3rd POV
Years passed by and Music Man was left in the dungeon, his music box remaining unwound for years. Angelic Light and Demonic Dark were allowed to visit him so long as an entire platoon of soldiers accompanied them. Of course they eventually died, but not before having a foal. Despite not being awake, Music Man was still conscious in the sense that he could see and hear everything that was happening around him. He enjoyed all the times Light and Dark would come talk to him about their lives and he was deeply saddened when Light had told him about Dark's passing. He had died while protecting a family from a Cragadile. Music Man later overheard that Light passed away from old age when the guards were talking about the new recruit, Harmonic Element. As the years passed, Music Man saw people live, grow, prosper and die. Years of being left alone ended with him getting forgotten, which caused vines and plants to grow all around his body. He saw the rise and fall of Discord, who had tried to turn him into a puppet. Unfortunately for Discord, he was unable to turn him into a puppet for several reasons.
The first reason was that Music Man had no brain to tamper with, because his body was fueled by his soul. The second reason was that the Hated Saint had made it impossible for anyone to tamper with Music Man's soul. This was there to make sure that Music Man played his game instead of having someone like Discord make him a new body. The final reason was that Discord never figured out that he needed to wind up the music box. After Discord was defeated, Music Man watched the years go by once more. He enjoyed hearing the guards talk about their lives for a while until he started hearing about some sort of crystal war.
Music Man felt guilty about his own inability to help these ponies and prevent unnecessary deaths. After several years, the war finally ended and the princess of the night, Luna, started coming down to the dungeons and talking to him. She was thankful for his kind words about her night being beautiful. He enjoyed the things she would tell him about and even laughed a few times, even though she couldn't hear it. This lasted for two years and Music Man felt happy about it all. He often found himself anxiously waiting for the next time she would come down to talk to him. He grew a connection with her that got deeper as she told him more and more about herself and her life. It was fun to hear the stories of Celestia getting drunk and hitting on guards and knights, both mares and stallions, while being slightly provocative.
These stories brought him joy to the exceedingly dull cycle that he found himself trapped in. He had grown accustomed to Luna's talks and knew more about her than even her sister. Life was good for him until the day that the castle shook. He didn't know what had happened, but what he did know was that Luna stopped coming by after that day. After that day no one came down there, not even guards. After a few years, Music Man realized that everyone had either died or left and he hoped that it was the latter. He waited for years until a zebra found him and started talking to him. This zebra, Zecora, could sense that a soul was connected to his body, but, just like Discord, she did not understand that she had to wind up his music box.
Regardless, Music Man was happy to have someone talk to him about their life. Zecora always came to him with interesting stories about her life in the forest as well as life in her homeland of Zebrica. He found himself interested in not only her culture, but also the instruments of her homeland and how they were used. Zecora brought joy back into his life and, just as Luna did, divulged personal information and stories to him. He thoroughly enjoyed the fact that she talked in rhymes, because rhymes were just as much a part of music as instruments were. He grew close to Zecora for a while until she had to leave to get more supplies in order to ward against some evil spirit that she said would return soon. A month later, a tall mare with pure black fur, wings and a horn appeared in front of him and tried to use magic on him in order to get him working again.
After at least a thousand tries, the mare gave up and started sobbing. She kept saying how she wanted the only being that appreciated her night sky back, which confused Music Man. This mare looked similar to Luna, but she seemed much more desperate than before. She cried for a while until a sound echoed from above. She stood up and wiped her tears before turning into mist and flying away. Half an hour passed by until a shy looking mare with yellow fur, a pink mane and pink tail came down the stairs. She had wings and wore a beautiful grass green dress that had a design of three pink butterflies on it. Around her neck was a golden amulet that had a pink gem in the shape of a butterfly in the middle.
The shy mare noticed Music Man's music box and walked into the old cell that had fallen apart. She examined the metal music box carefully before slowly and gently winding the music box for a while. After about five minutes, she stopped and let the music box play, causing the Music Man to slowly reawaken as seven other mares came down the stairs.