//------------------------------// // Prologue: A New Beginning // Story: A Harmonic Sonata // by keaton-furman-prower //------------------------------// “Princess, the other soldiers worry about your obsession with that mirror.” Princess Luna continued to stare blankly at the mirror. It had been two days since Cadence Amore had vanished into it; Luna could only guess what she was up to now, lost in a mysterious world which even she knew very little about. More than anything else, she wanted to find her missing student, but then she would run the risk of getting lost in the mirror world, never to be seen or heard from again. “Well, I have to return to my duties. I hope you don't waste too much time with that mirror, your highness.” As the guard left the room, Luna sighed to herself. If Cadence had wanted to return, she would have done so already. And if Luna went into the mirror to search for her, she'd have no idea where to start. Finally, the portal was due to close in less than a minute, so there was very little she could do anyways. “Perhaps he is right,” she said finally. “There is no point in dwelling over what I could have done to prevent my pupil from leaving me. I must return to my royal duties.” She then got up to leave, turning away from the mirror. As she did so, however, she began to hear a noise emanating from the mirror. Could it be?... She quickly turned back towards the mirror, desperately hoping to see Cadence returning. Her hopes were quickly replaced with disappointment, however, when a pony emerged from the mirror. It seemed to be an earth pony filly, quite a bit younger than Cadence. She was light blue, with a striped blue mane that was tied into a ponytail. Despite her youth, she already had a cutie mark, which was a heart with a musical note. Luna frowned. Who was this pony? How had she gotten into the portal? And why was she getting such a strange case of deja vu? “Uhh… my head.” Well, it seems she can talk, Luna thought as she began to walk towards the filly. As disappointed as she was at her student's failure to return, she was still determined to help anypony in need. “Hello, child.” The filly's eyes opened wide as she turned upwards towards Luna. As they fell upon her, Luna expected a variety of reactions; perhaps the filly would bow before her in respect. Perhaps she would be shocked to see the princess before her and be unable to say anything. Or perhaps, since she was a filly from another world, she would simply be confused by her. What Luna didn't expect, however, was for the filly to run away screaming. Luna watched, unsure of how to handle the situation at hoof. The little blue filly ran into the mirror, trying in vain to enter the portal. She had no way to know that the portal had closed just seconds after she had fallen through, and that she was now trapped in Equestria. “Child, please calm down.” The filly turned towards Luna with a look of pure terror on her face. “Please let me go!” Luna felt a twinge of guilt in knowing that there was nothing she could do to help the filly back home. However, there was something else bothering her. Even if the filly truly was a pony from another world, the amount of fear she displayed was... unnerving. “Child, I am not going to hurt you.” “That's what you say!” the filly said. “But then you're gonna try to banish me to the moon, or lock me in a dungeon, or banish me to the moon and put me in a moon dungeon! That's what ponies always do to sirens!” Sirens? Luna thought to herself. But the sirens were banished from Equestria centuries ago! And they most certainly did not resemble ponies! Carefully, Luna lifted the trembling filly with her magic. As she felt herself being lifted into the air, she began to struggle against her captor. “What is your name, young one?” The filly seemed to give up at that point, letting her hooves hang limply in the air. “Sonata Dusk.” “Sonata Dusk,” Luna repeated. “A beautiful name, if I do say so myself.” Much to Luna's joy, this managed to put a smile on Sonata's face, if only for an instant. “So, are you going to banish me to a moon dungeon?” As hard as Luna tried, she couldn't prevent a snort from escaping her. “And why would I do that?” she asked half-jokingly. “My big sister says that ponies do that to us because they're big meanies, and that's why we have to sing to prevent them from doing awful things to us. That, and our songs make them do stuff for us.” Make ponies do stuff indeed, Luna mused to herself. However, her thoughts were deeper than that. After all, the little filly had arrived just after Luna had accepted that her once-faithful student was gone, never to return. To most other ponies, such a development may have seemed like an uncanny coincidence. Luna, on the other hoof, was not the type of pony who believed in coincidence. Slowly, an idea began to take root in her mind. “Tell me, Sonata,” she said as she lay her back on the ground. "If you are a siren, then why do you look like a pony?” The blue filly looked around her body in confusion. She took note of her hooves, mane, and her cutie mark. She then looked at herself in the mirror. Finally, she shrugged. “I got nothing.” Luna smirked. “So, there is no way for you to show that you are a siren?” Sonata frowned and shook her head. “Well, Sonata, since I have no evidence that you are an ancient magic sea monster, I cannot banish you.” The filly grinned and began to skip around joyfully. “I'm not gonna be banished! I'm not gonna be sent to a dungeon! I'm not gonna be banished to a moon dungeon!” “And what are you going to do now?” As soon as Luna spoke, Sonata immediately stopped rejoicing. “I... um... well…” “Do you not have anypony whom you can turn to?” Sonata's eyes began to water, causing Luna to wince. She hadn't intended to hurt her, and yet it seemed that she'd gone a bit too far in pushing Sonata. Note to self: Do not repeat mistakes made with Cadence. She opened her wing and gently draped it over Sonata. “Child, do not despair. As a princess of Equestria, I shall do what I can to help you.” While Sonata did not stop crying, she seemed to cheer up slightly. “For realzies?” Although slightly taken by surprise by the filly's strange expression, Luna quickly composed herself. “Yes, Sonata.” “Th-thank you, Princess,” Sonata said, her tone showing plenty of gratitude. Luna smiled. She had no intention of letting any child suffer, no matter who or what they had been in the past. With that said, there was one possibility that intrigued Luna more than anything else. “Sonata, would you like to see something?” The object in question was a huge purple boulder-like object. It had a few spots of darker purple, though it was otherwise unimpressive apart from its size. As Sonata stared at it, she wondered what was so important about it. “Well, it's... A big rock,” she said finally. “It is not a rock,” said Luna. “It is a dragon egg.” Sonata gasped and hid behind Luna. “Is it going to eat us?” “Fear not,” said Luna. “It cannot hatch without somepony to give it magic.” “Oh,” said Sonata. “So, who's gonna hatch it?” “You are.” Sonata's eyes went wide at this. “You want me... to hatch a dragon egg?!” “That's right.” The shocked filly stared at the egg blankly for a moment. “But I don't have a horn! I can't do any fancy magic whatchamacallits!” Luna couldn't help but giggle at Sonata's comment. “All ponies have magic, Sonata, not just unicorns and alicorns. Pegasi manipulate the weather, moving clouds and creating winds. Earth ponies infuse the soil with the essence of life with every touch of their hooves, allowing them to grow food for ponies all across our nation. “And there are many other kinds of magical talent that ponies have. Party ponies, for example, have their own distinct brand of magic that manifests itself in its own unique way.” “Oh,” said Sonata. “So, since I'm an earth pony now, do I refuse it with my hooves or something?” “Actually,” said Luna, “I want you to sing.” For a moment, there was silence. “You want me to sing to it?” Sonata asked, a slight hint of worry in her voice. “Yes,” said Luna. “Did you not say that you were a siren?” “But I can't sing without my pendant!” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Your pendant?” “I had a pendant that helped me sing,” Sonata explained. “But I lost it when... I came here.” For a moment, Luna considered what Sonata was saying. She then smiled as she looked down towards her. “I do not believe you actually need this pendant, Sonata. I would think that it is merely an instrument used to focus your magic. However, true magic does not need any amulets to work, for it comes from the heart.” Sonata looked at Luna, a small amount of confidence building. “So, you think I can hatch that egg if I sing to it?” “You will never know unless you try.” Reassured by Luna's words, Sonata took a few anxious steps towards the egg. Then she opened her mouth and began to sing. It was a slow, heartfelt song Sonata remembered having heard long ago. It had been a song she had always heard upon waking up, to face a new, glorious day. And as she sung, memories flooded her mind. She remembered her earliest days, learning how to swim alongside her sisters. She remembered her first song, and how proud she’d felt. She remembered the day she’d lost the one who was most important to her. She remembered how ponies had flocked to her and her sisters, adoring them and giving them all the energy they needed to survive. She remembered being forcibly ripped away from Equestria, sent to a strange new land without any magic. She remembered... Before she knew what was happening, she heard a crack. “Well, Sonata. What have we here?” Sonata looked up to see that the egg was beginning to break apart. Before she could say anything, the eggshell broke apart completely, leaving a small purple dragon with green scales. “Congratulations, Sonata Dusk. You have successfully hatched your first dragon.” Sonata felt that she he should have felt proud of her achievement. However, all she could feel was a shiver crawling up her spine. “My first dragon? You mean I have to hatch more of them?!” Luna patted Sonata on the back as she lifted the baby dragon towards them. “Not at all. One dragon is more than sufficient.” “Oh... okay,” Sonata said uncertainly. “So, now that I hatched that dragon, what happens?” Luna said nothing. She merely lowered herself to hug Sonata and her dragon. Although confused at first, Sonata quickly began to return the hug. Meanwhile, the midnight blue alicorn took pride in knowing that her new student had passed her first test.