Memories

by Sada Pazaki

Chapter One

Twilight cheerily trotted through one of the many gardens of Canterlot Castle. Just last night Princess Celestia had sent her a letter with an invitation to join her for lunch. As the letter had said, it was a way to “make up for not having much time together during the Grand Galloping Gala and as further congratulations for defeating Discord.”

Feeling eager, Twilight had wasted no time and arrived at Canterlot early. So early in fact, she had spent the last hour or so taking a detour through the gardens. It was peaceful and the air was fresh and clean smelling. The surroundings were very beautiful...until she noticed the labyrinth to her left.

She frowned, remembering the trials she and her friends had had to put up with in that dark, twisting place. It had been the perfect setup for the 'little games' of Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. She quickly trotted past it but, as if summoned by her thoughts, Discord's statue appeared on her right. She tried to ignore it. His new statue bothered her for some reason. Maybe it was his expression. A pony didn't have to be very observant to notice his face was permanently frozen in a look of terror.

Feelings of slight remorse rose up within her, for his sake. It somehow didn't seem fair for him to turn into stone again. It made sense she supposed but...it just didn't seem fair. She started to turn around to go another way when she heard a soft sound. Fear shot through her body; images of Discord suddenly breaking loose and turning all Equestria upside down again filling her mind. She forced herself to approach his statue, just to check on him, and noticed the true source of the sound.

A pony was sitting in front of his statue. She wondered how she hadn't noticed her before. The pony was...gray. Gray like Discord's statue. She had never seen a pony with a coat that made her look like stone before. Her black mane was cropped in a short, severe style and had a few silver-gray streaks running through it. Her tail was the same. She wore a colorless, ragged old cape that covered most of her body so she couldn't see her cutie mark.

The pony looked absolutely miserable. Twilight couldn't help but wonder what terrible thing Discord had done to her. He must have done something since that was the only reason why she could think anypony would sit beneath his statue like that. Concerned, she walked up to her and said, “Hello there. Is something wrong?”

The pony gave her a side glance with a pair of colorless, grey eyes, “No. Nothing is wrong,” the dark rings under her eyes stood out against the gray, “Everything is quiet and peaceful in Equestria. Just as it should be.”

Twilight blinked, “Uh, yes, yes it is.”

She stood there, watching the pony who went back to staring up at Discord's statue and acting like she wasn't there. Finally Twilight said, “Well, I guess I better get going.”

She started to walk away then stopped. Maybe the pony was just shy. She turned back and tried being friendly one more time, “My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?”

The pony's head shot up and she turned toward her with a deep frown. Her hard gray eyes bored into her's as she pointed an accusing hoof, “You?! You are the holder of the sixth Element of Harmony?!”

Startled, Twilight backed up a little, “Why yes, I-”

“And you did this to him?!” the pony pointed at Discord. Twilight stammered, “W-what?”

Suddenly calming, the pony said, “I'm sorry, that was unfair,” she took in a breath then shouted, “You AND your stupid friends did this to him!!”

Anger swept through Twilight at her words, “Now wait a minute! What we did was for the good of Equestria! We saved it by defeating Discord!”

The pony snorted, glaring mightily, “But you didn't have to turn him back to stone!”

Twilight yelled back, “I had no say in the matter!”

“So the beloved Sun Princess told you to do it?” the pony sneered, “She didn't want to lose her favorite lawn ornament?”

“No!” Twilight was furious, “It just happened that way! Princess Celestia had nothing to do with it!”

They both stopped, the pony glaring and Twilight panting for breath. After a few moments, the pony stated, “So you had no control over his fate. You were simply used by the elements as a way to focus and direct their power.”

Twilight sat down and attempted to control herself while smoothing down her mane, “That's right. I didn't know what would happen when we used them. We just-”

“Used them to save Equestria,” the pony looked away with a downcast expression again, “Please forgive my harshness towards you. I spoke out of anger and surprise, not knowledge.”

“Oh,” the sudden change of attitude was confusing but Twilight tried to smile, “It's okay, I can tell you're already upset about something.”

The pony gazed back up at Discord without comment, tears brimming in her eyes. Suddenly curious, Twilight asked, “Why are you so emotional over Discord? Did you meet him sometime during his escape?”

The pony gave her a thoughtful glance then looked back up at the statue, “What do you think? Should I tell her?” she tilted her head to the side with one ear up as though listening to something, “He says the look on your face would be worth it...but now wouldn't be good. The princess is coming.”

Twilight stood up and looked around, “She is?”

She could see Princess Luna trotting past a little ways off and lost her enthusiasm. Luna was far nicer now that she wasn't trying to cover Equestria in eternal night but she had been hoping it was Princess Celestia.

“It's just Luna,” she said to the nameless pony over her shoulder and waved a hoof, calling, “Hello your highness!”

Seeing her, Luna flapped her wings and landing before her with a yawn, “Greetings Twilight Sparkle,” she looked around, “Who were you speaking to just now?”

“You could hear me? Wow,” Twilight looked behind herself, “I was just talking to-” she blinked. The gray pony was no longer there, “Wait, where did she go?”

She and Luna glanced around but no pony was in sight. Luna shrugged, “We cannot see anypony. Pray tell, who was it?”

“That's odd,” Twilight murmured, “She was this weird gray pony. I think she was a friend of Discord.”

Luna's eyes widened in shock, “A gray pony? Did you happen to glance at her cutie mark?”

Twilight shook her head, “I couldn't see any cutie mark. She wore this cape thingy.”

Luna looked disturbed, “Did she say anything?”

“Well yes, she did,” Twilight said almost jokingly, “She had lots to say once I got her talking.”

Leaning in close, Luna whispered, “Did she say she was going to do something?”

“No,” Twilight felt slightly confused, “She was just upset about Discord being turned to stone for some reason.”

Luna sighed, “Well if that's all,” she briefly shook herself, “Are you going to visit our sister?”

“Yes, but is there something I should know about?”

“Yes,” Luna looked around, “You're going to be late.”

“I am?!” Twilight looked up at the sun then bowed, “You'll have to excuse me princess!”

“One moment,” Luna quickly said, “Be sure to tell our sister what you told us. She'll want to know.”

“Of course,” Twilight felt suspicion take hold, “Tell me, is this pony some sort of past villain I need to know about? She seemed to have some knowledge of the Elements of Harmony.”

Luna frowned, muttering, “Probably not,” before trotting off, “Just tell our sister about her.”

Twilight nodded, “Okay...” and watched her leave, “That was also odd...oh!” she started running towards the palace, “I'm going to be late!”

Author's Note:

A slow but intriguing start...

Comments

[Armasyll]

It's nice to finally have this story on the site :v

[Dusty Sage]

Not so slow, really. Since I haven't read it at Those Other Places, I will happily read it here.

[Aaronmaster2007]

I gotta admit this was interesting

[chrismonteith]

intriguing story