The Life of a Pony Named Soul Melodyby RedVelvet MelodyChaptersSoul's WelcomeShadow?Are You A DJ?!Doctor Whooves OverloadVinesThe BrandingSoul's Welcome"Pick a prize, any prize!" I stare at the tall pony, his broad grey horn glimmers as he picks out the prizes the fillies want. I stretch out my wings and fly up into the clouds, their strong push leave a swirl of wind under me. "Okay, okay...where's PonyVille..?" A grey flash of different shades appear, the owner of this trail is so quick I couldn't even grab a glance of it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you say you're looking for PonyVille?!" "Y-" "Well, lucky you, you just found the coolest pony around!" She grabs me by my hoof and in two seconds flat were in PonyVille's town square. "Here you- wait..." She looks at my eyes and curiously asks, "How can you fly..?" I forgot about how my eyes look, the liveliness that I use to own is gone. I stay silent, due to me not being able to think of anything to say..to cover up the truth. "Hmm....welp, gotta blast!" Then she's gone in a flash. I look around for somewhere to stay..aha! An inn, that's what I need. I glance over to a flower shop and walk over, hoping to find directions. "H-Hello..?" A filly with a big bow a top of her head pops out of no where, "Hia!" "Do you know here an inn is..by any chance..?" "Mhm! There's one just two buildings down and on the other side!" "Um..okay..thank you." Being very hopeful, I follow the filly's instructions, and sure enough there's an inn. "E-Excuse me..?" A more of an taller and sturdier pony than the last one looks down upon me, his big eyes staring at my hair, "Why hello there, what can I do for you?" "I need a room please.." "Of course," he walks behind the counter and looks at the room keys. He smiles and grabs one, "here you are." "Um...how many Bits..?" "Oh, don't worry about it, it's on me. Enjoy your stay." I give a light nod as a thank you and find the room. ~ The morning rays hit my wings as I slowly open my heavy eyes. I slowly sit up and glare around the room, till I remembered where I was. I slowly get off the bed and go to a mirror. I see my strange reflection, my mane and tail cut as if it chopped sideways with my huge and elegant wings like Queen Celestia's. I look behind myself, and see my cutie mark. A soul on fire with a music note in the middle, it looked so strange from everyone else's. Suddenly, the sound of loud movement and ponies fill the air outside my window, so I slowly open it to see a pony with a crown, wings, and a horn walk down the town square. All of sudden, everyone is dancing and singing like crazy lunatics. I quickly close the glass but still hearing the faint chorus, "Winter wrap up, winter wrap up! Let's hear your holiday cheer!" After what seemed like hours, the song slowly died off and everyone was back to normal, I look at myself one more time in the mirror, "Alright Soul. You can do this. This is a new town, for your new begging!" I try to put on a fake smile but it quickly disappeared like always. "Ugh.." I open the door and close it again, and quickly walk out of the inn. The town's bustling with tradesmen and just pretty much everypony. A screech suddenly makes everyone quiet, I turn around to see a pony with big curly hair and a ginormous smile, "We've got a new pony!" She starts to jump up and down and sprints toward me, I just move to the side. She quickly turns back around and goes for me again, but I just fly up this time, leaving swirling leaves and grass below me (like always). "Ooohh...your wings are so pretty!" I shake my head and fly off to find somewhere nice and... "Is that a library?" I land down softly and quietly and enter the place. "Hm...if I- oh hello there!" The pony from earlier came out from behind the tall stacks of books with a great big smile. "H-Hello." She gets closer to me, "Oh my..your eyes...how can you see?" "Oh..um...well..I..um...i-if you'll excuse me..I-I must be on my way." I quickly gallop out of the tree but I'm stopped by the pony with the ginormous hair. "I found you! I win! I win!" I slowly start backing up then my wings hit another pony in the face, "I-I'm sorry.." I walk backwards in the other direction and run into a guard, "O-Oops..s-sorry.." I finally notice I'm trapped in a circle, so I try to fly up but my wings feel like their being held back. A gasp fills the air and then I suddenly fall back on to the ground from trying to break the hold. I rub my head and check my wings, but when I do, I notice a tall pony with a flowing tail of different shades standing in front of me, "Soul Melody." "Q-Queen C-Celestia...I-I'm s-sorry..." "It's fine." The pony from the library comes out and walks up to the Queen, "Do you know her Queen Celestia?" "Why yes...her mother is a long time friend of mine. But if you'll excuse me, me and Soul must be reintroduced, we haven't talked or seen each other since she was a little filly." She nods her head and walks off, clearing the crowd. "Come Soul, we have much to discuss." Celestia gives me a light smile and nods for me to follow her. As I catch up to her, the guards get rid of the ponies that were still just standing there. The Queen elegantly sits down in her chariot and waits for me to join her. As I step up to the beautifully crafted wooden ride, I tumble and fall face first into the ground. "Ow.." She lightly chuckles and says with a bright smile, "Oh dear Soul, you're still the same as you were in some ways." I tried to grin and brush off her statement, it wasn't true. I'm no longer the same, the last time she's seen me or talked to me was before- "Queen Celestia, shall we show Ms. Melody to her living quarters." "Certainly, Soul, are you ready?" "F-For what, if I may ask?" "For your home. It's temporary of course, but we'll treat you all the same." "Thank you." Shadow?"Your room is straight down the hallway miss." "T-Thank you.." I push open the large doors softly and lightly. They squeak and crack as I enter the dim palace dorm. I slowly trot over to the window and I open it slightly. The sunlight peeks through and hits the ground, the ground is black like charcoal, but of course, that's all I can see. I have something people like to call a disability. But it's not something full on, it's just an chromosome disability that makes me monochromic. In short, I only see in greyscale. I wasn't born like this however, before my brother left for the Crystal City Solider Enquiry, I could see all colors. Every rainbow and every shade. But now, I can only see the world's worst colors in my opinion. The door flies open and a another pony stands in its doorway. His hair has died tips of what seems to be the same shade of grey as mine, with gleaming amor, large wings and a horn. His cutie mark shows a distorted music note. I look up to his eyes and he speaks, "Soul, it's your brother. I'm your brother." "S-Shadow..?" "In the flesh." "Brother.." I gallop over to him and hug him, "I though you were-" "Dead? Yeah, so did everyone else." "H-How.." "I told you siso, I'd never leave without you right beside me." A tear slowly rolls down my cheek and I smile. Shadow wipes the tear off making me close my eyes, when I open them back up I see a skeleton, it crumbles into ash. "Shadow!" Sombra appears out of the black and slowly approaches me, I back up to the wall until I couldn't move anymore, Sombra nose to nose with me, the wall behind me breaks and I fall. His laugh echoes and crackles as I get drowned in darkness. I hit a hard ground, I slowly get up covered in pain from the fall. I look around and see the Crystal City in flames. I notice my house and I hear a scream, "Help!" It couldn't be... "Mom?!" I bolt over to the inferno, I scan the scene for any pony. I give up looking from the outside and I quickly go inside, the screams continue from upstairs. I attempt to climb the stairs but they burn down, so I fly up and zoom through the fiery entrance. I carefully land, as I look up I see a closet. I start to approach it and the cries get louder, I go to open the doors but my hoof goes right through it. "Hellooooo~" My eyes widen and I try to do everything I can to open the door, suddenly it opens, it's my mother standing in front of...wait..is that me? A pounce echoes through the crackling flames, and a dark presence comes over the top floor. "Sombra." "Ha, I see you have a little present~" "Back off of my family, got it?" "Aw, you see dearest Spark, I already dealt with your little Shadow." Little me looks behind my mother's leg with some tears rolling down, "S-Shadowo..?" "Yes Soul, Shadowo." "How do you-" "Your lover boy talks a lot about her. He was so fond of her." "Where-" "Shh, don't worry your pretty little-" "WHERE IS HE!" "Didn't your parents ever teach you to never speak out of turn?" A light grey cloud appears and strikes my mom, she falls. "Momma..!" My little filly nose lightly nudges her face trying to wake her up, my wings start to fold in and my ears move down. "Come along Soul." "No.." "Why not?" "Wake up my mommy." "She's been put into a forever sleep child." I sit up and look up at the towering figure, "No." "You're such a troubled child." A beam of light starts to form heading straight for the little me, as it shoots I jump in front of it, but it goes straight through me and hits the little filly. She yells in pain and stumbles to the ground and everything goes black. Are You A DJ?!I jolt up, sweat rolling down my cheeks. I pant and feel around the bed and I feel myself, "I'm...was that a...was that a dream?" I look in the mirror from across my bed, I looked panicked. Then I realize, I'm not even in a castle, I'm in the inn I went to. With a puzzled mind I jump off my bed and clean myself up. "That was so weird..I don't remember any of that ever happening.." As I brush out my cut up hair, a knock echoes from my door. "H-Hello?" "Hello, are you Soul Melody?" "Erm.." I finish my hair with a final stroke and I rush to open the door. When I do, I see a pony with short curly hair and glasses, "Ah, nice to meet you Soul, I'm Mayor Hooves, mayor of PonyVille." "Oh, uh..nice to meet you as well.." "Quite a room you have in the inn, mind if I come in?" I realize that my room is an absolute mess, "Um....it's a bit messy." "Oh okay. Would you like to go out in town, I can introduce you to the other ponies and we can get a quick bite to eat if you'd like?" I give a sigh of relief, "That would be wonderful, just give me a minute to grab my satchel." "Okay dear." ~ As we sip our candy flavored tea, she brings up my family, "So, Soul, where are you from?" "Oh... The Crystal City." "Really? You don't have that crystal shimmer or sparkle?" "Yeah um..it's a long story, that's all. Let's just keep it simple and say it's impossible for my family to have become crystallized like every other pony." "Oh, okay-" "Mayor! Mayor Hooves!" A pegasus gallops over to our table, she wears a crown on her head and a little...dragon?! A little dragon by her side?! What in Equestria.. "Ah, hello Twilight." Twilight takes a breather and then looks up at the mayor, "You said there was a new pony in town and I wanted to give her or him a sincere greeting!" "Well if you'll see my partner in tea crime, she's the new pony addition. Soul meet Twilight Sparkle, Twilight meet Soul Melody." She puts on a smile but it quickly turns into a concerned look, "Your eyes-" A sudden yell echoes and a sound of a sonic boom hits my ears, I look up and see a explosion of different colors, I think it might be a rainbow, roams through the air. The rainbow skids across the ground and walks over to Twilight. "Whoa, whoa, whoaaaa. I know this pony! I helped her out so she could find her way here." I smile and give a light nod, "You sure did, but I never caught your-" "My name is Rainbow Dash! The coolest pony in all of Equestria, and if you don't believe me, just ask all of my competitors, they'll willing tell you I'm 20% cooler." Twilight leans over and whispers, "And maybe the most interruptive of us all." I start to laugh and Rainbow Dash just cuts her eyes at Twilight, but because of her glare, Twilight starts to laugh. Soon enough, we're all laughing. "I think I hear fun~!" A pony with quite big hair jumps over to our table and starts bouncing in place with a wide smile. "Ooohhh, looky it's a new pony~" She skips over to me, "Hey! I'm Pinkie Pie! And I really, really, REALLY, like to PARTY~!" "Um..nice to meet you Pinkie Pie, my name is Soul Melody." "Oohhhh~ are you like a DJ or something?! I would love for you to DJ for a party of mine, oh! I'm going to have a party for you, but you wouldn't be able to DJ your own party...OH! I'll get Vinyl Scratch to DJ your party!! Squeeeeee, it's going to be awesome~! I'll see you later Souly!!" She makes a giant leap and squeals and laughs as she hops away to..well, where ever she's going. "She can be quite over whelming sometimes, sorry about that." "Hm? Oh no! It's perfectly fine, she's just happy, that's all!" I smile at Twilight and then Mayor Hooves cuts in..finally.. "She is quite the party pony, anyways, Twilight, would you like to show Soul around for the rest of the day?" "Sure thing, come on Soul. Oh, and nice talking to you again Mayor!" "Um..okay..." I turn around to the Mayor, "Nice meeting you, hope to talk to you again soon, and try some more teas." "Most defiantly, talk to you soon Soul." Doctor Whooves OverloadAs we walk down the bustling streets of PonyVille, some commotion was brewing in the far corner, "There's a black hole!" "No! There's sparkles too!" "What's happening?!" I look over at Twilight, "Erm..should we check what's going on..?" "Hm? Oh-" "Twilight!" A pony with long lushes hair and butterflies for her cutie mark comes running over hiding behind Twilight. "Flutter Shy, what's wrong?" "There's a big, scary, thing in the sky, Derpy says it's her best friend, but I'm really scared of new-" Flutter Shy notices I'm on her other side and she freaks out which makes me jump. "NEW PONIES!" What I'm guessing was suppose to be a loud scream ended up being pretty soft. "Whoa, you two, calm down. Flutter Shy, I would like you to meet Soul Melody, Soul meet Flutter Shy." She comes out a bit and looks at me, nervously I put on a small smile and wave my hoof, "Uh...hello...!" "H-Hello.." "Your name is really nice..!" She smiles a bit and sits up, "W-Why thank you." A large explosion is heard and I jump and catch my fall by gliding. A shiny dark grey color telephone box with a tall sturdy mare walking out of it. "Doctor!" Derpy hugs him and he smiles, "Hello Ms. Hooves." I slowly trot over to the front of the crowd.. "Whoa..his cutie mark.." "I KNOW RIGHT! SOOO COOOLLL!" I jump up a bit startled and look over, a pony with a large hat looks at me and smiles. He looks so familiar..but I can't place him.. "Oh, I'm sorry, you must be new. Well, I'm Galaxy Nebula, and you are..?" Galaxy..hmm.. "Uhm...Soul Melody." "Alright, so Mel, what do you know 'bout that wonderful and intelligent colt?!" "Well, his cutie mark makes him Doctor Whooves, right?" "Mhm!" I smirk, little did this colt know I'm a genius when it comes to anything Doctor Whooves. He's the first pony to time travel in a phone box! Like who wouldn't know who he is? "Well there's been eleven versions of him, but this one is the sacred ten." "So, you're favorite doctor is..?" "The tenth one, obviously he gave another aspect to it unlike the other ponies did, he gave it something to relate to on a fantasy basis of Sonic Screwdrivers and-" The Doctor looks over, smiles brightly, and trots over, "Hello Galaxy." Galaxy's eyes go wide and a smile plasters his face, "H-Hi..!" Doctor Whooves smiles and shakes hooves with Galaxy. "He touched my hoof~!" He passes out. I snicker a bit and mumble, "The boof.." I look up at the Doctor and put on a smile, "Sorry about him, he's a super fan of you.." "No no, that's quite alright. Say, what's your name?" "Oh, Soul Melody." "Ah, Mel, give me two seconds." He turns around and gets Derpy. "Mel, meet my PonyVille associate Ms. Derpy Hooves." I smile, "Nice to-" "Do you want a muffin?" "Uh..sure..?" Her smile grows and she grabs me by the hoof, "Come on Doctor! We're going to the Vanilla Villa Café~!" ~ We arrive to this large coffee cup shaped café, it has a sign outside its door reading, "Vanilla Villa Café?" "Yup! It has the best coffee and muffins..I like their muffins more..LETS GO~!" As we enter the grand shop, a pony with a beautiful dress on starts bossing around..wait, wait, wait..Mocha?! "Oh Mocha dear, more sparkles on my latte. I need it to be perfect." Mocha huffs and levitates more sprinkles over to the pony's whipped cream perfection, "OH No! One too many!" "Why you-" A tall alicorn looks over and interrupts Mocha before she finishes her sentence, "But Valerium-" "Here, Rarity, let me take off that last sprinkle." He takes it off and Rarity about faints, "Now I can't drink it, Valerium touched it." Valerium stares and Mocha looks like she's ready to fight Rarity. To break the silence I sit over at the end of the bar and hit the little bell. It's ring echoes through the building and then Mocha stomps over. "What can I-!" She stops with her angry tone and her eyes widen with joy, "Soul?!" "Heh, hey Mocha." "SOUL!" She jumps over the bar and hugs me onto the ground, "Owwwww!" "Sorry, heh, I'm so happy you're here! Wait, why are you here?" "Long story.." She smiles and helps me up, Mocha nods over Valerium, "Hehehe, Valerium meet Soul Melody, Soul meet Valerium." We both nod as a greeting and I turn around to see Derpy and the Doctor gone. I shake my head and all of sudden get pushed a bit by the pony named Rarity, "Oh my, your hair! It's all chopped up..AND SO IS YOUR TAIL! Who did this to you sweetheart, I'll have a serious talk with them about spilt ends!" "Hm..uh, I was born with my hair like that. Thank you for your concern though?" She sighs, "It's no problem Mel, oh I'm Rarity by the way." "Nice to meet you Rarity I'm-" "Soul Melody? Yes I've over heard the little meet and greet you had with Valerium and Mocha. The two are so shippable." Mocha and Valerium go wide eyed, "What?!" "Don't deny it sweethearts, you know it's true~" The two ponies blush. I walk over beside Mocha, "You know, it's adorabubble." "SOUL WHY!" "Why what?" "Why would you say adorabubble?!" "Because, I miss our little pick fights we had when you came over." Everyone becomes silent. Mocha clears her throat, "Erm..anyways.." The door to the café slowly open and we all look over to see Galaxy trot through the door, "Hey Mel, Mocha, Valerium....Rarity.. How is everyone?" Everyone stares and I smile, "Hey Galaxy! Your up from your incident I see." I giggle and everyone else looks at us confused, "Yes, yes. I'm up from the sacred touch." He laughs nervously and changes the subject, "Mocha, I guessing you've met Mel?" "It's Soul, and yes. We've been friends for a long while!" "You call her Soul?" "Well yeah it's what her brother, Shadow, called her, it just rubbed off on me." I stand there and zone out. I remember a past memory, before everything was messed up. His smile is so memorable.. "Soul~! Come out come out wherever you are~!" "Hehehe, shh Mocha, he'll find us...!" "Hehe, well if you keep giggling he's gonna find us Soul..!" "Aaannnddddddd got ya!" "Aaahhhh!" "Hahahahaha!" His laughter was music to my ears, always made me smile, and I could never say his name without smiling, even if I was sad...still can't. Mocha has been there for me since we were fillies. She'd always come by and visit, family and all. Actually- "Hola! Hello! PonyVille to Soul!" "Huh!" I jump a bit and get out of my zone, everyone was staring and I start to blush out of embarrassment, "Oh, sorry, I zoned." "We noticed." Rarity added. "Um..I'm gonna go back to my room at the inn.." "Really, Soul no, you can bunk with me if you'd like." "Thanks for the offer Mocha. I just wanna take up this last night, I'll see you all tomorrow..maybe..anyways, see you all later." I quickly gallop out of the café and fly up, getting out of sight. Vines"Mel~" I squirm and flip over. "Mel~!" I flip over again and try to shake off this random stupid voice. "MEL!" "The fu-" I catch my tongue and take a deep breath. I look over to see Rarity, "Ugh, what do you want Rarity?" I try to put on a happy tone for the thick headed- I mean...for the beautiful pony who awoke me from my precious slumber. "I've come to give you a sweet morning wake up and to take you to a surprise!" "Huh? Surprise..?" "Yes dear, now hurry up and out of bed, we have a long day ahead of us!" Her horn glows as she pulls off my blankets with one good pull, "Hey!" "Come on Melly, get out of bed." I roll my eyes lightly and jump out of bed. I quickly brush my hair, mainly because this perfected pony of sorts observes my every move without giving a second thought to the world around her. As I give a last stroke to my mane I give myself a mental pep-talk. "Alright Soul, new day, new ponies. You're gonna be fine, you look great, now go break a leg..DON'T FORGET TO KEEP A SMILE!!" I turn around and look at Rarity, "Okay sweetheart, follow me~" ~ We approach a big building, with a witch hat type top to its roof. "Welcome to my humble abode Melly." She opens the door to a large boutique full of makeup, dresses, sewing machines, and basically everything to make you look like a fashionista. "Your surprise is rightttttttt," She grabs me and puts me onto a chair in front of the mirror, "here!" "Erm.." "I'm going to give you a little....lift.." "Lift? What do you mean by that?" "You'll see soon sweetie~!" A hair brush, makeup, measuring ribbons and fabrics levitate over to us, "Oh no." "Time for your surprise Melly Belly!" ~ She turns my chair around so I face the mirror, "TA-Da! You look marvelous sweetie, just absolutely spectacular!" She didn't do much to my hair except make sure my bangs couldn't be in my face, she gave me eye liner to 'make my eyes pop', and then she fitted me for a dress with a tiny hat with a bow on it. "Uhm..." "Oh dear, I forgot your blind here let me explain what you-" "I'm not blind!" "That's not what your eyes say." "Well my eyes are wrong...got it?" She looks a bit surprised at my snap but just nods, "Right..okay." "Sorry.." "No it's perfectly okay sweetheart," she clears her throat, "okay, so-" A pony with a hat like Galaxy's charges through the doors. "Rarity! What did you do to Apple Bloom?!" "Oh, excuse me sweetie." She smiles at me and turns around to face the charging pony, "Apple Jack, darling, I simply gave Apple Bloom a hair product that-" "That ruined my sister's hair! Apple Bloom, get in here!" Apple Bloom walks into the salon area slowly, her hair was a big frizzy mess, she had this ginormous bow stuffed in her button patterned satchel. "Oh my, Apple Bloom dear, did you leave it in too long..?" "Yes m'a'm, for about a minute or so longer..I thought it would make my hair softer." Rarity laughs but quickly stops as she catches Apple Jack's death glare. "Ahem, Apple Bloom dear, just wash it out and your hair shall go back to normal~" "Thank you m'a'm!" She gallops quickly out of the shop and just leaves her older sister behind. Apple Jack looked over at me and smiles nervously, "Oh my, hello there, sorry about all of this commotion," She trots over and puts out a hoof, "my name is Apple Jack!" I smile a bit and shake her hoof, "It's nice to meet you Apple Jack, I'm Soul Melody." "That's a fancy name sugar cube! I'm sorry for leaving as soon as we got to finally meet each other, but I must go and finish up gathering some apples off my family's farm. I'll see y'all later!" With a skip in her step she walks out of Rarity's place and I wipe off all of the makeup and the clothing, but I leave my hair be, I kinda like it...uh, I mean..crap, oh well. I look around for Rarity but she is no where to be seen. I quickly write a thank you note and trot off into town square. As I walk around aimlessly, I find this beaten down road, I decide to follow it. As I still trek the trail, it becomes darker and pretty cold. By the time I can't see PonyVille anymore, and I'm surrounded by woods of darkness, it's sundown. Almost completely night. Suddenly, just a mile or so after entering this black woods type area, I see a old and falling apart stone brick castle. I quietly enter it, not knowing what could be in there. Vines hang from the ceiling and moss covers the broken corners. SNAP! I freeze and look around frantically. I see nothing and continue to walk deeper into the castle. A laugh echoes and I start to pick up my pace until I find a stair case, it's all broken and too unstable for any pony to attempt using. "Hello there." I quickly turn around and see a tall colt in a caped hood. His eyes were covered and only tips of his hair can be seen other than his mouth. He steps a bit into the moonlight, his skin is a dark grey and his hooves have black vine type patterns that glow with magic. I step back a bit, "No need to be afraid child." I get my wings ready to fly out but I keep staring directly at the shady figure, he smirks deviously, "Oh planning on getting out, there's no reason to." Black vines come out of the ground and grab my hooves and puncture my wings which causes me to scream in pain. I look over at them, their bleeding a bit and cannot be moved with out knife stabbing pain. "What do you want.." "Oh, the lass does speak." I sigh and try to move but the vines become tighter, "Don't move, it only makes it worse~" "What. Do. You. Want." "So demanding, just like your mother." My eyes widen a bit, "What do you know about my mom?" "More than you'll ever know." I grit my teeth and hold back my anger. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going. But don't worry, we'll see each other very soon. Farewell dear child." He disappears in a cloud of black poof. I try to get out of the vine's grasp but they only continue to get stronger and painful. I can't think of anything else to do but yell for help. "Anyone! Please! Help me!" No one comes. I try to move again with more force, but the vines won't budge and just continue to get stronger, one whips one of my wings. A tear tempts a fall as I look back, my wing is completely covered in a black liquid. I soon collapse to the ground, with the last bit of power I have, I try one more time for a call for help, "Help me.." But my supposedly strong and loud call turned into a whispered whimper. ~ After a few minutes, the vines released themselves off of me but they surrounded me instead, making sure I couldn't go anywhere and no one could come in. The sound of steps echo, I try to perk up and make some noise but the vines grab me and hold me down. With a very crackly voice, I try to make words, but all that comes out is a sound. "Hello? Who's there?" A strong voice echoes through out my area. Some of the vines disappear and go to the sound. Sounds of clashing metal and then a final blast of what seemed to be a magic blast ends their fight. A tall alicorn comes galloping in and sees the vines that surround me, "Stupid vines." The vines blast away which just leaves me, I look up at the colt. "Holy..hold on.." He lifts me up the best he could with his wings and hooves, he carefully puts one of my wings in his back and I squelch in pain. Magic comes out of his horn and a magic cloud appears, as best as he could, he put me on it. It was soft and it didn't hurt me to lay on. He walks in front of the cloud and looks at me, "Hey there. You're gonna be okay, but I'm gonna need you to answer me okay?" I nod, "Okay, what's your name?" "S.." "Come on, you can do it." "S-Soul M-Melody.." He smiles, "Hey Melody, I'm Scythea." I try to sit up a bit but I clench. "Hey shhh, no no, lay back down, we're gonna get out of here." ~ "SOUL!" Mocha runs to the side of the cloud looking very worried, "What happened?!" "I found her surrounded by these possessed vines, they got her pretty badly.." She turns around and looks at Scythea, "Thank you." Valerium helps me get off the cloud and Mocha starts to rush me in her café. I look back slightly at Scythea. He gave a reassuring smile and waved good bye. The BrandingI slowly get out of bed and look through Mocha's guest room window. The town is still loud and happy like always, except, as I move my eyesight down, I see guards from the palace talking with Scythea. With my hair still a mess, I slowly go down stairs limping a bit. I go to the front door and open it just enough for me to hear them, "When you found Ms. Soul in the castle, was there any sign of another pony there?" "Not really, the vines were under some dark magic though." "SOUL!" I jump and fall out of the café and onto the ground on my wing..in front of everypony. "Ow...!" Scythea looks down at me with a stern look. As I catch his stare and our eyes look right at each other, I start to blush, I shake my head and try to stand up quickly but I end up falling on to him, he catches me with his wing and quickly puts me to my feet. "Um..heh, sorry-" "Be more careful next time. You're not always gonna have people to catch you when you fall." Without the slightest smile he lightly pushes me towards Mocha, "Soul Melody, you must've lost your marbles! Going out and walking in the condition you're in? Soul, you need rest-" "I'm..I'm fine..!" Both Scythea and Mocha look at me dumbfounded, "Soul, look I don't know you that well. But I know you well enough to force you to go back into the café and rest." Mocha smiles, "Thank you for the second voiced opinion in this, come on Soul." "But-" "Nope, lets go." Mocha starts to lightly nudge me in her café, I look back at Scythea who stares at me blankly, sighs a bit ruffly, and turns around to the guards. I lightly mumble, "....dammit.." "What was that?" "Hm?! Oh, nothing!" I laugh lightly and smile nervously. Why am I acting so strange around him..he's just another colt.. "Soul~?" "Huh?" "Who are ya thinking about?" I look at Mocha a bit confused and I tilt my head. "You're blushing pretty deeply, who are you thinking about?" "I am..?" "Yes you are~!" "Uh..heh.." "You'll tell me at some point, alright, you're wounds. Sit down, time to fix you up." Her horn glows and levitates some medical supplies over. As she looks at them she seems really down, she sighs, "We've gotta get some help with these.." She lights up a bit and goes to grab Valerium. "Soul, this is gonna hurt a bit but it'll stop the-" "Nope! Not getting bitten by you! I thank you for the nice thought, but I'm not doing it!" Mocha grumbles, "Fine, then here." She sits me down and gives me a coffee that has a numbing potion in it. She grins and fixes my wounds, she finally gets to my wing. "Oh no.." "What?" "Valerium come look at this.." "What are you guys talking about?" Valerium and Mocha both discuss quietly about whatever is wrong with my wing, no one is answering me so I speak up, "What is wrong with it!" They both jump a bit and look at me, "We need to go and see Twilight and all of the other princesses." "What-" "Let's go, now." ~ Mocha frantically knocks on the gigantic doors. Twilight opens them, "Mocha?" "Soul's got something on her wing!" "Is it serious?" "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't Twilight." "Hm..okay, come in, quickly." Valerium helps me quickly get in the castle while Mocha and Twilight speed ahead to the main room. "What is happening..?" He sighs, "You have a mark on your wing, what it could represent it's very dangerous, that's why we're here. To make sure the exact details of what it is. Now, go to Mocha, she will do a way better job than me at taking care of you." He gives me a tuff nudge through the opening, Twilight runs over and grabs me, "Do you feel light headed or like you're going to collapse?" "Light headed yeah, why?" "Oh, to make sure your still stable." "Still stable?" "Mhm..now, wing. Up." I lift up my wing the best I can, "Perfect, alright let me look at this.." She gets super close to my wing and touched something with a valve that feels like a knife, "Ow..!" Twilight looks up at me and straight into my eyes, "That's why you didn't get crystallized like the rest of Crystal City.." "What are you talking about Twi...? You're scaring me.." "How long have you had this slash type branding on your wing?" I look under why wing and see the branding. "Oh, that. I've had that since I was a filly." "Do you remember getting it?" "No, I just remember having a blackout and waking up with it. I just thought it was a scar from the uprising wood in my old home..why?" She sighs roughly, looks over at Mocha and Valerium, she nods and Mocha looks like she's about to get super upset. "What's wrong Mocha?" "You..that branding you have, it was made by Sombra. There's a way to get it off, but we have to go deep into the jungle, and we will meet a sorcerer of black and white. But we can't do it alone. We need muscle, Valeruim is gonna have to stay at the café due to....reasons..but it'll be me, Soul and then one more.." "...Scythea." "Hm? That colt who helped you?" "Yeah, he's really smart and strong, he could help us if he wanted to." Twilight looks up with a smile, "That's Flash's friend! He didn't join the palace guards, but when he visits, he sometimes practice with Flash. He would be perfect for it." Mocha nods, "Twi, do you know where we can find him?" "He lives at the edge of PonyVille on a large hill top, his house is near the edge, so be careful."
Soul's Welcome"Pick a prize, any prize!" I stare at the tall pony, his broad grey horn glimmers as he picks out the prizes the fillies want. I stretch out my wings and fly up into the clouds, their strong push leave a swirl of wind under me. "Okay, okay...where's PonyVille..?" A grey flash of different shades appear, the owner of this trail is so quick I couldn't even grab a glance of it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you say you're looking for PonyVille?!" "Y-" "Well, lucky you, you just found the coolest pony around!" She grabs me by my hoof and in two seconds flat were in PonyVille's town square. "Here you- wait..." She looks at my eyes and curiously asks, "How can you fly..?" I forgot about how my eyes look, the liveliness that I use to own is gone. I stay silent, due to me not being able to think of anything to say..to cover up the truth. "Hmm....welp, gotta blast!" Then she's gone in a flash. I look around for somewhere to stay..aha! An inn, that's what I need. I glance over to a flower shop and walk over, hoping to find directions. "H-Hello..?" A filly with a big bow a top of her head pops out of no where, "Hia!" "Do you know here an inn is..by any chance..?" "Mhm! There's one just two buildings down and on the other side!" "Um..okay..thank you." Being very hopeful, I follow the filly's instructions, and sure enough there's an inn. "E-Excuse me..?" A more of an taller and sturdier pony than the last one looks down upon me, his big eyes staring at my hair, "Why hello there, what can I do for you?" "I need a room please.." "Of course," he walks behind the counter and looks at the room keys. He smiles and grabs one, "here you are." "Um...how many Bits..?" "Oh, don't worry about it, it's on me. Enjoy your stay." I give a light nod as a thank you and find the room. ~ The morning rays hit my wings as I slowly open my heavy eyes. I slowly sit up and glare around the room, till I remembered where I was. I slowly get off the bed and go to a mirror. I see my strange reflection, my mane and tail cut as if it chopped sideways with my huge and elegant wings like Queen Celestia's. I look behind myself, and see my cutie mark. A soul on fire with a music note in the middle, it looked so strange from everyone else's. Suddenly, the sound of loud movement and ponies fill the air outside my window, so I slowly open it to see a pony with a crown, wings, and a horn walk down the town square. All of sudden, everyone is dancing and singing like crazy lunatics. I quickly close the glass but still hearing the faint chorus, "Winter wrap up, winter wrap up! Let's hear your holiday cheer!" After what seemed like hours, the song slowly died off and everyone was back to normal, I look at myself one more time in the mirror, "Alright Soul. You can do this. This is a new town, for your new begging!" I try to put on a fake smile but it quickly disappeared like always. "Ugh.." I open the door and close it again, and quickly walk out of the inn. The town's bustling with tradesmen and just pretty much everypony. A screech suddenly makes everyone quiet, I turn around to see a pony with big curly hair and a ginormous smile, "We've got a new pony!" She starts to jump up and down and sprints toward me, I just move to the side. She quickly turns back around and goes for me again, but I just fly up this time, leaving swirling leaves and grass below me (like always). "Ooohh...your wings are so pretty!" I shake my head and fly off to find somewhere nice and... "Is that a library?" I land down softly and quietly and enter the place. "Hm...if I- oh hello there!" The pony from earlier came out from behind the tall stacks of books with a great big smile. "H-Hello." She gets closer to me, "Oh my..your eyes...how can you see?" "Oh..um...well..I..um...i-if you'll excuse me..I-I must be on my way." I quickly gallop out of the tree but I'm stopped by the pony with the ginormous hair. "I found you! I win! I win!" I slowly start backing up then my wings hit another pony in the face, "I-I'm sorry.." I walk backwards in the other direction and run into a guard, "O-Oops..s-sorry.." I finally notice I'm trapped in a circle, so I try to fly up but my wings feel like their being held back. A gasp fills the air and then I suddenly fall back on to the ground from trying to break the hold. I rub my head and check my wings, but when I do, I notice a tall pony with a flowing tail of different shades standing in front of me, "Soul Melody." "Q-Queen C-Celestia...I-I'm s-sorry..." "It's fine." The pony from the library comes out and walks up to the Queen, "Do you know her Queen Celestia?" "Why yes...her mother is a long time friend of mine. But if you'll excuse me, me and Soul must be reintroduced, we haven't talked or seen each other since she was a little filly." She nods her head and walks off, clearing the crowd. "Come Soul, we have much to discuss." Celestia gives me a light smile and nods for me to follow her. As I catch up to her, the guards get rid of the ponies that were still just standing there. The Queen elegantly sits down in her chariot and waits for me to join her. As I step up to the beautifully crafted wooden ride, I tumble and fall face first into the ground. "Ow.." She lightly chuckles and says with a bright smile, "Oh dear Soul, you're still the same as you were in some ways." I tried to grin and brush off her statement, it wasn't true. I'm no longer the same, the last time she's seen me or talked to me was before- "Queen Celestia, shall we show Ms. Melody to her living quarters." "Certainly, Soul, are you ready?" "F-For what, if I may ask?" "For your home. It's temporary of course, but we'll treat you all the same." "Thank you."
Shadow?"Your room is straight down the hallway miss." "T-Thank you.." I push open the large doors softly and lightly. They squeak and crack as I enter the dim palace dorm. I slowly trot over to the window and I open it slightly. The sunlight peeks through and hits the ground, the ground is black like charcoal, but of course, that's all I can see. I have something people like to call a disability. But it's not something full on, it's just an chromosome disability that makes me monochromic. In short, I only see in greyscale. I wasn't born like this however, before my brother left for the Crystal City Solider Enquiry, I could see all colors. Every rainbow and every shade. But now, I can only see the world's worst colors in my opinion. The door flies open and a another pony stands in its doorway. His hair has died tips of what seems to be the same shade of grey as mine, with gleaming amor, large wings and a horn. His cutie mark shows a distorted music note. I look up to his eyes and he speaks, "Soul, it's your brother. I'm your brother." "S-Shadow..?" "In the flesh." "Brother.." I gallop over to him and hug him, "I though you were-" "Dead? Yeah, so did everyone else." "H-How.." "I told you siso, I'd never leave without you right beside me." A tear slowly rolls down my cheek and I smile. Shadow wipes the tear off making me close my eyes, when I open them back up I see a skeleton, it crumbles into ash. "Shadow!" Sombra appears out of the black and slowly approaches me, I back up to the wall until I couldn't move anymore, Sombra nose to nose with me, the wall behind me breaks and I fall. His laugh echoes and crackles as I get drowned in darkness. I hit a hard ground, I slowly get up covered in pain from the fall. I look around and see the Crystal City in flames. I notice my house and I hear a scream, "Help!" It couldn't be... "Mom?!" I bolt over to the inferno, I scan the scene for any pony. I give up looking from the outside and I quickly go inside, the screams continue from upstairs. I attempt to climb the stairs but they burn down, so I fly up and zoom through the fiery entrance. I carefully land, as I look up I see a closet. I start to approach it and the cries get louder, I go to open the doors but my hoof goes right through it. "Hellooooo~" My eyes widen and I try to do everything I can to open the door, suddenly it opens, it's my mother standing in front of...wait..is that me? A pounce echoes through the crackling flames, and a dark presence comes over the top floor. "Sombra." "Ha, I see you have a little present~" "Back off of my family, got it?" "Aw, you see dearest Spark, I already dealt with your little Shadow." Little me looks behind my mother's leg with some tears rolling down, "S-Shadowo..?" "Yes Soul, Shadowo." "How do you-" "Your lover boy talks a lot about her. He was so fond of her." "Where-" "Shh, don't worry your pretty little-" "WHERE IS HE!" "Didn't your parents ever teach you to never speak out of turn?" A light grey cloud appears and strikes my mom, she falls. "Momma..!" My little filly nose lightly nudges her face trying to wake her up, my wings start to fold in and my ears move down. "Come along Soul." "No.." "Why not?" "Wake up my mommy." "She's been put into a forever sleep child." I sit up and look up at the towering figure, "No." "You're such a troubled child." A beam of light starts to form heading straight for the little me, as it shoots I jump in front of it, but it goes straight through me and hits the little filly. She yells in pain and stumbles to the ground and everything goes black.
Are You A DJ?!I jolt up, sweat rolling down my cheeks. I pant and feel around the bed and I feel myself, "I'm...was that a...was that a dream?" I look in the mirror from across my bed, I looked panicked. Then I realize, I'm not even in a castle, I'm in the inn I went to. With a puzzled mind I jump off my bed and clean myself up. "That was so weird..I don't remember any of that ever happening.." As I brush out my cut up hair, a knock echoes from my door. "H-Hello?" "Hello, are you Soul Melody?" "Erm.." I finish my hair with a final stroke and I rush to open the door. When I do, I see a pony with short curly hair and glasses, "Ah, nice to meet you Soul, I'm Mayor Hooves, mayor of PonyVille." "Oh, uh..nice to meet you as well.." "Quite a room you have in the inn, mind if I come in?" I realize that my room is an absolute mess, "Um....it's a bit messy." "Oh okay. Would you like to go out in town, I can introduce you to the other ponies and we can get a quick bite to eat if you'd like?" I give a sigh of relief, "That would be wonderful, just give me a minute to grab my satchel." "Okay dear." ~ As we sip our candy flavored tea, she brings up my family, "So, Soul, where are you from?" "Oh... The Crystal City." "Really? You don't have that crystal shimmer or sparkle?" "Yeah um..it's a long story, that's all. Let's just keep it simple and say it's impossible for my family to have become crystallized like every other pony." "Oh, okay-" "Mayor! Mayor Hooves!" A pegasus gallops over to our table, she wears a crown on her head and a little...dragon?! A little dragon by her side?! What in Equestria.. "Ah, hello Twilight." Twilight takes a breather and then looks up at the mayor, "You said there was a new pony in town and I wanted to give her or him a sincere greeting!" "Well if you'll see my partner in tea crime, she's the new pony addition. Soul meet Twilight Sparkle, Twilight meet Soul Melody." She puts on a smile but it quickly turns into a concerned look, "Your eyes-" A sudden yell echoes and a sound of a sonic boom hits my ears, I look up and see a explosion of different colors, I think it might be a rainbow, roams through the air. The rainbow skids across the ground and walks over to Twilight. "Whoa, whoa, whoaaaa. I know this pony! I helped her out so she could find her way here." I smile and give a light nod, "You sure did, but I never caught your-" "My name is Rainbow Dash! The coolest pony in all of Equestria, and if you don't believe me, just ask all of my competitors, they'll willing tell you I'm 20% cooler." Twilight leans over and whispers, "And maybe the most interruptive of us all." I start to laugh and Rainbow Dash just cuts her eyes at Twilight, but because of her glare, Twilight starts to laugh. Soon enough, we're all laughing. "I think I hear fun~!" A pony with quite big hair jumps over to our table and starts bouncing in place with a wide smile. "Ooohhh, looky it's a new pony~" She skips over to me, "Hey! I'm Pinkie Pie! And I really, really, REALLY, like to PARTY~!" "Um..nice to meet you Pinkie Pie, my name is Soul Melody." "Oohhhh~ are you like a DJ or something?! I would love for you to DJ for a party of mine, oh! I'm going to have a party for you, but you wouldn't be able to DJ your own party...OH! I'll get Vinyl Scratch to DJ your party!! Squeeeeee, it's going to be awesome~! I'll see you later Souly!!" She makes a giant leap and squeals and laughs as she hops away to..well, where ever she's going. "She can be quite over whelming sometimes, sorry about that." "Hm? Oh no! It's perfectly fine, she's just happy, that's all!" I smile at Twilight and then Mayor Hooves cuts in..finally.. "She is quite the party pony, anyways, Twilight, would you like to show Soul around for the rest of the day?" "Sure thing, come on Soul. Oh, and nice talking to you again Mayor!" "Um..okay..." I turn around to the Mayor, "Nice meeting you, hope to talk to you again soon, and try some more teas." "Most defiantly, talk to you soon Soul."
Doctor Whooves OverloadAs we walk down the bustling streets of PonyVille, some commotion was brewing in the far corner, "There's a black hole!" "No! There's sparkles too!" "What's happening?!" I look over at Twilight, "Erm..should we check what's going on..?" "Hm? Oh-" "Twilight!" A pony with long lushes hair and butterflies for her cutie mark comes running over hiding behind Twilight. "Flutter Shy, what's wrong?" "There's a big, scary, thing in the sky, Derpy says it's her best friend, but I'm really scared of new-" Flutter Shy notices I'm on her other side and she freaks out which makes me jump. "NEW PONIES!" What I'm guessing was suppose to be a loud scream ended up being pretty soft. "Whoa, you two, calm down. Flutter Shy, I would like you to meet Soul Melody, Soul meet Flutter Shy." She comes out a bit and looks at me, nervously I put on a small smile and wave my hoof, "Uh...hello...!" "H-Hello.." "Your name is really nice..!" She smiles a bit and sits up, "W-Why thank you." A large explosion is heard and I jump and catch my fall by gliding. A shiny dark grey color telephone box with a tall sturdy mare walking out of it. "Doctor!" Derpy hugs him and he smiles, "Hello Ms. Hooves." I slowly trot over to the front of the crowd.. "Whoa..his cutie mark.." "I KNOW RIGHT! SOOO COOOLLL!" I jump up a bit startled and look over, a pony with a large hat looks at me and smiles. He looks so familiar..but I can't place him.. "Oh, I'm sorry, you must be new. Well, I'm Galaxy Nebula, and you are..?" Galaxy..hmm.. "Uhm...Soul Melody." "Alright, so Mel, what do you know 'bout that wonderful and intelligent colt?!" "Well, his cutie mark makes him Doctor Whooves, right?" "Mhm!" I smirk, little did this colt know I'm a genius when it comes to anything Doctor Whooves. He's the first pony to time travel in a phone box! Like who wouldn't know who he is? "Well there's been eleven versions of him, but this one is the sacred ten." "So, you're favorite doctor is..?" "The tenth one, obviously he gave another aspect to it unlike the other ponies did, he gave it something to relate to on a fantasy basis of Sonic Screwdrivers and-" The Doctor looks over, smiles brightly, and trots over, "Hello Galaxy." Galaxy's eyes go wide and a smile plasters his face, "H-Hi..!" Doctor Whooves smiles and shakes hooves with Galaxy. "He touched my hoof~!" He passes out. I snicker a bit and mumble, "The boof.." I look up at the Doctor and put on a smile, "Sorry about him, he's a super fan of you.." "No no, that's quite alright. Say, what's your name?" "Oh, Soul Melody." "Ah, Mel, give me two seconds." He turns around and gets Derpy. "Mel, meet my PonyVille associate Ms. Derpy Hooves." I smile, "Nice to-" "Do you want a muffin?" "Uh..sure..?" Her smile grows and she grabs me by the hoof, "Come on Doctor! We're going to the Vanilla Villa Café~!" ~ We arrive to this large coffee cup shaped café, it has a sign outside its door reading, "Vanilla Villa Café?" "Yup! It has the best coffee and muffins..I like their muffins more..LETS GO~!" As we enter the grand shop, a pony with a beautiful dress on starts bossing around..wait, wait, wait..Mocha?! "Oh Mocha dear, more sparkles on my latte. I need it to be perfect." Mocha huffs and levitates more sprinkles over to the pony's whipped cream perfection, "OH No! One too many!" "Why you-" A tall alicorn looks over and interrupts Mocha before she finishes her sentence, "But Valerium-" "Here, Rarity, let me take off that last sprinkle." He takes it off and Rarity about faints, "Now I can't drink it, Valerium touched it." Valerium stares and Mocha looks like she's ready to fight Rarity. To break the silence I sit over at the end of the bar and hit the little bell. It's ring echoes through the building and then Mocha stomps over. "What can I-!" She stops with her angry tone and her eyes widen with joy, "Soul?!" "Heh, hey Mocha." "SOUL!" She jumps over the bar and hugs me onto the ground, "Owwwww!" "Sorry, heh, I'm so happy you're here! Wait, why are you here?" "Long story.." She smiles and helps me up, Mocha nods over Valerium, "Hehehe, Valerium meet Soul Melody, Soul meet Valerium." We both nod as a greeting and I turn around to see Derpy and the Doctor gone. I shake my head and all of sudden get pushed a bit by the pony named Rarity, "Oh my, your hair! It's all chopped up..AND SO IS YOUR TAIL! Who did this to you sweetheart, I'll have a serious talk with them about spilt ends!" "Hm..uh, I was born with my hair like that. Thank you for your concern though?" She sighs, "It's no problem Mel, oh I'm Rarity by the way." "Nice to meet you Rarity I'm-" "Soul Melody? Yes I've over heard the little meet and greet you had with Valerium and Mocha. The two are so shippable." Mocha and Valerium go wide eyed, "What?!" "Don't deny it sweethearts, you know it's true~" The two ponies blush. I walk over beside Mocha, "You know, it's adorabubble." "SOUL WHY!" "Why what?" "Why would you say adorabubble?!" "Because, I miss our little pick fights we had when you came over." Everyone becomes silent. Mocha clears her throat, "Erm..anyways.." The door to the café slowly open and we all look over to see Galaxy trot through the door, "Hey Mel, Mocha, Valerium....Rarity.. How is everyone?" Everyone stares and I smile, "Hey Galaxy! Your up from your incident I see." I giggle and everyone else looks at us confused, "Yes, yes. I'm up from the sacred touch." He laughs nervously and changes the subject, "Mocha, I guessing you've met Mel?" "It's Soul, and yes. We've been friends for a long while!" "You call her Soul?" "Well yeah it's what her brother, Shadow, called her, it just rubbed off on me." I stand there and zone out. I remember a past memory, before everything was messed up. His smile is so memorable.. "Soul~! Come out come out wherever you are~!" "Hehehe, shh Mocha, he'll find us...!" "Hehe, well if you keep giggling he's gonna find us Soul..!" "Aaannnddddddd got ya!" "Aaahhhh!" "Hahahahaha!" His laughter was music to my ears, always made me smile, and I could never say his name without smiling, even if I was sad...still can't. Mocha has been there for me since we were fillies. She'd always come by and visit, family and all. Actually- "Hola! Hello! PonyVille to Soul!" "Huh!" I jump a bit and get out of my zone, everyone was staring and I start to blush out of embarrassment, "Oh, sorry, I zoned." "We noticed." Rarity added. "Um..I'm gonna go back to my room at the inn.." "Really, Soul no, you can bunk with me if you'd like." "Thanks for the offer Mocha. I just wanna take up this last night, I'll see you all tomorrow..maybe..anyways, see you all later." I quickly gallop out of the café and fly up, getting out of sight.
Vines"Mel~" I squirm and flip over. "Mel~!" I flip over again and try to shake off this random stupid voice. "MEL!" "The fu-" I catch my tongue and take a deep breath. I look over to see Rarity, "Ugh, what do you want Rarity?" I try to put on a happy tone for the thick headed- I mean...for the beautiful pony who awoke me from my precious slumber. "I've come to give you a sweet morning wake up and to take you to a surprise!" "Huh? Surprise..?" "Yes dear, now hurry up and out of bed, we have a long day ahead of us!" Her horn glows as she pulls off my blankets with one good pull, "Hey!" "Come on Melly, get out of bed." I roll my eyes lightly and jump out of bed. I quickly brush my hair, mainly because this perfected pony of sorts observes my every move without giving a second thought to the world around her. As I give a last stroke to my mane I give myself a mental pep-talk. "Alright Soul, new day, new ponies. You're gonna be fine, you look great, now go break a leg..DON'T FORGET TO KEEP A SMILE!!" I turn around and look at Rarity, "Okay sweetheart, follow me~" ~ We approach a big building, with a witch hat type top to its roof. "Welcome to my humble abode Melly." She opens the door to a large boutique full of makeup, dresses, sewing machines, and basically everything to make you look like a fashionista. "Your surprise is rightttttttt," She grabs me and puts me onto a chair in front of the mirror, "here!" "Erm.." "I'm going to give you a little....lift.." "Lift? What do you mean by that?" "You'll see soon sweetie~!" A hair brush, makeup, measuring ribbons and fabrics levitate over to us, "Oh no." "Time for your surprise Melly Belly!" ~ She turns my chair around so I face the mirror, "TA-Da! You look marvelous sweetie, just absolutely spectacular!" She didn't do much to my hair except make sure my bangs couldn't be in my face, she gave me eye liner to 'make my eyes pop', and then she fitted me for a dress with a tiny hat with a bow on it. "Uhm..." "Oh dear, I forgot your blind here let me explain what you-" "I'm not blind!" "That's not what your eyes say." "Well my eyes are wrong...got it?" She looks a bit surprised at my snap but just nods, "Right..okay." "Sorry.." "No it's perfectly okay sweetheart," she clears her throat, "okay, so-" A pony with a hat like Galaxy's charges through the doors. "Rarity! What did you do to Apple Bloom?!" "Oh, excuse me sweetie." She smiles at me and turns around to face the charging pony, "Apple Jack, darling, I simply gave Apple Bloom a hair product that-" "That ruined my sister's hair! Apple Bloom, get in here!" Apple Bloom walks into the salon area slowly, her hair was a big frizzy mess, she had this ginormous bow stuffed in her button patterned satchel. "Oh my, Apple Bloom dear, did you leave it in too long..?" "Yes m'a'm, for about a minute or so longer..I thought it would make my hair softer." Rarity laughs but quickly stops as she catches Apple Jack's death glare. "Ahem, Apple Bloom dear, just wash it out and your hair shall go back to normal~" "Thank you m'a'm!" She gallops quickly out of the shop and just leaves her older sister behind. Apple Jack looked over at me and smiles nervously, "Oh my, hello there, sorry about all of this commotion," She trots over and puts out a hoof, "my name is Apple Jack!" I smile a bit and shake her hoof, "It's nice to meet you Apple Jack, I'm Soul Melody." "That's a fancy name sugar cube! I'm sorry for leaving as soon as we got to finally meet each other, but I must go and finish up gathering some apples off my family's farm. I'll see y'all later!" With a skip in her step she walks out of Rarity's place and I wipe off all of the makeup and the clothing, but I leave my hair be, I kinda like it...uh, I mean..crap, oh well. I look around for Rarity but she is no where to be seen. I quickly write a thank you note and trot off into town square. As I walk around aimlessly, I find this beaten down road, I decide to follow it. As I still trek the trail, it becomes darker and pretty cold. By the time I can't see PonyVille anymore, and I'm surrounded by woods of darkness, it's sundown. Almost completely night. Suddenly, just a mile or so after entering this black woods type area, I see a old and falling apart stone brick castle. I quietly enter it, not knowing what could be in there. Vines hang from the ceiling and moss covers the broken corners. SNAP! I freeze and look around frantically. I see nothing and continue to walk deeper into the castle. A laugh echoes and I start to pick up my pace until I find a stair case, it's all broken and too unstable for any pony to attempt using. "Hello there." I quickly turn around and see a tall colt in a caped hood. His eyes were covered and only tips of his hair can be seen other than his mouth. He steps a bit into the moonlight, his skin is a dark grey and his hooves have black vine type patterns that glow with magic. I step back a bit, "No need to be afraid child." I get my wings ready to fly out but I keep staring directly at the shady figure, he smirks deviously, "Oh planning on getting out, there's no reason to." Black vines come out of the ground and grab my hooves and puncture my wings which causes me to scream in pain. I look over at them, their bleeding a bit and cannot be moved with out knife stabbing pain. "What do you want.." "Oh, the lass does speak." I sigh and try to move but the vines become tighter, "Don't move, it only makes it worse~" "What. Do. You. Want." "So demanding, just like your mother." My eyes widen a bit, "What do you know about my mom?" "More than you'll ever know." I grit my teeth and hold back my anger. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going. But don't worry, we'll see each other very soon. Farewell dear child." He disappears in a cloud of black poof. I try to get out of the vine's grasp but they only continue to get stronger and painful. I can't think of anything else to do but yell for help. "Anyone! Please! Help me!" No one comes. I try to move again with more force, but the vines won't budge and just continue to get stronger, one whips one of my wings. A tear tempts a fall as I look back, my wing is completely covered in a black liquid. I soon collapse to the ground, with the last bit of power I have, I try one more time for a call for help, "Help me.." But my supposedly strong and loud call turned into a whispered whimper. ~ After a few minutes, the vines released themselves off of me but they surrounded me instead, making sure I couldn't go anywhere and no one could come in. The sound of steps echo, I try to perk up and make some noise but the vines grab me and hold me down. With a very crackly voice, I try to make words, but all that comes out is a sound. "Hello? Who's there?" A strong voice echoes through out my area. Some of the vines disappear and go to the sound. Sounds of clashing metal and then a final blast of what seemed to be a magic blast ends their fight. A tall alicorn comes galloping in and sees the vines that surround me, "Stupid vines." The vines blast away which just leaves me, I look up at the colt. "Holy..hold on.." He lifts me up the best he could with his wings and hooves, he carefully puts one of my wings in his back and I squelch in pain. Magic comes out of his horn and a magic cloud appears, as best as he could, he put me on it. It was soft and it didn't hurt me to lay on. He walks in front of the cloud and looks at me, "Hey there. You're gonna be okay, but I'm gonna need you to answer me okay?" I nod, "Okay, what's your name?" "S.." "Come on, you can do it." "S-Soul M-Melody.." He smiles, "Hey Melody, I'm Scythea." I try to sit up a bit but I clench. "Hey shhh, no no, lay back down, we're gonna get out of here." ~ "SOUL!" Mocha runs to the side of the cloud looking very worried, "What happened?!" "I found her surrounded by these possessed vines, they got her pretty badly.." She turns around and looks at Scythea, "Thank you." Valerium helps me get off the cloud and Mocha starts to rush me in her café. I look back slightly at Scythea. He gave a reassuring smile and waved good bye.
The BrandingI slowly get out of bed and look through Mocha's guest room window. The town is still loud and happy like always, except, as I move my eyesight down, I see guards from the palace talking with Scythea. With my hair still a mess, I slowly go down stairs limping a bit. I go to the front door and open it just enough for me to hear them, "When you found Ms. Soul in the castle, was there any sign of another pony there?" "Not really, the vines were under some dark magic though." "SOUL!" I jump and fall out of the café and onto the ground on my wing..in front of everypony. "Ow...!" Scythea looks down at me with a stern look. As I catch his stare and our eyes look right at each other, I start to blush, I shake my head and try to stand up quickly but I end up falling on to him, he catches me with his wing and quickly puts me to my feet. "Um..heh, sorry-" "Be more careful next time. You're not always gonna have people to catch you when you fall." Without the slightest smile he lightly pushes me towards Mocha, "Soul Melody, you must've lost your marbles! Going out and walking in the condition you're in? Soul, you need rest-" "I'm..I'm fine..!" Both Scythea and Mocha look at me dumbfounded, "Soul, look I don't know you that well. But I know you well enough to force you to go back into the café and rest." Mocha smiles, "Thank you for the second voiced opinion in this, come on Soul." "But-" "Nope, lets go." Mocha starts to lightly nudge me in her café, I look back at Scythea who stares at me blankly, sighs a bit ruffly, and turns around to the guards. I lightly mumble, "....dammit.." "What was that?" "Hm?! Oh, nothing!" I laugh lightly and smile nervously. Why am I acting so strange around him..he's just another colt.. "Soul~?" "Huh?" "Who are ya thinking about?" I look at Mocha a bit confused and I tilt my head. "You're blushing pretty deeply, who are you thinking about?" "I am..?" "Yes you are~!" "Uh..heh.." "You'll tell me at some point, alright, you're wounds. Sit down, time to fix you up." Her horn glows and levitates some medical supplies over. As she looks at them she seems really down, she sighs, "We've gotta get some help with these.." She lights up a bit and goes to grab Valerium. "Soul, this is gonna hurt a bit but it'll stop the-" "Nope! Not getting bitten by you! I thank you for the nice thought, but I'm not doing it!" Mocha grumbles, "Fine, then here." She sits me down and gives me a coffee that has a numbing potion in it. She grins and fixes my wounds, she finally gets to my wing. "Oh no.." "What?" "Valerium come look at this.." "What are you guys talking about?" Valerium and Mocha both discuss quietly about whatever is wrong with my wing, no one is answering me so I speak up, "What is wrong with it!" They both jump a bit and look at me, "We need to go and see Twilight and all of the other princesses." "What-" "Let's go, now." ~ Mocha frantically knocks on the gigantic doors. Twilight opens them, "Mocha?" "Soul's got something on her wing!" "Is it serious?" "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't Twilight." "Hm..okay, come in, quickly." Valerium helps me quickly get in the castle while Mocha and Twilight speed ahead to the main room. "What is happening..?" He sighs, "You have a mark on your wing, what it could represent it's very dangerous, that's why we're here. To make sure the exact details of what it is. Now, go to Mocha, she will do a way better job than me at taking care of you." He gives me a tuff nudge through the opening, Twilight runs over and grabs me, "Do you feel light headed or like you're going to collapse?" "Light headed yeah, why?" "Oh, to make sure your still stable." "Still stable?" "Mhm..now, wing. Up." I lift up my wing the best I can, "Perfect, alright let me look at this.." She gets super close to my wing and touched something with a valve that feels like a knife, "Ow..!" Twilight looks up at me and straight into my eyes, "That's why you didn't get crystallized like the rest of Crystal City.." "What are you talking about Twi...? You're scaring me.." "How long have you had this slash type branding on your wing?" I look under why wing and see the branding. "Oh, that. I've had that since I was a filly." "Do you remember getting it?" "No, I just remember having a blackout and waking up with it. I just thought it was a scar from the uprising wood in my old home..why?" She sighs roughly, looks over at Mocha and Valerium, she nods and Mocha looks like she's about to get super upset. "What's wrong Mocha?" "You..that branding you have, it was made by Sombra. There's a way to get it off, but we have to go deep into the jungle, and we will meet a sorcerer of black and white. But we can't do it alone. We need muscle, Valeruim is gonna have to stay at the café due to....reasons..but it'll be me, Soul and then one more.." "...Scythea." "Hm? That colt who helped you?" "Yeah, he's really smart and strong, he could help us if he wanted to." Twilight looks up with a smile, "That's Flash's friend! He didn't join the palace guards, but when he visits, he sometimes practice with Flash. He would be perfect for it." Mocha nods, "Twi, do you know where we can find him?" "He lives at the edge of PonyVille on a large hill top, his house is near the edge, so be careful."
