Potion Mare

Melody sighed as she trotted beside Lily, nuzzling into her cheek. After their lunch at the sandwich shop, Melody was ready to put the fight scene further back in her mind. She steered her way into the blacksmith’s shop, Lily in tow. Behind the counter was the same zebra shop owner. Melody trotted up to the counter, laying her front hooves onto it and reaching into her robe, dropping the broken and rusted sword onto the counter.

“Looking to get this repaired, how much will it cost? It's pure Silver, and is supposed to be a longsword.” Melody informed. The zebra scoffed, picking up the handle in his hooves and staring back at her.

“THIS… Now, this? It's a piece of work. It'll cost you 100 bits, no less.” The zebra said with a grin. Melody reached into her robe and deposited a bag of bits. She still had many to go around.

“Alright, that should be enough. I'll come back tomorrow, I imagine it'll be done by then? It's only half of a sword.” The mare spoke, poking at Lily as she slumped onto the counter. The zebra nodded, and Melody turned to begin walking out. Lily hung on her shoulder, nuzzling against her cheek.

“So Melody, what do you wanna do now?” Lily inquired, giving Melody a quick peck on the lips. Melody thought for a moment.

“Well, I wanted to search the caves around here for treasure or something, but without a sword that wouldn't be very wise. Hmmm..” Melody said, lowering her head in contemplation. “AH! Ok, let's practice some magic!” She smiled, trotting toward a wooded path that she already knew lead to a clearing. Lily followed her like a bee to honey.

When the two mares arrived, Melody sighed and opened up her robe, slipping out of it. She decided it was wise to take inventory of the items she had on hand. She spread out her robe, frowning at the long gash, and removing items from separate pockets. She came up with her wand, 3 potion bottles, Magic Strength, Fireball, a blue, glowing, unlabeled bottle, and her journal.

“Alright Lily, what would you like to see?” Melody said, pointing her wand around and stretching her wings. Lily perked up excitedly.

“OOOOH! TURN A FLOWER INTO SOMETHING!!” She squealed. Melody rolled her eyes playfully and pointed her wand at a Dandelion, concentrating. With a yellow wisp from the end of her wand and a soft pop, the flower turned into a yellow bird and flew off. Melody was vaguely reminded of almost being eaten by a plant.

“Ok, now shoot a fireball!” Lily said, her eyes sparkling. That was a heavy request, and Melody was still feeling light-headed, but she didn't want to let the cute mare down. Melody concentrated on a patch of snow on the ground, gritting her teeth and firing a round ball of fire at it, the snow dissolving, leaving only burnt grass and steam. She felt the rush of energy leaving her body, and desperately struggled to hold on, but felt herself slam face first into the snow. The last thing she heard before blacking out was,

“Melody? Why are there two of you?”

When Melody awoke, she was floating in darkness, almost like that of space. She didn't feel water, nor did she feel like she was falling, it was just nothingness.

“Wow, ok.. am I dead? Is there a god out there?” Melody reached out into the void, and a spiral of light sprung up from the ground. Her bottom hooves found a surface, the white spiral a platform. She reaches a hoof out to test the void. Nope, only the light was hard here, apparently. Suddenly, a figure clothed in a red robe with a hood appeared at the other, farthest side of the spiral.

“Yes, there is.” The figure spoke with a chuckle, pulling her hood back to reveal a very familiar face. Melody squinted.

“Hey, you're that me from-” Melody spoke before she was cut off.

“Now is not the time to speak. I can only keep you here for so long, so you must listen.” The elder Melody spoke. “Your timeline fuckery has doomed more than I can count.” She said. Melody gasped as all of the Melodys that she had ended appeared, their bodies littered in the void. “I'm the only successful Melody, and you seem to be the most successful other than me. But your own actions, the timeline hopping, have made so many others. Call me one.” One said, catching the head of a Melody and tossing it out into the void.

“Listen carefully. When you wake up, Lily will have failed to have defended you from another of us. Take this.” One trotted across the void, seemingly able to traverse it at will. She opened her robe and removed a metal chest plate. She strapped it onto Melody, Melody simply struggling to remain quiet. “This will stop the knife. Good luck.” One promised, pressing a hoof to Melody's chest.

“WAIT!! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!! HOW DO I KILL TH-” Melody begged, but One pressed forwards, shoving her off of the side of the spiral. Melody screamed in desperation. She spread her wings in an attempt to fly back up, but they caught no wind. She looked down and saw a light source coming on fast. She closed her eyes and braced for impact as she plummeted through it.

As she opened them, there was a Melody on top of her, holding a dagger. She plunged it down toward Current!Melody’s chest, her newfound chest plate taking the stab with stride, the blade barely making any impact other than a dent and a metallic clang. She took this opportunity to buck the attacking Melody off of her. The dagger went flying into the snow next to them, both mares beginning to scrabble toward it.

“Melody!? Er, MELODY!?” Lily shrieked from off on the sidelines. The attacking Melody was caught off guard and turned back toward her. Current!Melody took the chance to deliver a swift kick to her face. Current!Melody dove for the dagger but felt herself lifted into the air by her throat. Blackness began to swim in her vision as she saw the attacking Melody brandishing a wand. Current!Melody felt herself getting weaker and weaker until suddenly, she fell to the ground. She lay there motionless, looking up at the lifeless eyes of the attacking Melody.

“Are you okay..?” A frail voice came from behind the body, as it fell over to reveal Lily, dagger in hoof, and a pool of blood drooling from the back of the attacker Melody's head.

Melody took a couple seconds to let the feeling of life flow into her lungs, panting and nodding weakly. Lily reached a hoof down, helping Melody up. The pale yellow mare was covered in blood from the recent altercation. She let out a heavy sigh. “Let's just get back to the boat. I'll explain all this there.”

When they arrived on deck, Steele Gear was the first to greet them. She was wearing a flashy new pair of black leather boots.

“Hey, dolls! I see you're getting along nicely. What happened to your robe?” Steele asked, cocking an eyebrow. Melody looked down at the severed robe, and the gleaming chest plate underneath.

“A.. Uh.. Changeling attack. Two of them. One split my robe, then the other tried to kill me.” Melody shot back, Lily wide-eyed.

“Huh, spooky. Well, it's almost sundown, and I want to get out of here tomorrow. Rest up, lovebirds.” Steele chuckled, trotting away toward a crowd of pirates. Melody shrugged over at Lily and walked toward the underbelly of the ship to rest in their shared room.

“So, changelings, huh? It DID seem odd that's two of you were in the same place..” she purred, nudging her chest. “And I've yet to get a thank you for saving your life, missy.”

“I know, I know. Thank you, Lily, I really appreciate it. Now let's get to bed, I'm beat from today.” She sighed, tossing off her ruined robe and new chest plate, a wave of sadness washing over her as she studied the ripped garment. “Was there a seamstress in town? I need to get that thing repaired.”

“Well, I'm very handy with a needle myself,” Lily assured, plopping herself on the bed. “I'll make it nice and new tomorrow. Now come rest with me, Hun.” She giggled as Melody settled in beside her. Lily leaned up and blew out the candle on her bedside table.

“So, you seemed to handle killing that changeling pretty well,” Melody said, lying through her teeth.

“I’m a pirate, what did you expect? It’s literally what we do.” Lily replied, snuggling closer into Melody’s chest fur.

“Eh, I dunno. Goodnight, honey.”

“Goodnight, Melody.”

“I love you, Lily.”

“I love you too.”