13

Several minutes later

"So let me make sure I understand this", Littlefoot said, leaning against the wall of the library. Luna, Discord, Gilda, and the ponies sat opposite of him, Pinkie Pie rubbing her hoof. "Hurting someone mentally or physically in a non-fatal and good-humored way is an acceptable practice called 'pranking.' You and Rainbow do this daily, occasionally to each other but mostly to others. If someone else got involved, it would turn into a 'prank war'. Does that sum everything up?"
"Yep!", Pinkie exclaimed.
"Well then…", Littlefoot started, and a devious grin spread on his face. Uh oh, Luna thought.
"Then I formally declare war on you and Rainbow Dash."
That definitely was "uh oh".
The other creatures in the room, excluding Pinkie Pie, showed horror on their faces as they tried to imagine what Littlefoot would do to Pinkie and Dash. It didn't look good for the deadly duo.
Before Pinkie could say anything, Littlefoot held up a hand. "I believe I have had enough excitement for now", he stated, "And since it is still late out, I decide that I shall go back to sleep."
His eyelids narrowed, and the glow of his eyes intensified.
"Do. Not. Disturb."
And in the blink of an eye the reptilian warrior was in the guest bed, slow, massive breaths the only noise from him. The gathering of others simply sat, unsure what to do.
To the surprise of all, it was Discord who gave the next direction, by holding out a hand and pointing a claw down.
Everyone sat there as they tried to understand what Discord wanted. Finally, Twilight got the hint.
"He wants to go down to the basement", she whispered as quietly as she could, throwing a fearful glance back at their alien guest. Luckily, he still slumbered on.
The group of nine quietly snuck down to the basement, which took a terrifying ten minutes. As they went down, Twilight lifted Spike out of his bed with magic (and Rarity remarked on Spike's ability to sleep deeply).
Finally, Fluttershy stepped into the basement, and Twilight closed the door with her magic.
"Why did you have us come down here Discord?" Luna asked, carefully raising her voice.
"Because I'm not sure if you truly understand what you're dealing with", Discord said, slowly and painfully pointing up.
"Well, Princess Celestia already told us that he's a God, I'm pretty sure we have a good idea", Twilight said.
"He is a God, yes, but are you aware of what Generation he is?", Discord asked, looking primarily at Luna.
"Generation? What does that mean?", Rainbow asked.
It was Luna who answered. "It's the way the deities are measured in terms of age and power. The higher up you are, the more powerful you are."
"Exactly", Discord said, and continued on, "For example, I'm a Generation Seven Deity. Celestia and Luna are both Generation 8. That means I'm slightly more powerful then both of them combined, as well as older than they are. What concerns me is the power that your friend Littlefoot shows."
"Why? What generation o' god is he?", Applejack asked.
"If my senses were right, and I know they were, he's one of the newest generation, the twelfth one. In fact, as far as I could tell, he's only been a deity for three years. That makes him significantly less stronger than the Princesses or me. But yet, as you saw, he used me as a punching bag. So that begs the question-"
"Where does his power come from?", Twilight finished.
"Correct, Twilight", Discord said, gesturing at her with a finger. "With the laws set in place by the Father, the amount of power that he has should be impossible for him to have…legally. But there is one way to go around those rules."
"He'd have to be a descendent!", Luna almost shouted, prompting a fierce "shhh!" from the others.
"A descendent? Whatever does that mean?", Rarity asked, who had been busy listening and brushing her mane, but now she was completely focused on what the two deities were saying.
"In the old days, the time of the second and third generations, it was allowed for the Gods to, er-", Discord paused as he considered what to say in front of a room full of barely-mature females and one baby dragon, "Well, fall in love. As time passed, the couples had children. Most of those children only had a bit of their parent god's blood in them, and were thus unremarkable. But some of them…not so much."
"A Descendent is a child that has half or more of a god's blood", Luna continued, "Because of this, they can come to access and use their powers, and possibly become as powerful as the god who they descend from. Part of the reason this makes them dangerous is because they can be born at any time, generations later, and still be as powerful as their ancestor."
"And what was the other part?" Gilda asked, though she and the other non-deities felt they already knew.
"Under normal circumstances, a Descendent acted like a perfectly normal person, could even hide their powers", Discord explained, "But if they were put in a stressful situation, they became…instinctive. And unfortunately, for many of them, the instincts tended towards violence. They would lash out with their powers, and more often than not utterly destroy the object of their stress, and much of whatever was around them."
"Because of this", Luna continued, "it was outlawed for a deity to fall in love with a mortal, unless allowed by the Father and only by him. Any and all Descendents were to be contained or killed. But by that time, there weren't many left."
"How come?", Fluttershy asked/whispered.
Discord scratched his beard, thinking about what to say, and finally said, "Long story short, there was a war among the second generation, which left only two at its conclusion. Both sides targeted not only each other and their armies, but their families as well, because they knew the threat a Descendent could pose. Thus, many Descendents were killed before they were even born, or as infants. Others fought alongside their ancestors, and were killed as a result."
"But not all of them were found, were they?", Twilight asked, "Whoever Littlefoot's ancestor was managed to hide his family."
"By the looks of it, you would be correct", Discord said, "And now we reach the heart of the matter. Because only one of the second generation successfully hid his family, and he was the most powerful of the second generation."
They didn't know how, but a name long buried in the back of their minds suddenly came forth, and they all uttered the name.
"T'nar."
"Correct", an old, gravelly voice said, and everyone wheeled around to find an almost exact twin of Littlefoot, except much older-looking, with grey-glowing eyes, wearing a simple blue cloak.
Discord and Luna backed away quickly, and the other non-deities followed their example…except, of course, for Pinkie Pie.
"Hi there!", she exclaimed, somehow not going above a whisper.
"…This is going to be a long night, I can tell", T'nar said, and sat down on the floor, "Come, young ones. It appears it is timed you learned more about my heir."

(I can only say one thing about why this took so long: Adults are annoying.)

(Note, as a reward to all of you following this, next chapter is a bonus, which means it will involve LF and our world. It will be nice and slightly-violent for those of you wanting Littlefoot to blow up someone. )