The Minstrel's Coda
Chapter 1: Music at Dawn
It feels like just yesterday where I freed my new friend Meadow Song from Discord's control, but that was understandable as it only happened but a few weeks ago, but I couldn't get the thought out of my mind over the fact that he was the Missing Bard from Midgard who was thought dead for centuries, but instead he appeared here just as I did, under almost the exact same circumstances. Just in the course of a few days, my friends, the Elements of Harmony and myself, changed the history of Midgard, unfortunately the brilliant discovery of misinformation would never return to my home world, but our discovery laid secret with us, here in Equestria.
However with this discovery and what resulted from Meadow Song's freeing, raised many alarms of this villain by the name of "Discord", who I have never personally confronted, but have heard many stories of his wickedness. Apparently his ability to directly control another pony's mind raised many concerns, that perhaps his prison was not entirely secure and especially that he still was a possible threat to Equestria even in his so called 'stasis.' Even though these threats were very real, the princesses have dispatched a small team of royal guards, whom of which are the most talented in resisting magical influences upon themselves, to guard the statue and keep the other ponies away. So hopefully based on the stories I had heard of, he stays imprisoned, and that the precautions being taken was enough.
But these thoughts of what recently transpired weren't the only things I had on my mind lately. Everyone dreams, I was no exception to this rule and I used to dream regularly prior to my arrival in Equestria. But ever since I became a pony I found it extremely odd, that I normally didn't dream or if I did dream, I didn't remember them, until my first encounter with Meadow Song. My first dream I had was regarding Queen Xellie being on the moon and her having one of those despised copies of the Heart of Ymir, but my dreams quickly shifted. Especially as the thoughts of Meadow Song clouded my mind, almost becoming obsessed with his past and the connection to the Missing Bard. I would have never solved the mystery of the Missing Bard, had it not been of my dreams reminding me of key moments in my past, almost handing me the solution on a silver platter.
As the mystery came to a close and Meadow Song was set free to redeem himself. My dreams shifted back to my first dream I had ever had, but as the nights pressed on, the dream slowly began to change, adding more detail every night, and becoming more vivid until the same images persisted and it finally became stagnant. Every single night, this dream had persisted, and each night, I awoke from it in a cold sweat and worried, as if I had just had a nightmare.
Tonight was no exception of what had persisted for these past few weeks. No matter what I did, I could not clear my mind of this dream that had started plaguing me in my sleep. Meditation, not eating right before bed, relaxing my tensions, or even just taking sporadic naps versus full on sleep, all ineffective, the dreams would always return even if it was in pieces. If I could not remove the dream from my mind, at least be able to calm my mind directly after such a traumatic ordeal with the one thing that would always help sooth any soul, music.
So I found self laying in bed next to Twilight as she slept soundly, softly sawing some logs in her rest. I leaned over on the bed lightly and kissed her forehead.
"Sleep well my love." I muttered lightly only to see her slowly squirm lightly and show a small grin, which interrupted her light snoring for but a moment and it returned shortly after. "You're so adorable." I muttered again to smile to her subconscious reaction.
I slowly maneuvered myself out of bed trying to avoid any major movement to keep from waking my Twilight. Bringing the cover off myself as I reached the edge of the bed. I brought myself carefully so that I sat up on the bed, bringing my hind legs out so my hooves touched the ground. Finally I brought my torso forward, bringing my front legs forward as well, and I leaned in slowly bringing my last set of hooves on the ground until I was on all fours.
I noticed my electric guitar leaning up against the bookcase that adorned the picture of Twilight and myself at the Day of the Musician Festival. I trotted over lightly to the bookcase, reached for my guitar with a firm grasp of my hoof and with one swift motion, swung it over onto my back with the help of the strap that Vinyl had given me weeks prior. "Thanks Vinyl, if it wasn't for you, I would never be able to lug this thing around." I muttered lightly to myself. as I began to head over to the door that lead to the outdoor balcony.
"I owe really do owe a lot to many ponies who have helped me, in more ways that they ever will know. Perhaps its time... I know I shouldn't keep secrets any longer. Especially with those who did so much for me and also had a role in saving Equestria even if indirectly." I said lightly to myself as I reached the door and opened it. Pondering what I had just stated, I came to the realization that almost every pony I had come in contact with had almost pivotal role in the defense of Equestria. Even the one by the name of Lyra Heartstrings, if not for her, even though her role was simple, I would have never wanted to run away from her and then to have stumbled into Sweet Apple Acres to meet Applejack for the first time. "I'll talk to Twilight about meeting with Mayor Mare and making an announcement and make it official, I'm tired of hiding, and I think they should all know."
As I made my way outside, and closing the door behind me, I felt the cool morning breeze through my mane, it almost felt intoxicating. I slowly sat down on the balcony and with a simple motion I brought my guitar forward so that it rested in my lap. Bringing my front hooves forward, and placing them appropriately on my guitar, my right hoof on the base, and the left hoof on the neck, I paused to look at the morning sky, still dark out, but seeing the suns glow slowly radiating from the mountings to the west. Causing a mixture of dark, and red to form a subtle dawn, but the sun had not risen yet.
I took a deep breath as began to witness the beginning of the Equestrian Dawn. Such a sight was always beautiful regardless of what world I had seen it on, each new sun rise was special and unique and never the same, but today's dawn was special, it marked to the day, the seven months that had pasted since I had arrived in Equestria. I slowly began to strum my guitar, forming chords of such a relaxing melody similar to the Rift.
"To all my friends, old and new. I must say, I thank all of you. From my old world, those to I have lost, and to those I kept at a great cost. You will always have a place in my soul, for aiding me and teaching me with your roles. To all my new friends here, to those far away and those close and near. You taught me to open my heart, and take the chance with a new start. You taught me to trust and to love once again, and taught me to let go of the pain. You have all shown me that no matter what you've done and what you've suffered. That you will be there for me." I sang lightly, as I strummed my melody, with light tears rolling down my face.
I sat my guitar down on the ground, and I began crying immensely, closing my eyes, placing my front hooves toward my face as if to hid my face from the world. "I have so much to thank everyone for... and I wish I could give more. I'm just glad that what I've done here... I will always have my friends, and that I will never be forgotten in their eyes. Because I will never forget... them." I said to myself still crying, I slowly brought my hooves away from my face and I felt a small amount of radiant heat hitting my face. As I opened my eyes slowly to see the sun rising over the western mountains, the red and yellow hues slowly breaking the night sky. To come to the sudden realization, this had been my first Equestrian dawn I had ever seen since I had arrived.
"It's so beautiful... A new day..." I muttered to myself with a small smile on my face after witnessing the dawn, only to suddenly have a sense of exhaustion over take me and I yawned heavily... "So tired... maybe... I can try to go back to bed maybe I can..." I slowly stated with my eyes closing. "Maybe just a few minutes..."
I felt my mind slowly go blank for a few moments, but shortly the images of the recurring dream had popped into my head. Specifically the dropping of the copy of the Heart of Ymir. I quickly jerked up from my current state and became fully awake, opening my eyes to see that the sun had risen completely with the morning sky filled with the most luxurious shade of blue, and bring out the clouds in the sky that had been hidden in the night sky. I slowly took a deep breath as I took in this wonderful sight, trying to distract myself from the small dream I had just had, but it was in vain.
"Ugh... why won't this dream stop... Why am I dreaming again all of a sudden these past few weeks after having months of nothing... I know my earlier dreams helped me figure out about Meadow Song... but... what is this one about... maybe I'm just paranoid... but what if I'm not... what if my dream is trying to tell me something..." I muttered to myself as my obsession began to take over, just as it had with Meadow Song.
End of Chapter 1.