Discord Daze

Chapter 3: Strings

The slow whine of fifty sets of strings builds up in the large hall, the noise softly flowing around the room in gentle symphony. Just after the violins start, the chimes of a piano enter in. A crowd of finely dressed ponies sit and listen to the serenade of music—Beethoofen's. Among the crowd is Starry Knight, watching with a smile. One of those playing is Moonlight Serenade, on a violin. She smiles as she sees him, and then focuses up on her part again, adding to the sweet melody.

Moonlight loves music. She loves it just as much as Starry Knight. Her cutie mark is a bright, full moon with a treble clef and a series of small musical notes. The performance goes on for another fourteen minutes, and then the band all exits after a short applause of hooves stamping the ground. Starry makes his exit while the rest of the crowd stays for the next band to take the stage.

"I'm glad you could make it." Moonlight and Starry meet by the back entrance, and casually walk away from the crowd of musicians and stagehooves that don't seem to turn a second glance.

"You really shouldn't doubt me so much," Starry says.

"I would understand though. You've been busy. Things are happening."

"'Things' makes it sound so simple."

"Well it's true."

"So today . . . the King is lazy. The princess is spending the day out in Smallsaddle. The prince is spending the day at the barracks, calling for extra training from the troops. The Queen will spend all day inside the palace as usual."

"What about your friend?"

"Which one?"

"Umm... something Arrow or Arrows. The one who has a crush on me."

"Oh, right. Copper Arrow. He's at archery practice."

"So you're totally free?"

"Indeed I am." Starry nods to her, a smile across his face. "So where would you like to go?"

After giving an excited trot, Moonlight responds, and they trot forth towards a new destination. Later, the couple sit in a crowded theater, much larger than the one from before.

"I don't understand how you still want more of places like this when you already spend so much time in one," Starry says, very quietly as to not disturb those around him.

"Hush," Moonlight says as she watches the actors on stage.

Starry nods and shuts himself up, watching the comedy with mild interest.

As Moonlight lets out a slight laugh, along with the crowd at one of the jokes, Starry takes a brief look around and catches a glimpse of the King, sitting up on a balcony. He quickly turns around and nudges Moonlight. "Hey, don't look now, but the King is here."

"What?" Moonlight whispers back. A few ponies that heard Starry immediately begin looking around.

"Shush—don't make a scene, I'm going to make a casual exit. I'll see you out back."

"Okay . . . " Moonlight nods, and continues to watch the play.

As Starry gets up to leave, he looks back at the king, and notices a strange, older mare leaning to him and whispering something into his ear, or perhaps it was a kiss. The King happened to notice the glance that he got from the soon-to-be prince, though Starry doesn't see it. Starry heads out without thinking any further on the matter, and waits out back. Soon, he is rejoined by his lover, and they trots away, onto the next spot.

"I think I saw somepony with him."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Moonlight says.

"I think she kissed him. Kind of ironic, isn't it?"

"Can we stop talking about the King, Starry?"

Starry blinks, stopping in his place, and for a second he forgets why the topic strikes a chord with the mare. He is quickly reminded, however, and nods to her. "Right, I forgot. The sun will be setting soon. Any last places you want to visit?"

Moonlight seems lost in her thoughts for a moment, and shakes her head. "No, it's been wonderful."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Starry doesn't question it, against his better judgment. "Okay," he says, "The wedding is coming up."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I think we ought to."

"What?" Moonlight's good mood has clearly expired.

"It's right around the corner. I won't be able to spend as much time with you."

Moonlight sighs and stops. She turns to him, and says, "Maybe you shouldn't."

"Shouldn't . . . spend time with you?" The notion leaves Starry a little confused.

"You're going to be a lot busier, and I would just be getting in the way."

Starry pulls her into a hug and nuzzles her neck. "Don't say that," he says, a hint of fear in his voice, "I love you, Moonlight."

"I don't want you to become like him."

Starry nods to her. "I know, he didn't love your mother, though. You know that."

"But it's the same."

"I promise it won't be."

"You can't make that promise."

Starry doesn't respond.

"Maybe it would be for the best if we never saw each other again." Moonlight pulls away from him, her eyes welling up a bit. She tries to hide it. After a few more moments of silence, Moonlight continues. "Why didn't you say no to her? It would have been so much better."

"She's the princess."

"We're free ponies you know."

"Our relationship has always been a secret. From Steel Arrows, from my commanding officers, and now from the royal family. This doesn't have to change anything."

"Can you really say that it wouldn't have been better though?"

Starry thinks hard for a moment, and then shakes his head. "Looking back. No. But I can't change the past. My path is set in stone. I will become king."

"So you get everything you want, then, don't you?"

"Not everything . . . " Starry says. Moonlight begins to leave, and Starry sighs. He hesitates to follow her, and instead says, "Good-bye. I promise we will see each other again."

No response. Starry leaves, flying off into the sky and finding a place to sit on the wall and watch the sun set, and the moon rise.

The next day, Starry awakes in his own home to a knocking on his chamber door. "Commander," he hears, as some unknown officer tries to awaken him.

"What?" Starry says as he opens the door, looking out and seeing that the sun is only just rising. He didn't sleep well.

"You've been summoned by the council. There's a commotion among the new citizens. They say it's an emergency."

"That all?"

"Yes—"

Starry promptly closes the door before the soldier can finish his sentence, and collects some of his gear. He arms himself, and then opens the door again and leaves.

He lands outside of the city walls and looks around. There's already a nice little town springing up, made up of wooden buildings. He trots over to the council and the large crowd of ponies around them. "Starry!" One of the advisors addresses him, flustered. "Thank the paragons you've arrived."

"What's the problem?"

"The new arrivals don't think they're being treated fairly."

Starry rolls his eyes. "What did you do?"

"Nothing."

Starry sighs and turns to address the crowd. He conjures up another screech with his magic to get attention and then clears his throat. "What's the problem, here?"

"They're trying to put a curfew on us!" One of the earth ponies begins to complain, and a dozen others chime in afterwards.

"Quiet!" Starry shouts over the crowd, and then turns to the advisors. "Your side of the story?"

One of the younger advisors speaks out. "A few among them have become thieves, we're only trying to bring in some added security."

"It was you alicorns stealing from us!" A pegasus says, shouting out from the crowd.

"Okay, calm down," Starry Knight says and then yawns. "It sounds like we have nothing more than a common thief on our hooves. If you all would like to, we can solve this problem today by having the guard search through everypony's home and personal belongings. And whoever has the stolen articles is the thief. But if nopony has any stolen articles, then we can assume your theory is correct, and an alicorn is the thief. Either way, they will be brought to justice."

"Justice?" Another Earth pony speaks up. "We've been fighting Discord for hundreds of years while you sat by and did nothing. We lost, and had to flee, and now we live in squalor! Don't talk to us about justice. When we find the thief, we want his head!" The crowd grows angry again.

"And what if the thief is among your own?" Starry asks.

"We'll kill him all the same!"

"What if it's multiple thieves?"

"Death!"

"What if it's a starving mare?"

The crowd goes silent.

"Better yet, what if it's a little colt or filly? Or a group of them? Will you still put their heads on a pike?"

No response.

"Well? Who will be the one to hold them down? Who will bring an axe to their throats?"

Still nothing. The crowd is completely silent.

"This kingdom isn't perfect, but we do believe in mercy. And we also believe that the punishment should fit the crime. The day that doesn't hold true, I'll be gone from here. Don't worry about the thieves, my stallions will handle it. But leave law and order to the guard. Now get back to building yourselves up, and maybe there won't be a need for the thieves to steal."

Starry leaves the crowd as they all disperse, and trots back towards the inner city. As he does, Iron Sword approaches him again. "Sir!" he shouts after him.

Starry stops and turns to face the pony. "You again. What do you want?"

"I want to join the guard."

"I'm a little high up to be recruiting ponies."

"I still owe you, sir. I want to join your ranks."

Starry thinks for a moment, and then nods. "Alright, since you're so eager. Report to the barracks for training tomorrow at dawn."

"With all due respect sir, I'm already quite skilled."

"Barracks," Starry says as he continues trotting away, "Dawn."

Iron Sword nods and leaves in the other direction.

That night, Starry goes to the secret meeting spot where he and Moonlight meet up. HE waits, but she never shows up.

I waited for Moonlight every day until the end of the week. I never saw her. A part of me likes to think that she was sitting, hidden somewhere atop a building or behind a wall, watching me.