The Forgotten Melody

Art credited to cloudshadezer0.deviantart. Edited personally.

Chapter Three

Chaos and Harmony

* * *18 Years Ago* * *

A stranger dodged his way through the twisted labyrinth maze of the Canterlot Gardens, hoping to remain hidden, especially from Celestia's sight. However, dusk was falling upon Equestria, the last rays of sunshine taking their leave, so the stranger had not much to worry about being spotted. He looked up at the sky, the clear blues fading into black and many other colors. Darkness crept over the land as the shining face of the Mare in the Moon looked down at her children.

A dash of color flew across the horizon. The stranger's eyes followed it. It reassured the sun's graceful slumber, painting the skies in pinks, yellows, and purples, hiding magic in the clouds and whisking beams of many hues throughout the atmosphere. It then stopped, looking in the direction of the labyrinth. The stranger knew it was his turn, and held out his hand. He felt the anticipation however wanted to stall more. He could snap his fingers at any moment, but couldn't.

Be bold, rang a friendly, innocent voice in his head. It was too much. He just couldn't do it. The drive had left him long ago. The stranger ended up falling back on a stone bench, putting his arms down and sitting there with a pitiful sigh. He looked up. Celestia had now joined the figure in the sky, addressing the figure warmly before setting the sun once and for all. The princess then rose the moon higher into the sky, and with a brush of magic brought forth the stars, signaling night had come.

The princess then flew back to the figure in the sky, bid her goodnight, and then floated back to the castle, ready for rest. The figure hovered for a minute, watching the ruler leave, and then once the Sun Princess was out of sight, the figure flew swiftly to the ground, right in the direction of the stranger. She landed light on her hooves, trying not to make a sound. With confused eyes she looked at him.

"I don't understand," she said quietly. "You held back." The stranger grimaced.

"Oh...I had to," he admitted. "Truthfully I've been dying to use my magic for years, but you know that Celestia is still connected to the Elements of Harmony...and if she saw, got a hint, you know exactly what would happen."

"She could've assumed I was trying a new spell on the sunset today," said the first. But the stranger sighed.

"I just didn't want to take any chances." He flicked a piece of loose hedge with his finger, almost sounding ashamed of himself. The first, however, walked up to the bench.

"Aren't you all about taking chances, risks, trying something new for a change?" she asked.

"I guess that was all sucked out of me many years ago," he responded. "Besides, living life incognito for the past couple weeks hasn't been exactly fun if you ask me." The first scrunched her face.

"I'm getting tired of all this. You need to be accepted for who you are, not what you are. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go to Celestia and-"

"Oh no you can't possibly do that!" retorted the stranger. "She'd imprison me again in a heartbeat, considering she still has all the Elements under her wing. That and you'd probably get banished as well. It would all be a big mash of-"

"Chaos?"

"Well that's more like organized punishment, really," said the stranger. He frowned and crossed his arms. "And that's what everything is turning out to be, I'm afraid. One neatly complied plan spiraling for disaster for us all." The first put her hooves on the opposite side of the bench.

"This just isn't fair, not at all," she said. "It's all Celestia's fault for being so ridiculous, so judgmental, and the world for believing her and..." Her voice was growing more intense, when it finally broke into a cry. "No...no it's my fault. It's all my fault! I should've waited to free you, maybe after Celestia didn't have the Elements so that she couldn't hurt you. Now we're in danger and..." The stranger put a hand on her shoulder. He hated to see her upset.

"Technically it's Celestia's fault then," he reassured. "Wasn't she the one who told you to free me?"

"No," the pony said sadly. "It wasn't." She sat there for a long moment before muttering, "I...I'm sorry but...I lied about that." The stranger was taken aback.

"What-"

"The princess sent me to that cave...to DESTROY YOU!" she yelped. "Celestia was concerned that you would rise against her to power, she told me that you were evil, that you made people miserable! I believed her too, but when I got to the task...I just couldn't!" The stranger sat motionless.

"Hm, now this doesn't make any sense," he said. "You were sent to destroy me. You believed I was evil. But instead you...freed me?" He gave her a quizzical look. "Why? I mean, I was a prisoner, and you just turned me loose on the world like that. You could've ended me there, turned me in any time, but you didn't." He rubbed his head. "Now this logic I'm not understanding, it's blatant chaos itself to me but just...why?"

"Because," said the first, "I couldn't just kill you off. I wanted to know really who you were. I had to know and...it looked like you needed a second chance. I wanted to give you one, let you have another say before I really believed anything and...well..." She ran up and hugged the stranger unexpectedly.

"I wanted to be your friend, Discord," she said. The stranger sat motionless, silent.

"F-friend?" he uttered as if the word was new to him. He stared off into the distance, trying to digest the idea. He had a friend. Someone who cared about him, and after all the years of hardship, he had never been in the situation before.

"Princess," said Discord as he patted the pony on the head. "I am...truly taken aback. I've never really been accepted like this before." The princess looked up at him.

"Well, I do," she said. "No matter what anypony says. Not even Celestia." She then walked over and sat on the bench next to Discord and with a strange curiosity, looked up at the moon.

"I wonder," she said. "I wonder if the Mare in the Moon is alone too."

"What?" asked Discord. He looked up at the moon like it was a bug. "I thought that was a silly rock formation."

"It isn't," said the princess. "I heard in legend that there really is a mare up there trapped in the moon."

"Must be as confined as we are," stated Discord.

"Well, I heard that in about eighteen years at the Summer Sun Celebration she will return," continued the princess with her eyes sparkling. "And you know what, Discord?"

"What, princess?"

"I'll be waiting for her," she replied. "I won't leave her behind without somepony who cares for her." She felt a warm feeling, that of friendship. Wanting friends and other ponies to have friends as well. It was feeling she basked in all her life...

But is was taken away. By a brilliant light. It had come and found them, and all was chaos that night...