There are many types of music in the world. Some are soft, some are loud, and others are heavenly and grim, but those are the worthiest of titles.

They say music was one of the very pillars of creation during the formation of Equestria and The Known World, according to the myths and legends passed down by the generations of Old, tales of a distant and horrifying time that could only be mouthed and spoken as 'Twilieria Ravaginerina Chaos', or 'The Ravaged Void of Chaos and Twilight'.

There was no land, no sky, nothing, all but a void of lifelessness, madness, and never-ending chaos.

It was then described that a brilliant light was born onto the plane of chaos, an orb of dazzling gold and mesmerizing glints and glimmers of majesty. This orb, they said, was called 'The First Sun'.

There were other known names for this brilliant star, but the most common that had been repeated through the scriptures of history was 'Queen Solaris of Harmonaya'. The Sun was described as a life-giving womb of pillars and healing, the celestial orb emitting bright solar flares that brought to the world one pillar of life at a time.

First came Land. Then came Sky, Water, Love, Fire, and Wind.

Six Elements of Harmony. Harmony that was given to the world of Chaos, and thus came the birth of Equestria. The Sun's womb was still filled however, despite the new stage that had it created being full and twinkling with freshly birthed Harmony and peace. A stage, like a play, needed actors after all....

In a final bright flash from The First Sun, a golden beam of sunshine came forth and fluttered to the ground with the lightness of a feather on the soothing wind. It chose a simple hill to rest its radiance, cradling something in its arms as it descended onto its life engorged earth.

The light cooed and smiled as it quietly rested in a tiny bundle of white upon the hill, filling it with the magic of the sun. The First Sun ascended back into the sky, content that its actor had taken root in the world.
It was excited to see what kind of show this tiny bundle would perform for The Sun, wondering if it would bring onto Equestria more Elements of Harmony. But alas...something was amiss. The Sun began to grow weary, stuck idly in the sky.

It wanted to rest, wanted to sleep, wanted to move. It then realized that Equestria lacked two vital pillars to its foundation: Balance and Order.

Balance and Order were needed in order to correctly stabilize Equestria, lest the fires of The Sun eventually bring ravenous, heated destruction to its carefully constructed world. It was because of this that The Sun created yet another bundle, a bundle of Midnight Blue, and raised a new orb to the sky: The First Moon.

And thus, Celestia and Luna were born.

With them they brought the Equestrians, the Equine race of Ponies to the Realm of Harmony. To Equestria, the ponies brought with them the remaining pillars to the world. Dance, Art, Knowledge, Family, Friendship, and of course...

"Music!" Lyra said with a cheerful grin etched upon her face, trying her best to get through to her lovely mare friend Bon-Bon that music was certainly a better hobby than silly old art. "Come on, think about it! Music gives you beat, rhythm, dance! You can express so much more with music than with art!"

At this, Bon-Bon sighed and took another sip of her steaming brown mocha. She grimaced as she looked down at the cup, quickly detesting its bitter taste. Perhaps another few sugars would do...

"Seriously Bon-Bon, give me something here!" Lyra went on, her overly obnoxious and loud voice drawing a few ponies' heads to turn from all around the diner.

Bon-Bon, finally reaching a mental level she could only call 'Finally being arsed to answer Lyra's philosophical inquiries', quietly put down her mug and said "Lyra, come on! Music might as well be called a form of 'art' itself!” she detested with annoyance, “notes can paint just as good of a picture as a painter with brushes and a wonderfully blank canvas. You can set a mood with music and art, you can set a rhythm."

She paused to add two more sugar cubes to her coffee and stir with a casual hoof before going on. "Seriously, the only thing you could say is dissimilar about music and art is dance, and even then, many ponies consider dance an art form itself."

Lyra merely frowned and narrowed her eyes as Bon-Bon shot her argument full of so many holes it would have made a piece of swiss cheese look like a solid cube of yellow mush. "But I... well! Um..." Lyra stumbled, quickly trying to piece together some kind of counter-point.

Alas, the teal unicorn could do nothing but slump back in her seat and grumble, pushing her empty coffee cup around grudgingly with a hoof
.
Bon-Bon merely sat there, quietly stirring her own mocha with closed eyes and a satisfied smirk. She had often enjoyed these little bouts she had with Lyra, being able to tongue-tie and logic-smother the unicorn into a grumbling mess of harp strings and hilarity. Ha... she thought to herself. And they say unicorns are supposed to be the brains...heh heh.

"Well whatever!" Lyra finally exclaimed, downing the rest of her black coffee and shuddering from its strong taste "You ready to go?"

Bon-Bon nodded, sipping back her mocha and putting its plastic lid back over the top of its cup container. She placed the cup in a specialized cup holder slot in her saddlebags- a custom stitch that she took great pride in- and got up to leave with Lyra. The unicorn paused to lay a few bits on the table before tipping a nod to Pony Joe at the front and pushing her way out into the cold air of a fresh, new Ponyville.

It was getting colder, the threats of winter quickly approaching. The warblers of late midsummer tweeted and sang their merry tunes of splendor, causing several pegasus ponies in the area to look up and grumble.

They knew, just like the warblers, that cold, dreary times were quickly approaching, perhaps even sooner than they expected.

There may have even been a coming storm. But nopony would be able to tell for sure. They usually couldn't until it was far too late.

"Ugh... remind me to pack a scarf or a sweater and skirt next time." Bon-Bon groaned, shivering slightly from the wind that blew through the mostly empty streets of Ponyville. The sun was just beginning to move into its late evening stage. It was the time that the construction usually stopped for the day, drawing weary workers back to their homes and market vendors to close up. The time of relaxation was nigh.

"How bout I don't?" Lyra said with a sly sneer, daring a firm hoof placement upon that of Bon-Bon's equally firm posterior and giving it a little pat "After all, why would you ever want to hide this?"

With a quick slap of her own hoof against Lyra's, a red-faced Bon-Bon quickly rounded about and exclaimed "You watch where you put those hooves missy! And what do you mean ‘this’!? Are you telling me I have a fat flank?"

Lyra let out a snort and a light chuckle, shaking her head, "No, silly! It's a nice size, besides... you always know what I say about a little 'Tank in da Flank'." she joked with a giggle.

Bon-Bon's face lit up with a red hotter than the ripest cherries, quickly trotting down the street with a heavy 'humph!' from her throat.

"Ah come on, Bons! I was kidding!" Lyra shouted, chasing after the blushing, heated mare. When the mood finally settled, the two of them found themselves taking a lovely, casual stroll through Ponyville's Town Square.

The lovely autumn wind that cascaded through the skies brought several thrilling shivers to the two mares who walked side by side, the warblers growing quiet as they flew away to greener pastures.

"A lovely day...isn't it?" Bon-Bon offered quietly, passing by one of the newly constructed homes that had been put up in the month or so time that had passed since... then... She didn't like to think about it often...and when she did...

Hooves smashing through boards...

"Bon-Bon?"

Screeches of in-pony-like creatures...

"Bon-Bon!"

The stench of blood and the rot of decay...

"Bon-Bon!" Lyra shouted in her marefriend's ear, causing her to jump in fright and break the grim trance she seemed to have fallen into.

"Huh? What?!" Bon-Bon squeaked, looking around her quickly. A few passing ponies gave them queer, quizzical looks as they walked by, but paid no further attention to them as they drew away.

Lyra trotted around Bon-Bon's front, halting their progress immediately and looking her dead in the eye. With a quiet mutter, the unicorn whispered the question Bon-Bon really...really didn't want to hear "You're thinking about it again...aren't you?"

Bon-Bon was quiet for a moment, her bottom lip quivering as she said the words "Oh Lyra how could I not...you know how awful all that madness was!"

Lyra groaned, putting a hoof to her face as she said, rather harshly "Bon-Bon we've been over this a thousand times already! It's done, it's over. All the... all the others are gone! It's just healthy, sane, loving ponies again!"

"They're not gone from my dreams, Lyra!" Bon-Bon countered with a harsh, hurt tone "You were there next to me the whole time! The boarded up house, the basement, town hall, when you held me tight in your hooves! How could anypony just forget those screams... th- those... eyes!"

Bon-Bon's face was suddenly squeezed between two hooves of Lyra's, the unicorn quickly cutting off any other word she would have spoken next and whispering, "Bons...I remember, ok? Dwelling on it won't help though! Yeah sure there's that 'Learning so that history doesn't repeat itself' thing, but that doesn't mean we have to dwell on all the bad things. Sure, bad things happened, but it's over now... ok? It's over. Twilight did her thing, they're gone, they're never coming back, ok?"

Bon-Bon didn't respond with words, but with merely a whimper and a limp nod of her head. It drew a tender smile out of the flustered unicorn, the mare leaning forward and catching Bon-Bon's cheek in a tender kiss.

The two smiled into one another and towards each other, minds once again tranquil, their afternoon stroll resuming its walking course.

They walked across town. Through the parks, through the downtown area, even across the few fields that separated Sweet Apple Acres from Ponyville. As they walked amongst the outer fence of the farm, Bon-Bon caught Lyra looking up at all the luscious apples with a sense of respect.

"It's kind of crazy..." Lyra whispered as they moved down the fence "Just looking at these apples fills you with a sense of hope...the hope of a fighting chance to get through the next day..."

"Hey!" Bon Bon growled, leering at Lyra "I thought we weren't thinking about this!" Lyra rolled her eyes, looking towards Bon-Bon with a tiny smirk on her face.

"At least I'm looking at the upper side of the whole thing" Lyra pointed out, "There's nothing more precious than an apple, that's a lesson I've taken to heart."

"Eeyup, I'd say that as well, Miss!" hollered a deep, booming voice from across the fence. Lyra and Bon-Bon jumped as Big Macintosh thrust his large back legs backwards, crashing them into a tree and bucking all the apples from their evergreen leaves and dirt brown branches. "Sorry if Ah startled ya'll, bad habit Ah guess!"

"Aw, it's nothing, big guy!" Lyra said, waving a dismissive hoof towards him in which Bon-Bon nodded in agreement with "What are you up to?" Big Macintosh held up a hoof, bucking another tree nearby with immense force and forcing all the apples out of the tree.

He wore his usual yoke, his coat was its usual brown, and his eyes were just as green as they had ever been. The only difference in his usual appearance though... was the small wooden cradle attached to his back with a small bundle resting inside of it.

"Goodness!" Bon-Bon exclaimed, "Does Applejack really let you buck the apples with-"

"Eeyup!" Macintosh interjected, bucking yet another tree and dropping all of the apples into a few nearby baskets "So long as none o' the apples hit her in the head, it's all fine."

"Well I don't think-" Bon-Bon began, a serious frown on her face, she was quickly cut off by Lyra stuffing a freshly dropped apple into her mouth.

She laughed nervously as she turned Bon-Bon away and shoved her away from the fence, shouting, "Oh man, look at the time, we're late for our hoofacures. You two have fun now, Macintosh!"

The stallion nearly chuckled, adding one last signature "Eeyup" to the conversation before bucking another tree.

Lyra could hear the giggle of a little filly's laughter from Macintosh's back as she moved away, glaring daggers at Bon-Bon who had finally managed to swallow the apple after some very angry chewing. "What was that for?!" Bon-Bon growled in a hushed whisper as they moved out of Macintosh's hearing range.

"It's not our place to tell him how he's supposed to raise a filly!" Lyra countered, looking back with a saddened glance as he continued to buck more apples "Poor guy, though. Can you imagine what it must be like with the... complications and all?"

"No, I can't...I don't think I'd like to either." Bon-Bon whispered back, the two of them heading back towards the town.

Lyra stole a glance towards the farmhouse, her eyes catching a fleck of orange and a streak of blueish gray moving across the porch. "Can you believe she actually lets that...night pony stay there?" She said with loathing, drawing a quizzical glance out of her friend.

"What did he ever do to you?" Bon-Bon asked, raising an eyebrow to which Lyra responded with a narrowing of her own.

"Want a list?" She muttered back. "The guy has done enough to mess things up... word has it the whole event was his fault anyway."

Bon-Bon sighed, shaking her head and casting a forlorn look towards Lyra as they made their way back to town. "Lyra..." she began, speaking in a tone that signified one of those ‘told you a hundred times before' moments. "He may be at fault for a lot of things...but at least he stood up and attempted to fix everything! He led the charge back in Canterlot, he was on the front lines, I heard he was even... ya know...hurt by one of them, and he still kept fighting!"

"Well... he just better watch out is all!" Lyra said with an affirmative snort out of her nostrils, making Bon-Bon roll her eyes once more.

"Besides..." Bon-Bon went on after a few moments silence "If you're looking for the real villain here..."

"Oh don't start, Bons!" Lyra groaned, the two of them passing into town limits and heading down the semi-busy market street where vendors kept some of their stalls open for the later evening shoppers. "I told you, if she was good in Twilight's book, she is good in ours!" Lyra stated, stopping at a small kiosk to loom over a few golden hoof bracelets that caught her eye.

"She should still answer for her crimes...and can you believe they're actually healing her?! Horn and all, up in the newly-built Haven City!" Bon-Bon added as she joined an annoyed-looking Lyra in looking over the jewelery. "I honestly think there should be a trade off... give her the horn back and take her wings." The colt running the kiosk and Lyra both shot her an alarmed, skeptical look as the candy cutie-marked mare continued to browse idly over the bracelets.

"Oh I quite like that one..." she muttered, poking one particular piece with a pair of crossing dolphins, the mythical creatures of The Great Water that was said to border the far eastern portions of Equestria from north to south.

"You have problems..." Lyra muttered, the two of them nodding their thanks to the vendor in allowing them to browse before turning back towards the street.

"No, I just hold grudges..." Bon-Bon countered, wrinkling her nose like she had just smelled something rather nasty.

At this, Lyra jabbed a hoof at her and offered her own verbal counter, "Hey! If I can't hold grudges against that bat pony freak, then you can't hold grudges against 'Little Miss World Ruiner'...what does that even mean?" She finished the last part of her sentence under her breath, shaking her head and stopping at the crossroads of the southern portion of Ponyville.

"Now, which way is the shorter one ho-"

"Lyra! Look!" Bon-Bon suddenly squealed, pointing a hoof up towards the northern horizon.

"Huh? What is it?" Lyra inquired, turning and looking in the direction of Bon-Bon's outstretched hoof. Others had heard Bon Bon's sudden shout, several ponies stopping in their tracks and turning to look as the sky darkened slightly.

Bon-Bon was pointing at a dark cloud hovering Canterlot, several bolts of lightning crashing out of the blackness and striking several points in the city.

"Um..." Lyra began, looking at Bon-Bon with an unimpressed expression "Yeah, it's what's left of Canterlot, so?”

"I’ve never seen the altered weather so bad..." Bon-Bon said, her voice rising in pitch "When has the weather ever made the sky darken over here?"

Lyra frowned, looking straight up at the slightly darkening sky of Ponyville. "Huh..." she muttered, looking around "That is a bit weird..."

"Oh my goodness!"

"Whoa! Look at that!"

All attention was drawn towards the northwestern tip of the castle as a stunningly bright flash of purple burst from the evening’s slight darkness. Multiple gasps were heard as the top of one of the towers were seen cracking, and crumbling down to the ground.

The crashes of the stone could be heard from the Everfree Forest.

All was silent for a moment before one final ear-piercingly loud ‘crack’ was heard right after a bright white flash lit up the sky, and all was quiet, the skies very slowly lightening once more.

The sun was already disappearing behind the horizon, though, so the town was becoming darker anyway.

Lyra and Bon-Bon looked around with stunned faces, the rest of the residents were quietly and slowly filling the streets, muttering and whispering to themselves.

One pony in particular pointing to three of his mates, asking, "Should we go tell a guard? They'll need to know about this." They nodded, quickly follow him while Lyra grimaced in disgust.

"Why tell them of all ponies?" She grumbled, "Nopony put them in charge, why should they care?"

Bon-Bon looked nervous, watching as many of the ponies began to move along in a hurry, the sudden urge to be home and safely inside taking hold in the hearts of many.

"Lyra..." she whispered, tugging on her mare friend's fore hoof. "Come on...let's just go home. I don't want to be out here anymore..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Lyra replied, shaking her head and turning back towards the crossroads "Come on, we can shortcut it through the alleys."

The two of them moved quickly through the small alleyways, sharing only thoughts and speculations as to what those explosions and light flashes could have been. "Maybe a unicorn was trying to call for help in Canterlot?" Lyra offered, drawing a nervous lip twitch out of Bon-Bon.

"Yeah b-but what did he need help from?!" she said, a large tone of worry dripping in her voice that made Lyra sigh and roll her eyes.

"Bons, for the last time, they're gone!" Lyra barked, shaking her head.

The two of them continued on for a couple more minutes, with Lyra sticking to the lead. As they approached yet another corner, Bon-Bon groaned and asked tiredly "Come on Lyra... are you sure this is a shortcu- aah!"

She was quickly cut off by Lyra jumping back from around the corner and pushing Bon-Bon against the wall. She pushed a hoof against her mouth and whispered, "Shh! No screaming!"

The only thing Bon Bon could do was muffle a squeaky "Oh, kay!" through Lyra's hoof, puffing up her cheeks as her eyes quivered with worry. Lyra nodded and pulled her hoof away, looking back around the corner.

"I think I see something down there..." Lyra muttered, narrowing her eyes down the dark alley. Just as Bon Bon was about to say something, Lyra whispered "I... I think I hear someone, shh!"

Lyra grew silent as a voice, dark and sinister in nature, crept up and down the walls of the alley.
"Of course... she got away..." the voice grumbled... a voice Lyra was sure she heard before, but couldn't quite place.

"No matter... with her running for the hills, I can get a good fresh start on some good old fashioned, lushy wushy, sweetie beetie CHAOS...”

Lyra's eyes widened in horror as the voice let out a quiet chuckle, the source of it seeming to float all around them now, as if they were being surrounded.

"And I think..." the voice whispered quietly, a victorious tone in its vile words, "I'll start... with you."

~

Remember the rules...

~

Bon-Bon gave a sudden shriek of pain, causing Lyra to whirl around in fright. "Bon-Bon! Are you ok!? What's wrong!?"

"Ow!Ow ow ow!" Her friend whimpered, holding a hoof to the side of her neck, covering a tiny slice that had appeared from seemingly nowhere.

And it burned.

"Hold on Bon-Bon! We're gonna get you out of here!" The unicorn cried, grabbing onto her friend’s arm and slinging it around hers to pull her along. Bon-Bon's blood began to trickle down her neck.

"Lyra, it hurts!" Bon-Bon cried, tears flowing down her cheeks as small droplets of blood on the ground behind them.

"I know baby, I know! Just hang on!" Lyra shouted, looking up and directing her enraged voice towards the air, "Whoever you are that did this! You better hope I don't find you anytime soon! I'll rip your face off!"

"Oh... I think I'm going to be the very least of your worries at the moment..." the voice mocked, letting out a dark chuckle as Bon-Bon began to squeal louder and louder in pain.

"Lyra I'm BURNING!!!!" She roared, falling onto her side painfully and twitching with intense pain.

"Bon-Bon!" Lyra cried, trying her best to get her friend to rise back up.

"R-ru..." Bon-Bon wheezed, coughing loudly as she thrashed on the ground, crying out in pain... in fear... in rage.

“RUN!!!" She shrieked, her voice growing ragged and rough, her eyes shutting tight as heavy tears of blood leaked from them.

"Aaaarrrgh!!"

She snapped her head towards Lyra, letting out a choking growl as she opened her eyes, revealing the solid red color of blood that were once the sweet color of blue.

Lyra was silent, her own eyes wide with fear as she stared at her friend. “No...”

The pony slowly got to her feet... red eyes locked onto the unicorn’s. “Please, no...”

The creature that was once Bon-Bon lunged at Lyra, a terrifying growl piercing the air.

Lyra screamed, jumping out of the way of her friend’s attack and spinning around, dashing away and running with blind fear from the creature.

"Help!!!" Lyra shrieked as she tore out of the alley and into the street, her hooves taking her as fast as she could into town. All around several ponies looked over at the commotion... and saw Bon-Bon...

And everything came back.

History was a wild bitch that loved to repeat itself.

The reaction was immediate. All the fear, all the terror from the past months, all flying back up into their primes. To see, once more in Equestria... one of them.

Everypony screamed. The streets turned to chaos in mere moments as Lyra continued to bound away from a pursuing Bon-Bon. The once loving mare started to lose Lyra, however, her hooves only carrying her so fast.

She instead turned to a nearby colt who was scrambling to get out from behind his market stall, tripping over some of his stock. Bon-Bon veered away from her course violently, launching herself towards the colt who in turn could only scream in utter terror.

Lyra only let herself look back once, look as her once sweet, beautiful mare rocketed over the stall, tackling the colt out of sight, the shrieks of utter terror and panic from the male rung out clearly in the air, joining the other panicked cries of Ponyville citizens.

Somewhere in the distance, a warning bell started tolling, signalling to anyone near and far... that Ponyville was no longer safe.

That the peaceful town had once again become hell.

Lyra rounded as many corners as she could, panting heavily and trying to keep her lungs under control, just like old times...

"Breathe, in, out, check chest activity!" She recited to herself over and over again as she pushed herself forward, the shrieks of several more of those... monsters, echoing out in the area. She rushed forward towards an open alleyway, squealing as a mare fell backwards out of the entrance, a savagely mauled and bitten colt upon her chest.

The mare shrieked and cried out in utter pain and anguish as the colt bit into her shoulder, signalling the fate that all feared.

"Luna save me!" Lyra squeaked as she rushed past the two, the colt looking up and giving quick chase. The unicorn turned to see her pursuer and the mare... who was getting back up and joining the chase for Lyra as well. Her eyes, like the colts, were swimming with the color of blood.

"Gotta go gotta go!!" Lyra cried, racing towards Town Hall. Other residents seemed to share the same idea, rushing towards the Town Square in large groups, trying to get away from the carnage that followed them.
Much to Lyra's horror, on the opposite end of the square, other residents were being chased by other small groups of red-eyed ponies, as if... they were herding them, like lambs to slaughter.

The residents were packed in tight, scrambling all over each other as the red-eyed ponies rushed into the square, charging right for them. A unified cry of panic and terror rang out across the city as the blood-thirsty monsters closed in... and suddenly stopped.

The beasts stopped just short of the citizens, walking back slowly and creating a large ring around them of bodies. The residents of Ponyville looked about them, confused, horrified, unbelieving and stunned as the monsters that had haunted their nightmares for many months now stood before them, clear and real as day.

Before anypony could say anything... before anypony could move, or even breathe, a laugh of sinister, chaotic malice rang out across the square. A mare squealed, pointing upwards as the rest of the residents did so, their pupils shrinking at the sight of the multi-beast-like creature hovering just above them.

It's yellow and red eyes gleamed with savage delight as a sinister grin spread itself across its face. He hovered there above them, dark and ominous, before taking in a deep breath and exclaiming

"Oh, Ponyville... where exactly did we leave off?" The multi-formed beast took a moment to mockingly scratch its own chin with a lion's paw before looking down with an evil grin and muttering quietly,

"Oh yes..." Discord whispered menacingly down to the trapped residents of Ponyville, causing a rippling growl to emit itself from the ring of monsters surrounding them, "I remember now...you were all just accepting a little bit of my control over this world that I was...prematurely deported out of."

He paused for a moment to allow himself to land next to the snarling form of Bon-Bon, her face contorted into a look of rage as saliva and blood dripped from her lips to her chin.

"The choice, is quite simple really, the decision of who is really in charge now." Discord said in an obvious tone of boastful nature.

He gave a look down towards Bon-Bon, bloody and ravaged, and then cast a dark, knowing look up towards the residents of Ponyville, the town quickly putting two and two together. Their bodies shook and quivered in fear as Discord's voice hissed with power and chaotic energy the chilling words:

"I'm sure... the choice won't be too hard."