Son of Chaos Chapter 2: Happy Birthday Draco

After 15 years, things had changed considerably. For example, the prediction had continued to progress, and a second alicorn had born ten years after the first one. She was named Luna.
After ponies of the village went to Sun Pride´s home to learn if his son had been born, Sun Pride told them that the baby had born the previous night. And as it was predicted, he was a monster, so he decided to drown him. He also explained that the death of the baby had unsettled Grey Weather´s mind, and she had left home. That explanation fit very well with Grey Weather´s behavior. She was hardly ever seen by the village anymore. The few times they could see her were when she went to the market to buy food. Thus, the fame of her insanity continued to grow.
However, her unusual behavior was the result of another thing entirely. Grey Weather was spending all her time at the abandoned house taking care of Draco. He had grown up a lot; although he was only fifteen, he was already taller than his mother. The truth is that he had a truly intimidating appearance- even more that when he was a baby. Now his body was longer, and the proportions of his arms made him look extremely dangerous.
Draco spent all his time in that house isolated from the outside. His mother explained to him that this was because nopony could ever see him, or he would be in terrible danger.
“Is because I´m different?” he used to ask.
“Well, yes. But that isn´t something bad”
“In that case, why do I have to be hidden?”

“Other ponies wouldn´t understand it, but I promise that some day they will.”
Although he was glad to have his mother, and he loved her more than anything in the world, he still wanted to know somepony more. When his mother went out to buy food he used to feel completely alone. Sometimes, in the dark of the night Draco would go out and explore. He was careful to not be discovered. Grey Weather always told him to be in silence in the house so that nopony would investigate. Over all those years, they had been very careful and nopony had never gone around the house.
Grey Weather checked to make sure that anypony was following her. Once she was sure she was alone, she continued on her trip to the house. This time she had been able to buy plenty of food. The only money she could get was what she obtained from begging or occasionally doing simple jobs for her neighbors. There weren´t many who would give her a chance after the rumors of her insanity spread.
She opened the door and left the cart she was holding the food in inside.
“Draco! I´m home!” She announced.
No answer.
“Draco! I´ve bought you those muffins you like!” She said.
Again, silence was the only reply.
“Maybe he is asleep,” she thought.
A figure was watching her from the upper beams of the ceiling. With stealthy movements, the creature moved its way through the beams easily. He tied his tail to a beam and descended face first.
Grey Weather turned to find the strange figure directly in front of her.
“AHHHH!” She screamed.
She fell to the floor and looked at the figure with a shocked expression on her face.
“Ok,” he said, “This is the part when you laugh.”
She recognized the voice.
“Have I ever told you that you´re funny?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Draco answered, laughing.
“Well, right there is the reason. You could have killed me!”
“Come on mum,” he replied, “it was just an innocent joke. I thought you liked joking.”
Draco laughed again.
“Look Draco,” she said, “I appreciate that you try to make me laugh just as I do for you, but it would be nice if you avoid the practical jokes, ok?”
“Oh, but those are the best ones!” He answered with a smile.
“Draco… well it doesn´t matter. I won´t be able to change your mind. You are as stubborn as your father used to be.”
After speaking those words, she quickly repented. They never talked about Sun Pride.
An awkward silence was felt in the air.  Draco tried to break it.
“Well,” he said uncomfortably, “I heard you say something about muffins…”
“Oh, yes. Here they are.” Grey Weather turned and looked to Draco. “For goodness sake, get off that beam before it breaks!”
Draco obeyed.
“I love shopping day!” He said happily.  “What have you bought?”
“Well, aside from the muffins, I´ve bought some apples, corn, new sheets for your bed, and a big cauldron! Now we´ll be able to have our baths inside the house.”
“Oh, yippee,” Draco answered sarcastically.
“Come on, funny guy. It´s your bath time,” she answered. “And don´t make me run after you again. You are old enough to take your own baths.”
“Ok,” He answered resigned.
“Wait here while I get the water for the cauldron.”
She left the house, went to the river, and filled a bucket with its water. The clean and pure water filled it quickly. After a few trips, she had gathered enough water to fill the cauldron. While she was getting the water, Draco was in charge of preparing the fire to warm it up.
A few minutes later, the water was warm enough to have a bath without suffering hypothermia. Draco carefully put his goat hoof in the water, and after checking the temperature, he got into the cauldron.
While he was bathing, his mother and he talked about their day. Draco told her that he had hunted a couple of rats. Grey Weather showed a grin of disgust and laughed.
“And what about you?” Draco asked while he was rubbing his head.
“Actually, there´s nothing interesting to tell,” she answered. “Except for one thing… Do you know what day it is day is today?”
“Let me think… is it your birthday?”
“Not mine, silly!” she said, laughing. “You would lose your head if it wasn´t attached to your body.”
“Well, to be honest, I look like I’m made of a bunch of randomly attached animal parts, anyway,” he added, laughing. His mother liked to see him thinking positively about his appearance and Draco knew it.
“So, birthday boy, what do you want to do on this special day?” Grey Weather asked. “We could buy a cake and have a little party here inside.”
“That sounds great,” Draco said, “and I would like to, but I think you know what I want.”
She was afraid he would say that.
“Draco,” Grey Weather said while she was bringing him a towel, “you know we can´t. We´ve had this conversation many times before.”
“But, mum. I´m almost fifteen years old and I´ve never seen anypony but you.”
“I know it Draco, but it´s for your own sake. It would be dangerous.”
Draco got out of the cauldron while he dried with the towel.
“But… I really need to meet somepony else.  I want to see what the world is like beyond these walls.”
“I´m sorry Draco. But it´s impossible.”
“I know why. It´s because I´m a monster, right?” Draco said angrily. He threw the towel to the floor.
“No! You are not a monster.”
“Come on mum, just look at me!” Draco raised his hands in a display of his anger.  “I´m a mutant! That´s why I must be hidden here!”
“Draco, it is not like that at all. You are the best…” Grey Weather stopped suddenly trying to find the proper word.
“Exactly!”  Yelled Draco. “You can’t even find a word to define me. I´m not a pony, I´m not a griffon, I´m not a goat, I´m not a dragon, I´m not a deer, I´m not a snake. I´m nothing but a freak!”
Grey Weather couldn’t answer.
“And why are you a pegasus while I´m this thing? I´m not five years old mum. That excuse “we´re different” doesn’t work anymore. How is it possible that you have a son like me?”
Tears were running down Draco´s cheeks.
Grey Weather endured all the pain and anger in his words. She might deserve it. After all, there were many things in his past that she had hidden from him.
“Are you even my real mother?” just a split second after saying that, the venom of the words he spoke echoed through his head, and he resented them.
“Draco…” Grey Weather fought to contain the tears. Even she didn´t know the answer to that question. “Draco, I swear I´m your mother.”
“Really?!” He grabbed a mirror from beside him.  “Look at me, and then look at you,” he said, pointing to the mirror. “Where do you find the resemblance?” Anger was reflected in his eyes.
She lost her strength for just a second, but that was enough for a small tear to fall from the corner of her eye.
Draco noticed that. What was he doing? His mother was the only pony who had ever loved him, and how had he returned the favor? Making her cry. Draco muttered an excuse and left the room. Then he walked to his bedroom and closed the door behind him.
Grey Weather sat down on the floor feeling guilty. Maybe he would have been happier dead. In the end, the only thing he could expect from life was pain. No. She shook those thoughts out of her head. She would make him happy and strong, and maybe one day ponies would accept him. Draco deserved something better. He was such a good boy… he wouldn´t even hurt a fly. But that stupid prediction had marked his life forever. He would never lose that “monster” reputation. However, at that moment, what could she do? Maybe there was something she could do about it. It wouldn´t be exactly what he wanted, but with a little luck, it would make Draco feel better.
After their argument, they hadn´t talked. Grey Weather knew her son better than anypony. After an argument (they weren´t very common, but they did happen from time to time), Draco needed time alone to calm down.  She could understand her son´s pain. Grey Weather also had had to renounce the company of her friends and other ponies. But at least she could walk through the street without being persecuted by a furious crowd; Draco couldn´t even go out of the house.
In the afternoon, Grey´s surprise was ready. Draco hadn´t left his room in hours. A few hours ago, she had left some food in his door in case he was hungry.
Draco was sat on the cold wooden floor of his bedroom crying. He didn´t want to hurt his mother´s feelings, but he couldn´t understand why he was like that. If there were more creatures like him out there, he wouldn´t have to hide from other ponies’ eyes. So he was all alone in the world. Draco would never be able to leave the house, to have a normal life, to form a family, even to talk to anypony else. He was just a monster who had to be imprisoned so he couldn´t hurt anypony. But, he didn´t understand that. He had never thought about hurting a single soul. Regardless, he was sentenced to live forever alone. No, that wasn´t the truth. He had his mother- a mother who had taken care of him for fifteen years, and she didn´t care about his appearance. Draco felt terribly guilty. Maybe they didn´t look exactly the same, but in the bottom of his heart, he knew she was his mother.
Suddenly, Grey Weather knocked the door and opened it slowly.
“Come on Draco, you´re going to enjoy this.”
He stared at her with confusion. Then Draco reluctantly got up and followed his mother.
He was thinking about how sorry he felt and how was he going to apologize. But all those thoughts disappeared when he saw the main room. There were candles all over the place, and in the middle of the room there sat a table with a chocolate cake with fifteen candles in it.
“Is… is this for me?” Draco asked. After asking, he noticed how silly the question was. Of course it was for him!
Grey Weather answered with a smile.
He looked more carefully at the cake and noticed that there was a message written with syrup:
“Happy fifteenth birthday Draco” And under it, there was a drawing of Grey Weather and him.
“How did you...?” asked Draco.
“My parents, I mean, your grandparents were the owners of a bakery. The taught me how to bake, and how to draw with the icing” she answered with a giggle.
“I don´t know what to say…” said Draco. “Wait. In fact, there´s something I would like to. Mum…”
He crouched down to his mother’s level.  Draco then advanced and hugged her.
“I´m sorry. I was very cruel with you. Of course you´re my mother and nothing will change that. I love you.”
“Don´t worry Draco,” Grey Weather answered, “you are forgiven. I love you too. But,” they separated, “you were right. You should be able to get out of here from time to time.”
Draco giggled nervously. He had gone for a night walk a couple of times without his mother knowing.
“So,” she continued, “today I have another surprise for you.”
“Oh, I hate surprises. Can´t you just tell me?” Draco asked.
“You looked very happy when you saw the cake, so I deduce that you like surprises more than you think,” She added sarcastically.  “Now, let´s eat. I´m starving!”
They ate the cake while laughing and joking. Grey Weather told him stories that he had heard from her mother, they played charades, and she tried to describe to him the ways of the outside world. She even made a performance of her favorite theatrical play. Finally, after an evening of games and laughs, it was nighttime.
Draco was sat on the floor licking the plate where the cake had been just a few minutes ago with his long snake tongue.
“Draco, don´t do that,” Grey Weather said. “Well, it´s getting late.”
“Are you going to send me to sleep without showing me the surprise?” Draco asked, sarcastically.
“Of course not! To see the surprise we had to ensure that there is nopony left out on the streets. They must be sleeping by now. Come on, let´s go. But first you have to promise me something.”
Draco nodded.
“I know it´s your first time seeing the village, but you´ll have to focus on following me, and don´t get distracted. If you do, we´ll never get to do this again.”
“Ok mum. I promise,” Draco answered, seriously.
“Just stay just behind me. You´ll like this.”
In the dark of the night, they advanced silently across the village. Despite of Draco´s size, he was as stealthy as a snake. Grey Weather flew low and quietly. During the trip thought the town, Draco excitedly took in every detail of the small town, wondering what it would be like in the hours of daylight. After a few minutes, they left the village behind and they continued to venture into the forest. Draco felt very comfortable in there, as if it were his own domain. It was a secure place; the most dangerous thing that could happen to you in the surface of the forest was tripping over a rock. “Draco, it´s very important that you stay close to me. It´s easy to get lost here.” Grey Wheater whispered.
They had to go through a lot of spiky shrubberies, but they finally reached their destination.
“Now,” Grey Weather said quickly, “close your eyes!
“Well, ok” Draco answered doubtfully.
“Don´t cheat!” his mother said. “Now, grab my hoof. Trust me.”
Draco grabbed his mother´s hoof and continued walking.
After a few minutes (which felt like hours for Draco), they stopped walking. He could hear the unmistakable sound of falling water.
“Now…” Grey Weather said. She paused for a few seconds to add suspense, “Open them!”
The first thing that Draco saw was a small waterfall which coincided with the sound he had been hearing. But the rest of this place was just as impressive! A huge, green meadow stretched as far as the eye could see; it was filled with more flowers than he had seen in his entire life. The water was descending from the crack of a rock, and it was falling down into the crystalline water of a river. There were many different types of trees all over the place. In that valley there was a beauty he had never seen.
Draco turned and said to his mother, “Mum… I don´t know what to say… this place is just… amazing. How did you find it?”
Her mother felt a little stab in her heart. That place was where she and Sun Pride used to meet when they were dating. And in that same place, he had asked her to marry him. Grey Weather began to feel that a tear wanting to come from her eye, but she regained her composure and answered her son.
“I have had had many happy moments here. This place is secret. I´m the only pony who knows of it” she lied.
Draco felt that his mother was hiding something, but he didn´t want to trouble her, so he changed the topic.
“Mum, do you want to race to that place?” Draco asked pointing the waterfall.
“Do you really think that you can defeat your mother? Now you´ll see. I used to be the fastest pegasus in the village.”
“Exactly, you used to,” Draco said with a defiant look.
“Oh boy, you don´t know who you are challenging. One, two, three!”
The happy pair played under the light of moon. They ran, laughed, and taking advantage of the warm weather, they even took a bath in the clean water. Grey Weather even tried to teach Draco how to fly. He used to fly inside the house, but in an open space it would be different. However, since his mixed wings were very small compared to the rest of his body, he couldn´t fly as fast as a pegasus. He still could reach the same flying height, though. His mother decided that she would check if he was able to modify the climate as pegasi do another day. Knowing Draco and his mischievous character, he would use it to make pranks, and that would endanger their secret.
After playing for a few hours, they fell to the grass, exhausted. Grey Weather and Draco watched the stars while they tried to recover the breath.
Draco was watching the sky with much concentration when his mother asked, “What are you thinking about?”
“Nah, something silly,” he answered
“Come on honey, tell me,” She insisted
“Well, I was wondering…” he said. Then he stopped talking.
“What? What were you wondering?”
“I was wondering that… I would like see chocolate rain.”
Grey Weather answered with a laugh. “Well, it wouldn´t be such a bad idea,” she said smiling, “And what about cotton candy clouds?”
“Actually… I was thinking about that too.”
Both of them shared a laugh. Then they looked to each other.
“Thanks you very much for showing me this place,” said Draco.
“We can come here whenever you want.” She answered with a smile. “Now, come on. I don´t know what time it is, but if we´re not home before dawn, we´ll be in trouble.”
Although they had left the meadow, that wonderful paradise remained in Draco´s thoughts.