//------------------------------// // Prologue: The Lord of Chaos, the Song of Madness // Story: Harmonius: Song of the Imprisoned Maiden // by Basic13 //------------------------------// The solar princess of Equestria took a sip of levitated a steaming cup of tea to her lips, gently blowing away the steam before taking a sip. Sighing, she set the cup down upon the nearby saucer and grasped her favored quill--a gift from her beloved Philomena--and began her arduous task once more. The moon was full and especially vibrant through her open window; her sister was taking special care to ease the suffering of their subjects in the aftermath of Tirek's siege. Such was the reason she was still awake during the lunar cycle: a mountain of paperwork and reports detailing property damage, injuries, and the aftereffects of the crisis covered nearly every spare inch of her desk, to the point where she was hard-pressed to spot its polished wooden surface amongst the sea of parchment that laid upon it. The current document she was reading was regarding the small town of Ponyville, which, despite not even being the capital of Equestira, let alone a city, seemed to be the sight of many of the events that had so changed the land in the past year since her pupil-turned-princess had arrived there. Much of the town had been damaged during the cataclysmic fight between Twilight Sparkle's collective alicorn magic and Tirek's sum of pony magic, and yet it seemed that the wave of Harmony utilized by the Element bearers had set more right than simply locking away Tirek and restoring the magic that he had stolen; not a single wound marred the land surrounding the town and all the buildings had been restored from their damaged or demolished states. Plus a new addition. The new castle that had arisen in Ponyville was of great interest to Celestia, and not just because it belonged to the pony that was her daughter in all but blood. It seemed to be made from the same material as the Tree of Harmony, or perhaps it was the Tree itself, somehow relocated from Everfree and enhanced for some reason known only to it. "Ah, I see my gift has been given a place of honor beside the royal bed!" The monarch startled at the sudden interruption behind, her wings flaring and knowing her desk, nearly spilling her half finished cup of tea all over her work. Letting an irritated breath through her nostrils, Celestia closed her eyes and counted slowly from ten in her head before turning around and addressing the only person she knew who would be so brazen as to enter her chambers unannounced in such a manner. "What do you want, Discord?" the white alicorn asked, her voice subdued from the slight fatigue she felt weighing upon her. She really didn't have the time or patience to put with the chaos avatar's antics at the moment. "Oh?" he asked, one bushy brow raised in interest as he glanced at her. "You seem troubled, my dear," he commented, flipping his body to slouch midair in a relaxed manner. "What's troubling you, hmmm?" He glanced towards the flowers. "Is it the flowers?" he asked, raising his bestial paw in the air, fingers primed to snap. "Would you prefer a different color? I had thought you would have preferred white, but I'd be more than happy to change them for you," he said. "Your gift is lovely and much appreciated, but I am simply busy at the moment," Celestia answered, glancing towards the piles of paperwork with the corner of her eye. She saw the mismatched lord of chaos shrink inward unto himself, realizing that much of that pile was due in no small part to the role he had played in the latest disaster to strike the land. ". . . I am sorry," he said softly, turning from the ruler, unable to meet her gaze under all too familiar feeling of guilt that had been burdening him as of late. Celestia sighed and set her phoenix quill down. "I know you are, Discord, and I know you have learned a valuable lesson from all of this." Raising from her chair, she winched as she heard her spine crack and pop in audible protest from the poor posture she had been in for the last several hours. Walking over, she gently laid one of her large wings upon Discord's shoulder. "I do forgive you--we all do," she reiterated, smiling softly at him when he finally was able to lift his head and meet her in the eye. "Anyway, what did you need?" she asked, changing the subject to spare the chimera any future discomfort as she saw him worrying in his hands in agitation. "Huh?" Discord asked, snapped from his thoughts suddenly by the question. "Ah, yes . . ." he raised his paw to his mouth and cleared his throat. "As strange as it may sound, I have a very serious question," he explained. Celestia blinked, looking at Discord and seeing that he didn't seem to be joking in the least. Despite the mountain of work that was yet unfinished and her body's desire to rest, she gave her attention to her visitor; Discord made it a point to be as flippant and carefree as possible, taking great pains to not be serious most times, so he had her full attention. "Where did you and Luna get the magical rainbow of happiness and doom?" he asked, leaning forward and staring intently at Celestia. Celestia let out an irritated huff, turning back to her desk with a shake of her head. "If you don't need anything, Discord, I have work to do and would appreciate it if you let me get to it," she dismissed him politely. "And I said I was being serious," the draconequus rebutted , nothing in his voice to suggest anything but. Celestia turned and stared at him for several moments. "You know where we found them; we retrieved them from the Tree of Harmony," she answered. Discord snorted, crossing his arms across his serpentine chest. "Don't try to lie to me, Celestia--I'm have far more practice at it than you," he told her, his eyes narrowing at the princess of the sun. Before she could open her mouth to respond, Discord pressed on. "I had been all throughout that forest both before and during my time as ruler of this happy little land, and I never once saw or sensed that tree." "Perhaps it was hiding itself from you," Celestia said simply. "Please," Discord snorted, waving his talon in the air as if to wave away the sheer ridiculous of such a statement, "I am the very embodiment of Chaos itself; I can sense where all the Elements are at any time." "You can sense them?" Celestia asked, her interest piqued. "In a way," her guest answered, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "It's more like I sense the complete absence of Chaos that they represent," he explained as best he could. "But that is neither here nor there, my little pony princess," he continued--and had this not been the topic it was, he would have theatrically pointed wildly in different directions--"I always wondered about that tree," he told her. "That it suddenly appear when I had you on Lulu the ropes. Magic doesn't simply appear from nowhere," he told her. Celestia was silent, staring at her once-upon-a-time adversary in thought as she pondered what new game he was playing--if he was, in fact, playing any at all. "Why are suddenly asking this?" she finally asked. "Why now?" "Why won't you answer me?" Discord shot back, vanishing in a flash of light to reappear inches from the princess, who did not react at the sudden proximity other than calmly taking a step back. There was silence for several minutes before Celestia turned around. "I have to finish this work and hopefully get a little sleep before I must raise the sun, so please see yourself out, Discord," she told him politely in tone that brooked no argument that this conversation was over. Just before she sat down at her desk she heard his voice, oddly subdued. "You used the mirror, didn't you?" Celestia didn't answer, though the sudden tension that came over her body was not missed by the draconequus. "Star Swirl's mirror to the alternate worlds was shattered," Celestia reminded him, feeling a pang of loss in her heart as she was reminded of her forsaken love that she had left on the other side of that looking glass. "You know I don't mean that bearded nut job's knockoff!" Discord contested. "The original crystal mirror--I told you to hurl that thing into the heart of your sun!" Discord hissed at her from behind. "And what reason would I to listen to my enemy?" Celestia asked with accusation. "Luna and I found an artifact that you, with all your abilities and powers, seemed to fear. Why would we not make use it?" A shudder ran through Discord's body, and Celestia's eyes widened in shock. Was he truly afraid of the mirror? Why? When Twilight had used it, she seemed no worse for the wear, and the one time she had gone into it in the past, she suffered no ill effects nor was she molested by whatever powers it possessed or beings that laid on the other side of it. Quite the contrary. "Discord, what happened when you found that mirror all those centuries ago? Discord did not answer. "Discord?" "Please tell me you still don't have it . . ." he asked, a tremor of urgency carried upon his voice. "I do," Celestia answered, seeing little point in denying the truth, and she watched as Discord's entire body took on an unhealthy pallor--seemingly against his will. "Why are bringing this up now?" she asked. "Tell me, Discord," she finally insisted. The Lord of Chaos simply stared at her, his gaze solemn and foreboding; he silently closed his eyes and turned. "I'll let you get back to your work. Have a good evening," he said softly, and before the eldest of the countries original dual monarchs could protest, he vanished. Celestia stared, a large part of her uneasy and wanting to hunt down Discord and get answers from him--and she would have any other time--but recent events and her subjects demanded her attention. So, with a feeling of growing apprehension, Celestia turned back towards her paperwork and now-cold tea, though resolving to investigate the mirror as soon as possible. If a being such as Discord was fearful of something, then there was good reason of herself and all of Equestria to be cautious as well. The draconequus appeared supine on the thick branch of one of the trees just outside of Fluttershy's cottage, staring up at moon, shining brightly against the dark tapestry of the star-studded night. He glanced down towards the cottage that was his home-away-from-home and saw that the window was illuminated and briefly thought of checking on his dearest friend in the world, before deciding that he didn't wish to worry her--it was quite late in the evening, after all, and doubtless dear Fluttershy, bless her little pony heart, would sense something was amiss and refuse to go to sleep, worrying for his sake. He closed his eyes and the memories came unbidden, still vivid despite the centuries and his imprisonment in stone. Discord cackled gleefully, the rotten stench of sulfur filled his nostrils as she soared through the night's sky above barren volcanic fields of ash; he darted through a cloud of sulfuric ash emitting from a volcano, popping above it gracefully to briefly catch a glimpse of the full moon before diving back below the smoke. "That is quite the stench!" he exclaimed, an comically large clothespin appearing on his nose as he gazed at one of the volcanoes emitting the foul smoke that smothered the air. "Let's see if I can't fix this!" he said, rubbing his mismatched hands together in thought. Snap! A volcanic peak was now erupting boiling chocolate fondue in place of magma, and airy wisps of pink cotton candy replaced the foul smoke. "Not too shabby, I do say so myself," the self-appointed ruler of the land commented, as summoned a paper cone, quickly swirling a mass of spun sugar around it from one of the transformed clouds, before dipping it into the chocolate. Chewing his treat, his tongue extended impossibly long and prehensile from his mouth, coiled around the remaining candy--cone and all--and dragged it into his mouth. Licking his paw, Discord snapped his talon, and another peak was now erupting a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. "Classic, " he commented, quite pleased with himself. And so it went, with each snap of his hand, the landscape was altered one volcano at a time into a scene of chaos with no rhyme or reason. Snap! Coiled springs were sent flying into the air from one peak, only to tumble end over end down the slope of the birthing place. Snap! The next was erupting ice cubes. Snap! Peanut butter and jelly. Snap! This volcano did not erupt, but if someone were to be flying overhead and glanced into it, they see it was because the interior was now filled with lime gelatin, chunks of pineapple speckled throughout. Snap! Snap! Snap! Sna-- Wait a moment . . . Discord turned his attention from the peak that was literally raining cats and dogs and gazed in curiosity at the volcano that resisted his will. Shrugging his shoulders, he raised his paw again to snap. "Happens to the best of us," he commented, snapping his fingers as he nodded his head sagely, running his talons through his beard in a sage manner, his eyes closed. . . . He opened one eye to stare at the offending geological structure, his other than opening and his mouth turning downward into a frown as he stared with narrowed eyes. He rapidly snapped his fingers--turn into a cake, flip itself over, have a herd of flying pigs come from the mouth of the volcano. . . Nothing. He turned his head, snapped his fingers, and a nearby mountain range was now painted in bright pink and green plaid. "Huh . . ." he commented, going over to stare into the mouth of the rupture, only to find that the magma had long since cooled, and it seemed as if it had been hollowed out deliberately. Well, not so strange, seeing as a tribe of dragons had nested in this region centuries ago--this must have been one of their places of residence, the chaos lord reasoned. Alighting upon an outcropping of stone, he glanced about to see what was so unique about this volcano that it was the first thing in Equestria that he could not alter upon a whim. As his eyes roved over the various nooks and crannies, passing over what appeared to a rather large ossified rib cage of a deceased dragon, a sparkle caught his attention. Relocating himself over to the anomaly in a flash of light, he found himself before what appeared to be a mirror, ovular in shape with a crystal frame decorated by sapphires. The entirety of it seemed to be made of some form of crystal. Strangely enough, it the entire thing seemed to be resonating in some form of pattern, almost sounding like a song. "Must be from the Crystal Empire," Discord thought, stroking his beard with his paw as he dropped his chin upon his avian claw--he would have to visit there next. "One of the dragons must have added it to its hoard and it got left behind when they all vacated," he considered to himself thoughtfully. Snap! Nothing. "Curious," he thought, looking closer at the crystal mirror and noting that it did not show any reflection. Snapping again, he tried to assert his will upon the mirror, only to be rebuffed--but he did note that when his chaos magic attempted to take hold of the mirror, the resonance of the crystal increased such to be an audible hum in the air. Discord scowled at the mirror. "Well, aren't we the party pooper," he said contemptuously to the strange artifact, carelessly tapping its surface with a talon; he snatched the limb back when instead of colliding against a solid surface, the tip of the digit submerged and caused the surface to ripple. Staring in surprise at his claw, he could faintly feel the vibrations of the mirror still from where the tip of his finger had been inside ever so briefly. "A portal?" he considered, circling the mirror and inspecting it from all angles, finding nothing different from any other garden-variety mirror. "Now where, I wonder, do you lead?" he asked his reflection, mildly surprised when it did not shrug its shoulders and answer him in some manner, as his reflection was want to do. "A whole world untouched by my chaos," he considered, staring at the portal. "They must be so bored!" he cried, bringing his mismatched limbs to his face in a pantomime of shock and horror at the very concept. "I suppose I could stop by and pay the locals on the side a visit real quick, maybe bring make some clouds rain chocolate milk or cats or puppy dogs as a welcoming gifts. It would only be polite," he told himself, then paused. "On the other paw"--he lifted his avian claw--"I do a tight schedule to keep here," a day planner appeared in his paw, all the dates scrawled with "CHAOS" over and over again. "Plus, it doesn't seem to make much sense to go into a magical portal that seems to resist my powers," he said lowly. "But when have I ever placed stock in making sense," he said aloud with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'll just have a quick stop by, greet the locales, deliver a few gifts, and be back to torment little Lulu before she lowers the moon!" he decided, stepping trough the portal. He was unaware of the two winged horses that had been following him for some time, one of white with a chromatic flowing mane of all the colors of a rainbow, and the other a darker equine whose mane seemed as piece of the very night itself. Discord was well versed with the concept of space not confirming to normally held concepts of spatial reasoning (he created most of them, after all,) but he could not completely say with certainty that he was in a "place" technically as he seemed to be whisked through the portal and directed into some parts unknown. He seemed to be in an infinite void that was simultaneously empty while still being filled to the brim with what he could only consider to be thoughts that were not in fact being thought at all and simply . He moved to try to grab one of the not-thoughts, only for his paw to pass through it, though he did get a sense of some kind of information appearing in his mind, but it was either a form of information he could not understand or in a language unknown to him. Frowning, he "moved" about in search of something for a few moments, noting that he must have passed through a few unseen "thoughts" as he occasionally got more information, and strangely enough, music, though again not in a language he could understand. Tiring of this, he snapped his fingers in an attempt to take hold of his surroundings, only for the very void around him to suddenly seethe at his attempt. He could feel a great number of the thoughts beginning focused on and around him, and got a general sense of panic, surprise, and alarm. And suddenly, he wasn't alone, it was as if the void had been occupied by a great presence that had turned its entire presence upon him and was none too pleased either his presence, attempt at tampering, or both. Discord thought he could hear a feminine sounding voice say something to him in a language he could not understand, before he suddenly buckled under what was next directed at him. A song filled the air, the words unknowable to him, but he could feel the emotion behind it as something he was quite familiar with. Madness. But this was not his brand of madness. This song being sung was filled with such despair and grief that Discord thought he almost once felt his very being becoming undone to join the void. Whomever was in here was filled with a hatred that rivaled he Tirek, who was still languishing in the dark pits of Tarturus. No, Tirek was possessed of a hatred of ponies and a desire to rule over them, but whoever was in this void singing at him, their hatred was all consuming and wanted only one thing: suffering and death for him and everyone. Discord had never felt such raw and intense hatred before in his existence, not from Celestia and Luna, not from the ponies that were currently under his yoke, not from any of the wild and untamed creatures that populated the Everfree forest. This madness simply wanted the world to burn. Unable to stand to, Discord snapped his fingers, trying to alter his surroundings, but this only to seemed to further anger the presence--if that was even possible. Her singing or words were now shriek of pure anger, foreign words appearing in his head so suddenly and loudly that Discord almost lost his entire sense of self--all that existed was the void and this angry woman that resided in it. Clearly he had trespassed into the realm of this places god, and he had angered it. Looking about desperately, he searched for the way back, and saw a glimmer of light in the void. Before he could go for it, he felt a second presence behind, and he turned and sensed a monstrous being approaching. An image of a dark bipedal creature, with dripping fangs and wicked claws appeared in his mind, and the lord of chaos flew as fast as he could towards what he hoped was the portal back to Equestria He felt something surround his tail, as if the second pursuing servant of the woman had grabbed his tail, and it was if the entire limb become deafly cold as something seeped into it. Memories and images assaulted his mind, sorrow forever deep and pain so agonizingly intense filled his head--and songs too many, too loud filled his ears. Such the draconequus' suffering that he hadn't realized he had made it through the safety of the portal until he found himself lying upon the cold rock of the inactive volcano's interior, with Celestia and Luna staring down at him in shock. Discord could help himself, his entire body was wracked with convulsions as he vividly recalled the intense emotions and sensations that had been transferred to him in that strange place beyond the mirror. When he had come to his senses, he saw that he impossibly seemed to be unharmed, and that his tail that had been "grabbed" by the monstrous ghost or spirit or whatever it had been, seemed perfectly fine. Ignoring the two princesses and not caring what they were doing in that volcano with him, he tried everything he could to wipe that mirror from existence, attempting to use his powers over chaos in ways that he had never before and would never again attempt to--but it was too no avail. When he saw that the mirror remained in existence, he remembered watching it, fearing that the angry female deity or demonic servant would emerge in pursuit of him. He had turned to Celestia and implored her to hurl the mirror into sun, before vanishing to a random place in Equestria as far from that mirror that he could get. The ponies of Equestria did not hear from Discord for close to a month after his sojourn through the crystal mirror. "Discord," a soft voice pulled him from his memories, and he glanced down to find a single wide blue eye staring concernedly up at him, the other hidden behind a curtain of pink hair, as it was often to do. "Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, frowning as she flapped her wings to hover up to his heights. Discord stared at her blankly for a few minutes, causing Fluttershy's concern for her friend to increase. He had been distant lately, and she knew it was because he was feeling guilty over his betrayal to her and friends when he had sided with Tirek. When her unique friend did not answer, Fluttershy grabbed his lion's paw and tugged him towards the ground. "Come on," she said softly, in the same tone she often used on injured or frightened animals. "I'll make us a nice cup of tea inside, okay?" Discord allowed himself to be lead into the cottage, where most of the animals within were curled up asleep. He tightened his grip on the yellow pegasus's huff, though not too tight as to harm her. He gazed at her, seeing her look up at him when he tightened his grip; she stared at him for a second, before giving him a soft smile. He sat down on the couch and listened to the sounds of Fluttershy retrieving her teapot and leaves from the cabinets. Without saying a word, a snapping noise filled the air, and the pot filled with fresh water, so as to save the mare a trip outside to retrieve it. She smiled her thanks and went about hanging the pot to boil over the fireplace. After it was boiled, the chimera held porcelain teacup in his fleshly paw, watching the steam rise and taking comfort from the heat that transferred through the material of the cup and into his hand. "My dear, sweet, sweet Fluttershy," Discord said softly. "You are far too kind too me," he said softly, staring at his reflection on the surface of the dark liquid in his cup. Fluttershy looked up from pouring her own cup of tea, before setting the pot down, carefully grabbing the saucer with teacup balanced upon in her mouth, and sitting beside her friend on the couch, leaning her body against his and draping one wing as much as she could over his back. Fluttershy never asked what was bothering him, only offering silent kindness and her friendship. Discord could not say how long they sat there--their tea was cold and untouched--but at one point he heard the soft breathing of the pegasus besides him as she fell asleep against him. Turning to look at here, Discord thought about teleporting her bed (doubtless she would be more comfortable there,) but instead snapped his fingers and the thick throw blanket that had been draped over the back of the couch behind them appeared around both of the their forms. Fluttershy snuggled against the warm scaly portion of his lower body in her sleep. Discord thought of the new castle that had appeared in Ponyville--the giant crystal tree. When that chest had been opened, he had a song in his heard, clear as a bell. It was a song of love and hope, wishing for a brighter future for all who heard it. It was a song sung in a language he did not know, but had heard once before, in that place beyond the crystal mirror. And he recognized the feminine voice that sung song, for he had heard so many centuries ago--full of insanity, murder, and hatred. Discord's eyes narrowed and lips curled upward into a ferocious scowl, baring his teeth menacingly. He gently stoked Fluttershy's pink mane, more an attempt to sooth himself than the unconscious mare next to him. "I won't let anyone or anything harm a single hair upon your, Fluttershy," the Lord of Chaos spoke. "I swear it,” he promised ominously to the air.