Have you ever played the wrong tune to the melody of life? I have and I tell you…It feels awkward.
Guess what? The mansion I found the day before…it didn’t exist. I tried to find it again but all the roads I had encountered that night were gone. No pony I asked could tell me the way and even my map did not show me where this place was.
Somehow I had lost track of reality I guess. Maybe it was true what Vinyl used to say about me back then: All work and no play make you a dull mare, Tavi. Even someone as dull as me should have fun from time to time she used to say. If you would ask her about how boring I hade been back then she would literally use up her whole day to make fun of it. Oh but I wasn’t boring…at least not that boring...I suppose.
Where did I leave oh yeah…
I tried to relax, believe me…it did not work! The lullaby was gnawing away at my sanity. I heard it all the time when I was lost in thoughts and that did happen a lot those days. I lived alone back then…no parents (celestia be blessed), no vinyl (it was so quiet back then) but also no diversions that could keep me from drowning in melancholia. A sad yet thoughtful life…
Days passed, time moved forward but everything stayed the same. The only thing that slightly changed was me. I started to wander aimlessly through Canterlot everytime it was possible just to find that place again. Then, some fateful night, I heard the song again.
It was so beautiful but this time it was different. I heard a voice. I stood there, right in front of the royal goldsmith, when I heard the fragile voice of a mare singing in the wind. It was way after bedtime and so I was once again all alone on the streets. I tried to find the source of the song but it was just then when I realised... I was lost. Lost? Lost in Canterlot once again? How? There shouldn’t have been paths I did not know, and even if there were I could not remember entering them. It was as if something tried to lure me back to that mansion and…it seems I was correct. I stood right in front of it again.
It was still old, extravagant and it still tried to avoid my gaze.
Everything would have repeated itself if it wasn’t for one thing. I began to chant the lyrics of the song in chorus with the real thing. The song was so sweet, still I could not remember the lyrics even after I sang them. They mesmerized me I guess…
Well to get to the point, the door opened and this time for good. “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” would have been something I had written over the door if I had been the owner; luckily I was not.
A Colt with a big red hat and evening attire opened the door for me and shook his head. His coat was white as snow and his eyes…they were crimson and…well they seemed to pierce my soul itself. His cutie mark was a crimson clef that looks as if it was burning. He was in every way a noble…a noble without servants who opened the door himself…a strange noble.
His face looked very sad and when he opened his mouth it was really creepy. His voice was angelic but it also contained so much sadness.
“You lost your way little mare but it was not wise to search for it at this cursed place.” he said.
I was really irritated by the cryptic choice of words and while I tried to think about what he said he continued to talk.
“May I serve you some tea, dearest miss Melody?” he asked with his jolly yet gloomy voice while I was still standing in the doorway with my dumbfound look. How did he know my name? Who was he? A lot of questions echoed through my mind but I simply answered with “Yes” and entered the lion’s den.
The inside was decorated in a way that was common for the pre-celestian age. Everything including the priceless antique furniture was rather dark and there must have been dozens of curiosities standing around. He led me into his library and offered me to take place on the big couch in the corner of the room. He offered me tea and biscuits before he got down to business.
“My dearest miss Melody, what is it that your heart desires?” he asked with a soothing voice. I tried to explain him that I just followed the music, that it was curiosity that lured me here but he simply sighed and tried to ask me his question again but this time in a different way. “Why are you here?” he asked. I replied that it was the music I heard. I just followed it here. It was as simple as that. Still, he did not think it was that simple, pff colts…
“This sound can only be heard by the ones who want to change their fate my dear. This century seems so vivid to me. I got a lot of visitors and everypony begged for their wishes to be fulfilled. The question is, is your wish safe for ponykind? If you wished to hold more power in your hooves than the royal sisters what do you think would happen? Do you think that wish would help or threaten ponykind? Oh and do not think a wish comes for free. We have to pay a prize for everything, never forget that..."
“I do not have a wish. I just want to know what that song is called and what it is about.” I said.
The colt sighed once again and began to tell a story.
“Dearest miss melody, this song was composed by my beloved one long before the royal sisters had their clash so it goes way beyond your understanding of time. To keep it simple; I and my wife used to be musicians. We were a happy and ambitious couple that encountered a little box on our travels through the place now known as Equestria. The box was meant to be found. The box symbolizes change. The world needs to be in constant change so the box was bound to appear. Do you understand thus far?”
I did not. He talked about being older than time and about a mystic box with its own will. I must have found Canterlots old abandoned asylum and there I sat with the last inmate who invited me for some tea. The colt, watching me bursted out in laughter and said “Hey that is a new one. I like it…oh yes I do”
Wait…did he...did he just read my mind?
“Of course I did, Octavia. I think we can drop the formalities now. My name is Victor van Hellsing. You probably only heard that name in old mare tales and even of that I’m not so sure. Things of the past tend to be forgotten, or even have to be forgotten…”
“Well Victor, if that’s your true name, why are you still alive when you are this old.” I asked cautious.
“The answer lies within the box. This, my little mare, is the thing that changes everything. This box grants wishes for a price. My wife and I read the inscription on the outside that said it would grant us our hearts desire. I wished to stay always with my wife. She said she would have wished for the same but it’d be boring to wish for the same thing so she wished for her music to be concerved for eternity.”
“So that song is hers?” I asked with awe, nearly forgetting that everything he said could have been lies.
“You are quick to catch on but no. My wife, Pandora, became part of the box, singing her lament for all eternity and now it is my duty to guard her. The box cannot be broken and people who are bound to meet it will encounter it. I can only warn you, tell you to forget about your wishes or to think them throughly. Do not state a wish you haven’t formulated perfectly.”
“Who were this people who used the box? Were all of them famous? Did they change the world?” I asked with curiosity.
“Some of them were, some of them were not. Just recently, not even three decades ago, a small filly entered my mansion. She wasn’t courageous and very shy. She was a unicorn with a lot of magical capabilities and she wanted to wish for more self-esteem. The personality of the little girl, I think she was called miss lulamoon, completely changed. She became very conceited but it seems as she has traded most of her magical power for her new character.
He paused there, waiting for my reaction. I must have looked not very convinced so he went on.
If you want to know a pony more famous who stated a wish in front of the box I could name Starswirl the bearded. He wished to understand the absolute order of all the things and their existence. The knowledge drove him mad. He came to the conclusion that all of nature’s laws are fragile and can be broken easily. Knowing about order made him transcend it, believing only chaos was absolute. He mysteriously disappeared laughing after he realised that and said that maybe in the future we could meet again…for tea, bloodshed or some games. A strange fellow indeed…”
“So a pony could wish for anything?” I said with my mouth wide open. I really began to believe that colt.
“You could but you shouldn’t. The wish for power to protect your friends could turn into the power of a tyrant ruling a kingdom with fear. The wish of a mare wanting to overcome her sister could turn into her descending into darkness. I have seen it all…”
“Your life must have been very sad Victor…
So much tragic things...I do not envy you” I told him.
He froze. I did not know why. After a few minutes he suddenly had a smirk on his face. A smirk his serious face only showed once before, the time when he laughed at my thoughts.
“You amaze me Octavia. I told you about the things the box could do and you care more about me than about it. A unique being…maybe there is still hope for ponykind, maybe…”
I was a little bit emberassed so I tried to change the topic a litte.
“You said you were a musician? What kind of instrument did you play Victor?”
“I used to play the violin but that was long ago. My daughter loved when I played it. She always wanted to capture the hearts of people the same way I captured hers, by music. My dear daughter, how long has it been…” he said and his face became a lot gloomier.
“It must be hard to survive all the ones you love, a sad story, a life in the shadows of ponykind.” I said with a serious expression.
We talked through the whole night and both of us really enjoyed our conversation but all good things would eventually come to an end. This nice hours ended abruptly when I realised how late it was. I talked far too long with this pony. The hours flew by and I didn't recognise how long we were talking. I had a performance in the next few hours. I simply had to go otherwise I would be in big trouble.
I told Victor that I would visit again. He answered with a subtle smile that he hopes that for himself but is scared about my wellbeing if I did. He said that being with him and near the box brings misfortune most of the time. I laughed at that and told him that he must be wrong.
He wasn’t…I was.