//------------------------------// // XVIII - Crescendo // Story: Background Pony // by shortskirtsandexplosions //------------------------------// “My little ponies,” Princess Celestia spoke, her wings spread majestically on either side of her. “I am pleased to be here for this meeting in the beautiful town of Ponyville. Though this isn’t the largest of towns in Equestria, it is far from the furthest thing in my mind. I care for each and every one of my precious subjects, and it is with all of you in mind that I make this visit to your humble community.” The hotel lobby brimmed with bright faces and glistening eyes. Rows upon rows of awestruck equines bowed before the alicorn at the far end of the chamber. Bordering the group, muscular pegasus guards stood in glinting armor, scrutinizing the crowd with glaring, suspicious eyes that their benevolent leader couldn't afford. Twilight Sparkle was there, smiling proudly from where she stood alongside her mentor. With a dip of her horn, Celestia nodded towards the many ponies in attendance. “Peace and harmony are the essences of our souls; I have believed that since the dawn of time. To that end, I present myself to you with an open heart, so that all of your concerns regarding the well-being of Ponyville and Equestria as a whole can be fully addressed here. I do believe your beloved Mayor has already chosen the order for questions. You may proceed at your own pace; I have the whole afternoon dedicated to you, my precious subjects.” The ponies chattered amongst each other, at least until the Mayor waved her hoof and silenced the crowd with a shrill whistle. Smiling, she gestured towards a stallion standing in the front row of the lobby. “Your Majesty, I present to you Cold Gardens, the proprietor of the Rising Sun Floral Shop on the east end of town.” A stallion stood up from the group and performed a bow. Wringing his forelimbs together pensively, he spoke to the brilliant alicorn standing before him. “Your Highness, let me first say that it is a privilege and an honor to be in your presence. Ever since I first saw you at the Orlandoats Summer Sun Celebration of 983, I've been mesmerized by your wisdom and beauty.” “983...” Celestia's smile was a tranquil thing as she said, “That was a good year for sunflowers.” Cold Gardens blinked. With rosy cheeks, he smiled and nodded. “Yes! Yes, they were everywhere that year. I was so f-fascinated with sunflowers as a little colt. Ever since that Summer Sun Celebration, I would look at a sunflower and think of your glory and power.” He gulped and said, “I do believe you were my inspiration to pursue my special talent in gardening, your majesty.” “That brings me great joy,” she said. “How may I help you today, Mr. Gardens?” “Well, y-your highness...” He gulped again and gestured outside the front doors to the place. “There's been something of a drought Ponyville this year. It's not nearly as bad a dry season as 997, but several of the local flora have recently withered due to dehydration. We had to build a second greenhouse just to prevent a few local flowers from going extinct. Now, I know th-that you've been awfully busy this year, what with the dragon situation in the mountains west of here, not to mention the wonderful reunion you must still be having with your sister, Princess Luna—” “I assure you, never for one second is my attention so divided that I cannot see to the concerns of my subjects,” Celestia interrupted with a smile. “I am quite aware of this drought of which you speak. I assume you were the one who commissioned the town to write the public petition for weather assistance two months ago here in Ponyville?” The stallion blinked. “Why, yes! Yes it was me! You... you mean you actually t-took the time to read it? Uhm, your Highness?” She chuckled warmly. “But of course. Immortality does come with its share of insomnia, after all.” Several ponies laughed and giggled cheerfully. Twilight smiled. Celestia continued speaking. “I did read that letter, Mr. Gardens, and I immediately made a request of the Cloudsdalian Weather Commission to plan an extra week of precipitation for the middle of April. However, upon further study, a group of pegasus meteorologists told me that extra rainfall won't be a permanent solution for the growing drought problem. To this end, I spoke with your Mayor and suggested an irrigation program. Being earth ponies, I figured that such a project would be quite feasible to...” As the Princess spoke, her voice became muffled between the many crowding bodies. This was because I was presently ducking through the bodies, ribs, and shoulders of the thick group. Peering up, I struggled to clench my clattering teeth shut. My heart leapt into my throat at the first sight of the Princess' face, her rosy eyes, her starlit mane. She was glorious, she was beautiful, she was a goddess. And a goddess was the one thing I most desperately needed right then. I glanced to my far left and right. Pegasus guards stood on intimidatingly broad legs. From where I was it looked as though their armored necks stretched all the way to the ceiling. No doubt, with a single flap of their wings they could leap upon any part of the lobby instantaneously. Still, despite knowing all of this, I had to try making my move. The Princess said that she was going to be there all afternoon, but that was no excuse for me to tarry. Struggling to hold my shivers at bay, I tugged my hoodie's sleeves further down my limbs, curled up onto the floor, and crawled forward through the crowd. I moved my petite limbs slowly, silently, hoping that the shadows of those all around me would obscure my approach to the Princess' seat. I smelled the pensive breaths of the humble villagers; my ears twitched to the beating of their hearts. The Sun Goddess' voice grew louder and louder, shaking my bones, milking tears from my amber eyes. “...and with a terrestrial spell from Canterlot's Royal Geological Division, the aqueduct should remain structurally intact for the next twenty-five years at least.” Celestia leaned her head forward. “Does that sound like a feasible solution?” “Oh, absolutely, your highness!” Cold Gardens exclaimed with a fervent nod. He smiled, his eyes glistening with joy. “Thank you for your wisdom. Ponyville will make good use of your assistance.” “And perhaps you'll have more of your beautiful sunflowers on display for the next time I visit!” Celestia said, receiving many giggles and cheers. She turned her head towards the town leader. “Mayor?” “Ahem. Sibsy from the central market had a question for you—” I stepped on a mare's hoof. A loud shout filled the air and forced me to bump into another pony at my side. Soon, the lobby filled with indignant outbursts. “Hey, watch it!” “The hay is wrong with you?” “Wait your turn!” I didn't respond. I couldn't. The crowd of ponies was swiveling to look at me already. Every head was turning towards this haggard waif of a unicorn. Soon, the guards were craning their necks too. The world was freezing; I hyperventilated and shivered. “Uhhh...” The Mayor was finally marching sideways in front of the Princess, squinting my way. “What in blazes?” I hissed beneath my breath, shoved a pony out of the way, and galloped forward. The world bobbed, then turned into a hazy blur as desperate tears leaked out of me. Celestia's shimmering visage was but a flickering candle in the fog. I shrieked towards her, for fear that I was losing everything already. “Princess! Princess help me!” I shouted. “Princess, I am cursed! I am cursed and I n-need your blessing!” “You there! Halt!” I felt the heat of their wings before the guards were on me. It was as though chunks of the ceiling had impaled my body; metal-laced hooves clamped me to the floor from all sides. I shrieked in pain and wrestled a hoof out from underneath their muscular legs. I sobbed in the direction of the center stage. “Save me, Princess! Please! I’ll be lost if you don’t help me!” “Oh brother,” I heard a pony drawling from beside Twilight. “There's always one yahoo at these important events.” “Princess! I-I...” Twilight's voice stammered, though it had become an obscure murmur beyond the forest of limbs wrangling me up to my hooves. “I don't know what to say! I’ve never seen this unicorn in town before...” I winced and gasped in pain as the guards yanked me back to the far end of the lobby and away from my only salvation. “No, please!” I shrieked. “You have to listen!” I tried to spot Celestia, but her glorious visage was lost in the sea of frightened faces gawking all around me. “I beg of you! If you send me away, I may never get another chance!” “That's as far as you go, ma'am!” a guard grunted into my ear. “Right this way!” Another hoisted me around and shoved me towards the exit where more guards were opening the door to the bright daylight. “Nopony intrudes upon the Princess!” “Don't! Please!” I was a sobbing, hysterical mess. I didn't want to be alone. I didn't want to be forgotten again. “She has to hear this! Only she can lift this curse from me!” The sunlight was blinding. I heard birdsong and cicadas and they both resembled cannon fire. “Wait.” The world outside was drowned out by a holy glow behind me. I felt the guards stopping in their tracks. I swung like a limp pendulum as they twirled around and presented me before the most rapturous thing I had ever seen in my life. Celestia was trotting forward from the table at the end of the lobby, forcing the villagers to part so she could stand boldly before me. “Don't take her away. Let her speak...” A guard lurched forward. “But your majesty—” “I care for all of my royal subjects,” she said, her immaculate eyes trained on my figure. I felt loved instead of admonished, and it made me weep quietly. “If it is within my power to rid this unicorn of her distress, then such is my divine duty.” The guards obeyed. I knew this because I was falling down on all four limbs, limp with the joyous sobs coursing through me. I crawled towards the princess, shivering, relishing for once the cold of my curse, for I knew that it was just the threshold to salvation. I looked up, my face streaming with tears as I stared bravely into the source of that holy light. “Oh bless you. Bless you, your Majesty. You have no idea what I've been through...” “Shhh...” Celestia reached forward. Her wings folded around me, embracing the distraught little foal I had become. If I could have laid there forever in her soothing grace, I just might have given in. But the cold kiss of the curse lingered beyond everything, including her warm presence. I listened as she spoke softly to me. “Be calm. It's okay. Catch your breath, my little pony, and tell me what troubles you.” I sniffled. I smiled. I stood up and opened my mouth to speak. Then my eyes caught something. I turned my head to look. Twilight was standing there by Celestia's side, and yet she wasn't there. A purple haze fell over her, and the longer I stared, the larger she grew, like an all-encompassing shadow that swallowed the ponies in the room and threatened to consume her sister as well. In a violent flash of pale glinting light, her bony wing spokes spread out, slicing the walls of the hotel asunder. Her mouth opened, echoing with the sound of unsung bells, just before a silver helm encased her skull and my shivering vision in turn. “Nightmare Night! What a fright!” I gasped and jumped back from the three foals. A princess, a lady bug, and an astronaut grinned up at me. Brightly colored paper bags hung from their necks. “Give us something sweet to bite!” they all finished chiming. I backtrotted into a glowing lamppost. My breath came out in foggy vapors in the cold chill of an October night. “What... Where...?” I stopped talking; my voice was a muffled noise. I reached a hoof up and found my entire body enshrouded in ivory white bandages. “Nightmare... Night...?” “Now girls, don't go scarin' the party folks!” Granny Smith hobbled over on shaking limbs, nuzzling the three fillies towards a treehouse in the middle of Ponyville. “Yer supposed ta be askin' for treats at doorfronts, ya crazy lil' scamps! Git along, now! I don't need a fright to have me a heart attack!” “Happy Nightmare Night!” the filly in the princess outfit sang my way. “Yeesh!” the ladybug rolled her eyes as Granny Smith ushered her across town. “What kind of a mummy carries a harp around?” I blinked at them. With a gasp, I reached everywhere through my leylines. I felt a velvet satchel tied to my flank. Fearlessly, I pulled the Nightbringer out of hiding. A kaleidoscopic glitter reflected the lamplight all around as I held the golden instrument up and plucked its black strings. In very little time, I successfully played “Twilight's Requiem.” The chill of night melted, and a searing hot wave of purpose overwhelmed my mind. I seethed through clenched teeth, yanking a length of bandages free from my lips so I could breathe more easily. Leaning against the lamppost in a slump, I glanced tiredly across the lengths of town. Ponies trotted happily back and forth, dressed in all sorts of random, colorful costumes. I saw Carrot Top as a devil, Applejack as a scarecrow, and Derpy as... as... well, what mattered was that I could remember their names, I guess. “It's Nightmare Night,” I murmured, then gulped dryly. After several more panting breaths, I glanced towards the center of town where a large stage had been erected. The Mayor stood before a podium flanked by a band performing eerie folk music. My eyes traveled from her colorful clown wig to the starry nighttime canopy stretching above us all. The sun had fallen less than an hour ago. Celebrations had officially started, but none of that put me at ease. “Where is she?” I looked across the glittering horizon. The purple haze of evening lingered above the trees. Moonlight came in shimmering bands, resonating with her glory, but there was no sign of her to be found. “She should be here by now.” I bit my lip. “Did she... did she change her mind?” I shook my head, feeling a few lengths of my makeshift costume coming loose. With tactful telekinesis, I wrapped the strands back around me. “No, that wouldn't be like a princess to cancel at the last second,” I said. My face morphed into a frightful grimace. “Or would it?” I stared into the moonlight again. I thought of Princess Luna. I thought of Alabaster, of the dreadful task he had helped her with nearly a thousand years ago. Did the Goddess of the Moon ever truly commit her mind to anything, or was she just drawn to fate by the vacuum Princess Aria had left? What had inspired her to show up for Nightmare Night to begin with? Wouldn't that be the last thing Luna would want to do? And in Ponyville of all places? “She will come,” I murmured. “She will be here. I just...” I hugged the Nightbringer, quivered, and began playing the strings of the Requiem again, just like I had done for so many nights previous, nonstop, in anticipation of this moment of moments. This was my one opportunity, my last chance to spread the song to Luna, so that Luna could bridge the gap between her sister and herself. “I just need to keep playing. I just need to keep remembering.” Ponies blinked at me as they trotted by, not expecting a minstrel to be playing in the middle of Nightmare Night. Surprised by the added festivities, they smiled and waved at the mummified stranger in their midst. I turned my head away from them and clenched my eyes shut. I allowed the music to drown out the nonstop rush of cheering voices and chanting youngsters merrily filling the lengths of town. “Stay focused. Remember who you are. You are Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings.” My mind centered on my fractured memories as the world dissolved around me. “You are cursed, and you must get Aria to play 'Desolation's Duet.' You must meditate on the music. The music is everything. The melody—” “My, what a heavenly tune!” My eyes flashed open. I turned and looked. “But dear, you look positively freezing!” Rarity smiled, her teeth and hair shining in the morning light. “Tell me, are you ill?” I was shivering. With a clatter of my teeth, I glanced down. A wooden box rested next to me, glistening with the golden bits the fashionista had deposited within. I shoved the container behind the lamppost and looked at her again. “Oh, I'm perfectly fine, ma'am,” I stammered while strumming the fragmented pieces to the Threnody, only I didn't know it was the Threnody. Or did I? “My blood temperature is just... lower than the average pony's,” I said, though I felt my words trailing. I looked past Rarity. I saw Morning Dew presenting a golden tulip towards a mint green unicorn on the far side of town. She blushed. She looked so shocked and enamored all at once. “Like an angel...” “Dig the swell hoodie!” “Huh?” I tripped over my hooves. Books went flying across the library floor. “Gah!” “Whoah! Watch it, tangle-hoof!” Spike chuckled, having miraculously caught half the tomes in a brave dive. “Whew! And who said cleaning after all of Twilight's clutter was for nothing!” He stood up, brushed the dust off the books with his scaley elbow, and handed them towards me. “There you go, Miss...” “Heartrstrings,” I muttered; I levitated his books and several others before laying them nervously on the table beneath the sunlit window. “And there is... there is a new song stuck in my head,” I murmured, staring at the scattered dust within the golden glow of the day, wondering if any of the tiny flakes had any more purpose in their drift than I had in my words. “I don't know what the point is anymore, but I know that I must... must keep pl-playing the melody.” “Are you a musician or something?” “But of course!” I exclaimed. “You think this cutie mark means I write novels?” I turned around. My eyes twitched. Caramel and Wind Whistler were leaning in towards each other. Their lips met under the candlelight of the decorated town hall. Several ponies cheered and stomped their hooves in the stands below the altar. Flower petals showered from a pair of pegasi hovering above the wedding. The two ponies nuzzled each other. A tear was coming out of Caramel's eye. He glanced across the ceremony at me. And I shouted back, “Why?!” My mane billowed in the dying evening above the rooftops of Ponyville. I clung to the edge of the Town Hall building as Caramel stood far below. “Why shouldn't I just jump?!” I was mad. I was a ghost. I was sobbing and laughing all at once. “Why shouldn't I just end the nightmare once and for all?!” He looked up at me, his blue eyes like a pool I was about to jump into. Then the waves parted around his calm voice, entreating, “Because you are so special, so precious, and this world would be a lot less worth enjoying if you chose to leave it.” I panted, my sweat mingling with my tears. There was nothing more to release. I was hollow, a vessel that needed a soul to fill. I reached out to her, and her rosy eyes reflected a desperate little unicorn. “Play your music, young one,” Princess Celestia said. The hotel lobby’s faces blurred into a warm sea of curiosity beyond her. “If you think it will help.” “Oh thank you,” I stammered, standing up and plucking the strings of my lyre with a shivering hoof. “I promise, everything will make sense...” I stopped, my limbs freezing in place. I wasn't performing Elegy #3. This was an entirely different song. But how was that possible? I only knew three elegies. “What is this?” “Why, it's Nightmare Night, silly filly!” A pink pony in a chicken suit grinned in my face. “Ba-cock!” “Gaaah!” The Requiem ended as I fell back into a pile of hay. I was riding in a wagon with several other ponies under twinkling, purple starlight. “Heeheehee!” Pinkie Pie leaned back, ruffling her white feathers as the red comb of her costume flopped back and forth. “What's the matter?! Got chicken feet?” She turned and glanced at the line of games drifting past us. “Oooh! This is our stop!” She patted a bunch of foals on their shoulders and leaned towards the front of the wagon. “Big Mac! Park it right here! We've got some super terrific games to play!” “Eeeyup.” The wagon shuffled to a stop as Pinkie Pie and her waddling little companions filed out under the exciting glitter of night. “Now the key is to hit the bullseyes with the pumpkin launchers!” Pinkie Pie mumbled amusedly to the children. “But it wasn't always tradition! Ages ago, ponies fought wars over whether or not bullseyes themselves needed to be flung at stuff, but all of that ended with a great deal of other things beginning with the word 'bull!' Hee hee hee!” I sat up in the wagon, panting. I glanced down at my hooves. Instead of my traditional lyre, the Nightbringer hung in my grasp. I imagined the only reason nopony noticed the majesty of the holy instrument was because of the distracting garishness of everypony's costumes. “Okay... Okay...” I sweated clambering down from the wagon. Big Mac gave me a sideways look of concern. I trotted hurriedly from his sight and hid behind a tent full of jack-o-lanterns. “I just have to remain calm,” I murmured to myself, straightening the milky white bandages clinging to my figure. “I have to concentrate. The Requiem is wearing thin. I just gotta play it more for it to work on me. But it has to work on Luna. It'll be her first time hearing it since...” I gulped. Beyond me, crowds of ponies gathered before a large stage to hear Zecora tell a tale of Nightmare Moon. The longer I stared, the more the costumes and colored coats morphed into a thousand year old mosaic. I saw streets of Canterlot on fire, and ghostly ponies hanging themselves in order to escape from Aria's accursed voice. Seething, I clenched my eyes shut and started playing “Twilight's Requiem” once more. “She will be here. She will hear you. It won't be like with Celestia. It won't.” I gulped as I sensed a fresh wave of shivers coming over me. I plucked the strings of the Nightbringer harder, feeling my heart beat between the chords. “Focus on the song; focus on the melody. It is you. It is what you are. It is...” “Look out!” Thunderlane's voice shouted from above. “Get away from the forest!” My eyes flew open. I was squatting beneath a tree with my lyre in the waning afternoon. A loud vibration ran through the grassy soil. Ponies stampeded past me, breathless, dropping picnic items with each yard of ground they covered. I stood up and stared past them. Beyond the park on the edge of Ponyville, the great emerald expanse of Everfree loomed. Emerging from the line of trees, stomping the ground with glittering paws, was the largest creature I had ever seen with my naked eyes. With translucent feral fangs, the ursa minor reared its hulking torso above a pair of innocent ponies. The two picnickers clung to each other, shivering, as the mammoth beast roared, preparing to bring its claw down and cleave them in quarters. “Not again!” a mare shrieked from where she hid behind a tree behind me. “Why won't that thing stay in hibernation?!” “Who cares!” a stallion exclaimed. “Those ponies are in trouble!” “Thunderlane!” Blossomforth shouted as she flew back, breathless, from the center of town. “I just had Twilight's dragon send a warning to the Princess—” She gasped, her eyes wide. “Great heavens! It's here already!” “What, are you nuts?!” Thunderlane shouted from above, cupping his hooves over his mouth. “Run!” At first, I thought he was shouting at the two picnic-goers, but I realized that a third pony had suddenly joined the doomed mix. Squinting, I felt my heart jolt upon the sight of her. She calmly trotted over to the scene, willfully drowning herself in the shadow of the hulking monster. Then, the softest and most soothing of sounds filled the air. The beast paused, holding back from eviscerating the two ponies within reach. With a sullen growl, he turned his attention towards the singing pegasus. Fluttershy treated the Ursa Minor to a tranquil lullaby. Her vocal cords were soft and sweet, and yet even the horrified ponies watching from a distance could hear her, for all of their breaths had been drawn in from the shock and tension of the moment. The two ponies at Fluttershy's side stood up on jittering hooves. They backed up slowly, their petrified eyes fixed upon the creature who had been warded off by a simple tune. While Fluttershy held the monster still with her soothing voice, one of the two ponies inadvertently stepped on a twig. The resulting snap broke Fluttershy's concentration, and her next note was off-key. The Ursa shook its snout in annoyance. Hissing, it reared its claws and swung straight at Fluttershy's soft skull. The watching ponies gasped... and yet again drew in their breaths, for the monster's swing ended just a foot from the pegasus' body. A unicorn had joined her side, compensating for the brief break in the lullaby with a melodic accompaniment of golden strings. I stood next to Fluttershy in the shadow of the beast. The cold in my bones sent my limbs ashiver, and yet I tried my best to mimic the pegasus' calmness and bravery. Together, we serenaded the monster until his nerves calmed. We could feel the beats of his mammoth heart through the air, and they were drawing further and further apart. Eventually, he sat back, retracting his claws and breathing more evenly. I glanced behind me and pulsed my horn like a signal in Thunderlane's direction. His eyes lit up. He glanced at the two ponies beside me and Fluttershy. With a knowing nod, he motioned to Blossomforth, and the pegasi couple slowly flew our way. They grabbed the ponies with their hooves and hoisted them off to safety. In the meantime, Fluttershy and I began backing away from the relaxed Ursa. As its drowsy lids lowered, we made a break for the far end of the park. Before it could notice that we had galloped away, a swarm of Equestrian guard ponies swooped down from the high heavens, summoned from Canterlot. In swift order, they spun circles around the Ursa. The celestial bear swung a few times at them, growling, but they were too fast for its swipes. Frustrated and confused, the monster eventually turned around and stormed off into the thick of the Everfree Forest. The guards remained hovering above the treeline to make sure the creature had actually retreated. A wave of cheers flew our way as Fluttershy and I joined the rest of the group upon the grassy hill. Thunderlane and Blossomforth hovered down, and as soon as the two ponies in their grasp were deposited safely on the ground, the pair flew forward and swept Fluttershy in a tender hug. “Oh thank you, thank you, Fluttershy!” “We'd be goners if it weren't for you!” “You're such a blessing to this village! A blessing!” “Mmmm...” Fluttershy blushed and dug a hoof into the ground. “I just didn't want anypony to get hurt.” I stared, suddenly on the sidelines. I watched with momentary confusion as everypony huddled around her while completely ignoring me. Then I saw a cloud of vapors escape my mouth, and I felt like sighing. Instead, I smiled and trotted softly into the thick of the group. “Wow, Fluttershy!” I remarked in a loud voice. “That was certainly brave of you!” “Huh?” She looked at me as if for the first time. The redness in her cheeks doubled. “Oh, I dunno...” “You don't know?” I grinned wide. “Aren't you the most easily frightened pony in town? I've heard that you're even scared of your own shadow!” Several ponies around us chuckled and patted Fluttershy on the back. With a soft smile she replied, “You're right. Far too often, I'm scared for myself. But...” She fidgeted. “I guess it's different when I'm scared for others.” I blinked, feeling a soft breath escape my lips. “It really is that simple, isn't it?” I thought aloud in her direction. “To be concerned for others is enough to make you move mountains...” “I don't know about moving mountains,” she said, “but... erm... I guess it makes me sing nicely.” The ponies chuckled and congratulated her again with several more hugs and cheers. I smiled, hugging the lyre to my chest as I murmured, “Very nicely indeed.” “Ahhhh!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “It's Nightmare Moon! Run!” I gasped into the bandages covering my mouth. Panting, I spun and looked up at the starlight. Flashes of lightning erupted beyond the clouds, and through the tempests there rode a chariot being pulled by two sarosians in midnight armor. The air filled with sharp gasps and sullen shrieks. Then the noise shattered as swiftly as began; the chariot levitated directly above us. Descending from her seat like a black shadow, the Princess of the Night landed in the middle of Ponyville. Her hood flew back, revealing a hardened gaze chiseled by the cold lengths of time, but nonetheless frighteningly beautiful. Everypony around me was collapsing prostrate onto the ground. I had beaten them to it, succumbing to an intense cold as my heart shuddered with every tremendous step the princess was taking. Her cloak dissolved into a swarm of shrieking bats as she spread her wings and spoke with utmost majesty. “Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your tiny village with our presence, so that you might behold the real princess of the night!” she bellowed, her voice shaking the fibers of my soul. I felt the trembles of everypony around me through the foundations of the village. Not a single soul dared look her in the face; Luna’s glory was both resplendent and terrifying. “A creature of nightmare is no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration!” The ringing in my ears that followed her royal speech nearly split my skull in two. I should have been shouting back. I should have been galloping straight towards her, hoisting the Nightbringer into Luna's sight, and playing the Requiem of her long lost Princess of Twilight. But I couldn't move. I couldn't feel my limbs beyond their shivering extremities. “Together we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!” her otherworldly voice exclaimed. For the first time since she landed, I opened my tearful eyes. I did not see her, and yet I did. Every other pony was gone, and she was standing before me, a part of the desolation and its gift to me. With her onyx wings and silver helm, she scowled my way. I was nothing, and she had arrived to make me nothing with Aria's song, as was her duty since the Nocturne transformed her, as she was banned from the terrestrial realm for doing. She was the scourge of Equestria, the murderer of the dawn, and all for the sake of preserving the breath of a sister she could barely comprehend, yet who had frozen all life and warmth within her bones. Nightmare Moon was the shadow of Aria, an appendix to a dead goddess. She didn't know it, but that didn't stop her from singing the song to me, entreating me to become nothing. And someway, somehow, a part of me had refused. That was why I never ended up in chains, and it was also why I couldn't stay silent forever. “No! You must listen to me!” I shouted against the rivulets of noise and mayhem. “You must hear beyond her song! You must become something you could never afford to be!” I hissed and roared, “You must rise to a level you were too afraid to scale! You must be brave enough to remember her, so that she will be brave enough to perform the duet with me!” Nightmare Moon said nothing. She loomed above me, and yet she was drawing away. Lightning flashed in the distance, obscuring the space between us with the freezing mists of the unsung realm. This was neither here nor there, now nor then. This was a fragment of a memory, and it was receding from me, leaving me in a cold vacuum where I shouted towards nothing but myself and the darkness. “No!” I growled, reaching my hooves out until I grabbed the Nightbringer from the ether. I clung to it like I hugged Moondancer in my bedroom closet, dodging the branches and twigs as I carried Scootaloo through the forest and towards the flimsy shreds of all the world's warmth. “I will not forget, Nightmare Moon!” The words on Granite Shuffle's tombstone were melting away as the tears obscured the smile on Nebulous' face. I clenched my eyes shut and wailed into the maelstrom around me. “I will not be alone!” Somewhere beyond the thunderclouds, the Requiem was playing. It was hard to hear over the moans and rattling of chains. “I refuse to be alone! I refuse! I...” “Ugh!” Rainbow Dash's voice rasped. “The last thing I ever wanna be caught dead doing is having a lame tea party!” “Well, it matters little, Rainbow,” Rarity said from behind the table at Sugarcube Corner as she finished her coffee. After daintily dabbing her lips with a napkin, she levitated a saddlebag onto her shoulders and stood up. “Hoity Toity only invited me. Normally, I'd be ecstatic to bring another friend along for the occasion. However, I'm afraid that your usual... eh... civility is not needed at this soiree. I alone must engage such a famous Canterlot socialite in this strenuous business discussion. I highly doubt you would find it remotely entertaining even if I could afford to bring you along.” “Pfft! Big deal! I've got better things to do today anyways!” “Oh really?” Rarity smiled pleasantly as she placed two bits down onto the table as a tip. “Are you and Pinkie Pie planning on spreading jocularity and misfortune across the town yet again?” “Er, well... no...” Rainbow Dash's ears drooped. She glanced aside, her hooves fidgeting against the tile floor as she murmured, “She's delivering a package to Trottingham for the Cakes this weekend, and she took Applejack with her so she could advertise her family's apple treats...” “Then perhaps Fluttershy or Twilight are—” “They're away in Canterlot, visiting Twilight’s brother at some boring award ceremony,” Rainbow muttered, flicking a teaspoon across the table. “Mmmf... Lousy weekend...” “Oh? I'm so terribly sorry to hear that—” “But it's not like I haven’t got loads to do!” Rainbow Dash said, her ears perking up as she smiled mischievously. “I just learned a brand new bunch of radical tricks to try out over the north side of town! There's gonna be a brisk wind coming from the west, just in time for me to pull off the Buccaneer Blitz!” “Oh, you mean that terribly ambiguous spectacle that is supposed to charm the Wonderbolts?” “Awwwww yeah!” Rainbow Dash hovered close to the ceiling and grinned with bright ruby eyes. “What are the chances that you and Hot Topic would like to take a break later on and watch me split the air in two?!” “Hoity Toity,” Rarity corrected. “And I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you, Rainbow Dash, but that is not his preferred means of having a good time. He is only in Ponyville to conduct business, and I am going to treat him to such.” She trotted off with a gentle wave of the hoof. “Though, that doesn't mean you can't improve your chances with the Wonderbolts on your own! Ta-Ta!” “Yeah. Uh, see ya.” Rainbow Dash muttered. Her ears drooped again, and she slumped over the edge of the table. Her eyes took on a jaded quality, and she sighed into the wooden finish. Just then, her blue ears twitched. A few seconds later, they twitched again. She blinked, her body electrified by a startlingly familiar beat. Sitting straight up, Rainbow Dash stared around the room until her bright gaze flew in my direction. I sat on a stool with my back against the wall. My sleeved hooves were plucking the strings of my lyre, producing a lively tune that resonated through the brightly painted lengths of the eatery. Her jaw dropped. Tilting her head aside, she raised an eyebrow and stammered, “Is th-that... is that 'The Last Flight of Commander Hurricane?'” “Mmmmhmmm...” I smiled lightly, pretending not to be looking at her. “Just a simple little tune I like to practice from time to time.” “'Simple little tune?'” Rainbow Dash balked. “That's the opening music that the Cloudsalian Orchestra plays every time the Wonderbolts perform in their home town!” Her voice cracked, “It's the most epic song ever! How can you play it so awesomely and just call it 'practice?'” “Because it's only warm up.” “Warm up for what?” “'The Rise and Fall of Stratopolis.'” In a blue blur, she zipped up to my table and hovered above me. “You mean to say you know all the songs of the 'Soaring Cirrus Symphony?'” “Well, I'd hope so,” I said, giving her a bored glance. “It's hard to know both the Hurricane and Stratopolis movements without having a basic grasp of the rest of the pegasus magnum opus.” “That's so cool!” Rainbow Dash grinned wide. “Spitfire uses the whole symphony as part of her team's act! I used to think that all that old orchestra stuff was lame, but the way they fly to it makes it seem so epic!” I giggled lightly. “That's because it is so epic. Pegasi musicians have always had a thing for gravitas and bombastic flare. It's outright loud, obnoxious, and yet boldly confident—like most flying ponies.” “Heheheh... You got that right!” Rainbow Dash said with a sharp grin. “However, I'm having a little bit of a hard time getting the ending to the 'Soaring Cirrus Symphony' right,” I said. “I could use another pair of ears to tell me if I'm off-key. It gets rather loud at the end and I'm a bit too concentrated on the tempo to make a firm judgment myself.” “Pfft. That sounds like a lot of boring work,” she grumbled. “Oh, well, if you've got better things to do, then I won't take your time,” I said. “Huh?” She blinked, and her ears drooped again. “N-no way! I'm not...” She winced, stopped flapping her wings, and lowered herself onto the ground before me. “What I mean is, I'd b-be more than happy to help. That is, if you think you're cool enough to hang out with the likes of Ponyville's fastest weather flier! Heh heh...” I glanced over my lyre at her. “Me? Cool enough?” “S-sure!” she grinned awkwardly. “You look as though you could... uh... use s-some company! Yeah...” I paused in playing. I nodded slowly with a smile. “Company sounds wonderful. It's too beautiful an afternoon to spend alone.” Rainbow said nothing. She gazed down at her hooves as her wings twitched nervously. For her sake, I immediately spoke, “Do you know the final notes to the 'Soaring Cirrus Symphony?'” “What, you want me to hum them or something?” “Hehehe... Well that’d be a start.” “Well, okay then.” Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and happily sat down by my side. “Here goes...” With a dainty hoof, she slaps the drumstick over the appropriate xylophone keys. Twilight smiles proudly and glances up at me. “Like that! So that it sounds like rolling thunder!” “Ugh!” Moondancer groans from where she reclines on my bed with a storybook full of bright, colorful pictures. “Pegasi are so full of themselves! Why does everything they make have to be so annoying and loud?” Twilight frowns up at her from the bedroom floor. “Don't make fun of them! It's their culture!” “Well, their culture is stupid,” Moondancer says, although she's smiling devilishly. “Have you even seen the way they dress up at pageants?! Heeheehee—It's like they're trying to go to war with the clouds!” “Hey! Those armored uniforms are really spectacular! The pegasi have a long history of military tradition, after all!” Twilight glances towards me. “You should know this, Lyra! You wrote to a pegasus pen pal last year. Tell Moondancer what you learned!” “Suuuure! Take Twilight's side!” Moondancer flips a page of the storybook and dangles her legs off the bed. “Starswirl was always Celestia's pet, not Luna's!” “Moondancer, we're not playing 'princesses' right now! We’re talking about old Equestrian music!” “Couldn't we be chatting about that at the doughnut shop? I'm craving sprinkles like nopony's business!” “Ugggh... Sometimes you're a real dunce!” “Hahahaha!” “What?” “Where'd you learn that word? That's a stupid word!” “Exactly! It means 'a pony of stupid qualities who refuses to learn!'” “Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!” “I was only telling you what—” “You take that back!” “I didn't mean anything by it!” “You meant it!” “Nuh uh!” “Uh huh!” “Nuh uh!” “Uh huh!” I want to break them up. I know that it is my place to. But every time I lean forward to open my mouth, I saw the train chugging away from the station, carrying Moondancer towards Fillydelphia and away from my life. I sat on the bench, hugging myself as the cold piled up all around me. It was so frigid in that dark corner of Ponyville that even my tears froze before they could fall. “Dear journal,” I stammered. I sat inside a lonely tent besides an abandoned barn on the north edge of town. The first blank page of a book lay beneath me as I levitated a pen over its white face. “I hear music, and I know that I'm alive. I sense melodies, and I know that I can think. There is a beat within my heart, and it fills me with a sense of purpose. But why?” With a lump in my throat, I gazed up. I reached a hoof out and undid the zipper, lowering the flap of my tent. Outside, a magical contraption exploded, tossing Twilight Sparkle, Dr. Whooves, and Rainbow Dash onto the floor of the library. “Am I here to save these ponies, when I cannot save myself?” Morning Dew stirred on the floor of the greenhouse, his eyes twitching as he fell in and out of consciousness beneath my nudging hooves. “Can I give them the music?” I gulped, almost whimpering. “Can I give them me?” The autumn wind kicked at his handsome gray mane as Nebulous stared at me, past me. The same tear that rolled down his cheek was rolling down mine. “I just want to go home,” I said, gazing across the chessboard as Granite Shuffle fell asleep in the gathering shadows of the day. “Is th-that too much to ask?” “This tune...” Princess Celestia remarked, her rosy eyes glossy from an emotion that had no name to it. “What... is it called?” “'Prelude to Shadows', your highness,” I said in the middle of my instrumental. The lights from the corner of the hotel lobby intensified. Ponies around me were squinting and murmuring in uncertainty. “By now, you should be noticing its magical effects.” “I most... c-certainly do sense a change in the air,” Celestia said. Her wide wings quivered. “But that rhythm... that melody...” “You should know it,” I said. “You taught it to Twilight.” I smiled as the tears dried on my face. “And she taught it to me.” Several ponies glanced Twilight's way. She stepped back with a look of confusion. “But... But... I-I've never seen this unicorn in my life! Princess Celestia, I—” “Shhh...” Celestia's jaw hung open as a distant sparkle struck her eyes. Her irises shrank, and her royal complexion turned pale. “There's a segue coming up, isn't there? There... There is a song after this...” “Yes! Yes there is!” I exclaimed, my body trembling as I broke into the next instrumental. “You should know this too! Though I doubt you've ever heard the elegies in this order!” “The... elegies...” she murmured in a ghostly, distant voice. “Yes! This second one is called... called...” I froze in place, for once again the melody wasn't what I expected. It was different. I knew it, and yet I didn't. “The Requiem? But...” I looked up, my lips quivering. “But where...?” “Look out, y'all!” A hulking pumpkin flew straight at me, blotting out the moon. Gasping, I held onto the Nightbringer as I rolled out of the way. The large melon exploded in a sea of goop and seeds before a line of targets behind me. Wincing, I sat up and looked across the middle of Ponyville. “The hay has gotten into you, sugarcube?!” a freckle-faced scarecrow shouted from a line of miniature catapults several yards away. Princess Luna and an effeminate Starswirl the Bearded stood by her side. “Didn't y'all see the signs?! This here's a pumpkin firin' range!” “Sorry! I... I...” I gulped and galloped off into the background. “I didn't mean to cause any trouble.” “Ain't no trouble! We just don't want nopony getting' hurt!” Applejack turned and smiled at Luna as she loaded another pumpkin into the catapult with her royal hooves. “Coast is clear!” “Fire away, princess!” Starswirl said in Twilight Sparkle's voice. The catapult released. Everypony in town watched as the weaponized pumpkin flew through the air like an orange meteorite before exploding across a large bullseye. “Huzzah!” Princess Luna chimed in a voice that was far too unbelievably joyous. “The fun has been doubled!” Several equines cheered in a rapturous cluster behind her. The air filled once more with joy and merriment. I only wished I could have been a part of it. I sat on the sidelines, struggling to catch my breath. How long had I been out of it? Minutes? Hours? I looked up. It was still night, but for how much longer? I was losing track of both time and myself. If I didn't act soon, I'd lose Luna as well, and then I'd have no chance whatsoever in crossing the bridge to Aria. If I even could... “Hear me, villagers!” the Princess' voice jubilantly proclaimed, melting away my frigid shivers. “All of you! Call me Luna!” I took a deep breath, sliding the Nightbringer into my velvet satchel. “I love you to death, Alabaster,” I murmured into the bandages around my muzzle. “But I'm not about to become you.” I trotted firmly towards the sight of the Princess. She was just yards away, dipping her neck into a barrel full of floating apples as she snatched up... a tiny pirate colt? Wait... “Aaah!” a pink chicken clucked from the distance. “Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!” A layer of panic spread through the air, forcing the little colt to gallop away from Luna and past me. “Help! My backside has been gobbled!” Blindly, he knocked into my rear left hoof. I lost my balance and fell onto my side with a grunt. The Nightbringer clattered to the earth beside me, its onyx strings bouncing with a discordant noise. “Nnngh!” I winced, my head and ears splitting. “Haah haah haah!” I looked up, my face and mane covered in frost. A draconequus bounced from gravestone to gravestone, pirouetting his way across the cemetery of Whinniepeg. The gray world hung in perpetual desolation all around us, and he reveled in it. “You see, Harpo, when our backs are against the wall we really can and will do anything to get what we want,” Discord sang. “Honor or no honor, the universe is full of excuses and short on shame. You want to know why cruelty exists? It's because I exist.” I frowned. I snarled. I stood up and screamed at him. “You are selfish!” I panted and howled once more, “All the power of the cosmos in your grasp, and you choose imprisonment?! I wish I could hate you, but you're not even worth my spit! You're the one who should be forgotten! You're the one who should fade from existence!” I stamped my hoof against the ground and cracks formed in dark rivulets across the universe. “No wonder your beloved banished you from the unsung realm! Even a goddess in charge of the undead wouldn't have room in her kingdom for someone as worthless as you!” He spun to a stop and gave me a bored gaze. “Oh come now, Minty. Now you're just being cruel.” “Cruel? Cruel?!” I hissed. “You have no idea!” With a grunt, I swung the two-by-four across his face. Straight Edge spun from the blow, spitting blood against the brick wall of the alleyway. I loomed over his sputtering figure in the bone-gray haze of night. “I could be so terribly, terribly cruel!” I slammed the board against his backside, forcing him to grunt in pain. The wood splintered down the middle, like my voice was cracking. “All this time! I could have haunted Ponyville! Instead, I tried to bless it! And for what?!” I raised the board high once more in the moonlight. “I'm still the same damn ghost playing the same damnable songs! And where has it brought me?!” “I-I was so scared,” she said, sniffling. Turning over, Scootaloo trembled into a pair of blue forelimbs. “Rainbow Dash, you found me! I knew you'd come and save me!” I panted, staring wide-eyed at her from beyond the campfire Cloudkicker had made. The cold wilderness hung in a reverent hush beyond the sacred scene. “Just relax, pipsqueak,” Rainbow Dash said as she cradled Scootaloo's shivering form. “We're not out of the woods yet. I'm going to get you to Twilight. She has a trick that'll get you good as new...” As the two pegasi soared off with the foal in their grasp, I curled into myself and shuddered—not from the cold but this time from the sobs. Tears rolled down my face as I stared into the crackling embers before me. The only reason the universe was cold was because there were so few, fragile things of warmth to be found. And yet... they could be found. “I'm so sorry,” I whimpered. It was another night surrounded by shadows, encased in the walls of my cabin. Dozens of musical instruments hung on the beams above me, and they too were useless things. “I don't know who can hear me... or who there is to apologize to...” I wiped my tears away with the sleeves of my hoodie as moonlight wafted lonesomely through the windows of the place. A tiny orange cat padded up and leaned against me, meowing with concern. I petted him, but did not have the strength to smile. “But I'm so very sorry, for all that I've done. Just please... please...” Al crawled into my forelimbs. I embraced him, cuddling him to my chest as I shivered and cried. “Forgive me. Redeem me. Take me away from here. I've learned so much. I've learned so much and I want to g-give it back...” My eyes clenched shut as I nuzzled the tabby's warm fur. “I want to give... I-I want to give...” “Why? Is it somepony's birthday or something?” Pinkie said. I glanced up from the park bench. She stood before me, grinning wide in the afternoon light. That grin faded, though, the first moment she saw my tears. “Awwwww... Did a special unicorn not get invited to a party or something?” I sniffled and looked away from her. Muttering, I said, “There's no party, Pinkie. It's okay. You can move along.” “Why?” She bounced in place, her smile having returned to her pastel muzzle. “I just met a perfect stranger who knows my name! That doesn't happen everyday! Heehee! What's your name?” “Mmmm...” I wasn't in the mood to talk to her. I wasn't in the mood to do anything. I spoke because it was the only thing keeping me from wailing like a grief-stricken widow. “Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings.” “Heartstrings, huh? Hmmm... I guess if it was 'Cheesetrings,' then you'd be—” “Please, Pinkie!” I snapped, frowning through my tears. “I'm fine! Just leave me alone! I...” I bit my lip as my face grimaced. The color was draining from the park before my eyes. I felt the world growing foggier, like a funeral shroud was being dragged over every minute of every day of my life. “I am alone. I am... I am s-so alone, and th-there's nothing I or you or anypony else can do about it.” I choked and buried my face in my hooves. “I'm gonna be stuck here forever. Nopony can help me. It's like—” “Like you're invisible, even though you do everything as l-loudly and as brightly as you can in their very faces. They just don't want you t-to be a part of their lives, so that even your own home feels like a cold place where you're not wanted...” Sniffling, I glanced up. I positively gasped from what I saw. Pinkie sat still before me like a gargoyle, and a pair of tears were streaming down her cheek. She gazed calmly into my eyes and said, “So they send you away, and it t-takes every ounce of strength in your heart and soul to go against the flow, to smile because you have to, because the only pony who can ever bring your spirits up is yourself, and you know it...” “P-Pinkie...” I stammered, gulping a lump down my throat as I gawked at her. “You're... You're crying...” She took a shuddering breath and slowly nodded. “So maybe I am...” “But... But...” I squinted at her. “You never cry!” Slowly, a smile formed to her moist lips. “It's not very fun to cry. I find laughing to be a lot n-nicer, so I do that all the time I can.” She gazed tenderly at me as she said, “But you strike me as a pony who's used to crying all the time. So, I saw you, and I thought...” She shrugged, giggling slightly. “Heehee... Why not try switching for once?” She sniffled and murmured, “We c-could make a game out of it.” I stared at her, speechless, until a brave part of me chuckled, then laughed, then guffawed. I doubled over, my face going pink with the effort of my explosive outburst. I slapped the bench and nearly fell into the grass below. I laughed and I laughed and I laughed; eventually Pinkie joined me. When the tears began flowing for a different reason, I wiped my cheeks dry and squinted painfully at her. “'Cheesestrings,'” I grunted, shaking my head. “What in Equestria would ever possess you to call me that?” “Heeheehee!” She sniffled one last time and grinned in my direction. “Because it makes me think of how wonderful cheese can taste, especially on a grilled sandwich, and grilled cheese sandwiches make me happy inside, so that I want to smile. Heeheehee... Just like seeing you and hearing your name makes me want to smile.” “But everything makes you want to smile.” “No.” She shook her head softly. “Everything makes me want to smile differently.” I smiled at her, feeling a satisfying warmth spreading over my heart. I leaned in to hug her, and she reciprocated. Her fuzzy mane was ticklish against my neck. I felt like giggling, so I did. “Heeheehee!” I nearly fall off the chair in the center of the university courtyard. “And remember when you stuck the feather into Twilight's Astronomical Almanac—” “And I convinced her that she had slapped her book shut on a pigeon the day before?!” Moondancer exclaims, beaming. “Yes! Heeheehee!” I slap the table, nearly knocking my textbooks onto the floor. Fellow students roll their eyes at us before milling off towards their classes. “She never went to the park for almost a year! To this day, she gets the hiccups every time she sees birds eating bread crumbs!” “What?! Hah! No way!” “Would I lie to you?!” I laugh and dig the metal fork once more through my plate of cafeteria salad. “Ohhhhhhh Moondancer, you could be so cruel to the poor filly.” “So sue me! She just took everything so seriously!” Moondancer says, fanning her blushing cheeks as she leans over her saddlebag full of tutoring aids. “And at such a young age too!” “She kind of drifted away from us, didn't she?” “Yes,” Moondancer says. “Much rather, she swam upstream. Like a fish.” “The sweetest fish,” I utter with a wink. “Hmmmm...” She stretches her neck and says, “If you ask me, leaving us morons was the best thing she ever could have done.” “The hay does that mean?” “See for yourself!” Moondancer points at the looming royal towers of Canterlot beyond the nearby class buildings. “She's pretty much sitting at the right hoof of Princess Celestia's throne!” “She is not!” “Have you ever been to the throne room?” “She's the Princess' magical apprentice, not a royal advisor!” I dig into the salad, bite a few leafy morsels, swallow, and say, “And it's not like she's forgotten us or anything. She sends us letters every month. We were her best friends, after all.” “Lyra, we were her only friends,” Moondancer exclaims, droning. She plays with the straps of her saddlebag as a dull expression crosses her face. “I always bugged her to get out more, but she wouldn't have any of it. I swear, she was far more interested in collecting books than making a social network.” “To each their own. Twilight has her studies, you have your parties, and I have my music.” “Yup. Your boring, repetitive, dull-flank music.” “Hey!” I protest through a muffled mouth full of salad. She giggles evilly. “I kid, girl, I kid.” With a sigh, however, she murmurs, “Still, I suppose we were really lucky to have lasted as long as we did.” I pick at a few lasting bits of green. “How do you mean?” “Well, you remember our little get-togethers and all,” Moondancer says. “She and I made lousy princesses; we were practically at each other's throats.” “So? Foals are little demons sometimes.” “That excuse might work for me, but for Twilight?” Moondancer glances up at me. “Face it, Lyra. We were polar opposites waiting to explode at any moment. You were the glue that held us together. If it weren't for you, Twilight would just have been an annoying egghead next door instead of the amazing unicorn she is to this day.” “I only did whatever it took to make you two happy.” I smile her way. “I loved having you both around. It's as simple as that, isn't it?” “I don't think you get it, Lyra.” Moondancer sits up straight. Her face is serious for once, and that's what startles me. “There's something about you, something nice and wholesome and peaceful. You're not full of hot air. I think deep down beneath that clumsy exterior of yours, there's a unicorn that really wants everypony to be happy.” “Awwww...” I grin, blushing slightly. “You're freaky when you try to be sappy.” “No, I mean it,” she says with a soft smile. “You were always there for me when I needed it. I'm not sure if I ever thanked you, but I guess that's because I never really could. You went above and beyond to make me and Twilight happy and... and...” “Yes...?” She shrugs. “I dunno. I guess I just think music really isn't your thing, especially when you go into all of those boring, stiff-laced study courses and what not.” I roll my eyes. “Tell me something I don't know, Moondancer.” She rises to the challenge. “Well, alright.” She looks me in the eyes. “I believe you're destined for great things, Lyra Heartstrings.” I take a deep breath, unsure as what to say. So I allow the first impulsive words to come from my mouth. “Well, if the great Moondancer can humble herself enough to say that, then just maybe I am cut out to make epic stuff happen.” She giggles. I chuckle and drop the fork into my bowl. The ringing sound it makes is long and pronounced. Moondancer ignores it, still giggling. I stare at the bowl, my ears pricking towards the vibrating sound. The pitch changes, hauntingly matching a series of chords that are blossoming in the back of my young mind. “'Twilight's Requiem,'” I murmured. The onyx strings to the Nightbringer vibrated to a stop, but I could hardly hear them at this point. As a matter of fact, I couldn't hear anything. The night sky above Ponyville was swirling with lightning and madness as Princess Luna levitated above the crowd of costumed ponies, shouting at the top of her royal lungs. “Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her,” she roared into the twirling vortex of clouds and wind. “And dishonor her with this insulting celebration...” Her eyes glowed as she reached a fever pitch. “We decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!” Her monumental exclamation was punctuated by an array of lightning. I spotted her soaring off towards the edge of town, towards Everfree. “No!” I shrieked, and I was startled by how pronounced the echo of my voice was. I glanced around me and noticed that everypony was milling about, their shoulders hunched over in a depressed slump. The wind had been sucked out of their sails. This evening had obviously meant something else to them. “No more Nightmare Night,” a teenage colt stammered. “That's... That's crazy,” A filly said next to him. “Shoot. We had everything goin' our way,” Applejack stated next to a delapidated tent full of candy wares. “Luna was happy; everypony in town was happy. Now look at them...” I heard a little filly sobbing. I glanced across the dismantled marketplace to see several parents trying to console their foals. Ponies began stripping off their costumes as they slowly trudged home with dejected looks on their faces. I don't know why I felt for them in the middle of my own personal peril, but I did. As Twilight and Applejack continued talking to one another, I caught wind of the clown-faced Mayor talking to Zecora. “This is such a catastrophe! Perhaps if Princess Luna had announced her arrival, then the awkwardness of this event would have been avoided!” “Surely she must know that we meant no insult,” Zecora murmured. “The ponies were merely frightened by her voluminous tumult.” “I'm tempted to go and have a word with her, but I don't know what it would accomplish!” the Mayor exclaimed. “Her Majesty seems to have made up her mind.” “I think that such an endeavor would be for not. Luna must now be halfway to Canterlot.” “Most likely not,” the Mayor said. “Several ponies told me that her sarosian guards have established a camp on the northeast side of town. I think the Princess is here to stay for a little while...” I gasped. “You mean she's pitched a tent here?! Right in Ponyville?!” The clown and the zebra spun to look at me. They were startled to see a mint green mummy standing within a breath's length of their conversation. I hadn't realized how close I had gotten to them either. “Erm...” I blushed slightly and backtrotted. “Northeast side of town. Got it. Thanks.” Zecora blinked and aimed her blue eyes at the mayor. “To this day I am still startled by every sound that there is to be heard from this village's background.” “You and me both, Miss Zecora.” Their voices faded, for I had turned to gallop out of the downtown square. My teeth chattered in the biting winds of autumn night, and I felt the velvet satchel dangling from my bandaged side as I sped towards the open park beyond the buildings. Just as I threaded my way through a final alleyway, I saw the purple shapes of tents and a sarosian chariot situated beside them. I grinned wide amidst my exhausting run. This was it! The Princess had to be there, hiding away after the haphazard events of the festival. I didn't care if everypony's dreams for Nightmare Night had been ruined; if everything worked out, I would emerge on the other side of this evening as a living pony who could console them. I could share in their laughter, in their warmth, in their friendship. I could... “Celestia help us—Morning!” Ambrosia shouted. I gasped. I skidded to a stop beside Rumble and an unconscious stallion. A dilapidated hotel loomed before us. “Please, Miss!” Rumble pleaded. “You gotta help me move him!” “The song,” I whimpered to myself. I gazed every which way in a stupor. I saw the line of construction ponies gawking at me from a distance. Explosive wiring ran under my hooves and into the building. “I...” I seethed, shook. “I hadn't kept playing the Requiem!” I looked around feverishly in the daylight. There were no tents, no sign of sarosians. “Blast it, I don't want to be here...” “Aaah!” Rumble shrieked. Looking up, I understood why. The hotel was imploding, and a gigantic wall of rubble was falling our way, threatening to crush us and Morning Dew. With a heroic shout, I erected a green shield between us, holding the heavy debris at bay. It was the last thing I wanted to do. “My lyre...” I clenched my eyes shut and hissed into the cacophony of destruction. “Where is it? I have to... have to...” “What's the matter?! Too bashful?” sang an arrogant voice. I gasped and glanced up at the colorful stage. “H-huh?!” A silver-maned blue showmare grinned down at me. “I'd be quivering with humility and fear too if I were asked to perform on stage alongside the Great and Powerful Trixie!” A thick crowd of ponies chuckled all around me. “Think your musical talents are enough to overshadow the Great and Powerful Trixie's greatness?! Well hop on up here and show us all what you've got, minstrel!” “I... I don't have my lyre...” I hissed, sweating and shivering as I backtrotted. I bumped awkwardly into several pedestrians, fighting to thread my way through the cloud. “I was so stupid back then,” I whispered to myself. “I never brought my lyre out of the tent! What was I...?” “Look at her! At first I thought she was envious!” the showmare shouted pompously towards the crowd. “But now the Great and Powerful Trixie can see that she's just green. Green in the gills, that is!” I was surrounded by laughter and cackles. I clenched my teeth shut and galloped through the colorful bodies around me. “I just have to concentrate!” I cried as I made for the north of town. “The Requiem will come to me if I just think of what I have to do! If I just think of h-home...” I closed my eyes and whispered, “I wanna go home. I wanna go home. I wanna...” “Can't... nnngh... can't get home. What is... this path? A tent? Ungh...” A familiar, drawling voice mumbled a few paces away from where I squatted. “Dag blamed trophy is too darn heavy. If only... mmmff... it was m-made of feathers... eheh...” I blinked. I stood up from beside my tent and craned my neck. An orange farm filly was trudging around the bend. Heavy tracks led from the center of Ponyville, and several apples had fallen loosely by the dirt road's wayside. I saw Applejack trying desperately to balance two big baskets full of fruit on her flanks, and on top of the ridiculously stacked bounty there was a golden trophy further adding to the merciless weight. “Nnnngh... Gotta g-get home...” She looked exhausted. There were bags under her eyes, and her golden mane—normally gorgeous and well kempt—was a frazzled mess, bursting beyond the red ribbons that held it in place. “Big Mac and the family... n-need me...” Her legs wobbled. Her green eyes lowered, and for a moment I wasn't sure if she was going to collapse or fall asleep. It turned out that she did neither, for a soft green cushion of telekinesis propped her back up onto her hooves. “Looks like somepony has been working too hard,” I said with a soft smile. “Mmmmhmmm... erhm...” Her eyelids fluttered open. “Wh-what? Huh?” “What's the trophy for? Broke the Equestrian Insomniac Record?” “Mmmm-no... it's...” She yawned and teetered dizzily. “The prized pony pony pony award or... somethin'...” Her face drifted and her lips briefly curved in semi-conscious bliss. “Awful nice and shiny. Reckon the town was happy that I saved them from a bunch of stampedin' cows, but...” She yawned again, her freckles turning dull as her face stretched in a sleepy lurch. “I could really use more hours in the day for... f-for apple buckin'...” Her body lifted up in the air, as if on an invisible bed, and then lowered once more. She winced, not expecting the awkward sensation of lying on a moving body. “Hmmmf...” I'm sure that her eyes fluttered open, but I couldn't see at that moment. “What in t-tarnation...?” “Nothing to be worried about, Miss Applejack,” I said softly in spite of my strain. She was a well-built pony: athletic and muscular. However, with the right application of magical telekinesis, I was able to weather the weight of her over my back. In a solid trot, I carried her up the road and towards the glistening vista of Sweet Apple Acres. “I'm just doing something neighborly for you.” “Hnngh...” She hissed. “I dun need nopony's help! I... I...” Her protests fell short, being absorbed by an all-encompassing yawn. “I can get the apple harvest d-done all by myself...” “Oh, by all means!” I exclaimed with a light chuckle. The trophy levitated in front of us, reflecting her exhausted face as it rested against my cyan mane like a fluffy pillow. “I'm just making sure you get home so you can get to all that work, Miss Applejack.” “Hrmmmm... and my fruit?” I glanced back at the two baskets of apples left beside the abandoned barn. “I'll make sure they reach Sweet Apple Acres as well.” “Mmmm...” She murmured into my neck. “Dun be stealin' them or nothin'...” I chuckled. “I wouldn't think of it. Apples are in your blood. Robbing you of them would be like ripping the foundation out from underneath you.” “Mmmm... foundation...” Applejack's freckled face curved into a drunken smile. I saw the golden reflection in the trophy turning aside to stammer against the warm winds of summer. “Every good home needs one. Just like... Just like my Pa always t-taught me...” I smiled. “Well, he raised his daughter right...” “He... he s-sure did...” And her voice fell before the first of many neighing snores. I carried her down the sloping hill and towards her farm. I thought of foundations, of structure, of musical bars and arrangements. I hummed a simple tune, a mimic of something that had been stuck in my head, but slowed down to act as a soothing lullaby to the hard-working mare who was lying collapsed on top of me. “I call it the 'Sunset Bolero,'” I said, my voice sounding low and distant. The hotel lobby hung in a hush as I performed for the Princess of the Sun. “When I hear it, it sets my heart aflutter. It's like the song was written to make ponies feel alive.” I gulped and leaned forward. “How do you feel, your Majesty?” Princess Celestia was sitting on her immaculate haunches now. Her brow was furrowed in a perpetual state of intense contemplation. I wasn't even sure if she registered the question I had just asked. It worried me. I could see the reflection of a mint-green unicorn looking increasingly frazzled in her rosy eyes. “Your Highness?” I spoke over the lyre's strings. “Is... Is this tune at all familiar to you?” “You taught it to me before, Princess,” Twilight spoke up, looking worriedly at her catatonic mentor. “Do... Do you have anything to say on it?” Eventually, the majestic alicorn's lips moved. “There is a structure to this, something I had never sensed before. In this order, with this flow, I feel a foundation...” She gulped hard. “My little pony, how did you come upon this?” “It showed up in my head,” I said. “The same day that a curse befell me.” “What kind of a curse?” Twilight asked. “A curse that will make each and every one of you forget me if I spend too much time trying to explain it! Please, your Majesty!” I leaned forward, close to tears. “You must hear the third elegy. Then maybe you can explain this all to me. There is a purpose to this. There is a purpose to everything. We are all on this world for a reason, and I need to discover mine so that I can be free from... free from...” The Princess' face was grimacing, stretched from an unnamed pain, as if she was giving birth to something. Twilight was immediately beside herself in concern. “Your Majesty! What's wrong?” “The song...” Celestia began whimpering, almost like a foal. Her rosy eyes flickered a color I hadn't seen before. “Her song...” she stammered. “Huh?” Twilight exclaimed, breathless and confused. I looked at Twilight. I thought of effluent shades of purple. I thought of stardust and desolation and the universe. Before I knew it, the golden strings of the lyre had switched places, and I was playing something else altogether. By the time the Requiem had ended, the hotel dissolved, and I was standing on a hilltop overlooking a cluster of sarosian tents. Two pegasi with leafy ears were trotting past the chariot, talking with one another. Gasping, I ducked behind a series of crates labeled with the royal crest of Canterlot. I shivered and clung to the Nightbringer as the guards marched within just a few feet of me. “What is Her Majesty up to now?” “It would seem that she's given into the festivities finally.” Both turned and looked towards the torchlit downtown of Ponyville beyond the dirt path. “It is very nice to see Her Highness enjoying herself alongside the civilians.” “Did it really need to involve so many screaming children?” “You're like the Princess, brother,” the other said, his fangs showing in the glistening moonlight. “You don’t get out much. If you did, maybe you'd realize that some ponies enjoy being frightened.” “I've endeavored all my life to keep fellow equines from experiencing terror at the sight of me.” “That is the wonderful thing about being alive in this age. The Princess has a new chance to make things right with the ponies of the day, and so do we.” He gestured towards the tents. “Come, we must prepare things for when Her Majesty decides to retire.” “I'll keep first watch, brother, if you'll check the outer perimeter.” “Done.” Both took wing, circling opposite ends of the tent. I pressed myself flatly against the body of the wooden crates. Taking several deep breaths, I cast an excited glance towards Ponyville. How long had I been out this time? Somehow, it no longer mattered. “So she came around,” I stammered, smiling. “That's fine. She'll come here eventually.” I gulped and hugged the Nightbringer close. I didn't dare play, for fear of the night guard hearing me. So I hummed the tune lightly to myself, and in between the breaths I murmured aloud, “She'll come here, and I will meet her.” I gulped. “But how do I avoid repeating what happened with Celestia? How do I make sure she only sends me away, and not the entire Ponyvillean landscape? How...” “That's what I keep asking myself!” Rarity exclaimed, rolling her eyes as she trotted around a frilly red dress situated on a ponyquin in the center of her boutique. “How could I have expected this to blow up in my face?! I mean, it certainly didn't blow up in Fluttershy's face! After all, she's currently enjoying her chance to shine across all Equestria! As well she should, of course! I just never thought that her soft and demure ways would—nnnghh—steal the eye of Photo Finish!” “Half the time, I don't think ponies steal greatness,” I said with a soft, sympathetic smile. “As much as I believe greatness is thrust upon us unexpectedly.” “Oh, and how I wouldn't mind greatness being thrust upon me, again and again, to the breaking point!” Rarity exclaimed. Her elegant eyes crossed, and she pulled her needle and thread so hard that it snapped. “Whoops...” Her snow white cheeks blushed furiously. “I do suppose that last part sounded most uncouth...” I giggled and smiled. “It's alright, Rarity. I understood you quite clearly.” “I know that you're a stranger around these parts, Miss...” “Heartstrings.” “And I do thank you for letting me ramble on and on like an enraged war horse, but I don't know if you can truly understand!” She sat on a nearby cushion with a sigh, dangling the useless needle and thread in her pale hooves. “I don't want fame and fortune simply for the sake of having fame and fortune. I want to earn it. I want to make a name for myself. And, what's more, I want to get there by doing something that I love, something that I'm passionate about.” She gazed at me, her blue eyes soft and vulnerable. “Fashion is more than just the career I have chosen for myself, it is my essence. It is my very life blood.” “It's what keeps you going,” I said with a gentle nod. I took a few trots forward and sat in front of her. “It's what motivates you when everything else has been stripped from your life...” I gulped. “Including your friends.” She sniffled and gave me a bittersweet smile. “Exactly...” “I know that if I lose everything,” I said. “If all I care about is no longer attainable, I will still have an inner strength, a piece of myself that I will never let go of. For it defines me, and it drives me forward, even unto darkness.” I gazed out the sunlit window and smiled warmly. “My love of music. If I don't have that, I don't have anything. It's the essence of what I am. And it's what brought me to you today.” I turned towards her and smiled, my teeth showing. “Every pony's soul resonates with a different melody, and yours is absolutely addicting, though it could stand to be a bit less melancholic, I think.” She took a deep breath, fluffing her mane with a dainty hoof. “You know what? You're right! You're absolutely right!” She stood up proudly and smiled. “I shouldn't be envying Fluttershy's success! I should be celebrating it! She's my best and most dear friend, and if this is her moment to shine, then far be it from me to shun her!” She galloped across the boutique towards where a dazzling gown of royal reds and blues hung, waiting for the seamstress. “I shall attend her latest fashion show tonight and show her my support! And I will look most resplendent while doing so!” She bit her lip and blushed slightly. “Because there's... uhm... no harm in looking fabulous while applauding a friend, yes?” I chuckled, shutting my eyes and smiling. “There most certainly isn't, Miss Rarity. There most certainly isn't...” My eyes opened to a pale mist, and my heart stopped. The rusted length of an ancient platform stretched beneath me, marred by moaning, shackled souls. Beyond, the unsung realm billowed with undulating tendrils of water between bright flashes of lightning. High above it all, looming like a sentry, the throne of Princess Aria hovered. The cocentric spheres within spheres glittered in the twilight, echoing the thunder across the horrorscape with constant vigilance. I shuddered, feeling the damp lengths of my hoodie as they clung to my forelimbs. The Nightbringer hung in my magical grasp, and for all its splendor I knew that it could not help me now, if ever. Quietly, with a furrowed brow of confusion, I gazed up at Aria's lofty throne. “Is... Is this a memory?” I asked, my voice dry and lifeless. Gulping, I added, “Or is this right now?” The spheres within spheres drifted away, avoiding me as always. The mists shifted over the platform, pelting the undead ponies for eternity. Sniffling, I whispered gently into the distance between me and the Princess of Twilight. “Are we memories... or are we songs? Is everything we've ever done simply a piece to add to a lengthy chronicle that none of us will have a chance to write? Or are we the chorus that keeps on singing, exulting in life and all the surprises in between?” She said nothing. The universe stretched on for eternity, and for once it did not seem so lonesome, because I was the only pony who needed to hear what was being said. “You are an archivist, Aria,” I said, my expression sharp and rigid. “Why would you collect so many souls unless you knew there was something precious worth preserving?” I took a few shuffling steps forward. I had no chance in Tartarus of catching up to the spheres, but I didn't intend to. At least, not this way. “I wish to be preserved,” I murmured to the air. “I wish to have my life back. Luna can't help me with that, and perhaps you can't either,” I said. My eyes drifted towards the tempests and chaos beyond, threatening to consume me and everything in one fatal sweep. “Nopony can help me but myself. This is my song. I've heard its melody my entire life.” I gazed up at the heavens, this time frowning. “Who are you to take that from me?” Lightning and thunder bellowed, but I could hardly notice. Everything was a whisper compared to the booming voice coming out from between my ears. “Who are you?” I tilted my head back, hissing, sobbing and chuckling all at once. “Who am I?!” “A foalhood friend of mine, at least until last week,” Twilight said in a wilted voice. I tilted my head down and gazed across the table at her. “Oh?” I remarked in a warm, sympathetic breath. “What happened between you two?” Twilight fidgeted, her hoof stuck on an open page of a book she was barely paying attention to. The candlelight of Sugarcube Corner warmed us after the fall of evening. “It... It isn't worth hearing me ramble on about it,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “You're just visiting from out of town, Miss Heartstrings. You don't need to hear a humble librarian go on about her troubles.” “I'm not going anywhere,” I said, leaning forward with a soft smile. “Please, do continue.” She shrugged. “I guess Moondancer and I always had our differences. Still, we somehow managed to carry on with our relationship in spite of how many times we bumped heads. Looking back, it seems crazy that we didn't strangle each other. And just now, with this study project we had to work on...” Twilight winced visibly. I gazed down at the table, sighing through my nostrils. “It's... hard to preserve the most precious parts of ourselves, especially as we grow older. Things grow thin and become brittle. We can blame it on... things missing in our lives, but it's rarely that simple. We all stand to lose so much...” “But what of gaining things?” I looked up at her. She was smiling my way. “I was distraught about Moondancer at first. Heck, I was in tears for several nights in a row.” She brushed a hoof through her violet-streaked mane and glanced aside. “And that's when I found help. Rarity... Pinkie... Applejack and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash...” She sniffled once, but her lips were curving into a gentle smile. “They were there for me. They consoled me. That's when I realized that I had lost so much, but gained so much more. Life has a way of surprising you, of giving you things when you felt you didn't deserve them or could afford them...” “You're a scientist,” I said, squinting at her quizzically. “Don't you agree that things fade over time? Don't you know that it's the nature of all things to dissolve along the means of least resistance?” “Yes, I am a scientist,” Twilight said. “But... But I'm also alive...” She glanced at me. “And I feel, Miss Heartstrings. I feel with senses, some of which can be explained, but never resolved. After so many years, I realize that it takes more than experimentation to fix a hole in one's heart or patch up a wound that time has taken away and... and...” She shuddered, but her face became stone still as she bravely smiled in my direction. “I believe in friendship, Miss Heartstrings.” A tear rolled down her cheek, but her felicitous expression did not change. “I believe in friendship. It is the most powerful thing in the universe. It unifies while everything else destroys. It brings harmony to a discordant world. It gives us the warmth that we can enjoy until our time is up. Why else are we on this world than to make friendship together, in ways that only we can do in numbers? For so long, I lived alone in my studies and my thoughts, and I felt this great tug to my spirit.” She sniffled again and chuckled hoarsely. “I w-was waiting to be born, Miss Heartstrings. I think... no, I know that there are so many of us just waiting to be born, waiting to become alive. And it's my place in this world to reach out to ponies like that, to make new friends, to spread the warmth before it's too late.” I gazed at her, and for once I couldn't feel the frigid touch of my curse. I smiled into that toasty comfort and said, “If I had the time, Miss Sparkle, if I had all the resources and blessings of this world, I would write a symphony about that.” She didn't waste any time in replying, “Why don't you write it right now? Nothing's stopping you.” “Nothing's stopping me...” I repeated, muffled by the bandages as a dark shadow flew overhead. I looked up to see Princess Luna gliding down from the sky. The horizon to the east was glowing faintly; her sister's work was nearly at hoof. “Your majesty...” two sarosians bowed immediately upon her arrival. “At ease, my faithful subjects,” Luna spoke. For once, her voice was soft, restrained, and full of jubilation. Instead of shouting, she hummed and stood between the pair of guards standing before the entrance to her large, midnight blue tent. “This land is a peaceful land. I respect your fealty, but I do not desire nor need an exorbitant amount of vigilance this morning.” The guards exchanged glances. Their slitted, amber eyes tilted back towards the alicorn. “Would her Majesty desire to travel back to Canterlot Castle immediately?” “Nay,” she stated, marching solidly into her tent. “There are several more... festivities to be enjoyed here during the coming day.” “The day, your Majesty?” “Affirmative. Twilight Sparkle and her friends wish to show me the corner of sugars and cubes. It would be most rude of me to refuse their generosity. Unless there is a pressing emergency, we shall remain here in Ponyville for the next day at least.” “Understood, your Highness.” “Be sure to apply your protective armor, my subjects!” she exclaimed, pausing at the entrance. “Dawn approaches! I would hate to see the daylight singe your fine coats!” That uttered, she ducked finally into the tent. A few seconds after she was gone, the guards glanced at each other. They shared the briefest of warm smiles. Then, as commanded, they began equipping themselves with daylight armor. I watched them, shivering—only this time with anticipation. Princess Luna had returned. There were no frightened, stampeding ponies around to impede my approach. There were only two guards, and they were busy with altering the armor on their bodies to prepare for dawn's light. As eager as I was to make contact with the Princess, I wasn't foolish enough to think I had any hope of avoiding the two sarosians' sight, no matter how distracted they may have momentarily been. At the same time, I knew that there was no chance in Tartarus that they would just let me go in and speak to Luna. I had to use any available tools to my advantage, and perhaps—just maybe—I would succeed in winning her company. I opened the velvet satchel and tossed it to the ground beside the wooden crates. Levitating the Nightbringer in front of me, I took a brave breath and then took an even braver step out from hiding. I trotted towards the pair, approaching the tent with the golden instrument in my magical grasp. “Halt!” they immediately jerked away from whatever they were doing and glared at me. I saw sharp blades of cold steel extending from their armor's wing-guards. I'd read from Alabaster's journal about the traditional weapons being capable of slicing through dense oak. I shuddered to think what they could do to a petite unicorn's flesh. “Who goes there?!” “A partygoer?” the other guard exclaimed, his slitted eye studying my ropes of bandages from afar. “Last night's festivities are over, citizen! Go to your home to retire. The Princess will not be seeing anypony until well beyond daylight!” “You d-don't understand,” I murmured, holding the Nightbringer between us like a golden shield. “The Princess has been needing to s-see somepony her entire life. She just doesn't know it yet.” “What madness is this of which you speak?” one guard remarked. The other squinted at my glowing instrument. “What is that in your grasp? Stop this instant!” “Do not trot any further!” I froze in my tracks, but that wasn't all I did. I had my eyes shut as I performed a tune on the ancient lyre. “Please forgive me for what I am about to do. But I need to see the Princess. You don't understand the severity of this, and I can't blame you.” “Put the instrument down! What are you—?” The guard's exclamation ended with a gasp. “What in Tartarus name?!” “By the Matriarch!” the other's voice grunted. “I can't see!” I exhaled sharply and opened my eyes. Upon finishing the “Darkness Sonata,” their vision had been enchanted, but not mine. They were both blinded, flung into pitch-black confusion as they reeled from the loss of senses. “I'm sorry. It won't last long.” I trotted briskly towards the tent. “I just need you preoccupied while I go to speak with the Princess—” There was a high-pitched shriek, and both guards suddenly soared at me in formation. Gasping in utter surprise, I flung myself to the grass. They just barely skimmed over me, sailing instead into the side of the chariot and rocking it off its wheels. Panting, I glanced up at them. Sweat ran down my face in rapids as I scampered up to my hooves and tried galloping once more towards the tent. Another shriek: they twirled about and soared at my body again. I jumped back with a cry, barely dodging their heavy forms. A stack of wooden crates shattered beyond me, littering my body with splinters as the twin guards stood on the ground, tilting their necks in every direction. Standing and hyperventilating, I mentally slapped myself. “Of course! These are sarosians!” I spat into the ground, growling hoarsely. “They have powers of echolocation, you idiot! You desperate, pathetic idiot! “Cease this treachery at once!” one guard growled, craning his neck about blindly. “We need not harm you, pony!” “Surrender yourself and this will all be over!” the other shouted. I glanced at the tent flap, then at them. With telekinesis, I peeled half of the bandages off my body. Holding my breath in, I shifted my weight forward and explosively slapped my hoof against the ground. With a conjoined bat cry, both sarosians spun about and soared towards me like missiles. “Nnngh!” I flung the sea of bandages at them and dove out of the way. The air whistled from their slicing wings as they tore into the white ribbons. One flew to the ground, tangled with the mess, wrought with confusion. I didn't waste any time in admiring my meager victory. I broke into a full gallop, speeding towards the tent flap, anticipating Princess Luna's gorgeous face and midnight blue eyes. A heavy pair of hooves successfully tackled me from behind. “Unnngh!” I fell to the ground under the weight of one of the guards. “Nnngh—No!” I shrieked. “Do not move any further!” he hissed into my ear. His voice rang through his fangs as he pressed a sharp horseshoe threateningly against my writhing neck. “You have been warned!” “Have you restrained her, brother?!” the other cried, disentangling himself from the bandages. “Follow my voice! She's right here!” “Mmmmf—Gah!” I grunted under his weight. My eyes were tearing, darting every which way. I saw the Nightbringer lying in the grass just inches between me and the tent. Panting, I lifted it up with telekinesis and started strumming the strings. “I said stop!” the guard on top of me grunted. “I shall rid her of the instrument!” the other said, flying straight towards the sound of the elegy being played. “In the Princess' name—!” He reached for it just as his slitted eyes began to clear. In perfect timing, I finished performing “Prelude to Shadows.” The light on the east horizon intensified ten times the majesty of a normal sunrise. But I wasn't finished yet. Twisting my body around, I aimed my horn at the pair and—shouting—performed a light spell with my last ounce of my strength. The strobing beacon that was produced blinded me. However, it undoubtedly had to have done worse to them. As the hot white flash bathed us, I was rewarded with the sound of the sarosians' unintelligible shrieks. The one guard jumped off of me, colliding haphazardly against his companion. Both reeled from the magical beam, their hoofsteps scraping loudly through the dirt until they became blissfully distant vibrations. “Aaaugh! Sorcery!” “Brother, can you hear her?! Where has she gone?!” “Burning... so hot... c-can't... can't feel...” I had very little time to sympathize with them. I was bounding up to my hooves, hyperventilating. I felt the rest of the bandages peeling off of me as I ran towards what I prayed was the direction of the tent. My rear legs tripped over several dangling strips of the costume. Yelping, I fell forward, only to plow into a quivering length of tent canvas. I gasped, feeling my way through the blinding light as I found the entrance. Rushing in, I whimpered and pleaded. “Princess!” I gasped, I shrieked. “Princess... what... what is wrong?!” “Mother...” Celestia murmured. Tears were pouring down her face as her eyes shrank under a wave of pure horror. “Oh blessed Mother, wh-what have we done?” “Princess?!” Twilight exclaimed, her face pale with shock. The ponies within the hotel lobby were trembling and murmuring in alarm. The celestial guards marched up, reaching towards the alicorn with looks of worry on their faces. Twilight glanced my way, her lips quivering. “What h-have you done?!” “I-I don't understand!” I cried, clutching my lyre to my chest. I was barely halfway through 'The March of Tides' when a noticeable reaction ran through the Sun Goddess' majestic form. She had begun trembling like a child, and even the glitter from her pastel mane had faded immensely. The walls bent with the shadows, as if the hotel was caving in all around us. I became aware of a deep bass rumble, like a giant wave of earth was rolling our way from a great distance. “I just wanted her to help me identify the music! I don't know why she's... why she's...” The room shook. Dust and sediment fell from the ceiling. The Mayor wobbled on her hooves, gulping and asking everypony to remain calm. It was too late; half the ponies were stampeding out of the lobby, the other half were clamoring around the Princess, begging for an explanation, for help, for deliverance from something so terrible that it couldn't deserve a name. “Sister...” Celestia murmured. “My dear sister, what happened to you...?” “Luna?!” Twilight exclaimed. She gulped dryly, her eyes tearful with concern. “But she's fine, Your Highness! The Elements of Harmony got rid of Nightmare Moon...” “No...” Celestia slowly shook her head, choking on a sob from a tragedy older than time. “There is no restoration. There is only imprisonment, a damnable sequestering.” She hissed through clenched teeth and stammered, “Mother, you were the one who was too afraid. We should have helped her. Didn't we love her enough?” Lowering her head, her mane went limp like a surrendering flag as she growled, “Now it is too late, and I'm the one who must protect this realm. Your sorrow is my sorrow. Forgive me...” “Your Highness!” the guards shouted. “There is a terrible earthquake!” “We must get you out of here!” “Princess!” Twilight shrieked, tugging in futility on the alicorn's gold-plated hooves. “Please! We must leave! You're scaring me! You're—” “I'm sorry,” she said. Her head tilted up, and I saw a pair of eyes flashing with violet fury. They appeared to be directed straight at my gasping soul. “But I must erase this. I must protect the song.” That said, her lips hung open, and a deep hum filled the room, like the mutual drone of chanting monks. One guard began flinching. He gasped and sputtered as his armor loosened from his body. The golden material levitated into the air, broke apart, and dissolved into a swarm of multicolored little insects. “What...?!” Twilight gasped. There was a shriek behind her. She spun around. The Mayor was scooting away from the podium in center stage. The wooden structure split about in midair, morphing into a chirping cloud of parasprites. Above us, the lights of the chandelier went out as the dangling instruments segmented into several winged creatures that proceeded to munch on every physical structure in sight. Soon, the entire lobby was buzzing with countless parasprites, twirling around the Princess in a frightful cyclone. “No!” I shouted, sobbing. “Th-this wasn’t supposed to happen!” I dodged a falling chunk of debris as infantile bugs flitted about overhead. “I only wanted to be freed! I don't understand! Why is—” “Sing her song!” Celestia shouted, her breath suddenly booming with twice as much volume as the royal Canterlot voice. “Sing her song and become...” She lurched. “S-sing her song and b-become...” She grimaced, fighting the holy song until the last second. Then finally, with a thrashing of her hooves, she produced a solid wave of telekinesis that blew every remaining pony out of the lobby and into the blinding daylight beyond. “No! Be gone! It is only you who shall remain nothing!” “Aaaugh!” Twilight shouted as I saw her being flung past me. Several guards flew after her. Finally, I too was swept off my hooves and thrown from the lobby of the hotel. The last thing I saw was Celestia's form—suddenly frail—as if she was buckling under the shadow of an alicorn ghost with her bony wings spread wide. And then the entire building exploded, sending parasprites and rubble flying all across Ponyville, along with my hopes and dreams, along with my memories. All that remained was the song, repeating over and over in my head as I lay on the ground, trembling. I choked several times on a sob that refused to leave me. I tried to remember the melody beneath it all, the essence of myself that kept going. However, it was her voice that woke me from my fitful spasms. “What is the meaning of this sudden intrusion?!” Gasping, I flung my eyes open wide. I was no longer blinded. The bright light of my magic spell had gone, along with all the trailing effects of the “Prelude to Shadows.” Trembling, I looked up. Luna's chiseled frown loomed above me. Between blinks, a silver helm solidified over her onyx features, and I felt the cold shivers redoubling. “Are you here for tricks or candy? I'm sorry, my little pony, but the celebration of Nightmare Night is over now. I seek seclusion in this morning hour...” “Your... Y-Your Majesty,” I stammered. On wobbly legs, I stood up before her. “I... I-I'm so sorry, but I need to speak to you—” “My guards,” she murmured, her midnight blue eyes wandering towards the exit of her tent. “All that noise and shrieking just now...” Her gaze narrowed. A magical wind picked up in the center of the tent. Her mane billowed in a menacing fashion as she hissed down at me, “Were you responsible for their sudden disappearance?! If you have harmed a single ear on their crowns—” “You are waiting to hear a song!” I shouted violently, suddenly glaring at her. I raised the Nightbringer up so that it floated between us. “It's a song you've heard all your life. You didn't realize it at first, but you always knew this symphony, because that song is a part of you, Luna! It's a part of Celestia as well! And it's a part of the Matriarch!” Luna was about to retort, but a gasp escaped her lips. She leaned back from me—or, more accurately—from what hung in my grasp. “That...” Her eyes narrowed upon the Nightbringer. “I have seen...” A shiver ran through her elegant limbs, and a cold breath came out from her lips as the tone in her voice changed. “We hath seen this in our presence b-before...” I gulped. I thought of Alabaster, and how he was no longer around to save me from what was about to happen. “There is a melody, Your Majesty,” I said. “A melody that is a part of all of us. It is something we have heard since birth, defining our very nature.” I quivered before her like a frightened unicorn in the center of Ponyville. But unlike the victim on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration, I was leading the charge. “But one of us wasn't lucky enough to have heard that melody. You know of whom I speak, even though everything you've been made to believe tells you that she isn't real.” “We...” Luna's face stretched in pain. Sweat poured down her temples as her mane went limp. “We should n-not... be sp-speaking of... of...” “Of what?” I stared firmly at her, my jaw clenched. “What is missing from your life that you must patch it together with such speech?” I took a brave step towards her, levitating the Nightbringer along with me. “You weren't born yet when she was hidden away, Luna. The song had yet to produce you. When you discovered what was missing from your life, you reacted in confusion and fright. Nightmare Moon was a fluke, a product of misunderstanding. And that's because nopony ever had the grace to let you remember, gently and affirmatively, that which has always been a part of you, that which you have been robbed of.” I breathed deeply and said, “But you can win her back. You can rediscover your music.” “What hath thou brought t-to us?!” Luna wheezed, hyperventilating. “This... This is some sort of trick of thine?” “Not a trick,” I whispered. “A reunion.” Luna growled. “We hath no time for thy ridiculous speeches concerning—” “Aria,” I said. She gasped sharply, the breath stolen from her quivering lungs. “Princess Aria,” I repeated, accompanied by a gentle plucking of strings as I began performing “Twilight's Requiem” in her presence. “It is the reason for why you weep at night, and not over guilt or regret concerning the last thousand years. That thing that's been missing from your life, Your Majesty? It's more than a song, more than a feeling. It's your sister, the Goddess of Twilight, the missing bridge between the sun and the moon!” “Aria...” she murmured, a single tear rolling down from her wide eyes. The wind was kicking up heavily now, threatening to rip the tent up from its pegs. “And you must provide me that bridge, Luna!” I shouted. “She has a song for you to sing! And you must sing it! We must all sing it!” I roared into the rising tumult as I stood firmly behind the shield of the Nightbringer. “F-for we are all in this world for a reason! It's to come together, not to draw apart!” “Our beloved sister,” Luna wept, her eyes glowing a bright violet. She fell back on her haunches as rips and tears formed in the midnight blue canvas rippling about us. “We... W-We must protect... must pr-protect...” I gasped. I thought of parasprites, of Celestia's shouting voice, of a wing of Canterlot Castle exploding from a sarosian bomb. “No!” I shouted. “You will sing her song and make me nothing!” Luna twitched, facing me with glowing eyes. “Make me nothing!” I shouted. “For I am nothing!” Shreds of tent canvas and clumps of dirt flew into my face. I tilted against the wind, gritting my teeth, putting every effort into finishing the Requiem for Luna's twitching ears to hear. “Send me to her! One melody must find another for a duet to happen!” “We... We must...” Luna winced, hissed, and then growled in an affirmative tone. “I must cherish her...” “Sing it!” I bellowed into the bedlam. And she did, opening her mouth wide, issuing forth a cannonblast of holy noise in my direction. I saw constellations forming around her, each reflecting the pale perfection of the moon. The column of disrupted air spiraled between us. As I was swept off my hooves, I heard the foundations of the firmaments being torn asunder. It sounded like a sob, the Matriarch's weeping voice, and then it was silent once again as I was propelled beyond sound and light and matter, funneled down a bar of notes that were written before the dawn of Creation. I dragged the Nightbringer with me, flowing down the kaleidoscopic niche between dimensions. Beyond my flailing hooves, I saw the lightning and madness of the unsung realm lingering through the portal. Only, I was sailing beyond the platforms, flying past the moaning souls anchored to the hellscape below. The throne of Princess Aria appeared before me. The spheres aligned, and a doorway opened. I flew through it along the breath of her sister, ripped free of my screams, entering a domain where not even memories had any substance. Regardless, I bravely thought of many things, of Morning Dew's ocean-blue eyes, of Mom and Dad leaning over me on Hearth's Warming Eve, of Twilight's smile and Moondancer's laughter. And then I thought of nothing, for all was darkness. Background Pony XVIII - “Crescendo” by shortskirtsandexplosions Special thanks to: theworstwriter, Warden, RazgrizS57, theBrianJ,Props, and basking sharks Cover pic by Spotlight