The Chronicles of Melody Quill S1

Chapter 4

Meeting Her Family

The train bumped and rolled across the rails one the way to Canterlot. Melody kept her eyes outside, waiting for the train to enter the city premises. The Mane 6 saw that she was getting a little tense.

"So, Melody darling." Rarity said, trying to help ease their new friend. "What is your father like?" She asked.

Melody turned her eyes away from the window to look at the white unicorn. "Well, my dad is really cool." She said. "He owns a music shop in Canterlot."

"What does he sell?" Twilight asked.

"Mostly pianos." Melody answered. "But he also sells drums, guitars, and violins."

"So, it's like music runs in yer family, right?" Applejack guessed. The tan pegasus mare nodded while rubbing the back of her head.

"What about your mother?" Rarity asked. "She must be quite lovely if you are her daughter."

Melody looked down at the floor of the car. "Well, she... she is in a better place now." She spoke softly.

The Mane 6 realized what she meant. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Fluttershy said.

"It's okay, I guess." Melody assured her. "I was just a filly when she passed. But I do remember her vividly."

"What was her name?" Rarity asked.

"Raven Grace." Melody answered. All of the Mane 6 immediately had their eyes widening in recognition. "Yeah, the very same as one of the greatest singers in history. She was half of the famous singing duo, the Freedom Angels."

"So, if she was your mom, then you probably have a pretty good singing voice yourself, huh?" Rainbow Dash guessed.

Melody blushed. "Well, I guess I'm pretty good." She said. "If I had managed to get accepted into the Fillydelphia Academy of Performing Arts and graduated at the top of my class just a couple of years ago before my dad and I moved to Canterlot so that I could attend Princess Celestia's school."

Twilight's eyes widened even more. "Wow!" She said. "Then, you must be pretty good if you even got accepted into the most pretigious music schools in all of Equestria."

Melody's blush of embarrassment deepened.

"Do you think you can sing for us?" Pinkie asked her.

Melody froze. "Um, now?" She asked nervously. "With strange ponies around me?"

"What? You have stage fright or something?" Rainbow asked.

"Not really." Melody said. "I just don't like getting too much attention. Remember, I kind of have to keep a low profile because of my shapeshifting."

"Well, you don't have to sing right now." Twilight assured her.

Right then, Melody felt something stirring inside her. It was her special talent, which is how she got her cutie mark. Besides, she knew that she loved to sing. It was one of the only things that can make her forget that she was different from most other ponies.

"Actually, I want to." She admitted.

Fluttershy smiled softly at her. "Don't worry." She said. "I get nervous in front of other ponies a lot. Just pretend it's only us around."

Melody nodded. She then remembered something her father said to her once when she was nervous about singing in front of a crowd.

"The best way to deal with nervousness is to face it." He told her. "Once you start singing, just keep singing."

Melody took her father's advice and sung her heart out that night. And that was how she got her cutie mark.

Feeling that stirring inside, Melody opened her mouth and began to sing. The Mane 6 immediately were in awe at how good she was.

Melody: Seems like I've spent my whole life hoping,
Dreaming about things I've never tried.
Tangled in knots, just waiting
For my time to shine.

What if the doors began to open?
What if the knots became untied?
What if one day, nothing stood in my way
And the world was mine? Would it be this fine?

Melody knew that once she had begun singing, her confidence began growing, and she began singing louder and clearer.

'Cause I got the wind in my hair
And a gleam in my eyes,
And an endless horizon.
I got a smile on my face
And I'm walking on air.

And everything life oughta be,
It's all gonna happen to me out there,
And I'll find it, I swear,
With the wind in my hair.

When the train arrived in Canterlot station, Melody was still singing, with the Mane 6 following her off the train and onto the platform.

So many roads I've yet to travel.
So many friends I haven't met.
So many new adventures just around the bend.

Plenty of mysteries to unravel,
Tons of mistakes to not regret.
So much to see, and to do and to be;
A whole life to spend, and it doesn't end.

And I got the wind in my hair
And a song in my heart, and the fun's only starting.
I got a skip in my step
And I haven't a care.

That beautiful breeze blowing through.
It's gonna carry me who knows where,
But I'll take any dare
With the wind in my hair!

I got a smile on my face
And I'm walking on air!

And everything life ought be,
But I know that it's waiting for me out there,
And I'll find it, I swear,
With the wind in my hair!

Melody finished her song while taking off in the air and spinning around, making her ebony black mane blow in the breeze. Then, she came back down and smiled shyly at her new friends.

"Wow!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Darling, you definitely have a most fantastic voice." Rarity complimented, making the tan pegasus mare blush bright pink.

"Yours was definitely one of the most clear voices I ever did heard." Applejack added with a smile. "Where did ya learn that song?"

Melody smiled. "Well, my mom used to sing it to me whenever I felt down." She explained. "These days, I would sing when to remind me of her and when I feel like adventure is waiting for me."

Then, Melody felt her blood starting to run cold. That song she just sang, she had sung that same song the very afternoon before she was kidnapped.

Rainbow Dash then came beside her, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You want adventure, then maybe you got to hang around us more often." She said, wrapping a hoof around her shoulders.

Melody laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." She replied. Then, she removed Rainbow's hoof. "Come on then. I live just a few blocks away."

Soon, everyone had arrived at a small little house on the outskirts of the city. Melody took a deep breath and knocked on the door three times. When there was no answer, she tried again. "Papa?" She called out. "Are you here?"

There was another moment of silence, before the door handle began to move, and the door opened. On the other side of it was a light brown pegasus stallion with red violet eyes and a short and tousled mane having multiple shades of grey. He wore a black collared shirt, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. His cutie mark was a piano board.

The stallion looked at the much younger mare in front of him like he was seeing a ghost. "M-Melody?" He whispered, not believing what he was seeing.

Melody had tears springing into her eyes. "It's me, Papa." She told the stallion. "I'm home."

The middle-aged stallion immediately took Melody in his forelegs and wrapped her in a giant hug, tears cascading down his face, holding his daughter tight. "My Melody." He said. "My beautiful Melody. You're alive." Melody knew that her tears were dampening the front of his shirt, but she was too happy to care.

The Mane 6 watched the heartfelt reunion with tears all building up in their own eyes. Even Rainbow was getting a little misty-eyed.

The stallion released Melody to see his other guests. "Are you ladies the ones who brought her home?" He asked.

Melody pried herself away from her father. "Yes, Papa." She answered for them."These are my new friends." She said.

The stallion looked over the six young mares that his daughter had befriended. Melody then held her father's hoof. It wasn't everyday when she would make a friend. "They know." She admitted, making her father's eyes widen. "But I trust them, Papa. If it weren't for them, I would've starved to death."

Melody's father glanced back at the Mane 6. "If you trust in them that much, then they are okay with me." He said. "Come on in, ladies." He gestured the Mane 6 to come into his home, keeping a hoof wrapped around his daughter's shoulders. "I actually was making myself some lemonade. You ladies want some?"

Soon, everypony was seated into the living room, which consisted of two large couches against the walls, and two sofa chairs. Everypony had a glass of lemonade either in their hooves or levitating them with their magic. Melody had become a unicorn, so she was drinking her glass as it floated in the air surrounded by golden yellow magic.

"Now, let me introduce myself." Melody's father said. "I'm Greyscale Key. Thank you all again for saving my daughter."

"It was no problem." Twilight said. "After all, we had to help you after she crashed into my home."

Melody blushed with embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Twilight brushed it off. "Don't be. You were near exhaustion, so I'll let that one slide. At least you were not Rainbow Dash practicing a new stunt."

"Hey!" Rainbow exclaimed, making everypony laugh.

"I thought you looked familiar." Greyscale said. "You were the one who won the Best Young Fliers Competition in Cloudsdale a few months back, am I right?"

"That's right!" Rainbow said with a smile. "Mel said the same thing after she was getting back on her hooves."

"You know, I grew up in Cloudsdale." Greyscale said. "Then, I had moved to Fillydelphia where I had attended the Fillydelphia Academy and soon met Melody's mother."

"Raven Grace?" Twilight asked, earning a nod from Greyscale.

"She was the most beautiful pony who ever lived." He said, having a fond look in his eyes. Melody touched her father's hoof with her own. "And whenever she would sing, it darn near breaks your heart." Greyscale then looked at his daughter. "I keep telling you that I see your mother every time I see you."

Melody smiled softly. "Of course, Papa." She said. "I'm like the spitting image of her."

The tan unicorn magically put her glass of lemonade on the table and then magically brought a picture down from one of the shelves. "Take a look, girls." She said, showing the photo to the Mane 6.

The framed picture showed Greyscale a few years younger, and beside him was a pegasus mare that did look a lot like Melody. They shared the same eyes, coat, and mane. Even the ladybug earrings that Melody wore matched her mother's. The only differences was that Raven's mane was shorter and more wavy, and that her cutie mark was a black silhouette of a bird with three music notes coming out of its beak.

They thought that they saw an older filly next to a much younger Melody, but the tan unicorn mare then put the photo back on the shelf.

"You do look so much like your mother, Melody." Rarity said. "And those lovely earrings you have were hers?"

Melody nodded, bringing a hoof to gently touch one of the earrings. "Mom gave me these before she passed. Said that they would bring me good luck." She then brought her hoof down, looking down at the floor. "It's like she's always with me."

Greyscale wrapped a hoof around his daughter's shoulder. "And she is." He said. "She's always with you, just like I feel her around me all the time."

Melody smiled up at her father and hugged him again, nuzzling into his shirt. The six other mares softly smiled at the touching scene.

Greyscale looked out the window and saw that Celestia was setting the sun down. "Well, it's getting late." He said. "How would you ladies like to stay here for the night?"

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "We wouldn't want to impose."

Greyscale chuckled. "Oh, nonsense." He said. "It's the least I can do for you six for bringing Melody home."

Melody beamed up at her father and hugged him tighter. "Thank you, Papa." She said joyfully.

Greyscale grinned as he lovingly stroked the top of his daughter's back.

Author's Note

A/N: Hey, y'all! I'm on a publishing spree today! Now, in this chapter, we have shown a little more about Melody's background.

As you have already known, I love music. So, it's obvious that my OC loves to sing. But, I can only dream that I have a good voice as I depict Melody. I'm decent enough, and a lot of people say I have potential, but I'm not too certain about that.

The song that I used is "Wind in My Hair" from Tangled: Before Ever After. I just thought that this could fit Melody. And I love the song. I don't own it in any way however.

Now, we will have one more chapter before we start adding Melody into the adventures of the Mane 6. So, I hope y'all stick around.

I'll see you guys in Chapter 5! Please let me know about what you think.

Got to fly! ;)