Melody reclined against some pillows at her back, absently rubbing her growing belly as she thought about the last six months of her life.
The quiet sounds from the bathroom, her husband of a full week now, reached her ears as he finished getting ready for bed.
Six months had seemed so little time, or a lifetime. The amount of change in Melody’s life that had taken place was something she struggled to fathom.
A single night of loneliness and drink. Going home with a guy she had met at the bar. Unexpected hours of passion. A hangover headache, her horrified scream, and lots of regret to fill that morning with.
Then a month later, a pregnancy test told her something impossible had happened.
An Equestrian and a human shouldn’t have been capable of such a thing.
Melody remembered the total panic she’d felt at first, knowing there was only one possible father, having not shared her bed with a stallion in months. Medical tests and spells just confirmed what the only possibility was.
Aside from not being in a good position for a baby, impossibilities aside, she started panicking over how her baby would be treated. How she would explain who their father was. And if her baby would even be anything remotely healthy. She didn’t even know if the new life inside her would look like her, like her husband, or a strange mix of both.
Wiping her eye at the memory with a faint sniffle, she let herself look back to when she had only moved to Canterlot two months before that night. Trying to start over after wandering, searching for somewhere to belong. Not so unlike her husband, his own wandering being service, she later learned. At the time, she had no real friends established beyond warm acquaintances.
A smile tugged at her lips at that, stroking her belly again. A couple of those warm acquaintances had turned into her best friends, seeing her in trouble and rising to meet the challenge right beside her. One of which happened to be looking for a roommate at the time, and refused to let Melody turn her down.
Her new husband had moved in with Melody after the wedding, leaving the castle barracks, and had even come to adopt her friend like the mare was his little sister.
Thinking back to the tea and checkup at the castle earlier that day reminded Melody of the strange luck that her same friend was a nurse working at the castle infirmary. And part of the reason Princess Celestia had established a monthly visit for herself and her husband, wanting to keep close tabs on the growing miracle in her belly. It was the fourth time they had sat down together with Celestia.
The Princess had already been meeting privately with Equestria’s only human every six months for years, taking pity on a wayward soul so far from home. She had shared her thoughts with her husband about it when it came up. They decided, even after the birth, they would attend those visits together. She still couldn’t quite get her head around having a sort of friendship with the mare that brought daylight to their world, which the monthly meetings all but encouraged in a way.
Melody still couldn’t quite figure out that strange look in Celestia’s eye when talking about the unique pregnancy. That curious, delighted warmth that left Melody feeling like everything would turn out for the better. The thought that Celestia knew something Melody didn’t was an idea that never went away, but it seemed improper to ask a question she herself wasn’t sure she could explain.
Her head turned to see her husband starting to climb on their bed, still unable to figure out how he moved so quietly that she almost never heard him approach. The carpeted floor of their bedroom helped, but she had seen him in armor on wood or stone, making little extra noise in each step when he wasn’t in a rush. His closest compatriots had similar quietness in every step. He always brushed off comments about it, saying a good soldier learned to be quiet in combat zones.
The half of his face that bore the massive burn scarring, and a few quiet comments about his past battles, told Melody only enough to know she didn’t want to know unless he needed to speak about it. That he spent some time as a monster hunter was enough for her curiosity.
His huge facial scar was also the one thing he could be outwardly vulnerable about. Both from the disfigurement, and that he earned it through a mistake that cost lives.
Melody still winced when she remembered waking up to it, and his unfamiliar face, after that first night they had. The deep hurt hidden in his eyes that she saw after letting out that half-awake, horrified scream was the very reason she tried to talk to him over breakfast before they went their separate ways.
Reaching up, she guided his head close and planted a warm kiss right in the middle of the scarred half of his face, then a couple more.
While it took some getting used to, Melody found herself making a point to remind him every day that she accepted his scars on his strange face. That she loved the scars as part of who he was, not in spite of it. The gentle look of gratitude he gave her each night before sleep had grown more meaningful to her over time, in turn.
For a few minutes, they talked about the visit with the Princess, his remaining military contract time, and whatever else came to mind.
As had become almost a ritual of sorts, they drifted towards the new life growing in her belly. Hoof and hand joined together as they caressed the initial reason they had grown close.
Melody found herself thanking him again. His same humble response that it was just the right thing to do after getting her pregnant. She didn’t think there were any guys like him in all the world left. A similarity between both their worlds that was as strange as it was deep and intriguing.
As the months had gone by, she’d been refusing to marry him just because she was pregnant.
A humored smile snuck onto her face, the two of them still caressing the life they’d made together inside her, as she recalled how annoyed she would get when he’d insist on tending her needs and the coming baby. Even sending some of his soldier friends to escort her and run errands when she’d gotten a flu at four months, himself called away suddenly for a mission needing his particular skills.
In the end, she was all weepy and emotional and annoyed at him at five months, demanding he explain why he couldn’t just leave her in peace.
It was the way he responded, looking her right in the eye as he told her with absolute conviction that their baby was the most important part of his life. And how, married or not, he would do everything he thought was right for the sake of their baby.
His conviction had left her speechless.
Then she was hugging him, crying, spilling her guts about how scared she was. She agreed to marry him after her head cleared, realizing he had held her with a quiet strength while she felt she was sinking for months. Her trust in him had only grown since.
Life tended to be unfair in times past, to both of them. Yet, the past six months of Melody’s life and her new husband’s had seen them grow close, sharing the burdens.
Sharing a kiss on the lips, Melody laid her head on the pillow and snuggled against her husband’s warm chest, strong limbs pulling her in as bare fur and skin pressed together. Rubbing the tip of her nose against his throat as she settled in, she felt his chin rest atop her forehead with a kiss.
Melody felt content.
No matter what surprises could be waiting, now she looked forward to tomorrow.
Author's Note
An idea that was rattling around in my head for about a week. I had to get it out.
It's a small writing experiment for me. A human guy could have joined the Equestrian military to make a place for himself. The name Melody could be a pony or a human with no change in spelling.
What pairing do you see?