I stand at the foot of the bed my friend lies in, “I guess this is end, dear friend.”
Hoofler coughs roughly, before smiling at me with tiny bits of blood spattering his mouth, “It had to happen sometime, Tim. You saved me from madness, dear friend. There is no one other that my family I would wish to die near. And if anyone is family, you are.”
I try to grab his hoof, but my hand just goes through it, “It’s tragic, isn’t it? Your best friend, close enough to be family, and yet you have never actually seen me.”
Adolf leans back as he breathes out, “That’s not true. I’ve seen you in the garden, remember all those times? Remember how Snowy and I met there?”
I nod, “Of corse I remember, how could I forget? You were so happy to find a mare that loved art just as much as you. Even if that art was more with weather than paint. You smiled the whole night, talked about her, before we knew it you were married. Little Steel Hoof and Snowy Flash. But that doesn’t count. We’ve never talked, face to face, never felt the others touch. All we do is because of apparitions and illusions. Maybe I could break free now and rush to the hospital...”
He shakes his head, “No, Tim, no. We’ve been friends for two centuries, you cannot just discredit that!” He coughs roughly, before recovering, “You cannot break free just yet, dear friend. I know it pains you to see me pass, but you remember what the Zebras said. ‘One will stand on the ground, the other shall love to fly. And if you fall in duty, both will do naught but die’. You know you cannot throw away their lives because of me. We are friends, that’s all I need to know. I could care less if all I see is an illusion, it is still you to me.”
I hang my head at the end of his bed, “This is the final time I will see you, Hoofler. This... this is goodbye.”
He simply smiles sadly, “It was a wild twin centuries, Tim. This... this is not the last we’ll see of each other. Somehow, I believe my painting will come true. But that doesn’t rid the fact of my death. I ask but one simple favor from you, dear friend. Before I die, could you do one last thing?”
I raise my head, and look right at Hoofler, “What is it, dear friend?”
He leans closer to my ear, and whispers out his final wish, “Keep my granddaughters safe...”
He lets the last word run for a while longer as he takes a final breath. He leans back in his bed, and lets it go with a smile on his face. He closes his eyes, and doesn’t open them again.
I sit there, and look at my now dead friend. I take in a shaky breath, “Of corse, Hoofler. Anything to help a friend.”
He steps back from the bed, and summons up a Chello with his Element. He takes a bow, and drags it across the strings. The bright and colorful Jester playing a song of mourning.
The notes carry the happiness of Hoofler’s life, and the sadness of his passing. A quick and angry melody for his rejection from the college of Muneigh, which quickly flows into a calm and peaceful melody for the meeting of the two friends. An uplifting but still somber tone as he meets his future wife, and eventually watches her die. An optimistic and fast melody as he starts to gain money from his art. It shifts into playfulness as he has his two daughters. It becomes more stern as he teaches his children right from wrong, whilst Snowy teaches them how to fly. A sudden stop happens in the notes, as the Chello is joined by other instruments. A tribal melody with the Chello providing a sense of foreboding as the Zebra’s provide a worrying prophecy. The tribal drums fade to a rising brass section as he travels the world with his family and best friend. The blaring trombones and trumpets grow more quiet as he grows older. Until they fade away entirely, and leave a solitary Chello that moves slowly and quietly, as he passes away.
Elsewhere in the hospital are two Pegasus mares walking to visit their father. They hear the song of the Jester, and immediately know what happened. They enter his room, and see him dead. Their uncle plays the song next to him as he plays the final note. As their uncle looks at his dear friend once more, he fades away.
—(550 Years later)—
I wait in my void. I swirl my brush in multiple different colors as I try to nail down how to paint Celestia’s mane and make it look like it’s flowing. Luna’s was a bit easier, as she had a less complex pattern of colors, simply blues and whites was her mane. But Celestia’s is multiple different colors, and it’s hard to fit that many colors on a single brush.
I lightly touch the brush to the canvas, but a laugh interrupts me. A mad laugh.
It is easy to recognize Discord’s laugh. My painting is suddenly thrown over by the laugh.
One of my bells on my hat start to shake, and actually starts to sing.
”A thousand years has passed!
Since we have heard your song last!
For chaos has been released at it’s core!
We beg you to bring you music once more!
Before the world starts to burn!
Your music, we yearn!
Grab the gift, the Everfree’s bell!
Throw it and escape from this hell!”
I take the bell that is singing at me, and look at it. The bell of the Everfree. I remember gaining this.
I clench my fist as I hear the laugh once more. This is my time to escape, and keep Discord distracted until the Elements trap him!
I throw the bell into the void, and the void shatters.
I find myself sitting in the chair I was frozen in, and my muscles are quite sore. I stand up, and see Discord in the distance.
I tap into my Element’s power for the first time in five centuries. I hold my hand out, and my instrument starts to slowly appear in it. Rusty without practice, it would appear. After a minute, my ukulele is gripped by my hands.
I face toward Discord, and play a single strum. The strum being a challenge to Discord. He hears it, and turns around to face me, “You!”
I stand there in the billowing wind of taffy, ukulele grasped near my chest. My robes and hat blow, ringing the bells on my uniform. The bright red color as bright as it was one thousand years before. I smile and looks up at Discord, “That’s right. I’m back, old friend. And I’m here to stop you.”
Discord floats over to me, and seethes, “Of corse you are back. Why wouldn’t you be? Have you come to try and kill me again, Tim?”
I keep still, not allowing him to scare me, “Your betrayal of my trust is one of the worst moments of my life. I learned why the ponies hated you so in that moment. I am not here to kill you, Discord, only the corrupted image of Blood you made of me would do that. I am here to defeat you, Discord. You are not yourself.”
I start to move my fingers along the all too familiar instrument, that is at the same time a foreign sensation. I’m a thousand years out of practice, but I still remember how to play like it’s yesterday.
”For a millennia I was left to meditate.
Left alone to contemplate.
To rid myself of fear and rage.
And I’ve woken in a new age.”
Discord snaps out a guitar, and strums a much more aggressive melody.
”For years the ponies were full of hate,
Then I met the Jester, who would grow to be my mate.
Like a friend, I gave help to him, and he to me.
How was I to know a pawn was all he thought me to be?”
My ukulele starts to get progressively faster as I strum it playfully.
”A wonderful world was opened up to me!
With food and drink everywhere to see!
I met a creature who became a friend,
One who betrayed my trust in the end.”
Discord takes his turn by increasing his playful tone as well.
”A chaotic little wonderland,
The Jester and his traveling band!
Two sisters said they wanted it gone,
And they used my friend as their pawn!”
My fingers rush all around the ukulele.
”Then I met Celestia, who claimed to be an alicorn,
A odd mix of pony with both wing and horn.
With both them and Discord I befriend.
And I couldn’t choose a side in the end.”
Discord enters into an angry tone.
”As I was about to die,
My friend just stood on by!
I had to enter into his mind,
And released a beast of a whole different kind.”
I match his angry tone with my higher notes.
”For I was the Element of Fun,
I did not fight, I chose to run.
If either died it would be something to mourn,
But he released the beast, the one by the name of Khorne!”
Discord strums as fasts as his talons can.
”Trapped for a thousand years!
Might be trapped for a thousand more!
Because ponies didn’t appreciate my chaos,
In the good old days of yore!”
I match his speed with almost no effort.
”Now I’m back to fight you!
For the chaos I cannot allow you to do!
The promise I made to my dear Hoofler!
Means I have to protect her!”
Discord slows down a bit, and meets my eyes.
”We are both brothers, trapped in stone.
We are both men, both enjoy their song.
We can play it all day long.
Just help me get back my throne.”
I don’t falter in my strum, and strum harshly to knock Discord off with my next verse.
”You are not the one I knew anymore.
You are now corrupted down to the core!
Fear has left behind a unmistakeable taint.
You are no longer the same saint!”
Discord leans back, and enters back into his aggression.
”Now they come to freeze once more, the Elements!
Because in their heart there is no acceptance!
They come now because they are fools!
To imprison me with their fancy jewels!”
I strum out a final verse.
”Very well, maybe you will learn this time.
Look back and lament your crime.
Because you just won’t admit,
Elements, hit it.”
Discord’s guitar stops suddenly as he hears the sound of magic behind him. He turns around to see six bright mares with necklaces on, and a rainbow laser traveling towards him. He screams in fear and pain as the beam hits him and turns him to stone. He screams out one last time before his mouth is frozen, “Tim!”
I sadly shake my head at Discord’s fate. To be trapped for another thousand years, he’ll only be even more mad when he is released then.
The purple unicorn, the Element of Magic, approaches me, “What are you?”
I send away my ukulele before scratching my chin, “What am I? A common question I ask myself.” I hold up fingers as I list stuff off, “Well, currently I am sad, happy, feeling strange, talking to an Element, breathing air, beating my heart, all that stuff. Oh, I am also a musician, the Jester.” I smile, “Oh, you probably meant what my name is. See, that’s a better way to say it. Semantics, my dear.” I nod towards her, sending my bells a-ringing, “I’m Tim, the Jester. Pleasure to meet a fellow Element.”
She opens her mouth to continue, “But what-“
She is interrupted by the sound of hooves hitting the ground, and another female voice speaking, “We knew it was you. We could hear your music a kilometer off.”
I look to see Luna, who quickly rushes into me and hugs me tightly. I laugh a bit, “My Luna, we didn’t even speak back then. If this is how royalty greets people this age, then I like what Celestia has done.”
She backs away, slightly embarrassed, “Sorry, it’s just been so long since we’ve seen a familiar face.” She regains her composure as she looks at both me and the Elements, “Tim, Celestia will want to talk to you, we will fill you in on details of the going on’s of the new age. Elements, we will inform you about Tim. He is not an enemy, that’s what you need to know now.”
The Element of Magic nods, “Will I get to ask him questions later?”
Luna shrugs, “That’s up to Tim.”
I smile as I lean over to her, “Do not worry my dear, I’m full of answers for any question you have.”
Luna looks at the both of us, especially me with my back bent backwards at such a way it should break. She shakes her head, “Whatever. Follow us.”
