The stars flickered dimly in the deep midnight sky. The moon casting her silvery glow upon the world below, giving the castle gardens an enchanting gleam and making the statues come alive with the defining shadows she cast.
The soft click of hooves against the stone pathway echoed somberly through the large conservatory, accompanied by soft melodic humming.
The source of the melody, a dark charcoal gray mare, her mane a blend of deep and lighter violets, walks just below an arch of topiary leading into the statue garden.
As her tune trails off her eyes reopen, face upturned to the moon above as it glints off deep ruby irises.
A small smile graces her lips as she returns to her song.
"Will the circle, be unbroken? By and by, by and by? Is a better, home awaiting? In the sky, in the sky?"
Her melody is low and mournful, conveying broad sentiment, though the smile still remains upon her lips as she walks silently among the statues, once again returning to humming the tune as she comes to stop before the statue of the draconequus.
This statue had always stood out the most to her, even since the first time she'd come to the royal gardens as a filly on a class trip.
The reason for her intrigue though had not been for the strange appearance of the figure in stone, instead it stemmed from the doleful sadness it awoke within her whenever she neared it.
She stood admiring the statue as she did on many nights like this, her humming long since dying off a she studied the stone.
He was a most peculiar looking statue, very tall and limber in an almost reptilian way, though he stood bipedal on two mismatched legs, his left leg being that of a goat, the right being that of a lizard. He had the head of a horse adorned with a deer antler on the right and a goat horn on the left, he had a forked snake's tongue and a long fang protruding from the right side of his mouth and his chin had a tuft of beard like a goat's. His mane resembled a donkey's or zebra's, his tail was that of a dragon's with a small tuft at the end. He had the right paw of a lion and the left claw of an eagle, his left wing was of a Pegasus and the right a bat's.
Though she did not know much of the legend of Discord, she knew enough to realize this stone was his prison.
Most believed the story to be another old mare's tail like that of The Mare in the Moon, though she could not deny the sadness that gripped her heart whenever she looked upon the statue.
Her gaze lingered on the stone face of the draconequus for a moment more before she returned to the garden path, continuing on her way through the perennial sanctuary, singing a simple tune to herself.
Will the circle... Be unbroken...?
By and by... By and by...?
Is a better... Home awaiting...?
In the sky... In the sky...?