne, most of them had a quizzical look as they noticed Chaotic. The colt tried to hide behind his mother's legs, but she prevented him, knowing what to do.

"Before I begin the Day Court, I have an important announcement to make." She said, her smile never faltering. She lightly pushed Chaotic forward, so he was in front of her. "This is my son, Prince Chaotic. He has recently returned to me, hopefully for good. He is going to take my place one day. Now, first petitioner."

Chaotic followed a royal guard back to Cadence and Shining Armor. Thirty two. Thirty two questions about why Chaotic looked like Discord. Thirty two answers about Chaotic's father. Thirty two surprised- and borderline angry- petitioners. And the Court had only opened an hour ago. Celestia had ordered the guard to escort her son back to Cadence and Shining Armor, in case a cultist was a part of the petitioners. Well, her exact words were "Take him back to his bedroom. If Cadence as Shining Armor aren't there, please keep him entertained." He guessed that meant playing with the colt. It wasn't a problem, really. Valor Point and his wife had a little filly back home. He was familiar with over-active foals. Celestia might have been a little too protective, but it was just a mother worried about her son. Valor led Chaotic back to his bedroom, where Shining and Cadence had recently left. The colt jumped onto his bed, and turned around, facing Valor.

"So..." He began, unfamiliar with Chaotic. "What do you want to do, Chaotic?"

Chaotic struggled to keep the heavy helmet balanced atop his head. Valor had allowed him to try it on, despite it being larger than the colt's head.

"If it's too heavy for you, I can take it off." Valor said.

"No, I can- hold it." Chaotic grunted, stubbornly. As if on cue, he fell, bringing the armor with him. Luckily, Valor caught the helmet before it could crush him. Chuckling, he placed the helmet back on his head, covering his shaggy brown mane. Right as he did so, the door opened, and in came another royal guard.

"Valor Point, I am here to take the princess' to his mother. She requested that I do so immediately."

Valor looked at him, confused. The princess said to watch over him until the day court was over.

"State your name and rank, soldier." He said to the other.

"Lieutenant Cloud Cover, sir."

Valor looked at the armor, and frowned. He had the crest of a corporal, not a lieutenant, on his breastplate. Interesting.

"I don't know who you are, but you're not a royal guard. Everything checked out. The voice, the name, the order. Except the armor. That one little detail gave yourself away."

Without warning, the earth pony raised his hoof, and punched Valor as hard as he could across his cheekbone. There was a small cracking sound as he did so. As Valor fell to the floor, unconscious, the imposter turned to Chaotic.

"Come on, you little runt. We don't want any trouble, now do we? Come with me, or I'll have to take it into my own hooves."

Chaotic blinked away tears from his eyes. He had to get to his mother. Stay away from the evil guard. The guard backed Chaotic into the corner of the room, trapping him. As he went to grab the colt, Chaotic ran under his hooves, towards the door.

"Come back here, you little brat!"

Chaotic left the room, and ran down the hallway, nearly knocking over a plant, towards his aunt's tower. All while being chased by a crazy pony who wanted to hurt him.

"Auntie Luna!" Chaotic cried, hoping she would hear him. "Help!"

Instead of his aunt, two members of the demonic night guard stepped forward, facing the two running towards them. They noticed the guard chasing him, but before they acted, he punched one of them down with his hoof. Chaotic simply ran to the door, hoping the remaining guard could stop the evil imposter guard. As the night guard activated the shocker claws on his horseshoes, he grabbed the other stallion's back, and sent jolts of electricity down his spine, stunning him.

Meanwhile, Chaotic opened the large doors to his aunt's study, where she was writing something.

"Who dares interrupt the- oh, nephew. What brings you here?" She asked.

"Me and Valor were playing when this guard came in and hurt Valor and chased me here and was hurt by a night guard protecting me and it was scary and I was scared." At this point, there were tears running down his muzzle. Luna laid down next to him, and scooped him into a hug.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm here to protect you. You're safe now." She stroked his back as he cried into her chest. "Just let it out, nephew. It's going to be alright."