Lonely steps could be heard, filling a silent corridor with them, giving some life to it while an aura of sadness and desperation made an act of presence on the atmosphere; then, a figure appeared in the distance, a bipedal creature made his way towards a specific place as his head look down at the floor.
His eyes were fixed on his own feet, seeing how he walked and kept going straight to his destination; from time to time, the human used to look backward and make sure no creature would be following him, then turning his head back at his original position.
The Prince, better known as Alfred, had a reason to be there; despite being known as an exemplary living being, truth was far away from the public thought. Until very recently, he’d been tormented by his own past, unforgivable actions and diverse traumas throughout his life have forged a soul divided into two; one of them represented the “good” side of this individual - being the one with most citizens related him -, however, the other one was full of the contrary. The dark side of the Prince was printed on it; suffering, pain, sorrows, trauma, absolute madness and desperation reside there and got used to controlling him every time he’d try to suppress his deepest thoughts…
Nevertheless, there’s something neither Alfred nor Celestia or even Raven dared to admit; there has always been a third side on Alfred’s personality… It only got known a few times, but it was more than enough to sow terror on Celestia herself; this same side of Alfred was characterized by the different behaviors that could present at any time of the day, although almost always it was needed to have a fairly strong reason for it to appear. His attitude varied between being defensive about his decisions, showing passive-aggressive behavior before a specific someone, or even being violent and presenting anger without any remorse, but only until he was able to calm down.
After hearing what Luna had said, he felt bad towards himself, even more than any time in the recent days; blaming himself severely for what happened and showing internal anger that gradually grew up. He feared the worst, so he took advantage of the pretext of having to go for something he had forgotten in his room; of course, Jimmy wanted to accompany him, but the Prince assured her that he wouldn’t need company and asked her to stay in the ballroom. She obeyed, but her expression showed that the bat pony seemed to be aware of more than he thought.
Now, there he was, in front of his own room, looking at the door with a lost gaze; it took him a while to stop thinking only of himself, he opened the door and entered, closing it behind him. Then, seeing he was finally alone, broke down in tears - he had just heard from the one he loved the most how much she’d been affected by him, though she wasn’t aware of that -; all the effort expended throughout the day felt as if it had been for nothing, since - despite giving his best - life always used to ruin everything by reminding him in cruel ways of what he had done in the past and who he negatively affected.
Flashes of dark and painful memories invaded his head, causing him to clench his teeth as he put his hands on his head in a desperate and futile attempt to ease the intense grief. Images and visions of the "Massacre Decade", his hunt against those who took his family away from him, the incessant fights against villains and implacable enemies, the consequences of the "Great Changeling War" and... everything involved with the rise of Nightmare Moon.
It was then that a cry of agony, he struck; not only did his mind hurt, but his soul was also hit very hard by the great wave of emotions generated from the harsh reality he was facing.
Therefore, and without more than being able to do, he closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands, still allowing each tear that he released to pass down his cheeks and fall to the ground; he lowered his head and didn't deign to look up for the next couple of minutes.
He sobbed, wept and let every single tear go down by his cheek; then, he… laughed, somehow, his cries of pain transformed into laughs, but not normal ones. His laughs were too depressing, he was actually laughing as he cried, making him look as if he had gone completely insane; worse he couldn’t look and his mental state, from a few minutes ago, had fallen drastically. One single fact had caused him to lose complete control of his emotions, but… who could blame him? More than a millenium putting up with the infinite misfortunes around him, through his and others’ lives.
That was until…
Suddenly, the human felt some weight on his shoulder and slowly looked up ahead, only to find a familiar face, Celestia; the alicorn seemed to have known that something was wrong and went to see what was happening, then... there she was, looking at him with empathy and pity…
Alfred sniffed. “I- ...I can’t, Tia.” His broken voice made it obvious, to which Celestia approached him and gave him a sweet hug.
“It’s okay, Alfred.” She reassured.
“Am I... going to have these for- ...forever?” He asked, Celestia nodded in response…
“I fear so.”
The Prince laughed in tears once again, worrying Celestia even more than she already was; however, the alicorn let him continue laughing as she patted his back in an attempt to call him down, then he commented…
“Not even a psychiatrist can… h-help me, right?”
“Not… entirely,” Celestia whispered in response pulling her head a bit away to stare at his friend. "...but that doesn't mean it won’t make a difference for you; if you try as hard as you had today, I assure you that you'll get better."
"Were it so easy," Replied a tearful Alfred, dropping another tear. "You know it perfectly, Tia; it's difficult to ignore the past and everything you have caused when, all the time, you remember that you're one of those responsible for misfortunes that the one you... l-love the most." He said, referring to himself and what he did to Luna, even if those were not his intentions.
Celestia hugged him again while whispering...
"Luna used to tell you this… Let your past make you better, not bitter."
The human shed a few more tears at the moment in which the memories of all those occasions in which his beloved one used the phrase crossed his mind; he smiled and cried in parallel, nostalgia and deep sadness kept him in a constant balance that never seemed to end...
"I am so proud of you Alfred." Celestia whispered again, a slight smile on the spot. "Today you have done everything to improve... and you have achieved it, but you still have to strive to achieve the final goal; imagine it as a race, always-"
“Always believe you'll succeed.” Alfred completed the sentence for Celestia, who gave a little chuckle and replied...
"Exactly... and I think it is right for you to... express yourself with this." She commented while levitating a sheet of paper with her magic, one Alfred himself had given her long ago; it was somewhat worn, but still kept the handwriting that characterized the human.
A song that he wrote and composed himself, but never dared to make public for various reasons... Nightmare Moon was one of them.
The Prince grabbed the sheet and read it, several times, until he felt sure to say...
"Will everyone enjoy it?" He asked, referring to the guests. "I don't want to ruin the celebration."
"And you won't," Celestia said, looking at him straight in the eyes. "You just have to choose the correct words."
It'd been more than an hour since Alfred left the ballroom and, despite the many distractions that flooded the place, his absence was perceived by many - who didn't hesitate to ask about his whereabouts, only to get unsatisfactory answers -.
By then, even dinner time had passed, although his absence was much less perceived because of the enjoyment that the guests had towards the food, which - as always - was very delicious; however, shortly after the dinner was over, doubts arose again regarding the Prince, even Jimmy herself began to worry about him and was about to go look for him until a voice interrupted her...
"I hope you're enjoying the evening."
At the comment, not only Jimmy, but every creature else present turned to look at a specific place, the stage; there, sitting in a chair - next to the piano-, was the individual for whom so many asked, observing them all with a slight and almost imperceptible smile...
"...And also dinner," Alfred added as he passed his gaze over each individual that his sight could perceive until his eyes fell on a certain Draconequus, who returned the gaze at him. "nonetheless, for me it's been a challenge to enjoy the day, not just the gala; I have tried my best to ignore the problems, but that only made matters worse... Life is what you have to face, day by day, until - in some way or another - this endless cycle ends."
Spectators were silent, listening to each and every word that came out of the Prince's mouth, expressing himself as well as possible - without leaving any loose ends. Then, at one point, there was no word that the human said, as he observed five specific individuals; first Celestia, then Jimmy, hence Derpy, next one was Discord, ending his traveling with the pony that he'd loved the most, Luna...
"I always wanted to sing this song for the very first moment I thought about... her. Now, on this very night, I would like to dedicate this song to that very special pony in my life... This is for you, my love."
---
Your Song - Elton John / Taron Egerton's Version.
---
The final piano's solo slowed down as the song came to an end, giving it a feeling of completion; once the notes ended, his hands stayed on the piano keys, as if waiting for the melody to continue a little longer. He shed one last tear while slowly turning to look at the crowd, which remained silent - being impressed by the ability Alfred had in the musical field -; he took a deep breath before getting up from the chair, accommodating it once more, didn't make any eye contact and prepared to leave the ballroom for once...
"Always believe..."
TO BE CONCLUDED...