Son of Chaos Chapter 3: Hellfire

In a dark place which had never seen the Sun, a strange being was prowling. The creature, composed of darkness itself, paced back and forth. He had been more patient previously, but that was only because he had Harmony as company. Now, completely alone in the darkness of his domain, patience escaped him. He was not at all prepared for being alone.  Through all those millions of years before, he had his sister. Time moves much more quickly when you´re having fun; those centuries and millennia had passed like hours compared to the time he spent alone. Twenty years had passed since he last saw Harmony, and his sole driving purpose was to continue to watch his creation- a creation he was proud of. After all, the draconequus represented chaos itself, or, so he thought. Chaos hadn’t considered Grey Weather´s influence. He expected her to try to drown her son, after which Chaos would have saved him. The hate within Draco after being rejected by his own family would have shaped him into the monster that Chaos needed. But the love of that pony had made Draco weak, kind, and hopeful about existing in a world that would always hate him. She was a hindrance to his plan. So how could Chaos be rid of her? It had to be a subtle way. A way that would transform Draco into a vindictive being.
Chaos generated a white sphere from the surrounding shadows. Inside, the image of Draco´s house appeared. He smiled sadistically. The wait was finally over. Chaos began pulling the strings of his master plan- a plan that would lead to a world of eternal chaos.
In the land of Equestria, night had fallen; however, the unicorns were still in charge of this essential task. Although the two princesses were powerful enough to control the sun and the moon, they weren´t ready to complete these tasks on their own just yet. They both had much to study; they needed to know not only how to control their power, but how to govern the land of Equestria, as well.  For the moment, and against all odds, the King and the Queen were still alive and ruling, but this would not be the case for much longer. The marks of time could be witnessed in their old bodies.
Celestia and Luna shared a very deep bond; their relationship couldn´t be better. Well, perhaps it could- for on the lowest post of the society, a pegasus mare and her strange son had surpassed the amount of love that anypony had thought possible.
In the main room of Grey Weather´s home, she sat in front of the window with a few candles serving as her light source. Grey Weather had avoided making any noise in order not to wake Draco. She couldn´t sleep, as her thoughts and nightmares continued to torment her.
Grey Weather gazed upon the full moon, deep in her thoughts. Twenty years had passed since the day her life had changed, and she felt confused. The prophecy was almost fulfilled. There were two Alicorn princesses who possessed enough power to play with the forces of night and day. And on the same night Princess Celestia had been born, so had Draco. And, as predicted, he wasn´t a normal pony. Grey Weather refused to call him a monster. At the time, Draco had accepted the differences between these names. He knew that he was unique, but that no longer affected him. In the end, Draco had a mother who loved him.
Grey Weather thought that his change of mind was positive at first, but upon further reflection it, she realized that the only reason for Draco to keep on fighting was her. What would happen to Draco if she was gone? He had nopony more than her. The passage of time was reflecting on her, and Grey Weather knew that in ten to fifteen years, she wouldn’t be there to take care of Draco. In those dark times, very few lucky ponies would reach an advanced age. Although she trusted him, and he had proven that he was a tough boy, she wasn´t sure how he would survive without her, or if he would even be able to.
Maybe they should move. That was another issue that Grey Weather had considered. These were likely to be her last years, and she wanted to spend them somewhere Draco could go out, fly freely, and enjoy life further than they could between that old house and their secret place. But the two of them had grown attached to their home. Was it worth it? She would have to discuss it with Draco.
Grey Weather got up and stretched. What could she do now? She was still unable to sleep. Their shelving was devoid of new books. Maybe she could get some more. And perhaps a few poem books for Draco. He loved poetry, and he even wrote his own poems from time to time. Draco used to hide them, but his mother had found some of them and she thought they were amazing. The majority of them talked about living in world which hated him, a world that he had never even had the chance to meet. Grey Weather could still remember when she had to teach Draco how to read and write; it hadn´t been an easy job. While she tried to show him how to write with his mouth as she did, he found that silly and wrote with his fingers. Finally, she gave up and let him write in the way he preferred.
Grey Weather prowled by the room thinking what to do. Maybe eating something would help her to sleep.
“Mum?”
Grey Weather stopped suddenly. Damn it, she had woken Draco. He went down by the stairs.
“You can´t sleep, right?” asked Draco. His mother nodded. “Neither can I.”
“Is there anything wrong, Draco?” asked Grey Weather.
“I was about to ask you the exact same,” answered Draco. “All this week I´ve heard you going down every night.”
“I´m sorry Draco, I didn´t want to wake you up,” Grey Weather replied.
“Don´t worry,” Draco said, smiling.
He had grown into a giant creature. Draco was too tall to fit in the house anymore, and as such he had to bend his long neck as well as part of his body in order to keep from crashing through the roof.
Draco crawled like a snake and sat at his mother’s side.
“It´s incredible how much you´ve grown up” said Grey Weather. “I remember when you used to nap under my wing”.
“Now you could sleep under mine” Draco answered with a warm grin. He leaned his lion paw on his mother´s shoulder. “Tell me mum, what´s going through your head?”
“Well, I´ve been thinking about this for a long time. I think we should move, but I wanted to discuss it with you first.”
“Really?” Draco asked, quite surprised. “And why?”
“Here everypony thinks I´m crazy. And you can´t even step out the front door during the day. You’ve been isolated from the world for twenty years! There are many things in the world you wouldn’t get a chance to see if you stayed here…”
“But I still have you,” Draco stated.
“That´s exactly the point”. Said Grey Weather. “I know you don´t want to hear this, but I won´t be around forever. What will you do once I´m gone?”
Draco´s silence acted as an answer.
“Exactly!” she exclaimed. “Without me, I don´t know how you would live. And I´m afraid to think about it. But, if we leave now, you´ll have a chance. You´ll be able to fly- to enjoy the world. There won´t be four walls to stop you.”
After saying that, an awkward silence fell between the two of them. Draco broke it.
“Are you sure? Our entire lives are here, mum. And our memories, too. Do you really want to leave that behind? For me?”
“Draco…” She looked into her son´s eyes. “You are my life now. And we can carry our memories wherever we want.” She smiled at him, and he returned the smile.
“But,” asked Draco, “where could we go? I´ll be a spectacle regardless.”
Draco resented what he had said as soon as the sentence left his lips. He had to make his mother think that he had left those feelings behind.
She tried to ignore it. But she couldn´t. Even being hidden, his appearance had made him suffer. Grey Weather could remember one day when Draco was eighteen. He told her that he wanted to meet a mare to hang out and have fun with; somepony to love and take care of.
She had to deny him that, and although Draco understood her reasons, it deeply affected him.
His mother thought again and again that her son didn´t deserve that. Draco was probably the kindest creature she had ever known, but ponies would not look past the surface.
“Draco,” she pursued, “we can go to the mountain, to a place far away from ponies. Nopony will see us. And as far as I know, that prophecy is only known here. Maybe we could even move to another village.” She said with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“Mum,” Draco said dejectedly, “even there ponies would run away from me.”
Draco felt miserable. He didn´t like discussing that topic, but after all he had been through, it was the only thing that he had in his mind. From time to time, a mare would to go to do laundry in the river near his home, and Draco used to watch her. It was at that point he realized that he liked ponies. However, he couldn’t approach to her- just watch. And that was killing him. Perhaps when he was a baby, a child, or even a teen, his mother´s company was enough. But now that he was an adult, he needed somepony more.
“Honey, please…” his mother said. She gave him a look that Draco couldn´t argue against.
“Ok, ok! I know it… “Be more positive about yourself.” You´ve told me that about a thousand times.” All that he needed to smile was encouragement like that.
There were numerous things that could turn his mind away from his problems, like pranks, and above all, practical jokes. He always had had the same target- his mother of course! At the beginning, she endured them because he was only a child. Then, she started to feel upset about them. But finally, without either of them realizing until it was too late, they had started a competition at home.
“Maybe we should move. In the end, between this house and me there is a kind of love-hate relationship,” said Draco.
“Is it because you fell out of the bed? Or is it the shelving? Or the worktop? Or the…?” Grey Weather enumerated, her smile growing larger and larger with every example.
“Ok! Maybe due to that. But most of those accidents happened when I was a kid.”
“Now, seriously, do you really feel prepare to leave this house behind us?”
Draco answered in complete seriousness, “Yes, I am. But… there´s something I would like to do before leaving. Could we go to our special place one last time?”
“Of course!” answered Grey Weather. Tomorrow we´ll start packing, and at night we´ll say goodbye. If we want to do so, we should go to bed now, don´t you think?”
“Yes,” answered Draco, and he yawned.  “To tell the truth, I´m feeling really sleepy.”
“Me, too. Tomorrow is going to be a great day.”
From very far away, a cosmic entity was watching. Through the wickedest of smirks, with a voice that would terrorize even the bravest creature in all of Equestria, he said, “You have no idea of how right you are.”
The next morning, the first to wake up was Draco. He looked at how the sunlight was passing through the window and calculated that the Sun had only been raised a few hours. Draco stretched from his head to his tail and opened the door to enter the kitchen. The rule of the house was: ‘The first to wake up makes the breakfast for the other.’ It may have been tiring, but it meant that they could eat pie for breakfast. While Draco was cooking he started thinking about the house. It held countless good memories; he would yearn for it for sure. But in the end, it was just a house. The new one would be filled with other wonderful memories. Draco set out the breakfast and went upstairs to wake his mother. Softly, he whispered to her that breakfast was on the table.
They had breakfast and commenced packing. Draco kept all his old toys, his books and his hidden poems. Grey Weather packed all the important belongings she had been acquiring over the years.
They situated their things in their carriage. The process took them both the entire afternoon, and the sun was being lowered to be replaced by the moon.
“Finally,” Draco said, exhausted. “There´s still light. Do you think it´s safe to go now?”
“If we want to leave the village with the carriage in just one night we´ll have to go now, although it will be a little dangerous,” answered Grey Weather.
“Not a problem. I´ll be stealthier than a snake,” Draco said, grinning confidently.
“Let´s move,” answered Grey Weather, slightly worried. This would be their first time venturing out during the daytime together.
Grey Weather started thinking about where they would go. Her plan was to move quickly to a secure place, far away from any village. Then, she would explore the surrounding areas in order to find a comfortable place. Many villages had been abandoned, as their inhabitants had gone in search of a better life in the cities. With a little luck, they would find a good house.
Grey Weather and Draco left the house as carefully as usual, but this time fate was against them. Their destiny had been chosen by a divine being. Pulling the strings, Chaos had sent without her noticing a mare to the river to wash her clothes. Although neither Draco nor his mother noticed the other mare, she saw them from a distance. A grey pegasus alongside a monstrous being.
With great effort, the mare contained her scream. What on earth was that? What was that enormous and strange creature who was with who seemed to be Grey Weather? Her memories recalled the image of the oracle and her prophecy. So the creature had been born after all and Grey Weather hadn’t killed him, as Sun Pride had told. But, if the monster was still alive, that meant that the era of chaos was still coming as it was predicted. After the realization of this horror, she ran away to the village searching for help. There was still time to stop him. The creature was enormous, and it looked really dangerous. Would the stallions of the village be able to handle the situation and kill that monster? If they all worked together, maybe. The mare continued to gallop in the direction of the only tavern in the village.
From his observatory, Chaos watched and laughed. Everything was going perfectly.
At that time, after a hard day of work, all the mares and stallions would go to the tavern in order to rest and have fun. They drank, danced, talked… Many ponies also had dinner there. Although it was a place made for forgetting one’s problems, there was one specific spot in the bar where you could always find two to five ponies searching for consolation in a bottle. But there was one who was always there. In another time, he could have been considered the happiest pony in the village. He had everything: a job, a house, friends, a wife, and a son on the way. But one fateful day, after his son´s death and his wife´s abandonment, his happiness had vanished. This unicorn was Sun Pride.
After Grey Weather left him, he felt completely miserable. He pretended that everything was alright, but this was far from the truth. His only love had gone. And why in the world why did he have to be cursed with a monster as son? Every time he thought that, he remembered Grey Weather´s words. “The only monster I see here is you.” Maybe she was right. Maybe he could have acted differently. But past can´t be changed. Sun Pride hit the bar with his hoof and asked for another drink. Three empty bottles lay next to him.
Suddenly, the door was slammed open by a mare. Fear could be seen in her eyes. Musicians stopped playing, ponies stopped chatting. Everypony remained silent, staring at the newly arrived pony. The silence could be cut with a knife. The mare breathed deeply and quickly, trying to recover. Then she said, “Listen, everypony! You will not believe what I’ve just witnessed. In front of the abandoned house near the river, I saw Grey Weather with a monster.” Everypony looked at her in confusion. When Sun Pride heard Grey Weather´s name he felt shocked. The mare continued to say, “It was enormous. That thing had the head of a pony, but it was all mixed. I remember a very long body, a lion paw, an eagle claw, a long snake tail… I don´t know how to describe the rest.”
Sun Pride felt a chill. That description matched that of his son. But it was impossible. Grey Weather said that she had killed him. Unless… Of course. She was unable to end a life, let alone a baby that was her own son. Idiot. That foolish mare and her sentimentality. Now she was in a terrible danger.
One pony in the crowd said, “If that´s true, we have to act now. Take all the mares, fillies and colts home. Don´t you remember the prophecy? If that thing´s still alive, the entire world will burn! It´s our duty to end the life of that thing. Stallions, find your weapons. We have a monster to exterminate.”
Everypony celebrated his words with cheers. Sun Pride knew he had to do something. But, why? After all, it was Grey Weather’s fault. However, with all the moments they shared together… He had to save her. Sun Pride hadn´t changed his mind about his son´s destiny. He had to die, but Grey Weather didn´t have to.
While everypony was distracted, he left the tavern, running. It would take them some time to hide their families and get the weapons. Enough time that he could take Grey Weather to a secure place, and if necessary, kill his son.
At that moment, Grey Weather and Draco sat on the healthy grass just in front of the lagoon. There would be at least a few more minutes of Sun.
There was no need for words, their eyes were enough. Draco looked at the Sun and said, “We should leave, mum.”
“Just give me a moment,” she answered. Every time they went there, she couldn’t help but to think about Sun Pride. Would he think about her too? Grey Weather didn´t understand why Sun Pride had changed so much. The night Draco was born, Sun Pride had died along with her love for him.
She got up from the grass slowly, admiring how the day’s final sunbeams were reflecting in the water.
“I´m really going to miss this place,” Draco said, dejectedly. “Some of the happiest moments of my life were spent here.”
“Don´t worry, honey,” said Grey Weather. “I´m also going to miss this place, but there´s no need to be sad. We´ll be happy if we´re together.”
Draco smiled, crouched down, and hugged her.
“I love you, mum.”
“I love you, too.”
The happy pair left the valley and returned home for the last time.
After a short trip, they arrived and went inside. Everything was ready to leave.
“Are you ready?” asked Grey Weather.
“Mum, before we leave, can I eat something? I´m really hungry.”
“Of course you can, but hurry up. Remember, we have limited time.”
Grey Weather sat on the floor. They were going to have a very long trip. Suddenly, a noise attracted her attention. Somepony was knocking the door.
No one had ever knocked the door. She thought that her house was far enough out of town that the lights couldn’t be seen. But now somepony was there. What could she do? Grey Weather began concocting a solution as quickly as she could. Maybe if the visitor saw her, he or she would go away. After all, she was considered the town´s crazy mare. Using all the courage she could muster up, she slowly opened the door. She was not at all prepared for the stallion that was standing in front of the door.
“Sun Pride…” she whispered, shocked. “What are you doing here?”
“I know it´s been a long time since I last saw you, but I have to tell you something very important.”
“So,” Grey Weather said, angrily, “now you care for me?”
“I never stopped,” Sun Pride answered as kindly as he could.
“Your breath smells like alcohol,” Grey Weather said with contempt.
“Listen! I´m just asking you to listen! They know about it!”
“Who knows what?” Grey Weather asked with much confusion.
“The ponies from the village. They know our son is alive, and they are coming here to kill him!”
“What? Who told them?!”
“Somepony saw you. Now is not the time to be making accusations. You have to get out of…!”
Sun Pride was interrupted by the sound of a deep voice.
“Mum, is everything alright?”
Draco opened the door of the kitchen, and then, for first time in twenty years, son and father were reunited. Draco stared at him with confusion, but Sun Pride with horror.
“This is even worse I thought” Whispered Sun Pride.
“Who are you?” Draco asked, fiercely.
“Damn it! I have to get you out of here,” Sun Pride said to Grey Weather. “Come on, they are after him. If you escape now, they won´t find you!”
“I won´t leave Draco alone!” answered her.
“Come with me, now!”
“Don´t you dare touch me!”
Draco watched with no knowledge as to why they were struggling. Who was that stallion? What was he doing there? After deciding that there would be time for the answers later, he proceeded to defend his mother.
“Leave her alone!” Draco yelled as he tried to separate Sun Pride from Grey Weather.
“Do not mess, son,” he answered, angrily.
Draco was confused. What did he mean, calling him son?
In the middle of the fight, Sun Pride decided that it would be easier to carry her if she was unconscious. He repeated to himself that if he wanted to save her, he would have to hurt her.
Sun Pride hit her in the head, making her stop kicking.
“Mum!” Draco yelled after realizing that Grey Weather was no longer moving. “You´re dead, you bastard!”
Draco jumped at him and grabbed Sun Pride by the neck with his lion paw, throwing him against the wall. After that, Draco advanced towards Sun Pride to attack again, but Sun Pride was faster and kicked Draco in his mouth. From the pain, Draco reflexively touched his mouth and felt the blood. He realized that he had lost one of his snake fangs and it lay in the floor.
“I was going to let the crowd take care of it, but now you´ve forced me to kill you!” screamed Sun Pride.
With the anger reflected in his face, Draco countered, tearing at Sun Pride´s face with his eagle claws. Drops of crimson fell to the floor. Draco then proceeded to hit him with his tail, sending him crashing into the table and breaking it. Sun Pride tried to get up, but Draco grabbed him by the neck and held his foe in front of him.
“Now what, you freak? Are you going to eat me!?” Sun Pride inquired, rage flowing from every spoken syllable.
“I´m just going to crush your face,” Draco replied. Immediately after, he threw Sun Pride’s limp body through the window.
Sun Pride fell on the hard ground over the broken crystals. The rain only made things worse.
Draco´s agile body easily sailed through the window. He was just over Sun Pride when he regained his strength and kicked Draco in the belly. Draco fell on his knees with pain and Sun Pride used this to his advantage, quickly delivering repeated blows to his face. Mixed droplets of water, sweat, and blood poured from both of their faces. Sun Pride stopped to breathe, and Draco found a rock to his side. Still in pain, he managed to grasp it and connect with Sun Pride´s face. This heavy blow caused Sun Pride to fall to the muddy ground, and Draco attacked again.
As the fight continued, a crowd of armed, angry ponies approached from behind the house. Without saying a word, the unicorns took some torches and threw them inside. Meanwhile, inside the house, Grey Weather was beginning to regain consciousness. She could still feel the pain in her head, but her nose detected the unmistakable odor of smoke. She looked behind her and saw a fire was spreading quickly across the house. She ran to the door, but another torch fell in front of it. The fire covered all the possible entrances and exits. She was trapped.
Draco was outside, with the rock in his paw- ready to kill his adversary, if he wasn´t already dead. As he stood there, contemplating his course of action, he became aware of the fire behind him. He stared in absolute horror at his home, now engulfed in a hellish inferno- with his mother still inside.
“MUM!”
Draco ran to the house and saw his mother by the window, still searching for a means of escape.
“Mum! I´ll get you out of there!”
“No, Draco!” screamed Grey Weather, “They are coming for you! If they find you, they´ll kill you! You must go without me!”
“NO! I´m not leaving without you! I´ll find a way!” answered Draco, tears falling from his cheeks.
“Draco, please! This is your last chance to escape. I don´t want you to die because of me. Run away. I know you can make it. Go now, leave me here. You´ll be alright, I promise.”
“Mum…”
“I love you, Draco. Never forget that.” Grey Weather said through a smile covered in tears.  
“I love you, too” Draco answered, crying.
Draco ran away with the sounds of the yells, the fire, and the echo of the last words of his mother in his head. “I love you.”
After ten minutes of running, he reached the valley. Draco sat on the grass in front of the lagoon, just like how he had done a few hours ago. The rain was falling over him, and it washed away the blood and ashes. He could still feel the pain caused by the fight, but it was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling inside him.
The lagoon made the tears falling into it look small.
A thousand of memories were passing through his head. His first steps. How Grey Weather fed him. The time they spent reading, playing, talking. When he used to tell her his problems. When they argued because Draco wanted to go out. No, it wasn´t time to think about that. Draco concentrated in the happy memories. All was lost. He rejected all the fights, all the argues, everything.
Draco reprimanded himself for all the times he had hurt her. Even he didn´t want to think of such things, his mind continued to bring him memories of all the tears shed. Maybe he had been selfish in the past, maybe he shouldn´t have been so harsh with her. Despite all this, Draco knew she loved him, and he was sure that she also felt sorry for not letting him leave the house. She did so for his sake. Draco hit the water angrily as he felt the tears slipping over his cheeks.
Now, the day his mother had feared had arrived. He was alone. No home, no friends, no family. Nothing. Except one promise.
Draco dried his tears, got up, aching, and gazed across the lagoon.
“Mum, I promise I´ll make you feel proud of me. I´ll survive. I promise.”