“Princess? What’s going on here? Who... what are these guys?” Rainbow asked, her confusion only growing as she looked upon the odd gathering.
After a moment of tense silence the being before her dropped to a knee and came to eye level with her. “I recognise you.” he said in an oddly melodious voice. “You are the one who has kept my brother’s company in his time here. I would thank you for this kindness you’ve done him as well as me. I would also ask that you keep this course, Melkor needs friends now more than ever.”
His peace said, Manwë rose and he and Varda took their leave, returning to the forms of ponies before they passed the throne room’s threshold. Staring after them but a moment, Rainbow turned her attention to the one remaining foreign figure in the room; that of the armor clad giant still straining against the chains that bound him. She trotted hesitantly over to the prone Vala and stared up into his face in wonder and confusion, as even on his knees he eclipsed Rainbow in stature.
“Shady?” she asked uncertainly.
An explosive, exasperated sigh suddenly issued from the direction of Princess Celestia, drawing Rainbow’s attention.
“Well, that escalated quickly.” she wearily remarked. “Luna, Night Court will begin soon, I will-”
“I believe it would be better if I were to handle these matters.” Luna interjected. “I would ask you to do me the kindness of overseeing my duties this eve so I might tend to our brother’s precarious situation.”
After a moment of thoughtfulness Celestia nodded. “If that’s what you want. I’ll take over your duties for the night, then.”
“My thanks, sister. Rainbow, Melkor, we have much to discuss.” she said, her horn catching alight with magic. Before either of them could interject she cast her spell and the trio vanished from the throne room, reappearing the same instant in Luna’s private chambers high in the palace’s towers.
“This is going to take a while, I think I’ll take a page out of my sister’s book and acquire a little something for the headache this situation is going to inevitably cause.” she said making for the door. “Please do not leave this room, I’ll be back in short order and then we’ll begin.”
Rainbow and Morgoth silently watched as Luna trotted from the room, an odd look upon her face as she cast a sidelong glance at them before leaving the room.
Soon a pregnant silence filled the room, a one-sided awkwardness in the air. Rainbow tried her hardest to not stare at the imposing figure of her companion, but found it difficult and often had to turn away when she caught herself looking from the corner of her eye. Morgoth for his part seemed to care little for his company, appearing content to sit and ponder some matter unknown to her. If she had to guess, though, Rainbow would have assumed his thoughts were on some part of the disastrous meeting with his brother she’d just overheard.
After what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, Rainbow had passed the limits of her admittedly lacking patience and turned to the armored giant, eager for answers.
“Alright, I know the princess is gonna come back and explain everything, but I think I’d prefer to hear it from you, Shady. Or Melkor. Or Morgoth. Or... whatever your name is. What’s going on here? What... are you?”
At the sound of her voice his eyes fixated on her in what seemed like surprise as though he had only just noticed her presence. Slowly his previously tense and furious bearing shifted, and what sounded to be a sigh issued from him as he seemed to deflate. The chains binding him once more became ethereal and then vanished altogether, releasing him from their grip.
“Though thou knowest me by a different name, I am named Melkor by my father. He who arises in might.” he said at last.
“Okay, that’s a start. Now what are you?”
“I am first in power and age amongst the Ainur, and even to Valar like your princesses am I the greater.”
“Alright, great. Now what does any of that mean?”
Morgoth gave a sigh of irritation, despairing at Rainbow’s ignorance. “I am the first born of Eru Ilúvatar.”
“Who?”
“I am aware from our time spent together that matters of the mind are not thy greatest strength, such dost thou forsake in preference to those of physical challenges, but dost thou truly mean to say thou art not possessed of any knowledge of the Allfather?”
Rainbow sighed herself, now, covering her face with a hoof. “Work with me here, Shady. I’m a simple and awesome pony that leads a simple and awesome life. I came here to help out a friend who was having a bad time and walked in on three weird creatures yelling at each other in the princesses’ throne room. Talk to me like I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Thou sayest such as though it were not how I would normally speak to thee.” he remarked, earning a groan from Rainbow. Nevertheless he continued. “In the beginning there was Eru, and it is from his thought that Ea, all that is, is come. But before Ea there were the Ainur, of whom I am chief in might and age, and we were the children of his thought, and we sang a song to bring a world into being.”
“Wait, wait, wait, hold on here. Let me see if I’m hearing this right. So you’re the first born son of a god? And you created the world?” Rainbow asked incredulously. “Now I know I may exaggerate a teeny tiny little bit when I talk about myself, but really? That doesn’t sound the littlest bit unbelievable to you?”
“I shall say this once and once only, Rainbow. I feel no need to offer proof more than what thou hast had privy. If all thou hast seen hast not convinced thee I shall not try more, for the belief of a single being is of no consequence to me, for whether thou wouldst believe or not I am still who I say.”
Rainbow held up her hooves in a placating gesture. “Alright, alright, calm down. Fine, let’s say I believe you, what’s the son of a god doing running around as a pony? Don’t you have anything better to be doing?”
“Did I not say I was here against my will and it is a banishment I suffer?” Morgoth reminded her.
“But if you’re the strongest person... well in the entire universe, who could possibly have the power to banish you?”
“While I may be mighty my allies were of lesser number than those of my brother. Had he been without that damnable rabble he would have stood no chance against me. Few were my allies, Rainbow, and vast were the enemies raised against me. There were few of might that would join with me, my only allies among the Ainur of any worth being Mairon and the seven Valaraukar. The Valar themselves were fourteen, already dwarfing our own number, and their lesser Maiar were legion.”
“So you, your friend, and seven other guys thought you could take on the entire world?” Rainbow asked incredulously.
“Thou wouldst not think it so trivial a thought if thou had been witness to our might. Mairon was a mighty sorcerer and each of the Valaraukar was as an army unto itself.”
Rainbow shook her head. “So... this Arda place you’ve been talking about, that’s not just another land, but a whole other world?”
“The first world. I do not know when this world was wrought as I have been upon Arda since its conception and saw nothing beyond it.”
“This is crazy. This is all completely crazy. And that’s coming from me! I deal with crazy stuff all the time!” Rainbow could only sigh as she thought over everything the Vala had revealed to her. Even for someone who had gone through everything she had she still found the whole situation difficult to accept. “So I remember you kept going on about how nobody appreciated your work, what exactly does that mean? What’d you do that made everyone so mad?”
“It was back before Arda was made, when all that existed was the Void and the Ainur who walked about its halls and sang for many ages. Eru gathered us about his great throne and proposed to us a great theme; he bade us sing to him that from our song he might create the Kingdom of Arda, though we knew it not at the time.
“And so we sang him our songs, but I did not sing as they, though there were a few who attuned their music to my own and it became as a war of our songs. Then from the differing musics arose the Discord where before there was only harmony and which they thought to be a blight upon the world.” he explained.
“Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Are you telling me you created chaos?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.
“All things began with Eru, as did such things as chaos and harmony. But it was the Ainur who sang of them, it was we who gave them voice. But though it was from another mind that these concepts were born, it is by my hand that they are given shape.”
“Wait, so the original plan was for the Ainur to make everything perfect?” Rainbow asked.
“Those were their designs, aye.”
“And they would have done exactly that if you hadn’t gone off and done your own thing?”
“Aye, without the addition of my own song the world would have been very different indeed.”
“Alright.” Rainbow started, running a hoof through her mane in frustration. “So to summarize this, you’re pretty much responsible for every evil thing that’s ever happened, because without you there would have only been good. Am I way off here?”
“Thy deductive reasoning would put Twilight Sparkle to shame.”
“Gonna take that as a yes.” Rainbow said, ignoring the jab. “Now this leads me to my next question: What could have possibly made you think that doing any of that was a good idea?”
There was a smouldering fury in the Vala’s eyes as Rainbow voiced her question. “Eru said to me that that which I would call my own was naught but an echo of his own thoughts, that all I did merely redounded to his own glory, yet he put the themes to no other, spoke not a word of them, it was I alone that perceived these ideas. While they sang I thought, while they blindly followed I sought my own path. And from my contemplation came ideas that, while they may truly not be my own, were secret to all others, even to Manwë who it is said knows most of our father’s thoughts. Yet of these things he could not conceive, could never guess.
“And then when Eru made our music manifest and brought Ea into existence he did so with my lyrics coloring it, nor did he make any move to stop me as we sang. Prideful I may be, but I am not so foolish to think it was not within his power to have silenced me, or to even call for a new song to be sung without my involvement. While he chastised and condemned it, he also allowed it to happen and that can only mean that I was right to do as I did, that it was our father’s will for these things to be made manifest, that only I was capable of completing his vision of Arda.”
“How does creating evil make anything better?” Rainbow demanded. “I mean, I may not be as smart as Twilight, but even I can see that there’s something a little wrong with that kinda thinking.”
“What couldst thou know of true joy without knowing of suffering or loss?” he questioned her. “Thy love of life would be diminished without evil, all that thou possessed taken for granted if it could not all be taken away. It was my own work that allowed theirs to truly shine.”
“Okay, help me out here then. Why are you mad at any of them if you were just helping them out in the first place?”
“Because I was played for a fool,” he rumbled dangerously. “Little Luna opened my eyes to what I have long suspected. Eru intended for me to create evil. I was made in Eru’s image, I am made the mightiest of all my kin, and deep within my secret thought I desire above all to be a creator as my father and to shape works of originality that no other can claim. He knew this and so did not propose the theme of evil to me, but rather knew that my desire to walk my own path would lead me to discover it eventually.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense! If he really wanted evil in the first place he could have told everyone else about it, I’m sure they would have understood.” Rainbow argued.
“Oh aye, they would have understood. But he would not let them be corrupted, it was his design that only I would fall through this darkness whilst the others remained pure of purpose. That is why I am as I am, it was my doom to be hated and reviled. I am mighty so that it is within my means to oppose the Valar and bring about what he wanted of me, that I might endure the hatred of an entire world,” he seethed. “I am only made strong to better bear the weight of their scorn.”
“No way.” Rainbow declared. “There’s no way he would do that to you, a father would never put their kid through that kind of ordeal.”
“Couldst thou truly argue against it?” he pressed. “Do the pieces not fit together perfectly? This was my destiny, Rainbow Dash. For all my desire, for all my longing and suffering I have been the master of nothing. All that I did was according to the will of another, I thought I cried out in defiance when I merely played my own part! I was once the master of fate, Rainbow, but it would seem I was never even the master of my own. And it is for this reason I hate them, why I will never forgive them.
“Always was I punished and always were they rewarded. Always was I made to suffer so that they might be made better. And now after so diligently playing the part of the villain he thinks he can simply strip me of all that I am that I might be made more convenient for him? This is what I am, Rainbow, this is the true face of Melkor the Morgoth, but now that my part is done he wishes me to change according to his whims and repent the sins I was designed to commit, and he even wishes me to learn the values of your friendship that I might be made to suffer more efficiently through the ordeal.”
Rainbow faltered here, she knew where he was going with this. “You’re talking about your friend, right? Sauron?”
“Speak not that name to me! Not here, not now!” he hissed at her, startling her with the venom in his voice. “Say naught to me of Sauron the Deceiver, for he has always been and shall ever be Mairon the Fair.”
Rainbow held up her hooves placatingly. “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t know it was a bad name.” she apologized.
Morgoth sighed and was silent a moment, seeming to deflate before her. “Aye, it is of him that I speak.” he confirmed after a moment. “In my rashness I swore an oath to Eru, and by his own name even. And swearing in Eru’s name is not as a common oath, one is not bound simply by honor to fulfill it, but rather the oath is as a living thing and shall compel them to complete it.” he explained. “In this my choices are limited to going along of my own volition or being simply forced along by my oath.”
Rainbow could hardly comprehend such a thing. She couldn’t conceive of having her freedom so thoroughly stripped away, the very thought was anathema to her. Having always lived her life fully unfettered, tied down by naught but her own whims she found herself feeling sympathetic to the Vala’s plight. To her there was nothing that could justify such a removal of free will.
“I’m sorry.” she said at last. “I can’t even imagine what that must be like, not even having a choice. That’s gotta be rough.”
“Even my great power is bound. A Vala wears a form as mortals do clothes, though with this chain ensnaring my fëa I am restricted to the form thou art most familiar with. Even now I feel it straining against my will and it takes every ounce of my might to retain this form. If I leave it I will never be able to change back.”
“Jeez,” she breathed. “You really got it hard here. No free will and no power? I can’t even begin to imagine how that must feel for someone as strong as you.”
“It feels as though I am stripped of all that I am and laid bare before all. Like I have been struck deaf, dumb, and blind. I feel as a star that has been snuffed to but a guttering candle at the end of its wick.”
As Rainbow processed his words a thought came unbidden to her mind as dots began to connect themselves. “Wait, so you said Eru sent you here right? To learn about friendship? What happens after that’s done?”
“I care not.” he confessed. “Were I even to leave there is nothing to go back to. I will never again go before my brother or the Valar of Arda, I’ve no wish to see their faces again. And I am powerless to bring evil to this world whilst Angainor binds me, and it will not be unbound until Eru is satisfied with what I’ve learned and he is not fool enough to do so if even a spark of evil remains. Until this eve I went forward only hoping to return to Arda, to be reunited with the one that you have taught me was my friend.”
“I...” Rainbow cleared her throat nervously, “I’m sorry about Mairon. I heard about what happened to him while I listened in on you guys.”
“It is not his death that concerns me, such things are meaningless to the Ainur.” he remarked offhandedly.
“Well you seemed pretty worked up back in the throne room.” Rainbow said. “If him being dead doesn’t concern you then what does?”
“As I said, the Ainur wear our shapes as mortals do clothes, but our physical forms may still be harmed unto death, though we may reform them if our power is great enough. Thou bore witness to how my brother so quickly dismissed the notion of evil ever again rising upon Arda. He may know nothing of the ways of evil, but he has learned to never underestimate those who call the shadows their home. His power must have been thoroughly broken indeed for him to be dismissed so quickly as a threat. And if he can never again arise upon Arda and I am fated to never set foot upon it again then it would seem we are gone from each other’s sight forevermore.”
“That’s... wow, I’m really sorry.” Rainbow said quietly. “That sounds like it’s even worse. Knowing he’s still out there, but you can never see him again. I’d never be able to handle that.”
“I scarcely know what to do.” he confessed. “Never before have I experienced anything akin to this. Thou couldst never conceive of living without friends by thy side, ever is thy company kept by others, but I have been alone for eternity and it has always suited me. Until I was come to this land I knew not of kinship with others and cared only for myself and my own designs. For Mairon I held respect and admiration, but only viewed him as I would a powerful servant. It was not until thou imparted the knowledge of such things as friendship to me that I did at last see his true worth to me was not as a servant, but as a friend.
“Before now I would have still been grieved by his passing, but only is such a way as one might had they lost some important trinket. With this new knowledge thou hast so kindly bestowed me with I see the loss for what it is.”
Morgoth fixed her with an angry glare, but even in the face of the scorn of one of the most powerful being to walk upon the world Rainbow stood resolute. “I’m sorry about Mairon, I’m sorry about your problems with your brother and that you feel like you’ve been used by your father, I’m sorry for all of that, but I won’t apologize for teaching you about friendship. Yeah it sucks that you’ll never see Mairon again, and yeah, it’s gonna hurt, but that’s life. You have to take the bad that comes along with the good. And considering you’re the reason things like this even happen in the first place I’d say it’s about time for you to start learning a little more about what it is you’ve so generously gifted us with. It’s time for you to join the rest of us mortals down here on the ground.”
“Thy colors be revealed at long last, naught but a pawn of Eru and his false king.” Morgoth spoke accusingly. “Didst thou question my motives for keeping secret my past? Mayest thou look upon this as thy answer, I foresaw thy true nature, that thou wouldst abandon me upon my story coming to light. Such a strange manner of loyalty art thou possessed of.”
Rainbow didn’t react to Morgoth’s goading, merely held her stern gaze throughout his accusations of disloyalty. “I never said I would abandon you.” she said flatly.
“Speak not such lies, it does not become thee. And think not that I am unable to see through such feeble deceptions, thou wouldst never stain thy valued pride by association with one such as me.”
“I know I may not be as honest as Applejack, but I do not lie when it comes to my friends.” Rainbow declared.
“They’ve naught to do with this so it is of little matter.” Morgoth said dismissively.
“I’m talking about you.” Rainbow replied. “You are my friend.”
“And thou wouldst truly have me believe such a thing? That thou art not frightened of what thou hast learned?”
Rainbow took a brave step towards the Vala. “I don’t care about any of that. You were my friend before I knew about who you were and what you’ve done. I can’t just ignore it, but I’m not gonna stop being your friend over something I wasn’t even alive for. What matters is the here and now, and right here, right now, a friend needs my help and I’m not gonna abandon him.”
“I name thee to be a fool then. No mortal of a sane mind would not fear the Black Foe.”
“I don’t think you know a thing about mortals.” Rainbow countered. “For all your power, for all your age you don’t know a single thing about us. Don’t be so quick to dismiss us, a lot of people in your position did exactly that and it didn’t work out too well for them. I can name four right off the bat.” Here her stern gaze softened marginally. “Give us some credit, we might just surprise you.”
Morgoth merely shook his head, a frustrated growl leaving him as he did so. “Once more I am made a fool. Thou art not the first of Eru’s Children to have pledged me thy allegiance out of a misplaced desire to help. I cannot fathom it, it defies all reason! Why would any wish to aid me? Why should any feel loyal to one who has desired naught but their destruction?”
“Well, I can’t speak for them, but as for me? Loyalty’s in my blood. I’m the Element of Loyalty, so you may as well get used to me because I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. And whether or not you believe that doesn’t make any difference to me.” she said, a smile touching her lips. “Because the belief of a single Vala won’t change what I am.”
“And what if I do not desire thy company? What should it matter to me that a mortal considers me to be their friend?”
“You just lost the first and best friend of your life.” Rainbow bluntly stated. “And it hurt, you even told me as much. Are you really telling me you’d wanna go through that again by turning me away?”
“I have abided thy presence, nothing more. Mistake not my tolerance for friendship.”
“I don’t buy that for a second and I don’t think you do either. Especially not after you risked your life to save Ditzy earlier, and all without your power too, you did that knowing that you could get hurt or even die in there. Don’t for a second try to tell me that was just because you tolerate her. We’re your friends, Shady, and you just found out what it’s like to lose one. I don’t think you’re really so eager to throw the rest of us away like that.”
“I have endured pain the likes of which thou couldst never conceive of, I am the mightiest of the Valar, what matter is but a little more pain? It would make little difference even if casting thee away would wound me as much as thou wouldst claim. Why should I care?”
“Because deep down you’re just like the rest of us. You don’t like getting hurt just like everyone else. I saw how you acted when you found out about Mairon, and you can’t tell me that after the time we’ve spent together you don’t feel anything for me. We’ve had fun haven’t we? You were the first pony I’d met that could keep up with me the way you did, not just in the air but in the way you think too. It’s been amazing having somepony to talk to who thinks like I do, you don’t tell me I’m arrogant or full of myself or just roll your eyes. We’ve only known each other about a month and you’re already one of the best friends I have. To me you’re not Melkor, or Morgoth, or any of those things.” Rainbow paused and looked up into his eyes almost pleadingly. “You’re my friend Shady, I don’t wanna lose that and I know you don’t want to either.”
For a good while Morgoth stood resolute, returning her pleading gaze with his own even stare. For a while no words were exchanged between the two and Rainbow almost began to despair, but then suddenly it was as if the fire in his eyes went out. His shoulders slumped forward as his stance relaxed and his head bowed, then his limbs snapped together as if pulled by some unseen force. For a brief moment Rainbow could make out the image of chains encircling her friend, but before she could move to help she was all but blinded by a bright flash.
When her vision cleared there stood no mighty tyrant before her, gone was the firstborn of the Valar, the ender of days and the master of fate; in his place was just a small, white pony with seven stars adorning his flank, slumped to his haunches and staring forlornly at the floor.
“I have not fought my own battles since I ended the elf king, Fingolfin. In that battle he wounded me so gravely that ever after, even now in a new body I still feel the sting of his blade upon my flesh.” He lifted his head and met Rainbow’s gaze, now looking at her from an equal height. In that gaze she could see an almost unbearable shame, but more than just shame, she saw fear. “I do not like pain, I am afraid of it. If keeping thy company yet longer will keep it at bay just a little more... then I shall not turn thee away. It may yet be that our friendship is not even a fraction as great as it was between Mairon and I and the pain of separation may not be as great as I fear, but I still know little of how friendship is and would not risk it. Well played, Rainbow Dash. Well played.”