The Composer

By Archi the Atmomancer

• March 16, 2013

Age: Indeterminate; she claims to be approximately 700 years old, ageing back to the Neighian period of Neighpan.

Gender: Female

Species: Earth Pony

Appearance: The Composer has a coat of deep purple, with matching eyes and a darker mane and tail. Her mane is wavy and tied back in a ponytail, while her tail is also wavy but left to hang free.

Cutie Mark: Unknown; since she allegedly received her cutie mark she has worn robes concealing her whole body but for her hooves, neck and head and refuses to share any details, even with her own brother. It is guessed that it is music related.

Personality: The Composer is a sedate and single-minded individual. She approaches her given task with a calm efficiency, devoting her time and resources to the problem at hand rather than delaying or procrastinating. At times, she is cold and ruthless but when with her brother she becomes somewhat more talkative and more willing to vent her emotions.

Backstory: The Composer, along with her brother, was born in Kyofoal, Neighpan, with the given name “Chiyoko”. She was born to one of the noble clans of the Emperor's court, the Taira clan. While the Emperor supposedly held power, it was the noble clans who truly ran Neighpan through careful manipulation. At the time of Chiyoko's birth the Taira were flourishing; the Emperor was firmly in their pockets, pinned down by a combination of threats of assassination, blackmail and extortion. However, Taira dominance was anything but stable – at any time their long-time rivals, the Fujiwara, might strike out at them, and likely the Emperor would welcome a change from a century of Taira control.<br /><br />Chiyoko – roughly meaning “Child of One Thousand Years of Wisdom” - was raised in a world of luxurious silks, brilliant feasts and exciting social gatherings. Despite all these distractions, the thing she treasured above all was her brother. They went everywhere together, and some of Chiyoko's best memories were of the times she and her brother spent out in the castle courtyards clambering up trees and – as they grew bolder – the castle walls themselves. However, their time together came to an end when they were separated at the age of 8; society and her own parents expected Chiyoko to become a courtesan, whereas her brother was sent away to undergo bushicolt training, bushicolts being members of Japan's warrior and noble classes.<br /><br />Her training began, and soon she discovered that the world was not as it seemed; the silks around her were a display of power, the feasts were events rife with opportunities to catch out rivals with poison or seduction, and social events were places where co-conspirators could congregate and discuss plans against their enemies. Despite her innocence, Chiyoko adapted well, and soon was well versed in the arts of manipulation and deceit.<br /><br />During her studies, when she wasn't studying Chiyoko enjoyed walking in the castle courtyards. Often she would sit and meditate below the cherry blossom trees close to the rock garden, and one day upon finishing her meditation she found a black-feathered quill resting in her lap. The quill was masterfully produced, and the feathers had a lustrous sheen to them that attracted her immensely. From that day forth she would use that quill for every piece of music she wrote, whether a short melody or a grand symphony.<br /><br />However, the area Chiyoko most excelled in was the musical arts. While some of her training was indeed geared towards more clandestine acts, another portion was dedicated to other, more wholesome things. Namely, culture. She embraced music like no other pony her instructors had seen, and after a few years had surpassed them in ability. As was the fate of the student in many Neighpanese myths and legends, Chiyoko had become the master. While she was fairly proficient in performance, her real talent lay in musical theory, and her instructors were proud to have set her upon the path of excellence.<br /><br />During her studies, when she wasn't studying Chiyoko enjoyed walking in the castle courtyards. Often she would sit and meditate below the cherry blossom trees close to the rock garden, and one day upon finishing her meditation she found a black-feathered quill resting in her lap. The quill was masterfully produced, and the feathers had a lustrous sheen to them that attracted her immensely. From that day forth she would use that quill for every piece of music she wrote, whether a short melody or a grand symphony.<br /><br />At the age of 16 she and her brother were reunited after their studies came to a close. When she met her brother again he was a fully-fledged bushicolt, wearing the traditional armour and with a katana at his belt. Upon engaging in an in-depth conversation with him, she discovered their shared love for music, and they decided to create a piece of their own together. With Chiyoko more proficient at theory and her brother better at performance on his shamisen, she created the piece using and he played it. They named the piece “Fujiwaran Requiem”, as it detailed the dishonourable death of the daimyo of the Fujiwara clan.<br /><br />The next day, Chiyoko awoke to the news that the Fujiwara daimyo had died in his sleep of a heart attack, and she felt her mind rail in terror. A glance at her brother showed her he was thinking the same thing, and she looked on silently as her father laughed at the manner of his death. Her nights for the next week were plagued by nightmares – nightmares of notes dancing on staves, the flashing of her black quill as it scribbled the notes onto the parchment, each note causing another event leading to a cause she did not know. The nightmares were all she dreamt of until she was woken by a retainer in the middle of the night, who reported that her father had been killed by a Fujiwaran assassin and that her mother had committed suicide out of grief. Before her brother could lay claim to leadership of the clan, the Emperor, with Fujiwara backing, exiled the Taira clan from Neighpan, threatening them with death should they ever be seen again. The remnants of the Taira clan had no choice, and chartered a ship to Saddle Arabia.<br /><br />Some claim this is the point in Chiyoko's life where the girl truly died, and the entity known as the Composer was born from the ashes. Certainly, after her parents' deaths she underwent a change, which is probably what lead her to compose a song telling in excruciating detail of the deaths of the entire Fujiwara clan and the Emperor himself before she left the country. Sure enough, the Fujiwara clan perished in a fire, and the Emperor was stabbed four times in the heart and left to bleed to death in the streets. With her enemies destroyed by her new-found ability, the Composer was satisfied and her blood-thirst sated. When she retired to the boat for Saddle Arabia it was with calm and dignity. Why should it be otherwise?<br /><br />Even by this point, the Composer had no cutie mark, and it was on the boat to Saddle Arabia that it finally appeared, or at least she claims it is so, for the next day she emerged from her chambers covered from mane to tail in robes, leaving only her head, neck and hooves exposed. When questioned by her brother she refused to reveal anything, and the matter has still not yet been resolved. It was also on the boat that she realised the power that her quill held. She felt a special draw to it, like it was hers and hers alone, and just having it within her grasp made her feel empowered as if by a mystical force.<br /><br />After arrival in Saddle Arabia, the pair of them set about wandering the world together, without aim or purpose. The Composer led their two-man expedition, although sometimes her brother would see her gazing into the distance with glazed eyes, and after some questioning he found that his sister truly had no idea where they were going or why.<br /><br />With this revelation, the Composer's brother grew worried for her, and begged her to settle down somewhere for good before her mind snapped completely. Reluctantly, she obliged him, and they settled down in Equestria. There they resided, until by the time she was 60 she had cast off the notion that she had merely “aged well” or was “a sprightly young filly”; she could feel it in her bones, in her very flesh, that she would live until she was slain by another or until time itself unravelled and ended. Soon enough, she found that her brother, too, exhibited sign of immortality, and the Composer found she had no idea what to do with herself.<br /><br />After some time, she set about wandering the world again, and the pair lived in seclusion for 600 years, spending most of the time in a sort of hibernation between periods in history. The duo left their mark in every civilisation, creating conspiracy theories and wild accusations generated by actions that were really the result of notes on a stave. She revelled in the control she had over the world, but never found a true cause for which to use her powers until she awoke from her sleep 30 years ago.<br /><br />In her sleep she had received an epiphany; if her and her brother, fairly ordinary ponies from Neighpan, had received their innate gifts, surely there must be others out there who possessed immortality and almost miraculous talents? With such a group, one would have the world in their hooves. While the chances were small, the composer truly had all the time in the world to conduct her search, and after 15 years she had found them; the Artist, with his crazed grin and ability to make his canvases real, or perhaps more sinisterly, trap ponies within them; the Storyteller, who could conjure monstrous creatures of legend with a word, as if straight from the tales of old; and finally the Dancer, who's graceful dance moves both captivated and deceived, concealing the deadly warrior within that was a product of swordsmanship and dance. She dubbed her brother, who had not taken on a name, the Musician, and together they returned to Equestria.<br /><br />When they arrived the Composer found that her ancient homeland was once again back in a state of conflict. She found that the Royal Sisters had vanished, and her cold and calculating mind saw the opportunities that lay here. Perhaps she could carve out an empire of her own here. She felt ancient memories resurface, the glory her ancestors had held, the Emperor exiling her clan from Neighpan until the end of days, the splendour she had seen Princess Celestia hold in the years gone by. She would restore the glory of the Taira clan and bring honour and renown to her new-found comrades by way of destroying the warring Houses and ascending the Equestrian throne; it was a terrible purpose she had felt deep in her soul all of her life, and the realisation brought a smile to her face as she set about composing a new symphony of death and destruction while her companions brought yet more havoc to Equestria.<br /><br />So far the staves are empty, but the notes are slowly falling into place. With her brother by her side, her natural talents and – of course- her magical black quill, the Composer will restore her clan and herself using her talent and those of her fellow Gifted, or die trying...