//------------------------------// // 3rd Movement: Andante moderato, Bravura non troppo // Story: Color’s Spectrum’s Concerto // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// The alicorn quickly trotted over behind a hedge before releasing his son. “Dad! What are you-” “How much have you told him?” Harmonic demanded. “I barely got a word out. All I said that I missed him; which I do by the way.” The Prince breathed deeply, “Did you tell him your name?” Script tilted his head, “No? Why?” “Oh good,” he sighed in relief. “Now, if you had let me finish what I was about to tell you, then you would know that telling him your name will be useless and a bad idea because he doesn’t know you yet.” “How come?” “Because, thanks to Discord, he was able to jump way ahead into the future on the very day that we were getting married, that’s why. To put it all in a nutshell, Color had gotten scared at the last moment and used something that Discord gave him to jump into our timeline. So essentially, he has no idea that you’re going to be our son yet.” Script piled at the last part. “Please tell me you didn’t tell him that?” “Well…” the writer began. “I somewhat did- but I didn’t tell him my name yet!” “Oh…” Harmonic pressed his head against his hooves. “Okay… I think we can work with this. I’m trying to avoid a time paradox that Twilight has taught me from happening before he goes back. Since you haven’t said who you were yet, I think we can manage from here.” “How? Erasing his mind of what happened in the last five minutes?” “Not really. It’s actually very simple. Since I know you’ve changed quite a bit since we’ve adopted you, all we need to do is to have you undergo a different name. That way, when he goes back, and when we find you, he’ll be none the wiser.” “A different name?” Script questioned, “Like what?” “Written Word,” Harmonic smiled. His son, however, raised an eyebrow, “Really? That’s the name I’m sticking with?” “It won’t be for long. Hopefully, he’ll be here less than a day so we can sort this mess out. All we have to do is to convince him to marry… well, past me to give him peace of mind.” “I get that dad,” Script looked over to the side, “But I still can’t get over the fact that… he’s here, it’s like he came back from the dead.” “Just keep in mind,” Harmonic placed a hoof on his shoulder, “He doesn’t fully know who you are yet. I don’t want to do this, but it’s important that you keep quiet on how, where and when we’ve adopted you. As far as he knows, he just found out that he’s going to raise a colt soon.” _*_ “So technically, you’re my other grandpa,” the young Pegasus asked. Color moaned, his head already slumped on the table. While the Prince had dragged aside the pony claiming to be his son, two other ponies came out to the garden. Both of them pegasi mares, the older green one said that she was the wife of the stallion that tackled him while the sky blue teenager said to be their daughter. “More or less… probably,” the Artist rubbed his head. “Celestia this is a lot to take in all at once.” Whole note rubbed his back, “Hey now, y-you did agree to th-this, right? Harm said you wanted to meet the family.” “I know… I know…” Color propped himself on his elbows, rubbing his eyes with his hooves. “As much as I know what’s coming, I’m still not prepared for any of this.” “Who would be?” Page told him. “If what Harm says is true, then I can easily imagine that you must still be in shock. But at the moment, I’m just at loss at what to say as everypony else.” “Here comes dinner,” Cloudy pointed to one of the garden entrances. Waiters and hoofcolts pushed carts of silver dome trays over to the table, carrying with them pitchers of ice water and candelabras. Not to say that as they set the trays down on the table; carefully positioning them in their place as not to touch the china that they didn’t notice Color. If anything, some of them were giving glances over at the living ghost that was sitting down next to Prince Wholenote before they stepped back from the table. “Welcome back, Color Spectrum,” the artist nearly jumped out of his seat as he quickly turned his head around to face Princess Celestia and her sister. “It isn’t every day that we would get to be visited by a familiar face.” “Your Majesties,” the unicorn got off from his pillow and bowed. Luna gave a puzzled look, “Why are you bowing to us?” “Like I said, sister, it’s complicated,” Celestia turned her attention back to Color. “Rise Mr. Spectrum, there’s no need of formality with us. You’re among family after all.” “Hey, mom,” this time it was Harmonic that spoke. Color looked over to see him and the blue stallion coming towards him. The one that made the claim to be his son was looking at him with an apologetic look as he took a seat. “Glad you and Aunt Luna can come knowing how busy this week has been for the both of you.” “Oh perish the thought Harm,” the Sun Princess over dramatically put her hoof to her forehead. “And miss out on having this special reunion? I wouldn’t miss this even with all the paperwork that needs to be done.” “Likewise,” Luna nodded, “now let us sit down,” she looked over to Color, “We indeed have much to catch up on.” After the three royals sat down and the servants removed the silver domes to reveal the salads, candied carrots, freshly baked pies, spied flowers, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes with gravy, and roasted oats. Once the food was passed around and each pony put whatever they wanted on their plates did Color turned to Harmonic to inquire a curiosity of his. “So what was that about?” “Huh?” “Well… him,” he pointed at Script. “Who is he really?” Harmonic sighed, “Since he kinda introduced himself, although technically you haven’t really met him yet, this here is the stallion that you’ll be raising in the future. For the sake of the whole time paradox thing, we’ll just call him Written Word. And I assume that you’ve already met his family.” Color looked between him and Script for a moment, “So I’m guessing your name isn’t really Written Word, is it?” the stallion shook his head. “Okay, I guess it makes sense why you’ve tackled me.” “Sorry, Pa,” the Writer’s ears folded back in embarrassment. “I was so sure that I wouldn’t see you again after…” The Artist sighed, “This is really awkward on so many levels.” His ears picked up Celestia trying to hold down a giggle, “What’s so funny?” “Believe it or not,” the Sun Princess said as she levitated a roll. “This isn’t the first time that something like this had happened.” “You can thank Discord for that,” Luna commented. “He made that one Hearth's Warming quite interesting when he temporarily brought Harmonic’s father back for a day.” Color’s eyes widen, “He what!” “It’s a long story,” Harmonic chimed in. “But the basics of that is I was able to make peace with him while letting him know that I was going to be alright. Only, unlike him, you don’t have much of a time limit as far as we know.” His past fiancé looked at him, “Remind me to ask you about that because I would very much like to hear it.” “So why are you here?” Cloudy finally asked. “I could take a while guess and say that it has something to do with Discord, right?” Color nodded, “But why did you come here?” “I uh…” he rubbed the back of his neck, “Let’s say I’ve chickened out on a very important day.” “What day was that?” Page inquired. There was a minute before the tan unicorn responded, “Our wedding day.” This got the family, including both Princesses attention, “You what?” Luna asked. “Wait, please,” Harmonic unfolded his wings. “I know what all of you are thinking, but let me clarify why he’s here. Color wants to make sure if he had made the right decision in marrying me is all. Don’t let any of you be angry at him; he’s trying to make a very important decision.” Script looked at Color in bewilderment, “Is this true?” to which, he nodded. “Look, I’m sorry but I have enough on my mind as it is. First I wasn’t sure if Harm would be able to move on after I… you know. Now finding out that I’m going to raise you even though I don’t even know how well that turned out. I just have so many questions like… have I made that big of an impact on you ponies?” “YES!” came a chorus of voices from around the table. “E-Excuse me, Color,” Whole note spoke up. “But w-what is it exactly do you need t-to know? We’ve already told you that your marriage with Harm w-w-was happy, he got over your death, and you two were great f-f-fathers. So how much convincing do you need anyway?” The Artist put his hooves over his eyes while resting his elbows on the table. “I don’t know… I really don’t know. I’m still so stressed about the wedding, and being in the future, and… knowing I’m gonna die soon…” He heard a clopping of hooves that went around the table before it stopped next to him before he felt a familiar wing resting on his back. “Color, I’m sorry,” he heard Harmonic’s voice. “Is this too much?” Another sigh escaped from his muzzle, “I don’t… It’s just that even seeing this, knowing what is going to happen, I still have some doubts.” There was a very long pause at the table. After a while, Harmonic’s granddaughter put a hoof to her chin with a very thoughtful look on her face. “Excuse me,” she said, “but how exactly did you get here again?” “Discord gave me a key,” Color replied. “Does the key only work for you?” Now everypony at the table was looking at her and her father asked why. “I’m just thinking, that key had brought you here because you needed to, right?” “Cloudy,” Page inquired, “Where are you going with this?” “I just had a thought,” she said, “What if the answer you’re looking for isn’t in (what you consider to be) the future?” Color blinked, “I’m confused.” “Do you have the key with you?” “Yeah, it’s in my pocket.” “Can I see it?” Almost immediately, alarm bells were going off in Harmonic’s head, “Cloudy, what are you purposing?” His granddaughter got out of her seat to whisper in his ear. “Absolutely not!” “What?” the Artist asked. “I was just-” “No Cloudy,” the Prince interrupted, “That is a horrible idea.” “What did she say?” “Go back in time,” Cloudy quickly told him. “That’s enough,” Harmonic said sternly. But it was already too late; the idea was already in Color’s head. Getting out of his pillow and taking his uneaten dinner roll, Color turned to his future husband and said, “Harm, can I speak with you?” With a frustrated sigh, the two of them left the garden back into the palace. Closing the door behind him, Harmonic said, “Okay Color, why did you-” before he could say another word, the unicorn had taken out the key from his pocket and jammed it into the door they came through. “Harmonic Trotivari Everfree,” his past husband announced, “Do you trust me?” The alicorn, however, looked at him nervously, “Uh, Color, what are you doing?” “Your granddaughter has reminded me of a question that I have been avoiding for months now. But I can’t confront this on my own.” “What question?” He looked at the violinist in the eye and asked, “Why am I marrying you, to begin with? I know you said that you have a troubled past, but Harm, if I really am the great happiness that you see me, I want to see what it was really like when you were at your worst. Harmonic, can you take me back to your darkest day so I can see it for myself?” Harmonic, on the other hoof, was horrified, “Color, NO! There’s no way that-” “I need to see!” Color snapped back at him. “If I’m going to put all doubts to rest, I need to see how much of an impact I had on you. Please. Let me see how you were before I knew you.” For long several seconds, the Prince of Inspiration didn’t say anything. But finally, he responded, “I… I don’t know Color.” He felt a hoof on his shoulder, looking up to those sea blue eyes. The ones that had comforted him in the early days of their relationship stared straight into his, “Please Harm, I promise that I will be very careful with your past. I know what I’m asking of you is enormous, but please, let me see. Just to have a look and I’ll be back before you know it.” Closing his eyes, the violinist nodded, “Only if you go in disguise.” After calling the servants to bring a cloak with a hood to be brought to him, “You know what, I’m coming with you. If we’re going where I think we’re going to, I want to come to protect you.” After two black cloaks were given to them and donning them on, Harmonic now faced the door in which the silver key was still jammed in. He slowly reached a hoof to touch it, but he didn’t turn it. “I’ll be right behind you,” he heard Color say. It took a tremendous amount of courage to turn the key in the lock and open the door. On the other side, they felt a blast of a wintry wind come blowing through. Stepping through, the first thing they saw was a stone bridge and the back of a post with a sign on it. Color looked at the door they’ve come through to see they’ve come out of the back entrance of a grey house. Taking the key in his magic and putting it into his pocket, he closed the door behind him. Turning back around, he saw mountains and forests of pine trees that were covered in thick layers of snow. “Are we back in Cermona?” he inquired. Harmonic put his hood over his head as he walked over to look up at the sign and froze. “Worse…” Curious at his reaction, the artist trotted over to see what he was looking at. The sign had only two words that were carved into a plank of wood, “Frost River.” Color looked up at him in concern, “Harm, what happened here.” “I was burned here,” he said softly as the wind continued to blow. “The villagers had beaten me, hacked my wings off before tying me to the stake.” “Didn’t you say once that you always come back someplace else after someone attempts to kill you, right?” Color asked as he pulled on his hood, “So where did you end up?” Harmonic looked back at the frozen bridge, “If we are when I think we are, I believe that I ended up under there.” He took another look around to see that there was hardly anypony around. “Whatever you need to do, please hurry, I don’t want you to meet the villagers here. I’ll keep a watchful eye.” The tan unicorn nodded, and he started heading towards the undersides of the bridge. As he did so, his ears picked up on someone crying. No. This wasn’t your simple cry out of sadness; rather, this was a pony that was bawling their eyes out from pain. Color cautiously neared the arch that connected the icy river while taking note that the older alicorn was walking over to the middle of it. Peeking around the corner, Color froze for a moment at what he saw. There curled up with his back flatly against the curved stones was Harmonic, only a good deal younger. He was shivering since he did not have a cloak on. But what was alarming; however, were the gashes, burns, and bruises that nearly covered his whole body. they were slowly reversing themselves. Yet, this young Alicorn was crying as streams of tears flowed from his closed eyes. Color Spectrum, for a very long moment, didn’t exactly know what to do. In all the years since he knew Harmonic the young adult, he never saw him this vulnerable. More than that, his heart shattered at how broken this Harmonic really was. Then, as quietly as he could, he gently walked up to the young alicorn, took off his cloak and placed it on him. As soon as the cloak touched him, the young Harmonic’s eyes shot open and immediately the colt tried to dart out the way. However, he didn’t get too far. Limpening poor young harmonic soon tripped on the icy ground. “Wait,” Color tried to reach out to him, but the colt was on his back, crawling backward towards the wall. “G-Get away!” the colt cried. “Leave me alone!” “Hey, hey,” the Artist cooed, “take it easy. You’re hurt.” “Don’t touch me,” Harmonic hissed at him, but Color noticed that his eyes were like that of a frightened animal. The unicorn didn’t move from his spot and sat down from where he was. “I’m not going to hurt you in any way. Somepony was crying and I found you here. What in Equestria happened to you?” He sniffed. “N-Nothing,” the colt lied. “Well…” Color tried to choose his words carefully, “Do you need any help?” “Just go away.” Seeing how this wasn’t going anywhere, Color then took out the dinner roll he brought with him. With his aura, he levitated it over to the shivering colt that looked at the piece of bread with suspicion. “You can have it,” he said. “I think you might need it more than I do.” Snatching the roll, Harmonic tore it in two and inspected it carefully, went to go as far as to sniffing and just letting the tip of his tongue taste it as if he expected it to be poisoned. But when he was convinced that it had nothing in it did Harmonic scarfed it down. “Why did you do that?” Color blinked, “Because you were hungry?” “No, not just that,” he lifted his foreleg to move the cloak around. “Why did you give me these things? Those… ponies came at me with stones when they saw what a freak I am, but you gave me your cloak and some bread? Why?” “Because you needed it as I said, I heard you crying and wondered if there was anything I can do to help.” The young Harmonic eyed him with suspicion, “What do you want from me?” “Nothing.” “No bribe, no favors, anything?” Color sighed, “No. Nothing of the sort, I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do. So tell me, what can I do to help you?” Harmonic laughed in disbelief, “Because it’s the right thing? Ponies don’t help freaks like me, you must have seen that I’m a demon and…” he hesitated before shaking his head. “Look, mister, I don’t know who you are or where you’re from, but you can’t help me.” “Why not?” “Ponies shouldn’t help monsters… like me. Nopony cares to be friends with a freak like me. I’m hated by everyone that knows that I have wings and a horn. If they knew that you were helping a… worthless abomination like me, they would have you burned too.” Harmonic tried to get up but winced as he stood on his four hooves. “I need to get out of here, and so should you.” Color on the other hoof was moved to tears. As uncomfortable as he was in the cold, he was never prepared for the misery he saw from the same pony he was about to marry just hours ago. He trotted to block the colt’s path, “Do you really believe in all of that?” “Let me go,” Harmonic tried to get around him but he was blocked again. “Do you really buy into all of that garbage?” Color questioned him. “Look, I don’t know what happened to you, but Alicorn or not, you’re not a freak, worthless, or an abomination. Never let anypony tell you otherwise.” “Why not? It’s all true anyway.” “No it isn’t,” the unicorn sat on his hunches again, “although you don’t see it, but believe it or not, you don’t deserve any of this. You don’t deserve to be beaten, or bruised, or starved or to be miserable. In fact, even without this,” he lit his horn to briefly lift the cloak – exposing Harmonic’s wings. “Do you know what I see?” Nervously taking a step back, the colt shook his head. “I see… a pony. That has the potential to overcome something so grim, so hopeless that he becomes an inspiration for those who are struggling. I don’t see a monster or a demon or a freak of nature, but a pony that is perfect in every single way that he is. I see great potential in that cutie mark of yours that would astonish the world over. Although it’s clear that you’re suffering in this grim situation, where it all seems that the entire world is against you for existing, just remember one thing.” “What’s that?” the young Alicorn asked as he whipped his eyes. Color smiled, “Remember that nothing lasts in this wicked world… not even our troubles. For all the bad that happens, it’s all temporary before the good comes in. Eventually, all the injustices and cruelties cannot stand forever. Besides,” he reached out a hoof to mess with young Harmonic’s mane, “everyone, including Alicorns, is entitled to some happiness as much as anyone.” The colt sniffed, “You really think so?” “I know so. And a word of advice, just because the world is cruel to you, that doesn’t mean that you have to become the monster that they see you as. So be kind to unkind ponies, it is they that they need it the most, this will be what separates you from the real monsters.” Just as Color was getting up, the young Harmonic asked, “Who are you?” “Somepony that’s passing by,” he gave a warm smile. “Also, before I leave, I want to say, thank you.” The bruised Alicorn tilted his head in confusion, “For what?” “Helping me make up my mind on a rather important decision,” as he started to walk out from under the bridge, he added while giving his cloak back. “And you can keep that, it’s really cold out here.” Color Spectrum walked out underneath the bridge and back into the chilly wind, but the frozen air didn’t bother him. As he was walking towards the town, he heard the Prince come trotting over to him. “You know, you look familiar.” The Artist chuckled before Harmonic added, “I completely forgot how I got that cloak in the first place, but thanks for reminding me.” “Let’s get back to your time,” the unicorn offered him the key. “I think after that visit, that I’ve made up my mind.” “Yeah, tell me that once we get out of here,” they trotted back to the backdoor of the house they’ve come through. The Prince jammed in the key, turned it and opened the door to reveal the familiar hallways of the palace. After they’ve gone through and closed the door behind them, Harmonic looked out the window to see that his family was still dining out in the garden. “Harm,” Color said, “I now have a reason to marry you.” “You do?” the Violinist blinked. “What I saw back there, was heart-wrenching. Harm, I had for a long time know that you had a terrible life before coming to Equestria, but never could I have imagined that you lived like that.” He went up to him to kiss him on the lips, “I didn’t think that you were that miserable. After seeing that, I now realize how much I must be in your life. And Harm, I am so sorry for getting cold hooves on our wedding day, here I thought that I would have made your life worse if I had married you and died. But to ditch you on such an important day would be worst. Now that I’ve seen what you went through. That and the fact that you’ve seemed to have moved on just further proves to me how big of an idiot I really am. Can you forgive me?” Harmonic replied as he kissed back, “You know that I love you so much that I can forgive you for anything. It was true when we got married, and it’s true right now. Color, when you go back, you have a wonderful life ahead of you that’s full of surprises and twists. Though I wish those years we’ve spent were longer, they brought me so much joy all the same.” Color looked over to the garden before inquiring, “Harm, if it’s not too much to ask, can I please stay for just a little while longer? I want to get to know of the family we’ve ended up creating, as well as to hear you and your husband play something as well.” The Prince hummed, “Only on one condition: no matter what you hear and see, it all must go to your grave. You will never mention this to the past me, nor anyone else.” “Ha! And how can I explain to your handsome, younger self that I got cold hooves and ended up in the future without making me sound like a lunatic?” “Good thinking,” Harmonic smirked, “Now let’s get back to dinner. We still have a good deal to talk about.”