“Everybody comfortable? Yes? Good,” Starswirl said, looking at his audience of two, as if they were his students as he entered full on teacher mode.

Over the past few days, Starswirl had evaluated all the data he’d gotten from examining Discord, and had made them presentable in the only way teachers knew how to. He made a boring presentation, complete with a flip chart and drawings.

“Why do I feel like you’re about to do a Power-Point presentation?” Atlas asked, squirming uncomfortably on the couch in their living cave.

“What’s a Power-Point?” Discord asked, sprawled out on his back next to Atlas.

“Umm… let’s just say they’re usually boring and look like an amateur made them…” Atlas explained, dodging the question.

“I’m pretty sure Starswirl is an expert at this stuff though…” Discord rebuked.

“It’s not about… uh, you know what? Nevermind,” Atlas said. “You may begin,” he gestured with his hoof as if allowing Starswirl to enter an invisible stage, much to the eager scholar’s chagrin.

“You done bickering between yourselves?” Starswirl asked slightly miffed. “Well, then let me start. As both of you know, I’ve run every imaginable test in my repertoire, and then some, on dear Discord over there. There have been some very insightful discoveries as a result, and I’m finally ready to share them with you.”

“Isn’t this exciting?” Atlas asked Discord. “Finally, we’ll have some answers.”

“Yeah…” Discord said, decidedly less excited than his parent.

While Discord definitely wanted to know more about himself, he was also scared of what he might learn. What if something was wrong with him? What if Atlas and Starswirl would abandon him for it? Not letting his insecurities show, Discord played it cool.

“Well, first things first,” Starswirl said, flipping the first paper, which was empty, to reveal a detailed drawing of Discord's body, every part labeled. “What is Discord.” the paper’s title read.

“As I’m sure both of you know, Discord came into existence when the late Brown Diamond’s experiment with live animals went awry.” Starswirl stated. “Whatever went wrong, fused all the animals within range, as well as Brown Diamond into a single- functioning being. I’m sure this is a conclusion you’ve come to by yourselves, but now, we have proof.

“All the different body parts that make up Discord, once belonged to a multitude of animals that were present that night, and in some way, they still do,” Starswirl pointed towards the various body parts on his drawing, labeled after which animal it came from. “While you are a single organism, one of my scans revealed many different patterns of various animals, instead of one unique signature; as is usual with these type of spells. That means, everything that got combined into you, is technically still alive- technically. Although, they’re not aware anymore, you should be able to access some of their muscle memory, which probably accounts for why you took to walking and magic so readily. In the case of Brown Diamond, even some of his actual memories and knowledge should be accessible to you, explaining your intelligence at early age.

“In fact, the part inside you that came from the Doc, is actually the brain, or rather, the mind,” Starswirl revealed. “I know the mind is a somewhat abstract concept, but since nothing else came back with the signature of a pony, the only conclusion is that you owe your sapience to the late Doctor Brown. If he wasn’t absorbed as well, you’d probably be some mindless animal that didn’t even know how to move, without ripping yourself apart.”

Discord shivered at this particular piece of information. It felt weird that another being was literally in his head, it caused him to question how much of himself was actually Brown Diamond, and what was, well him. Atlas glanced over at Discord in sympathy. While not in the same situation, the Atlas soul fragment inside himself was at least comparable, especially since the Titan seemed to communicate with him at times. Who knows, maybe it was actually the same, and the mind was just another way of describing a soul.

“Umm… let me get us something to drink,” Atlas said before getting up and walking over to the kitchen.

Starswirl shot him a slightly annoyed look, since he was disturbing the lecture so shortly after it began. Atlas didn’t mind, though, and leisurely brewed up some tea for the three of them, made from herbs found around the mountain. It was obvious to him that this new knowledge was a lot to swallow for Discord, and this was his way of giving the Draconequus just enough of a distraction to help him digest it. Once his task was completed, he levitated three steaming cups over towards the coffee table that separated the couch’s occupants from Starswirl and set them down. Gesturing with his hoof for Starswirl to continue, Atlas took a sip of his tea.

“Anyway,” Starswirl continued. “While these things might be weird in theory, they work surprisingly well in the end, and I guess that’s all that matters. More interesting is the fact that apparently all of the mana absorbers for each entity within you still work. They absorb all kinds of mana and mix it up in your mana pool, creating some sort of mana cocktail that I’ve never seen before…”

“Wait, you can mix the different types of mana?” Atlas asked befuddled. “Could… could I do that too?”

“I’m actually not sure,“ Starswirl replied. “As I’ve said, I’ve never encountered this, since every unicorn just keeps the different mana types separated by instinct. I don’t think anyponys ever actually tried to mix them. That weird mana cocktail might be what’s allowing Discord to do the things he does…”

“That would certainly be… interesting…” Atlas said, the idea of mixing different mana types intriguing him. “We’ll have to look into that later…”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to do these experiments on your own,” Starswirl said with a sad smile. “After all, the only mana I can absorb is blue. I wouldn’t be able to mix mana even if I wanted to. You on the other hoof… you have every type of mana available to you.”

“Ah, you’re right,” Atlas confirmed. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“While certainly interesting, it’s a matter for another day,” Starswirl said, putting a stop to a potentially endless discussion before it started. “Let’s continue.

“As you can see, I’ve written down two more things that make up Discord on the side here, not associated with any of his body parts. Similar to the mind, they can’t accurately be placed, as they are of an intangible nature as well.” Starswirl pointed out the two small paragraphs written next to the drawing. They were too small to read from where the two sat, so Atlas and Discord had to patiently wait until Starswirl told them.

“Those two things are actually taken from myself and Atlas respectively,” Starswirl said with absolute certainty.

“Hold on a second!” Atlas exclaimed in surprise while Discord's eyes went wide with surprise. “Taken from us? But we were out of range of the circle, right? How would anything be taken from us?”

“While it is indeed correct that we were outside the array on that day, it seems that we were close enough for something to be taken away,” Starswirl said with a sigh. “I’d say we were fortunate that we weren’t absorbed entirely.”

“That’s… unsettling,” Atlas said. “On the chance that I’ll regret asking… what was taken?”

“For now, I can’t say for sure what it was that was taken from you, Atlas,” Starswirl admitted. “It’s all rather opaque, I’d have to run tests on you to see if you’re missing anything a regular pony should have, but considering who you are, I’m sure the results would be all kinds of messed up. We might never find out.”

A drop of sweat ran down the side of Atlas’ face. He didn’t feel any different, nor did he notice anything weird going on with him since the accident. Whatever was taken from him to make Discord must have been not too important. Atlas just hoped whatever was missing, didn’t come to bite him in the ass when he needed it and didn’t have it.

“As for me… I’m pretty sure what was taken from me,” Starswirl said with yet another deep sigh. “It was my ‘time’.”

Discord silently mouthed the word ‘time’ with a puzzled look on his face, not understanding what was going on anymore.

“What do you mean, your time?” Atlas asked, equally confused.

“I’ve run several tests to confirm this, but… I haven’t seemed to age a single day since the accident that created Discord,” Starswirl revealed. “I believe the array has absorbed my natural harmony with time, or, in other words, my ability to age.”

“Are you being serious right now?” Atlas asked, his question answered by a simple nod. “What the fuck…?” Atlas muttered to himself. “So... does that mean you can’t die?”

Atlas still considered immortality a curse, and wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy. But, somewhere deep within the recesses of his mind, a silent part of him wished for Starswirl to be cursed as well. If he was, Starswirl would be a friend he could carry through the ages. One less friend he’d have to let go in the long run.

“At the very least not of old age, I believe,” Starswirl replied, shuffling awkwardly. “And, I’m not insane enough to test any other venues of death.”

“Wow…” Atlas said, adopting a blank look.

“Did... did I do something bad?” Discord asked, unsure of how he was supposed to react to this revelation. “Did I actually take something really important from you?” Discord was on the verge of starting to hyperventilate. Did he rob one of his only friends in the world of his future?

“Stop it right there, Discord,” Atlas reprimanded him sternly, grabbing him by the shoulders and forcing him to meet his piercing gaze. “Whatever went into your creation, whatever was taken from us, I want you to realize that none of this is your fault! Don’t go taking the blame for things you had no control over!”

“He’s right, Discord,” Starswirl jumped in. “Thinking like that only leads towards a dark path you do not want to travel. We do not blame you for what happened on that night, and you should know that we are quite happy to have you with us. If anything, you having those parts within you almost makes us into a makeshift family, even if we aren’t connected by blood.”

“No homo, though.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Discord and Starswirl shot confused looks towards Atlas, the conversation completely de-railed by Atlas’ off-hoof statement.

“What? Starswirl made it sound like we’re like, a married couple!” Atlas defended himself. “I don’t swing that way.”

“Your pettiness over things like this, amazes me time and time again…” Starswirl commented dryly after a short pause.

“You’ll always be my only dad!” Discord exclaimed, surprising Atlas with a tight hug.

The gloomy atmosphere successfully dispelled, Atlas grinned to himself. Laughter is and always has been the best medicine after all, and if acting silly was the price to pay to see a smile on his son's face, Atlas would gladly pay it.

“And you’ll always be my son,” Atlas said. “No promises on the only part,” Atlas added with a chuckle, even when a twinge of pain shot through him. The memory of a missed opportunity at a different life flashing before his mind's eye for a moment.

“So what else did you find out?” Atlas asked, Discord now sitting in his lap.

“You know what?” Starswirl said with finality. “The other stuff is just boring and dry technical stuff, you can take a look at it later by yourselves. The important bits were already covered.” The flipchart magically floated into a nearby corner. “I’d say a night of fun and games is in order after these heavy discussions.”

Starswirl's suggestion was met with eager smiles, especially on Discord’s part. There were still many things that were unknown about Discord, but they had time to figure out what made him so special one by one. With a new goal in mind, the flip-chart that contained potentially interesting information was left to collect dust, and be forgotten.

At least for now.

Author's Notes:

Believe it or not, but this is already the end of the opening arc ^^ Those of you who’ve read my blog-post probably already know, but to start this story off there’s going to be several mini-arcs before going into the main event arc. Maybe you’ve already seen it in the description, but this arc was called Research!, the next one’s going to be called Travels!. Make of that what you want :D See you next chapter!

Once again, thanks to my editors Azriel and Alcatraz, as well as my proofreaders Kilobytes and Soren Mercer.

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