Sunlight shined through the curtains and danced across my eyelids. I groaned and rolled over. My dad must have snuck in while I was sleeping and opened the window because there was a soft breeze blowing through my room. I sat there listening to the sound of birds for a bit before I cracked open my eyes.

I looked around my room. I had a bed, a table with various objects on it, few pictures of me a my dad on the wall, and finally a closet full of purple hooded sweaters I sometimes wear but other then that my pretty much empty.

Today is going to be a great day for today is my 13th birthday! I always look forward to this day because dad and I always go out to eat to celebrate. There's a wonderful hayburger joint in Silver City that we go to, they have the best food.

...I should probably get up.

I swing my back hooves over the side of my bed and pushed myself off before I dropped all four hooves on the ground. The feeling of the cold wood on my hooves brought a tired smile to me face.

I left my room and turned the corner into my bathroom before stopping in front of the sink and looked in the mirror. My cyan colored fur and cobalt blue mane stood out against the surrounding white environment. The only part of me that wasn’t some shade blue was my eyes, which were green.

I grabbed my hairbrush and started brushing my chin length mane. Once I was done I ran a hoof my mane with a sigh.

I turned to leave the bathroom but stopped when I saw something glimmer in the light in my reflection on my back. I blinked in confusion, why would my back be glimmering?

I turned my head and tried to look at my back, which was really hard to do but I did manage to catch a glimpse of something between my shoulderblades.

Wait, I can use the mirror! Duh!

I back up until I was in front of the mirror and then turned to my side and angled myself so I could see my back. My eyes widened in shock.

Is that... a gem?

In a panic I backed up until my back hit the wall. Not knowing what to do I started scratching my back against the wall trying to get the foreign object off my back. Unfortunately it didn't work, all I did was exhaust myself. After a few minutes of panic, I fell on my hindquarters panting.
Why is there a gemstone on my back? This doesn't make any sense! Unless somepony glued it on there (or cast a spell on me) I can’t think of any other reason why there would suddenly be a gem growing from my back.

Well, whatever, I’m not going to let this ruin my birthday! Even so, maybe I should tell my dad about the gem.

I got up off the floor and headed back into my room and grabbed one of my sweatshirts to hide the gem, I don’t want anypony to see it. I plastered on a fake smile and head toward my dad’s workshop across the hall.

I stopped and peaked around to corner and watched my dad polish one of the many gemstones he likes to collect. My dad likes to work with mainly wood and nails but he does like other things.

I knocked on the door getting his attention, the brown earth pony stallion looked up from the gem and smiled.

“Hey Mel! How's my favorite little filly on her big day?” He asked setting the gemstone down on his workbench. I stared at the gem for a minute before Into my father's green eyes.

“I… I could be better.” I said, shuffling a bit.

He frowned “Whats wrong? You look like you have a lot on your mind.”

“Well… you see…” Oh ponyfeathers, I can’t tell dad about the gem on my back! What would he even think? I’ll just have to deal with this on my own.

“Can I borrow your book on gemstones?” I asked. He raised an eyebrow by my request.

“Uh, sure. Let me get it.” He got up off his chair and walked over to the bookshelf in the back of the room. He pulled the book out and walked over to me and handed it over.

“Why the sudden interest? You never seemed too interested in gemstones before.” He asked with a tilt of his head.

“I need something new to read about,” I said quickly coming up with an excuse. We stared at each other for a moment before I turned away.

“Anyway, thanks.” And with that I left the room and headed back down the hall to my bathroom. Once I was in the bathroom I took off my sweatshirt and turned my back to my mirror and sat down. I turned my head and gazed upon the gem attached to me back then turned back and set the book I got from dad on the floor.

The book was brown with big white words that say “List Of Gemstones” on the front. Underneath the wording was a picture of a ruby, emerald, and sapphire. It was clear that dad read it often because there was several bookmarks in it. One bookmark was a diffrent colors from the rest, giving me the feeling that it's important. I’ll save that one for last.

I opened the bookmarks one by one. For some reason dad marked the gems pearl, garnet, amethyst, peridot, and rose quartz. Maybe he likes those gems?

There was only one bookmark left, the colored one. I took a deep breath and opened it.

What was on the page was a blue gem by the name of Lapis Lazuli. From the looks of it it was the same gem that was on my back. At least I have a name for the gem now.

I shut the book and glanced behind me at my reflection. It's strange, I thought that having something like this attached to you would hurt but for some reason it does not. It's almost like it was ALWAYS there.

Was it?

No, that's ridiculous. If It has always been there I would have seen and/or felt it.

Right?

I shook my head, this gem is getting to me. I stood up and put on my sweatshirt before I picked up the book with my mouth and walked out of the bathroom. I headed back down the hall and into my dad’s workshop, who was now heading one of his books.

“Hey, dad,” I said getting his attention “I’m done with the book.”

Dad marked the page he was on and stood up. He trotted over and took it from me and put it away before he turned back to me.

“It's time to head out to the Hayburger Shack!” He grinned “After that we’ll come home and open you presents and eat cake, okay?”

I nodded “Alright.”

Ah, Silver City. The second biggest city in all of Equestria. Supposedly it used to go by a different name long, long ago but it's pretty much forgotten now. The city has also became the center of new technological advancements like these things called cars. My dad is actually the original designer of the car. Where he got the idea for it is a complete mystery. There's a lot of theories going around though.
I sat in the back of the blue car my dad was driving on our way to the Hayburger Shack well watching buildings pass by with a frown. I would be more happy about this day if it wasn’t for the fact I was currently dealing this with a foreign object on my body.

I groaned and bonked my head against the window. Of all the ponies in the world it just had to be me that got stuck like this.

My dad said “We are here” just as the car pulled into the parking lot. Once dad parked the car, we got out and went inside the shack.

I looked around, the place isn't very busy today. Dad taped me on my shoulder getting my attention.

“What are you going to have?” He asked me. I looked up and the menu and quickly made my decision.

“I’ll just have a regular hayburger with a side of fries and some coke.” Dad repeated my order to the cashier then ordered himself. It wasn’t much of a wait before we got our food. After a bit of a discussion we decided to sit by the window. I sat down and immediately started to eat my hayburger.

“For Celestia’s sake, Mel! Slow down or you’ll choke!” I looked up at him and swallowed my bite.

“Sorry dad, I’m just really hungry,” I said. Dad just laughed and took a bit of his hayburger deluxe.

We chatted for a bit about all sorts of stuff. I was so happy that I almost forgot about my particument. But the peace was shattered when a brown pegasus with a noodle like yellow hair and a hammer for a cutie mark walked up to us.

“Hey, Tinker! Long time no see!” the pegasus said to my dad with a pat on his back. Dad’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Iron Hammer, what are you doing here? I thought you and your family moved to the other side of Equestria!” Dad exclaimed.

“Yeah but Ponyville wasn’t for us. It was too… strange,” Iron shivered. The two started chit chatting about various things well meanwhile I looked on in confusion.

“Dad, who’s this?” I cut in suddenly, the two stopped talking and looked at me.

“Oh yeah this is Iron Hammer, an old friend of mine. Iron you remember my daughter Melody, right?” Iron stepped forward and shock my hoof in greeting.

“Hey Melody! Oh man, the last time I saw you, you were still just a foal! Of all of your dad’s jewels your his most prized you know.” The fur along my back raised in anger at being called a jewel. For some reason I felt very offended.

Iron turned back toward my dad “She looks so much like her mother that its scary, you know. I mean seriously, look at the filly! The only thing that doesn't look like her is her eyes! Speaking of which, I forgot to ask you the last time I saw you but whatever happened to Melody’s mother? She disappeared right when your daughter was born.”

Suddenly the air in the room seemed to dropped a few degrees. A very sad look crossed dad’s face and he said “She’s… no longer with us.”

Irons face fell “Oh, I’m sorry Tink. I didn’t know. At least you have Melody, right?”

“Yeah…” A small smile danced across his lips as dad turned his eyes toward me “At least I have Melody.”

After two two stallions talked for a bit, me and dad went home and finished celebrating my birthday. I opened my presents and ate cake with my dad happy. That night I layed in bed staring up at the ceiling in thought.

What's going to happen now? Am I going to be dubbed a freak at school because of my gem? What dad going to think if I tell him? What should I do?

And why do I feel like this is only the beginning?

Author's Note

A little slow but the story is going to get a LOT better in later chapters, trust me. There's also a few important things to remember in this chapter so pay attention to the smallest detail. It'll come to play in later chapters.