The eerie tune was the first thing he sensed...

A sad, solemn melody, played by instruments which's existence he did not know of before...

Perhaps they were modern ones, he HAD been there for quite a long time, and didn't got the chance to check around before being sealed away again...

He cringed at the thought, his face - if he still had one - twisting into a snarl accompanied by a frown.

Looking around, he saw nothing but darkness. Blackness. The lack of any color, light, sound, and interest. Lifeless.

Even if he tried, he would be unable to do anything here - he couldn't do anything with the perfect lack of anything. So he didn't.

He didn't even considered summoning, well aware that he wouldn't be able to, no matter how hard he tried.

So all he did was wait...

If he was to be locked away into eternity, then so be it.

He had "lived" a "life" that was entertaining. Fun. Even humorous at times. Though, in retrospect, it was all boring and menial in the greater scheme of things... After so many millennia of complete freedom (or lack, thereof), his "life" ends in this skin-tight tomb, so to speak. Boring.

Thinking back, he couldn't find any memories he could cherish - well, he could, but those worthy to think of were either annoying or hurtful, reminding him of the... Less joyous times in his life... Mere moments of his existence that had gone by...

He was ageless, and through natural course, he could never die, thus, was far more older than any beings he knew of - and he knew quite a lot.

Looking around in the completely indistinguishable scenery, he secretly hoped to see a sight, even if an eyesore, ANYTHING that would break this mind numbing monotony of nothingness...

The lulled surroundings were boring beyond any sense, and they even made succumbing to madness impossible - not that he could be any more insane.

"With all due respect..." he thought to himself "I'm bloody well mad!"

Silence.

He couldn't distinguish his spoken words from his thoughts, something which he figured out early on. For the first few thousand years, it was fun, but it quickly grew boring.

And it wasn't like he wished for any scenery, too.

As an immortal and near-omniscient being, he had seen it all, past, presents, future.

Surely, he could deal with nonexistence after all.

It was now that he noticed that the song he had heard as his conscious mind woke from it's slumber had gotten louder. It was almost silent when he first heard it...

Now, he could identify the notes.

It was, indeed, a sad and haunting tune as he expected. Nothing serious, moving or scary. It was a bit unsettling, bit depressing, but just very slightest... What he couldn't put his clawed finger on were the instruments. The sound was made by no instrument he knew of. Obviously... He thought of that before...

Then what was it?

It wasn't acoustic, that's for sure...

Nor was it magically generated, that genre died out many eons ago... Not even HE could do it (well, properly, at least), but of course, he heard of it.

No, now that he thought of it, it certainly originated by the resonance of some sort of power, but it wasn't magic.

"Electricity..." he thought.

It was electric music, but in that case, a very cheap one, perhaps MADE to be like it, to sound atmospheric, as it was certainly unentertaining.

Listening to the slowly overwhelming melancholy of a melody, he waited for another unmarked dull day to end...

Perhaps, he'll fall into unconsciousness again, and he'll be given peace by his own mental bounds... If he had any.

The doldrums of his inner psyche, which he presumed he was in, being unable to tell his conscious mind from the unconscious, were very tedious, thanks to the lack of impulse and emotions...

The music was getting louder...

It was the first time he looked down. He saw his body... But nothing to hold it.

He was existing in the middle of Nothing, suspended in vacuum, and the sound of a broken electric music box was going to deafen him. Oh, the grotesque humor of it...

The macabre tone of the song kicked in as it became very clear and he began to hear the higher notes as well. His head hurt because of it, yet, he couldn't really locate the pain, his body beneath him only being an image, rather than the actual thing.

Was he dead?

Though born to be immortal, he could still be killed, defeated by disease or poison (though, not likely). Hunger and thirst, too, would eventually drain life from him, but it would take more than a humble mortal's lifetime to even get weakened by the slightest because of malnutrition.

Was he in Hell?

Nah, that would've been more crowded... He was there once, and this was nothing like it.

Heaven?

Pah. He could hardly stifle his laugh... Well, if he had had one...

Purgatory?

Perhaps... This could be anything... He sort of half expected it to be a bit more fiery, but what the heck...

The music was getting more and more ear-hurting, and it was a tad lower and slower...

"This is ridiculous..." - he thought. Did he? Did he really?

He couldn't tell by now...

He was used to chaos, but that was the chaos HE created... This was confusing and disorienting... Not to mention painful...

"To Tartaros with this cacophony!" he grunted. Not a single sound was audible beside the shrieking melody of death...

Wait? Melody of Death?

So THAT'S it!

The tune he had been hearing was sort of a funeral song. Was he dying?

That certainly sounds more interesting than suspended animation.

A shadow was coasted over him...

"Eh?"

Looking up, he could make out something large... And black.

He can barely distinguish it from the background, but the white light around the edges of the shape highlighted it enough to make out the enormous form.

He shuddered on the inside.

Above him, as high as a star, yet as large as mountain, was the Black Sun. A symbol, an insignia of all that's wrong that could be brought out from the purest mortal's heart, the emblem of his failed attempt to seize power through the one.
..
The one he once held so close to his heart...

In one turns of insanity, the psychopathy inducted by his own power and immortality, he tried to go against his very nature: seizing power through Order rather than Chaos.

The result...

Was pure terror...

He brought such evil on the land, never before seen by the masses, that it made even the darkest ones cringe.

The vessel he used, he dared to use, became a figure so distorted, so dark and dreadful, so unlike how she normally was, that her own family didn't recognize her.

He hated himself because of this...

Not only did he had caused immense pain, torture, horror, suffering, misery and agony to the innocent whom he merely wanted to gently toy with - relatively, that is - but he had darkened the heart of the most purest being of them all - another immortal like him, and the only one who ever loved him for who he is and what he was.

And the only whom he cared for.

But after that fateful day, it all changed.

Still staring at the Black Sun, though with his eyes glossy - not that he was aware of any of it - he was startled when the Sun decided to change shape... From it's perfectly round form, eight spikes erected, pointing into eight different directions, as the Sun's interior shifted, becoming more and more... Simple...

"No..." he thought "Not this..."

In his vain attempt to retrieve the soul of his loved one, he tore the dark magic off her body, pouring it all over his own self, essentially becoming the very monster they all probably remember him to be. But he was not the spirit of Chaos then. He was the beast of Swath.

He was defeated, freed from his own dark magic, then promptly encased with stone. But in his defeat he was still joyous, freed from the darkness that consumed his mind.

He turned his head away from the Chaos symbol, only to see something in the distance... Something white...

Could it be?

"...Tia?"

The sprite drew closer...

His lips curled into a smile - or so he thought - as the anomaly oh so similar to her drew nearer and nearer... But as it got close enough to be distinguishable from the haze it seemed.

Yes! It was definitely her!

But...

No...

This couldn't be her...

No.

This cannot be her...

No!

This isn't... It can't..!

It CANNOT BE...!

NO!

SHE ISN'T--!

Her wings were distorted - her whole being was.

One seemed to be a botched sculpture of metal and wires, with dagger-like blades spreading out, partially coated in a blue substance with blood's density, barb and razor wire tying each and every individual piece together...

The other - a cruel joke.

Her feathers few and far between, their tips cut off and bleeding red blades of pain and torture.

Her tail was white flame that seemed to be burning towards the ground...

One of her rear legs were missing - it just abruptly ended at her flank, with a few floating chunks of her matter displayed in white squares - "pixels" were they called? He couldn't tell for sure...

Her other leg had no outline or depth - it seemed to be just a dirty white matter in the shape of her hind leg, complete with her horseshoes. But even as such, it seemed to... Snippy, to robust and sharply edged...

Her mane was distorted as well - despite the lack of any wind, it was constantly blown from a certain direction, on an axis he cannot comprehend - the waving flare of her crest had an unnaturally slow movement, constantly jolting and reshaping itself, as if it had stopped in time for a moment, only to continue in the form the momentum would have arranged it, had it's motion remained continuous - the flow sometimes even changed direction altogether, as if played in reverse...

It's colors were off: dulled and clashing, or having some sort of texture over it - one stripe in particular was completely see-through with a mere outline.

Her necklace was dodgy - like her hind leg - a black-and-white mess of squares making out the rough shape of it. The only distinguishable feature was the gem - blood red and dull.

Her forelegs were mismatched - both had horseshoes, but while one's was gray, the other's had a nasty red texture on it.

Her movement was robust and lagged from time to time, as she drew nearer - her horn unfinished - ending in a few, sparkling squares that flickered in the place of it's peak...

Her tiara was black with a white gem, nothing more, nothing less - no details or depth - it might as well been a paper cut-out.

But what took him was her eye - only one that was left uncovered by her flowing mane, her usual style.

It was like gazing into a blood well. Deep crimson color shone in the darkness, pupil hidden by the "light" it reflected.

She glared at him, as she approached, washing the smile of his face, crushing whatever comfort he had...

"w̵͠H͏̶y͢ ̷̨d͡I̡͢D ̴Y͡o̴̕͟U ̡d̷̛O͏̨ t̸H͢I͜s͜.̨͜͠.̢.̶?́́" the vision croaked.

It's voice... Just like hers...

With a hint of HIS "divine addition"...

"No..."

"W̕Hy̧͝ ̀͟͠D҉̶i͜D̢̕ ͜y̶O͟͏U̶̶ Ḑ͘o͠҉ ҉iT͡,̕ ͢Ḑi̷̡S҉̛C̶̴҉o̷̡r̷D̴?̴̨" the spectre whirred "̧́͞W̨͜͏H͟͠Y̕ ́DID͜͜ ̕Y̷̛O̢U̸ ̶̡L͏̶͞E͏T̨ HI̵͘M ̧͠O̷̷Ư͘͝T҉?́͝!"

He roared and tried to cover his ear, as the being's shriek caught him by surprise - nearly deafening him.

"Y̵̡҉O҉u͜͢ D̵̡́e̡͟͠S͢TR̛oy̷̢e͡͞Ḑ͢ ̛H̶̛͢arm̷̀o̶̡ny҉̸..͠͝. ͞yÒ̢͠u̸̢ ̶̢b̡R̴͘͞Ǫ̸̀ú̵̸g̴͠Ht̕҉ ̴uS̸ ̶͢W̨͡A͟͝R̸̛͘ a̷̧̛N̴҉̕d̨͢ ̵S̴u̧͝F͢Fe҉͞Ri͜͞ņ̷G̷͢.̸.̡͘.͡ ̛҉WHY̴͟?̧͝!"

"I..."

"THE SPIRIT OF CHAOS MEANT TO CAUSE CHAOS!!! NOT DEATH AND HAVOC!" she yelled, her voice clearing out.

He covered his eyes, trying to hide his tears, and trying to hide from her gaze.

He dared to peak.

"Ńo̶͝w̨̢͜͡,̛ ̸̧̡͞y̨̕͏̀͝ǫ̨̛͢ư̕̕͡ ̶̨͘s̸̢͢͟͞h̷̛͘̕͠a̡͢҉̛l҉̡l͘͟ ͘͟͏p̨̕͞͏̨á͘y̨͏̀́ ̨́t̷̡̢̕h̵̸̛̕͠é̶̛ ҉҉̴̕͡p̧r̶̴̶͜͢į̶̛͞c͏͏͟e̷̷͏ ̀́f̀͢ơ̢͞r͞ ̡̕͡͞͡b̶̢̡́e҉̴̢͟͞t̨̨̀͞r̴̨ą͢͞͠͏y̛̕͢͟i̷̵̢̧͢ń̨g̴̵̶͡͞ ́͠y҉̢͘͝o̴̵̡͞u̡͟͡r͏̢̕͠ ̴̛̀͝͞f̶̛͏̷̨ŕ̨̧͢ì̷̛̕͝ę̴͞͞͝n̸̶d҉̶͘͢͡s̸̛͟͞.̶̢̢̛́.̴͘͢҉́.̕͘͟͠" the being that was Celestia whispered, before it whipped her mane away from in front of her other eye... Revealing it to be completely black...

He felt... Hypnotized, as he stared into the vast darkness of her eyes... Then, he noticed a circle in white, surfacing from the murky blackness...

Then another...

Then another...

He was falling, down into the fading point of the tunnel...

Into oblivion...

"Sister! SISTER!"

The Princess of the Sun was woken from a deep, dreamless sleep...

"Oooh... What is it, Lulu?" she moaned groggily.

"Sister, wake up!" Luna snapped "It's Discord!"

Suddenly, Celestia was wide awake.

"Discord?! Did he escaped?! Did he took the Elements of Harmony?! Did he--?!" she stopped when she saw Luna shaking her head.

"No, sister! He's still encased in stone!"

"Then why...?" the elder diarch didn't understood...

"That's it!" Luna explained "It's the statue!"

"...What about it?"

"It's crying blood!"

On the top of the highest tower, half laying, half standing with his heels digging into the eaves, he stared at the night sky...

The stars were moving...

"Soon, it'll be time..." he thought, pushing his glasses back in front of his eyes - he had no nose to push up onto.

The crescent moon shone it's brightest, and when he focused, he could see four stars emerging from behind it.

Gray shadows stretched long.

The night was ending.

"Soon, it'll start..." he muttered, as if he was promising to someone.

He leaped off the roof, landing on the balcony below.

Overlooking the garden, his eyes sat on a twisted, misshapen statue, covered in a darkness murkier than what's natural...

Even in the darkness, he could see the crimson drops it cried...

"Soon, your test shall come..." he promised "And we'll see, if you're one of us..."

He gazed up at the night sky, into the darkness between the stars, until his eyes managed to focus as further as possible - seeing nothing but lights: white and red.

"...Or them..."