A Different Kind of Love: Melody's Tale

Chapters

Humble Beginnings
Extended Family
The Truth
Terra Incognito
Blood and Questions
Out of the Fire...
And into the Frying Pan
Taking the Fall
Wrath of the Four Winds
Eyriewatch
Blood and Feathers
After Life
Return to Eyriewatch
Respite
Normality
Duty, Honor, Respect, Loyalty
Frost
Wendigo
Bitter Blood
R and R
Faith
Fillydelphia
Westward
Ruin
Betrayal
Balance and Harmony
Lies
Invasion
Return - Part 1
Return - Part 2
Counterstrike
Queen
Nightmare's End
Heart of Shadow
Memories Lost
Halved; Made Whole
Broken Love, Part 1
Broken Love, Part 2
Epilogue

Humble Beginnings

----------- Melody's Tale - Humble Beginnings -----------

The library was stifling that day... Melody tapped her pen on the desk and looked lazily out of the window, across the meadow, towards the sea... Wistfully, the young woman heaved a sigh. A voice broke her out of her reverie.

"Melody? Something the matter?" She asked quietly. Melody smiled up at Twilight Sparkle, her teacher, her friend, her console... Her mother.

"No, mom... I'm fine." She tore her attention away from the beckoning, glimmering blue water, forced herself to focus on the half-completed worksheet before her. Twilight stood up and padded closer, bending over to survey her work.

"Hmm..." Twilight said softly, leaning over the paper. "Aah, yes... Verse struggled with this a bit, too... Do you remember the equation I showed you last week?" Twilight said, tapping the problem that had Melody tripped up.

"Uum, that mass divided by critical arcane percentage is the vector for an apex on the substandard arch?"

"That's the one. If you apply that here," Twilight pointed to the complex equation beneath Melody's eyes. "You get the result you're looking for. Don't worry, that's a tricky bit of magic." Twilight smiled and kissed the top of Melody's head, eliciting a warm smile. Now that she knew what her mother wanted from her, she worked through the next few problems.

"Okay... I think I'm done." Melody stretched her back, listening to her vertebrae pop in a line. Twilight set her own book aside and stood up, leaning over to peer down at the completed worksheet.

"Hmm... Is this," She tapped the page, "The equation for an interior or an exterior Arcana Majora spell?"

"Uum... Interior."

"Okay, I just wanted to clarify." Melody probably hated these moments above all else. Magic wasn't like mathematics... It wasn't the sort of thing you could mess up and try again on. If you added numbers wrong, you could always just return to them later on. But if a spell went wrong, lives were forefeit. Twilight's expert eyes scanned her work with the sort of scrutiny a hawk pays it's prey from a mile up. To her teacher, nothing short of perfection was acceptable.

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Melody swallowed hard and fought the nervousness that welled in her throat as Twilight's brow drew down further. "Melody." She finally said after a few moments of standing over her daughter.

"Y-yeah?" She swallowed hard once more.

"This is..."

A whimper.

"Perfect." Twilight's word sent a wave of relief through the young woman, making her sag in her seat. Twilight playfully ruffled her hair and took the sheet of paper, slipping it into a manila folder with ten similar pieces of work. "And that's it for today. With time left before lunch. Honestly, kiddo..." Twilight returned, smiling warmly down at her daughter. "You're gonna be just as good as me at this rate."

"Hardly." Melody stood from the desk and wrapped her arms around her mother. Only seventeen years old, and Melody was just as tall as Twilight. Not quite as tall as her other mother, though... Or her father, depending on the scenario... That, and she doubted she'd ever be as tall as her brother. "Rumor has it at my age, you were already Celestia's protoge, and had a hand in defeating Nightmare Moon to restore princess Luna to her rightful place. All I've ever done is-"

"Shifted the tide?" Twilight offered with a proud smile. "Aced every exam to date throughout your entire education? Something that I only accomplished through hard work and diligence?" True... Last winter, Melody had been the one to save their home from a powerful storm, and she hadn't missed a question yet... Twilight reminded her on almost a daily basis how she had gotten where she was through diligence and hard work, not napping and pure talent. True... Her favorite shade tree near the beach was calling her name...

"So am I free, then?" Melody asked, extricating herself from the tender embrace of her mother.

"I suppose so." Twilight groaned, nudging Melody's hip with her own. "Go. Take your nap. I'll know where to find you come supper." Melody kissed her on the cheek and padded upstairs to change...

"Phew..." Melody stripped her shirt off, thankful to be free of the restricting fabric. Her jeans left as well, and just as she went to pull on her swimsuit, Melody had to stop and look at herself in the mirror. Melody was slender, but not without her strong features. A healthy balance of tall and curvy, she was growing into her late-teen body well. Starting from the bottom, she had two dainty, graceful feet that carried her through the steps of many intricate dances with ease. These led up to her well-defined calves and thighs, flaring out into her wide hips. A family trait, it seemed... Her prominent hip bones protruded from her skin as she ran her hands down them, feeling the swell of her figure...

Living in the small-ish home next to the ocean with no way to get external supplies save for a bi-monthly drop from one of their avian friends or another, Melody had grown strong and fit from an early age. Her flat stomach bore the slightest hint of a 6-pack, leading up to the smooth flesh of her ribcage. Rising gracefully to the bottom of a moderate bust, Melody sported two healthy breasts, only a cup size smaller than Twilight's. All sweeping up to somewhat wide shoulders and a delicate, graceful neckline, pointed jaw, and drawn, almost pixie-like features...

She boasted a set of neon-green eyes, and high cheek bones. Twilight had told her this was a sign of nobility, knowledge... Thin eyebrows and a low forehead, Melody's eyes were almost always half-lidded in what could be anywhere from a sweet, seductive look to 'Holy crap I just woke up.' To top it all off, though, her hair was a pale teal color, all the more offset by her striking neon-green eyes... Not the subtle, dulled emerald or the strikingly eastern bright green... No, Melody's eyes seemed to flash with that bright green glow. She wasn't the most striking individual in Equestria, but she wasn't normal... Not like Lily. Curly red hair and brown eyes. That, compared with Twilight's purple hair and matching eyes, Melody began to wonder exactly where she came from.

Shrugging the notion off, Melody continued dressing, slipping into a tight-fitting 1-piece swimsuit ideal for fighting the rough currents in their own private little cove. She nabbed a towel from the closet in the hall and thundered down the steps. Twilight called something unintelligible to her, but Melody could hardly hear it. In her heart and her mind, she was already amongst the waves...

The tall grass of their meadow whipped and tugged at Melody's eternally-pale skin as she flew through it, grinning like the child she was at heart. Tossing her towel up onto it's usual branch on the lone tree standing at the edge of the sea, Melody thrashed through the shallow surf and dove in. The chill embrace of the clear saltwater blasted away the grogginess from the morning's study session, made her grin as she surfaced and cleared her nostrils of the offending water. A wave pulled at her, lifting her up to her feet, and setting her up to dive in again. Melody loved the water, and would swim anywhere from fifteen minutes to three or four hours in a day. That, and the hard work of growing their food with Lily, Melody managed to stay very fit. She swam about in the surf for a good hour before crawling up onto the beach and walking to her favorite tree.

This one tree stood at the edge of the meadow, where the strong grass roots gave way to clean, white sand. The dropoff was about a foot, and it was over this that Melody swung her legs, her upper body stretched out on the towel. She laced her fingers behind her teal hair, closed her eyes, and let the sound of the waves crashing on the shore lull her off to sleep...

Melody napped often. Twilight said she was much the same way when she was developing, as frequent sleep helped both her formidable magic and her body to grow much faster. Melody got at least eight hours at night, with a two or sometimes three hour nap during the day. Lily had told her that during her infant years, she would sleep sixteen hours straight.

"Hey sis." The voice made her eyes snap open.

"Shit, Verse, don't scare me like that!" She panted, her chest now heaving with the shot of adrenaline to her system. Her brother Verse had much the same physique as she did. They were, after all, twins. While her hair grew long and straight, his was short, and had a very slight curl to it. Nothing major, just a little bit of a nip at the end... If he ever let it grow longer than two inches, it probably would curl around. But oh well. While Melody was tall and slender, her brother was taller still. Skinny, almost. But his muscles were well-toned, and he was often complimented for how handsome he looked. His eyes had the same flashing green look as hers, and his skin never darkened for all the long hours they spent in the sun. They both remained delightfully olive-toned.

"Mid-day nap?" He teased. He was dressed in swimming trunks and nothing else, sitting next to her on a towel of his own. She must have been out, since the sun was markedly lower in the sky and she hadn't heard him approach.

"Mid-day coma more like it." Melody groaned and stretched, feeling the joints of her bones pop and crack. This tree was dangerous. She could sleep under it for ages... Verse chuckled at her joke and stretched out. Both of them looked up through the leaves of the tree at the clear blue sky above, the sound of the waves lapping the shore providing the sound track to their lounging.

"You know... We really have it made out here." Verse said quietly. Melody pondered his words for a few moments. Twilight encouraged the two of them to debate often. She wasn't sure if this was an invitation for an extra-cirricular lesson or just idle chat. She answered platonically.

"How do you figure?" Verse lifted his arm, gesturing to the sky.

"Think about it, Melody... Equestria is at war. People are dying every day from Fillydelphia to Stalliongrad, from Ponyville to Eyriewatch. Not just natural death, either... But true, heart-stopping, family-rending death..." He closed his fist and brought it back down behind his head slowly. "We don't have to face any of that there. The war doesn't go even as far south as Appleoosa, let alone all the way down here. Here, we can sit back, relax, and build our knowledge. How many weeks has it been since our last storm?" Melody thought for a few moments...

"Twenty-one."

"See? Five months, and not a single storm. No death of the family, or friends... No strife, no conflict... No nothing. How many other people can count on one hand the number of day's it's been since they last risked their lives? Since they watched a friend, or a comerade fall? Since they witnessed death in one shape or another?" He sighed and shook his head. "It just makes me wonder... Why are we this far south? How come this clearing and the surrounding jungle is all I've known for seventeen years of life? What did our mothers do to carry us this far south, away from the threat?" Melody identified with his line of logic. But Twilight had taught her to play both sides of an argument, even if the other side was one she didn't agree with.

"What if they just lived here? Before the war?"

"Melody. Come on. They tell us stories about when they used to live in Canterlot and Ponyville. And if they lived here, then why don't they speak the native tongue? Jokkan and Miko know our language, but we don't know theirs, and neither to Twilight or Lily... For two fourty-plus-year-old ladies, you'd think they'd have picked up a few words here and there..."

"Maybe they're refugees of the war?"

"Then why aren't they with the other refugees? Auntie Dash was talking about some unrest in the refugee camp outside of Appleoosa last time she visited. That's just north of the jungle. So why did they come through the jungle? What's more, Jokkan tells me none can enter from the north unless they have a guide... I'm telling you, Melody..." Verse said quietly. "There's something fishy going on here..."

"WHATTAYA TWO LOUNGING ABOUT FOR?!" The throaty roar of Lily's voice rang out clear across the meadow. Their mother, fiery-headed and looking cross, was stomping through the high grass towards them. Melody and Verse both rolled to their feet, grinning at one another. "I thought I told you two, no more making out beneath the tree." Lily growled as she padded closer, parting the grass with each step she took.

"At least I don't make my kids listen to me make their other mother cry at night." Melody shot her a teasing quip. Lily picked up the pace, both children stepped down from the meadow onto the white sands of the beach. Lily stripped her shirt off, tossing it forward to land next to their towels on the ground.

"At least I don't get caught yanking my meat to a picture of Applejack." Lily's shot made Verse stumble. Melody siezed the opportunity and broke for the sea at a dead run. Cursing, her brother fought to regain lost ground, even as Lily dropped down onto the beach, now wearing just her swimsuit, and all three of them made for the water. "I'm gonna getchya!" She hollered after both of them. Letting out a queal of childish delight, Melody dove into the surf, cutting through a wave with ease. Verse was less-graceful but much more powerful, and soon had made up the ground he lost in the frenzied sprint towards the water. Lily, always the tricky one, shifted just before her feet hit the water, growing avian wings from her back and flapping hard enough to kick up spray.

"No- ack! Pphbt! No fair!" Melody cried out as Lily quickly gained altitude and distance on both of them.

"CANNONBAAAAAAAAAAAALLL!" Dropping her wings and tucking her body in, Lily dropped straight for them. The cheerful cries of both children sounded as she impaced the water between them, the force of her cannonball spraying them both with a generous portion of water.

"Ugh!" Verse directed a splash into his mother's face as her grinning head resurfaced, and only got one right back. Thrashing about, all three of them splashed and laughed and played, chasing one another through the water, fighting or riding waves together, and generally just having a good time. That is, until Melody spotted something. She treaded water, watching their doom approach.

"Oh no." She said quietly.

"What?" Verse stopped at the expression on her face, and even Lily pulled up short as her daughter raised a shaking hand.

"What is it?"

"What?"

Lily and Verse followed her finger towards the advancing person.

"Oh no."

"Not good."

"RUN! SPLIT UP!" Too late. The purple field of magic slammed into the water fifty feet past them, kicking up a massive wave.

"AUGH!"

"NOOOOO!" The three were caught up in the wave, tumbling and twisting and dragging along the sand, all the while Twilight stood on the shore, grinning at them. Coughing and sputtering, the three crawled up onto the beach, on their hands and knees before the powerful magi.

"You got it in my NOSE." Verse grunted, sniffing to eject the saltwater.

"I don't EVEN want to think about where I've got sand right now..."

"Ugh. Twi, I swear..." Lily stood up and advanced upon her wife. "You gotta stop playing in the splash fights with us." Twilight squealed as Lily picked her up in a sandy, wet hug, both children watching them spin around in a wide circle.

It's moments like these, Melody thought with a smile, that make me wonder if the world is really at war... How can the two of them be so happy together when so much has been going wrong?

"Hmm... Purple."

"Wrong, it's blue. Try again." Lily pointed at Verse this time. "Celestia."

"That's easy, golden. Like the sun."

"Oh come on, you give him the easy ones!"

"Shush." The fork swung around to Melody. "Luna."

"Midnight." She answered immediately.

"Good. What about... Shining Armor?"

"His is purple, like Twilight's."

"So why did you answer purple when I asked Rarity?"

"I... Oh, damn." Lily harrumphed and pushed her plate away in defeat. With a cheer of triumph, the other three set in on dessert. It was an after-dinner pastime. They would quiz one another, and the first person to give up had to wait until the others ate their dessert before they could. Melody watched with a scowl of mock contempt as the other three ate the delicious-looking cake ravenously.

That night's quiz had been the color of different notable magi's aura's.

"Do you miss her at all?" Melody asked quietly. "Rarity, I mean?" The question caught both Twilight and Lily by surprise. They looked at one another for a few moments before setting their forks down.

"I don't think a day goes by that we don't miss her." Lily said softly, her eyes looking off somewhere else. They often did whenever Melody brought up the deceased magi. "But she's in a better place now. Celestia herself told me long ago not to mourn for those who have passed. The place they go to is infinitely better than here. If anything, we should be jealous..."

"Just not enough to hurry up our own arrival." Verse added, already done with his slice. Twilight chuckled and took a bite of hers before Lily continued.

"Rarity was the element of generosity before myself. You know the story of Nightmare Moon and Discord. Neither of those two would ever have happened if it wasn't for Twilight, Rarity, and all the others. Your mother and her friends are heroes. I doubt I'd ever be able to live up to what they've accomplished."

"That's not true." Twilight smiled as she took over for her love. This was another part of the day Melody looked forward to. More often than not, the four of them would talk, Twilight and Lily sharing stories about history and major events. "If it wasn't for Lily and her... Admittedly brash... Way of approaching things, I never would have come to love her as I do. And without that true love, you two wouldn't have been born." They joined hands, though one of Lily's was busy trying to catch up. Melody almost swooned at the sight.

Almost.

"Tell us about the flight from Canterlot." Verse said quietly. The look on Lily and Twilight's face darkened substantially. They both seemed to deflate... Melody always thought that they looked vibrant and young, full of life. No older than 25. Now, when Verse asked the same question he did about once a week, they grew silent. Melody swore they looked their age, then... 45 and 43...

"When you're older."

"We promise." It was the same answer they gave every night. At first, Verse had whined and groaned and complained. Now, he just shrugged and waited. They would tell the two of them what happened. When the time was right. Their mothers never broke a promise.

"Twilight, help with the dishes?" Lily asked, kissing her on the head. Slowly, the two regained some of their youth as they set about cleaning up. Melody, however, hadn't touched her cake yet. Indeed, she left it there, as both her and Verse left and headed for the tree...

"I really wish they'd tell us already..." Verse said quietly, both of them staring out over the sea. The moon had risen, hanging low over the horizon. Each new wave that rolled onto the sand crept closer and closer, inch by inch, as the tide came in. Verse and Melody tried to do this every night... Watch the moon rise over the sea, it's ephemeral glow lighting the entire ocean... They would talk. Of nonsensical things. Of their lessons in magic. But tonight, the topic was much darker...

"They will, Verse... When the time is right..." Melody said. She herself had doubts, though... It'd been three years since Verse first asked. Three years they had been shunted. Three whole years the truth had been kept a secret from them. Melody wasn't angry or resentful... She just wished Lily and Twilight trusted the two of them more...

"I don't understand sometimes." Verse said, ever quiet. Melody almost lost the sound of his voice on the crashing of the waves. The breakers were rough tonight. "About Twilight. About Lily. About US.... Melody, you and I both know we're anything but normal..." She had to agree on that front... She felt it. It was in her bones, in her blood... It pounded through her, perfectly in sync with her heartbeat at times. Then it would vanish, leaving her cold and shaky... What it was exactly, she didn't know... Why she felt it, she could never tell...

"We're young, Verse." Melody said at last. "We have the rest of our lives ahead of us to learn the truth, to see the world. For now, why can't we just enjoy this here? This moment? Right now?" Her brother sighed and leaned back on his hands.

"You're right..." He muttered. She arched an eyebrow at him.

"That's the first time you've agreed with me when I say something like that."

"Yeah, well... Times are changing. I can feel it." The wind ruffled their hair as he spoke, and to Melody, those words had never sounded more true...

"I hope they don't change too fast..." She muttered quietly, hugging her knees to her chest. She watched the waves lap at the edge of the beach. Soon, the saltwater would fill their little cove, and the moon would light it all into molten silver. "I kind of like it here..."

"Yeah, but don't you ever wonder if there's anything bigger out there for us to be doing? I know I sound the polar opposite of earlier today, when I was saying how lucky we are... But... I mean... They may not be in the greatest position, but it's certainly got to be more interesting than this, right?" Verse spoke up, gesturing out towards the southern sea. "Fighting a war, killing in the name of your country... Honor, courage, bravery, tales of action and excitement... Gotta be better than this, right?" Melody pulled her knees tighter.

"You know what they say..."

"What's that?" Verse's eyes flashed as he looked over at her.

"From humble beginnings, expect great things..."

--------------- Notes from the Author ---------------

I understand there isn't any sex yet. As opposed to my other stories when sex was the focus, this one will only have it when it's fitting for the story.

Which will hopefully be a lot.

Extended Family

--------- Melody's Tale - Extended Family ---------

"Verse, make sure you clean the music room before they get here!" Twilight called out, the loud conversation passing through Melody's room.

"Got it!" Verse replied, shuffling past her open door. Melody was currently up on her chair, leaning over the top shelf of her desk as she reached at the hard-to-get places with a duster. Apparently, ten years had been a long time for dust and other nasty bits of debris to settle. She and Verse had shared their nursery room until they were seven, but at that time, Verse wanted more space to play and Melody was getting tired of his premature snoring. At that time, Lily and Twilight separated their rooms, and even helped a young Melody paint the walls. The faded floral pattern still existed, even though Melody's interests had swayed far from botanics shortly after the move.

When you've planted one flowerbed and watched it die in the winter freezes, you've planted them all... Instead, Melody picked up the mantle of music. It seemed to call her, maybe because of her name, or maybe because Lily was a talented player. Their music room had expanded over the years to accomodate a large piano, several stringed instruments, and for one reason or another, a harp... Not that Melody minded. Some of the most tender memories of her early childhood were sitting in the room, reading a good book in the light of the sun as Lily played one slow, gentle tune or another. She was skilled in the violin, piano, fiddle, cello, harp, and guitar. Melody herself was awfully smitten with the harp, but she picked up the cello soon after playing it the first time. Verse was good on guitar.

Twilight, however, had one instrument and one instrument only... She was a master with the flute. Together, the four of them would play or make music, though Lily always directed them one way or another. She had a talent for it. A knack. Not just that, but she truly seemed to LOVE music. Making, listening, composing, creating, writing, it didn't matter... There wasn't a day that passed the house wasn't filled with notes. Her singing, her playing, or any one of them. Melody sighed as the last bit of dust left her desk, and she emerged for final inspection. She gave Twilight a mock salute as her mother entered the hallway.

"Assignment completed, ma'am! Prepared for final inspection!" Twilight poked her stomach, making her flinch and laugh as she swept into her room.

"Wow! Melody, it's so bright in here!" Twilight's eyes went wide. Melody smiled.

"I washed the windows. The outside had a lot of salt spray build up. Honestly, how the grass keeps growing with all the saltwater in the air is a mystery." Melody smiled and leaned against the door, watching Twilight scrutinize her room.

"Alright, kiddo." She said after a while. "Looks good."

"I'll say." Lily's voice just behind her made Melody jump. She wheeled around and gave her a playful shove as Lily laughed at her daughter's reaction. "Everything good in here, Twi?" Lily slipped past Melody, who watched Twilight give her lover a gentle hug.

"Looks like it. Melody works fast."

"She gets it from her mother."

"Hmm, which one, I wonder..." Twilight grinned as she pulled Lily down onto Melody's bed, the other giving a quick squeal of delight before straddling Twilight's waist. They started kissing then and there, right on Melody's bed.

"Ugh!" Melody groaned and grasped the bed in her magic, flipping the mattress up firmly. Both women tumbled to the floor in a heap of limbs and laughing, and Melody started nudging them with her foot. "You two have your own bed to go fuck on! Go on, get!" She pushed them out the door bit by bit, the laughing women still too caught up in the glee to help much themselves. Once they were in the hall, Melody shut her door, smiling at her parents' antics nevertheless. She could hear the two of them get up and pad off towards their own room, and the sound of a door closing was the last thing she herself heard from them until dinnertime. Until then, Melody made her bed and settled down for a warm nap...

"Hon, dinner's almost ready..." The soft voice roused her a few hours later, making Melody rub her eyes and sit up with a little nod. Lily or Twilight, she never saw. Whoever it was, they left before she could focus properly. Feeling just a little groggy from her nap, she made her way downstairs, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she joined Verse and Lily at the table. Soon after she sat down, Twilight served dinner, floating the four plates onto the table with a graceful wave of her hand. Lily inhaled the scent of fresh fish, most likely caught just the other morning from the sea. That, and green beans, rice, and mashed potatoes, they were in for a hearty dinner. The after-dinner quiz, though, was rather light-hearted and easy. They all set in on small bowls of ice cream halfway into it, none of them giving up for the easy questions. Verse offered to take care of the dishes, and Melody helped. Once they were finished, they did their usual nightly thing. Tonight, though, Verse took his guitar. On nights like this, Lily would hum a simple tune to the rhythm, or occasionally sing.

Tonight just so happened to be a singing night.

Though the summer sun has set
and the winter winds now come,
Lay still my child, don't fret
We'll bask again when the cold runs

Sing with me, our simple song
Under the winter moon
The cold, cold nights are not so long
When you, my dear, make my heart swoon

So hold me close and don't let go
Sing me a song that we both know
Keep me warm throughout the night
And wake with me at summer's light.

Verse played perfectly to match Melody's voice, and she sang a high soprano. Under the waning moon, the two young adults sang and played songs of love and laughter, of simple times not unlike the one that they now shared. However, the night wouldn't last forever, and as Verse let the last note linger, Melody felt her heavy-lidded eyes lower more and more.

"C'mon, sis." Verse said, flexing sore fingers. He helped her up and together the two of them returned to their home. There was a slight chill in the air. The September night bore with it the first hint of autumn, however temperate it was this far south... Perhaps it was because Melody was accustomed to the neigh-tropic clime, or maybe she was just sensitive, but each winter seemed to get colder and colder... She was looking forward to more nights curled up with hot tea by the fireplace, though... Those nights, it wasn't uncommon for all four of them to sleep in various positions throughout the living room. When they were younger, the four of them would sleep pressed chest-to-back, cuddled close for warmth. Melody almost missed days like that. Still, as she hugged Verse goodnight, going to her own bed wasn't such a bad thing.

But in her dreams came the whispers...

Low, impossible to hear clearly, they pulsed through Melody's dreamscape, making the grassy hill underneath her feet ripple and shift with the soft words. This night was no different, if they were slightly more frequent. Still, Melody couldn't make out a single one of them, and she woke before the light came, when it was still dark out. Listening intently, she couldn't tell if anyone else was awake. Groaning, she slid out of bed and quielty made her way down to the kitchen. The sun was just cresting the horizon when she started making the coffee, using Twilight's house-rousing blend, along with her own addition. She shook ground hazlenut in with the coffee grinds and layered the bottom of the pot with a small bit of vanilla extract. When the brew started to pour, it almost immediately began to fill the entire house with it's fantastic scent. Melody felt like she was going to need it to make it through.

By the time the brew finished, Twilight was sitting at the table with a weak, tired smile. It seemed Lily was on her way down, though Verse abstinently remained in bed. Some of them had all the luck... Melody poured three cups and joined her mothers at the table.

"You're up early." Lily grumbled, kissing Twilight on the head as she went to get sugar and cream. Melody, personally, preferred hers black. Apparently, so did Twilight. They shared a look, the sort that made them both smile. Suddenly, Lily perked up.

"Twilight." She said softly, smiling. The purple-haired woman smiled into her mug as she grinned at Melody.

"Are they...?"

"Mmhmm." Grinning, her sleepiness suddenly gone, Melody stood up and started running.

"They're coming from the north-east!" Lily called after her, but she was already out of the door. Barefoot, she ran through the soft dirt straight for the edge of the clearing. There, in the chilly early-morning mist, she saw a different color than green or brown. Grinning as wide as she could manage, Melody poured on the heat, smiling as calls of recognition greeted her early-morning sprint. With a squeal of delight, Melody finally closed the gap on the group of women approaching them, launching herself at the nearest one.

"Melody!" Applejack opened her arms wide and caught the flying girl in a passionate hug, both of them stumbling in the sudden embrace. Melody was soon set upon by three other women, wrapping her in a big, warm, group hug.

"I missed you guys so much!" Melody laughed and cried in equal measure, the tears suddenly coming. She hadn't realized it in the days they had spent preparing for the visit, but her emotions were running high in expectance of seeing the four women that she had come to think of as her aunts, every bit as close to her as family. Blood. They laughed, a few of them shedding tears of their own, smiling all together.

"Where's yer brother?" Applejack said with a grin. "Rumor has it the younun's got a thing for me."

"Yeah, a BIG thing!" Pinkie Pie chimed in, making everyone laugh, save for Melody, who just blushed furiously.

"Man, it's been SO long since I've been down here." Dash said, fluttering her wings as she looked longingly towards the house.

"Come on. Twilight and Lily are waiting. No reason to keep you guys out in the cold." Melody led them across the meadow, smiling as they started the long process of catching up. There was a lot of 'Twilight said you were-' and 'Lily mentioned that...' Melody had nearly forgotten the link her mothers and these four all shared, how they could talk with one another and more with a mere thought. Lily had been the one to inform Melody of their arrival, now that she recalled. Still, she was happy and jittery as she led them all into their home. Twilight and Lily rushed forward, and even more hugs and tears were shared. The ruckus of conversation and tears had, of course, finally roused Verse, who had at least had the presence of mind to put a shirt and pants on before joining everyone. For a budding young man, getting hugs from four strange women in a row, one of whom he had a serious crush on, had to have been uncomfortable. There was an awkward moment all around as he excused himself, using a half-assed alibi that he hadn't showered yet.

"Don't take too long, breakfast will be ready soon." Twilight called after him. It was in that moment that Melody realized their home was actually really small... The addition of four more women was making the living room feel slightly crowded. She sat in front of the fireplace while all the others sat on couches and chairs, rapid-firing questions at her. With the link, she figured Lily and Twilight had to talk on an almost daily basis with them. So for Melody, she was the only one who was the odd one out. Still, though, being close to a friend they hadn't physically seen in so long was a new experience. Applejack and Lily held hands, even. It was a rather touching sight. Melody smiled and answered all the questions fired at her one at a time. It made for a fun morning, and once Verse joined in, a little red-cheeked, there were more laughs to be shared. Applejack took the news just fine, and even shot him a few teasing winks

"Breakfast is ready!" Twilight finally called. Everyone stood and made their way into the kitchen/dining room. A hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, toast, oatmeal, milk, and orange juice was ready, and they all ate their fill contentedly. Fluttershy meekly offered to handle the dishes so everyone else could catch up, but Lily and Twilight helped her out anyways. Melody was left alone with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. Which was fine, since one of them was the one she wanted to talk to the most...

"Auntie Dash," She said, getting the avian's attention.

"What's up?" She said, smiling at the young woman.

"What can you tell me about Canterlot? And the war?" Melody leaned forward, hoping she could learn something before either of her mothers found out she was asking such a question. Applejack chuckled as Pinkie Pie shot Melody a wide grin.

"Oh silly. Twily and Lily already told us you'd ask those questions. We made a super Pinkie-Pie swear that we wouldn't tell you!" The bubbly woman crossed her heart and covered her left eye, smiling all the while. Melody's hopes sunk as the other two repeated the gesture, soft smiles on their own lips.

"But, she did say we could tell y'all this, sugar." Applejack reached out to lay a hand on Melody's arm. "With any luck, you n' Verse will be comin' up to spend some time with me an' Braeburn in Appleoosa. Now, don't get yer hopes up. It'll be in another year or so, but Twilight and Lily both think it's 'bout time you two got yer fill o' the world." Melody's heart bottomed out and immediately soared higher than it had been before. Probably higher than it'd been in a few long weeks.

"R-really?" She stuttered, eyes wide. Verse, who had been listening in, had much the same expression. "Do you really mean it?"

"Honest truth, Melody." Dash said with a grin. "IF it happens, and that's a bit if, it'll be when I get just a little time from assignments to head south, and when Fluttershy gets a break in Fillydelphia. All eight of us will meet in Appleoosa, and the princesses want to meet with us as well."

Melody stopped listening after that. Rainbow Dash kept talking, her mouth was moving, and Pinkie Pie jumped in a few times, too, she was sure... But past the words 'Meet with us,' Melody was completely lost. Verse managed to beat her to the punch, and he spoke first, bringing the topic back to the important part.

"D-did... You just say that... Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wanted to... MEET with us?"

"Well of course, sugar." Applejack grinned at Verse. "They've been wantin' to meetchya both ever since y'all was born. Shoot, I'm sad mahself it's been ten years since Ah've seen y'all. I'll be damned iffen you don't grow up to be a damn fine man one day, Verse." She said with a smile. They were changing the subject again. Melody re-affirmed.

"You're telling us, the two most powerful beings in all of Equestria want to see US..." She said quietly, leaning in closer. Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack all shared a look and a smile.

"That's the short of it, yeah." Dash said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"It's true, you know." Twilight said, wiping her hands on a towel as she emerged from the kitchen with Lily in tow. "If Dash and Fluttershy can get the time off they need for us to get together, we can make a trip up to Appleoosa. Braeburn is always the sort to open his home, and you two need to see more of the world a it is. Miko and Jokkan will take us north, just like they brought these four south, and with any luck the princesses will make it. I meant to ask, did Jokkan and Miko come with you?"

"Well here's the thing," Dash said softly. "They took off last night, told us they'd mark the path before they left. We found everything we needed to get us here. They were real quiet, though... Like, they didn't really say anything..." Twilight and Lily shared a knowing sort of look, and even Applejack smiled softly.

"Twi'll be able to tell yeh more about it than me." She said, nodding to the purple-haired magi. Twilight nodded and collected her thoughts before speaking.

"It would appear as if the locals around here are all magi. Each and every one of them. They do a lot of things without magic, though... Hunt, gather, grow... But there is one thing they do with magic all the time. And that is talk. Did you notice a sort of... Hum in the air? Like, a sort of underlying current of power?" Pinkie Pie chimed in then.

"Ooh! You're RIGHT, I DID feel something! There was that one time I was sleeping and they were kinda close, and it felt almost like someone was playing a really low bass note!" Twilight smiled at her.

"You're right. That's when they talk. I can't understand how they do it, but it's really interesting to see in action."

"That's really cool..." Dash said, then, somewhat wistfully. "The weather team used to send cloud messages, but nothing so cool like that..."

"I think the premise is similar. The weather team just painted braille patterns in midair, right? I think that might be what they're doing... Or something simliar."

"So... Timed pulses of magic, in some sort of pattern to make letters and words?" Melody asked quietly.

"You're right, Melody. At least, I think so... I can't be sure." Twilight shrugged. "Still. You girls must be tired, but we don't really have anything else to do around here. Would you like to go swimming?" Applejack grinned over at Verse, who had fallen silent in contemplation.

"Ah brought mah swimsuit just fer this."

The rest of that day had been spent between swimming, eating, and relaxing. Melody was glad for a long nap under her tree next to Fluttershy and one tuckered-out Verse, the three of them waking again in time for dinner before going back to sleep for the night. Melody shared her bed that night with Pinkie Pie, Applejack slept downstairs on the couch, and Fluttershy and Dash decided to sleep outside on a cloud. The arrangement worked, though Melody could have done without Pinkie's snoring. It stopped, however, when the rowdy woman rolled over and hugged Melody tight. She was really warm and really soft, and Melody soon drifted off with ease...

That night, though... The whispers came in force. Melody stood in the middle of an ankle-deep pool, the water rippling and bubbling with the force of the whispers this night. They were still faint, but Melody was able to start making them out, one by one.

"Come,

Sleep,

Live...

Together,

Scream."

"FEED."

Melody woke screaming.

The Truth

---------------- Melody’s Tale - The Truth ----------------

A soft sound at his door woke him. Verse groaned and let his eyes flutter open, trying to make sense of what all was happening. He was in his bed, in his home. Okay. Good. It was dark. Very dark. Almost pitch-black. Or maybe that was because he had the blankets pulled up over his head… He fished his way out of them, poking unkempt teal hair up over the top before his brilliant green eyes took in the room. Still dark, but only in a shadowy, half-night sort of way… A quick glance at his clock told him it was just after two in the morning. So why was he awake? With another soft groan, Verse rolled over and looked at his door.

His hear nearly stopped. “The fuck?” He managed to mutter, blinking at the person standing in his room. It was feminine, whoever it was, but that was no surprise, due to the fact that EVERY other body in this house was feminine… Hell, every other person he’d ever MET was feminine… Save for Jokkan. THAT option was out the door… The door that was now, apparently, locked. The soft *click* assured it… He blinked a few more times and sat up. The covers slid off of his bare, flat chest, and he leaned back on his hands.

“Who’s there?” He asked, his voice laden with tiredness and a post-sleep haze.

“No one, sugar…” The voice wafted to his ears, even as the figure it belonged to stepped into the solitary square of moonlight coming through his window… “No one at all…”

“Applejack?” Verse asked cautiously, his tired eyes trying hard to focus on the farm woman’s form. It came to him slowly, the first defining feature being her hips. Wide and full, they led down to two long, muscular legs that were almost entirely bare… Verse stopped following them around her ankles. The descent took a full minute. When he returned to her hips, he saw she was, reluctantly, wearing something… A baggy button-up shirt with a warm red-and-grey flannel pattern hung down to the tops of her round thighs, and would appear to be her only means of outerwear… He let his eyes travel higher, up to her prodigious breasts that threatened to spill from the unbuttoned top of her shirt, to the rolled-up sleeves that left her arms bare, to her long, flowing blonde hair that oh so perfectly framed that freckled, sun-kissed face… Her apple red lips were split in a smile. Not a wide grin of mirth or even a smirk…

That was the look of pure seduction.

Verse was suddenly, and very painfully, awake…

“Someone’s been expectin’ me.” Applejack teased. She reached into her flannel shirt and pulled out a match book. Flipping it open and striking one with an expert touch, she walked forward and set the flame to the wick of Verse’s bedside lamp. The warm, golden glow of the fire contrasted the dark, bronze tone of her tanned skin. Applejack glowed like molten metal in a pot. She was… Entrancing. “Y’all relax, y’hear?” She said softly, turning her brilliant emerald gaze down onto Verse’s stun-locked body. He was frozen in place, muscles rigid at the sight of such a sultry, beautiful woman. The woman he had dreamed of for weeks now… The picture in his bedside table still had the dried droplet of his release… That he had spilled in a frenzy of teenage masturbation. He stared at those lips, those red, full lips, and came to the thought of her kiss.

The kiss that was just now pressed to his own shocked, half-open lips. Applejack groaned into the sweet touch, her full lips almost completely encompassing his own. He shuddered at the feel, whimpering softly as she smoothly pushed her tongue out. So smooth and easy. The motion felt natural to him. He opened his mouth and met her in the middle, their tongues undulating together in a passionate, sweet, even playful wrestling match. She had thick lips and a muscular tongue, just like the rest of her. It was full, round, and hot. He felt the blood pump into his member even harder, tenting the covers around it. The kiss had barely begun before he felt her weight indent the bed to either side of him. She swung a leg out, not that he could see, his eyes were closed… But he FELT her straddle his waist, push him back down so she was fully, completely on top of him.

Their lips parted with a very audible smack, his breath coming in a shaking gasp as Applejack sat back up, her own lips parted in that same, sultry smile she had had before. Smooth and easy, she hooked the edge of the blankets that rode halfway down Verse’s stomach, pulling them down, down, down… She slid her knees back at the same pace, smiling all the while. As the cool night air embraced more of his skin, Verse watched Applejack pause for a split second before pulling the covers completely off of his erect member.

“Well fuck.” Applejack said, her tone low and husky. “Ah guess I forgot jes’ how early y’all start ta grow these.” Her tone made Verse shudder, his eyes close as he flexed. “And lookit that.” He felt the briefest contact with the very head of his shaft, the shock of intense pleasure making him gasp audibly. His eyes shot open and looked down, just as Applejack pulled a single finger away. It was shining with the pre she had wiped off of him, and ever so slowly, Applejack raised the gooey liquid to her lips. “Hmm…” That low groan came straight from her throat as she licked her finger clean, and unless he was mistaken, she was flushing a bit.

“A-AJ, I-“

“Shh.” She cut him off, pressing a finger to his lips. “Y’all be quiet, okay? Twilight and Lily don’ know what ah’m up to, and ah ain’t too keen on wakin’ that sleepin’ bear. So you just hush up an’ let me do this, okay?” Her tone was both cautious and lusty at the same time, making Verse shudder again. He gave a small, almost imperceptible nod as Applejack’s head lowered to his own, giving him another deep, passionate kiss. This one was devoid of tongue, but Verse could care less. It was every bit as arousing as the first. Applejack’s hands, meanwhile, had pushed the covers down under her own knees, and she had kicked them off the bed. There wasn’t a stitch of covers or sheets atop the bed, save the one underneath them, and nothing to hinder Applejack as she smoothly started walking her body down Verse’s…

“Hnn…” Verse let the thin whimper leave his lips as she started kissing his chest, down to his twitching stomach, and ever lower…

“Hmm… Shaved…” She mused, her lips brushing the spot underneath his belly button. “Ah like it.” The hot breath washed over his most sensitive area, making him shudder and groan as she kissed ever lower. Still flexing and twitching in time with his rapid heartbeat, Verse tilted his head back and focused on the feeling.

“Aah…” Applejack’s muscular tongue moved around his shaft to the underside, laying flat as she smoothly, slowly, dragged the whole thing up every single inch of him. The cool feeling of her saliva drying in the night air was a very big contrast to the warm feeling of her spit, of her slippery flesh. She pulsed a hot breath against him, evidence of how horny she was… She wanted him, and he wanted her… No reason why not.

Before Verse had a moment to let his senses recover from that first hot lick, Applejack plunged her head downward. He almost didn’t feel it at first. So sudden was the change that it almost didn’t register. But just as soon as Applejack bottomed out at the base of his shaft, she sucked nice and hard, making him writhe. She sucked so hard the gentle curve of his penis was pulled straight as an arrow, and he could feel the soft ridges at the beginning of her throat. She was so HOT, it felt like he had pushed his manhood into an oven… The shuddering, pulsing breath that she drew out of him was like none other. It was everything Verse had ever dreamt of and more. She smoothly started pushing her head up and down, wrapping her thumb and index finger around his base. Every suck she gave him was rough, but not enough to cause pain… More than enough to make him gasp and shudder in pleasure.

Just when he was sure that he couldn’t hold out any longer, when Applejack was about to milk a messy, creamy orgasm from him, her mouth stopped. The cool night air wafted over the saliva left over, and her hand spread it around as she smoothly, slowly stroked him. He was on the cusp. One bit of pleasure, and he would cum. If she stopped, he would back away. Panting, whimpering, Verse opened his eyes to look pleadingly up at Applejack. The next words she spoke nearly blew his mind.

“If ah make you cum now, can you promise t’ stay hard for me?” Her hand rose and fell along his rock-hard flesh smooth and easy, teasing him, making him whimper. In that moment, Verse would have promised her the world on a silver platter if it meant reaching orgasm at her touch. Furiously, he nodded his head, closing his eyes as she smoothly leaned forward and plunged him back into the inferno.

It was almost instantaneous. Her mouth contracted around him in time, milking everything from him. Inhaling as deep as he could, Verse began flexing his length, each flex pushing more and more of his pent-up desire into her throat. Wet, hot, and perfect, Applejack’s tender touch made every single drop he spent into her mouth feel like the touch of an angel… Shuddering, whimpering, Verse slowly began to come down from his high, the pulsing pleasure still thundering through his veins. Idly, his eyes opened, looking down at Applejack as she straightened herself. He watched the graceful curve of her throat as the sultry woman swallowed. Once. Twice. The display was so erotic, so… Lusty. The grin she gave him after was one he would never forget. Her words were burned into his memory for all time.

“Delicious.”

“Uuhn…” Was all he could manage. In the aftermath, he felt relief, sweet and cool like a drink of clear water. Only to have it fly away as she leaned down to lick him clean of the bits she had missed. Hardness returned soon enough, the hot, slippery feel of her ministrations burning away all sense of fatigue from him… Uncharacteristic of masturbation, which usually taxed him so much that he would have to nap afterwards, Verse felt energy and eagerness fill his senses once more. Blood pounded into his length, filling Applejack’s mouth with all of his arousal.

“There we go, sugar…” Applejack teased, pulling her mouth off and stroking smoothly. Saliva glistened on her lips as she raised her one free hand to the button on her shirt. Smooth and easy, she parted the fabric, all the way down to the very last button. Underneath, Applejack wore a sturdy bra, the kind that was meant to hold back a hefty load. The straps of her bra cut into the round, full flesh of her breasts, signifying just how difficult it was for a woman with her endowment to find underwear to match her size. At least, that was true of up above… Down below, Applejack was bare. Not a stitch of clothing clung to her full waist. A flat, toned stomach gave way to a smooth-looking pubis. Applejack was shaved clean, no hairs visible from her belly button to her pink, glistening lips… There, in the light of the candle, Verse could just barely see the first hint of arousal. She was flared open, her inner lips exposed and pink. The years had been kind to Applejack and her choice of rough men. She looked tight as ever, and ready to go…

“Yeh wanna touch it?” She asked, still stroking. Verse perked up as she smiled down at him, the one hand falling to his own. He managed to unclench his fist from the sheets as she grasped his wrist. “Don’ be afraid, sugar… Yeh can touch me any way you like.” Her southern drawl was hushed, husky, and hot… She guided him forward and down, smiling as his fingers pressed against the rough patch of skin on her pubis. She was no stranger to a razor, or, judging by the smooth texture of skin around it, lotion… Or even shampoo. There was a soft bit of peach fuzz growing. It was smooth, soft, and invisible in the light. But it was there. Short and prickly if he rubbed against the grain, the first touch of a woman’s crotch made him shudder and groan. Applejack grinned and continued stroking as she adjusted for comfort. The slight motion invariably pushed his fingers further, making unexpected contact with her moist lips. He withdrew from shock and slight fear, but her sultry smile and insistent touch made him re-affirm his actions… Slow and easy, Verse spread her wet lips apart, feeling the very entrance to her core.

“C’mon, hon…” Applejack groaned, flushing again. “You can go inside…” Nodding slightly, Verse willed his fingers further. She parted for him, the slick, hot flesh wet as anything… Not like, water wet… This was a very slippery sort of wetness. It reminded him of seaweed wrapping around his leg, but he wasn’t in the chilly, frigid ocean… He was inside Applejack, and it was VERY hot. She gnawed on her lower lip as Verse tested her depths, bravely pushing his finger in all the way to the last knuckle. “Put another in.” She groaned, moving her hips just a little. “You cin fit two…” Verse nodded again, curling his middle finger around… She was so wet and slippery, it slid right in. He could feel her muscles tense and flex as she rolled her head back. Her long, blonde hair cascaded down her back as she gave a soft groan. Mesmerized, Verse watched both her hands start to strip her upper body bare. First, her shirt slid down her long arms, then she pulled her bra up. Like a fish slipping from clumsy hands, her breasts slipped free of the restrictive fabric, bouncing slightly before coming to a rest.

The years had REALLY treated Applejack well. She still sported two round, curvy breasts, where other women would have begun to sag… Both of her nipples were full and round, the areola almost perfectly proportionate to the rest of her nipple, which both puckered with gooseflesh as evidence of her arousal. In that moment, Applejack looked just as young as she ever had… In fact, she looked no older than thirty. Still old, but not as old as her years. Verse guessed age really WAS just a number… Applejack grinned down at him, still grinding her hips against his fingers as her hand resumed stroking him smoothly. The expert ministrations made him hard before long, his eyes fluttering closed as she picked up the pace just a little. Time for him to return the favor. Hard as he dared, Verse flexed his fingers forwards, pressing firmly into the soft folds of Applejack’s core. She gasped and arched her back, mouth open in a silent cry of pleasure. When she came down, flexing her core muscles and shuddering slightly, it was with a lusty grin.

“Fuckin’ A, do that agin…” She muttered, stroking faster. Verse smiled slightly and obliged, driving his fingers against the same spot. She groaned and closed her eyes, this time her head falling forward. Blonde hair slipped over her shoulder, cascading over her front and covering both breasts almost completely. Her hand came to a complete stop as she panted, and Verse repeated the same motion, backwards this time. “Haahhn!” She inhaled deeply, letting it out with a shuddering, pulsing breath. Verse ruthlessly started alternating between the two, pushing back and forth inside of Applejack’s hot, tight core. She grunted now and then, her hands curling into fists as she leaned forward. With a shuddering breath, Applejack reached her orgasm, clenching firmly down against Verse’s fingers. He marveled at her strength as the muscles clamped so hard it almost hurt, but she was clearly enjoying it… Panting and whimpering a little, her open mouth washed hot, lusty breath all over Verse’s chest as a small bit of her arousal dripped down his fingers onto the sheets.

“Good?” Verse asked cautiously as Applejack finally regained her breath, her stomach visibly twitching as he gently slid out.

“Ah honestly wasn’t expectin’ to cum with yeh…” She grunted softly, flushing a little bit darker. “So now that we got that outta the way…” She smoothly swung her leg out, positioning that wet, pink center above his hips. Still hard as a rock, still pulsing slightly, Verse was hard and ready. Eyes wide with disbelief, Verse watched as Applejack took his shaft in her hand. “Relax, hon… Ah’m gonna make it good for yeh…” Applejack rested one hand on his chest, and used the other to guide him IN

If Applejack’s mouth was an oven, her core was a furnace… It was so hot, he thought he was going to get burned. True to the down-home corn-fed girl that Applejack was, she took every last inch of him, straight to the hilt. He could hardly breathe, let alone focus. The waves of pleasure radiated straight from his head, down his shaft, through his stomach, and into the rest of his body. It thundered through him, making him grip the sheets in his fists as rough as he possibly could. Whimpering, squirming, Verse could barely formulate a coherent thought, let alone wrap his mind around the full scenario…

And then she started moving. Smooth and easy, Applejack rose and fell atop him, sliding every last inch of his thick, pulsing length in and out of her. His eyes inadvertently closed, his breath caught in his throat… He felt the corners of his sheet release around the mattress as he tugged and pulled on them, completely lost in the sensation of his very first time. It was everything he had ever wanted… Slick, hot, tight… He couldn’t help himself as he sat up, burying his face into Applejack’s bouncing breasts. She curled her fingers into his hair, stroking and pulling the thin strands as he kissed and suckled on her hot flesh. Her hips never stopped, just kept moving back and forth, pushing him in and out of her with the greatest of ease. She twisted, turned, flexed, and pulsed… Every smooth motion made him gasp and whimper, every little sensation new and fresh to his young, hormone-fueled mind…

“Don’ hold back, Verse.” She panted into his ear. Her teeth nipped the flesh softly, eliciting a shiver and a soft whimper from him. “Let it all go…” No man could last long against her… She was so practiced, so talented… Experienced. Older. And oh so erotic… Verse released her skin with his mouth, but only to cry out with pleasure as he flexed against the rushing wave of pleasure. It crashed through him, ten times as intense as the last. Panting, twitching, Verse could hardly stop the flood of cum he poured deep into Applejack’s wet womanhood, the grinning woman smiling down at him as he emptied his sac deep inside of her. Her fingers ran back through his hair, relaxing him, calming him, yet all the while urging him on… He felt the warmth spread inside of her, fill her up to the brim as he gave her every little bit of seed he could manage…

Applejack didn’t stop, though… Smoothly pushing him onto his back, Applejack just smiled and kept moving her hips. Verse panted as she started sliding against him again, helped along by the gooey cream inside her core. “Ah ain’t done yet… Iffen you could make me cum once, you cin make me cum again… C’mon, shug… Give it to me…” Her hands rested on his chest, the tips of her nails digging into his flesh. He felt no pain. No soreness… Only pleasure. Applejack rode him, her hips picking up in speed and intensity. Her breasts bounced and rolled with each thrust, her nipples painting a pattern in the air as she reached a fever pitch of action and… Well… SEX.

“Verse,” She gasped, her cheeks still flushed as she rode him harder and harder. Verse gasped as she panted his name. “Verse… Oh sweet Celestia, ah’m… Verse, please, ah’m gonna cum…”

“Do it. Please, Applejack, cum for me…” Verse panted, his hands falling to her thighs. Even from where his thumbs rested on her round thighs, he could feel her wetness, mixed with his own creamy seed. It was so wet, so erotic, so… So…

“VERSE!” She opened her mouth wide, jaw slack as she arched her back. Verse could see every curve of her body, every nuance of the soft glow on her skin… She was stretched out for him to see every little detail…

Until her skin started turning black. The sort of black that soaked up every little bit of light in the room. Until she grew holes in her arms and legs. Her diaphanous wings spread wide, and her neon green eyes flashed as she looked down at him. Verse looked up at his nightmare, at the woman his mother had described so well… At Queen Chrysalis…

And then she screamed.

Melody screamed.

“I don’t know, I don’t know!” Pinkie Pie stuttered, her chest rising and falling in a panic as she wrung her hands. “We were sleeping, and next thing I know she just starts screaming! I don’t know what happened!” She was answering Twilight’s question, as every woman in the house began to flood the room. There, Melody lay on her back on her bed, her back arched as she screamed long and loud. The loud sound pierced their ears, making Rainbow Dash wince and cover her ears. Twilight’s hands jerked back and forth between wringing together and hovering over Melody’s form, her face screwed up in concentration and concern.

“Lily! Lily get in here!” She suddenly called out, and her wife smoothly slipped in the door after that. Lily was throwing a quick knot into her robe, which she had apparently just pulled on. Her eyes almost immediately went wide as she looked down at Melody’s form.

“Out. All of you.” She said softly, just loud enough to be heard over the scream that was ripping through the air.

“Lily, I-“

“I don’t want any of you to see what I’m about to turn into.” She said darkly, throwing the knot on her robe, though she had just tied it a moment ago.

“I love you.” Twilight said softly. Lily shamelessly shrugged out of her robe, just as Verse peeked his head into the door.

“C’mon, Verse.” Fluttershy insistently tugged on his shoulder as she slipped out of the door. Lily was walking nude towards her daughter, right as Twilight began shepherding them all out of the room.

“I love you too, Twi…” Lily said softly, her attention elsewhere. Twilight pushed Dash out of the room and looked back at her love, giving her a soft frown of worry before shutting the door. Inside, Lily had already made the change…

Melody only knew those eyes. Those luminescent, neon-green eyes… Somehow, though, they seemed colder. Darker, almost like they had lost all semblance of life long ago. Beneath them was a set of dark fangs, split into a wide grin. That smile was evil. Evil incarnate. The absolute craziest, most insane, evil, and dark smile she had ever seen. It was terrifying. What was even worse, though, was the feeling on her soul. It felt as though she were being rent apart, torn from front to back so her soul could be ripped out. And it was painful. Searing, white-hot pain, the kind that made her throat close and her body shake. She tried to close her eyes, but the image was burned into her eyelids… She tried to look away, but her neck was locked… She cried and screamed and writhed, but nothing would stop it… Those black, soulless eyes bore straight into her, filled her entire vision, her entire consciousness…

Then it was over. The vicious, cold green was replaced with something else. Something entirely new. Familiar, but at the same time, not so frightening… There was warmth in this new pair of eyes. A sort of kind, warm feeling that would hold her close, whisper into her ear until she calmed. A reassurance she had never felt before… Or even thought could be felt… It pulled her close, warmed her from the inside out. The hole in her chest began to close, to slowly fill with a soft, gentle, loving embrace… She embraced it completely, holding it close to herself. Her eyes finally closed, rested their tired nerves as she wrapped her arms around it. It was so sudden, the change made her shake. She cried tears then, real tears… It didn’t matter that what she was embracing in the cold pre-dawn light was hard, spiny, and smooth… Or as jet-black as the heart of the night itself… No, when she opened her eyes, Melody only saw the kind, loving eyes of her savior. Of her hero.

Her queen.

“Lily.”

Shh. It’s over now. Relax, and it’ll be okay. The voice echoed to her through the fog of her confused mind, but it soothed her. She clung to the spines on the side of the changeling prime’s face, holding them tight as she clung to the one thing keeping her from receding back into the nightmare. Chest still rising and falling rapidly, she slowly relaxed, her grip loosening bit by bit. Melody watched as her mother slowly shifted back into her human form, the sleek, slender form of her black prime fading into soft, pink, bare skin. Lucidity returned as she left, and Melody finally returned to full consciousness.

“That was…”

“Shh.” Lily pressed a finger to her lips. “Don’t look down, okay? I’m going to go get Twilight.” Almost as soon as she heard it, Melody glanced down. She didn’t see much. Just the blood. Her black blood.

“She’ll be alright, though?” Applejack asked. They were all sitting at the kitchen table, nursing cups of strong coffee and talking about the morning’s intense events. Verse had been quiet, understandably so, but everyone else had questions. Lily answered them as best she could, but half of them were all speculation.

“I think so. Twi can tell you more when she gets back from washing up…” Lily had donned her robe again, once Twilight had taken over. Lily had dismissed them all to do her work, now Twilight did the same to her as she set to working on her unconscious daughter. Lily had had enough presence of mind to shift into another form, just so they wouldn’t see Melody’s blood all over her form. Verse didn’t see her, either. He would know, she would tell him, but right now, he didn’t know the state of his sister. Lily wasn’t doing too well, herself… She had watched her daughter cling to a nightmare, cut herself open on vicious claws and spines, watched her chest burst open…

“It didn’t look bad?” Pinkie Pie asked. Lily was almost thankful for her quiet demeanor. Pinkie Pie wasn’t bouncy or jovial. It wouldn’t have fit the moment. She had really learned to calm down over the years… Maybe it was the war. Even the element of Laughter could only stay positive for so long… Lily rubbed her eyelids with a soft sigh.

“It looked pretty bad, I won’t lie… But you all know just how well magi can heal. It might not be Twilight’s forte, but it IS Twilight we’re talking about. She’ll help Melody.” She added in an afterthought. “She has to…”

“Ah’ve never heard a scream that… Frightening.” Applejack said softly, her eyes elsewhere. Verse glanced up at her before his jaw quivered and he took another sip of the coffee. Lily nodded sage-like as she adjusted her legs.

“The short of it is this,” Lily said at last. “Melody has lost her connection to the queen.” In the pause after her sentence, Dash butted in.

“I thought that’s how the changeling primes came in…?”

“Normally, yes…” Lily said softly. “But there are a few things that might come into play to prevent that… The only other changelings that we have here are myself and Verse. I may have been inside her influence when she was dropped… And Verse is in the same boat as she is. The nightmare, and the screams, may have come from either Chrysalis trying to re-assert her authority, or from the absence of her power… Now, here’s the other thing…” This was where Lily struggled with it. She had found, in an obscure passage near the back of the book she and Twilight had studied in-depth, an interesting little tidbit of information.

“I’ve found a way to… I guess you could say… Forcefully remove myself from the queen’s influence…”

“Wait, how is that possible?” Fluttershy chimed in this time. “I’ve seen a few primes, Lily… Yes, even as far south as Fillydelphia, they exist… Reports say there are as many as a dozen at a time all fighting it out… You’re not anything like those… Those monsters…”

“My point exactly. See, when I remove myself from their influence, I can… I can…” Lily sighed and covered her aching eyes with a hand. She rubbed her eyelids, collecting her thoughts. “I think I’m becoming a new queen…”

“WHAT?!”

“No way-“

“That’s-“

“No way that’s tr-“

“SHUT UP!” Verse roared suddenly. His voice bellowed out, louder than all of their protests. The other four women fell silent as he glared at them all. Half a plead to let Lily continue, half a plead for them to shut up. Verse was growing a very vicious headache… Fluttershy gave a small squeak, and Applejack stammered for a few seconds. In the end, though, they fell silent and let Lily continue.

“I don’t know how to explain it any other way… I did it once, long ago… The kids were six. Remember when I walked for two weeks out into the woods?”

“I remember.” Dash said quickly, heading everyone else off. She was, apparently, sympathizing with Verse. Lily continued before she could be cut off again.

“I went dark for a few weeks. Well, that was when I tried to… Do what I just did…” She swallowed in rememberance. The link had been dark for the other five. She made sure she had returned to Twilight before re-opening the link, so she would have a reason to smile and feel happy again… She visited the dark memory reluctantly…

The long walk into the confusing forest had taken her seven full days. Her pack was lightened, but not empty, and her tent was pitched. She took a while to set up camp, chatting with her friends to pass the time as she idly went about building a fire and tidying up. She did, after all, plan on being out here for a while…

Alright, guys. I’ll catch you all later.

Not a prob, Lily. Just go live if you need some help, alright?

Of course, Dash. Twi, I love you.

I love you too, Lily. See you soon.

Ick, get a room, you two-

Oh shush. This from the girl who accidentally goes live with Spitfire when she’s- Lily let it die there. She knew where the joke was going, and to be truthful, she didn’t want to be happy at that moment… She wasted no time. She built a big fire, one that would burn for a few hours, and sat cross-legged next to it. Closing her eyes, Lily took a breath…

She felt it there. Inside her chest, just behind her sternum… It was the same area she pulled an essence from. There, nestled just behind her chest, was the pulsing, undulating core of her power. She could feel it spinning in a slow, smooth circle. It radiated power and calmness, a sort of serene aura that washed over her and made her feel whole. Lily knew it. She had been touching it repeatedly over the past year. She knew what it was, what it entailed, and what to do with it…

It was her link to the queen. Her essence. Her turquoise, shifting, ephemeral essence.

And it was flickering.

Even now, she could feel the connection weaken. As she touched on it, it flickered like a candle guttering in the wind, making her shiver. Normally, she wouldn’t even notice. Now, when she held it in her mind, feeling it, she could tell every little nuance. It was weak. Like a coughing old animal on it’s last breath, the core of her being was slowly dying away. It had some time, but it was still weak…

With a breath, Lily slowly let it fade. Her hands rose to her chest, glowing with that green aura of her own brand of changeling magic. Smooth as she could manage, she pulled it out… And out it came. There in her hands, Lily held what was effectively her own soul. She looked down at it. When it was this close, this real in front of her eyes, she could see through it to her palms underneath. She had to let out a soft breath of disbelief… She really couldn’t believe it… There, in her hands, Lily held the essence of her being. How many times had she seen other’s? Twilights, Applejack’s, Pinkie Pie’s, Rainbow Dash’s, Fluttershy’s… Rarity’s…

Even Celestia and Luna’s. And that was no small feat. But now, in her hands, she held her own. She had done this twice in the past week… What’s more, Lily thought she could go somewhere with it… She had to take a breath, first… And that meant putting it back in. As soon as it entered her chest, it felt like she was whole again. Like a wide gap in her soul had been emptied then filled again. She breathed heavy for a few long moments. Not that she hadn’t been breathing previously… Just that it had been useless, like filling a dead husk with breath… Now, though, she was about to take the plunge.

Lily pulled her essence out again, said her goodbyes to those she loved, and let it go…

The change was almost instant. In a bubble as wide as the world, Lily could see them all… Little faint, green wisps far, far off… Millions of them… And one big one, neon green and ugly… Lily was looking at every single changeling in the entire world… She knew it. She knew this was what Chrysalis saw… For thousands of years, her queen looked at this every single day. Every last changeling in the world was accounted and accredited for… She knew, because every single one of them that was even remotely close began moving towards her… In Lily’s fledgling queen mind, she welcomed them. Bid them closer. She was their queen, their ruler, and she wanted to look at every single one of them. Look at their adoring little faces looking up at her in recognition of their new queen. Lilly tossed her teal hair back over her shoulder, stood on legs with the holes of her existence, and waited…

The first one came in a day. A small drone, close to Appleoosa. He had flown hard and fast to make it to Lily, and when he arrived, he was panting and sweaty. Lily did little else than glance down at him. More like him would come. He caught his breath and stood off in the shadows, waiting. The second came shortly before a group. He flew at a break-neck speed straight for her. The group behind him shuffled for position closest to her, as close as they dared. Lily watched them fall to their knees and look up at her with rapt attention…

Next came a dozen at once. Then twenty. Soon, changelings by the hundreds were approaching her… She had close to two thousand of them when she lost control of her miniature queen transformation.

The resulting pandemonium could only be described as a bloodbath and nothing less. It dragged on for a full twenty-four hours… One whole day straight of nothing but snarling, spitting beasts tearing up trees, fighting, clawing, murdering… Each and every changeling prime Lily ripped to pieces made her angrier. Each enemy she dispatched made her sadder… She knew she had to kill them. It was kill or be killed. There was no running, no fleeing… Just the fight. The fight for power. One of them would be queen or king next. In the end, Lily had won. She had the most experience fighting primes. The link to her queen was re-established, flickering into existence within her as she ripped the last changeling’s head from his body. She shifted back, collapsed onto her side, and slept. Her dreams were fraught with nightmares, the kind that made her jerk awake, panting. Her waking reality was a nightmare, too, so she went back to sleep and prayed for an easier time…

She never got it. It was all she could do to change back into her regular form, wash up, and go home… Jokkan and Miko had escorted her, warily at first. But when she cried every night, they warmed to her… Jokkan would sing his native song to her, calm her senses. The full vibrations of his magic would thrum her off to sleep, and they left the nightmare of the battlefield behind them. That torn, twisted, bloody vale would forever remain unvisited by anything… Anyone… The local tribe made sure of it. To them, it was cursed. To the world, it was hell… Lily either repressed the memory of what she had done there, or forgot it… She prayed for the latter as she rushed into Twilight’s arms, two weeks after she had left. Two weeks of a hellish nightmare she would just as soon do without.

“Fuck…” Applejack cursed after her story. Verse had finished three cups of coffee, and hadn’t moved an inch. Twilight had joined in a little into the beginning, and now that Lily finished it, she moved forward to wrap her in a hug. “Ah never knew… Ah thought you was jes gettin’ away from us fer a week… I never thought that’s what you was doin’…” Lily nodded solemnly as she gladly accepted Twilight’s hug, burying her face into the neck of Twilight’s sweater. Some stains, apparently, didn’t even leave skin… Underneath her own robe, Lily still felt dirty… Felt like a changeling.

“That’s… Horrible…” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Yeah. Real horrible.” Everyone gasped as they looked up at Melody. She was making her way down the steps one by one, wincing whenever she stepped on her right leg. “How long was it going to take you to tell me? To tell us?” She asked, her voice quiet, but clear as day to them all.”

“Melody, I… I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to tell you… About me. About us…” She paused for a moment before tilting her head to the side and continuing down the stairs.

“Well, at least you’re honest…” She said quietly. Verse stood and helped his sister limp down the last few stairs, and she accepted his help willingly. Together, they limped over to Lily and Twilight, and the four of them shared a soft, tender embrace. Gone was all trace of apprehension and anger… No more fear, no more pain. Melody lost herself in the hug, though she didn’t cry… None of them did… Slowly, the other four joined in… All eight of them hugged. Six elements of harmony, and two very, very scared children…

“Promise we’ll visit Appleoosa soon?” Melody asked. It had been a week after the incident. The other four ladies were on their way back north, with Jokkan and Miko standing fifty feet past, in the cover of the first trees of the forest.

“Thet’s gonna come down to your parent’s, kiddo…” Applejack smiled and ruffled her hair playfully. “But iffen I have any say about it, you’ll be sleepin’ in a comfy southern-style bed before the year’s out.” Melody smiled and leaned into give Applejack a rough, squeezing hug. It was returned kindly, Applejack’s chest shaking as she fought tears. They all were. In the case of Pinkie Pie, they were failing. She clung to Verse, bawling her eyes out as she sobbed and hung on him. Verse humored her, though he was obviously missing the chance to be hugging Applejack…

“If we can’t avoid another episode like this last one inbetween now and then, I’m all for it.” Lily said, taking Melody’s place hugging Applejack. “And this isn’t goodbye. I think it’s more like a ‘See you later’ huh?” Applejack smiled bravely as they pulled away, just as Dash swooped in and landed next to them.

“Checked in with Appleoosa’s weather team. Wrangler says we’re clear through for the week, but we gotta leave soon. There will be a stormhead rolling in soon. I’m gonna miss you, Lily.” Dash wrapped her in a tender hug, the two women sighing happily as they fought tears themselves. The last bit of the week HAD been fun. They had romped in the surf, told stories around the fire. Twilight, Melody, Verse, and Lily had all played a lot of good music, and there had been a rather tender scene when Applejack taught Verse a few tricks on the guitar. Rainbow Dash and Lily had flown together, Fluttershy and Melody had planted a few new trees along the edge of the ocean, and Fluttershy had shown her how to make them flourish in the harsh saltwater air. Before long, she and Verse would have more trees to sit and nap under…

The episode with her had nearly been forgotten. It wasn’t mentioned once as they all said their goodbyes. Pinkie Pie finally tore herself away from Verse long enough to give Melody a proper teary-eyed farewell, while Verse hesitantly approached Applejack. After the teary hug, they both broke apart to watch the scene unfold before their eyes… Verse looked like he was holding something in his hands.

“AJ, I…”

“Aw, shoot, sugar. No need to be shy about it. We all know you have the hots fer me, no need to hide it.” She chuckled and crossed her arms, waiting for him to work up the courage.

“Right. Well…” He unfolded his hands, pulling out a glimmering, thin chain of metal. “There’s a small hole down the beach a ways… Jokkan told me it held gold, and showed me how to work it with magic… I… I made this for you.” He said, offering the chain to Applejack. Her eyes went wide as she gingerly lifted the chain from Verse’s fingers, the early-morning sunlight catching the glimmering links and making the whole thing look like folded golden thread. At the bottom of the elegant chain hung a single pendant in the shape of an apple blossom.

“Verse, this is… It’s…” Applejack stuttered for a few moments. Silently, Verse’s hands glowed, as he threw the catch and threaded it around Applejack’s neck. She lifted her hair out of the way as he secured it, the elegant piece of jewelry hanging just below the hollow of her neck. She laid her fingers on it, the tears she had been fighting all along spilling fast and free now. “Aw, shoot, come here.” She quickly stepped forward and grabbed Verse’s face, pulling his lips against hers. Everyone stood in stunned silence as Applejack gave a stunned Verse the kiss of his lifetime, the young man standing in complete awe. His first true kiss. Applejack broke it off with a slight flush, her cheeks burning red as she turned around and walked off. Dash flapped after her, nudging the woman in her ribs as she landed next to her.

“You old cougar.”

“Shut it.”

Verse went to wander off as the remaining five came together to bid their farewells. “Remember, Melody. You have to trim the deadfall or the tree will die.”

“I will, Fluttershy. Once a week, I promise. You take care, okay? I promise to write you more often. I had no idea you liked my poetry so much…”

“I like anything you write, Melody. You have a sort of style, it’s very easy to read. And, I really could use some… Uum… Encouragement…” Melody and Fluttershy met for a gentle embrace as Pinkie Pie said her farewells to Lily. Twilight and Fluttershy said goodbye, and then the last two were gone… Back down to four, Melody felt a profound sense of loneliness in their absence… Idly, Melody, Twilight and Lily found their way to the tree, sitting next to a very solemn Verse, who was still rubbing his cheek as he looked out over the surf breaking on the shore. They were all very silent for a very long time. Melody spoke first, breaking their reverie.

“Things will never be the same, will they?”

“No they will not.” Twilight said first. “Not by a long shot… You two are growing up now. I don’t think there’s any reason for us to hide what’s happening from you anymore. If Verse is old enough to be having wet dreams about Applejack, then both of you are old enough to know…”

“To know what, though?” Verse said, not even hearing the shot at his nocturnal emissions. Lily and Twilight shared a look, and between the two of them, there seemed to be a sort of collective sigh… An awakening to the realization of a lifetime.

“To know the truth.”

----------- Notes from the Author -----------

So I understand it’s been a long while since we’ve had a Melody’s tale update. I owe this one to you all from Sunday, since I almost completely neglected to give you the livestream you deserve. What’s more, I was really looking forward to the Verse/Applejack ship, and then rending your hearts to pieces when you found out it was just a dream. And it was just a dream. Verse waking up to the sound of Melody’s scream, and his dick inside Chrysalis (It was Chyrsalis, not Melody) was the nightmare portion of it.

Still, given the quality of the clop leading up to said nightmare, I think you all can forgive me. This chapter was very heavy on character development and storylining. It’s helped me lay out the groundwork for what I hope will be the rest of the story, and gives you a little more insight into how the changeling transfer will go down… I hope I can answer a few unasked questions for you guys here, and it’s all an afterthought to the chapter.

-Lily is able to withdraw her own essence because she has others to fill the void, and is the most experienced in dealing with essences. Over her long career, she’s taken close to 2-3 dozen from customers, friends, and lovers.

-Lily can assert her authority as queen because she was the victor of the first changeling prime fight, and has the most experience becoming a changeling prime.

-Lily can shift into a prime at will. To do so, she removes her own essence, which is, in effect, removing the queen’s influence from herself. In doing so, she becomes either a prime, or as demonstrated in the flashback, a miniature queen. A changeling devoid of the queen’s power becomes the next queen, slowly. Bit-by-bit. It’s a natural thing. There doesn’t need to be any exchange of essence between the current queen and the new queen. The power comes naturally.

-Yes, other changelings might be able to do the same. But to do so, they would have to have won against at least one other prime, and be on-par with a lieutenant. In addition, there are a few more years before Chrysalis fully loses control of her power and dies. I’m positive the change will happen before then, but that will leave us some time for the story to run it’s course. Believe me, I’ve got a plan that could make this story longer than Fo:E. Emphasis on “Could.”

-The summoning of the fraction of the changeling horde that Lily managed did not go unnoticed. We will see evidence of that in the coming chapters.

-Verse had sex with Applejack in a dream, guys. Just a dream. The kiss at the end MAY OR MAY NOT signify something greater. You never know, with my writing. So relax. It was just a dream. And, to clarify, Verse woke up to Chrysalis, not Melody. It was Melody’s scream he heard, but Chrysalis’ body, and indeed, her personification. Or… Changelingification… Whatever. Close to the end of my shift writing the A/N so don’t hold this against me. Coming down from a Mountain Dew high and tired.

-Please, guys… You know how my writing style works. I hash this out as I go. If there are any flaws in the story, any mechanic I’m not seeing, any detail that I missed, PLEASE tell me about it. PM, comment, doesn’t matter. I want to make sure I got this shit right. You all deserve that much.

Terra Incognito

----------- Melody's Tale - Terra Incognito -----------

"The truth?" Verse said softly. Lily and Twilight shared a look between them, both of them sighing softly.

"Come on. Not here." Together, they both turned and walked back towards the house. Daytime was fading slowly, leaving in it's wake the brilliant crimson and golden streaks across the sky that Melody loved so... Together, she and Verse stood and brushed themselves off, turning their backs to the breaking waves of the ocean and following their mothers into the house... The worn wood floors creaked under their steps as they followed Twilight and Lily into the library.

"I think it's about time..." Lily said, pulling up a small ring of chairs. There were only four in the library, just enough for all of them to be seated comfortably. Hesitantly, Verse and Melody took their seats. Twilight was busy browsing one particular shelf of books... There was a flash of magic, and she emerged holding two dusty tomes. Melody arched an eyebrow at what she held. These were two books she had never seen before... One of them, a very dark tome with black covers and silver engraving... The other, white with golden lettering... Somehow, Melody doubted either of these books were ones she was meant to see...

"You two learned the truth about your existence and ours."

Verse swallowed.

"Wait..." Melody said, still hung up on the books Twilight held. "I've never seen either of those books before... I know every book in this library by heart. All of them. I've read many of them. How come I've never seen them before?" Twilight set each book down on it's own part of the one table in the library, giving them enough space away from any of the other books or sheets of paper.

"These books," Twilight said softly, laying a hand on either one of them... She looked down at them lovingly, almost like Melody would envision she looked down at her sleeping children... "Came from Celestia's private library... Before Lily and I fled Canterlot, on the day the war began, Celestia took me there..." She paused for a few moments. Melody could swear she saw a shiver pass over her mother's form. "I've never seen so many books... So much power... Celestia has under her sole care books that could very easily destroy kingdoms. That could end the world as we know it... That's why she couldn't flee Canterlot. That's why the war is taking place up there... Celestia and Luna have to guard those tomes, else Chrysalis, or worse, the Chimera get their hands on them..." Twilight slid her hand off the books, turning around to her children, her wife... All three of them silent. Lily seemed to be pensive...

"This book," She gestured to the black-covered volume. "Is about Changelings. Specifically... What happens to them when it's time to choose a new king or queen." Melody felt her mouth go dry. Twilight continued. "And this book," She gently laid her hand on the other. "Is probably the most important book of prophecy known to anyone."

Melody finally worked up the courage to speak.

"How... Why did she give them to you?" Twilight held up a finger, shaking a little as her jaw worked, Melody guessed she was trying to find the courage to speak...

"I'll get around to it... But let me start from the beginning. There was a time... Long, long ago... When your mother and I weren't so... Kind... To one another..." Lily shifted a little in her seat, making Twilight glance at her... "Maybe I ought to let her tell at least this portion of the story..." Melody's neon-green gaze turned to her other mother... That's right... Lily was a changeling... But Twilight was a magi. According to everything Melody knew about the war, these two should be ripping one another apart every chance they got... Instead, they were completely in love with one another. Melody had seen the way they looked at one another... Countless times they had expressed their love in one way or another. One wall-shaking, screaming way or another...

"I guess," Lily spoke, drawing Melody's attention back around. "I'll start with my personal story..." For the next hour, or two, Melody couldn't tell, Lily shared her personal story. Melody and Verse listened to her as she went about telling everything to them. Every little detail about her life, from her awakening as a changeling lieutenant all the way up to fleeing south... There were a few gaps, though... She said she and the heartless lieutenant had visited Trottingham, but she didn't say what they did there... And there was a passing mention about Rarity's death when they were fleeing Canterlot... But not the answers Melody had been expecting. She stopped when she finished describing Twilight building their home.

"Ever since then, we've been living here, hiding from the war. We're so far south, I doubt any changelings can find us... Hell, even our friends need help making it through the forest to find us..." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose when she was finished. It was very dark outside now...

"Right... Lily told you her side of the story." Twilight said softly. She picked up both books and brought them to the space inbetween the four of them. They were all seated now, Twilight, Lily, Verse, and Melody... Melody wondered what was in store for her next, though... She had just learned her mother was a whore responsible for discovering true love, a long-buried and old magic that all but the princesses thought dead and gone... "Now it's time I told you mine." Twilight flipped open the white book, the book of prophecy, and very tenderly turned the pages. Melody watched dirt and dust crack the pages, make them shard and very nearly fall apart... Twilight got to where she needed to be, though, and she laid the book out for them to read.

Let it be known, that at an indeterminate time in the future, two will emerge who will unlock the long-dead potential of true love. To these two will be born the children of a new age, and they will usher in an era unlike any other before it. These children, two they shall be, will change the world.

Melody swallowed as she read the text. Then the gears began turning in her head. They clicked and whirred, her thoughts connecting the happenstance together. She gasped as realization came to her.

"That's us." She breathed. "Verse and I, that's us... This prophecy is about us, isn't it?" Twilight nodded sagely, silent for now. Melody gave a breath as she sat back in her chair, looking at the white book in front of them. "I don't believe it."

"What, so Twilight's got a dick and now I'm a proud parent?" Lily said with a chuckle. "You two were born in a crucible of magic, witnessed by Celestia and Luna themselves. Luna confirmed it. There's no way that the two of us would be able to bear biological children." Lily shook her head softly. "You two came straight out of our love for one another." Idly, Lily and Twilight joined hands.

"We ran straight south from Canterlot with the two of you in my stomach. Alone, frightened, tired, and depressed, we ran as far south, as fast as we possibly could... After a brief stop in Appleoosa to mourn Rarity, we ran into a snag and had to come even further south. We stopped here, made our home, and gave birth to you two. Trust me when I say there's a whole, wide world out there for you two to see." Twilight said, smiling at them. "And Lily and I agree it's about time you get out to see it."

"Wait..."

"Does that mean..."

"Eeyup. In three months, we're going to take a trip north. Mind you, we'll just be going to stay with Applejack and Pinkie Pie in Appleoosa, nothing too major. But it's time you two got out and saw some of the world." Lily smiled, even as Melody's heart leapt in her throat. She fought to calm it, to keep from squealing and jumping on her mothers like an adolescent child...

In the end, she failed. Melody laughed as she leapt into their arms, all three of them laughing long and loud from joy.

Verse, though, was quiet. When Melody noticed, they slowly stopped, looking at him. They could tell. He had an unasked question. Melody slowly took her seat, still fighting the euphoria of the moment... Verse's sobriety was slowly bringing her down. She was still smiling when he asked his question.

"What happened to Rarity?" Melody's smile vanished. Slowly, her head turned to either of her mothers, watching their expressions sober almost immediately. They shared a look before Lily started speaking.

"In the seventeen years we've been down here, I've been doing some studies of my own... I've come to understand enough about magic that I can read this book without being completely clueless about who I am... Or... What I am." She sighed and pulled the black book towards her, opening it to one specific page. She shuddered visibly at the sight before turning the book around to them. Melody gasped. Verse was silent.

"This is a Changeling Prime." Twilight took over for Lily. "They begin to appear from all changelings, be they drone or lieutenant. Like Lily is, like Ajax was... There are other lieutenants, but millions more drones. The queen, Chrysalis, exists within each and every drone and lieutenant in some way, shape, or form... We've discovered she's inside each drone through the hive mind. It's how she exerts her control over them, bends them to her will... In the lieutenants... Well, it's just speculation, but we think she inserts herself during their transformation from drone to lieutenant. But she's growing older. Chrysalis is losing the sway she used to very easily hold over every drone and lieutenant. When she loses her hold... Well..." Twilight gestured to the picture once more. Melody's heart was hammering in her ears.

"Are you saying Lily is one of those...?" She asked hesitantly. Twilight and Lily shared a look again before Lily gave a soft nod.

"I've changed about six times since the war began. One of those times... Was when... I fought Nyralith..." Melody froze. She'd heard stories of Nyralith, about the wedding and how Lily saved Rarity from living with a lie. It had been a rather heart-warming tale, about how not every changeling was evil, how there were others like Lily that could fit in with normal society... Certainly not every changeling. But they were out there... But she had...

"I killed Nyralith on our way south out of Canterlot... She and Rarity were coming north, and we were running south... With you two, with these books, and a lot of changelings on our tail..." Lily continued. Her voice had grown slightly dark, her vision distant as she spoke low and quiet. "Rarity didn't see me kill Nyralith, but she saw her body... That was when things were probably the worst for me... Aside from this one other time-" A nudge from Twilight stopped her. They shared a look, both of them furrowing their brows. Melody could tell from the way their expressions shifted they were talking in the link. She gave a soft 'ahem,' urging her to continue. Lily shook her head and re-affirmed her actions by standing and pacing slowly. "I fell into a dark depression... I didn't learn until we arrived in Appleoosa what Rarity had done after... After..." Lily stopped and took a shuddering breath, stilling herself.

"Rarity lost herself in that moment... From what I could tell, and from the brief... Vision that I got... She went on a rampage. Nothing was able to stop her. She ruthlessly killed every single changeling she came across, slaughtering hundreds, if not thousands of them... Only a direct confrontation with Chrysalis herself could bring her about... And when... When Dash found her, she wasn't... Alive." Lily was struggling with each word. Tears spilled freely from her eyes. Twilight went to hug her, to take her away, but Lily pushed her away gently. She sniffled and continued the story.

"We said our goodbyes to Rarity in Appleoosa, all six of us, and that was when I became the element of Generosity... The elements of harmony have to be in balance... Never without one for long. After that, it happened again... This time, a group of changelings found us at Applejack's cousin's farm. Me and one other changed, and we fought in the field... Applejack and her cousin Braeburn, who you probably haven't heard about much, almost died, but I managed to stay a prime long enough to save them..." There was a pause for a few moments before Verse spoke, still very quiet, very hushed.

"The other four times...?"

Lily straightened herself and continued.

"Once, was when you were just children... It just happened one day. Out of nowhere. I was working in the field and bam. I was me, more or less, but I had changed... It was done before I could recall, and we went about our lives... The same with the time after that... But the third time since we arrived here..." Lily took another breath. "This one will be difficult to explain, but please, just trust me... I left for a week, walked as far as I could manage, and... I TRIED to become a prime..."

"Why would you ever want to do that?" Melody asked quietly.

"To see if I could." Lily replied. "And what happened was..." She held her face in her hand, breathing shakily for a few moments. "I... Became a queen. For a few short days, I was queen... Changeling drones from all over left Chrysalis and came to me. But it wasn't time. I couldn't hold it, and I let it drop... When I let it go, we ALL changed into primes..." Lily paused for a few moments, struggling to fight back the memory. She failed, and rushed into the kitchen. Melody could hear her retching, the sound of her voiding splattering into the kitchen sink. Verse looked to Twilight.

"The last one?" He asked quietly. Twilight blinked at him before turning her gaze to Melody.

"The last time... Was just a few days ago. When Melody got hurt."

"Ready?" Verse asked, poking his head into Melody's room.

"Just about," She muttered, poking her tongue out of her mouth as she struggled to find a way to make her violin fit along with the rest of her luggage. In the end, she ended up hooking the neck on a zipper on the outside of her pack. It'd have to do for now. Appleoosa was a few short weeks away, it'd survive. And if it didn't, she could make another. This one was handmade, a labor of love. It had endured a lot. "Go ahead, I'll be down in a minute." Verse thumped her door frame with his fist before slipping away. Finished at last, Melody straightened her back and looked around her room. Everything was clean in preparation for their extended time away from home. In the next three days, they would be further than she had ever been from her home. In a week, Melody would be in a whole new world... Areas she hadn't yet discovered.

"Melody!"

"Coming!" She hoisted her pack, careful not to bobble her violin too much. Satisfied it would survive, Melody hefted her pack and left her room. "Alright, let's go." She ran her hand down the hand rail of the staircase, over the wooden knob at the end, and smiled at her family. All of them ready for an adventure. Together, they left their home, the sound of the breaking waves chasing them into the forest as they turned north...

Such a broken, dysfunctional family... They were a magi, a changeling, and two... Whatever she and Verse were. But they loved one another. Fiercely. Just like Twilight and Lily could make their love work, Melody knew they could make THEM work. For the time being, at the insistence of Twilight, she would ignore her calling, the reason for her existence. It lingered in the back of her mind, that thought that somehow, some way, she was going to have to change the world... For now, though, she was seventeen, one month from turning eighteen, young, and ready to see places she never had before.

It took them five days to make it through the forest. Jokkan and Miko had to guide them for a short ways, but after a while, they left. The wide, rolling plains south of Appleoosa greeted Melody. She had never seen this big of an open space before... Just grass and hills as far as she could see. No trees, no forest, no nothing... When they crested the first tall, wind-swept hill, Melody looked around at everything around her. The majesty of the wide-open plain, the blistering sunlight, the wide-open landscape... She felt like she couldn't comprehend it all. She spun in several long, slow circles, trying hard to make sense of all of it... It hit her like a hammer, robbing her of breath, making her struggle to comprehend it all... It was like the ocean, but solid... The ocean was wide, but Melody knew she could never traverse it all... This... This vista... Melody could walk to every place she saw. It would just take time. Every inch of ground before her eyes was open to exploration.

"Melody."

"I think she stopped breathing."

"Hey, Kiddo. Come on." Lily nudged her, making her snap out of her reverie.

"S-sorry," She stuttered, blinking a few times. "That was just... Woah... Verse, come on, did you NOT see this?"

"Oh, I saw it." Her brother chuckled. "I just want to get TO it. Not stand there and look at it." Melody smacked him upside the head with magic, laughing as he glared at her. All four of them smiled and set out, walking north towards Appleoosa.

"How different is it going to be seeing someone other than Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Dash, or Fluttershy?" Melody wondered aloud as they kept walking.

"Not very, I'd think..." Verse said softly, pondering. He hoisted his guitar case over his shoulder. "I kinda wanna meet Braeburn. He sounds like a pretty cool guy."

"I... Wouldn't say that, if I were you." Lily said with a soft chuckle.

"Hmm? Why not?"

"Braeburn's gay."

"WHAT?!" Verse stopped and nearly dropped his guitar case as far as his jaw. "Awww, fuck... Come on, man... The first other male I get to see, and he's gay... Fan-fucking-tastic..." The three woman laughed at his misfortune as they continued walking, talking, and joking.

It took them just another two days to reach the southern edge of Appleoosa. Even the small farm town was like a sprawling metropolis to Melody. She took in all the sights and sounds, wide-eyed and in wonder as she saw dozens of people mill about along the main drag. It would appear to be a market day of sorts, vendors and stalls were going up. Anxiety welled up in her chest as the four of them walked into town, Twilight and Lily sharing smiles as they watched their children gaze at the new sights and smells in wonder.

"Ooh! What's THAT?!" Melody asked, pointing.

"Caramel apples. Shoot, we never made those for them, did we, Twi? Come on, let's go get some!" Melody and Verse ran forward in a show of childish delight, eyes wide as the vendor laughed and whipped up two of the treats for them. The caramel was still incredibly soft, and almost melted away as Melody bit into the apple. The sweet mixed perfectly with the tang of a green Granny Smith, and she smiled happily. It was so GOOD! Twilight and Lily paid after getting one for themselves, and after walking up and down the market a few times, they made for Applejack's home. Melody wanted to look at more of the sweets, but she was assured the market would be there for her tomorrow.

"Melody! Verse!" Applejack was waiting on the front porch for them. She waved, backlit by the warm glow of her windows. It was early-evening, and at the sight of their old friend, Verse and Melody broke into a run. They were wrapped in a crushing bear-hug. Applejack was every bit as strong as she had ever been, the fact made obvious as she easily lifted both of them into the air with the force of her hug. Not that Melody cared, she was too busy laughing and smiling. Today had been a REALLY good day...

"Ah betchy'all are plum tuckered out after a long hike like that!" Applejack wrapped Twilight and Melody in their own hug, smiling as Verse and Melody started gathering all they had dropped. "Well, c'mon! Git inside, Braeburn an' I have whipped up a big ol' dinner for y'all! Pinkie Pie's in town gettin' some supplies for later on, and Dash'll be here in a day. Fluttershy's not too far behind her."

"Thanks a bunch, AJ." Lily said, kissing her on the cheek. "We owe you one for opening up your home for us."

"Aw shucks, ain't my home. Y'all best go thank Braeburn." She said, swatting at Twilight's rear with a playful smile. Laughing, the four of them went into the warm farmhouse and deposited their bags at the foot of the stairs. Melody inhaled the fresh scents of pine and woodwork, of worn, dusty floors, warm food, and warmer company. Together, she and Verse walked into the dining room...

Right as Braeburn swung the knife around at Lily.

Melody stood, shocked, as Lily raised her arm to deflect the blow. The blade made a sickening sound as it drove through her arm, clear out the other side... Braeburn snarled and tried to pull it free, further opening the vicious wound. Lily screamed and fell backwards, wrenching the knife from Braeburn's grip. The muscular man pounced backwards, and realization struck Melody... Before she knew it, Melody was looking at something she had seen just once, one time a year ago when Lily had showed it to her... Realization hit her like a hammer, even as the sinuous, reptilian form of the naga lunged towards her.

Braeburn was a changeling!

Blood and Questions

---------- Melody’s Tale - Blood and Questions ---------

The naga rushed forward, hissing as it’s claws and fangs reached for her. Melody was frozen in place… But Verse was not. Quick as a flash, he sprung forward with his hands glowing. He snarled as his slender body contacted that of the scaled, bulky reptile. The impact was just enough to drive the naga off-course, hitting Melody in the shoulder instead of her face, or her torso. She felt pain flash through her being, radiating outward from her shoulder. Her cry of surprise and pain joined that of everyone else’s, all of it underlined by the roar of frustration from the naga.

She had to act. Melody growled as she battered the pain back into a corner of her mind, sequestered it away in some dark part of her that she could visit later, when the situation allowed it better. Her hands glowed as well as she started weaving a spell, one her mother had taught her… Verse wrestled with the being, and appeared to be losing. Even as she watched, the naga threw him off, a minor cut on his arm dripping blood as he tumbled across the hardwood floors. She completed her spell just in time, watching as the lightning arced straight from her hands into the naga’s body. Where it vanished completely. The reptile gave a throaty chuckle that sounded like hissing steam escaping a radiator. Coiling it’s body powerfully, the naga lunged once more. Melody barely managed to roll away and to the side as the beast crashed into the far wall. Pain lanced through her torso, making her grunt as she scrambled to get to her feet. Thrashing amidst the dust and wreckage of what used to be a wall, the naga reared it’s ugly, scaled head.

“Git BACK!” Applejack lunged in just then. Melody watched as the hearty woman twisted her body around, her leg spinning so fast it was almost a blur. With a sickening impact, akin to her boot thudding into a tree, Applejack landed a powerful kick that spun the beast’s entire body around in a full circle, sending it crashing back into the wreckage of the wall. She was relenteless. Just as the snake-like creature reared up once more, Applejack delivered a straight kick to it’s sternum, pushing it out into the living room.

Twilight was at her side, hands glowing in an instant. Melody felt her magic tingle through her body, even as the sounds of a heated fight came from the living room. “Lily’s okay.” Twilight said hastily, her hands working over the three symmetrical cuts in Melody’s shoulder. “It’s a naga, they’re resistant to magic. Resistant, but not impervious. I need you and Verse to distract it while I get ready.” As if in response, Verse shuffled up next to them, favoring his left leg.

“Alright, we can do that. How long, do you think?” He asked, just as Applejack tumbled back through the door. She was bruised, one eye swollen shut.

“Thirty seconds. Go!” Melody and Verse swept through the door just as Applejack got back to her feet. Both children’s hands glowed. They had worked together before. They could do this. Verse, able to summon larger spells with more force, focused on slow-casting heavy blasts of magic while Melody rapid-fired her quick, lithe spells. The naga would hiss at her as it was peppered with three lashes, then rear it’s head towards Verse as a vicious thump in the air pushed it forward slightly. Just as it would lunge towards verse, Melody pushed a couch in it’s path and lashed at it with four quick spells again. Each did little more than nudge it aside, but in the fit of furious rage, it quickly turned it’s attention back at her. She danced backwards, missing a claw swipe, and turned her face aside as Verse began to bathe the thing in a prolonged gout of burning fire. Each flame that licked at it’s shining scales, though, died almost instantly. Only the smallest flames missed, catching on the hardwood floor, but fizzling out as the thick, long body moved over them.

“MOVE!” Twilight’s call came from the kitchen. Melody twisted out of the beast’s way as it’s tail whipped around and dove behind a chair. Verse scrambled up the first few steps of the stairwell just as Twilight charged in. Melody couldn’t see what was happening, but she could feel it. The air around her compressed, making her hair jump off her shoulders. The sound hurt her ears. It was like being caught at the epicenter of a thunderclap. Then everything was quiet. No more hissing, no more scuffling of feet and crashing of furniture… The only sound reaching her ears was heavy, panting breath, and the sound of something wet falling to the floor.

“Lily… Get in here.” Twilight’s voice broke the awkward moment. Hesitantly, Melody peeked her head out around the couch. What she saw made her freeze in place. The naga, or what used to be the naga, had been replaced with a thin creature, it’s skin completely matte-black, with teal hair, diaphanous wings, and holes all over her arms and legs… Those, and an extra hole, this one oozing viscious, black blood onto the floor. Located high on her right shoulder, Melody could tell it went straight through… Lily slipped into the living room, cradling her bloody left arm. Behind her, Applejack, one hand pressed over her swollen and bruised eye.

“Your name.” Lily said coldly, hardly sparing the injured changeling a second glance. Verse and Melody both emerged from their hiding places, eyes wide at the nightmarish sight before them. Pinkie Pie pushed her way into the front door just then, arms full of paper bags.

“Hey guys, I just got back from the market, and you wouldn’t BELIEVE the loops I had to jump through- oh hey, Verse! You made it! Why are you bleeding…” She poked her head around the mountain of brown bags to see the sight laid out before her. Furniture was smashed and broken, wooden pieces laying around the living room, droplets of blood spattered here and there… The wall in between the living and dining rooms was smashed to bits, parts of the wooden frame dangling from the ceiling or jutting up from the floor. Melody heard the breaking of glass as Pinkie Pie dropped her bags at the door, standing awestruck at everything.

“My name…” The changeling panted, talking over the sound of the crinkling bags and tinkling glass, “Is Imoheen.” Lily looked between the changeling and Pinkie Pie, and in her expression, Melody could see she was praying for silence from the energetic, pink-haired woman.

“I’ve never heard of you. How old are you?” She asked.

“Eight.” The changeling answered promptly.

“Eight… You were born right around the time-“

“That Chrysalis lost hundreds of changelings to the south.” Melody was unsure if the changeling was male or female… Then she remembered Lily telling her they were genderless, for the most part. So she was unsure whether to call it a he or a she… But whatever it was, it seemed almost eager to answer their questions. She realized, then, that Twilight was holding a brilliant, shining blade… Or she appeared to be, anyways. Rather than holding a handle, her fist was curled tight, and from the edge of her knuckles extended a faintly humming, dense glow of purple magic. Melody swallowed. She was forming a pure arcane essence into a corporeal, physical existence… It was brilliant… Twilight was powerful. The blade, though, sunk straight into the changeling’s shoulder, and Twilight held her like that. Lily, meanwhile, had gone ashen. In fact, so had Twilight…

“That was the day-“

“I forced myself to turn into a prime… I remember that day… I pulled every changeling south of Fillydelphia to me. Chrysalis had to have noticed it.” Lily was trembling visibly now.

“She did,” The changeling said. It was wheezing now, it’s breath coming only with great labor. Melody watched as it inhaled slowly, letting it’s breath out ragged. “And she made me that same day… I was born from the dead bodies of hundreds of my brethren, my fellow drones. You know how it goes, Liliana…” Despite it’s wound, the changeling was speaking well… So well, Lily almost doubted it was injured at all… A fresh wave of black blood oozed out around the purple blade, though, and spattered to the floor. She grimaced, but the changeling wasn’t fazed. It continued to speak.

“I was named Imoheen and given one single task… Unlike my fellow brothers and sisters, I didn’t study books, or chess, or history, or any of it… I studied one thing and one thing only…” It’s neon-green eyes flashed dangerously as it looked up, straight at Lily. “I studied how to kill.”

“… W-why…” Lily asked after a few long, silent moments.

“Chrysalis told me stories of Ajax… The most ruthless, remorseless killer ever known to changelings… I listened to them, rapt with attention… I let the heartless tales of blood and violence steel me, strengthen me… I promised myself I wouldn’t be as weak as he was… That I wouldn’t fall for another like he did. That was his weakness, you know… His affection for you.” The changeling took a moment to spit on the floor, the saliva laced with black blood. “It’s what killed him. If he had been cold, truly heartless, he would have lived. He might still be alive. Hell, Canterlot might be ours right now. Instead, Chrysalis gave me one task, and one task only…” Lily watched it’s evil, white, fanged grin spread it’s thin lips apart. Lily and Twilight stared intently as Imoheen fought to say the next few words. They were a direct quote from Chrysalis. The only true order this particular changeling had been given…

”Kill Liliana.”

“Do it, Twilight.” Lily said softly. With a smooth, quick motion, Twilight pulled the blade up… Melody looked away as the sickening squelch of flesh parting flesh sounded. She heard the thump of the body hitting the floor, the sickening splatter of black blood… The stench. Like burning insects…

“Y’all cain’t stay here.” Applejack said softly. She was nursing a hearty brandy and holding a raw steak over her swollen eye. Pinkie Pie and Twilight were finishing up cleaning the mess in the living room. Melody could see them on their knees, scrubbing out the last bit of black blood. The shattered remains of the furniture had been pushed out into the wide front yard and lit on fire, along with the remains of Imoheen. “Iffen that cold bitch made one lieutenant jes to come kill Lily, she’ll make more… She don’ care…” Applejack muttered. “She don’ care how many people die, s’ long as she gets her revenge…”

“Why would he impersonate Braeburn, though?” Lily said quietly. “And more importantly, where is he? Imoheen may be heartless, but if it was impersonating Braeburn, chances are he’s still alive somewhere… To feed off of. How long has it been since you’ve been in Braeburn’s room?” Lily asked. Applejack paused for a moment, thinking hard.

“Shoot… It’s been… Years. FUCK!” Suddenly, Applejack pushed her chair back, sending the thing clattering across the floor as she dashed for the stairs. Melody and Verse were on her tail, following her two-at-a-time up the stairs. Pinkie Pie and Twilight looked up quizzically from their work. Applejack moved quicker than Verse, who was limping thanks to his leg. Melody couldn’t keep up with her as the strong woman rounded a corner and dashed down the upstairs hall.

“BRAEBURN!” She roared, pounding on one door in particular. Melody watched as she smoothly backed up, spreading her feet to gain balance.

“Applejack! Wait!” Melody swept into the space between her and the door, keeping Applejack from damaging her home any further with another devastating kick. “Let me,” Hands already glowing, Melody set to work on the lock. Applejack grunted, but yielded, letting Melody work at the intricate mechanism. She hadn’t practiced this, but she knew the theory… In a few moments, the clicking of the lock sounded and the door swung inwards. She spun aside as Applejack rushed in, leaving a wake of air in her passing.

“BRAEBURN!” She hollered again, spinning around. Melody slipped in behind her, scanning the room carefully. There were two other doors in the sparsely-furnished room, one to the bathroom and another leading to a closet. Applejack roughly pushed the closet door open, and judging from the sound of her cursing, didn’t find anything. Melody hesitantly checked the bathroom…

“AJ.” She said softly, pointing. She was roughly pushed out of the way as Applejack swept into the bathroom. There, sitting against the back wall of the bathtub, was a bound and gagged Braeburn. He looked so thin and emaciated… His beard grew long, looking as scraggly as his hair… Lily could count his ribs from here.

“Ah’m fine.” He said weakly as Applejack stripped the gag out of his mouth. He sat up with her help. “Thet fucker kept me fed jes’ enough…”

“Git him a drink, Melody.” Applejack said, the tone of her voice worried and low. “Hurry.” Melody didn’t mind the order, or her brash tone. If it was Verse who was in danger, she’d probably be more hysterical than the hearty farmwoman. She quickly dashed out of the room, smiling bravely at Verse.

“Help her with Braeburn.” She said, slipping past him. Verse nodded and made for the bathroom as Melody thundered down the steps. “We found him. He’s seen better days, but he sounds okay.” She said to an inquisitive Twilight and Pinkie Pie. She slipped into the kitchen and filled a large glass with water. After a moment’s hesitation, she took the half-bottle of brandy Applejack had left out as well. This time, Twilight and Pinkie Pie followed her up the steps and down the hall to Braeburn’s room. Applejack and Verse were laying his thin form out on the bed, and had just covered him to the waist with a blanket. He had been nude.

“How long’s it been?” He asked, coughing a little. Melody helped him sit forward so they could pile pillows underneath him, propping him up and guiding the glass against his lips.

“Ah cain’t say, Brae… But it’s been a few years.”

“Shit, that long?” He said, coughing a little. Melody let him drink, but not too fast. “Ah cain’t say… The days n’ nights jes… Kinda blended together…” He groaned and laid his head back, closing his eyes. “He turned the shower on when I had t’ shit or piss… Fed me once a day… Ah’ve been in that bathroom, tied up, for… For… Fuck, I dunno…” He started shaking, tears falling from his eyes. “Ah ain’t seen mah bed for years…”

“Leave me with him.” Twilight said softly.

“Ah ain’t leavin’ him now, Twi. You know I can’t.”

“Then at least back away. I have more experience healing the mind than I do the body. Let me help him, Applejack…” There was a long moment. Applejack gnawed on her lip, lost deep in thought…

“Cin I hold his hand?”

“That would help. The rest of you, leave us please…” Melody was about to protest when Lily slid an arm over her shoulder.

“Come on.” She said softly, drawing Lily away… “Let’s leave them be.” Reluctantly, they all left, Pinkie Pie giving Applejack a sympathetic pat on the back as the door closed behind them. Melody could feel the hum of magic come to life as Twilight started working.

“Downstairs.” Lily said. It was half an order, half a pleading request. Verse and Melody had no protests as they followed their mother and Pinkie Pie into the trashed dining room. They all took their seats at the large, warm wooden table, littered with the cold remains of the hard-worked dinner… Dinner made by a vicious, heartless changeling. Melody caught a glimpse of the fire still burning in the front yard… The four of them sighed and looked at one another, all of their expressions haggard and worn.

“If Chrysalis knows I’m down south, she sent others. I can almost promise it.” Lily said softly. “She probably knows Imoheen is dead by now, which means she knows we’re here… We can’t stay long.” The truth of her words weighed heavy on Melody’s mind. She knew they couldn’t stay. This was an intense experience, one that would change their life for good… She turned eighteen in a week. “We have to go back home. The forest will keep us safe from them. They need help from the locals, like Jokkan and Miko, to make it through… We’ll be safe there. I’m so sorry, you two, but we can’t stay here…”

“Don’t apologize.” Verse said, though his tone betrayed his sadness at the situation. “We understand. For one reason or another, you need to keep Melody and I safe. I get it. We’ll get our chance to see the world when this war is over.” Melody agreed with what he was saying. It was the truth, after all… They had no other choice, and home was the safest place for them. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t be sad over the predicament, though… The tears started to come, overwhelming her in that moment. The long day of travel, the pain, the injury, the sickening death… The realization of what Imoheen had done, kept Braeburn prisoner in his own home for an untold number of years… Imoheen, a changeling… Just like her. Just like Verse…

Just like Lily.

“You two need sleep.” Pinkie Pie said softly. “Come on, let’s get you in bed…” She and Lily gently guided the weeping Melody and the stoic Verse back upstairs, turning right down the hallway instead of left. Verse and Lily turned into one room, while Pinkie Pie took Melody into the one after it. The room was warm, lit by a candle, and held a moderately-sized bed, bigger than her one at home. She didn’t need to ask, instead, Pinkie Pie stripped her pants off, keeping her shirt on as she curled up in bed. Melody tucked her back against Pinkie Pie, feeling herself be gently pulled against her soft, warm body… The tears came then, harder than ever, flowing fast and free. Pinkie just held her close the entire night, humming a soft, soothing tune to calm her nerves.

Melody’s sleep was blissfully void of dreams…

She woke earlier than she should. Pinkie Pie was breathing heavy, but thankfully not snoring… She still held Melody close, her warm embrace making Melody nearly forget all that had happened. Nearly. Gentle as possible, and with the aid of a magically-manipulated pillow, Melody slipped out of the warm embrace and into the chill spring air. Pinkie Pie shifted, pulling the pillow tight against her breast, but not waking. Melody breathed a sigh of relief and dressed, making her way downstairs.

Applejack sat in one of the undamaged reclining chairs, snoring with her chin on her chest. Melody smiled and summoned her magic… Very carefully, she lifted the slumbering woman onto the loveseat in the corner, covering her with a blanket. Applejack remained blissfully asleep, curling up under the blanket as she continued to dream… Her eye was still swollen and bruised. It’d be like that for weeks, Melody had a feeling… The hole to the dining room had been controlled… Maybe Twilight’s doing. Instead of jagged edges and exposed framework, it was buffed out and around to the plaster, a simple square opening with a long rectangle on the floor being the only evidence anything had even happened. Melody couldn’t stop the thought as she pictured that being a good spot for a breakfast bar.

She helped herself to the pantry, pouring whole-grain cereal and hearty milk into a bowl. She took a seat and crunched at it contentedly, debating whether or not she should make coffee… The kitchen was far enough removed from the living room, where Applejack slept, and she would need it if she was going to make it through the day. After rinsing out her bowl and setting it aside to be scrubbed later, she set about making coffee, just the way her mother had taught her… Ground cinnamon in with the coffee beans, and a layer of vanilla in the bottom of the pot. She watched with a smile as the thin stream of brown liquid poured into the glassware, filling the kitchen with the scent of brewing coffee. She inhaled, closing her eyes as the scent reminded her of home… Of early mornings before tending the garden… Cold nights with cake and coffee and music…

“Hey,” The voice made her turn. Melody spotted Twilight in the doorway, smiling at her despite her mother’s haggard expression. “Decaf?” She asked.

“C’mon mom,” Melody said teasingly, offering a brave smile. “You know I don’t drink that shit.” Twilight looked at her tiredly for a few moments, her heavy eyes blinking slowly. Eventually, though, her lips cracked into a wide grin.

“That’s my girl.” Twilight ruffled her hair and pulled her close for a hug. Melody had to ask the question bothering her…

“How is he?” Twilight glanced behind her as they broke the hug, her expression wilting slightly… She looked older now than she ever had… Melody realized she was getting on in years… She was probably close to fifty-five now. While magi, and the occasional human, were known to live long lives, Melody wondered if the stress of her busy life hadn’t been wearing on Twilight…

“I cast memory majora… You know that spell, don’t you?” Twilight asked. Melody recalled a hazy study session when she was a young teenager.

“Refresh my memory…”

“I implanted new memories for the period of the past few years. Braeburn believes he’s been working hard and was struck with a sickness the past month, hence his state. Rather than being held prisoner. I know it’s a lie, but it’s better than him living through that…” She sighed. “I’ll teach it to you again someday… I pray you never have to use it for something like this, though…” The coffee finished brewing, and Melody idly poured two cups of deliciously brown, steaming liquid…

“What I don’t understand, though…” Melody said softly. “Is how Applejack couldn’t notice how much Braeburn had changed…”

“I can answer that.” Lily slipped into the kitchen, wearing a loose-fitting blouse and jeans. Her left arm was in a sling, bandaged tight. “You see, Melody…” She said softly, leaning against the counter. “Lieutenants are free of the Hive Mind… Chrysalis holds no sway over them. They, that is to say we, are independent. We can do what we see fit. If a lieutenant didn’t feel so fiercely loyal to Chrysalis, they could easily leave the horde. Much like I did. Like Nyralith did… In that way, they begin to build their own knowledge base, their own set of varied and differentiated opinions… Chrysalis essentially has another mind to give her opinions, values, and different viewpoints. On major issues, their advice can make or break the horde… Imoheen,” She nodded out of the window to the smoldering, black pile. “Was bred only to murder and kill… Not unlike Ajax was…” She shivered at the mention of his name, but continued on.

“For someone so motivated to do harm, they would do anything to achieve their goal… Imoheen was smart. Very smart. He moved in close to Applejack, a close friend of mine and Lily’s… He probably studied Braeburn’s movements, his mannerisms and work habits closely. When he took over, he would have been able to impersonate Braeburn almost perfectly. He knew that, with time, the opportunity would present itself. But time does take it’s toll. If he had waited until I was asleep, he could have done it. We were this close to dying, Melody… We need to be more careful.” Melody shivered at her mother’s words, thinking hard and long over them…

“So… Imoheen was patient. But he saw his target and just went for it…” Her eyes flickered to Lily’s arm. “He almost did it, too…” She turned set her cup down on the counter, looking at her two mothers with teary eyes. “I want to go home… I don’t want to see anyone get hurt again…” Her tears spilled over her eyelids, coursing down her cheeks. “I’m so scared… I don’t want you to get hurt again…” She slowly walked forward, both of her mothers wrapping her in a gentle hug.

“Shh, shh…” Twilight stroked her hair, trying to soothe her. Melody leaned into them, crying heavily. “We’ll go home, Melody… We’ll leave today.” She pressed her face into Melody’s shoulder. “We’ll go home…”

“What do you MEAN we can’t go home?!” Twilight said incredulously. Jokkan tightened his grip on the spear he held, a vicious thing with a razor-sharp blade on one edge, and a serrated set of barbs on the other. Miko stood behind him, both of them within the first line of trees on their southern forest. His accent was thick as he spoke, his words broken and difficult to follow.

“Not you. You welcome to home. But you have evil follow. North, just two day walk, evil black creatures. Come before. Eight cycle of moon and sun ago.” Lily cursed and turned her gaze north.

“Shit. We’re being followed.” She muttered softly.

“Yes. We no let you into forest, they no come. Place they come last time… Evil place. Bad magic there. We let you go home, they follow… We no protect against all them.” Twilight listened intently to his words, debating.

“We can’t just leave our home, Jokkan… We have things there. Important things. Things that we can’t just leave behind.”

“We protect.” Jokkan cut her off. He thumped his chest. Miko followed suit behind him. “You go East, to land of Dragon. They follow you, we keep home safe. Our home.” He pointed to Twilight. “Your home.” Twilight wrung her hands worriedly.

“Jokkan, we have magical things in our home… Things I cannot leave behind-“ She was cut off yet again as Jokkan reached behind him. Smooth and easy, he pulled a wrapped bundle out.

“Jokkan know.” He said quietly. “Jokkan take. Jokkan feel these things in your home. Not easy, but Jokkan take. He know you need. These things important to Ikiri and her family.” Ikiri was their native word for Twilight… They all had names. Krom for Verse, Draconis for Lily, and Mikkan for Melody. Jokkan and his people did not know them by any other name.

“Jokkan, I… I… How did you…”

“Oil and water.” Jokkan said softly. “Our magic… Be like oil and water. They do not mix, they do not work. You.” He pointed at Twilight. “Work like stone. Hard, rough. Not move. Jokkan.” He thumped his chest. “Like water. Flow and move. Move around. Move through. Stone stay, water move… Cannot explain better.” His hard expression softened. Lily looked at him again, taking in the man who had been there through her childhood… Jokkan was somewhat of a mentor to her. When Lily and Twilight had been busy, Jokkan and Miko would take Verse and Melody out. Teach them the ways of the land. It was thanks to them that Lily knew the difference between Poison Oak and regular Oak. That she knew what water was safe to drink, and what would poison her.

Jokkan was tall and muscular, but moved like a shadow. His feet were silent across the leafy forest floor, never leaving a trace of his passing. He had a long, black ponytail that was braided tight and held in place with a leather throng. In the summer, he would wear a loincloth that barely covered his manhood, and during the stormy months, he could be seen wearing trousers and a tight-fitting buckskin vest. His skin was bronzed with a healthy tan.

Miko was much the opposite, though… She was lithe and skinny, and was four times the shadowy, silent hunter that Jokkan was. Melody took Jokkan as a sort of wise man… Well-versed in the ways of their native magic. Miko, however, was a deadly purveyor of the hunting arts. With a silent arrow, Lily had seen her shoot a bird from a hundred paces. Lily had watched as Miko had vanished into the brush, her form melting away from where it once stood into the foliage… Only to reappear on the other side of her seconds later. Miko was a shadow. Nothing more than a whisper that was there one moment… And gone the next.

She was also very beautiful. Her face had sharp, drawn features, and a whip-tight body with a toned core. Her long, slender legs were gracefully curved, with a hint of muscle. Narrow hips and a small bust, though, assured Lily she was not the child-bearing sort… What’s more, she was missing her right breast. The area was always wrapped or concealed one way or another. Lily had seen everything from white bandages to a thick leather plate held in place by two leather straps. When she asked Miko why she was missing her breast one day, Miko had silently turned and shot three arrows, each one consecutively hitting the joint of a branch where it met it’s tree. With each one, she split the previous arrow.

Jokkan had told her it was so she could be a better archer. That she could fire smoother, and guide her arrows with her magic. Lily asked him if it had been worth the sacrifice of losing her womanhood. To that, Jokkan had grinned, and told her “you know it take more than breast to make woman.”

Twilight took the bundle, gently pulling the string loose and folding back the cloth that held it together. Underneath were both the books, stacked neatly atop one another. Melody swallowed hard as Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. She tucked both books back into her pack before turning to Jokkan.

“I can’t say anything to thank you enough.” She said quietly. “Ikiri mah fam-fam dosh een Jokkan.” Twilight spoke to him in their native tongue, which made Jokkan smile, if only marginally.

“Jokkan haas mein Ikiri fam-fam. Jokkan nordune ishiin makko nal del boro. Miko a’ Jokkan haas yoru. Miko a Jokkan mel a’ fam-fam. Jokkan is sorry, Ikiri. We keep home safe while you are away. We will keep evil from this place.” He held his fist to his heart, his face set in stone. Twilight hesitated for a moment before rushing forward and throwing her arms around the man. Jokkan appeared to be stunned, but his features softened as he laid a hand on Twilight’s head. “Jokkan ishiin al Ikiri.” He said softly.

“Thank you, Jokkan… Miko.” Twilight said gently. Lily took her place next, wrapping the big man in a gentle hug. Verse approached, and Jokkan grasped his shoulder in an iron grip. Verse laid his own hand on the big man’s shoulder, both of them holding stoic expressions. When Melody advanced for a hug, though, Jokkan held her at arm’s-length, frowning more than usual.

“Mikkan,” He said softly. “Miko has gift.” Melody blinked as he slipped away. Miko approached then, having stayed back the entire exchange previous. Jokkan stepped aside as the woman stepped forward, her face set in stone. Melody knew she did not speak any of their language, only her own. Silently, the exotic huntress extended her hand. Melody opened her own, and into it fell a very intricate, beautiful necklace. Her eyes went wide as the dying sunlight caught the glimmering golden links, and from them hung a sturdy-looking charm. It almost looked like…

“Mikkan al manno tush eem an al a’ xaro rut. Miko a’ Jokkan borat eem an al a’ butti.” Melody’s eyes were enraptured with the intricate charm… She couldn’t quite comprehend what she was seeing, but it looked as if…

“Is this a whistle?” She asked, looking up… At nothing. Jokkan and Miko were gone. She stood, shocked, as a slight breeze rustled the leaves in the forest. They were alone. Her and her family were completely, entirely alone… And yet… She couldn’t shake the feeling that there were eyes on them. Watching them.

“Come on.” Twilight said softly. “We need to move… If what Jokkan says is true, the changelings are only two days behind us… We need to move East.” Melody felt herself gently being pulled along, a gentle hand on her arm. Her eyes were riveted on the spot she had last seen Miko, but were torn away along with her attention. She threaded the golden links behind her neck, catching the clasp and feeling the reassuring weight of the charm rest against her sternum…

They turned East, towards the high, imposing mountains…

Towards Dragon territory.

Out of the Fire...

---------- Melody’s Tale - Out of the Fire… ----------

Melody paused on the next switchback to look out at the vast plains stretching out beneath them… It almost looked as if she was a giant, and if she took a step forward, her foot would just occupy several square miles, and she could walk across the land freely. So sheer was the drop, so little were all the features and landmarks, she felt like the biggest thing alive… The sheer face of the mountain was one of three that they had traversed in two weeks. Though it was the tallest yet… Every other time, there had been one thing or another that would block her view, or jut into her periphery, or mar her view of the wide, vast, open area beneath her… But right now, in that moment, Melody could see everything from the southern sea to the desert north of Appleoosa, and not a single inch of it was thrown out of context by that one rocky outcropping, the curve of the path, or her family members looming up in front of her. She looked down at her feet… The edge of the path seemed to meet the green, rolling hills beneath… The way her eyes focused, it looked like it was right there, laid at her feet, a lush carpet of grass and hills for her to walk upon…

“Melody?” Twilight’s voice broke her reverie. She blinked a few times and backed away from the edge, feeling anxiety well up in her throat. “You okay, kiddo?”

“I almost jumped…” She said softly, her voice half a whisper. “It looked so close, like I could just step out onto the plains…” She backed up until the sloping face of the mountain caught her heels, dropped her on her rear. Even then, she continued to scoot backwards, her feet leaving the trail and scrabbling for purchase on the sheer face of the mountain.

“Vertigo.” Lily said automatically. “She’s never been this high, or in this thin of air. We need to stop for the day, let them catch their breath, wrap their minds around what’s happening.” Indeed, all of them were huffing and sweating profusely. It seemed like she couldn’t get a full breath in the thin mountain air. They had managed to make it through the foothills in good time, but ascending the steep slope of the mountains was a different fight altogether. The steep trail switched back upon itself dozens of times over and again, so that for however tall the mountain was, they would literally walk ten times the distance. Melody’s lungs burned, and her legs were worn time and again. At night, the air would freeze, though they had magic and fire to keep them warm. During the day, the high sun would do little to warm the thin air, but the wind was eerily still, so the cold mornings gave way to hot, sweaty days, and more cold nights.

Still, for all this, there was majesty to be seen. Melody looked back frequently, looking over what was probably one eighth of the entire land of Equestria. There was one night that Twilight had stood with her on a cliff face, pointing out by nighttime light the different landmarks. She could see farther out into the Southern sea than she ever could, and all the way north, the faint lights of Fillydelphia stained the night sky with a dull glow…

“Go find a spot to set up camp, Verse. I’ll pry Melody from the mountainside.” Lily switched places with Twilight on the trail, her and Verse plodding onwards to find a spot to make camp. Melody resisted for a moment as Lily gently pulled on her arm, but resorted to clinging to her mother with a little urging. Together, she and Lily ascended the last two switchbacks, finally cresting the top of the mountain. A gust of rare wind lifted their hair from their shoulders as they looked down into the valley below, eyes wide with wonder.

“Woah.” Melody breathed.

“Yeah. Woah.” Lily mirrored her.

The land beneath them was best described as barren. Rocky. Desolate. Among other horrible adjectives. Like deadly. Feeling a little bit more in control of herself now, Lily slowly descended the opposite side of the mountain, thankful that these were much less steep, and much wider. The going was easy on her legs, so she let the mountain do the walking for her. She plodded along, resting her legs as best she could, still staring in wonder at the vast display of jagged, broken earth before her. A very large, stark contrast to the brilliant, green, rolling display that had greeted her eyes previously, the eastern dragon territory was very… Brown. But not without definition… Jagged slopes of knife-like rock formations jutted up from the landscape like the knife poking from the ribs of a dead man. The thin, emaciated skeleton of the land was pockmarked here and there with black, charred marks. A darker color than those places that were burnt and jagged, the smooth surface of the wide, open plains was marred only by black holes, darker than the ashen wastes left behind by what melody could only guess was dragon fire. Those holes were the dens and homes of the dragons who lived here…

“There. Twilight’s found a spot.” Lily pointed. Melody followed the line of her finger to a small inlet in the rugged side of the mountain. Twilight’s shirt stood out from the rest of the dull, brown rock, painting her position well. The books she had read said this side of these mountains were buffeted by great winds, winds that powered the dragon’s flight. She was glad to have the shelter her mother had found, even if it meant there was little to no vegetation. Between two jagged teeth of rocky outcroppings was the adequate room they needed, space enough to build a magical fire that burned through the night with no fuel and still have room for the four of them to stretch out on insulated sleeping bags that had weathered the journey north, back south, and to the east well. Melody plopped herself down with a sigh as Verse started to make their camp. He had valiantly offered to carry the majority of supplies, since he was stronger than any of them, save for Lily when she was shifted in to the hulking Liam or someone else… But Lily didn’t like to change if she didn’t have to. Given her history, Melody couldn’t blame her.

The fire leapt to life under Verse’s careful touch, and they all huddled close to it. Even though the sun had just begun to go down, they could already feel the chill in the air. Lily set about cooking magically-summoned food, and before Melody knew it, they were looking at a hearty dinner of lean venison steaks and crisp celery stalks. They ate in silence, for once… In fact, all four of them had become more silent in the past few weeks… Melody was unsure if it was because they were just plain tired, or if they were afraid of discovery.

She guessed against the latter, since Twilight pulled her flute from her bag. As she began to tune the instrument, Verse smiled and pulled his guitar out of it’s own case. Why they brought the instruments, Melody couldn’t guess yet again. But she was still glad she had her violin. Just as she pulled it free from it’s case, though, Lily held her hand open.

“I want you to sing this song.” She said softly, nodding to Verse. He knew which one it was. It was the only one that Melody sang and didn’t play an instrument on. Meal finished, remains cleaned, instruments tuned, Verse began to strum the first few simple notes… Together, he and Lily sang the first verse

”My mother wears rosy glasses,

Goes to temple, prays to Luna ‘til she passes out.

By the road of our house is my dad,

In his heart lives a poet and a sad-faced-

Clowns never made my brother smile.

He’s a devil-dog, running strong, never tired.

I am, my brother’s brother, Redundant Wonder.

Misunderstanding how we all stand under the same old sun,

Yet we love no one but ourselves. Even that just goes to hell.

‘Well, well,’ said the sun to the moon, by the stars,

‘How far can they run ‘til it all falls apart?’

‘I don’t know. I am just your reflection.’

But I know, they will hope, they will dream

Oh when they see me lighting up the night

I’m fighting with the tide

I’m waving them goodnight.

They’ll soon wake up to your sunlight, checking that the time’s right, time’s right on.

You’ll heal these holes that fill this road.

With holy ghosts and broken notes.

I just wanna shout out loud

Your name in this crowd

And if you hear, somehow…

Won’t you turn around?

‘Cause in your eyes. I. See my soul.

Yes, I see my soul. My queen, my soul…

Melody lifted her voice in a high soprano solo, while Verse sang low and quiet, letting her have the spotlight…

”I just wanna shout out loud

Your name in this crowd…

And if you hear, somehow…

Won’t you turn around?

Countering her line-for-line, Verse sang quietly…

”’Cause in your eyes. I. See my soul.

Yes, I see my soul. My queen, my soul…

They joined back together for the next, upbeat section.

”’Don’t be so set in your ways’

Said the moon back to the sun

‘They will learn, they will change, they are only human

Don’t you know? They are just our reflections.’

But I know, they will hope, they will dream

Oh when they see me lighting up the night

I’m fighting with the tide

I’m waving them goodnight.

So goodnight, moon

Morning sun,

Evening stars,

And little ones.

Learn to hope, sweet, sweet dreams,

To fall in love, and everything.

‘Cause in my mom, and my dad, oh my brother, too…

I love for them, and I sing for you…”

The song ended on that last note, a shiver running through Melody’s form as her voice and Verse’s faded away with the last, metallic strains of his guitar… She loved that song. It had a brilliant melody, simple and oh so easy to follow. Each time she sang the words ‘I just wanna shout out loud,’ she felt an emotion sweep through her… It filled her front to back, from her toes to her scalp… Lily held the violin in the crook of her neck for a full minute before removing it and handing it off to Melody. Without even thinking, Melody laid the violin against her neck, put bow to string, and began playing.

Her own lullaby was written by her mother when she was a child. Whenever Melody had had trouble sleeping, Lily would play for her, while Twilight hummed along with the notes. The haunting, slow, beautiful notes were a comforting reminder of her life before it was complicated beyond belief. Even just playing the song, she felt her eyes close, her body relax and lose itself to the tune. Apparently everyone else decided enough was enough as they packed up and began pulling bed rolls out… Melody played through the tune once more, smiling at Verse as he set out her sleeping bag for her. By the time she finished, everyone was under the cover of their own makeshift bed, the four of them laid out parallel to one another. Smooth and easy, Melody put her violin away and slipped under the covers. Sleep took her, blissfully dark and dreamless.

They seldom shared any words. Verse and Melody followed Twilight and Lily’s lead as they turned right, towards the south. It took them a week to come down out of the high, jagged mountains and out into the flat, occasionally scorched plains. They skirted the wide, dark holes that marked dens of slumbering dragons, and avoided the scarred earth when they could. The one time they were forced, however, to walk through one of the barren charred spots marring the face of the planet, Melody smelled brimstone and fire. Other smells she couldn’t place, but she was willing to believe it was the smell of the ground beneath her feet, which had melted and warped under the intense heat… Worse than the temperature, though, was the wind. It was always there, whipping her hair into her face, making her stumble as it caught her bulky pack like a sail. Eventually, she just tore strip off of her shirt and used it to tie her hair back behind her head, tucking the long ponytail into the neck of her shirt.

They only spotted dragons from afar. Occasionally, a dark shadow would detach itself from the rest of the mountains, or emerge from one dark hole or another, and wing into the sky… In those moments, all four of them became completely still, sometimes even laying down… Verse and Melody waited for Twilight and Lily to tell them it was clear before moving. The scorched, blasted land stretched on forever and ever in each direction, never showing any relief from anything. Day by day, though, the southern horizon began to change. Melody watched as it grew jagged teeth, and soon those teeth grew bigger and bigger… The wind-swept dirt ground beneath their feet became more rough, rocky in places… The small stones and rocks soon grew to jutting formations and massive boulders, larger even than the biggest house Lily had seen in Appleoosa. The ever-present wind lifted and swelled more, now, gusting up the face of the imposing cliff…

“We stop here tonight.” Lily pulled up short. It was late afternoon, and they were in a small delta, a rare flat spot before a rather sharp incline. The rise looked almost impassible, maybe one or two ways making themselves readily visible, and at the top, what looked to be a knife’s-edge drop down to whatever laid on the other side. Lily spoke quietly as she turned to Melody and Verse. “No fire. No music. Tomorrow, we reach the beach.”

“The southern sea?” Melody asked quietly, leaning close as she and Verse shrugged out of their packs. Lily nodded and looked around slowly.

“The sea runs as far east as Dragonpoint, where the land turns north to form the eastern border of the world as we know it… No one has sailed a boat east of that shore and returned… Some say it’s just a never-ending ocean of water, no matter how far you sail you’ll never reach the end… Others say it turns back around upon itself and lands in the Nightlands… Which would explain why no one returns…”

“The Nightlands? I’ve only ever read the stories… No map documents them, there is next to no proven text on the subject. What are they?” Verse said, keeping his voice low as he rolled out his sleeping bag.

“Another story for another time, Verse… Right now, get some sleep. Tomorrow, we climb to the top of the Razor and see if we can find a way down to the beach…” She leaned in and gave them both a gentle hug. Melody knew they had to remain quiet… There was just an eerie presence in the air. Like if they made any loud noises, they would be discovered… By a dragon, or worse… When Melody lay down to sleep, fear kept her quiet, and terror kept her still.

The next day dawned bleak and cloudy. An odd thing for a sun-bleached land. Every day previous, the sun had at least shone, if not glared down at them… Today, though… It hid behind the opaque, pearly-grey cover of clouds, only peeking out when a thin layer passed over it. They quietly set about to cleaning up their small, almost non-existent camp. Quietly, Twilight ushered them to leave their packs stuffed inbetween a boulder and the joint where it met the ground. She went about casting a silent spell to conceal them, while Lily’s vision worriedly looked up towards the land feature she had called the Razor the night before.

Slow as they could go without making noise on the loose ground and rocks beneath their feet, the four of them began to make their way up to the tip of the Razor. One time, Melody’s foot slipped, and she fell to her knees. Pain lanced through her leg as she landed, sending a miniature avalanche of loose rock tumbling down behind her. It was much more silent than it really should have been, which made her both thankful and inquisitive. Twilight looked up at her, holding a finger to her lips at Melody’s pained expression. Carefully, Twilight picked up a small chunk of stone, showing off the pointed, jagged edge to them. Quiet as a whisper and barely audible, she placed the substance.

“Obsidian.” Melody’s breath caught in her throat as Twilight said what it was, making her eyes widen. The loose, flat stones were all sharp as a knife. She felt them dig into her skin as she shifted back to her feet, some of them picking up with her skin. Wincing, but not giving more than thin whimper, she pulled them free and set them back on the ground, red with her blood. The cuts were shallow and thin, closing readily enough, but each step she took would open them back up… The pain was a dull, low ache, laced with the occasional hot flash. Melody gritted her teeth and fought through the pain, moving to a more stable portion of the slope. She made sure each portion of the steep incline was safe to put her hand on before pulling herself higher. In the chill, cloudy morning, the four of them were rapidly warming up. Lily reached the top first, her fiery red curls matching the hue and tint of the ground much better than her own teal. Verse was next, followed by Melody, then Twilight.

Melody nearly slipped back down the face of the cliff when she saw what lay beneath them.

Dozens of dragons. Dare she say hundreds, even, dotted the beach beneath them. The first noise aside from the blowing of the wind was the sound of their hissing breath, their terrible roars… They lay stretched out on the shore, slumbering lazily. Others thundered through the surf, playing and running through the water. It was both terrifying and amusing to watch. The younger, smaller dragons were probably the size of their home on the same sea west of where they were now. The older dragons, though… Melody couldn’t even begin to guess how large they were. As one of them picked itself up from the sand, Melody guessed a small town could have fit in the crater it left behind.

Fire erupted here and there as they breathed on one enough, evaporating the saltwater with a hiss, leaving the other dragon a smoking, furious mess. Melody would be incinerated, gone in an instant if she were caught in one of those blasts. Skin, flesh, and bones would burn and turn to ash in an instant… The dragon that played the victim to this attack would merely roll over on it’s back, making steam erupt as it’s hot scales dipped into the water. Now and then, one of them would take wing, kicking up spray as it’s wings lifted it’s bulky form up into the sky. They would gain height, then arch backwards, tuck their wings in, and dive into the sea… The way they sliced into the water was so graceful, so terrifying…

One of the closer dragons, laying at the base of the cliff, gave her a chance to study them, closer than some people ever made it in their entire lives. This particular one boasted brilliant emerald scales, each one as large as a door. They glimmered in the dull light, catching the smallest particle and throwing it back four times illuminated. It’s massive flanks lifted and fell with each smooth, easy breath, it’s wings idly twitching now and then. It sported four massive appendages, each leg as wide around as a tree and bulging with muscles. The scales on it’s elbows and knees were pointed to an edge so fine Melody could have guessed would impale a person with ease. Each one of these legs ended in a muscular paw of sorts, more of a claw, really… The black talon curved around, and was easily as long as Melody was tall. It’s long, muscular neck supported a brilliant head, just like the ones drawn in the books she had read. Smaller scales, perhaps as big as her hand, lined the beast’s lips, eyes, and nose, sweeping back of it’s cheeks and brow into a row of black-and-brown spines, flared outwards to give it a frilled appearance. The ones at the back of it’s skull, though, extended upwards and out, curved around until they faced forward. Vicious horns. They were magnificent. They were frightening. They were dragons.

“Come on,” Lily pulled at her ankle. She realized then that she had been staring rapt at the dragons as her family had left the edge. Tearing her gaze away from the magnificent beast, she quietly slipped back over the edge, moving slow and careful back down the face of the Razor. They made their way down as silently as they could manage, stopping now and then to listen for signs of discovery. It was well after noon when they arrived back at the site they had slept last night, and when they retrieved their concealed packs, they made fast time walking fast away from the Razor. When it was deemed they were far enough away they could talk without worry of their voices carrying over the edge of the imposing edge of the Razor, they spoke again.

“So now what?” Verse asked. Twilight and Lily looked between themselves for a moment. Melody could tell they were talking over the link again…

“We do what Celestia ordered we do long ago… South isn’t safe… We can’t survive in Dragon territory without being close to the sea… So we go north, into Harpy lands.”

“The hapries?!” Melody whispered incredulously, her voice high and thin with disbelief. “She wanted us to turn ourselves in to the harpies?! Why would she DO that?!”

“She only wanted us to do so if we were being chased by changelings… Which we are. Harpies hate changelings more than they hate humans and magi. Though it seems their hatred for avians extends beyond all else… None of you shift into anything with wings while we’re there.” Twilight warned them, pointing in particular to Lily. Verse and Melody knew they could shift, but neither of them had practiced, if at all… They were more focused on learning magic than learning how to change. Lily, however, nodded.

“The hapries will keep us prisoner, more than likely, but better a prisoner than dead.” Twilight continued. She pointed to the north. “We need to cross the wastes again, north past Naga-haal, the city where the Naga used to live.” She paled a little. “That’s going to be tough… But we need the fresh water springs. I can’t summon water and food forever. We’ll stop there, rest, then strike north into Featherhome.” Twilight sighed and hoisted her pack higher on her back, turning her purple-eyed gaze north. “We’ll be there by winter.”

Melody followed her gaze, out across the barren, windy plains stretching on ahead of them. As she watched, a small gust kicked up a dust devil, the spinning cone listlessly passing over the ground before them. If this were the desert north of Appleoosa, she would expect to see a tumbleweed passing her vision… With a sigh full of sadness and exhaustion, Melody willed her feet to carry her further north… Back over the dragon lands before her feet.

“Hold on.” It had been another three weeks. For the past ten days, none of them had said a word, hadn’t played their instruments. All they had done was slowly make their way through the barren wasteland, swinging wide of the black dens, staying clear of any scorched battlegrounds… Once or twice, they had passed the dirty, brown bones of a dragon long dead. “No, I feel something, Lily.” Twilight continued, her eyes fixed on one black pockmark in the land. They had been tracking to the left of this particular den for two whole days now, and were just to the west of it when Twilight stopped. They looked at her, she looked at the black hole in the land.

“What is i- TWILIGHT!” Lily had begun to ask a question, just as Twilight dropped her pack and started running towards the hole. Cursing, she and Melody followed after, Verse behind them as he hoisted Twilight’s pack along with his own. Twilight moved half again as fast as Lily and Melody did, sprinting full-tilt towards the hole. The ground began to turn darker, going from a light brown to an earthy, sort of soil color, and darker still until it was as black as night underneath their feet. And slippery. The land had been turned to obsidian. Twilight slipped and fell now and then, but quick as she could picked herself up and kept running. She was huffing. They had run two miles, maybe a little less… But still… She was as fast as ever, nothing more than a purple gash in the black land before them. Melody watched with horror as Twilight disappeared into the dark hole, the home of a dragon…

“C’mon.” Lily slipped out of her pack, dropping it to the ground. She spun around to Verse, huffing along behind them. She gestured to him, then to the packs, then held her hand up. ‘Stay here, wait for us.’ She meant. Melody followed her mother’s lead, the two of them following Twilight into the den…

The land sloped down and away from them, tunneling into the earth at an angle. Twilight couldn’t be seen in the darkness in front of them, but from the dull glow of the sunlight on the shiny, black walls, Lily could tell it turned in a slow curve, burrowing down and into the earth. Obsidian was slippery, but slightly porous. While they slid down it when they put their weight into it, they could make it back up without too much of a struggle. Lily and Melody slid down into the den, blackness surrounding them as they slid further and further. Ten, twenty, thirty feet underground, turning slowly… Pressure build around Melody’s ears, amplifying the sound of her hammering heart and her panting breath. Hands and feet on the sloped ground, Lily and Melody slid around the gentle curve. They had to have been a hundred feet underneath the surface now, the pressure making her ears ache. She flexed her jaws, popping her ears. They rounded the bend, into a wide, flat chamber…

Where Twilight was hugging a dragon’s face. Her arms laid flat on the beast’s muzzle, her cheek pressed into his scales. Melody felt as if her heart as stopped. Just as she rushed forward to pull her mother away, to run out of the nightmarish den, Lily stopped her, pulling her short.

“What-“

“It’s okay.” Lily said gently. “It’s fine…” Melody opened her mouth to tell her mother off, to go rescue Twilight, adrenaline pounding through her veins… One word from Twilight, though, stopped her.

“Spike.”

She knew that name. Melody stopped, turning towards her mother. Twilight was standing normally now, but one hand laid flat on the dragon’s muzzle. “Wh… What?”

“It’s Spike.” Twilight said gently. “I knew him… Know him… He’s a friend.” Twilight’s face shined with tears, her chest shaking with a sob as she leaned forward to lay against his muzzle again. “C’mon, buddy… Wake up…” She mumbled softly, laying out against him. The dragon breathed smooth and easy, it’s eyes closed completely. It was asleep. She watched, both frightened and inquisitive as Twilight’s hands began to glow. “Wake, up Spike…” Her purple glow enveloped the dragon, wrapping around his entire body. “I need you awake, buddy… C’mon…” Idly, the dragon rolled over, making Twilight jump back. He rolled onto his back, one claw raising to scratch it’s pale-colored stomach. It’s scales were a brilliant, shining purple, the spines down it’s back and lining it’s face a beautiful jade green… On it’s stomach, and lining it’s eyes, however… They were a pale, faded sort of yellow… The contrast was beautiful. Melody noted, however, that this particular dragon did not have wings… Still, it was as big as their home, and as it rolled over, it muttered tiredly.

“Not now… ‘nother five minutes…” It couldn’t be that old, if Twilight knew it… But it’s voice rumbled through the entire cave, making her chest vibrate with the force.

“You’ve slept long enough, mister!” Twilight planted her fists on her hips, fixing the dragon with her gaze and her magic. “Time to get up!”

“Aah! Okay, okay! Sheesh… Whaddaya want? I already cleaned the bookshelves just yesterd-… Wait…” The dragon leapt to it’s feet, scrambling to get away from Twilight. The thudding of it’s massive body into the obsidian floor made the entire chamber jump and shake beneath Melody’s feet. She watched, though, as the dragon squared it’s face on Twilight, eyes blinking for a few moments.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Twilight said, a coy smile curling her lips. Spike blinked, looking at her in disbelief for a few long, long moments… Then, with a massive laugh, the dragon bounded forward, loping across the open area and nudging Twilight to the ground. Twilight laughed with him, squirming as the long, forked tongue slid out of it’s mouth to run up the entire length of Twilight’s body. Spike alternated between happily licking and nuzzling Twilight, his throaty laughter shaking the entire chamber.

“Ow, Spike!” Twilight laughed, pushing helplessly at his massive face. “It’s hot! Spike, stoppit!” She giggle and laughed, much to Melody’s disbelief. Spike backed off, his scaly face split in a wide grin as his tail thumped the floor. He was acting like a big, happy dog… Twilight stood up, wiping her shirt and pants free of the hot saliva. “Sheesh, buddy… You act like you haven’t seen me in two decades.”

“Two… Wait, has it really been twenty years?” Spike said suddenly, his expression and actions sobering considerably. He sat back on his haunches, lifting his body up. Melody thought he looked much different like that, his body rearing up. He held his hands in front of his face, flexing long, white claws and bulging muscles. He raised one hand to run over the green spines on his face, down his neck, and a ways down his back. “Woah… You look so small…” He mused. He turned his head this way and that, surveying his body. “I look so… Big… Holy crap.”

“Hey!” Twilight pointed a finger at him. “Watch your language, mister.”

“Hey to you!” Spike grunted, swinging his head back around to her. “I’m… What… Twenty-six now? Seven? Eer… Wait… how old was I when I left…?”

“You were ten.” Twilight said softly. “It’s been nineteen years since you left. You’re twenty-nine now, buddy. I guess I shouldn’t tell you to watch your language anymore.”

“I’m twenty-nine… Which makes you…”

“Fifty-one.” Twilight said gently.

“Huh.” Spike lowered himself down onto his stomach, his head gracefully swinging forward until it was close to Twilight once more. “You don’t look it…” He smiled again as Twilight leaned into him, her arms open wide as she hugged him as best she could. He closed his eyes and nudged her gently, his sigh washing a hot breath over her. She giggled and pulled away.

“So… Wait, what are you doing over here? Twilight, shouldn’t you be back west, in Ponyville or something?” Spike asked, the spines on his brow furrowing as he frowned at her.

“That’s a long story, Spike…” Twilight said gently. Melody felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder.

“I’m going to go get Verse.” Lily said gently into her ear. “Stay here, make sure everything goes okay. We’ll be back.” She nodded, still remaining silent. Spike hadn’t noticed either of them yet, he had been too busy talking with Twilight. Her other mother had sat on the ground, talking to Spike happily. Like nothing had changed.

“After you left, Lily and I… Well, we kind of fell in love.” She started, smiling wistfully.

“That’s good, Twilight. I’m glad you found someone. Even more glad it was Lily.” He swung his head around, spotting Melody. “Woah. I see you like ‘em young, eh Twi?” He chuckled, nudging Twilight with the side of his face as he looked intently at Melody. His vertical pupils slid up and down her body, blinking as he took her in. “She looks more like a changeling than ever, though… The hair, the eyes…”

“Spike,” Twilight said gently. “That’s our daughter, Melody.”

There was a long silence.

“D… Daught- WHAT?!” Spike roared, rearing up. His eyes went wide with disbelief. “You… You two… HOW?!” He leaned in, intent on Twilight’s laughing face.

“Bahahahaha! You should see your face right now!” Twilight rolled onto her back, kicking her legs. Melody laughed as well, Spike’s shocked face swinging between her and Twilight slow and smooth.

“Twilight, how did you have kids with Lily?! I mean, did she turn into a guy, and… You know…”

“Oh, she did… Believe me buddy. A couple of times.” Twilight wiped tears from her eyes as she gestured to Melody, urging her forward. “But that’s not how it happened… We’ve got a lot to catch up on…” Melody sat next to Twilight on the smooth ground, Spike settling down to listen intently.

Twilight shared everything she had told Verse and Melody a few months ago in their home before they left, though she went a little bit back. There was a story about Cheerilee and Celestia and Lily that Melody hadn’t heard previously. She knew her mother liked it rough, but… Whips? Chains? Leather? Ick. She told Spike how they had discovered the power of TRUE love, how that power had given her Melody and Verse, the two of them born of means more complex than even Celestia could understand.

Twilight told a very saddened Spike about Rarity’s death… He cried tears, the liquid hardening into diamonds as they fell to the hard floor, landing and breaking into shards that tinkled across the floor before they grew completely hard… She told him how Lily had become the new element of Generosity, how they had gone far to the south to keep Melody and Verse safe… All up until their most recent encounter with the vicious lieutenant Imoheen, how they had fled south, then back east… How the southern shore was laden with dangerous dragons, how they were now headed north into Harpy territory.

“Hmm…” Spike’s claws clacked on the ground as he tapped them, much like someone would tap their fingernail on a desk as they pondered a difficult question… “Well… I know the harpies aren’t happy with avians right now. But they should be able to at least keep you safe. Have you thought about how you would get out of that situation, though?” He asked. Twilight nodded.

“I figure if I promised to help them broker a peace with Equestria, using myself as a bargaining chip, they would let us go eventually… We could end the harpy/avian quarrel, end the bloodshed, and maybe even re-open trade with them… If they have any amount of decency, they wouldn’t kill me… Or any of us… Lily just needs to be careful to not shift around them… I hope they can’t pick her apart from us… Verse and Melody, for that fact, either…” She sighed, her expression turning downward.

“I think it’ll work, Twi.” Spike said softly, reaching out to lift her head with the back side of his claw. “You can talk anything out with anyone. You’re good with words like that.” He dropped the claw, turning to look at Melody.

“Wow… Twilight had kids with Lily… Oh! Where’s Verse, by the way? I’d like to meet him. And I haven’t seen Lily in forever, either…”

“I think they’re coming down now…” Twilight said, looking back to the entrance. Shadows danced on the wall, the form of two people sliding down the obsidian slope. Spike grinned as Lily and Verse came around the corner, but judging by their expression, neither of them brought good news…

“Uh oh…” Twilight and Melody both stood as Verse and Lily hit the flat surface, jogging to cover the distance. “What’s wrong?” Twilight asked as the two of them caught up. Verse looked hesitantly at Spike, whose own face now mirrored his own.

“They caught up with us.” Lily said, panting a little. “The changelings are behind us, now… A dozen of them, maybe more.” Spike growled, even as Melody covered her mouth with her hand. Lily’s face was set in stone. “We’re cornered.”

---------- Notes from the Author ----------

This one’s going to be a long note, with a lot to cover, so stick with me, folks…

The song Melody and Verse sang earlier on was a nod to “Goodnight Moon” by Monsters Calling Home. I changed some of the words around to make it work with the story (They used words like “God” and “Jesus” so it wouldn’t be fitting…) If you want to know how it sounds, please look them up. Don’t do it on youtube, though… I’ve searched and searched and searched, and all I can find is a crappy puppy theatre video. I recommend Spotify, which is what I used to listen to this song.

Oddly enough, the two singers in that song sound almost EXACTLY what I imagine Verse and Melody to sound like. It’s eerie. Like, they have it nailed. So there’s another reason you should go check it out. The lyrics are almost word-for-word, aside from what I’ve changed. All credit to them, I don’t own the song at all. Please don’t sue me for this >.>

A lot happened in this chapter, and a very large period of time was covered. So let’s recap.

-Imoheen, a vicious changeling lieutenant, tried to kill Lily but was foiled.

-Discovering they weren’t safe in Appleoosa, they tried to flee back south to their home

-Jokkan and Miko won’t let them go home while the changelings follow them

-Following Celestia’s original plan, they flee East, into Dragon territory

-Planning to stay on the southern sea so they can fish for food and whatnot, they head further south, but discover the dragons are lining the entire southern sea. While I didn’t explain it, the reason for this is it’s nesting season. They find their mates by the sea, then fly north to their homes and lay eggs. The whole process lasts two years.

-Headed back north, Twilight discovers Spike, and rouses him from his sleep. While they sleep for a century, dragons are very irritable and easy to wake. If you remember the episode where Fluttershy goes nuts on the dragon, they wake him up very easily.

-the changelings following them manage to catch up, and that’s where this chapter ends.

I hope this covers anything i may or may not have forget.

A few more things:

I plan on writing Melody’s Tale much more frequently. My goal is to catch the word count up to at least where The Untold Chapters is, plus enough for the next 3 chapter update. So, The Untold Chapters will be taking a short break while Melody’s Tale catches up in word count. Expect another chapter before the weekend, plus a livestream if I can manage it on Saturday (WoW might trip me up)

Equestria After Dark posted something new. I’ll be posting a blog entry with a link to the description, and my plans for it. For those of you who keep up on EQAD, please don’t spoil what I’ve got planned in the comments. Wait for the blog entry.

And into the Frying Pan

--------------- Melody’s Tale - And into the frying pan ---------------

Spike growled, his reptilian eyes fixed on the entrance to his cave. “Changelings dare to chase MY friends into MY home?” The intensity of his growl made Melody’s sternum shake, made her back away from the dragon… He came up on all fours then, his muscular legs flexing as he raised his hulking, toned body up. “Move back. All of you.” His low warning was enough to make them all move on the other side of him from the entrance. Melody picked up her pace to a run in a scramble to get out of his way…

Just in time, it seemed. Spike opened his huge maw, exhaling a prolonged gout of burning fire straight back up the entrance. The fire hissed and burned all in it’s path, the heat making all of them cringe and move further away from him. Such molten fury, burning it’s way all the way back up to the surface. Over the keening sound of the hissing and popping, Melody thought she heard screams… The fire cut off, droplets of burning liquid spilling from Spike’s mouth as he spoke, keen eyes still focused on the entrance.

“Climb on my back.” He said, low and deep. “I’ll carry you to Naga-haal…” Twilight moved forward first, quickly scrambling up his tail and onto his back. Verse was right behind her. Hesitantly, Melody and Lily followed. They were able to find purchase on his long, bone-like spines, their feet pushing them up from the joint where they extended from his back. If it caused him pain or discomfort, Spike didn’t show any indication. As they climbed, he exhaled another blast of fire, to the sound of more screams. He was torching all of the changelings as they descended into his home. They all climbed atop him, moving until they were halfway between his shoulder blades and rear legs. There was no possible way for them to sit down, but his back was broad enough that they could stand, holding onto the long, thick spines jutting from his back. True to her suspicions, Spike had no wings.

He lurched forward slowly, giving them all time to adjust. Using the spine for orientation, Melody rode his motions easily enough… He picked up speed as he started climbing up the slope of his own den, feet finding purchase on the scorched, glowing obsidian. They passed lumps of what she would guess were changelings… Melody couldn’t tell what they were… The light grew and grew until they breached the opening, Spike’s feet easily finding purchase on the slick surface of the obsidian beneath them. The wind whipped Melody’s hair out from underneath her shirt, making it tug on her scalp. The combination of the headlong wind and Spike’s smooth, quick pace made her hair fly like a flag. She didn’t even bother with it as the tie flew out of her hair, unfurling the tight braid and letting it flap freely behind her head. She enjoyed the cooling feeling of the air blowing in her face, but the feeling was quickly lost as she spotted what all greeted them in the burning sunlight.

Dozens of changelings, not ten or twenty, but closer to fifty, swarmed towards them. Melody swallowed hard, looking out over them as they all ran or flew towards them. Mouths open in a vicious hiss, they flitted across the hard-packed dirt towards them. Spike plowed through the ones in front, leaving several crushed and battered bodies behind, which were quickly forgotten by their brethren in heated pursuit.

Spike roared long and loud. The sound was both low, rumbling through her chest and feet, and high at the same time. She felt it lance through her ears, making them ache as he screamed and bellowed at the pursuers. His tail lashed at any that came close, knocking them through the air or into the ground roughly. Melody watched as one of them tried to catch itself mid-air, but one crumpled and broken diaphanous wing wouldn’t work properly, and it crashed into a heap. Still, for every one Spike battered away, two took it’s place… Soon, they were climbing up his spines, intent on the group of four clinging to his back.

“I’m sorry spike!” Melody heard Twilight’s voice call out, shortly before a blast of fire engulfed one of the nearest climbing changelings.

“Hardly felt it!” Spike bellowed, sprinting hard and fast over the dirt now. Sure enough, his brilliant purple scales showed no signs of the fire…

“Use flame spells!” Twilight called. Melody understood in a flash. They had to fight off the changelings as they approached… One hand rose and began to weave an intricate pattern in midair, painting a flame spell she knew well. She put it into action, watching a small, compact ball of fire streak forward and catch one changeling full in the chest. The impact made him scramble, his hands losing purchase on the large spine he had his hands wrapped around. The sound of his impact into the dirt was audible even over the sound of a similar spell from Verse. Another loomed up behind the first, heedless of the loss of a comrade. Melody began weaving another spell, struggling to complete it before it got close enough… The changeling lunged forward…

“NO!” Twilight screamed, gripping him in her telekinetic field. Melody watched him get flung far and away, opening the path to what was behind him. Quick as she could, she cast another flaming ball at the one behind him, knocking it off and into one more. Three changelings fell from Spike’s back and onto the wide, dusty plain, unmoving.

“You’re MINE.” Verse growled. He and Lily were on the other side of the wall of Spike’s spines, and through the gaps in the bony protrusions, Lily saw him locked in a struggle with a changeling. “Got him!” Verse growled.

“Did you capture one?” Twilight asked, calling out over the sound of the roaring wind and Spike’s quick, heavy footfalls.

“He isn’t going anywhere.” Verse called out.

“We’ll take this one to Naga-haal, question him!” Lily called out. Melody gave a heavy breath of relief, gripping Spike firmly as she looked behind them. Changeling bodies stretched out in a long line across the dusty plain, all of them still… She was thankful as they all dwindled off into the distance, left in a cloud of dust and memory.

“How many of you were there?” Lily said low and quiet. They had arrived at Naga-haal, and were in one of the ruined buildings at the edge of the once-great city. The place smelled of death and destruction…

“Sixty-eight.” The changeling replied curtly.

“I counted forty-three in the dirt. Not counting however many Spike burned.” Twilight said gently.

“How many went into the hole?”

“At least twenty, maybe more.” The changeling squirmed uncomfortably from his spot on the wall. Spike’s lips were pursed just next to his feet, held in place by Twilight’s magic. One motion from Lily, and Spike would scorch his feet completely off. They needed answers, and torture appeared to be the only thing that would work on them. So far, even the thought of dragon fire seemed to dissuade the changeling from sharing anything. Melody and Verse watched, ready to assist with their magic, should they need…

“Were there any more sent after us?”

“…” The changeling opened his mouth to speak, obviously fighting with the prospect of sharing plans against fire…

“Do it.” Melody cringed as the sound of burning flesh and fire filled her ears, all of it overridden by the piercing scream from the changeling.

“AAAAAAUUUUGH! YES! YES, FOR THE LOVE OF CHYRSALIS YES!” He screamed. Spike stopped, leaving nothing but charred stumps where the changeling’s feet had previously been. Black blood oozed form the burning, charred nubs at the end of his legs. “Guuh… Yes, she sent close to four hundred south… As soon as she got word of Imoheen’s defeat, she sent a lot of us… Four hundred, maybe more… Ngh…”

“Where are the others, then?” Twilight asked.

“Some of us stayed in Appleoosa, just in case you returned there… Others of us went West, crossing the desert towards Las Pegasus… A group of maybe five went into the forest, and at least half of us came East, following your tracks…” Melody’s heart sank when she heard that five of them had tried to make it through the forest. Changelings were difficult creatures to fight. Jokkan and Miko would be safe, but they could defend themselves…

“So where are the other hundred and forty or so?” Lily asked this time.

“Ngh, I don’t- AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIEEE!” Spike burned him again, scorching everything beneath his knees. Melody grimaced as the smell assaulted her nose. “I DON’T KNOW, I SWEAR! I SWEAR! WE SPLIT UP! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!” His scream stretched on long and loud, making her ears hurt as he emptied his lungs once, twice… Spike stopped, and he drew ragged breaths, his body shaking visibly from the pain. Verse, Twilight, and Lily were stoic. Spike looked bored.

“We… We split up once we came over the mountain… Th-three groups… One went north, towards Featherhome… Others, said they were going to Dragonpoint…”

“Bad move.” Spike drawled about lazily. He licked his lips of the burning liquid that made his fire. “The most powerful dragons go to Dragonpoint during mating season… They fight for dominance, and mate with the queen on top when the victor is crowned. If they stumbled in on that, they’re dead. Anything within fifteen miles would be dead.” He set his head back down on the ground, ready to burn the changeling.

“Great.” Lily grunted. “One group assaults us outside of Spike’s home, tips Chrysalis off to our whereabouts… The other dies at Dragonpoint, and the other goes north, right where we’re headed…” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking hard over what they should do. “Spike, take care of him… Let’s find a better place to stay…”

“With pleasure.” Thankful they didn’t have to stay to watch, Melody led Verse, Twilight, and Lily out of the building, the screams of the dying changeling following them into the narrow, shadowy street. The sun was low on the horizon when they entered Naga-haal, and now it was very close to night time. The wind died down, gusting through the narrow buildings very slowly.

Naga-haal was once a massive city in the middle of the desert. Thanks to natural water springs, the entire area used to be lush with grass and vegetation. The naga, though, laid claim to the area, staking their territory in the oasis. The dragons had little use for water, as they ate gemstones and drank very little. Even when the dragons were angered with the naga, they couldn’t do much. Their magical fire was useless against the naga’s resistant bodies, and they were out-numbered a hundred to one. The naga flourished, growing some of the best crops and making fine weapons from the iron buried in the steel. They traded openly with Equestria, Featherhome, and were generally accepted… That all changed, though… The details were lost to history, known only by a select few individuals. Twilight, being Celestia’s student, was privy to firsthand stories of the war between Equestria and the naga. Celestia affirmed that the naga were quarrelsome, difficult to work with, and loved battle, war, bloodshed, and conflict…

Trade disputes and refusal by Equestrian citizens to allow the naga to build a city on the western side of the mountains led to unrest. What set it all off was one naga in particular that picked a fight with one of the border guards. The naga killed him and three of his friends before succumbing to his wounds. The whole thing sparked the first conflict of the war. The battle of Serpent’s Pass ended in defeat of the Equestrian forces, the magi’s spells doing little to root the naga from their advantageous height. What’s more, Serpent’s Pass was the only safe crossing between Equestria and the dragon territory. Mainly, it was used for trade, but following that battle, it became a warzone.

Celestia retaliated after they suffered defeat time and again. The naga presence was strong on the border, and the relief from Eyriewatch, which was named Eyrie’s Rest back when things had been friendly between Equestria and Featherhome, couldn’t keep up with the soldiers being killed. Celestia herself led a massive avian attack over the heads of the naga on the western border, and attacked Naga-haal directly. Since they didn’t use magic, and could rain death and destruction from the skies, they successfully razed half of the city before the western forces could return.

That was when the relief arrived. A massive force of magi, humans, and avians swept through Serpent’s Pass into the dragon territory. Following the forces returning from the pass to Naga-haal, they swept in behind them and leveled the city. Any naga captured were executed. Celestia had successfully committed genocide against an entire race. Much to her surprise, though, Equestria rejoiced. None of them truly LIKED the Naga… The warring, vicious race had been ruthless in the battle, killing many soldiers and hurting many families. They were viewed as a blight on the land; each one of them poisonous and evil. Their city was leveled, their resources taken, and their kind executed. What few remained were in open rebellion against Equestria, and thanks to their brash nature, attacked openly. They caused damage, but were all killed. Every last naga alive grew to hate Equestria, and whenever they reared their ugly, serpentine heads, they were killed.

All of them.

Now, the broken city of Naga-haal was all that remained, and it was here that Melody and the others found themselves. Walking through the deserted, dusty streets, dead grass and vegetation crunching underfoot, they found one building that would serve as adequate shelter for the night. It even had a hole large enough for Spike to fit in. They all sat back against the wall, piling their packs in a corner and sighing heavily. Verse spoke first.

“I’m sorry, but is it okay if I go take a walk? I kinda wanna clear my head, and I want to find these springs, too…” He said quietly. Twilight and Lily shared a look before nodding.

“It should be safe. But if you find trouble, please, send up a signal. If it’s something you think we need to see, send up a green one. Trouble, make it red or something else…” Lily said softly, leaning her head back against the wall.

“I understand. Green for something interesting, red for trouble. Thank you. I’ll be careful.” He kissed Lily and Twilight on the head, then gave Melody a swift hug. Melody was too tired to follow him, though she was interested in the prospect of taking a walk through the deserted city. This gave time, though, for them to catch up with Spike. Despite his massive stature, Spike was actually a very tender and loving dragon… He had known Twilight long ago, had been her friend and assistant when she ran a library in Ponyville, studying the magic of friendship. He told them how he had come east, over the mountains, and into the dragon territory. There were several other dragons like him, who didn’t have wings, and they welcomed the fledgling dragon warmly. They showed him how to dig for gems in the dry, deserted land, and had given him a home. Still, the sleep called him, and soon enough he had succumbed to it. When he awoke, he had grown larger than a house and was looking straight at Twilight. Not a very long story, but very interesting…

“I missed you, Spike.” Twilight said softly. Spike smiled and nudged her with his muzzle, his way of showing affection. “I’m just curious, but are you still able to change into a human?” Spike’s brow furrowed once again, and he gave a low sound.

“I know other dragons can… I’ve seen ‘em do it before… Let me try…” He closed his eyes, and appeared to be focusing. A soft hum filled the air, and Melody felt the temperature begin to rise… Spike focused, humming still as he curled into a tighter ball on the ground…

“N-nope.” He gasped, his eyes snapping open. His chest rose and fell, his breath kicking up the dirt that had gathered on the floor. Melody breathed a sigh as the temperature began to return to normal. “I can feel it, though… It’s there. I just think I haven’t slept enough, is all… My own brand of magic hasn’t returned…” Twilight looked downtrodden, like she wanted to see him in his grown human state. Melody was rather glad. She figured Spike might be nude…

“I wonder… Can you still send letters?” Twilight asked hesitantly. Spike grinned, his fangs glinting in the soft light of the rising moon.

“Yes I can. See.” He breathed a small breath, a tiny tongue of flame licking past his teeth. It hovered in the air, undulating and shining with a brilliant green sort of hue.

“That’s perfect! Hang on!” Twilight scrambled to her feet and rushed over to the packs. Melody watched her, brow furrowed with curiosity. Suddenly, she emerged with a sheet of paper and a pen. “Aha!” She cried triumphantly. “I figured Celestia would want to hear from us…” Twilight said with a devious smile. “She hasn’t heard from us in years, unless Dash talks to her at all… Imagine her surprise, eh Spike?” The dragon chuckled as Twilight flattened the page against his side.

“Here.” Spike curled his leg around, one claw sliding under a loose scale. He snapped it off, hardly even wincing as he handed it off to Twilight. She grinned and accepted the huge thing from him. It was about as large as a shield, if Melody had to guess… Twilight sat back against the wall, holding the amethyst-colored scale on her lap and using it for a flat writing surface. Melody watched her write, her hand flying over the page quickly.

“There. Wanna read?” She asked, handing it off to Melody. Taking the page, she started to read.

Dear Princess Celestia,

We are all doing fine, let me assure you first and foremost. The attack in Appleoosa was unsuccessful, thanks to help from Applejack. She and Braeburn will make a full recovery, and none of us suffered any major wounds. Unfortunately, we were followed by changelings, and were unable to return to our homes. No need for concern, I have the books safe in hand. Thanks to Jokkan, a local native to the forest we stayed in. We crossed the mountains to the East, as per your instructions, and travelled south to the sea.

Unfortunately, the dragons are in the middle of mating season. Staying on the shore would have been disastrous, so we headed north. Along the way, I discovered a slumbering Spike. He is here with me now, and it’s thanks to him you’ll be receiving this letter. We are now in Naga-haal, and will refill on water and supplies before continuing north into Featherhome.

I pray all goes well with the war. My thoughts and prayers are with you and the soldiers. Please give my condolences to the families of the lost. We all miss you terribly so. You should see Verse and Melody. They are beautiful, talented children. You would be proud. I wish the circumstances were better, that we could have met in Appleoosa, but please know that we are safe. We’ve had our fair share of harm and strife, but we’re stronger for it. Don’t worry about us too much.

Your ever-faithful student,

-Twilight Sparkle

Melody smiled as she read it, particularly the part about her and Verse. After a moment’s hesitation, though, she held her hand out. Twilight handed her the pen, and using the massive scale, she signed her own name at the bottom. Verse wasn’t present, so she signed his as well. Lily took a moment to write a quick note of her own at the bottom. Lily didn’t get to read it, but Twilight laughed and gave her a playful smack on the shoulder. Folding the note, she held it up.

“To the Princess, Spike.” She said with a smile on her face. Spike easily picked the letter up with a breath of fire, the paper gone in the sparkling flash of ash and light.

“Look!” Lily drew their attention away. Flying high in the night sky, a brilliant green orb arced for a moment before bursting into a brilliant neon-green flash. “Verse found something. Let’s go see what he discovered.” All of them stood and shouldered packs, leaving the broken building and following Lily towards where she had seen it come from. Spike pushed his way through the narrow streets, his hulking form knocking weakened walls over and leaving a trail of rubble behind them. Soon enough, though, the larger buildings gave way to smaller ones, and then open lots of high grass… Melody thought they looked like buildings once stood there, but now nature had taken over. The grass was the first she had seen in months, the long, trek less waste of the dragon territory having been filled with naught but wide, open flatlands and the occasional charred battlefield. This grass was brown and tall, but soon began turning darker shades of green, lush, thick grass. Even trees began to grow…

Then the lots stopped altogether… They were walking down a long pathway inbetween long, overgrown fields. “Corn.” Twilight said, looking out over the tall, green stalks. “And wheat over there…” The brown field boasted tall stalks of grain, towering overhead. “This is a farm… A long-abandoned farm, but a farm nevertheless… Where there’s a farm, there’s-“

“Water!” Melody spotted it before any of them did. She pointed down the long path, where the lone figure of Verse stood, waving his arms above his head. Laughing gleefully, Melody swept around Twilight and Lily, running down the path towards her brother. Behind Verse, a wide, dark pool of water stretched out, wide and calm. This was the source of the water for the farm. She stopped short, throwing her arms around him at the edge of the path where it gave way to soft, white sand.

“It’s clear water, good to drink, even.” He said with a smile. “It all empties out into the irrigation ditches, and filters in through the sand underneath. This is probably some of the healthiest, nutrient-rich water in the entire world.” His explanation was lost on her ears. She dropped her pack and started rummaging through it. “What are you-“

“I haven’t had a bath in months, Verse.” She explain, straightening with her swimming suit. “You aren’t taking this from me. No one is.” Using her magic, she raised a high shelf of sand, high enough to conceal her from Verse’s view. Slipping around it, she stripped out of her clothes and into her long-neglected swimming suit.

“Okay, okay…” Lily’s voice came out from around the high shelf. “But why the hell would you wear a swimsuit to a bath?” Melody peeked her head out.

“Eew! Gross! He’s my brother, and you’re my mom!”

“You forget, Twilight and I used to bathe with you two. Straight up until you were six. Three of us are women, AND it’s dark out here. Verse, would you mind going down a ways, to save your sister the embarrassment?” Lily continued. Melody wouldn’t mind bathing with her mothers, but it was Verse she didn’t want to be naked around.

“I’ve got no issues.” Verse shrugged it off and turned around. “Do we have any soap?”

“Here,” Twilight waved her hands for a few moments, summoning a bar and a rag for him. He took them both and padded off down the sandy white beach, disappearing into the shadows.

“I’ll go with him.” Spike said, plodding off after Verse.

“Good, thank you, Spike. And you,” Twilight turned to the wall, quickly collapsing the sand back into the rest. Melody gave a soft ‘meep!’ and covered her bare chest. “Nothing to be shy about.” Lily already had her shirt off, and was working on removing her shorts. Melody stammered for a moment as Twilight followed suit, but once both of her mothers were bare, they took off towards the water.

“H-hey!” She watched their bare forms disappear with a splash into the water. She stepped out of her panties, leaving her clothes on the beach as she followed after. The prospect of a bath and being clean completely overrode decency. Sprinting full-tilt towards the water, Melody dove right in. The water wrapped around her like cool sheets on a hot summer day. She stroked forward, eyes closed as she slid through the water, letting it’s cool embrace fill her senses. She could FEEL the stress and dirt wash away, the cool water filling her senses almost completely. “Pwah!” She emerged from the water, flinging her hair back over her shoulder. “ACKPTH!” She had barely opened her eyes when a splash caught her full-on in the face. “The hell?!” She grimaced as Twilight and Lily fell back, laughing. She returned fire, and soon a full-tilt splash fight broke out between all of them.

They frolicked and played in the water, and settled down to scrub one another’s backs. Melody leaned back and let Twilight and Lily comb her hair out, using the water to loose all the tangles and scrub the teal strands free of dirt. They went around, helping one another groom, talking idly of girlish things.

Melody realized they had all lost weight. The three of them were slender enough as it was, but the long months and hard work had made them all more skinny. Though she would have to admit, not less hard… Lily sported a very defined six-pack, and her legs curved gracefully with her muscles. Twilight had always seemed like a slender, frail little woman, but her physical form matched her magic now. Powerful. Muscular. In-control.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, Melody.” Lily said with a grin. Her hand gave Melody’s rear a teasing spank, the wet flesh stinging as she jumped. “I’d like to think you’d have had more than a few boys swooning over you if we had stayed in Appleoosa.” She chuckled, smiling as Melody blushed. She looked over her own form, noting her breasts had swollen a little more, her stomach was more flat, her legs more defined… The way her hair clung to her back, she probably looked like the picture of beauty.

“In a few years time, Melody, we’ll go back. You’ll find someone. I promise you.” Twilight said gently, stepping forward to hug her.

“Unless she likes girls…” Lily mused for a moment.

“Mo-om!” Melody stammered, just as Twilight fell back into the water, laughing. She swatted at Lily, but her mother dove back and away, curling around in the water. She emerged next to Twilight, grinning at Melody.

“Hmm, I think she does…” Lily teased, pulling Twilight into a gentle embrace.

“Oh, you think so?” Twilight groaned, floating on the water as Lily wrapped her arms around the slender waist.

“Yes, I do…” Lily cooed. “Look at her, getting all hot and bothered… I wonder if we kissed, would she like it?” Lily pressed her lips into Twilight’s neck. Even from where she stood in the water, Melody could see as Twilight’s nipple grew hard. Melody groaned and splashed water their way.

“I’m going to go see what Verse is up to.” Melody slipped into the deeper part of the water, leaving her mothers to their own devices behind her. Their soft, breathy groans chased her down the shore. She swam slow and easy, enjoying the slight exercise and the cool feel of the water against her skin. Was it just her, or was the water growing warmer? All became clear as the massive form of Spike loomed in front of her. The dragon was soaking, half submerged in the shallows. As she came closer, the water grew warmer and warmer. Spike reared his head and looked at her, smiling his big, fanged smile.

“D-don’t come around this side!” Verse’s voice called to her.

“Well, duh… Not like I wanna see you naked anyways, sicko.” She teased. She was in up to her shoulders, and about even with Spike’s as she approached slowly. “Spike’s heating up the water really nice…”

“I know, it’s like a regular bath…” Verse said quietly.

“Can I… Sit on his other side?” She asked softly.

“’Course you can.” Spike interceded. He laid his head back down, the spines dripping water as his long neck floated idly in the clear, cool pool. She stroked into the shallows, crawling across the sand to where she would be deep enough… Turning her back, she leaned against Spike’s scaly side, close to his rear leg. The water around him was truly just as hot as a bath, and against his side, it evaporated into a warm steam.

“This is nice.” She said softly.

“Very relaxing.” Verse concurred, his voice eerily coming from over Spike’s back. She looked up, and through the steam and the clear air, she could see the stars glimmering overhead. Idly, she began picking out the ones she knew… Until Twilight and Lily came out of the darkness.

“Eew, the water’s warmer over here… Verse, did you pee?”

“It’s me.” Spike grumbled, not even bothering to lift his head out of the water.

“It’s like a hot spring.” Melody said quietly, leaning her head back against Spike.

“Melody? Ooh, can we join you?” Twilight began swimming closer. Lily just shrugged, closing her eyes against the relaxing feeling of the hot water. “Unless Spike’s gonna look at us. Wierdo.” Spike chuckled, making the water quiver around her.

“I find I’m more attracted to thick scales and wide flanks than flesh and hair these days.” He said, his grumbling speech making the water vibrate around her. Dispute settled, Twilight and Lily crawled towards Melody, sitting to either side of her.

“Sorry if we teased too much.” Lily said gently, nudging her shoulder. Melody shrugged and opened her eyes long enough to smile at Lily.

“I don’t mind, really… I just… I don’t know WHO I’ll be attracted to…” While the sight of her and Twilight kissing passionately burned in her mind, she couldn’t get the image out of her head, of strong arms and a deep voice… Muscles. Someone like Verse, who would like music and be kind and strong and healthy… But, you know… Not her brother. Maybe an avian…

“You’ll know when you are.” Twilight said gently. Together, she and Lily leaned against Melody, further helping along the feeling of warmth and comfort. “I just hope they’re nice.” Melody chuckled and closed her eyes, feeling warm and relaxed between the two of them.

They had stayed two full days at Naga-haal, using a nearby building that had survived the attack to sleep in, and bathing and swimming the days away. Twilight had worked some very complex magic, “Restoring my temporal storage area.” She had said. Essentially, the area that she summoned food and water from. When Melody asked where she had been summoning it from before, Twilight had explained there was a massive storeroom in Canterlot that was kept constantly stocked for such a purpose. It was open to any and all who needed or even wanted to use it, or who knew of it’s existence. She had been taking their supplies from there.

When it was time to leave, though, Spike explained how tired he had been feeling, that he needed to return home for his century-long nap. Melody was sad to see him go, and the goodbye was bittersweet. She hugged his face as best she could, shedding a tear onto his amethyst scales.

“I’ll see you again, Melody.” He promised. “Just stay alive long enough. You too, Twilight. Starswirl was hundreds of years old when he died.” He shook a claw at her, like a parent scolding a child. “This isn’t goodbye, it’s ‘see you later.’” As if to punctuate the issue, he yawned, the hot smell of his breath washing over them. They said goodbye once more, then watched as Spike turned south, headed back to his home. Meanwhile, they had turned north, towards the far-off mountains of Featherhome, the home of the harpies.

It took them ten days to make it to the foothills, when the first sign of the harpies made it to their eyes. They watched a small group, a ‘Wing’ as Twilight called them, ten strong, the harpies curved through the air and made for them with long, graceful flaps. They stopped at the top of a hill, watching the harpies fly closer and closer. When they landed, one of them advanced towards them. Melody was surprised to see they were almost exactly like avians… The only difference between the two were that harpies were feathered all over, and their legs sported an extra knee, bent like a bird’s. Below their elbows and over the second knee, the skin was ridged, like a bird’s, and instead of feet and hands, they each sported eagle-like talons. Their heads, too, looked like a bird’s. Feathers swept back off their heads, and their mouths were replaced with hard, viciously-curved beaks. Their colors varied from brown to grey to white and even one canary-yellow.

The one that approached them was snow-white, and was decidedly female. She wore a sturdy leather bra that held her breasts, which Lily was noted were covered with a thin layer of feathery down. She had a tuft of feathers, though, just above her sternum. Her stomach was flat, and underneath the soft-looking down, Lily saw her muscles rippled powerfully. In her talons, she held a long spear. Her legs were clad in brown leather-looking trousers, though her long, flat tail feathers swept out behind her.

“Raaw! What mm-business do humans have here-e-e?” Her voice was thin and scratchy, but she spoke very well. Melody fought not to associate her croaking, clicking words with a parrot. The nine others behind her all carried spears and were dressed similarly. The disassociation was easy to make.

“Please,” Twilight spoke for them. “My family and I are running from the changelings. We mean you no harm. We seek shelter, not trade or even conversation. Safety. We will gladly be your prisoners. I am very valuable to Equestria. I am Celestia’s personal student. She will pay any price, even if it’s peace, to have me back. Please, we’re begging you.” Twilight fell to her knees and pulled her pack off, laying it on the ground. Lily followed her lead, shortly after Verse and melody. “We come in peace.”

“Hmm…” The female harpy stroked her beak, her claws clacking against the hard enamel as she thought. “You say you’re the student of Sunbringer?”

“Yes. I study under Celestia directly.” Twilight answered, her head still bowed in subjugation.

“This decision is mm-beyond me-e-e… We will take you to Nest. Hand over your supplies and any weapons you carry. We will keep you safe from mm-changelings for now. Raaw!” She flapped her wings and turned back to the other harpies. Their whistling, clicking language was both crude and beautiful to listen to. It was melodic, almost like a song. Immediately, four of the other nine stepped forward and took their packs from the ground.

“Mm-four days to Nest. I cannot promise the Clutchmother won’t throw you from the cliffs of Nest, but I can promise your safe journey there. What are your names?”

“My name is Twilight. This is my wife, Lily. Our children, Verse and Melody.” Twilight said, gesturing to each in turn.

“You have children with another woman? How is this?” The harpy asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“It is very complex and very long to explain, but I can tell you that it involves some very old, deep, and powerful magic.” The harpy have a small ‘hmm’ as she stroked her beak a few more times.

“Hmm… Our mm-sages will want to… Raaw… Ask you some questions. I’m-mm going to fly to Nest now and tell them… RAAW!” She cried out and took to the skies then, her and two others carrying their packs. Seven stayed behind, gesturing with their spears they should walk.

“That went well.” Twilight said gently.

“Too well, I would think…” Melody said, taking a moment to look at one of the male harpies. She got a cold, amber-eyed stare in return, so she averted her gaze.

“Just… Don’t shift into anything with wings.” Twilight reminded them.

“Right.” She got three simultaneous responses.

They began ascending into hilly country. A very stark contrast to the flat, barren wastes of dragon territory, this area was lush with thick pine forests, the green boughs dropping a bed of soft needles that made their footsteps hushed and quiet. After being out on the wide plains, Melody was glad for the hushed, concealing trees of the forest. They lit a warm fire and ate dried jerky from the harpie’s small packs, and listened to them talk in their language at night. They slept on beds of pine needles, the heady, fresh scent making Melody feel comforted and warm.

The men wore tight-fitting leather pants or skimpy loincloths, and the women wore the same, save for the tight, restrictive tops that kept their breasts reigned in. Probably to help make them more aerodynamic, as they flew much like she had seen Lily, whenever she sprouted wings. The going was slow, thanks to the four of them being land-bound, but soon enough, a mountain began to rise up above all the other hills. Melody caught sight of it looming ahead of them, blotting out the stars one night.

The next day dawned, and she could see it looming ahead of them. Tall, dark, and imposing, the Harpy city of Nest rose thousands of feet into the air. The sheer side of the cliff face looked steep as anything, steeper than she was sure they could climb. Not without tools, anyways… Suddenly, a sharp-clawed hand rested on her shoulder, stopping her from walking. They were maybe three hundred feet from the base of the massive mountain. High above them, harpies wheeled in slow, lazy circles, disappearing and reappearing behind the imposing stone face.

“Do not hold onto us as we fly.” The voice croaked at her. “Two of us for one of you. I’d just as soon drop you than mm-fly up to Nest, so watch yourself.” Flapping his wings, the male harpy joined up with a female, and together, they both curled their talons around Melody’s arm. She cried out, half from surprise, and half from terror, as they smoothly lifted her from the ground. Her feet swung beneath her, the shrinking ground falling away a LOT quicker than she had expected. She flexed her arms, but closed her fists to avoid grabbing him as he had warned. Brief cries from the rest of her family called out as they rose with them. Verse, though, was left behind.

“Wait! Verse!” She looked up at the two carrying her, begging them to go back for him.

“He’s too heavy! It’ll take four to carry him! Now stop RAAW squirming!” Melody shut her mouth as they winged her upwards, carrying her, Lily, and Twilight all the way to the top of Nest. The chill wind here was worse than the mountain they had climbed… When they arrived, Melody was shivering and blue-lipped. She collapsed on weak legs when they dropped her on a rocky shelf, her lips quivering and blue. Twilight and Lily looked the same.

“Welcome to Nest.” Melody recognized the harpy that had first greeted them. Her brilliant white feathers stood out against the black top and leather britches she wore. Her spear swung forward, pointing to Melody’s chin, digging into her skin, lifting her face up. “Your new prison.”

Taking the Fall

------------- Melody’s Tale - Taking the Fall -------------

Melody pulled for what had to have been the hundredth time at the bindings holding her wrists together. To no avail, of course… The iron links clinked and jingled, still glowing and pulsing faintly. She wasn’t sure if they knew she had some sort of inherent magical ability, or if they were just playing it safe, but all four of them had been bound with magic-inhibiting cuffs. What’s worse, they were all split apart. Their prisons were actually cages suspended over the edge of the harpy city Nest. Thousands of feet beneath the floor of her iron cage of a cell, the pine forest surrounding the massive stone edifice looked like a lush green carpet, stippled with dark shadows that looked like stitches in a quilt. The wind whipped by in gusts, making the long, clinking chain jingle as her cage swung back and forth. She had no choice but to close her eyes and ignore the feelings pulling at her.

They fed her twice a day, mostly just bread and dried jerky with a small cup of water. She ate it all, and waited… And waited… And waited…

“Wake up.” The voice growled at her. She recognized the throaty, gravelly tone of her captor, the same one that had given her food. He was the only outsider she had any contact with. She could see other cages swaying in the wind far away, above and to her sides, but her calls had been lost on the wind and she gave up after hollering herself hoarse. Stirring in the middle of her cage (to keep it from tilting,) she opened her eyes to look at the harpy. He and one other, another male, were hovering just outside of the iron bars. “We’re-e-e mm-here to take you to the Clutchmother. Sit still.” She blinked away the sleep, shivering in the pre-dawn cold as the two harpies winged up to the top of her cage. She heard the jangling of keys and creaking of old iron hinges.

“Hands up.” She raised her cuffed wrists up towards the hole in the top of the cage. A taloned hand reached down and hoisted her thin frame up with ease, setting her on top of the cage. She immediately reached out and clung to one of the chains supporting the cage, feeling the wind pick up and swing the whole thing back and forth a little. Just like they had done to bring her up to the top of Nest, they both gripped her arms and tore her away from the cage, flapping hard to bring her up to the top again.

She audibly breathed a sigh of relief as they set her down atop the weather-worn surface of the top of Nest. Stumbling a little, she caught herself and stood on weak legs, shivering and looking around. How long had she been in the cage? A week? Two? She didn’t even know. All she knew was she was very, very cold right now… Shuddering, feeling numb, she hugged herself as best she could with the glowing shackles and looked around. They were close to the edge of nest, a wide array of metallic arms holding chains out over the edge of the city. She guessed this was where they anchored the prison cells to the mountainside. She was craning her neck around to look more closely at the row of metallic arms when something heavy and furry landed on her.

“Augh!” She gave a clipped cry of surprise as the heavy, oppressive thing weighed her down. Initially, she thought it was some sort of predator leaping on her, or maybe this was the soft, feathery down of one of the harpies. She expected it’s claws and fangs to sink into her any moment… Instead, she hoisted the weight, noticing it was much lighter than originally thought. Then she realized it was a blanket. A very large, very warm and furry blanket. She clutched onto it then, wrapping herself up in the warm embrace as fully as she possibly could. She shivered in it’s furry recesses, clutching tight as the warmth slowly began to flow into her body.

“Y-you gonna hog all that to yourself?” The voice was muffled through the fabric of the blanket. Melody fought for a few seconds to poke her head out. Bad move. The first ruffling wind that caught her face felt like knives cutting into her flesh. She actually winced as she fought to see who it was. Verse grinned sheepishly at her, shivering on the flat surface next to her.

“Get in here.” She said, taking a few steps close to him. Verse woodenly shuffled forward, and Melody wrapped him in the blanket. Together, they huddled close, thankful for the body heat and the warm, wonderful blanket. “You okay?” She asked.

“Y-yeah, just cold.” He muttered softly, still shivering. Melody let him hold the blanket around them as she rubbed her hands up and down his arms, trying to warm him. Soon enough, he stopped shivering, and was content to huddle close and absorb the warmth. The sound of flapping wings met her ears, and Melody peeked her head out to see both Twilight and Lily dropped off next to them. Immediately, she opened the blanket to them, the four of them huddling close under the wonderfully warm blanket.

Then they waited… Which was odd… Why pull them out of their cages if they were just going to wait. Not that Melody minded, really… She was happy to huddle close under the blanket, talking quietly with her family.

“Are you guys okay?” She asked.

“It’s REALLY cold up here,” Lily groaned, the last to stop shivering. Melody smiled weakly at her, rubbing her arms with Verse helping on the other side.

“These damn cuffs… It’s like that time we got taken prisoner. Remember that, Lily?” Twilight asked softly. Lily chuckled, a shuddering, quivering action that made Melody smile.

“I remember I turned into a bear and beat back four guards just to get to you.” Lily said quietly, her quivering becoming slightly worrisome to Melody.

“Shining Armor used to be a real pain in the ass…” Twilight said softly.

“Worked out in the end, though… And we had some fun, too.”

“Shh. Kids, darling.”

“Right. Well, it was fun. So ha. You know, I just realized…” Lily finally stopped shaking, stepping forward to huddle close with the rest of them. “You guys turned eighteen a while ago, didn’t you? We didn’t celebrate or anything…” Melody blinked. The realization came a little after her sentence, making her think about it… She was one hundred percent right. She and Verse had turned eighteen sometime in the past two months. The days were lost to her, she didn’t know if it was Monday, Tuesday, or Friday… What month, what number, nothing… She hadn’t looked at a calendar in forever. All she knew was it had been an untold number of days since they had left Equestria… They were all several months older now. Her eighteenth birthday had come and gone and none of them had even realized…

“Huh.” Was all she could say. Eventually, the sun came up. She could feel the rays warm the blanket up even further. She soaked up every bit of heat she could, knowing it wouldn’t be long before she was back in the cage, shivering in the corner as she waited for whatever was going to happen come to pass… Eventually, though, the heat became too oppressive and they shed the blanket. It was the first time Melody had gotten a really good look at Nest. As far as she could tell, they were alone on top of the mountain, but the massive plateau stretched on as far as she could see before the buildings took up her vision. It had to have been at least half a mile on each edge… It truly was massive. The sort of big that staggered the imagination and made her wonder how such a thing came to be…

The buildings were crudely constructed, build with wide, low, sloping walls that all angled one way. The material appeared to be some sort of stone or rock, but didn’t look cold to the touch. Hesitantly, Melody approached one building and laid her hand against it. Nope, definitely cold. Figid, even… She inhaled through her teeth and rubbed her hands together to return warmth, grimacing at the wall. How in the world did the harpies survive in such oppressive cold… She was in awe of how they wore thin clothes and flew through the frigid air like it was nothing. She was not used to such cold… The heat of the dragon territory and her southern home had always been welcoming and warm… Maybe she just wasn’t acclimated…

“Mm-good… You are exploring. Getting to know your surroundings…” The croaking voice came from around the wall she had just touched. Gasping, Melody jumped back, rejoining her family as a harpy unlike any other emerged from around the wall. Stooped with age, this harpy had long feathers that framed it’s face, the furry layer of down sagging from it’s skull. It used a very knobbed old staff to help it’s limping gait, the claws on it’s hands and feet worn and dulled with age. This was obviously a very old harpy… Draped over her skeletal frame was an elegant dress, though… Not the sort of dress that Melody had grown up with, but rather, the kind that was woven from beads. Handmade. It glimmered faintly in the morning sun. Around this old harpy was a very tangible aura of power. This woman, despite how old she may seem, commanded some powerful magic.

“Clutchmother?” Twilight said hesitantly, taking her spot in front of the four of them. She reverently bowed her head, the others following suit.

“Mm-yes… I am the… Clutchmother.” She said, her voice markedly more scratchy than the others. Melody almost felt bad for her. Then again, the past week or however long she had been imprisoned had been horrible. She steeled herself and waited for the conversation to continue. “You and yours have-e-e come to mm-Nest for… Safety?”

“Yes. My family and I are fleeing the changelings.” Twilight explained, stepping forward. She was halfway between them and the Clutchmother now. “They chased us east over the mountains, then north into your territory.”

“Hmm… Fleeing the jaws of the lion, only to find yourself in the claws of the leapord…” The Clutchmother chuckled, a cawing sort of motion that racked her entire body. She hobbled over towards the cliff side, looking out over the forest beneath them, off towards the hazy horizon. “Our kind have been at eachother’s throats for what, eleven years? Twelve?”

“Longer than that, I’m afraid, Clutchmother.” Twilight said softly, looking at the old harpy’s back. Her wings, despite the rest of her shriveled body, looked strong still. They were the same mottled sort of grey as the rest of her body, a stormy, depressing color…

“Hmph. The years pass mm-so much quicker when you’re as old as I.” The Clutchmother tapped her staff on the ground and looked back at Twilight. “You’ll understand, soon enough… But for now…” The elderly harpy slowly shuffled towards them, the worn clacking of her claws mixing with the firm impact of her staff. “You will die.” Smooth and cold, she slipped past them. All four of them were frozen. Melody whirled around, stammering.

“Wh-why?!” She gasped, feeling the breath leave her lungs. Dread filled the empty space. Cold, clammy fear that made her shiver on the spot. The Clutchmother stopped, her back turned to them for a few long moments. She turned around slowly, fixing them all with a keen eye.

“Sunbringer is captured. I’ve no use for the prisoner of a prisoner. Tomorrow morning, you die.”

“No, please… No…” Celestia struggled against her binds as she kicked her feet uselessly at the sheet of paper. “Why now, of all times? Damn the luck!” Toes curled, Celestia did her absolute best to try and retrieve the paper that had appeared before her in a flash of green flame and ash. Spike, long since asleep, had just sent her a letter! Celestia knew full well that Twilight had fled east over the mountains into dragon territory, and a letter from her student’s assistant only meant they had found him, roused him, and had sent this message… She was desperate to hear from Twilight and Lily.

Just then, the worst possible thing happened… Celestia gasped as Chrysalis entered her cell. Just as she had grasped the paper inbetween two of her toes, as well! The changeling queen grinned evilly at the bound princess, closing the distance in three long strides. She snatched the paper out of the air, waving it in front of Celestia’s face.

“And what have we here, dear princess?” She teased, grinning down at Celestia’s expression of despair. “A letter from your student, perhaps? Hmm, I wonder what it says…” Chrysalis righted herself, grinning down at Celestia once again before she started reading... “Lieutenant! Get in here!” She called. Celestia watched the door swing open again, creaking on old hinges.

“Yes, my queen?” The lieutenant said immediately. Celestia watched as Chrysalis lit the page on fire, the green flames eating away at the paper slowly.

“Liliana and her ‘family,’” She spat the word, like it was poison. “Are heading to Nest. Take as many changelings as you can. A hundred. A thousand. Take a million! I want her, and I want her alive.” Chrysalis glanced down at the ashes slowly tumbling across the floor towards Celestia… “And bring me the head of Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia began weeping as they left her cell… The lieutenant nodded and went a different way, walking fast through the old, worn corridors… Up several stairs and into a better-lit portion of the palace, and into the grand halls. What once was the largest and greatest castle in all of Canterlot was now a changeling hive. Drones flitted off to the side, racing about to do who-knew-what… For now, this particular lieutenant had a task… He moved through the drones, parting them like water when they were bogged down in one area or another.

Silently, they began to fall in behind him. They were heeding the unspoken order. Even one or two more lieutenants followed, slipping into the ranks silently. All of them followed the one higher into the palace, leaving the halls behind for one large, tall tower… Up and up, over hundreds of stairs, they flew or walked, shuffling, following the lieutenant’s untold, iron command… Upon reaching the first balcony, the lieutenant silently walked to the edge, and tipped off…

His diaphanous wings spread in an instant, fluttering to catch his weight and propelling him forward. Smooth and easy, he winged off towards the north-east, a dark cloud of changelings following him. There were easily ten thousand behind him.

No one noticed, no one blinked an eye as one of the other lieutenants broke from the massive group, flitting down into the shadowy, late-day alleyways below… Breathing heavy, he surveyed the skies for a sign of anyone nearby, guard or changeling otherwise… Satisfied, he started flying… Fast and low, ducking through dark streets and filthy alleyways, he began moving south, around the palace grounds… Halfway between the palace and the southern border, he ran into the first patrol. Still keeping his changeling form, the lieutenant raised his arms and slowly approached them.

Spears leveled, they all started hollering at him. Unintelligible orders to get on the ground, put his hands behind his head. Above all of them, he shouted one word.

“FLASH!” The guards stopped. Spears bobbed up and down in confused hands. They were tense, until one of them replied.

“Thunder! Stand down, boys, this is one of Luna’s spies. Today’s the twenty-fourth, that makes it-“

“Chicken. Yesterday was the eighteenth, which makes it-“

“Sugar. Welcome home, lieutenant.” The guard smiled and clapped the changeling on the shoulder. “Stand down, men. He checks out.” The passphrase had been developed close to the beginning of the war. Answering the quick, simple chain of questions ensured none of the involved parties were changelings. At least, not changelings allied with Chrysalis… “You’re makin’ ‘em kinda antsy. Mind changing into something better?” He mumbled quietly, leaning in to the changeling.

“What, you guys want tits or something?” The lieutenant replied, grinning at the captain. He got a playful nudge in the ribs before smoothly shifting into a well-built avian, wearing a simple courier’s uniform. To the soldiers, he looked like any other message-bearer. They relaxed a little, thankful the frightening black visage was gone. “I have an urgent missive for Princess Luna, she needs to see it immediately.”

“Right then, you heard the man. Let’s get him to base.” There was clanking of armor and hefting of gear as the soldiers formed up around the courier and began walking further south. Other units they passed were asked questions, and they all answered the same. This was repeated time and again until they were deeper in the heart of the Equestrian forces. Soldiers were now camped in the streets, circling fires or stretched out on simple bedrolls. The sounds and smells of living filled their senses as they continued travelling south, all the way to one building in particular.

“Thank you for the escort, sergeant.” The courier saluted the man, who returned it curtly. They left the changeling at the door to this squat, square building. Promptly, the disguised changeling knocked twice on the door, paused for a moment, knocked twice more, then another pause… Finally, he knocked three times. The door silently swung inward, and a spear was thrust out at him. The point dug into his chin, lifting his gaze upwards.

“A man stands alone on a hill,”

“So he pisses in the wind.”

“A wolf hunts alone in the woods,”

“So he howls for his pack.”

“A queen commands no one,”

“Until she commands herself.” The spear lowered and the door swung open the rest of the way. Smooth and easy, the courier dipped inside. Every precaution had been taken to ensure Princess Luna’s safety. Not everyone knew that particular passphrase to enter the command building. The front room was laden with guards, all of them standing at attention as he passed. There were at least twenty of them. They parted the way for him, armor jangling as he made his way towards one of the doors set in the far wall. Without a word or a knock, he entered.

“Who is this, then?” Another blade pressed to his throat.

“An enemy.” He replied smoothly, stopping short.

“When alone in the dark,”

“Seek the shadow.”

“When you stand in full light,”

“Blend with the crowd.”

“Welcome back, Lieutenant. Didn't recognize you there for a second.” Lights flicked on and the room snapped into focus. With the audible sound of steel being sheathed, the woman before him put her blade away.

“Understandable, General Dash.” The changeling said, grinning as he rubbed his throat. “I needed a shave anyways.” They laughed and clasped hands. The vibrant-haired woman would never have been recognized by any of her friends. A few years back, Rainbow Dash had been relieved of her commission with the Wonderbolts, and had been hand-chosen by the princesses themselves. She served as their personal bodyguard and liaison between the Changeling Secret Forces and Princess Luna, who had openly welcomed all changelings with no loyalty to Chrysalis and a knack for espionage. The man standing before her now was one such changeling, a lieutenant who had served Chrysalis for a very, very long time. Dash guided him through the room and into another, this one already lit.

“Princess,” She said, watching as Luna raised her head from her desk. Upon spotting Dash and her visitor, Luna shot to her feet immediately. “Your spy returns.”

“Noth! What new do you bring?” The Princess looked haggard. She would have, since she had been raising both the sun and the moon every day for the past year and a half. Noth saluted, as was customary, before stepping forward to deliver what he had learned.

“Apparently, Celestia received a letter from Twilight Sparkle during her imprisonment. Chrysalis read the letter, and dispatched a massive changeling force north-east accordingly.”

“Yes, we saw that particular swarm leave just a few hours ago. What of it?” Luna asked quickly. Noth continued, unfazed.

“Twilight Sparkle, Lily, and their children have crossed the dragon territory into Naga-haal. Their plan was to go north from there and be willingly taken prisoner by the harpies.” Luna, already of milky complexion, paled even further at the news. “Chrysalis dispatched all she could spare to take Lily, and bring her back alive. However…” He was cut off as Luna’s eyes fixed on Dash.

“When was the last time you felt her through the link?” She asked suddenly. Dash furrowed her brow before answering.

“We agreed to let Twilight go dark for as long as she needed. Both her and Lily. Just in case one of us was captured. After the episode in Appleoosa, any of us could have been taken, tortured, questioned… Best for us not to know, so we couldn't tell…” Luna grunted, half out of annoyance and half out of relief.

“That was smart thinking, Dash… But when was the last time you felt her?”

“Just outside of the forest of their home… After that, she went dark. Lily stayed on for the next few miles, but she went dark after that. Since then, I haven’t heard from either of them…” Her vision went out of focus for a while before coming back. “And neither have the others.”

“Damnit… Not good… You can’t-“

“There’s more.” Noth said quietly, cutting both of them off. He hesitated, glancing at Dash. He knew well the bond of friendship she and the others shared… “She wants the head of Twilight Sparkle.”

“Princess!” Dash said loudly, striding forward. “Let me go! You know just as well as I do that I can’t sit around here, threatening everyone that walks in here while my friend and her family die!”

“Dash, calm yourself!” Luna barked. The floor trembled a little bit. “This is beyond your power, general.” She said, a little more calmly. “If that entire swarm was sent just for the four of them, you’re going to have difficulty fighting them AND the harpies off. You’re going to need help.” Dash drew both her blades in a flash. She sported twin daggers, both of them keen and fast as a lightning strike in her grip. Where many warriors needed strength to fight, Dash needed only speed. Noth had seen her cut down an entire advance of changelings in ten seconds.

“Not for the type of mission I have planned. If the Clutchmother knows Celestia’s captive, she won’t let Twilight live. If I don’t make it there as soon as possible, they’re all going to die. Not just Twilight. All of them.” Rainbow Dash was as serious as ever. “I slip in at night, free the four of them, and bring them to Eyriewatch. They’ll be safe there. Harpies hate changelings almost as much as they hate avians. At the very least, I’ll use the distraction of that fight to slip in and out. Please, Princess… Let me do this…” Luna looked at Dash, her expression dark as she thought long and hard.

“Very well, general.” She said softly, straightening herself. “But you know those children, Melody and Verse, are the entire reason behind this mission. Difficult as it’s going to be to prioritize them, I need you to ensure their safety. Dash, I cannot-“

“You can’t expect me to leave my friends behind to die!”

“I CAN AND I WILL IF IT MEANS THE SAFETY OF MELODY AND VERSE!” Luna roared. Both Noth and Dash stumbled backwards under the power of the Royal Canterlot Voice, the same that had ordered nations be destroyed and kingdoms be leveled. Dash wilted slightly, and Luna pressed her advantage. In a flash, she was around the desk and looming over both of them. “BOTH of you will go to Featherhome and rescue Twilight, Lily, Melody, AND Verse. You will return to Eyriewatch with ALL FOUR of them, or the world as we know it will END!” Her words boomed out at both of them, driving them back step by step until they were flat against the wall. Noth feared for his life, as did Dash, apparently… Both of them were staring wide-eyed up at the princess, even as Luna’s voice and expression softened.

“Please, Dash… You have to understand that keeping their children safe was the entire reason Celestia and I sent Lily and Twilight south when this war started. It’s written in prophesy that Verse and Melody will change the world for the better… If they do not, then both Celestia and I will die… Likely, everyone and everything you've ever known will die… Please, Dash… This goes beyond your friendship.” Luna’s wide eyes brimmed with tears as she lowered her head. The hardwood floor under her feet was dotted as she began to cry. “Don’t let Celestia die…”

“Princess, I…” Dash reached out to her slowly. Luna turned her back and stepped away, her shoulders shaking. Dash let the hand drop, and by her tone, she suddenly felt very sheepish and embarrassed. “I understand. I will bring them back. All four of them. C’mon, Noth.” She said quietly. The door was pulled open as she turned to leave. Noth began to follow her, but Luna’s voice stopped him.

“Noth,” She said gently. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Be right there.” He said to Dash, giving her arm a gentle squeeze. Lips thin, Dash nodded at him and closed the door. “Yes, Princess?” He asked, folding his hands behind his back and stepping forward.

“Tell me… How is Celestia?” Noth swallowed.

“They inject her with undiluted magesbane every two hours, even when she sleeps… She’s chained with enough metal to keep an ursa minor subdued, and she never sees her own sunlight. She’s fading, princess… Fading fast.” Noth watched Luna sag a little bit more. The princess was silent for a few moments. Quietly, he slipped out…

Luna straightened herself once the door closed, padding to a nearby map. Her eyes flickered between Canterlot, in the middle of Equestria, and Nest, close to the middle of Featherhome in the north-east. “Hold on,” She said quietly. “All of you, just hold on a while longer…”

“Well… At least they put us all together…” Verse said quietly. They were all back in another cage, this one only marginally larger than their individual cages they had been in previously. The four of them were huddled close together for warmth, though they still shivered in the midnight chill.

“So they can kill us all at the same time.” Twilight said gently, looking up into the night sky, where the chain supporting them extended up and away into darkness. “They’ll drop the cage and be done with it. They don’t even have to listen when we hit the rocks below.” Her voice sounded despaired. Quiet. Very subdued. Melody’s spirits sank along with her mother’s words. All of them were quiet for a few long moments…

“At least… We’ll die together?” Verse spoke once more. All of them looked at his sheepish, quivering smile. “Better than dying alone, right?”

“Heh. Leave it to you to make me smile on the eve of my death.” Lily chuckled and ruffled his hair, making Verse wince but nudge closer. Melody smiled despite herself and curled closer. “You guys should get some sleep.” Lily said gently. “I’ll stay awake, and if they need us, I’ll wake you up…” Melody couldn't help but feel tired, whether it was because of the cold or her despair, she didn't care, either… Nuzzling closer to the warm body of Twilight and Verse, she slowly closed her eyes and began to drift off…

BANG!

The loud noise jolted her awake. Judging by the position of the moon, she hadn't been asleep long.

“Shh!” Lily hissed, her face turned up to the top of the cage. Melody looked upwards, and there, blotting out the stars in the night sky, two harpies crouched atop their cage.

Oh great, She thought to herself. They’re not going to drop us together, they’re just gonna pull us out and save themselves and extra cell… Then something hit her in the face.

“Shit, sorry, Melody.” It was hard, and cold, and metallic. Wincing, Melody cupped her stinging cheek and picked whatever it had been up from where it had landed on her stomach. In her hands, she held the lock… The lock to her cage! Ignoring the pain, Melody looked up again, and saw the smiling face of Rainbow Dash looking back down at her.

“Dash!” She whispered loudly. “How are you-“

“RAAAWW!” The piercing scream woke all of them, now. “THEY’RE ESCAPING! CUT THE CAGE!”

“Fuck!” In the blink of an eye, Dash was holding two wickedly-curved daggers, looking up into the sky. The other avian with her, whoever it was, quickly opened the metal grate on top of the cage.

“Lily! Come on!” He said, thrusting a hand down into the cage.

“Noth?!” She panted, scrambling up to her feet. Raising her hands, she clasped wrists with the other avian and was hoisted out of the cage.

“We’re gonna need your wings. Think you can carry someone down?”

“I’ve got Verse.” Dash said, still looking up at the sky above them. “I’m the only one that can carry him. He’s too heavy for anyone else.”

“I can’t carry anyone!” Lily said worriedly. “I can’t even change, thanks to these damn shackles!” She thrust her hands out, her bindings clinking. “They lock off our magic! Think if Twilight could cast any spells, we’d be caught in this swinging deathtrap?!” The entire cage jerked around them.

“Fuck, get out! Twilight, here!” Dash had sheathed her blades, and helped Noth pull Twilight and Verse out of the cage. Melody was the last to get hoisted out, even as Dash turned to Lily’s wrists with her blade in hand.

“What, Dash, get me first!” Twilight protested. Dash grunted and pulled her blade upwards, shearing the metal with a flash of sparks and magic. Lily grunted and shifted into Dancer, the lithe avian flyer she had used before.

“No time. I need to carry Verse while Noth carries you. Lily can take Melody, since she’s the lightest. I’ll cut your bonds as soon as we get to the g-“

Then there was nothing. Time seemed to stop as Melody watched everyone slowly float up off of the cage… Her stomach said hello to the back of her throat, and she slowly began to fall…

Hearing returned first. The screech of metal and jangling of the long chain were most prominent, followed by everyone screaming. Then came vision. She clearly saw Dash snatch Verse out of midair. The one they called Noth swooped under Twilight, grunting as he hoisted her into the air. Lily, though, was slowly shrinking away from the rest of them. The other five hovered in the air, even as she began to fall…

Faster and faster, the feeling of her impending fate filled Melody with fear. Terror. Anxiety. Her hand was still gripping the chain of the cage. She let it go, wind picking her up and ripping her away from the rest of the iron, jangling contraption… Away from the mountainside. The wind roared in her ears, increasing in intensity even as her clothes whipped around her body. She was able to spin around, to look down at the ground…

She had time. She just had to wait for Lily to catch her. Lily would catch her, right? Glancing over her shoulder, she saw panic among the others. In the glimpse she got, it looked like Dash was fighting to get Noth to hold Verse, but that meant Lily had to carry Twilight, and-

No matter. She had already accepted her fate. She knew she was going to die, she just had to wait, now…

Melody, eighteen years old, was going to die… Splattered on the ground beneath Nest, far away from her cozy home, cold and afraid and crying. She had never loved, she had never wooed over a strong, muscular man… She had never played to a concert hall. She would never know the joy of being a mother, of kissing the one she loved… Stretching out on a couch with them on a stormy night for wine and wonderful, passionate sex… Tears spilled from her eyes as she mourned a life not fully lived, of joys unknown. She was still so young. The brief excursion into Appleoosa had shown her so much of the world she hadn't seen, places she didn't know…

Then it came to her. One word. Just one. It blazed into her consciousness, screaming through her every cell, the very fiber of her being. It ripped into her soul, gripped her by the throat, and commanded one thing.

And one thing only.

”FLY!”

Wrath of the Four Winds

--------- Melody’s Tale - Wrath of the Four Winds ---------

”FLY!”

It was a command. She couldn’t ignore it. Melody felt something well up in her chest. It felt like her magic, her power… Since the shackles had been clamped onto her wrists, Melody hadn’t felt it. Admittedly, that was half the reason she had been shaking… Being locked away from your magic was a scary, frightening thing… But now, her magic was beginning to build within her. It filled her chest, built up until the pressure was too much. She couldn’t hold it back. She couldn’t fight it.

The bonds shattered.

”RRAAAAAAAAAAWW!” Her cry screamed through the air. The ground shuddered from the impact. Spreading her arms, no, her wings, Melody took to the sky…

“What the fuck IS that?!”

“RUN!”

“Go, get out of here!”

“Lily, come ON!”

Panic erupted in the sky above Nest. The five of them all shouted and scrambled, wings flapping and feathers flying as they fought to get out of there…

“Mom, I’m…”

“Verse, stop squirming!” Dash grunted. Verse had suddenly begun twisting about in her hold. She was unable to hold him as a rough blow landed straight to her sternum. “Oof! Fuck! Verse, no! AUGH!” Feathers billowed around the remaining four as Verse fell. He had only just begun his descent when, just like Melody far, far below, he changed… Twilight screamed as Noth dropped her in the confusion. Her hands flailed about as she tumbled through the air, wait, hands? HANDS?! Summoning her magic, Twilight wrapped herself in a telekinetic field, stopping her descent. She grunted as the force of her own magic kept her from plummeting to the ground far, far below. Lily, Dash, and Noth flapped harder to reach her. As soon as Dash wrapped her arms around Twilight, the magi relaxed, feeling safe in Dash’s iron embrace.

“Guys, what ARE those?!” Noth’s voice was panicked as he pointed with both arms. Beneath and next to them, two creatures that ought not to exist, invariably did… Huge, hulking, massive… Twilight could only describe them in a single, breathless syllable. She and Lily spoke it at the same time. Both of them couldn’t believe it. Didn’t WANT to believe it…

“Roc.”

“What?!” Noth panted, dropping his arms. Above them, harpies took to the air, panicked, bird-like cries and screams punctuating the rumbling sound of displaced air.

“It’s a Roc!” Twilight said, clutching tighter to Dash. “Celestia controls the sun, Luna the moon, who do you think controls the winds?!” She watched in horror as the one on the ground far, far below them spread it’s wings and took the sky. The other, the one Verse had turned into, flapped harder, gaining hundreds of feet in altitude with a few flaps.

“They’ve been dead for millennia! They died along with Aqua, the dragon who controlled water! All the old creatures of legend are dead! How could they-“

Lily was cut off by an ear-splitting screech. Bursting above the wide plateau of Nest, one of the Roc screamed down at the harpies scrambling about. Hundreds of them took to wing, and hundreds of them were swept aside as the gusting winds blew them off of the plateau.

“Dash, Lily, go! Fly! Get out of here!” Twilight panicked, urging them to get out, to get away. Roc were said to control the winds. If they didn’t fly now, they would be caught up in the maelstrom. Dash turned around and flapped away hard and fast… Twilight saw, over her shoulder and through the flapping wings, the other Roc breach the top, screaming another deafening vocalization and blowing the wind back towards it’s pair. Both of them were different colors. One of them had a blue base to it’s feathers, fading into a brilliant, bright yellow near the tips. The other was red, with emerald-green feathers. A color for each of the four winds… Blue for the north, red for the east, yellow for the west, and green for the south… Even now, the two Roc flapped wings and screeched at the panicked harpies beneath them… Twilight lost sight of them as she looked forward. Dash was wheeling in a wide circle, turning down towards the ground. Even if Twilight wasn’t an avian, she knew that the sky wasn’t a wise place to be right then…

“There!” Lily pointed ahead, at a small grove. For their high-speed approach, it would be ideal to land in.

“Got it! Hang on, Twi!” Flapping hard to slow their descent, Dash pulled up short, landing at the speed of a run on the lush grass. She tripped, stumbled, and fell, her and Twilight sprawling out. “Oof! Ow! Fuck, Twi, you okay!” Dash grunted as she rolled to her feet, scrambling towards Twilight’s prone form. Lily and Noth landed less-than-gracefully behind them. Twilight groaned and cupped her head in a hand.

“’M fine.” She muttered. “Just hurt… How do you stand falling like that all the time, Dash?”

“Practice. Come on.” Dash looped Twilight’s arm over her shoulders and lifted her up. All three of them looked up at the top of Nest before making their way towards the safety of the pine forest…

“Clutchmother!” Melody cried out. Her voice came as a rumbling, screaming eagle cry, the kind that blasted wind across the plateau. Together, she and Verse landed atop Nest, their talons cracking stone beneath their formidable weight. Every harpy was either flying away or cowering atop the plateau, wide eyes frightened at the visage of their two gods bearing down at them.

“Great Roc!” Melody spied the Clutchmother, patron saint of the harpy race, extending her arms atop one raised platform near the middle of Nest. Harpies flocked towards her, crying out to their priestess for guidance. “Why have we angered you? What have we done to incur the wrath of our guiding winds?!” Her voice lifted strong and proud over the roaring winds. Melody spoke in a voice that didn’t belong to her, screaming words that weren’t entirely hers…

“You and your people have betrayed the way of the winds! You wage war and kill and sow violence! Your corruption and insolence killed us! Killed your gods! WE DEMAND BLOOD!” Together, she and Verse dove forwards, beaks grabbing the Clutchmother’s withered body. She was as easy to rip in half as a sheet of paper. Flinging the two halves of her body from the mountaintop, she and Verse screamed their commandments to the sky for all to hear.

“YOU ARE ALL CONDEMNED TO WANDER THE WORLD WITHOUT YOUR GUIDING WINDS! ONLY WHEN YOUR CHILDREN AND YOUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN PREACH LOVE AND PASSION, NOT WAR AND VIOLENCE, WILL YOU RETURN TO LIVE BY OUR SIDES!” Screaming loud and long, Verse and Melody flapped their wings once more. The gale-force winds sent harpies tumbling across the surface of the massive stone mountain, their frail bodies breaking against their homes, against the iron cages, tumbling off and into nothingness as they were swept away. Storm clouds brewed above Nest, striking flying harpies with loud, crashing lightning. Fire leapt from their wings, engulfing feathers and torching fleeing harpies. Their burning bodies fell from the sky, screaming and begging for mercy as they died.

Only a few escaped. Maybe a quarter of them. They dove low along the mountainside and cut across the tops of the trees, dodging bodies of their friends and families, some of them crushed by falling homes and buildings. Verse and Melody cleared the ground of Nest, their claws sweeping stone homes off of the mountaintop, their winds knocking the iron cages and other devices off and into the forest below. All the while, the storm raged, gusting winds and cracking lightning. When their home was clear, the twin Roc raised their heads to the sky and let out a piercing eagle call that rumbled across the lands…

“Let me GO! I have to go back!” Lily struggled against Dash’s grip, her eyes set on the maelstrom atop Nest. The four of them watched the burning bodies tumble from the sky like meteors, though they were thankfully far enough to avoid the crashing homes and wreckage. Nest was being ripped apart before their very eyes, the massive, monolithic home of the harpies being ripped to pieces by the deity gods it paid homage to. “I have to rescue my children!”

“Lily, those ARE your children!” Dash grunted, holding the weakened changeling in place easily enough. “That’s Verse! That’s Melody! Don’t you get it?!” She growled. Twilight understood. She knew what had happened. She didn’t believe it, she most definitely didn’t WANT to believe it, but there they were… The change had happened right in front of her eyes. Verse and Melody had changed, becoming the massive, hulking, feathery beasts that now wrought destruction on their rightful home. Nest was, after all, the ancestral home of the two Roc that had existed long, long ago… Their wrath shook the earth, made the ground rumble beneath their feet. The lightning storm began to spit rain. Not a gentle, nourishing type of rain… This was the type of rain that numbed hands and feet, cut through the air and stung skin like needles…

“WAIT, DAMNIT!” Dash finally had to take action. Fist curled, she struck Lily right at the base of her skull. It didn’t knock the changeling unconscious, but it made her slump forward. “We need to get to shelter. Noth, help me with her.” Dash grunted and hoisted the groggy woman up just as Noth dipped his shoulders underneath one arm. Twilight woodenly took Lily’s other arm, leaving Rainbow Dash to shake her hand out with a grimace. “Has she always been LITERALLY hard-headed?” Dash grunted, surveying the bruising flesh of her hand.

“You don’t even know…” Twilight said weakly, her legs shaking. The rain was already beginning to fall harder, peppering the four of them with ice-cold droplets.

“We need to find shelter.” Noth grounded them in reality, pointing with his chin at an outcropping of rock nearby. “Maybe we can find a cave, or at least some high shelter there.” Dash grunted and took the lead, walking fast towards the stone formation Noth had indicated. Twilight and Noth followed slowly, dragging the limp, mumbling Lily after her. When they followed Dash around the right edge, they spotted her waving them on.

“I found a shelf. It’s no cave, but it’ll keep us dry. Come on.” She called, urging them on. Twilight summoned what little strength she had and followed Dash in under the rocky shelf. The rain thankfully didn’t follow, and near the back, she collapsed with Lily.

“Oww…” Lily groaned as they fell, the hard stone unforgiving.

“Sorry, love…” Twilight panted, her skin breaking out in a feverish sweat.

“I’m going.” Dash said, standing at the entrance.

“You can’t.” Noth laid a hand on her arm. “Those winds will rip you to pieces.”

“I’m the only one who CAN handle those winds, Noth. I need to get our supplies. Look at them. Lily’s probably got a concussion, and Twilight’s about to get a cold. We won’t survive without the first aid supplies or food. I don’t think we’re far. The clearing we landed in was the one we passed before we dropped our bags. Stay here, cut some pine boughs for a bed and a fire, and do what you can for them, okay?” Dash slipped one of her knives out of it’s sheath, handing it to the changeling lieutenant. Noth took it hesitantly, weighing the options she presented.

“Fine. But try to fly low. I know you’re strong, Dash, but you’re no use to us dead or hurt. They need you now.” Noth glanced at them over his shoulder. “I need you.” Dash smiled at him before pulling a pair of goggles from beneath her waistband. She snapped them on her head, leaning in to kiss Noth before taking off.

“Oh.” Twilight said, waiting a few moments after Dash had flown off to speak. Noth glanced at her, smiling sheepishly. “That’s new… I never figured Dash for the type to fall in love.”

“Hey, hey…” Noth said, walking forward slowly. “Easy with the L word, there. Besides, you’re one to talk, falling for a lieutenant yourself.” He nodded to Lily, her eyes fluttering as she raised her hands to her head. “She needs help.” He said. “I don’t want to leave both of you weakened like this. You need to warm up. Here.” He set the knife aside, smoothly shifting into a hulking, furry bear. Twilight almost gasped, but the bear smoothly turned around and pressed it’s side against them, gingerly laying down. The heat radiating out from the musky, grizzled fur was enough to make Twilight forget about her pain. She curled close to Lily, both of them huddling inbetween the cold stone wall and the warm bear.

“Lily… Come on, hon, stay awake.” Twilight urged, shaking Lily gently. “You can’t sleep with a bonk to the head like that. Stay awake. Stay awake for me, okay?”

“Hmm… I’m okay, Twi… Just hurts.” Lily mumbled slowly. Twilight knew she wasn’t okay, but she was lucid. Coherent, even.

“Just stay awake, okay?” She urged, driving the point home. Lily smiled at her bravely.

“If you can keep me up.” The bear grumbled then, making both of them grin and laugh. “Ow,” Lily groaned, holding her head. Twilight sighed and pulled Lily close against her chest, both of them soaking up the warmth from the big, hairy bear. “Dash can punch REALLY hard…” Lily mumbled softly, nuzzling closer to Twilight.

“I know… We’ve all changed…” Twilight said softly. So much had happened, she wasn’t even sure if this was real or a dream. Surely, the Roc couldn’t be real, right? Celestia had told her the story how they had died thousands of years ago… Their bones were lost, never to be found, and the winds had died. It had become the duty of the avians to control the weather, carrying clouds and making winds when they needed to… That was why the dragon territories were so barren, she had been told. The loss of the Roc and of Aqua, the water dragon, had left the land barren and scorched. The dragons would survive, but the other races living there had died along with it… Equestria had flourished, thanks to the avians, and the harpies had adapted well enough… The northern land of Hearth, though, was subjected to the vicious Wendigo, making it a snowy, icy land of unforgiving, unrelenting cold… And the Shadowlands… No one knew what happened in the Shadowlands… Equestrian history in a nutshell, really… The six lands, Equestria, the Shadowlands, dragon territory, Featherhome, Hearth, and the changeling home of Hive, made up the whole of the world as anyone knew it…

To the south were the seas, where no ship had returned from, and the same for the far east, past the dragon territories… North of Hearth and Featherhome, the mountains rose to impassable heights, where cold froze anything that tried to fly over, and no passage was known. Sandwiched in it’s small place between the Shadowlands and Hearth, Hive normally kept to itself, and west past the Shadowlands… No one knew what was past the Shadowlands.

“Twilight?” Lily said gently, returning the magi’s thoughts to the present.

“Yes?”

“Are they going to be alright?” Her lover asked, her voice muffled through the fabric of Twilight’s worn, dirty shirt. Twilight heaved a sigh, her hand idly stroking Lily’s fiery-red curls.

“I don’t know, Lily… But if anyone can survive this, it’ll be Melody and Verse. They’re a lot more mature than we give them credit for… And a lot stronger, too…” Twilight kissed the top of Lily’s head, her lover finally done shaking. “They’ll make it. I know they will.”

“They have to.” Lily said softly.

Atop them, Noth grunted.

“Fuck!” Dash cursed as the winds blew her off-course again. She was strong, but so were the winds. She was actually lathered in sweat by the time she had made it back to the meadow they had landed in. Wings flared, she caught herself and turned about, flapping hard to regain the ground she had lost. She just had to make it to… There! The tall, dead pine… Brown needles were being stripped off of the tree in the hurricane-force winds, peppering Dash almost as much as the icy, lance-like rain. Atop Nest, high above her, the Roc continued to screech and scream. They spat bolts of lightning from their beaks, striking down any harpies that came close. Dash stayed low, just above the treetops, well out of the way of their wrath. It took her at least a half an hour of hard flying, but she finally made it to the tree. Sure, she could have walked, but she would have been lost in an instant. Dash needed to be airborne to keep her sense of direction.

There, stashed against the tree trunk, were the packs she and Noth had brought from Eyriewatch. They had stopped off at the tower-like town, resupplied, and got one night of rest before continuing on into Featherhome. Not that Dash would call it rest… There would be time for lusty thoughts later on. For now, Dash started the hardest part… She couldn’t wear the packs when she flew, so she had to hold them both in her hands, weighing her down, and giving her two more wind-catching devices to fight. Taking off again, Dash turned her back to the wind, fighting to get swept away as she huffed back towards the meadow. Flying with the wind wasn’t as hard as flying with it, just more tricky. It took technique. And for Dash to do it in such high winds with the load she bore, it spoke very much of her natural talent. Grunting, she landed and tumbled again.

That’s twice in two days, Dash. She thought, spitting grass from her mouth and searching for the packs. They had caught on a stray root, thankfully. Yanking them free, Dash rested her wings and walked off towards the rock. This way, at least, she knew… Fifteen minutes later, just over an hour after she had left, Dash ducked under the overhang. She was lathered with sweat, dirt, grass, dirty, smelly, and tired. Nevertheless, she smiled at the big bear. “How are they?” She asked, dropping the packs at the bear’s paws. Noth emerged where the bear had been, revealing a surprised Lily and Twilight.

“They’re fine. A little cold still, but fine.” Dash smiled and crouched down, flipping one pack open. She pulled a medium-sized blanket out, threw it open, and covered them with it. Noth retrieved the knife he had set aside, whispering in Dash’s ear that he was going to get some pine boughs for their shelter. He slipped out and into the storm, leaving Dash to her task.

“Where’d it go… I thought I tucked it in with the- AAH! Here we go.” She pulled a small bottle out, swirling the dark blue liquid around. “Twilight, know what this is?” She asked, holding the small vial out. Twilight squinted at it for a moment.

“Is that… Arcanum?”

“Yup. Arcanum.” Dash thought Twilight might need a little bit if she was malnourished after being held prisoner. The apothecary at Eyriewatch had given her the magical elixir gladly when she explained they were on a prisoner rescue mission. “Here, drink up. I need you to make sure Lily isn’t concussed. Sorry about that, by the way.”

“I’ll pay you back.” Lily smirked as Twilight took the bottle, popping the wax seal and drinking half the liquid. She replaced the wax and handed it back to Dash. This potion was mixed from Arcanum flowers and water from a Purespring, a magical source of water that dotted the land of Equestria here and there. It helped replenish a magi’s reserves, refresh them, make them temporarily stronger if they were already full. For Twilight, it would only help temporarily. She set to work immediately, her hands glowing as she cupped Lily’s head.

“Hmm… Oh, you’re fine, Lily… Just a bruise is all. A big one, but no brain damage.” Twilight said after a few long moments.

“Does this mean I can go to sleep?” Lily asked weakly. Twilight chuckled and nodded, kissing Lily’s head as she took a moment to heal the bruise anyways. Lily almost immediately closed her eyes and tucked up against Twilight, her even breathing filling their small space. Dash smiled at the sight of her slumbering friend, thankful the two of them were alright. Still, the more important two were in jeopardy… Or maybe not. Dash really didn’t know. All she DID know was they were still screaming atop Nest, the ground rumbling with their power now and then.

“Here,” Dash held out a thin strip of jerky to Twilight, keeping one for herself. Twilight smiled and took it, adjusting just a bit for the damp, sweaty Dash. Not that she smelled any better herself… Harpies didn’t believe in baths or showers for their prisoners. Using what water they did get for hygiene meant going thirsty. Twilight would have given her right arm for a good bath… “Are you guys okay?” Dash asked. Twilight sighed and looked down at a slumbering Lily.

“I think so. That was tough, Dash… I honestly thought we were going to die…” She said softly, her eyes suddenly feeling heavy. She kept herself awake by taking another bite of jerky. “Is it true?” She asked gently. “Is Celestia prisoner?” Dash sighed and leaned back against the wall, her side pressed against Twilight’s.

“It is.” The avian replied softly. “For a little over a year now. The changelings pushed through to the palace. She wouldn’t give it up without a fight. It was brilliant, Twilight… I’ve never seen her OR Luna take out that many changelings… Casting spells left and right, they’d plow through them in droves. You could SEE the magic for miles… The guard was getting slaughtered, though… We had to pull out, or lose everyone. Celestia stayed, Luna took off to one of the towers, and then flew south to meet up with the guard…” Dash started explaining the events, swaying between energetic and happy to sad, almost reserved…

“She lasted for HOURS, Twi! Spell after spell after spell, one after the other, just bam, bam, bam! It was INSANE. Eventually, though, she was swarmed… Chrysalis sent a letter to Luna with her terms. The surrender of Canterlot, or she would feed off of Celestia day in and day out until she was strong enough to take over all of Equestria. There was only one problem with that,”

“Her magic.” Twilight said.

“Exactly. We got reports that she’s being injected with magesbane over and over. She’s chained and locked up, and we have reason to believe she’s doing the same thing Lily did with all of us to get what power she does have…”

“Wow, really?” Twilight asked incredulously. Dash just nodded at her solemnly. “Well… If her magic wasn’t locked up, she might actually like that…”

“And if it wasn’t the queen of the changelings herself… I meant to tell you, by the way… Rarity really did it… Chrysalis is missing her arm. She cut it off, and the bitch hasn’t been able to grow it back. She looks so damn ugly…” Dash smiled slightly, mirroring Twilight.

“You go, girl…” Twilight said softly, a silent nod going out to the memory of her dead friend…

“So… Chrysalis is stronger than ever. We haven’t seen ANY primes in the past few months. She’s slowly feeding off of Celestia’s magic, what little there is…” Twilight gnawed on her lip for a moment, thinking through it.

“How… How did you know where to find us, Dash?” She asked softly. Dash glanced at her with a smile.

“Luna has a few defected lieutenant spies. Since Chrysalis can’t feel them in her mind, since they’re independent, they left her. One or two of them told Chrysalis to her face, but a few of them just left… To those who turned themselves over, Luna promised a bunch of stuff. Citizenship, money, land, whatever… But she promised more if they became her spies. That’s what Noth is.” She nodded out into the storm. “He was there when Celestia received the letter you guys sent from Spike. Chrysalis read it, and sent a huge force this way. Don’t worry, Noth and I passed them two weeks ago. They won’t be here for a few days,” She laid a hand on Twilight’s arm to settle her. “We have time to get Verse and Melody back before we leave. Relax. But Celestia got the letter in her captivity, Chrysalis read it, and sent them here. It was thanks to that letter Noth knew. He came and told Luna, and I volunteered to bring you four back myself. Noth came along, thanks to her orders. I wouldn’t have been able to do it alone…” She said wistfully. Something, though, was nagging at Twilight…

“Dash, you said Celestia was being injected with magesbane, right…?” She asked slowly. Dash nodded.

“Yeah. The liquid form. Hard stuff. I think they said every two hours. Even Celestia couldn’t break through that…” While Twilight didn’t doubt the palace had a large enough stock to keep Celestia locked away forever, she did doubt that Spike’s letter had gone through.

“Dash… Spike’s magic is a two-way sort of thing… He wouldn’t have been able to send that letter if Celestia’s magic was locked away… It wouldn’t have gone through.” She said quietly. “Poor guy accidentally ate a magesbane flower out in the forest with the crusaders one time… Celestia tried sending a letter during those few days, and when I learned of it, she said she had torched nearly half of her bedroom… It would work the other way, too… We would all have burned when Spike sent that letter…”

“So… You’re saying…”

“Celestia’s magic isn’t locked away. Not completely.”

“Alright, bitch.” Celestia looked up at the lieutenant changeling as it pushed through the door to her cell. The chains clinked as she shifted slightly. “Time for your injection. Double dose today. Chrysalis is out, and doesn’t want you to have ANY of it.” He chuckled, holding two syringes packed full of clear liquid.

“Oh? Chrysalis is out?” She asked, her tone halfway bemused. The lieutenant smacked her rough, hardly a tingle, really…

“Quiet, you bitch! I don’t want to hear anything from you!” He grasped her chin, wrenching her head around. “But yes, Chrysalis is gone. What’s more, she said we could have our way with you. So after this, I think I might just get my dick wet. You’d probably like that, you little wh-URK!”

“Hmm… I don’t think so…” Celestia’s lips spread in a thin smile as she grasped the lieutenant with her magic. Her very real, very alive magic. “Not today. Not anymore.” With a sickening crunch, she twisted his neck. The syringes fell to the floor, breaking open and spilling their deadly liquid onto the floor. Celestia slowly pulled herself away from the post she had been chained to, the links glowing red-hot as she rose up, her body passing through the molten metal with ease. She stood up, nonchalantly brushing hissing metal from her breast and shoulders.

“What’s happe-AIIEEE!” Another changeling had burst through the door, but was quickly engulfed in flame.

“Hmm.” Celestia mused to herself. “If I was full strength, that would have disintegrated him… I ought to be careful. Oh well. I just need to get the message out.” Smooth and slow, she walked out of the door, her body dirty and scarred from the long ordeal of being held captive. She was nude, and slightly thinner than she had been. Two more changelings in the hall succumbed to her flames as she slowly made her way out of the dungeons. By the time she was in the halls, a dozen had burned away before her.

“Ooh, ow…” She popped her back, feeling the muscles twinge slightly. “Not good for me to sit around all that time… Would have been nice of dear old Chrissy to let me stretch now and then…” Nonchalantly, Celestia cast her hand towards the first window she came across. From her fingertips burst a dazzling ball of purple and pink flames, arcing through the sky. It whistled as it flew, arcing high through the air. When it burst, the light shone through the long row of windows she had been walking past, burning more and more changelings. She made it to the entry, pulling the doors open for Luna, who smiled as she ascended the steps.

“Good to see you again, Tia.” Luna said softly, wrapping her sister in a hug. “I heard from Mathias when Chrysalis left to go speak with Baal. We waited for your signal, as planned. Here you are.” Luna broke the hug and waved her hands, summoning a small, wrapped bundle. Celestia smiled serenely at her sister, pulling on the simple white blouse and long, brown skirt she always wore.

“Thank you, sister. And sorry for worrying you so.”

“Bah. Melody and Verse are fine, apparently… I knew you’d survive. You always do.” Luna smiled as she and Celestia turned back into the castle. They joined hands, night and day once more. “By the way, Gale and Hurricane are back.”

“Oh really?” Celestia arched her eyebrow at Luna, who nodded softly.

“Reports from Eyriewatch say Nest has been all but obliterated… The four winds blow again, sister. Roc rule the skies once more.” Luna smiled wide at her sister, even as the war cry of the guard roared up from the south… “There is much for you to catch up on.”

“This is good news. I wonder if Verse and Melody had anything to do with it…?”

“Oh, most definitely. Well then, are you ready?” Luna smiled at Celestia, who nodded and took the first few steps into the palace.

“Time to take our city back.”

Melody watched herself as she spat fire and lightning down from Nest. The arcing lighting crashed with deafening blows into the earth, tearing up trees and lighting the forest aflame. Her wings sent spinning tornadoes of flame out into the air. Long ago, the harpies that survived had fled, now, they were just venting their rage. She and Verse kicked up hurricane winds and lanced lightning out into the land, exercising their new powers…

Though it wasn’t really her. More and more, Melody felt herself beginning to detach from the massive, frightening form. Her vision dulled, growing fuzzy until it felt like she was looking at the world through a long tunnel… Then it went dark. She was blind, and alone, and very, very frightened. One moment she was dead, the next she was flying, screaming, casting fiery spells and lightning and…

“I want my mother…” She whispered softly.

”Oh? Your mother?” The voice was low, vibrating through her chest like the screams had earlier. But it was soothing. It made her feel warm, and very safe…

“Yes. I want my mom!” Tears began to course from her eyes as she cried, shaking a little. She didn’t know where she was or what was happening… She was so scared…

”Shh, shh, child… Relax. I cannot give you your mother. But how would you like to see your brother?”

“Verse?! Yes, please!” She cried out, her tears still running from her eyes, though she stopped sobbing.

”Very well. Open your eyes, child.” She snapped back to consciousness then, gasping as the cold reality struck her. Cold. Ice-cold. Like, windy cold and rain. She was standing atop Nest, the harpy city almost completely wiped from the mountaintop. Before her, Verse stood, tears shining on his face as he looked around dumbly at their surroundings.

“Verse!” Melody cried out, running to him.

“Melody?” He didn’t even stumble as she threw her arms around him, halfway thankful for his warm body, halfway thankful for his warm hug… Very warm. So warm, in fact, he was…

“Oh shit!” Melody gasped and wrenched herself away, realizing then the two of them were entirely nude. Hands flying to try and cover herself, Melody jumped away. Just then, a massive wing cut off her view of him. The feathers were… Red... They slowly faded into a brilliant green, though, just near the tips. Following the wing up, she slowly came face-to-face with a very large, very deadly-looking bird.

She screamed.

”Shh! Shush, child!” The voice thundered at her, making her scream cut off. She fell back onto her rear, the cold stone hurting her backside as she fell. ”Relax. I am Hurricane, Roc of the southern and eastern winds. I will not harm you.” The voice soothed her once more, made her heart stop thundering in her ears.

“H-how… Wait, I… We were…”

”Yes, Melody. You gave birth to me. Would you like me to explain?” Melody’s head reeled at the implications, her mind struggling to grasp what the massive beast said. Slowly, dumbly, she nodded her head, even as she began to shiver. The cold bit into her, making her quiver atop the cold stone. With a gentle, tender motion. The Roc cupped it’s wing around her. Each feather was nearly as large as her body, and there were hundreds… This beast was massive… She felt herself gently picked up, brought closer to the Roc’s downy breast. There, amongst the ruby and emerald feathers, she was nustled, kept warm against the fire-like beating of it’s heart. The voice filled her once more, soothing and warming her in equal measure.

”My brother Gale and I died long, long ago… Our people, the harpies, betrayed us. They no longer guided the world, like our winds guided the weather. Instead, they bartered and traded, fought and squabbled. Their betrayal slowly withered away on us, killing the spirit of the four winds. We flew over the northern mountains and died together, our bones buried under the snow and ice. However, it was written that two children of love would come into the world, and from their power, we old gods would be born anew, to fill the world once more. Melody, it is thanks to you and your brother Verse that Gale and I can fly once more. The betrayal of our people was not forgotten, though… Now that we are strong once more, we can punish them for what they have done, and guide the new generation back to where they need to be.

“Without your power, your unique brand of magic, I would not be alive today. Nor would Gale. I cannot promise our immediate children will like you, but I will say this…” Melody felt something wrap around her body, warming her further. It filled her senses with it’s warm, comforting embrace. She inhaled the heady scent, a primal sort filled with heat and musk. The cool stone was set against her feet once more, and she stood on strong legs. Looking down, she saw she was clothed once more. ”I owe a debt of gratitude to the children of love. As long as I draw breath, Nest will always welcome you. My power is yours, Melody. Ask, and you shall receive.”

Melody’s eyes went wide as she looked herself over. She wore a beautiful blouse, ablaze with the colors of the winds. Red and green embroidery decorated the muted yellow fabric, the whole thing trimmed with blue… It was a vibrant, striking garment. In it’s embrace, she felt supported, warm, and comforted. The biting wind was nothing more than a refreshing breeze. The cold rain felt like a spring shower. She smelled of flowers.

“I…” She struggled to find the words. “Thank you, Hurricane.” She looked up at the Roc, suddenly not so frightened anymore. “Thank you so much… You saved my life as well…” The face was drawn and hard, the cold eyes glaring down at her… Yet the aura of power emanating from this magnificent creature was comforting and warm, and it seemed as if the Roc was smiling at her. It tucked it’s wings against her body once more, and across the wide plateau she saw Verse. He was clothed in a very similar tunic, his long arms bare. His lower half was clad in loose brown trousers, and once Lily glanced down, she saw she wore the same. Their feet sported strong, supportive boots. Thick soles and tight laces.

”I know you wish to see your mother. She and her friends, and her lover, are resting right now. In the morning, they will come for you and Verse. Until then, stay with us.” This was Gale’s voice echoing through her now. It filled her senses much the same way, though it sent a shiver down her spine… Unlike Hurricane, Gale’s voice was cool… Like stepping into a walk-in freezer, and held a hint of something dark… Gale, brilliant with his blue and yellow colors, was the bearer of the winds of the north, of Hearth… And of the West… The Shadowlands.

“Thank you both.” Verse said quietly, smiling over at Melody. “But… What do we do now?” His expression darkened, along with Melody’s, as they awkwardly stood atop the wind-swept, shattered plateau. Before them, Gale and Hurricane swung their massive heads around, looking deep into one another’s eyes. After a few long moments, they gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod.

”After this, the children of love have a task. It was written long ago you two would fill the world with the old gods once more.”

“The God of Water, the dragon Aqua, died with us.”

“The God of Darkness, Shadow, has not died, but lies dormant to the west…”

“The Gods of Cold, the Wendigos, have long since passed from this world.”

“The God of Discord lies banished in the garden of Canterlot.”

“And many, many more gods have perished in the ages past… You two, Melody, Verse, will bring them back. That is your task.”

“Twilight. Twilight, wake up.” The gentle voice lulled her from her sleep. Groaning, she opened her eyes and looked up. In the cold pre-dawn light, she saw the shadowy outlines of three people leaning over her.

“What? What’s happening?”

“We don’t know,” Lily said quietly. “But we need to get up to Nest. The storm has died, and the winds are calm. Come on.” They gently pulled her up, giving her time to wake up. She was handed a canteen full of cool water and a thick strip of dried jerky. She ate and drank greedily, enjoying the feeling of strength returned to her once more. Her magic was back in place, and her body felt rested, despite the hard surface beneath them.

“Alright, let’s go…” They pushed the sodden pine boughs away from the opening of the overhang, looking out at the pine forest. Birds chirped in the early morning, and pine needles dripped water onto the forest floor. It was serene, a stark contrast to the previous day… “Woah.” She said softly, looking around. The sight of Nest made her look up, at the peak, where she saw… Nothing… Just the cold edge of the monolith.

“Come on. I’ll carry you, Twi.” Dash said softly. Twilight nodded and let Dash pick her up, the four of them taking to the sky. Judging by how easily Lily was keeping up, she had recovered as well. They flapped hard, gaining altitude on their long climb up to Nest. It took them a while, but they finally made it, and when they breached the edge of the mountaintop, what Twilight saw nearly took her breath away.

”Aah. Melody, Verse… Your parents are here…”

--------- Notes from the Author ---------

So, the path is laid for the rest of the story. Melody and Verse have to somehow bring the old gods back into the world, and are the bearers of an old magic none know how to use. Indeed, bringing the Roc back was almost chance… However, if anyone can do it, it’d be these two.

Meanwhile, Chrysalis is regaining her strength… So much so, in fact, that there have been no primes of late. How long will her strength last, though? Has she just bought a few years, or has feeding off of Celestia’s power secured her place as queen for the next few centuries?

Good thing Celestia escaped, then. The war re-heats as Celestia and Luna fight to regain Canterlot.

I hope you all enjoyed this double upload ^.^ About 3/4ths of the last chapter, and this entire one, were written in one singular night at work. I’m doing this for several reasons:

I won’t be updating The Untold Chapters for a long, long while.
I’ll only be updating Melody’s Tale every week. Look for new uploads on Wednesdays.
I’ll be focusing on the new story for EQAD’s Cloptober contest, which is also the reason for the previous two. Check my most recent blog posts for more information on this
Mists of Pandaria released, and I’m fucking hooked again. I may very well be cancelling livestreams in lieu of leveling, writing, and, you know, sleep…
I fucking love writing. The ideas came smooth and easy, and helped lay the groundwork for the rest of the story.
It’s fucking Melody’s Tale, man! Y’all should be fuckin’ happy XD

Also, I explained a lot of shit in this chapter… Particularly, the layout of the world. I KNOW! I KNOW! Calm your tits, everybody… There’s a canon map of Equestria out there. I know this. This is part of the knowledge I have in my brain.

I just don’t give a shit. I started writing ADKOL before that map was released, and I like making my own world as it is. So, shut your face and read my fucking story. If I get any gripes about geography, I’m going to laugh at you derisively and insult your mother. Then ignore you.

Also: I kinda want to draw out the map for this… Just so you guys know where everything is, since I’ve covered a HUGE amount of ground in the last four chapters. There are a few problems with this, though…

I can’t fucking draw T-T

If anyone knows a map-building program for like, D+D or something, I would much appreciate a link/description how to get. There are only a few stipulations: Has to be online, or at least bought online, can’t require me to have a printer (I need to just have, like, an image saved to my hard drive.) And if it requires a tablet that you have to draw with… Well then I’m fucked. Though my friend has one I might be able to borrow.

Alternatively, if someone would be willing to draw a map for me on commission, I would be incredibly happy, and perhaps willing to pay? There are a few stipulations for this, as well: It’s my fucking map. If I want you to change something, you either change it or we give the project up. My imagination, your talent. You will get recognized (And possibly paid) for your work, but I want it to be as damn close to perfect as it can be.

If you know something along these lines, or ARE someone alone these lines, please, send me an email jordanwilliams08(at)gmail.com or leave a comment or send me a PM on the site or SOMETHING!

And that should be all. Like I said, I wrote a TON of content in the past week, so my chickens might not all be in order. If I missed something, leave a comment, send me a PM, and if I didn’t mean to do it, I’ll fix it. I cannot TELL you how many times a comment from a reader pointed out a major issue with the chapter.

Thanks to ALL my readers, I love you all ^.^

Loyal out <3

Eyriewatch

------------ Melody’s Tale - Eyriewatch ------------

The wind roared in her ears, almost painfully loud. She winced her teary eyes halfway closed and looked into the wind, trying to see where they were headed. Ahead of them, a massive, tall tower loomed on the horizon. She could just see the pale stone face rising up from the wide, open plains. Much like the plains inbetween her home and Appleoosa. “There it is!” She cried over the wind. Her voice carried over to the other massive Roc, their impromptu means of transportation.

“Eyriewatch!” Rainbow Dash confirmed, her voice clear as a bell over the roaring wind. The avian had opted to fly alongside the Roc, rather than on their backs. Her excuse being ‘it’s not every day you get to fly alongside a God!’ The three sets of wings flapped harder as their goal became clear to them. In the early evening, the sun was just beginning to paint the sky a dull, faded orange. Melody knew it was commonplace… Ever since the war started the nights and days lacked the beautiful luster her mothers had said would often leave a person stunned and in awe. Just once, she would like to see the day as Celestia had intended it… To view the night sky as Luna painted the masterpiece of stars and swirling galaxies and the big, white moon… Still, the sight was a welcome one as they winged across the wide plains inbetween Featherhome and Eyriewatch. They had crossed Equestrian borders an hour ago.

“Been a while since I’ve seen this place…” Twilight said behind Melody. She turned her eyes down at her mother, who was curled up on her side atop the Roc’s back, huddling close for the warmth of it’s brilliant feathers. Hurricane, god of the South and East winds, had gladly accepted the ‘Children of Love’ as he called Melody and Verse, on his back. Gale, the brilliant blue and yellow god of the North and West winds, bore Noth and Lily upon his own. The two of them had made an excuse that it was ‘Changeling Business’ they needed to discuss.

”Rainbow Dash,” Hurricane’s voice rumbled beneath their feet, making them all vibrate with the force of his gentle speech. This was, after all, the creature that had swept dozens of harpies off of the peak of Nest with it’s voice alone. ”Roc have not lived for thousands of years, and I’m afraid that many might mistake our presence for a threat. Would you be so kind to fly ahead of us and deliver a message? I know my brother and I will live through any attack, but I cannot guarantee the safety of the Children of Love if we are seen as a threat.” Melody spied Rainbow Dash banking into a wide turn to come closer as Gale spoke, and she smiled.

“No problem at all! I’ll see you guys at the top!” Melody inhaled a breath as Dash spoke, her wings beating faster as she gained headway against the massive Roc. This was something she had always wanted to see… A sonic rainboom! Flapping harder and harder, Dash began to reach speeds that, until her existence, had previously been legend. The air began to twist and contort around her… She was doing it! Melody crouched low, her voice lifted in a cheer as Dash gave one final, decisive flap.

The shockwave nearly blew her off her feet. She felt the surface of the feathers slide underneath her as Dash rocketed off towards the tower. She was a blur, a streak of light that could just barely be seen arcing towards the top of the pinnacle of the avian-built city. Behind her, the rainbow-colored trail of light washed over their bodies, the Roc cutting a path through the light with powerful flaps. Melody’s breath was taken away in the beautiful spectrum of brilliant light, her eyes wide at the display. Slowly, her arms raised up, running her fingers through the air.

“In all things,” Twilight said gently, braving the wind to stand next to Melody. “There is magic.” Melody fought tears, both from the wind and the beauty… Behind her, Verse was just as stunned. It was moments like this that made Melody wish she could fly, like she had when she was shifted into the Roc. Just so she could wheel through the sky fast and free, laughing and smiling like Dash always was whenever she had flown close enough for her to see… Like the harpies had when she watched them dive from the edge of Nest every morning… Like Lily did. Flying atop the Roc wasn’t nearly the same, though… Granted, she could see the wide horizon stretching endlessly around her, but she had seen it before on the plains. The broad back of the Roc sloped away after twenty feet to either side, and getting close enough to the edge meant falling off. She couldn’t see the pine forest slide underneath them, the trees giving way to the wide plains… It was flying, but not the sort that Melody desired. She wanted to be free and independent, to fight the forces of gravity on her own, to have absolutely nothing inbetween her and the sky…

Slowly, her eyes turned around to look at Gale, at the two people riding his wide back. They had all spoken of Melody and Verse’s changeling powers before… Twilight stressed magical development from an early age, though, and had explained that changelings could be taught at any time they pleased… Magi, however, took development… So, Lily had never had the chance to teach her children how to shift, how to adapt the form of another like all changelings could… Melody COULD fly… She just had to learn how. The impatience of her youth won out, and she made the decision in her mind to ask Lily as soon as they landed.

The light from Dash’s sonic rainboom faded away slowly, leaving behind awe and wonder in the minds and hearts of the two young children. A welcome diversion, of course, from the life they had lived so far. Not to mention the recent, rather disturbing news. It still nagged there, at the back of Melody’s mind, like a sore on your lip you were trying to force yourself not to lick anymore. She had many questions and knew that more than a few would go unanswered, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to ask them… Right at that moment, though… Melody was far too entranced with the brilliant display to worry about the future. Something her mothers had taught her. The future was no good if you didn’t spend the present enjoying yourself.

The wind seemed to pick up in intensity and speed, the soft rocking motion of the Roc beneath her slowly becoming more difficult to stay stable underneath. Eyriewatch lurched closer and closer in their vision, slowly filling their eyes bit by bit… It was only when Twilight spoke that Melody gained a true appreciation for avian architecture. “Woah,” Her mother said softly. “I had almost forgotten…”

Eyriewatch was much like Nest. Home to all the races of Equestria, the massive tower was built by avians long, long ago. It dated back to a time when Starswirl had been a prominent name among magi, and Equestria was still relatively young. Rather than built by human hands, as Trottingham had been, or magic, as was the case for Canterlot. Eyriewatch was tall. It didn’t aspire to be as monolithically tall as Nest was, but it was still a very dominating structure. From horizon to horizon, it would be visible for many, many miles… The white stone face had been worn with time, giving it a light grey color, a faded and worn, warm sort of welcoming texture. Wind and dirt and even harpy arrows had done little to impact the impressive tower. Large, glass-less windows dotted the surface of the tower, and even as Melody watched, she saw an avian sweep out of one window and into the open sky, winging hard with two of his fellows close by. Together with the windows, there were several balconies with wide doors and openings, and Melody thought they could only have been made to accommodate larger winged creatures. The plains around the tall tower were dotted with a small town of sorts, though the tallest building amongst them was hardly a tenth the height of the tower itself. While this may have been home to several human and magi, it was predominantly an avian city. It was also the closest to the border of Featherhome, the territory owned predominantly by the harpies. The flight from Nest was relatively short, given how long it had taken them to walk to it from the southern dragon territory… A flight, Melody was both thankful and worried to note, was completely devoid of changelings… Where was the massive force that was allegedly heading their way?

Melody felt a twinge of realization as Gale and Hurricane began to circle the tower… The space atop Eyriewatch had been cleaned free of debris and other clutter… There was no one standing atop the stone edifice, waiting to greet them… There was, however, a few dozen avians hovering in the air about it. They turned to watch the massive Roc bank their wings into a wide, graceful turn. Melody had keen vision, and she could see their mouths open in shock, their expressions dumb with realization. The gods of the winds had returned.

Hurricane and Gale flapped their wings hard as they began to light atop the tower. Melody realized now that it was thanks to Rainbow Dash they had a safe spot to land that wasn’t down on the plains. The lurching motion grew rougher as the two Roc came to a stop, their wings working to settle them so close together. Melody never had taken a guess as to the dimensions of the two Roc, but now that they were so close together atop the tower, she realized they both must have easily been two hundred feet long from beak to tail feather. Indeed, the three of them had had more than enough room to stretch out on the back of Hurricane, and Gale was just as large. Their wingspan, massive and impressive to behold, was easily three hundred feet. Their beaks could easily open and swallow a human or avian whole, wings and all. When they finally came to a rest, Hurricane lowered his shoulder to the stone face, and Melody slid down his feathers to the floor. Her feet hit hard stone hard, making her stumble but not fall. Twilight came behind her, and Verse last. When Hurricane righted himself, Gale repeated the motion so Noth and Lily could slide down.

”You are back in your homeland now, Melody. The winds have no home, so we shall travel the world, spreading news of our return. It is thanks to you that we are free to do so, and I give you my humble thanks.” Gale’s rumbling voice still carried the dark, cold undercurrents of his name. Even in the colorful clothes she wore that had been granted to her just yesterday, Melody shivered. Gale turned an unblinking amber eye upon her, staring straight into her soul. ”Your brother and you have much to accomplish in the coming years. As my brother has said previously, our home is yours. Should you ever need my assistance, turn to the Northwest and whistle long and loud. No matter how far I am, I will hear your plea, and I will come to your side. My power is yours to command for this day, and all the days to come. When it is your time to pass this world, your children may wear my vestments, and will command the same power that you do.” Despite the cool shiver that ran through her body, Melody felt a smile spread across her face. Gale lowered his head closer, and she and Verse gingerly laid their hands on the warm, hard surface of the massive beak. Hurricane spoke to them next, and they turned to the brilliantly colored Roc with a smile. His warm voice filled them, ran through their bones, inundated them with a sense of welcome and comfort.

”My brother speaks for us both, Children of Love. Should you ever require my aid, turn to the Southwest and whistle long and loud. No matter if I wing the edges of this world or slumber peacefully beneath the waves, I will rush to your aid, no matter the task. My power is yours to use as you see fit, as I owe the two of you the debt of my very life. Pass your clothes on to your children, and they too shall own this power. You and your family will forever be a friend to the winds. Now, everyone… You may want to cover your ears. We have a little… Announcement to make.”

Melody’s smile wilted at the warning. She shared a look with everyone else assembled atop the platform, and heard the same warning repeated to the avian filling the skies around the peak of Eyriewatch. She watched as all of them dove out of sight, undoubtedly seeking shelter in the tower beneath them. She realized then that Eyriewatch had been constructed long, long ago to serve as a roost for the Roc… As the two massive creatures turned around, their tailfeathers fanning out into the air above their heads, their talons settled into smooth grooves cut in the stone. Gale faced almost directly Northwest, while Hurricane faced Southeast. Back-to-back, the Roc opened their beaks and cried out for all to hear. Even though her hands were pressed tight over her ears, Melody could FEEL the power rip through her body.

”Equestria! Hive! Hearth! Featherhome! Shadowlands! Dragon territory! Hear our call and heed our words!” Both Roc lifted their heads and roared their speech loud and long. Melody had no doubt in her mind their magically-carried words reached the ears of all to hear… From the far reaches of the shadowlands, to Dragonpoint and as far north as the imposing wall of mountains… None were exempt from the Roc’s declaration. Melody knew what they were doing… She knew their purpose. Their words made her quiver and shake in both fear and awe.

”THE ROC LIVE AGAIN! THE SKIES ARE OURS! WE COMMAND THE SNOW, RAIN, AND CLOUDS! AT OUR CALL, THEY DANCE AND SING! AT OUR BEHEST, THEY WATER YOUR LANDS AND COVER YOUR HOMES! DENY US OUR BIRTHRIGHT, AND FACE OUR WRATH!” That invariable commandment roared across the lands, spreading the word for everyone to feel and hear. From the dark depths of the Shadowlands to the West, all the way to Dragonpoint in the far East, all heard, and all would obey… In the coming years, word of what happened at Nest, at the betrayal of the harpies, would travel to all ears willing to hear. None would cross the Roc again. If they did, their demise would be as swift as the roaring winds themselves.

To those that obeyed, though… They faced temperate winds and cool winters. Their snow was heavy and wet, providing much fun for their children to frolic and play in, and their summers were warm and full of sunshine. In autumn, their trees would turn golden and paint the landscape with magnificent colors. Spring brought hope and renewal to their hearts, filling them with the wonders of a world shaking off the snow and starting anew. In that moment, though, Melody’s hands fell off her ears as she watched the most magnificent thing she had ever seen…

Both the Roc flared their wings out. Their feathers changed drastically, the colors mirroring that of the winds. Around her, blue and yellow, red and green, they mixed and melded together, and the wind whipped her long hair around her face. The clouds wheeled overhead, spinning in a tight circle that slowly grew. Under their dark cover, thunder rumbled and rain fell. Lightning struck their wings, igniting a fire among their feathers that burned with the heat and intensity of the summer sun. Snow swept around their feet, drifting against their legs and chilling their skin. It melted away to cool water that fell from the peak of Eyriewatch in beautiful waterfalls, the misting droplets catching the brilliant light of the fire in their wings and painting the sky in a brilliant rainbow. All around her, the seasons shifted and changed as the Roc exercised their power. They were commanding. They were powerful. They were majestic.

They were home.

And then they were gone. Leaving in their wake a dark grey storm cloud that continued to pour a warm spring rain on their heads, Hurricane and Gale were off into the sky. The smoke from the fire in their wings joined the large grey cloud overhead, spreading the rain over the plains and beyond. Thunder rumbled with each flap of their wings, and when they opened their beaks in a cry, lightning arced into the ground far, far below. The six of them stood completely speechless as the Roc flew away into the sky. Hurricane flew to the Southeast, Gale to the Northwest. When the gods of the winds were gone, the rain fell hard and fast, soaking them all to the skin.

“Hey.” The new voice caught Melody’s attention, and she spun to face it. Raising above the threshold of the floor came a new face, an avian, wearing a tight-fitting sleeveless vest and baggy cargo pants. Her brilliant orange and red hair clung to her head in the rain, the leather hugging her chest tightly. “You should probably come in out of the rain. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Spitfire!” Lily cried out, laughing as she rushed forward. The avian grinned and wrapped Lily in a warm hug, encouraging the rest of them closer. Behind her, Dash mounted the steps with a smile, her own rainbow hair laying flat against her head.

“C’mon, guys. We’ve got fresh clothes, hot baths, and food for you all.” Twilight groaned audibly, and Melody would have sworn Twilight could have kissed the brash avian in that moment. Of them all, Lily and Twilight probably had it worse. They hadn’t eaten a full meal in months. There was one night in Naga-haal where they roasted hot dogs on an open fire, but ever since then, it had been summoned jerky and dry granola, water and the occasional canteen of juice for them all to share. Twilight was versatile, but she said the store room she drew from wasn’t. Melody wondered if she could petition for some dried fruit to be stored in the near future… Together, they descended into the tower, walking down wide worn steps while Lily, Twilight, Dash, and Spitfire chatted like old friends, which Melody assumed they really were…

Rain chased them down the stairs in rivulets, but disappeared into small holes in the joint where the stairs met the wall, undoubtedly curving through the stone and mortar out to the exterior. After the first few hundred steps, the only water came from their dripping forms. The tower was slightly dusty, warm, and well-worn. Melody had never been inside such a massive structure. Delving deeper into the tower was both a disorienting and exciting experience. Small, confined spaces never really scared her… She had been diving in a portion of their little cove that had many little caves and worn coral formations, and that had never made her squeamish. She wasn’t claustrophobic, but she was new to large buildings in general. When they went ten minutes without seeing a window or the sky, her heart raced in her chest. She felt wonder and excitement race through her veins. Judging by Verse’s wide grin, he felt much the same.

As they walked, they passed several other parties, mostly cleaning crews. A magi gripped several brooms in her magical grip, holding them off to the side as the small crowd passed. She gave a small ‘tsk’ as they dripped water on her stairs, but returned to sweeping with a smile on her face, the brooms all moving in sync as she resumed work. Hallways and corridors branched off of the stairwell, seeming to radiate outwards or inwards at four regular points. Melody caught glimpses of everything from store rooms to living quarters, armories and even one bathroom. Her bladder was beginning to act up when Spitfire finally exited the stairwell into a wide, warmly-lit corridor. Rather than lamps or overhead lights, this corridor was lit with burning torches. She stared in wonder at the intricate iron work that held the burning sticks in place, their oily smoke filtering upwards through the same holes water filtered downwards.

“Eyriewatch is very old, and very traditional.” Spitfire explained, smiling at Melody’s expression. It was the first time the avian had addressed her specifically. “While some of the lower levels have opted for more traditional forms of light, such as lamps or stuff like that, we make sure it’s nothing but torches and hearths up here. Aah, here we are.” She turned a corner into one moderately short hallway. “The commander’s quarters. You’ll be my personal guests while you’re here, if Twilight and Lily don’t mind bunking together, you’ll each have your own rooms.” Dash grinned and patted Noth on the stomach with the back of her hand.

“We’ll take our own room, too.” She said with a wide grin. Spitfire’s eyes widened slightly as she looked between the two of them.

“Really?” She asked, pointing idly between Dash and the tall, muscular Noth. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone straight on me…”

“Who says she’s straight?” Noth immediately shifted, the muscular, slightly imposing form gone. In it’s place, a very beautiful, very alluring young woman stood. Melody, Spitfire, Twilight and Lily watched with wide eyes as the shifted Noth wrapped his… her? It’s arms around Dash, pulling her into a very heated kiss. Verse was nowhere to be seen, but a rapidly-shutting door told Melody he had disappeared. She flushed and followed suit, silently slipping into a nearby room. After a moment’s hesitation, she threw the lock and leaned against the door. Alone at last. For the first time in many, many long months, she was alone…

The room she had chosen was very warmly-appointed and dully-lit. Candles burned on some of the open spaces, and a fire burned warmly in the hearth, but darkness still lurked in the corners of the rooms. The storm clouds outside of the smaller windows told her it was still raining very heavily outside… That, and she could have sworn she heard the rain splattering against stone nearby… The main room she stood in held two couches turned in an L-shape towards the hearth, a wide table with four chairs and a hot meal already set out, and a book case stuffed with books. The smooth stone floor was covered for the most part in thick rugs that her booted feet sunk into as she walked across them, exploring. To her left and right were two closed doors, and she opened them both. One opened into a dark bathroom that boasted just a single candle burning weakly next to a bath tub, where a steaming tub full of water sat just waiting for her to emerge herself in. Warm, fluffy-looking towels lay out on the stone shelves cut into the wall, and on the ledge above them was a selection of soaps, shampoos, and if she wasn’t mistaken, lotion and conditioner as well.

The other door, however, led into the largest bedroom she had seen yet… Larger even that Braeburn’s room in Appleoosa, the bed dominated half of the far wall. Melody was scared if she crawled up onto it, the heavy blankets and sheets would wrap around her, pull her in, and make her lost in the warm embrace of the fabric forever. To the left opened one of the wide balconies she had seen earlier, and that was where the splattering noise she had heard came from. The balcony was separated from the room by a wide, deep archway, and none of the lancing rain carried across the threshold. The rug leading up to the archway was dry and slightly cool, and in the wall across from the archway, another warm fire burned. Melody recognized the same magic Twilight had used on their journey, a fire that burned but didn’t consume the logs. If she had to guess, that fire had burned for a very, very long time.

Then Melody was struck with a dilemma. One that wasn’t very major, admittedly, but it still presented her a choice. Should she bathe, eat, or sleep first? No one had knocked on her door yet, so she figured they had some time to rest before whatever came next. Finally, she set on the most logical course of action. With a ravenous appetite, she set in on the dinner, eating more than she had in the past few long months. She ate a thick venison steak cooked medium-rare, half a dozen rolls, two full wooden mugs of what she guessed was grape juice, another mug of cool, sweet water, and half a mug of what she could only guess was a sort of spiced, mulled wine. It bit into her tongue and made her senses a little fuzzy. She felt sleepier than she had previously, so she only drank half of her mug and left the other half for after her bath. She continued to eat, however, crunching through two whole apples, a banana, a small fistful of grapes, and a very large portion of mashed potatoes with a thick, delicious brown gravy. The gravy even had sliced mushrooms in it. Incredible. Finally finished, she decided a bath was in order.

Shamelessly, and very thankfully, Melody stripped her clothes off in the dark bathroom. Surprisingly enough, they were almost completely dry. “Huhn,” She said as she held them up, one hand running over the soft, warm fabric slowly. There wasn’t even a damp spot. Odd, since in the rain they had clung tight to her skin, feeling clammy and cold. A very complex, primal sort of magic she decided, folding them and neatly placing them on the floor of a small basket next to the towels. The bath still steamed slightly as she laid her hands on the edge of the tub, testing the water with a hand. The temperature could only be described as one hundred percent perfect. Slowly, she eased her foot in, wincing a little as the water burned just a touch. Then came the other one. Inch by inch, she slid her body into the water, feeling the warm embrace of the hot bath wrap around her every curve. When her rear finally settled onto the bottom of the tub, her eyes were already closed, the tension melting away smoothly. She sunk in up to her shoulders, leaning against the back of the tub, her entire body submerged. It was quiet. It was hot. It was exactly what she needed. Telling herself how much she needed this, Melody let herself relax…

Sadly enough, sleeping in a bathtub wasn’t very comfortable. She began to feel a bit sore from sitting against the hard surface of the tub, so she moved on to the other half of the bath she had been expecting. Soap and rag worked together to scrub away the dirt and weariness of a long, tireless journey. She grimaced as the water slowly began to grow cloudy, but felt happy as her skin began to return to it’s pale, creamy complexion. She scrubbed everything on her body, the slippery feel of the soap on her skin feeling clean, and even slightly sensuous. Like the touch of a long-lost lover… When she started scrubbing her teal-colored hair with a very generous portion of shampoo, she could almost imagine someone else’s fingers combing their way through the long, frazzled strands. Tender and loving, they made sure not a single lock of hair was neglected, all of them scrubbed and cleaned very carefully…

Not that she knew what any of those things felt like, though… She drained the tub and used a fresh spout of water to rinse off. She used a bowl on the edge of the tub to fill with hot water to drop over her hair and skin. The tub did not have a showerhead, else she would have used that. Still, the feeling of dumping hot water over her own body was slightly… Sexy. The only thing she was not completely satisfied with was her natural growth. The soft, curly layer of fur on her pubis had long ago left the neatly-trimmed strip she normally kept. A quick search in the dimly-lit bathroom revealed a razor and a bottle of shaving cream. Despite her slightly tired mind, Melody felt compelled… She shaved every last hair away, and gladly removed the soft layer of fuzz from her neglected legs and arms.

Feeling smooth and refreshed, she smiled to herself and stepped out onto the thick rug, her bare feet sinking into the soft fabric as she started to towel herself dry. Remembering back to the first time she had shaved, and the coupled irritation, she took a moment to rub a healthy portion of lotion into her arms, legs, and smooth pubis. She was about to dress in her clothes when she remembered she was alone. No need. Leaving the damp towels on a bar drilled into the wall, she grabbed a brush and padded through the warm living room into the large bedroom. Plopping on the side of the bed closest to the fire, Melody paid her hair some much-needed attention, her eyes closed as she blissfully brushed her damp hair free of all tangles until it had returned to the luxurious, silky-smooth texture that fell through her hands so perfectly…

Tiredness found her then, wrapping her senses in a warm blanket of weariness and exhaustion. She barely had the strength to set her brush aside and slip under the covers, but when she did, she was asleep as soon as her head met the soft pillow.

Melody dreamt of flying.

Nothing woke her. There was no sound, no exterior distraction… She just opened her eyes, looking around the dim room from where she lay stretched out on the massive bed. The warm sheets wrapped around her bare form, hugging her in all the right places as her tired mind recovered from the wonderful dream. She had experienced everything from wonder to the rush of adrenaline to pure, abject fright at going much, much to fast… Which had only led to excitement. Groaning, Melody couldn’t stop her hand as it slowly trailed lower…

“Aahh…” She breathed out as her fingertips probed experimentally… Rolling onto her back, Melody spread open and let herself get lost… It had been far, far too long… Melody may have been a stranger to sex, but masturbation was no new phenomena to her. Long ago, her body had matured. She had bled for the first time when she was fourteen, and from that day forth, her body could not stop it’s natural desires. Hormones did what they had to do to her body, and she could not deny them… Right then, the fires needed to be stoked, and Melody needed to feel the heat. Her fingers gingerly spread her moist lips apart, exposing her clitoris to her other hand. Gnawing on her lower lip, Melody began to smoothly rotate that magical little bundle of nerves in a smooth circle. Her juices flowed freely, coating her fingertip and invariably dampening the sheets beneath her… Another side-effect of being shaved.

“Hmm!” The pleasure began to pulse through her in crashing waves, the first bits of stomach-twitching sexual fulfillment she had felt in far, far too long… There was little to no privacy during the long trip from Appleoosa, and she had more than once been feeling the side-effects of all the pent-up desire. Her early-morning grogginess burned away completely under the intense fire stirring in her crotch, even as she spun her clitoris more and more rapidly. The first orgasm came quick and easy, making her thighs clamp closed and her eyes flutter. Both her hands were caught in the vice-grip of her thighs, and wouldn’t be released until she came down from that beautiful, warm peak.

One was never enough, though… Now that she was thoroughly warmed up, Melody made some small adjustments… Her middle and ring fingers gingerly slid inside, moving slow so her tight muscles could adjust… She could hardly move a half an inch before the spasmodic twitching would clamp around her fingers, making her body shudder at the feeling of being filled once more… Her other hand was hardly idle, though… Flicking her clit back and forth, side-to-side, she doubled her pleasure, stirring the fire until it was a roaring blaze. She hadn’t even noticed that her two fingers were smoothly pumping in and out of her core, making lewd noises as her juices spread and squelched. A smile curled her lips, even as she writhed her hips wonderfully.

“Aahn!” The second orgasm came with a small portion of liquid, the damp spot growing underneath her as she quivered. “Haah… Haah… Guh,” Breathing ragged, Melody lay with her legs splayed open as the second burned intensely through her every sense. She was tender, every slight motion magnified by tenfold. She had to pull her hands away to stop the orgasm, both palms cupping her breasts so her fingertips could gingerly pinch her rock-hard nipples. It really HAD been too long… Her skin was on fire now, the sheets feeling clingy and hot in the aftermath. Quick as could be, she kicked the blankets off of her slender body, relishing the feel of the cool morning air washing over her skin. It rolled over her thighs in waves, brushing her crotch slightly…

“Ooooohh,” She groaned softly, feeling the fire leap to life at the fresh air once more. The walls were thick, stone, and there was tons of fabric around… No reason why she couldn’t enjoy herself… But her fingers wouldn’t do it anymore. Rolling her head to the side, Melody spied exactly what she needed in that moment. Grasping the hairbrush by the end with the long, stiff bristles, she smoothly guided the wooden handle against her slick center. “Oh yesssss…” She let her exhalation hiss past her lips as she felt the bulbous end of the brush press inbetween her lips. She slid it up and down, coating the wood with her juices, feeling the knob at the end brush against her clitoris. She teased herself, adding pressure, pulling away, spinning the wet wood around her clit, parting her muscles just a little…

“AAHN!” Her breath passed her lips in an airy groan, loud enough to be heard in the thin walls of her home, but certainly not here… She lifted her hips, smoothly pushing the handle of the brush into her. Previously, Melody had only ever used her fingers or the showerhead in their bathroom… Putting something this smooth and thick inside of herself was alien and new… Her hymen had ruptured a while ago, thanks to a tree climbing accident. The whole thing had actually scared her, made her cry and worry while Lily and Twilight explained it was perfectly normal, that it happened, and the blood wasn’t anything to worry about. Now, she was glad she didn’t have to worry about the pain… She tested her depths, found she could slide the handle in all the way to the base comfortably. It was when she pushed down, though…

The rounded head leveraged upwards, and the pleasure was so intense Melody almost screamed. She had to pull it out, but the feeling of being suddenly and immediately voided was too much to resist. Her breath left her lungs in a high-pitched scream, even as she felt her urethra expel the thin, clear liquid of what had to have been the most intense, wettest, best orgasm of her young life. Her back arched, lifting her hips from the bed, giving her crotch a better angle to spray her prodigious release into the sheets. Not that she could care. Her scream cut off with a squeak, her shaking muscles roughly dropping her hips back into the soaked sheets. She panted, her chest heaving, her flat stomach twitching as she fought to reign her thoughts back around to some semblance of normalcy. She couldn’t do it, though… Muddled thoughts drifted through her mind, her core muscles spasming and twitching as she shook and whimpered atop the abused, soaked bed…

It felt like a year, but it had to only have been thirty seconds. Lucidity returned in a rush, making Melody groan as her shaking muscles finally relaxed and made her sag back into the wet sheets. The hairbrush dug into the back of her thighs from where she had dropped it onto the sheets, and she fished it out with a groan. The smooth wooden handle was soaked with her thin juice, but the bristles had more-or-less escaped the brutality of her squirting orgasm. With shaking hands, she set it back on the bedside table, and began to work on getting her legs to follow her brain’s commands. She wiped her hand over her sore crotch, marveling at the feeling of just how wet she was… It dripped from her fingers as she surveyed them in the bright morning light and the glimmer of the flickering fire.

“Wow…” She muttered, slowly pushing herself up. She leaned back against the wooden headboard, letting her muscles recover as she surveyed the damage. Yup, going to need to replace the sheets… Unless she was mistaken, there was another basket for clothes or linens in the bathroom… Once she felt strength return to her legs, she smoothly slipped off of the bed and walked around it in a slow half-circle. Her ejaculation had very nearly reached the edge of the bed. Smiling despite herself, Melody began stripping the bed down to the mattress, piling the heavy quilt, sheets, and mattress pad next to the bed. A quick search of the bathroom revealed nothing more than three extra baskets. She emptied her clothes from the fourth and used all of them, the quilt spilling over the edges though the sheets and mattress pad filled their own baskets. Satisfied she had cleaned up, Melody drew another bath and spent the rest of the morning cleaning and shaving the rest of her body. There were a few spots she had reluctantly missed…

“Spitfire, I have to thank you for your kindness,” Lily was the first to say. “That was the first real bed I had slept on in… Hell, months.”

“Yeah, well…” Spitfire said, waving her off. They had all joined together for a large, hearty late-morning breakfast in a large, warmly-lit hall that opened to the air. “I don’t think many of you got much sleep last night.” There was a moment of silence, of blushing glances and looks of shock before everyone burst out into laughter.

“Seriously, did you go pressing your ear to EVERY door in your guest quarters?” Dash teased, nudging the avian commander with her elbow. Spitfire grinned and sipped at a large glass of milk.

“No, I just go reading the laundry reports every morning.” There were a few more chuckles, but everyone soon sobered up… Looks of confusion and a little bit of suggestion were shared, but Melody tried to melt into her chair, to escape their judging looks.

“Uuh, we left our sheets on our bed.” Dash said, leaning back and pointing across the table at Noth with her chin.

“So did I…” Verse said. Everyone looked at him, and he flushed brighter as he mumbled into his water. “Bathtub…”

“Well, same for us…” Lily said gently. Slowly, every eye at the table turned around to rest on Melody. Her pale face turned beet red.

“Shut up,” She muttered, trying to hide behind her bangs as the entire table burst out in uproarious laughter. Fists thumped the table and hoots and hollers drew curious glances from the other high-ranking officers who had joined their breakfast. Melody was the only silent one, her hands tucked in her lap as she flushed bright enough to outshine the torches. Order returned slowly, everyone wiping tears of mirth from their eyes. They all sobered up, though, when Dash asked a soft question.

“How has the war been the past few weeks?” Her question was clear as a bell. Spitfire stopped smiling, her face set in stone. Melody thought in that moment that she looked very, very older… Much older than her slender body betrayed. Her face turned hard, the kind of hard Melody would have assumed a commander had not learned but acquired over a very long career. Slowly, the officers stood, and their breakfast was cleared from the table. When everything settled, Melody laid a hand on Verse’s arm, nodding towards the exit. They stood up to leave, but Twilight held up a hand.

“No. Not this time. You two deserve to be here as much as anyone else.” Twilight and Lily shared a look, and when they looked up the table to Spitfire, she gestured to their empty chairs. Hesitantly, Melody and Verse sat…

“Reports from Canterlot indicate that Celestia has freed herself, and the guard is on the offensive.” Spitfire’s first sentence was met with a wave of sighs of relief and un-tensed muscles. She smiled at their reactions, almost as if she had felt the exact same thing they did in that moment. Particularly Twilight, who Melody could have sworn shed a tear. “Additionally, the palace is back in their control, and the borders are slowly pushing into the woods north of the city. I don’t know for sure, but I’m assuming that the recent return of the wind gods would free up the avian weather teams. Previously, they had been tied up across Equestria directing the winter wrap-up efforts, but now that they’re back… Well… We may be able to bolster our forces.” Spitfire leaned forward just as one of the other officers spread out a map on the table, her finger pointing out key positions.

“With an outrunner force of five thousand avian, we could easily re-capture Trottingham. A Trueform shower and a foot mobile force of maybe five hundred magi cavalry could re-secure the interior, and we could use the same herb at all the entrances and exits. Under guard, commerce with Trottingham’s magi towers would arm us with the scrolls and spells we need to help the war effort. We could push the front back to the spot inbetween Stalliongrad and Ponyville. After that, it turns into a real war… The chimera would attack from the North and the East while we push the changelings back to the East… But using Trottingham as a spearhead, we could hold the line.” She indicated each area with a broad sweep of her finger, drawing a line from Canterlot up to Trottingham, then arcing it down to the spot between Stalliongrad and Canterlot, and the spot north of Eyriewatch.

“Using our own avian air force from Eyriewatch, we could help put the pressure on the chimera from the south, making them fight a two-front war… According to Dash’s report, the harpies have been devastated. They won’t be tying us up in skirmishes to the Northeast anymore, so with any luck, we can sweep around through Featherhome, and flank their positions FROM the East… If we play our cards right, we’ll lose some forces, but we can push the chimera back into their own territory. Once our borders are secure again, we can devote all our attention back to the changeling threat. Now, without Celestia, Chrysalis is going to start losing her power again.” Spitfire held up a finger as she explained, rotating the map so the dominant view was that of the area Northwest of Canterlot, inbetween the Northern reaches of the Everfree forest and Hive, where it nestled between the borders of Hearth and the Shadowlands. “She’ll be losing her own forces to the rising changeling prime threat, while we let the horde tear itself apart. Time and again in the past ten years, we were on the verge of losing a fight when a dozen changelings would shift into primes and rip themselves to shreds. We counter-attack after the skirmish and wipe out the weakened force… In another two years without Celestia’s magic, Chrysalis will lose more and more of her own force to her failing magic.” Spitfire frowned a little as she continued.

“ Still, it’s a war of deception. It really is. The changleings are VERY rough opponents, they shift in a blink and impersonate us. While we can keep our bases secure, the front is a constantly shifting line in the sand…” Spitfire wove a wobbly line across the map with her fingertip, cutting in and out of small towns bordering the forest. “If we take back Trottingham, though, their apothecaries could finally start using the backlog of herbs to develop more trueform. After that, we push for Ponyville. We re-appropriate the crops to start growing more Heart’s Desire and the other things we need, and we could make enough trueform to shower the lines daily. All of this is unofficial, and none of it has reached Celestia’s ear. The last thing she needs right now is to focus on the endgame. She needs to make sure we win Canterlot back before we worry about taking Trottingham or Ponyville. I’m sure she got the message, but I dispatched fifteen wings this morning to help her re-take the city.” Spitfire finally finished talking, her hands flat on the table as she smiled at them. Melody broke the brief silence as she spoke first with a doubt that had been nagging her mind for the past two days.

“We heard word of a massive Changeling force headed into Featherhome, skirting the border between Equestrian and chimera lines to your north… What happened to them?”

“I think I can answer that for you, commander.” One of the officers cut Spitfire off as she opened her mouth. With a soft smile, she leaned back in her chair as he stepped forward. In a moment of stunned silence, three feet of steel slid out of Spitfire’s throat, red with her wet, dripping blood.

“We’re right here.”

-------- Notes from the Author --------

As promised, here’s your Wednesday update. Thanks to EQAD’s cloptober, I’ll be focusing the main part of my writing time at work on the new story. For the next four weeks, Melody’s Tale will only be updated on Wednesdays, and there will be no livestreams. I think I may give them up entirely, to be perfectly honest. I don’t think it’s worth it for me to stress myself putting decent content on a stream for seven people, one of which I get the feeling doesn’t care terribly much about the story. In addition, I’m deleting the facebook page, unless I can get 12 more likes in the next week.

Melody’s tale will, indeed, have sex. I promise you this. The lack of sex up to this point is thanks to story development. Melody WILL have sex, and there will be more than a few scenes with other characters. However, they will only happen when the timing is right, and it fits the story. Much like the masturbation portion of this chapter. The only reason I included it was the re-affirm the sexuality of this story.

The new story will be titled “Other Side of the Apple,” and is the story of how Applejack slowly realizes she’s a lesbian. I’m about halfway through the first chapter already, and it will be EXTREMELY clop-heavy. In addition, it’s pony-fied. Not humanized, like the majority of my work is.

One last note: I am looking for a pre-reader. I have some strict guidelines here, and I’m expecting weekly work at the very least. If you are interested in being privy to new chapters of “Other Side of the Apple” and “A Different Kind of Love: Melody’s Tale,” please meet and follow these guidelines:

-I REQUIRE a gmail account from you. We will be using Gdocs to edit and proofread new chapters

-For legal reasons, please be over the age of 18. (I know I have readers that lied when they clicked the “View Mature” box)

-Must have a good grip on the English language. You will be picking out grammatical and continuity errors.

-An eye for detail is highly encouraged, if not a must. My readers probably know as well as I do I confuse Lily and Melody a lot. I need you to pick out every error like these.

-If you do not have and are not willing to make a gmail account, I prefer you have Apache Open Office downloaded (Not word. My computer does not have Word, and there are some issues when transferring data between the two.) This is non-negotiable. I will not struggle with formatting issues when a free download or a free e-mail account are all that is required.

-If you are still interested, please, SEND ME A MESSAGE. Be it a private message here on fimfiction or an email sent to jordanwilliams08(at)gmail.com, SEND. ME. A. MESSAGE. If I get a comment asking to be my proofreader, I will laugh at you openly and insult your mother.

-I understand these guidelines are strict. I am looking for excellence, simply because I want my readers to have the best ADKoL experience they can get. Melody’s Tale is obviously going to take a very, very long time to write out, and will cover a very large amount of time and territory. To a dedicated proofreader, I can promise several things:

-At the end of the story, your choice of $50 Steam content (If you are not a PC gamer or do not have Steam, I will gladly pay you $50 in your choice of merchandise. Be it a gift card to some store or even cash mailed to your home, I will happily pay you for your devotion.)

-First look at EVERY new chapter for both stories, and if you so choose, any of my future work

-I will write you a personal 25k word (Or longer) story of your request, to be published or for your eyes only, whatever you choose. All content will be yours to decide and mine to write

-You get me as a friend! WHEEEEE!

-Your name (Screen name or real) will be mentioned in the author’s notes of every chatper, and the description of the story

-*BUT*-

-You MUST proofread the chapter within two day’s time of me sending it to you

-If you will not be available to proofread, I do require some sort of advance warning

-Unreliability on your part will result in the forfeit of the aforementioned benefits, and a very sad Loyal

I am a kind (if tired and slightly crabby at this moment,) individual. People who do me a kindness will see the same done to them plus some.

“But Loyal!” I hear you cry. “Why not post one of your infamous long, random, and completely pointless blog post about your proofreading needs?!” To which I give a chuckle and a soft, patronizing smile. I reply with a puff of my corncob pipe, smoke billowing around my mysterious face.

“Why, my dear fan… If you’re reading this, it means you’ve read the chapter. And likely the chapter before this. And probably the entirety of A Different Kind of Love. Therefore, you already have a passion for the story. As will likely be true of my future proofreader. (If there will be one >.>) This is my way of giving back to one or two very lucky readers, and putting a better product out for ALL of you to enjoy. You see, the only one suffering any loss here is myself, as I will be out $50 and a head of hair that isn’t grey. Though, with any luck, I may gain a friend who won’t kill me or steal my girlfriend.” I knock the ashes from my pipe and re-load it with more tobacco, lighting a wood match and puffing the fire back into my lungs. “And besides,” I say, extinguishing the flame and dropping the faintly-smoking stick into the ashtray. “I’m posting a blog entry with all of this information anyways. So suck it.”

With that, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Loyal out!

P.S. If you DO NOT play World of Warcraft, ignore this bit.

If you DO, then here is my character list, so you may play alongside your favorite clop author:

Feathermoon-

Glayve: lvl 90 Night Elf Marksman Hunter

Taashaa: Leveling Night Elf Holy Priest (At the time of this post: 78)

Kaaylan: Leveling Night Elf Frost Death Knight (At the time of this post: 66 I think)

Shaofen: Leveling Pandaren Monk (At the time of this post: 4 I think)

A few choice others

Wyrmrest Accord-

Daawnstar: Leveling Human Protection/Retribution Paladin (At the time of this post: 45 I think)

Sisters of Elune:

Amuun: Leveling Tauren Protection Paladin (At the time of this post: 25 I think)

All of these realms are prominent Roleplaying realms, and I DO roleplay erotically with all of these characters. If you don’t RP, tell me when you contact me, otherwise I’ll flirt like a motherfucker with you. To each their own.

If you’d care to know, their roleplaying names are as follows:

Glaivestryke Arrowsong (The Hunter. She likely has the most engaging story I’ve ever read. Not my own, but I am playing it.)

Tasha Arrowsong (The Priestess. I enjoy RPing with her. ERPing, that is…)

Khalan (The Death Knight. Yes, it’s a blatant ripoff from Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth. Bite me.)

Xiao-Fen Tenderpaw (The Monk. Younger sister to Lin Tenderpaw from the Valley of the Four Winds quest chain, she’s not quite to the “RP” point yet… Thanks to the fact she’s brand-fucking new and still very low level.)

Rebekkah Dawnstar (The Paladin. Careful with this one, she’s got a secret.)

Amun Sunstrider (The other Paladin. He has a dark history.)

Loyal out ^.^

Blood and Feathers

---------- Melody’s Tale - Blood and Feathers ----------

Chaos erupted. Sounds assaulted Melody’s ears, muddling together into this unintelligible medley of noise and confusion. Screaming, hollering, clanging, scraping.... The sights filled her eyes, things she couldn’t stop, things that were and had happened, and she felt so completely helpless to do anything against them. Her muscles felt weak. Her voice was gone. She watched as the changeling slid the long sword from Spitfire’s throat, the open, gaping wound spurting crimson blood out onto the table. Spitfire’s hands flew to the wound, trying to hold it closed even as she splattered more blood onto the table. The changeling mounted the table, his dripping blade swinging around in a wide arc…

It never completed it’s journey, thanks to Twilight… A vicious blast of magic knocked the changeling back against the wall, even as Dash pulled Spitfire out of her chair, away from the rest of the officers who were quickly pulling their blades from their sheaths. The screaming continued. With a rough grunt, Lily flew into action. She and Rainbow Dash dragged Spitfire across the table as Twilight kept casting spells at the changeling officers. They turned blades on them, they turned blades on one another… It was pandemonium.

“Lily, take her!” Dash cried as she yanked one of her own knives free from it’s place on her belt. Noth took Dash’s vacated spot at Spitfire’s shoulder just as the avian cut a small pouch free from Spitfire’s belt line. Noth and Lily dragged Spitfire across the table, away from the heated fray. Twilight’s spells ricocheted off the walls, one of them hitting the bench in-between Verse and Melody. That made her muscles finally respond. With a thin squeak, she followed Noth and Lily away from the fray, her eyes still fixated on the back of Spitfire’s neck… There, just to the right of the middle of her neck, was a long, thin gash that gurgled blood. Verse was by her side just as Dash gave a cry of anger and rage. Her hand flew forward, the contents of the pouch she had cut filling the air. Thin, shredded, dried herbs landed on all the combatants… And every last one of them was a changeling.

“Run!” Dash said, realizing then that she and Twilight were easily outnumbered. Their true forms finally exposed, the changelings had no more cards to play. It devolved into a brawl, all of them done fighting with one another in an attempt to cause confusion. There were probably a dozen of them. More, even… Twilight was doing her best to hold them all back, but those blades were coming awfully close. Melody, still shocked, could do nothing to help. But Verse could. He joined his mother’s side, casting spells that thumped through the air and dropped one changeling, two… For every one that fell, two took his place, blades flashing forwards…

Melody knew what she had to do. Noth and Lily were busy pressing their hands into either side of the sickening wound on Spitfire’s neck… There was blood everywhere… She roughly pushed them aside, her hands already glowing as she started working. Everything else faded away in that moment… The sound of Twilight and Verse’s magic, Lily’s panicked breathing, Noth’s guiding words… None of it reached her ears anymore. Melody was in her element. She laid her hands to the bleeding gash, her magic stitching the ragged, torn flesh back together. The bleeding slowed as she worked, though the pool underneath Spitfire’s head had grown until it dripped off the edge of the table. She ignored the huge quantity of the crimson liquid, ignored the bodies bumping into her sides… The wound closed, the bleeding was done…

But she was gone. Spitfire was immobile beneath her, her muscles relaxed atop the table. Melody’s magic washed over the woman, using every rejuvenation spell she knew, every blood replenishing charm. Her hands were a blur, casting spell after spell after spell, not a single one having any effect. When a hand looped around her bicep, firmly drawing her away, she shrugged out of the hold and returned to casting the spells. Spitfire wouldn’t move. Breath didn’t fill her lungs again. In a desperate effort, she began casting one last spell, but a pair of glowing hands clamped down on her own.

“Melody, stop. She’s gone, we need to run.” Twilight’s voice filled her senses, the first and only sound she heard. Wide eyes looking up at the mayhem still surrounding them, she didn’t hear the clanging of blades, the thump of magic, or any of it… “Melody, come on. I need you to focus. Lily, help me with her!”

“Come on, hon.” Lily’s voice joined Twilight’s. Melody blinked, looking from one mother to another, down to Spitfire’s prone body, face-down in a pool of her own blood… Then she realized. The screaming was her own. She tasted blood, even as Lily woodenly pulled her towards the balcony. “Melody, I need you to focus now, come on hon… Listen to me.” Melody felt numb. She couldn’t feel her limbs, or her mother’s hands shaking her, but she could hear her words. Her scream had died off a moment ago, and the wind whipped around her as they made their way out onto the balcony. A loud crack of magic filled her ears as Lily continued to speak.

“Baby, listen to me… You need to trust me. You. Are. A. Changeling. You can change, just like me, just like Noth, just like those changelings in there. You have the power in you. You can do this. Think about Rainbow Dash’s wings. Think about them, Melody. Can you hear me?” Melody heard the words. She opened her mouth to speak, but her numb throat couldn’t form words. An unintelligible weak sound came out, thin and pathetic. She settled for a nod, still feeling slow and shocked. A minute, maybe, had passed. It felt like a lifetime.

“Can you see them, Melody? Can you see them in your mind?” Lily said insistently, giving Melody a shake. She nodded again. Dash’s wings. White feathers, tendons and ligaments. Hollow bones, strengthened by a unique brand a magic inherent in all avian. Strong. Beautiful. She had studied them, similar wings, avian physiology… She knew about wings. “Good. Keep that in your mind. I’m going to teach you to fly the same way Chrysalis taught me.” Melody felt Lily’s hands tighten on her shoulders for a moment.

“What- LILY, NO!” With strength beyond her slender frame, Lily pivoted her hips and hauled Melody over the edge of the balcony, out into the open nothingness…

“Princess!” The guard snapped to attention and saluted as he stopped in front of the desk. Celestia glanced up at him, saw he was a messenger, and tore her gaze away from the map spread out before the two of them.

“Give me a moment, Mathias.” She said softly. The changeling spy bowed his head and slipped away, exiting the room and leaving Celestia alone with the messenger. “Report.” She said curtly, giving a small, almost imperceptible nod of her head to the soldier.

“All squads along the northern line report their positions secure, milady. Trueform deposits stand at the ready and all squads are clear of infiltrators.” He shifted slightly, looking marginally uncomfortable. Celestia arched an eyebrow at the sudden break of courteousness, her expression silently urging him to continue. After a short moment, he opened his mouth once more. “Also, I carry a message of… Personal nature… From someone who calls themselves a friend.” Celestia was intrigued now. She smiled softly and nodded her head.

“Go on, corporal.” The man shuffled his feet, looking over his shoulder.

“She… Insisted she be present when I deliver the message.” This made Celestia worry. None were allowed close to her without proper clearance… Then again, if his demeanor was any indication, the bearer of his burden stood on the other side of that door. She would have been subject to trueform. All of them were these days. Even Celestia herself was subject to exposure. The herb was in higher demand than wheat.

“Well, bring her in, then…” Celestia said gently. The messenger saluted and turned to open the door. Hushed words were exchanged, and when the messenger re-entered, it was with another woman. Dark, ebony skin and long, raven hair accentuated the gentle curves of this slender woman. She was hauntingly familiar… Celestia had seen and met so many over the thousands of years it was sometimes difficult for her to match a name or a face to a person, or a place… But this one nagged at her so much, she just had to know. No matter the outcome, she would learn this woman’s place… She felt determined.

“Ahem. This soldier tells me you have a message for me, miss…?”

“Sierra, milady…” The woman spoke very softly, her voice incredibly raspy. So much so, in fact, that Celestia began to wonder what was wrong. Then, her eyes picked out the thin, pale line of a scar along her throat… This woman had been hurt. Very badly. Her raspy tone continued as she struggled to speak. Her voice cracked often, making her words difficult to hear, and as it became painfully clear, very difficult to say. “It may not be proper, but I needed someone to hear.” She took a step forward, passing the front of the guard. When she did, the hardened soldier winced. His expression showed he did not like what he had just seen…

“Go on, Miss Sierra.” Celestia said, her tone quiet with concern. The woman cleared her throat, a rough, scratchy noise that nearly made Celestia shed a tear. It obviously pained the woman, but she drew a shaky breath and spoke very quietly, very calmly.

“I was a prisoner up until recently,” She started, her eyes closed. “They… Used me…” Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but the woman shook her head slightly, a courteous sign that she had more to say. “I… Was a whore before. I was used to it, but…” Celestia furrowed her brow. A whore? She had visited a whorehouse before… Was she…? “But they… They did more than that…” Celestia leaned in, enraptured with this poor, abused woman… What had the guard blanched at? What had they done to this poor soul? Slowly, she turned around, the back of her blouse exposed. This was normal in Canterlot, a popular fashion amongst avian women. It allowed their wings to be free, but didn’t leave them exposed as other methods of covering themselves had in the past…

That is, if this woman had any wings… Hers had been removed. And from the look of the mangled, deformed stumps jutting out from the flesh just beneath her shoulder blades, whoever did it had not been gentle about it. In fact, they looked almost as if they had been…

“Ripped off.” She said in her scratchy, thin voice. Celestia felt nausea well up within her. She had seen gruesome things before, but this… This was just brutal… Slowly, Sierra turned back around. Celestia placed her face, then… This woman had worked at Maggie’s. She had been a friend and co-worker of Lily’s. Of Maggie…

“I’m… I’m so s-“

“Don’t.” Sierra cut her off. The raspy word was louder than any she had said yet, shocking Celestia with the volume and passion she had said it with. “Don’t apologize. That… That won’t help my sacrifice.” Sierra slowly approached, desperation and fury in her blazing brown eyes. Smooth and easy, she took Celestia’s hand in her own, the skin worn and dry, callused. The changelings who had captured this woman had not been kind. There was passion, fear, anger, hurt, and vengeance in those eyes. They combined into a dull, heated glow, an ember that Celestia knew could have sown destruction and death with the proper means. She knew, because she had used it before. She knew what came next, even before the words left the avian’s thin, cracked lips. What once had been a very beautiful woman was now a dried, abused shell of a thing, tossed aside to make way for whatever came next. Celestia looked into the smoldering rage that filled Sierra’s eyes, her own cold and unforgiving. The words Sierra spoke next always struck a chord in Celestia. It was a rare event that she ever heard them… She only ever had four times in her long life. Each time, they made her shiver. Each time, they filled her with a purpose, made her feel empowered, righteous, and oh so very, very… Violent.

“Kill them all.” Sierra whispered.

Celestia, princess of Equestria, goddess of the sun, most powerful magi to walk the lands, could only do one thing in that moment.

She grinned.

Melody couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. In that moment, the split second that seemed to be completely frozen in time, her wide, shocked eyes stared up into the brilliant blue sky. The rain clouds were gone. The sun shone bright, lighting everything from horizon to horizon for her to see…

Time caught up. And Melody fell victim to gravity. Her stomach met the back of her throat in that moment, robbing her of breath, of speech, she couldn’t even get a squeak out. Her mouth hung open as she began her long, fast plummet towards the city of Eyriewatch spread out below… Not that she could see it… She was looking upwards, into the open sky above her. At the bottom of her vision, the imposing stone wall slowly came into focus, the balcony she had been thrown from shrinking slowly… Another thing entered her vision shortly. It was a person. Slender, tall, and just as shocked as her… It was Verse.

Together, she and her brother plummeted down, picking up more and more speed as foot after fleeting foot carried them closer to their doom.

Lily’s words hit her, then… ”Think about Rainbow Dash’s wings.” Why? Why did her mother want her to think about wings, then? What good would wings do her? ”You. Are. A. Changeling.”

Realization, like a hammer striking hot iron, hit her then. “Focus on her wings.” Melody said softly. She twisted her form in mid-air, looking down at the approaching ground. The wind began to roar in her ears, the gusts grabbing at her, tugging her this way and that… Her wide eyes focused on the slowly-approaching ground… Or maybe it just LOOKED slow… Maybe it really was fast… Oh, yes… It was coming very fast… She didn’t have a lot of time. “Focus on her wings!” The ground was RIGHT THERE. She could count the shingles on the roof she was heading for. It began to fill her vision. She couldn’t see the edge of the plain where it met the outer wall of Eyriewatch, couldn’t see the entirety of the short buildings splayed out beneath the tower without turning her head… Not that she needed to, her stare was fixed on the roof that would be her impact point. Where they would scrape her off of the rough shingles after this whole affair had blown over…

“FOCUS ON HER WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-AAAAAAUUUUGH!” Mouth open in a scream of defiance…

Melody shifted.

“Do you really intend to go through with this, sister?” Luna asked gently. Celestia’s gaze still bore the burning passion she had acquired from the poor avian just earlier that morning. She and Luna had met to lower the sun for the evening and raise the moon, to paint the sky with stars. Celestia was exhausted, as she always felt, but it was the type of mental exhaustion… She hadn’t exerted herself physically, and as such her body said she didn’t need sleep, but all her mind could think about was vengeance and her soft bed.

“I very much do, Luna.” Celestia said gently, her eyes focused on the blazing disc of light in the sky. “We both know my imprisonment was voluntary. I could have leveled the palace rather than let them take it… But because I allowed myself to be captured, to be… Subjected to those things…” She shuddered slightly at the memory of Chrysalis’ rough brand of ‘Love.’ And not the sort of rough Celestia enjoyed. “We won the palace back, and gained much valuable intelligence…”

“A noble move, sister. Worried as I was, you came through it perfectly fine… And we were better for it. It speaks volumes about your character, that you would willingly submit yourself to such a thing…”

“That’s the thing.” Celestia interjected during the pause. Luna fell silent, waiting for Celestia to continue. “I did it willingly. That woman,” She gestured weakly with her hand, indicating Sierra. “She didn’t have a choice. She was FORCED to do those things. And what for? To feed the horde? To be a toy of their amusement and nourishment? They could have just kept her chained, or restrained or in a cell… No. They… They…”

“Sister, you don’t-“

“They fucking RIPPED her wings off, Luna!” Celestia snapped, her eyes alight with tears and anger. Her fists shook as she cried, her anger making the air crackle. “They sliced her throat and ripped her wings off, like a child with a moth in its hands! WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT?!” Her scream reached out past the balcony. Tile cracked under her feet and pillars shuddered nearby. Luna’s hair barely lifted from her shoulders. She barely blinked.

“Relax, Celestia.” Luna said softly. Her hand reached out to gently lay on Celestia’s shaking shoulder. “There will be a time and a place for your rage… Right now isn’t the time, and right here isn’t the place.” She stepped closer, pulling Celestia into a gentle hug. Not the first time Luna had played counselor to her stressed sibling. “I feel your pain and her’s… I really do…”

“More than that,” Celestia said softly, clinging to Luna for a few moments. “She wasn’t the only one. I know she wasn’t. She couldn’t have been…” Celestia sniffled and pulled away, wiping tears from her eyes. Moment of weakness gone, it was only her low, smoldering anger that filled her voice now. “If Chrysalis wants to subject me to the horde, fine. I will gladly feed their desires and ambitions with my body and my life, if need be…” Luna knew Celestia meant it. Her becoming prisoner hadn’t been the first time her sister had laid her life on the line for the greater good of Equestria. “But… You put them in that position.” She waved a hand out over the balcony, gesturing down to the dark streets below them. To the homes that held huddling, war-torn families, to the prisoners and pockets of changeling resistance slowly being rooted out by brave soldiers of the guard, to the safe guards in their barracks, slumbering the night away or waking up for the always-hard night watch…

“I won’t have it, Luna… I won’t.” She said, her tone low and dangerous. “Sierra told me to kill them all… Sun and Moon help me, I will… I swear by every name in our family, I won’t rest until I shoulder the death of every single changeling in Equestria…” Celestia curled her fist once more, her solemn vow echoing into the approaching night… Before the budding moon and the wilting sun, before all the powers that filled the wide world they called home, the princess’ promise did not go unheard… Luna was not the only one to acknowledge her vow. She was, however, the first to speak upon it.

“Every last changeling?” Luna said, her voice testing Celestia’s resolve. “What of Mathias? He stands on the other side of those doors, sister. Call him in here and rip his heart out. Or what of Noth? It was thanks to him Dash was sent to save Verse and Melody. What of Lily? She’s been more of a friend to us than anyone in the past four thousand years. And what’s more, what of Melody and Verse? The Children of Love themselves?” Celestia’s gaze was dangerous as she glared at Luna.

“You know what I mean, Luna. Not every changeling is the same. There are those that stand independent of Chrysalis and her horde.”

“They are still subject to her magic. Their loyalties may lie with us, or with someone else, or with themselves, even… But they are still hers. When Chrysalis fades from their lives, they still turn into primes…” Luna said. “You can’t be safe until every last changeling is dead.”

“Fine, then!” Celestia threw her hands up. “I’d kill them all! Lily, too, even! If it means ridding the world of this, this… This bug, then I will!” She gestured towards the North, where the fighting had died down for the night.

“Melody? Verse?” Luna asked, still testing her sister.

“They’re not changelings… They’re something more. You know that as well as I.” Celestia growled, her gaze turning towards the Northeast… Towards far-off Eyriewatch. Luna crossed her arms and looked in the same direction, both of them watching the horizon.

“They’re more changeling than you give them credit for…” Luna said dangerously.

Celestia had no words for that. Instead, she watched the darkening horizon, wondering where the Children of Love were in that moment…

“Is that…” Luna’s words made her eyes snap to focus. “Is that… Dash?” Celestia saw it, then… A glimmering light on the horizon. The same horizon they looked at in that moment.

“I believe so… Is she… Coming for us? I’ll light her way…” Celestia knew well the capabilities of a Sonic Rainboom. If Dash was on the horizon, she was twenty-seven miles away. She would be there in less than ten minutes. Hands glowing brilliantly, Celestia summoned a light, bright as a star burning in the night sky, giving Dash a target. Slowly, the glimmering rainbow-colored light grew and grew.

“She’s moving awfully fast…”

“Faster than I’ve seen her yet.”

“Sister, she… She isn’t slowing.”

“Get ready to catch her…” Celestia said. Dash had their beacon. At that distance, anyone would have seen it. The streak curved low to the ground, and in two minutes was twice as large as it had been when they first saw it… Celestia let the light fade, noting the gentle curve in the avian’s flight. She saw. She knew. And she wasn’t slowing down.

“Oof!” Hardly three minutes later, Dash collided into the magical grip of the two princesses, her gut wrenching at the sudden stop. Her head spun, which wasn’t helped by the thin oxygen she was getting in her frenzied flight. She panted, gulping ragged breaths of air as her muscles twitched, her entire body aching.

“Dash! What is wrong with you?!” Celestia asked, laying the avian down on her back. Dash tucked her sore wings in, groaning as the cool tile pressed into her. She struggled to speak, her flat chest rising and falling smoothly. Her face shone with tears. Even now, more coursed free.

“She’s crying… Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong?” Luna interjected, sweeping around to crouch against the other side of the winded avian. Luna’s expression darkened. “Where are Melody and Verse? Twilight and Lily? Noth?” Dash struggled to draw a breath, her thin breath interspersed with spasmodic coughing. Luna urged her to recover, praying Dash found the strength to tell them what was wrong.

“Eyriewatch has…” Dash gulped, the tears streaming freely now. Her chest shook with sobs. “Eyriewatch has fallen!”

Celestia was airborne in a second.

The morning sun burned in her eyes as Melody felt the wind rush through her hair. The rooftops skimmed along beneath her, one after the other, her feet inches from the tops… The pressure on her shoulders said her wings ached with the effort of pulling out of the dive…

Wait…

Wings?

Melody had wings! Flexing the muscles experimentally, Melody felt herself lift a few inches… The roofs didn’t seem so close now… Repeating the motion, she climbed higher… And higher! And higher! She couldn’t fight the laugh of glee that bubbled forth, the wind tugging at her hair, nothing between her and the sky.

The happiness was lost when she realized what was happening below… In the streets of Eyriewatch, the guard fought with hordes of changelings, thousands of them amassing in the streets. Her smile froze as she watched a group of at least a dozen changelings rip into an innocent mother and her child. The faint sound of the woman’s scream reached her ears, making her falter…

“Melody!” The voice distracted her, made her wobble in the air. She swung dangerously close to a chimney… The recovery was over-compensated, her amateur maneuver carrying her over in a half a barrel-roll. She was free and into the open air again, just upside-down… She rolled over again, twisting and wobbling in the air. Changeling instinct had told her how to shift. Avian instinct had told her how to fly. Neither of those told her how to fly well. A hand wrapped around her bicep, steadying her in the air. She looked up at the stoic face of Rainbow Dash, her jaw set as she looked down at Melody.

“I’m okay.” She panted, using Dash as an anchor point to settle herself. She flapped several times, gaining altitude.

“Fly West, to the forest.” Dash said, pointing at a thin green gash of trees on the horizon. “The guard will cover your escape. Lily and the others are right behind you…”

“Twilight? Where’s my mom?” Melody asked, fear still in her voice.

“She needed to get the books.” Dash grimaced downwards. Melody followed her gaze, spotting a dozen changelings taking wing into the sky. “Listen, she’s going to try a long-distance teleport. I described the glade to her. Use her seeker spell on the books to find her when she gets there. Melody, focus. She’s going to need you. You and Verse. Follow Lily, land in the plains, and find Twilight. The guard will do everything in it’s power to help you escape. Go. Go now!” Melody flapped harder in her panic, even as Dash banked away. She glanced downwards, watching as Dash bowled into the changelings, her knives flashing in the sun. Six of them fell from the sky in the first few moments. She tore her gaze away from the black-blooded display and towards the plains. She needed to focus right now… She needed to get away from Eyriewatch. Far away.

Verse entered her periphery, the two of them flying well enough together. Slowly, like two new flyers, which they were, they made it out over the walls of Eyriewatch, out into the open plains. Gone was the initial wonder and thrill of flight. It was replaced very quickly and very suddenly by fear, terror, cold, heart-stopping despair and anxiety. They needed to move, to fly, to run, very, very far away very fast… Panic fueled their wings. Fear pumped their hearts. And terror gritted their teeth.

“Faster!” The word called out over the wind whistling through their ears, the sound of Lily’s voice spurring them on. She caught up with and passed them slowly, probably because she had the better form for flight… Melody had seen her change into Dancer once or twice, and the story she had told still stuck in her mind. At that moment, though, Melody fixed her gaze on the bottom of Lily’s feet, which were stretched out flat behind her. Flapping harder, they went after her, the sweat of their exertion already making Melody uncomfortable.

“There!” After close to fifteen minutes of fast flying, Lily pointed down at a hill. She tucked her wings and dove, followed clumsily by her two children. It was then and only then that they paused to look behind them. Eyriewatch, the tall stone tower, had smoke billowing from the open windows and balconies, the black flag of it’s pain rising into the sky. Melody gulped air, her wing muscles quivering as she looked at the fight in progress. Only very few changelings took to the air. Those that did were battered down by the avian guard, their long spears keeping the distance far enough that they suffered very few casualties in the air. On the ground, though, they were losing the battle. The changelings swarmed any avian that landed, ripped him to shreds in a moment. None followed them, and Lily guessed it was thanks to the line of guards, the small dot of color that was Rainbow Dash standing with them.

“Cast it now.” Lily panted, drawing Melody’s attention away from the burning city.

“What?” Verse asked, his own chest heaving.

“The seeker spell.” Lily said curtly, looking at Melody. “Twilight should have retrieved the books and teleported out of there by now. She’s somewhere in that forest.” Her long, slender finger pointed at the ever-growing trees that they had been flying towards. “We need to meet up with her, make sure she’s okay. Use the marker she used on the books for her own seeker spell.” The way Lily described it was very amateur, but then again, she only knew the very basics of magic. She could hardly levitate things. Melody knew what she was talking about, and after a brief explanation to Verse, they both settled their breath and began to cast the spell…

”Arturo, Hamaheen, incanstino, NYX!” The chant opened Melody’s eyes, her vision not a part of her body any more… The magic of the spell carried her mind’s eyes far and away, the forest growing larger and larger. The trees whooshed by, her passage completely silent. Half a mile into the forest, the trees thinned and turned into a clearing… The spell carried her across the clearing to a mossy boulder. Against it sat a lone figure. In the blue tinge of arcane magic, Lily couldn’t see the color… But she knew what she was looking at. She returned to her body with a gasp, both her and Verse wide-eyed and shaking.

“What?” Lily said, looking between the two of their shocked expressions. “What’s wrong?”

“Sh… She spliced.” Melody said, her form shaking. “She’s bleeding out.” Her scared eyes met Lily’s own. “Twilight’s dying.”

“Celestia!” Luna called. Her sister was gone. Nothing could stop her, now… Not in her current state. Rainbow Dash passed out on the balcony, her form limp on the stone, her chest still rising and falling smoothly. “Fuck… Mathias!” She called towards the balcony doors, which promptly swung inwards. The changeling lieutenant, defector and spy, spotted the predicament, the cracks in the balcony tile.

“What happened?!” He said, smoothly falling to his knees beside the unconscious avian. It was General Dash, Luna’s personal bodyguard and liaison between the secret changeling spies and the princesses… She was unconscious, breathing heavy.

“Lots, but nothing we can do about it right now.” Luna said, pulling on Dash’s arm, ducking under the woman’s slight frame and hefting her like a limp sack of potatoes. “Take her into my room, make sure she’s stripped and tucked in. NO funny business.”

“Of course.”

“Leave some water and food at the side of her bed, and then lock the door. Bring the key to me. I need to set the sun and raise the moon. It’s going to be a very, very long night…” Just as Mathias went to take Dash from Luna, though, the avian’s eyes snapped open and she gripped Luna’s blouse in a iron grip. Luna gasped, her hand clamping over Dash’s. Eyes wide with panic, Dash looked up at her. She spoke two words before passing out again…

“Twilight… She’s…”

“Get her inside. Now.” Luna said, handing her off to the changeling lieutenant.

Celestia’s wings picked up in speed and velocity. Her form cut through the air like a comet, bending and twisting the atmosphere around her. ’Hang on, everyone…’ She thought to herself, her determination hard as diamond. ’I’m on my way. Just hang on. Celestia hadn’t flown fast enough to cause a sonic boom in a long, long time… The last had been during the raid on Naga-haal. Now, though, was the time for her own sonic rainboom… Only hers wasn’t colorful or very flashy. Hers was simply power incarnate.

Pumping her wings hard and fast, Celestia burned through the thin layer of atmosphere before her, the ripple of her breaking the barrier clashing with the sparks from her wings. Molten gold erupted through the air, the shockwave of sound rumbling over the hills and valleys of Northeastern Canterlot. Luna had set the sun, but her speed erupted in a premature daybreak, the light radiating outwards like a halo through the air.

Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom was nothing but light particles. A product of her avian magic. Not like a magi’s, the avian brand of magic could not manifest itself in spells and enchantments. Theirs allowed them to fly with ease, to walk upon the clouds and move them at will. Among talented flyers, they could control weather to some degree, and even strike lightning…

So when Celestia broke the speed barrier, her own brand of powerful avian magic erupted the oxygen in the air, her fire as intense as the sun’s and bright as day. The ground underneath her lit up under the faux sunshine. She didn’t care. She didn’t even see it. She only saw Eyriewatch, the wind ripping through her hair and clothes as she moved faster… Harder… The fire burned out before it reached the ground, but if there were any avian in the area, they were in danger. She had to risk it. She couldn’t allow Eyriewatch to fall.

It took her a half an hour. The tower breached the horizon, and she flared her wings out to slow down marginally. Still breaking the speed barrier, her burning halos coming less frequently, she circled the town from on high once, twice… Everything appeared to be in order. Sure, there was a battle going on, but it appeared as if the guard had it all in order. She slowed down enough to get a better look… Oh, that was the issue… The guard controlled the skies, but inside the tower and on the streets, the changelings had the advantage. Spotting one large unit, she flapped down to them, her clothes singed at the edges but mostly intact.

“Major,” She said, noting his rank on the shoulder of his uniform.

“Princess! I… Pardon me, but fuck, she did it!”

“General Dash, I assume?”

“Yes, Princess. She left two hours ago to alert Canterlot. Are you… Heh… Our reinforcements?” They flapped, hovering above the city, the sounds of skirmishes and fighting still sounding below them.

“Indeed I am, Major. Though I’m afraid my priorities lie elsewhere… Can you re-take the city?” The major looked down into the city, heaving a sigh.

“With time, my princess… We have to whittle away at them from the skies. They’re burning our main stores of trueform, but we have smaller stashes all over the city. We can rain the fires out-“

“No.” Celestia cut him off. “The rain is the property of the Roc now. The last thing we need is the anger of a newborn god. Here, hold out your spear.” The major brought his spear forward with a blink. Celestia ignited a brilliant ball of burning fire in her hand, holding it out to the bladed edge. The metal caught fire, burning hot and bright, but not melting…

“Spread that among the others. Rain fire down on the changelings. Burn them out. If Eyriewatch has to burn to keep it out of changeling hands, then so be it. Use this to your advantage on the ground. Use it’s light to fight through the night, identify your own guard by it. Any of them not carrying the flame die.”

“Y-yes, princess!” The major stuttered, automatically passing the flame off to another airborne spear. The flame leapt to life all around, everyone holding the impromptu torches in their hands. The air above Eyriewatch was aflame.

“Now tell me, Major.” Celestia said. “Where are the Children of Love? Twilight Sparkle and Lily? The changeling spy Noth?” The major swallowed and seemed to think hard for a few moments.

“The forest, milady… They fled there as soon as the attack started. We kept the changelings from following them. They seemed more intent on taking the city than following them… As far as I know, they are safe…” He was talking to Celestia’s retreating backside now. The princess had turned and flown away as soon as he pointed to the forest. Panic gripped Celestia’s chest… The guard could win the city back. She had faith in her Dawnfire. But she didn’t know about Twilight, Lily, Melody or Verse… She flew fast as she dared, looking over the trees, searching… There! A glimmer of magic. She followed it to a clearing.

“Celestia!” Noth, shifted into his human form, approached her as she landed.

“Where are they.”

“Princess, you don’t want to-“

“WHERE?!” She roared. She was moments away from killing him and searching for them on her own.

“There…” He pointed. “Please, princess, we couldn’t-“ She stalked off, sweeping him out of the way carelessly. The boulder he indicated was twenty yards away. She swept around the back edge, saw them there… Melody and Verse stood, tears coursing freely from their eyes. Lily, on her knees, sobbed as she clutched Twilight’s head to her chest…

Celestia saw blood.

So… Much… Blood…

“No…”

----------- Notes from the Author -----------

There are some indentation issues. I can't fix them. Sorry.

Next chapter is due by Monday.

After Life

-------- Melody’s Tale - After Life --------

“Celestia.” Melody breathed softly. She had never seen this woman before, but she didn’t have to. It was rather apparent. The flowing hair, her remarkable complexion, the way she carried herself. Something seemed oddly… Off, though… Maybe it was the tears in her eyes. Or perhaps the way her fists clenched tight. They were shaking, even… Celestia’s gaze was fixed on Twilight’s prone, still body... Melody herself had felt Twilight’s pulse, watched the blood flow slow and stop. She stared at the poor magi, her chest shaking with what Melody could only guess to be anger, rage, perhaps apathy... Maybe even sorrow?

“You’re Melody and Verse, correct?” Celestia said, breaking the silence.. Melody found her voice, despite the grief and terror that gripped her chest.

“Yes,” She said softly. Verse, next to her, was silent. He had been since they arrived in the clearing…

“Tell me something, then…” Celestia said, tearing her gaze away from Twilight. “And I want you to be as specific as you possibly can. Can you do this for me?” Melody swallowed hard, giving a slight nod. Celestia was imposing. She was powerful. Melody knew this woman ruled a kingdom, and ruled it well. She was old… But she didn’t look over thirty. Everything about her was… Beautiful. And as her next words proved, very intuitive…

“I know you had something to do with the Roc coming back. Not just something, but everything. You wouldn’t wear the colors of the four winds if you didn’t.” Celestia’s tear-stained gaze penetrated, staring at both of them with brilliant eyes. Despite the agony apparent in her expression, she still seemed remarkably serene… The way her hair wafted about her face, the smooth pronunciation of her words… Even the way her back was held straight, her head high… It was striking. “Tell me,” She continued. “What you did exactly.”

Melody and Verse looked at one another. Previously, both their faces had been screwed up in grief, tears freely flowing from their eyes. Now, confronted with a very serious and difficult question from Celestia herself, they were dumbfounded…

What had they done?

Please, don’t go, Twi… We need you

Lily? What’s going on?

Guys, what’s happening?

Woah! Y’all are back! Wait… Twi?!

Panic, confusion, mystery… There were so many questions. Twilight didn’t know any of the answers… She only knew that she felt very warm. And very, very tired… Honestly, why was she so tired? She had just woken up a few hours ago… What… What were these voices running through her head? Twilight managed to open her eyes, but all she saw was this blank, white slate… An open panorama of pure, unblemished white…

She had been here before.

And she was not alone.

Lily? Girls? Wha… Wha’s happ’ning? Twilight managed a very drunk and incoherent thought… She knew she was in the link, and the others were around her, but why was everything so… Off?

Twilight! The relief in Lily’s voice was almost painfully audible… Why was she so relieved? What had happened? Something was very wrong… Twilight looked around, trying to get her bearings… She remembered this place… She had been here when she and Lily had conceived… The eve of the war, long, long ago… Since then, it had been a distant and admittedly dark memory. There had been some things she had faced here, a lot of doubt, a lot of adversity… Why was she back? Turning around, she saw five other individuals… Lily, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy… Her friends. The elements of harmony.

What… What’s happening? The thought pulsed out from her. She heard it in her head, even as she thought it… What’s more, she felt the others as their thoughts filled her mind. They were jumbled for a moment, but one spoke above all else. She knew it was Lily, her love. The fiery red curls of her hair bobbed a little bit as she turned her head, looking at Twilight.

Look down, Twi… She didn’t want to… She REALLY didn’t want to… But she did. Twilight’s right leg was gone. Sheared off, smooth and clean just above the knee.

What…

Oh, no…

How?

Lily, help her! Twilight felt her stomach churn at the sight. In this blank, unremarkable landscape, the paper-like floor beneath her was stained with blood. The puddle beneath her spread, more and more blood pouring into it from her leg. It plopped into the growing liquid, the sickening sound making her stomach flip over.

It’s your time, Twilight… This voice was new. Alien. No one knew who it belonged to. All that was left was silence in the shocking aftermath of the truth spoken by the newcomer.

Tears began to flow.

“We… We just sort of… I was falling, and…” The memories of all that happened in Nest began to flow back freely. Melody thought long and hard about how it happened… She couldn’t explain it, though… It just… “Did.” She muttered. “We just… Did…” Verse, still quiet, only nodded stoically.

“Hmm. You said you were falling.” Celestia appeared to be mulling the thought over. To Melody, it looked like she made something fit together, some gears click in her mind. “What then?” Melody remembered, the thought coming to her very clearly. The ground rushing towards her, the roar of wind in her ears, the catatonic acceptance of the end…

“I heard something.” She said softly. “One word… Just one… It told me to fly.”

Celestia smiled.

“Melody,” She said gently. “And Verse…” Celestia took two steps forward, laying her hand on either of their shoulders. “Twilight is going to die.” Melody sobbed, the words striking her heart hard. She felt the tears flowing faster then, her chest shaking with sobs. “But.” Celestia said, squeezing her gently. “We can bring her back.”

There is a greater design for you, Twilight Sparkle. The voice said softly, over the sound of gentle sobbing and sickening blood. She had long fallen over, her one leg too weak to support her weight. Sobbing pathetically, she dragged herself across the smooth white ground, grunting against the flashes of pain that gripped her body. She dragged herself forward, fighting to get closer to Lily. Towards her love… Lily watched, her eyes wide as tears fell down her face. Outside of the blank white reality, she was clutching Twilight’s body, crying hysterically. Here, watching Twilight crawl towards her, she was completely shocked.

Your job is not yet done, Twilight… The voice vibrated in her chest, made Twilight choke and sob. Not yet… It echoed through her, made her insides feel like they were liquid. She felt cold. Very, very cold… Let it go, Twilight… Let it all go… She choked and gagged, tasting bile as her hands clawed at the ground, trying to drag her further along. Closer to Lily. Let it go… She cried harder and shook her head. Let it go.

Twilight’s world went black.

“Lily,” Melody said gently, pulling on her mother’s arm. “Mom, come on… Let go.” She urged. Lily choked as she clutched Twilight closer, defiantly. “Mom, let her go…”

“Lily, you need to let Twilight go.” Celestia said, crouching at the other end.

“I can’t believe this… This can’t work…” Verse muttered.

“Shush. It can. It will.” Melody’s voice was filled with panic and sadness, not reprimand or anger. “Mom, you need to let go…”

“We can’t have this.” Celestia’s hands glowed brightly as she reached out and laid her fingertips on Lily’s forehead. Thumbs on the estranged changeling’s temples, Celestia smoothly put her to sleep. Her muscles relaxed, and her body fell backwards… She sprawled into the blood stained grass, chest rising and falling slowly. If not for the tear stains on her cheeks or the blood she lay in, she would look peaceful.

“Go now. You can do it.” Celestia said softly, moving out of the way. Verse took her place, he and Melody crouched on either side of Twilight’s prone, still body. Their eyes met. In that gaze, an entire conversation took place. Doubts and fears were exchanged with subtle movements, hardly a twitch of an iris or a slight arch of the brow. At the end, both children simultaneously nodded. Hands aglow, they laid them on Twilight’s still chest…

And took the dive.

“No… Twilight…” Rainbow Dash writhed atop the bed, her feverish sweat dampening the sheets beneath her

“What’s wrong with her?” Mathias asked softly, his brow drawn with worry. Luna leaned back, her hands resting on her thighs. She was frowning.

“She shares a link with the other elements of harmony… All I am able to tell is that she’s in that link now… She may be unconscious here, but elsewhere, she’s completely active.” Luna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger. “I need Celestia here, I really do… She could have picked a better time to leave…” Luna stood from the bed, walking out onto the flat floor and towards the balcony. She was tired from having lowered the sun herself, an event she was somewhat unused to... Just not in her nature, really... Where Celestia used strength and demands to raise and lower the sun, Luna used dexterity and coaxing with the stars and the moon... She had always admired Celestia’s brutish strength during the event… Now, though, she had her normal duties to attend to.

“We’re moving mobile command here for the night. I need to stay with General Dash and ensure she rides this out properly. Scramble the codes and bring me the latest reports, Mathias.” With a salute and a click of his heel, Mathias slipped out of the princess’ bed chamber, even as Luna leaned over the balcony. She looked to the North, where the battlefield was slowly beginning to calm for the night.

Fighting a war against changelings was very, very difficult… At one moment, it’s nothing but guards slashing at other guards, hollering unintelligibly and trying to cope with having to stab a friend or comrade, waiting for that moment when they shifted back into the black, vicious changeling they were known to be. Then the next moment, it would be a full-tilt battle as trueform rained from the sky, revealing all of the changelings for what they really were. Lines would shift and change as the two groups fought to re-arrange and regroup. She sighed as she looked down at the dark city, the street lamps lighting the way for a stray patrol or two.

“It’s going to be a very long night…”

Behind her, Dash groaned on the bed.

“Twilight…”

“Gotta find Mom.” Melody grunted, half to herself, half to her brother. She felt the reassuring presence of him nearby, of his muscled frame hovering hardly a foot away.

“Right.” They plummeted endlessly through the darkness, the feeling of falling an incomprehensibly long, definitely lethal distance making her swallow hard and fight the urge to vomit. What’s worse, it was difficult to tell when her eyes were open and closed. The only indication she had was the muscles in her eyelids… The vast, inky blackness was the same whether she had her eyes open or not. After several long moments, though, everything began to grow more… Dull…

“I think we’re getting there.” Verse said gently. Indeed, it felt as if they were making progress… The pure, pitch black was slowly fading into a dark sort of charcoal, and again into a deep, stormy grey. It progressed lighter and lighter until only the edges of Melody’s vision were even remotely dark, and the rest of her sight was filled with brilliant, pure bright white.

“Woah.” She said softly, feeling a surface press into her feet. Her legs accepted her weight readily, thankful to be back under the control of gravity once more… They were standing on a stark white, plain surface that stretched on forever in each direction. There wasn’t a single blemish on the entire landscape.

“I recognize this.” Verse said, drawing her attention to him. To his bare body. She realized she was nude as well in that moment… Awkward, but somehow fitting… Verse didn’t seem to mind, or even notice. His eyes were fixed on the broad, wide landscape, searching for one landmark, something, anything to give them orientation. There was nothing… This whole scenario made Melody feel chilled. Cold, even…

Probably because she was standing in a wide pool of blood. Twilight’s blood. The pale-skinned woman lay in front of them then, snapping into existence faster than she could blink. Melody gasped at the same time as Verse, both of them taking a shocked step backwards from the sight. Once the initial shock faded, though, Melody heedlessly fell to her knees, splashing down in the thick, coagulated puddle, her hands laying on what remained of Twilight’s right leg.

“Well,” Verse muttered, his voice thin with panic and shock. “We found her… Now what?” Melody’s heart hammered in her ears as she gripped Twilight’s cool flesh, her hands immediately stained red with the thick blood leftover. She looked up at her brother, another glance that held an entire conversation. Her jaw was set, determination filling her senses. She had to do this. THEY had to do this. For Twilight. For Lily. For Celestia. Heavens help her, for themselves… She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her mother, her teacher, her friend and her mentor…

Verse’s eyes met hers once more, both of them dead-set on their course of action.

“Just like Celestia said.” Melody started.

“Blood for blood.” Verse nodded. Together, they held out their wrists, the fingertips of their opposite hands glowing. Slowly, with shaking nerves, Melody and Verse sliced their wrists open.

Melody had been cut before. It was no big surprise to learn that her blood was as black as Lily’s, which she had seen now and then. Save for when it was her flow, Melody bled as black as any other changeling, and so did Verse. Twilight had always been mystified by the phenomena. They had the same magical capabilities as some of the most talented magi Twilight had ever seen, but could also shift like changelings did. What’s more, they were physically similar to changelings in their natural human form… More questions arose, then, when Melody and Verse had been exposed to trueform, and it had no effect on them. They stayed as they had always been… Twilight was astounded. She tried her best to avoid “Testing” them from a young age, but when they were old enough to start studying biology and other sciences, they both agreed to give blood samples and perform other tests for her.

Now, the same blood Twilight spent hours studying under a magnifying glass poured out of her children’s wrists.

At least, Melody thought it was the same… After the first few drops of goopy black liquid, she realized something was drastically different.

Her blood began to turn purple.

“Well this is… Kind of nice.” Twilight said, her voice sounding flat and dead in the dark air. She was suspended, floating in nothingness, pure darkness hugging her every curve. It wasn’t a claustrophobic sort of darkness, either… It was like… Being outside on a starless night with no moon, no streetlamps, no nothing… And no ground beneath her feet, either. Scratch that, this was unlike anything she had ever known. She wasn’t falling, wasn’t spinning, wasn’t… Doing anything… She was just sort of… There.

It lasted for hours. Twilight wanted to close her eyes and take a nap, but found she was unable. There was no difference between when her eyes were closed or open. No matter how she curled up in a ball or stretched out or tried to lay her head down, she couldn’t find any comfortable position… There was nothing solid to rest against. So she was just… There. In the darkness. Doing nothing but… Just being there.

“My, my darling… I DO hate coming to this place.” That voice… Twilight recognized it immediately. Her lips spread into a smile as she opened her eyes.

“Hello, Rarity…” She opened her eyes and saw the very first discernible object in the past… Who knew how many hours… Rarity, looking the same as she ever did, floated before her. She wore a simple white dress that fell to her ankles, and it billowed as if in a soft breeze. The fabric appeared to be lit by a source that Twilight couldn’t see… Like she was being projected there from a different place. Twilight guessed that could very well be true, since Rarity was… You know… Dead.

Then again, so was she, right?

“The years HAVE treated you kindly, Twilight Sparkle.” Rarity said with a soft smile. Twilight felt her own lips curl up in a soft, embarrassed sort of flush.

“Thanks… I try.”

“Not very hard, darling. It just came so naturally to you. I envied your simple beauty, Twilight.” Rarity said wistfully. “I always thought I looked absolutely DREADFUL whenever I went Au’ Naturel’…” Rarity adjusted the fabric of her dress around her hips, shrugging indifferently. “I suppose I did alright after all… Just… A victim of the fashionista world.” Twilight chuckled along with Rarity, the white-clothed woman stepping forward… How was she standing at all? And where could Twilight get one of those dresses? As far as she could tell, she was nude. Rarity’s roaming gaze proved that fact, and Twilight flushed a little.

“Rarity, I’m-“

“Dead.” She said simply. Twilight stammered for a moment. Rarity could carry a conversation for thousands of words and never once touch on the topic discussed… But she could also deliver curt, simple answers that were both shocking and sometimes rude… Though she would never be blamed for it. “Unfortunately…” Rarity continued, closing the gap between them. She took Twilight’s hand in both of her own, holding it up. “Otherwise, of course, you wouldn’t be seeing me…”

“But…” Twilight stammered, her heart beginning to beat faster. She knew it was true, she just didn’t want to believe it. “It’s not my time, is it?”

“That’s not for me to decide, love.” Rarity said with a soft smile. “Now, don’t read into this any, but your presence there… That is, where you are now, and not here, with me and everyone else, means there’s a chance. Trust me, I stayed in that place for some time myself before arriving here. You’ll have to ask Lily about that little bit… No, Twilight… You being there means something will happen.” Rarity pulled Twilight closer, her warm arms wrapping around Twilight’s quivering body. Twilight clung to Rarity desperately, realizing in that moment how much she had missed her friend… “What that something is… Well, like I said… It isn’t for me to decide.” Rarity’s hand ran back through Twilight’s hair, smoothing it, picking out the tangles and knots… She had such a soothing touch, Twilight slowly calmed down.

“I can tell you from experience, darling…” Rarity whispered softly into her ear, holding the poor magi as she slowly relaxed. “None of us ever truly says goodbye…” She leaned in, giving Twilight one soft squeeze before pulling away. Twilight clung tight, but Rarity slipped through her arms like smoke. Her lips were curled in a soft, serene, beautiful smile as she faded away…

“We only ever say… ‘See you later.’”

Twilight’s world shattered.

“HUUUUUUUHH!” Rainbow Dash’s back arched up from the bed, her entire body coming awake in an instant with a very loud gasp. Both Luna and Mathias jumped from the desk they had been seated at, the former rushing over to the bed. Luna smoothly slid underneath Dash’s back, cradling her close. The avian panted, her eyes wide with fear and shock. Luna held her close, stroking her rainbow hair gently.

“What’s wrong, General? Tell me.” Dash quivered, her shaking hand reaching up to grasp Luna’s blouse firmly. Her words were ragged, her forehead broke in a feverish sweat. In the aftermath of her rapid gasp, she coughed twice, her chest wracked with each one. “Dash, breathe. I need you to focus. Listen to me.” Luna said softly. “What happened in the link?”

”Twilight!” Dash finally gasped. ”Twilight’s alive!”

Return to Eyriewatch

------------ Melody’s Tale - Return to Eyriewatch ------------

Twilight! The collective call echoed through the consciousness of all six. To the groggy, half-awake magi, it sounded like she had put her head inside a massive bell just as it rang. She gripped her temples, whimpering softly as she fought to stop her head from splitting apart. She failed, ultimately, and with a cry, let her magic pulse forward.

”AUGH!” The cry came with a shockwave, pure purple and violent… It hissed and spat as it radiated outward from her body. Celestia threw herself in between Twilight’s prone body and the children, her brilliant golden magic the only thing that could withstand the blast… The magic of a goddess.

What’s happenin’?!

It’s Twilight! Their thoughts turned to a blaze, all rushing in a fast river of thought that Twilight couldn’t contain. She could hardly do anything to stop the REST of the thoughts pouring into her brain… Her drastically-altered and very exhausted brain. Whimpering and crying, Twilight fought to keep it all under control, to keep her magic from erupting. She couldn’t, though… Not yet. As time went by, she would… But as it stood, she couldn’t stop it. Celestia, standing directly in front of her, grunted as pulse after pulse of vicious, harsh magic shattered her shields, crashed against her defenses. It was all the princess could to do keep herself from being swept away, let alone those she protected…

Twi! You gotta stop! You’re gonna hurt them! Fluttershy. Her thought came just as the frightened face of Melody peeked around Celestia’s form. Her bright green eyes were wide with fear, her hair whipped off her shoulders.

”RRGH! Can’t!” Twilight cried, tears spilling from her eyes. So much KNOWLEDGE poured into her brain. The thoughts and calculations of thousands of years of magi and magic-users from all over the world. The natives in southern Equestria, the clutchmothers from harpy generations gone past, creatures and beings from the shadowlands, changelings, they all came to her in that moment, filling her brain to capacity and more. She took it all. Every bit of information she could get. Each new morsel she learned made her control grow and grow.

But Celestia couldn’t hold out much longer. The pulses grew less and less intense, but they still flattened the princess’ defenses, made her grunt and stumble, her body quaking under the force of each shock wave that broke upon her.

“MELODY! NO!” Celestia roared. Twilight’s eyes snapped open. She watched, shocked, as Melody slipped around Celestia, began running… She was running towards Twilight. Twilight was unstable! She couldn’t stop it as it happened! In a flash, her magic erupted again, flattening the grass around her as it pulsed towards Melody’s unprotected body.

”Ephemira.” The voice calmed Twilight. It was Melody. It was her voice. She spoke into Twilight’s consciousness, her soothing words calming the racing thoughts and emotions. Twilight, who had been dead just mere minutes ago, was now very much alive, and erupting with magic she couldn’t possibly hope to control… ”Relax. This magic,” The voice continued. Verse this time. His tone was a smooth baritone, a gentle guide that Twilight so desperately needed. ”It’s yours to control. Harness it. Make it yours.”

Both voices rocked through Twilight, overriding every other voice and thought that poured into her head.

”Take it, Ephemira. CONTROL IT!”

“RRRRRAAAAAAAAGH!” With a vicious cry, Twilight threw her arms out and harnessed the pulsing wall of purple that flowed towards Melody. It halted in it’s path, hissing and spitting, crackling with malicious intent. Hands glowing as dense as anything Melody had ever seen, Twilight pulled inwards. The wave hissed, but didn’t move. Once again, Twilight pulled, the magic yielding, giving just a little. “You are MINE.” She growled. This time, the magic vanished, disappearing into nothingness with a snap. The whip-like sound cracked through the air, making everyone present flinch. Twilight gasped as it vanished, her chest heaving.

“Twilight! MOM!” Melody cried out. Caution thrown to the wind, she rushed forward, throwing her arms around Twilight. Shocked, the purple-haired woman wrapped her daughter in a hug, blinking as Melody sobbed into her shoulder. “You’re back! It’s you!” She cried and sobbed, clutching Twilight roughly. Woodenly, Verse walked across the grass of the clearing, his own green eyes brimming with tears. Melody sobbed away, holding Twilight close, while the magi opened one arm.

“Mom.” He whispered softly, rushing forward. His long arms wrapped around them both, crushing them both with the force of his hug. Together, the three of them broke down, crying long and hard for their grief. Twilight let it happen, she let the relief wash over her, tears flowing from her eyes as she clutched her children close.

“Touching.” Noth said softly, stepping into the empty space next to Celestia.

“I’ll say.” She grunted. Looking down, Noth spotted two of her fingers. They jutted out at odd angles.

“Princess.”

“Shh.” With a sickening crunch, she grasped both fingers with her other hand and pulled them into place. Flexing her knuckles, Celestia mended the small bones, hardly giving a wince. “She doesn’t know her own strength. Not yet. With time, I can show her… Help her find her feet. Ephemira is young, still, and tired from her long sleep.” She shook her hand out, the delicate bones now where they needed to be. Her clothes were more frayed than they had been, and unless Noth was mistaken, a little more burnt away… He looked at Twilight, the woman clutching her two children, crying with a silly smile on her face. This was not Twilight any longer. He knew it. Celestia knew it. Deep down, even she and her two children knew it. But she was alive. That much was certain.

“Welcome back, sister…” Celestia said softly. Despite her anger, frustration, and pain… Celestia’s face was split in a wide smile. Deep inside, the princess knew… She was going to meet a lot more family members in the days to come…

“Where’s Lily?” The question pulled them all out of their respective reveries. Noth reacted first, pointing to a spot on the other side of the boulder Twilight had previously been leaning against.

“Mom, wait!” Melody tried to stop her, but Twilight smoothly pulled away from them, walking on two whole legs towards the boulder. “What…”

“Woah!” She exclaimed. As if remembering in a flash, Twilight jumped. The shock of discovering her right leg back where it ought to be was enough to make her stumble and fall, landing on the windswept grass with an audible ‘oof.’ Melody and Verse rushed forward, eyes wide with shock and more than a little disbelief.

“It worked.” Melody muttered softly, looking up at Verse. Together, the two of them smiled at one another, happy with their success. “It worked!”

“Wh… What worked?” Twilight asked, looking down at her leg. Experimentally, she tried to bend it, marveling as the limb followed her command. No more pain, no more blood loss… Just whole, creamy flesh…

“Honestly,” Melody and Verse shared a nervous chuckle. “I don’t… Really know! We just… We just…”

“They did.” Celestia said, stepping forward. They all looked up at her, the princess’ face split in a soft smile. “They did what they were put on this world to do, Twilight. You were dead. In some respects, Twilight Sparkle is dead… But.” She knelt next to the group, smiling warmly. “They brought you back. Your life, and the lives of everyone that held the seed of magic within them, is now within this body. Twilight Sparkle’s memories may be with them, but this body now houses everything and anything there is to do with magic. Aah,” She cut Twilight off, the confused woman opening her mouth to ask a question. “Shh. I will explain more in depth. But not here. It’s… Hardly the fitting place to do so. Verse, would you be a dear and carry your mother for a ways?” Verse scrambled to his feet and padded towards the boulder that Noth had pointed out earlier, disappearing around the edge. Together, Celestia and Melody helped an uneasy Twilight to her feet, smiling as the magi swayed a little before righting herself.

“Wh… What do you mean I’m… Ooohh,” Twilight held her head in her hands, the air around her humming for a moment. Melody laid a hand on her back, which seemed to help. “Woah… This is so…” She blinked a few times, staring at her hands. Melody watched as an arc of magic, purple and crackling faintly, trailed up the space in between her fingers. Like a Jacob’s Ladder… “Woah…”

“In short, Twilight…” Celestia said softly, lifting Twilight’s chin with a single finger. “You’ve become the new goddess of magic. I will explain once we return to Eyriewatch. Come. You need to find your balance again. Melody, please go see if Verse needs any help.” Celestia helped Twilight to her feet while Melody obediently went to go search for Verse… Just as she rounded the boulder, Verse hefted Lily’s slight weight, smiling at her.

“I got her. Come on.” He said gently, nodding his head. Melody breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Lily instinctively cling to Verse, her hands clutching his shirt.

“She looks so peaceful…”

“Imagine her shock when she finds out Twilight’s okay…” They shared a look, a smile, but with it came something else…

IS she Twilight? Melody asked herself, walking slowly as she and Verse slipped out from around the boulder. Twilight was walking on her own, limping a little, but more or less normal. She smiled when she saw Verse carrying Lily.

“Is she okay? She just looks asleep…”

“Celestia put her out.” Noth explained, his gaze sweeping the treeline slowly. “She wouldn’t let you go, and the children needed her out of the way. She’ll sleep for, what, ten hours?”

“Another eight or so.” Celestia shrugged. “Enough time for us to at least get to the guard’s ground command. Come now. We need to return to Eyriewatch.” Celestia lead the way for them, followed by Noth, then Verse carrying Lily, then Twilight and Melody at the rear. Melody smiled as she watched them all walk out of the small wood, the open plain between them and Eyriewatch greeting their view. The flames leapt high into the darkening sky, licking forth from the windows of every black opening in the face of Eyriewatch, smoke and fire gutting the sky, shrouding the dark stars.

“Woah.” Melody breathed. Celestia looked back at her, grinning softly.

“I’d rather have Eyriewatch burn than let it fall into changeling hands. No offense to your mother or Noth.” She nodded to the two changelings that were present. Noth, his cold eyes fixed on the burning tower, only nodded softly.

“They aren’t my brothers and sisters anymore… I owe no allegiance to Chrysalis or her mindless drones… I was a fool for not following Lily’s example long ago.” He said gently. “That’s another story for another place. Right now, let’s just get back…” Celestia smiled and walked with them for a ways further. After a little while, though, Lily stirred in Verse’s arms…

Lily groaned, but her eyes did not flutter open. “Is she…?” Twilight asked gently, peering over Verse’s shoulder.

“No. Still out.” Verse said quietly, trying not to wake her. Melody knew an explosion could very easily happen next to Lily, and she wouldn’t wake. She and Celestia shared a knowing look that confirmed it. She had used a very potent spell to put Lily under for a good, long time.

“We’re almost there. Verse, Melody, I need you two to stay behind. Twilight and I will check if the city is secure.”

“And me.” Noth, who had previously been rather quiet, suddenly spoke up. Celestia let her gaze slide up and down his body slowly.

“Can you hold out against trueform?” She asked. Noth faltered, his expression wavering momentarily. It was getting much darker as they walked across the open fields towards the burning city of Eyriewatch.

“No, milady, I cannot.”

“I’ll not lose a valuable spy to friendly fire.” She said softly, nodding at him. Celestia, the kind and caring mentor, was gone. In her place stood a very powerful, very demanding woman. The kind of woman that had burned dynasties to ash. The calm, serene expression Melody had seen on her face earlier was replaced by a cold, stoic expression of cool calculation and mercilessness. “You need to stay here and protect these three. Though,” She said, smiling at Melody and Verse. “I doubt they’d need it. If their actions in the past few days have shown anything, Melody and Verse are perfectly capable of defending themselves,” She smiled down at Lily’s slumbering form, curled up in Verse’s embrace, “And the ones they love.”

“Y-yes, Milady.” Noth muttered.

“Second doubts?” Celestia asked, arching an eyebrow inquisitively. Noth looked between her cold, hard expression and the gash of light before them that was a burning Eyriewatch…

“Yes.” He admitted.

“Explain.”

“Eyriewatch has… A place in my heart, milady…” He said gently. Celestia smiled and stepped forward. Noth flinched as she laid her hand on his shoulder. He had obviously been expecting some sort of punishment for going against the will of his princess. Instead, the calm, serene look returned for a moment. Their eyes met. A gentle twitch of the eyebrow, a small lifting of the corner of the mouth… Melody recognized them all. She couldn’t follow the words that shot between the two of them, but she surely recognized what was happening.

“So you love her.” Celestia said at last. Noth glanced furtively at everyone else before nodding softly.

“I do.” He muttered.

“Well, then.” Celestia said, her hand slipping away from his shoulder, her cold expression returning. “I’ll see to it you live to lay in her arms another night, Noth. I don’t want you pierced by the flaming spears I myself ignited.” Celestia scoffed. “General Dash would never let me live it down. Twilight?” She said, turning to her former student. The purple-haired woman perked up, stepping forward.

“Yes, P-… Celestia?” She asked, hesitantly.

“I think it’d be fit for you to exercise some of your newfound power, don’t you?” Celestia’s cold smile shivered through everyone present. Melody knew this was the smile that had been shed before entire cultures had been burnt to the ground. It was fearsome. It was remarkably reassuring. Twilight stepped forward, taking the lead. Twilight, her mother, who had previously been dead… Whom she and Verse had personally returned from the dead. Though, as the aura of power crackling around her slender frame was indicating, this was not her mother they had brought back.

This was a whole new, entirely different, and equally dangerous Twilight they had resurrected.

As she suddenly demonstrated, lethal as well...

Melody winced as the first ripple of power shattered outwards from Twilight, nearly flattening the group behind her. Melody saw that glowing purple ball of energy scream forward, straight towards the edge of the city surrounding Eyriewatch. It broke through three houses and levelled the fourth, and everything around it in about a hundred and fifty feet. Melody could hear the whip-like crack of magic, felt the detonation shake the ground beneath her.

“A... A little less next time, sister.” Celestia said gently, laying a hand on Twilight’s wrist. “If you don’t mind.”

“Eer... Right... Maybe if we get closer?”

“Good idea. Noth, I trust you, Verse, and Melody can stay here, then?” Celestia cast a quick glance over her shoulder. Despite the fear Melody felt at watching her mother level half a square block with one quick spell, Melody nodded.

“Yeah... I... I’d feel a bit more safe with just a few guards, though...” Melody managed. Noth glanced at her, but nodded at her wisdom. She still felt slightly intimidated by this other changeling. Then again, if the implications of his relationship with Dash were credible, she could probably trust him.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll see a few. I don’t plan on having any guards inside the city whatsoever.” Celestia turned her gaze back to the burning tower, to the flames leaping up into the sky.

“They might get caught in the crossfire.” Twilight growled.

It took them three hours. Melody watched the entire thing unfold before her eyes, crackles of power and magic rippling outwards from broken and burning buildings across the entire city, and up through the tower. Those, however, didn’t start until about two hours in. She spotted guards, hundreds of them, leaving the city, flapping out in a wide circle. There was something she did notice from this far, though... All of the guards appeared to be carrying flaming sticks.

The ones that didn’t were falling from the sky, on fire anyways.

“Are they...” Verse began. Noth spat into the grass.

“Changelings. Celestia’s using her fire as a marker for our forces. Anyone not wielding her fire dies.” He muttered.

“That’s... Brutal. What about the guards that aren’t getting their fire?”

“They’re using verbal codes to spread it.” Noth said. “Celestia was in the clearing about two hours, though... If a guard doesn’t have fire by now, he’s a changeling. That, and most of the changelings are on the ground.”

“What about...”

“The civilians? They’ll capture and detain them all, use trueform to separate the chaff from the wheat, so to speak.” Melody breathed a sigh of relief as Noth put their fears to rest. “That, and there are ways to dispel a changeling’s apparition... Twilight and Celestia will handle all the unshrouded ones, and once the city is secure once more, we’ll move in and help with the separation. We counted eleven thousand in the force that was moving towards Nest. Until the body count reaches at least that, we won’t stop.”

“Right...” Melody returned her gaze to the city. Several guards landed nearby in a short while, forming a half-ring around them. They were completely silent, stoic, their faces set in stone as they each watched anyone that approached wearily. A few more approached, flapping in out of the sky. They were on their side, and Melody trusted Noth as he nodded stoically to each of them. Celestia had sent them to provide additional protection. Each of them held a burning stick in their hands. Melody looked closer... Those were no sticks.

The metal heads of these spears were burning with a flame, glowing red-hot. She gulped. Those would be formidable weapons. The cuts would burn and cauterize immediately, setting the rest of the body aflame... They cast a light, and would make some of the most horrible noises when cutting through the air towards their targets... Celestia was a powerful woman, indeed...

Then it started.

The first ripple of magic made the ground beneath their feet quake. Melody watched a gout of flame leap into the sky, hissing viciously as it consumed the oxygen around it. Even this far away, about a mile, Melody could feel the heat on her face.

“Woah!” A few of the guards flinched instinctively, spears leveling all around in a circle.

“Relax.” Noth said, holding a hand out. “It’s Twilight Sparkle and Celestia. They’re going to handle this for us, gentlemen.” He said softly. “You stay wary of any who approach. Let them worry about the city.” He was a soldier, same as them. What’s more, Noth probably out-ranked them. They all nodded and went back to stoically watching the surrounding area. Over time, more and more guards joined, each of them holding a burning spear of their own. Some of them were wounded.

“Noth.” Melody said gently, drawing the other changeling’s attention. “Let me go help the wounded. I’m good with healing.” She said softly. Noth appeared to be fighting letting her go, but he turned to two nearby guards.

“You two.” He said, motioning. They snatched up spears and jogged over, saluting crisply. “Escort this woman and assist her with the wounded. Guard her with your life, on Celestia’s orders.”

“Yes, sir!” Melody slipped out of the ring of guards and went with the other two, following the one in front of her, the other falling into step behind her. All around her, guards looked up, the strange woman with the teal hair being escorted. They seemed to be following the sounds of groans and shouts of pain. In a moment, they broke into an area that was sectioned off, and was constantly receiving more and more being flown in by groups of two to four guards from the city.

She immediately set to work. This may not have been her calling, but Melody felt in her element here. The other medics gave her an appropriate workload, letting her handle stitches and splinting, the occasional amputation... This was what battlefield medicine was... Melody was sickened, horrified, sympathetic, and shut off from the whole thing at the same time.

It was only when someone shook her shoulder, making her break her concentration. She was trying to stitch a vicious gash on a man who was long past dead. It was Noth, looking at her sympathetically. “Come on.” He said gently. “They say the city’s clear. We’re moving back in.” He pulled her up gently, her foggy brain trying to process what she had missed. How long had it been? How many soldiers had she helped? Or, as it were, not helped?

“Hey.” One of the medics stopped them, wiping his bloody hands on a stained apron.

“Hmm?” Melody said, a little blankly. She suddenly felt very tired...

“You did a good job. We could use a pair of hands like you at the clinic. If you ever want to help out, or learn a little more, stop by. Okay?”

“R... Right...”

“Heh. First time?”

“Yeah...” Melody wiped a hand across her face, felt wetness and stickiness.

“Ick... Here.” He handed her a cloth from a nearby table, letting her tiredly scrub the blood off of her face. “You did good. Especially if that was your first time. Get some sleep.” He patted her shoulder, and Noth took her away.

She didn’t know what exactly was happening, only that she leaned heavily on Noth as they neared the tower. Then they were walking up stairs. Lots of stairs. Hundreds. Thousands, even... She was fatigued, but willed her rubber legs to carry her on.

“Here.” Noth finally said. She looked up at him, tired and bleary, then down at the tub... Full of hot water...

“Is it...”

“A bath.” He affirmed, letting her stand on her own two feet again. “You’re back in the Commander’s guest quarters. Bathe, sleep, and rest up. I’m sure someone will be along tomorrow to tell you where they want to meet. I’m assuming there’s a meeting of sorts... Goodness knows there needs to be.”

“What... What about Twilight? Celestia?” She said, looking between the hot, steamy water and him.

“Wow, you really are out of it. She said good night at the door. Go to sleep, Melody. Bathe first, but go to sleep.” He patted her shoulder and slipped away, leaving her alone in the bathroom. Woodenly, she stripped her clothes off and sank into the water, thankful for the luxurious feeling of scrubbing away the blood and dirt. Sunlight peeked through the windows as she half-dried and flopped down on her bed.

Sleep took her mercifully. Dreamless. Deep. Sound.

“So… You’re telling me,” Melody leaned across the table towards Celestia later on that day, who sat at the head with her legs crossed, looking regal and majestic as she had ever imagined. “Verse and I are responsible for resurrecting every old god that ever existed?” The room was completely silent, save for the gentle crackle of the magic-fueled fire burning in the hearth nearby. Celestia nodded solemnly, looking at Twilight and Lily for a moment before speaking.

“In short, yes…” She leaned forward, tenting her fingers as she laid her forearms on the table. “What happened at Nest?” Melody sighed and sat back in her chair. For what felt like the umpteenth time since they had settled back in at Eyriewatch, she explained what had happened at the ancient home of the harpies.

“Well, Rainbow Dash and who I’m sure was Noth here, came to rescue the four of us from our imprisonment. Which was good timing, as they were planning on killing us that morning anyways… But in the middle of the rescue, they cut the cage. Lily was in no shape to carry much of anyone, and both Noth and Dash had their hands full with Twilight and Verse. So I fell. Right before I hit the ground, though, I heard this voice… It told me to fly… And, well… I guess I shifted.”

“You’re right, Melody.” Celestia said, cutting her off. Previously, Melody had been allowed to continue. She stopped, her mouth open, ready to start the next part of her story when Celestia cut her off. “You shifted. And so did Verse. You shifted, changed, and you became Hurricane and Gale.” Celestia’s words carried a weight greater than Melody could understand. She voiced the question she knew they all knew, the one none of them had asked yet.

“But HOW, Celestia? I mean, Verse and I, we’re just-“

“The last hope for this world.” Celestia cut her off again. “You two hold a power this world has not seen in… Ever. Look at what happened in Nest. Look at what happened just last night.” Celestia gestured out towards the woods, that fateful clearing, the spot that she and Verse had revived Twilight in… “The Children of Love, it’s written, will breathe life into dead gods and return the world to it’s proper state.” Celestia leaned in, tapping her fingers on the table. “Avians are not naturally responsible for controlling the weather. I remember a time, when I was relatively young, that thunderheads and snow storms rolled across the land without the aid of the avians. I remember when tornadoes and hurricanes were the product of a god’s wrath, and only happened when Gale and Hurricane had been crossed.” She leaned back in her chair again, her hands still on the table.

“But… How did we bring Twilight back, then? She’s still our mom…”

“True as that may be,” Twilight interjected. She looked between Melody and Verse, her lips in a thin smile. Even as she leaned forward, her fingers crackled, purple magic arcing between them. “I’m not the same as I used to be. In my blood flows memories that aren’t my own, knowledge that I’ve never had access to before…” Twilight sighed and closed her eyes, trying to find the words to put to it. “I don’t just feel my power anymore… You know what I’m talking about. You know you can feel it in your breast, hiding there, waiting to be brought to the fore. To be used. Exercised. Put to the test.” Twilight opened her eyes, a brilliant flash of purple lighting the room for a moment.

“I don’t FEEL my magic anymore…” She lifted her hand, fingers spread. Melody watched as she slowly clenched her fist, the room humming with an ambient sense of power. “I AM my magic…” She twitched slightly, her eyelid quivering as she squirmed in her chair. “I am everyone’s magic… I can feel every spell as it’s cast, every shield and protective ward, every whisper of magic across… Everything…” She sighed, taking a moment to catch her breath. Twilight stood slowly, talking excitedly and fast.

“I’m in every enchantment, every incantation, every form, every calculation…” She spread her arms, looking up to the ceiling. “I am every spell, jinx, curse, hex, potion, and invocation…” Twilight slowly spun around, her eyes alight as she travelled places far and away, places Melody could only ever dream to visit. “I can feel it all, Melody… Every last whisper and morsel of magic cast since I woke in the clearing… It all flows… Through me… I can feel it here,” She laid her hand on her chest. “And here.” Her other rested on her temple. “Not just that… It feels like… I can feel every thought anyone’s ever had… Every theory and hypothesis, calculation and projection… I know… everything there is to know about magic…” Melody watched as Twilight dropped her hands, a slight chuckle bubbling from her throat. “It feels incredible.”

Celestia smiled and urged Twilight to sit down again.

“There’s something I need to explain to all of you. I hope you understand all of this...” She paused for a moment, her thoughts distracted as she focused on what to say next. “I’m… Not just a princess, or a ruler. I’m a goddess.” Of all of them, only Noth seemed the most shocked. Twilight nodded sagely, Lily blinked, Verse and Melody nodded and leaned in, eager to hear more.

“And so is Luna… As you’ve seen with Hurricane and Gale, sometimes gods can come in pairs… She and I are the goddesses of benevolence. Together, we make sure that rulers across all the world do good by the people they rule… Or, in the case of the Clutchmother, make sure their rule poisons only themselves.”

“Wait, about that-“

“Let me finish.” Celestia cut Verse off with a finger. “We will discuss what happened in Nest momentarily. Let me finish this thought.” She exhaled softly before continuing. “But we’re not the only ones. There are… There are more gods than I know how to count… There are a number of us, though, within what we call ‘The Family.’ We are the ones who were directly created by our father and mother… They have lived longer than... Well, longer than time itself. By their hand, all the world was created. They filled it with our brothers and sisters, including myself and Luna. Invariably, though, the world knew what else it needed. So it created it’s own gods. Don’t mistake me… The Family recognizes and loves these other gods just as much as we love one another… But they are not the product of my mother and father’s work…

“Among them were Gale and Hurricane. The planet needed a way to water it’s soil, to burn it’s dead forests, to spread the pollen and seeds from it’s plants and cover it’s surface with lush, green vegetation… So it created the winds. Gale and Hurricane came together to strike lightning and burn down forests, the ash making way for new trees to be planted. They crossed the surface of the world to create the winds, which carried seeds far and away to help spread the flora. Their wings beat the rain clouds over the land, spreading nourishing water and snow to areas that needed it. Gale and Hurricane were among the first… But when the rivers started flowing and the oceans became unruly, the dragon Aqua dove beneath the waves and conquered the tide. She commanded the ocean to obey her command, or she would burn it all away. She very well could, Aqua was a powerful dragon, a force to be reckoned with… She raised the tides and granted ships safe passage, gave them her fish to eat and use, let them drink from pure streams so cool it almost hurt to swallow...” Celestia continued. There was obviously a lot she wanted to share… She was so energetic now, talking animatedly about the world and how it had come into creation. Melody found herself enraptured with the tale, her eyes wide as she tried to imagine the birthing of the gods…

“Dozens more sprang forth. More than I can honestly recall… The Family watched, helping new gods develop, putting old gods to rest when they needed it… Eventually, my mother and father saw no more need to guide the world. As far as they were concerned, their job was done… So they left.” Celestia turned her gaze out of the window, up into the bright blue sky.

“Across the stars and galaxies they had breathed into existence just to light our night sky, they travelled… No one knows where they are now, nor what happened to them… Though from beyond the stars, they continued to create, to bless the world with new children, new gods… I fell to Equestria through the sun, a burning star that leveled mountains when I landed. Luna, through the night sky. They say the starfall was brilliant to behold. I wouldn’t know, I was but a child… Cadence… Just walked up to us one day. Happy as could be, she looked no older than ten. No one knows where she came from, not even herself… She’s just searching for love.”

“Celestia,” Lily said gently, leaning forward. “You looked off when you said they left… What happened?” Celestia blinked and paused for a moment before smiling.

“You’re right. I did. Sorry, I get rather… Wistful when I remember the old days. Ahem. Well, I fell into a world plagued by chaos and madness… Young and frightened, I hid until Luna came… I knew she was my sister, it was just instinctive. So I nurtured her until we were both grown enough to do something about what was happening…” Celestia leaned forward, her hands flat on the table. “Gods and goddesses we may be, but we are imperfect. Goodness, everyone knows my own taste for rough passion… But there were other gods with greater flaws than my own private bedroom preferences… There were gods made for some of the most foul and vile reasons imaginable… Hatred, fear, loathing…” She paused for a moment, her voice quivering. “Anger…”

Twilight reached out and took hold of Celestia’s hand, her own expression set in stone. Celestia clutched it firmly, nodding as she fought to continue. “My elder sister and one of my eldest brothers had met in a night of heated passion… Not uncommon, mind you… But father and mother never condoned relationships. Too unpredictable, too powerful, too unstable… This was after they left. My sister and brother made a child. Not just any child, but a child with so much anger, it nearly burned the world down…” She shuddered softly before continuing. Melody could tell she was upset by the memory…

“Lacking a proper name given to him by our mother and father, this child was named by his mother, who was known as the goddess of lies. His name was Dark Conquest. And he very nearly destroyed everything…” Lily gasped at that, her hands flying to her mouth. She looked both shocked and horrified at once, her wide eyes brimming with tears.

“You…”

“That was a different time, Lily. Hear me out before you jump to conclusions.” Melody and Verse looked between the exchange, quizzical looks on their face. Lily slowly took her seat, but she was still shaking. “Dark Conquest filled a space the world had previously not needed… He became the god of anger. More than that, his power manifested itself in flames… The kind that would burn and never go out, not until they had destroyed all that they could…” Celestia shuddered again and hugged herself.

“I had to stop him. We. We had to stop him. Luna and I found our purpose that day…” Celestia sighed. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, and burying her face in her hands. She heaved a heavy breath before continuing, her voice only slightly muffled. “The other gods, they tried everything… Lies, trickery, magic, laughter, generosity, knowledge, water, winds, they used everything they had at their disposal… Conquest couldn’t be stopped. So Luna and I combined our powers… We stood up to Conquest, and defied his will to burn. We were the first to openly oppose him directly. He tried. Oh, how he tried… But together, we sealed him, and his burning will… The event occurred on the spot his rampage began, where many dead souls still lingered behind. The area was haunted, and avoided, for a very long time. But still… We locked him away, and tried to sway his will…” She looked up at Lily, tears welling in her eyes.

“You can attest, Lily.” She said softly. “He’s changed. He’s but a shadow of his former anger…” Lily was silent for a few long moments, but she nodded.

“He certainly was… Angry… But… Well, I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You’ve no idea how thankful I am for that…” Celestia said quietly. It was then that Twilight stood up, her chair clattering across the floor as she huffed.

“Lily, come on.” She said gently. Lily stammered, but Twilight grasped her wrist firmly, pulling her out of her chair.

“Twilight,” Celestia started, but the magi whirled on her, her eyes flashing dangerously. Celestia stopped, looking at her fearfully. The look was completely out-of-place on the beautiful goddess’ face.

“I need some time with the woman I love.” Twilight said gently, squeezing Lily’s hand. Melody could feel the hum of power in the air. It was audible, vibrating, low. Like a note from a four-string bass… “Don’t deny me this, sister.”

“O-of course… I thought you might have more questions for me…” Celestia nodded her head in a sign of concession, her gaze low to the table. Twilight looked between her and the two children, both of them wide-eyed at the display.

“Some other time.” Twilight said. “But I think I’ve earned at least this much…”

“Of course.”

“Go, mom.” Melody said gently. Verse backed her up by nodding sagely, still relatively silent throughout the ordeal. “We’ll be here… Not like we’re leaving anytime soon.” Twilight nodded gently before pulling a still-stuttering Lily out of the room. The door closed silently, leaving Celestia, Melody, and Verse in hushed quiet, just the crackling of the fire…

“Sister?” Verse asked gently. Celestia glanced at him before leaning back in her seat.

“That’s… What I was getting at next… You know there are… Well, hundreds of old gods in the world. After my father and mother left, though, some of them… Well, they just started to lose their will… Gale and Hurricane flew over the northern mountains to die… More to sleep, really… Aqua swam far and away to the south, to places none of us had bothered to go yet. One by one, we all just started to… Sleep.” Celestia covered her face with her hand, groaning softly. “Heavens know I’ve wanted to do the same myself…”

“Go on…” Verse urged gently. Celestia sighed and lowered her hand to continue.

“There are gods for all sorts of things, children… Like I said, there are gods for anger, hate, trickery, lies and deceit… Gods for laughter, generosity, loyalty…” Her gaze flickered towards the door. “Magic.” Melody followed her gaze to the closed door. The door that Twilight had disappeared behind. She made the connection then. It was vague. She couldn’t put her words to it, but she didn’t need to. Celestia did that for them.

“Just like you two did with Gale and Hurricane. Together, you two resurrected the goddess of Magic. She now resides within the body of Twilight Sparkle. My elder sister… Ephemira.”

“Are we…” Melody swallowed, trying to process all that had just been said. “Are we destined to do that for all the gods?” She asked. Celestia shrugged at the head of the table. The realization sunk in. They had resurrected three gods already… Could they do more? After Celestia’s story, would they want to do more? Celestia’s facial expression betrayed she was pondering that same question.

“Perhaps. For all I know, your purpose in life was to bring back the gods of the four winds and Twilight… It could be that you’re just acting out of instinct, or maybe it was chance… For all I know, you brought Ephemira back by mistake.” She sighed and leaned back in her chair gently. “Though I am glad she’s back… That is one sister I regretted putting to sleep…”

“You… Wait, what?” Verse said gently, looking at her with wide eyes. His expression matched Melody’s. Celestia sighed and gestured for them both to move closer. Hesitantly, they took the two chairs closest to Celestia, staring at her with shocked expressions.

“It was when my sister was being possessed by anger… Dark Conquests’ influence had surrounded her. She was beginning to get angry that everyone slept through the night, her beautiful night, and was out and about during the day… It seemed none appreciated her work, or her splendor… So she began to scorn them, to fill with rage. You know the story of Nightmare Moon, correct?” She asked, looking between them both. Of course they did. It was one of the first Twilight had told them as children. They both knew it, and the outcome, well.

“Well… I had to send her to see our sister, Luminescence… The moon. Yes, another goddess, though long asleep… As with Solaris, our brother, who is the sun… That’s why Luna and I must guide them through the sky. They sleep, and haven’t been awoken in thousands upon thousands of years. Anyways. It was at that time that the elements of harmony were alive and well. They had names, faces, bodies… They looked like you or I. Avian, magi, human… Didn’t matter. But they held within them a very special power. And they were very, very tired… They knew Nightmare Moon’s endless night couldn’t be stopped without their power, but they couldn’t do anything as they were so tired… So, I helped them into rest…”

“While they were asleep, their power was mine to use as I saw fit. So I banished Luna to the moon, giving her a thousand years to think over her mistakes. Trust me, that’s a paltry amount of time compared to how long we’re going to live… I’m over seven thousand myself. I have a long, long life ahead of me yet.” She smiled at their concern, laying a hand on either of theirs with a gentle pat. “Since then, though, they have manifested themselves in two forms… One, the necklaces we keep stored in Canterlot… The other, is what I personally refer to as a seed… The seeds of the elements of harmony have passed from person to person for a thousand years. They would settle in a suitable host, live there with them, the embodiment of their element, and then move on to another once they passed… As luck would have it, they were all close together when the return of my sister was imminent. Ever since her entrance exam, I knew Twilight to hold the seed of magic. Ephemira’s seed. Previously, Ephemira had existed in the harpie’s Clutchmother. Before her, Starswirl the Bearded. Before him, a dragon by the name of Tyranistus. I can name off the names and races of all who have held the elements prior to their current holders.”

“Woah…” Melody said softly. “So when the time came,”

“I sent Twilight to Ponyville to re-unite with the other elements. They say the six of them have been drawn together in one form or another over the years, but I’d like to think without sending Twilight to Ponyville, they wouldn’t have been together for the return of my sister. Could I have handled her? Easily. But what would she have learned from it? Next to nothing. It would have been dear old Celestia and Luna squabbling yet again… Seeing her six old friends unite against her under the guise of the six current wielders of harmony, Luna learned a very valuable lesson that day…” Celestia smiled gently. “Any more questions? It is getting late, and I do need to put… Heh… Solaris to bed, so to speak.” Melody shook her head, and Verse followed suit. “Aah. Very well, then… It’s been a long week, you two. You should get some early rest. I dare say your mothers would be worn out by now…”

Melody and Verse chuckled as they stood. After all they had been through, they were both still exhausted. Sleep sounded like what Melody needed right then... She yawned and stretched, and Verse mirrored her.

“Oh...” Melody said, as they were on their way out. She and Verse hesitated in the doorway, looking back at Celestia. “You said you and Luna were technically the goddesses of benevolence...” Celestia smiled when she caught on to their train of thought.

“Aah. What happened in Nest. Yes, Luna and I make sure that those in power, those who rule over others, use their responsibility properly. Sometimes, though...” Celestia’s words trailed off for a moment. Her eyes shifted from them to the fire, crackling and popping softly in the hearth. “Sometimes, you have to let them hurt their followers... Else history will never learn a lesson...”

“Lemme go,” Dash groaned, fidgeting.

“Shush. Your wings are damaged. You need to recuperate.” Mathias scolded her, slapping her wrist as she pulled at the bandages over her ribcage.

“Ugh. To think. You got to see me naked.” Mathias rolled his eyes and smoothly shifted from his usual human self, a stocky, tall courier that many changeling spies favored, into a perfect replica of a nude Rainbow Dash. “Ooh… You bastard.” She muttered. “Only No-…” She stopped, letting the name hang unspoken in the air.

“Trust me, Rainbow Dash.” Luna’s soft voice came from where she sat at her desk. The past two nights, she had worked from the room, receiving periodic updates from Rainbow Dash about what was happening via the link. And ensuring the brash general didn’t overstep the bounds of her recovery. Papers shuffled as the beautiful princess of the night continued in a lazy, slightly bored drawl. “We know full well of your relationship with Noth.”

“Wha-?! How?!” She sat up, drawing a hiss of pain and a tsk of scorn from both herself and Mathias. Insistently, the changeling pushed her back down to her stomach, and she didn’t resist. “How do you know…?” Dash groaned, burying her blushing face into the pillow underneath her.

“You only groaned his name in a half-orgasmic sense of delirium for the first two nights after Twilight’s revival.” Mathias muttered, carefully plucking a bloody feather from Dash’s wings. Thanks to the numbing ointment, she didn’t feel a thing as he discarded the bloody down feather into a bin full of similar feathers. Dash was long overdue for a preening.

“He speaks the truth, general.” Luna said, peering over the rim of the glasses at the scene. Mathias, on his knees, straddling Rainbow Dash’s waist, and General Dash, the brash and callous avian commander, lay spread out half-naked on Luna’s bed, her injured wings spread wide as she received some much-needed medical attention. Were the situation not so delicate, Luna might have shed her mid-thigh length dress and joined them. Her own wings felt slightly neglected in light of the careful touch Mathias was showing Rainbow Dash. Instead, she settled for teasing the prostrated avian.

“You’ve ruined more than one set of my sheets, growing wet as you unconsciously fingered yourself, moaning his name in your delirium.” She pushed the glasses up her nose, watching as Dash’s face turned up to look at her, blushing brighter. “’Oh Noth! Not there! Aahn! You’re so naughty!’ I swear, every night for four nights straight.” Her full lips curled into a smile as Dash sputtered, obviously fighting the urge to raise back up and defend her honor.

“Y-yeah, well…” She was struggling. Luna watched, amused, as the poor woman fought for words. “At least I don’t wear glasses!” Luna chuckled and pulled the slender frame off of her face, twirling them by one of the long arms.

“What, these? Come now, Rainbow Dash. You know everyone has a secret librarian fetish.” She replaced the glasses and went back to reading the most recent report. Something about a lack of proper toiletries on the frontlines. She made a note to file a supply order with Fillydelphia for more and moved on to the next.

“Huh. Tell me about it, Pinkie…” Dash muttered from the bed. Luna looked up.

“Hmm?”

“Nothin’.” Dash grunted, laying her chin on the pillow. “Pinkie was just saying how she knew a certain purple-haired librarian more than a few people have got the hots for.” Luna smiled softly as Dash spoke, setting the report down on the desk.

“How is she doing today, by the way?” Luna asked softly. Dash looked up at her for a moment before her vision sort of… Faded… Luna recognized it as the expression they took on whenever they were going into the link, to converse with the other elements. She returned momentarily, smiling softly.

“She’s good. Said she felt good enough to try out some extra-curricular spells on Lily last night. I’m guessing from her absence, they worked.” Luna chuckled and resumed reading the report. “That, and they say the restoration of Eyriewatch is underway. Celestia herself will oversee it, up to a point, before installing a new commander and returning.” Dash went silent for a moment, but resumed talking. “Twilight says to tell you Celestia knows you can hold out on your own for another week. At least five days, but no more than eight.” Luna stared blankly at the report for a few long moments before setting it down.

“I believe so. But she’ll need to do her part from Eyriewatch. I can’t fight a war and command the heavens all at once.” She said after a few long moments. Dash nodded and laid her head down, but continued to speak. Her voice was slightly muffled by the soft pillow.

“She’s making fun of you for being ‘too weak.’ You guys are mean towards each other, aren’t you?”

“Tell her if she insists on flaunting my weaknesses, I’ll tie her up and make her watch as I violate Twilight.” Luna said, shifting her legs so her right was crossed over her left. Both Rainbow Dash and Mathias stared at her, wide-eyed. Luna peeked over the rim of her glasses with a serene, lusty sort of smile. “What? Tell her.” Rainbow Dash groaned and laid her head back down as Mathias shook his own and went back to preening her injured wings gently.

Luna smiled and let her thoughts wander to Twilight… Her new sister.

Dash only took another two days to recover. Four days after the incident, she was well enough to fly again. Luna called her into her office one early morning, explaining her plans.

“You’re sure about this?” Dash asked. Luna looked up at her, still wearing the glasses. Why? She said they looked sexy. Dash had to agree.

“Well, there are stipulations, of course. You’ll have to remain a liaison between us and the changeling spy force, but I have plans to re-allocate that particular branch of our service to Eyriewatch with you. Be careful, you saw how heated the battle was. Other changelings may have survived.. When Celestia arrived, it was still raging. Shit, it’s only because of her and Twilight it’s even over…” She shuffled the paper. “I need Celestia back here now. It will take you a day to fly there in your condition. And I mean that, General Dash. A day. No less.” Dash groaned, but inside, she was thankful. Her wings still ached. “Fly to Eyriewatch with our main avian force. Now that we have the borders of Canterlot sealed, we no longer require that much air support. Anything in the sky without clearance dies.” She signed the top sheaf of paper and set it aside, picking up another. Wars required a lot of paperwork, apparently…

“And when I arrive?”

“Celestia and I have agreed to appoint you Eyriewatch commander. Under your command, we will push the Chimera back into their homeland. Your primary objective is to run flanking maneuvers through Featherhome and into Hearth, drawing the chimera’s attention from their western front. When they are weakened from your feint, we attack, and drive them back home. That way, we need only worry about the changeling threat… Once the chimera see how strong we’ve become, that we haven’t forgotten about them, they will back off. Always have throughout the ages. Any questions, Rainbow Dash?” Luna asked, peeking at her again over the rim of her glasses. So. Sexy…

“None, milady.” Dash straightened her back and saluted crisply. Luna nodded and she dropped it, spinning on her heel to leave the musty office.

“Oh, and Dash?” Luna stopped her just as Dash was about to exit the room. The princess hovered a slender case towards her. Hesitantly, Dash accepted it, hefting the surprisingly light case with a quizzical look. Luna gestured that she should open it. With a quizzical expression, Dash opened the case, and nearly choked at what she saw. Glasses.

“P-princess, I-“

“Wear them for Noth. Dismissed, General.”

“Melody! Can we talk?” Twilight’s voice caught her, made her turn around. Melody smiled at her mother as she descended the wide spiral staircase above her, the powerful magi advancing with a warm smile of her own.

“Of course. About what?”

“Well… I think it’s time we talk a little bit more about magic. I think I may have figured out how you and Verse do what you do.” Melody’s heart nearly stopped. She stuttered for a moment, but Twilight insistently pulled her into an interior door. Stumbling a little, Melody followed, catching her balance after a few steps. Twilight descended another staircase three levels and then swept into one of the few libraries Eyriewatch sported. It seemed Twilight could almost always be found in one of these.

“Sheesh. Okay, no need to be rough. Shouldn’t Verse be here for this?” Melody asked, rubbing her wrist. Twilight shook her head and started pulling books off of the nearby shelves with her magic, dozens of them floating smoothly onto the nearby tables.

“I already spoke with him. Tell me, what are the components of any spell?” Twilight said. Straight out of the textbook, Melody began quoting.

“Spell-form, energy, willpower, verbal, material, geo-disic, and soul.” She said.

“Explain each in simpler terms.” Twilight was no longer her mother. She was her teacher now. And Melody was the student.

“The spell-form is the pattern we draw when we cast the spell. These are the most common ways to cast spells. They are reliable and last for a long time. Energy is our own magical force that we each command, or how much power we have at our disposal. Willpower, often mistaken with energy, is a magi’s determination. How badly he or she wants the spell to work. Verbal, not often used-“

“Why?” Twilight cut in. Melody didn’t miss a beat.

“There’s magic in words, and as such, magi aren’t the only ones that can use verbal spells. Anyone who knows the proper incantation can speak the words and cast the spell. Magi use verbal spells very sparingly, because they are dangerous, require great practice to use properly, and could result in loss of life if misused.”

“Right. That’s how I lost my leg. You see, as soon as I tried to teleport from the tower, I was hit from behind by a tackle. I stuttered the last word, and it killed me.” Melody grimaced. She knew the implications of mispronouncing a word in a verbal spell. Seeing it tied in to the bloody result, though, had helped drive the point home. Don’t stutter. “Continue.” Twilight said gently.

“Material is just that… There are physical objects that can be utilized or consumed to create a spell-effect.”

“Give me an example.”

“Writing a spell-form in powdered obsidian properly will result in the spell-form having it’s effect in both the physical and the nether plane.”

“Meaning?”

“Whatever spell cast will happen both here, as we see it, and in the nether.”

“What is the nether?”

“A separate plane of existence, parallel to this one, and identical in terms of topography and landmarks. Some argue it’s where we go when we die, and when the two overlap, you can see the deceased. In reality, it’s a separate plane of existence with different creatures and beings.”

“Correct. Continue.”

“Geo-disic is just the location on this plane of existence. Some places are intrinsically more powerful than others, and will lend their energy or unique properties to the spell cast. The last, and most forbidden, is the soul component.”

“Why is it forbidden?” Twilight asked a very serious question. Melody faltered. The first time yet.

“Because…”

“Because…?”

“Because utilizing your soul in a spell means you can create life.” Melody answered.

“Correct again. Good, now, listen.” Twilight turned around, holding in her hands a book. Melody glanced at the spine, but saw it was blank. “This is a book I wrote just last night. Compiling the knowledge I’ve received, I made this.” She set it on the nearest table, beckoning Melody over. “Changeling magic is a form of…?”

“A combination of Willpower, Energy, and Material.”

“Exactly. They will themselves to take on the form, they use their energy to accomplish it, and their clothes change thanks to an effect known as ‘Temporal Storage.’ Here’s the thing, though… What’s a magi’s power based off of?”

“Energy.” Melody answered. Energy was rather versatile. Spell-forms could be activated with energy, and many other similarities. Levitation and telekinesis were two forms of energy-based spells. It was common magical knowledge that magi only utilized energy to work their magic.

“Wrong.” Twilight grinned as Melody furrowed her brow. She seldom missed questions. “Magi’s powers are a combination of all forms… This I know, because technically, I created them…”

“Wh… How…?”

“Ephemira.” Twilight said gently, tapping her temple. “She granted the first humans their magical abilities, giving them the same components you described.” Twilight leaned in a little closer. “All of them.”

“So… A magi’s magic is a combination of every known component? Including…”

“Including soul.” Twilight nodded. “Every time a magi uses their magic, they are using a small portion of their soul. That is why they each have a different colored field, and have different specialties. Why one magi might be proficient in casting illusions and visions, while another’s talents might lie in healing. What is a soul, by magical definition?” There was controversy here… Many believed a soul to be a person. Magically, that is to say scientifically, a soul was-

“A collection of a person’s unique thoughts and environmental developmental aids. If every person grew up in the same time at the same place and all experienced the same things, they would, intrinsically, be the same. But we’re not. We’re born at different times, raised in different places, experience different things… So our experiences, our unique upbringing, is what makes us unique. What makes us, us.”

“Correct. The way you were raised, your environmental stressors, your education, your life… Compacted into data and stored at the back of your brain.” Twilight tapped Melody’s temple, her magic setting off a small static shock. Melody flinched. “Data. That’s what your soul is. Data.”

“Okay, so…”

“Changelings… Cannot change their souls.” Twilight continued, tapping the book she had written. It was all cryptic, Melody knew, but she would understand it in time. “Magi cannot change their appearance… At least, not in the unique way that changelings do. But they can use their souls…” Melody began connecting the dots… She blinked, the gears turning. Twilight put her thoughts to words.

“Because you are a changeling and a magi… You can use magic to change your soul. Melody, you and Verse are re-populating the old-gods… Not by some act of divine providence, but by-“

“By becoming them.” Melody’s eyes went wide as her gaze met Twilight’s. “By shifting into the old gods.”

Respite

------------- Melody’s Tale - Respite -------------

“Alright, I’m here.” Melody grumbled as she ascended the steps onto the top of Eyriewatch. Since the return of Gale and Hurricane, the top of Eyriewatch was kept completely bare at all times. Anyone that stood up there did so at their own risk. Melody was perhaps more cautious than she ought to be whenever she stood atop the massive tower, but she was learning to relax. Celestia had sent a message via a flying courier to ask Melody to come to the top of the tower. As it was, she was in the middle of a bath when the avian had poked his head into her bathroom. He was unceremoniously thrown out of the window by her magic, but not before delivering his message.

Bath ruined, Melody had dried and dressed, and had climbed up to the tower’s top. Her annoyance was soon forgotten, though, as soon as she realized everyone was there. Noth, Twilight, Lily, Verse, Celestia, the stand-in commander, and half a dozen other important non-changeling officers. She swallowed a bitter comment and stood next to Verse quietly.

“She’s coming.” Celestia said, pointing a long, delicate finger. Melody followed it towards the horizon. Her vision was keen, but it wasn’t on-par with a goddess’. All she could see were the shadows of the treetops on the far-off woods. It was late-evening, the sun was nearly fallen. Celestia dropped her hand, but Melody continued to look at the horizon.

“Who’s coming?” She asked quietly, leaning in to whisper quietly in Verse’s ear.

“The next commander. Luna is sending an avian from Canterlot to take Spitfire’s place.” Verse returned. The mention of the previous commander made Melody nearly choke. The vision of the bright orange-haired avian, and her violent end, flashed through Melody’s mind before she could stop it. She shuddered and pushed the image back and away, into the corner of her mind where the things she would just as soon not visit lurked. They had buried her along with the others who had died in the changeling’s attack.

“There they are.” Lily said gently. Melody returned her eyes to the horizon, squinting to try and determine the difference between the shadow of the trees and whatever else was approaching.

“Woah.” Melody saw them then. Hundreds. Dare she say… Thousands. They swarmed over the horizon, a mass of them. In the darkness, she nearly mistook them for changelings… The swarming black mass she had seen in the streets of Eyriewatch just under a week ago… The only thing that set this swarm apart from the other was the glittering pinpricks of light. Lamps and torches, carried by flying avians. That, and this procession seemed to be much more orderly than the last. It took them a long while, but each minute, the horde grew and came closer and closer. Other avians began to notice. Melody saw them take to wing and fly high in the sky, watching their backup arrive. Soon enough, cheers began in the streets. Melody saw humans and magi fill the streets, line the high walls, all of them watching the massive avian force grow closer and closer.

Melody could see it now. They were MUCH more organized than anyone had originally thought… There were dozens of units, all of them spread out in organized squares and flying at even intervals. There was maybe enough space for one avian inbetween each square of what Melody could guess was the Equestrian Airborne Calvary’s individual units, but that gave them definition. In front of them all though, flew a single triangle of six avian. At the fore, Melody recognized the one that stood above them all. A smile broke out on her face as that one avian led the five behind her up to the top. The gathered group all stepped back as Rainbow Dash landed, five avian following her.

“Princess.” She said, immediately falling to one knee in the traditional bow. The five avian behind her, all of them wearing officer’s uniforms, followed suit.

“You may rise, General.” Celestia said with a soft smile. “And there is no need for military formalities with me, I can assure you.” Just as Rainbow Dash rose up with an embarrassed smile, Celestia wrapped the slender avian in a warm hug. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. If it were not for you, things would have ended much worse than they did.” Celestia spoke softly, just loud enough to be heard by those close by. Dash hesitantly returned the hug, even as Celestia pulled her face close. They broke after a few long moments, riding that moment between where the hug grew awkward and uncomfortable for present company. Celestia stepped away with a smile, addressing all six of the avian present. Now she was being formal.

“I hereby instate General Rainbow Dash as commander of Eyriewatch. This is my decree as Princess of Equestria. To challenge her command is to challenge me. Any of you who have any objections to this, speak now.” The resulting call from the six avian before her was unanimous. They all snapped into crisp salutes, the six figures completely in sync as they shouted as loud as they could.

“None, my princess!” Melody felt a shiver. The salute was dropped, and Rainbow Dash executed an about-face. She turned to the five behind her.

“At ease.” She commanded. From a position of attention, all five of them spread their feet and clasped their hands behind their backs. “I am Commander Dash. I am not Commander Spitfire. I do not know the area of Eyriewatch as well as she did, so I am going to need a lot of assistance. Should any of you five be replaced by a standing officer, I will hear no complaints. All will have their part to serve in the coming months. Understood?”

“Yes, Commander!”

“Good. Gather your best intelligence operatives and meet in the Commander’s board room at oh-nine-hundred tomorrow morning. Dismissed.” The five snapped to attention, saluted, and proceeded to dive off of the side of the tower. Celestia smiled as Dash turned around to face the group present.

“Thank you for showing proper courtesy, Commander.” Celestia said gently. Dash arched an eyebrow, her lips spreading in a teasing sort of smile.

“There are officers here that are probably better suited for the title of Commander than I am, princess. If I can’t serve them, I’d rather have them as close as they can to serve me. It’d be my honor and privilege to have Spitfire’s former staff keep their positions.” Celestia cast a glance over her shoulder at the stand-in commander and the other seven officers with him, each of them standing in the position of at-ease. Melody felt oddly out of place in the military proceeding. It was all she could do to avoid rushing forward and tackling Dash in a warm hug. In all seriousness, Melody owed Twilight’s life to the reckless avian. Indeed, Dash was the savior of Eyriewatch. Every bit as much as Celestia and Twilight were.

“Well, don’t let me hold you back, then.” Celestia laid a hand on Dash’s shoulder as she strode past her. “Luna saw fit to send you, and I don’t think I could have picked anyone better for the job. I need to return to Canterlot. You have your orders, Commander. I know you won’t let us down.”

“Never in a million years.” Dash saluted Celestia once more as the princess spread her wings wide. Twilight, Verse, Melody, Lily and Noth knew Celestia was going to leave. The other officers had assumed as much. Celestia gave them all a warm smile over her shoulder before she tipped over the edge of the tower, disappearing from sight for a few moments before she swooped back into view, her wide wings carrying her away fast from Eyriewatch. Melody was sad to see her go, but happy to finally have met the goddess her mother had spoken so much of…

“Commander.” The stand-in commander, a colonel by the name of Hanson, saluted crisply.

“At ease, colonel.” Dash said, waving her hand. “You’ll find there’s no need to be so formal with me, either… You’re welcome to speak with me freely.” The salute was dropped, and indeed, all of the officers behind Hanson sagged a little, as if from relief.

“We… Would like to speak with you about some of the changes.”

“What changes?” Dash said gently, shrugging. The colonel stuttered for a moment, but Dash continued to speak. “You know Eyriewatch probably better than myself. As I told Celestia, I would be honored if you would all keep your old positions. The same you served Commander Spitfire with. If any of you sees fit for a promotion, you’re more than welcome to ask for it. There is a lot we need to hash out, colonel. But there will be no changes in the old rank-and-file.” Dash held up a finger. “Just some additions.”

“Additions…?” A gold-leaf major spoke up hesitantly. Dash smiled.

“Did you not see the force I just flew in with? That’s easily four times the standing force that Eyriewatch has hosted in the past thousand years. I don’t expect seven of you to help me organize a force of one hundred twenty-five thousand avian. Your ranks will be supplemented with assistants, aides, secretaries, and couriers. I will assign each of you, and the five officers I brought with me, others to assist them. In two week’s time, we’ll be running scouting and flanking maneuvers into Featherhome and then into Hearth. What’s more, I expect you all to attend the meeting at oh-nine-hundred tomorrow. I understand you’ve gone through a lot. Not every city could withstand a changeling attack that large. The protection of Eyriewatch and her citizens is my first priority. Restoration second, and military operations third. With close to a hundred and fifty thousand avian, do you think we can manage that?” Melody listened to Dash speak, her eyes growing wide. She looked over the edge for the first time since Dash had arrived. The avian force was STILL flying in towards the city. They covered the streets below, the mass of flapping wings and units still looked organized and well-kept. This wasn’t just a large force of avian… This was a large force of ELITE avian. The best of the best. They were organized. Unified.

“N-no, Commander. I see your point very well. I… I thought-“

“Thought what?” Dash’s laughter drew Melody’s attention back to the discussion taking place atop the wide expanse that was Eyriewatch’s peak. “I’d demote you? Completely replace Spitfire’s staff? You have all lived and worked in this city, probably your entire military career. I’m not about to take that away from you. I need as much local help as I can get. And speaking of getting, it’s getting late.” Dash smiled at the colonel, reaching out to clap him on the shoulder. “Get some rest, colonel. I’ll expect to see you and your staff at tomorrow’s meeting. And don’t worry about the backup.” Dash gestured at the still-shifting mass of avian flying below them. “Luna told me Eyriewatch was made to house two hundred thousand avian long, long ago. We’ll all fit. You’ll see.”

“R… Right… Well then. Good night, Commander.” As a formality, the present officers saluted, and Dash returned it with a smile. They left, leaving Dash, Lily, Twilight, Melody, Verse, and Noth atop the tower. As soon as the seven of them were gone, Dash rushed into Noth’s arms.

“Don’t you EVER-“ Noth scolded in between kisses. “EVER leave me like that again.”

“Shut up.” Dash grunted, pressing her lips firmly against Noth’s, holding him close, their shame completely forgotten. Melody wasn’t the only one blushing. After a few moments, though, Lily had to say something.

“Okay, you two…” She mumbled. Noth pushed Dash away at arm’s-length, smiling faintly as he nodded towards the rest of them.

“Oh… Oh! Twilight!” Dash wheeled around, running forward and heedlessly throwing her arms around the giggling woman. This time, Melody smiled instead of blushing, watching as Lily joined in on the hug. She and Verse stood on one side of the reunion, Noth on the other. “There’s SO much to talk about!” Dash said, her hands still resting on her friend’s shoulders, still touching them, keeping herself close. “What HAPPENED to you, Twilight? You… I mean, you were…”

“Dead. I know.” Twilight said with a soft sigh. “Trust me… There’s a whole lot we need to talk about. But I think I owe you a thanks-“

“To you two!” Dash cut her off, spinning around to smile at Verse and Melody. “C’mere.” Verse took a step back, but Melody unceremoniously pulled him forward. Dash grinned as she pulled him into the hug, squeezing both of them tight. Rainbow Dash was half a head shorter than Melody, but she was whip-tight and hard as a rock. Her grip crushed the breath out of both of them.

“I don’t know what you did,” She said gently. “But you brought Twilight back. I know it’s probably some fancy magic mumbo-jumbo, so I’ll never understand it, but thank you. Both of you.” Melody wheezed as Dash let her go, offering a brave smile as she and Verse fought to avoid rubbing their sore ribs.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do it without Celestia.” Melody admitted. Verse nodded his consent quietly, probably afraid to talk thanks to his ribs. “And Celestia wouldn’t have come if you didn’t fly to Canterlot. Really, we should be thanking you.”

“Just don’t ever make me do that again. My wings are still sore.” She grimaced as she spread them slowly. “But, I flew here from Canterlot in a day and a half. I’ll live. Leaving you guys was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done… I’m just glad Celestia was able to make it on time…”

“How badly WERE you hurt?” Noth said gently from the other side of Twilight and Lily. Dash grimaced as she turned to look at him, her sheepish expression betraying how bad the injury was.

“It was… Not pretty.” She admitted.

“How bad?” Noth pressed.

“Can we… Excuse ourselves?” She asked gently. Twilight and Lily shrugged indifferently. They had the link. Melody wanted to talk to Dash some more, but she couldn’t deny the poor woman another minute away from Noth. Verse looked too winded to say anything more. Silently, Dash and Noth slipped away. Even a few feet down the stairs, and Melody could hear as Noth reaffirmed his question. She sighed and shook her head, joining Lily and Twilight close to the edge. Beneath them, the rest of the avian reinforcements had entered the tower, the skies relatively clear once more.

“Things are still changing, aren’t they?” She asked quietly. Twilight glanced at her before heaving a soft sight.

“Probably more than you know, kiddo…” She muttered. “Verse, why are you so quiet?”

“I think…” Verse grunted, laying his hand flat on his side. “She broke a rib.”

After that, it was a lot of training, and a lot of research. With her newfound ability to shift into an avian and fly, Melody spent at least half her time taking lessons from one avian or another. The rest of her time was spent in one of the four libraries, researching her mother’s material, or other reference books. Whenever Lily was free, she gave lessons on how to shift, how to change into animals and such. Before long, Lily and Verse could pass off as anyone else. It wasn’t perfect, but they had a natural sort of talent for it. The only problem Melody had was changing her sex. Becoming a male was tricky. Lily put her thumb on the problem one day.

“Hang on, hang on… Go back.” She muttered. Melody obediently shifted back to her normal form, giving a slight harrumph. Shifting was nothing like using her magic. She could study and practice and grow better with spells. To shift, she had to FEEL it. “Verse, you too…” Her brother shifted back, wincing slightly. His ribs had, indeed, been bruised. Sensitive fellow. Melody smiled bravely at him as Lily chewed her thumbnail, pacing back and forth.

“I think I know what the problem is.”

“It’s not our study subjects?” Verse teased, dropping into his seat. Lily had given them various people to study surreptitiously, to try and shift into. She could pull it off without a thought. For Melody and Verse, it was like being a new changeling. They had to study body structure, physique, behavior and speech patterns, little things like hair color, the length of their fingernails and such. Verse was given a young avian lieutenant, one of Dash’s couriers. Lily was given a guardsman, one who was stationed at the southern gate every day at four PM to Midnight.

“No, it’s not that.” Lily sighed and looked up at Verse. “Shift into Melody’s target. Connor.” The guardsman was named Connor Hearthfire. A northern avian from Stalliongrad. Verse blinked but stood and shifted anyways. “See? Perfect. You even got the muscle tone on his forearm down.” Lily said, walking around him in a circle. “Melody, shift into Verse’s target. Sam.” The courier’s name was Samuel Hanson, younger sister to the colonel who had been the stand-in commander. She had told Verse one day that her parents thought she was a boy when she was born, and had named her Samuel. She kept the name, but preferred Sam. Melody followed Verse’s example in reverse, shifting into his target. “See, even you got it! I know what the problem is.”

“Do tell.” Melody grumbled, shifting back to herself. Verse did the same. Lily grinned at her.

“You need to get laid.”

“PPHBTH!”

“Bad time to take a drink, Verse. Aww, you got it all over my jacket!” Melody shook out the water-covered garment, trying to ignore her mother’s comment.

“I’m serious!” Lily said, reaffirming herself. “I didn’t know how to do it until after my first time.”

“Do changelings HAVE a first time?” Verse wiped his mouth and set the glass of water down carefully.

“Of course we do. Just… Not in our normal form. You know, the changeling form. I already described we have a normal way we look when we want to be relaxed, right?”

“Right.” Melody said, taking her seat carefully. Lily pulled her chair up closer to Melody and Verse’s, all of them sitting and getting comfortable. It looked like it was about time for ‘the talk.’

“Well, this is mine. My first was with another changeling lieutenant named Ajax. His normal form was male. We both felt inclined to be shifted as such. The first time we made love, it was intense. I didn’t have a hymen, so it wasn’t painful at all. In fact, it was kind of nice. The first time.”

“What happened later?” Lily waved the question off.

“Another story for another time. But before that, I couldn’t shift into anything male. Not even animals!” She chuckled and leaned back, crossing her legs. “I know you should be uncomfortable discussing this with your own mother-“

“Trust me, we are.” Verse quipped.

“Shush.” Melody hushed him.

“But I think you’re both grown up enough. You’re eighteen, for fuck’s sake… There are kids out there that lose their virginity at fourteen. Some of them younger. Trust me,” Lily leaned in. “Once you get a feel for it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. You can’t imitate the other sex until you know about them. Every. Little. Bit.”

There was truth to her words. Melody had to agree on that much… She didn’t know what a male penis really looked like, let alone how it felt, or how a man acted when he was aroused. Sure, there was Verse, but he was her brother. That didn’t count. A quick glance and a grimace affirmed that Verse felt the same about her. No, if they were going to do this, it had to be with someone else.

“But… How?” Verse asked at last. Melody shook her head and focused on Lily.

“I’m going to give you another assignment. Trust me, kids… You’re both old enough. You’ve felt it. You know what your hormones are doing to your bodies. Melody, when you started menstruating, that’s your body’s way of telling you you’re ready to have kids. Verse, remember when you were fourteen? Thought you had started wetting the bed?”

“You said-“

“It’s natural. Do you remember?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Those are called nocturnal emissions. It’s your body’s way of purging built-up sperm. Granted, you probably took to doing that on your own once you got Applejack’s picture-“

“Hey!”

“Shush.” Melody had to quiet him again, though she was on the verge of bursting out into laughter at his face.

“It’s natural, like I said. But that was your own body’s way of telling you you’re ready. Your body is ready. Both of yours are.” Melody giggled a little, but pushed the girlish thoughts aside. This was serious.

“But… What about love?” Melody said gently. That caused Lily to sigh.

“Look, it might be because I come from a different culture-“

“Species.”

“Shut it. Than you two. But to me, sex isn’t about love. Let me put it this way. Do you think I could love Twilight the way I do if I didn’t accept what Celestia had already done to her? Or the inverse. Do you think Twilight could love me? For ten whole years I was a whore. I slept with hundreds of people. That’s a realistic figure, yes. Do you think Twilight could love me if she didn’t accept that fact? Look,” Lily leaned forward, speaking much more intimately between the two of them. “If you aren’t comfortable having sex before you’re fully, completely in love, that’s fine. I won’t push you. No parent in her right mind could.” She sighed a little, obviously struggling with herself.

“But from a teacher’s perspective, it’s different… I need you two to be able to shift at will, especially where we’re going next.”

“Where ARE we going next?” This was the first Melody had heard of going anywhere.

“Fillydelphia. That’s besides the point-“

“Fillydelphia?! Aren’t we going home?!”

“We are. But we’re stopping in Fillydelphia on our way there. Now shush, and let me talk. We’re getting sidetracked.” She sighed and rubbed her temples, trying to find where she had left off. Melody silenced her questions, knowing they would be answered in time. “Okay… Look. As your mother, I want to support you both, whatever your decision is. So I can’t tell you to do this. But I can ask.” She leaned in again, close enough to lay her hand on both of theirs. “Try? If you do it right, it feels incredible. And at the very least, you’ll know what it feels like period. I get the feeling Chrysalis doesn’t know that you two can shift yet. She’s seen you, or at least gotten a description, so she’ll be looking for you. If you can shift, it will make travelling to dangerous cities easier. Cities like Fillydelphia, Appleoosa, Las Pegasus.”

“Why are we-“

“Shush with the questions about where we’re going, okay? Sheesh. Just tell me your answers, okay?” Lily sat back and rolled her eyes with a groan, crossing her legs. She and Verse shared another look, both of them fighting with their emotions…

For Melody, she wanted it. She understood what her mother said about love and sex. If she herself had been a whore for ten years, sleeping with so many men, how COULD Twilight love her so? Sex and love may share a connection, but sleeping with someone didn’t mean you loved them. She came to her solution quicker than Verse.

“I’ll do it.” She said. “Or at least, I’ll try.”

“That’s my girl.” Lily said with a smile, patting her knee. “I’ve honestly been looking forward to this day for a while… With how open Twilight and I are… Trust me, it’ll be great. Look, you know I’m not like any other parent. You can talk to me about stuff like this. I dare say I could give you… Ahem… Pointers.”

“I…” Melody was about to protest, to say she was too embarrassed. Then a thought hit her. Lily WAS unlike any other mother out there… No one on the planet could boast they had a changeling mother, one who was also the element of generosity, and one of the two who had fulfilled a very important prophecy. Lily knew more about love and sex than, realistically, anyone… Except perhaps Twilight. Melody was in good hands. “Okay.” She admitted with a slight blush.

“Fuck it.” Verse muttered quietly. “If I can resurrect three dead gods and live through all the shit we’ve encountered, I think I can get laid.”

“Atta boy.” Lily teased. Melody smiled at him. It seemed the twins were of like minds. “I knew I could count on you two. It seems silly and odd coming from your mother, but I’m proud of you. It’s a mature decision you’ve made. Sex, like I said, is a wonderful thing. Just because you have sex with someone doesn’t mean you love them. There are people who think sex is a thing to be shared between couples. And only themselves. They aren’t wrong, I’ll tell you that now. It’s a personal decision, and I don’t blame a single one of them. But they’re missing out.” Lily sighed and leaned back a little further, her thoughts obviously wandering. “I’m getting sidetracked.” She muttered.

“Okay, so… I have a new assignment for both of you. If you can, and I’m not saying they should be your only goal, but I want you to TRY and have sex with your current targets.

“With Connor?! He’s twenty-five!” Melody objected. There was a 7-year gap.

“He lied on his draft papers.” Lily waved her off. “He’s only twenty-two. He joined the military when he was fifteen.”

“R-really?”

“You’d know that if you talked to him beyond just asking his name.” Melody grimaced. “And Verse, try and sleep with Sam.”

“She’s so… Skinny…”

“Oh you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Lily chuckled.

“What?” Melody was honestly interested now. The look on Lily’s face was one only a very pleasant memory could bring back.

“It’s… It’s nothing.” Lily tried to wave her off, but both Verse and Lily were interested.

“No, come on. Tell us.” Melody nudged Lily’s knee. Her mother chuckled and shook her head.

“Me and Dash.”

“What?!” Verse nearly shouted, his eyes wide. “No way, really?!”

“Before Twilight and I were officially together, yes.” Lily chuckled. “Twice, actually… Might have been three, even.”

“Woah… My mom and Rainbow Dash…”

“We were both different people back then, Melody.” Lily said, chuckling again. “In fact… I’ve done it with-“

“No, don’t tell me…” Verse’s expression was defeated.

“Applejack? Yeah. Twice with her, too.”

“Oh man… Don’t even tell me…”

“And Pinkie Pie. And Rarity. And Fluttershy.”

“Wow. Really?” Melody asked, arching her eyebrow. “How did you pull that one off?”

“Well… The first time-“ Verse groaned again. “-was her idea… The second, shut up Verse, she wanted… Well, she wanted to try a threesome. So Twilight and I helped her out. Oh shush, you, it was good.”

“I don’t even wanna know.” Verse grumbled, getting to his feet. “I’ll give it a try, but I don’t need to sit here and listen to all of my mom’s old sex stories.”

“Good, get going.” Lily threw a water bottle at him, laughing as he caught it and flung it back at her. “I’ll check in on your progress in a week!” He waved in acknowledgement, leaving Lily and Melody alone in the room. There was a pause before Melody spoke, very quiet and hushed.

“What happened with… Applejack?”

Lily grinned.

Melody felt prepared. For the first time in her life, she was off to mingle on her own. Twilight had been shocked when she first heard, but a quick discussion with Lily had not only swayed her to the idea, but made her rather accepting. Downright helpful, if Melody had to pick a word. She, Lily, and Melody had spent the rest of that evening chatting about all the little things. Melody had so many questions… About foreplay, what to say, what to do, how she should go about it, the virtues of wearing a condom, everything… She was so worked up she used her hairbrush three times that night. Though she had learned to do so in the bathtub, to avoid making too much of a mess. The next morning, she awoke and dressed for another flying lesson, this one from Rainbow Dash herself. She was getting more and more proficient, and Dash said with practice she would make a good flyer. Good enough to keep up with most of her units, even. Admittedly, though, Melody wasn’t completely focused on the lesson. She and Dash took a lunch break atop Eyriewatch, their legs dangling off of the edge of the massive tower.

“You feeling alright today, Melody?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine…” The thought struck her then. She piqued up a little and smiled at Dash. “What was Lily like when she was younger?” Dash sputtered on a bottle of water, coughing as she wiped liquid off of her tight-fitting vest.

“Where did THAT come from?!” She coughed, looking at Melody with wide eyes. Melody laughed and nudged her.

“We… Sort of had a little talk last night, all three of us. She mentioned you two had, in the past, you know…”

“Oh… That. Right.” Dash wiped the last bit of water from her vest with a sigh. It was early afternoon, and the early summer sun beat down on them. This high up, the breeze was refreshing and light, the sun warming them perfectly. Dash sighed and shared a little bit more womanly knowledge with her.

“She was pretty wild, I’ll tell you… Back when the Wonderbolts were a performing team and I was with them, Lily helped us out with our very first guest stunt. Spitfire, who had also used Lily to help draft me in a little bit of an… Uncanny manner… Decided to show Lily her thanks.”

“Sheesh…”

“What?” Dash furrowed her brow at the interruption.

“She really did get around a lot, didn’t she?”

“Hey, don’t talk like that!” Dash gave her a playful smack upside her head. To Melody, it felt like a hammer. She winced and rubbed the spot, feeling chided. “Lily slept with a lot of people, but she was the absolute best at what she did. No one would doubt that for a minute. Think about it, Melody. She was a changeling. Not just any changeling, but arguably the most powerful aside from Chrysalis herself. She could turn into anyone at any time in any place for any reason. And I do mean ANYone.” The thought struck Melody then. Lily was the absolute best woman there was to make love to. She COULD be anyone… Never the same experience twice. She wondered how many different persons Twilight had slept with, all without betraying the one she loved…

“Woah… I get it now.”

“Yeah. Our first time, Lily used someone I know you’ve seen before. She calls herself Dancer in that shape.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen her before… Black hair? Slender?”

“That’s the one. The second, Lily was shifted into Spitfire herself.” Dash flushed a little at the memory, sipping her water. “The third, it was Dancer again, but that was with both Spitfire and me. I actually stumbled in on the two of them. In a cloud.”

“… How was that?” Dash grinned again.

“Fantastic… Look, what I’m saying is, don’t worry about it. You’re young, beautiful, and horny. It’ll come natural to you.”

“Hey! Don’t-“

“What? Call you horny? Hon, Spitfire wasn’t the only one to read the laundry reports. Now come on. Twenty laps around the tower. And watch that updraft. You carry it up over the top, I’ll double it.” Dash laughed and slipped off the edge, plummeting a hundred and fifty feet before opening her wings wide. Melody stuttered for a moment before slipping off as well, off into the sky…

Melody looked herself over in the mirror later on that night, fretting over the little things. Now that she could shift, she could fix things about herself she hadn’t previously really liked… Like her thighs. She thought they had always been a touch too scrawny. Carefully, she filled her form out a little, transitioning from the washboard-flat stomach and tiny hips into a full-bodied woman. She kept her bust a reasonable size, gave her rear a little more curve, and grew her hair another few inches. Where it used to fall to the small of her back, it now dangled just beneath the curve of her rear. She shaved, shifted a few minor things, and admired herself in the mirror. She was, dare she say, dead sexy…

She had a goal. And woe to the person that stood in the way of a determined woman and her goal. She dressed in a mid-thigh-length dress, modest heels, and only a small touch of makeup. With the dress, flying was out of the realm of possibility, so she surreptitiously slipped down out of the tower, having well memorized the guard’s patrol patterns a week ago. She was not expecting her brother, however.

“Verse!” She gasped, bumping into him as she rounded a corner.

“Shh. Patrol.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a dark doorway, both of them holding their breath as the guards rounded the corner. They weren’t in any danger, of course. The guards knew them well, but Verse was of the same mind that Melody was. Neither of them wanted to be seen dressed to impress on their way into the town. The smell of Verse’s cologne was heady, filling her senses. He wore a brilliant button-up shirt and what she had to guess were stylish slacks. They pressed close as they were comfortable as the patrol trumped past, holding their breath until the sound of boots on worn stone faded away.

“You too, huh?” She asked as they resumed their stealthy descent.

“Yeah… I’m about to ask Sam if she can meet me later tonight…”

“Same.” She admitted. Her plan had been to ask Connor out after he was off-duty.

“Well, I could always use a little backup. Where were you planning on taking him?” Verse asked gently.

“Uuh… There was a neat little restaurant, two blocks southwest of the north gate…”

“Wow. Birds of a feather, eh?”

“You too?”

“Heh… Yeah… Well, with any luck… I’ll see you there?” He smiled and nudged her shoulder.

“Y… Yeah. I guess so. Hey.” She stopped him as he turned to leave. “You look good.”

“You too, sis. Good luck.”

“Bye.” And with that, they split ways. Melody off to the southern gate of the city, Verse off to the courier’s barracks. Melody allowed her mind to wander as she walked. A trick she had learned from Lily. If she hyped herself too much, she’d come across as tense and unwilling when it came time to seal the deal. Best to just treat it as any other night. It was mid-week, and this late at night the streets were all but empty. A stray patrol of soldiers paid little attention to a beautiful woman walking in full view under the streetlights, and she only got one wayward look or another from a worker putting in some late-night hours on one building or another. The restoration was almost complete at this stage.

“Good evening, Connor.” She had arrived before she even realized it. She almost stumbled into him. Connor spun around gracefully, his eyes flashing around for a moment before resting on her.

“Oh. Hey, uuh… Uum…” His eyes drank her in. Long, full legs, pale, bare arms… Her teal hair hung straight and long, her bangs teased into a gentle curl. She smiled as he stuttered, his partner chuckling at his dumbfounded expression. “Melody.” He finally said, flushing a little. Melody had made a habit of dropping by the gate almost daily, chatting for a moment like many of the guards did with civilians entering and exiting the gate. They had come to first-name basis. She considered him a friend. Her first outside of home… Enough of a friend, even, to explain her situation. He said he knew about Lily fairly well. Apparently, her mother’s story was not unknown to the soldiers. So much so, in fact, that he believed her. What’s more, though, he treated her normally. Like any other girl. He had seen her some days with wings, others without, and all she had ever got from him was a blink, him registering the subtle change.

“Can… I have a word?” She asked, glancing at his guard partner. Her name was Straw, named for the color of her hair. She was a good soldier, Melody knew, a real fighter. Career military. She knew the needs of soldiers, and could see where this was headed in an instant.

“I’ll do a round. Keep it clean.” She hefted her spear and flapped off. Melody smiled and held the hem of her skirt down as the breeze kicked up from her powerful wings.

“What… Uuh, what did you want?” He asked softly.

“Honestly, I was going to ask you out.” Melody said softly. There was a moment of silence, his eyes wide. For Connor, the platonic friendship they had shared previously had held next to no indication of romance. To him, this came from left field.

“Uuh… I… Wow.” Melody’s heart sank as he started stuttering, his cheeks flushing a little.

“Don’t tell me…” She was defeated. Something was wrong already. He wasn’t attracted to her, or SOMEthing…

“No, no! Don’t get me wrong! I… I, uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “I don’t get off until midnight.”

Relief. Like a wave. She sighed and held a hand to her fluttering heart. Focus. She reprimanded herself, smiling at him.

“I knew that. I was saying, after.”

“There’s… Is there anywhere open that late?” He asked. He was interested! Melody’s heart raced as she smiled at him.

“There is. You might have heard of it. It’s that restaurant-“

“Just a little inside of the North gate, right? Yeah, I know it.” He smiled at her. Smiled. “I can be there by twelve-thirty.” He said. Melody smiled and gingerly stepped forward. There was no one around. They wouldn’t see. She slipped her arms around his waist, giving him a gentle hug. He was so tall, her head rested just underneath his chin. Her mother’s words came back to her then. If you hug him, don’t stop until he hugs back. Men like that. He tensed up. She could feel how rigid his muscles were, the blood pumping through him, making his heart hammer against his breastplate… It took him a few seconds, but he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. He was strong. Big, for an avian.

“I’ll see you there.” She muttered softly, looking up at him. She had practiced this in the mirror. Hundreds of times. The smile. Not just any smile. It was the smile. The way her full lips curled, flashing half of her top row of teeth, the heavy set of her eyelids… She knew from the moment his expression turned completely dumbfounded she had nailed it. She hadn’t even forced it. It came to her naturally. Smooth as can be, she slipped away. She could feel his eyes burning into her from behind, watching her leave, watching the smooth and easy way her hips swayed. Melody turned a corner a block away, her back leaning against the wall. Her heart hammered in her chest, her cheeks flushed.

She had done it! Her very first date! The night wasn’t over yet, though. She calmed herself, peeked around the corner carefully. Connor stood with his back turned, and she watched as his partner returned. Straw poked fun at him, jabbing his side with the butt of her spear. She heard his laugh, soft and easy, all the way from where she stood. Smiling, she slipped away, a bounce in her step as she made her way back to the tower. It was ten-thirty. She had two hours to kill before she met him.

She made her way to the base of the tower in half an hour. Inside the walls, Eyriewatch was not a very large city. As she looked at the guard posted at the entrance, as they always were at this time of night, she debated flying up to her own personal balcony, when someone pressed against the wall beside her. She gasped and spun around.

“Verse! Fuck, don’t scare me like that!” She swatted at him, cursing as she fought to wrangle her pulse.

“Any luck?” He asked. She grinned, glancing over her shoulder at him before turning her attention back to the two guards. Good, they hadn’t heard her gasp. “Good. What time did he say?”

“Twelve-thirty.” She muttered to him, ducking back around the corner. “The guard’s out front, though…”

“So? We go in.”

“How? They know us. You know they’ll ask questions when they see how we’re dressed…” She shot back. Verse thought it over for a bit.

“Do you have the key to your balcony?” Shit. There was another problem. She wasn’t carrying anything in this dress. Even if she wanted to fly in her short skirt, she couldn’t get into her room.

“No… Fuck…”

“I have mine. C’mon, let’s fly.” Verse shifted so his wings expanded from his back, gesturing for her to do the same.

“I can’t.” She muttered.

“What? Why?”

“I’m… Verse, look at this skirt.” She said, lifting the hem just a little.

“Ooh… Damn, you’re right…” There was a pause for a moment, both of them weighing options.

“Aah, fuck it. Come on, you lead.” She shifted her wings out, and Verse shot her a look that asked ‘are you sure?’ She nodded in reply, her expression set. “Just… Go fast.”

“Alright.” Flapping hard, Verse took off into the sky first. Melody, cursing her poor fashion choice, went after him, her hands clinging the hem of her skirt firmly. It took them three minutes to ascend to the level the Commander’s quarters were on. They were still guests, staying in the same rooms they had when Spitfire was the commander. Verse landed on a balcony that was three down from hers. She recognized the handkerchief she had tied to one of the posts. Quite a few avians did that, it seemed. Verse’s was yellow, hers was a light blue.

“Right.” Verse said, closing and locking the balcony behind him. “See you in two hours?” He asked. He was obviously flustered, though probably not from the fast flight. At the base of the tower, something about him had seemed pretty off as well. He had to have been just as flustered as she was. And she was pretty damn flustered.

“Two hours.” She nodded. After a pause, she held her hand up. Verse grinned, and they slapped a high-five. Melody slipped down the hall to her room, closing and locking the door with an audible sigh of relief. Her hair was skewed, her dress was ruffled, and what’s worse, she was wet… She needed a bath. Connor wouldn’t mind the change of clothes. Afterwards, she changed into a similar dress, this one a little bit more modest in length. It was still tight, though, and clung to her curves firmly. At least it hung past her knees, so she could fly. The black skirt coupled with a loose white blouse that was so sheer it could be seen through in full light was her choice of garment for the night. That, and a new pair of panties. She suspected they would be ruined one way or another, though… Just the thought of Connor’s strong arms around her, holding her close to his firm leather breastplate…

Stop, Melody. Focus. There would be no slipping out unnoticed this time. During the dark hours, guards were posted both inside and outside the tower’s exits. She had to fly to get to where she needed to go. Thankfully, her skirt had a pocket that could fit her key, and a small wallet with money. At twelve-fifteen, Melody left her room and locked the balcony door behind her. Common changeling practice was to either guard open entrances or lock personal ones. Melody pulled her straight, silky-smooth hair over her shoulder, holding it firmly as she dove off of the balcony.

She flew to her date.

“Haha! No way!”

“I’m serious!” Connor laughed with her, the simple and easy motion coming so naturally to him.

“What happened then?”

“Well, the bear just kept coming, right? So we-“ Connor had been sharing a story of his days in Stalliongrad, when he was still young. His family had been hunters and gatherers, their home an inn during the night and a hunting hall during the day. He was a good corn-fed northern boy, with stars in his eyes and a strong desire to serve his land from a young age. Connor didn’t know that she knew his secret, but according to Lily, it wasn’t exactly a very big one. He finished his story, and both of them shared an easy laugh. He had a way of making anybody he came across smile. Unlike his partner, who was almost always grim and dour. She liked it.

“So tell me a little more about yourself.” He asked, opening his hands to her. Melody smiled and leaned in a little.

“Well, I don’t have any really funny stories like that one,” She chuckled. “But I suppose I could tell you about me…” And so she did. Melody shared a lot about herself, where she came from, the sort of trials she and her family had faced. Connor grew more and more quiet during her story, and unless she was mistaken, a little closer… It was sometime when she started talking about their trek through the dragon territory that his big hand cupped hers gently. The motion was so natural, so fitting, she didn’t even realize that her fingers had curled together with his. When she told him how they were imprisoned at Nest, he scooted close until his side pressed against hers in the warm little booth. When she told him about Spitfire…

“Hey, hey… Shh…” His other hand wiped at her cheek, came away wet…

“I’m sorry.” She sniffled gently, turning her face away. The image of Spitfire, choking on her own blood… So much blood… She shuddered softly, the sobs fighting their way to the surface. They stopped. Abruptly. Lifting her chin with a single finger, Connor smoothly pressed his lips against hers.

Melody was shocked.

Her heart raced, thumping audibly in her ears. Her eyes went wide, her lips slack. Her first kiss! What did she do? What was happening? It all rushed through her mind in a second. But Melody knew one thing for sure. Spitfire was the furthest thing from her mind in that moment. Connor, sensing something wrong, pulled away, his mouth about to open with an apology. Melody stopped him with a finger.

“Don’t.” She whispered, her breath nearly catching in her throat. “Don’t… Don’t apologize… Just… Do it again.” This time, Melody kissed him. Their lips met tenderly. His kiss was a wonderful sort of man-like rough, his lips just a little bit chapped, not badly… It gave her a reason to wet them with her own. He opened his mouth just enough, his lower lip curving perfectly underneath Melody’s own. She moved her hand up, gingerly cupping his cheek, feeling the smooth, freshly-shaven skin slide under her fingers. Her groan came without warning, vibrating from her throat as she hesitantly pushed her tongue out.

From there, everything was a rush. His tongue slid out smoothly, greeting hers in the middle. They shyly, hesitantly met before rushing forward, past one another. He was slippery and muscular, his thick tongue forcing her jaw open an inch or two. She accepted it readily, sucking a little as her tongue pulled back to slide over his while she sucked. Then she returned the favor, her own tongue being pulled tenderly into his mouth. His teeth bit down just a little, making her whimper. Yup, gonna have to change her underwear again…

“Connor.” She gasped, pulling away. She felt dizzy. No thanks to the cocktail she had ordered, sure, but that kiss certainly wasn’t helping.

“Too fast?” He panted, pulling away just a little. That first shiver of coldness ran up her spine, made her cling to him firmly. Her nails dug into his arm, clutching him, holding him tight. She really didn’t want him to pull away any more.

“No!” She glanced around, praying no one, particularly Verse, heard her whimper. Three tables away, it appeared her brother was wrapped up in his own little kiss. She turned her gaze back to Connor’s face, his wide brow, strong jaw… “Not at all… Do… Do you want to…” Connor, like someone who had played the game before, nodded with a husky ‘yeah.’ Suddenly, the distance didn’t matter. Connor paid their bill with a hearty tip, shoving his wallet back in his pocket as they stood. The night was warm as they left the restaurant. Melody let the only slightly cooler air of the night wash over her, clear her senses a little. This is happening… She thought, her body quivering with giddiness.

“You cold?” Connor asked, looping his arm over her shoulders. She started a bit, nearly forgetting about him. She stepped closer, nestling against his side with a poor, pathetic, girly excuse.

“I live way South… I’m not used to being this far North yet…”

“Then, when you were in Nest…”

“Worst time of my life.” Melody grunted, pressing closer. She wasn’t shivering from the cold, of course. It was excitement.

“I just realized… We can’t go back to the barracks… Too many guys…” Connor muttered, his step faltering. Melody smiled. This, she had well in hand.

“Who said we were going to the barracks?” She teased, smiling up at him. “I hope you’re up for a little… Flight…”

“Uuh… What…?” He muttered, looking down at her. Melody smiled and slipped out from under his arm, walking a short ways away and shifting into her wings. He stuttered at the sudden transformation, wings springing from her back where they previously hadn’t been. “Almost forgot…” He flushed a little and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. Lead the way.” Melody turned and flapped hard, leaving the bigger man in the dust. She heard his laugh of surprise dwindle away as he got a running start to catch up. Melody didn’t even look behind as she led the way off and into the night, circling the tower as they gained altitude. She was a decent flyer, Dash had said, but apparently Connor didn’t get where he was without flying well. As soon as she set down on her balcony, Connor smoothly landed atop the railing, smiling as he dropped with a graceful step onto her level.

“Woah.” She breathed, panting just a little in the aftermath of the frenzied, fast flight. She had honestly tried to dust him.

“Hmm? You’re honestly not that fast, Melody.” He teased, nudging her chin with a finger. She pouted playfully.

“Meanie.”

“Oh shush and kiss me again.” Connor grunted and wrapped his arms around her waist, making her giggle as he smoothly pulled her up into another kiss. This one, unlike the ones at the restaurant, was much more passionate, and quite a bit more rough. Melody grunted as she was pulled tight against his hard body, feeling every curve and contour of his hard chest… He was so… Solid. But tender. The way his arms looped around her, holding her but not crushing her… Pulling her tight, but not bending her backwards or in any uncomfortable direction… She was breathless. The kiss ended briefly, both of them panting a little in the aftermath.

“Connor.” She panted gently.

“Melody.”

“I can’t get the key.” His arms pinned hers. She couldn’t reach into her pockets, to get the key to let them in.

“Right.” Rubbing the back of his neck with embarrassment, he let her go. She smiled and kissed the front of his shirt, smoothly pulling the key from her pocket and unlocking the door. They slipped inside, and she let her wings fade off and away. The blouse she wore left her back bare, and she could feel Connor’s gaze roam up and down her bare shoulders, down to the middle of her back, where the hem of the top would just barely reveal the hooks on her bra.

“Nice place.” He said quietly, though Melody could hear the surreptitious click of the lock sliding home behind his back.

“Thanks. Want something to drink?” She went through the motions a usual hostess would, waving her hand to the table by the fireplace. She had made sure there would be water, wine and other drinks on hand for the night. Connor, though, took it straight out of left field. His one-syllable answer stopped her in her tracks.

“You.”

Melody would be lying to herself if she didn’t have to remind herself to breathe. With a slightly shocked expression, she turned around to look at him, her eyes wide and blinking very slowly. In a moment, Connor was there. His arms wrapped around her, she felt herself lifted… All she could think was she was glad her wings were gone. Otherwise, the landing on the soft quilt atop the bed would have been a lot more rough than she anticipated. Her hair fanned out beneath her, only a few stray strands having been caught underneath her.

His lips were everywhere. Melody gasped and writhed, not fighting, just squirming. Moving. He kissed her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, her nose, her jaw, moving lower and lower. They were feverishly hot, insistent and very wet. She could feel the spots he kissed cooling in the air, making her shudder and gasp as he worked lower, down to her neck. Then he started sucking. Oh, holy fuck… Melody’s thoughts were dull and muddled, the haze of desire making her thoughts foggy and not too coherent.

His lips suckled gently at her neck, making her back arch slightly as the tingling pleasure shot into her system, more direct than an injection. He could tell, too. His hands rested on her hips, massaging her skin, keeping her as relaxed as she could possibly be. Not very. Her legs still tensed and flexed as he hit these, these… SPOTS on her neck, each one making her gasp and jump a little. He liked it. His lips curled into a teasing smile. She could tell he liked it. So she didn’t stop.

At some point, her midriff was exposed. She didn’t know when, but the cool air brushing across her twitching stomach was some indication. Her own hands had been busy exploring his broad back, rubbing the joint of his wings where they met his shoulder blades. Another tip that came to her through the fog of thought, in the voice of her mother. If he has wings, massage the joint. Right here. It’s very sensitive, and if you’re gentle, it can even arouse him. Also, don’t roll over quickly. Give them time to tuck up, or else you could hurt them. Melody was gentle now, her fingers tenderly probing the soft tissue, the sensitive bundle of nerves.

“Haah…” She felt his breath pulse against her neck, washing over the flesh like a wave. The gentle motion made her sigh and close her eyes. She stopped, and he resumed, kissing with a little more passion.

“Can I?” He asked quietly, the soft question drawing her out of the haze a little. She realized his hands were slowly pulling her shirt up, exposing more and more of her flat, twitching stomach. She whimpered and nodded.

“Please. Both.” He smoothly stripped the sheer blouse off, discarding the simple garment over the edge of the bed before his hands slid under her ribcage, lifting her up just a little. This man was clearly no stranger to disrobing. His fingers unhooked the bra smoothly, all she had to do was raise her arms outward… She did, and his dexterous fingers pulled it off with ease. She lay under him, her arms crossed lazily over her stomach, her chest bare beneath him. His eyes were, of course, fixed on her bare breasts. Her legs dangled idly over the edge of the bed, a single one of his knees riding up onto the thick quilt beside them. Again, the question.

“C-can I?” He asked again. The husky, pleading tone, the soft inflection… They way his eyes flickered up to hers, begging for permission. She drank it all in, groaning as she gasped the one, breathy word.

“Yes!” Her back arched gently as his hands smoothly cupped both of her breasts, giving them the softest of squeezes. She felt fire ignite under his touch, her flesh burning, making her eyes close as he dove right in. “Aahn!” She couldn’t stop it. The breathy groan escaped before she could do anything about it. If she was lucky, she would be groaning a lot more in the moments to come…

“Haah.” Again, the hot breath. This time, it washed over her bare chest directly. She shuddered as the first touch of his tongue made her nipple rock-hard. It almost hurt, how hard it got. But the tender, smooth motions of his tongue… Ooh, he was good… He circled her areola smoothly, moving in slow circles, spreading saliva onto the area… Once she was hard as he almost invariably was, he flicked her nipple a few times, sending pleasure shooting through her torso. Melody gasped and arched up again, feeling something begin to build within her. It was so distant, but it was there, lingering, teasing her…

“Ooohhh…” She groaned and finally relaxed underneath him, submitting to his gentle touches. She was already on fire, desire oozing from her core, apparent in her motions. It’s happening… It’s really happening… Her passion-drunk mind formulated that thought on it’s own, no thanks to the sensations racing through her mind like a hurricane. She couldn’t stop them. She could just hope to enjoy the ride.

“Can I?” She hadn’t even noticed his lips had moved on. He asked the question again, sending a shiver down her spine. She had to look down, her half-lidded eyes blinking blearily as she spotted him somewhere between her stomach and the hem of her skirt. She didn’t answer, at least not vocally. She lifted her hips, fumbling with the zipper at the small of her back. She found it, slid it down halfway, groaning as his hands did the rest of the work. She wasn’t sure if she should be thankful or reluctant, but he stripped her panties with them, his hot breath chasing them down her legs. She was without his touch for a while as he fumbled with her heels. Probably the most intricate thing she wore, he struggled with the tiny buckles, but had soon enough pulled them off as well. It gave Melody time to think.

I’m doing it. I’m here, naked, with Connor, about to lose my virginity… Like mom said, it’s going to hurt at first. Don’t scare him. Encourage him. It will feel better soon enough. Then it will feel great… Then it’ll feel like anything you’ve ever experienced. It’ll feel like- “AAHN!” The last came out as a cry, a soft gasp of both pleasure and surprise. Pleasure shot through her like an arrow, lancing straight from her crotch up into her chest. She tensed, her muscles shuddering as she flexed. Something had touched her clit, and she had NOT been expecting it. What’s more, the pleasure didn’t fade. Fast and rough, it poured into her, filling her from back to front with hot, steamy desire. She gasped and shuddered and whimpered, feeling the wetness in her core spread all over. It coated her thighs, dripped down her rear, slipped up onto her pubis. It was everywhere. His tongue was everywhere. It flicked her clit, slid inside of her, spread her apart, slurped her juices up. He was so good!

“Aah! Connor! I’m… I’m!” She couldn’t get the word out. She knew the word, of course, but it just wouldn’t- “CUM!” her back arched in a second, just as the first wave of pleasure crashed through her. She gasped and panted, chest heaving as he licked at her smooth and easy. His tongue lapped up every drop, not missing a beat as he nuzzled into her crotch, his open mouth sucking and licking eagerly at her wet, dripping slit. The pleasure buzzed through her mind long after that initial shock passed, making her pant and groan, her open mouth gulping air hungrily. At some point, she felt him pull away, making her lift her head to look down at him.

“Good?” He asked teasingly. Melody couldn’t justify him with words. So she put her desire into action. Sitting up, her hands hungrily started unbuttoning his shirt from the bottom. He started from the top, meeting her halfway. With a rough motion, he stripped the garment off, such a sexy act… The way he pulled it off, sliding it down his long, muscled arms, revealing the flat tones of his core… Oh, he was so fit… Her hands roamed, running over his skin, her lips hungrily kissing his stomach. She sat on the edge of the bed, groaning into his stomach, kissing the soft fuzz underneath his belly button, making him gasp. His feet worked at removing his boots, even as she pulled at the buckle of his belt. It slid smoothly through her fingers. She only fumbled twice before yanking the tongue free, loosening the fabric and exposing the button on his jeans.

What was she going to do once she had his pants off, though? The thought made her hesitate, but it didn’t really matter. He took care of the rest. He pulled the button free, pushed the zipper down, and let gravity handle the rest… Melody gulped as the bulge in front of his boxers rose before her eyes, a small bit of the flesh peeking out of the slit. Was she ready for this? Was this what she really wanted?

A quick glance upwards was all she needed. In her mind, she answered the question she asked.

“Can I?”

Connor smoothly pushed his boxers down. Melody’s vision was filled with it… Every contour of the throbbing veins against his skin, the way it curved upwards from base to tip… He was circumcised, the flared head of his shaft very pronounced and thick. Like her, he was shaved, the hair stopping shortly after his waistline. None of it around his testicles. He was smooth, hard, and ready… Melody knew what to do. Knew what he wanted. She wanted to do it. She tried to remember every tip her mothers had given her…

Start slow. Stroke him a few times, maybe kiss it. But don’t just shove it in and start moving. Build him up to it. When you do start, tease him a bit. Drag your tongue up the entire underside, from base to tip, and if you’re not too freaked out, massage his testicles. Gently. He’s going to emit a bit of shiny stuff, it’s called pre cum. Lick it up, and don’t grimace at the taste… It’s kind of… Intense. Not every girl likes it. I don’t mind it, but Twilight loves it. When you start, mix it up. Don’t just move in and out. Use your tongue, rub him in a circle, suck and move in equal measure. Everyone has their own specific style, so do what feels natural, but don’t just move in and out.

She started slow. Connor looked down at her. He could feel his eyes burning into the top of her head, making her cheeks heat as she fought to pay him the same amount of attention he had paid her. She kissed the rim of his head, teasing the soft skin with a soft touch. Her hand cupped his smooth testicles, massaging those twin orbs in gentle, slow circles. The slit at the tip of his member was already shining. Caution to the wind, Melody hesitantly licked it up…

It was… Musky. She didn’t hate it, but she didn’t know if she wanted another taste. Instead, she pulled his head into her mouth, running her tongue around it once, twice. The taste of his flesh was slightly salty, kind of like sweat, and metallic. Not unlike the taste of blood in her mouth. Not a sickening amount, or even unpleasant. Mixed together, it just made her want it more… She couldn’t help it as she dragged her tongue up his base fast as she dared, exhaling once before pushing him in. She wasn’t expecting the sensation. The way he filled her mouth, made her jaw stretch, it was so intoxicating… She groaned and let her tongue push out between her lips, caressing him even as he rested inside of her mouth. She pushed deeper, trying to take him all. His head brushed against the back of her throat, triggering her reflex. She retched a little, not enough, but had to pull him out.

He slid out with a wet, slick sound, the kind that she hadn’t been expecting to make her wet. Her ragged breathing betrayed the close call and her own arousal. His shaft looked so slippery, she couldn’t help but stroke it a few times. That showed him she was eager, willing to try again. And try she did. She pushed him in again, this time expecting the touch at the back of her throat. Melody rode it, letting it happen, and took another inch.

“Hng!” Connor’s throaty gasp came from above her, and she smiled around his shaft. It was a silly move to make, as her saliva dripped out around her lips, falling to her thighs. She didn’t care, though. This… This was good. She enjoyed this. Eagerly, she began to slide him in and out, taking him all the way to the back of her throat and out again, groaning in time with his own panting breath. Somewhere along the lines, her senses blurred, making her move faster, recklessly. She heeded her mother’s advice, though. She never did the same motion more than four times in a row. She would twist her head, use her tongue to tease the rim of his head, and suck him down now and then. The effect she got was both priceless and one hundred percent arousing. Connor gasped and twitched inside her mouth. She didn’t stop until his hand laid on her head, gingerly pulling her off. She was loathe to let it end, but she knew what came next. Smiling up at him with passion burning in her eyes, Melody gave his throbbing shaft two more strokes before she smoothly slid up onto the bed…

Undiscovered territory. Terra Incognito. Lands unknown. As her head rested back on the pillow and Connor gingerly crawled up in between her spread legs, Melody felt her heart race. They kissed, the new mixture of tastes making them both groan and cling to one another. Melody’s hands slid under his wings, pulling him down atop her, while his smoothly slid under her shoulders, pulling her up against him. She felt her breasts press into his flat chest, squished against his muscles. He held her there, their lips and tongues wrestling eagerly. Something, though, was amiss. She pulled her lips away with a gasp, remembering what it was.

“Do you have…?”

“Yeah… Hang on…” Connor pulled away, quelling but not quenching the flames. Melody shamelessly stroked her fingers up and down her soaked lips, keeping the pleasure going for herself. The sight aroused Connor, making him scramble with his discarded jeans. The soft crinkle of a wrapper opening, and the smell of something slightly acrid reached her nose. No, not acrid… Pungent. It smelled like plastic, kind of… In his hand, Connor held a small circle. She watched, slightly aroused, as he pulled it over his head, rolling the ring out with smooth, even strokes. He stroked himself, pulling the condom on. Melody stroked herself, keeping the fires hot and ready for him.

He didn’t have to ask this time. They were well beyond that. Their lips met once more, his hands sliding under her shoulders. She welcomed him into her arms, feeling his hips bump against hers as he settled in between her legs… One hand left, plunging into the space between them. She remembered her mother’s words here, too, even as she felt the rubber-encased head of his member slide up and down her wet, ready lips.

I’m not going to lie, Melody, it’s going to hurt… But it’s that good kind of hurt, you know? Don’t let him stop. If he feels, he knows it’ll be your first time. Encourage him, but only when you’re ready. Even if your hymen is ruptured, it’ll still hurt. It’s new, it’s different, but oh believe me, girl… It’s good. Encourage him, and let your natural juices flow. Don’t flex, not if you can help it. Not until later. Then just let it happen. Once you’re ready, he’ll know. Trust me. He’ll know.

It did hurt. Melody gasped as he pushed in, spreading her apart further than she had ever been able to herself. Two fingers didn’t hurt like this. This was a whole new type of pain. She inhaled deeply, tensing up with a shuddering breath. He could tell. He knew it.

“First time?” He panted softly, his breath washing over her ear. All she could manage was a soft nod, her senses swimming with this odd mix of pleasure and pain. “Should have told me. Relax… Shh.” She panted softly, felt his hand open her fist. They clenched together gently, twining their fingers together as she reconciled the pain.

It was over in a flash. Gone in an instant. Melody sagged underneath him, groaning as the pain fled away, filling her senses instead with this odd sense of… Fulfillment… It was good. Very good. Incredible, even. “Okay,” She gasped. She had to tell him. To say something. She was ready. She wanted him right then. Needed him. “HUUHH!” She gasped again. Connor slid the rest of the way in. She felt his hips bottom out, grinding against hers as his entire shaft sealed inside of her. Every little inch, every last contour and detail, she felt it… The tapered end of his head, the flare, then down to his shaft, the gentle curve, the way it fit inside her so smoothly… The way he widened out just a little bit at the base… She writhed beneath him, feeling her senses dull in that singular moment. Nothing could beat this. This was the best. How could anyone not like this?

“More.” She panted, feeling the heat build up deep within her abdomen.

“You sure?” He muttered, pulling back to look down at her. Melody snaked her arms up to his cheeks, grasping his head. Her eyes were ablaze with passion. She stared straight into his eyes, his brilliant green eyes.

“Please. More.” She was begging again. She needed it. She wanted it. He slowly pulled out, her muscles adjusting to the absence of the next few inches. She groaned again, the feeling of closing around him exiting was just so good... Then he slid back in. Nearly as intense and twice as pleasurable as the first time, she fought the urge to cry out in that moment. He repeated the motion again... And again... And again. Again. Again! Harder! The lines blurred between each thrust, making her lose track of when he slid out, and when he slid in.

Their breath mingled together, their lips hovering just over one another’s. She could feel each shuddering, grunting breath as he slid into her. There was an impact happening someplace underneath her hips, and she had a feeling it was his thighs against hers. It didn’t matter. She was lost in the moment. He was going as deep as he could possibly go with each wet thrust, making both of them jump a little when he slid in. Her breasts jumped against his chest, jiggling in time with each shuddering, grunting breath.

“Intense” Didn’t even begin to describe this situation... Melody felt him break out in a thin layer of sweat, the low musky scent of his exertion making her all the more wet for it. It was the smell of a man. Muscular, controlling, tender and concerned all in one. She whimpered and clutched him tightly, their breath mingling in that space between their mouths. She gasped and groaned and moaned, feeling her muscles open and close for him, inviting him in and seeing him out. Over and over. The lines blurred between thrusting and pulling out were completely lost now. Melody laid her head back against the pillow, and let it all go...

There wasn’t a care in the world for her then. She hadn’t left her home of eighteen years, she hadn’t had several near-death experiences in the past two weeks, she wasn’t running from a faceless changeling threat... She whimpered and gasped and groaned and cried out, clutching Connor tight. Connor. He was so solid. Like a rock. He needed this just as much as she did. He was a man, one who needed a woman’s attention, who needed to let the tension go one way or another.

“Close.” He gasped in a moment. Melody clutched him tightly, feeling the fire build in her chest as well. She felt something build up inside of her... It was a rush, a sensation unlike any other, this sudden feeling like she was going to burst.

“Me too.” She panted.

“Together?”

“Yes!”

“Haahn!”

“Uuh!”

She took the fall.

The morning after. A bath in Connor’s arms and breakfast in front of the fire, with bright sunlight streaming through the window. Conversation, laughter, dressing. A reluctant kiss goodbye. Connor stopped, one foot up on the balcony.

“Can we... Do this again?” He asked softly. Melody leaned against the doorway out to her balcony, smiling softly. She fished the key from her pocket and flicked it to him.

“I keep that blue handkerchief tied off when I’m here.” She said, nodding to the fluttering fabric tied off on the stone railing. Connor smiled and pocketed the key, blowing her a kiss before he dropped off the edge of the balcony and flew off and away. In his absence, Melody couldn’t stop smiling. She walked back to the bed, still ruffled and wrinkled, flopping onto the half-thrown quilt and inhaling deep the lingering scent of sex, sweat, and sleep. She savored the scent, groaning when she realized Rainbow Dash was going to read the laundry report on this one, too.

Dash! Ooh! Lily and Twilight! She was legitimately excited to tell them about this encounter. Verse, too, she was sure, had met with his own brand of luck. She stripped the sheets and tossed them into a basket, knowing full well Dash would tease her about it later, but she honestly didn’t care. She had just had sex. And it was absolutely incredible. Her hairbrush, she knew, would never do it for her again.

With a bounce in her step, Melody set off to look for her mothers, humming a soft tune as she searched one of the four libraries. As she thought, Twilight was there, reading a book already. As she watched, her mother harrumphed and set it down, moving on to another.

“Good morning, mom.” She said, skipping close and hugging Twilight warmly.

“Oh! Good morning, Melody. By The Family, you look positively radiant this morning! What... Oh no, don’t tell me...” Twilight’s hands glowed, and Melody couldn’t mistake the tingle of magic that raced over her skin.

“Ugh! Mom!” Melody shivered and ducked away, but the magic followed her.

“You did! I can tell! Your hormones are going nuts! You’re emitting pheromones like mad. Oh Chronos help me, you’ve lost it.” Twilight buried her face in mock defeat, shaking her head. Melody laughed and spun closer, wrapping Twilight in another hug.

“It was going to happen at one point or another.” She said with a soft laugh, kissing Twilight’s forehead.

“I can SMELL him on you.” She shuddered. Melody sniffed herself experimentally, smelled only soap from the bath some some perfume she had spritzed just in case.

“Huhn... You can smell him over that?” Twilight whimpered and nodded at her. “Is it that bad?”

“Not bad... Not really...” Twilight sighed, turning her gaze back to the books. “Just taking some adjusting is all... The body of a Goddess is... Very sensitive.”

“Oh? And does Lily know just how sensitive?”

“Shush you. You’re limping.” Twilight grumbled at her. Melody blinked. True, she was a touch... Sore... But she didn’t think it showed. Twilight was remarkably perceptive. It was kind of scary.

“Morning, girlie.” Lily’s entrance to the conversation was punctuated with a rough slap to the rear, making Melody jump, her mouth open.

“Owwww!” She gasped, rubbing her ass as the pain tingled through her.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Lily teased, sounding rather sarcastic. “Did he get that spot last night?”

“Really? You too?” Melody grumbled, rubbing her sore cheek.

“Hon, I was in the business for ten years. I think I’d know that ‘morning after’ glow.” She teased, padding over to Twilight to give her a soft kiss. Twilight smiled and returned it eagerly.

“Our daughter is growing up.” She muttered grumpily, faking a frown at Melody. Lily smiled, a stark contrast.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Oh I cannot wait to see how you two are going to treat Verse when he-”

“Speak of the little demon.” Twilight nodded towards the door. Blinking a few times, Melody and Lily looked at the closed door. They were alone in the library.

“What-” Lily stopped as the door swung open then, Verse walking in with a smile at them.

“Okay, that’s scary.” Melody said, pointing at Twilight even as she smiled at Verse.

“What?”

“Nothing. Twilight’s predicting people’s arrivals and telling whether or not they had sex last night. Verse’s eyes went wide and he turned to leave...

“Ah, ah, ah! Come here, mister.” Lily said, beckoning him forward. Verse lurched to a halt and turned around, looking not unlike a six-year-old caught stealing from the cookie jar. “Oh no, him too.” Lily sighed wistfully, even as Twilight threw her hands up in the air and tried to go back to looking for a book.

“Both of them! In the same night! Ugh!”

Behind her back, the soft sound of a high-five came from Melody and Verse.

Normality

---------- Melody’s Tale - Normality ----------

Melody may have been the farthest thing from normal, but in the next few weeks, she sure as anything felt normal. She and Connor became somewhat of a normal thing, going on more dates and making love quite often. Rainbow Dash saw fit to tease her about it, though her mothers couldn’t be more proud. Lily talked animatedly about both of their exploits, and Twilight would just grin and encourage them both. Melody knew this wasn’t the way normal mothers would act, but Twilight and Lily were anything but normal.

She began to fear, actually, for Twilight’s recent and rather rapid change. If the poor woman had just become a goddess, how was she acting so casual? Melody saw fit to bring the question up during one boring study session.

“Hey mom?”

“Hmm?” Twilight didn’t look up from her book.

“Are you… Doing okay?” Melody asked softly. Twilight closed her book slowly, looking up at Melody with a soft, serene smile.

“I’m fine, Melody. Why do you ask?” Mother and daughter were silent for a few long moments, but Melody had to break the silence.

“You… You’re not yourself anymore.” Melody set her own book aside, looking at her mother with a quizzical, concerned expression. “Don’t try and say that you are, because you aren’t… I-“

“Let me stop you right there.” Twilight said gently, her face lit with a warm smile. “I understand where you’re coming from.” She moved from the table she had been sitting at and moved to the chair next to Melody’s, draping an arm over her shoulder. “But your fear is unbiased. I am still Twilight Sparkle. In every way, shape, and form. But I’m also more than that. Look, I know this is difficult to grasp for you. It took me a few days to adjust, and Lily’s only just recently come around to it, too. But let me tell you this.” Twilight’s finger lifted Melody’s chin, their eyes meeting in a moment. Twilight’s were still that brilliant sort of violet they always had been.

“Would I love you and Verse as much as I do if I were no longer your mother?”

“N-no…” Melody muttered, feeling slightly foolish for her doubt.

“And I wouldn’t love Lily the same, either. I’m still your mother, and I’m still Lily’s lover. I’m just… More.” She sighed softly and nuzzled Melody with her temple. “The goddess Ephemira is a very complex and difficult to understand entity. But she is, more or less, still human… She loves, laughs, cries, and feels the same as any of us… I don’t want my power to make you think I’m any less your mother, or any less of your teacher. Now come on.” She thumped the book Melody had been reading with her fingertips. “Show me what you’ve found.” Melody smiled and nuzzled her back, feeling warm in the simple embrace Twilight had given her. She was silly to think Twilight was any different than she had been. As they pulled the book close and found her place again, Melody took on the role of student, and Twilight the teacher.

Aside from that, nothing happened. She and Connor made love often, sometimes mixing it up by finding empty rooms or trying different positions, other times just going out for a small, quiet dinner and then flying back to her room for deep, passionate sex… He was a proper gentleman every time, of course, apologizing that he couldn’t change their routine easily or provide a better atmosphere. Each time Melody would kiss his neck and assure him that her room in the Commander’s guest quarters was perfectly fine. And besides, his place probably wouldn’t have a fireplace.

It was on one night that they made love on the hearth that Melody began to feel something a little… More… Basking in the afterglow, both of them facing the fire with her back pressed tight to his chest, Connor’s big hand resting on her stomach, Melody whispered something she probably ought not to have…

“Connor?” She asked.

“Hmm?” The sound came from his chest, low and rumbling. She nestled back into him, curling up a little.

“I love you.”

He didn’t reply. He just kissed the back of her head and slowly drifted off.

When they awoke, Melody first noticed she was curled up in the same position, but they were on the bed… She was slightly sore from having slept on the floor for a while, but Connor must have lifted her up at some point onto the bed. His warm, still-bare body pressed against her from behind, her head resting on his bicep like a pillow, his other hand laying flat on her stomach. She loved being held like this… It felt warm and safe in his arms, and she didn’t want to move. So she lay there for a long while, thinking about what she had said last night.

“Mhh…” Connor groaned behind her. Gingerly, Melody turned over, pressing her face into his chest with a soft sigh. “Mornin’.” He grumbled slightly. Connor was not a morning person. She smiled faintly and kissed his chest, pushing one leg in between his so they were that much closer. He responded by wrapping his arms around her, drawing her tighter against his chest.

“Sleep well?” She asked gently, her arms trapped between her chest and his stomach. She turned her hands around so they lay flat against his chest, feeling him.

“Hmm… You could say that.” He muttered, yawning above her. She gave him a few minutes to wake up. This was routine for them. They would cuddle, chat idly about things in the morning, Melody being courteous and giving him time to wake up. Still feeling the warm glow from last night’s sex, she didn’t really feel like moving away from him any time soon.

“Bath?” Connor finally asked, nudging her a little.

“I… Wanted to ask you something first.” She said gently. Train derailed. Connor pulled away just enough to look down at her, his eyes meeting hers as she looked up.

“Okay… Uum, what’s up?” She gnawed on her lip slightly, trying to find the proper way to word her question.

“Last night I told you I loved you… You didn’t say anything back… Why?” Connor stiffened a little at her words but relaxed slowly, sagging into the sheets.

“I… I’m not fit to love.” He said after a few long moments. Melody rose up on her elbow, looking down at him, her brow furrowed.

“Why?”

“Melody, I’m a soldier.” Connor said gently, rolling over so he was fully on his back. She looked down at him, and he looked up at her. “I’m a fighter. And admittedly, a killer.” He let the corner of his mouth curl with a soft laugh. “I might be good at sex, but I’m no good at loving, trust me…” His hand rose up before them, the soft, flickering light of the fire glowing in his skin. “I’m lucky enough to have escaped the battles I’ve been in with no scars, but heavens know I should have died a dozen times over. Melody, trust me.” He raised his hand to cup her cheek, doing his best to find the words. “Don’t think this is going to be serious… You had to have known from the start we weren’t going to, like… Get married or anything…”

“No,” Melody admitted… She really hadn’t. But she also hadn’t expected to develop feelings, either… Was she just being childish and immature? Or were feelings something that came naturally with sex? She sighed softly, nuzzling into his hand. “Just… I don’t know… First time, I guess…” Connor chuckled.

“I’d hate to be the one to break your heart-“

“Oh, don’t say that.” She teased, smacking him with the back of her hand. He chuckled and cupped her cheek more firmly. She kissed his thumb.

“Come on, Melody.” He said, sitting up. “We should take a bath.”

“Aah,” She gingerly pushed him back down, a hand on his chest. One of her legs swung out, straddling his waist. “Lay back down, mister.” Her lips curled into a devious smile.

“Melody, I… What are you doing?” He muttered, laughing softly as she pushed him all the way down to his back. Melody knew in her mind things between her and Connor wouldn’t last… He was a guard, a soldier, and she was… Well, she didn’t know exactly what she was, but a guard’s wife wasn’t one of them. Twilight and Lily were right… She shouldn’t develop feelings for Connor, not based off of just sex. What they had was nice, but it wasn’t permanent.

“I heard a whisper…” Melody said quietly, leaning in to brush her lips against his. “Once the restoration’s one hundred percent complete, they’re moving into Featherhome…” Connor’s expression darkened slightly, his frown deepening.

“Where did you hear that…”

“Connor, come on. The Commander is my flight teacher more often than not.” She teased, kissing his jaw line.

“Hmm…”

“They say half the guard will go with them…”

“Well, if that’s true-“

“You’re going with them.” She said, sitting back up. Her hips rode low on his, the blankets falling off her shoulders. In the warm mid-morning air, Melody peered down at him, sitting atop his hips. “Connor, I’ve asked this before, and I’ll ask it again… How many other women have you been with?”

“Melody…”

“Answer me, Connor.” She grasped his hand gently. “Please.”

“… Seven.” Honestly, not as much as she had been expecting.

“And I’m the eighth?”

“Yeah…” He nodded, whispering quietly.

“Good… Then you’ll have eight women to remember when you’re in Hearth.” She said quietly, leaning in to kiss him softly once more. “And I’ll have one very strapping young guard for the rest of my lovers to live up to.” Connor chuckled at that, his soft laugh infectious. His strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her close as he sat up slowly. His lips pressed to her collarbone, the smooth slope of her breasts.

“I’ll make sure they have a lot to live up to…” Connor’s early-morning manhood betrayed him. Melody reached behind herself, grabbing his shaft and smoothly guiding him in… “Aah…”

“We… Haven’t done it in the morning before… Have we…?” Melody whimpered, dropping her hips half an inch at a time. Connor held her close, his warm hands flat on her back.

“N-not… Yet…” He gasped, flexing powerfully within her. His head hit that spot, blowing fresh air into her fire. She threw her head back, her long hair whipping out above and behind her as she opened her mouth with a soft cry. She oozed wetness, already ready for him… She would have to be selfish this time.

“Lay back…” She whispered, her hands gently pushing his shoulders. Connor obeyed, following her gentle push as he lay out beneath her. “Let me… Ngh… Let me have this… One time…” Nodding softly, Connor reached up to grab the headboard… A motion she had used herself a few times in the recent past. Again, her mother’s advice served her well.

As with anything else, start out slow… But don’t move too much up and down. Doing that is only going to hurt your breasts, and make it feel like any other time to him. Try moving back and forth a little, too. Side-to-side if you’re comfortable. When you get good enough at it, you can put all three motions into one.

She started pushing her hips forward gingerly, angling his head so it pressed against the roof of her walls, teasing that spot she knew would set her off. She never hit it hard, just brushed it… The slightest amount of pressure. It was enough to make her breath shake. What’s more, the way she was atop him, Connor could see everything. Everything about her… Melody was bare to his eyes. Every contour of her stomach, the last detail of her goose-fleshed nipple, the way her mouth hung open with the breathy pants of exertion…

Something crossed her mind, then… She hadn’t hit her flow. They were always careful about using a condom. Always. This was probably the first time he had been inside of her raw… She took a moment to retrieve one, let him put it on, moving as fast as they dared lest the early-morning desire fade away. When he slid back in, the sheer walls of the condom slid over her wet flesh with ease, sliding in and out, back and forth… But still, this small, nagging thought rested somewhere in the back of her mind…

This might be the last time she and Connor made love. No, not made love… Had sex… Inside herself, Melody felt something grow… She knew what it was. She didn’t want to say it, but she knew… It was lust…

“Connor…” She panted softly, still moving atop him.

“Huh?” He grunted, gripping the headboard with white-knuckled fingers.

“Please…” Her words were breathy, her tone thin and high. She was shameless in that moment. “Please… Fuck me?”

“What?!” He gasped, looking up at her. Melody’s lips curled in a soft smile, her hips still moving, still stirring herself up atop him.

“Please… If this isn’t going to last, I want it good…” She laid her hands flat on his stomach, curling her nails into him gently. “Please… Just… Don’t hold back?” She slid a hand up his body, caressing the muscles from his toned abdomen, over his chest, his bicep, up to his forearm. She pulled his hand away from the headboard, firmly pushing it against her breast. “Touch me any way you want…” She dropped her hips, sealing the base of his shaft within her. “Any position you can imagine…” She swirled her hips in a circle, stirring herself up with his thick rod. “Any…” She hit her g-spot. “Way…” Liquid dripped out of her core. “You want.”

“Melody, I… I’ve never had any woman say that to me…” He whispered, his expression dumbfounded. “I’ve never… They’ve always just… had our routine, our…”

“Shh…” She laid a finger over his lips, silencing him. “You’ve never had a woman like me.” She teased, smiling down at him as she kept stirring herself up.

“I… What about…”

“Shh, shh…” She silenced him again, chuckling at his stubbornness. “Shut up, okay? If you don’t want to take me up on that offer, then we’ll stop now, you can bathe, and we’ll go our separate ways… But please… Please, Connor…” She whimpered softly, pushing against him in another smooth circle. “Don’t leave me hanging like this…”

The gloves were off. No more messing around. The second his hand tightened on her breast, Melody let it all go. Her hips moved smooth and fast, sliding him in, out, up, down, back and forth, left to right… It all came naturally to her. She gasped and bucked her hips, Connor lifted his own and rubbed her breasts… His hands were everywhere… They laid flat on her collarbone, cupped her breasts and squished them together, laid flat on her stomach… At one point, his thumb even slid down to spin her clitoris in smooth, rapid circles. That was the first time she came, her thrusting motions coming to a stop as she cried out with pleasure, oozing thin, clear liquid out onto his thick, throbbing shaft…

“F-fuck…” He grunted, feeling her muscles finally relax around her. “That good?” He asked, arching an eyebrow up at her. Gasping, breathing ragged, Melody nodded, her lips still curled in a warm smile.

“S… So good…”

“My turn.”

“Eep!” Connor sat up smooth and easy, wrapping her in a hug as he rolled them both over. Melody was pinned beneath him, her legs wrapped around his waist. He smoothly re-entered her, making her back arch as she felt him glide all the way in. Every time before, they had started slow, moved easy, taken every precaution to make sure the amateur woman was okay before moving ahead… But this… This was completely different… The second he was inside of her, he started thrusting. She gasped in time with his first four thrusts, but couldn’t keep up with the pace after that.

She also couldn’t help it as her nails dug into his back. Connor grunted, but didn’t relent… If anything, he moved harder. She cried out, long and loud, completely shameless as he drove into her over and over and again… This was no longer lovemaking. This was fucking.

And Melody loved it.

“Gonna cum.” He panted, his thrusts growing more feverish, coming a lot faster.

“Cum! Cum for me!” Melody gasped, her words leaving her mouth before she had a chance to think about them.

“Hnn!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH YESSS!” Melody cried out as his hips met hers with an audible, fleshy slap. His member throbbed and twitched inside of her, punctuating each spurt of his semen into the condom. The bloated head swelled inside of her, sliding across her insides as he gingerly pulled out. She could feel her abused hole gaping slightly, her core muscles flexing, trying to return everything to normal…

She grinned up at him, her hands sliding down his shoulders, his front, down to his fading erection. She pulled the condom off, pinching the milky fluid inside as she carefully deposited it in the waste bin next to her bed. Then she grabbed another.

“Melody, I…”

“You can at least make me cum two more times.” She teased, breaking the plastic.

“I don’t know… If I can get it up again.” He whimpered. She gave him a teasing grin, one that said ‘oh yes you can.’ “Hey… Hey, no, Melody, please… Aah!” She slid underneath him, her one hand stroking the soft skin of his member, the other still holding the condom. “Melody… Don’t… Don’t suck i- AAH!” She opened her mouth with a hot breath and pulled his flaccid member inside, ignoring the taste of the condom’s lubricant, the spunky aftertaste of his release. She focused on the texture, the slippery feel, the smooth sensation of it running against her tongue… This was as much for her as it was for him at this point, and she wouldn’t be left dissatisfied. Connor couldn’t hold out. Blood rushed into sore veins, filling him up. She felt the transition in her mouth, the way he inflated and throbbed, his cock growing inch by inch…

“Aaahh… That feels REALLY good…” Connor muttered, looking down at her. Gently, his hands pulled her hair out of her way, bunching the frazzled strands above her head, the rest of her lengthy hair fanned out above her on the bed… “Keep going…” She obliged, sliding him deeper, spinning the tip of her tongue around the sensitive flare of his head… Licking the salty slit at the tip of his cock… She wanted him inside of her, mouth or vagina. Didn’t matter. The hand that had previously been stroking him beckoned, urging him to move his hips.

“You sure?” She nodded, half of his member buried in between her lips, her tongue massaging him eagerly. “Alright…” Slowly, like testing the waters of a freshly-drawn bath, he pushed forward, his head gliding over the roof of her mouth until it hit her throat. Melody fought her gag, won the fight, groaned instead. “Aah… Can I?” She encouraged him with a squeeze. Then he did it. Connor started fucking her mouth.

It was addictive. The way his scent filled her senses, making her vision blur and her thoughts go muddy… He slid over her wet skin, making her salivate more… It dripped from her mouth, down her chin… She was thankful he was holding her hair then, or she might have drooled in it. As it were, the slippery sensation of him moving in and out, abusing her mouth, using her… She loved it.

“Okay.” He grunted, pulling out. His hand smoothly stroked his shaft, keeping him hard while she fumbled with the condom. His taste remained in her mouth, the muscles in her jaw weak as she gasped and panted raggedly. “Put it on. I want you.” He grunted, letting her clumsy fingers slide the condom on. He pulled it down the rest of the way, walking his way down her body. She was still coming down off of the euphoric feeling of the blowjob when he lifted her leg over his shoulder and smoothly slid in.

“Aahn!” She cried out, lifting her back. Her hands shamelessly grasped her breasts, rotating the nipples and squeezing the tender flesh. “Yess…” Her breath hissed out between her teeth, her senses filled with Connor… With his manhood, pulsing and hard and eager.

“Melody,” He grunted, sliding into her. He leaned forward, stretching her leg out, pushing her down into the sheets more firmly. “This is so good… I feel so close already…”

“Don’t!” She pleaded, her hands squeezing harder. One of them slid down to her swollen clitoris, flicking it eagerly. “Just… Lemme go one more time, okay?” Her tone was pleading, her eyes begging for permission.

“I… Haahhh… Can’t hold out.” He panted, still thrusting gently.

“Just… A little bit… More…” Melody groaned, her fingers working restlessly over her clit. “I’m close… Ooooh, I’m gonna… Aahn! AAAAAAAAAAUUUUGHH!” Melody cried out louder than she ever had before, even as Connor ruthlessly pushed his way as deep as he could go. She felt his head pulse and twitch, flexing up into that magical little spot, which only helped her release more. She felt it dribble down her thighs, undoubtedly staining the mattress even as Connor came inside the condom.

It all faded into this warm, fuzzy sort of sensation, the waves of pleasure crashing through her and Connor’s warm body pressed tight… She gasped and moaned and whimpered, her hands wrapping around his muscular body, clutching him tight…

And then she cried…

Connor normally would have freaked out. Instead, his hands gently massaged her sides… She wasn’t sure when, but he slid out and pulled her against him as they lay on their sides, both of them pressed tight in the aftermath. She cried for a while, sobbing and shaking, clinging as tight to him as he possibly could in those long, warm moments…

She cried for the frustration of saying goodbye, of her first heartache. She cried for the war, all the soldiers like Connor who had died, who had left behind women like her to be heartbroken and wanting… She cried for the wounded soldiers who would never be able to serve like Connor was, she cried for all the little things in her life…

“Sorry,” She sniffled, wiping at her face pathetically.

“No, it’s okay.” Connor said, gently stroking her hair. “I don’t mind… C’mon, let’s take our bath…” She sniffled and nodded, standing up with him. They were both bare, slightly sweaty, and sticky. She stripped the sheets now, leaving the poor mattress alone as they slipped into the bathroom and held one another close in the hot water. He helped her shave her legs, and she scrubbed his back… It was warm, but the whole thing had this odd sense of… Terminality to it… Like this was the very last time they would do something like this…

Even over breakfast as she buttered his toast for him, she couldn’t help but think This is the last time I’ll do this with him… They were quiet, for once… Where they normally would have chatted, they ate in silence, sitting close and holding hands… When they dressed, he helped clasp her bra and slid the straps of her dress up her shoulders. She handed him his shirt and buttoned the front when he pulled it on… Then, standing on the threshold of the balcony, they said their goodbyes…

“I’d be lying if I said you didn’t mean anything special to me.” Melody said gently, holding onto his arms as he hugged her.

“There will be others. Trust me.” He said gently, stroking her hair a few times. He loved to play with her hair… “Better men than I…”

“Don’t sell yourself short, big guy.” She teased, kissing his chest. He chuckled, the vibrations running through her lips…

“My advice?”

“Hmm?” She looked up at him.

“Take some time…” His voice was sad and low, sort of melancholy… “Don’t… You know, find another, until you’re ready… Rushing into another relationship was one of the mistakes I’ve made before.” He lifted her chin gingerly, wiping away one tear as it escaped. He kissed his thumb, the tear shining slightly on his lips as he pulled away. Melody watched as he untied the knot on the blue handkerchief she used to mark her balcony, the soft fabric tucked away in his pocket.

“Something to remember me by?” She asked, her voice quivering slightly.

“Hearth nights can be cold and long.” He said, standing up on the balcony. “I’m gonna need some pleasant thoughts to keep me warm. Give me a reason to come back.”

“If you don’t come back, I swear I’ll find you.” She chuckled nervously, the tears flowing fast and free now. She sniffled, feeling her chest shake with repressed sobs.

“If I don’t come back, I’ll be dead. And I’ll have died serving the land I love.” He pulled his fist to his heart, the natural salute of the Equestrian forces. “I’ll have died keeping people like you safe to live and love another day.” His lips broke into a smile… Not just any smile… That was the warmest smile she had ever seen. So happy and serene… Like nothing else in the world mattered. That was the smile of a man whose purpose in life was laid out before him clear as day. “I can’t think of any better way to spend my life.” And then he was gone…

In his absence, Melody curled up on the bed and cried.

“You doing okay, kiddo?” Lily asked gently. Melody sniffled and wiped her puffy eyes, nodding slightly.

“Just hurts is all… You never… Felt love before Twilight, did you?” She asked. Lily sighed and joined her daughter on her bed, both of them cuddling close. Melody was thankful for the warm arms around her, the way her mother’s red curls tickled her nose and cheeks.

“I can’t say that I have, Melody… But someone told me once, some quote from some poem or something… ‘It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.’ In a way, I kind of envy you…” Melody sighed as she contemplated Lily’s words… It was a week after he had left. The tower was left with the basic forces while the rest of them were deployed into Featherhome. Dash had confirmed his name was on a roster, assigned to a unit patrolling the northern reaches of the Featherhome/Hearth border, close to the high, imposing mountains…

“I guess…” She sighed, rubbing her eyes.

“Think about it this way, Melody…” Lily said gently, stroking her hair soothingly… This wasn’t the way he would have stroked her hair… Lily’s way was fretting, tender and caring. His was compassionate, soft, and wonderful. Like he was doing it just for the sake of touching her hair… Lily felt like she was fretting with the long, slightly frazzled and neglected strands. Still, Melody appreciated the touch, and nuzzled closer to Lily as she continued. “You know what it feels like, now… Yeah, it hurts, but you’ll live through it… You’ll move on, find another, and you’re more of a person now because you had him.”

“Like… The way Twilight loves you, not in spite of the fact that you’ve been with others, but because of it?” Melody asked.

“Exactly…” The relief in Lily’s voice was audible, like she was glad that Melody had caught on. “The next man you love will love you in return, not because you’ve been with another man, but because you’re stronger for having been with him, for having love and lost, as it were...”

“I see…” Melody groaned. Admittedly, her menstruation hadn’t helped. It started two days after he left, and the cramps and emotions hadn’t been as kind to her as they had in the past. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her puffy eyes some more. “Ugh, I’m a mess…”

“You know what you need?” Lily said with a smile.

“Enlighten me…” Melody groaned.

“You need a spa treatment.” Melody arched her eyebrow.

“What?” She had read about them, of course, and they certainly sounded wonderful… But there was no easy way they could have had one in their home, and ever since leaving it had been a crazy, insane, fearful flight. As much as Melody knew about spas, she had never even come close to having a spa treatment…

“A spa treatment. Trust me, I’ve had a few in my day. They’re amazing. You know, I think there’s one in the city… If I find one, will you go with me? Twilight will go, too, I’m sure. We’ll have a girl’s day.” She smiled and rubbed Melody’s shoulder warmly. Melody mulled it over in her head. She was done with her flow, and she was an utter mess…

“You know what? That sounds great. I think I will.” She offered a brave, warm smile to Lily. The first she had given in a week. It felt so good, the simple motion making her cheeks spread apart…

“’Atta girl. I’m going to go see what I can find. See you at dinner?” Lily slid off the bed, stretching her muscles as Melody lifted the hem of her pajama shirt.

“I think I’ll eat in again tonight… Still feel like a mess.”

“Not gonna lie, you look like it, too. Aah!” Melody swatted at her mother’s rear for the teasing quip, connecting with the perky flesh and making her jump from the spank. “Oh you little… C’mere!”

“Eep! Aah, no! Not my sides! Aah!” Lily tickled her relentlessly, both of them squirming and rolling around. Laughing. Inside, Melody felt warm again. Her mother loved her, and so did Twilight, and her brother, and Dash and all the others. She still had a lot of love in her life… The month-long relationship with Connor had only made her stronger in the end. No reason to get so beat up over it. At the end of the romp, she and Lily lay spread-eagle on the bed, panting and chuckling, their cheeks sore from laughing and smiling.

“I gotta get goin’, kiddo.” Lily said, sitting up with a smile, rubbing her cheeks.

“’Kay… Hey mom?”

“Hmm?” Melody grasped her pillow and curled up with it, peaking at Lily over the edge of the bunched-up fabric.

“I love you.” Lily smiled, wide and warm… Not the laughter kind of smile… This one could only be described as… Maternal. She leaned over and kissed Melody’s forehead.

“I love you too, Melody. My beautiful daughter… I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks…” Melody muttered, curling up with the pillow tighter. Lily rubbed her shoulder again and exited onto Melody’s balcony, shifting into the woman known as Dancer and diving off of the edge. Melody watched her disappear, heaving a happy sigh as she rolled over and watched the fire dance and crackle in the hearth…

Hearth… Hearthfire. Connor. Melody sat up on her bed, her hands glowing. The magical fire set on the logs slowly died away, flickering once and then extinguishing.

With it, Melody let her feelings die.

She had loved and lost.

She was normal.

Duty, Honor, Respect, Loyalty

--------- Melody’s Tale - Duty, Honor, Respect, Loyalty ---------

The spa treatment had been just up Melody’s alley… Together, she and Lily went with Twilight to a small spa just outside of Eyriewatch’s walls, and on Twilight’s dime, enjoyed the deluxe treatment. Maybe it was that it was relaxing, or maybe Melody was a bit more vain about her appearance than she thought, but having the two attendants that had been assigned to her to fret over every little detail in her hair, smooth and buff out all the imperfections in her skin, and rub the oils and lotions that made her feel like she was radiant… It made Melody feel... Like a woman.

The steam baths, the mud soaks, the massages… Melody didn’t feel like she explicitly needed all those things… But they sure were nice. They followed the visit up with a light dinner at some fancy-ish restaurant, and the salad that Melody enjoyed was very, very good… At the end of the day, Melody felt like herself again. She could move on, at long last. She and Verse even caught up, for a little bit of a one-on-one chat… Something they hadn’t shared in quite some time.

It reminded her of home… When they used to sit under their tree and look out over the ocean, talking and chatting, or singing and playing songs… Instead, they sat atop Eyriewatch and watched the sun’s slow descent towards the horizon.

“Do you ever feel…” He asked first. “Like we’ll never be the same?”

“I do… Because honestly, we won’t.” Melody said gently, her eyes fixed on the blazing golden display.

“Is that a good thing, though?” Verse swept his hand out. “Are we better off for having known this… All of this. The good and the bad? I mean… We lost Twilight for a while… And you know Lily wouldn’t have been able to live through it, either… You saw how hysterical she was. And all the other stuff, to… Spike and the changelings, Nest… What happened there… We almost died. Are we really better out here?” Melody had a hundred and one justifications for leaving home, but against her brother’s infallible logic, none of them really felt worth it… Save for maybe a few.

“I know I’m better off for having known Connor.” She said softly. “And we almost lost mom, true… But what did we gain in return? We awakened another god, and got our mother back… We helped destroy more changelings, and were there to witness the saving of a city…” She sighed and leaned back on her palms. “I think leaving home was a good choice. Otherwise we’d have been shut-ins our entire life…”

“Perhaps… I’m just not sure the risk is worth it…”

“Oh? I’m sensing something else here, brother.” Melody teased, grinning at him. Sure enough, Verse’s subtle blush betrayed something more behind his question. “It hurts.” She said softly, knowing exactly what he was going through. “But you can’t let it keep you down… For a week, I was a wreck. Granted, me being female didn’t help, but still… A whole week. That’s a week I could have spent helping at the clinic, or practicing, or doing something constructive… Instead, I spent it curled up in a pathetic little ball, crying over someone who was already long gone… It hurts, Verse. It really does. But you can’t go on forever, and you can’t mope around. Let it hurt. Let the pain sink in and fill your heart. Then pick yourself back up and go back to being normal…”

“Huhn… That bad?”

“I was on my flow…” She shrugged. “Just didn’t help the situation.”

“Ick.” Verse grew up in a household with three women. Yet he still held a certain revulsion for menstruation.

“Oh grow up. How ARE things with the two of you, anyways?” She asked. They really hadn’t talked at all since that fateful night when they both went on that date.

“It’s just time to let it go… She’s picked up guard duty, in addition to her courier tasks. She’s too busy to do anything, and we need to focus, as well…” She arched an eyebrow at him.

“Focus? On what?”

“Hmm? You don’t remember the original reason mom had us, you know… Find someone?” She blinked. That’s right… Lily had asked them to foster a relationship with their targets for a reason. Melody grimaced at the thought of having to recall such intimate details about him… Not that she wanted to forget, just that she wasn’t happy revisiting the memories. Not yet. She sighed and nodded.

“I remember now… Yeah, I suppose it’s time we move on with that, too… You know what I just realized, though?”

“Hmm? What?”

“When’s the last time we played?” Verse blinked at her question.

“That’s… A really good question. Where are our instruments, even? Did we lose them at Nest?” Melody shook her head.

“We lost them when we were with Spike… The changeling attack.”

“That’s right… We didn’t have much of anything in Naga-haal… Just our packs. Well crap, I loved that guitar…”

“Applejack gave it to you, didn’t she? A long ways back?”

“It was my tenth birthday present. She sent it with Fluttershy, when she came to visit that year…”

“I remember that… Same year she gave me that violin. Said it had been her aunt’s or something… I left that one at home…” She sighed. It had been a long while since she had played an instrument of any kind… The desire was coming back.

“You know what?” Verse stood up, smiling at her. “Let’s see if Dash can tell us where we can find some.” Melody grinned at the idea and stood with him, both of them shifting into avian and flying down to their respective balconies. They met in the hall and knocked on the door to the Commander’s personal room, at the end of the corridor. Slowly, the door swung inwards…

“Uuh… Hello?” Melody said hesitantly. The door was almost always closed… Slowly, she and Verse looked inside, their brows furrowed with a sense of curiosity and caution. It seemed the latter was the most needed at that particular moment. What they saw made both their jaws drop.

“Fuck.” Verse let the word slip out.

There, both bodies twined together in a very exotic pose, was Rainbow Dash, and… Was that… Another Rainbow Dash? Both of them stared, wide-eyed and frozen with shock, at the two young adults peeking in on their intimate session. Both of them were naked. Both of them were very sweaty, and both of them were slowly turning very angry.

“I thought you said you shut the door.”

“I thought you said YOU shut the door!”

“Run!” Verse panicked. He and Melody turned tail and ran, booking it down the hall. Noth, shifted back into his normal form, complete with clothes, hollered at them as he gave chase. Behind him, they could hear Rainbow Dash cursing loudly as she struggled to pull her pants on.

“Outside!” Verse panted, turning a corner.

“What?! It’s fucking DASH! She’ll catch us in a second!”

“We stand a better chance on the streets than we do in these halls!” Verse grunted, pouring on the heat. He started to inch ahead. They rounded another corner, though Melody thought she saw Noth spin the last turn right on their heels.

“Fuck! Go, go, go!” Laughing with half childish glee, half nervous panic, the two of them vaulted up on the balcony at the end of this hall and dove off into open space… Only Rainbow Dash did the same, two balconies to their right.

“Fuck! Dive!” Melody tucked her hastily-shifted wings and dove, her and Verse immediately dropping out of the sky.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Dash was ten times the flyer either of them would ever be… She didn’t just dive, she flapped to increase the speed of her dive. Cutting through the air like a knife, Dash smoothly caught up with them and caught both the scruffs of their necks, hauling them to a stop with three rough, fast wing beats.

“You two are coming back with me.” She growled. Above them, Noth peeked over the railing.

“Got ‘em?”

“Oh yeah I do…” Defeated, Melody and Verse hung there, dangling in Dash’s iron grip as she hauled the both of them back up to the balcony of her own room. “Walk.” She commanded, pushing them through the open doors. Hanging their heads, the two children walked into her room.

“We’re dead.”

“So dead.”

“Do you think it’ll be quick?”

“Hardly. She’ll hang us with our own guts.”

“Eew… You wouldn’t do that, would you, Dash?”

“Words cannot describe how angry I am with you two right now.” Dash growled, scanning the skies outside… When she seemed satisfied no one had seen the Commander of Eyriewatch dressed in nothing but jean shorts and a tank top haul two kids back up to her room, she turned to both of them. She and Noth crossed their arms.

“Heh. You look more alike when you stand like that than when you’re in bed.” Verse shot at them.

“Why you little-“

“Can I skin him? Please, Commander?”

“At ease that shit.” She growled, walking forward. She pushed the two of them down on a nearby couch, looking down her nose at them. “Why were you coming into my room?”

“The door was open. You should have locked it if you were going to be fucking.” Melody teased.

“You’re lucky you’re your mother’s daughter, or I’d have hung you for that.” Dash groaned, covering her face with her hand. In the end, it really had been her own mistake. A nervous ripple of laughter made it’s way around the room, and even the uptight Noth shook his head with a smile.

“Honestly, what brought you two up here?” She asked again, seeming more relaxed.

“Truth? We thought we’d ask you where we could get our hands on some instruments… Verse and I haven’t played in a long, long time…” Melody relaxed knowing Dash wasn’t truly angry with them. Just a random happenstance. That, and they had something to laugh about now. Apparently, Dash had a thing for herself. She wondered how Noth felt shifting into the brash avian, just so his partner could get off…

“Instruments? Oh yeah, you two play… Did you not know about the music room?” Noth interjected, looking between the two of them like they were silly.

“Music room?” Melody asked, arching her eyebrow.

“Yeah. It’s down on the… Uuh… Twentieth level? I think? Somewhere around there. Ask a guard for directions.” He said, waving a hand dismissively.

“Huh… I’ve been all over this tower, never heard of a music room…”

“It’s part of the barracks.” Dash said. “But they let anyone who knows where it is go in there. You’ll find others who play, instruments, whatever. Just go check it out. Now, out. Both of you.” Dash shooed them from the couch, waving her hands to get them to move. They both made for the balcony, opening the doors and shifting into avian.

“Oh!” Verse said, turning around as they stepped up onto the stone railing. Dash arched an eyebrow. “Were you two trying to re-define the phrase ‘Go fuck yourself?’” And then they were off, diving down the tower. She thought Noth threw something at them, but she was too far gone, laughing too hard, to even care.

They found the music room sure enough, after following some easy directions from a patrolman. The room was incredibly well-lit, with a series of four high windows lining one side. A bookshelf jam-packed with what appeared to be sheet music and tabs sat in one corner, and opposite the windows were deep-set cabinets and cubbies, all of them labeled with one instrument or another. Two other guards were already there, one of them playing the piano, the other reading some sheet music.

“Hello.” Melody said pleasantly, smiling at them.

“Hey. Not too many others come ‘round here, since most of us are deployed… What’s up?” One of the soldiers, who was a regular human, surprisingly enough, smiled back at the two.

“Nothing, we just found out about this place… Haven’t played in months… Is there… Do you guys have a violin?”

“Or a guitar?” Verse asked. The soldier smiled at the question.

“You’re Melody and Verse, right?” He asked, pointing between them.

“Eer… Yeah…” Melody answered hesitantly.

“You two are… Well, for lack of a better word, famous. Rumor has it Celestia herself has ordered your protection while you’re here in Eyriewatch.” He said, smiling at his friend. The soft strains of the piano died out as the other soldier joined the conversation, smiling at them.

“Hey, you are! I remember you. Melody, I escorted you while you helped the wounded, just over a month ago. Remember me?” His face came vaguely through a haze of dead and injured bodies, lots of blood and a fair amount of inner strife. He was, indeed, one of the guards who had escorted her on that fateful night. The night she nearly lost her mother.

“I remember you!” She said with a smile, walking forward to shake his hand. “I never did get your name, though…”

“Comitatus.” He said, smiling. “This is my friend, Nicholas. He’s a steward here at the tower. Nice to meetcha both.” Introductions were exchanged all around, smiles and handshakes.

“You said you played… The violin?” Comitatus asked, walking over to a nearby rack. The doors were closed and labeled. Melody spotted everything from “Flute” in a smaller cubby to “Tuba” in a rather larger one…

“Yeah… A four-by-four, if they have it…” Best to keep it basic. She hadn’t played in a while.

“Hrm… Aah, here we go!” Smiling, Comitatus withdrew a case from one cupboard, handing it off to her. Carefully, she threw the clasps and opened it to reveal a simple, dark wood violin. All the essentials were there. Rosin, the bow, a small screwdriver for the smaller tuning screws at the bottom of the strings… Gently, she ran her fingers over the strings, feeling the texture of the metal, the tension that held them in tune… Behind her, a hushed conversation took place as Verse located a weathered acoustic guitar, soft notes sounding as he began to tune it. Carefully, Melody began to get ready to play…

“I see you two found the music room.” Lily said from the window. Both of them looked up at her with a smile. Their mother slipped in, her wings folding up against her back as she smiled at them.

“Hey Lily.” Nicholas said gently.

“Hmm? You know our mother?” Melody asked, slightly distracted, one hand on the rosin the other on her bow.

“Of course. She comes here regularly.”

“Sorry I haven’t told you earlier. I guess it didn’t cross my mind that you two might want to play…” Lily said gently. Melody shrugged and returned her attention to applying the rosin. She knew now, that was what mattered. “Well… Where’s my favorite instrument, gentlemen?”

“Aah. I put it away just a few minutes ago… It’s here.” Comitatus pulled a huge case out of one massive cupboard. Melody knew from the shape it was a cello. Together, all five of them prepared to play. Nicholas’ talent was his voice, so he agreed to sing for them. Comitatus took his seat at the piano, plinking a simple tune while they all got ready.

They played happily, all five of them singing and laughing and playing tunes they all knew until Melody’s fingers began to burn with the constant motion along the metallic strings and Nicholas began to grow hoarse. It felt like she was truly back in that moment, finally in her element. She had her music, she had her family, and she had new friends… Life was good.

The first wave of injured soldiers returned three weeks after they had been deployed. As soon as Melody heard about it, she rushed to the clinic and arrived just as the first wave hit. She was wrapped up from then on out. She assisted in surgeries, handled stitching, cleaning, and prepping. In one emergency situation, she even handled an amputation… That had been a grisly affair. But the other nurses and doctors complimented her on her touch, on her tireless work. It wasn’t as bad as the last time, outside the city, when she didn’t have many supplies and there were too few workers.

Not to say there wasn’t work to be done… She could assist day and night, and it seemed there would be no end to it. The week passed in a haze. She’d work sixteen hours straight, grabbed maybe two or three hours of rest, and then get back on it. The lines between night and day blurred. Secretly, she hoped she didn’t have to see Connor… This was another area Melody felt like she was in her element. She became accustomed to blood and pain, and developed skills both with magic and her hands to help the wounded… Some reports wafted by her ears. In that way, she became privy to information most others were not.

“Rumors of harpy raids in the southern lines. Tattered remnants of what happened at Nest. They’re mistaken, they think it was we avian who demolished their home…” Melody shared with Verse on an off day. A rare occurrence. The tide had eventually stemmed, and while there were wounded to tend to, she needed to pace herself. The short lunch with Verse was her break.

“That’s odd… You’d figure they would know it was their own foolishness that wrecked Nest… I’ll even shoulder the blame myself, if they’d listen to me for two seconds before gutting me…” He muttered grumpily. Melody continued solemnly.

“That, coupled with the skirmishes on the Hearth border, they’re just beginning to pile up… But it seems like all of this is taking place in the southern area…”

“You’re worried about Connor.” Verse said gently.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.” She admitted. In that week, Verse had broken up with Sam, so he wasn’t feeling too great either.

“I’m sure he’s fine… Can’t you ask around? See if someone knows him?” Melody shrugged at the suggestion. She could, if she really wanted to… But did she want to know? Did she want to risk the possibility of finding out he had died, or was wounded, or was perfectly okay? Was it better to remain blissfully ignorant? She mulled it over and sipped at her tea.

“I need to get back.” She said softly, finishing her cup.

“Good luck, Melody. You should sleep sometime soon.” She nodded and wiped a hand over her face. Her eyes constantly felt scratchy, and she wondered if she’d ever get the red tinge of blood stains out of her hands.

“I will. Tell Lily and Twilight I love them. How’s the training going?” She asked, kind of as an afterthought.

“Good. It’s not that hard, once you’ve… You know… Been there.” He said gently. Melody smiled warmly and slipped away. She would have time to train how to shift into Connor when she wasn’t worried he’d end up on her operating table one of these days.

The injuries finally stopped coming. It seemed the approaching early-fall snows were slowing things down up north, and one overnight freeze had made travelling some ill-mentioned pass difficult. Not to mention the high winds. The medics had time to catch up with the wounded, some of whom had been neglected. Melody helped as much as she could, and was soon six hours into another night without even noticing it had passed two in the morning.

“Melody,” one of the doctors said gently to her. “You need some rest. I know you can help stocking when you’re tired, but please. For your own sake. Get some sleep.” He pleaded, laying a hand on her shoulder. She sighed and slipped another roll of bandages back in it’s place with a slight nod.

“Alright, doc… I’ll go get some sleep. Need me back tomorrow?”

“We’re wrapping up here. And it is tomorrow. Go get some sleep, Melody. If you feel the need to return, I’m sure we’ll have something for you to do. Though there are a few other nurses who will be glad you’re gone so they can have something to do for themselves.” He chuckled, making Melody smile. She pulled her apron and nurse’s blouse off, dropping them in one of the many soiled/bloody linens bags before stepping out of the stinking clinic and into the night air. None of the patrols accosted her as she flew to her balcony, deciding a long bath was in order.

Afterwards, she nibbled on some fruit before curling up under her blankets and passing out. As she had been doing the past few days and nights, she dreamt of the blood, the wounds, the death, but it wasn’t a restless sleep… She awoke well into the day, feeling surprisingly refreshed despite the pain and agony she had seen. She didn’t even bother with her hair, just pulled it back into a loose ponytail and dressed simply. She felt the need to discover something… Gently, she knocked on the door to Dash’s office.

“Enter.” The voice said gruffly. She did so, smiling a little when Dash looked up at her. “Melody. What brings you around?” She asked. She appeared to be alone, going over some document or another. Her desk was cluttered with maps, folders, reports, and correspondences…

“I… Honestly, I wanted to ask about Connor.” She said quietly, hoping she wasn’t disturbing Dash.

“Hmm… I think I can help you. Hang on a tick…” Dash shuffled through the papers for a minute, checking on document against another before turning to a filing cabinet behind her. Shuffling through it for a moment, she pulled out a file near the back. “Here we go… Forty-eighth scouting unit, dispatched to the twelve-hundred seventy-seventh block, section Alpha-seven-niner… Last report was from five days ago. They are doing well, no casualties or hardships to report. Supplies are good, spirits are well… They reported an anomaly, though… Says here there’s a cave or a ruin of some sort. They’re proceeding with caution in scouting it out. Night operations, full stealth gear.” Rainbow Dash looked up at Melody’s quizzical expression. “They found something odd, and they’re investigating. Very carefully.” She explained, waving the paper. “Oh, and from two weeks ago… Connor Hearthfire was promoted to Platoon Sergeant. He’s in charge of that unit now.” She felt relief, happiness, and a bit of concern all at once… As of five days ago, he was safe… But something about this ruin, or this cave, or whatever it was… Didn’t sit right with her… She gnawed on her lip, thinking about it.

“Is there anything else?”

“Hmm… Nothing. A minor injury report of some frostbite, but that’s it.”

“Frostbite? Our gear is fur-based… And it’s the summer months still. They shouldn’t be suffering frostbite if they’re careful.” Melody frowned a little. “Who was it?”

“Eer…” Dash flipped a page, looking further along the report. “It’s… Someone named Sergeant Barris. Hang on… Says here they couldn’t remedy the situation… ‘Amputation recommended, subject shows recovery afterwards. Two fingers lost, returned to duty in 4 days.’ Sounds odd…”

“Frostbite is curable… Connor should know, he’s from Stalliongrad. He’s of northern blood, he’s seen it before. There’s something fishy about that report.” Melody felt her sense of dread grow as Dash continued the report. Connor was safe, she knew he would be, but that frostbite… No, something seemed off about it… “Dash, I need to-“

“You know I can’t let you, Melody.” Dash cut her off. “Not without going through the proper channels. Don’t get me wrong, I think you can handle yourself out there. But you know Twi would cut me to pieces if she found out I let you go without her consent. Not to mention, I have my own orders from Celestia to keep you safe. If you go, and I do mean if, it will be with a lot of protection, and only with your mother’s permission. Go speak with them first, then come back to me.” She said. This was no longer her ‘auntie Dash,’ who had delivered supplies and gifts to them year in and year out whenever she could find the time… This was Commander Rainbow Dash. And her word was law. Melody knew she wouldn’t get away with it if she went against this woman’s words. But she didn’t have to be pleased about it.

“Fine.” She huffed, leaving the office with a door slam. Not like Dash would understand how she felt… Noth wasn’t out there on the frontlines, risking HIS life against cold and chimeras and harpies… She stomped off to find Lily, to explain the situation. She HAD to go North… Not just for Connor, she told herself. But there was something fishy about that frostbite report, and that ruin… Or cave… Or whatever. She felt compelled to investigate.

“You’re putting me in a spot here, Twilight…” Dash said with a sigh.

“Why? I think she’s fit to go.”

“Yeah, but not BOTH of them… Let alone with Lily. I can’t guarantee three people’s safety against the cold and anything that might happen.” The meeting was taking place the next day, after Melody had had a long talk with Twilight, Lily, and Verse. Twilight and Lily were unimpressed. Dash wiped a hand across her face with a sigh. “Alright, let’s level here, then… Let me send an advance unit out to check on them. If they return and say all is well, would that satisfy your curiosity.”

No. “Yes,” Melody huffed, despite her thought. “But what if everything is NOT well? What then?”

“Then, I’ll have had a week to assemble a team large enough to protect three civilians on their way to investigate. Admittedly, I’m interested in what’s going on myself. I’ll agree with Melody in that there’s something fishy about this report.” She flicked the folder with the report in it, looking over all of them. “Lily, you’re awfully quiet. Anything you want to add?” Her mother had been leaning against the far wall, her arms crossed and her expression dark.

“I think…” She paused, trying to gather her thoughts. “I think Melody and Verse can hold their own. Melody’s been working tirelessly in the clinics since the first wave arrived. She knows more about medicine than some of your doctors and nurses by now.” Exaggerated as the statement was, it wasn’t completely untrue. Some of the nurses had been drafted civilians, who helped clean and stock and organize. Some of them were volunteers. Just under half of them had never seen exposed brain tissue. Melody herself was in the former… That had been a dark night. “And I can vouch for Verse personally.” She continued. “I’ve been continuing his lessons while Melody works. He’s an accomplished shifter, and one of the most talented Magi I’ve personally ever seen… Twilight will back me up on that.”

“Both of them are,” Twilight said. She was, undoubtedly, the authority on magic. Dash couldn’t easily ignore her words. “They can probably keep up with some of your battle magi. Dare I say Verse can put their firestorm spells to shame. Melody’s pretty quick with her own spells, as well. Trust me, Dash. They won’t be a liability. And neither will Lily. Personally, I give them my full support.” Again, Dash couldn’t ignore the words of a goddess. Or her friend.

“Fine. But I can’t send you out right away. The advance team will take five days to fly there and back. The weather’s cleared up and the flight should be easy. Five days to get word. Five days to build a unit large enough to escort you all safely. Give me at least that much.” Dash tapped the desk, pleading with them. Melody wasn’t satisfied, and would insist on going no matter what the advance unit said, but she nodded her head.

“Fine. I’ll agree.” She said. Verse mirrored her, and Lily chimed in last. Dash looked to Twilight.

“Anything to add? Are you going with?” Twilight shrugged and shook her head.

“I’m better off here. Books and research and whatnot… Plus, I’m still coping with some changes of my own. No. I’m in no shape to attend this little... Expedition.” She said gently. “Besides... I’ll be focusing on what happens in the North anyways. Just in case.”

“Well... Alright then. I’ll send the advance team out immediately.” Dash sighed and turned to a map spread out on the wall behind her, looking at all of the small, glowing pinpoints of light. They were troops and bases and fortifications, all of them spread out over a detailed map of the Hearth/Featherhome border.

“Alright. Noth?”

“Yes, Commander?”

“Send the eighty-eighth cavalry unit. I hear Stormcloud is a fast flyer. Have him gather his four best and check in on map sector twelve-hundred seventy-seven, section alpha-seven-niner. Their CT is Platoon Sergeant Hearthfire.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted and slipped away. Melody took a moment to note that outside of the bedroom, she and Noth were very professional... Still, she was irked at the loops they had to jump through just to investigate a claim... It’s not like they were going into changeling territory, and the skirmishes on this side of the border were just that. Skirmishes. The scouting party she was sending out would have been enough to protect them... She sighed and tromped off, going to her room to sleep out the wait...

No one checked in for two weeks.

It was on the fifteenth day of worrying herself sick that Melody decided to take action upon herself. She and Verse had a little meeting...

“You’ve felt it, too, right?”

“I have...” He affirmed, nodding slightly. “Like... I don’t know, something just bugs me... It doesn’t add up. Dash said it would only take five days, and they’ve been gone two weeks. No, you’re right. We need to take matters into our own hands. Gale and Hurricane’s clothes will keep us warm in the snows, and we’ll take it slow going up there. Go get changed.”

“Dammit I love you, brother.” Melody laughed and threw her arms around him. To her parents and Dash, she was running off to join Connor. She was a lovesick teen who needed to be with the man she thought she loved. But to Melody... She was investigating a serious, nagging doubt in her mind. Rumors of a frostbite and some vague ruin or a cave should not be this unsettling. Just as she and Verse met in the hall, though, Dash came around the corner.

“You two.” She pointed at them. Verse and Melody shared a look. She was blocking their exit... But they could nip into Melody’s room, dive off the balcony. “Don’t you dare run. I’ll haul you back like I did last time.” She said. This wasn’t ‘Auntie Dash’ right now. This was the Commander, and she was dead serious. “Come on. Lily and Twilight have already been informed.”

“Informed?” Melody asked, her tone somewhat shaky. “Of what?” Dash swept past them, heading towards her office. “Dash, what’s happening?” She kept walking... “DASH.” The avian stopped, her shoulders sagging in that moment.

“The scouting party returned... What’s left of them.” Melody’s eyes went wide. “Scouting unit Forty-Eight is MIA.”

Frost

---------- Melody’s Tale - Frost ----------

“Wh… What?” Melody stammered. She had been ready to slip into her room, lock the door, and take off into the night. Dash might have been the better flyer, but once on the ground, Melody would have easily bested the avian with her magic. However, Dash didn’t look like she was prepared to stop them… If anything, what she said next, and her willingness to say it, swayed Melody to the thought that Dash was inclined to enlist their help.

“Scouting Unit forty-eight is missing. Their camp is abandoned and none of them are anywhere to be found. What’s more, their camp is deep in the heart of what we assumed was safe territory. In the recent months, a pack of migrating wolves have made their den nearby. They’re constantly hounding those troops. One of a few things has happened…” Dash turned around and kept walking, motioning for the two of them to follow. Woodenly, Verse and Melody padded after her, following the stressed general into her office.

“What… What do we do?” Melody asked. This was about MUCH more than Connor now. No one would blame her for her desire to check in on the unit now. It never had been about Connor, she knew, but even Verse doubted her when she said she was going just to check in on them. Not just out of some selfish notion of love. Dash sighed and wiped a hand across her face, looking at the map on the wall, then back to them.

“The weather’s kicking up… What originally was supposed to take five days took two weeks. Getting you kids out there is going to be troublesome. High winds, snow, wilderness… But I can’t just ignore these reports. I need to investigate. Personally, if I must.”

“Dash, you can’t-“

“I know I can’t leave. There’s too much here that needs my attention. So I’m sending you and two platoons to investigate. Melody, we’re going to need a medic. You know how to treat frostbite?”

“Well.” Melody said, nodding softly. “And Verse isn’t too bad himself.”

“Even better. Go get Lily, you leave presently.”

“What about Twilight?” Verse asked gently, just before they were about to leave. Dash sighed and looked up at the wall, frowning over the placements of the glowing dots.

“I need her here… I have to ask Ephemira for a favor.”

They left in an hour. Lily hastily threw together a pack with warm, modified clothes that would not hinder her flight. Melody and Verse needed nothing, their own clothing having come from Hurricane and Gale themselves. They would be protected from the cold. They rendezvoused with the captains of two other platoons, one of them an airborne cavalry unit, and the other a support unit. Both of their teams looked very hardy, dressed for the cold, armed to the teeth, and professional. Melody was feeling very good about their trip. The first part, anyways.

“Ready?”

“As we’ll ever be.” Melody said with a sigh. Lily, behind them, looked different in her thick, warm clothes, carrying a hefty pack. She looked out-of-place. Melody and Verse, however, looked worse. They wore thin clothes, and drew more than a few questions from the doubting soldiers. They assured everyone present multiple times the clothes were enchanted… Blessed, even, but none of them believed. They were given other clothes to wear. Rather than make a big deal about it, Melody removed the liners from the heavy clothes and wore the outer pieces. Verse followed suit, and they were off.

Both units of avians flew very fast. Lily was able to keep up without too much difficulty, but the novice flyers Melody and Verse struggled to keep up. Melody felt suffocated, even without the heavy liners… These avian were career military personnel. They probably practiced flying every day. Eyriwatch dwindled behind them, growing smaller and smaller on the southern horizon. They turned their path north-east, back into Featherhome. Melody began to think about all that had happened…

Connor went north, sent back a suspicious report of some frostbite and an old, ancient cave… Or maybe a ruin. Verse and I both feel the need to investigate, so we begged Rainbow Dash to let us go. She agreed, but only on certain conditions… One of them being she sends a small party to investigate first, and if they return with anything suspicious, we would be permitted to go, along with a sizeable escort force. The advance scouting party returned, but they reported Connor’s unit was missing, their camp abandoned. What’s worse, there was a pack of wolves making trouble in the area, and they were going to have to deal with the weather as well. I’m not worried about Connor, I’m worried about this odd frostbite, and this ruin...

After a full day of flying hard against the wind, they settled down for the night. They weren’t quite into Featherhome yet, but the pine tree forest was beginning. They settled in under the green needles, their footsteps silent on the bed of dried needles. There was plenty to burn for a fire, so they all huddled up around four separate fires for a hearty dinner of bacon and bread. Perishables first, so they saved the dried jerky, beans, and rations for later. There was talking, joking, laughing, and conversation. As night fell, though, Melody began to tire. When she rolled up in her sleeping bag, she dreamt of wolves with ice for teeth and glowing red eyes.

The next day dawned bleak, overcast, and slightly chilly. She could feel the freezing air on her arms, but it didn’t affect her torso or her thighs, so she was still able to fly well. A little stiff, but well… And so it went, from day to day like that. The bread they ate was stale after two days, and moldy on the third, so they tossed what little was left and switched to dried beef. It was salty and chewy and good, it made Melody feel full. At night, they would set a watch, four people to watch for four hours, then another four for the last portion of the night. Melody didn’t feel right not contributing, so she offered to take the place of one tired-looking guard. She was paired up with another guard and he showed her the proper way to conduct a night watch.

It was better than her dreams, which had slowly begun to develop into nightmares. Late into the night, what she had to guess was at least close to two in the morning, she was relieved and collapsed into her bedroll without a second thought. This time, her dreams were blissfully non-existent. She began to volunteer for the night watch more often. At least, until the cold rolled in. Once they started encountering high winds and blinding snow every night, the watch was reduced to a solitary person, someone experienced and professional. Melody reluctantly slept the whole night, wondering if and when the would be an end to her nightmares. There seemed to be none. They went on every night, the same wolves chasing her through the forest.

Their breath was freezing cold on the back of her neck, their snarls inducing enough adrenaline to fuel a six-day marathon. But she could never move fast enough. Her legs bogged down in deep drifts of wet snow and she felt short of breath. No matter how fast or how hard she ran, they were always on her heels. When she turned around, a dozen of them leapt out of nowhere, glistening fangs of blue ice sinking into her skin.

She never awoke screaming, thankfully. The night watch would have been alerted. Instead, she gave a small gasp and curled up, shivering from fright on the hard forest floor. She didn’t sleep well after that. It was fitful, restless… She awoke feeling much more fatigued and sore than she had been the past few nights.

Truthfully enough, her clothes kept her warm. Her arms would occasionally grow chilled, particularly when flying into a stiff wind with snow falling, but the rest of the time she felt oddly warm… Like nothing would bother her. Where others would shiver and huddle around a fire, she and Verse would take a walk through the woods, their light jackets open and feeling warm and safe. At least there was that. Melody knew she would be much more miserable if she hadn’t brought them along.

The lack of sleep began to get to her. Melody began to feel as if she were constantly dreaming. The lines between dream and reality began to blur, leaving her red-eyed and delirious. The other soldiers were not bothered by these nightmares, but one look at Verse’s haggard expression and she knew he was suffering as well. They put their heads together one night, debating solutions to their predicament.

“I don’t know a single herb mixture in our supplies we could use… And we sure as anything aren’t going to find shit in the snow. It’s either frozen and dead, or can’t even grow…” Verse said gently, wiping a hand across his face.

“Is there a spell for it?” Melody knew there wasn’t, she was just brainstorming…

“No… Nightmares and sleep mean brain activity, and I’m not about to let you or anyone fuck with my neural pathways.”

“Right… What the fuck can we do, then?” Verse shrugged at her question.

“Sweat it out? I suppose? We can’t keep going like this, though… If we keep it up, we’ll just start passing out. Look, monitor spells are safe, right?” He asked gently. Melody nodded. A monitor spell was a way to see everything someone else saw, both in their mind’s eye and their regular vision. It was a little complex, certainly not for your average magi. Then again, Verse and Melody were anything but average. “So we do that. You watch my dreams, I watch yours. Maybe that will give us a little something to go on.” Melody mulled the thought over… While performing a monitor spell while she was this tired wasn’t the safest thing, it was progress. Better than just suffering through it.

“Alright.”

“Are you good?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She said gently, heaving a sigh. Messing with someone’s brain was dangerous. Watching it was just hard. Advanced soothsayers and fortune tellers would use this spell to interpret dreams, and others would use it for research. Melody wasn’t sure what their reasoning was, but it was better than nothing. She swept snow off of the ground, preparing Verse’s bed for him. Using her magic, she engraved the spell-form into the spot just underneath his head, and placed a single down feather underneath his pillow.

“Ready?” He asked softly, laying his head down. Immediately, the spell form glowed with a soft light. Not visible past three feet. Melody knelt at his head, facing down the length of his body.

“I am. Are you?”

“Yeah… Good night?” Melody nodded her head and let her hands glow with her magic. She spoke the words under her breath, making sure no nearby avian guards were able to hear her… The monitor spell was one of only fourteen Melody had to speak an incantation for. The words were lost to her, but their meaning, ancient and lost in a tongue none spoke regularly for thousands of years, was clear as day.

”Rest your weary head to sleep, or keep thine eyes wide awake.

Sleep now, child, and let me see, or stay sharp and observant.

Reveal your thoughts to me.”

Verse was gone to his dreams as Melody cast the spell.

Revealed to her eyes was Verse’s nightmare. And it was a nightmare indeed.

Horses had long been extinct in Equestria. They existed in myth next to the Worpletinger and the Porcupine, creatures that had supposedly roamed the surface of the planet freely, and had been utilized by ancient people in one way or another. Now, though, they were children’s myths and bedtime stories. Every bit as unreal as the myths and fantasies that inhabited the books Twilight used to read to her at night… In everywhere but Verse’s dreams. She watched, stricken, as his nightmare world unfolded before her.

As in her own, Verse was running, but he was running through an open field. Flat and wide and long, it looked like Verse could run forever in any direction, and would never reach the end. Behind him, though, were the thunderous hoof beats. Whenever he glanced back, Melody could see them. A dozen, maybe more, all spread out in a fan behind him. Ancient diagrams constructed from uncovered bones and ancient archeological expeditions showed horses to be anywhere from six to eight feet tall from hoof to head, and at least five from hoof to shoulder. They were proud, magnificent beasts with long tails and flowing manes, strong and beautiful and frightening all at the same time.

The beasts chasing Verse through his dreamscape were not just frightening, they were completely terrifying. Under their running hooves, ice and snow spread, covering the lush grass of the field. Behind them, snow-covered trees rocketed into existence, towering tall. As they began to catch up to Verse, the trees enveloped him, dropping wet snow on his head. Their branches broke from the weight of the snow and fell in his path, hitting him and knocking him over, making him trip and fall, or work to scramble over massive branches. All the while, the terrifying screams of the equine nightmare pierced through her head.

When they caught him, Verse’s dream didn’t end with the first contact. Melody was forced by magic to watch as Verse’s body was bitten and ripped at. She felt each bone snap, understood his pain and agony as their teeth ripped chunks of his flesh apart, their vicious, glowing blue eyes piercing into her whenever she caught a glimpse of them through the flurry of hooves, teeth, and blood.

“Woah.” Melody breathed. The nightmare ended as Verse’s eyes snapped open, his chest heaving. “I… I’ll take my wolves any day over… Over THAT.” She whimpered, looking down at him. Both of them were crying.

“That was worse than any night before…” Verse whispered softly. He couldn’t stop his own tears. They both were frozen, Melody’s hands still resting on Verse’s face… She was crouched, he was laid out, and neither of them could bring themselves to move.

“You two okay?” The voice snapped them from their reverie. They swung their heads around, eyes resting on the solitary night watchman. He looked down at them, his spear clung tight in both fists, his expression drawn and worried. Melody wiped her eyes, Verse groaning as he sat up and did the same.

“Nightmares.” Verse grumbled, slowly getting up. “Very, very bad ones… My sister was helping me with magic.”

“Right… That mumbo-jumbo…” The guard tapped his spear on the cold rock beneath them. “How you two manage to sleep in this cold with those clothes is still beyond me. Gotta make my rounds. If you’re gonna be awake, watch the North. I swear I hear wolves.”

“If only you knew.” Melody muttered underneath her breath. The guard didn’t hear, moved off, shuffling through the snow. “My turn?” She asked, turning to Verse. With a heavy sigh, Verse nodded. It was dark out, the only light coming from one of four campfires the sleeping guards were huddled around. If Melody had to guess, they were in the spell for an hour, maybe ninety minutes… She took Verse’s spot, stretching out with her head on the spell-form, the material feather underneath the pillow she rested on. Once more, she found herself thankful for the enchanted clothes. She felt pleasantly warm, almost like sleeping underneath her tree on a moderately warm spring day.

Shame she didn’t sleep as well as if she were home. In fact, Melody couldn’t call what she did sleeping. She was in the pine forest, running hard and fast from the wolves. Their baying howls chased her through the forest, around trees, over fallen logs and splashing through frigid streams. They were relentless, their panting breaths and excited barking reminding her they were but a few steps, a few fumbled footfalls behind her. She swore she could feel their thudding paws in her chest, shaking her to the core with terror and agony.

Her lungs burned, her muscles were rubber, and she felt delirious. Sick, even. Maybe that’s why they were chasing her. She was sick and weak. Helpless. Easy prey for the experienced and heartless pack of wolves. Her head spun around as she tried to get a look at them. Just like every night previously, their eyes were icy blue and their fangs appeared to be sharp icicles. She was being circled. Outmatched. Bested. It took the pack another thirty seconds to cut her off. Snarling, a wolf jumped into her path, then another when she veered. Turning around, she was cut off once more. Back to a tree, Melody’s chest rose and fell rapidly, her eyes darting to and fro, looking for an opening. She saw none. Nothing that wouldn’t allow them to rip her apart when she tried to slip through the opening. And even if she did, she would be run down again. The first wolf growled low, it’s lips spread in a snarl as it’s head inched closer and closer, slinking low across the snowy ground.

She was wet, she was tired, she was freezing cold, and she was sick. The terror that gripped her heart couldn’t be stopped, didn’t help her breathe, made her weary muscles lock up on her. She stared, wide-eyed, as they descended on her.

Her nightmare didn’t end.

It only grew worse.

She could feel the freezing teeth rip into her flesh, each one setting nerves and synapses aflame with pain and agony as they sunk in, locked, and pulled away. The first fell on her thigh, the second on her side, the third on her arm… Each time, bloody chunks of her naked skin were ripped asunder, exposing tendons and pulsing, bloody arteries. She screamed long and loud, her eyes wide with horror as the wolves snarled and gulped her wet, still-warm skin down. She fell to the ground, which made it easier for the others to join in.

When they attacked her neck, she could feel the blood void her body, leaving her veins in wet, thick spurts. It spattered onto the ground, staining the snow crimson, making her gurgle and choke on her scream. The taste of blood and bile filled her mouth. When the wolf ripped her throat out, she watched the pale, bloody tube wiggle in the air before another wolf ripped at it, the two of them fighting with her body part for food. They snarled and tumbled away, leaving the others to rip her chest and abdomen open.

This time, Melody woke with a scream.

“Shh! Shh! Melody, be quiet!” Verse cautioned. His shaky hands pulled her down to the bedroll. She panicked in his hold, squirming and fighting. He used magic to hold her in place, binding her to the ground while his hands clamped her mouth, trying hard to muffle the panicked screams. “Shut up, Melody!” His urgent whisper was laced with terror, even as Melody herself panicked like a madwoman. Her terror was so complete. Her sleep-deprived mind couldn’t form a coherent, rational thought. She only knew one thing, and one thing only. Flight. Run. Flee. Get out. Faster. When she couldn’t do that, she fought. Her hands and legs lashed out, catching Verse a few times, connecting with the hard ground or something else.

“The hell’s wrong with her?”

“She had a nightmare. The worst I’ve ever seen.” Verse grunted, spitting off to the side. “Help me with her! She’ll wake every fucking thing within five miles.”

“Hold her down!”

“Oof! Little bitch!”

“Fuck!”

So it went. Melody felt more weight collapse upon her, pinning her limbs to the ground, forcing her to be still. Her screams were muffled when a thick wad of fabric was stuffed into her mouth, her whimpers softened by a hand covering her throat. When she couldn’t flee, and when she couldn’t fight, Melody cried. She cried long and hard, sobbing and whimpering until the panicked, adrenaline-fueled strength left her muscles. Tears flowed fast and free from her eyes, and she twitched with the sobbing and depression.

“She gonna be okay?”

“I think so…” Verse’s voice. Soothing, but low and gruff. Like he was hurt, or at least offended.

“What the hell was it?”

“A nightmare… But so real, if felt like she was being ripped apart…”

“Can such a thing happen?”

“Ever piss your bed when you were a kid?”

“Who hasn’t?”

“Same thing, only amplified… It felt so real to her, her brain told her it was. She’s suffering from shock. Here, let me lay with her.”

“Gross, aren’t you her brother?”

“Shut up and take her jacket off.” Melody felt herself lifted up. At least four other guards held her in place as her jacket was taken off, tossed off and to the side heedlessly.

“She’s gonna freeze-“

“For the fiftieth fucking time, these clothes were given to us by a god. Do you remember those two massive birds that landed on the tower a few months ago? The call that went out to the land?”

“You’re telling me you had something to do with that?”

“I had EVERYTHING to do with that. She and I. Now shut the fuck up.” Melody was still delirious with pain and panic, her chest heaving with sobs as her muscles struggled against her captors, her chest twitching with sobs and cries.

“If she doesn’t shut up after this, I’m leaving her to the wolves.”

“At ease that shit, private! I’ll leave you to the fucking cold if you ever speak like that again!”

“She’s gonna get us killed, sarge!”

“I’LL kill you if you say that shit again! Commander’s orders, they live no matter what! You have a fucking issue, you fly back to Eyriewatch and hand in your resignation right now!”

Relief came like a wave. Melody clutched to the body that slipped in next to her. This wasn’t a captor. This was a friend. Arms, tender and caring, wrapped around her body, not holding her in place, just holding her. Her sobs came to an end and she quivered once before closing her eyes. Tears poured forth silently, her screaming and wails gone. The rest of the arms left her, and all she felt was this person, whoever it was, holding her close, stroking her hair. She heard their heartbeat, felt their reassuring presence. Her terror calmed, and she was left to soft, inaudible whimpers and silent tears.

“Thank the gods, she fucking shut up.”

“In the woods, private. You ‘n me are gonna have a little talk.” One by one, the presences watching them left. A second person pressed against her back, a second pair of arms wrapping around her.

“Is she okay?”

“I don’t think so… I don’t think either of us are. I’m scared, mom…”

“Shh, shh… It’s okay, Verse… Relax.”

“They’re going to leave us, aren’t they?”

“Not if the sergeant has anything to say about it.” It was Lily. Her voice came to Melody across the still-frazzled plane of her fatigued mind.

“I’m still scared…”

“I am too, kiddo… I am too…”

Melody wasn’t sure if she slept at all for the rest of that night, but when she sat up, Lily and Verse were both snoring peacefully. She stayed there for a little while longer, trying to recollect her thoughts… The pearly-white sky was lit by an early-morning sun. The wind was blowing, kicking up snow and making the fires gutter weakly. Soldiers were moving, packing, getting ready. The scent of trail oatmeal and rations wafted past her nose, reminding her how hungry she was.

“Hey…” Verse said gently. She jumped a little, her eyes wide. He had just woken up. That was all. She should have noticed when his breathing became more shallow, his soft snoring stopped. She gnawed her lip, feeling embarrassed for her outburst last night.

“Sleep?”

“I wouldn’t call it that… I feel worse than ever…”

“Me too… C’mon, maybe some food will help.” She muttered, urging him up. They spread their bedrolls out atop Lily, keeping her warm as they stood and helped clean up camp. Melody noticed she was drawing more than a few curious looks. She jumped when a hand fell on her shoulder. Spinning around, she saw it was just the sergeant.

“You doing okay?” He asked, his expression dark with concern, both for her and his soldiers.

“Truth? No… I don’t think so… I don’t know what it is, but… These nightmares. Last night was the worst yet.”

“You aren’t giving up, are you?” Melody looked up at him. The tall, slender sergeant was the authority on the mission. Last night’s muddled conversation came to her through a haze. He had to dish out some discipline to other soldiers that were going to leave them to die… He cared about her, but he cared about his soldiers as well. He nudged her shoulder with a fist, offering a brave, if patronizing smile.

“No… We need to find out what happened to unit forty-eight. No matter what.”

“That’s the spirit. You’re a fighter, Melody. C’mon, I got a boy needs some help.” She perked up a little. An injury? The first of the trip, if she recalled. The sergeant led her away from the rest of the soldiers, towards a different fire. The soldiers around this fire were all standing, save for one. He pointed at the man, and Melody swept forward. She had operated tired before, saving lives when she was on the brink of exhaustion. She clicked into a different mode, a different mindset. Her eyes scanned the man’s body, looking him all over.

“Aah shit, psycho wolf-bitch.”

“Watch it, private.”

“Yes, sarge.” He grumbled, looking up at Melody. “What do you want?”

“You’re hurt?”

“Wha… Yeah, why you ask?”

“Let me see.” Hesitantly, the man pulled down the hood of his coat, revealing a glistening cut on his cheek. It had scabbed over in the night, his unshaven beard matting into the wound on his jaw.

“Sarge has got a nasty left hook.” He grumbled, even as Melody inspected the wound. The cut was superficial. It bled plenty, but wasn’t serious. Her hands glowed immediately, weaving through the air above the wound. “Hey, what the… Ow! The fuck?!”

“There.” She said, standing straight. “It’s scoured and shut. Be careful shaving… IF you shave… For about a week.” She looked down at him. Something about his voice…

“Fuck…” He ran a finger along the thin line on his jaw, working his muscles in a circle and rubbing the spot. “Well sarge makes me look like an ass twice in one morning… I suppose I owe you an apology. Yer alright, kiddo.” The man flushed, despite the cold, and stood up with the others.

“Good job, Melody. Now come on. If what our scout says is right, we’ll reach unit forty-eight’s camp today. Y’hear that, men? Half a day’s flight to some warm buildings and real beds!”

“Fuck yeah!”

“Alright!” They all cheered as loud as they could manage before eagerly shouldering packs, padding off towards where everyone else was gathered.

“Hey.” The sergeant stopped her once more.

“Hmm?”

“You did a good job. The soldiers know you’re a healer now, so they’ll forget about last night’s little accident.”

“But… Didn’t you…?”

“What?” He shrugged, clapping her on the shoulder. “No sense having a healer if no one gets hurt. ‘sides. Had to teach him a lesson.” With a chuckle, the sergeant swept past her, leaving a soft smile on Melody’s face.

The camp was, indeed, abandoned. Twice over, Melody had to say… Connor’s unit had set up in a very old and already-abandoned town, taking over some of the larger buildings for barracks and a command center. An old town hall had been converted into a barracks, and inside it looked like beds had been dragged from all over the town. This place was maybe a quarter the size of Ponyville, and that was saying something. When they first entered the town, it was slow and quiet, their footfalls silenced by wet snow and careful tread.

It took them maybe two hours to check each building top to bottom before finding nothing, save for the leftover supplies and somewhat worn signs of recent life. “What do you make of it?” Lily had asked the sergeant when they had all settled down in the old town hall. For both platoons, it’d be a stretch, but they could fit.

“They were here, alright. This old town has been here for ages. We used to use it for out-runners fleeing harpies a long time ago, when the chimera were not so big a threat… Now, unit Forty-Eight was posted here to observe movements, scout the surrounding territory, and eventually run diversion and raiding operations. This was their command center, you can tell by the map here…” He ran his fingers over a spread piece of parchment on the nearby table. “They slept in there, where the other men are now… Bathroom facilities… Shit, they even had a shower. There are less-cushy deployments than this…”

“So… What made them leave? Where are they now?” Verse asked. That stumped the sergeant. He shrugged and sighed, looking over the room once more.

“You got me there… Tracks were blown away in all the storms, any other sign would be cold by now… We can’t say what way they went or when, but we can say that they went, and they sure as shit aren’t here now. Nothing to do but set up camp and start searching. Look, I don’t want you all to stay here with the men… At least, not all of them. Take half my unit, and look for another place to stay. Take second squad. I think there’s a home across the way. If there’s room, set up a clinic so we can help sick or wounded… Tomorrow morning, we’ll get started on the search.” He spoke fast, issuing orders quickly and succinctly. Melody nodded and followed Lily, Verse staying close to her side.

Half the unit came with them across the narrow street into a nearby home. Here, a very large family or perhaps even two had lived. They swept the house and found nothing out-of-place. Melody, Verse, and Lily took the master bedroom, while the remaining half of the unit that came with split up between the other three bedrooms. Each were large enough to keep them all comfortably, if a touch spartan. Melody was glad to discover warm running water. A shower would do wonders for her right now. They settled, showered, ate, and reported back to the sergeant. She felt more awake than she had in recent weeks.

“Right, get all set up?”

“Don’t have the clinic set up yet, but the medical supplies are over here with the second unit.”

“Right. Well, here, let’s go over the map.” Before them on the wide table was a large, detailed map of the local area. The town was a small splotch near the middle, and around them in five-mile increments were what the sergeant referred to as ‘Satellite Watches.’ “One or two soldiers would post at these, and would act as a sort of first warning. We’re here for search and rescue, so we won’t worry about posting out there, but we will have to search them. Now, the report said they had found a cave or an old ruin of sorts. Long ago, this town used to mine coal. See?” He tapped the map, indicating the northern edge. It was here Melody could see rigid lines striking in towards the interior of the map. It was the beginning of the high mountains. Hardly thirty miles away… The edge of the world. No one, save for maybe a few gods, had ever been over those mountains… Here, in this harsh cold and biting winds, she could see why… No one would survive the trip.

However, there was something out of place. Frowning at the spot the sergeant’s finger met the map, she leaned in… “Is that…”

“Its no ruin. It’s a mine.”

“Woah… Do you think…?”

“Given the report, I think it’s a better place to start than out on the tundra.” The sergeant smiled and tapped the spot. “We’ll investigate after we get set up here. I get the feeling the search for unit forty-eight might take a little longer than we think… Winter’s rolling in. If we stay here for the season, sweat out the storms and the cold, we can return during the spring melts.”

“I have a better solution.” Melody said with a soft smile. The sergeant arched his eyebrow at her quizzically.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“If we find Connor’s unit, we can make spring come to us. Verse knows what I’m talking about.” Her brother smiled at her, remembering their good friends, and the ones that had given them their enchanted garments.

“Really? First, you scream and fret in the night, and now you say you can stop the snow.”

“Not me.” She pointed to the north-east. “Gale.”

“Gale. The roc-god of the north winds, master of the west?” The sergeant laid his hands on the desk. “Melody, if you think you can purse your lips, whistle to the winds, and call the roc-king himself, I’d not just call you insane, I’d call you fucking stupid.”

Lily laughed out loud.

Two days later, the wind whipped around Melody’s waist, tugging at her. As usual, it wasn’t cold, but she wasn’t worried about herself… The sergeant and Lily shivered against the biting wind as they stood on the hilltop. They had taken two days to set up, while some smaller parties were sent out to start the searches. The preliminary search of the satellite watches had revealed nothing but cold fires and abandoned tents. Today, they were going to the mine.

“Do it, Verse.” She nodded. Her brother smiled and turned Northwest. His pinky fingers lifted to his lips, and out over the howling winds pierced a magic-induced, loud whistle. The sergeant actually winced against the sound. It echoed off of far-away hills, coming back to them eerily… Along with another sound. A howl. Wolves.

“Shit… They heard that. Not good.” The sergeant pulled a sword free from his belt, tromping through the knee-high snow towards Verse. “Ready yourselves. They’ll be here in minutes. I told you you're stupid whistle wouldn’t work. What’s worse, you’ve fucking alerted the pack!” Melody and Lily advanced behind him, Melody’s hands already glowing with a spell. Lily held a spear in her hands, though she knew as well as any of them she would be little help.

“Wait!” Verse held a hand up, stopping all of them. “Wait… Hear that?” They all paused, hearts hammering in their ears as the howling wind took over. That, and the sound of something else… Something cutting through the snow… Melody heard it… Wings! Gale was coming!

“Wolves! Guard up!” The sergeant snapped her attention back to the present. Melody watched as the pale grey shapes materialized in front of them, wavering in the driving snow for a moment. She saw them bob up and down. Melody’s dreams came back to her, and she felt her heart hammer faster, harder…

“Melody! Stay with me now! They aren’t like the ones in your dream!” Verse called, his hands already weaving an intricate spell. He was cut off by the piercing eagle cry that rocked the ground beneath them.

”NO THEY ARE NOT!” Lightning. Thunder. Fire. They ripped through the air, melting snow and impacting them with a shockwave. Lily and the sergeant fell down, tumbling through the snow just as the monstrous god landed before them. Melody’s vision was filled with blue and yellow and red, the Roc’s second cry making her ears hurt. ”BEGONE, BANE OF HEARTH! LEAVE!” He screamed and shot lightning away from their small party, cutting through the storm with his power.

“Gale!” Melody cried, her hands covering her ears. The sense of foreboding and threat faded away, though she still felt a slight bit of fear. Gale was here, he would protect her, he had vowed to do so. But the wolves and their nightmares still plagued her.

”Melody. Verse. I wish we had met under better circumstances. Gale said, his voice much more cool and soothing. ”Come. Let us warm your friends.” Gale gingerly stepped forwards, his massive wings tucking up against his body with an audible whooshing sound. Melody and Verse led him to where Lily and the sergeant were picking themselves up, staring at the gargantuan god with wonder.

“Gale… God of the North and Western winds… In all my days, I never…” The sergeant breathed.

“You owe me an apology, sergeant.” Melody teased, punching his shoulder playfully. The sergeant hardly noticed, his eyes still wide with wonder as Gale swept his head in close.

”Sergeant Icelash… Your name suits you well. You’re a veteran of the northern campaign. Your family has served the Equestrian military and weather team for a long, long time… Do not stand in wonder, the honor is all mine.” Gale’s head dipped, his black eyes closing. It was a bow. From a god.

“Wh… My god Gale, I… I’m not worthy.”

”Hahaha!” Gale’s laughter rumbled low from his fluffy, down-covered chest, his beak cracking a little. Fire danced in his maw. ”We gods understand honor and can appreciate hard work and reverence. I am honored to be standing in the presence of one whose family still whispers my name and carries my crest on their coat of arms. You and yours have faithfully served me for a long time. I am very appreciative of your efforts. But this isn’t about you or I right now.”

“Gale,” Verse said, drawing the god’s attention. “On the contrary, it is… We need your help.” He stepped forward, raising his arms to the roaring storm. “We… We need clear skies and no snow right now. We’re here to rescue some dear friends of ours, loyal soldiers who have served you like the sergeant has.”

”Hmm. You speak the truth, child of love.” Gale grumbled, leaning in to fix both he and Melody with a single black eye. ”But this is not my doing.”

“Wh… WHAT?!” Melody stammered in disbelief. Gale was the god of the north winds! The snow and the weather were his to command! The skies were his! “How can that be?! You… You’re the god of the North wind, right?!”

”Indeed I am. But in my absence, it appears other forces have taken a bitter grip on my birthright. Believe me, Melody, I’ve been battling them since you’ve awakened me. But I’m afraid the northern skies of Hearth are not currently mine. I come and go as I please, but the weather, the snows, and the wind… They are not under my control.”

“H… How?” Lily stammered. She was, apparently, still in disbelief. Or maybe awe. Gale was a sight to behold. Melody noticed she was no longer shivering, though, and neither was the sergeant. Gale sighed, a melancholy sort of sound that made Melody’s heart break.

”I suppose none of you have heard of the Wendigo before?”

“I have.”

“Same.”

“As have I.” The sergeant, Melody, and Verse all answered in the affirmative.

“Well I haven’t.” Lily grumbled. Gale smiled. A beaky, odd sort of thing for a god to do…

”Very well. I shall give you the abridged version. And worry not about the wolves… They won’t bother us for now.” Gale settled down, his downy fluff covering his great talons, settling his weight into the snow and ice around them. All of it began to melt away, baring the dark, black earth beneath. ”Long, long ago, the avian commanded the sky alongside Gale and I. They did our work, and we gave them the magic to help us move clouds, to manipulate the weather. They co-existed well with the Magi, whose boon was granted by Ephemira, and humans, who were blessed by Verdan, the god of life and growing.”

“Wait… This isn’t a version I’ve heard…” Melody said, the three who thought they knew the story shared a look, frowning slightly.

”Hmm. Probably because you weren’t there. Tales are often lost or changed in time. Well, listen closely. Ahem. The three races lived in harmony… But much like the harpies have recently, the avian fell from grace. Their magic wouldn’t work because they were cold and bitter and angry. As a result, it wouldn’t rain without our direct intervention, and the crops began to suffer at the hands of Verdan’s followers. As such, the magi grew weak and could not use their magic effectively. They argued and bickered and fought. As was the way back then, it was all we could do to sit back and let things run their course. This was, mind you, before The Edge of the World existed.” Gale’s eyes turned to the North, off to the high and imposing mountains.

“That’s what it’s called?” Melody asked. “The Edge of the World?” Gale nodded and resumed his story.

”All three races lived in harmony far north of here long ago. But their bitterness and petty arguments led to the birth of another god, one that was needed to bring balance to the world… All of us were young still, hardly ten thousand in age. Verdan, Ephemira, and my brother and I all agreed to let things run their course. We watched as each race set out to find it’s own home… In the South. Their bitterness followed them, as did the young god. When they all fought over who should reside in this new-found land, where the earth was green and lush, the winds were fair, and the land pulsed with powerful magic… It began to freeze.

“The Wendigo, a powerful god of bitterness and cold, had followed the three races into their new home. Territory disputes, hatred, rage, and bitter anger took root. Snow, or what they believed to be snow, covered the land and made things difficult for all. When one brilliant young magi realized the danger their new home was in, she used her magic to make the others see how foolish they were being, to draw attention to the danger all three races were in. They forged a new pact, a bond, and fought off the bitterness.

“The Wendigo, which are the embodiment of this young god, were fought back. The snow and bitter winds receded back to the cold north, and rose their mountains, cutting off the warm and fertile new land. Back then, the whole of the land was known as Mordune. Eventually, though, natural borders were made. New races and species were born, and each were given their own lands. Under the guidance of the avian, magi, and humans, everyone found their place, and they were happy. Forgotten was the god of bitterness and his cold wind. Forgotten, but not gone…” Gale sighed and shuffled a little, his story done.

“So… Is that what’s happening right now?” Melody asked.

”More or less, yes… The war, the anger and bitterness between the harpies, the chimera, the changelings… The Wendigo are returning in force, spilling forth from The Edge of the World. This snow that surrounds us is pure, bitter disdain. It freezes you in your sleep, and it’s frostbite is not curable by normal means. The wolves are the bitter rage that wants to rip the world apart, run it ragged and consume it’s warm flesh. The horses, long since dead, are the purest embodiments of the Wendigo’s bitterness… I fight them tirelessly, day in and day out, to reclaim my beloved winds… But I cannot do it when bitterness and anger still reside in the hearts of so many…

“Melody. Verse. You two must do everything you can to end this war. The citizens of Mordune coexisted in peace without this vicious bitterness and anger in their hearts. This disharmony amongst so much is hurting not only us, but them as well… How many have died? How many have had their lives ended in violent and vicious manners, all for the fruitless pursuit of… What? Does anybody even know?”

Melody shed tears over the sad and depressing story… While it was similar to the one she had been told by Twilight, it was not the same. There were more details, particularly at the beginning… So it was thanks to Gale and Hurricane that the avian could manipulate weather… Crops were grown by humans thanks to another god… A god that she and Verse knew about. Who was likely asleep and dormant with the others… How many old gods lived now? How many rested? How many, like the Wendigo and their god of bitterness, now rampaged unchecked across the homes of friends and family?

“These are dark times…” Melody whispered, shivering from something much colder than the wind and snow…

“We’ll do it, Melody.” Verse said, reassuring her. His warm hand on her back made her feel warm and calm. At least, more so than she had… “I have a different question for you, Gale…”

”Ask away, Verse. I am yours. My knowledge is open to your questions.”

“My sister and I have been plagued by these nightmares… Horrible things about wolves and horses, chasing us and making us lose much sleep. We’re flagging… Is there anything you can do to help us?”

”Hmm…” The low rumble of Gale’s thoughtful hum vibrated in Melody’s chest. Gale smiled again, that odd cracking of his beak.

”I believe I can. I think it’s as worthy a cause as any to protect you and yours in your time of need. I’ll stand vigil over your rest this evening, children of love. The magic and premise are complex, but with me standing by, your nightmares will not trouble you this night. Come. I will return you to your base. Climb upon my back.” Gale dropped his shoulder for them, and all four scrambled up the feathers onto his back. The sergeant had no words as he gripped the downy bed of feathers beneath him, the lurching flight was short and warm, taking them back to the Western edge of the small mining town.

“Thank you, Gale…” Melody said, hugging his beak as they all dismounted. Gale nudged her gently, clicking a soft reassurance from his throat.

”As I said, the pleasure is mine. I’m still young and new to this new Mordune… Selfish and immature as it may sound, I’m actually… Kind of enjoying the conflict. After sleeping for thousands of years, I think you’d find yourself enjoying the opportunity to… Exercise. I will get a good workout this night, protecting you and yours from the terrors in the night. There will be no need to post a watch, sergeant. Not for this or any night from here on out.”

“Th… Thank you, my god.” Sergeant Icelash, as Gale had betrayed his previously-unknown name to be, bowed low. Gale nudged him with the edge of his beak.

”Go now. And for the love of the winds… Try and laugh now and then? If I remember correctly, happiness and laughter do well to stave off the bitterness that resides in all our hearts. I’m off to watch the night.” Gale left them then. Melody had to admit, in the absence of the massive roc, she felt reassurance weigh in on her heavy, tired bones. She and Verse turned and woodenly entered the house with Lily. The sergeant wordlessly let them go, knowing Verse and Melody needed their rest. Together, all three of them stripped down for bed.

Melody was out before her head hit the pillow.

Wendigo

--------- Melody’s Tale - Wendigo ---------

Her sleep was uninterrupted and oh so sweet. When she awoke to the cold, bleak sunlight filtering through the heavy grey clouds, she couldn't help but smile. She was nestled in between Lily and Verse, the three of them sharing the bed in the house they had commandeered. It was warm, it was quiet, and she felt more rested than ever.

Her dreams were not absent, however. They weren't the feverish nightmares that robbed her of her strength and sanity, but they were there. Even as she tried to recall the details, they sifted through her fingers like droplets of water. The harder she tried to hold them, the faster they oozed in between the cracks of her memory and into obscurity. Judging by Verse’s snoring, he had slept much the same.

“Morning.” Lily said quietly, hardly more than a whisper. Melody smiled softly and glanced over her shoulder at her mother.

“Mornin’.” She muttered.

“Sleep good?”

“Oh you don’t even know…” Melody stretched as best she could under the heavy quilt, smiling to herself as she felt her muscles twinge and fill with energy. A hearty breakfast, and Melody would be back on her feet in no time… The whole night of sleep really had done wonders for her. She felt a little musty, in need of a shower, but now they had the facilities to accomplish her needs.

“C’mon.” Lily said quietly, silent as a shadow as she slipped out of bed. Melody followed, taking extra care not to wake Verse up. Her brother slumbered on, blissfully unaware of the two women preparing for their day around him. In the interest of time and saving hot water, they showered together, and Melody was glad for the light, gentle teasing her mother gave her.

“I swear, they’re getting bigger!” Lily exclaimed, lifting Melody’s breasts.

“Hey, stoppit!” She laughed and swatted at Lily’s hands, blushing as she covered her bust.

“No, really! I hadn’t noticed it before! You’re almost as big as I am.” Lily lifted her own, grinning as her breasts jiggled a little in the steamy water.

“You think so?” Melody pulled her arm away, inspecting her chest. She really was getting larger… More so in the past few weeks than ever before. Sure, she had her growth spurts, but this one was quite noticeable. They felt a little heavier, and unless she was mistaken, her lower back would ache at the end of the day.

“Trust me, kiddo. You’re growing faster than you know what to do with yourself. C’mon, let me scrub your back.” Melody turned around and pulled her hair over her shoulder, pondering her mother’s words as she was subject to the rough scrubbing. She idly ran her fingers through her hair, her thoughts wandering, as they often did, to her nights with Connor.

“Do you think it’s because of my recent… Activity?” She asked, half to herself, half to her more experienced mother.

“Most definitely. Your hormones awake when you first have sex. Unless I’m mistaken, we’re coming up on our flow soon…” The downside to living with two mothers, they had all synchronized early on. Melody could attest to the truth that women who lived together synced their periods. “Trust me when I say the first one after sex is different… I won’t say worse or better, because it changes from woman to woman, but it is different. Rinse.” Melody switched places with Lily, obligingly returning the favor as Lily continued talking. “Yeah… Don’t worry yourself with it, though. I’ll tell you this much… Soon, you’ll start producing milk. It might hurt the first time, but if you don’t purge, you might ruin your breasts forever. Don’t quote me, because we both know you’re anything but normal, but yeah… You might want to squeeze some of it out in the shower if it starts to hurt.”

“You think that might be the cause of the growth?” Melody asked. Lily shrugged.

“Difficult to say, really… Mine never did, but I’m not normal myself. I’ve seen other women fluctuate whole cup sizes because of milk buildup.”

“Huh… Rinse.” The conversation stopped there, both of them drying and dressing in silence. Melody did notice her bra was a little tighter than she remembered it being as of late… Still fluffing damp hair, she and Lily exited the bathroom, Verse sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Mornin’.” He muttered, yawning. Melody smiled at him and nodded towards the bathroom.

“All yours. Left enough hot water, I’d think.”

“Awesome.” He tiredly slipped out of bed and into the bathroom. With how groggy he appeared, he must have really enjoyed sleeping so long. When the sounds of the shower started, Melody figured it was about time to go start breakfast. To her surprise, there were actually two soldiers downstairs. They held their spears in mittened hands, sitting on the long bench in the main hallway. She started a little when she saw them.

“Oh! How long have you two been here?” She asked, laying a hand over her hammering heart.

“Not long. Less than ten minutes. We just thought we were coming down with a bit of a cold, thought you could help.” The first one said, sniffling a little as he looked up at her. His nose was red and his eyes a little puffy. One way or another, he was suffering from a little something.

“Sure. Come on in.” She ushered them into the other room, gesturing to two open medical tables. These they had found in a clinic across the town. Since it was about half a mile away from the hub where everyone slept and worked normally, they had them transported into the small house they currently occupied. Just across from the barracks, their makeshift clinic had sprung up in the two days they had been there. Melody worked at tying her hair back and tucking it down the back of her tunic, a practice one adopted when they worked with wounded and sick people.

“Go ahead and take off your jackets and coats… Weapons against the wall.” She said, pushing her hands into latex gloves. The men obliged, their upper halves stripped down to undershirts. “Relax. Just gonna take a look at what’s happening.” Her hands glowed as she rested one on the front and one on the back of the nearest soldier. “Breathe in.” He obliged, his chest expanding under her hands. “And out.” As he did, she felt the rattle in his chest, her magic finding the spare bit of phlegm.

“Urk.”

“Oop.” Verse interjected with a metallic bin. The soldier spit the upchuck into the pail, purging the extra phlegm with Melody’s help.

“Good catch, bro.” She smiled at him as Verse padded the rest of the way into the makeshift clinic, his own hands glowing as he held the metallic bin with his magic. The soldier spat a few times, then coughed and breathed deep and easy.

“Anytime.”

“Oh fuck.”

“Better?” Melody asked, pulling away with a smile. The soldier breathed a few more times, his lips spreading into a smile.

“Yeah, actually… I feel great. Still a little stuffed up, but…”

“Well… I can do the same thing I just did…” Melody offered.

“With my nose?”

“It’s a little uncomfortable, but it’ll clear you right up.”

“Shit, if I can bandage my buddy’s stump in a puddle of blood and vomit, I can handle this. What do you need me to do?” Melody smiled at him then glanced at Verse. Holding the bucket at the ready, Verse was all in. Like or not, he had the same touch she did. The touch of a healer.

“Just act like you’re going to blow your nose.” Melody placed her fingertips on the bridge of his nose, her other curled around the back of his head. Verse moved the bucket under his nose and mouth, ready to catch whatever came out. When the soldier exhaled through his nose, Melody scooped out all the gunked-up sinus congestion, and pulled out with his help. The sound was sickening, but she’d seen worse. With the cold temperature, she figured she’d be doing this often… Small price to pay to keep all the soldiers healthy. That, and it helped improve her standing with the wary men…

“Ugh.” Verse carried the bucket away after the purge was over. Melody chuckled and directed the soldier to a sink where he could wash up. Once Verse returned with a cleaned bucket and Melody had washed and switched gloves, they repeated the process with the second soldier. Afterwards, they both breathed deep and heavy, their senses clear and the groggy congestion gone from their voices.

“Oh wow, thanks a bunch.” The first said, inhaling through his nose.

“Not a problem. We’ve got breakfast coming up soon if you feel like staying.”

“Sounds good. I’m in.” Melody and Verse transitioned from medical help to host and hostess flawlessly. They poured orange juice and water, cooked eggs, hashbrowns, oatmeal and at request grits. Taking care of the soldiers gave Melody a sense of purpose, of belonging. For now, she would act as their medic, their caregiver, so they began to trust her. To like her. When Lily joined in for breakfast, they all chatted and laughed, generally just making Melody feel better.

She had slept well, she was eating hearty food once more, and the soldiers were being friendly instead of standoffish and a little cold. She learned their names were Jake and Benjamin, both of them corporals with the support unit. Once breakfast was over, they reported back to the command center, taking Lily with them. Melody and Verse stayed behind in case any other soldiers came in.

“Hey.” Verse said, right as they were in the middle of cleaning the dishes up.

“Hmm?”

“About what Gale said yesterday… Do you think it’s true?”

“What, that the god of bitterness is alive and well?” She quipped, straightening herself. Verse nodded solemnly, his hands submerged in soapy water. Verse was always on dish duty.

“Well… Gale is young and new to the world. From the sound of it, he’s been up here fighting whatever’s causing this abnormal weather and those nightmares. I’d like to help him make his stand, but I just don’t know how…”

“I’ve been thinking.” Verse stood up, drying his hands on a nearby towel. “About what he said… The skies belong to him. The snow, the wind, the lightning… They’re his to command. Maybe… Maybe our job isn’t to just resurrect the old gods…” He leaned against the counter, speaking soft and low. “Maybe we need to help… I dunno… Restore them?”

“Like… Help them find their place?”

“Right… Look, Celestia and Luna are still awake and alive. Have been for thousands of years… Maybe they aren’t the only old gods that didn’t sleep… Ephemira, Gale and Hurricane... They’re only the ones we’ve awoken. Others might still be awake. Others like this god of bitterness…”

“So… Instead of waking them… We need to help them find their place.”

“Precisely.” Verse nodded, his point made. Melody stopped, her rag still on the tabletop.

“Verse, that’s… That’s brilliant. But how?”

“Think hard, Melody… Why didn’t Twilight come with us?”

“She… Well, Dash said he had a favor to ask her.”

“You forget. Before that, she said she was better off in Eyriewatch. With her books and research. She knows everything those books have, so why does she feel compelled to stay? And just because Dash had a favor to ask doesn’t mean she can’t help out her family. Twilight… That is to say Ephemira, may have been awoken. But I don’t think she’s found her place just yet. It’s been, what, two months? A month and a half? Gale still hasn’t reclaimed the north winds. How is Hurricane doing down south? They should be able to sweep whatever adversity remains aside and take their place with ease… Think about it.” Verse pushed off the counter, gesturing with his hands.

“We’re bringing these gods back into a world they haven’t lived in for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. Things have changed. Cities and civilizations gone and destroyed, or sprung up and flourishing… They’re confused, weak, and young. We need to help them, not just by bringing them back, but by helping them find their place once again.”

“Verse, I… Listen, it’s too early to think of this shit.”

Verse laughed and hugged her.

“You want us to tag along?” Melody wrapped up the point with an arched eyebrow. Sergeant Icelash, who had previously been stuttering over the words he wanted to ask, dropped his hands defeatedly.

“Yes. But only if you’re willing.”

“Sergeant, do I need to remind you why Verse and I tagged along in the first place? We’re not technically here to wake up screaming in the middle of the night and play doctor with sick soldiers. We came, originally, to investigate these claims, to see what, if anything, we could do to locate Connor’s missing unit. Clearly, he used to be here. This is where they were posted. There’s obvious signs of recent life. Your teams have scouted the surrounding area thoroughly. All that remains is the mine.”

It was later on that same day when Sergeant Icelash had requested the two of them come into the command center. He had stuttered and drawled on for a few minutes, going on about how ‘the men need you’ and we’d ‘rather not risk it’ when Melody had just driven straight to the point.

“Fine, fine. I guess I had forgotten. Old habits die hard, eh? You leave at first dawn tomorrow. Questions?”

“None, Sergeant.” Both she and Verse confirmed. It might have been improper, but Melody felt it necessary. She clicked her heels together and saluted. The sergeant blinked at her before returning the salute, and when she and Verse left, he chuckled and shook his head.

“Well.” Verse said gently. “Thought about what I said any?”

“A little. I’ll admit it’s got to be confusing to wake up in a world you once thought familiar… I’m not saying I’ll do it because they’re gods… But I’ll do it because ANYone in that situation deserves a little guidance. Or, in the case of whoever this god of bitterness is, a stern reprimand. Come on, let’s go get some sleep.” She said, nodding towards their home. Bidding an early good night to Lily, the two of them ascended the steps to their bedroom and slept back-to-back, thankfully without the nightmares for another night. When they awoke, it was still dark out, though Melody felt refreshed and renewed. A quick shower and some coffee later, she and Verse were dressed and packed for the trip north, and they rendezvoused with their scouting unit in the barracks across the small street.

“Melody, Verse. You two ready?” A different Sergeant, this one just one rank underneath Icelash, greeted them as they slipped into the barracks. All around, jostling movement and preparations were being made, gear clanking and fabric rustling as the soldiers prepared to move north.

“As we’ll ever be.” Melody affirmed with a nod. It was mornings like this she was thankful for the clothing Gale and Hurricane had blessed them with. She could see the soldiers shiver, their breath puffing white vapor even inside the heated barracks. It was cold.

“Good. We’re wings up in five. Meet outside. Oh, and… Here.” Shuffling about in his coat, the sergeant withdrew two leather sheaths, the buckles and straps creaking and clinking as he passed them off to Verse. “Trottingham steel, some of the finest in the land.” He explained as Verse gingerly pulled a wicked-looking knife free of the leather sheath. “Folded steel makes it a touch heavier, but it’s durable and won’t break easily. They aren’t standard issue, so no one will give you shit for not being soldiers. I know you two have your magic, but you won’t believe the things I’ve seen some magi do with a blade. Keep them, more for my personal peace of mind than anything else.” Verse sheathed his blade and handed Melody the other. She took it awkwardly in her hands, wondering how far things had come…

There, in the dark, cold morning, she wondered how she had come from a laughing, swimming, violin-playing little girl who frolicked in the ocean and napped through the hot afternoons to the world-changing, non-virgin, knife-wielding woman she was now. Nevertheless, she strapped the knife to her right thigh, the cold metal handle brushing her fingertips as her hand hung at her side. “Right then. We ready?”

“Three minutes. See you outside.” The sergeant said, nodding. She and Verse exited into the dark morning, standing close as they turned their eyes to the north.

“What do you think he’s doing right now?” Verse asked.

“Who? Gale?” He nodded. “Probably clearing the path for us, if we’re lucky. He might be somewhere else.”

”Or maybe I’m right here.” With an impact that made the ground shake a little beneath them, Gale’s massive body suddenly filled the street. His wings spread wide above them, his towering form hovering over the roofs of all the nearby buildings.

“Gale!” Melody smiled, despite the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Seeing the massive, imposing god land before her was never going to get old… “Good morning! Did you sleep well?”

”I do not sleep, little one. I stood vigil over your rest, however. There is much more trouble in and around this town than you know.”

“Trouble?” Melody arched her eyebrow. More soldiers poured out of the barracks, eyes wide as they beheld the sight of the massive Roc in the middle of the small town.

”Indeed. The Wendigo plague this place. I hold them off easily enough, but were I not here, I fear your lives may have been lost. They harbor very ill intent towards any who venture this far north. Your friend and his unit were very unfortunate to have crossed them.”

“Crossed? What do you mean, crossed?” Verse asked hesitantly.

”All through the night they howl and snarl and scream, demanding more avian to condemn.”

“Condemn?!” Melody said incredulously, her eyes wide. Gale nodded solemnly at them, the entire scouting party. Melody felt her jaw slacken. So they HAD taken Connor! But they said Condemn, not kill or sacrifice or murder… Condemn! Her hopes soared for the survival of the mission. For Connor and his men. They were in the cave, she knew it, just waiting to be saved. “You hear that, you guys?” Melody said, turning to the searching party behind her. “Scouting unit forty-eight is alive and imprisoned. Let’s go save our friends.” With a cheer that lifted spirits and bodies, they all spread wings and took off… Flying fast and free through the winds to the north. Behind them, Gale chuckled.

”I like her.”

“Connor! Connor, come on man…” Verse’s panicked tone fit the situation well. He slapped the cold sergeant’s face, his eyes flitting to and fro in the dark recesses of the mine. “Connor, wake up. Don’t sleep on me, now… Not now, man. Come on.” His hands fell on Connor’s cold cheeks, the slaps echoing up and down the mine.

“Nn… Whuzit…” The big avian stirred slightly in Verse’s grip, his eyes flickering as he groggily came to.

“Connor! Thank the heavens. Come on, man. Get up. I need you.”

“Whuz… Vers…?” He muttered, lifting a hand to rub his temple.

“Yeah, it’s Verse, man… Come on. Wake up.”

“M’lody?”

“She’s here… Or… She was.” Connor blinked a few times, looking at Verse with a confused expression.

“Was?” It was his first coherent word. Verse was glad that his brain hadn’t been damaged. At least, not much.

“Come on. You gotta get up.”

“NGH!” Connor grunted as Verse started to lift him. “The Fahhh- AHHH!” He cried as Verse pulled up, tweaking the avian sergeant’s leg.

“Yeah, that’s pain… Come on, man.” He had feeling… One way or another, this was good… “Here,” Verse took a moment to rip a strip of his overcoat off, balling it up and stuffing it into Connor’s mouth. The man bit down hard, grunting into the makeshift gag as Verse lifted him the rest of the way. Connor’s left leg was alive and healthy… But his right… Verse didn’t want to look at it. Not again.

“Meehhooy.”

“Yup. C’mon, buddy. Let’s get you to Melody.”

“Hnnng…” Verse hoisted Connor up onto his one good leg, half-dragging half-supporting the big man forward, taking it one step at a time. Verse turned his eyes to the way he had came, back towards the entrance of the cave.

Back towards the heart of bitterness itself.

“Two more, Melody!” She didn’t hear it. Rather, she didn’t listen to it. The sound wafted past her ears, went into her brain, but there it died. She was using every ounce of her magical ability to try and save the one she was already working on. That, combined with the two that had already been there, and these extra two, five of their fifteen-avian party were injured. She focused, and let her magic fill the form before her. Flesh knitted together, bones re-connected, and breath returned to lungs. The avian coughed and sputtered blood. He was stable for now.

Her attention then turned to the next avian. His arm was laying detached next to the bloody stump of his shoulder, and he was bleeding a lot. Melody stemmed the tide with a plug, her magic working to separate and make sense of the ragged flesh. Blood oozed from smaller ruptured veins, adding to the pool, but at least the major artery was plugged for now. Finally, the puzzle of blasted flesh righted itself, and she was at least able to place them together. Then came the tricky part. She started weaving the flesh together, and once the severed artery was re-attached to it’s constituent tube, she finished closing him up. Bones would need restructured, but he was stable.

Stabilize first. Then treat. Triage. Move, work, think, heal, put flesh and bone back together, let nothing faze you.

This man was clutching his own stomach, trying to hold in his organs as the internal pressure tried to equalize. Pulsating, sickeningly pink flesh spilled around his fingers, and he gurgled on his blood. Melody’s hands glowed as she set her attention on him, her tired and weary eyes scanning the situation.

“You’re going to die.” She spoke low and quiet, her hands still working. Sometimes, there was nothing she could do for someone... Still, she fought, staved off the inevitable, her eyes meeting the poor man’s beneath her. “I can make it quick. Or I can try and give you longer.”

“Longer.” The shaking man whimpered. Tears welled up in his eyes. “I… Sarge…”

“I’m here, son.” Melody hadn’t even noticed him. His hand laid on the feverish soldier’s forehead, stroking his hair back off of his face.

“Tell… Tell my family…” He coughed, blood gurgling up into his mouth. Melody lifted it out with a simple touch, tossing the blood heedlessly off onto the cold stone floor. “Tell them… That I l… Love them.”

“Of course.”

“I want my mom…” He whimpered.

“Shh… Shh… It’s okay, son… Relax.” Melody stopped trying to heal him. Her hands dulled as she watched. “Shh…”

“I want my m-… Mom… Mama…” Tears flowed unheeded from his eyes as he twitched. Melody watched, fighting tears of her own, as this soldier cried for his family. “Mama… Ma, I’m… I’m… I want my mom…” Unable to stomach it longer, she turned away, to the next dying man. Behind her, she heard the sergeant soothe the man, try to calm him. She turned her attention to a different soldier, this one’s jaw dangling from his face. A simple heal, just time-consuming. She plugged the largest veins she could find and left him as stable as he would be, turning to the last one.

As she began working on his shattered arm, Melody let her thoughts go back, just five minutes prior. What had happened?

In a breath, it returned to her.

Bitter Blood

----------- Melody's Tale - Bitter Blood -----------

“So that’s the ‘ruin’ they reported?” Melody said, lowering the spyglass. Through the driving snow, she was just able to make out the dark gash in the face of the mountainside. Above them, The Edge of the World towered off into the sky, it’s peaks lost up and into the clouds that spat cold, lancing snow at them now.

“Allegedly. We won’t know until we get inside. I suggest we advance with caution now. No more flying fast and hard, we move in on foot, scout every last corner, and see what we can find.” The sergeant accepted the glass back from Melody, who mulled it over.

“Sounds like a plan. But I want Verse and I near the front. In the close quarters, we’ll be more effective with our magic than you with your weapons.”

“Melody, you know-“

“Yes, yes…” She huffed. “I know you are supposed to be keeping my brother and I safe. But truth be told, if we’re going to get this mission done, Verse and I are more capable of defending ourselves than you will be. In there,” Melody pointed at the dark stain on the face of the mountain, a gash into the heart of the world. “We’ll be ten times more effective than you and your wings.” The sergeant listened to her, but finally huffed a sigh and nodded.

“Fine. You win, Melody. We’ll be your support, but for the sake of my own mental sanity, take it slow? Please?”

“Of course. We need to make sure Connor’s unit is safe. Not join them in whatever state they’re in.”

“Right then. Let’s go.” Gesturing, the sergeant set the search party into motion. There were fifteen of them, with Verse and Melody they were seventeen strong. A sizeable force for a rescue mission. Then again, Melody didn’t know what they were going to encounter. All of them tramped through the snow and wind, Melody and Verse at the fore. Slowly, the dark gash in the side of the peerless mountains grew in size. It took them probably five whole minutes to advance the last little way, until at last they stood on the threshold. Melody held up a fist, commanding them all to stop. She and Verse stood still, their jackets open at the front and their hands hovering close to the knives they wore. They listened, waiting to hear something… Anything… The gaping maw before them inhaled wind, exhaled musty stone scent and mildew. Flicking her wrist forward, Melody and the search party stepped into the darkness.

Verse lit their way, his hand bobbing down towards the floor. His magic lit up with a blaze, arcing off into the dark passageway along the floor. They followed the glowing line it left behind, the soft glow the only illumination they needed. It was eerie, the silence that enveloped them. The soft, sucking sound of the wind passing them, the damp and mildew-scented air pulsing back and forth around them, almost like the cave were alive and breathing. Melody’s eyes scanned the walls and crevices, checking every dark corner as they slowly moved forward. The only sound was the soft shuffling of boots over the floor of the cave. Melody could tell this was a mine after all… Every now and then wooden supports, their frames bolstered by magic, held up weak points in the ceiling. The walls were marked with pick and shovel lines, the pale streaks adding contrast to the dull, grey surrounding stone. Skilled hands and spells had shaped this cave. This was no supernatural or natural work. This was human, magi, and avian intervention.

They shuffled along quietly, Melody and Verse attentive to every little detail for close to fifteen minutes. The first definition came when they finally reached a variance in the long, blank corridor of stone. There was one branch that led off to their left while the tunnel continued, sloping down and away from the entrance into the mountain. Melody could only guess by the rough opening on their left and the unfinished stonework had been a pocket of water or something… Upon closer inspection, she saw this opening used to be boarded over. The ends of the planks were still bolted into the stone, splintered and blown inwards… Someone had blasted the opening. She narrowed her eyes, looking into the dark space. Verse’s line of light extended down the long corridor before them, so she blazed her own into the open space. Inside, the area was roughly-hewn, and glimmered with water. Verse remained inside the main cavern while she explored this space.

Only that was it. It was just a space. Nothing to note, no major differences between this and any other portion of the walls around them. So why had someone blown their way in here? She returned to the splintered remainders of the planks that previously covered the hole, her foot moving the long sections about. As she flipped one over, she noted an indent of sorts… Unless she was mistaken, it was a boot print. So they hadn’t blown their way in. They had beaten the planks until they broke. She heaved a sigh and let her light die. The question remained why, but at least she knew it wasn’t a magi. The most logical solution was Connor’s party had kicked it in when they conducted their first search, but something about it still nagged her… Maybe it was just the current situation, her nerves making her think there was more to it than there really was…

At least, she thought there was more until they came across four other similar holes. All of them were at random intervals, and one of them was even drilled straight into the ceiling. Using a clever rope spell and some avian boosting, Melody lifted herself into the hole, only to find them exactly like all the others they had encountered. “Nothing.” She muttered quietly, dusting her hands on her jacket. “Let’s keep moving… I’m beginning to think these were just pockets of water or something… C’mon.” They trekked on, passing the third hole in the floor. Melody didn’t really even bother looking into this one. A quick glance betrayed it to be smaller than the previous two. But the fourth… That was an entirely different story.

“Woah…” She breathed, covering her hand with her mouth.

“Well.” Verse grunted, grimacing. “We found scouting unit forty-eight…”

What was left of them.

“Check for identification. Pull their tags, and search for evidence.” The sergeant said solemnly. Soldiers filed in past Verse and Melody, their faces grim and set in stone as they set about rummaging through the dead bodies. Whatever had claimed these men, it was not kind. The wounds were long since frozen over, the flesh pale and grey, rimmed with frost and apparently brittle to the touch. Melody watched as one man’s arm snapped off. They had been here for weeks, refrigerating in the cold recesses of some stinking hole in the mountainside… A quick search revealed eight dead bodies, all but two of Connor’s unit.

“There’s still a chance, then.” Melody said. “We can’t lose hope.”

“What did this to these men, though?” The sergeant asked. “They didn’t die of frostbite. For fuck’s sake, this poor guy’s torn in half… Something killed them, then dumped the bodies here. I’d be willing to bet it was chimera.”

“Chimera?” Melody said, arching her eyebrow. She leaned in, her normal compassionate self replaced by the cool, calm, level-headed healer she had learned to become. Her fingers passed over the ragged edge of one wound in a dead man’s torso, and when she pulled it away, her neon-green magic was edged with a frosty blue. The ephemeral, wispy aura wafted as if in a breeze, dissipating slowly. “No… The chimera have few magi, and none of them could have taken out an entire unit of trained scouts. Even if they were caught by surprise. Something else did this…” She rubbed her fingers together, feeling the texture of the magic. Despite the blessed clothes she wore, she felt a shiver run up her spine. This magic was cold… Very cold.

“Then…”

“I don’t know, sergeant.” She said softly, straightening herself. “But we can’t just leave them here… We need to at least give them a proper burial.”

“What, in the snow?”

“No… I don’t… Look, we have their identification, right?”

“Right.”

“Good. Everyone out.” Hesitantly, the avians obliged, eyeing her warily. Even Verse looked confused.

“Melody, you don’t mean you’re going to…”

“I’m going to try… Mom could do it before she became Ephemira, and I’ve seen Jokkan do it once…”

“Right… Need help?” He asked.

“I think… I think I can do it… Is the reverse invocation on the fourth or the fifth apex?”

“Fourth. And the eighteenth, I’m sure. For stability.”

“Right… Then…”

“Okay. Everyone, stand back… She’s… Well, she’s going to try something not every magi can do… Come on.” Verse led the unit further into the cave, leaving Melody behind. She put aside the heavy feeling in her chest, though she knew what it was. Sorrow. Depression. Bitterness… All of these things left her mind, leaving her serene and clear and in control. Her hands blazed bright green, the field dense and consuming. This was the limit of her power. About everything she could summon, she poured into the spell. She would need it all, she had the feeling…

”Why hello there…” Melody’s eyes shot open. Before her stood a very small, very innocent-looking child. She fought to keep her power blazing hard, her concentration unbroken despite the child standing in the midst of the death and destruction. ”No, go ahead… Bring them to me.” The child said softly, smiling. ”I’ll make sure they sleep. Just like I need to.”

“Wh… What?” Melody managed to say, her teeth gritted and grinding together painfully.

”I’ll keep it short, since you’re at your limit. You woke me up, but I need to sleep for a bit longer. Sister says so.”

“S… S-sister?”

”Fate. Destiny. My sister. Now, child… Bring them home.”

“Rrrgh… RRAAAAAHH!” Melody’s hands erupted in brilliant flame, pouring into the cavern. She emptied every bit of energy she had into the spell to make it work. The child, the frozen corpses, all of them were engulfed by the burning heat and fire of her spell. But this fire was not like any other. Where it licked at the dead bodies, it didn’t melt the frost and char the skin. Instead, their bodies were remade. Stitched together. Then they faded, from the outside in, glimmering pinpoints of light wafting to the ceiling to make their way out to the surface, one way or another…

Melody collapsed. Her chest heaved as she stared at the cold, dark ground. Light came back, along with the sound of running feet, creaking leather armor and tingling gear.

“Melody!” Verse skidded on his knees across the smooth stone floor, his arms wrapping around her. She leaned against him, letting his strong arms support her weight. “Are you okay? What happened?!” She lifted a finger, shakily pointing into the depraved, improvised crypt. “Woah… You did it…”

“Yeah…” She grunted, feeling the after-spell fatigue fade. Strength returned to her muscles, if not her magic. She felt herself steady, able to stand again. When Verse helped her to her feet, she sighed and straightened her back. “Verse, I saw… I saw him…”

“Him who?” Verse asked, looking around. Melody noticed his hand falling to the knife on his side. Melody swallowed, her voice shaky.

“I saw Death.”

Silence wasn’t the word to describe the atmosphere after that. It didn’t do it justice. The oppressive lack of sound from then on was not just quiet. It was deafening. Like she would never hear again. Personally, Melody didn’t mind… Not even a little. Verse was quiet, the soldiers were quiet, she was quiet, everything was just. Plain. Silent. They advanced further into the mine, into the portions where the main cavern began to branch off and split into smaller tunnels, some of them just as large and shaped as the one they were currently in, and others so small it would take a smaller, less busty person than Melody to fit into. Even more were low enough one would have to crouch over and crawl through it to make headway. But they stayed in the main branch, not straying too far left or right, if only to search for a ways. They realized then that in one trip, they could never hope to cover the entirety of the mine. The last two members of Connor’s unit would be everything but impossible to find.

Nevertheless, they delved deeper, into areas of the mine that seemed more roughly hewn than others, like it was more recently dug into. Two hours into the expedition, and they hit the end. It just ended. Verse’s light ran four feet up onto the rounded end of the wall, stopped, and pulsed there.

“Is that it?” Melody asked, the first sound in the past hour and a half.

“I think so… Something seems off, though.” Verse whispered, his eyes squinting at the light. He advanced and laid his hand on the wall.

“OOF!” The sergeant wrapped his arms around Verse, both of them falling to the ground. The whip-like crack of a magical barrier ejecting Verse’s touch echoed up the shaft, making them all jump, a few of them shouting from shock and fear.

“Verse!” Melody fell to her knees beside them, helping the sergeant and Verse untangle themselves. “Are you okay?”

“’M fine.” He grunted, rolling off of the sergeant, who wheezed slightly, but held a thumbs-up.

“The fuck was that?” He croaked, sitting up. Melody lifted him to his feet, looking back at the wall.

“Barrier. And a strong one.”

“Is that why Verse just flew into me like a javelin?”

“Yeah… See, you guys wouldn’t have been able to stage this rescue yourselves. Good thing Verse and I were here. We’ll start picking at this. Stand back.” She and Verse nodded to one another before their hands began to glow.

All barriers were much the same. Each one had to be rooted to a solid object. For a barrier in a cave like this, there were millions of rocks and deposits to attach the spell to. No hopes of finding the key and unlocking it that way. So Melody and Verse began to search for a back door. Their hands hovered over the wall, or at least what appeared to be a wall. It might have been twice as hard as the stone around it and able to repel anyone who laid a finger on it, but it technically wasn’t there. When the key was gone, the barrier had a back door. Always, there was one thread, one small little imperfection, and if you fingered it, touched it, toyed with it, the whole thing would come unraveled.

“Found it.” Verse muttered. Melody followed the trail of his magic. Indeed, there it was, just near the floor. Both of them fell to their knees and began picking at it. Like a loose thread on a dress, they unraveled it piece by miniscule piece… To the untrained eye, they were just waving their hands mysteriously over some wall. But to a trained magi, they were picking the barrier apart with an expert touch. They had, after all, had some of the most powerful barriers known to anyone to work on. Twilight tested them almost weekly in such a fashion.

“There we go…” Much like any piece of fabric, once you unwove it enough, the entire thing came unraveled. The image of the stone wall before them dissolved into millions of individual threads, each waving and fluttering as if in a breeze. As they fell to the true stone floor, they dissipated and flickered out into nothingness. Melody sighed, her head slightly aching with all the effort she had been expending…

“You alright?” Verse asked, nudging her.

“I’m fine… Let’s keep moving.” She muttered, offering him as brave a smile as she could muster. The cavern before them opened up into blackness, though it was quickly dissipated by Verse’s burning light.

“Man… Wild shit.” One of the soldiers behind them muttered. Melody cast him an inquisitive glance. “My cousin’s a magi… He’s okay, he goes to the university in Canterlot… He told me about barriers once. Said some of the best magi in Canterlot take hours to pick it apart like that… You guys did that in ten minutes.”

“Well…” Melody said, smiling softly. “My mother IS Ephemira…” A soft chuckle from all of them echoed down the cave, and when it came back to their ears, they were silent once more. The cavern extended deeper and deeper still, everyone growing as quiet as they had been before. Melody and Verse, leading the way, didn’t notice one key factor, though… Something that was made painfully obvious to everyone behind them…

It was freezing past the barrier. The poor avian’s breath turned to white vapor the instant it left their lungs, and those who had shed jackets and coats in the somewhat warm descent into the mine quickly put them back on. It was during one such rustling experience Melody looked back and noticed the chill in the air.

“Is it cold?” She mouthed, trying not to speak out loud. The sergeant nodded and huddled into the fur-lined collar of his coat. He was shuddering. “Go back and wait for us,” She motioned, hoping they would retreat to where it was at least marginally warmer. The sergeant just scowled and shook his head. They were in this to the end. With a rock-jawed nod of her head, Melody pressed forward. Verse illuminated their path, and she kept a watch for anything out-of-place…

The only thing she noticed was the cavern growing larger… Wider… Verse had to split his light after a while to avoid the long shadows obscuring her vision of the edges… After a while, they gave up. Every soft noise seemed amplified in here, the scuff of a boot coming back to them a second later at three times the volume it had been made at. It was eerie. The floor evened out, and more than that, it turned smooth… Unnaturally smooth… Melody bent down and ran her fingers over the surface.

“Verse.” She breathed. Her brother looked down at her wide-eyed expression. “It’s obsidian… This whole cave, it’s obsidian…”

“No way… The whole thing?”

“Feel it, it’s smooth…” Verse obliged, bending to his knees. Melody took over with the light, her hands casting the same glowing orb he had. Maybe it was because she was unaccustomed to the dark conditions, but she over-compensated, her blazing light making her squint her eyes and cast it as far away as she could, lest she be blinded. When her light raced off, though, she saw something else… Something big. Something menacing. Something very, very blue…

And it was breathing.

A dull, low light suddenly lit the entire cave. Melody gasped, her magic fading away as everyone snapped to attention. Blades flew into hands, spears leveled all around. Melody and Verse stood in awe of the beast that now fixed them with it’s cold, calculating, intense gaze.

”Well, well…” It’s lips didn’t move, but it’s voice rumbled all around, making them all stumble a little, their feet spreading for balance. Melody felt the breath catch in her throat. Behind her, the sound of the soldiers shaking breaths became audible.

“Identify yourself!” The sergeant swept around Lily and Verse despite his fright, brandishing his spear at the creature.

”Hmm? Oh? It raises a weapon at me? Come then, avian… Let us see your skill.” Melody watched as the wendigo took a few steps forward. The sound of it’s hard hooves clacking into the smooth obsidian sounded like bones snapping. It’s blue coat shimmered in the light of Melody’s magic, thin and emaciated ribs giving way to a sickly, thin neck. It’s mane was thin and ragged, hanging in sickening locks down it’s pale blue flesh. It’s eyes were cold and black, no difference between the iris and the pupil… This creature, whatever it was, was frightening. As it opened it’s mouth, sickeningly green saliva drooled out, passing over brown and weathered teeth to drop, hissing to the floor.

“Stay back, creature!”

“Sergeant, get back!” Melody laid a hand on his shoulder. This wasn’t the visage from Verse’s dream. Those horses had been strong and proud… This one was sick, emaciated, and evil. She could almost feel the cold radiating off of it’s cursed body. This wendigo was no average wendigo… Somehow, Melody knew this was THE wendigo…

And THE wendigo was lowering its head, his eyes still fixed on them. In it’s low, rumbling voice, this evil creature said words that chilled Melody’s blood.

”Typical. You cower behind one another, afraid to awaken to the anger in your hearts, that bitter contempt you all hold for one another. Sergeant, if you had any sense, you’d impale this woman upon your spear and run for home and hearth. You sicken me. Leave now, or I’ll eviscerate you all.” Melody didn’t doubt it. This thing radiated power, contempt, bitterness, hatred. She felt it tinge the air, begin to slowly seep into her bones. For the first time since donning Hurricane’s brilliant, colorful garment, Melody felt cold. She wanted nothing more than to run away and scream and hide and pray this thing never found her again… Instead, she and Verse stepped forward.

“We’ll not leave.” She said, her tone shaking. She saw her breath mist in front of her face. “We need to speak with you.”

The wendigo attacked.

Melody tried to cast the shield, to deflect the first sharp-looking icicles, but three of them slipped past. The fourth was caught halfway into her shield, spinning off and behind her. She and Verse escaped the brunt of the attack, but the soldiers behind them weren’t so lucky. Melody could hear one of them screaming in pain, heard bodies fall to the floor.

“RUN!” She screamed, looking back at them. Soldiers scrambled, picking up their comrades, covering the retreat. They all began to move back the way they came, some of them fleeing while others carried or dragged injured friends… Melody thought she saw one man supporting his friend with his weight, while he carried a disembodied arm in his free hand.

“Melody, Verse, come on! Run!” The sergeant hollered at them. The cavern was filled with the sounds of the keening blasts, each icicle the wendigo materialized from nowhere shattering against the neon-green glow of Melody and Verse’s shield. The scintillating sounds of glass-like shards of ice skittering across the smooth ground, along with the shouts and screams of dead and dying men filled her ears.

“Verse, we have to run. We can’t NGH take this!” She panted, grunting underneath the blast of the wendigo’s unique form of magic. Each one of these shards of ice, she knew, was not any normal form of ice. In it, she felt the same texture of magic she had pulled off of one of the dead bodies from before. That cold, ephemeral aura that made her shiver, despite Hurricane’s boon.

“Go!” Verse grunted, deflecting another blow. “They need you, Melody. Go help them! RRGH!” Melody watched as Verse planted his feet, deflecting an icicle off into the cavern, the six-foot pillar of death shattering on the hard, smooth floor.

“Verse, you know I can’t leave y-“

“GO!” Melody screamed as Verse’s magic lifted her off of her feet, throwing her back towards the retreating soldiers.

“VERSE!” She screamed, scrambling to her feet. She was about to run forward when another blast of magic caught her, propelling her into the sergeant’s arms. “VERSE!” She shoved her way out of his hold, scrambling back towards her brother. This time, it was a barrier that threw her back. Different than a shield, Melody would have to work to get through this. Her fists fell on the barrier again and again, each time getting propelled backwards as fast as she could let them fall. “VERSEEEE!”

“Melody, come on.” The sergeant pulled at her arm, even as she ineffectively batted at the barrier. Her blows were becoming weaker, her voice distorted and thin through the tears flowing from her eyes. “Melody! We need you!” She screamed at the sergeant, turning her fists on him instead. He captured both of her wrists, holding her in place. In her hysteria, her magic wouldn’t respond, her form shaking as the sergeant held her. “Wake up, Melody! We have injured! We need you to focus!”

“Fuck you!”

“FOCUS!” The smack jarred Melody’s senses. Her cheek stung like a thousand needles pierced through it. The sergeant recovered from the blow, his bare hand red from the impact. “Pay attention! We have men in critical condition, and they will die if you don’t help them!”

“But Verse-“ SMACK.

“FOCUS! How many more times am I going to have to slap you until you get the thought through your fucking mind?! WE. HAVE. WOUNDED.” Melody raised her hand to the stinging flesh, looking at the sergeant with wide, watery eyes. She blinked a few times, and once he raised a hand to smack her again, she stopped it with a thin thread.

“Stop hitting me.” She sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “And see if you can find a place to put them.”

“There we go.” The sergeant glowered at her, pushing her ahead of him. Melody turned her back on the barrier, shooting Verse a vicious bit of scorn in her mind. Rather than despair over her brother, she left him. Just like he had left her. Instead, she focused on the present. On the soldiers that needed her help.

”Oh? That was clever. Chivalrous, even.” The wendigo rumbled, the assault stopping shortly after Verse had pulled the barrier up. Verse’s magic dissipated, but he didn’t relax. He squared off with the vicious blue beast, his green eyes cold and calculating.

“What do you know of chivalry?” Verse muttered. The wendigo laughed, a wheezing sound that reminded Verse of a death rattle… The last sound a dying man made.

”Admittedly less than any mortal. You’re amusing, magi. And powerful. I sense a deep hatred in your heart… Sorrow, depression, rage…” The wendigo inhaled, it’s flanks raising so the flesh of it’s chest stretched across it’s ribs. The sound of it’s inhalation sounded like a mix between sexual ecstasy and bone meal being ground into powder. ”A bitter sort of detachment from the world… Oh yes, Verse… I feel it…” The wendigo advanced four steps, less than ten yards between it and Verse now.

“You see the bad half of my heart.” Verse returned. “There is much good inside of me, as well.”

”Oh that I don’t deny.” The beast raised it’s head, cold eyes burning straight into Verse’s own. ”Every heart has the capacity for good… I’ve seen it time and again. But I’ve seen the inverse as well… And let me tell you, Verse… I’ve seen the latter much… MUCH more than the former.” Verse set his jaw as the beast advanced, less than seven yards now.

“You haven’t seen much of the world, then.”

”My dear boy,” The wendigo’s voice was patronizing and humorous, as if he found Verse amusing. ”I see ALL of the world… I’m a god, you silly little thing. I see the bitterness in every heart from the Edge of the World to the farthest reaches of the southern seas, from the western coast of the Shadowlands to Dragonpoint. Trust me when I say there isn’t as much good in the world as you think there is.”

“Man,” Verse said, shaking his head slowly. “You really need to get laid.”

The wendigo was speechless. It’s hoofs stopped. It was less than four yards away. Verse straightened, looking into the wide black eyes of this vicious, horrifying god.

”What?”

“You really need to get laid. I used to think the same. My life has been pretty shitty lately. I left my home, got chased halfway across the dragon territories, and was held prisoner in Nest. I thought life was shit. I really did. Dare I say my view on life was much the same as yours…” Verse sighed and gestured with a hand. “Then I met Sam-“

”Oh SPARE me the drivel!” The wendigo grumbled, rolling it’s eyes. ”I’ve seen enough of your sappy romance to fill a dozen shitty novels. Just wait and see, boy… Your love will turn sour, and you’ll leave her, and she’ll cry, and her heart will turn as cold as the ice I used to impale your friends.”

“That’s the thing,” Verse cut him off, silencing the god with a warm smile. “We’ve already broken up. It ended well. We understand there are others out there that are better suited for us both. No bitterness. No anger. Shit, the breakup sex was incredible…” Verse chuckled softly, his breath pulsing from his mouth in visible vapors. The wendigo’s brow drew down, his equine expression one of confusion.

“What I’m saying is… There’s balance in all things. Did I feel sad that we had to end it? Yes. Of course. What human wouldn’t? But I’m better for having known Sam. I’m a different person, more defined, more…” He straightened his back. “Me.” He took a step forward, reaching a hand out. “There’s balance in all things.” Verse said quietly, his tone soft and tender. “A balance you yourself need to learn. This… This is not you.” He said, gesturing about, to the shattered bits of ice, to the bloodstains on the floor.

”You do not know what I am-

“You’re the god of bitterness.” Verse cut him off. “A cold, shrewd, ugly, pale sonofabitch. But this… This violence, it isn’t yours.” He pointed at the thing’s face, right into it’s black, ugly eye. “Your place isn’t in some hole in the earth, freezing and cutting people to pieces, terrorizing their dreams and covering the land in snow and vicious wind…” Verse laid a hand on his chest. “Your place is in the hearts of the people of the world. You exist in every breakup, every bit of resentment, every socially awkward shut-in who thinks they’re better than everyone else. Your place isn’t here, cutting people to pieces…” Verse gestured out, behind him towards the opening of the cave. “It’s out there. Polluting the hearts of man and trying to turn us into bitter, old, evil bastards like yourself.

“But don’t be surprised when we resist.” Verse straightened up, his lips spreading into a smile. “No matter how hard you try to corrupt us, and you very well may take one or two or even a thousand men with your power… We will resist. We will find things in this life to make us smile, to keep our thoughts warm and happy. Laughter, kindness, generosity, friendship… These things are things you cannot defeat. No matter how hard you try.”

The wendigo was speechless for a long time. Verse shivered in the cold, his breath thin and wispy, floating through the air before his face. When the god finally spoke, it wasn’t until Verse was sure he was suffering from frostbite.

”You’re no ordinary magi, are you?”

“No I am not.” Verse proved his fact by smoothly shifting into an avian. His wings spread behind him, making the god’s eyes widen slightly.

”The Children of Love walk the land?”

“We do. You just tried to kill both of us.” Verse felt the coldness recede a little. Warmth flowed back into his bones, just on the threshold of what Gale’s boon could resist. Verse stopped shuddering, his fingers flexing as he felt feeling return slowly. Much to his surprise, though, the cold god of bitterness slowly bowed its head. Its eyes closed, and its voice was much more subdued and quiet than it had been previously.

”Words cannot express how sorry I am.”

“Oh, shut up.” Verse groaned, beckoning the creature to stand once more. “You’re a god. No need to be sorry. If anything, you should be angry I scolded you.” When the black eyes flared open and fixed on him once more, Verse got rid of the wings, his magic readily coming to hand. “Not saying you should,” the beast backed down, if only a little. Verse did feel a bit colder, though… “Just… Think about it. Gale commands the skies again. At the very least, hand control of the northern winds back to it’s rightful owner. And go on polluting the hearts of man, bitterness. Stop freezing our bodies, and go back to freezing our lives.” The evil creature grinned at Verse’s words.

”You really are the Child of Love… You speak with the wisdom of a god. I see now my folly. Gale can have his bloody winds, and I’ll take my place in the hearts of those who would rather see the world burn than try and help it. Thank you, child. Now leave before I see fit to split you in two… I need to think.” The beast turned away, it’s sickly tail flicking absently as it plodded away. Verse breathed a sigh of relief as it left, but something nagged at him. He perked up.

“Wendigo.”

”Hmm?”

“There were ten men… We only found eight. Where are the other two?” The wendigo paused before turning it’s head just enough to fix a black eye on Verse.

”One of them managed to crawl away, down that hole there.” He flicked his gaze off to a dark portion of the cave.

“And the other?”

Verse had never seen a more chilling sight in his entire life. The evil, lifeless grin the wendigo gave him was pure maliciousness.

”I ate him.”

“Connor? C’mon, man, you awake?” Verse grunted, dragging the man along. It really felt like he was dragging the avian… Both of his feet dragged along the ground, and he slumped heavily against Verse’s shoulder. Panic set in as Verse pressed two fingers into the man’s chilled neck. “Connor?” No pulse. “Connor, come on man… Melody can’t be far. MELODY!” He cried out, dragging the heavy man further. “MELODY! DAMNIT, ANSWER ME!” He roared, feeling Connor’s weight really drag him down now.

“Verse!” The voice wafted to him across the stone walls of the cave. He paused for a moment, listening to the echoes, trying to discern the direction it came from. “Verse! Where are you?!”

“HERE! I’M HERE!” Verse started hollering, his voice going hoarse as he screamed. Light, a flickering sort of flame, leapt to life around the next corner in the long, straight hallway he had been dragging Connor down.

“There he is! Come on!” Shadowy figures came through the flickering flame, a torch held by someone… “Verse! Is that Connor?” The voice became less and less distorted. Verse grunted and hauled Connor up further, taking a few steps forward to meet the group. As they finally came closer, Verse saw it was a group of three avian they had entered the cave with. “What happened to his leg?”

“Where’s Melody? Help me with him, I can’t feel his pulse.”

“She’s over here. Come on.” Another body took Connor’s other side, both of them hoisting the big man up. Together, they dragged Connor’s body down the long stone hallway, into a hollowed-out room that was similar to the ones they had encountered previously. In here, five extra bodies lay on the floor, each in various states of injury. At the furthest one, her back turned to him, was Melody. By the enchanting green glow on the walls, Verse guessed she was healing.

“We got another one, Melody.” One of the other soldiers said. Three of them swarmed in to help Verse lay Connor down on his back. He wasn’t breathing. Melody immediately sat up and looked at them. Her eyes flickered to a few places, first to the prone body, then up to his face, then back up to Verse. Melody smoothly stood up, her hands stained with blood and shaking a little. She wiped them off on her coat, slowly walking forward towards Verse.

“Melody, I-“ SMACK. “Ow, what the fuck?!” SMACK “Melody, sto-“ SMACK. Melody’s eyes filled with tears as her hands whipped around, cutting Verse off each time he tried to speak. He couldn’t fit a word in edgewise as she viciously slapped him again and again, tears coursing down her face.

“Melody, stop!” The sergeant moved to intervene, but Melody held him in place with a small thread of magic. She continued assaulting her brother, crying freely as she repeatedly slapped him. “Stop her!” He grunted. Each soldier that lurched forward stopped short. Melody wouldn’t be stopped. Not right now. Not until Verse grabbed her wrist mid-swing.

“STOP.” He hollered in her face, gripping her other wrist. He stared into her crying eyes, holding her in place. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save Connor, alright?! I’m sorry! I tried!”

“THIS ISN’T ABOUT CONNOR!” She screamed at him, breaking down at last. Her chest shook with sobs as she collapsed against him, her fist curling into a tiny, solid ball. Verse, shocked, let her go. She uselessly swung her fist at his chest, the blows landing with a soft thump. “This isn’t about him.” She sobbed, tears falling onto the open front of his jacket. “It never has been… Never will be.”

“What… What’s wrong?” Verse asked softly, his voice shaking. Melody shifted gears once again, looking up at him. The tears were there, but she no longer sobbed.

“You left me.”

“What-“

“YOU LEFT ME!” She screamed. Her slender frame suddenly tensed, shoving him backwards. Verse stumbled a little bit, his expression shocked as she closed the distance again. “You fucking LEFT me!” Her voice sounded loud and clear through the stone halls, echoing eerily back to their ears.

“Melody, I-“ WHAM. She was done slapping now. The full-forced punch caught Verse right across his jaw, knocking him against the far wall of the hall, his form sliding down. Shocked, he looked up at her.

“DON’T YOU EVER LEAVE ME AGAIN!” She roared, staring down at him with fiery eyes. In those eyes, Verse saw many things. Anger, pain, sadness… But above all, he saw betrayal. “You hear me?” She growled, her voice quivering and low. “Don’t ever leave me again.” Melody collapsed then, falling to her knees next to him. Verse flinched as she threw her arms around him, his sister devolving into a sobbing, crying mess. Everyone was silent. The only sounds were her soft, whimpering sobs, the sniffles and choking cries echoing down the hall.

“Melody! Verse! Sweet heavens, you look horrible. What happened?!” Lily was pacing in front of the command center when they returned to town. Melody had been unable to save three of the five injured men. The two that had lived were carried back on makeshift stretchers. It was early the next day, and each one of the remaining soldiers was haggard, exhausted, and depressed. None of them had slept since they had left.

“Can we… Talk about this with Sergeant Icelash?” Verse said quietly, nodding inside. “I really only feel like sharing it once…” Lily saw the expressions on their faces, saw the bitterness in their eyes. Quietly, she opened the door for her children. Melody saw it in a flash, knew that in her mother’s heart, there was a sense of worry that wasn’t going to be easy to quell. Together, all the men slipped inside the building, save for the six who moved across the street to the clinic. Four carrying two of the stretchers, and the two that lay on them.

“Melody! Verse! Sergeant, I need a debrief right now.” The sergeant had been missing them, apparently. As they stepped through the door, three expressions flashed across his face. First was relief, the second was concern, and the third worry. The sergeant who had gone with them to the cave shook his head.

“Let them tell it.” He said quietly, waving a hand to Melody and Verse. “They know it ten times better than I do… They were the ones who lived it.”

“Well… Alright then. Melody, what happened?” Icelash said quietly, looking at her with concern.

Melody didn’t leave out a single detail. Everything, from seeing death when she laid the eight men to rest, all the way up to the long, foot-bound trek back… Connor, the men they lost, the wendigo, all of it. Verse shared his own brief half of the story, and when they were finished, tears shined on Lily’s face.

“So you’re telling me…” Icelash said quietly. “That the reason the storms stopped and my men stopped having nightmares last night was thanks to you and your intervention?” Verse nodded solemnly, his jaw set. “Well… That sounds like a mission success to m-“ Lily’s hand whipped around so fast, even the avian soldier’s admired her speed. The rough smack made even the battle-hardened sergeant grunt and stumble backwards.

“How dare you.” Lily growled, her emerald green eyes ablaze with a righteous fire. “How DARE you. Your men died! Connor’s men died! That’s thirteen whole men that will never see their families again! Thirteen soldiers who died serving their country! Thirteen people who will never love, cry, sing, or laugh ever again!” Her voice quivered with rage as she glared at Icelash.

“Trust me, Lily.” The sergeant grunted, rubbing his red cheek. “I’ve two more men on tables next door who I might very well lose in the next few hours. But that’s the life of our soldiers. We made a vow to give our lives for home and hearth. Each and every one of those men can rest easy knowing our mission was accomplished. The weather is calm enough for us to begin running operations safely. Now we can start diverting the chimera’s attention back to the East. They’ll retreat from the West, back into Hearth. They’ll stop killing dozens of soldiers every day fighting in Trottingham and Canterlot. They’ll stop murdering innocent families and leaving their gutted corpses in the street. If I can sacrifice thirteen lives so that thirteen families sleep well tonight, I would do so gladly. I’d throw myself on that spear if that’s what it took.” He glowered down at her. “Don’t assume I don’t appreciate their sacrifice. Connor’s unit will be remembered.”

“Sergeant. You and your unit are returning to Eyriewatch at first light. Inform Commander Dash our mission was a success, and my unit will personally man this post until suitable relief has made it’s way out here. Lily, Verse, Melody, you’re going with them. You’ve done a damn fine job, but I don’t want your lives risked up here any more than absolutely necessary. You have your orders. Sergeant, you and your men are dismissed.” He said, saluting crisply. Melody and Verse turned to leave, but the sergeant cleared his throat. Melody and the other sergeant shared a look before he left, leaving Lily, Melody, and Verse alone with Icelash. Lily was still staring daggers at him.

“What?” Melody finally said after a few long moments. With a sigh, Icelash pulled a bottle of amber-colored fluid from the desk along with four glasses. She watched as he pulled the cork and filled the glasses halfway.

“It doesn’t do to send those men off without a toast. I’d be honored if you shared it with me.” Melody knew this alcohol. She was still unfamiliar with drinking, but she was no stranger. The few drinks she and Connor had shared were enough to break her in. Hesitantly, she raised the glass, all of them did. When they clinked them together, all four of them followed Icelash’s lead in tossing the burning, acrid fluid back. Melody grimaced, but swallowed it down. After all, this wasn’t for her. This was for the men who had died. “One for each.” Icelash said, refilling their glasses. The second shot went down smoother than the first, and the third was easiest of all.

“One more.” Melody said with a frown. Hesitantly, Icelash filled her glass again, a fourth shot. She raised the glass slowly. “For Connor.” Verse, Lily, and the sergeant all nodded as she tossed it back, setting her glass down. When she let her fingers slide off the glass, she buried his memory with the burning in her stomach. “Thank you, Icelash.”

“No, thank you… Both of you. It might not seem like it now, but you’ve done more than you know helping us today. Go get some sleep. You leave in the morning.” He said, waving them off. He coldly turned his back to them, surveying the map he had pinned up on the wall behind his desk. Melody didn’t need to be told again. She could feel the alcohol taking effect already. By the time they slipped in the door, she was dizzy. Once they had kicked their boots off and made their way up the stairs, she was stumbling. Once she, Verse, and Lily all collapsed into bed, she was passed out.

She dreamt of home.

R and R

------------ Melody’s Tale - R and R ------------

“I’ll inform the families personally.” Dash said solemnly. Twilight, Verse, Lily, and Melody all stood in her office. As much as it pained her, Lily had agreed to give a second report to Dash. She deserved to hear it first hand. “So… The god of bitterness is back where he belongs?”

“That’s right.” Verse said quietly.

“And Gale controls the weather once more?”

“Also true.”

“I’ll make sure their families know their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.” Dash was quiet, a little more reserved than she normally was.

“Do… Do you tell them how they died?” Melody asked.

“Always. That’s why I asked for the details.” She certainly had… Recounting the exact death of each individual was difficult for Lily. Particularly the ones she couldn’t save. The two that she could save, though, made it back safely with them. The reason they had taken so long in returning was because of them... Injured avians shouldn’t fly.

“Why?” She asked quietly.

“Because they deserve to know. It isn’t pleasant, but it’s better than not knowing.”

“Dash, I don’t think-“

“Melody.” The avian cut her off with a soft sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose with two fingers. “Stop. Don’t tell me how to do my job. This isn’t the first soldier’s family I’ve dealt with. It won’t be the last, either. You and Verse have done a lot more than you think you have… Gale has been especially kind to our units, making the skies clear during the day and stormy at night. We can deploy in the morning, using superior speed and maneuverability to carry out our operations, then hunker down for the night and stay safe. We’re better rested, highly capable, and more mission-ready than we have been in a month. Without your intervention, we’d have lost hundreds of men to cold, insanity, and fatigue. Thank you. But please,” Dash turned to look back at her. For the umpteenth time, Melody found herself confronted not by auntie Dash, but by Commander Dash. “Don’t tell me what’s best for a soldier’s family.”

“S-sorry…” She muttered softly, looking down at her feet. She was surprised, then, when Dash swept around her desk and wrapped her arms around Melody.

“Don’t be.” Dash said into the hug. “You’re concerned for them. I understand. You’re stressed, tired, and dirty. It’s been a long, long month for you both. Go to bed. Take a week. Take two. You’ve already helped more than I can possibly thank you for.” Dash pulled away, a serene smile on her face. It was completely out-of-place on the brash avian. “Both of you. All three of you. Take as long as you need. Twilight and I have a plan in place.” She lifted Lily’s chin with a single finger, smiling into her eyes. “Thank you. Again.” When Dash leaned in to kiss her on the forehead, Lily smiled. Actually smiled. Dash may never admit it, but she had a mother’s touch. Melody blushed a little, feeling embarrassed at the display of affection, but her blush was nothing to match Verse’s.

“C’mon, you two.” Twilight said, pulling them out of the room. “You need to get some sleep.” After the exceedingly long hike back from the far-north town, Melody could think of nothing better than sleeping in her room. She and Verse plodded a short ways down the hall to their respective rooms, bidding one another good night before slipping inside and locking the door. Melody sighed as she stripped herself bare. After three weeks hiking through the Featherhome pine forests, sleeping under the stars and settling for chilly sponge baths out of frigid streams, she wanted a proper bathing experience. For the first time in a week, she let her hair out of the tight braid she had put it in, fretting over the set-in waves and grody strands. She probably smelled like an animal.

The hot bath filled with all sorts of soaps and oils that had mysteriously been laid out on the shelves of her bathroom since she last lived there. She was thankful for whoever had put them there, and after an extremely long soak, she treated her hair as vigorously as her tired fingers could manage. Her underclothes were dirty as ever when she finished bathing, but true to their blessed heritage, her tunic and pants were clean and smelled fresh. Smiling, she folded them and put them in the dresser before stretching out nude under the covers.

Her sleep was blissful, warm, and long. She didn’t wake until the next day was well underway, when the sun burned bright outside her window. With a deep, throaty groan of restfulness, she pulled herself out of bed, stretching sore and tired muscles. Despite her long bath the night before, Melody still felt out-of-sorts. A thought struck her, though, and she smiled. She dressed hurriedly and ate a quick breakfast before slipping down the hall to her parent’s room. A gentle knock and thirty seconds later, and Lily answered the door.

“Melody. Good morning.” She said with a smile, tucking the ends of her robe around her. Melody blushed a little and glanced down the hall before slipping inside. Lily shut the door behind her, and Melody lit the fire with a flick of her hand. Twilight gave a soft smile as she pulled a shirt over her head, in no rush to make herself decent since she was with family. At times, Melody felt a little embarrassed she had seen both of her mothers nude as much as she had, but at other times it felt somewhat natural. They were, after all, unlike any family ever before.

“Everything okay?” Twilight asked gently, standing from the mussed bed. Melody nodded with a smile, one that was perhaps a little more devious than it ought to be.

“I just had a thought. I figured the sooner I share it, the better.” She said gently. Lily slipped past her, going to a nearby dresser and pulling out clothes.

“Oh? Do tell.” She teased, obviously torn between one bra or another.

“We need to go to a spa.”

“Ooooohh…” Lily dropped the clothes back into the drawer and turned around with wide eyes. Both of them looked at Twilight, their eyes pleading.

“A spa?” Twilight said, tapping her lower lip with a thoughtful groan. “I dunno…”

“Please?” Melody said, stepping forward. “Don’t make me beg. I’ll totally beg.”

“Fuck that, I’m begging.” Lily dove across the bed, her hands grabbing the hem of Twilight’s shirt. “Please, love? Let’s go to a spa. The three of us.”

“Hey, me too!” Melody fell to her knees, grabbing the other edge of Twilight’s pajama top. “Please, mom? Please?”

“Okay, I LIKE The sight of Lily begging. My own daughter is just weird. Get up, both of you. I’ll call ahead and see if they have any open spots.”

“Yes!” Lily sprung up with a laugh and threw her arms around Twilight’s shoulders, even as Melody jumped up and danced with excitement. She didn’t care if she had to beg. The wide, stupid grin on Twilight’s face was worth it.

“Melody, mind giving us a moment?” Twilight said, flagging under Lily’s repeated kisses. With a chuckle and a shake of her head, Melody slipped out of the room, just as Verse emerged from his own room.

“Hey, good morning.” He said, smiling at her. “Are they up?”

“Eer…” Melody shut the door with a click, the finality punctuating her smile. “Up and down… If you get my meaning.”

“Aah. Right. What, uh… What were you doing in there?” He asked, his brow drawn.

“Oh. I was just asking if we could go to the spa… Truth be told, I feel like I need it… I still feel so grody.” She lifted the hem of her shirt, frowning a little. She hadn’t shaved her legs, even… How could she have missed that in the bath last night?

“The spa? Well, you guys have fun with that, I suppose…” He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was going to ask if you were up for a little… Eer… Well, how do I say this…” He appeared to be struggling with something, trying to spit out words that seemingly wouldn’t come. “I was going to ask if you would… Eer…”

“C’mon, out with it.” She rolled her hand, urging him on.

“Would you… Be my wingman?” She blinked, pondering over his meaning. When the silence stretched on long enough for Verse to blush, she suddenly realized what he was asking.

“Oh!”

“Yeah.”

“You…”

“You don’t?”

“Wow, really?”

“Hey, it’s been a while now.” She had to agree with him there… Thoughtfully, Melody gnawed on her lower lip for a moment.

“One condition.” She said after a moment.

“That is?”

“You return the favor.”

The spa smelled like flowers and oil, scented baths and facial rubs. It was herbal, relaxing, soothing, and the second she swept through the door, Melody felt her stress begin to melt away already.

“Aah! Twilight, Lily, and Melody?” The receptionist smiled at them as the three of them slipped in the door.

“Mhmm.” Twilight nodded, rummaging around in her purse. “We… Would like the deluxe treatment.”

“Aah, very good! The girls will be pleased. And…” She scanned a clipboard behind the desk, tapping her pen on the sheet of paper. “You’re right on time. We’re ready for you.” Twilight negotiated the payment and all three of them were guided into the locker room. Melody remembered from last time the first portion of the treatment, how they had to be mostly if not completely naked the entire time... Then again, she was with two women she bathed with on a regular basis. The three of them shamelessly stripped bare, leaving their clothes in baskets while they slowly submerged into a scented, heavily oiled bath. The water burned a little at first, but Melody took it slow as all three of them sank into the steamy, hot bath.

“Oooohh yesss…” She groaned, letting the last draw out into a hiss of relaxation. Her tense and sore muscles loosened under the water, her pores opening up. The water felt silky and smooth around her, the soft tendrils of oil separating in the water sliding over her skin like the lightest touch of a careful and cautious lover.

“Good call, Melody.” Lily said gently. Twilight hummed her agreement across the tub. Slowly, Melody submerged herself, letting the water soak into her face for a moment before emerging. Her hair fanned out in the water around her, and if she wasn’t mistaken, the long strands were past where she normally kept them… Truth be told, she liked it this long. She might require a trim, but she made the decision to keep it this way. The way the water sapped away her strength and exhaustion all together made her groan again, rolling her head back. Still, a thought nagged at the back of her head… It had been in her mind since Verse had proposed his plan to her yesterday morning. Why? Even she didn’t have that answer. Maybe Twilight and Lily did. She could certainly ask them, right? Melody swallowed her pride.

“Hey…” She said gently.

“Hmm?”

“What’s sex like with a woman?” Silence punctuated her question for quite a few long, awkward moments.

“Eer…”

“Wow. That came from nowhere.”

“What?” Melody flushed a little, opening her eyes to peek at both of them. “It’s just been bugging me…” She muttered, feeling embarrassed.

“No, don’t get me wrong. I’m actually kind of proud that you’re opening your mind.” Twilight said, her pride apparent in her voice and her warm smile. “I think Lily’s the authority on that, though…” The soft splash and gentle yelp that came later made them all laugh.

“It’s like this, Melody.” Lily said softly. The three of them scooted a little closer, speaking in hushed tones. “Men and women go together like milk and cereal. No doubt there.”

“Right…”

“But Equestrian society is seventy-five percent female.”

“Wait, is it really?” She asked, sitting up a little. Twilight nodded in confirmation.

“A recent census shows that between human, magi, and avian across Equestria, over seventy percent of them are female. The average heterosexual family has an average of six children. Only one in ten children born in the past ten years was male. So the numbers are only going to tip further in favor of us women in the coming generation. In the previous, two in ten, so that seventy percent is going to rise… In short, society may become more and more feminine-dominated, with lesbian and bi-sexual couples becoming commonplace. There was actually a stirring article written back in 5487 on a fluctuation in male/female ratios that resulted in several men becoming enslaved and their sperm… Well, rationed. So to speak.”

“Wow… Really?” Melody said softly. “How did Celestia and Luna condone that?”

“They rationed them.” Twilight said, waving a hand. “They would make trips to villages once a month and ration the sex the men had. Several men turned themselves in willingly, and were happily passed around from woman to woman, they had their pick of them all. Women would clamor for a man to call their own for a few hours, but that didn’t stop the huge increase in lesbian relationships. That was the same year that domestic partnerships were recognized by the government, and saw the invention of the dildo.”

“Huh…” Melody drew her legs up, resting her chin on her knees. “But… What is it like?”

“Well…” Lily spoke softly, sitting forward. “Who knows better how to please a woman than a woman?” Melody blushed, thankful for the hot steam to attribute the feature to. She thought about it for a moment. She certainly knew the way she liked it, the spots inside that she knew how to hit and where… Would another woman like it the same way she did? What’s more, could she replicate the feel with… Well, with her fingers, her tongue, or whatever? The thought of her lips working at another woman’s vagina, pressing into the fleshy folds and licking at all the right places…

“But… I mean, you can’t beat the feeling, you know…”

“What, of a penis? Well…” Lily smiled, almost chuckling at Melody’s naiveté. “There are ways… Sometimes, a dildo just doesn’t do it, right?” Melody nodded, her thoughts briefly flashing to the handle of her hairbrush, which still remained untouched in her room… “Twilight, you mind…?”

“Of course. Shortly after that report close to two thousand years ago, when the dildo was formally invented, another, more private one was published. A woman who had had sex with one of the male slaves found she was unable to bear child, but the feeling was indescribable. She tried to use several dildos and had homosexual sex with several women, but couldn’t find a solution to the same brand of rough love that man had shown her. She was a very skilled seamstress, and… Melody, do you know what a strapon is?” Melody would have to admit that she did not.

“Eer… No, not really… I don’t.”

“Huhn… With all the snooping you did, I’m surprised you didn’t find ours.” Melody blushed again. She had, admittedly, rummaged around her parents’ room several times, and had uncovered one or two intimate articles. Just one set of odd-shaped beads all strung together and a long, slender, phallic object. Twilight’s mention of a ‘strapon’ had her curious.

“Anywho. You see, what this woman did was attach a dildo to a sturdy pair of feminine underwear. When her partner put them on-“

“Oh!” Melody grasped the concept in a moment. Her blush deepened considerably. “So…”

“Right. They could imitate male sex. Well, the design was shared, published in this report, and over the years refined. There are ways, of course, that magi would be able to replicate the sensation of male sex, but not every relationship involved a magi. Therefore, this design offered an option to those couples.”

“That’s… Actually kinda neat…” Her mind wandered, thinking about the same as earlier… Only instead of licking, she was wearing one of these things… Giving pleasure to another woman, hitting all those little spots only another woman would know about. She fell silent, her eyes staring intently off into space as she imagined many different things.

“Melody?” Twilight said after a few moments. “You okay?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah… I’m fine.” She muttered, her heart hammering for a few seconds. She prayed the spa attendants wouldn’t notice her arousal. “Just… You know… Thinking.”

“Oh no…” Lily groaned, her head rolling back. “Twilight, you’ve turned our daughter into a lesbian. We’ll never have grandkids now.”

“Shush, you.” Twilight teasingly scolded Lily. “We still have Verse.” They all shared a laugh at that.

Over the course of the spa treatment, the three of them chatted amicably. As she had with straight sex, Melody had plenty of questions about the inverse, techniques and practices for pleasuring and being pleasured by another woman. It seemed both her mothers had a wealth of knowledge on the subject, and readily shared stories and techniques equally. It seemed only natural, of course, since they were both female… Twilight would love Lily no matter if she were shifted into a male or a female, and Lily would love Twilight in all her simple, uncomplicated beauty.

Melody surprised herself when she realized she hadn’t thought all that much about the sexual relationship between her two mothers… So much, in fact, that all the previous awkward moments when she had caught the two of them in the act or when they were close to devolving into it became much more clear… She had never really seen Lily shift into a male… The only time she had was for demonstration purposes, or one time when she needed to reach a jar high on a shelf.

Why hadn’t she really thought about it before? All the times she had fingered herself, her hormones wishing she had a dashing young man, a prince like the ones she read about in her silly novels, and she had never realized that women had fingers just as capable as a man’s… Melody felt like an entirely different person with all the steamy thoughts racing through her mind as they exited the spa. While Lily hadn’t given her a formal challenge, Melody made a resolution.

She would try and have sex with another woman.

Verse, of course, was utterly shocked when she shared that with him.

“Alright,” he groaned, blanching visibly as they chatted in his room. “No more spa trips with Lily and Twilight for you.”

“Oh shut the fuck up, Verse.” She teased, tossing a throw pillow at him. He caught it and threw it at the foot of the couch, shaking his head.

“Look, it’s hard enough thinking about finding a new woman. Half of them in Eyriewatch are military, and after Sam, I really don’t feel like fucking another soldier. I don’t need you cockblocking me out of every girl that comes our way.”

“You say that like I’m some raging horndog who can’t keep her panties on for anyone who comes along… I haven’t even TRIED it yet, Verse. I might not search for it actively. Just, you know… What happens if I try and scope out a girl for you, and she turns out to be a lesbian? Hmm?”

“Hrm… You have a point there.” He muttered, tapping his lip. “But… I’m not doing any bi-sexual threeways with my sister.”

“Eew!” She tossed another pillow at him, this one propelled by magic. He took it full in the face, both of them laughing as they set in on a magic-fueled pillow fight for a few moments.

“Seriously, though.” He gasped, both of them smiling as they flopped down into chairs around Verse’s dining table. “We’re not…?”

“Not at all. You’re my brother, and I love you, but no. Not like that.”

“Of course. Just checking… I mean, if we-“

“Look, it’s not like I haven’t thought about it, okay?” Melody admitted with a sigh. She really had, especially during the long month they had spent up north. “But… No… The thoughts were there, you know, on that primal sort of level. In the form of, ‘oh hey, he has a penis and I have a vagina. Hormones and procreation mean there’s a possibility there.’ But as soon as my silly little brain reminded me that you were my brother, it was like switching a light off.”

“So, you felt the same thing I did!” Verse grew excited as he leaned in. “I mean, look. You’re obviously a very beautiful woman. I’ll be the first to admit my own thoughts went there, as well. But just like you said. As soon as I told myself you were my sister, bam. Like shutting a door.”

“Exactly!” Truth be told, Melody was glad they had touched on this subject… Her thoughts had her worried. She knew for certain how she felt about Verse, but she was unsure how he felt about her. This recent development put some fears to rest for her. “But, I mean… Nothing awkward about…”

“No. Trust me, I’d be hurt if you said we couldn’t hug or anything anymore.”

“Aww. C’mere.” She smiled and wrapped Verse in a gentle hug. While it was maybe a little more meaningful than a brother/sister hug, there was nothing more to it that caused her to worry. Call it… A healthy interest in your brother’s sexual well-being. Melody felt like she could talk to him about it…

“I’m not weird for wanting to have sex with another woman, am I?” She said. Verse shrugged.

“Personally, I think it’s a little hot…” They laughed for a moment. “In all seriousness, though, no.”

“You haven’t… You know, thought about it? With other guys?” Verse almost laughed, but when he noticed she was asking a serious question, his expression sobered a little.

“The thought is there, Melody. I won’t lie. But just like my thoughts with you, it shuts off at a certain point…” The question slipped out before she could stop it.

“What point is that?”

Both of them blushed.

“Truth?” Verse asked.

“Truth.”

“…” He sighed, sat back, held his head in his hands, then finally sat forward. “Anal.”

“Really?” She hadn’t expected things to go that far.

“Really… The thought of… You know, doing it back there… I just can’t see how it’s attractive.” He shuddered visibly. The way he moved in his chair told Lily he was flexing muscles. “Just… That’s where we poop. Fecal matter. Ick.” Melody could identify… The thought of doing anything back there made her tense up, too.

“I can understand… But, like…”

“What, oral? I’d consider it… When Sam did it, it felt amazing. If I really cared for a guy, and he cared for me, I would consider it…” Verse admitted. Melody sat back, gnawing on her lip. “What?” He asked, noting her drawn expression.

“I guess…” She said, picking her words softly. “We’re all just a little bit gay…”

Life returned to some semblance of normalcy after that. The opportunity for Melody and Verse to go out and search for someone to bring to their rooms at night never really presented itself, despite their desire to do so. Dash insisted on giving them extra flight training, and Lily pressed the issue of training their shifting powers as well. Now that they both could shift into male and female with ease, Lily began teaching them how to blend. In one short week, both she and Verse had learned how to blend with a crowd, how to fit in with a new and different culture. They learned to mingle, do small talk. Melody learned how to listen like a man, and Verse learned how to talk like a woman. That, coupled with Twilight’s revised magic lessons, their entire family grew much closer than they had been in just one short week.

Melody was so preoccupied, she didn’t have time to remind herself of the nastiness that had taken place up north. Connor’s death was remembered, but not in a negative way… She thought of him a hero, just like the others who had died with him. Their names and deeds were not forgotten, but not remembered in a fashion that put anyone under. Verse seemed different, but not in a bad way… Melody guessed she had changed, too… In six months, half a short year, they had matured from children to adults.

“Hey.” Verse caught her in the hall one day. “We need to go play.”

“Play?” She said, arching her eyebrow questioningly.

“Music.” He said simply. “I haven’t held a guitar in a while. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to hear you sing again. In fact, we need to sing our song.” The mention of the tune made Melody grin. They really hadn’t sang it since they left home.

“Oh yes. Let’s go.” They made their way down to the music room, and were surprised to find it empty. They were not unfamiliar with the handling of the communal instruments, so they picked them out and tuned them, smiling as they settled into two chairs opposite each other. When Verse plucked the first few notes of the song, Melody remembered all the lyrics, the beat and time signature. Her foot tapped in time with his as he started singing.

I wanted you to know

That I love the way you laugh.

I wanna hold you high

And steal your pain.

I keep your photograph

And I know it serves me well.

I wanna hold you high

And steal your pain.

Melody joined in then, singing the chorus with him. She pulled the bow across the strings, the high-pitched wail sending shivers up her own spine.

’Cause I’m broken

When I’m lonesome.

I don’t feel right

When you’re gone away.

Together they moved through the brief instrumental, both of them playing perfectly as their eyes closed, their bodies swaying and feet tapping out the slow, melancholy time signature. When the next verse came, Melody sang alone, her high voice strong and proud, singing loud.

The worst is over now

And we can breathe again.

I wanna hold you high

And steal my name

There’s so much left to learn

And no one left to fight.

I wanna hold you high

And steal your pain.

Verse joined in, both of them singing twice as loud as they had. Melody felt the chills run all over her body, fueling her voice and her fingers.

’Cause I’m broken

When I’m lonesome.

And I don’t feel right

When you’re gone away.

What was probably Melody’s favorite part of the song came next. She played soft, subdued strains while Verse’s fingers flew over the pickups. His guitar sang a simple, sweet solo, low and slow, the simple notes making Melody shiver all over. It had been far, far too long since they had sang this song…

‘Cause I’m broken

When I’m open.

And I don’t feel right,

That I’m strong enough

‘Cause I’m broken

When I’m lonesome.

And I don’t wanna feel right

When you’re gone away.

Melody’s bow screeched across the strings, playing a haunting solo in between two choruses. The next few lines were the loudest and strongest of them all.

’Cause I’m broken

When I’m lo-onesome

And I don’t wanna fee-eel right,

That you’re gone a-way…

The notes died off, leaving Melody’s knees feeling weak. She had that sweat in the small of her back, the kind someone got when they were chilled to the bone, excited and happy. She and Verse shared a grin…

Just as the applause started.

With a jolt, both of them turned around, looking at the small crowd of people gathered in the music room. There had to have been two or three dozen… Melody didn’t want to count, she just knew it was a lot. For someone who had never performed for any number of people greater than seven, this was a first. She hadn’t even heard them come in! Among them, surprisingly enough, were Lily, Twilight, and Dash. Most of them, though, were stewards. Non-avian personnel who cleaned and performed upkeep on the massive tower. The surprisingly familiar face of Comitatus, the magi steward they had played with last time they visited the room, was grinning the widest.

“Shit,” Verse said, laughing nervously. “Didn’t even hear any of you…” He and Melody stood up, and after a quick glance, shared a bow. Several of the spectators moved forward, shaking their hands and complimenting them. They basked in the moment for a long while before the requests started coming. Song names came from all over, Melody couldn’t even keep up with all of them. One in particular stood out amongst them.

“Okay, that’s gonna take a pianist and a backup guitarist AT LEAST.” She chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. She remembered reading the sheet music for it, and she had really wanted to play it.

“Come on, kiddo.” Lily said, stepping forward smoothly. She pinched Melody’s cheek with a patronizing touch before taking her seat behind the piano. “You know I’m good for it.”

“Hey, I’m in on this.” Comitatus produced a second guitar and sat opposite Verse. Lily felt her heart race as someone handed them the sheet music for it. Tabs for Verse and Comitatus, a lyric book for Melody, and a whole spread for Lily.

“Right.” Melody said, smiling at all of them. “Ready? One, two, three, four.”

When darkness fell, she was hoarse, her fingers were sore, and she was oh so happy. At some point, they had all agreed to go out for drinks. The crowd thinned a little, but there was still a sizeable chunk. They all drew strange looks from guards as a dozen of them walked through the gates, belting an upbeat tune at the top of their lungs. When Melody and Verse slipped in the bar, the topic had turned to them. They were obviously twins, with their similar hair and eye color. They smiled at one another over the rim of tall mugs filled to the brim with a delicious, very dark ale.

When they shared their story, people laughed, some of them cried, and every one of them was in awe.

“So… You were the ones who stopped that horrible storm?” Comitatus asked, his eyes wide.

“Well… Wait, it came this far south?” Melody asked, her brow drawn.

“Yeah… A few weeks ago, the entire town got covered with snow. No one went out to the bars, no one came to the music room, no one wanted to be sociable… Everything just sort of… Froze. It was odd. And it lasted for two whole days. Two days of crazy snow and bitter cold. It was miserable.” He set his mug down, looking between them. “Then it just stopped. Out of nowhere. Bam.” He slammed his fist down. “Snows melted, and this… This… Wave came over everyone. They were out in the streets, in the bars, talking, socializing… Man, it was like… Instant.” Everyone around the table all shared knowing nods, their mugs at varying ranges of emptiness. “You two did that?”

“Well… If it was at the same time Verse here had a little chat with Wendigo, then yeah. I guess we did.” Melody chuckled and crossed her legs underneath the table. After so long talking and singing, her throat felt sore. She switched from beer to lemon water, and grew slightly more reserved through the night. Rather than chatting and talking, they listened. Comitatus shared his own story, a warm tale about him and his childhood friend joining the equestrian military, how they had both been posted at Eyriewatch… About how he had died in the same changeling attack that Melody and Verse had escaped from. Melody felt closer to him when she realized he had lost a close, good friend the same day she had technically lost Twilight.

The stories went around and around, Melody and Verse just sitting there, soaking in the culture, the different experiences… It was truly an experience, one that made her feel so much more like a person, real and normal, and not just another face passing through Eyriewatch. She had had an impact in the lives of so many people. As the sky darkened further, though, everyone began to slowly dwindle off. They swaggered through the door in groups of twos and threes, only very few of them leaving alone. Finally, it came down to two female avian couriers, Comitatus, and Melody. Verse had excused himself fifteen minutes prior, explaining he had things to do the next day. Melody recalled Lily pulling him aside at some point to set up what she had to guess was a solo training session. She basically had tomorrow to herself, provided Twilight or Dash didn’t have anything for her to do. She was, at the moment, listening to this wonderful woman named Faith explain how she had come to join the military.

“It started when all my older sisters started joining the guard. One after the other, bam, bam, bam... Three gone in five months, each of them into different branches. One of them joined the cavalry, the next moved on to recon, and the third into the scouts. There was a lot of pressure to join from my family, but after me, the next oldest of my sisters was only seven. I really didn’t want to leave them...” She went on, describing how she eventually did; Melody would be lying if she said the story didn’t tug on her heartstrings.

“Sometimes, I wonder how my little sisters are growing up... They don’t know anything about our home in Canterlot, they don’t know what it’s like to live in a time of peace... All they know is Fillydelphia. War-torn Fillydelphia...” She sagged then. Melody’s brow drew down with concern as she leaned in, gently rubbing the poor woman’s back. It was almost like Melody’s ginger touch triggered something in her. The avian sagged, her eyes brimming with tears as she slowly lowered her head onto her arms. Melody watched her start to sob, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Comitatus raise from his chair. Together, he and the other avian left, shooting her sympathetic looks.

“I’m sorry,” Faith blubbered, wiping tears from her eyes. Melody looked around and saw that anyone nearby was ignoring them. They were alone at the table.

“It’s fine. You’re allowed to be, you know, human sometimes.” Melody whispered, leaning in close. Faith sobbed a little more, sniffling and shaking. When the waitress stopped by, arching a questioning eyebrow, Melody handed their half-empty drinks off and gave her a look that said ‘Too much to drink.’

Faith gave a mighty sniff a minute or two later, raising her head. “Thanks,” She muttered, wiping her puffy eyes.

“Don’t mention it.” Melody smiled, rubbing her shoulder. When her hand left the avian’s back, she was given a look of hopelessness, like this woman had just been abandoned. Her hand hovered for a moment in midair before resting on her forearm... The relief in her face was almost painfully apparent. Melody’s own mind was hazed over with alcohol. Not enough to make her worry about making it back to her room safely, but certainly enough to make her not want to take this any further... At least, not until she was sober.

“I really mean it,” Faith muttered quietly. “Thank you.”

“Look, if you really want to make it up to me,” Melody said with a soft sigh and a smile. Her thumb gingerly rubbed Faith’s forearm, the woman’s face lighting up at the mention of paying her back. “Take me out on a date?”

There was a pause. Melody knew it. She felt it, even through the haze of the drink. She didn’t know if Faith didn’t swing that way, or if she wasn’t interested in Melody, or what, but it stretched on for what felt like forever. Melody began to worry when Faith burst out with some words she hadn’t been quite expecting.

“Like, right now?”

“No! No, not right now.” Melody laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh wow, you’re drunk.”

“Haha, yeah I am...” Tears gone, both of them dissolved into a fit of giggles, then on into laughter, and soon enough the bartender was asking them to leave. Melody paid their tabs and stumbled out onto the street with Faith.

“Tomorrow?” Faith asked once they had composed themselves enough.

“If you’re free.” Melody answered with a smile.

“I will be, I’ve got two weeks off before I’m back on assignment.” She said with a nod. Melody noticed that during their stumbling departure, their arms had somehow become loosely looped around one another’s waists... Both of them were drunk, weren’t they? Melody groaned inwardly, but Faith took it as an invitation.

“Mff...” Melody whimpered as the avian’s lips suddenly pressed against hers, making her head swim more than it already was. The kiss stretched on, and Melody could only guess that it lasted anywhere from ten seconds to an hour... She wished she could remember all of it. Once their lips broke apart, she had forgotten the beginning... So she had to have another. This time, Melody moved forward, eagerly kissing Faith. Somehow, she was pushed against the wall, Faith’s wings flaring out to conceal them against the brick. There, in the middle of the street, Melody was willingly assaulted by drunken, sloppy kisses.

She wasn’t sure when it ended, maybe it was when she felt Faith’s fingers sliding up her thigh, or maybe when her own hands cupped her counterpart’s moderate breasts... Whenever it was, though, it ended suddenly.

“On the street?” Faith gasped, her hot breath washing over Melody’s lips. She smelled like whiskey. Sadly enough, the panted question was enough to sober her enough.

“Save it for tomorrow...” She whimpered, sliding her hands down to Faith’s waist.

“Right... Where at?”

“Well...” Melody teased, leaning in to let her breath wash over the fine hairs on Faith’s neck. “It has to be somewhere we’re gonna remember...” That got a soft chuckle from her new target, the poor woman quaking under Melody’s lips... Even drunk, she had that magical healer’s touch. Light as a feather and filled with promise.

“Top of the tower at sundown?”

“Sounds good.”

“Right then... Uum...”

“Good night?”

“‘Night...” Melody smiled, flashing her teeth brilliantly as Faith flapped her wings. The courier lifted off into the sky, looking back at Melody with what she swore was more than just feminine appreciation... Then again, it could have just been the alcohol. She kept her back against the stone wall for a few more long moments, trying to recollect her thoughts before she pushed away from the wall, her own wings sprouting from her back...

Somehow, she made it back to her room, stripped her dress and underwear off, and passed out on the bed.

Her dreams were filled with thin, eager lips and skilled, gentle hands...

Faith

--------- Melody’s Tale - Faith ---------

Melody awoke with a splitting headache. Groaning to herself, she sat up, feeling nauseous and musty after all that had happened last night. She held her head in her hands, rubbing her temples to try and clear up the fog in her brain. Woodenly, she slipped out of the bed, stumbling a little over the rug on her way to the bathroom. She made it just in time. Retching several times, she felt the headache worsen, but at least her stomach wasn’t churning anymore. She sipped at some water, slowly coming around.

The feeling receded bit by agonizingly slow bit, but it did recede. She sat at the table and nibbled at a biscuit, feeling slow, fuzzy, and groggy. It wasn’t even light out… How long had she been asleep? What had happened last night? Foggy memories of good music, great stories, and incredible company came to her… Company… Company…

Faith! She remembered with a smile the beautiful avian courier, and with a furious blush, remembered her hungry, skilled hands. It was most definitely the alcohol that had caused them both to act in such a way, but that didn’t mean Melody hadn’t enjoyed her very first lesbian kiss. Despite the taste of whiskey on Faith’s lips, she was a great kisser. Something about the contrast of her hungry, thin lips against Connor’s reserved, almost shy kisses made Melody shiver… It was still dark out, and Melody felt exhausted. The headache abated with the help of some medicine from a cabinet in the bathroom, enough that she could get some more sleep.

When she woke this time, she was fuzzy and sore, but her headache was all but gone and she felt like she was able to at least take care of herself. After a hearty breakfast with lots of good protein and bread, Melody took a much-needed bath, soaking in the hot water until her skin was pruned and wrinkled. She shaved and scrubbed and soaked and relaxed, enjoying what, to her, felt like a day off from the recent flurry of activity.

She was nursing a blister on her thumb from holding the neck of the violin when someone knocked on her door. Arching an eyebrow inquisitively, she pulled on a bathrobe and answered the door, her wet hair still hanging down her back. When she opened the door, Verse stood on the other side.

“Mornin’.” He grumbled, nodding at her. “Bad time?”

“Eer, no. Come on in.” She let him in, thankful she was done with her bath at the least. Verse respectfully took a seat at her own dining table, helping himself to a muffin.

“I spoke with Dash this morning.” He said. Melody blinked, shutting the door behind him. Her hand hovered on the handle for a few long moments, pondering what this would mean.

“And?” She asked after a moment.

“She seems to think we can turn her into the goddess of Loyalty. She and Twilight have been talking… She thinks we can do it with all the elements of harmony. Lily, Fluttershy, AJ, Pinkie…” Melody sat opposite Verse, her expression vacant as she thought about his words. The fog of alcohol might have been gone from her mind, but she still felt a little slow.

“So…”

“She wants to try today. By noon. Which is in about two hours.” He said quietly, pulling chunks of the muffin free and popping them into his mouth. Melody blinked several times.

“Two hours? Verse, I’m hungover… I can hardly brush my own hair, let alone… Resurrect a goddess…”

“You haven’t seen Twilight yet? She’s got a killer hangover cure.” He said, smiling at her.

“I just woke up, man… I haven’t left my room yet.”

“Oh. Well, I can go get her. I think she’s with Dash in her office now… Want me to?” Melody gnawed her lip for a moment.

“I guess… If they want us to work, then I’m going to need it…” She groaned and settled her face into her hands, trying to make sense of Verse’s confusing words.

“I’ll be right back.” He reached out and patted her arm, smiling softly before leaving her there. Melody slowly worked through the reasoning behind Dash and Twilight’s plan… Twilight. Ephemira, the element of magic and just as much a part of the elements of harmony as the other five, had been brought back in a panicked attempt to save her life. She had died in the process, and was brought back mostly by accident… To be honest with herself, Melody had no clue what she and Verse had exactly done. To her, it was a random event of happenstance. A very lucky one, and one that she would happily try to make again if any of her extended family’s lives were in danger… But would they HAVE to die to be brought back? She couldn’t answer that question…

“Hey, Melody.” Twilight’s voice snapped her out of her reverie. She had been pondering the conundrum for so long, Verse had already returned with their mother.

“Hey mom.” She muttered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

“Too much sauce last night?” She teased, sitting at the chair next to her. Verse sat opposite Melody.

“Yeah, I guess… You could have warned me earlier you wanted us to resurrect Loyalty.”

“I figure you’d work more effectively with a time constraint. It always helped with your magical studies.” Twilight smiled and let her hands light up with a brilliant purple blaze, reaching out to rest on Melody’s shoulder. “Sit still, I’m going to try and help you.” Melody felt the tingle of Twilight’s magic course through her body, running through each of her veins like a wonderful drug. Melody felt the soreness dissipate from her muscles, her mind racing much faster now. Each inch of her body tingled, almost like when her foot fell asleep, but slightly different…

“Woah.” She breathed as Twilight pulled away, with her going the feeling of grogginess. Her mind felt sharp as a tack, thoughts and ideas coming to her naturally, instead of on a conveyor belt as they had been before.

“Toldya.” Verse said with a chuckle, slipping away. “I’m gonna go get ready. Meet you up top at noon?”

“See you,” Twilight said, waving him off. Melody stood slowly, blinking a little.

“Okay,” She muttered, flexing her fingers. “What did you do?”

“Hmm? Oh, I removed the remaining toxins from your system. Trust me, alcohol is no laughing matter. You might want to consider abstaining in the near future. Drunken magi have accomplished some pretty horrible things in the past…”

“Like…?”

“Well… Equestria USED to have a good relationship with the dragons…”

“On second thought,” Melody groaned. “I don’t want to know.”

“Right. So, what do you need me to do?” Dash asked, smiling at Verse and Melody. The two of them shared a brief look before Melody spoke quietly.

“Eer… We’ve only ever done this twice before. The first time, I was about to die. The second, Twilight was about to die… So… Uum… We MIGHT need you to… Well… Die.”

“Uh huhn…” Dash said, her smile slowly fading. “Can we… Skip the dying part?”

“We can try.” Verse said quietly.

“So…”

“Just stand over here.” Melody beckoned. Dash walked forward until she was standing with Verse and Melody, the three of them forming a triangle of sorts. The wind picked up a little, ruffling Melody’s hair and making Verse squint.

“Do you want me to sit down or something?” Dash asked.

“Might as well.” Melody said softly. She felt a little pressured, being pushed into it like this… While the thought had been hanging at the back of her mind, along with a lot of other thoughts it seemed, she hadn’t addressed it. There was actually quite a bit she should probably start thinking about… There would be time after this. Right now, Melody needed to focus. While it was only the three of them atop the massive tower, Melody could feel Twilight’s magical presence with them. She knew she was being monitored. If nothing else, Twilight was at least exhibiting a healthy interest in the magical well-being of her children, and Ephemira was curious how the whole transition took place. Verse could feel the pressure, too, Melody knew it. They were both a little irked at the impromptu request.

But, like Twilight had said, she did work well with a time constraint. As they all sank onto the cool stone, settling and getting comfortable, she and Verse felt… Something. Melody could only describe it as an aura… A slight vibration in the air. Like something felt different.

“Woah…”

“What?” Dash asked, leaning in with an excited expression on her face.

“Here, let me see your hand.” Verse said gently, reaching out. Hesitantly, Dash gave it to him. Melody pulled Dash’s other hand into her own. The vibrating intensified.

“What is it?” Dash asked. “Feel something?”

“Something.” Melody confirmed, her brow furrowing. “Verse?” She asked. Her brother glanced up, his eyes betraying his thoughts. They gave a slight nod.

“We’re gonna try. Dash, are you ready?” Melody asked.

“Eer… I don’t have to die, right?”

“No promises.” Verse mumbled. Dash gave a nervous chuckle, just as Melody and Verse summoned their magic…

The white, barren background flashed into existence immediately. Melody gasped from shock as she went from seated on cold stone to standing on barren, paper-textured surface. Her eyes went wide as she looked around, blinking, trying to push the sense of vertigo and shock out of her head.

“Every time.” Verse grunted, making her wheel around. “I hate that feeling…” She gave a nervous laugh, trying to ignore the fact that the two of them were nude once more. Verse’s eyes didn’t wander, and she felt no inclination as well. Thankfully.

“What IS this place?” She muttered, looking every way she could. It was all white. Barren. Nothing. No notable features, no anything.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. It’s boring.” Verse sighed as he stood next to her.

“Hmm? I like it.” Dash’s voice made them both whirl around. This place had a habit of making things appear behind you. Melody REALLY didn’t like it. “It’s the same place we go whenever we’re in the link.” Dash continued, pacing in a slow, wide circle around them. “Twilight, Fluttershy, AJ, Pinkie, Lily… We all go in and out of this place whenever we open the link.”

“And are you always… Naked?” Verse asked hesitantly. Dash shrugged nonchalantly.

“It’s happened one way or another before. You learn to get used to it.” She smiled and stopped, turning to face both of them. “So.” Her arms lifted for a moment, gesturing to the surrounding, barren nothingness before dropping back to her sides. “What do you need me to do?”

“I… Don’t know…” Melody muttered, looking around. She tried to recall what they did any time they had visited this place… It hadn’t happened with Gale and Hurricane, that much she remembered, but they had come here when Twilight was dying… They had found her, bleeding and unconscious, when she had appeared right before them. They had touched her…

“Verse, you thinking what I’m thinking?” He groaned audibly.

“Am I gonna have to touch my naked surrogate aunt?”

“Afraid so. C’mere, Dash.”

“Ooh. Keep your hands away from the naughty spots.” Dash teased, padding towards them gracefully. “Noth would be angry with you.”

“Oh shut up.” Verse grumbled, taking Dash’s hand in his own again. They repeated the motion they had on the top of the tower. Melody’s magic hummed as she summoned it into her hands, and on the other side, with Dash’s slender fingers wrapped around his wrist, Verse did the same.

“Woah, hey!” Dash gasped. “My wings!” Melody looked up. Rather than being slammed from one reality into the next, they were still standing there. But something different was happening… Melody watched as Dash’s wings spread wide, flaring out in a storm of feathers. Was she…

“Dash, are you molting?”

“I- I don’t know!” She panted, her chest heaving. She was panicking. Melody watched her snowy-white feathers slowly drop, cascading off of the bone structure of her wings. Dash whimpered and turned this way and that, trying to pull her hands free of them. Melody would have been better able to pull her own hand off than to let go of Dash right then… Just because she wanted to didn’t mean she was able. Or that it would have been very pleasant. That didn’t stop Dash, though. She tugged firmly, grunting with the effort of ripping her hands free of the magical grip. She winced and panted, thrashing against them. Melody felt herself pulled this way and that, struggling to keep her balance against the strong avian.

“Dash! Stop!” Verse pleaded, resisting just a little bit better than Melody was able. Still, Dash resisted and struggled, her mouth open in a panicked scream. Melody grunted, pulling on her arm whenever she was able, fighting Dash’s inexorable thrashing. She was only swept away, her feet barely managing to stumble about underneath her swaying body. “Dash! Stop it!” Verse continued to plead.

“Ow! Dash, it hurts! Stop!” Melody whimpered, her shoulders and elbows feeling like they would dislocate soon. Her wrists had been twisted in ways they shouldn’t have been, her fingers sore from clinging to the panicked avian.

“My wings!” Dash panted, her skin breaking out in a thin sweat. “Let me go! I need my hands!”

“I can’t!” Verse grunted. His magic flared. He was obviously trying to release her.

“Verse! Wait!” Melody’s eyes went wide as she looked at Dash’s wings once again. The other two did as well. Dash’s eyes were wide and frightful, but both Verse and Melody were shocked at what they saw.

Dash’s feathers were slowly growing back. They started as a soft, downy sort of fluff, their roots still visible in the pink flesh of Dash’s now-bared wings. Melody soon had to blink, though… Dash’s feathers began to radiate with a soft, white light. She blinked again as they grew longer. All three of them were too shocked to realize that Verse and Melody had been released. Their hands dropped idly to their sides as Dash spread her wings wider, the feathers glowing brighter and brighter…

“I’m… I feel… I feel it.” Dash whispered quietly, turning her eyes up at both of them. “I feel it… The bonds of loyalty between everyone… Everywhere… Woah.” She blinked. “It’s… It’s so strong. HNG! AAHH!” She grunted, stumbling a little.

“Dash!” Melody lurched forwards, ready to catch her should she fall. Dash’s hands flew to her chest, her fingers curling into the flesh there as she gasped.

“Ow… Oww… Owwww…” She slowly knelt down, her knees sinking to the smooth white ground. “Oh, it hurts…”

“Dash, what’s wrong?” Melody whispered, her eyes wide with fear. “What’s wrong?” She and Verse crouched next to her, their expressions drawn with worry for the pained avian.

“It’s… I felt… I felt him cheat…” Melody was silent. Verse’s eyes were wide. “He… Just like that, he let it go… I felt it break…” She groaned and coughed, leaning forward so she curled up in a ball. Melody saw something flutter… She turned her gaze slightly to the side, watching as a feather in Dash’s wings slowly flickered, turned dark, and fell off… When it landed on the white ground, it crumbled to ash and drifted off, as if on an unseen breeze. Behind, a small dark mark was left behind…

“Dash… You can feel bonds between people?” Dash convulsed once before slowly sitting up, her eyes brimming with tears. She nodded solemnly, one tear slipping out.

“I feel… Hundreds of them. Thousands. Millions, even… They’re everywhere. I see them, like… Like chains. They stretch in between two people… Or among a group of them… They’re small and weak, or large and strong… I can hear them jingle and rattle, and HNN-“ She coughed again, this time recovering a little bit quicker than last time… “I can feel them break…” Another feather fell from her wings…

“Verse…” Melody whispered. “We did it…” Their gazes met once more. “We brought back Loyalty.”

“Let’s never do that again.” Dash groaned. They were atop Eyriewatch again, clothed, and slowly getting to their feet. Even as they stood, Dash winced once more, giving a self-contained cough.

“I don’t think we have a choice.” Verse muttered quietly, accepting Melody’s helping hand. In the early-evening light, Dash’s wings glowed mysteriously, lighting the shadows slowly creeping across the top of Eyriewatch. They had been up there for a few hours. The tingling presence of Twilight’s magic preceded a small crowd of people ascending the steps onto the roof.

“Dash!” Noth said, rushing forth. His arms wrapped around her firmly, drawing the smiling woman into a tight hug. “Are you okay? You feeling alright?”

“I’m fine, Noth.” She muttered. Unless Melody was mistaken, she saw relief in both their eyes. Where Dash was normally reserved around Noth, afraid to show affection, she was now unabashedly hugging him. Melody could have sworn she saw a brilliant golden bond between them, but it was soon lost as they pressed tight.

“C’mon,” Melody said softly, tugging on Verse’s sleeve. “Let’s go.” They smiled at Twilight as they ushered the small crowd of inquisitive avians off the top of the tower. The torch-lit staircase greeted them, the group mumbling and muttering that they wanted to see how the commander had changed. Apparently, word travelled fast in Eyriewatch…

“Good job, you two.” Twilight said softly, laying a hand on either of their shoulders. “I knew you could do it.”

“Like you said,” Melody bumped Verse with her hip, smiling warmly. “We work better with a time constraint.” Twilight gave a soft laugh and nudged her with her hip, smiling as they all looked around at one another.

“Now what? Are we really going to try and do that with everyone? Pinkie, Fluttershy, all the rest?” Verse asked. The group had begrudgingly left them behind, muttering about how they were going to try and fly up top, to see the commander’s new wings.

“That was our plan, yes.” Twilight said with a nod. They all stopped on the landing that held the commander’s quarters, leaning against one wall or another. “You two still have so much of the world to see… Granted, you’ve been in Featherhome and the dragon territories, places not everyone gets to see… And you’ve been in Hearth, where I haven’t even gone to… But you’ve seen more of these places than you have of Equestria. You still haven’t seen Canterlot, Trottingham, Stalliongrad, Ponyville, Las Pegasus… You’ve really only seen a little bit of Appleoosa. There are so many magical places I have to show you… The reversing falls outside of Southbay, The Everfree Forest, The Bastion of Last Day’s Light, The Arcanum! All of these are just the beginning, you two. If you’re destined to change the world, and if what I just witnessed was any indication, you’re going to need not just training and guidance, but plenty of knowledge as well.” Twilight gestured animatedly, her hands weaving pictures of all the places she spoke of. Melody had seen pictures of Canterlot, and had read much about it in her books. Of all the places Twilight listed, Melody probably wanted to visit there the most.

“When, though?” Verse asked. “I mean, as much as I’d hate to admit it, Eyriewatch isn’t home. Neither are any of those places you listed… When can we go home? Back to the south, to our ocean? Mom, I miss our tree, I miss the ocean, I miss Jokkan and Miko and hunting in the woods…” Verse sounded much more like a child then than Melody had ever seen him before. She didn’t blame him, though, because she felt the exact same way.

“I have to agree with Verse,” She said quietly, just as her brother started to grow quiet. “I miss home. I miss watching the stars and playing together in the living room… All of those places sound wonderful, but… I don’t know, I just want to go home…”

“We will.” Twilight said softly. She drew both of them into a gentle hug, sharing a tender moment on the stairwell landing. Melody buried her face into Twilight’s neck, trying to fight the tears of homesickness. “I promise. That was in our plans as well… It’s just so much more dangerous now that Chrysalis knows where we live… Nowhere that isn’t full of people for us to hide amongst, or with friends to protect us is safe… We will go home, I swear. Soon.” Melody didn’t know how soon ‘soon’ was, but Twilight’s words had a calming effect upon her. She sighed and pulled away with a nod.

“Okay… When are we leaving?” Verse asked. Melody glanced at him, but Twilight frowned a little with thought.

“In about two weeks. There are a few things I need to make sure of with Dash before we leave. That, and there’s more for all of us to do to help out around here. Melody knows what I’m talking about.”

“Huh?” Verse perked up, glancing at her. Melody remembered in a flash.

“That’s right! I gotta go.” She kissed Twilight on the cheek before rushing off, heading for her room.

“What? Melody, what the hell?” Melody smiled at him, standing in her doorway.

“I have a date!”

And she had to get ready.

“Hey! Melody!” Faith smiled and waved as Melody broke over the threshold of the top of the tower. Dash and Noth were nowhere to be seen, though she could probably guess where they were. Instead, the only person standing atop Eyriewatch was Faith. Melody smiled as she landed, taking a moment to appraise her date.

Faith was a slender, tall avian, standing about as tall as Melody herself. Perhaps an inch or two higher, but Melody couldn’t tell with her heels. She sported dirty-blonde hair that was cut somewhat short, and hung in layers around her face. The way it framed her beautiful blue eyes was rather alluring. That particular night, she wore a tight-fitting tunic that hugged her slender rib cage and pushed her breasts up, it also left her long arms bare. Her cargo shorts hung about mid-calf, and she was barefoot. Melody knew among avian that going barefoot was not uncommon. Dash had shared a story about Cloudsdale, a place Melody wished she could visit someday, how all the avians there almost HAD to go barefoot, or risk soaking their shoes. The entire city was built out of clouds, after all.

Taking a little bit of a better look, Melody noticed the way Faith’s thighs swelled against her pants, leading up to a very full, rounded rear, and wide hips. Her stomach was flat against the tunic, and her bust swelled against the fabric quite a bit.

“You going to sit there and look at me all night?” Faith teased, a smile spread across her lips.

“S-sorry…” Melody blushed, rubbing the back of her neck from embarrassment. “Just… Wow, you look beautiful.”

“Hey,” She teased, walking forward with a smile. Her arms slid around Melody’s waist, drawing her into a gentle hug. “Those are my words.” Melody smiled softly as Faith pressed their lips together. After the rough alcohol-fueled make out session last night, this felt surprisingly natural and warm. Almost friendly. That is, until Melody felt Faith’s fingers pinch her rear.

“Eep!”

“Hahaha! That was a cute squeak.” Faith teased, pulling away. Melody blushed and rubbed the spot, feeling the tingling pain fade away into an odd sort of excitement… “I hope you’re up for a bit of a flight tonight?”

“Uuh, yeah.” Melody said softly. She had taken a little while to prepare for the date, and she had a feeling one way or another they were going to be flying. Melody realized that trying to pull off ‘Sexy’ and ‘Flyable’ was a difficult task… She had settled for a pair of knee-length shorts and a tight-fitting blouse that hugged her curves well, and despite her better judgment, was sporting a tight sports bra. Somehow, she felt the ensemble didn’t work well with the heels, though… And upon seeing Faith going barefoot, Melody took a moment to pull them off.

“Want to drop those off?” Faith said with a teasing smile, nodding at the skimpy footwear. Melody blushed a little again. What was it about this woman that made her blush so much?

“Yeah, if we could…” She muttered. “Follow me?”

“I’ll try to keep up.” Melody grinned at her before turning to the edge of the roof, breaking into a quick sprint towards the edge. Her bare feet flew over the stones. She felt so light and free, and when she dove over the edge, the adrenaline pumped fast and free through her veins. Wings spread to catch the updraft, Melody circled the tower once in a low, wide dive, glancing over her shoulder as Faith followed her path. Of course, Faith didn’t have a lot of difficulty keeping up. Melody might have been trained by the best, but she wasn’t a career flyer like almost everyone else she had run across, it seemed. Maybe her next love would be somewhere other than Eyriewatch, where about ninety percent of the city was avian. Pulling up with a few flaps, Melody landed on bare feet on her own balcony, this time marked with a bright red handkerchief.

“Woah.” Faith said, hardly breathing heavier than normal as she landed next to Melody. “You’re staying in the commander’s guest quarters?”

“Yeah…” Melody admitted, unlocking the balcony door and slipping inside. “Come on in.” Faith hesitantly followed Melody into her bedroom, looking around at the warm wood furnishings. Melody deposited her heels along with the other bits of footwear before beckoning Faith into the living room. The table was still laid out with fresh fruit and tall mugs of cool water. “Help yourself,” She said, gesturing to the table. “I just need to use the restroom for a moment.”

“Right. Thanks.” Faith said, hefting a juicy-looking apple. Melody went to handle her business, taking extra care to clean up afterwards, and when she slipped back into the room, Faith was halfway through the apple. Melody took the rest of it, grinning as she bit into the juicy flesh, handing the fruit back off. “Hey,” Faith complained, frowning at the large bite mark missing. “Get your own.” She pouted.

“Come off it.” Melody teased, returning the pinch to Faith’s shapely rear-end. Faith jumped and blushed, gasping a little as Melody slipped back into her bedroom and out onto the balcony.

“Right then. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Melody raised her hands to tighten the braid in her hair, checking to make sure it was tucked down the back of her blouse again. When Faith dove off her balcony, Melody followed with a smile on her face. Faith was a streak through the sky… She flew straight as an arrow off to the south-west, chasing the setting sun into the horizon. Melody fought to keep up, and when Faith looped back, she would always tease Melody about how slow she was. They left the walls of Eyriewatch, flying out over the outlying buildings and off into the wide plains surrounding the large city. Once they were gone from the limits, with nothing but grass and the occasional tree beneath them, Faith began to show off. She was a much more talented flyer than Connor had been, and Melody was mesmerized as she watched Faith spin and arc through the air, circling Melody and diving past her smoothly. She was a picture of beauty in motion, her wings working to propel her to speeds Melody could only ever dream of achieving…

“Almost there!” Faith shouted over the winds, pointing at an approaching stand of trees. Melody poured a little bit extra onto the fire, now that their destination was in sight. The trees were all low cottonwood, and even from here, Melody could see how the early fall weather was beginning to turn the leaves brown at the edges. Their white, downy fluff lifted on a breeze, carrying Melody and Faith the last bit of the way to the edge.

“What… What are we doing here?” Melody panted.

“You’ll see.” Faith said with a smile. Yet again, the hardy courier was hardly breathing heavy. Melody was panting, her skin covered in a flop sweat. She was sure she didn’t look all that sexy anymore. “Are you new to flying?”

“Brand new.” Melody groaned, rubbing a stitch in her ribs.

“Well if you’re new, then you did a damn good job. I was going to say you were flying a bit slow, but… Well… How new?”

“Eer… Less than six months?”

“Oh wow… Melody, some people train for a whole year just to lift off the ground. If you’ve come that far in six months…”

“Well… Commander Dash IS my personal flying trainer, more often than not…” Melody admitted with a blush. Faith, almost like she wasn’t surprised by any more of these shocking revelations, just shook her head and took Melody’s hand. Together, they walked into the small wood, enveloped by the soft tufts of cottonwood drifting down around them.

“Over here.” She said, guiding Melody over to a shallow area in the ground. When Faith released her hand, the avian promptly fell to her stomach near a small crack in the earth. Melody heard slurping noises. When Faith emerged, her lips were shining. “It’s a natural mineral spring. C’mon, drink. Hydrate.” She said, licking her lips as she plunged back in. Melody arched an eyebrow, but hesitantly lowered herself down to her stomach. Poking her head in the dark crack, she noticed it was full to the brim with cool, clear water. Faith slurped straight from the pool heedlessly, so Melody followed suit. The water was clear and clean, freezing cold and refreshing. She had to drink slowly, it was so cold… But the tightness in her chest loosened and her muscles stopped twitching.

“That’s brilliant.” Melody gasped as she came up for breath at last. Faith smiled at her as they slowly rose to their feet and continued walking into the wood.

“This place is a fairly common spot for the guard to hang out… Whenever we feel like grounding, we usually come here. After sunset, magical things happen in this wood…” She said, smiling at Melody as they slowly emerged into a little clearing. Maybe twenty or thirty feet across, Faith and Melody were alone. “Not a whole lot of us know about it, though… And most of us who do are deployed. As far as I know, Comitatus and I are the only two left who know. There are a few other couriers, but they’re all out delivering the next few weeks… And Comitatus doesn’t visit very often.” She gestured to the soft-looking grass, inviting Melody to have a seat. When she did, Faith sat at her back. Melody shifted her wings away, cautiously leaning against Faith, making sure she had comfortably tucked.

“It’s very beautiful here…” Melody said softly, looking around. It was quiet and peaceful. The sound of a soft breeze blowing through the trees or a nearby spring gurgling along happily… She felt her eyes close; her lungs fill with cool, clean air…

“It’s almost time… Shh…” Faith said, drawing her knees up to her chest. Melody supported her as she leaned back a little more; both of them growing still and quiet… The sky was stained a dark purple, the first stars of the night winking into existence. High, fluffy clouds scudded along on the stiff winds above, while the two of them were bathed in a soft, gentle breeze… Melody was content to watch the wind manipulate the leaves and the branches, but some small part of her began to wonder what they were being quiet for…

Then she saw it. A soft light… Light blue and faint, it slowly faded into existence, about ten feet into the trees, before fading away smooth and slow… She inhaled deeply, eyes wide as she tried to see it again. Faith nudged her, pointing off to their side… Melody followed her finger, saw two more lights burn into existence… On, on… Off, off… It was entrancing. Just as she tried to focus on them completely, they were gone…

Then three more winked in. They moved a short ways, bobbing as they floated through the air, and then disappeared again. Realization came to her in a moment. She had read about these… They were wisps, creatures that existed in areas with high magical concentration. They were, essentially, deposits of power. They began to appear more numerous, coming in groups of five or six… Then they continued to grow. Soon, dozens at a time were appearing, lighting the surrounding area with an eerie, light-blue glow. She smiled, though. This truly was a sight to behold. Wisps were generally flighty, and any magical interference tended to make them disappear. For a magi to see a wisp meant their own magic was much in-tune with that of the earth. It was a boon, good fortune and assurance that your magic would be powerful. For Melody to see so many was nothing short of phenomenal.

“Neat, innit?” Faith said quietly, leaning back a little more against Melody. She returned the motion, but was still too awestruck to speak. The wisps kept increasing in number, until the entire clearing was alight with their ethereal blue illumination. Melody watched, entranced, as they faded in and out of existence, slowly moving around and around in a circle. There in the middle, Faith and Melody sat, back to back, watching the magnificent display.

“This is… Incredible.” Melody breathed. When Faith’s hand touched hers, Melody gladly twined their fingers together. Faith gave her a reassuring squeeze, her head leaning back enough to bump against Melody’s. They stayed like that, holding hands, watching the wisps swirl about the clearing slowly, fading in and out for about a half an hour. Then the numbers began to dwindle. Slowly at first, but soon enough the gaps in the circle began to grow more and more noticeable… Then there were a dozen. Then five. And at last, the final wisp flickered a little, fading away and leaving the two of them in utter darkness.

“That was… One amazing first date…” Melody said with a smile. Faith laughed behind her before pulling away and standing up.

“Come on.” She said softly, offering Melody a hand. “It’s getting late.” Both of them were silent as they left the forest, but they didn’t stop holding hands. When they were back in the open fields, Melody shifted into her wings and looked up into the sky.

“I’ll go slow.” Faith said softly, smiling at her. Melody smiled back and nodded. Together, they took off into the sky. This time, Faith stayed by her side the whole way back. Melody knew, and Faith knew as well. There was no need to even ask. There was this odd sort of magnetism between them… An odd sense of desire and tension. Whenever Faith touched her, she could feel the spark ignite between them. Every time their eyes met, she felt that tingle in her abdomen. That familiar, eager sort of feeling that told her she was looking at someone who wanted her, and whom she wanted very much. Melody flew to her balcony in the dark, unlocked the door, and let them in…

Faith’s lips found hers before Melody could even take a breath. She groaned eagerly, feeling her partner roughly push her against the wall. Melody was glad she was able to get rid of her wings before Faith’s slender, eager body pressed up against her. Melody felt her knees pushed aside as Faith slid her own leg in between Melody’s. Her thigh rose higher and higher, pressing firmly into the front of Melody’s crotch. She whimpered and gasped, which was a mistake. Faith plunged her tongue in between Melody’s lips, the tip of her warm, slippery appendage curling to lick the roof of Melody’s mouth. Faith’s hot breath filled her mouth, made her groan, her eyes roll back in her head.

It was bliss. Faith was rough, demanding, and eager. Her hands found Melody’s, raising them above their heads, pressing the back of her wrists against the stone wall. Melody was stretched out before Faith, pinned, unable to do a thing to stop it. She didn’t want to, of course… She loved where this was going. She would be a fool to discourage Faith from continuing. Their mouths broke apart, leaving Melody panting in the aftermath. Faith used one hand to hold both of Melody’s wrists in place, her other hand sliding down Melody’s arm to her chest. With a firm touch, Faith cupped her breast, squeezing the taut flesh through both layers of fabric.

“Haahh!” Melody inhaled, her back arching smoothly away from the wall. Faith had a way of making her feel so sensitive… The five fingers pressing into the flesh of her breast felt like they were spreading fire, making her entire chest rise and fall with each hot breath she took. The feeling was doubled when the avian’s lips pressed against her neck, teasing the fine hairs and sending shivers down her body. This was so much different from Connor… He would be gentle and soft, guide her down to bed, assist her with her clothes…

But Faith was anything but gentle. The grip on Melody’s chest tightened until she was short of breath, and when it was released, she audibly groaned. Faith began pulling at the front of her vest, loosening it bit by bit. Melody watched, an odd sort of excitement and desire building up in her own chest. She suddenly felt very hot, her cheeks flushed and her skin sweating a little. She could only sit there and watch, her breath quickening as Faith began to shed her vest. Underneath, she wore a sturdy bra that pushed her breasts up further, making the flesh swell over the edge of the fabric a little. Melody could understand her desire to be free of the restrictive fabric.

“Too fast?” Faith whimpered quietly, leaning in a little. When Melody shook her head, it felt like she couldn’t possibly convey how much faster she wanted this to go. She pushed forwards, eager to kiss Faith again. Their lips brushed together just a little, a slight teasing touch. Faith groaned and pushed Melody back against the cold wall, smiling deviously.

“Aah…” Melody groaned, her head falling back to rest on the stone.

“Take it easy, Melody.” Faith teased, her lips curling even more. The one hand not holding her wrists slowly fell to her waistline, teasing the edge of the fabric. “I’ve got the reins… Just relax.” She moaned, leaning in to kiss Melody’s jaw line. Melody groaned again, feeling the shock of Faith’s teasing touch race through her body. This was so exciting! Her hormones were reacting the same way they might have to Connor or another man, but it was all thanks to Faith… The way the avian’s thigh pressed in between her own, teasing her crotch with gentle pressure, her lips igniting a firestorm of electric impulses all along her neck and torso… Melody gasped and groaned and moaned and whimpered all she could, but Faith took things at her own pace. She would not be swayed. No matter what.

“Faith, please.” Melody whimpered.

“Hmm? Please, what?” She teased, pulling away just a little. The light puffs of air wafted over Melody’s jaw, making her writhe against the wall even more.

“Please… Stop teasing…”

“Oh, but it’s so much FUN watching you squirm.” Faith teased, her hand laying flat against Melody’s ribcage. This elicited yet another groan, the touch much more solid and warm than recent ones. “Though I do enjoy listening to you beg, too… Come on, let’s hear it.” Faith leaned into kiss Melody’s lips briefly, just for a second. “Beg for it.”

“Please…”

“Please what?”

“Touch me?”

“Ooh…” Faith shivered visibly against Melody, her eyes closing as if from some sort of blissful sensation. “That was good. Say it again.”

“Touch me. Please.”

“Hmm, where?”

“Anywhere, please, I just… I want it.”

“Oh, now you want it?” She was such a damn tease… Melody writhed her thighs together, squeezing Faith’s leg firmly. “Hmm? You want it down there?”

“Please…”

“You’re gonna have to do better than that.” Melody’s veins were on fire. She could feel how wet she was growing. Her panties had to have been soaked through by now.

“Down there…” Melody groaned. Her cheeks felt like they were darker than crimson by now.

“Look at that blush. Goodness, Melody, I could light a cigarette off of that.”

“Sh-shut up…” She groaned, closing her eyes. Her head fell back to the wall with an audible thump.

“I’ll shut up, but only if you promise to make some noise.” Faith firmly rose her leg upwards, lifting Melody’s weight off of her feet just a little.

“Aahn!”

“That’s it.” Faith leaned in to pull Melody’s earlobe into her mouth, gnawing on the sensitive flesh until Melody could hardly breathe properly. She was so riled up, her libido going a million miles an hour. She wanted gratification, she wanted an orgasm. Scratch that, she wanted a dozen. “Let’s hear it again.” Faith’s leg pressed against her again, this time MUCH more firmly.

“Aaahh!” Melody’s breathy groan came with it, her feet dangling now. Faith was VERY strong, able to lift Melody off of her feet with just one leg.

“That sounds so good, Melody…” Faith groaned eagerly, her head rolling in a slow circle. “Kiss me.” Melody willingly obeyed, her head lurching forward to capture their lips again. Faith kissed her back with enough force to push her head back against the wall, both of their tongues undulating and wrestling fiercely. Melody was strong, but Faith was fast. Her tongue slithered to and fro, wearing Melody’s jaw muscles down until she was pushed back in submission, her tongue listlessly moving the direction Faith wanted it to. Melody could feel her lips slowly being covered with their combined saliva, her chin dotted with a single, drooling strand. She wasn’t sure when it happened, but Faith’s fingers slowly peeled the waist of her shorts apart from her flesh, her hand sliding into the opening with a smooth touch.

“Hnn!” Melody whimpered, her lips closing. Faith insistently opened them again, pushing her tongue firmly inside her mouth. Melody breathed out against her, inhaling the scent of Faith’s breath, feeling her hand move around down there…

“Oh fuck,” Faith said suddenly, pulling their lips apart suddenly. Melody blinked a few times, looking at her.

“Huh?”

“You’re soaked…” Faith pulled her fingers out, displaying the glistening liquid coating the tips of her index and middle fingers. She rubbed them against her thumb, smiling at Melody. “You’re really liking this, huh?” Again, Melody couldn’t suppress her blush. Faith’s lips parted, her tongue spilling out past her teeth to slide up the entirety of her own finger, tasting Melody’s arousal. When Faith groaned, Melody could hardly resist the urge to just push her down on the bed and strip her bare… She could swear, she hadn’t removed her vest intentionally. She was teasing Melody ruthlessly… The throaty groans, the way she teasingly licked her fingers, her heavy eyelids… Melody whimpered and writhed against the wall, but Faith stole her strength with another rough, tongue-wrestling kiss.

“Come on.” Faith said after what felt like forever. When she pulled her leg away from Melody’s crotch, the void of pressure made her thighs squirm. She wanted more… Thankfully, it looked like Faith wasn’t about to leave her hanging. Faith pushed her down onto the bed, their feet crossing the rug without a sound. When the avian crawled up onto the bed, her arms and legs on either side of Melody’s, she could feel her own breath catch, her stomach twitching a little from anticipation. Faith sat down on Melody’s hips, her shapely rear pressing down on the same spot her thigh had. Melody raised her hands slowly, running her fingertips over the edge of Faith’s bared midriff.

“Aahh…” She let out a breathy groan, her head tilting back. Melody watched her wings ruffle a little bit, as if they were growing more comfortable. Smoothly, Faith pulled her vest off, leaving her in nothing but the bra and her loose cargo shorts. At the invitation, Melody’s hands became more adventuresome, sliding higher until the flat of her palms rested on Faith’s stomach, her fingertips just barely touching the edge of her bra. At first, Faith’s expression was blissful, both lusty and eager at the same time, but when Melody didn’t move, she slowly opened her eyes and peered down at her.

“First time?”

“Is it that obvious?” Melody whimpered. Faith chuckled and leaned in to kiss her again, the gentle touch enough to soothe her hammering heart. She sighed softly as Faith wrapped her fingers around Melody’s wrist, pushing it around to her back.

“I’m assuming you know how to remove a bra.” She teased, her lips curled into a smile. Melody gave her an indignant look before expertly snapping the hooks free. The bra sagged around her chest, still covering her breasts, just barely giving Melody a peek at what lay beneath. Faith pulled her hand back around to the front, urging her hand underneath the loosened hem of her underwear. Slowly, Melody slid her fingers up over the soft flesh, curving them with the contour of her skin, up all the way until Faith’s erect nipple nestled squarely in the middle of Melody’s palm. “Go ahead.” Faith whispered. “Squeeze it… It’s okay.” She winked. “You won’t hurt me.”

“Hehe.” Melody gave a soft giggle, the kind that on the inside, made her cringe. She and Faith were two grown individuals, not schoolgirls giggling over whose bust size was larger. What’s more, Melody’s hormones were going crazy in that moment, making her crave things that ought not be craved by the so-called child of ‘true’ love… With a gentle touch, she flexed her fingers, squeezing Faith’s soft breast. She got a groan in return that made her thighs squirm together. She lifted her hips into Faith’s rear a little, making the woman raise up just a bit. Faith reaffirmed her authority by dropping her hips more firmly, groaning as Melody softly squeezed and massaged her…

“Hmm… Have you ever even kissed a woman before?” Faith teased, smiling down at Melody.

“Before you? No… Not really…” Melody muttered softly, feeling a flush rise to her cheeks more from embarrassment than anything else. Faith just chuckled at her, shrugging out of her bra and tossing it off the side of the bed. Melody realized this was almost like a scene from one trashy romance novel or another she’d had the displeasure of reading as a younger woman. Clothes strewn about the room, a fire crackling happily nearby, warm covers and horrible puns…

Faith, on the other hand, was anything but your typical one-dimensional romance novel character. She was dynamic, interesting, and fun. Her history came readily to mind and made sense whenever she thought about how engaging, sincere, and energetic Faith was. She had a perfect rack.

“Oh… Oh my…” Melody’s hand fell away from the soft skin, landing somewhere amongst the thick comforter that covered her bed. Faith grinned wide, pushing her biceps together so her breasts were squished between them. It was almost like she knew doing that was only more arousing, and helped accentuate the delicate features.

“Do you like?” She asked, her own cheeks flushing just a little. Melody could only stupidly nod her head, ogling at the beautiful display of femininity before her. She was much larger than Melody had originally thought, with a bust measurement that probably rivaled her own. The gentle slope downwards from her collarbone swelled in a natural curve, and was topped by two perfectly-shaped nipples, both of them with areolas approximately the size of a quarter. Melody could tell by the soft gooseflesh they were already hard, a clear indication of how aroused Faith was. Now that shirts and bras were coming off, Melody felt a little guilty. She slowly pulled her blouse over her head, pulling her braid free so her hair fanned out naturally behind her.

“Oh?” Faith teased, her fingertips teasing the edge of Melody’s bra where it met her ribs. “You wore a sports bra? Underneath all that?”

“Sh-shut up.” Melody groaned, rolling her eyes. Faith chuckled as she started working at Melody’s bra, pushing it up bit by bit. Putting these damn things on was a chore. Taking them off was even more difficult. Maybe even a bit painful. Soon enough, though, Faith tossed both articles of clothing aside, and wasted no time leaning in to tease Melody some more. She gasped as Faith gave a teasing lovebite to the tender flesh on her collarbone, making her chest jump a little. Both of her hands cupped Melody’s breasts, squeezing and massaging in a combination of rough and tender.

It was like flipping a card. They transitioned from light and teasing straight into passionate and eager. Melody felt her lips everywhere, on her collarbone, her neck, her breasts… Her own hands raised to the avian’s back, her nails digging into the skin eagerly. When Faith started to suck her nipple, though, everything dulled into an odd, passionate sort of haze. Melody’s hands rested listlessly on Faith’s back, letting her do whatever she pleased, as long as she kept that feeling constant. Melody’s eyes were closed, focusing on the feeling of her smooth skin, her deft tongue… If she was soaked before, Melody was drenched now. Her wetness had to have penetrated through her shorts. It was all so different and new, not like any time before. She knew if Faith had a penis, it would have slid in without the slightest bit of warm up needed. She was on fire, her desire rampaging out of control, and her muscles unable to coordinate in even the slightest semblance of order.

“Hnn… Aah! Oohh…” Melody groaned and writhed beneath Faith, arching her back when she could, her thighs rubbing together in a poor attempt to quench the flames burning in her core. Faith’s hips still rested squarely above hers, the position making it impossible for either of them to continue disrobing in any way, shape, or form. Not that it mattered… Faith was sucking and licking Melody’s erect nipple hungrily, her deft lips circling Melody’s areola, flicking her nipple up and down, making her breath catch in her throat…

The sharp contrast between this and every time she and Connor had been together was almost painfully obvious… Melody had always felt happy and warm and content around Connor… But around Faith, she was an insatiable monster. She wanted more, she wanted every little bit of pleasure that she could snipe from this woman. Connor could light a fire inside of her, tend to the flames, stoke them when it was appropriate and then extinguish the blaze at the proper moment…

But not Faith.

This woman fueled Melody’s furnace until it spilled out of it’s confines, raged unchecked across the countryside, and left nothing but barren and hungry land behind. That is, until her fingers started to work below Melody’s waistline… Relief, like a cool wave of water, crashed through Melody’s senses. She groaned with pure pleasure, whimpering as she felt the pressure shift and move against her numb nether regions…

“Off.” Faith grunted, suddenly sitting back. Melody blinked a few times, not quite comprehending the demand. When Faith wrapped her fingertips around the hem of Melody’s shorts, she realized in a flash. It took all of her mental capacity to lift her legs as Faith insistently pulled at her clothes, all but ripping them off. Melody was suddenly and completely bare, her naked body stretched out beneath Faith. The grinning avian surveyed every inch of her body, those brilliant blue eyes trailing all the way from Melody’s teal-colored hair down to her toes. She felt the intense gaze wash over her, looking at every little detail she could pick out.

“Amazing…” She finally muttered, her hands reaching out to touch Melody once more. This time, Faith’s touch was soft, gingerly tracing the line of Melody’s flat stomach… Melody could do nothing but writhe underneath her, the fiery desire rearing it’s massive head once more. Her hands were like match sticks, everywhere they rubbed on her skin would ignite another flame, all of it being swept up into the firestorm of Melody’s desire.

“Spread your legs.” Faith panted. And she really was panting. Her mouth hung open, her own bare chest rising and falling with a smooth, eager motion. Melody felt so wooden as her legs spread apart, her feet slipping for a moment before finding purchase in the bunched fabric of the comforter beneath them. “This is gonna be good…”

It was like water. Cold and sweet, pouring through Melody’s body. The quaking, quivering pleasure gripped her in a tender embrace, cuddling her close. She was only vaguely aware that Faith’s mouth had started working at her smooth, slick sex… There was a tongue somewhere in the equation, and she was certain the sloppy, wet noises coming from her crotch were thanks to Faith and her expert technique. Melody was still unable to move with any sense of coordination as Faith eagerly lapped at her dripping, slick core.

“Ooohh…” Melody whimpered, her eyelids fluttering closed as the relief washed over her. Faith’s hands massaged her thigh and her stomach, keeping her relaxed for the most part. Every now and then though, a rough twitch would rock her body, making Melody jump atop the sheets for a second. Faith smiled at those times, glancing up at Melody through the valley of her breasts. With an insistent touch, Faith lifted her leg up and over her own shoulder, attacking Melody’s center from a different angle.

And that was only the first twenty seconds. Ten more, and Melody was on the brink. “Faith!” She gasped, arching up just a little bit. “Faith, I’m cumming!”

“Hmm.” The rough vibrations rocked straight through Melody’s core, her clitoris twitching as she immediately let it all go. “Ack! Ppbth!” Faith pulled up and away, stretching Melody’s leg out as she sputtered. Melody knew she had squirted. Of course she had squirted, Faith was ruthless in her teasing. She had Melody wound up tighter than a spring. “Fa-fahk!” Faith spat off the side of the bed, wiping her dripping jowls with a wide grin. “I didn’t know you could squirt!”

“Sh-sh… Fuck.” Melody grunted, still twitching. Her muscles couldn’t seem to rein themselves in, the way they were twitching and jumping.

“Easy, Melody… Come on, girlie…” Faith said softly, rubbing Melody’s stomach with a gentle touch. She closed her eyes and focused on returning to normal, her soaked crotch still oozing onto the comforter. Dash was going to give her so much shit about the laundry report again…

“Woah…” Melody finally exhaled, her form sagging into the sheets. She panted for a few moments, her mouth hanging open.

“Good?”

“So good.” Faith chuckled at her answer, leaning in for a soft, tender kiss. It stretched for a few moments, the two of them inhaling softly as they slowly came down from Melody’s peak. When Faith pulled away, it was with a soft, coy smile.

“Think you can return the favor?” Melody blinked for a moment, her breath catching in her throat. Melody realized she was feeling something else just then… It was apprehension. Doubt. Anxiety. She wasn’t unfamiliar with these sensations in bed… She had certainly felt them the first time with Connor. But the second Faith’s hands fell to the button of her own shorts, Melody felt a soft sort of affirmation flow through her then. She nodded eagerly, watching as Faith slowly pulled her shorts and soft black panties off. Beneath, the avian was every bit as hairless as Melody. Faith slowly laid out on her back, moving gingerly thanks to her wings. When she spread her legs apart, Melody couldn’t help but feel appreciative of the woman’s natural beauty…

Faith’s center was very petite, looking small and fragile set in against her soft mound. Shamelessly, her fingers slid down her stomach, over her pubis, and into those small folds. She spread herself apart, letting Melody see into the avian’s beautiful core. Her pale pink lips glistened with wetness, very small, thin strands of her arousal dotted on her thighs. Melody caught the faintest scent of her juices, the musky and arousing smell making her own center ooze a little more.

“Do you know how?” Faith asked. Her question brought back memories of the most recent spa encounter, of all the things her mother had shared with her. Twilight’s scientific approach coupled with Lily’s vast amount of experience had given her a sound basis… Now it was time to put it into practice.

As with anything else, start slow. Running your fingers up and down the entirety of her slit will spread her juice and build anticipation. Try and avoid her clitoris if you can, but small, tentative brushes can help her out… Like giving her a promise of more to come. Read her for signs. Everyone has their tell when they’re ready for the next portion. For Twilight, it’s when her toes begin to curl. It’s so damn cute. But anyways. Look for it. You’ll know it when you see it.

When it’s time to start, there are several ways to go about it. You can put your fingers in, slide your tongue in, or use either on her clitoris… Like I said, I prefer to save the clitoris for later. In my personal experience, a combination of using two fingers while your tongue flicks her clitoris is the best way. It’s fast, it’s intense, and let me tell you… Nothing can make a woman squirt better than prostate and clitoral stimulation simultaneously. If you can find her g-spot, try rubbing that at the same time you flick her clit. Alternatively, sucking the clitoral hood into your mouth and running it rapidly over your teeth works extremely well. This makes it difficult to use your finger at the same time, but that’s a sacrifice to be made.

Don’t be afraid to alternate. Use one finger, two, your tongue, different hands, and your lips. I specifically recall one woman who would cum very easily just from me kissing her clit. Another when I would rub my lips back and forth across it. Everyone has their own different handle. Explore, and don’t be afraid to try something different.

Melody started slow, her fingers taking the place of Faith’s. She was surprised to find an incredibly different texture to this woman’s core than her own… Where Melody was warm and more often than not soft, Faith’s skin was taut and smooth. She felt somewhat firm down here, like her flesh wouldn’t easily yield. That, and she was soaked. Melody’s fingers easily slid up and down, teasing everything from the soft U shape at the bottom of her pink lips all the way up to her pubis. She made a point to avoid Faith’s clit for now, teasing it with the slightest of slight touches now and then. Only when Melody’s fingers were completely covered with her partner’s arousal did the tell come.

Faith sagged into the sheets, like all the strength had suddenly left her muscles. Melody didn’t know she had been flexing the entire time, her muscles rigid with pressure, keeping herself wound up so tight in anticipation for what was to come. Melody moved her face in smoothly, her open mouth spilling a hot breath out against Faith’s spread, bared center.

The first taste was like a shock. Melody had always taken the taste of arousal sort of objectively… It wasn’t particularly arousing or anything special to her… It was just a taste. A wetness that could just as easily have been wiped off on a towel, like after washing your hands. But in that moment, tasting it directly from the source, Melody was shocked. It was rather intense, the heady, musky taste that permeated her mouth. She had to check herself, remind herself there was a higher purpose for her here. She slid her tongue up and down Faith’s opening, teasing her delicate lips apart bit by bit. The taste, though, was at the fore of her mind, permeating every thought…

Melody thought it tasted faintly of fish… Though it had a somewhat metallic undertone that took it so much further. She stopped trying to compare it to anything else, realizing then that there was no comparison to such a sensation. Instead, she focused on making Faith cum. That was a worthy cause, and one that she was willing to ignore the taste in her mouth for.

“Aahn!” The first time Melody flicked Faith’s clitoris, the reaction she got was priceless. The woman groaned and sagged into the comforter further, her thighs twitching once before coming to a rest again. Mirroring her partner, Melody gingerly drew one of those full, round thighs up over her shoulder, feeling the reassuring weight of Faith’s leg against her back. Remarkably, this gave Melody a much better angle to work at, her neck not quite so strained as she continued licking. She teased Faith’s entrance open, enough to poke the tip of her tongue in. She felt Faith’s core muscles flex, squeezing her tongue just a little… It was only when Faith relaxed that Melody pushed deeper, her bottom row of teeth scraping the area between her core and her rear as she pushed further. Melody’s tongue wasn’t exactly long or dexterous, but it was fairly thick. She spread Faith apart for that first inch or two, her jaw muscles aching a little even as Faith writhed even more. Melody realized then that her top row of teeth was roughly pressing into Faith’s clitoris, and the avian appeared to be loving it. Melody opened and closed her jaw just a little, flicking the tortured woman’s clit back and forth.

“I’m cumming!” It happened in an instant. Melody didn’t have a moment to react before a fresh wave of heady, musky juice flowed into her mouth. She fought the urge to gag at it, pulling her dripping tongue out rapidly. Faith groaned as her hips settled back onto the bed, while Melody drooled and worked fresh saliva into her mouth. The vile taste inundated her senses, making her head swim with the disgusting and highly erotic taste.

“Woah…” Melody groaned, smacking her lips together. The taste began to fade off into something else, something not quite so… Intense… While she didn’t think she could handle a fresh, full wave of whatever Faith had hit her with, she did rather enjoy the aftermath… Both of them were soaked downstairs, oozing and pulsing from their pleasured, aching cores. Faith hadn’t quite recovered from her orgasm by the time Melody set in again. This time, she hungrily started lapping away at the avian’s crotch, groaning and moaning as her tongue worked everywhere.

“Aahn!” Faith groaned and arched up from the bed, her hands resting behind her as she leaned forwards. “Melody, I’m… Aahn, I’m sensitive! Ooh!” She collapsed backwards again, eyes closed with blissful pleasure. “Ooh, it’s so good! More!” Faith shamelessly panted, her hands raising above her head. She gripped the headboard firmly, her fingers white with the pressure even as Melody assaulted her dripping slit. “More! More, please, sweet Luna, more!” Her words spurred Melody on, made her flick her clit rapidly before pushing her tongue back inside once more.

“Hmmn… Ahh… Chup, slurp…” Melody’s sloppy technique soon had her face covered in saliva and feminine arousal equally, her hair clinging to the wet patches heedlessly. She honestly didn’t care. Whatever had ahold of her now, it wasn’t going to let go any time soon. Faith gasped as Melody sucked her swollen clitoris in between two sets of teeth, slowly dragging it over the hard surface.

“Melody! Melody! Fuck, it’s-! AAHN! Too much! I’m gonna cum again! I’m cumming! I’m cumming! I’m- I’m CUMMING-!” Faith arched up from the bed firmly, her center quivering as the muscles contracted in response. This time, Melody almost stomached the fresh wave of feminine cum, only a little of it dribbling down her chin into the comforter. The vile liquid filled her senses, the scent and taste overpowering her. She sagged down with Faith’s quivering vagina still on her tongue, groaning as the taste began to fade off into that delightful, musky flavor Melody rather enjoyed…

“Haaahhh…” She groaned, exhaling a long, heavy breath. Together, she and Faith lay together, their chests rising and falling slowly.

“You’re… You’re sure I’m… Ngh… Your first?” Faith asked after a while, running a hand back through her hair. Melody saw the avian’s skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, the exertion of two back-to-back orgasms likely tapping what strength she had… At least, that was what Melody thought until faith gripped her arms in strong hands, pulling Melody’s body up along her own. Their bare breasts pressed together, their lips meeting for a passionate kiss. Melody smiled against the tongue-filled embrace, and she didn’t even fight it when Faith rolled them over so she was on top. Melody wrapped her legs around Faith’s waist, both of them kissing for a few long, blissful moments.

“Positive.” Melody finally gasped when they broke the kiss.

“Then you’re every bit as good a lover as you are a flyer…” Faith teased. “New… Young… So much to learn, but already so skilled…” Her hands slid down Melody’s arms, their fingers gingerly twining together. Faith still lay atop her, her slight weight supported easily by Melody’s strong frame. Their legs tangled together in a warm, passionate mess that Melody didn’t quite feel like untangling just yet, and their breasts squished against one another’s firmly. After the long flight, the intense magical experience, and the hot love making, Melody felt somewhat fatigued… Like she could sleep in this moment. Apparently Faith felt much the same way, since her head tucked down against Melody’s. Smiling to herself, Melody grabbed the edge of the comforter, pulling it up and over their bare bodies. Faith’s slight weight was easy to bear on her chest. Melody wrapped them up in fabric, releasing Faith’s hands so she could wrap her arms around the avian passionately. There, the two of them stretched out one atop the other, they fell asleep.

Morning dawned hazy and warm, the two of them still stretched out in the same position they had fallen asleep together in. The blankets were a little more twisted around them, and the smell of stale sex greeted Melody’s tired senses. It wasn’t a smell she would enjoy being around for long, but in the brilliant afterglow of last night, Melody only welcomed it. She didn’t want to bother Faith, who was still slumbering peacefully atop Melody, so she lay there, her hand absently rubbing small circles on the tired avian’s lower back.

“Hmm…” Faith gave a small moan as she came out of her slumber, her slender frame curling up just a little atop Melody.

“Morning…” Melody said gently, kissing Faith’s temple through the soft, tangled strands.

“Guh morn…” The avian grumbled in return, still not looking up at Melody. She found herself smiling, her hands still massaging the drowsy woman atop her. Melody teased her waistline and the bottom of her ribcage, her legs squeezing the one in between them. “Heeyyyy…” Faith muttered quietly, squirming just a bit atop her. “No teasing…”

“Hmm? I’m not teasing.” Melody’s tone completely betrayed her words, her legs squeezing just a little more firmly. Her hands slid down over the gentle curve of Faith’s rear, her fingertips digging into the soft flesh for a moment. Faith inhaled deeply, her eyes finally fluttering open.

“Nn… Stoppit…” She complained weakly. Her own tone was low and husky, and the way her thighs squirmed against Melody’s told her she wanted anything other than to stop. Melody grinned as she raised her head up to Faith’s ear, whispering tantalizing words.

“Make me…”

“Oohh…” Faith tensed a little atop Melody, her form shuddering just a little. “That’s… Haaahh…” Melody’s fingers traveled a little lower, dragging along the line of flesh where her rear met the back of her thigh. Melody’s teasing smile spurred Faith into a panting fit, her mouth hanging open with each heavy breath as Melody began to slide down and around… “HNN!” Melody peeled her lips apart gingerly, the awkward angle making the avian’s damp core feel that much more alien and different…

“Good morning.” Melody teased, running one finger up and down the tortured woman’s entrance.

“Don’t teaseeee…” Faith groaned, still writhing a little. She dropped her hips down against Melody, grinding her clit against Melody’s waist eagerly. Already, the poor woman was wet… Melody could feel the first droplet of her arousal on her own waist.

“Oh? Whaddya want me to do, then?” Melody asked breathily, still nibbling on Faith’s earlob.

“Put it in… Please… Or lick me… I don’t care, just do something… I wanna cum again…” Faith groaned. Melody smiled and gingerly slid her finger in, just one, making Faith groan louder. Melody would be lying if she tried to tell herself she wasn’t aroused by Faith’s early-morning demeanor. She was so much fun to tease…

“Hmm, you’re so wet already…” Melody whimpered, swirling her finger around inside. Faith responded in kind by lifting her hips up, giving Melody a little bit more room to work with. She responded by sliding her other hand into the space between them, her fingers curling upwards to tease her clitoris.

“Aah… This is bad… This is really bad…” Faith groaned.

“What? Why?” Melody paused, concerned.

“If I… Ngh… Start this day off with an orgasm, I’m gonna want to stay in all day… I… Haah… Won’t get anything done…” Melody smiled and resumed her slow ministrations, stirring her finger around inside Faith’s tense core even as her other finger tormented the poor avian’s clitoris. “Ooh! Melody, can… Can we… Try something else?”

“Aww…” Melody pouted playfully. “I’m having fun…”

“Haah… Trust me, so am… I…” Faith’s words started and stopped, almost directly linked to the movements of Melody’s fingers. “Just… Let me… Pay you back.” Melody groaned and squirmed her own thighs together, entertaining the thought of making Faith pay her back for the one orgasm she had given her extra.

“Fine… What’d you have in mind…” Melody slid her fingers out and away, wiping the built-up juices onto the sheets even as Faith rose up on all fours. Slowly, and with a stupid grin on her face, Faith turned around atop Melody. When she swung her leg out over Melody’s head, her glistening center poised just above her face, Melody caught the drift. Smiling, she raised her head the same moment Faith lowered hers…

69 is an intricate thing… A lot of things have to go right for it to work properly. Be mindful of where you place your legs, because if you bump her shoulder, she might stick her nose in. While that may feel good for you, it isn’t that great for her. Be still, and only move your neck. This position really doesn’t last long, since it hurts your neck. But if you do it right, it’s a beautiful thing.

Melody opened her mouth and pulled Faith’s petite lips into her maw, sucking the tight flesh eagerly. Her tongue lashed out, eager to make the most of these brief moments. Faith was working at Melody herself, her tongue expertly sliding deep into Melody’s tight core. The heat began to build rapidly between the two of them, their wet, slurping noises only spurring Melody on further. She groaned out loud, her hands curling all the way around to Faith’s shapely rear. She massaged and rubbed the smooth, round flesh, even as her tongue probed deeper and deeper…

Both of them had their mouths full when it happened. They couldn’t warn the other, or let them know it was coming. Just a shuddering, fast breath was all the warning Melody got. Her mouth was assaulted once more with the delicious, heady taste of Faith’s release, even as she oozed a fair amount herself. Faith’s fingers slid into her as she came, easily spreading her walls and teasing the points within her that she couldn’t hit by herself. She was laying underneath the avian when Faith set back into work, two fingers easily gliding into her wet hole. They curled and pulsed, sliding in and out, back and forth, up and down… It appeared Faith was determined to pay Melody back, to even the number of orgasms both of them had had.

“Hnn! Aahn!” Melody gasped, her hands still clutching Faith’s ass. The avian was relentless, her fingers an endless flurry of motion within Melody’s hot core. “Oh, fuck, Faith! Faith, I’m cumming!” Melody panted. So soon after her previous release, her swollen clitoris was tender, almost to the point where it was painful… She ignored the hot flashes of pain, focusing instead on the throbbing pleasure that penetrated her entire being. She could hear the wet, erotic noises coming from her center, and it seemed it was the same thing that spurred Faith on. She smiled down at Melody in between her own thighs, rubbing and fingering until Melody couldn’t last.

“Hnn-AHH!” Hips lifting off of the bed, Melody let loose a stream of clear liquid, drenching the sheets beneath her rear and undoubtedly hitting the rug off of the edge of the bed… Faith’s eyes went wide as she watched the spectacle, still idly twirling Melody’s clit in a slow circle. She came down from her orgasmic high slowly, her hips lowering back into the bed inch by inch…

“Haah… Fuck…” Melody groaned, her eyes sliding closed once more. Her chest rose and fell smoothly, her mind spinning with the aftermath…

“You’re going to ruin me.” Faith said teasingly, rubbing Melody’s stomach as she turned back around, stretching out to lay next to Melody. When she finally regained her senses, Melody pulled the avian close, kissing her neck with a soft sigh.

“I’m only all too happy to do so.”

“Oh, shush you.” Faith groaned, closing her eyes against Melody’s soft kisses. They lay like there for a few moments, kissing idly, running their hands up and down one another’s bodies, feeling every gentle curve. It was after Melody had taken a few long minutes to massage the soft muscles at the joint of Faith’s wings that they finally decided to clean up. Melody stripped the bed while Faith drew a bath, and together they scrubbed one another clean.

Over breakfast, Faith asked a question Melody found not to dissimilar to one she had heard before.

“So… Are you free this Tuesday?”

“I can be.” She answered, wiping her fingers free of the toast crumbs.

“I have another place I’d like to show you, if you wouldn’t mind…”

“Can I bring you back to my bed afterwards?” The smile Faith gave her in return sealed the deal.

“Does that mean we’re… A thing?” This was the one question she had wanted to avoid. She studied Faith’s face for a few moments, trying to gauge how she felt about the notion… Melody knew she didn’t want to fall into anything serious. Not again. Burying Connor in the northern cave had been painful, and drinking a toast to Faith’s memory was something Melody didn’t feel like doing… Not ever. The way Faith’s face devolved from hopeful into an apprehensive sort of scowl made Melody feel somewhat relieved.

“Truth be told, Faith…” Melody said gently, leaning forward a little. “I’m not looking for anything serious… The last man I was with, well… It ended well, but it hurt.” Faith laughed softly, a noise from her throat preceding the chuckle.

“I know how that goes…” She said gently, smiling.

“Oh, so you…”

“Yeah… Last night was good. Dare I say incredible… But yeah, I’m not looking for anything serious… Would you hate me if I said I’m just… Well, I’m just a horny little girl looking for a mouth to blow some stress on?”

“Faith,” Melody said, reaching across the table to lay her hand on the avian’s wrist. “I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t exactly what I’m looking for myself.”

“Oh thank Luna,” Faith sagged with relief, smiling at Melody. “Thank you…”

“For what? Understanding?” Melody teased, rubbing the back of Faith’s hand. “Don’t worry about me, or getting attached… We’re just…”

“Fuck buddies?”

“To put it bluntly.” They shared a laugh, both of them chuckling and wiping tears from their eyes as Faith stood. At the threshold of the balcony, Melody gave Faith a deep, tongue-filled kiss and a meaningful look, her lips curled in a warm smile. Faith returned the gesture by roughly kissing Melody’s cleavage, leaving a small dark mark before diving off and over the edge. Melody watched her arc off into the sky, rubbing the spot with a warm smile on her face.

“Fuck buddies… That’s a good way to put it.” She muttered, closing and locking the door. She had a story to tell Lily…

Fillydelphia

-------- Melody’s Tale - Fillydelphia --------

In the aftermath of the night with Faith, Melody had become a whole new person. She was sociable, a little rough around the edges, and as Verse would go on to describe her, “intriguingly lewd.” She talked and laughed and socialized, worked hard when she needed to, and spent the rest of her time flying, napping, and screwing around with Faith. They became friends. Friends who occasionally stripped bare and brought one another to ruthless orgasm after orgasm, but friends nevertheless. They would chat about men around town, scope out potential dates, laugh, joke, and play.

In addition, her studies took on a whole new level. It seemed Twilight had finally gotten a handle on her powers, and the lessons she gave Melody were hundreds of times more insightful and practical than they had been previously. Between Twilight’s magic theory lessons and flight training with Rainbow Dash, Melody soon became talented at both. She could keep up with Faith, and her spells would have been the envy of anyone in Canterlot. The only person she knew who could beat her that didn’t have the benefit of calling themselves a deity was Verse. Where Melody was the better flyer, Verse was marginally the better magi. His spells had always had strength and body, but in the past had lacked tact and imagination. With Ephemira as his mentor, Verse ascended to a level Melody had toed only very cautiously.

What’s more, she began to get a handle on shifting. It began to come to her naturally. She found she was able to shift from one form to another with ease, change minute things about her body, and even remodel her facial structure. On this front, she was much more talented than Verse. Her brother was passable, but his technique was rough. He could assimilate easily enough, but changing quickly was his downfall.

Their life in Eyriewatch was blissful. Normal. And one night, stretched out with Faith on the rug in front of the fire, Melody would go so far to call it ideal.

Until the following morning.

“Any plans today?” Melody asked, pouring both of them hot tea. Faith took her cup with a sigh. That was highly uncharacteristic of her. Faith always had a smile or a joke or some bubbly, happy thing to say. In that moment, the happy, lithe avian looked very different.

“I’m back on courier duty tomorrow.” She said, sipping tentatively at the scalding liquid. Melody replaced the kettle, her hand hovering for a moment before dropping to her side.

“I had nearly forgotten…”

“I know, right? These past two weeks have been a blast… Almost like they would never end. I report back to Captain Snowy tomorrow morning… I need to prepare tonight.” Faith had shared a little about her job a week ago. Granted, it was during a night when ninety percent of the questions asked had been sexual, but Melody had learned that a courier’s satchel took almost a whole day to prepare. They were touchy things, it seemed…

“Oh… So we…”

“Not anymore. But, it isn’t a big deal, is it?” Melody fought to bring a brave smile to her face. She had to remind herself almost daily that Faith was just a friend. Just because they had sex now and then didn’t mean anything special.

“Of course not. You’ve got your things to do, I have mine…” Melody remembered then that Twilight had mentioned leaving Eyriewatch sometime soon… Maybe she ought to talk to her mother about it again.

“Right. Uum… This might seem odd, but… Would you mind if I wrote?”

“What, like, a letter? Of course not.” Melody smiled across at Faith, crossing her legs gracefully. “It’d be nice to stay in touch.” Faith’s face finally lit up in the familiar smile she often wore. Melody was glad to see it again.

“I’ll leave my address before I take off. It might take a few weeks in between letters, since couriers never really stay in one place for long, but I usually return here once every two weeks at the most.”

“I’m not sure, but I think we’re headed to Fillydelphia soon. I’ll send the first letter once we get there.” Melody said with a smile, sipping at her own tea.

“You take care, Melody.” Faith said after breakfast. They shared a passionate embrace, the hug perhaps a little more meaningful than it ought to have been. Somehow, though, it felt right. Natural. There was no sadness in either of their eyes as they broke apart. “You’re damn beautiful, and a fantastic lay. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss nights like last night.”

“I’d never even imagined you could DO that with your tongue.” Melody muttered with a soft blush, remembering her third of five orgasms in front of the burning fire. Faith chuckled and leaned in to kiss Melody, a quick but passionate thing. Melody returned it kindly, squeezing Faith’s sides.

“You take care. I’ll hear from you soon?”

“Most definitely.” Melody walked Faith out onto the balcony, leaning against the railing as the avian put a foot up on the edge.

“Hey.” Faith said, standing on one foot, teetering over the precipice of the tower.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you. For being a friend. It might be a little late to say, but I never really had many… I’ll see you around.” And, for the second time, Melody watched someone leave. This time, though, they left her with a warm smile, and nothing but good memories. No heartbreak, no feeling of loss or emptiness… Just a warm sense of happiness and fulfillment. The same kind of feeling one would get from remembering a good night with friends, or a happy childhood memory… Melody didn’t even sigh, but instead hummed a soft tune to herself as she dressed and prepared for the day.

It didn’t take her long to find Twilight, though she did find her mother in a place she hadn’t quite been expecting. Twilight was sitting at a café with Lily, the two of them enjoying a peaceful lunch date, it seemed. Melody landed half a block away and waved when Twilight looked up at her.

“Melody! I’m actually glad you found us.” She said, smiling at her daughter as Melody joined the table. “We were talking about our travel plans. The skies between here and Fillydelphia are mostly clear, so there should be little risk flying. But from then on, it might be prudent to advance on foot.”

“Hmm? Why?” It was no surprise that Twilight mentioned Fillydelphia. Of all the places she HAD mentioned two weeks ago, it was the closest and most feasible option. Aside from perhaps Trottingham, but if the whispers and rumors were true, the chimera withdrawal into Hearth was resulting in more skirmishes and fights than anyone had been expecting. Melody would like to avoid seeing the frontlines, if she had the choice… She had been witness to the product more than she would have liked.

“Chrysalis is expanding. Her troops are becoming much more widespread. We can no longer account for the bulk of her forces in Canterlot. In fact, once the city limits were re-established, they seemed to all but disappear. Lily and I have been talking… And, well…” Twilight sighed, her eyes slowly closing. She appeared to be struggling with the next words. Lily spoke for her.

“We think it would be best if Twilight were to return to Canterlot, while you, me, and Verse travel incognito.” Melody was shocked. Well, perhaps shocked wasn’t the exact word, but surprised to be certain. When she started thinking about all that this particular plan would mean for them as a family and a group, though, she began to see the logic. Twilight, powerful as she was, was bound to attract attention of one sort or another. Melody and Verse had been told time and again by Lily that they were on-par with veteran drones in their shifting abilities. Twilight could shift, thanks to her understanding of changeling magic, but she didn’t possess the innate skill that the three of them did. Perhaps it was something biological, or maybe even spiritual, but Twilight would never be as adept at shifting as Verse and Melody, and she couldn’t dare to dream of surpassing Lily.

“But… What about you two?” She asked, looking between them. Lily and Twilight shared a look and a warm smile.

“You’ll learn someday, I’m sure, that distance never hurts a relationship. Lily and I have lived together for close to twenty years now. Taking some time apart will not diminish our feelings for one another.”

“Besides, Twilight’s been away from Canterlot for far too long. She and Celestia have much to do if they’re going to start the restoration of the city. A nineteen-year campaign takes it’s toll on anything.” Lily smiled and took Twilight’s hand in her own. “How does the saying go? Absence makes the heart grow fonder?”

“And the body more tender.”

“Oh, shush you.” The three of them laughed together, though in the back of her mind, Melody was still mulling over the implications of separation… She and Verse would be alone with Lily, the three of them moving from city to city, town to town, gathering knowledge. Twilight had made it clear that if she were to help change the world, she would need to travel quite a bit. Learning the lay of the land, seeing different cultures and exploring new places would help her to that end.

“But… How can you show me all the places you said before?” Melody asked solemnly. “Like the reversing falls, the Everfree Forest?” Twilight nodded to Lily with a soft smile.

“We still have the link. That’s the other thing, we’re never really that far apart, not with the link active. But I can use Lily to explain and direct you, and indeed, I’ll be guiding you from one place to the next over the course of this extended trip. And there are some places like Ponyville and the Everfree Forest that Lily knows just as well as I do. She’ll be a perfectly suitable guide for you on your journey.” Twilight’s words made sense. If she returned to Canterlot, she would be safe. And she’d be able to help out with her powerful magic. Then, the three of them could travel from place to place in perfect anonymity, seeing the world and remaining safe from the changeling threat.

“So… Fillydelphia, then what?” Melody asked softly. Twilight held a finger up before weaving a quick spell. Before the three of them materialized a small map of the southern region of Equestria. Together, they leaned over and surveyed the detailed paper.

“We were thinking we start in Fillydelphia, where the guard has held the city secure against changelings for the entirety of the war. We’ll meet up with Fluttershy there, and if we’re lucky, we may be able to awaken another goddess of harmony. From there, we’ll sweep south of Canterlot, over to Baltimare. It’s a pretty city, steeped in Equestrian history. I’ve only been there twice, and only ever for business, so I personally want to see it again. After that, we move on to Las Pegasus. Being a cloud city, the avian corps has held it against the changelings remarkably well over the war. With any luck, our schedule will put us on time to intercept Cloudsdale on our way south. It’s tricky to say with the winds, but we’ll play it by ear. Then, on to Southbay. Twilight says the reversing falls are a spot rich with ingredients for the local apothecaries, and this area is relatively safe from changelings as well. After that, we skirt the southern edge of the desert, all the way to Appleoosa and Applejack.

“This is where things get tricky… Since Chrysalis’ forces are gone from the area around Canterlot, that means they’re spread all over… Gone to the four winds. They could be impersonating anybody, anyone, anything. We’ll need to be careful with whom we speak, and why. Undoubtedly, Jokkan and Mikko will let none into the forest. We will try, don’t fret, but much like last time, they will not let us enter if we’re pursued. If we can, we’ll take a break at home for a few weeks. Maybe a month. Then it’s back on the trail. We’ll run back through Appleoosa, north back through Fillydelphia, and into Canterlot. By our estimate, this trip will take four to five months. By that time, our forces may have secured the north. We can visit Trottingham, Stalliongrad, the Bastion of Dawn’s Last Light, all those places. If not, we can push West and visit Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. By then, we’ll just have to see…” Lily tapped each point on the map as she spoke, and Melody followed her course easily. They would cut straight west across Equestria, swing wide and south, try and make it back home if they could, then head up into Canterlot and Central Equestria. Then, on into the North, or the West, depending on where the conflict stood.

“Well.” Melody said, glancing over the path once more. ”I see no issues with this… When do we leave?” Twilight made the map disappear with a nonchalant wave of her hand, shrugging indifferently.

“We could leave as early as tomorrow, provided Verse agrees with the plan… I’d like to get going in another week, if we could.”

“How are you getting back to Canterlot?” Melody asked Twilight softly.

“Me? I’ll walk. I’m not defenseless, and Lily can attest to the fact that I can go days without sleeping. It’ll take me close to a week, maybe five days on foot, but I’ll make it.” Twilight waved her off. Melody knew Twilight could likely incinerate any threat before it even posed a problem, and if she could walk for three days straight, with no sleep, no rest, she could easily make it… It’d be a test, but if anyone could do it, it’d be Twilight.

“Fluttershy is looking forward to meeting you again.” Lily said then, making Melody smile.

“Is she?”

“Mmhmm. She says she’s happy to hear you have a touch for healing, that she could show you how to help others, and she wants to learn some things as well... It’ll take us three days at most to fly to Fillydelphia. The winds won’t help us, but they aren’t hurting us either. We’ll make good time.”

“Well…” Melody sat back in the chair, looking up and down the street. Avians passed by overhead and walked down the street, soldiers and citizens and children all together… She heaved a sigh and finally gave a small nod. “I suppose it’s about time we moved on.”

Melody was loathe to leave Eyriewatch, since it meant leaving her home away from home. She had become attached to the city. The hallways and passages were not so strange and alien anymore. She was familiar with the countryside, though there was still plenty to explore and discover. She knew the shops and bars in town, and considered quite a few people friends. People like Comitatus and Noth, and half a dozen other guards, and even one handsome bartender…

But, as with all things, it had to end. There was nothing saying she couldn’t return to Eyriewatch, after all, so this really wasn’t goodbye. She found herself growing excited for their departure, at the opportunity to see new places and new people. Verse seemed to share her sentiment, and after lunch at the café, had promptly been informed of their plans. He didn’t take quite as long as Melody to decide, but when he saw how excited Melody was to move on, he could hardly deny their logic.

Two days later, all of them were packed with whatever they needed, and met with Dash in her office one last time.

“I’m gonna miss you guys.” She said softly, smiling as all five of them shared a hug. “Promise me you’ll write? I can hear Twilight and Lily’s thoughts whenever we want. But I want to know how you two are doing.”

“Of course,” Melody broke away with a smile. “I’ve plans to write a letter as soon as we arrive in Fillydelphia anyways. I’ll be happy to let you know how things are going.”

“Good.” Dash gave her cheek a patronizing pinch, smiling as Melody rubbed the spot. “You too, Verse. I expect letters from you both.”

“Naturally.” Verse advanced for his own hug, smiling when they broke it off.

“Well. Fair weather and following winds.” Dash said. “It might not be proper, but…” Dash slowly brought her heels together, straightening her back. She rose her hand to her heart, saluting everyone present. Melody knew enough about military ceremony that this was a very important gesture. To be saluted by a commander… Melody would never forget the honor.

They departed Eyriewatch at dusk, bidding Twilight goodbye atop the tower.

“Stay safe, you three… If all else fails, flee to Canterlot. We’ll be waiting to assist you, I promise.”

“Goodbye, mom.” Melody said gently, hugging Twilight. Her mother held her close, rubbing her back for a few moments.

“I’m so proud of you, Melody. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She said, fighting tears. Melody may have matured immensely in the past year, but she was still very much a child. There was a lot for her to learn and experience yet.

“We’ll see you in Canterlot, right?” Verse asked, advancing for his own hug. Twilight chuckled and squeezed him tight.

“Of course you will. Try and enjoy yourselves, okay? I know there’s a lot on your minds,” They pulled away, Twilight looking between both of them. “But that doesn’t mean you have to stress yourselves. Remember to relax and enjoy the little things now and then.”

“We will, mom. We promise.” They all came together once more, Lily included, the four of them hugging firmly.

“Fly true.” Twilight said when they pulled apart. “Sun shine on your face.”

“Stay sharp.” Melody returned. “Moon glow on your home.” It was a common farewell in Equestria. Often said between groups of family and close friends, it was a wish for the trip to go well. Slowly, Melody, Verse and Lily walked to the edge of the tower, spread their wings, and tipped over the edge… As she raced towards the ground, Melody said her farewells to Eyriewatch. She was moving on to bigger and better things…

“There it is.” Lily pointed out ahead of them. In the dying sunlight, a thin streak of grey appeared on the horizon. Melody was wondering if they were getting closer at all… The past two nights, the small farm towns and communities had become more and more frequent, and they could sometimes hop from town to town on the horizon. This one, though, was a large metropolitan sprawl of civilization. Melody knew they would soon arrive in Fillydelphia.

Though they all flapped hard, they didn’t appear to be growing any closer… The gash on the horizon grew. Melody could see it, watch it stretch from one edge of her vision to the other, but the grey buildings and roads didn’t start to approach… They didn’t slide underneath her, and they didn’t appear to grow larger. At least, not individually. As a whole, the grey scar grew, lights blinking on here and there as they flew closer and closer.

“This is unreal.” Melody called out, just loud enough for the other two to hear. “It’s like it isn’t getting any closer.”

“We’ll be there soon. Another hour or so.” Lily returned. Subconsciously, the three of them picked up the pace, flapping harder to propel themselves onwards. The thought of seeing Fluttershy, a close friend of their family, and getting a full night’s rest on something other than a bedroll made Melody slowly pull out in front of their small group. At long last, she started to pass over the city outskirts.

Fillydelphia was a large city, just about as big as Canterlot. Before the war began, efforts were being made to join Fillydelphia with it’s sister city to the North. There were numerous railways that ran between the two, and smaller towns were slowly developing into larger communities along the way. Since the war started, production of the travel system between both cities had been all but abandoned. The city itself had been re-appropriated into what was probably Equestria’s greatest wartime asset. Factories and production companies had been re-appropriated to develop weapons, armor, and medical supplies, or give help to the refugees. There was no shortage of work, and any able-bodied refugees from the war-torn nation found security in plentiful work, or would happily join the military. In the years following the war, the ranks of Equestria’s standing army had swollen, easily outpacing their losses. Fillydelphia served as a camp for the wounded, training grounds for new recruits, and production for military assets.

Melody was now flying over what appeared to be the industrial part of town, the high clouds above them merging here and there with the dark plumes of smoke belching from factories. They weaved in between these, and were stopped by more than one avian patrol. While they were hostile at first, leveling spears on the three of them and demanding identification, they quickly turned friendly and helpful, directing them north when they asked for the medical compound.

“Oh, you’re flying from Eyriewatch?” The first patrol that stopped them had inquired. The leader, a sergeant if the symbol on his shoulder meant anything, was still wary but more inquisitive than anything else now. “How are things in Hearth and Featherhome?”

“Eer... Good.” Lily said. “I’m not sure if it’s my place to share sensitive military information, since I’m only a civilian...”

“Aah. Say no more.” The sergeant lifted his hand with a smile. “Sorry for asking. It IS protocol, however, to submit to a trueform test before entering the city. Would you mind?”

“Actually...” Lily backed away a little. “I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a changeling. But, I owe no fealty to Chrysalis... Eer, you’ve caught me in an awkward situation here...” The guards tensed a little, regarding the three of them much more warily now. Melody saw hands tighten on spears. “I can give you the passphrase?”

“For the changeling espionage corps? Heh. If you think you know it, go right ahead.” Melody watched as Lily’s eyes sort of glazed over, her expression vacant for a moment. She was in the link. More than likely trying to converse with Dash. When she came back, it was with a smile.

“Thunder.”

“Flash.”

“Train.”

“Railway.”

“In the night, a dark man-”

“Watches the sun rise from a hilltop.”

“When the wind blows from the south-”

“The west flees over the horizon.”

“Huhn. Very well, thank you, lieutenant. It’s an out-of-date code, but only by three days. If you’ve been travelling, it’s understandable. Welcome to Fillydelphia.” They bid their farewells and were off... The entire exchange made Melody tense. Was security really that tight in this place? In Eyriewatch, they had relied on keys and trueform, which she and Verse were immune to... But here it was passphrases and airborne patrols... The war was probably much more serious than Melody had thought it was...

Melody flew over several miles of buildings, each of them growing taller, shinier, and more modern as they went. Off to their left, they passed the business district, which still buzzed busily even though the sun was slowly lowering. The city was now ablaze with lights, the golden pinpricks covering the sky with a hazy sort of light. Melody had never seen such a shocking sight… So many people concentrated in such a small area. Eyriewatch was large, sure… But Fillydelphia was massive.

“Is that it?” Verse drew her out of her reverie. He pointed ahead of them, indicating a set of buildings that looked very different from the others around it.

“Looks like… Come on.” Lily led them down out of the skies towards the long line of a chain-link fence that surrounded the large compound. Given the number of avian patrols they spotted circling the areas, Melody thought it wise that they didn’t try to fly in directly. Lily banked off to the side, aiming for what looked like the entrance. When they landed, they were at the back of a short line of other people. The line advanced briskly, and soon enough, they were speaking with a very surly-looking guard wielding a clipboard and a pen.

“Name?” He grunted.

“Lily, Melody, and Verse Sparkle.” The guard lifted his eyebrow as Lily pointed to each in turn.

“Any relation to Twilight Sparkle?” He asked, looking moderately surprised.

“Eer, directly… I’m her wife, these are our children.”

“Adopted?”

“Made.” The guard’s questions were making Melody uncomfortable. But Lily appeared to be slightly offended.

“Curious. I assume you are here to see doctor Fluttershy?”`

“That’s correct.” Lily nodded.

“Very well. Building two. Her office is on the fourth floor.”

“Thank you, sir.” Melody slipped in through the opening in the gate, and after all of them checked their bags in with another guard, they walked freely into the compound. Melody realized then, that this was the medical compound they had been directed to. Patients wearing white gowns walked about inside the gate, some of them in wheelchairs, others on crutches, and more still perfectly healthy. Here and there, there was an amputee or someone with a white bandage wound around their heads. They sat on the benches, followed paths in between the trees and buildings, talked and laughed and joked. This was a place of healing, and Melody was very happy to be here.

“Here we are.” Melody slipped into a building with a large iron “2” next to the door, and after a quick word with a receptionist behind the front desk, they were directed to a stairwell. This they followed up to the fourth floor, down a short hallway, and to the threshold of an open office. Melody caught the last half of a conversation taking place inside.

“Of course, this will take time to heal. The antibiotic should help prevent infection, and with therapy, I would expect you to be back on your feet within three weeks. Any questions?”

“None, doctor. Thank you.”

“Please. Call me Fluttershy.” There was shuffling, and the sound of crutches creaking under weight. Melody and Verse stepped aside as a young man left the office, his left leg bandaged heavily. He clacked off down the hall, though Melody did notice he had smiled at them as he passed. “Lily. So good to see you again.” Fluttershy’s voice turned Melody’s attention around again, just as she and her mother embraced.

The years had been extremely kind to Fluttershy. She was short, curvy, and sported a full head of hair. It seemed as if the stress of a job in the medical field had hardly touched her. She sported a rather large pair of breasts, flat stomach, and full thighs. If Melody didn’t know any better, she would expect the avian to be a mother. There wasn’t a single grey hair on her head, and her hands still appeared to be youthful and strong, not a single wrinkle anywhere on her visible skin. Melody had a feeling she would be lucky to be half as beautiful as Fluttershy was when she reached the same age as the avian.

“Verse, Melody. You look great.” Fluttershy wrapped them both in a hug, smiling wide as the three of them shared an embrace. “Was the flight okay?”

“Not the best we’ve had, I’m afraid.” Melody said with a soft smile, stretching sore muscles for a moment. “We have much to share.”

“I’m sure! Lucky for us, that was my last appointment. Shall we?”

“Eer, sure… Are we staying anywhere in particular?”

“As long as you don’t mind sharing the guest room, you’re welcome to stay at my house.” Fluttershy smiled at them as she closed the door to her office.

“That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Fluttershy.” The short avian took the lead as she took them out of the compound once more, stopping to pick up their belongings from where they had checked them in before leaving completely. They chatted along the way, talking absently about things they had done. They saved most of the important things, though, for a hearty dinner. Fluttershy and Lily cooked while Verse and Melody helped set the table and whatnot, and when they finally sat down to eat, they all caught up.

“Now, I’ve heard only bits and pieces of what really happened, but I want to hear it directly from you two.” Fluttershy leaned in, her expression full of hope for a good story. “What exactly happened in the cave at the Edge of the World?”

Melody and Verse shared a look before both of them sighed gently. This was one particular story neither of them were keen on sharing. But Fluttershy deserved to know. Verse told his portion, Melody hers… Fluttershy was silent the entire time, but began asking questions when Melody got to the part where she healed the survivors. She herself wasn’t proud of losing as many as she did. But when Fluttershy began asking the questions she did, Melody didn’t feel quite as bad about her performance.

“How much blood had they lost?”

“Too much to measure.”

“How cold was it?”

“On the stone, with no insulation? Less than ten degrees. Maybe. It’s difficult to say.”

“Did you have any medicine with you?”

“It was a half-day’s flight away, and more than a day on foot. I only had my magic to work with.”

“But you said you had worked on the barrier earlier, right?”

“Yeah…”

“So you shouldn’t blame yourself. I assure you, Melody, those soldiers are very thankful for what you did. No one holds it against you for doing what you did.” Fluttershy reached across the table to pat her arm gently, smiling in that calm, serene sort of way that Melody had seen all too many times. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks…” Melody said quietly. They were rather quiet after that, sipping hot tea and nibbling at the remains of the great dinner.

“I suppose it’s that time, then?” Lily asked, trying hard to stifle a yawn. Ultimately, she failed, and the contagious motion rippled around the table. Verse looked ready to fall asleep in his chair then and there. When presented with the sleeping arrangements for the night, Verse opted to take the couch, while Lily and Melody took the guest bed. They said their goodnights and all retired. After the long flight from Eyriewatch, Melody fell asleep fast and easy, feeling warm and happy.

Faith,

Fillydelphia is amazing. I cannot believe how huge this city is! For a poor little girl who’s only ever lived by the ocean her entire life, Eyriewatch was such a shock to me. I could scarcely bring myself to believe so many people could live in such a small area. So when I saw Fillydelphia, my mind was blown. There’s such a wide variety of people here, instead of back there, where nearly everyone is avian. Here, there are more magi and humans than there are avians, and such an array of culture, too…

We’re staying with a friend of the family who works in the medical compound, so I get to help her out many days. It’s a very big difference from the frontline clinics in Eyriewatch. Here, it’s only soldiers who require therapy and long-term treatment. They are stable. The words ‘Triage’ and ‘Emergency’ only exist in passing. It’s a new and exciting part of medicine that I regret not having known sooner. There’s much more attention to detail here. I feel like my mind is bursting with all the little things I’ve learned in the past four days.

I miss you terribly. Not gonna lie, spending all your time with your twin brother and mother makes for very little action. In this particular case, none at all. Don’t get me wrong, I might be able to find someone, but between spending time at the library on Twilight’s behest and helping Fluttershy, I’m usually kept too busy to get out and see about sniping some local tail. In short, I could use your skilled tongue. Hahaha.

How are things on your end? I get the feeling we won’t be staying here for very long, so I think these letters will be more-or-less one-sided, but I figure it requires asking, anyways… What, exactly, do couriers do? Do you just deliver packages and letters? Or is there more to it? Is it dangerous at all? You likely won’t reach me at this return address, since there’s talk of moving on to Baltimare in a while, but if you send a letter on ahead there, or to Southbay, which is a stop along the line, I’ll be sure to check the post offices for your response. If it’s too much trouble, then don’t worry about it.

Missing you terribly,

-Melody

P.s. Verse says hello. He wants a picture.

Westward

------- Melody’s Tale - Westward -------

The white, blank background was beginning to become familiar to Melody. She had been here twice already, and this was the third time.

“I swear,” she grumbled, rubbing her sore rear. This time, she had fallen over when they had been slammed into the alternate reality. “I’m never going to get used to that…”

“Hah. You fell.” Verse offered his hand, chuckling at her misfortune.

“Shut up, you.” Melody scowled even as she accepted his help, still rubbing the sore spot.

“Well. Now what?”

“I guess we wait for her to show up…”

“For who to show up?”

“Gah!” Melody jumped as Fluttershy’s voice made them both wheel about, spotting the nude avian amongst the rest of the white background. If Fluttershy was attractive clothed, she was beyond that nude. Her frame reminded Melody how completely feminine Fluttershy was. The avian was probably in her sexual prime, looking for a true love to settle down with. Somehow, though, there was no sexual attraction. Melody could appreciate Fluttershy’s beautiful body, her naturally good looks, and her alluring posture… But she felt no inclination to have sex with the avian. In fact, Melody couldn’t recall ever feeling that way whenever they arrived in this place. Even towards her brother, whose bare body obviously was very attractive.

“I’m sorry, did I frighten you?” Fluttershy raised her hand, as if to lay it on Melody’s shoulder, her expression worried.

“No, no…” Melody waved her off, smiling warmly. “Just… A little shocking is all. This place has a habit of making things appear behind you.” She sighed and looked up, beckoning Fluttershy closer.

“Have you… Done this before?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“Twice, technically… You remember with Twilight? Were you there for Dash, as well?”

“No, I’m afraid I was busy that day with Dash. She does seem much more different, though. Her wings are beautiful.” Indeed they were… Melody remembered well what they did with Dash, and how violently the brash avian had reacted to her transformation… How this change would affect Fluttershy, neither of them knew.

“Well… With Dash, the transformation was very shocking. In fact, she almost hurt herself in a panic when it happened.”

“Oh, my… Believe me, though. I know how valuable it is to be relaxed when someone else is doing something to you… I will try my hardest not to interrupt.” Fluttershy’s smile was both disarming and reassuring at the same time. She and Verse nodded at one another before joining hands. Together in a slightly uneven triangle, she and Verse summoned their magic…

“So… That actually went rather well, right?” Lily asked as all three of them rose up.

“Were you not watching? Through the link?” Melody asked, rubbing her eyes. Why did she feel so tired? It was like she had been awake for a week… Melody felt like all the strength had gone from her body. She wobbled on her feet, fighting to stay upright… What was wrong?

“Hon… We all stopped watching. Three days ago.” The silence was oppressive. At least, until Melody passed out…

When she woke, it was in bed next to Verse. Her dreams had been a muddled mess of confusing images and sounds. It was restful, whatever she had been doing… Was it sleeping? She groaned and rolled up onto her side, turning her back to her brother. She was thankfully clothed. She lay there for a few long moments, trying to make sense of all that had happened… She and Verse had touched Fluttershy with their magic, just as they had with Dash and Twilight… And then it was three days later? Or how many days was it? She was so confused…

“Aah. You’re awake. Good morning, sleepyhead.” Lily slipped into the room, smiling at both of her children. Verse slumbered blissfully on.

“Morning… Ugh.” Melody smacked her lips, working her tongue against the musty taste of morning mouth… That was likely a week or so old by now. She REALLY needed to clean up…

“Don’t worry. I took care of… You know… Bathroom stuff.” Lily sat down next to Melody, rubbing her shoulder softly. Melody peered up at her mother with wide eyes, a little afraid at what they had done. Not for herself. She was fine… But for Fluttershy.

“Is she…?”

“Fit and healthy. She’s been working at the compound and helping me with you two for five straight days.” Lily said with a nod. “She hasn’t slept yet. What’s more, it doesn’t seem like she needs to. You did it.” Melody breathed a sigh of relief, even as Lily leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I’m so proud of you. Both of you.”

“Thanks, mom… Uum…” Melody squirmed a little, feeling an urge arise. “I gotta…”

“Oh! Right! C’mon, kiddo.”

“It seems like we just got here, though…” Verse muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Hmm? Maybe because you’ve been out for five days.” Fluttershy teased, patting his stomach with the back of her hand. “I’ve seen you for almost three whole weeks.”

“I am sorry about that,” Melody interjected, hoisting her pack up onto her back. Fluttershy turned to her with a smile. “We didn’t know WE would be the ones who had an adverse reaction… And I REALLY didn’t mean to take you away from work for those three days…” After Verse and Melody had done what they did, their bodies were too exhausted to do anything else. They slept for five days straight, and had to rest for another few days after that before they were able to walk on their own. Three days later, they were preparing to leave. Apparently, they hadn’t planned on staying in Fillydelphia that long. While the city was just as safe as any these days, it seemed Twilight was not comfortable with the three of them so close to Canterlot and the recent skirmishes that had flared up.

When Melody had asked if there was anything they could do to help, Lily had answered in Twilight’s words, using the link. ‘Just work on getting out of Fillydelphia… I’m tempted to send you South right away, to get further. Baltimare should be safe, though.’ Melody groaned and acquiesced, if reluctantly. She had REALLY wanted to stay and help more at the hospital… She had learned so much in the week before they had awakened Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry about it, Melody. I’m just glad we got the time together we did. Granted, much of it was… You know… Talking to a sleeping person…” She chuckled and wrapped her arms around Melody as best she could, pulling Verse into the group hug as well. Lily joined in, and they held that embrace for a long while… When it ended, Melody had to fight back tears. They shined in everyone’s eyes, even Fluttershy’s.

“Think about it this way,” Lily said gently. “This isn’t goodbye… It’s just-“

“See you later.” Fluttershy finished the thought, making them all smile, at least marginally. One last quick hug, and they were off… Fluttershy watched them all disappear into the sky, not moving from her spot until she lost sight of the three dots on the horizon. Whenever Melody looked back, she saw the beautiful avian’s slender arm raised in a goodbye wave.

“Where to next?” Verse asked much later. They spent close to three hours flying in silence, the rising sun at their backs.

“Baltimare.” Lily answered stoically. “And… It seems like Cloudsdale is going to be a viable stop along the way. Twilight says it’s maybe three miles off-course between Baltimare and Southbay.” After that, the only sound was the roaring of the wind and the flapping of wings… They flew as long as they dared, pushing tired muscles. Why? Melody didn’t know… But when they finally left the metropolis of Fillydelphia and made it out into the countryside, she felt like she could breathe again… She hadn’t realized it, but Fillydelphia was a filthy, oppressive place. How Fluttershy could ever stand it, she’d never know…

Now, underneath a clear blue sky with rolling green hills and lush grass from horizon to horizon, Melody felt relaxed and at-home. She realized she would never be able to live in a large city like Fillydelphia… This was where she belonged. Out under the wide blue sky with wind in her hair and adrenaline fueling her every movement… Being the best flyer of the three, Melody took the time to do some loops and dives, enjoying the feel of flying free. She just wished her pack wasn’t weighing her down. Maybe when they stopped for the night, she’d take a little while for an unhindered flight…

“Dash wants to know if you’ve tried flying naked yet.” Lily suddenly called out. Melody faltered in her flight, flapping hard to correct the mistake as she stared at her mother’s grinning face incredulously.

“Wh-WHAT?!” She stuttered. Lily laughed so hard she nearly fell out of the sky herself. It was getting later on in the day, and Verse looked like he needed a break. Melody followed her mother’s descent down to the nearest hilltop, the three of them landing less than gracefully. Lily was still laughing at Melody. “What did you say?!” Melody asked, still shocked.

“Dash wanted to know if you’ve tried flying naked yet. She says there’s nothing like it.” Lily managed to choke out between chuckling and wiping tears away. Melody flushed furiously, and even Verse seemed embarrassed. Though that could be attributed to his heavy breathing. They all sat down and pulled an impromptu dinner out of their packs, mostly dried jerky and water. Verse had some fruit he had brought along with him from Fillydelphia. To Melody, it tasted like the choking air spewed from the factories.

“How is Dash, by the way?” Melody asked about halfway through their meal. Daylight was fading, and Melody wondered if she had the energy for a solo flight… Let alone a nude one.

“She’s fine,” Lily said, brushing crumbs off of her stomach with a sigh. “Still hasn’t adjusted to flying when her feathers drop off and grow back almost continually, but she’s getting along…” Melody watched her mother’s expression sort of fade off, as she had seen each of the six do whenever they went into the link… “Yes, she says she’s doing well. The diversion into Hearth is going smoothly. The chimera have almost completely withdrawn from Stalliongrad, and are about halfway gone from Trottingham. They say in two month’s time, the chimera won’t be a factor in the war…” She came back with a few blinks, smiling at them. Melody shook her head in awe of the link… What a truly powerful bit of magic.

“I think…” Verse said, yawning wide. “I’m going to get some rest.”

“That’s a good idea…” Lily agreed, nodding tiredly. While Melody felt pretty worn, she wasn’t quite ready to sleep just yet… She stood and stretched, leaving her pack behind. “You’re not going to sleep?” Lily asked, looking up at Melody even as she started unrolling her bed. Melody looked out over the surrounding countryside, the open, wide plains dotted here and there by shrubs or a lone strand of trees… The wind ruffled her hair playfully, almost begging her.

“I don’t think so…” She said softly, inhaling through her nose. She exhaled the breath, feeling the tension melt away, her muscles relaxing in an instant. “I think… I’m going to go for a walk.” Lily looked at her inquisitively for a moment before shrugging one shoulder and curling up in her bedroll. Verse, for all anyone could tell, was already asleep.

As she padded down the hillside, Melody was alone. Perfectly, wonderfully alone… The bright, full moon began to rise over the horizon, even as the last strains of a dying day burned a toasty, dull orange on the western horizon. She inhaled deeply the scent of fresh countryside, open air and grass. Vegetation. Life.

Melody wasn’t even aware that she had lifted off… It came so naturally to her, so easily, that the only indication she was even airborne was the wind tugging her long hair. She lost herself in the breeze, subjected herself to the winds, and flew with the current. In that moment, Melody could forget everything that had happened, everything that was expected of her… For a few blissful minutes… It was just Melody and the sky.

At least, until the first arrow whizzed past her ear. At first, Melody didn’t think anything of it. She thought it was a trick to the wind, a strange updraft or a powerful gust… But her mind scrambled for a few moments, thinking about what had just happened. She felt a fluttering, buzzing wind… It had actually touched her ear… Smacked it, even… Whatever it was… It had cut her. Her eyes snapped open in an instant. Someone was shooting at her!

Melody immediately twisted into a dive, heading for the ground. Two more arrows flew by, cutting through the air with a vicious, rattling sound, like high-paced blades cutting through grass. She swooped out of the dive ten feet from the ground, shifting out of her wings and tucking into a roll. Her forward momentum carried her across a hillside, her feet scrambling for a moment before she skidded to a stop. There, atop the next hill, a group of five figures stood out amongst the dark background of the sky. Three of them had bows raised, arrows drawn. She gasped and threw up a shield, two of the arrows fizzling away against her impromptu defense. The third shattered through, cutting the flesh on her shoulder. Melody felt her left arm go limp, a numb sort of feeling taking hold of that side of her body. She grunted against the white-hot flash of pain, one hand raising to build another, stronger shield. Just in time, too, since another two arrows arced out of the darkness to shatter against the solid wall of magic. She re-enforced it, pouring more magic into the pattern.

She did what all healers do, at least for a moment. She forgot about everything else. The pain, her attackers, the way her arm tingled and wouldn’t quite respond to her nervous impulses… Another arrow clattered away against her shield, though she didn’t register it. Her attention was fixed solely on the arrow protruding from her shoulder. She looked over the same wounded shoulder, spotted a bloody tip poking out from the back. Good. A through-and-through. Using a thin thread of magic, she sheared the wooden shaft off below where the metallic head was attached, then firmly grasped the base, just below the feathers. Exhaling, Melody drew the remainder of the arrow out through her skin, wincing just a little at the fresh wave of white-hot pain. Feeling returned to her fingers, and she was at least able to flex them. Working a bit of quick magic, Melody stopped the bleeding and focused on her attackers once more.

One of whom was directly in front of her, wielding a wicked-looking knife. She watched, eyes wide, as he raised the knife, ready to cut her down.

Time slowed.

Melody exhaled, her voice lifting in a long, loud scream that didn’t seem to come soon enough.

Her hands were afire with magic, lifting slowly… Ever so slowly…

Too slowly.

She shifted.

“MELODY!” Verse bellowed, his hands cupped around his mouth. He could hardly hear himself over the sound of the rushing wind, but he knew she would be able to. Wherever she was… If she even was anymore… The morning had dawned bleak and misty, a heavy fog clinging to the ground all around. Verse was the first to wake, but it was only him and Lily on the hilltop… Melody’s pack was there, but his sister was nowhere to be found. First came the questions, then the panic… He and Lily now flew over the landscape, searching through the slowly dissipating mist for Melody.

“Verse! There!” Lily pointed to a dark stain in the mist, a shadow amongst shadows… Verse narrowed his eyes, but saw the blur begin to gain definition. The first thing he noticed were the misshapen lumps. The next, and this made his heart hammer in his ears, was the blood. Black, viscous blood. Lots of it.

“Melody!” Verse’s panicked scream broke through the still morning mist, even as he poured on the heat. When he landed, he stumbled and fell, scrambled to his feet, and dashed into the center of the carnage. “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” He chanted it like a prayer, his eyes turning faster than his head could keep up with. All around were broken and mangled bodies, black blood, and long, vicious-looking gouge marks. Whatever had happened here was not good. Not good at all.

“Uuhn…” The thin groan froze both of them. Lily, while markedly more level-headed than Verse, was still panicked. Both of them stared at one another, ears piquing towards the sound… “Uuh…” It came once more, maybe just a little more pronounced than it had been… Verse whirled around, looking for the sound… In the mist, things were very confusing. When he thought he saw movement, he dashed towards it, searching a small pile of bodies for whatever lay underneath…

“Lily! I found her!” Verse’s panicked voice rang out through the mist, and his mother soon helped him extract the unconscious girl from the mess. She was smeared with the viscous blood, marked with a few wounds herself. When she was free of the dead bodies all around, Verse immediately set to work. His hands glowed as they worked over her, closing wounds and healing bruises as best he could. There was a nasty gash on her thigh that would require professional attention, but Verse did what he could for it before moving on. Melody slowly began to come around…

“Hnn… Verse?” She muttered, her eyes fluttering as they half-opened.

“Shh. Lay still.” Verse urged. His hands were working on knitting a broken bone in her calf. “Where’s mom?”

“I’m here, love. Just lay still, let your brother work.” Lily’s voice shifted as she spoke, soft footfalls following her as she moved about. She was obviously trying to make sense of what had happened… To Verse, it almost appeared as if Lily had seen this sort of mess before… Verse knew what it was. Or he at least had an idea… Right now, though, his sister’s wounds required all of his attention.

“She’s on her way.” Lily said after another minute of walking around.

“Who?”

“Fluttershy. She’s bringing an emergency response team. They’ll be here in seven hours. Can you keep her stable until then?”

“I can sure as hell try.” Verse muttered, looking down at Melody. He passed hand over her injured thigh. “This cut here is going to be her undoing, if anything. The others are fine.”

“Can you use a tourniquet?”

“Not for seven hours. She’ll lose the leg if I do.”

“Right… Hang on.” Lily pulled the pack off of Verse’s back, interrupting his work for just a moment. Once it was off, Verse was able to breathe a little deeper, focus a little better. He couldn’t see what Lily was up to, but there was the sound of fabric rustling behind him. When he glanced over his shoulder, he was greeted with Lily’s bare form, struggling to fit into the trousers that Hurricane had given Melody. He quickly looked back to his work, knowing now what she was up to.

When Lily whistled long and clear, a piercing scream filled the skies. Through the mist, Verse saw the immense form of the massive roc emerge, flapping it’s wings, making the mist swirl and billow. He covered his sister’s body, his hands still glowing as he fought to keep the bleeding stemmed.

”Hmm? Verse, is that you? What poor creature has been wounded so? Is this changel-“ The roc’s introduction was cut short as it finally caught sight of Verse’s charge. ”Oh my… Child, this is not good… What is wrong? How can I assist?”

“Are you able to heal?” Lily spoke for Verse, who was still working at Melody’s injured leg. Her artery was endangered, close to rupturing. He fought to keep the pressure off the thick vein, to keep it from opening and turning this wound truly fatal.

”I’d do more harm than good… I’ve the power to heal the sky and the wind, but not one such as yourselves. Not even a regular human or avian or magi… This is beyond me.”

“Please, clear this fog, then. We have help coming, though they are a long ways away. They will need to see us when they arrive.” Lily pleaded, her tone sounding very desperate. Verse glanced up to see his mother, clothed in Melody’s tunic and trousers, speaking with the massive god. Hurricane’s brilliant red and green feathers seemed dulled in the mists.

”Pah! I’ll do more than clear the mist! I’ll assist the help in their arrival. Brace yourselves!” Hurricane’s wings spread wide, the whooshing sound coming as a dull roar in Verse’s ears. He grimaced at the noise, hands still glowing as they worked at the wound. It was worsening… The internal pressure of Melody’s skin was trying to equalize, and the extra muscles and veins were bulging in around the artery, threatening to cut it off or rupture it. He tried to hold them in place while stemming the tide from the veins already cut. If he were more skilled in healing, this might be easy. But Verse’s magic had always been strong, not very dexterous. While he had learned much from Ephemira, he still wasn’t as good a healer as Melody.

“Hang on!” Lily said suddenly. Verse glanced up, spotted the dark spot in the sky above them. The sound of a low, dull roar began to intensify, to grow louder in his ears. His hands clamped down on Melody’s thighs, his body leaning over hers. When the wind broke upon them, Melody’s frail body threatened to tumble over, both of them skidding across the grass a few inches. He grunted and dug his toes in, stopping their advance, if just barely. He forced his eyes closed, shuddering in the chill gust that blew past them. When it was over, he blinked and looked up, the sun’s light shining brightly now. The oppressive mist was all but gone, just the faint streamers following Hurricane as he flew back to the East.

“The benefits of having a god as a friend.”

“Tell me about it.” Lily grunted, straightening herself. She looked worriedly down at Melody, who had since fallen unconscious once more. Verse immediately set back in to work, trying to ignore the ringing in his ears and the ruffled feeling he was experiencing in the aftermath of the god’s overhead passing…

The hours dragged on. Verse was finally able to regulate the pressure around the artery, but Melody was still losing a lot of blood, and was still in danger of de-stabilizing. The less-than-sanitary environment wasn’t helping, either. The stinking, black blood all over smelled like burned insects… Like a moth that had flown too close to the flame of a lamp. Lily had resorted to pacing back and forth restlessly, her expression vacant. Verse could only guess she was conversing with the others through the link. They weren’t particularly close to any one of them in particular, save for Fluttershy, who was anywhere from three to six hours away. Less, now that Hurricane had gone to help them… Verse began to wonder what an emergency response team really was, if they were magi or avians or both… Fluttershy was tireless, but she wasn’t a very skilled flyer, from what he had heard.

“There they are!” Lily nearly squealed with excitement. She pointed to a spot behind Verse’s back, one that he couldn’t see very well without turning completely away from Melody. That was something else he didn’t feel like risking at that moment. How long had it been since Hurricane left? Four hours? Five? Better than seven, that was sure, but still… Verse was flagging. His eyes threatened to close any second. “Hang on, buddy. They’re almost here.”

“Kay.” He grunted, forcing himself to focus. Lily looked very pale. Her breathing was shallow and very faint. Verse focused so hard, he didn’t even notice when the thudding footfalls sounded around him.

“Verse, it’s me.” Fluttershy’s voice broke his reverie. He looked up into her eyes, his own very wide and teary. “You did a great job. Let us take over. Let us help her.”

“Please…” He muttered, the tears spilling over. Two of them slid down his cheeks, dripping off of his chin to fall unchecked onto the grass below. “Help her…” The transition was flawless. He felt the tingle of magic as three pairs of hands replaced his own. The brilliant glow of mixed lights completely burned out his own sickly, weak green glow. Fluttershy squeezed his arm with a smile, and his eyes slid closed… The last word he spoke before he passed out was his sister’s name…

”Hmm… It’s been a while, Melody…” The voice was low, full of menace, and very frightening. Melody felt a shiver pass through her system as it pulsed through her being, making her shudder. She felt naked. Exposed. And very, very afraid… Like a small child cowering from the beast in their closet… Only this beast was anything but imaginary. This beast was very real, very threatening, and standing directly before her. Try as she might, Melody couldn’t get her eyes to close… Couldn’t get her breathing regular. She couldn’t look away, cower, curl up, or scream. She just had to watch as the tall, frightening creature approached her.

Melody knew who it was. She knew very well. This woman, or thing, or whatever it was, had plagued her nightmares erratically, sometimes every day for a week, and other times she’d go a whole month or even two without seeing her. Tall, slender, her arms and legs filled with holes… At least, the one remaining arm she had. The other, her right, was sheared off just above the elbow. The remaining appendage was ragged, filled with round holes that flapped and jiggled in an obscene fashion. Her teal hair was the same color as Melody’s… Her eyes the same neon green. Melody managed to choke the name…

“Chrysalis…”

”Aah, but to you, my dear… I’m known as ‘my queen.’ At least, for a short while longer.” Chrysalis slowly closed the gap between the two of them, the slender fingers of her left hand raising to caress Melody’s cheek. The touch was as cold as ice and three times as chilling. Melody flinched, but couldn’t pull away.

”Don’t fret, child… I haven’t been fighting an eighteen-year war for nothing. My power is fading… What you did to my patrol unit was evidence of that. Here I thought I had delayed the inevitable longer… Ah well.” She shrugged and pulled away, her fingers leaving searing marks on Melody’s cheek. She thought they did, anyways… It sure felt like her skin was on fire.

”You see… I started this war for one purpose. I wanted to sit on the throne of a country so filled with love that I would reign forever. My changelings would infest every corner of Equestria, surreptitiously feeding off of every man, woman, and child. With your mother’s discovery of the essences, I would feed off of every soul from here to Hearth and back again. Every one of my changelings who had sex would feed from them, deliver their soul to me, and I, in turn, would live forever…” Her expression wilted, turning from a smug grin into an ugly scowl.

”Shame that won’t be the case… No, Equestria’s forces are far too resilient, too strong for me to overpower on the military front… I can’t have what I want. So I’ll see to it that none of you can, either.” Chrysalis started pacing a slow circle around Melody. For the times that the matte-black-skinned creature walked around her, Melody felt her chest tighten with fear. When she saw the nasty look on Chrysalis’ face, though, the fear didn’t abate. It remained, cold and slimy and pulsing, deep within her chest. Chrysalis spoke again, her tone still low and menacing.

”Since I am eventually going to die and a new king or queen will take my place, I’ll see to it that whoever rules my horde after me has nothing to rule but a barren, scorched wasteland. If I die, then so do my changelings. If I die, Melody…” Chrysalis turned to face her once more, her grin back. ”So will everything you have ever loved.”

Melody wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to run away and hide in a hole and wait for the end this woman so adamantly promised. It gripped her heart with terror, made her eyes dilate and her breath pulse fast and hard from her open mouth.

”But.” Melody froze. Not that she was moving, but the parts that were froze solid. Her breathing stopped, her eyes quivered slightly before settling on Chrysalis’ thin black lips. ”I have a proposition…” Melody felt her hopes soar. Anything! Anything she asked, Melody would do. Anything to stop the cold, black swarm from enveloping all of Equestria. All of the world.

”Oh, not yet, darling. No, no… Not yet… You need to see what I’m capable of.” Dread. Fear. Anxiety. Again, they swept through her. Melody grimace at the metallic taste of bile in her mouth. ”It’s time for you to wake up now, dear. Your ‘family’ needs you. I’ll see you again soon, Melody. I promise. And the next time I come, I’ll come with a proposal. One that, I think, you’ll accept readily. As for what I’m capable of… Well…” Chrysalis’ grin was devious. Melody thought she could die in the grip of Chrysalis’ cold, green eyes.

”You just go see with your own two eyes what’s left of Baltimare.”

Ruin

--------- Melody’s Tale - Ruin ---------

“Gone. Wiped off the map. Just… Completely gone.”

“What do you mean gone?!” Celestia wheeled about, her eyes wide as she stared at the messenger incredulously. It was early, she had just awoken, and already this terrible news had reached her ears.

“I mean Baltimare has fallen. Burned to the ground. There’s not one brick left standing atop another.” Celestia felt like she was going to be sick. This had to be a lie. A farce. Some sort of sickening, cruel prank… She’d find the person responsible, and damned if she didn’t seal them in the caverns along with her brother.

“What of the people?” Luna asked. Celestia glanced at her, almost dreading the answer. She had reason to, apparently, because the mere mention of the citizens of Baltimare made the messenger pale. His knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists at his side.

“Executed. Those that aren’t accounted for have been enslaved.” He spoke in very clipped sentences, his jaw clenched almost as tight as his fingers.

“Humanely?” Luna asked again. Celestia slowly sank into the chair behind her desk. She felt dizzy. She knew the answer to Luna’s question before the messenger answered it.

“Some. About half. Others were… Tortured. Used.” He flinched at his own words… “Ripped apart…”

“Thank you, Corporal. You are dismissed.”

“Milady.” The corporal saluted and turned out of the room, his expression very gaunt and hollow. Celestia lowered her face into her hands.

“You realize…” Luna said softly, her voice coming from behind Celestia. “This is within our jurisdiction…”

“I know…” Celestia said weakly. “We’ve the right, I know we do… But what will that do to our people?” She felt so disheartened. They had been searching for the changelings… As was the nature of the war, Chrysalis’ horde would often disappear or be replaced overnight with normal-looking humans. Avians and magi and regular people all mixed together, some of them hostile, others docile and pretending to be prisoners. There was the one day the Equestrian forces had faced off against a horde of children, all crying and screaming for their parents as they were butchered.

“This cannot go on forever, Celestia.” Luna said. Her tone was low and soft, but her words were cold and hard as ice. “Families die every day this struggle stretches on. Chrysalis is restless. For every changeling we kill, two take it’s place.”

“I know, Luna…” Celestia groaned. She felt very, very tired… For being over seven thousand years old, she probably had the right to sleep. To rest like many of the other gods had. “I know…” She rubbed her eyelids and looked up at Luna with bleary eyes. “But what else can we do? We’re unable to protect every city against the changelings… Our forces would be spread too thin.”

“So we sacrifice smaller cities and towns to protect the larger ones? Stalliongrad, Canterlot, Fillydelphia, Southbay?” Luna countered, advancing to lay her hands on the desk. She was both frightening and rational all at once. Celestia stared at her for a few moments, contemplating the many, many options that were running through her head.

“Call Twilight.” She said softly. “We need her to go to Baltimare… I need Ephemira’s input on what happened there.” Luna scoffed and threw her hands up, as if she were disgusted with Celestia. “What?” She asked, wondering why Luna was acting in such a way.

“Ephemira is not a pawn for you to use, sister. She is an independent goddess, every bit as sovereign and powerful as you and I. You may request that she assist. But Twilight is privy to any amount of freedom that we previously could not give her. If anything, sister, she commands us.”

“Ephemira is our sister. Twilight is my friend. Yours, too. She’ll see the reasoning. Please, Luna. Don’t oppose me on this. We need to stand together now more than ever.” She may have just awoken, but Celestia still left like it was time for her to go to sleep. This was bad. She needed to talk to Ephemira about more than Baltimare…

“You’re implying I stand against you.” Luna said, seeming shocked. Celestia groaned and lowered her face to her hands.

“I’m sorry. You know as well as I how stressful this war is…” She wilted, slowly lowering her head until it rested on the desk, her arms splayed in front of her. Baltimare was the pinnacle of Equestrian history, possibly the oldest city in all of Equestria. The only ones that had lasted longer were Trottingham and Stalliongrad. In fact, the old capitol used to be located there. To hear that it had been razed was nothing short of shocking news. Celestia’s tired mind raced with possibilities, trying to make sense of all that had happened.

“I know, Sister. I know.” Luna stepped forward and laid her hand on Celestia’s brilliant head of hair, gingerly stroking through the shifting, ephemeral strands. “I feel it, too… The fatigue. The tiredness… Like you could just sleep forever…” Every blink felt like the sweet embrace of sleep beckoning her ever-onward, closer to a millennia-long rest. Since Celestia could recall, she hadn’t slept. At least, not as the other gods had. Over the past two decades of war, Celestia started to feel it… To feel like she needed the sleep. But there was still so much to do… If she and Luna were to go to sleep now, that would mean leaving Equestria, and indeed the entire world, without the goddesses of sovereignty… Then again, the world had survived without dozens of other gods as well. Maybe they could do without Celestia and Luna for just a while…

But not until this war was finished. Feeling slightly emboldened, Celestia lifted her head from the desk and smiled up at Luna.

“I just realized I hadn’t asked your opinion yet. What do you suggest we do about Baltimare?” She asked.

“Now those are the first rational words I’ve heard from your mouth all morning.” Luna smiled back. The warm exchanged helped alleviate some of the stress from Celestia’s mind… Though there was still a lot of it. Learning that Baltimare had been leveled was absolutely tragic. But Luna was still there. The voice of reason to Celestia’s doubt, her rock and her support. Close to thirty years after her younger sister’s return from the moon, and Celestia was still growing used to not having to make all the decisions on her own.

“My opinion? Let me handle this, sister.” Luna said softly. “We still have the chimera withdrawal and the northern front to worry about. You continue fighting the war there. Let me protect our homes.” Celestia mulled it over. Luna was still technically the commander of the changeling corps, a group of elite spies and talented magi that she had started close to eight years ago, when lieutenants began to doubt Chrysalis.

“Very well.” Celestia said. “And I apologize for my behavior. I’d still like Ephemira’s input on some things, but I’ll gladly let you take Baltimare and everything else… I DO need to focus on the front.”

“It takes a strong woman to apologize,” Luna said, leaning in to kiss Celestia’s forehead tenderly. “And a stronger goddess to realize where she’s needed. Can I trust you’ll stay awake for the day?”

“I’ll be fine. Thank you. Go get some rest, sister.”

“Hmm, not yet… I need to have a discussion with Morrow.” Luna patted Celestia’s shoulder with a smile before turning around and walking off. Celestia sat upright in her chair, shuffling through the papers and reports on her desk. While Baltimare still pained her, the loss of life weighing heavily on her mind, Celestia felt the edge taken off knowing she could trust Luna to handle it appropriately.

Besides. Things were going really well up North…

“By the heavens…” Verse said quietly. Melody stopped next to him, both of them standing atop a hill. “I think I’m going to be sick…” Melody almost was.

The stomach-churning sight of Baltimare was oppressive, disheartening, depressing, overwhelming, disgusting, and all manner of adjectives that made Melody’s stomach churn. Black smoke still rose from the smoldering ruins of fires and wreckage. Even from this distance, she could smell the wave of stagnant death that seemed to permeate the countryside all around the somewhat small city. Melody could tell, Baltimare was maybe a tenth the size of Fillydelphia. But it was still a city. In it’s prime, she still wouldn’t have considered living here. Now, though… She didn’t think anyone would ever be able to live in this ruin.

“Come on.” She said softly, her voice breaking a little. “We need to get a closer look.”

“Melody-“

“Please, mom.” Melody said gently, not even stopping as Lily lifted a hand. Lily acquiesced reluctantly, dropping her hand and remaining silent. There were no more words to be said. Lily had to let her daughter discover something for herself. Together, the small company of people descended into the ruined city. Melody had awoken just two days prior, after what her mother and brother had told her was probably the most worrisome day of their entire lives. When she asked what exactly had happened, she was greeted with silence for a long while.

“Eer… Well…” Lily sighed and stood up, walking a slow circle around her. She was stable for the moment, her leg bandaged tightly, and thanks to some clutch surgery from Fluttershy, wouldn’t have to worry about dying. The wound she had sustained was a mystery to her, and all she knew was Verse had worked tirelessly to keep her alive while they waited for Fluttershy to arrive from Fillydelphia with help. “It’s like this, Melody.” Lily stopped her pacing, obviously having made up her mind. She crouched next to Melody, reaching out to lay her hand on her shoulder. “You… You might be more of a changeling than we originally thought.”

“Wh… What?” Melody asked. Was it the blood loss, or was she just plain delirious?

“You see… I’ve been looking at the area the fight took place. It’s… Well, nothing normal would have made those marks, or caused that much carnage.” Lily gnawed on her lower lip, pain and anguish apparent in her eyes. “It’s… Well… Melody, I think…” She sighed, fighting with the words.

“Mom…?” Melody asked, her own sense of apprehension and fear rising. Lily was really torn up over what she had to say.

“You turned into a changeling prime.”

“Fuck me…” She heard one of the medics, one of the four that had agreed to come with them, mutter behind her. It snapped her out of her reverie, bringing her back to the present… After that short sentence from her mother, Melody had been all but silent for the last two days. Her leg was stable enough to fly, and Fluttershy had returned to Fillydelphia. Not until after being thanked profusely by a tearful Lily, and not until she felt certain that Melody would be okay. Two days later, they had arrived at Baltimare. Or at least what remained of it… Now that she was snapped out of her memories of the past two days, she could focus on the present… On trying to make it through the ruined city.

“Melody, I can’t do this.” Lily said after a few minutes. They had hardly reached the edge of the city. Already, the scene was worse than any of them had imagined. “I’ll meet you on the Western edge of town. Please be careful.” Melody nodded, her jaw set as she watched Lily give her a sympathetic look before flying off, swinging to the south around what remained of Baltimare. Meanwhile, Verse and Melody steeled themselves, holding their heads high as they delved into the heart of the city.

The only thing all around was more and more death. There wasn’t a single piece of architecture or vegetation that stood taller than their waists. A chunk of torn-up concrete here, a blasted stump of a large tree there, there was nothing left standing. Melody fought the urge to vomit, and more than once had to suppress a gag as the scent of burning… Something… Wafted past her nose. Here and there, fires guttered on whatever they had been burning. Some of the larger blazes were magic-controlled, so she and Verse put them out whenever they could. Three miles into the walk, and they reached what Melody guessed could be the center of the city. In a wide square, barren of the rubble and destruction that had surrounded them thus far, they all pulled up short and looked around.

“This is… This is just…”

“Too much.” Melody agreed, sighing as she looked around. “Verse, this is just… I can’t…”

“Melody?” Verse looked up at her, his expression worried. Melody tried to put on her healer’s face… That cold indifference to loss of life and pain. The face she tried to wear whenever she knew lives were on the line, when she knew that split-second decisions were key and she couldn’t be weighed down by worries and cares. When things had really gone wrong. It failed her now. Under the pressure of all this, all the pain and destruction and rage and anger… She felt it crack and give in. A tear escaped her eyes. Then another. And more. Lip trembling, Melody broke down.

“I can’t do it, Verse!” She wailed, falling to her knees on the hard concrete. “I can’t do this anymore! I want to go home! I want to leave! Please, just let me go home!” Verse smoothly knelt beside her, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close. She clutched at him like a drowning man to flotsam, sobbing and crying to her heart’s content. Verse held her close, letting her cry it out. Sobbing and sniffling, she let it all loose. All the feelings she had about the war, the pain and sorrow, the blood and death, fighting, anger, rage, and sadness… It all poured out in those moments, the tears and sorrow apparent on her face. She felt so torn apart, like the world had sunk its claws into her and was viciously rending her apart. Inch by inch, Melody felt the despair and bitterness rip away at her.

“Shh, shh…” Verse soothed her tears with a gentle touch, still stroking her hair and holding her close. Melody felt her helpless and despair pass slowly, inching it’s way out of her body at an agonizingly slow pace. When it finally faded, She was a complete mess. Snotty face and tear-stained cheeks, she tried very unsuccessfully to clean her face, wiping away at it with an exasperated moan. “You know that isn’t true, Melody.” Verse said gently once she was composed enough to listen. Tears still glistened in her eyes, and she sniffled a little.

“I mean it, Verse… We… We can just go home.” She muttered, gesturing helplessly at their surroundings, the broken and shattered city. “We can forget all this and go south, fly over the forest, go back to our home… Jokkan and Miko can keep us safe…”

“Against this?” Verse cut her off, gesturing to the rubble. “Against ruination and destruction of this scale? You know just as well as I do there’s not going back…” It was a pipe dream. Melody knew they couldn’t live innocent lives anymore. Not after all they’d seen and done. Melody wasn’t going to be able to forget any of it… Some of it she didn’t want to forget.

“I don’t know, Verse… I can’t handle any of this anymore… I’m hurt, I’m tired, I’m miserable, and I’m weak-“

“You lie.” Verse cut her off, shaking his head as he stood. “You’re anything but weak, Melody. To call yourself weak is to call me helpless. And we both know THAT much isn’t true.” His stupid grin made Melody’s own lips twitch upwards. It’s wasn’t much, but it was something… Damn this brother of hers, always making her smile when she didn’t want to. Even now, under the hope-crushing weight of despair and complete helplessness, she smiled. Just a little. And not for very long.

“Look,” Verse said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I’ve seen some shit, too… I know losing Connor is done and over with for you, but it had to have hurt. Well, I kinda felt the same. Losing those soldiers, feeling so helpless up there in that cave… Then yesterday morning, losing you… Man, that was… That was something else. Don’t think I haven’t thought about giving up. Ever since that first night after leaving Appleoosa… That lieutenant, what was his name…”

“Imoheen.”

“Right. Imoheen… After that, seeing the determination one changeling had, seeing the lengths he would go to just to get a shot at us… I wanted to go home. I was so heartbroken when Jokkan and Miko told us we couldn’t go…” He sighed and hung his head. “Then we were in the dragon territories. Then we were running from more changelings. Then we got captured by harpies and very nearly killed… Melody, believe me when I say I’ve thought about giving up hundreds of times already.” He looked up at her. In his eyes, tears shimmered. He looked about ready to cry. But his expression… His face… It was rock-solid. Like he was so damned determined… Melody looked up at him, at the tears and determination in his face…

“I realized something, though… If I ever gave up…” His fists clenched. Melody could almost hear the sound of his skin rubbing together, creaking with the force he clenched his hands. “If I ever showed any weakness… That would be the end of it. Everything.” He blinked, two tears racing down his cheeks. They cut a path through the dirt and grime on his face, but he didn’t lose his composure. Not even for a second. “So we can’t give up, Melody. Not ever.” She felt strength begin to well up in her chest. A sort of warmth that spread through her veins, moving from her heart outwards through her body. She looked up at him, eyes wide as he turned his face up to the sky. “Nothing. No amount of pain or loss or death will ever make me stop.”

“Verse…” She muttered softly. Gone was the taint of hurt from her voice, replaced only by a sort of wonderment and awe, perhaps a little bit of envy, but mostly… Inspiration.

“Hear me?!” Verse lifted his voice. He was no longer addressing Melody or even the stunned group of avian medics that had followed them. His head turned away completely, his voice ringing out loud and clear through the ruin. “I will not quit! I will not stop!” Verse’s hands lit in a deep green glow, his magic humming through the air in an instant. Melody inhaled, her eyes wide as she watched him stand straight. Verse struck a figure, imposing and powerful all in one. He was strong and proud, and his hands glowed with magic. Melody felt her own magic rise to the occasion, tingling up her arms and over her shoulders.

The white plane slammed into existence immediately. Melody fought the urge to vomit as the vertigo overwhelmed her. She had already been on her knees, but this made her fall onto her back. She really shouldn’t be shocked anymore, and once that initial sense of nausea and disorientation was gone, she actually found herself smiling. Laughing, even.

“You’re never going to get used to that.” Verse said, offering her a hand. She felt a twinge of pain through her thigh, making her wince as she slowly rose to her feet with his help. As usual, they were both nude in this world. It was beginning to become commonplace, Melody paid it no mind. But that meant the bandage holding what remained of the wound on her thigh closed was gone. She glanced down and saw a small bit of blood trickling down her leg. She hoped they wouldn’t be here long…

“So… We wait again?”

“Not for long this time, I’m afraid.” She jumped a little when the alien voice greeted the two of them, but not nearly as bad as it had been before. “It’s good to see you again, Melody. And you must be Verse.” The two of them turned around, and were soon greeted by the sight of a small child, no older than six, smiling up at the two of them. His voice was light and airy, still holding a sense of childlike innocence with the world. With light blonde hair and a small, almost delicate frame, this child was as out of place in the bleak white landscape as an apple among grapes. Melody blinked at the child’s words, wondering what he had meant by ‘again.’ Then it struck her.

She knew who this god was.

“You’re-“

“Death. Yes.” The child smiled again, though this time Melody could have sworn it was a little colder than it ought to have been… She and Verse both stiffened a little bit, even as the memory came back to her. Memories of the cave at the Edge of the World, inside the mine, with the dead bodies… “This isn’t the first time I’ve slept, either.” The child’s smile faded as he slowly walked towards them. “Though it is the longest.”

“How… How many times have you slept before?”

“Thrice.” The child held his hand up, three fingers extended. “Once long, long ago before human, magi, and avian existed. Once again eighteen thousand years ago, when the world was at peace, and again not fifteen hundred years ago. Alas. It’s time for me to return. I assume you’ve done this before, Children?” Somehow, Melody didn’t feel out-of-place when this small boy called her a child.

“Y-yes.” Melody stuttered gently, righting herself. She limped forward, favoring her injured leg, and Verse followed her. When they had closed the gap to the child, Melody gingerly sank to her knees, wincing when she rested on her injured leg. “A few times… This is just… Odd.” She muttered, working her fingers slowly.

“Hmm? How so?” Death asked, quirking his head. Someone so cold and grim shouldn’t be so damn cute… Verse chuckled a little as he sank to his own knees next to Melody.

“Just odd… I mean… You’re-“

“Death. How many more times must I say it?”

“Well… This is just so unorthodox. You need to realize that we’re very much mortal. For us to even be in touch with…”

“Death.” The child appeared to be impatient.

“Right. Death… It’s just… Well, it’s not normal.”

“Nothing about us is normal.” Melody grumbled, her mind flashing back to several incidents when normalcy seemed to be the furthest thing from either of them.

“Well, that’s true.” Verse grumbled.

“You’re injured. Come, let us finish this.” The child rose it’s hand, offering one each to Melody and Verse. “It isn’t quite your time just yet.” Melody blinked as she took the child’s hand in both her own, looking up into his eyes. It was then that she realized they were colored a cold, dark grey. Lifeless and dull.

“Wh… What?”

“You’re not supposed to die yet. If we dawdle here, you will. You’re losing more blood than you think, Melody. Now come. Bring me back so you can tend to your leg.” Melody glanced down as the child spoke, saw she was, indeed bleeding once more. Rather profusely, too… Feeling a sort of sense of panic set in, Melody glanced at Verse and nodded, both of their expressions grim. Hands glowing, Melody took the dive yet again…

“Woah! She’s back. Verse, too! Melody, can you hear me?” The voice of a panicked medic was the first thing to greet Melody as she came back from the barren white landscape. “Who’s the kid?” Melody blinked a few times, trying to comprehend exactly what was happening. Why did her leg feel numb? Why were there four faces looming over her? Where was Verse?

“Verse, are you up?”

“Ngh… Yeah,” Verse grunted. Melody’s panicked expression turned towards the sound of his voice, following her brother as he slowly stood up and began walking towards her. “She opened up, didn’t she?” He asked. Melody felt his reassuring hand rest on her forehead, gently pressing her head back onto the cool concrete ground. She felt cold…

“Yeah. She’s bleeding a lot. I’m gonna see-“

“Let me. I’m rested enough. Help me get her pants off.” Verse said softly. Melody felt fingers pull at the button of her trousers, loosening the fabric and slowly pulling them down. Pain lanced through her as they pulled the garment down her thigh, agitating the wound more.

“Ooh…” One of the medics moaned, spotting her leg. Melody tried to look down at the cut, but Verse’s hand pushed her back down with a gentle touch.

“Don’t look at it, sis. I can handle this.” Verse said softly, adjusting so he was at her side.

“Anything you need from us?” One of the medics asked. Melody felt tears begin to well up in her eyes.

“Eer… Hurtloam and poppy milk if you can. One of you hold her head down, try to keep her calm. Tourniquet her leg while I work, I’ve got to reconstruct the artery.” Verse’s tone slowly changed from brotherly concern into one Melody was rather familiar with herself. The voice of a healer. She felt shifting and hands brushing over her here and there. Pungent-smelling liquid was pressed against her lips, and she swallowed the foul substance reluctantly. When she started coughing, someone pushed a minty-tasting leaf under her tongue, then held her jaw shut. She recognized the hurtloam herb, how it made her entire mouth go numb, then her jaw and the muscles in her shoulders, her arms, then her abdomen… Soon enough, she was just a numb, tingling blob of flesh. She couldn’t have coordinated her muscles if she wanted to.

“There we go.” One of the medics said, watching as Melody slumped down. Verse’s hands began to glow, and he set to work…

An hour later, and Melody was fine. Verse had placed a long-term spell on the wound to help accelerate natural healing, and had helped close up the major damage. That was when they sat her up, and Verse used another spell to help burn away a little bit more of the drug. She could swallow her own saliva and move her head about, but the rest of her body felt very numb and sluggish. At the very least, her thoughts were still the same. She could hear and see perfectly fine… It was just that moving proved difficult.

All the while, the small child watched, his expression half-interested. He was no longer naked, none of them were. He wore a simple brown shirt and shorts that fell mid-calf, leaving his ankles and feet bare. When Melody finally sat up, he smiled softly. “Good. Your brother is very skilled at healing. Then again, so are you. I’ve been on the brink of bringing several individuals home, when you’ve snatched them away.” He said solemnly. With Verse crouched at her side, Melody looked up at the child once more.

“Hmm… Feels different being back…” Death said softly, flexing his fingers. He curled them into fists and relaxed them several times, his expression drawn with one sort of feeling or another. Melody guessed confusion. “But. There is work to do.” She watched as his hands erupted into a grey cloud, the force of his magic permeating the air. It vibrated straight into her bones… Into her core. The child spread his hands out, the dense glow appearing almost ethereal… Like it didn’t belong in this world. As he began waving his hands, though, Melody’s eyes grew wider. Before him, a ghastly figure began to materialize…

Dark robes flowed down from thin, emaciated shoulders, covering the skeletal frame of whatever this child was making. When it’s feet touched the ground, a massive weapon began to form in it’s hands, the wickedly-curved blade at the end keen and gleaming in the light. Slowly, it raised it’s hand, pulling the hood of it’s robes up over it’s head, concealing the exposed, bleach-white skull. When compared to the small, almost innocent-looking child, this thing was frightening and evil all at once.

“Do not be afraid.” The child said softly, his hands done glowing as the creature, whatever it was, finished materializing. Melody watched as it slowly drifted away, gliding across the ground like water. “That is called a Mord. They are my stewards, responsible for collecting and escorting dead souls to their proper place. In time, I will command hundreds. But.” Death looked at Verse and Melody, his cold face split in a soft grin.

“You two have defied me time and again. The laws of this world state I’m to take your lives for recompense… But there are forces at work greater than even my father and mother’s laws. As such, I cannot touch you. Not yet, anyways. And not by means that are my own… No, I’m afraid I must wait for your natural end to come before I take you to… Wherever it is you’ll be going.” Death crossed his arms, suddenly looking much older, despite his petite stature.

“Still, Balance must be maintained. Too many things have been off-center in this world in my absence. By my count, you owe me five lives.” He held up his hand, fingers spread. “One, for Twilight Sparkle, who is currently Ephemira. This one I took personally. Her soul was in my hands before your magic ripped it away from me. If circumstances were different, I’d have reaped her soul shortly after you revived her. But she now resides within Ephemria’s soul. So I cannot touch nor harm her. Likely ever. That’s one. Number two.” He lowered one finger. “Timothy Harrowhall, avian skyguard. Shortly after Twilight, he was saved. Number three. Michal Lightfeather. Another avian guard. Number four. Johnson Weathers. Suffered from a disembodied arm, shattered ribs, and massive blood loss in the cave at the Edge of the World. He was to die that day. And finally, Faith Riegard.” Melody could feel the blood drain from her face.

“F-faith?” She asked softly, her eyes wide as she looked up at the child.

“Faith Riegard. On the night she would have committed suicide, she instead made a friend who gave her reason to go on. More than a friend, she found a lover. Someone who wouldn’t complicate her life with unnecessary emotional attachments and worry.”

“How… How can you know all of this?” Melody asked, shocked at the words she was hearing.

“Dear Melody,” The child slowly walked forward, extending his hand to lift her chin gingerly. His finger felt as cold as stone… As cold as the grave. “When someone stands on the edge of the abyss, they speak their heart. I’m the one who listens to their dying words, and beckons them to their graves with open arms. Faith Riegard was destined to die the night you intervened. That one I took rather personally, as well…” He backed away, and in the absence of his touch, Melody shuddered. It felt like she wasn’t going to warm up until she wrapped herself in three blankets and jumped into a fire… His touch was that of the grave.

“So. Five lives saved, five lives owed. Name five people, Melody, and I shall readily take their lives.” Death crossed his arms, looking down at her. He appeared to be impatient. Like he was waiting for her. In a few moments, he started tapping his foot.

“I… I don’t even know five people I want dead… I don’t even know one!” Melody said after a while, her mind racing like mad. The child sighed and rolled his eyes, planting his fists on his hips.

“I cannot be kept waiting, Melody. The call of the grave is final. Five lives will be mine in two week’s time. You give me a name, and I will give you a body. If you do not choose five names within two weeks, I will choose them for you. Beginning with Liliana the changeling.”

“No!” Verse cried out, standing on his feet. He glowered down at the child, his fists curled tight. “You can’t take her!”

“I didn’t say I was going to.” Death cut him off with a single sentence, his look as cold as ice. “Not yet. And I’m not speaking to you, Verse. Still your tongue, or I’ll cut it out.” Verse shut his mouth, but didn’t sink back down. Melody dawned on an idea at once. It’d be perfect. It had to work!

“Chrysalis.” She blurted. That was one person she knew the world would be better without.

“Whom?” The child quirked an eyebrow. Melody blinked.

“Chrysalis… Queen of the changelings?”

“That is not her name, pick another.”

“WHAT?!” Melody said incredulously. “Her name isn’t Chrysalis?!”

“No.”

“What IS her name?”

“I cannot say. You must pick the name, not I. That is the law.” Death crossed his arms, still looking impatient.

“But… But… I’ve given you someone! You cannot take her life?”

“Not like that, no… I must have a name. You do not know hers. Therefore, I cannot kill this one you call ‘Chrysalis.’” Death rolled his eyes. He appeared to be bored.

“I… I do not know.”

“Fine, then. You have two weeks. As I said, if you cannot pick five names in two weeks, I shall return, and take five from you. Starting with your mother. Just because I have been asleep the past millennium and a half does not mean I do not see the ebb and flow of spirits leaving this world. You would do well to remember that in the future.” Death’s hands erupted in that dense grey fog once again, and he waved his fingertips in a tight circle. Out of nothingness, three small spheres appeared, which he promptly levitated in front of her. “These are nuts from the tree of life and death. Drop one on freshly-turned soil, and speak the words ‘Death seek me this day.’ A Mord will come to assist you, should you choose to name a name before your two weeks has passed.” Melody caught them as Death released his telekinetic grip, though she nearly dropped them anyways. They were painfully cold, and felt heavy in her palm. “Now that you’re done wasting my valuable time, I can get back to what I originally came here to do… I suggest you leave. This city is no place for those who still live.” Death scanned the surrounding rubble, his cold grey eyes surveying the widespread destruction. “Not anymore…”

“So… That was Death, then?” Lily asked softly.

“Afraid so… He was a small child, hardly six, and he seemed so innocent… At first, anyways. After we spoke for a few moments, he was just… Cold.” Verse shuddered a little, glancing back towards the city. “I can only imagine why he would stay there in that city.” Lily nodded herself, gazing back towards the ruined, burned city.

“There is enough death there for even even a god like him to feel uncomfortable…”

Melody didn’t sleep that night. She passed the long hours curled up on her bedroll, using her magic to help her leg, and watching the moon slowly pass by overhead. She thought about the whirlwind of activity, which, it seemed, her life was nothing but, as of late. How long had it been since she left home? Was it six months? More? Less? She couldn’t even remember the specific date… Only that it was close to her birthday in February. It was early January now… They had been away from home for almost a year. So much had changed in eleven months…

They had resurrected gods, cheated death, seen vast parts of the world that others went their entire lives without ever dreaming of seeing, had lost their virginity, and loved and lost all in equal measure.

And yet, in that moment, Melody felt like a very scared, very small, very helpless child.

Betrayal

-------- Melody’s Tale - Betrayal --------

Following their episode in Baltimare, Melody, Verse, and Lily were all much more reserved than they normally were. They hardly spoke, and when they did it was short and clipped. They were somber and moody, and more often than not, Melody cried herself to sleep quietly. The group of four medics that had followed them said their farewells, and when asked where they were going, they said they’d try to fly north to meet up with whoever was arriving from Canterlot. If no one was coming, then they would personally share the bad news.

That, and true to her word, Chrysalis visited in Melody’s dream once again.

”So. You’ve seen what a determined changeling force can accomplish. You realize that if I don’t get what I want from you, I’ll personally burn every city I can, kill as many as I can.” Melody didn’t doubt it. Chrysalis had already demonstrated her power. She had leveled an entire city, left nothing standing in her wake. Then she had vanished. There wasn’t a single changeling to be found in the three days they had been travelling away from Baltimare.

“Wh… What do you want?” Melody whimpered, shaking with the terror. She hated this dreamscape. It was just as barren as the white place they went to, but completely black. No amount of light or shadow, just complete and utter darkness. Chrysalis stood out easily enough, but as she paced around the immobile Melody, she would disappear and reappear from her vision, making Melody’s heart jump.

”Simple, darling.” Chrysalis smiled, her face appearing out of nothingness before Melody. ”You help me take Canterlot from the inside out. If you put me on that throne, Melody, I can guarantee everyone lives. Granted, they’ll exist almost solely as sustenance for me and my changelings, but they’ll live. They can run about and fall in love and toil away at fruitless things. Either that, or…” Her eyes flashed dangerously, filling Melody with a horrid sense of dread once more. ”I kill as many as I can before I’m done.” Chrysalis faded away, leaving Melody alone in the dark, but her voice still came across the dreamscape, making Melody shudder.

”Your choice, Melody. If you accept, you’ll find me one mile inside the southern edge of the Everfree forest. You have two weeks to get there.”

Melody awoke with a gasp. Thankfully, she avoided screaming, though she wanted to oh so badly. Tears coursed freely from her eyes, staining her hand, which was clamped against her mouth to keep her from being too audible. Across the other side of the burning fire, Verse stirred but did not wake. Lily slumbered on peacefully. Off across the open plains, crickets chirped and sang, and the air was heavy with the scent of growing grass. Slowly, Melody composed herself.

It was a warm night, for a temperate southern climate… Why did they need a fire? There was no sense in lighting a fire. Melody flicked her wrist, killing the magical flames and plunging their small camp into darkness. Once her eyes adjusted, Melody looked around. Camped out on the windward side of a small hill, they could look West out over the plains. At the edge of the horizon was a thin gash of black, darker than the blue mountains behind them. The Everfree Forest. Where Chrysalis was. Melody shuddered and stood up, glad that she could walk once more without limping. She felt the need to do so right now. She never left the sight-range of her mother and brother, walking in as wide a circle as she could manage. It felt good to stretch, to exercise a little. She let her thoughts and her eyes wander as she walked, looking for constellations, trying to think of anything other than what had just happened…

But she couldn’t shake it. Chrysalis’ threat permeated her every thought, made her think hard about the offer. If Melody took it, if she… If she betrayed Equestria, and helped Chrysalis win the throne, then they would live. If you could call it living. The only problem with that path was the trust issue… Could Melody trust Chrysalis to keep her word, and let everyone live? Or would the vicious queen turn around and kill them all anyways? Perhaps not… She DID need their love, after all… Melody gnawed on her thumbnail as she paced absently through the night, considering all the options… If she refused to work with Chrysalis, then they would likely see Baltimare happen once more. They could protect large cities… Fillydelphia had been well-protected, Southbay was easy to defend, Cloudsdale even more so… But what of smaller cities and towns? Ponyville and Appleoosa, or even Eyriewatch? If Chrysalis truly wanted, she’d likely be able to take the small city. Sighing, Melody rubbed her tired eyes, wishing she could get some more sleep.

“Huuhh!” The gasping inhalation made Melody start. She whirled around, spotting someone back at their camp sitting straight up in their bedroll. As she made her way back, she saw it was Verse. In the light of the moon, his bare chest shone with a thin layer of sweat, and he looked pale.

“You too, huh?” She asked, slowly settling down in her own bedroll. Verse looked up at her, his expression haggard.

“Yeah.” He grunted, sounding exasperated and tired.

“Was that the first time?” She asked. Verse looked at her and shook his head.

“No… Second. She came to me the night after you were hurt. After you… You know, the whole prime business.”

“Right… Well?” Melody drew her knees up to her chest, laying her chin on the crown of her kneecap. Verse wiped a hand across his face and lay on his back, looking up at the night sky.

“I don’t know, Melody.” He sounded defeated. She watched his chest rise and fall, his eyes closed. In that moment, he looked very tired, very fatigued. He probably looked not unlike herself. “What do you think? Should we help her or no? That’s… I don’t want to see another Baltimare. No one does.” She had to agree with him on that, but should they help Chrysalis?

“I don’t know, either, Verse…” Melody’s mind was still weighing heavily on Death’s command. She still had to give him five names, and time was running out… She only had one week left. Lily knew her life was forfeit if Melody couldn’t think of any names, and had told her daughter ‘I will skip into the nether with a happy tune if it means keeping you from making that choice, Melody.’ The words had touched her, sure, but they also worried her. Would Lily really be willing to give up her life just because Melody couldn’t pick one name over another? The two of them were silent for a few long moments. Melody almost felt like she could go back to sleep…

“You know what?” Verse suddenly said. “I can’t stand the thought of another Baltimare… I’m going to tell mom when she wakes up, then I’m going to the Everfree Forest.” He sat up, looking at Melody. “If it means Chrysalis takes Canterlot, then so be it… I’ll do what I can to help. But… I won’t let her cause that kind of pain and suffering again. Not ever. Not if I can do anything to stop it.” Melody listened to his words with a growing sense of dread. She knew it was true. If they didn’t help Chrysalis, the queen would continue to raze the land, one city, one town, one family, one life at a time. This was the only way they would be able to truly stop Chrysalis from hurting anyone else… And even then, they were only taking the queen on her word.

“You’re right.” Melody agreed, gently nodding her head. “I won’t let it happen, not if I can’t help it… If turning the throne over the Chrysalis is what it takes to keep everyone safe, then so be it.” She pointed her chin at Lily, who was still sleeping peacefully. “But there’s no way we can tell mom… You know she’ll forbid us going to Chrysalis.”

“You’re… Suggesting we just leave?” The way Verse asked the question made Melody feel horrible. Not that she already didn’t, but what alternative did they have? What would Lily do if she woke up and her two children told her they were going to turn themselves in to the worst enemy Equestria had ever seen? No… Lily had to remain in the grey. Melody hated herself for doing this, but when she stood up, she did so without her pack, without anything to call her own save the clothes on her back and the boots on her feet. “I can’t believe we’re doing this…” Verse muttered softly, following her lead. Silently, leaving empty bedrolls and packs behind, they slipped away from camp…

“This is madness. Absolutely bat-shit crazy.” Verse muttered quietly. Melody shushed him as they inched further into the tree cover. Earlier that morning, they had left Lily behind. Now, at around noon, both of them were inside the Everfree forest. This was a strange and eerie place that made Melody feel somewhat insecure about herself. Rumor had it the creatures here were biologically resistant to magic, making all but the most powerful spells ineffective against them. She wondered how well she and Verse would be able to defend themselves if it came down to it…

Then again, the local fauna was the furthest thing from her mind at that one particular moment. They looped around two more trees and pushed through a bush, their eyes finally lighting on the moderately large clearing. Immediately, both of them dropped to a low crouch. The only sound Melody could hear was her own heart beating in her ears.

There she was.

“Oh come now, you two…” Chrysalis’ haunting voice called out across the open space to them. “No need to be so shy. I’m happy you’ve come so soon…” Her voice was every bit as frightening as it had been in her dreams, and twice as hollow… Melody couldn’t suppress a shiver as it shot up her spine, making her swallow hard and rise to her feet. Verse followed her lead, if hesitantly. Together, the two of them approached the nightmarish figure that was Queen Chrysalis.

“Aah… Melody and Verse. Fantastic. Come, let me get a better look at you…” The two of them never strayed more than a foot apart, their elbows occasionally brushing against one another’s as they hesitantly approached Chrysalis. When they finally arrived before the tall, nightmarish woman, Chrysalis looked down at them with a smile on her thin lips. “Melody. You look like your mother. You have her eyes… And Verse. Strong and handsome. I’m sure you’ve broken your fair share of hearts.”

“Better than breaking lives.” Verse countered, his jaw set strong.

“Oh? You don’t approve of my tactics?” Chrysalis chuckled at him, a very dark and scary noise. It came straight from her throat, and it seemed to pulse through both of them. “Tell me, Verse… When you’ve lived for over four thousand years and you’re facing your doom, what lengths would you go to just to see another dawn? Hmm?” She started out sounding amused, almost like entertaining the silly thought of a child, but her voice slowly grew more and more dangerous, low, and threatening. “What would you give, what would you sacrifice, just to live another day? Or two? Then, when you discovered you could live forever, what then? What would you do to make that happen?”

“I certainly wouldn’t burn an entire city of innocent people to the ground.”

“Innocent. Bah. Two sides of the same coin, boy.” Chrysalis grunted, waving him off. “Baltimare will only be the first if I don’t get your cooperation.”

“What if we refuse to give it?” Melody asked. Her tone was not insolent, merely inquisitive. Chrysalis eyed her up and down nevertheless.

“I’ve changelings in several small towns across Equestria, as well as waiting just outside Ponyville. Refuse to cooperate, and I burn them one at a time. All the prisoners will be brought back here, and I’ll ensure you watch as I do as I please with them.” Melody shivered visibly. Anything but that…

“So you burned Baltimare just to prove a point?”

“Precicesly.”

“You’re sick.”

“I’ve been called worse by prettier-looking men than yourself, Verse.” Chrysalis countered. “I just want to see to it that I live. That, and… Well…” Chrysalis looked at Melody then, her lips curled upwards in a devious grin. “Melody knows what happens when a queen dies. Do either of you want to revisit that nightmare again?” Melody glanced sideways at Verse, who was looking at her with an inquisitive expression.

“She means the primes.” Melody groaned. “When the queen’s magic begins to fade, the primes emerge out of the regular drones and lieutenants, each of them attempting to re-establish the dominant role the queen has over all changelings… When I was injured, that’s what I shifted into… It’s sporadic, difficult to predict, but it gets worse as time goes on…”

“She’s correct, you know.” Chrysalis teased. “If I pass away, then the primes will rage unchecked until one of them is crowned. They’ll be killing one another, but anyone caught in the crossfire will undoubtedly die as well. For that purpose, I’ve sent at least a hundred changelings to every major city, each of them deep in cover. Fillydelphia, Southbay, Canterlot, Eyriewatch… All of them. I die before I get on the throne, and they ravage everything they possibly can. You put me on the throne, and you never have to worry about them again.”

“At what price?” Melody asked, shaking a little. “I mean… You have to have some ulterior motive…”

“Ulterior motive? Melody, darling, I’m just trying to survive.” Chrysalis chuckled at her. “What, you think I’m some dictator stuck on killing everyone who’s ever wronged me or something like that? Hardly. I just want to keep living. I could care less if Celestia, Luna, Lily, Twilight, or any of the others live… I may have been motivated by petty anger or vengeance when I started this war, but it quickly turned into something much more… Primal.”

“Then I want something from you… Given what you’ve said, I think it’s perfectly reasonable.” Melody said, straightening her back a little. Chrysalis eyed her up and down, but she appeared ready to listen. “I want your personal assurance as few people as possible die.” She glanced at Verse, who gave her a subtle nod. “We’ll do our best to put you at the top without any casualties, but I want you to promise you won’t kill anyone more than is absolutely necessary. And after you’re on the throne, we get to leave Canterlot. We return to our home in the south, and you never bother us again.”

“Hmm…” Chrysalis tapped her lower lip, appearing to be thinking hard. Given the absence of her right arm just above the elbow, it looked like a rather odd gesture. “I was looking forward to murdering Liliana… But, as I just said, that’s not necessary for survival. Very well. I promise you, if I take the throne, I shall not harm either of you, Liliana, Twilight Sparkle, or any of the elements of harmony. However.” She raised her hand, one finger extended. “If any of them get in the way of me, I can and will kill them. But only if they are a threat. Otherwise, I shall not let danger get even a glance at them. You see? I can be rational. This is, after all, about my survival.” Melody almost visibly sagged with relief when Chrysalis gave the promise, her body going limp for a moment. It appeared Verse was relieved as well.

“Good. Now that we have that out of the way…” Melody swallowed hard, her hand raising to rub her temples. “What do you need of us?”

“Aah, now that…” Chrysalis lifted a finger. “Is an excellent question. First thing’s first, I want to hear about everything you two have ever done. Widespread as the horde is, I don’t see everything that happens. You tell me about your run-in with Imoheen, what happened at Naga-Haal, and how you two managed to arrive at Eyriewatch after that. All of it.”

Melody and Verse were, for lack of a better word, Chrysalis’ students. The changeling queen rushed them to learn as much as they could about the horde, offering drones for them to study on and talk with, the knowledge of several battle-hardened lieutenants, and even access to some sensitive books she had managed to bring with her from Canterlot. While the entire process felt incredibly rushed, the week passed by slowly. Melody would spend anywhere from four to six hours a night asleep, and the rest of the time doing nothing but studying. There may have been a mutual understanding between Chrysalis and the two of them, but Melody and Verse understood they were, more or less, prisoners.

After an entire week of studying day in and day out, Chrysalis spoke with them once more. This time, it was about Melody’s time constraint… “You said Death himself has given you an ultimatum, correct?”

“Y-yes…” Melody muttered. It was coming close to the time she was going to have to pick the names of five people to die. She dared not inform Chrysalis that Lily would be the first to go.

“I know what you are to do, then. Melody, call your master, tell him you’ve made your mind.” Melody blinked as Chrysalis glared at her, the queen’s expression set in stone. She swallowed and slowly reached a hand into her pocket. There, she found one of the seeds Death had given her. They were still stone-cold and heavy. She was glad she didn’t leave them with her pack, otherwise Death likely would have killed Lily, and who knows who else… Using her magic, she churned up a small bit of earth near her feet, then dropped the seed onto the soil.

”Death seek me this day.”

Cold. Pain. A dark abyss. All these things were soon making Melody whimper and cry, tears streaming down her face. She felt her heart hammer in her chest as the shadows amongst the trees began to coalesce, to slowly come towards the seed she had dropped… A Mord, skeletal and frightening, slowly rose up from the ground. With the sound of dried bone-on-bone, his hand pulled the hood of his robe over his bared skull, the hollow sound of his breath causing everyone present to shiver. Even Chrysalis.

”Melody Sparkle, I speak to you and you alone. You have called me, your voice is the only I shall hear… Let none other talk in your place, or their life is forfeit…” No one said a word. Chrysalis and Verse were silent. Even the changelings all around them stopped their chattering, incessant noises… The only sound was the empty breath of the Mord.

“I-I have an ultimatum from Death…” Melody managed to stutter… She suddenly felt deathly cold, her body quivering as the Mord’s empty sockets turned towards her. Shrouded as it was in it’s hood, she could still see the faint outline of the skull underneath…

”You must give five names, or Death will take five lives from you… The amount of time you have left to choose is fourteen hours, seventeen minutes, fourty-seven seconds… Have you decided? Its voice was a thin whisper, eerie as it washed through her, yet it vibrated in her chest, making her breath catch in her throat…

“I have decided.” She nodded.

”The names?”

“Have not been given to me… With your permission, Mord, I would hear from another…”

”This is your will?” The Mord’s raspy breath made her shiver.

“It is.” She blurted.

”Allow the one with the names to speak… If it is your will that they die, then they shall die… None other may speak than Melody Sparkle and the one with the names…”

“Chrysalis…” Melody panted. “Tell him the names… Please…” The queen, previously silent, suddenly started as the Mord turned its lifeless gaze upon her. She worked her mouth a few times before listing off the names of five individuals, each one of them preceded by the word ‘General.’ The Mord nodded at each one, before turning back to Melody.

”Five names have been given. Five bodies will fall. Five souls will be claimed. Do you acquiesce?” Melody and Chrysalis shared a look. Between them, there was nothing but pure hatred. Chrysalis hated Melody because the five names weren’t exactly whom she wanted them to be. Melody hated Chrysalis for giving her five names at all. Chrysalis nodded finally, sealing the deal. Melody felt the blood and strength leave her body. She was going to kill these five men.

“I… I agree.”

”They shall die.”

With a quick, sudden motion, the Mord gripped his wicked-looking scythe in both his skeletal hands. With a sound not unlike metal shearing flesh apart, the Scythe cut through the air. Melody watched as five misty apparitions appeared suddenly, each of them clutching at their throats, their eyes bulging in their heads. The Mord gripped them one by one, pulling the apparitions into his own body, swallowing them through its open mouth. Melody realized she had just seen five souls being reaped. Somewhere in the world, five men had just died.

In an instant, the Mord was gone. Melody wept. Chrysalis shrugged the whole thing off like it never happened. She spoke, her tone bored and dull… Though Melody could swear she heard the undertone of triumph in the queen’s voice…

“Your job has been learning for the past week,” She said curtly. “Now, your job is to practice. Just like any other changeling, I’m giving you two an assignment. To prove yourselves, so to speak. Fly north, to Stalliongrad, and successfully impersonate a husband and wife. While you’re at it, I want you to study ancient fauna in Hearth at the library there, and report back to me your findings. You will impersonate that couple for at least one week. I will have a drone check in on you daily. Look for the library aide named Jon McIntyre. He is a changeling. Now, go. You have a long flight ahead of you.

Without question, the two of them left immediately. Outwardly, they appeared worn and exhausted. Inwardly, both Melody and Verse were glad to be away from the horde. The ever-present drone of hundreds upon thousands of wings, the beady green eyes watching their every move, the tireless studying… Melody flew as fast and hard as she could away from where the changelings were in the Everfree forest, flying north towards Stalliongrad. She and Verse remained silent for three whole days, saying nothing and looking at one another very briefly. Both of them knew what the other felt… Betrayal, sickness, concern, and most importantly, peril. Their lives were forfeit if they didn’t do this properly… Every night they camped under the stars, Melody cried herself to sleep over what she had done.

Only once Stalliongrad came into sight did they finally speak. Even then, it was short and clipped, only meant to talk about their current objective. “Them?” Melody asked, pointing down from their vantage point.

“Hmm, too far from the library right now. We’ll follow them home.” They tailed a happy-looking couple, but found they were staying in a nice-looking house halfway across the large city from the library they needed. Flying over the rooftops, they were shifted into two average-looking avians, blending in almost perfectly with the others that flitted here and there. They managed to evade any patrols by landing in the streets below and hiding in a shadowy doorway here or there. Eventually, though, the patrols became too numerous for them to fly without being accosted. They proceeded on foot, their wings gone and their clothes changed to something bland.

They chatted amicably about nonsense, their attention obviously fixed elsewhere. It took them a while, but Melody spotted what looked to be an acceptable couple across the small square they were now in. Stealthily, Verse and Melody followed the couple, ducking from doorway to doorway in the fading light of day. The shadows grew longer, making it difficult to track the two, but before night time was fully descended upon them, the couple approached a home. Small, tucked inbetween a closed store and what looked to be a small office building of sorts, they appeared to be living alone. Melody and Verse passed the time until nightfall on a bench one block away, their eyes fixed on the lighted windows.

“Now?” Verse asked.

“Now. Phone ploy?”

“Phone ploy. Our excuse?”

“Hmm… Medical emergency.”

“You or me?”

“You do it. I always was better at panicking than you were.” Smooth and easy, just like they had practiced a dozen times before, Verse slumped against Melody, one arm over her shoulder, the other clutching his own stomach. Together, they limped up the front walk of the home, and Melody reached out to hammer on the front door.

“Who in the blazes could that be…?” Locks clicked, and the door swung inwards. The man of the couple stood on the threshold, eyeing the two of them warily.

“Please!” Melody gasped, the fake tears already coursing from her eyes. “Please, I need to use your phone!” She was hysterical, sobbing and blubbering helplessly.

“What in the-“

“My boyfriend! He’s sick, I need to call the doctor right away! Please!” Melody gasped and sobbed, her fake tears flowing fast and free.

“Oh shit! Is he okay?”

“No! He isn’t! Please, I need to use your phone!” Melody begged, nearly screaming at the man. Stunned, he stepped aside, letting Melody drag her groaning brother across the doorway. That was all they needed. When Melody spotted the woman they had tracked back here standing a little ways in the hallway, looking at them with a confused expression, she whirled on the man. Verse lunged away from her, his form already shifted back to its normal complexion. Melody was herself once more, her hands glowing as she sprung at the man. One thread of telekinesis shut the door, the other leapt for his mouth. All the man was able to emit was a panicked squeak before Melody shut him up, her fingers already twisting in the intricate pattern she needed.

When she cast the binding spell, the man’s muscles tensed up immediately and he stopped moving. Eyes wide and staring straight forward, he was as still as a statue. Down the hallway, silence. Melody threw the locks on the door, flicking off every light switch she could find. Verse did the same, leaving the both of them in relative darkness. The only light remaining was a solitary lamp in the main hallway, which they left on for now.

“Check the basement.” Verse said quietly. “I’ll make sure they can’t move.”

“Are they magi?”

“She is, but he isn’t.”

“Alright. Magesbane?”

“Magesbane. I think I saw a plant outside of the city. I’ll go get it tomorrow.” Melody nodded and quietly slipped away, searching for the way into the basement, provided this house had one. As it turned out, there wasn’t one. A small crawlspace underneath the pantry, but that was it…

“Nothing.” She reported back to Verse, who was busy finishing the spell on the woman. The man was slumped on the floor, his chest rising and falling smoothly.

“We’ll use the bathroom, then. I’ll put her out for the next twelve hours, but after that, she’s going to need to be locked out some other way.”

“We’ll go get that magesbane. I’ll check the bathroom.” She patted Verse’s shoulder, the two of them sharing a sympathetic, if understanding look. Downstairs had nothing but a half bath, located off of the dining room. Upstairs, however, there were two bedrooms, both with their own bathrooms. She waved at Verse, leading him to the guest room. The bathroom here was completely interior, with no outside windows at all. The floor was large enough for the two of them to lie down, so Melody worked on hauling both bodies up the stairs and into the bathroom while Verse began casting the spells they would need. A sound field, barrier, and monitoring spell were all in place shortly after Melody dropped the second body off, and the two of them were looking rather haggard.

“Go lay down,” Melody said, nudging Verse. “I’ll make sure they’re okay. It’s Saturday, so they shouldn’t have work, if they work at all.”

“Right… It might not be standard, but… Do you think we should tell them?”

“What, that we’re changelings?” Melody sighed, mulling the option over in her mind. “Maybe… Do you think it’ll be an issue?”

“If they seem off after a week, I’ll modify their memories. I don’t think I can do a major overhaul, but I think I can make them believe they’ve been sick for the past week.”

“Right. Go sleep, Verse. I’ll take care of them.” Her brother nodded slightly before slipping away. Both of them were completely out, chests rising and falling smoothly. She surveyed them for wounds… Nothing more than a slight bruise from the man, possibly when he fell to the floor. The woman, her magic all but completely locked away, was out cold. She didn’t even respond to the firm pats Melody gave her face. They both wore rings around their third fingers… They were husband and wife.

Straightening with a sigh, Melody closed the door, and locked the spells up. In that moment, the bathroom was completely sequestered from the outside world. No noise escaped, no amount of magic would blast through the barrier without them knowing, and the monitoring spell allowed Verse and Melody to spy on them whenever needed. Come morning, Melody would have a talk with them, to explain their situation… Verse was already out when Lily entered the room. She stripped down to a t-shirt and shorts before slipping under the covers, her back pressed against her brother.

She was scared. She was anxious. She was frightened for her life…

But she was with her brother. Together, they could do this…

“Find it?” Melody asked. Verse slipped in through a back window, having just left an hour prior to retrieve the magesbane. He nodded and produced the devious plant with a flourish, smiling despite the bags under his eyes. “Good… I think I have enough time to make the undiluted mixture before she wakes… Even then, she’s bound, so we can subdue her before anything.”

“Alright. Here you go. I’m gonna do some snooping.” He nodded and patted Melody’s shoulder as they both slipped into the kitchen. She set about to boiling the plant while Verse shuffled through mail. In under an hour, both had completed their task.

“Mary and Balthazar Heartstrings… He’s a dentist, and I’d assume she works as his secretary…” Verse muttered, reading through some of the mail. “And… They have a daughter… Lyra… She lives in Canterlot, but stays with her girlfriend in Fillydelphia since the war started… This letter’s dated two days ago, so she won’t be visiting any time soon. Hmm.” He continued to shuffle, mumbling to himself. Melody focused on pouring the hot liquid into a glass, to be given to Mary upstairs.

“Ready when you are.” She muttered, swirling the glass.

“Aah, perfect… There’s a number we can call. We’ll call it in tomorrow, tell them that we’re sick, so we can spend the week at the library.” He set the sheaf of papers down and followed Melody up the stairs, the glass of undiluted magesbane in her hands. Verse undid the spells on the bathroom, and together, they slipped inside. Thankfully, the real mary and Balthazar with still out. Melody breathed a sigh of relief before slowly feeding Mary the magesbane. Verse rubbed her throat, making sure she swallowed it. Melody felt horrible for doing this, but she knew it had to be done… It was either this, or Chrysalis would have them killed. Just like those five generals…

“Mary. Mary, wake up.” Verse was patting her cheeks, trying to rouse the slumbering magi. Melody watched as Mary’s eyes flickered for a moment, her face scrunching as if she were trying to wake up. “Come on, Mary, you can do it…”

“Ngh… Wha… Bill, where are you?” She mumbled, her hand reaching out.

“Bill?” Melody muttered, glancing over her shoulder. “Who the hell…”

“Wake up, Mary. We need to talk.” Her eyes finally opened at Verse’s insistence. She blinked at the two of them unevenly for a few moments.

“Who are you?” She asked. “Why… Where am I?”

“You’re in your home, Mary.” Melody said quietly. She glanced at Balthazar, who was beginning to show signs of life.

“Wh… Who are you?”

“My name is Melody.” She leaned in, looking straight into Mary’s eyes. She was greeted with many emotions in those eyes… Confusion. Doubt. Fright. That survival fight-or-flight instinct Melody herself had been subject to more often than she could care to recall… “And we’re going to be impersonating you for the next week.”

Balance and Harmony

-------- Melody’s Tale - Balance and Harmony --------

Twilight!

Lily, what’s wrong?

They’re gone. They just- gone! They’re not here!

Panic. Confusion. Whatever Lily was on about, it was serious. Outside of the white, barren expanse, Twilight furrowed her brow. Inside, she laid a hand on Lily’s shoulder.

Who’s gone?

Melody! Verse! They’re just… GONE! Now Twilight was the panicked one… She felt her heart hammer in her ribcage as Lily continued to fret.

C-calm down, relax… Are you sure they aren’t just… Out for a walk or something?

Nowhere nearby, I already checked… They left their packs, and they haven’t returned in half an hour.

Oh no… Oh no, this is bad…

Hey guys, what’s up?

They’re gone.

Wha? Who’s gone…? Dash had joined in, and now there were three confused and panicked parties.

Melody and Verse. They disappeared this morning. No one knows where they are… This is bad… Twilight rose from her chair in the Royal Canterlot Library and began pacing back and forth, trying to piece together what might have happened.

Twi, I’m freaking out here… I… I need you.

Come back to Canterlot. If Melody and Verse are gone, chances are they won’t be found unless they want to be.

Okay… I’ll be on my way… Twi?

Hmm?

You don’t think they’re like… Bringing a god back or something, do you?

No… No, I don’t think that’s the case. I don’t know why they’re gone. But they are. Hurry back, Lily.

Okay. She went dark, leaving just Twilight and Dash alone in the link. Fluttershy was attending something important, and neither Applejack nor Pinkie Pie had awoken yet… That Dash was up this early was nothing short of amazing. Twilight’s mind raced with the possibilities of what could have happened to cause Verse and Melody to disappear as they had, without so much as a word to Lily… Didn’t they know how important they were? How important their safety was to the future of the world? Twilight knew. She had been studying up on the prophecy in the three weeks she had been in Canterlot. She hadn’t covered much of the material available, but what she had read was both frightening and incredible.

Are they going to be okay?

Of course… Twilight sighed as she padded towards a nearby book case. They’re better trained and more powerful than half the magi in Equestria. Throw their changeling training in on top of that… They can handle themselves.

Alright. Sheesh, it’s moments like this I wish I could help out more… I feel so helpless all the way out here in Eyriewatch…

Trust me… I feel the same way.

“How is it…” Celestia muttered, her face in her hands. “We cannot find suitable replacements for ALL of the generals that passed?” The aide swallowed hard, shuffling through the folders in his arms.

“Eer… Major Halfhan would present a suitable replacement for General Davington’s open position-“

“If he were five years older with some administrative experience… Major Halfhan is a soldier and a fighter, not a diplomat and pen-pusher…” Celestia sighed and shook her head. “Consider Lieutenant-Colonel Woodsworth instead. He may be able to at least pick up the slack…”

“Yes, Milady. Anything else?”

“Yes… Please prepare an escort. I plan on informing General Davis’ family personally of his passing.”

“I-in Southbay, milady? Is that a wise decision?”

“Luna will handle everything that needs to be handled in my absence. I plan on investigating Baltimare if I can along the way.” She waved a hand, dismissing the poor fellow. The aide bowed and left her office, taking with him relief and leaving instead more stress and frustration. In a single night, five high-ranking generals had passed away. One night. This was a few weeks ago, of course, but trying to find their replacements was proving immensely difficult. It was moments like these that made Celestia realize how much she relied on her officers.

The passing of the generals had been an intriguing mystery… All five had happened in one night, and as far as Celestia could tell, within an hour of one another. The circumstances were strange, and the method even stranger. All but one had happened before a credible witness, and the one that didn’t was thanks to him being in the bathroom inside a very locked and secured barracks. This wasn’t a changeling attack, and the medical corps had reason to believe poisoning was out of the question… It seemed as if these five had just… Died. Out of nowhere. Somehow, Celestia felt as if Chrysalis was still at fault somehow… She didn’t know how, but this had to be the doing of a changeling. It just had to be… There was no way five generals passed simultaneously.

“Sister?” Luna said softly, making Celestia jump. She hadn’t even noticed Luna entering the office. “Are you alright?”

“Truth, Luna?” Celestia groaned, laying a hand over her hammering heart. “I’m not… First Baltimare, now this… I swear, the paperwork is piling up on all the offices across town… Apparently this damned army can’t run itself without these five generals. How does that work?” Luna chuckled a little before slipping around the back of the desk. Her hands lay on Celestia’s shoulders, gingerly massaging the princess’ sore muscles. Celestia groaned and let Luna carry on, thankful for the gesture.

“Tragic as it is, I think we’ll get by. It’s just paperwork. You know as well as I do each unit is well-supplied, training is in order, and in the event of an attack we’ll be prepared.”

“I know, I know…” Celestia sighed and let her eyes close. She had just woken up… Why was she tired already? It was steadily growing worse, her fatigue… “It’s just stressful. You forget how much you need someone until they’re gone.”

“Heh. Tell me about it.” Luna said gently, her fingers still working. “Baltimare appears to be stable, at least… Restoration has already begun.”

“Oh, good… I hope you don’t take it personally that I want to stop by and see for myself… See what happened.”

“Not at all. I think it’d be a great boon to the workers if their princess stops by herself.” Luna smiled and kissed the top of Celestia’s head. It was a warm, gentle gesture. One that made Celestia smile. Despite everything, her sister still made her happy.

“CELESTIA!” The door to her office burst open in a flare of magic. Both princesses immediately reacted, shooting twin bolts of golden and ebony magic straight for the newly-created opening. Much to their surprise, then, when their own powerful magic dissipated like a sickly flame. They were able to relax, at least marginally, when Twilight’s own hands lowered, their glowing much more dense and powerful than either of the princess’.

“Twilight! Heaven’s sake, you shouldn’t be-“

“They’re back.”

“Blowing doors op- wait, what?”

“They’re back.” Twilight’s face was split in a wide, silly grin. “Melody and Verse. They’ve returned.” Celestia and Luna both stood dumbfounded, staring with wide, unblinking eyes at Twilight. The silence stretched on for a few moments before Twilight spoke once more. “They’re flying in from the North. Heavens forbid I ever find out what they were doing up there, but that’s where they are.” Just as Celestia was about to speak, her own lips breaking into a wide smile, she was cut off. Luna’s face was twisted into a frown.

“We proceed with caution.” She said softly. “It may not be them.”

“Luna, I think I know my own chil-“

“Husbands and wives who have been in marriages longer than you or Lily’s entire lives have been impersonated by skilled changelings. It may not be them. Don’t make me repeat myself, Twilight. If it is them, they will gladly subject themselves to a test or two, just to make absolutely sure. They are very sensitive to the success of the war. I won’t be fooled just because two teal-headed avian doppelgangers fly in from the north.” Twilight wilted visibly, her excitement curbed.

“Right… I just heard the first report is all. Would you mind if I be the one to test them?” She asked. Luna shook her head slowly.

“That might be preferable.” Luna interjected. “You’re their mother. You likely know more about them than anyone alive. Just be careful. You may be a goddess now, but you can still be incapacitated. I’d rather not watch you have your throat cut before my eyes. Celestia, are you coming?”

“Naturally.” Celestia picked her chair up, which had been pushed over when she blasted the door. Together, the three goddesses exited the small office, Twilight pausing for a second to repair the damage she had done to the door frame in her haste. Celestia beckoned to a passing patrol, the silent unit falling in behind the three without question. When they exited the palace, it was into a fresh, bright new day. The sun shone warm in the sky, and birds chirped in nearby trees. If it weren’t for all the stress of the current situation, Celestia might actually enjoy herself today. Instead, she willed her fatigued muscles to keep up with Twilight’s quick pace, her expression fixed in an almost permanent frown.

“There they are.” Twilight pointed into the sky. Two small figures emerged from behind one of the few clouds in the sky, and shortly after Twilight pointed them out, they dipped into a low dive.

“Guard.” Celestia said firmly, catching the attention of the previously-silent patrol behind them.

“Yes, milady?”

“When those two land, arrest them. They may be changelings impersonating the Children of Love.”

“Yes, milady.” The two figures didn’t slow or stop in their descent, and as they came closer and closer, Celestia could tell they were, indeed, Melody and Verse. She wouldn’t miss their teal-colored hair anywhere. Silently, the patrol moved around Celestia, Luna, and Twilight, their hands already glowing. Celestia nearly breathed a sigh of relief when Melody and Verse finally landed, their hands extended. Willingly, they submitted themselves to the magi patrol, letting the magic firmly clamp down on their wrists. Almost immediately, the magical shackles dissipated the wings they had upon their backs. They didn’t complain or even appear to be offended. Like they were expecting it.

“You understand why you’re being restrained?” Twilight asked first, her expression both serious and concerned.

“We do.” Melody said gently. Despite her current situation, she couldn’t seem to stop smiling. She truly looked happy to see Twilight once again.

“Then some questions are in order.”

“I suppose they are. Ask away.” Verse grumbled. He appeared tired, but very relieved. Almost like someone returning home after a long day of work.

“Right. What are your respective instruments? Answer for one another.”

“He plays the guitar.”

“She plays the violin.”

“What are the names of the two most prominent figures aside from Lily and myself in your childhood? One at a time.”

“Jokkan.”

“Miko.”

“Who did you first make love to? Answer for one another.”

“Eer… His was Samuel, but she preferred Sam.”

“Connor Hearthfire.” Twilight nodded at the answers, her own hands glowing for a moment. She waved a quick pattern in the air, painting a spell in a tenth of the time any other magi would have taken. Celestia watched as she materialized a simple violin out of nothingness, plucking the instrument from where it hovered.

“Guard, please release the female. She will have to demonstrate something for us.” The guard obliged, and Melody rubbed her wrists where the spell had been. When Twilight handed the instrument off, it came with a demand. “Play a song only the true Melody would know.”

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Melody’s fingers found their place on the neck, and she pulled the bow across the strings. Within a moment, she had the pitch and time signature down. The first three notes were not in any way, shape, or form pleasant, but that was just because she needed to get a feel… After a short pause, Melody began to play…

The sad, slow song nearly made Celestia cry. Twilight’s glowing hand intervened, releasing Verse from the guard’s grip, and with a motion, Celestia dismissed the guards, who silently slipped away and resumed their patrols. When Twilight threw her arms around both the children, there wasn’t any doubt in Celestia’s mind.

Melody and Verse were back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, mom.” Melody said with a soft smile, hugging Lily for the hundredth time in the past hour. “I’m just really tired… We flew all the way from Stalliongrad in two days.”

“Oh… Heh… Right… One more?” When Lily opened her arms, Melody hugged her, smiling despite the overt display of affection. Lily had been clingy since their return earlier that day. Understandably so… They HAD abandoned her without a word, gone off to betray the nation. She would never know where they truly went… In fact, the entire rest of that day had been spent spinning a very elaborate and grandiose lie she and Verse had cooked up in the few weeks they had been absent… Though not all of it was fiction. They HAD gone to Stalliongrad, and there they had made an important discovery. Granted, it was all on Chrysalis’ orders, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t do what they were supposed to do. Lily gave her a gentle squeeze to end the hug, her hands resting on Melody’s shoulders when they pulled away.

“Get some sleep, kiddo. We’ll talk more tomorrow?”

“Of course. I love you, mom… And again, I’m sorry.”

“For the fifteenth time, Melody,” Lily groaned, rolling her eyes playfully. “I accept your apology. You did what you felt you had to do, with no time to tell me.” She ruffled Melody’s hair with a grin, laughing as Melody batted tiredly at her hands. “I don’t hold it against you. I was just worried was all. We all were. We’re glad to hear everything went so well.”

“Thanks,” Melody grumbled. She felt like she couldn’t possibly apologize enough for her actions. “I’m gonna go to sleep now. Good night, Mom.”

“Night, Melody. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Another hug, and they parted ways. Melody slowly shut the door behind her, immediately retreating to her window. She stared out across the wide city spread below. Unlike Fillydelphia, Canterlot wasn’t covered with smog, nor was it very good to look at either. Evidence of the long war still scarred the streets and buildings below, though there thankfully weren’t any bodies or bits of wreckage laying about. Restoration had begun, but Canterlot still had a long, long ways to go until it was back to its former beauty. She wasn’t looking at the battle-scarred city, though… Her eyes studied the adjoining balconies, looking for her brother…

“Hey.” Verse’s soft whisper snapped her attention upwards. One floor above her, Verse leaned over the edge of his balcony, smiling down at her.

“Hey. Has Lily come to say good night yet?”

“Yeah, you?”

“She just left.”

“Okay. Should be safe.” Verse vaulted over the edge of his balcony, using his momentum to swing down onto her own. He landed deftly, his expression now grim. They spoke in very quiet, hushed tones… “What are we doing here, Melody? This is madness…”

“I know…” She groaned, leaning against the railing. “We’re insane for ever thinking this could be done…”

“We have to, though… How long do we have left?”

“Nine days…” Melody replied, ticking off the days they had spent ‘preparing’ versus the time constraint Chrysalis had given them. “I spoke with Lily. She says she’ll get in touch with Applejack and Pinkie Pie, try and get them to come to Canterlot. This is so strange, playing both sides against the middle… Do you think Chrysalis has a contingency plan?” Verse was completely silent for a few moments, his stare fixed on some point off in space Melody couldn’t see.

“I think…” He said after a short while. “She very well might… But if this plan goes over the way we expect it to, it should be fine… We’re taking a huge risk here, Melody… Five generals isn’t enough to hold Chrysalis’ faith in us.”

“Don’t… Please, Verse, don’t say that…” Melody shuddered. She felt so horrible for doing what she did… To hear Verse look at it like they were pawns in an elaborate game was almost sickening.

“Right. Sorry… You shouldn’t blame yourself, though. It was either them or Lily… She’s the goddess of Generosity right now. Or at least, she will be. We couldn’t afford to let her die…”

“I know, but… I just can’t bring myself to forgive her for making me do that…”

“She’s a bitch. No doubt about it… I hope this works, because I’d hate to see her on the throne for however long she’ll be there…”

“Right… Well…” Melody sighed and rubbed her eyes, feeling very tired.

“Bedtime?”

“If I can sleep at all…”

“Tell me about it… Talk more tomorrow?”

“If we can.” Melody shrugged. “Right now, we’re walking a thin line… We tip too far one way, and Chrysalis repeats Baltimare or worse. Too far the other, and-“

“Let’s… Let’s not go there, alright?” Verse said gently, cutting her off. “I’d rather Chrysalis do another Baltimare than… Than let that happen.”

Melody could hardly believe it when she agreed with him. Anything was better than allowing Chrysalis to unleash the primes.

Anything.

Melody awoke in a bed softer than sin. Her head felt fuzzy and she took a long while to collect her thoughts, but when she finally did, she could actually enjoy the warm feeling of soft sheets and a fluffy pillow under her head. Birds chirped outside her balcony, and the sun was already shining bright in the sky. Still, as she rolled out of bed, dark thoughts weighed heavily on her mind. She took time to enjoy the bathing facilities. This much, at least, helped shake her out of her funk. She hastily dressed and left the chambers she had been escorted to yesterday. Apparently, Celestia didn’t quite trust her yet. Not that she could blame her. Melody DID just disappear for several weeks without any word. Now that she was back, Celestia had reason to be suspicious. So, rather than fight her fate, Melody went to accept it.

There were guards at either end of the hallway. As Melody approached, they stiffened and crossed their spears. “We’re sorry, Melody. We’re instructed not to let you leave.”

“I want to speak with Celestia.” Melody said meekly, opening her hands. “I was hoping we might clear some things up…” The guards shared a quick look before nodding to one another.

“Come with us.” They uncrossed their spears and let her fall into step between them. Melody followed the guard in front of her quietly, but her eyes were everywhere. Canterlot’s palace was immaculate to say the least, bearing almost no sign of the war that had ravaged most of the rest of Equestria. Outside, though, the palace grounds and the surrounding city were still being restored. She watched through one wide bank of windows as grounds crews worked hard at mending long, black scorch marks in the earth. Melody could have guessed at who had created those…

Still, as the guards led her out of what she guessed were the guest quarters, Melody could see the ghost of beauty Canterlot once possessed. Twilight had been assisting with the restoration as much as she could from the castle over the weeks she had been gone, and many of the monuments around the city were humming with magic. Melody could feel it the moment they had seen Canterlot emerging from the plains. This city was teeming with magical energy, unlike their home far in the south, or other cities they had been. She knew that much like Eyriewatch, Canterlot had a dominant population. There were more magi here than anywhere else in Equestria.

Shortly after they had left the guest wing, another pair of guards fell in around them, and with the two new guards came Verse. He smiled faintly at Melody. Despite the early-morning tension, Melody found herself smiling back at him. Together with Verse, she could do this. They wordlessly followed their entourage deeper into the castle.

After what felt like a mile-long hike, they finally arrived at an office. Melody had given up trying to keep track of the long hallways, twisting stairwells, and confusing layout of the castle. The guards pulled up short and opened the double doors to the office, beckoning them inside. Melody and Verse shared one last look before steeling their expressions. Inside, Celestia sat behind a wide desk cluttered with papers, folders, and various other trappings of office. Melody took a moment to look around. There were several articles resting on raised pedestals, covered with clear glass cases. They ranged everywhere from a glimmering orb of obsidian to a broken sword hilt. Melody knew these were important magical artifacts, or they had been at one point. She had something to accomplish, though. She turned her attention back to the goddess sitting on the opposite side of the desk from them, her gaze busy with one document or another in front of her.

“Have a seat.” Celestia said quietly, gesturing towards them with an off-handed motion. From seemingly nowhere, two chairs flickered into existence, pressing into the backs of their knees. Very unceremoniously, Melody and Verse sat in their chairs. Celestia looked up at them then, setting her pen aside. “Have you come to tell me why you left Lily alone and abandoned hardly a day’s flight from the edge of the Everfree Forest?”

Melody could hear it in Celestia’s voice. She was distrustful of the two of them. With good reason, of course, but it still didn’t help their plight. Both of them shifted uneasily before Melody spoke next. “We have. If you’ll hear it.”

“Go on.” Celestia waved a hand at her. Melody swallowed hard before setting in on her story.

“Our sleep since Baltimare had been fitful, to say the least. Both Verse and I had been visited by a phantasm… A visage of sorts. We had to answer the call, Celestia. We were driven. We left our mother behind and entered the forest.” This was where the lie began. “We passed the forest. Into the Shadowlands.”

“No one goes to the Shadowlands.” Celestia said with a frown. “Or more accurately, no one returns from the Shadowlands.”

“We did.” Melody lifted her chin. “The creatures there let us pass. We went unharmed to the heart of the Shadowlands. There, we woke the god of shadows. He has granted us safe passage to and from the Shadowlands. It’s true, Celestia. Your brother walks Equestria once more. You felt it, didn’t you?” Melody could see it in Celestia’s eyes. She didn’t. But that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. With the God of Shadows, no one could tell anything for certain. If anything, the lack of any new power was evidence in and of itself that Melody and Verse actually had done what they said they had. Melody continued her story.

“He told us of many other gods, and more specifically, their locations. So we chose the one closest to us. We flew to Stalliongrad from the Shadowlands. There, we awoke the Goddess of Order. She called herself Judicia. But she was hurt, in pain, even. That’s why we returned, Celestia. If not for Judicia’s pain, we wouldn’t even be here. We would have continued to Trottingham, then back up into Hearth, and into Featherhome after that. Judicia tasked us with a great burden.” Melody reached out to take Verse’s hand in hers.

“What task is this?” Celestia asked. By her softened expression, Melody could tell. She had bought it. Maybe because not all of it had been a lie. Melody and Verse had indeed discovered Judicia in the vaults beneath the Stalliongrad library. And they had indeed been tasked by that same goddess to return to Canterlot. Melody saw fit to leave out the part that they were impersonating a married couple the entire time they had been in Stalliongrad, and had been making surreptitious reports to a disguised changeling there. Making plans for the next step in Chrysalis’ plan.

“Judicia is the Goddess of Order. Order means balance. And without Order’s counterpart, Judicia cannot last long.” Melody stood from her chair, advancing to lay both her hands on Celestia’s desk. Verse stood beside her, both of them staring intently at Celestia.

“We need to revive Discord.”

“This is madness.” Luna groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know why we’re doing this. Next you’re going to tell us to release our other brother.”

“He’s alive and awake,” Melody waved the notion off. “We wouldn’t ask you to release Dark Conquest when we had no need of him. However,” She lifted a finger. “We need Pinkie Pie and Applejack to arrive as soon as possible.”

“Do you mean to revive the Elements of Harmony?” Celestia asked skeptically.

“We do.” Melody answered with a disarming smile. “Judicia and Discord will come together to return Balance to the world. With Balance comes Harmony. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight are already awoken. We need Lily, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie to join them if we want the forces of Harmony and Balance to coincide. After that, the God of Shadow told us it will be much easier to awaken the others.” Melody opened her arms to the small group gathered in the Canterlot gardens. “Just how long do you think it would have taken Verse and I to accomplish our task? Twenty years? Forty? A hundred?” She dropped her arms, but lifted one finger to emphasize her point. “With the forces of Balance and Harmony restored to the world, we can finish in five. And then we can put this business behind us.” She dropped her hand, tears glistening in her eyes. “Verse and I can go home.”

There was a moment of silence. Lily and Twilight slowly inched closer, their fingers closing around one another’s. Even Celestia and Luna shared a meaningful look. Luna spoke next. “Very well, Melody. If it means ending this war and returning peace to the world, then do it.” She gestured to the statue before all of them. “Awaken Discord.”

Melody and Verse nodded at one another before joining hands. They took two steps towards the statue, their magic already taking hold. “Woah!” Melody stumbled, but didn’t fall. She caught herself, a grin on her face. “Hey, I didn’t fall this time.”

“Speak for yourself.” Verse grumbled. Behind her, her brother sat on the blank white ground, looking wounded. With a light-hearted laugh, Melody offered him a hand to lift himself up. The white place was beginning to become familiar to the two of them. Not only that, but somewhat welcoming. Despite their dark intentions and the darker lies they had just told, Melody found herself smiling as she stood nude on the white surface. She and Verse surveyed the blank horizon, waiting for their next target to show himself. They had some time. Melody and Verse were alone again.

“Remind me why we’re doing this.” Verse said quietly, his back pressing against Melody’s. They found if they stood that way, things wouldn’t appear behind them, startling them. That, and they didn’t have to look at one another’s nude bodies.

“Because,” Melody sighed. “If we don’t let Chrysalis take Canterlot, she’s going to unleash her horde against any city that can’t defend itself properly. Millions would die. It’d be Baltimare all over again, just worse.”

“Right, I get that, but why revive Discord?”

”Because, it’s in your nature.” The voice above them caused both Melody and Verse to start. Whirling around and lifting their heads, they both saw him. Discord, god of Chaos, and Judicia’s brother, writhed in the air above them. Melody couldn’t quite comprehend his form. To her, the myriad of color and confusing body parts made her head hurt and her stomach churn. In the middle of it all was a pair of glowing red eyes, wreathed in red flames that flickered menacingly. Those eyes seemed to pierce through her, straight to her core. She wanted to collapse with the weight of the god above her. In the end, she did. Falling roughly onto her rear, Melody’s mouth hung open in shock. She couldn’t even speak.

”Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry…” Discord’s voice was as silky-smooth and sweet as any heartbreaker’s, and twice as sultry. Would that she could comprehend him, Melody might just swoon over such a voice. ”I didn’t mean to confuse you. Here, will this help?”

“HUUHH!” Melody gasped as the oppressive feeling was suddenly lifted from her. Panting, lathered in a flop sweat, Melody could finally make sense of him. Discord stood before the two of them, wearing a simple white suit and shiny black shoes. Much like his voice, the man standing before them was deviously handsome, if not for his menacing eyes. Those red, flaming eyes were still intimidating. Enough for Melody to tear her eyes off of his alluring form to focus on their objective.

”Hello Verse, Melody. It’s a pleasure to finally meet the children of my vanquisher.”

“That’s right,” Verse grunted as he slowly got to his feet. “Twilight and her friends defeated you long ago…”

”Not so long ago… Were it not for them, I might be the one sitting on Canterlot’s throne. Ah well. The best-laid plans of mice and men, no?” Discord shrugged nonchalantly at them, grinning at Melody with a set of wickedly-pointed teeth. ”And now you want to bring me back into the world, not to wreak havoc like I did before, but instead to strike a balance with my dear, sweet sister. How touching.”

“We have our reasons.” Melody frowned at Discord, slowly stepping forward. “And we think you’re going to like what we have planned. Will you listen to us?” Discord looked her up and down before glancing at Verse. Slowly, his lips curled into another wicked smile.

”A plan? Oh, do tell…”

“They’re back.” Celestia observed. Melody and Verse shivered slightly, but both of them slowly came awake. “Were you successful?”

“Y-yeah,” Melody moaned, clutching her pounding head as she sat up. “Look.” She raised one hand towards the statue. Discord’s likeness had sat on Canterlot’s lawns ever since Twilight had imprisoned him there long ago. Before Chrysalis’ first attempt at invading Canterlot. Since before the war. That entire time, the statue had a glimmering, white sheen to it, almost as if it were carved from pure marble. But now, the statue was dull and grey, cracked and faded.

“What happened?” Luna was suddenly on the defensive. She stomped forward, hauling both Verse and Melody to their feet. Melody wobbled unsteadily, her headache not having subsided at all. “What did you do to him?”

“We revived him,” Verse grunted, clutching his own head with both hands. “But he liked the statue. He wanted to leave it behind. We had to give him a different form.”

“Is he already gone, then?” Celestia asked, still frowning. “Did he slink off while we weren’t watching? You’ve been unconscious for almost an entire day…”

“Probably.” Melody whimpered. Her head seriously hurt. Much to her thanks, though, Twilight was there. She took Luna’s place, her hands already glowing with dense energy. The headache all but vanished, leaving Melody feeling exhausted in its wake. She offered a thankful smile to her mother. “He said, as much as he hated to, he had to meet with Judicia. He’s likely on his way to Stalliongrad right now. But we need to act quickly. Where are Applejack and Pinkie Pie?”

“They only just reached Fillydelphia this morning,” Twilight answered for them. “They’ll be here in three day’s time.”

“Three days?” Melody wilted a little. “What about the railways?”

“They’ve been shut down for the time-being.” Luna answered. “With Chrysalis’ horde so widespread, we don’t know what changelings are what. We’ve opted for a more secure transportation option. Avian flights escort busloads of supplies between destinations now. Applejack and Pinkie Pie will be on the first transport out of Fillydelphia tomorrow morning. Fluttershy will be coming with them. Noth and Rainbow Dash are coming from Eyriewatch as well. Soon enough, all of the Elements of Harmony will be here. Three days’ time, Melody. Three days’ time before Judicia’s plan is in place.” She smiled warmly, clapping both Melody and Verse on the back. “Congratulations.”

“Rainbow Dash is coming?” Verse asked quietly. “Why? We didn’t really need her to be here…”

“She insisted. Said it’d been a while since she’s been with all of us. We figured since you plan on bringing Lily, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie into the fold, we couldn’t really stop her. Fluttershy came of her own accord just as soon as she heard Rainbow Dash was coming.” Twilight smiled at them. Inside her head, Melody heard herself say ’all according to plan.’

“But… What about Eyriewatch? Who’s the commander?” At Melody’s question, everyone gathered smiled at her.

“Someone you know very well, Melody.” Even Celestia was blushing as she said it. “Faith Reigard, Captain of the Courier force.”

“I got the message out.” Verse whispered softly. Melody hadn’t heard him enter her room. In the deep shadows, she pulled her robe up her arms hastily. “None the wiser.”

“Right.” Melody flushed as she covered herself. “Let’s hope she holds up her end of the deal.”

“She said she would. We just have to take her at her word.” Verse respectfully averted his gaze, but didn’t leave. “She’ll come. Just as soon as Twilight, Lily, and the others leave.”

“Still… Verse, I don’t know how I feel about this.” Melody felt the tears begin to well in her eyes. They had executed their lie almost perfectly. Granted, it was peppered with the truth, but at least Celestia didn’t suspect the real reason they had gone into the Everfree Forest, or to Stalliongrad for that matter.

“Hey.” Verse laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve got three days before then. We need to at least try to stay positive. Look at the bright side. Faith got a promotion.”

“That’s right… Faith…” Melody smiled despite her dark thoughts. Memories of her time with Faith came back readily, and she smiled at Verse.

“And we’re in Canterlot. We can probably help out with the restoration while we’re here.” Verse gave her another reason to smile, this time he drew her into a gentle hug.

“That’s a good idea. We’ll get to see more of the city.” ’And keep ourselves distracted from the real job at-hand.’ Melody added as an afterthought, wrapping her arms around her brother. She could certainly use a distraction. Verse patted her on the back before pulling away and walking back towards her balcony.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, and we can ask about volunteering for the restoration effort.”

“See you tomorrow. And Verse?”

“Hmm?” he paused with a foot on her balcony railing.

“Thank you. You always know how to make me smile, even when I don’t want to.”

“What else is a brother for?” Verse smiled and spread newly-shifted wings before flapping off into the night. Melody watched the empty balcony for a while before slowly slipping out of her robe. She looked down at her arm.

And the hole that was in it.

Was she becoming more like a changeling? Or was Chrysalis losing her power?

Either way, Melody didn’t like the implications. She curled up on her bed and tried to sleep.

Lies

---------- Melody’s Tale : Lies -----------

The hole in her arm bothered her more than Melody cared to admit. She couldn’t shift the hole away, like she could other parts of her body, and she knew trying to cover it would raise some eyebrows, either from people who saw whatever means she had used to cover it, or from Twilight if she cast a spell to conceal it. It was when Melody was puzzling over the hole that a soft knock came from her door. Starting a little, Melody pulled her robe back up her bare form. “Come in,” She called, knotting the front. Much to her surprise, Princess Luna stepped through the door into her cozy little quarters.

“Good morning, Melody.” Luna seemed cheerful. She had a slight bounce to her step, and Melody couldn’t help but appreciate the lunar princess’ ravishing figure. It seemed the stresses of war had done little to diminish her beauty. If anything at all. Melody forced a smile onto her face.

“Good morning, Princess Luna.”

“We haven’t been officially introduced yet.” Luna cut right to the chase, even as she crossed the carpet with her arms open. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet Twilight’s daughter face-to-face.” Much to Melody’s surprise, Luna wrapped her in a tender embrace. Melody subconsciously returned it, smiling as Luna pulled her close. The princess’ hair smelled soothing, and she found her worries slowly melting away in the gentle hug. When Luna pulled away, Melody didn’t have to fake her smile.

“I’m honored, princess.” Melody beamed up at Luna, feeling much more relaxed in her presence. “I thought you would be too busy with other duties to come and speak with me. Either of us, to be honest.”

“Oh I’ve already visited Verse this morning,” Luna waved her off with a smile. “We had a wonderful chat about your journey. But I’d love to hear the story told from your perspective. Come,” Luna lowered herself onto the edge of Melody’s bed, patting the space next to her. “If it’s not too painful, that is.”

“No, not at all…” It honestly was, but Melody wasn’t about to betray her emotions. Call it stubbornness or idiocy, Melody didn’t feel comfortable exposing her feelings to much of anyone, save maybe Verse or her mothers. Still, as she sat on the bed next to Luna, she found herself sharing more and more about their journey than she had previously. They spent the entire morning talking, though Melody did most of it. Some point around ten in the morning, Melody found herself leaning back against Luna as the princess ran a brush through her hair, sharing the most intimate details about her relationship with Faith. How or when it had happened was a mystery to her, yet here she was, gossiping with the lunar princess about some of the most nonsensical things.

She almost forgot the entire reason they were even in Canterlot. A ghost of a frown crossed her face as she sat up a little more straight. Almost as if she had expected it, Luna laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hungry?”

“Yes, actually.” Melody was thankful for the distraction.

“Come, we can finish your story some other time. Get dressed and I’ll show you the way to the dining hall.” Luna excused herself promptly, leaving Melody behind to pull on some clothes. She wore the boots given to her by Hurricane, but the sleeveless tunic would do little to help with her arm. She settled instead for an airy, long-sleeved blouse and short-cut capris. In the hot spring day, she wouldn’t appear any more out of the ordinary than another Canterlite. She just had to make extra sure the left sleeve of her blouse didn’t ride up any higher than her elbow. That was going to be a challenge. Still, as she joined Luna outside of her quarters, Melody had another smile on her face. Whatever it was about the princess, she possessed the same quality that Verse did. She seemed to make Melody smile, even when she didn’t want to.

They joined everyone else in a massive banquet hall for breakfast. The tables were packed full of high-ranking military officials. Her time at Eyriewatch had familiarized Melody with Equestria’s military system, and she noted that everyone present was an officer. The lowest among them was a gold-leaf Major. But aside from the bland military uniforms everyone wore, she spotted Twilight’s vibrant purple hair, and Lily’s fiery red curls, seated near the head table. Luna made a beeline through the chatting soldiers, stopping for a brief moment to share a warm smile with a two-star general. Soon enough, Melody was seated with her family, and a new addition.

“Dash! When did you make it?!” Melody had to go and hug her surrogate aunt. Rainbow Dash laughed and ruffled her hair playfully.

“Noth and I made it in just two hours ago. We flew all through the night to make it here.” The commander-general’s wings were still as radiant as ever, though Melody had to note that seated next to Celestia as she was, Rainbow Dash had a very muted glow. Even as she watched, a single feather darkened and fell off of Rainbow Dash’s wings, floating to the ground where it dissolved into ash.

“You really shouldn’t push yourself. How can you fly when your feathers come and go like that?” Melody asked, slipping into a space between Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

“It’s tricky, but you kind of learn to replace aerodynamics with power. These wings are a lot stronger than my old ones. I make up for technique with energy.”

“And plenty of it,” Noth scoffed, just opposite Rainbow Dash from Melody. She glanced at the changeling Lieutenant with a smirk. The poor guy looked haggard. He was nursing a steaming cup of coffee, and looked ready for some rest. Keeping pace with Rainbow Dash was a taxing experience, she was certain.

“You’ve seen better days.” Melody shot Noth a teasing quip.

“Oh, shove off.” He mumbled, sipping his coffee. Dash laughed and nudged him playfully before turning back to Melody.

“Do you really mean to revive all of the elements of harmony?” She asked, leaning in a little closer. Melody couldn’t miss both Luna and Celestia’s gaze as they settled on her. Thankfully, Verse was seated on the opposite side of the table. They shared a soft look before Verse interjected.

“We discovered something while working with Judicia, and Discord just yesterday. If any gods are linked in any way, we just might be able to revive them simultaneously.” He began pulling salt and pepper shakers towards them, arranging them in a pattern for visualization. Everyone seated at their table hushed as he began the explanation. “Utilizing the same magic that Twilight discovered long ago, we essentially force everyone into the plane where Melody and I work our magic. Twilight and the other bearers of harmony know what I’m talking about.”

“It’s true,” Lily chimed in. “It varies from person to person, but we all know the basis for interaction between all of us is a plain, white plain.”

“That’s the place.” Verse smiled and continued his explanation. “The only reason it doesn’t work is, unlike the link itself, the magic of rejuvenation requires the subjects to be close at-hand. If we could, we would have revived all six elements of harmony the same day we revived Twilight.” A dark look crossed his face, mirrored by Melody. That had been a dark and sad day. The day Eyriewatch had burned. Verse continued.

“We discovered this for certain with Judicia. It was during her revival that we first saw Discord, albeit in his human form. And we discovered something else as well. If any gods are linked, reviving them far apart from their counterparts is not only uncomfortable, but painful as well. This is why we struggled so much with reviving people like Fluttershy. The only other element nearby was Lily, and we were unconscious for almost three days. When we brought Twilight back, the only other nearby elements were Rainbow Dash and Lily, and it exhausted us mentally and physically. Reviving Gale and Hurricane was difficult, not because the two were far apart from each other, but because we were far apart from them.” Verse gestured to the salt and pepper shakers on the table before him.

“The closer all six elements are to one another, the easier we have a time reviving them. This is the same for any gods who share a link. Take for instance, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. If the two of you were dormant, it would hurt both us and yourselves the further you two are apart. If you were right next to one another, it’s almost instantaneous. And very easy to accomplish. The same if a god were independent, such as the god of shadow, or the wendigo we restored in Hearth. It’s much easier for us to accomplish these things the more independent, or the closer a god is.” Verse finished his explanation, much to the satisfaction of everyone gathered. Melody leaned in to finish his point off.

“This is why we called the other elements here. If all six of them are gathered in one area, we should be able to revive three at a time, without straining ourselves as much as we have in the past. We didn’t want to impose on Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy, so we figured having four in one place would be easy enough. That you managed to make it from Eyriewatch is extremely beneficial to us.” Melody laid a hand on Rainbow Dash’s arm with a warm, if fake, smile. “And with Fluttershy coming as well, we can handle this in as little as an afternoon.”

“Three gods in one afternoon?” Twilight asked, her brow furrowed. “That’s incredible.” Twilight, or more accurately; Ephemira- had much knowledge about magic and its workings. But the magic of reviving gods was known almost exclusively to Melody and Verse. In this, they were the authority. Not her. Even Celestia and Luna would have to acquiesce to their wishes. As if on cue, Celestia stood from the table.

“Forgive me, I have some business to attend to. There are some promotions to be made among the ranks of my officers.” That perked Rainbow Dash’s attention.

“What’s up?” She stood with Celestia, her wings ruffling slightly. Two more feathers turned to ash at the motion. Celestia cast a quick frown at the company gathered at the table before speaking quietly.

“A few short months ago, during Melody and Verse’s absence, we lost five generals in one night. No one knows how or why, but they passed mid-day, in plain view of credible witnesses. We have no proof, but I swear it was the working of Chrysalis.”

“Who passed?” Rainbow Dash’s face looked serious, and she seemed intent on following Celestia. Being the goddess of loyalty and the commander of Eyriewatch, she was privy to certain military intelligence.

“Let’s discuss this somewhere privately,” Celestia indicated with a tilt of her head. Both Noth and Rainbow Dash excused themselves from the table, leaving Lily, Twilight, Melody, and Verse alone. As she watched, more high-ranking officers excused themselves as well, until the banquet hall was all but empty. The buzz of conversation died down, until Melody and her family were only able to talk with hushed tones.

“I’m so glad you’re back.” Twilight nudged Melody’s side gently. Melody offered a quick smile and a kiss to her mother’s cheek. “You had us so worried when you left. But I knew I could trust you two.” Those words sent a spike of pain through her, but Melody didn’t show it. That, along with the obvious stress the five general’s losses; the generals she had killed - was weighing heavily on her mind. “We ought to do something together, to celebrate. Oh, there’s so much around Canterlot I want to show you. The library escaped a lot of the damage, Melody, we should go.”

“I kind of want to show them all the parks, and maybe take them to Maggie’s.” Lily chimed in with a measured smile. Both Verse and Melody shared a look before putting in their two cents.

“We actually were hoping to volunteer with the restoration.” Verse admitted quietly. “We know a lot of the monuments have been restored, but there are still a lot of homes and other businesses that need repair. Two talented magi would be a welcome help out in the city.”

“And there’s a lot on our plates right now as it is. I’d rather stay busy, to keep my mind of other things. Like the war.” ’Like our betrayal.’ Melody added in her head. “If we went to the library, I honestly doubt I’d be able to enjoy it.”

“Oh. Okay.” Twilight seemed to wilt, but Melody didn’t miss the quick smile Lily let play across her lips. She mirrored it with one of her own. “I suppose it’s for the best…” Twilight continued. “Ephemira has so much knowledge. I’ve been working closely with Celestia and Luna the past few months, restoring old books and making new ones. It’s probably best I stay here and continue my work.”

“There’s a lot of things for me to catch up on, too,” Lily leaned back with a groan. “So many new books to read, and there are a few of my old friends in and around Canterlot. I’ve been visiting with them the past few days.” Twilight and Lily stood, their breakfast having been completed long ago. Melody stopped Twilight with a touch.

“Who would we talk to about volunteering?” She asked.

“Speak with Lieutenant-General Mathias. His office is just inside the entry, and he coordinates the restoration effort. He’ll get you squared away.” Twilight smiled and laid her hands on Melody’s shoulders. “I’m so proud of you two. Words cannot describe.”

“Thanks, mom.” Melody leaned her head into Twilight’s soft hug, fighting off tears. One slipped free, but she managed to wipe it off with the hem of her blouse. Melody gave her another hug and a kiss on the top of her head before the two padded off together. Melody and Verse were suddenly alone at the table, both of them looking dejectedly into their bowls of oatmeal.

They didn’t speak, but both of them knew it. Their betrayal was imminent. It was only a matter of time before Canterlot as everyone knew it would be shattered.

Lieutenant-General Mathias was a soft-spoken man, but shrewd and calculating. He asked Melody and Verse an extensive series of questions regarding their skills and abilities before ultimately assigning them to a volunteer unit. Before noon, both of them were climbing into the back of a transport truck alongside twelve other volunteers, most of them soldiers. The truck rumbled down the roads, heading south towards the edge of the city. Up north, where the fighting had been the most intense, was already restored. The relief effort had been focused there originally, but now was swinging to the south of the city, where skirmishes and small prime fights had done the most damage. Melody and Verse spent the rest of the day using their magic to restore homes and small businesses in the residential areas of Canterlot.

Most of it consisted of heavy lifting. There were two other magi with them in the group of volunteers, and the rest were human. Together, the four magi would haul supplies from the transports to whatever building needed restoring while the humans did the mundane work like hammering out frames and supports. Only very rarely were Melody or Verse called upon to do anything specific, like cast one spell or another, or something that didn’t require heavy lifting. Not that Melody minded. The work was tiresome, mindless, and simple. She didn’t have much time to let her mind wander to darker thoughts.

They returned to the castle around eight at night, just in time to catch the last leg of supper. Only Noth joined them, the rest of their family mysteriously absent. Again, Melody didn’t mind. The less she saw of her family in the next two days, the better. She and Verse retired early, so they could join an earlier volunteer unit.

So it went for the next two days. The two of them woke promptly at five and were on the six-o-clock transport to the southern edge of the city. They worked straight through the day, sometimes not returning until as late as ten or eleven. They saw little and less of Celestia, Luna, or Twilight. Melody almost forgot about the hole in her arm, but remembered every morning when she showered and nearly dropped her soap through the damned thing.

Before she knew it, the day had come. She was woken with a gentle shake to her shoulder. Verse pressed a finger to her lips before she could say anything, keeping her silent. She blinked up at her brother deliriously for a few seconds before waking entirely. Nodding, she lifted herself from bed and began pulling her clothes on in the near-darkness. A full moon hung just outside of her window. It was very early morning, maybe four-o-clock. She and Verse had things to discuss before awakening the rest of the elements of harmony. Quiet as could be, Melody and Verse slipped into her bathroom, where she turned on both the shower and the sink faucet, to mask their hushed voices.

“The most troublesome one will be Applejack.” Verse frowned.

“That’s true. The element of honesty would probably be able to tell if we’re lying.”

“If Chrysalis holds up her end of the deal, we won’t have to be lying. And hopefully, they will leave immediately. As soon as they’re gone, we act.”

“Agreed.” Melody sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. The day had hardly begun, and already she was developing a vicious headache. “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing today, Verse? I just… I just don’t know.”

“Hey,” Verse lifted her chin gently, drawing her eyes up to his. “We’ve come this far. We can’t turn back now.”

“Right.” Melody swallowed hard and wiped a hand across her eyes. In doing so, the sleeve of her blouse slipped up past her elbow. Verse froze, his eyes riveted on the hole she had in her arm. With a blush, Melody fought to cover it up, but was stopped as Verse smiled.

“You too, huh?” Slowly, almost sadly, Verse pulled the hem of his jeans up, revealing a small quarter-sized hole in his calf. Melody could see straight through to the other side, and the floor of the tile beneath them.

“When did yours show up?”

“The day after we arrived here. You?”

“That night.” Melody confessed, blushing slightly. “What do you think it means?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Verse sighed, straightening the cuff of his jeans to cover the hole. “It could be that Chrysalis is losing her sway, or… Well, I don’t think it’s that…”

“That we’re becoming more and more like changelings?” Melody whispered the question. The vein in Verse’s neck pulsed as he swallowed.

“Yeah. That.”

They were silent for a long while after that. Idly, Melody turned the water off in her bathroom. Verse quietly left her room, going to the balcony where he flapped back up to his own quarters. There, they stayed until the moon sunk below the horizon and the sun rose over the eastern plains. Melody left her room at five thirty, going to the banquet hall to eat breakfast. Twilight was already there, alongside Luna and Celestia. Lily, Noth, and Rainbow Dash were nowhere to be seen. Melody forced a smile onto her face as she sat beside Luna.

“Good morning.” She bubbled, pulling a bowl of oatmeal towards herself.

“Good morning to you. Both of you.” Celestia beamed over her cup of coffee, and Twilight kissed Verse’s cheek as he took a seat next to her. “You’ve been awfully busy the past few days.”

“We just want to help out,” Melody shrugged, dumping a small spoon of sugar into her breakfast. “And it keeps us busy. I can’t stand being idle for too long.”

“You’d never have guessed it, given all the naps you took back home.” Twilight teased, nudging Melody’s foot under the table. She got a glare in return, making everyone at the table chuckle. Luna drew her attention with a soft touch to her shoulder.

“Are you ready?” Her low question nevertheless drew the attention of everyone at the table. For what seemed like the thousandth time in the past week, she and Verse shared a solemn look.

“We’re anxious. Nervous. This will be the first time we’ve revived multiple gods at once. And it might just be the last. I think we’re allowed that much.”

“That much and more,” Celestia said softly. “I know this may seem like a hollow deal, but the service the two of you have done Equestria, and indeed, the entire world, should not go without reward.” She set her coffee down, leaning towards the two of them with a solemn look on her face. “Ask anything of me, and you would have it. Land, money, knowledge. Anything within my power, I’d gladly grant it to you.”

“Honestly,” Verse sighed. “We just want to go home. But that isn’t going to happen for a long while. We know you feel like you owe us a lot, Celestia, and we’re sorry for that. But we can’t accept any payment for this. And if we did, the only thing we’d ask would be a swift journey southwards. We seek peace. Not influence or money.” His answer seemed to wilt Celestia. Both princesses frowned and shared a look before nodding.

“When you’ve completed your task, we’ll do what we can to see you safely home.” Luna promised them, laying a hand over her heart. Melody knew that, under different circumstances, she might have had the presence of mind to ask for some ancient and powerful knowledge, or maybe a home closer to Eyriewatch or somewhere else. She could have asked for enough money to see her and maybe even her children, should she choose to have any, set for their entire lives and then some. Instead, she dipped her head to Verse’s humble request, thankful that Celestia would give them that much.

“Good morning.” Lily and Rainbow Dash joined the table quietly, both of them looking surprisingly somber. Even Twilight seemed to share their expression. Melody almost asked them what seemed to be the issue, but all three of them cracked a smile simultaneously. Twilight spoke first.

“They’re here.”

Despite herself, Melody couldn’t help but smile at the prospect of seeing Applejack and Pinkie Pie once more.

The meeting was a moderately sober affair. Applejack had seen better days, and even Pinkie Pie was absent her usual laughter. Life in Appleoosa, it seemed, was much more difficult than either of them had previously let on. Still, Melody smiled as she greeted them all. It wasn’t until another arrival that all of them got around to business.

“Why hello there, Judicia.” Celestia greeted two more people who had seemingly appeared from nowhere. “Discord. Always a pleasure.”

“Celestia. Charmed.” Discord, in his human form, bowed low to the solar princess with a wicked smile. Judicia, however, remained silent. Where Discord was flambouyant and well-dressed, Judicia was the opposite. She wore a moderate white blouse and a simple brown skirt that fell to her ankles. She might have been Celestia’s twin, were it not for her narrow, hawk-like expression and raven-black hair. Still, she was tall, well-proportioned, and stern. She struck an intimidating figure, as she and Celestia shared a simple embrace.

“It’s been too long, aunt.” Judicia greeted Celestia and Luna with her traditional scowl.

“Judicia. My, how long has it been?” Luna embraced the goddess of order gingerly.

“Three thousand eighteen years, four months, eighteen days, and forty-seven seconds.” Judicia promptly replied. “Less so for my brother.”

“A paltry twenty-eight years, I’m afraid.” Discord shrugged nonchalantly. “I didn’t count the seconds.”

“What brings you two to Canterlot?” Celestia’s question was customary, but she delivered it with a guarded tone. Judicia and Discord shared a look before answering.

“Dark tidings, I’m afraid. And none of my doing, either. First things first, though.” Discord turned his fiery red eyes on Melody, Verse, and the wielders of harmony. “We need to restore the elements of harmony to their rightful place. Go on, ladies. Oh, and Verse. Get to it.” He waved his hands at them, almost like he were shooing a dog away. Melody narrowed her eyes at the incomprehensible man before turning to her family, and the other four wielders of harmony.

“Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, we need you at even intervals between the other three. Pinkie Pie, stand here.” Melody indicated the spot to her left, while Verse directed Applejack to stand opposite Rainbow Dash from her. Twilight joined hands with Applejack, and Lily took hers. Fluttershy bridged the gap between Lily and Pinkie Pie. Soon enough, the six wielders of harmony stood in a circle, their hands clasped, with Melody and Verse in the middle. Judicia, Discord, Celestia, and Luna stood by, watching with interested looks at what was about to transpire.

In the moments before she and Verse began, Lily realized something. This was the largest congregation of gods that the world had seen in well over a thousand years, probably even much longer. There were seven present, and before they were done, there would be ten.

Somehow, that wasn’t very comforting to Melody.

“I seriously hope they find it in their hearts to forgive us.” Melody said quietly. She and Verse had been standing back-to-back on the stark white surface for what felt like an eternity. And yet, no one had shown themselves. The two of them were alone. They didn’t grow tired or fatigued, but there was no real way to tell time in this place. It could have been five minutes or five centuries they had been standing there.

“Applejack might hold it against us. She hates liars.”

“I get the feeling none of them are too fond of murderers, either.” Melody’s mind went back to the Mord, and the five souls he had reaped at her behest.

“There’ll be a lot of static from Pinkie Pie as well.” Verse mused. “We’re about to make a lot of people frown.”

“Ooh, I wonder how Rainbow Dash will feel about this betrayal.” Melody’s frown intensified, if such a thing were possible.

“Lily might just forgive us. She might just see how we’re giving everyone their lives, rather than taking them.”

“I still think we’re being awfully selfish. Oh, and Fluttershy will most definitely dislike us after this.”

“Given the alternative?” Verse scoffed. “We’re doing the whole world a kindness.”

“Maybe.” Still, Melody sighed. Her actions weighed heavily on her mind. “Where are they?”

“Might be that they haven’t shown yet because they’re all so close.” She could feel Verse cross his arms and start tapping his foot. Despite the long wait they had endured already, Melody felt herself growing impatient. How long until they showed? How much longer would they have to wait?

It could have been a millennia before it happened. All at once, the six women flashed into existence, naked as the day they were born. Twilight and Rainbow Dash landed with grace, but the other four fell to their asses.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Fluttershy whimpered. “It’s never like that normally…”

“What, when you go into the link?” Melody offered a hand to the busty avian with a smile. “It’s a different creature altogether.” Fluttershy raised to her feet, still rubbing her sore rear. Lily, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie looked around them with wonder.

“This is familiar.” Lily said quietly, noting the landscape.

“It’s the place we came when we conceived these two.” Twilight chuckled, gesturing to Verse and Lily. “You remember, after that one night?”

“I remember now.” Lily smiled at Melody and Verse. “That seems like forever ago.”

“It was b’fore the war.” Applejack chimed in. None of them seemed conscious of the fact they were nude. Melody was rather thankful for that. The last thing she needed right now was dirty thoughts about her extended family. Instead, she focused on the task at-hand.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” Together, she and Verse pulled Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Lily away from the rest of the group. Not very far, just about five feet. Then the five of them joined hands. Melody and Verse shared one last look. They had spoken about this before. This was the only part they didn’t know about.

’Would Applejack be able to see through their lie?’

“That was awfully quick.” Celestia’s tone drew Melody out of her slight funk. She blinked a few times, but other than a slight ache in her back, she didn’t feel very tired. Not like she did when coming out of her revival of Fluttershy. “Good work, you two. Look.” Verse and Melody were still holding hands, but all around them, a brilliant light was glowing. Through all six women, a rainbow of light joined them together. Six beautiful hues lit the day with a light that was both calming and reassuring to see. Melody knew then; these were the elements of harmony. Six goddesses, each of them an embodiment of the power they held. Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, and Magic. Together with Order and Chaos, these seven powers were the key to restoring Equestria, and indeed the entire world, to peace. They all stood in awe of the power for a short while, basking in their accomplishment.

Even with the dark reasons they had cooked up to bring them all together, Melody still felt proud of her accomplishment. Some small, infinitesimal part of herself still found it hard to believe all they had done. Reviving gods, leaving their home, seeing dragons and wendigos and roc and all sorts of mysterious, terrifying things… They had seen good, too, of course. Melody had seen kindness and love, had shared in the wonders of sex and companionship. She had a loving family and a wonderful brother.

But these things did little to lighten her heart. Discord stepped forward, clapping slowly. “Beautiful work, you two. Almost as good as you did bringing me back.” His devious grin made Melody shudder. Even though she knew he was the only one here who even remotely agreed with her plan. His smile faded, though, replaced by an uncharacteristic frown. “But as I said, Judicia and I come with dark tidings. Tell me, dear auntie, when was the last time you received a report from Southbay?”

Melody could tell by the look on Celestia’ face. She immediately tensed, glancing between Judicia and Discord. “What is happening in Southbay? What ‘tiding’ is this?”

“Show her, sister.” Discord crossed his arms, still frowning. Judicia sighed and pulled a pair of glasses from a pocket of her skirt. When she put them on, a square of light appeared before her. In that square, Melody could see it.

Fires.

“Chrysalis has made her move. Southbay is being attacked as we speak.” Judicia showed all of them, swinging the square of light around to show the coastal city, wreathed in flame and writhing masses of black changelings.

“This is chaos,” Discord said quietly. “But it isn’t mine. And together with my sister, even this much chaos threatens to upset the balance.” He turned back towards the eight people, still wreathed in the beautiful rainbow of light. “She and I are the balance in this world. And together with balance comes harmony. Ladies, as much as I hate to say it, we need to work together.” He opened his arms, indicating the eight of them. Everyone except Celestia, Luna, Melody, and Verse. “We need to leave for Southbay with the bulk of Equestria’s army immediately. Like, right now.” There was a pause after he spoke. His hands curled into fists, and he stomped the ground.

”NOW!” That snapped them into action. Everyone started talking at once, jostling and scrambling. In the chaos, Melody and Verse managed to slip away from the six wielders of harmony and make their way to Luna and Celestia. Arguments and suggestions were being thrown left and right, while Judicia tried calmly to organize them all. In the end, they settled on a plan.

“I can teleport all of us at least a portion of the way there.” Twilight held her head high and proud. “With the other elements lending me power, I might be able to get us there all the way. Give me sixteen divisions, Celestia. I’ll save Southbay.”

“We’re all goin’ with her. Ain’t no way ah’m letting no changelin’ live after this.” Applejack nodded her approval. Dash was grinning excitedly.

“We’re all together again. You know we can do this, Princess.”

“Those poor people…” Fluttershy muttered, tears brimming in her eyes. “We have to go help them.”

“We can’t waste any more time,” Lily chimed in, her fiery hair matching her attitude.

“Agreed.” Judicia even added in. “The longer we wait, the more they suffer.”

“Very well.” Celestia raised her head above them all. “I’m assigning the fourth through twentieth divisions to your command, Rainbow Dash. You and the other elements of harmony, and the force of balance, are to make it to Southbay immediately. I’ll not have another Baltimare on our hands. Use any means necessary to save the city. Your priority is citizens and civilians. Now, GO!” She flung her hand out, and the eight of them took off immediately. Rainbow Dash flew into the air, gone to rally the divisions. The rest went to find a place large enough that Twilight could teleport them all to Southbay safely.

“You two,” Luna beckoned Melody and Verse. “Come with us.” She and Celestia stalked back towards the castle, with Melody and Verse in tow. The ascent took much longer than Melody had expected. They climbed staircase after staircase. She was glad the revival hadn’t taxed her as much as others, else she would have collapsed halfway through the hike. After about half an hour of tireless climbing, they arrived at their destination. The late-afternoon sun lit the whole of Canterlot with a brilliant, golden glow as the four of them emerged onto the Observatory balcony. Melody gasped at what she saw. A mass of soldiers, all of them glimmering in armor and weapons, complete with trucks of supplies and provisions, were massing in the largest park Canterlot had to offer. There were tens of thousands of them, and at the very center of the mass, a small circle of eight people. Even from here, Melody could see the rainbow of light connecting the elements of harmony.

“By the stars.” Verse whistled at the sight, leaning against the balcony rail.

“Did you know about Southbay?” Celestia asked immediately. Her tone set Melody on edge.

“No. We had no idea.” ’Of course we did, we planned it. Melody hoped her lie took.

“This is news to me. Chrysalis could have picked a better time to attack.” Verse made a show of pinching the bridge of his nose. “At least we’re prepared. The elements will save Southbay. You’ll see.” He finished with a smile, though. “If anyone can do it, it’d be those eight.”

“I can still hardly believe it.” Luna breathed, moving to stand beside Verse. “We’re trusting a city of three million people to the hands of the likes of Discord, a librarian, and a farmer.”

“They’re hardly just that.” Celestia joined her. “You know as well as I do Lily and Twilight alone are capable of feats the likes of which we haven’t seen in millennia. Look at them.” Celestia opened her hand towards the mass of people. “Forty years ago, they may have been naïve and foolish. Now, we have no choice but to put the fate of Southbay in their hands. Personally, I can only think of two people more suited for the task.” Celestia’s frown was gone as she turned to Melody and Verse.

“We owe you two so much,” She took both of their hands in hers. Bringing them together in a simple embrace, she smiled at both of them. “I know you say you just want to go home, and I can’t grant you that peace just yet, but please. Don’t hesitate to ask for anything.”

A jolting explosion made them all jump. Purple energy shot upwards into the sky, crackling as it went. The park was empty. Twilight, Lily, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Judicia, Discord, and all of the soldiers were gone. “She did it!” Luna cried, raising her arms triumphantly. “She’s gone to save Southbay! She teleported them all! Look, there’s hardly any damage!” Even Melody and Verse cheered with the princesses. The four of them shouted their encouragement from the balcony, whooping and hollering until the last flicker of energy had died away. Afterwards, both Luna and Celestia turned back to Melody and Verse.

“It’s all thanks to you two. Without you, Southbay would be lost.” Celestia threw her arms around Verse, while Luna rushed forward to hug Melody. “I honestly, truly, sincerely mean it. Ask, and we’ll give you anything you want.”

“Actually,” Melody sighed, looking over at Verse. Together, they reached for one another’s hands. “There is one thing we have to ask of you.”

“Name it, and it’s yours.” Celestia pulled her head up just as Verse wound his hand through Melody’s. Already, their power was humming in the air around them. Lily saw it then. There, in Celestia’s eyes. In one split second, it all became clear.

Fear.

Betrayal.

Treachery.

The lies.

Verse and Melody spoke as one.

”Go to sleep.”

Invasion

--------- Melody’s Tale - Invasion ---------

“Dash, scout ahead, see what you can see.” Twilight and the rest of the force landed in the fields outside of Southbay in a storm of purple and rainbow-colored energy. The troops had been disoriented at first, but at the sight of the changeling attack on Southbay, they quickly began to rally and prepare for battle. Rainbow Dash, her orders coming from Twilight, took off into the sky. Her blazing Sonic Rainboom was ringed with golden energy from her powerful wings, and Twilight watched as she streaked out over the city, flying a long, low circle. To traverse the whole scene took her all of four minutes. The other elements, Discord, and Judicia had just collected their thoughts by the time Dash returned.

“It’s odd,” Dash muttered, rubbing the back of her neck. She flapped her wings idly, glancing back at the city. “I watched maybe three thousand changelings swarm a group of civilians. I expected the worst, but when they passed, the civilians were unharmed. They’re fine. In fact, I saw only very few casualties at all. On either side. The fires are real enough, though.”

“An illusion spell.” Twilight realized. Cursing, her hands began glowing immediately.

“A what?” Judicia’s brow furrowed.

“An illusion spell.” Twilight growled, weaving her hands in an intricate pattern. “I can dispel the images, but not the root. A spell like this has to have a root of sorts. A trinket, a stone, or something. Something that can be filled with power. A receptacle. I can’t break the spell itself, but I can dissipate those mirrors. Watch.”

Twilight’s hands were ablaze as she cast them out towards the city. A massive wall of purple energy erupted from them, rumbling through their forces towards the city as fast as a shockwave. It was harmless, but as soon as it hit the edge of the changeling forces, they disappeared. Where once had been a teeming swarm of jet-black changeling bodies was instead a few hundred, scattered and confused at the sudden change. What little defenses the city had been able to muster reacted immediately, but Twilight had other plans.

In a brilliant flash of light, Twilight was among the chaos. A small group of changelings rushed her, but she concussed each one with a deafening blast. Bleeding from their ears, the changelings fell to a heap. Twilight wrapped them in a magical field and propelled it back towards her forces. She would have to interrogate them later. At that moment, the houses around her were burning. And she had other changelings converging on her position. Hands blazing, she began weaving spells. Each one hummed to life, streaking off to go do its work. Some of them were to stop fires. Others were to incapacitate changelings. And others still were designed to seek the root of the illusion spell she had discovered.

After twenty full minutes of casting, Twilight finally came to a rest. Changelings were heaped around her in piles, fallen where she had bound, concussed, or otherwise blasted them to submission. In some cases, some had died. Other changelings fought their bonds, or clutched bleeding stumps. The force she had teleported to Southbay was advancing still, but there were far too many of them to do anything effective. Twilight suddenly felt very foolish for not thinking of this contingency.

She had just crippled Canterlot’s forces, taking the bulk of their might halfway across Equestria to stop a few house fires and incapacitate two hundred changelings.

But why?

“Twilight,” A high-ranking general approached her cautiously, nudging one of the writhing changelings with a boot. “We’ve captured maybe a dozen of them, still lucid. They’re awaiting your questioning.”

“Good.” Twilight sighed, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She hardly felt winded, let alone exhausted. Being a goddess certainly had its perks. “Take me to them.”

The guard had commandeered a local general store for the interrogation quarters. A dozen individual cells had been hastily erected out of summoned plaster walls, enforced with spells and other anti-sleuthing measures, allowing Twilight a chance to talk with each changeling individually. She looked through each of the viewports for a few seconds before finding her target. He had been surrounded late in the fight by several hundred of the guard, and surrendered without a fight. He didn’t even suffer any wounds. Of all the changelings they had captured, he was the most promising. Twilight entered the cell with a simple chair, which she placed opposite the one he had been shackled to.

“Who crafted the illusion spell for you?” Twilight cut straight to the chase, crossing her legs and her arms as she fixed the changeling with a piercing gaze.

“I honestly can’t say. Chrysalis handed me a stone, and told me to go to Southbay. That’s all I know.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed, but the changeling appeared to be telling the truth.

“Do you have your stone?” Twilight asked softly, still looking suspiciously at the changeling.

“Heh. Even if I did, I wouldn’t give it to you.” Now he was lying. Twilight flicked a glowing finger towards the changeling, watching as a fire started underneath his feet. Almost immediately, the creature began to writhe in its chair. “Wha-hey! Hey! Stop!”

“Give me your stone.” Twilight held her hand out, her fact stoic and unwavering. “And I’ll consider putting the flames out.”

“Stop! I don’t have the stone! I don’t!” The changeling continued to tug at its bonds, but the fire remained constant. Twilight watched as the black skin on the heels of its feet began to blister. “Augh! Okay, okay, here!” The changeling shifted in front of her eyes, turning into a portly elderly man. In his hand, the man clutched a smooth, nondescript stone. Twilight smoothly pulled the stone out of his hand and stood. The fire continued to burn. “H-hey!” The changeling jumped in his chair, looking between the fire and Twilight. “You took the stone! Put the fire out!”

“I said I’d consider putting the fire out.” Twilight glared over her shoulder as she shut the door on the changeling. Just as the screams began.

But something else had her attention then. The stone in her hand was engraved with an intricate pattern, one that she was almost intimately familiar with. Not because she was Ephemira, and had knowledge of the spell the diagram empowered, but because she had taught this spell before. To two very special, talented individuals. It struck her then.

Three hundred changelings, all armed with these stones, come to attack Southbay. But three hundred was a paltry sum to Chrysalis. She could have spared three thousand changelings and it wouldn’t have mattered to her horde. So where was the bulk of her horde?

The stone sparked in her hand. Twilight nearly gasped. That spark had a texture to it, a quality that she knew. And just like the spell, she knew it intimately. Realization froze Twilight in her tracks. She turned her eyes North-East. Towards Canterlot.

“Melody. Verse. What have you done?”

“She out?” Lily ducked under Luna as the princess collapsed, already asleep.

“Oof. Yeah, and heavy.” Verse grunted under Celestia’s weight. The princess slumped into his arms like a sack of potatoes. “Here, you take her for a second. I need to send the signal.”

“We did it, Verse.” Melody grunted under the added weight of Celestia. Verse’s hands glowed as he shot a bright-green bolt of energy straight up into the air. It hovered for a second before flaring bright as day. It was the signal to Chrysalis’ forces to begin the invasion. Even as she watched, Melody could see the horde creep over the western horizon. Canterlot was missing sixteen of it’s twenty-two divisions. The guard was out-numbered a thousand to one, and neither Celestia nor Luna could stop them. As it stood, no one defended Canterlot.

Chrysalis would take the city in a day.

“Come on.” Verse took Celestia from Melody, nodding towards the balcony doors. “Let’s take them to the room.”

“Right.” Hoisting Luna over her shoulder, Melody followed her brother. This was no regular sleep. It couldn’t be dispelled by some awakening charm or spell. This was the sleep a god partook of when they were tired. Like Celestia and Luna had been for the past twenty years. All it took was Melody and Verse to put them down. Until the two of them saw fit to awaken Celestia and Luna once more, the two wouldn’t rouse. Not for anything.

Verse and Melody found the princess’ chambers in short order, just underneath the observatory tower. The room was warmly-appointed, and through a curtained archway was the bed. It sunk into the floor, with the mattress sitting at about floor-level. Gingerly, they tucked the princess’ wings against their backs and laid them flat. Crossing their hands on their stomachs, they were left side-by-side.

“They look peaceful.”

“I think sleep is the only peace they’re going to find in the next few years.” Melody said darkly, though she had to admit, it seemed almost as if the two of them were smiling. Sun and moon lay side-by-side, their chests rising and falling slowly. Almost in tandem. “The sun and the moon will go about their normal cycles, right?”

“They’re asleep, but not completely dormant.” Verse affirmed with a nod. “Solaris and Luminescence will continue to cycle, using the princess’ power, but not their body. At least, that’s what Discord told us…”

“Heh. Our one ally.” Melody found it ironic. When they had awakened Discord and told him of their plan, the god had agreed, only because he said ‘it’d cause so much chaos, it’ll be beautiful.’ He even agreed to help sway the rest of the other seven gods to leave Canterlot. Not just that, he’d run interference on their return, giving Chrysalis more time to secure her hold on the city. Slowly, Verse and Melody went out onto the balcony. The changeling horde was drawing closer and closer. It took the guard maybe two minutes before he burst into the princess’ chamber.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Chrysalis, she’s- wait, what happened?!” Melody glanced back into the room as the guard wheeled about, his hand on his sword. At last, he spotted Melody and Verse. “You two! What have you done?!” Drawing steel, he charged across the floor at them. With a smooth flick of her wrist, Melody ripped the sword from his grip and flung it out over the balcony. The guard continued to run at them, so she tripped him and wrapped his arms and legs in a thin magical cord as strong as diamond.

“The princess’ are incapacitated, soldier.” Melody spoke calmly and evenly as she advanced on him. “What rank are you?”

“C-captain. Let me go!” He growled at her, still writhing on the floor.

“I will, but only if you tell the rest of the soldiers to stand down. Look outside.” Melody hauled him to his feet and brought him to the balcony. “There are six divisions, only twenty-four thousand soldiers left in Canterlot. There are hundreds of thousands of changelings. Maybe even a million. You can’t win this fight, captain. Go tell your fellow soldiers to stand down, and maybe, just maybe, we can avoid bloodshed.”

“But… We have to protect-“

“Nothing!” Melody slapped him. “The princesses are asleep! And they’re going to stay that way for a very, very long time!” Even Verse nodded his acquiescence. “Now, go and tell the other soldiers! Please! Before more people have to die!” Her magic faded away, and she shoved the captain back towards the door roughly. He stumbled a few times before coming to a stop and turning towards them.

“Did you do this?”

“We had to, captain.” Melody was shaking with rage and hatred right now. Not for the guard. Not for Celestia and Luna. Not even for the changelings. But for herself. “Believe me… We had to.” The guard left then, but Melody didn’t miss the vicious glare he shot her. When she re-joined her brother on the balcony, neither of them said anything to the other. No more guards bothered them. Instead, they watched the slow approach of the horde as it approached Canterlot.

By the time the sun sank below the horizon, the city was occupied. “Come on,” Verse nodded towards the balcony’s edge. “Chrysalis will want to meet with us.”

“Yeah…” Melody sighed as she shifted back into her avian form, complete with wings. Together, she and Verse vaulted over the balcony edge and dove towards the castle grounds. Verse’s prediction was true. Almost as soon as they landed on the castle grounds, a small flight of six changelings approached them. At the fore was their nightmare. Chrysalis lighted on the grass with a devious grin.

“Aah. My children.” She advanced towards them with her arms open, expecting a hug. In sync, Melody and Verse stepped back.

“Don’t call us that.” Melody growled. Verse was tense beside her. She could tell from the hum in the air, both of them were ready to use their magic to defend or attack the first sign of hostility. Melody honestly didn’t care if there were five hundred thousand or three billion changelings in Canterlot just then. She would cut her way through them all.

“Very well.” Chrysalis dropped her smile and her arms. “You delivered me the city, I’ll grant you that. And I can already tell, Celestia and Luna are asleep. I’ll survive for a long, long time without either of you now. Oh, and you might want to take a look at your arm.” Melody obliged, and sure enough, the hole just above her elbow was gone, replaced by olive-toned, smooth skin. Verse’s expression betrayed that his hole had disappeared as well. “We very nearly didn’t make it. The primes have been going wild the past few weeks. I’m glad you brought us here while you did, children. We might just not have made it another week.”

“How bad was it?” Melody asked guardedly.

“Oh, not too bad…” Chrysalis’ wings fluttered as she looked at them with her glowing green eyes. “We just leveled Ponyville was all.”

“You’re sure this is the right thing to do?” Melody called out over the roaring winds. Beside her, Verse’s jaw was tense.

“Of course it was. You heard what she said. The primes have been going berserk the past few weeks. If we’d have waited any longer, she’d have destroyed more than just Ponyville.”

“What about the other thing?” Melody fretted a little. “She said she was pulling all of her changelings back into Canterlot. Do you think that’s true?”

“She said she has to re-assert her authority over them.” Verse glowered down at the city beneath them. They were leaving Canterlot behind, but still moving over the outskirts. Even now, trickles of changeling troops made their way closer to the capitol. Behind them, the castle looked almost like a hive. Melody didn’t want to look back at it if she didn’t have to, but she frowned at the bands of changeling patrols on the outskirts of the city. “I don’t think Chrysalis wants any more casualties on her side than she has to have. She’ll regroup her forces in Canterlot, and use the remnants of the military and civilians as her hostages. Meanwhile, every changeling will impersonate someone and take up residence in the city. There isn’t enough trueform in the world to shower all of Canterlot. If she plays it right, Chrysalis can keep what remains of the guard from attacking Canterlot for the rest of… Well, forever.” The airborne conversation was sobering to say the least. In the late-evening sun, they left the outskirts of Canterlot, flying over the hills and valleys south of the city.

“There,” Melody pointed towards a small wood. “We can camp there.”

“Right.” Verse tucked into a dive and followed her down. The two of them landed in a small clearing near the center, and blessedly, there was a freshwater spring here. They hadn’t taken any supplies with them. Instead, Melody went to forage for berries while Verse worked on constructing canteens out of the deadfall of an old oak tree. The berries were overripe and the water tasted like sap, but they were thankful for the fuel. All they had were the clothes Gale and Hurricane had given them.

“I’ll take first watch.” Verse muttered, gesturing to a soft bed of needles he had managed to push together. “Wake you in six hours.”

“Thanks.” Melody sighed and stretched out. There was a chill to the air, but her magical clothing warmed her better than any blanket could. In her dreams, she heard the buzzing of insectoid wings. Millions of them, filling her senses. She woke before Verse could shake her, and went to relieve her exhausted brother. The night was dark, filled with the chirping of other sorts of insects. Not changelings. Melody didn’t trust Chrysalis at all, so she wanted to be as far from Canterlot as possible. Verse awoke after four hours of rest, and they took off once more.

They didn’t stop until they reached Fillydelphia. Exhausted beyond measure, it was all the two of them could do to summon some money and seek shelter in a hotel for the night. For the first time since the invasion, both of them slept, but not soundly. Melody kept waking to the vision of Chrysalis’ demonic face above her, panting and covered in a cold sweat. Feeling rested, but mentally taxed, they partook ravenously of the complimentary continental breakfast. Full, as rested as they were going to get, and still distrustful of everyone around them, they managed to shift into a nondescript couple and pay for two tickets to Appleoosa. They were going to go home. Changeling invasion or not, they were going to make it home.

The trains had stopped moving north into Canterlot, thanks to some sabotage on part of the changelings. But the system between Fillydelphia and Appleoosa was still alive and well. After only a few dozen stops at small farm communities, they arrived in the dusty farm town early the next day. Using more summoned counterfeit money, they bought a bedroll and enough supplies to make it to the forest edge. They didn’t even stay the night in Appleoosa. Nowhere was safe for them then. They couldn’t trust anyone. Melody felt like she couldn’t even trust herself.

The three-day hike south of Appleoosa held markedly less majesty for her than it had on the way back north. Instead of staring in wonder at the wide spaces around her, she cursed the distance and trudged onwards. They slept little and ate less. Even then, the meager supplies they had managed to bring were wearing thin. On the fourth day, they found the edge of the forest. It was then that they spoke, the first words they had shared since that night in the wood outside of Canterlot.

“What now?”

“I really didn’t think this far ahead. We need Jokkan and Miko to guide us through the forest, huh?” Verse blushed softly, and Melody sighed. She should have thought of it as well. They could fly over the forest to reach the ocean, but even then, finding the cove their home sat upon would be troublesome. The shore was rocky, with plenty of inlets and false bays. Finding their home, despite their familiarity with the area, was going to be next to impossible without Jokkan and Miko.

Almost as if on cue, the two mysterious natives appeared from the brush. Melody and Verse sagged visibly before shifting into their normal forms. Even this far south, they had maintained the disguise. Now, they had no choice but to reveal themselves. Jokkan and Miko tensed visibly, but Jokkan approached cautiously. He reached into a small pouch he had on his loincloth and withdrew a fine powder. Melody and Verse shuddered as the trueform sprinkled their skins. Jokkan smiled.

“Welcome home.”

The hike to their home took only two days. Jokkan and Miko were understanding that Melody and Verse just wanted to get home as soon as they possibly could. They hiked fast and slept little. They didn’t even ask where Twilight and Lily had gone, or why they weren’t with them. Instead, Jokkan and Miko deposited the two of them in familiar territory. Late that evening, Melody and Verse arrived in the clearing. Their garden was neglected and choked with weeds, as was the yard. The house looked almost like it had seen better days. Still, it was home.

Verse pried the boards off of the front door and threw the lock with magic. Melody sighed as they crossed the threshold of their home, dusty and dark as it was. After poking around a little while, they managed to turn the lighting and plumbing back on. The water was lukewarm, but Melody and Verse both indulged in long showers. Padding back downstairs on pruned feet, Melody poked through their cupboards for some food. Most of it had spoiled, but she managed to find a healthy stock of some dried meat and wheat. They’d have to get the garden back into working order soon, else they might starve. Without Twilight and her link to the other elements, they wouldn’t be able to receive shipments from Rainbow Dash. Verse joined her in cleaning out the spoiled food and cooking dinner.

Exhausted, Melody and Verse pulled blankets from the closet beneath the stairs and curled up on the wood floor in front of the fire place. Laying back-to-back, they both slept. But yet again, they were plagued with nightmares. Melody awoke sometime into the night, this time letting her suppressed scream out. Verse jolted upright beside her, his skin glistening with sweat.

“She won’t leave my dreams.” Melody whimpered, feeling the tears come on. She hadn’t slept soundly in what felt like years. “Every time I try to sleep, her face is there. I swear, I’m going insane.”

“Shh, it’ll be okay.” Verse rubbed her back softly, though she could tell from the clipped, short movements he needed comfort just as much as she did. Helplessly, Melody broke down into tears and threw her arms around Verse. Exhaustion eventually took her, granting her a few hours’ blissful sleep. She awoke in Verse’s arms, with her own wound around his neck. Gingerly, she pulled away from him, blushing a little.

The water heater had worked overnight to give them hot water, so Melody took a hot shower to try and wake herself. It seemed to work, though she had the beginnings of a headache. Rather than fret over it, she pulled some of her old clothes from a dresser and set about to cleaning. Soon enough, the early-spring air was filled with dust as she went about brushing it from all the surfaces in the house. She stripped all the beds and shook the sheets out in the salty air. By that time, Verse had awoken, and after his own short shower, joined her in cleaning.

By lunchtime, they had dusted and done the linens. They paused to scarf down the leftovers from last night’s dinner before donning thick gloves and descending on the garden. Thankfully enough, much of their crop had survived their extended absence. They were able to salvage quite a bit, and an extremely large harvest of tomatoes and cabbage. It’d be salads for a few weeks, but Melody didn’t mind. If she recalled, there was still some dressing that was in-date, and they had plenty of vinegar to last them the year. They could survive until the other crops began to come in.

After clearing out the weeds and re-planting what they could, the sun was sinking below the horizon. Verse claimed their shared bathroom while Melody used Lily and Twilight’s master bathroom for her own shower. Once they had dressed for bed, they retrieved the dry linens and made their own beds. Melody was tired from a long day’s work on taxed muscles, so she fell asleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow.

Only to have nightmares once more. This time, Melody could swear she could feel Chrysalis’ hands on her throat when she woke. Screaming long and loud, she clawed at the imaginary hands, her chest heaving as she stared up at the ceiling. By the position of the moon, it was barely midnight. Hoarse, bleeding from raw scratch marks, tears in her eyes, Melody could do little else than lay awake until dawn.

Melody began to lose track of what was real and what was her dream. She swore that every time she turned around, Chrysalis would turn a corner in their home. Upon investigating, Melody would find nothing. Her sleep-deprived mind was playing the most vicious tricks on her. She took a three-hour long shower one day. Another day, she stood staring down into the dishwater in the sink, where her reflection was that of Pinkie Pie’s.

Verse pulled her aside one day. “Melody, we can’t do this,” He whispered. “I’m going insane here. I can’t sleep. And let’s be honest, you look worse than I do.” Melody hid her face with her hands, rubbing her eyes with a groan.

“I know. But what can we do? Even taking medication to help us sleep doesn’t solve it… If anything, it just makes the nightmares worse.” In the past weeks, or days, however long it’d been- Melody and Verse had tried several remedies, including teas and herbal infusions. Nothing worked. If anything, Melody woke up feeling more panicked.

“We need help.” Verse looked out of the window of their home to the North, into the forest. “We need to go back to her. She can stop these nightmares.”

“I’m never going back there.” Melody shook her head. “Even this is better than what’s become of Canterlot. No, I’m never going back to that city. Never again.”

“Melody, we don’t have much of a choice…”

“Mother.” Melody offered weakly. Twilight could help them. She knew everything there was to know about magic.

“… Do we really want to risk it?” Verse asked quietly, his voice hushed and fearful. “I mean, she’s not just Twilight… She’s Ephemira as well. She might just kill us for what we’ve done. We deceived her. All of them.”

“Do we have a choice? We can’t go on like this, Verse.” Melody could feel the bags under her eyes. “We need to find Twilight. If she kills us, well…” Melody followed his gaze out of the northern windows. “We can’t say we didn’t deserve it.”

“But we just got home,”

“This place isn’t home, Verse. Look at it.” Melody lifted her hand weakly, gesturing to the pitiful cabinets and depleted store room. They hadn’t even been in the music room yet. “Without Lily and Twilight, this place isn’t home. Our home is wherever they are. All of them.”

“… You’re right. We have to go back.” Verse sighed and buried his face in his own hands now. “But how? We can’t make it out of the forest, let alone to wherever it is they are.”

“I have an idea… Go put your clothes on.” Melody had wanted to try her hand at hunting that day, so she had worn the clothes given to her by Hurricane. Verse went and changed promptly, meeting her on the front porch. They didn’t bother boarding up their home this time, but Melody did place a spell on the door that would discourage wildlife and other undesirables. When she and Verse were outside and into the small clearing between their home and the ocean, Melody put her fingers to her lips and whistled as long and loud as she could.

Hurricane arrived in three minutes. ”Melody! Verse! Oh, goodness, you’ve seen better days.” Any other time, Melody would have glared at the god for his tone, but today, he wasn’t incorrect. Melody hadn’t tended her hair in weeks, and Verse had the beginnings of a scruffy beard.

“We need your help, Hurricane.” Melody advanced towards the massive roc with a pained expression. She laid a hand on his huge beak, looking into those brilliant amber eyes. “My brother and I suffer terrible nightmares. We can’t rest, we can’t even think straight. We need to find Twilight. Ephemira. Can you do that for us?”

”Ephemira? Hah! I can carry you to Southbay.” Hurricane lowered his shoulder, letting Melody and Verse scramble onto his back.

“Southbay? So she stayed there after teleporting?” Verse asked, clutching Hurricane’s feathers as desperately as his weak hands could manage.

”You two have missed much, I think. Canterlot has fallen, and the guard is divided. Rainbow Dash cannot control them all. Half have left to take Canterlot back, and in doing so sacrificed their kin. The other half stay in Southbay and wait for Ephemira and her companions to devise a plan to re-take the city. Much has happened since Chrysalis has re-asserted herself. But now is neither the time nor the place. I must return the dead children to their parents.

“Dead children?” Melody and Verse shared a shocked look. “Hurricane, what do you mean ‘dead children?’”

”Chrysalis has your bodies hanging from the observatory balcony for any who venture close enough to Canterlot to see. Your parents have mourned your passing for the past month.”

Return - Part 1

---------- Melody’s Tale - Return Part 1 ----------

Southbay wasn’t even a full day’s flight away from their home. Hurricane carried them almost straight west, though Melody didn’t miss the chance to peer over the edge of his wings at the ground below. They passed over what looked to be a bog of sorts. A brown haze hung over the ground. She had heard tales from her parents about this place. The haze was sulfur, and nothing lived there. It was a forsaken place. But shortly after, they passed it and arrived outside of a sprawling city. Southbay sat on the edge of the ocean, right where the southern tip of the Everfree forest met the sea, in a place called ‘Daggerpoint Pass.’ The area was dominated by two large, intimidating peaks, and if legend told, the only safe passage into the shadow lands was between the two. But that myth was long dead. Since then, the mountains played host to a luxury ski resort, making Southbay a bit of a tourist destination. Coupled with a long stretch of fine sand east of the city and a relatively temperate climate, Southbay was a popular place to live.

It was also a booming fish city, and accounted for almost all of Equestria’s seafood intake. That was why it was important to the war effort. Fish was a valuable food in times of war, so there were plenty of reasons to keep Southbay protected, not to mention its strategic position. Backed against the sea with only two angles to attack from, both easily defensible, made Southbay an effective bastion against invading forces.

Hurricane’s arrival sparked fresh panic in the city streets. Melody could hear their screams all the way from atop the massive roc’s back. When they landed, she all but fell off of his back, only to be promptly surrounded by a ring of guards. They seemed to be torn between staring at either her and Verse or Hurricane. One of the guards closed his gaping jaw and slowly approached them.

“You’re not… Melody and Verse, are you?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, we’re just a couple of teenagers who’ve taken to riding a Roc everywhere we go.” Verse didn’t appear to have lost his wit, and a soft chuckle radiated outwards through the guards. Even Hurricane joined in. Melody’s tired smile relaxed the guard even further.

“We’d like to see our mother, if that’s possible.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly. The flight from their home had been sleepless. She wasn’t sure if she was thankful for that or not.

“Right this way,” The guard swept his arm out, indicating they should follow. Melody and Verse fell into step behind him, while Hurricane settled to the ground.

”I’ll remain here, children. I actually think I’m going to enjoy your mother’s reaction. From a safe distance.” Melody waved over her shoulder at the gigantic god, giving him one last smile before they slipped into the back seat of a car. Southbay was a large city, but after Fillydelphia and Canterlot, she couldn’t compare it in scope. It appeared to be rather well-organized, as well. Where Fillydelphia’s districts seemed to run together one into the other, all of Southbay’s were divided evenly between a basic highway system.

The business and residential districts sat side-by-side on the northern edge of the city, while the industrial and entertainment quarters occupied the southern half, reaching all the way to the shore. The two peaks loomed above them to the north-west, their tops lost in the late-day shadow. It was past sunset, and Melody wondered how much of the city was asleep, and how much was awake with the gossip that they had returned.

One party, in particular, she was hoping fell into the latter. After a short ten-minute drive, the car stopped somewhere in the business district, and they found themselves in front of a large, important-looking building. Their escort assured them this was the temporary headquarters and capitol for Equestria. Twilight and the other elements had made their home here, along with Judicia and Discord. Having eight gods in the city must have been rather hectic, considering one of them was intent on wreaking as much mayhem as possible. Still, as Verse and Melody ascended the short flight of stairs towards the large double doors, she felt an odd sense of calm and reassurance.

On the outside, the building appeared dark and cool, constructed mostly of granite and brick. The entrance was rimmed with a set of four columns stretching upwards to support a large, heavy awning. This must be some sort of government building during normal times. Also, since it was in the north-eastern most quarter, it afforded closeness to the frontlines of any conflict that would break out. Roving patrols of four guards patrolled the exterior, and the main doors were flanked by another six guards, three to each side. They barely even glanced at Melody and Verse as they approached.

Inside, things appeared to be orderly. It was quiet this late into the evening. A small group of guards trudged past, hardly giving them a second glance. A receptionist of sorts appeared to be writing behind a desk, and their guard all but ignored her as he led them up a marble staircase to the second floor. They didn’t see anyone else until the guard deposited them at the door to an office that had hastily been re-labeled ‘Twilight Sparkle.’

“If she’s awake, which she most likely is, she’ll be inside. Unless she’s found out your arrival using magic, I doubt she even knows you’re here.”

“Thank you, sir.” Melody smiled at the man, while Verse shook his hand.

“My pleasure. This’ll be a story to tell my grandchildren one day.” He returned the smile and let them be. Verse and Melody took a deep breath and faced one another.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” They nodded at one another before slowly pushing the door open.

Nothing in the world could have prepared Melody for that. Twilight sat behind a cluttered desk stacked high with papers and books, her head lowered over some scroll she was scribbling furiously on. As soon as the door opened, though, Melody and Verse were gripped in her power. She didn’t even look up from her scroll. Instead, she held Verse and Melody in front of her desk, still scribbling away, while the two fought at the bonds that held them. Melody couldn’t do anything. Her magic was sealed away as if she were wearing the same shackles she had been back in Nest. Beside her, Verse was struggling similarly. Neither of them, it seemed, would be breaking free of the magical grip any time soon. She couldn’t even talk properly. Instead, she just had to stand there, muscles tense, watching her mother heartlessly writing whatever it was she was writing on the scroll.

After almost an eternity, she spoke. “She missed you, you know.” Twilight’s tone was cold and even. Melody would have ventured as far as to call it heartless. A pressure released near her mouth, and she drew a shuddering breath. She could speak again.

“W-who?”

“Twilight.” That cold, even statement made Melody freeze again. Twilight was sitting right in front of her. So what could she mean?

“I don’t-“

“Twilight’s shut herself away.” Twilight, or at least, Twilight’s body, finally looked up from the scroll before her. Melody and Verse glanced at one another as their mother fixed them with a stranger’s eyes. There was no love or compassion in that gaze. Only cold, heartless decisiveness. “As did the one formerly called Liliana. And Applejack. And Rainbow Dash.” Twilight leaned forward, tenting her fingers on the desk between them. “They went into a sort of sleep. Let their predecessors have control of their body. ‘Twilight’ is dead. I have taken her place. You may call me Ephemira.” Twilight’s even gaze slid between Verse and Melody several times before she spoke again.

“In your absence, the war effort has suffered. Chrysalis occupies Canterlot and is beginning to vie for Fillydelphia, Stalliongrad, and even Eyriewatch. The guard is split. Half of them defected and went to Canterlot to re-take their homes. Chrysalis executed what hostages she had, and left their bodies in the fields for all to see. As soon as Twilight and the other elements saw what Chrysalis had done to your bodies, they… Well.” Ephemira slowly rose from her desk. “They went to sleep.”

Melody could feel her heart break. Her mothers and all of her friends had seen her dead body hanging from the Canterlot ramparts. They were as good as gone. Replaced instead by their respective elements, Melody’s parents were nowhere to be found. She would find no sympathy here. Indeed, Twilight slipped around her desk and behind them both. She heard a door open and Ephemira speaking.

“Guard! Come here. And bring the magi shackles.” Still held in her grip, Melody and Verse could do nothing. After a few moments, a guard came trotting up to the door, the shackles jingling in his hands. “I’ve questioned the Children of Love and discovered they were directly responsible for Celestia and Luna’s downfall, and the enemy capture if Canterlot. Detain them immediately, on account of High Treason.” The guard snapped to salute and came into view before Melody and Verse. Her arms were released for half a moment, only to allow the guard time to slap the shackles on her. She felt the core of her power shut off immediately. Beside her, Verse was similarly bound. The magical field holding them released, and both of them collapsed on exhausted legs.

“Take them to the prison, and isolate them both. I don’t want them anywhere near each other until I’ve had a chance to question them more thoroughly. Then inform the other elements. Now that we know what happened to Celestia and Luna, we might be able to save them.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The guard saluted before hauling both Melody and Verse to their feet. With a rough shove, he pushed them towards the door. Melody got one last chance to shoot an angry glare at Ephemira before the door closed behind them. After that, it was solemn silence. Verse was paired with another two guards, while a fourth joined the first. They were separated, Melody with her two guards and Verse with his. They weren’t even carried the same way. Melody felt the strength leave her halfway out of the building. The two guards hauled her outside unceremoniously, her feet dragging along the pavement.

Outside, there was a small park opposite the government building. Hurricane was there, alongside two other figures. From a distance, and through the haze of exhaustion, Melody thought she saw glowing wings and a strong figure. But Hurricane drew her attention the most. His massive head reared up, and turned towards her. She could hear him speaking even from where she stood.

”Ladies. Look. It’s Melody. Melody! What’s happening?” Much to her surprise, the two figures moved between Hurricane and Melody. She could hear the conversation from where she was being dragged along.

“This is Ephemira’s jurisdiction, Hurricane. We thank you for returning the Children of Love to us, but this is where your involvement ends.”

“We can’t let you interfere with Ephemira and Judicia’s justice.” Hurricane stood opposite Melody from the two intimidating figures, but didn’t move. His amber eyes flickered between them and Melody as she was hauled towards a waiting van. After a few long, tense moments, he seemed to relax.

”I’m sorry, Melody. The elements are right. My jurisdiction is the sky and the weather. I have no say in what they choose to do with you. I am sorry.”

Melody was just barely able to mouth the words ‘I forgive you’ before she was unceremoniously thrown into the back of the van. She grunted with the impact, but felt more saddened at the loss of everything she thought was safe and true. Twilight, Lily, even Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, they were all lost to her. The one place left in the world she and Verse thought they might find some solace, and instead, they had found betrayal.

Then again, Melody deserved little else. As the van rolled away, she curled up on the floor and closed her eyes. Sleep came, but with it came the nightmares.

This is madness. They’re my children!

And you are not yourself. Not anymore, Twilight. You’re host to something far greater than familial bonds.

You can’t do this. I won’t let you.

Twilight was fighting with herself. Both literally and mentally. The battle for her mind had started the instant Melody and Verse entered the office. She had thought them dead. She figured the best course of action would have been to let Ephemira have control of her body. She would do what was best for Equestria. She would have fixed the problem. Instead, Ephemira had detained both her children. Now, she was alone in her office, fighting against herself. Twilight needed control of her body back. She had to save her children!

Is she fighting you, Ephemira?

No more than usual. I can handle this. The other elements began to re-join the link one at a time, each of them having followed Twilight’s example in letting their counterparts take over their bodies. Even Lily surrendered to her element of Generosity. Twilight was alone against Ephemira, trying to wrest control of her body back.

In the end, she failed. It took maybe an hour of her fighting the bonds of the goddess, but in the end she was subdued. Defeated, Twilight returned back into the corner of her own mind, sulking. She had to do something, to help Melody and Verse. She thought them dead the entire past month. Seeing them again had filled her with hope and excitement. She wanted nothing more than to rush to them, to hold them close and calm them. They both looked in pain, like they hadn’t slept for the entire month their friends had mourned their passing.

Instead, she got to watch as the guards hauled her children off in cuffs. What Ephemira planned for them was beyond her. Twilight could speak with her other half, but she couldn’t tell what the goddess was thinking. It seemed Ephemira couldn’t tell her thoughts either. Elsewise, all her best-laid plans would have been foiled before she put them into motion. Not that they weren’t thwarted anyways. No matter what spells Twilight tried to cast on herself from within her own mind, she couldn’t wrest control of her body back. Idly, she wondered if the other elements were having as hard a time of it as she was.

Twilight had given herself a home in her mind. It was not unlike the plain white surface she was familiar with. It was a place she went to, where she could imagine herself having a corporeal form. Unlike the place she went to visit the other elements, though, this place was her own. It took the form of her old library home back in Ponyville. The smell of dust and books was just as she remembered it, but instead of her collection, Twilight’s library took the shape of all the things she and Ephemira knew. Their shared knowledge of magic, it seemed, was still not lost to her. So Twilight retreated to her library, pacing, reading, searching.

The only difference between this time and the last few months were the tears.

’They’re alive. At least I have that much.’

Melody’s cell was less-than-forgiving. She didn’t have a window or a clock, so she didn’t know what time of day it was. She was given two meals a day, of which she ate little. Her exhausted body could hardly handle walking, let alone eating the hard, cold bread and thick gruel she was given. The water was a blessing, though. She drank each small cup they gave her thirstily, and accepted any seconds they offered.

Her captors were either deaf or chose to ignore her. Each plea she made for news about the war, about Canterlot, her parents, or anything else was met with silence. Sometimes a reproachful glare, but mostly silence. Meanwhile, Melody was left alone to her own thoughts. She lost track of the nights and days. She took sleep when it would come to her, but spent the rest of the time curled up on her cot. It was a living nightmare. Each time she closed her eyes, Chrysalis stalked just underneath the thin layer of consciousness she managed to cling to. Whenever she would slip into the dream, her torturer would emerge, with cold green eyes and an evil laugh.

When she was awake, Melody was left to her own devices. The shackles chafed her wrists and kept her from practicing any magic. The cold grey walls of her cell kept her from thinking about anything other than the things she had done.

In her sleep, Melody saw Chrysalis.

But in her waking hours, she saw Celestia and Luna. She saw their eyes, and the pain of betrayal.

If Melody had to be honest with herself, she didn’t know which was worse.

It might have been a year or maybe twelve before they retrieved her from her cell. One day, very unceremoniously, she was hauled to her feet and dragged out into a long, grey hallway. She was led into a room with a single table and two chairs. She was sat in one with a cup of water in front of her. She drank greedily, but was left alone after that. At least this room was different. What day was it? How long had she been imprisoned? Those questions and more plagued her as she sat in the chair.

Much to her surprise, Ephemira entered the room. Before Melody could react, Ephemira took the chair opposite her, crossing her legs and arms as she leaned back. They sat like that in complete silence for a long while, Ephemira staring her down, Melody feeling almost like she were in a dream. After another eternity of waiting, Ephemira finally spoke.

“Why.”

“What?”

“Why did you do it? Why did you put Celestia and Luna to sleep? Why did you hand Canterlot over to Chrysalis?” Ephemira’s voice was wracked with pain and conflict. Melody wasn’t too tired to hear how torn she was. Melody covered her face with her hands and began to recollect what she could.

“She made a threat. If we didn’t, she’d repeat Baltimare.” Melody began to recall everything with more and more clarity. “She… She said she was dying. But she knew how to stop it. It was the same reason she tried to take over Canterlot in the first place. She needed more love for her changelings to stop changing into the primes. If she… If she didn’t get Canterlot, she would do her best to kill as many people as possible before her magic gave out. Before she lost control of the horde. Then afterwards, the primes would ravage everything around them until the new queen or king was decided. She was going to burn the world, Twilight. We had to. We had to give her Canterlot.”

“I’m no longer Twilight.” Ephemira spoke quietly, but she didn’t address Melody’s explanation. Instead, she sat opposite Melody, a permanent frown painted across her face. She was silent again, leaving Melody alone with her thoughts. Just before the tears began, Ephemira spoke again. “You had your reasons, I’ll give you that. But why did you have to put Celestia and Luna to sleep?”

“It was their time.” Melody began to feel something within herself. Something she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Something almost foreign to her. It was righteousness. “Celestia and Luna needed to sleep. Their strength was flagging day by day. You know it. You felt it. Back when you were Twilight.” Ephemira didn’t say anything, but the look that crossed her eyes was all the answer Melody needed. She leaned forward, tapping the table. “Celestia and Luna needed to sleep. That we put them to sleep before allowing Chrysalis to take over Canterlot only helped the transition. Tell me, Ephemira, how many soliders were lost in the transition?”

“I hardly think that’s-“

“How many.” Melody cut her off, her expression dark. Ephemira stopped speaking, looking at Melody for a few more moments. With a sigh, she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Only a small force resisted at first. Of the twelve thousand left in Canterlot at the time of the invasion, only twelve perished. The rest laid down their arms and were accepted into captivity without incident.”

“And how many died when the guard defected and tried to re-take the city?” That touched a nerve. Melody’s question made Epehemira glare at her. Melody could feel a ripple of power in the room. If Ephemira had a temper problem, Melody was about to be the brunt of it.

“Half of our force defected and left Southbay to go attack Canterlot. Chrysalis executed the twelve thousand captives she had, and decimated our forces in open combat. They were out-numbered and out-positioned. All three hundred eighty thousand died in a four-day campaign. Chrysalis lost maybe half that number.”

“You see,” Melody slowly stood from her chair. Ephemira stiffened, but didn’t move. “I have cost Equestria less lives than you and yours.”

“The guard defected because you let them invade-“

“No, the guard defected because Rainbow Dash couldn’t keep them loyal.” Melody countered. “Or was that even Rainbow Dash? When did Chrysalis reveal our bodies? When did you and the other elements take over their host bodies?”

“… I don’t-“

“WHEN?!” Melody slammed the table. Ephemira jumped, but answered shortly.

“Just before the guard defected. Maybe a day.”

“Hmm. I wonder,” Melody straightened herself. “Who was to really blame for the guard’s defection, then? Rainbow Dash let her body be taken over by the element of loyalty. But how loyal were those soldiers to their new commander? You see, ‘Ephemira,’” Melody spat the word, glaring at the goddess in her mother’s body as she took her seat again. “I cost less lives than you and your elements. I’m beginning to wonder if reviving you wasn’t a mistake in the first place.”

“Melody, we-“

“Enough.” Melody sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I don’t want to hear your excuses, Ephemira. My brother and I revived you, and the rest of the elements. Your actions are our responsibility. You’ve saddled us with a terrible burden, Ephemira. The burden of so many lives lost. As if we hadn’t lost enough with this terrible war in the first place. You see,” Melody looked back at Ephemira. “If Chrysalis had been allowed to take Canterlot in the first place, all those years ago, she’d have had enough love to fuel the horde for… Who knows how long? We might have struck a balance with her. We could have found peace again. Instead, you stubbornly kept her from the world’s greatest source of love, and in doing so, drove her to desperation. She’s just trying to survive, because she knows if she dies, then the horde will go wild and destroy untold numbers of lives in the process.” Melody leaned back, closing her eyes.

“I only see one way for this to end.” Ephemira spoke after a short silence. Melody opened her eyes to look at what used to be her mother. “We need to transfer Chrysalis’ power to another. We need to force a new queen or king to be chosen. Without the loss of power that results in so many primes.”

“How?” Melody asked quietly. Ephemira frowned, her hand glowing as she raised it to her chest. This wasn’t Twilight or Ephemira’s purple glow of magic, though. This was a sickening shade of green that Melody had very seldom seen. Her eyes went wide as she watched Twilight lay the hand on her breast. Slowly, she pulled it away, and with it came something else. Melody was mystified. Twilight held an orb of power in her hand, shifting and ephemeral.

“This is called an essence.” Ephemira said softly, holding the orb between them. “It’s discovery changed much about what we thought of changelings. Your mother, Lily, was the first one to successfully extract one.” Ephemira slowly pushed the orb back into her chest, and with it went the soft glow it had cast on the room. “I have a theory, and it’s just that. A theory.”

Ephemira leaned forward, her eyes piercing directly into Melody’s own.

“We need to take Chrysalis’ essence and give it to a new host.”

Author's Note

I'm not 100% on this chapter or the next. Sorry if it's sub-standard.

This will signal the 'beginning of the end' of Melody's Tale.

Return - Part 2

---------- Melody’s Tale - Return Part 2 ----------

Melody found respite after that. If only for a while. Ephemira modified a monitoring spell to run interference on her brain so she could sleep more peacefully. That, and she was moved away from the terrible jail cell. Granted, she was still under watch, and she had to wear the shackles whenever Ephemira wasn’t present herself, but she began to recover. The fuzzy sleep she found was all but devoid of nightmares, and for the first time in what felt like eons, she slept soundly. Afterwards, she could eat, bathe, and recover. She was even allowed to see Verse again. Her brother looked thin, but he had shaved and the bags under his eyes were all but gone. He was beginning to look like himself once more.

Ephemira’s plan was wild. Incomprehensible, even, but it seemed like it was their only course of action. They had discussed it with the other bearers of harmony, Judicia, Discord, and even Hurricane one afternoon about three days after Melody had been released.

“Chrysalis is beginning to push for Eyriewatch. The guard there can hold out as long as we need them to. If we’re going to strike, it ought to be now.”

“There will be no striking,” Judicia shook her head. “Chrysalis has the survivors of the last battle hostage. If we attack Canterlot now, we’ll be condemning even more of them to death.”

“Let them die,” Dash rolled her eyes. “They defected. In my opinion, they’re already dead.”

“Enough.” Ephemira interjected with a glare. “We’re trying to save lives, not end them. Besides, I don’t think we’ll need the guard for this. Melody, tell them.” Melody shared a look with her brother before stepping forward.

“We’re changelings, at least to an extent. Trueform doesn’t affect us, though. Still, we’re thinking we can use our shifting powers to our advantage. Verse and I will infiltrate Canterlot under the guise of a couple changelings and get close to Chrysalis. Verse can create a barrier in an admirable amount of time, and that should give us enough time alone with Chrysalis and her recipient to execute the change without the others ripping us to shreds. Hopefully, we can do it before her recipient changes as well.”

“A solid plan,” Fluttershy nodded her agreement, albeit with a frown. “Who is her replacement going to be?”

“Noth.” Discord said automatically. “He’s loyal to Equestria, and could be a good king if we so required. He might even be willing to reason with Equestria, and come to some agreement between them and the changelings.”

“That’s… A surprisingly good plan.” Ephemira frowned at Discord. “What’s your ploy?”

“Ploy? I’m offended. I simply think Noth would be a fine king. If not him, then some other lieutenant who managed to defect. Mathias, perhaps. I’d suggest Liliana, but…”

“She prefers to be called Lily. And truth be told, she’s no longer a changeling.” The fiery-haired goddess of Generosity spoke up. “I’d offer to take the role myself. But you see.” She held her hands up, frowning at them intently. “I can’t change anymore. It seems my awakening has robbed Lily of her changeling powers. I’m afraid she’s unable to be queen.”

“On the contrary.” Verse spoke up, the first Melody had heard from him since before they had been captured. “Lily has gone dormant inside of you. I think if you allow her to come back, her powers would return.”

“Unacceptable.” Dash stepped forward, her wings flaring out. “All of us agreed to allow our counterparts to remain dormant inside of us. They shall not re-emerge. Not without the acquiescence of all the others. And I for one do not want to take that risk. The six of us have awakened in Equestria’s time of most dire need. What you need right now are goddesses. Not a changeling, a magi, a doctor, a commander, a party planner, and a farmer. We’re better serving Equestria as we are now. Perhaps afterwards we’ll allow our counterparts to resurface. But for now, we’re here.” Melody decided she seriously did not like the element of loyalty. She could see why half the guard had defected, and in doing so forfeited their lives.

“Be reasonable,” Fluttershy stepped forward. “Verse makes a very good point. Think hard. If Liliana were to become the new queen AND the element of generosity, she could give the changelings all the love they’d need. We might just be able to avoid another changeling prime episode for… Well, forever.”

“This is within my ability.” Lily nodded solemnly, looking across the way at Dash. “We might not just be able to fix the problem at-hand, but this could be a long-term solution as well.”

“I don’t like it.” Dash folded her arms in a huff. “But you make a good point. Lily is as loyal to Equestria as anything, and has little love for the horde that Chrysalis has made. Why don’t you ask her how she feels about taking the queen’s place?” At Dash’s insistence, Lily gave a soft nod and let her eyes glaze over for a moment. Melody recognized that look. It was the same her mother had worn whenever she retreated into the link, to converse with the other elements of harmony. She had seen it hundreds of times throughout her childhood. When she came back with a blink, she smiled at the group.

“Lily would be honored to serve Equestria, and to get Chrysalis back for all the pain she’s caused.”

”It’s settled, then.” Hurricane seemed to be the one neutral party here. He had agreed to offer an unbiased view of the proceedings. ”It seems to me the path is clear. Lily, Melody, and Verse will return to Canterlot disguised as changelings. When they get the chance, they will transfer Chrysalis’ power to Lily. With luck, we can avoid an outbreak of primes. Still, the transfer might take time. We could see sporadic shifts.”

“It’s a risk we have to take.” Applejack, or rather the element of honesty, added her first opinion. “We can’t risk a worldwide prime outbreak. Those things would level Canterlot. And what’s more, they might release the darker things kept beneath the palace.” At her words, Lily’s face darkened over. It seemed she had recalled something from long ago. Applejack continued. “Not to mention the library. Only Celestia and Luna know how to access it, but the primes are resistant to magic. They just may destroy the library. Or worse, open it. Ephemira knows what’s in there.”

“She’s right.” Ephemira sighed. “We can’t compromise that library. Provided the change happens smoothly, I will personally take responsibility for the library and its contents. Verse, Melody, are you two up to the task? Can we trust you with this?”

“If we’d have known about essences and changeling’s ability to transfer them, we never would have handed Canterlot over to Chrysalis in the first place.” Verse and Melody shared a look, both of them nodding their agreement. “We’ll do this.”

“Very good. Take as much time as you need to prepare. Eyriewatch can hold out. Fillydelphia, too.” Ephemira looked around at all of them gathered. “We have to do everything we can to help them prepare for the task ahead. If they fail… Chrysalis may very well overrun Equestria’s power. We’re fighting a defensive war now. We’re placing our hopes on these three.” A look crossed Ephemira’s face just then. Melody had never seen it before, but she knew what it was.

Mortality.

“Hey,” Verse nearly shocked Melody. She gasped and whirled around, tightening the robe around her front.

“Shit, Verse! You scared me.” She tucked a stray wisp of teal hair behind her hear and laid a hand across her beating heart.

“Heh. Sorry.” Verse closed the door to her room behind him, shutting them away from the light and slight noise. They had been granted rooms in the guard’s barracks, where there seemed to be activity all times of the day. At least she had the luxury of her own room. Verse had to bunk with two surly sergeants. He visited her often. She really didn’t know why he had shocked her. Still, she smiled at him and re-adjusted the front of her robe. “I wanted to talk to you about Dash. And the others.”

“Oh yeah…” Melody sighed and went to sit on the edge of her bed. Verse took the office chair that sat in front of the lone desk in the room. “She seemed so much more different than Dash… And Lily, too. All of them, in fact.” Melody was feeling slightly fuzzy. Ephemira had made an effective tea enchanted with her sleep spell, and Melody had already had a few sips. But the conversation was helping to rouse her a little. “I wonder if the elements are really so drastically different from their hosts. Dash used to be so kind, the type of person you could take orders from. I find it hard to believe half the guard defected as soon as she went dormant.”

“I find it hard to believe any of them went dormant at all.” Verse crossed his arms, his voice hushed. “Celestia and Luna were close to them all. And our death shouldn’t have made them shut down. Melody, something’s up here. And I think I know who’s to blame.”

“Who?” Melody was almost afraid to hear his answer.

“Discord.”

It clicked.

“He would have put them to sleep, or at least helped them along. Look at what it did for him. Half the guard defected when Dash went dormant. And he said he’d run interference on Twilight coming back to Canterlot. What if his interference was our bodies? What if it wasn’t even Chrysalis who hung us? What if it was his doing?”

“He has everything to gain by the original bearers going dormant.” Melody breathed. “This is wrong, Verse. We have to set it right. We need to talk to him.”

“No need.” Both Melody and Verse whirled around with a gasp. Discord stood in her room, grinning wickedly at her. “I’ve already taken the liberty.”

“Discord! What did you do!”

“Well, you actually figured out my ploy.” Discord sighed wistfully, his lips still curled in a devious grin. “Congratulations, children. I admit, I helped influence the elements of harmony to… Take a breather. Not that difficult, really, I’ve actually done it before. Only unlike last time, their alternate personalities took over with some help. You see, your beloved elements are locked away within their own minds. While I might have given them the push, I’ve no way to bring them back.” He opened his hands and bowed at them mockingly. “Your friends won’t return, not unless they can break out of their own prisons. And let’s face it.” When he righted himself, his grin was even more ugly and sinister than before.

“The gods know how to devise some devious prisons.”

Discord’s words had never proved truer. Melody and Verse had spoken with Ephemira and Lily over the next few days, partially to begin planning their infiltration, but mainly because they were the only two they felt like they could speak with. Dash was out of the question, and Applejack seemed too busy volunteering with the military forces. Pinkie Pie was only all too eager to talk, not just with them, but with everybody. Which was the problem. They couldn’t seem to hold her in one place for long before she went bounding off somewhere else. And Fluttershy had her hands full assisting with the wounded that were still trickling back from the Canterlot front. Chrysalis’ forces were pushing into Fillydelphia, and Southbay was handling the overflow. Not to mention there was a relief effort in Ponyville, trying to mend some of the havoc Chrysalis and her horde had wrought on the small town during their stay.

So Melody and Verse were stuck with their parents, or rather, the husks of their parents. The topic of their counterparts seemed to be a picky topic of conversation with either of them. Ephemira would frown and change the topic as soon as she could without snapping at them, and Lily all but shut down. One time, when Melody asked how her mom was doing, she burst into tears and began shaking violently. The episode passed almost as soon as it started, but Lily excused herself, saying she felt exhausted. Twilight yielded more promising results, so both Melody and Verse focused their efforts on her. It was during one planning session that they teamed up on her.

“How is Twilight?” Verse slipped the first question in gently. Ephemira almost immediately frowned and opened her mouth. It seemed she was about to draw them back to the topic at hand, but she paused and stared blankly at the table in front of them.

“She’s… Okay.”

“Yeah? How is she holding up in there?”

“It’s not so bad.” Ephemira sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “She’s made a home for herself. It looks like her old home in Ponyville. I always liked that place. It was quaint; a nice place to be dormant inside of my host.”

“I’m sure it’s nice.” Melody reached a hand out to rest on Ephemira’s arm. “But it isn’t her home.”

“I know,” Ephemira frowned at her and pulled her arm away from the touch. “But it’s where she belongs for now.”

“No it isn’t.” Verse slipped around to Ephemira’s other side, laying his hand on her shoulder. Melody reached out to touch her arm again. “Twilight’s home is with her family. She thinks we’re dead. Ephemira, please. It might not be permanent. Just let us speak with our mother. Just for a few minutes.”

“If I did that, she wouldn’t let me back.” A look crossed her face. She went from an indignant scowl to a shocked expression before the frown returned. Melody knew, Twilight had just spoken to her. Yes I would.

“She would, Ephemira. Please. We just want to speak to our mother. We’ve told you why we did what we did, but we didn’t tell her. We owe her that much. Directly.” Melody pleaded with the goddess before her. She didn’t need to fake the tears in her eyes.

Ephemira shot to her feet. The chair she had been seated in clattered across the floor. Melody and Verse both pulled away, but that was all the time she needed. In a flash, Ephemira disappeared. Melody and Verse were left alone in the small conference room, with maps of Canterlot and the surrounding area spread out on the table.

“Do you think it worked?” Verse asked quietly. Melody just frowned in return.

“There’s only one way to tell.”

“Kiss me.”

“What?!” Lily shot up, scrambling to make herself decent. Ephemira could hardly believe the things coming out of her mouth, but she clapsed her fellow goddess, her sister, by her shoulders. Poor Lily. Ephemira had teleported herself into the goddess’ bedroom. She was wearing nothing but a bath robe.

“I need you. To kiss me.”

“What for? I mean, I’ve given more than just a kiss in the past, but what’s gotten into you, Ephemira?!”

“JUST KISS ME!”

She did. Reluctantly. Almost begrudgingly. And certainly most fearfully. But she kissed her.

’You see?’ Twilight. ’You’ve done this thousands of times before. You don’t know it, but you have. You’re in my body, Ephemira. And my body knows Lily’s body. Not just that, but my soul knows hers. We conceived, Ephemira. You know what we did, because you were the one who made the magic. Give us our bodies back, Ephemira. You can keep our knowledge and you can guide us in our lives, but you can’t take our souls, or the connection Lily and I share, away from us.’

“Hmm… Wow.” Lily pulled away from the kiss with a breath. She was flushed. “What was that?! I’ve never felt that way about a kiss before!”

“Yeah you have.” Ephemira released her shoulders, her hands shaking. “You’ve felt all that and more… Oh… Oh sister, what have we done…?”

“Hmm?” Lily, or rather her element, was beaming. “I don’t follow.”

“We… We don’t own these bodies.”

“… What.”

“Lily, can you hear me?” Ephemira was shaking now, but her eyes were alight with an inner fire. She looked at the imposter in Lily’s body, straight into her own eyes. “You’re in there, aren’t you?”

“I… Ephemira, what are you-“

“Lily, can you hear me in there?”

“I- yes! Yes she can year you! I! I can hear you! What, I’m… I…” Lily began to stutter, her eyes darting back and forth. She was shaking now, but Ephemira closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around her love. And it was her love. Well, maybe not hers, but Twilight’s.

’Give her back to me.’

“Okay, Twilight.” Ephemira closed her eyes, her tears already spilling out freely. “I hope you can forgive me.”

’You’re already forgiven, Ephemira. And yes, I will give you my body back. When the time is right.’

Twilight came back with a gasp. She flexed her fingers, her toes. She looked her body up and down, almost as if in disbelief. She was back. Back in her own body. Just as she turned her eyes to Lily, though, she was tackled.

“It has been.” There was a kiss. “Far too long.” Another. “Since I have made love-“ Yet another tongue-filled, hot kiss. “To my wife.”

“Welcome back, Lily. Ahn!”

There was a knock on Melody’s door. She frowned at the sudden rousing from her sleep, glaring at the clock on her bedside table. Who in the blazes was knocking on her door at three in the morning? Pulling a robe on over her t-shirt and panties, Melody went to go answer the door. Just as soon as she opened it, a stinging slap landed across her face.

“What the-“ *Whack!* Another. Melody stumbled backwards, her magic rising up to defend herself. As soon as the shield sprung to life, though, it fizzled. Caught off-guard, Melody was subject to another slap. Only this one was followed up by an embrace. And the person hugging her was not unknown.

“We thought you were dead.” Twilight sobbed, clutching Melody tight. Melody all but forgot the stinging in her cheeks. Lily joined Twilight, both of them clinging to Melody as they cried. “We saw your bodies, hanging from the ramparts. One whole month, Melody. We thought you had died.”

“I’m sorry,” Melody knew then that her mothers were back. She didn’t care that she had been awoken or slapped. Nothing else mattered just then. She clung to Twilight, her own tears flowing fast and free. “I’m so sorry. We didn’t know that there was another way. We didn’t know he would go so far to do something like that.”

“He?” Twilight peeled away, her brilliant eyes rimmed with red from crying so hard. “Don’t you mean she? Chrysalis?”

“She didn’t do that.” Melody shook her head, still holding Twilight. “It was Discord. Sit down, I have a lot of explaining to do.”

“We. We have a lot of explaining to do.” Verse appeared in the doorway, though he slowly closed it behind him. The light flickered on, and he joined the group hug with tears of his own. Twilight and Lily held their children tight, and their children clung to them right back.

For half a moment, Melody almost felt like she was at home again. After their embrace, all four of them sat on Melody’s bed while the two of them shared their story. It was a dark and depressing story, but Melody told her parents everything. From their dreams after Baltimare, and their abandoning Lily on the plains, to their week-long stay in Stalliongrad, all the way up to returning to Canterlot, putting the princesses down, and returning home. After that, Melody and Verse described the dreams, and how it drove them to return to Twilight with Hurricane’s help.

“And that’s where we are now.” Melody sighed, wiping away the last tear from her face.

“Wow.” Twilight leaned back on her hands, shaking her head. All of them had cried during the story. “Hearing it all like that, I… I can’t say I can blame you two.”

“We’re just trying to do our best.” Melody rested her chin on her knees. “We didn’t know any better. If we had, we… Well, we might have been able to feint.”

“Feint?”

“We could have drawn Chrysalis out, and swapped her essence at any time.” Verse said quietly. “We even could have done it in the Everfree Forest. This war could be over by now.”

“You didn’t know,” Lily patted his knee reassuringly. “You did what you thought was best. Both of you. While some may be disappointed with you or even angry, I for one can say I’m proud of what you did.”

“Really?” Melody perked up a little.”

“Of course.” Twilight nodded. “I’m none too fond of Chrysalis controlling Canterlot, but it’s better than her repeating Baltimare. Then after causing as much mayhem as she could, she would have died anyways. We’d have had the primes to deal with then. All things considered, you two performed admirably. I just wish you would have returned to us after putting Celestia and Luna to sleep.”

“We were scared.” Melody admitted. “We had just pretty much betrayed Equestria. While maybe you or Lily would have understood, we were afraid of what the other elements would have felt. Not to mention the guard. Could the six of you really have kept half the guard from attacking us?”

“Well… maybe not. But I still think it might have worked out. Still, I’m just glad you’re alive. I can hardly believe it.” Twilight smiled and pulled Melody against her side. “Words cannot describe how happy I am you made it through.”

Verse tucked against Lily’s side, while Lily and Twilight scooted against one another. Melody felt her exhaustion catch up with her. She was just about to open her mouth when Twilight’s hands began to glow.

“We can all sleep here tonight.” She cast the sleep spell, and Melody felt herself begin to slip off. They had enough time to re-adjust and turn back-to-front before slipping away. As consciousness fled her, Melody felt warm and happy for the very first time.

“Sleep well,” Lily whispered into her ear. “We leave tomorrow.”

Counterstrike

---------- Melody’s Tale - Counterstrike ----------

The day dawned bleak and cold. Melody would be shivering, but there were warm bodies pressed against her. She panicked for a second before realization returned to her, and her thundering heartbeat calmed. She nuzzled a little closer to the warmth in front of her, and Twilight gave a soft moan in return. She had accidentally woken her mother up, but Twilight didn’t seem to mind. The magi rolled over and smiled into Melody’s eyes.

“Good morning.” She whispered, kissing Melody’s forehead. Outside of the windows, the sky was leaden and grey, and fat droplets were already impacting the glass. A ghost of a frown crossed Twilight and Melody’s face as they worked at slowly extricating themselves from the other two slumbering parties. Lily shifted a little, but didn’t move. Verse had turned his back to them in the night, but stayed curled up peacefully. “Come on,” Twilight gently touched Melody’s shoulder. “We should shower and get ready.”

“Right.” Melody followed Twilight into the bathroom. Some sense of familiarity returned to her as she began stripping out of her robe and t-shirt. She had done this before. Dozens of times, in fact. Twilight had changed little, but when Melody pulled her panties down, Twilight seemed enraptured with her. “Something wrong?” Melody asked guardedly.

“N-nothing! Sorry, it’s just… Wow.” Twilight was slightly flushed. It was then that Melody realized she was taller than her mother. By quite a bit. Twilight stood almost a full head underneath her. “You’ve grown so much. You’re no longer just a girl… You’ve really grown into a… A woman.” Tears welled in Twilight’s eyes. Melody couldn’t stand the sight, so she wrapped her mother in a gentle hug.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay…” Melody whispered, gently stroking Twilight’s hair. Her mother sobbed a few times, but kept herself from breaking into hysterics. Instead, she held Melody gently, nuzzling her collarbone. The sensation wasn’t entirely unwanted, but Melody wanted nothing to do with her mother. Either of them, to be honest.

“I’m so proud of you,” Twilight said when they broke away. “You and Verse… You two have accomplished so much in your lives. I thought I had done a lot… You two have been to places I’ve never seen, and done things I’ve never even considered could be accomplished. You’re… You’re more than grown up, Melody. You’re a hero.”

“I’m no hero.” Melody looked down. Tears of her own began to build up in her eyes. “I betrayed Equestria. I handed the captiol city over to its worst enemy. We even worked together with Discord to make it so you didn’t come back to Canterlot.”

“And yet,” Twilight lifted her chin, just enough that Melody could look into her eyes. “Here you are. You returned to answer for your crimes, and what’s more, you had a legitimate reason for doing what you did. And even more than that,” Twilight’s sad smile warmed Melody’s heart. “You’re going to set it right again. I know you are.”

Melody was allowed to be weak, just this once, right? Her bottom lip quivered for a second before she collapsed against Twilight. Another presence was with her then, both of them wrapping her in a gentle hug. She didn’t need to open her crying eyes to see who it was. Twilight and Lily were hugging her close as she broke down. It all felt so helpless. They didn’t even know what they were going to do when they got to Canterlot. How would they do this transfer? Would the primes show themselves? Could they handle this without devolving themselves? All those questions and more ran fast and hard through her mind.

Somehow, despite the support of her friends and family, Melody didn’t feel like she could do this.

The rain had turned into a steady downpour by the time Melody, Verse, and Lily had packed. Twilight helped them, but didn’t want to come with. Mainly because she wasn’t a changeling, but mostly because she had to stay in Southbay with the elements. “I’m going to try and return my friends back to their normal state. I did it with Lily.”

“It took a few kisses, but yeah, you did.” Lily blushed. The two of them were all smiles as they left the barracks Melody and Verse had their quarters in. Melody and Verse themselves, however, were very serious. Melody only had to share one look with her brother to tell he felt the same way she did. The rain pelted them as they walked out of the barracks. Melody and Verse wore the clothes Hurricane and Gale had given them, so the pelting drops hardly affected them, but Twilight and Lily didn’t look all that happy. Hardly thirty seconds out of the door, and both of them were soaked.

“Honestly!” Twilight called out to them. “Hurricane could have picked a better day to make it rain!”

”Apologies, Ephemira.” Hurricane swooped in out of the stormy skies, seemingly appearing from nowhere with the heavy, overcast clouds.

“Ephemira has relinquished control of her body to Twilight.” Melody managed a smile at the sight of the massive yellow and red roc. She lay one hand on his beak as he landed in the road before them, tucking his wings tight against his side to avoid toppling the nearby buildings. Being around hurricane was always a warming experience. Unlike his brother, who controlled the Northern and Western winds, Hurricane was warm and welcoming. Gale seemed to always be cold and indifferent. Twilight and Lily hastily ducked underneath Hurricane’s neck, seeking shelter from the rain. Melody could see the two of them were shivering already, where the clothes given to her by the two roc long, long ago kept her warm.

”Oh? That’s good news. And considering Lily isn’t attempting to rip her throat out, I’m assuming she’s returned as well?”

“I have.” Lily smiled, though Hurricane likely couldn’t see him from where he was. Melody and Verse stood near his beak, both of them smiling up at him as if he were an old friend.

”So what is our move now?” Hurricane’s brow furrowed, and he looked to Melody. She looked around, and noted everyone else was looking at her as well. Suddenly feeling very obvious of her position. Hurricane, Ephemira, and the element of generosity were all looking at her. There were several gods or goddesses looking at her, asking her guidance. Melody closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“We’re going back to Canterlot. We’re going to stop Chrysalis, and crown a new changeling queen. One whose loyalties lie with Equestria.” Melody looked up at Hurricane, her expression set in stone. “We’re going to undo what we did, and we’re going to do it without the primes going wild.” Their smiles warmed Melody, and despite her apprehension, she felt their support. Their faith. She threw her head back defiantly.

“We’re going to end this war.”

Twilight watched as Lily, Melody, and Verse flapped off into the storm. Hurricane promised to guide them out of the storm, and give them as safe a passage as he could manage to Canterlot. But Twilight couldn’t worry about her children and her wife at that moment. She had other things to do. Things here in Southbay. With a heavy heart, Twilight turned towards the government building where the elements held office. It was time to give her friends their bodies back. She decided to start with Applejack.

Sure enough, Applejack was not in her office. Twilight was dismayed, since she knew the other three were here. But Applejack had the easiest way to bring her back that Twilight knew she could exploit. Rather than start with someone more difficult to sway, she went to seek out the hearty farmer. After a few questions, Twilight found Applejack near the edge of the city, helping to shore up sandbags along the riverbanks that split the city into its four districts.

“Honesty!” Twilight called her by her new name. Applejack rose her head and smiled at Twilight.

“Hello, Ephemira! Come to help the relief effort?”

“Come to help get you back.” Twilight dashed forwards, laying her hand on Applejack’s sternum. The element of honesty jerked back, but Twilight caught her with magic, keeping her in place. “Look at this!” Twilight lifted a necklace out of Applejack’s shirt. The delicate golden chain held a simple charm in the shape of an apple. “Who gave this to you?!” She held the writhing woman steady, forcing her to look at her own necklace. “Who made this necklace for you, Applejack?!”

“My name isn’t Applejack!” She twisted harder. Her impressive strength would have been enough to break a lesser magi’s bonds, but not Twilight’s. She kept Applejack in place, forcing her to look at the necklace. “And I don’t know who made that necklace! When I woke, I was wearing it! The clasp is fused! I can’t take it off!”

“LOOK AT IT!” Twilight roared, forcing the necklace into Applejack’s view. The element grunted and squirmed, but she couldn’t look away. Others were looking at them intently, some of them moving to stop Twilight. She shielded them off with barely a thought. Applejack continued to fight, but was unable to go anywhere. After a time, she ended up looking at the necklace.

“That’s…” She began to relax, her eyes wide. “Verse made that for me. No, not for me… For her. For the other one, Applejack. When I- no, when she… She saw his body, she… I… I don’t…” Applejack’s eyes began to flutter. When they rolled back up into her head, Twilight released her from her magical hold. The woman slumped to the ground, and Twilight held her close.

“Come on, Applejack. Remember the necklace.” Twilight held Applejack’s head in her lap, gingerly stroking her brilliant blonde hair out of her face. “Remember who made it for you, and why… He loves you, Applejack. You’ve been his friend ever since he was born. You gave him his first guitar, and taught him how to play. Come on, Applejack. Remember.”

“Ugh… Twi… Light?” Applejack’s eyes returned to normal, and she was blinking confusedly. “I don’t… Ooh, this headache… Wha happened?” Her old southern drawl was back, but she looked to be in pain. Twilight felt a smile break out across her lips as she dropped the shield. Applejack sat up, clutching her head but otherwise looking normal.

“Come on, Applejack. Let’s get you somewhere warm.”

“What ‘m I doin’ out here? What’s goin’ on?” Applejack groaned as Twilight hauled her to her feet, draping an arm across her shoulders to keep her steady as they walked away from the riverbank.

“You’ve got a lot to catch up on, Applejack.”

“Verse… Melody… The las’ thing I remember, they was… Twilight, they ain’t dead, are they?”

“Oh no, Applejack.” Twilight grinned as she hauled Applejack towards shelter. “They’re very much alive.”

“Oh thank the sun…” Applejack sagged a little. “Ah never got ta kiss Verse again…”

The flight was short and furious. Hurricane guided Lily, Melody, and Verse out of the storm and gave them directions to Canterlot. It was a four-day journey, and they would have clear skies most of the way. But the entire route was fraught with patrols, both out of Fillydelphia and Canterlot. The Fillydelphian patrols would be easy enough to avoid, but the changeling forces were numerous, and had a decent chance of picking out which of them were which. After one whole day of flying through pelting rain and driving winds, they arrived in the hilly countryside outside of Baltimare. The restoration effort of the ruined city had been placed on hold as soon as Chrysalis had taken over Canterlot, and the camps were abandoned. They made camp in one large tent for the first night.

“We need a plan.” Lily said, stoking the flames of their small campfire. Verse and Melody shared a knowing look.

“Any ideas?” Verse asked quietly, looking into the flames.

“Not in particular, but I know a lot about how these things work. Whenever Chrysalis gathers her forces, she keeps the drones around her at all times, while her lieutenants stay out and about, making their own plans or gathering intelligence. We can fool the drones easily enough, but the lieutenants will be troublesome.” Lily sat opposite the fire from where Melody and Verse were, looking into the flames with them. “We’re going to have to find a gap inbetween them, so we’re not discovered by the lieutenants. Also, Chrysalis may disguise all of her changelings as regular civilians. Canterlot might appeare to be populated by regular people. Or she might keep them in their changeling forms, in an attempt to turn Canterlot into the new Hive.” Lily seemed to shudder. Her expression darkened, all the further accentuated by the dancing flames. She continued talking after a brief silence.

“Provided we can get close enough to her, we can throw the barrier up, and the three of us can overpower her. The only problem is, she’ll likely have more power, thanks to the love Canterlot has given her. She’s drawing power from the crystals beneath the palace. We need to move fast and get to her before she becomes too powerful for me to pull her essence.”

“So we can’t waste any time once we arrive in Canterlot.” Melody summarized, sighing as the flames flickered in her eyes.

“We need to fly fast and hard for the capitol. We can’t waste another day.”

“We should rest soon.” Lily nodded towards the three cots they had managed to scavenge from the abandoned relief tents. “We’ll camp in the woods south of Canterlot tomorrow, rest as well as we can, and make for the capitol the same day.”

“I think we’ve been there before.” Melody perked up a little. “When we left Canterlot the first time, on our way home…”

“Twilight and I stayed in those woods as well. Long, long ago…” Lily sighed. “The first time Chrysalis invaded Canterlot, we came the same way you did out of the city. We need to cover a lot of ground tomorrow. Let’s rest now.” Lily stood and made for her cot, curling up under the thin blankets afforded them. Melody and Verse followed, albeit a little reluctantly. Melody only had one dosage of her interference tea, but it made her fatigued in the mornings. She decided she was going to skip out and try to sleep naturally.

Thankfully, the night passed absent of nightmares. She felt stiff and sore after sleeping on the uncomfortable cot, but after eating a hearty breakfast and splashing water on her face, Melody felt as rested as she could be. Verse and Lily had already packed up, so Melody pulled her own pack onto her back and followed them to the closest clearing. They took off and veered North, intent on flying as far and fast as they could that day.

Come mid-evening, Melody was lathered with sweat and exhausted. But their efforts were well-rewarded. Canterlot arrived on the horizon. “There!” Lily called out to them, pointing down below. The mid-evening mist was unnatural to say the least, but Lily managed to spot the wood. Sweeping into a steep dive, the three of them descended into the trees, flying carefully to avoid crashing. The small clearing was the same as Verse and Melody had left it, which she was thankful for considering how tired she was. The three of them didn’t even make dinner. They collapsed against one another, huddling close for warmth as sleep took them.

For the second night straight, Melody’s dreams were devoid of nightmares. She slept soundly through the night, and awoke well into the morning.

Only they weren’t alone. She saw now why she had slept without nightmares.

Her nightmare was already here, glaring down at them. Hastily, Melody shook Verse and Lily, and began to cast a defensive spell. Just before she completed it, a blast of magic lifted her from her spot on the ground. Flipping several times over, Melody landed ten feet away with a clipped scream. A flash of hot pain lanced up her arm, making her grit her teeth. She would have screamed if she had breath to.

“Aah, aah, aah.” Chrysalis’ hand glowed as she glared down at Verse and Lily, who were already waking. “None of that now, you keep your magic to yourselves. You’re out-numbered.” Through the haze of white-hot pain, Melody could see Chrysalis’ words were true. The woods around the clearing were teeming with changelings. Their beady green eyes and pointed teeth were menacing. Lily wanted to run, to fight, to scream, but she couldn’t do a thing. Glancing down at her arm, she saw it bent at an odd angle. The break was bad. She would need to be healed before she could use her magic again. Without her magic, how was she going to help facilitate the transfer? Chrysalis was right there! Verse and Lily too! They could end this now!

“Don’t.” Lily’s words broke through the haze of pain. She was already crying. “You’ve won, Chryaslis. Don’t. Don’t hurt them.” She slowly got to her feet, her head bowed low before the queen. “It’s over. Take me, take us all, but don’t hurt them any more. Please.”

“Oh? I had almost forgotten, Liliana.” Chrysalis lifted her one hand out, cupping Lily’s chin to draw her eyes up. “You have sympathy, unlike we changelings. Well I, too, have learned sympathy. As an honor to the service you once paid me, I’ll honor your wish. The three of you will come with us to Canterlot and be my prisoners. But just because I promised not to hurt them, doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you.” Her finger dug into Lily’s skin even more, drawing blood. Lily’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t cry out. “I have to pay you back for your betrayal, Liliana. I might make your end quicker than I had planned, considering you delivered the Children of Love back to me, but don’t think you’ve gotten off easy. You will suffer before I end your pathetic, miserable life. And oh, how I will relish your screams.” Chrysalis grinned as she looped her hand around the back of Lily’s head, gripping a fistful of her hair. Lily opened her mouth, but didn’t scream.

“You will suffer, Liliana. And I will be your tormentor. Be thankful, though. I’ll spare your children the sight of their mother’s torture.” She wrenched Lily’s hair, drawing the poor woman to her knees. “You should thank me.”

“A-ah…”

“Thank me, Liliana.” Chrysalis commanded, standing tall over Lily. “Thank me for sparing your children!”

“Th-thank you.” Lily’s eyes streamed tears, but her voice was strong. She looked up at Chrysalis. Melody grit her teeth as she fought to see all that was going on.

“Louder.”

“Thank you.”

“So they can hear you, Liliana! Say it louder!”

“Thank you!”

“LET THE HORDE HEAR YOUR PLEA!” Chrysalis roared. The entire clearing reverberated with the sound. The changelings around them opened their own mouths into terrible, animalistic screams. The sound made Melody’s head hurt worse than it already did. Lily, though, lifted her head up.

“Fuck you.”

With a horrendous snap, Melody watched her mother’s arm bent in a way it never should bend. Lily’s scream chased her into the blackness…

Queen

------------ Melody’s Tale : Queen ------------

The pain was with her in the darkness. It lent the only definition she could see or make out. She stayed close to it, embraced it, made it her own. But she couldn’t stay in the dark forever. Dimly, she became aware of the world around her. The first thing she made out was the stone. Flat, grey, and unremarkable. The second thing she made out was the pain. It wasn’t just a presence, but it came from somewhere within her. Specifically, her arm. Then she remembered the clearing, and being discovered by Chrysalis.

How could she have been so foolish? Chrysalis was queen of the changelings, and the three of them had changeling blood in them. Of course she would see them coming. How could they ever have tried to blend in when Chrysalis could see each and every changeling in existence? Cursing her foolishness, Melody faded into and out of the blackness.

When at last she woke long enough to make sense of her surroundings, Melody was not alone. Chrysalis stood above her, her arms crossed awkwardly with one another. The stump of her right arm was grossly rounded and stopped right where her elbow should have been. But her left was normal, and the long, thin nail she had on her finger tapped idly at her other arm’s shoulder.

“You’re awake.” Chrysalis noted, almost as if she were bored. “And injured. I need your magic to be functional, so I’m going to allow you to heal yourself. Afterwards, you’re going to wear these shackles.” Chrysalis reached out to the wall above where Melody lay and lifted a dull grey pair of shackles off of a peg. She recognized the patterns etched into the cuffs as the same spell that locked her magic off when she and Verse had been captured in Nest. “If you disobey me, try to kill me, or otherwise resist, I’m going to kill your mother, and then your brother.”

“O-okay.” Melody groaned as she fought to sit up. Her arm throbbed painfully, robbing her of strength for a little, but she managed to fight through it and swing her legs off of the side. She was thankful they at least gave her a bed to sleep on, flat and hard as it was. “I won’t do anything.”

“Good. You’re learning. Now, go on, heal yourself.”

“Hnng…” Melody grunted as she fought to bring her magic to the fore. It was there, radiating outwards from her chest, but she couldn’t quite get it to focus on her right hand. “I can’t… Get balanced.”

“Well I cannot heal you. What do you suggest?” Chrysalis glowered down at her, but Melody cast a defiant glare up at the queen.

“Set the bone. That might… Aah… Work.”

“Hmm. Very well.” Chrysalis sighed and uncrossed her arms. She reached down to Lily’s broken arm, giving it a rough yank.

The darkness swallowed her once more. This time, the pain was much more intense, and as much as she tried to shy away from it, it followed her. It felt like ages before she awoke again, and this time, Chrysalis sat at the foot of her bed, holding a book open with her one hand. The sight of the queen so close made Melody scramble away. But that only intensified the pain.

“You sleep an awful lot.” Chrysalis sighed. “I’ve set your bone. Hurry up and heal yourself.”

“I don’t-“

“Quickly now, before your brother suffers more.” Chrysalis turned a page in the book with a bored look. Melody’s blood could have frozen.

“What have you done to Verse?”

“Nothing major.” Chrysalis sighed. “Not yet, anyways. But every hour you dawdle intensifies his suffering. To say nothing of your mother.” She closed the book and looked at Melody. Those eyes were the same she had seen in her nightmares time and time again. She shouldn’t be scared of them, but she was. The pain was still there, and quite a bit more intense than it had been previously. But Melody could feel her magic working. Chrysalis’ bored tone indicated she didn’t care what happened to her brother or her mother, but was close to the edge of something horrific. Melody couldn’t afford to wait any longer. Gritting her teeth, she forced her magic to work through the pain.

The break was bad, but not unfixable. She had fractured her forearm in three places, and snapped the bone of her pinky finger. Healing oneself was difficult to say the least, but not impossible. Melody just had to focus, and take it in stages. Stage one, she had to set the bones properly. Chrysalis appeared to lack compassion or even tenderness. If anything, she had worsened the break with the rough yank. Melody grunted as the bones were finally set in place. She breathed deeply, already covered with a flop sweat. The pain was constant, but didn’t throb to the point where she almost plunged into the darkness yet again. Finally conscious for the first time in who-knew-how-long, Melody could begin healing herself.

First thing’s first, the breaks. These were even and set, so all she had to do was accelerate the ossification. As the bones knit back together, she felt relief like a wave pass through her. Second stage completed, she moved onto the third and last. The fractures were long and thin, and some of them had splintered a little. These would be painful to fix, but not impossible now that she could think clearly. As the pain intensified, she gave small whimpering noises and began to cry. Chrysalis continued reading, flipping pages in her book without a care in the world.

At long last, it ended. Melody slumped against the bed, her chest rising and falling. The pain had subsided to nothing but a memory. She hesitantly flexed her fingers. The muscles felt tight and tired, but she wasn’t greeted with any grinding feeling, or any more pain. She would take it easy, but she could at least use magic.

“Alright.” She panted, slowly lifting herself up. “Give me the shackles.”

“Good girl.” Chrysalis set her book aside and passed the clinking metal contraption off to Melody. She grimaced as the cold iron clamped around her wrists, and the chilling sensation of losing her magic swept through her. She felt hollow, much like the holes covering Chrysalis’ legs and arms. She hated this feeling. If it were up to her, she’d just as soon never feel it again. But nothing was up to her anymore. The memory of the clearing came back, and she shuddered.

“My brother…”

“Was never actually in danger to begin with.” Chrysalis picked her book up and stood from the bed. “I had to bluff to get your magic back. Your mother, however… Well…” Chrysalis padded to the single door leading into the dull grey room. “That’s another story altogether. In fact, I think I’ll go see her now.”

The door closed with finality, and Melody let her tears return in force.

She lost track of the days and nights. Her room, if it could be called that, lacked a window. She had two rooms, one with her bed and nothing else, and a second that sported a simple toilet and sink. She couldn’t bathe, and could do little else than sleep. They fed her now and then, though she could only choke maybe half the gruel down before giving up on the rest. The water was a blessing, though. She slowly felt her mind return to normal thinking.

When she almost felt as if he would have gone crazy, Chrysalis returned. Melody stood up, deciding to face her nightmare on her feet. “Come with me.” Chrysalis said quietly, beckoning Melody forward. “I’m taking you to your brother.”

“Why…” Melody gazed into the queen’s sickening eyes, frowning intently.

“I have need of your skills.” Chrysalis waved her arm lazily. “I want you to bring some gods back to the world. Some old, old friends of the changelings.” Chrysalis turned to leave, beckoning Melody follow after her.

“You realize we’ll never go through with it.” Melody glowered after Chrysalis. The queen poked her head back into the room with a devious grin.

“I think I can persuade you.”

Verse was alive and appeared well, albeit a little tired. When he saw Melody, though, a ghost of a smile passed his lips. He was glad to see her arm was fixed. She offered him an understanding look of shared pain. She had thought he was hurt this entire past… However long it had been. He was shackled as well, and they were surrounded. Chrysalis led them out of their chambers and into what Melody could guess was the main palace. The changelings were everywhere. Hordes of them milled about in the hallways, parting for the small entourage by climbing the walls and pillars everywhere. The chittering sound of their wings and claws set Melody on edge. The endless hum was like being trapped in the middle of a hive of bees. The droning set her ears aflame with discomfort. She wanted nothing else than to be away from them all.

Chrysalis continued up and out of the bowels of the castle. They finally passed windows, and Melody saw the sky was clear. Canterlot, spread out beneath them, was teeming with changelings. They filled the streets and houses as far as she could see, all of them with their eyes turned towards the castle. It was early in the morning, yet still marginally dark. Melody could pick out all of their eyes. Millions of them, it seemed. They would have had to disguise themselves as normal changelings to get remotely close to the palace, let alone Chrysalis. As she watched, though, several other changeligns emerged from the horde and fell into step around them. These were taller and more pronounced than the drones. Melody didn’t need to guess that they were the lieutenants. Changelings just like her mother.

“Follow me.” Chrysalis beckoned them along, mounting the stairs. Melody began to recognize parts of the castle as they continued upwards. Her legs were tired and her mind hurt with the droning, but she followed along wordlessly. Chrysalis had them, and she didn’t seem intent on letting them go any time soon. Still, she and Verse followed Chrysalis up and up. It wasn’t until they turned into the long hallway, though, that Melody realized she was leading them to the same room they had put Celestia and Luna to sleep in.

“Here we are.” Chrysalis opened the door and led both of them inside. The lieutenants followed. The sitting room was much the same. But heavy black curtains were drawn leading into the bedroom. Melody feared what lay beyond them. What had Chrysalis done to Celestia and Luna in their absence? Where was Lily? Chrysalis didn’t approach the curtains, though. She went out onto the balcony, and the lieutenants shoved both of them forward towards her.

“Look at that.” Chrysalis sighed, leaning against the balcony. “My horde. Aren’t they all beautiful?” She gestured lazily over the edge. Down below them, the changelings buzzed and thrummed. Melody grimaced when she realized that all of Canterlot was covered with them. As far as the city limits, the streets and buildings were choked with changelings. Clouds of the black, insectoid creatures buzzed through the sky on patrols, and milled about on the castle lawns as well. Melody could hardly make out the streets she was familiar with through the clouds of them. There had to be millions of them. Maybe even tens of millions. The Equestrian forces were more hopelessly outnumbered than they had previously thought.

“Why?” Melody looked over the horde with fright in her heart. “Why are you doing this?”

“I told you last time you were here, children.” Chrysalis smiled over her shoulder at them. “It’s a matter of survival. I need the love of Canterlot to live. And the horde is thriving off of the power you’ve given me. I’ve had to make more changelings just to handle the excess. With our numbers, we’ll live for eons. In all honesty, I owe it to you both. But.” Chrysalis’ smile darkened. “You didn’t follow up. Equestrian forces attempted to take Canterlot from me shortly after Celestia and Luna were put to sleep. As I told you, I executed the hostages I had. After that, it seemed Equestria lost its heart. But I still lost thirty thousand lives that day. Not to mention the changelings lost in the skirmish. I’d say that’s lost whatever standing you held with me. Now, you’re my prisoner. And you shall do as I say.”

“Or what?” Melody lifted her hands. “You’ve all but killed our mother, you’ve got our forces on the ropes, and you’re going to survive for what seems like forever. If you wanted, you could probably take the rest of Equestria. Hell, with sheer numbers, you’d likely take Featherhome and the Dragon Territories as well. The chimera would likely ally with you, or fall to your forces. In ten years’ time, you could swarm the Shadowlands. Chrysalis, you stand to conquer the world. What more could you want from us?”

“I told you,” Chrysalis righted herself and padded back into the sitting room. “I want you to bring some of my old friends back. Allies of the previous queen, and friends of the changelings. You say I could conquer the world in ten years.” She stopped at the curtain, glaring back at them. “I plan on conquering it in five.” Chrysalis threw the curtain aside. On the other side, Melody saw two things. One of them wanted to make her cry with relief.

The other made her and Verse both vomit on the spot.

“Verse… Melody…” Lily’s voice was weak and thin. She couldn’t even raise her head properly. Not that she could. Her neck was a ravaged stump of gory flesh that still oozed black, viscous blood down her front. One of her arms ended in a horrendous-looking stump. The other was bent, broken, and twisted into so many different angles Melody couldn’t even begin to comprehend what went where. She was missing a leg, as well. But this was laying on the floor a short distance away. What rested between the remainder of that leg and the ravaged remains of her other leg could hardly be told.

Melody almost fainted at the sight. Lily was alive, if one could call it that. Her blood spattered the carpet, stained her body, or continued to ooze from her wounds. She was cut, ravaged, broken, battered, bloody, and beat. Chrysalis had done unspeakable things to her. The queen smiled as she walked around behind Lily, curling her fingers into the matted locks of Lily’s hair. “Your mother has been suffering, as I promised her she would. But you can help her.” Chrysalis grinned evilly. “Bring three gods back, the three I say you should, and I’ll grant her death. A release. A mercy. It’s more than a vicious traitor like her deserves, and more than you two can give her right now.” Chrysalis grinned as she pulled Lily’s hair. With a rattling gasp, Lily stood on her one good leg, swaying from being so unbalanced. More of her blood spilled out onto the carpet, along with whatever was left inside Melody’s stomach.

“Okay!” Melody cried, tears coursing from her eyes. “We’ll do it! I swear we will! Just end it! End it now!”

“BRING THEM BACK!” Chrysalis roared. “BRING MY GODS BACK AND I’LL END IT! NOT BEFORE!” The lieutenants formed a half-circle around the two of them, pushing them into the bedroom. Melody sobbed as she stumbled forwards, feeling dizzy and uncoordinated. What little food she had had was gone, spilled on the carpet at the sight of her mother. Lily still gasped for breath, her bloody chest rising and falling. They had destroyed her completely. However long they had been here, Lily was suffering in the worst way imaginable. Melody didn’t have to look to know they had used her in every possible way.

But their one saving grace was Celestia and Luna. Around the two princesses was shining bubble. It lit the room with a warm glow, and inside, the two appeared untouched. Melody knew Chrysalis had tried to exact revenge on the princesses, but this shield had stopped them. The princesses were safe.

Lily was not.

“We… We need our hands.” Verse whimpered, holding his shackles up. Melody nodded, holding hers up as well.

“We need to use our magic to bring them back.”

“Know that if I die, the primes will go insane. Many more will suffer, much like your mother is right now.” Chrysalis’ tone was dark. “I doubt you’ll survive, either. These lieutenants will change into primes, and destroy both of you. Try anything, and I’ll drop her, letting her suffer on for however long the primes take.”

“We won’t defy you, Chrysalis.” Melody whispered. “Release our hands, and we’ll bring your gods back. We are yours to command. Just please, end our mother’s suffering.”

“Fine. Lieutenant. Unshackle them.” Chrysalis nodded to one of the changelings behind them. Melody offered her hands as the lieutenant undid the locks and pulled her cuffs off. She felt her magic again, blazing to life behind her sternum. She drew strength from it, energy. Verse was released as well.

Time stood still. They shared one look, one look only. Melody saw the fire in his eyes, and knew her own blazed similarly. Their mother was gone, as good as dead, but the plan remained. They were going to dethrone Chrysalis one way or another. And the two of them knew just how to accomplish that.

Melody whirled on the lieutenant. Her blast of magic ripped a fist-sized hole in his chest, and he went down fast as could be. Another lieutenant sprung at her, but she sheared him in half with a razor-thin line of her magic. The two halves slipped apart and landed with a sickening sound. Then the barrier went up. The other lieutenants were locked away. Verse and Melody were alone with Chrysalis. The queen barely lifted a muscle.

“Oh good job,” She muttered, dropping Lily. “Now she’ll suffer. Kill me if you want, but the primes will destroy that barrier and you two in less than a second.”

“We’re not killing you.” Verse slowly stepped forward, his hands glowing. Melody followed him. Chrysalis backed away from Lily’s body, letting her lay in the puddle of her own blood. “We’re replacing you.”

“What-“

“Mom,” Melody felt the tears come on again. She knelt in the puddle of sticky blood beneath her mother. Lily’s bloodshot eyes looked up at her, tears coursing down her face. “Relax. We’re going to give you peace.”

“Don’t you dare kill her-“

“Aah.” Verse stopped Chrysalis with one glowing hand. Chrysalis froze mid-step, her eyes wide. “We’re giving our mother some much-needed peace.”

“I still don’t get your plan. You gain nothing by killing her.” Chrysalis retreated, glaring at Verse angrily.

“Melody, do it.”

“Okay. Mom,” Melody leaned back over Lily, the tears still falling from her eyes. “I’m so sorry it had to be this way. I’m so sorry you had to suffer. I love you.” Melody gave her mother one last kiss on her dry, cracked lips. When she pulled away, her hand plunged downwards. With a hiss, she drove her hand straight through her mother’s heart. Lily jerked once and grew still. The light left her eyes, and she sagged into the carpet.

“I got it.” When Melody pulled her hand away, with it came an essence.

Lily’s essence.

“No.” Chrysalis’ eyes were wide. “You can’t. How could you? Only skilled changelings can-“

“We are skilled.” Verse cut her off, his hands still glowing. Chrysalis backed away, her wide eyes fearful. “And we are changelings.”

“NO!” Chrysalis roared. Her one hand opened and a brilliant bolt of green energy shot forth. Verse batted it away effortlessly. She cast another, and another. For each bolt she shot, Verse deflected it away and took two steps closer. Melody was just behind him, still carrying Lily’s essence in her hand. Verse was two feet in front of Chrysalis when he grabbed her one hand. Her magic died away, fizzling into non-existence. Verse pinned her against the wall, driving the wind from her lungs.

Outside, pandemonium erupted. Changelings screamed and pulsed forth. They flew up to the balcony and began beating on the barrier, but Verse’s magic was too strong. It held them at bay. Inside, it was just the five of them. Verse and Melody had Chrysalis pinned, while Celestia and Luna slumbered peacefully inside their own barrier.

Melody joined Verse’s side. Chrysalis was thrashing, but Verse kept her pinned as best he could.

“LET ME GO! RELEASE ME! I COMMAND IT!” Chrysalis was screaming hysterically. But her efforts were as a child’s. She couldn’t do a thing against Verse’s magic.

“Your soul is old and weak,” Melody said quietly. She cupped Lily’s essence in her hands, her tears still flowing fast and free. “You’ve lived for thousands of years, after becoming the next queen after your predecessor. Lily is young still. Barely even fifty years old. She’s kind and benevolent. Generous with everything she has. She’s more deserving to be queen than you ever were.”

“No!” Chrysalis grew still as she watched Melody raise the essence between them. “No, this can’t be! Anyone but her! She’ll ruin the horde! She’ll destroy us all!”

“She’ll make the horde, Chrysalis.” Verse growled.

“She’ll be a better queen than you ever were.” Melody dropped her tears into the essence. Verse lifted one of his hands to help cup the ephemeral orb beside her. Already, their hands were glowing. Chrysalis was frozen with fear. Melody and Verse met her eyes with their own.

”Chrysalis, your soul is forfeit. We relieve you.”

Their hands passed the essence into Chrysalis’ chest.

The light was blinding.

Nightmare's End

------------- Melody’s Tale: Nightmare’s End -------------

The white background was familiar to her, and after seeing her mother ravaged the way she had been, Melody was almost thankful to be here. She didn’t stumble or even sway when the reality slammed into existence. Verse was with her, too. The two of them offered a warm smile to one another as they turned back-to-back.

“We did it, huh?” Verse asked quietly. His voice almost shocked Melody. The quiet in this place was absolute. Melody stilled her beating heart and managed a smile.

“Well I’d hope so. If not, we’re probably fucked.”

“True.” Verse sighed. “We have to make this work. If we don’t, well… I’d rather not think about the consequences.” They stayed like that for a while, standing back-to-back, watching the bleak white horizon. Of all the things they had done, Melody hated these parts the most. Anyone could arrive at any time, and probably do anything to them. She still didn’t know exactly how much power she and her brother retained in this world, but she knew it was a little. If Chrysalis arrived here, and she decided to attack them, they might not stand a chance. Then again, they might overpower her. Melody had never been here with a hostile being before. Verse might have, when he confronted the wendigo in the northern cavern, but they never really talked about that encounter. Melody had some pretty bad memories of that day herself.

The moments stretched on. Melody began to count in her head, slowly. She arrived at four thousand and twelve before anything happened.

“Whoa!”

“Hey!” Two changelings flashed into existence before them, both of them sprawled flat on the white ground. At first, Melody couldn’t tell the two of them apart. But one of them, the taller of the two, was missing her right arm. And judging from the look she was giving the other, Melody didn’t miss the connection. She ignored the one-armed changeling and approached the shorter one with a smile.

“Hello, mom.”

“Melody? Verse?” Lily stood up, swaying slightly. “Where are we? Wait… Wait, I recognize this…”

“It can’t be.” Chrysalis was on her feet as well, backing away from the three of them slowly. “Not this place.”

“Hmm?” Verse looked at her questioningly. “You know this place?”

“Only all too well…” Chrysalis swallowed hard, her eyes wide and fearful. “I… This is where I became Queen. Where me and my friends would… Used to…”

“Your friends?” It was Melody’s turn. She pulled away from her mother to advance on Chrysalis, frowning slightly. “What friends?”

“Other gods and goddesses…” Chrysalis continued to back away. “Long, long ago, we… We would come to this place within us, within our bodies. And we would… We could… Talk. No matter how far away we were. But more than that, we could feel one another, what our thoughts and emotions were. Why am I here now? What have you done to me?” Chrysalis was afraid. Melody, Verse, and Lily all walked towards her, forming an intimidating front.

“You’re in our realm now, Chrysalis.” Melody and Verse swept around in front of Lily, moving towards her step by step. For each step Chrysalis retreated, Melody and Verse advanced two. Soon, they were in front of her, both of their hands glowing with a teal-colored, bright light. “And it’s time we put you to sleep.”

“Sleep? What? No! You can’t! Stay away!” She went to turn and run, but Verse’s hand darted forward and snatched her wrist. She wrenched against him, but Verse had her in an iron grip. Melody could tell from her enraged expression that the queen was trying as hard as she could to break away from her brother’s iron grip, both with magic and might, but she couldn’t do anything. Verse had her tight. Melody joined her brother, reaching out to grab the stump of her right arm. Between the two of them, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Come here, mom.” Verse offered his free hand to Lily. Melody felt her mother behind them. She offered her own hand, all of them holding one another’s hands now. They formed a circle. Melody and Verse were the conduits. Lily was the recipient. And Chrysalis the victim. A low, dull hum began to fill the air, steadily growing in intensity. Before long, it permeated the air, almost making Melody wince with its intensity. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip. Chrysalis was frozen, her mouth open in a half-scream.

Then she began to dissolve. It happened slowly at first, but Melody watched it grow up her legs. Chrysalis’ screams came then. Horrendous, gut-wrenching screams of terror and fright. Chrysalis began to disappear inch by inch, her knees gone now. She doubled her efforts fighting Melody and Verse off, but the two kept her held tight. Still she fought, screaming louder until Melody fought to distinguish her from the intense humming in the air.

By then, the dissolution had reached Chrysalis’ stomach. Melody watched as the black skin began to peel away from her bit by bit, the shreds dissolving into black dust that floated away as if on some unseen wind. Chrysalis stilled her thrashing at long last, but she didn’t stop crying. Tears coursed from her eyes, falling down her body as she sobbed. She began to choke out her final words, slowly, as if she wasn’t quite unsure of them.

“You’re no changeling, Liliana.” She whimpered, sniffling and shaking as she sobbed. “You’re a human. A lowly, disgusting, filthy human. You don’t deserve to be called a changeling, let alone an lieutenant. You had such promise. You were the star of my horde. You and Ajax. Together, the two of you were going to accomplish incredible things. You would have put me on the throne. I’d have lived forever. And in return, I’d have given you the world.” Chrysalis looked up at them. Her entire chest was consumed now, and as she glared at Lily with her evil, reptilian green eyes, her left arm began to disappear. Verse followed her arm as it dissolved, and Lily did the same when the stump of her right arm began to vanish as well. Still, Chrysalis continued to glare at Lily.

“But you left us. I gave you a simple task, an enjoyable one, and you betrayed us all. You’ve sealed the fate of every changeling in the horde, Liliana. I spit on you, and whoever this next queen is. Be it you or one of the other drones that rips you and your ‘children’ to shreds. Because none of you know, do you?” She looked around at all of them. Her arms were gone to her shoulders, but the dissolution began to eat in on her hair. “None of you know if the horde will be under her control. And what of the lieutenants? They’re all independent of the Hive Mind. They’ll destroy you the moment they realize what you’ve done to me.” Chrysalis’ head began to vanish, bit by slow bit. It started with her forehead, slowly inching down her scalp towards her face. Her shoulders and what remained of her chest began to disappear as well. Melody and Verse followed the dissolving flesh inwards, their hands still glowing.

“You’re going to destroy everything we changelings stand for, Liliana. In one fell swoop. I pray they rip all of you to pieces. I hope Canterlot is leveled. I wish they’d spread destruction as far and wide as possible. Then, when your entire world has been shattered and broken beyond repair… Then I hope what remains of your pathetic races cannot find their home. Let them wander far and wide, picked off by predators, until nothing remains. That is the fate I wish upon you and yours, Liliana.” Chrysalis’ eyes flashed dangerously, even as they dissolved away. Her mouth continued to move, and her speech reached their ears, even after her lips had gone, and her neck was being removed from existence bit by bit.

“You’re no changeling of mine, Liliana. The others will see it as well. None of them will follow a queen such as you. You’ll be killed and the primes will rampage anyways.” Melody and Verse’s hands were nearly to her breast. Melody gasped at what she felt there. Chrysalis’ disembodied voice came to them still, though it sounded far off and weak.

”I can rest in peace knowing my horde will never follow your command.”

In a flash, she was gone. Melody and Verse gasped as a blinding, intense light pulsed outwards from their hands. A shockwave lifted Melody’s hair from her shoulders, and nearly made her fall over. Lily clung to both of them, each lending support to one another. When Melody opened her eyes, she marveled at what she saw.

“Woah.”

“Is that…”

“It’s hers.” Lily breathed. “Chrysalis’ essence.” In her left hand, Verse’s right, the two of them held a shifting, ephemeral orb. Melody recognized it as the same Twilight and Lily had shown them before leaving Southbay. Perhaps not the exact same, but very similar. Twilight’s was purple and deep, while this one was a vibrant, bright green. It shifted, as if on the same breeze that had taken away the particles of Chrysalis’ dissolved body.

“I think I know what to do with this.” Melody said quietly. She looked at Verse, both of them sharing a quick nod before hefting the essence. Melody was shocked to discover it had weight to it. Not a heavy one, but very solid and reassuring, almost like a stone in a pocket. She could feel its presence, hefty and reassuring. Lily’s eyes went wide when she realized what Verse and Melody were doing. She swallowed hard before nodding faintly. Carefully, slowly, they gave it to her.

Reality slammed back into existence. Verse and Melody sprawled out on the floor, grunting at the hard impact. Above them, glowing with the same green light as Chrysalis’ essence, was a new and frightening figure. When Melody saw what it was, she scrambled to get away. The changeling prime glowered down at them, its devilish body curled tight upon itself. It still stood well above either of them, even folded up as it was, but from its eyes and mouth came a sickening green glow. Melody’s hands glowed as she brought forth the shield to protect her and her brother.

The prime brushed her shield aside as if it were nothing. Verse tried to cast a barrier, similar to the one he had erected previously, but the prime pushed through that as well. As the two of them scrambled across the blood-soaked carpet, it followed them. The green light intensified as it advanced on them. They had nowhere to run. The barrier keeping the other lieutenants out was still in place, as was the one on the balcony. Slowly, Melody and Verse were backed up to the wall. Still, the prime padded towards them, walking on all fours. Its wicked claws left black marks on the carpet, and the glow from its eyes and mouth was beginning to become blinding.

In the back of her head, Melody began to curse herself. ’It didn’t work. The primes will come forth now, and Canterlot will be destroyed. We can’t fight this thing off with magic. We’re going to be ripped apart right here, and there isn’t a thing we can do about it. Twilight, Lily, everyone, I’m so sorry. I’m-‘

Arms wrapped around her. Melody gasped, her eyes shooting open. The person, or thing, whatever it was, that had them wrapped in a hug was more-or-less human. They stood maybe an inch or two taller than Melody, and a few inches shorter than Verse. Their skin was jet-black, their hair teal and long. Melody nearly cried when they spoke.

“My children.”

“Mom?”

“Lily?” Verse and Melody both pulled away, looking at the new person in front of them. Technically still a changeling, this new being was tall and alluring. Her jet-black skin seemed less intimidating and more warm, almost like a soft black comforter on a cold winter night. Her eyes were still reptilian, but they glimmered with mystery and intrigue. The diaphanous wings growing from her back glimmered as well, shining with a beautiful sheen. The holes in her arms and legs were no longer promises of how empty this person was, but instead a show of welcome, inviting anyone and anything to love this person, and be loved in return. Melody’s tears came fast and free as she collapsed back into the embrace of her mother.

Liliana, Queen of the Changelings.

“Melody! Verse!” Twilight appeared in a flash, panting and frazzled. They stood on a balcony overlooking Canterlot, watching as the last traces of the changeling horde disappeared over the North-Western horizon. “What happened?!”

“We did it.” Verse said simply, his eyes still fixed on the shifting, black horizon. Night time had fallen, and the last rays of sunlight were acting as a beacon for the horde to follow. “Chrysalis is gone.”

“Really?” Twilight breathed, her eyes following theirs to the horizon. “So it’s done. She went dark on the link a few hours ago. I’ve been working on getting enough energy to teleport myself here since then. What… What about-“

“Her element?” Melody sighed. “We can’t be certain, but…” Melody turned to Twilight and began a long-winded explanation, one that she and Verse had been discussing for the past few hours while they watched Lily and the horde leave Canterlot.

“Chrysalis had been to the white plane before, the place you and the other elements go when you converse. The same place Verse and I go whenever we revive another god. She said she had other gods there that she had met and spoke with before. We can only assume Chrysalis is… Well, was… A goddess.”

“A goddess?” Twilight appeared taken aback. “Goddess of what?”

“We can only speculate.” Verse interjected, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “We think… The elements of harmony have counters. Discord has used these against you before. Remember the story, how you told us he had changed your friends? We think he may have simply invoked the opposite of your respective elements. For instance, Fluttershy. She’s the element of Kindness, right? She became very mean during that time. The element of Malcontent. Rainbow Dash, who would normally have been loyal to her friends, instead left for seemingly no reason. The element of Independence. Applejack became a compulsive liar. The element of Lies. And Rarity… The element of generosity…” Verse and Melody both looked back to the horizon, where the last traces of the changeling horde had disappeared. “We believe Chrysalis was more than just a changeling. We believe…” Verse looked at Twilight seriously.

“She was the element of Greed.”

They were silent for a long while after that. Twilight appeared to be very pensive, seriously considering something dark and foreboding. Melody couldn’t blame her. Instead, the three of them stood side-by-side, watching the last traces of daylight recede over the horizon. Twilight didn’t speak until the last rays of light were extinguished, leaving nothing but the starry skies above.

“So you think each element has an opposite?”

“We think so.” Melody sighed.

“What about mine, then? The element of Magic?” At that, Verse and Melody shared another look.

“Yours too. And we think the most pure and simple example are the primes.”

“Primes? How so?”

“Have you ever fought a prime, mother?” Verse asked quietly.

“I have.” Twilight’s voice was dark, but filled with understanding.

“You’ve seen how they just melt through the most powerful spells with ease. There isn’t any magic that can effect a prime. They brush aside shields and barriers, and spells are just absorbed. More than that, though, they’re negated. Completely and utterly obliterated.” Verse nodded towards the horizon, frowning slightly. “We think all the counter-elements still exist. Chrysalis, or Lily now, was one of them. But you see, she went dark on the link. We think should any two elements come into contact with one another, they would negate one another. The element of Greed wants everything, and the element of Generosity can give it everything. So the two have no more reason to exist. That’s why Lily left the link. She’s no longer an element. Of Harmony or Disharmony.”

“That’s… Terrifying.” Twilight shuddered. “To think there’s an anti-magic element out there…”

“We don’t know if all of them are active right now, though.” Melody felt exhausted. She wanted to go to sleep. Instead, she willed herself to explain. “Much like we had to revive you and the others, we’ll likely have to revive these anti-elements. Which means we have to go and find them.”

“Where, though?” Twilight asked quietly. Her low voice chilled Melody. Verse answered solemnly.

“Where else?” He pointed West, towards the dark horizon. “The Shadowlands.”

The city was eerily quiet. Melody disliked the silence, but she couldn’t sleep. The only beings alive for twenty miles in any direction were herself, Verse, and Twilight. The other two she had left behind in the castle while she went out and about, to stretch her legs and let her mind wander. The streets and buildings bore the signs of both the recent restoration and the more recent quarrels. The guard had tried to take the city back after Verse and Melody had put Celestia and Luna to sleep. Evidence of their struggle remained in the form of broken buildings, blood-stained courtyards, and ravaged parks.

The long, dark shadows the buildings cast in the light of the half-moon made Melody shiver. She felt like anything could leap out at her from them, but her fears were childish and unfounded. Each time she walked past one, she became more and more comfortable with the darkness. By the time she felt comfortable with the dark buildings and quiet, her mind was exhausted and her muscles tapped. She managed to return to the palace, and the wing where she and her brother had stayed previously. Twilight was sound asleep on the bed when she returned, and didn’t stir when Melody slipped in beside her. Melody closed her eyes and slept through the night peacefully.

Come morning, she was greeted with even more quiet. Twilight slumbered on, even as the first rays of sunlight danced through the window to wash over them. Melody quietly slipped away from the bed and out onto the balcony. The city below was so still, it was almost frightening. She wondered how much warning Twilight had given the guard before she left for Canterlot, or how far away any relief might be. She could always go to Fillydelphia herself and let them know Canterlot was liberated, though. She decided to wake Verse and ask his opinion.

Much to her surprise, her brother was already awake. When she crested the balcony, he was pulling his boots on. “Good morning.” She smiled at him as she landed on the balcony.

“Good morning, sis.” He shot her a warm smile before shoving his foot into the last boot. “Sleep well?”

“I had to go take a walk to clear my mind.” She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Truth be told, she was awfully tired. How many months full of sleepless nights and terrible dreams had she endured? Now that she came to think on it, how long had it been since she had slept more than six hours in a night? “The city’s so quiet, it’s eerie.”

“Heh. You should have told me. I couldn’t sleep last night either.”

“Wish I’d have known. I’d have taken a walk with you.”

“That would have been nice. Want to see what they left for breakfast?”

“Sure.” Melody followed her brother out of his room and into the castle proper, their hushed footsteps whispering across the carpet. Something appeared to be bothering Verse, but Melody knew the best way to learn what was under his skin was to not pressure him and let him come to her about it. Sure enough, before they even arrived at the kitchens, Verse opened his mouth.

“You know what we have to do next, right?”

“I think so.” Melody sighed.

“We have to go to the Shadowlands.”

“Yeah…”

“The question is, when do we leave?” Verse seemed relieved that Melody shared his sentiment, but that didn’t dull the worry for either of them. The Shadowlands were shrouded in mystery, and for good reason. Rumor had it anyone who walked through the Everfree forest and into the dark lands died. Avians who tried to fly over it never came back. No one had ever returned from whatever horrors the mysterious world beyond the Everfree held. Melody was not very keen on visiting that place.

But if anyone could cross that border and return, it’d be the two of them.

“I think we should leave as soon as we can.” Melody said, turning the last corner to the kitchens. She wondered what use changelings had for food, and if they had kept this place clean at all. Sure enough, when they checked the perishables, the cupboards and lockers were clear. All that remained were canned and frozen foods. They quietly set about to cooking a hearty breakfast. Verse didn’t say anything to her, nor did she to him. They were of like mind, and silence suited them.

Breakfast finished and eaten, they took leftovers to Twilight. Their mother was just waking up when they pushed into the room. “Breakfast in bed?” She asked tiredly, yawning and stretching.

“I guess so.” Verse smiled and handed her a bowl of sugary oatmeal. Twilight smiled and dug in heartily while Melody went to sit next to her. Twilight smiled at her as well, reaching a hand out to ruffle her hair playfully. Verse and Melody waited until she was finished before they told her.

“We need to leave for the Shadowlands as soon as possible.” Melody spoke first. Twilight set her empty bowl aside with a slight frown. Melody feared she would raise protests, or ask them to reconsider. Instead, she just nodded.

“I understand. Is there anything I can do to help?” Her answer took both of them by surprise. Melody and Verse both blinked, but smiled after a short pause.

“In all seriousness, there really isn’t.” Verse patted Twilight’s knee. “You know as much about the Shadowlands as we do. Which is to say nothing.”

“We’re walking in there blind.” Melody lay her head on Twilight’s shoulder. “We don’t know what waits for us, if anything. For all we know, these elements of Disharmony are the last we need to revive, and we’ll be finished. Or we might discover a hundred new gods we need to restore. Who knows?”

“You two,” Twilight sighed and pulled them both into a warm hug. “You’re making me so proud… I wish I could help.”

“You can help.” Verse smiled as he kissed Twilight’s cheek.

“How? What can I do?”

“One thing, and it’s very simple.” Melody kissed her other cheek as she and her brother got to their feet. Together, they walked towards the balcony. Twilight watched them go with a faint smile. Their wings spread wide, and the two turned around to face her with warm smiles.

“Give us a home to come back to.”

And then they were gone, flapping off towards the West. Towards the Shadowlands.

Heart of Shadow

------------- Melody’s Tale: Heart of Shadow -------------

Three days after Melody and Verse left, the first convoy arrived from Fillydelphia. The soldiers and relief workers who came in on the massive, lumbering trucks were awestruck. The city was quiet as could be, and didn’t appear all that damaged, save for a few dozen buildings in the south-east part of the city, where the fighting had been the worst. Bodies had been burned or buried, and the changelings had made sure to clean up before they had left. Two days after that, the second convoy arrived from Southbay, and the next day came the avian cavalry from Eyriewatch. Soldiers and civilians alike began to return to the city, and all of them had the same words on their lips.

”The war is over.”

For Twilight, it felt like an awfully hollow victory. So many of her friends had been hurt or perished during this twenty-year war. Equestria would never be the same. And there was still the Chimera to deal with. Rumor had it, though, that Hurricane was keeping them in check, and making sure they stayed in Hearth. Stalliongrad and Trottingham were still on high alert for any attack from the reptilian invaders, but everywhere else, the relief effort had begun.

Ponyville was centric to that. Being the largest farm community West of Canterlot, it became the hub for relief efforts. Chrysalis had made her home in and around the small town in the months before she had invaded Canterlot, and thanks to her wavering magic, the primes had ravaged most of anything. The town was almost leveled, and the surrounding countryside ravaged. It would take a long time before any more crops were ready to grow there.

But the worst of it was over. The fighting had ended. Everyone could rest easy. Homes began to fill up again, as families made their way back to the city from the refugee camps in Fillydelphia, Appleoosa, and all the towns between. The railways were restored, and commerce kicked up again. All across Equestria, it seemed, people were rejoicing.

Until the day the changelings returned. Twilight had taken over as the de-facto ruler of Canterlot during the months after the changelings returned. She kept a council of well-informed and wise people, but none really disputed her place as their monarch. She stimulated the relief effort and began restoring Canterlot, and indeed all of Equestria, back to its former glory. People were beginning to think of her less as Celestia’s old student, and more like the new god she was.

Her tenuous peace was shattered when her aide burst in on her breakfast, sweaty and frazzled. He started babbling on and on about some ‘force’ that was advancing on the city. Twilight finally managed to calm the poor fellow down long enough to get a straight answer out of him.

“Changelings.” He gasped, still panting heavily. “From the north-west. Maybe two hundred.”

“Two hundred?” Twilight’s brow furrowed. “That’s hardly any reason for-“

”They’re all lieutenants.”

Now that was cause for concern. Twilight jumped out of her seat and dashed down the halls, calling guards and aides to her side with shocking efficiency. By the time Twilight emerged onto the castle grounds, she had maybe four hundred guards with her. More had ringed the palace, each of them with spears and shields. Twilight approached the North-Western gate, only to find a long lane of guards keeping the street clear.

Her heart nearly stopped when she saw them. Her aide was right. A hundred or so changelings, each of them in their changeling form, walked in a column down the street. Guards had ringed their advance, but none of them were attacking. Twilight wondered why until she saw the first changeling was holding a sturdy-looking stick with a white square of cloth tied to the end. None of them made a move towards the guards and each of them held their hands out to their sides. Twilight very nearly ordered the guard to execute each of them, but she didn’t. The white flag was universal for surrender. Whoever these changelings were, they wanted peace. Hesitantly, the guard opened the gate, and allowed the small column of changelings to file in before Twilight. Twilight looked them all over for a long while before speaking.

“Where is your queen?”

“Honestly, Twilight.” The changeling holding the flag stepped forward. She was tall, perhaps a full head taller than Twilight, but not the tallest among them. Twilight eyed the flag-wielder warily. “You think you could recognize your own wife.”

“L-Lily?!” Twilight watched as the changeling shifted into Lily, her love, her wife of twenty years. For a moment, she considered rushing into her arms. It felt like ages since she had seen the woman last, even longer without the link. But she stopped herself, for the sake of the guards. “Prove you’re her.”

“Pinkie Pie doesn’t know it, but she snores ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ in her sleep.” Twilight would have spit her drink if she had one. That was one of the most best-kept and well-protected secrets among the elements of harmony, save the element of laughter herself. No one would have known about that. Specifically, no changeling.

“Is it really you?” Twilight asked incredulously. “Are you really back?”

“It’s me, the one and only.” Lily smiled, opening her arms. “Can I at least have a hug from my wife?”

“Not yet,” Twilight breathed. Oh how she wanted to, but she still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “What happened to the rest of your horde? Where are the other changelings?”

“You’re looking at them.” Lily swept her arm out at the group behind her. “One hundred seventeen lieutenants. These are all that remain of Chrysalis’ horde.”

“Wh… How did you… What?”

“Allow me to explain.” Lily smiled at Twilight. Their arrival had drawn a large crowd, it seemed. Twilight glanced over her shoulder to see her entire council standing behind her, curiously looking on to the proceedings. Lily waited until Twilight looked back at her before beginning. “Changelings are the embodiment of the element of Greed. They take love, the most precious and sacred of things, from other people. Each of them are the very embodiment of Chrysalis’ element. But the lieutenants, like myself before I became queen, lieutenants like Noth and… And Nyralith…” Lily paused for a moment, her expression sad. “They… Well, they’re free of the Hive Mind influence. We were able to shake the chains of greed and anger Chrysalis put on the drones. You see,” Lily smiled sadly.

“I’ve eliminated the drones. Just like I’ve eliminated the elements of generosity and greed. I turned each and every one of them into lieutenants. I gave them their freedom, the ability to think and feel for themselves.” Lily took a hesitant step forwards, offering her hand. Twilight idly took it. “I gave them the chance to find their own love, rather than steal it… I gave them independence.” Lily’s bright green eyes bore straight into Twilight’s.

“I gave them life.”

Twilight collapsed into the kiss, just as the cheer went up from the guard and everyone else gathered.

In the weeks that followed, the one hundred seventeen lieutenants integrated perfectly into Equestrian society. Much like Lily and Noth and the other lieutenants that had defected before the war started, they found their callings. Some of them left Canterlot, but others stayed. Two of them decided to take up Lily’s old profession, and soon opened Canterlot’s only whorehouse. Others still wanted to join the guard and pursue a military career. They made amazing spies and infiltrators. Others still picked up regular jobs and lives. They were welcomed into Equestrian society openly, after a mass newsletter was published explaining what had happened.

Equestria rejoiced. The vicious and hurtful changelings that had once terrorized their homes and families were now gone. Instead, these one hundred seventeen lieutenants were all that remained of the horde, each of them a smart and gifted individual. Changelings became actors and performers, using their shifting abilities to execute magnificent and wonderful roles in plays. Some others moved to Ponyville, to try their hands at farming and help restore the ravaged town to its former glory.

Twilight could care less about any of them. To her, there was only one changeling worth mentioning, and that was Lily. The queen of the changelings became more-or-less normal. She had lost her godhood when the elements converged and neutralized within her, but that didn’t make her any less Lily than she was. Twilight loved her fiercely, and found in her a wise councilor and faithful wife. Lily proved to be invaluable in handling the transition of changelings into Equestrian society, and acted as a liaison between them and the government. There was a learning curve, of course, but it was easily overcome. The changelings integrated perfectly, and some had even found love already.

Whenever Twilight asked Lily what had happened to the horde, though, the queen became dark. “I’ll tell you one day, Twilight. I promise you I will. But not today. Not for a while.” Was her answer for each question. It took two months before she finally felt comfortable enough to share it with Twilight. Curled up on their bed, basking in the afterglow of a much-needed lovemaking session, Lily shared what she had done.

“You remember how lieutenants are made, right?” She asked, curling her fingers through Twilight’s.

“Of course.” Twilight’s expression was dark, but she didn’t want to stop Lily now that she felt comfortable enough to share. Lily paused for a moment before continuing.

“I did that. Time and time again. Hive became a slaughterhouse. When one lieutenant emerged, I did it again. Day in, day out, for almost two full months.” Lily shuddered, and there were tears welling within her eyes. “Millions of them died. And in the end, we were one hundred seventeen.” She began to sob then, but Twilight held her close, stroking her fiery-red curls gingerly.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay.” Twilight calmed her, holding the sobbing queen as close as she could. “You did the right thing.”

“Did I?” Lily sniffled, still choking now and then. “They were innocent. Mindless, helpless things. They did what I told them to. They were… They were just…”

“Mindless. You said it yourself. And they needed love.” Twilight pulled away, just enough to look into Lily’s green eyes. “Nothing could have given all of those changelings enough love to live. You culled their numbers, made them small and manageable. Three million changelings? I cannot find enough love in Equestria to feed all of them. One hundred seventeen?” Twilight smiled and kissed Lily’s nose. “One hundred seventeen changelings, they can find their own love.”

Lily sniffled and grew quiet, pensive. Twilight went back to stroking her hair, holding her close. They were quiet for a long while before Lily spoke again. “Are you sure that was the right thing to do?”

“I wouldn’t have done it any other way.” Twilight nodded warmly.

“… Thank you, Twilight.” Lily muttered. “I needed that.”

“Anytime. You know what else you need?”

“Hmm?”

“Another ‘backrub.’”

“Twilight, no, I’m sore… Hey! Get your finger out of th- ahn!”

Twilight grinned and rolled over. The two were lost beneath the sheets, giggling and moaning together.

The day after that dawned bright and warm. It was mid-summer now, near the end of July. The restoration of all their cities was almost complete. Reports from the north indicated the Chimera had settled down and wouldn’t attack, so even Stalliongrad and Trottingham were able to relax and enjoy the temperate summer. Even Baltimare had been re-erected. The city was new and young, but already thriving with life. Hundreds of thousands of citizens had moved there, mostly people whose homes had been destroyed elsewhere, or who simply didn’t want to live in Canterlot after all that had happened. All-in-all, the nation was thriving.

Twilight woke in Lily’s arms, smelling faintly of the night before. She grimaced and gingerly extracted herself from Lily’s embrace before going to the shower. One long and luxurious scrub later, Twilight felt refreshed and renewed. She dressed in simple business attire to handle the day’s issues. It was mostly budgeting and currency crises she handled nowadays. Recuperating from a war was tough to do. Thankfully, there were businesses like the whorehouse and several other non-profit organizations that donated heavily to the relief effort, helping to soften the blow.

Twilight was halfway through one such budget meeting when her aide rushed into the conference room. “Twilight. It’s Hurricane and Gale. They’ve just arrived outside the palace.”

“Oh? Forgive me, I must see them immediately.” Twilight apologized to her council members who had attended the meeting with her before excusing herself. She followed her aide out onto the lawns, frowning as she saw the two massive roc standing on the castle grounds.

“Hurricane! Gale! To what do I owe the pleasure?” She called up to them, standing before the two with her arms open.

”Ephemira. Good. We must speak with you immediately.”

“It’s about your children.” Twilight was shocked to hear that.

“Children? What?” The roc had apparently made a large commotion. Lily pushed her way through the small press of guards and curious passers-by to stand at Twilight’s side.

“What are they talking about? Children?” Lily looked between Twilight and the two roc with a worried expression. Hurricane and Gale shared a look before furrowing their brows and looking back down at the two of them.

”Your children. Melody and Verse. Where have they gone?”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, her defenses rising. What were the two of them talking about? Children? Since when had she had children?

”The children of love. Melody and Verse. The two responsible for reviving the two of us!” Gale was beginning to grow annoyed, Twilight could tell.

“I have no clue what you mean.” Twilight lifted her arms and dropped them helplessly. “I have no children.”

“No magic.” Melody sighed as she fought to summon a spell, a telekinetic field, something, anything. It felt almost as if she had taken a potent dose of Magesbane.

“Well at least Jokkan and Miko taught us how to live off the land.” Verse sighed, running is fingers over the leaves of one of the nearby trees. “I saw some roots back there a ways. And some mushrooms too. It’ll be tough, but I think we can survive in here.”

“Wherever ‘here’ is.” Melody groaned and dropped her hands helplessly. “We can’t even keep our heads on straight. I feel like we’ve been going in circles.” She looked around at the seemingly endless forest around them. The trees were unlike any she had ever seen, in that their trunks were gnarled and twisted into grotesque and strange designs. The leaves were a very dark shade of green, and spread wide and flat. The canopy above them was so thick, they hadn’t seen the sun or the moon in the three days they had been in the forest.

What’s more, the forest had all but eliminated their magical capabilities. Try as she might, Melody couldn’t summon her magic. She was a rather proficient mage, and Verse even more so, but neither of them could accomplish even the slightest task. Her magic was there, she could feel it hovering behind her breast, warm and comforting as it always was… But she couldn’t use it. She was aching with the need to release the pent-up energy she had accrued over the past few days. If this continued, she feared for the magic burns she might suffer.

Verse’s power was much more considerable than her own, though. If he hadn’t burned himself yet, she wondered if they even could. This forest was mysterious in many different ways. The first and foremost was the absence of their magic, but that wasn’t the most notable. For her, melody was more concerned with the lack of animals. Three days since they had left Equestrian borders, and they hadn’t seen anything. No birds, no squirrels, no deer, not a single animal. The flora, though, was abundant. Melody had studied botany when she was a child enthralled with gardening, and as such was moderately familiar with the plants of Equestria. But these trees, flowers, fungus, and roots were completely alien to her. She couldn’t even guess at what they might be.

“Come on.” Verse nodded to a spot ahead of them. “Let’s press on.”

“Right.” Melody grimaced and shrugged into her pack. They had managed to find a farmhouse not terribly far from the Everfree Forest’s borders, and had discovered a small cache of supplies there. It wasn’t much, but they could make shelter and cook whatever food they might come across. The latter had been few and far between, but they had scraped together enough berries and roots from the somewhat-familiar plants in the forest to last them this long. What they had was running low, and Melody was beginning to worry what, if anything, they might eat next.

Her prayers were answered as darkness descended on the eerie forest. She found it odd that an apple tree would be found this far out in uncharted wilderness, but the warm wood and plump ripe fruit allayed her fears. After checking one apple from the tree for poisons, they picked an entire pack’s full, and carried another dozen with them until they found a tree large enough to make camp against. Verse went to work erecting their lean-to while Melody went in search of water. She found a small stream maybe fifteen minutes from their camp, and filled both their canteens and a pot full of it. She didn’t recognize the stream, and that meant progress.

When she returned to camp, Verse was munching happily at an apple and stoking a fire. These strange trees had no shortage of deadfall, and the canopy kept rain off of them for the most part. Melody was thankful for the latter, as late-summer storms were typically vicious and would ruin shelters. As she joined Verse for their tasty dinner, she made a silent thanks to the powers that be for giving them temperate weather and shelter.

Ever since they passed Chrysalis’ queenhood on to Lily, Melody’s sleep had been untroubled. Despite their long journey into this strange land, she felt rested and energetic. She was slender, fit, and capable. Every day they spent hiking further and further into strange territory strengthened her all the more. The only frustrating parts of this entire journey were the lack of magic and the constant feeling of going in circles. But the unfamiliar stream held promise for them.

Melody slept well and relieved Verse for her turn at the watch in the dark hours of the morning. Verse slumbered silently while Melody walked a circle around their camp, letting the cool morning air refresh and wake her. When dawn broke and Verse awoke, they packed their camp and ate a breakfast of two apples apiece. Verse shouldered the pack with the apples, and Melody took the one with their supplies. Together, they made their way to the stream Melody had found, and followed it upstream. After a whole day of hiking without reaching a familiar twist or turn in the slight bends, Melody felt confident. They had made progress.

So the days progressed as such. Verse discovered roots in the muddy banks of the stream which went well when boiled with apple slices, and when they ran out of apples, there were enough berries and roots to be found anyways. Four full days of walking alongside the stream later, they arrived at what could roughly be described as the first waypoint of their journey. A clearing of sorts, located on a hillside, opened up the sky and surrounding land for them to survey where they were.

The Shadowlands weren’t all that intimidating, Melody noted as she looked around at the scenery. Sure, travelers had entered and never left, but that was probably thanks to the disorienting nature of this place. She had expected monsters and fights, not to mention answers, in the mysterious land she had only ever heard of in whispers. Instead, she found mysterious forests, confusing landscapes, and even more questions.

As she and Verse crested the hill into the small clearing, the first they had encountered since their entrance into the forest, Melody was greeted with a whole slew of new questions. First and foremost was: ‘What in the world am I looking at?’

Before them on the floor of what she guessed was a valley of sorts was what looked to be a pure black pool of some sort of liquid. The closer Melody looked at it, the more she realized it was just deep, dark, foreboding shadows. The darkness was so pure, so undiluted, that it covered everything. Even now, in the bright light of day, no light penetrated the deep shadows. The hills all around this place seemed to slope into the valley, where nothing could be seen. Melody and Verse stood there, completely transfixed, looking into the darkness.

“Well.” Verse said after a long while of staring into the darkness. “I guess we found what we came looking for.”

“If that is what we’re looking for.” Melody frowned at the darkness. She wondered what lay within it, if they could enter it at all. And even if they did, would they live? That darkness looked so complete, so absolute, that she wondered if they could even breathe inside of it.

“It’s the first thing we’ve seen since we entered this place.” Verse was staring into the black depths with the same intensity she was. Both of them were curious, but cautious. “I say we take a look, if nothing else.”

“Agreed.” Melody glowered at the darkness one last time before hoisting her pack higher on her back. It was mid-day, and they could arrive at the edge of the darkness in the next hour or two. Verse followed her across the clearing and back into the forest. This time, though, they walked with determination. They both wanted to arrive at the blackness as soon as possible. Eerie as it was, it was the first different thing they had both seen since leaving Equestria. Melody’s heart pounded in her ears as she followed the slope of the valley down towards the blackness. What would they find here? Would it hold the answers they both sought? Was this the end of their journey, or just the beginning? All these and more harried Melody into the valley, and up to the edge of the darkness.

“Woah.” She breathed. Looking down into and looking out across the shadow were two entirely different experiences. From above, it almost looked like a lake. From here, Melody could hardly tell the difference between the edge of the shadow and the forest proper. The entire world seemed to dim around her, not unlike the sun setting behind the horizon. But she knew it was no later than noon. The darkness between the trees grew deeper and deeper, and soon enough she could hardly see a few feet in front of her face.

“I think we’re inside.” Verse’s voice sounded muffled, but he was right behind her. Melody inadvertently held her hand out, searching for him. Verse took her hand in his when she touched him, giving her with a gentle squeeze. “Let’s keep going.” They continued walking through the dark fog, slowing considerably. Melody held one hand in front of her while the other kept her as close to Verse as she could manage. She walked shyly, afraid to hit something. But she never did. Instead, she continued along at a crawling, slow pace, sliding her feet over the ground to avoid tripping.

After what felt like hours walking at that pace, Melody froze in place.

“What?” Verse asked.

“Shh. I think I just heard something.” Melody stayed still, her entire body frozen with concentration. Verse followed her wishes, but he pressed a little closer to her. It was then she realized he had pressed his back to her, so they both looked out into the blinding, inky blackness. She could see nothing. Not even her hand in front of her face.

They stood like that for a full minute before the sound came again. It was a quiet, swishing sound, almost like bare limbs across satin sheets. She wondered what could possibly make that sound. It came again, a little more insistent. Then again. Melody tensed when she realized the sound was growing nearer and nearer. She clutched Verse with one hand, and with her other, tried to light the darkness around her.

She nearly cried out when her magic surged forth, blazing to life without the tiniest amount of effort. The darkness bled away, leaving in its wake a blinding, radiant whiteness. After hours of not seeing a thing, Melody thought she had gone blind. Instead, she looked down, and saw her naked body. She had brought herself to the white plane. But how? Why? What happened to the swishing sound, and whatever it belonged to? There was a presence at her back.

“Verse?”

“I’m here.” Verse’s voice was tense and low. “I don’t know how, but I’m here.”

“What happened?”

“Did you use your magic?”

“I… I think I did. I called it, and suddenly I was here.” Melody pressed back against him more insistently. “I don’t like this, Verse. I didn’t mean to bring us here.”

“It’s okay. Relax.” Verse laid his hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Just take your time, and try to see if you can bring us back.”

”She won’t.” The voice nearly made her jump. Melody knew in an instant that voice belonged to whatever had made the swishing nose. She tensed up and pressed back into Verse more insistently. ”More accurately, she can’t. Not until you accomplish what you set out to do here.” It was a low, melodic voice. If she had to guess, it could have belonged to a man, though a woman was not out of the question. Her eyes darted around the horizon, but the whiteness around her was barren of any lifeform.

“What do you mean, ‘she can’t’? Can neither of us get out of here?”

”Correct.” The voice swirled around them. Under other circumstances, Melody might actually have enjoyed listening to whoever spoke. It was an awfully calm voice, but given the situation, Melody was anything but relaxed. ”I suppressed your magic from the moment you first set foot into the Shadowlands. There are creatures here who are attracted to magic. They would have killed you without my doing so. That’s why none have survived the journey here before. Many have tried, none have succeeded. Human, Avian, Magi, they all have some measure of magic within them. No matter how tiny or miniscule, they would have sniffed it out and hunted you down.”

“So there are animals here.” Melody breathed.

”Indeed. And many other interesting plants you’ve yet to see. These, too, I had to hide from you. Sometimes sight is all they need to kill you. Others would have lured you in with scents and sights so profound and evocative you’d have no choice but to drink their venom. And others still would have pursued you, wrapped their vines around you, and made you part of their body. We couldn’t have any of that…” Melody relaxed a little bit. The voice was kind, and though it spoke of terrible things, Melody began to relax. She could feel Verse relax behind her as well.

“So why are we here?” Verse asked.

”You walked here.” There was a hint of sarcasm in the voice, and Melody couldn’t help but smile a little. ”You were called. There is an imbalance in the world right now. An imbalance you created, and only you can resolve.”

“An imbalance?” Melody furrowed her brow, but realized what the voice meant. “The elements.”

”Correct. The element of Generosity and the element of Greed no longer exist. This has created an imbalance with the others. An imbalance that, I’m afraid, has affected their memory.” Melody stiffened at that.

“Their memory? What do you mean? Woah!” She jumped back as the voice materialized in front of her. This being, whatever it was, was most definitely not friendly. She couldn’t even bring herself to describe it, though her best guess would have been ‘demonic.’ In a flash, she realized what this thing was, or what it was reminiscent of.

”My sister has forgotten she ever had children. Her wife, the queen of changelings, as well. In fact, all of the elements have forgotten about you. The seed you’ve planted will spread to the other gods and goddesses soon enough.” Melody stepped back as the demon-like thing advanced on her. The voice was the same, but this creature was evil incarnate. Melody had seen it before, too. Or something akin to it. She had seen changeling primes before. And this thing was the father of said primes. What’s more, his words were sending a chill up her spine. Her mother had forgotten about them? How?

”Don’t worry, children.” The massive changeling prime, or whatever this thing was, stopped a scant foot from her face. She could feel its breath wash over her, even as the devilish red eyes bore straight into her own. ”I’ll help you fix this imbalance. Come now, embrace me.” It spread its arms, the wickedly-curved teeth inside its horrific maw spread apart in a grin.

”Embrace the Heart of Shadow.”

Memories Lost

----------- Melody’s Tale: Memories Lost -----------

Gale and Hurricane blinked at Twilight, their avian expressions clearly confused by the sudden admonition.

“I told you, I don’t have any children. What are you talking about?” Twilight repeated, stepping forward. Lily was at her side, her own brow drawn downwards in confusion.

”This… Is exactly what I feared.” Gale mumbled, dipping his head so it was on-level with Twilight. His massive eyes pierced into hers, lending to the seriousness of the situation. ”Ephemira, Twilight, your memory is flawed.” His voice sent a chill up Twilight’s spine, not unlike his presence did. The god of the northern and eastern winds continued. ”And ours is as well. I suggest you call a conference, of every god you can, so we can discuss this further.” Over his back, Hurricane turned his gaze West, towards the Shadowlands. He spoke next, his voice just as concerned as his brother’s.

”Dark tidings on cold winds, my friends… Something is happening in the Shadowlands. Something important.”

“Three months and sixteen days.” Melody rubbed her eyes with her free hand, the magic that cast light out into the darkness wavering just a little. “How much longer?”

”I do not know, Melody… They come from all over, and some of them are weak after so long. The Elements of Disharmony have long been forgotten or dormant, save for myself and Greed. As soon as the others arrive, we can return home.”

“The sooner the better.” Verse spoke quietly from off to her left, walking into the circle of light she offered them. “I hate going out there.”

“What’d you find?” Melody went to greet him, sitting down to survey his pack. Ever since they had arrived in this shadowy recess in the forest, their company had discouraged them from leaving. They’d discovered the loss of memory between the two elements that had been reunited; how Greed and Generosity were gone from the world now, and the fact that what once had been six were now five had irreparable consequences for the other elements.

Uniting Lily and Chrysalis’ souls had started a chain reaction, not just in the gods and goddesses of the Elements of Harmony, but in all of them. This shadowy valley, where light struggled to pierce, was a safe haven from the dangers of the Shadowlands. Here, they were waiting for the arrival of the other elements – the parallels to the Elements of Harmony – so they could reunite them all, and hopefully resolve the dissonance between them all.

After all, chaos amidst the Elements of Harmony was a disastrous thing that had nearly cost Equestria and the world before. Their mother, Lily, was unwittingly a conduit for something major.

“Nothing much,” Verse sighed, lighting his own hand up with a healthy orb of light. He set his pack down and emptied a dozen apples, some dirty roots, and a few handfuls of berries. “At least, nothing we haven’t eaten already… The one tree is almost depleted, though. How much longer do you suspect we’ll have to wait?” He directed his question to no-one in particular, but the mysterious element of anti-magic, the shadowy father of the Changeling Primes, materialized out of the darkness beside them.

”Not much longer. They are very close.”

He was an intimidating figure, especially since Lily knew the primes could do terrifying things, but his voice was soothing and she knew him to be a friendly soul. His countenance notwithstanding, he had a wonderful sense of humor and could sing quite nicely. Inside this shadowy valley, though, Melody felt as if she were going mad. The darkness that rested here protected the two of them from the magic-seeking plants and monsters of the Shadowlands, but outside where the food was that had been keeping them fed, he had to suppress their power to keep them safe. In here, Melody could use her magic - and had been - but out there, to do so would spell immediate death.

She and Verse had been foraging for food and supplies out among the woods of the Shadowlands for over three months now, taking turns leaving the shadowy valley and having their magic suppressed. That was three months of sleeping in utter darkness, only seeing the bleak, uninteresting landscape whenever she shed light with her magic, and occasionally locking away her power for a few hours to collect enough food to live. She had tried to summon food from Canterlot as they had in the past, but it appeared this shadowy valley was separated from that energy. She couldn’t access Canterlot’s vast stores of food and supplies at ll. In short, this was miserable.

And yet, she found herself wondering which she would rather be doing: running to and fro all over the world to revive these elements separately, or waiting patiently for them to arrive here. All the while, knowing both of her mothers and all their surrogate aunts were slowly losing their memories.

She wondered how much longer they could last.

“So you’re telling me,” Twilight stood among a gathering of gods, having called as many as she could from the far corners of the world at the behest of the two massive roc. “… That we’re slowly losing our memories?”

”That’s the short and thick of it, yes…” Gale rumbled, sharing a quick look at the congregation of power. Among their ranks were all of the Elements of Harmony, Gale and Hurricane themselves, the Wendigo, Judicia and Discord, and the child Death. ”Reuniting the elements of Generosity and Greed have nullified them both. Neither have need of the other as long as their souls are together. But that’s one portion of a six-tiered power… Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness and yes, even Magic, all have their own counterparts. Reuniting them all would, hopefully, resolve this dissonance.”

“But… What of magic, as a whole?” Twilight’s brow furrowed. “Without Ephemira, would magic itself fade away?”

“Hardly.” Death spoke up, his young voice sounding markedly out-of-place among such tall and imposing gods and goddesses. And yet, his presence seemed to be one of the most pronounced, even more noticeable and intimidating than the two gigantic roc. “Magic still exists all over the world. You may be privy to it all, Ephemira, but you are not its master, nor its mother. You are merely a product of it.”

“I see.” Twilight furrowed her brow, though it was Fluttershy who spoke next.

“What of the others? The Elements of Harmony are a soul within themselves. We all know it, they’ve lived in us for a long while now. They even took over our bodies for a short time.” Twilight shuddered in remembrance of seeing Melody and Verse’s bodies hanging from the ramparts in Canterlot, of fleeing inside of her own mind, her own soul, to allow Ephemira to take over. All of the others had done the same at that time. “What of them?” Fluttershy continued, “What happens then?”

“Well,” Death turned to Lily, who stood among them despite no longer having the Element of Generosity inside of her. “When the two souls met, the one you know as Chrysalis and Liliana, their energies – the parts of their souls that made them who they were – no longer had any need of the other. Greed and generosity still exist in the world as a whole, but their stewards had no need to shepherd it. Thus…” He grinned, crossing his arms. Behind him, a Mord rose from his own shadow, the curved scythe gleaming in the mid-day sun.

“I took them.”

A silence descended over them all, Death’s words bringing to light a haunting realization… They all realized that when these Elements of Disharmony were reunited with their counterparts, the inherent souls would meet their end.

’Fear not for us, Twilight.’ Ephemira’s voice came to her from within, an echo in her mind that Twilight knew. ’We know the unification of Greed and Generosity needed to happen in order for the changelings to find their peace. In a way, it was the catalyst for a change the rest of the world needs right now. If my counterpart truly exists, and if the others’ do as well, then maybe it’s what needs to happen; especially if it’s going to rob you of the memory of your children.’

‘So I do have children, then.’ Twilight thought within herself. Ephemira’s soul glowed for a moment, as if chuckling.

’I’ll admit that I had forgotten of them, even though I owe my awakening to them… The Children of Love are indeed real, and I can see the shadow of their faces when I try to think of their names. It seems this problem of losing memories affects us at random. Gale and Hurricane know of the Children of Love well. Death surely remembers them, too. But if I am able to forget, so is just about anybody else. And they may not be the only one we have forgotten…’

Twilight blinked. There was a sudden rush of realization. Her brother, Shining Armor… Who was he married to? She remembered the wedding, the changeling fight, and even the magic of love doing a wondrous thing… But who was that woman he was marrying? Where was she now? What was her name?

“Twilight?” Pinkie Pie laid a hand on her forearm, shocking her out of her reverie. “What’s on your mind?”

“I… I’m trying to remember… Who did my brother marry?”

“You mean Cadance?” Rainbow Dash piped in. “She and Shining Armor fled into Hearth when the war began. Something about fighting and how it didn’t fit well with Love.” Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash blankly, not connecting the dots. Rainbow Dash’s brow furrowed. “You know? Your sister-in-law? Princess of Love? Well, I guess Goddess of Love, but still.” Twilight couldn’t make the connection still. “Oh come on! We went to her wedding and fought a bunch of changelings!”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Applejack interjected. “But I know Shining Armor had a wedding… I remember the changelings.”

”You see, it’s begun.” Gale cut them all off. ”You’ve forgotten the name of the Goddess of Love, though some of you still remember. The memory degradation is worsening among us. I know, because I had forgotten of the Wendigo, but Hurricane had not. He had forgotten Rainbow Dash, but I had not. The same is true for a handful of others…”

“Then it’s worse than we imagined.” Twilight surmised, looking around at the gathered gods and goddesses. “We’re slowly poisoning everyone’s memories. And not just we gods and goddesses,”

“But I don’t remember them either.” Lily took over. “I’m just the changeling queen now – no other soul within me, though I remember her. Rarity, that is.”

“She’s in a better place.” Death cut her off. “Chrysalis, however… Not so much.”

“Right. Well, thank you for that.” Lily shuddered. “But I’m no longer a goddess… haven’t been for a few months now. But I don’t know who these ‘Children of Love’ are, or that they were my own children.”

“In order to solve this, you’re saying we need to reunite the other five of us with our counterparts; the Elements of Disharmony.”

”Right.” Gale nodded in affirmation.

“So where are they?” Rainbow Dash asked, her fists tightening. “As much as I don’t think I wanna give up on being a goddess, we can’t just… forget everything and everyone. Today, it’s Cadance and these ‘Children of Love.’ Tomorrow, it might just be the harpies, or the chimera. Next week, it might just be each other.” She looked around the circle, smiling warmly. “I don’t want to forget any of you.”

”The last I knew, the Elements of Disharmony were in slumber scattered across the world. They had been separated long, long ago, sent to sleep by the Elements of Harmony well before Equestria had been founded. They were moving, which roused our curiosity. But just two days ago, when we first returned to speak with you, Twilight…” Gale shook his head slowly.

”They disappeared into the Shadowlands. Even I cannot see down into the forest, so I know not where they hide, or where they are going ultimately.”

“The Children of Love were last seen going into the Shadowlands.” Death stepped forward. “Just over three months ago; shortly before Liliana returned from Hive.”

“So they may just be working at solving this issue.”

“Maybe.” Death nodded. “Even I don’t step into the Shadowlands.”

“So… what?” Rainbow Dash asked, shuffling her magnificent wings. “We just… trust in them?”

“You all might not remember,” Fluttershy smiled warmly. “But if anybody could be trusted to solve this issue, it’s Melody and Verse.”

“He is a persistent bastard, that Verse.” The Wendigo hissed. “He and his sister put me in my place. I’m sure they can resolve this issue.”

“So that’s it, then.” Pinkie Pie lifted her hands and dropped them. “We just… wait for them to fix it?”

“Well, I don’t know about you all,” Twilight sighed. “But I don’t feel like letting our memories degrade any further. I think we should work together, trying to help each other remember what we’ve forgotten.”

“A noble cause.” Judicia spoke up, nodding faintly. The first time she had spoken since her and Discord’s arrival. “Even between my brother and I, there are things we’ve forgotten.”

“Some important things, too…” Lily turned to Twilight, a grin on her face.

“What’s that look for?” Twilight stepped back.

“C’mon, Twi… you heard them. We have kids.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Babymaking.”

Even the roc groaned.

”At long last.” The dark figure materialized from the shadow around them, breaking Melody from her reverie. She had been munching on an apple, listening to Verse hum a simple tune. As the element of anti-magic stepped into the circle of light they cast, they both stood. ”My brothers and sisters return.”

“Huh?” Melody looked out into the shadow, squinting faintly. “I don’t see or hear anything…”

”Oh, they aren’t what you’d expect… Remember, they were scattered to the far ends of the world long, long ago after a fight with their counterparts. While Greed and I may have found a corporeal form to occupy, they…”

Melody gasped as she saw them then. Four bobbing lights, floating into the circle of light from the darkness.

They were only souls. The same essence she had seen her mother pull from within herself, the same they had torn from Chrysalis to give to Lily. Four of them, each a dingy grey in color, bobbed across the bleak terrain towards them, coming to a stop in a line. As she watched, two of them began to flicker in and out of existence, their essences struggling to remain.

”Their bodies were broken, so they rested, dormant, as just a soul… They couldn’t be taken by Death, not without their counterparts to follow, so they remained as they are. I call them Wanderers. Humans call them by a few names. Souls, Will O’ The Wisp, Ghosts… They are just the spirits of those who have no physical body, but have yet to be taken to the other side by Death.”

“They’re beautiful.” Verse said quietly, moving towards one of them. They flickered here and there, looking as if they might fade away at any moment.

’Thank you, Child.’ The voice wafted past Melody’s ears, weak and tired. It sounded feminine, but she couldn’t quite hear it. It was a child’s voice, timid and faint, full of doubt and fear. ’We’ve come a long way, and the loss of our sister is wearing on us.’

“It is.” The changeling prime creature that was Ephemira’s counterpart grumbled. He slunk up next to them, the four souls and two Children of Love. ”Not just us, but them as well… If we do not hurry back to Canterlot, we very well may forget who we are or what to do. We may even forget how to breathe, or walk, or any number of things.”

“What do you suggest? Do we just walk out of here? It took us a week to find this place, and you said you were suppressing our magic the entire way in… Can we even walk out of here now? The seven of us?” Verse asked, putting words to the fear in Melody’s own mind. At that, their company fell sighed.

”If I step out of this valley, the creatures here will devour us instantly. I may be the element of anti-magic, but I still have the touch of it on me. These shadows around us kept me safe all these years, and I can extend my influence beyond them, but it took many, many centuries to make this much… I cannot surround us with it, nor can I leave the valley.”

“Well, shit.” Verse sighed. Melody shared his sentiment, feeling a sensation of hopelessness descend on her. She’d felt this sensation before, when she couldn’t heal the soldiers in Hearth, when they had to betray their friends and family to hand Canterlot over to Chrysalis, and a few other times over the course of her life.

If anything had been drilled into her head, it was that nothing was ever hopeless.

“You said you suppressed our magic, and you can extend your influence elsewhere. Can you reach out of the Shadowlands?”

”I can… I do fairly often, as well.”

“To do what?” Melody asked, turning to their host with a serious look. “How does your anti-magic work? Do you steal energy? Destroy it? Absorb it?”

”It’s difficult to explain. One could almost say what I do is a different form of magic entirely. But I take the energy from any given spell, any spell at all, and dissipate it. One could say I reduce it to its basest form, draw it away from the symbols and words, and release it back into the world.”

“That’s it, then. Verse, you thinking what I’m thinking?” Melody turned to her brother, who was grinning himself.

“Eeyup. I know how we can get home now.”

“Hmm…” Twilight floated up into consciousness blissfully, rising from her pleasant dreams on a natural tide of waking. She stretched her arms over her head and groaned inwardly, feeling rested and relaxed.

And not alone.

“WOAH!” Scrambling, Twilight ripped herself out of her bed, her chest heaving as she looked down at the confused red-headed woman sleeping roused awake beside her.

“Wha? Twilight, what’s up?” The woman moaned, slowly waking from her own rest.

“Who are you?!” Twilight panted, torn between averting her eyes away from the woman in bed, and staring at her incredulously. “How did you get into my room?!”

“What? Twilight, calm down, I-“

“WHO ARE YOU?!” Twilight roared, her hands glowing densely. Suddenly, the strange woman was very awake, and also nude. She clutched the blanket to her chest, her eyes wide as Twilight began summoning her magic.

“Twilight, I’m… It’s me. Lily. Your wife.”

“What?” That managed to stun Twilight. She balked, her hands flickering; the energy still at the ready, but wavering.

“I’m your wife, Twilight. Listen to me, there’s a problem with the Elements of Harmony. It’s making you forget things. Do you know Rainbow Dash? Applejack? Pinkie Pie? Fluttershy? There’s something wrong with the elements, you’re forgetting things more and more.”

“Liar!” Twilight roared, her magic flaring to life once more. “You’re a Changeling; I can feel it! You’re gonna steal all my love and hurt my friends!” She threw her hands towards the woman, intent on gripping her, to keep her from running. Just as she cast the spell, though, it vanished. The energy was gone in an instant, and the red-haired woman looked equally as stunned as Twilight.

’Stop this, Twilight!’ A voice ripped through her head, making Twilight flinch.

“What? Who said that?!”

’It’s me, Ephemira. Relax, Twil-‘

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” Twilight screamed, clutching her temples. The woman abandoned the blankets, sprinting over to her. She shied away, swiping a hand at the woman in panic.

’I don’t know why that spell you just cast failed. I can-‘

“MAKE IT STOP.” Twilight screamed, panic setting in. She felt sick. Hearing voices in her head wasn’t normal. She needed help. She needed Celestia! “Celestia, call her, I’m-“

The whole world went dark. The last thing she heard was the strange woman screaming for help, rushing to her side as she fell.

”Oh, I don’t know what Twilight’s trying to do, but that was a lot of magic just then.” The anti-element grinned as, all around them, magic began to fill the air. Verse and Melody stood back-to-back, painting arcane symbols in the air with their hands, weaving intricate spells over and over again.

“Just keep it up, take what you can.” Melody’s hands glowed ever-denser as she began pulling more and more tendrils of magic out of the air around them. Now that she and Verse knew what Ephemira’s counterpart did, stealing magic from spells and freeing it back into its natural habitat, they were taking that discharge and funneling it into their own spells. He was reaching into the world, cancelling spells and taking their energy. Where Melody would have been worried about using her own energy to cast a massive teleportation out of this shadowy mist, she no longer had any concerns. The glowing residue all around them was tinged with a thousand different magi’s flavors. She recognized her mother’s well, and a few others that seemed vaguely familiar.

“You’re sure about this, then?” Verse asked, still painting a myriad of spell-forms behind her. “We can take ourselves and the four souls all the way to Canterlot?”

”Absolutely. I know I have a soul myself, so you should be able to target me as well, as long as I don’t actively negate the spell.” The intimidating figure chuckled ominously. ”It’ll be the first time I’ve ever had magic cast on me. I’m actually rather excited.”

“Teleportation isn’t my first choice for ‘things I’ve never had done to me, but sure, let’s do them anyways.’” Melody grinned at the creature, and got a toothy smile in return. She focused her attention on the spell-forms, writing them as fast as she could.

“Hang on, everyone. We’re coming home.”

Halved; Made Whole

Author's Note

This was uploaded from a mobile device, so my apologies for the lack of editing and formatting.

Halved; Made Whole

A Different Kind of Love: Melody's Tale

The spell was taking shape all around them. Melody and Verse's hands were dense with magic, the humming sensation filling the air around them. Melody wasn't exactly going by any book here, nor was her brother, but the two of them had accomplished feats the likes of which even the gods they'd revived would gawk at. Twilight would be furious if she ever learned what the two of them were doing, despite having done it herself with the entirety of Canterlot's military before Chrysalis had taken over in her absence.

Melody sure wished she had her mother's expertise to lean on just then. As it was, she and Verse were both flying by the seat of their pants.

"You realize mother would kiss us if she found out we're doing this."

"I'm well aware." Melody grinned as Verse finally put words to the doubt in her mind. "I wasn't even sure if we could target souls without a corporeal form before today. Though, when you get right down to it…"

"The soul is the target of any given spell anyways." Verse finished her thought. Another surge of magic filled the air around them, and Melody grasped as much of it as she could, recognizing a large portion of her mother's magic among the thousands of strands. Twilight was trying to do something somewhere. Some small part of her hoped it was because their mother had learned of their need for energy and was supplying as much of it as she could.

The other, larger part of her wondered what was going on that Twilight would need that much energy.

"Almost done."

"Are you? That was fast. Twilight has been trying to do something pivotal for a short while now. I almost feel guilty taking so much energy from her."

"Don't stop." Melody finished one spell-form and waved it into place before starting on another. Just a few more and they would be prepared. "Don't stop even when we teleport… We can explain how and why we're doing this when we get there, but if we just give her all this back, it's likely going to cause trouble."

"Canterlot really doesn't need crater any time soon." Verse mused, finishing another form. He began on the last he'd need, while Melody was two behind him. She'd always be behind her brother in magical prowess, it seemed. At least she was the better flier of the two.

"Hang on, everyone… We're coming."

"Twilight, stop! You're hurt!" Lily's voice was panicked now, even as she struggled to pull Twilight's hands down to her sides. Instead, her wife screamed again, writhing on the blood-soaked sheets. Even Ephemira was getting some magical energy through her counterpart's leeching, and Twilight had cast sporadic, broken spells in an attempt to claw the deity from her head. Lily panted and screamed for help once more, even as she traded her time between keeping Twilight's arms pinned and stopping the flow of blood from the blasted side of her face.

Help finally came as Applejack slid through the door to their room, pausing to take in the scene for a minute.

"Help me!" Lily pleaded, holding Twilight down as another arcing flash of energy lanced off of her hands and into the sheets. They crackled and burned like paper, almost searing Lily's leg. She kicked at the flames, ignoring the heat until they died away, then went right back to holding a screaming Twilight down.

"What's happening?!" Applejack leapt onto the bed beside Lily, pinning Twilight with her considerable strength. Lily took a moment to sit back, breathing heavily.

"I have no idea! Twilight's freaking out; I think she's forgotten that Ephemira is inside of her!"

"Damnit. Fluttershy's doin' the same thing right about now. Rainbow Dash has her, but she ain't doin' so hot neither."

"That bad?" Lily passed her hands over her throbbing leg, using her meager magic to do damage control on the cut inflicted by a stray bolt of Twilight's power.

"Ah'm losin' it too." Applejack admitted grimly. "Ah c'in feel somethin' inside my head, an' it feels like a million bees tryin' to get out, ‘cept each of ‘em has a voice, and they're all talkin' at once." She looked down at Twilight, who was sobbing helplessly, her face half-scorched. "Ah ain't tryin' ta rip ‘em out… Yet."

"I don't know why, but Twilight can't use her magic right now. If she could, I'd be dead." Lily grimaced as she shifted, her body replaced with the imposing, serpentine form of a naga. "Let me hold her. Thisss way I can be safe from her magic, if it returnsss."

"Shore thing. Ah'm gonna see iffen Fluttershy's good ‘nuff to help Twilight. Might as well bring the party here, eh?"

"Did someone say PARTY?!" Pinkie Pie burst through the door, trailing streamers and confetti galore. "Where's the party?! I heard a party! LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

"Go." Lily hissed at Applejack, brushing a stray square of confetti off of Twilight's shoulder. "I'm okay here."

"I think that's it." Verse and Melody stood in the midst of an imposing spell-form, arcane scribbles and seemingly random patterns jumbled in the air and on the ground around them. The diagram spread wide, with seven separate circles for each of them. The anti-magic element stood in one, Melody and Verse in their own, and the four souls in the rest. "Did we miss anything?"

"I don't think so. Double-check the Corporeal Arc just in case."

"It's fine." Verse squinted at a diagram a short distance away. "Manifestation equation?"

"Erm, I got forty-nine… That sound right to you?"

"Yeah, considering those four don't have bodies."

"Alright." Lily looked around once more, thankful they would finally be leaving this dark, bleak valley filled with nothingness. "Let's do it."

"We're going to need just a bit more energy. You're still stealing from Twilight, right?" Verse looked at the anti-element, who nodded solemnly.

"As you said, I'm not stopping until we arrive and explain what's happening. We should hurry, though… I sense something is wrong."

"I'm right there with you." Melody grimaced. There was a flavor of desperation to Twilight's magic. Panic. Fear. It left an oily sensation behind, one that had Melody's heart racing. "Verse? You ready?"

"Mavericks. That's what mom used to call us, remember?"

"'Mavericks in the field of emergent changeling casting.' I'm sure that was Ephemira as much as it was Twilight."

"Alright, then. First non-deities to cast a multiple-party teleportation array."

"Heavens help us all."

"Should I be concerned?" The anti-element frowned. Verse and Melody shared a look before the both shrugged and said in unison,

"Probably."

The light was blinding.

"Woah! Captain, get over here!" The voice was jarring, and came to Melody as if from a great distance. Faint, and horribly distorted. Her eyes flickered open, revealing a cloudless sky, grass, and far-off buildings. Faint tremors reached her through the ground, accompanied by the pounding of boots. Her head was aching something fierce, making each shallow inhalation feel like someone was inflating a balloon inside of her skull.

And oh, how her legs hurt. She dragged a hand through the grass, putting her palm down and slowly pushing up. Just that small movement sent waves of pain radiating through her whole body, threatening to spill her meager lunch where she lay. The boots came closer, their voices mingling together confusedly.

"Hnn… Verse?" She asked, groping for her brother's body. He should have been close, right beside her…

Instead, she felt a wetness in the grass. A sticky, viscous fluid she was familiar with… But from where? What was it?

She pulled her hand in front of her face, and knew. She knew something had gone wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong.

She was looking at blood. And as she looked down at the reason her legs were hurting, she saw where it had come from. Where her feet had once been now sat two clean-shorn, bloody stumps, halfway between her ankle and her knee.

"Well that's unfortunate." The anti-element's voice reached her, sounding familiar, but different. Idly, she was aware of the boots all around them, bustling, moving about. Their voices spoke, but they were lost on her. Around her were five floating lights, the souls of the elements. Wait, five…? There had only been-

"We did mess up the manifestation arc." Melody whimpered, the pain intensifying to all-new levels. She wasn't aware of it, but the tears had begun, streaming down her cheeks as she blearily held one hand to her head. "We ripped your soul out of your body. Killed it. Oh, gods above, Verse. Verse!"

"Relax." One voice broke through them all, cutting into Melody's consciousness. She recognized the tinge of magic around it, the resonance of a powerful healing spell. She'd spoken to her own patients like this before. "You're badly wounded. Try not to move."

"Verse." She panicked, her chest heaving now. Against all instinct, she moved her leg, trying to crawl forward. The lancing shot of pain made her cry out, but she whimpered through grit teeth. "Verse, is he…"

"I'm sorry." The voice whispered into her ear. "Don't look…"

"Don't look? Look at wha-"

She saw them, then. Verse and the anti-element. Their bodies, or what had once been their bodies, laying a short distance away. The grass around them was matted with blood, and more of it flowed outwards.

Consciousness fled her, and she fell into the darkness.

"Woah!" A lancing bolt of lavender energy erupted into existence, streaking through the room to crash into the far wall. Lily recoiled out of reflex, her serpentine body releasing Twilight. Another shot burst forth, tearing up the carpet as it dashed forth out of Twilight's hand. The blood-soaked bed beneath them groaned and cracked as it was blasted away.

"Magic's back!" Applejack burst through the door with Fluttershy on her arm. Rainbow Dash trailed, looking last. All three of them were buffeted with a blast of hot air as Twilight cast another impromptu spell, this one would have roasted Lily if she weren't in her naga form, already resistant to magic.

"Get out of here!" Lily roared, reaching out to grab Twilight's hands just as they turned up to her face. The next blast of energy nearly blew Twilight's own head off, but instead lanced into the ceiling, raining plaster and stone on their heads. Applejack wasted no time in shepherding the other four elements out of the room, even as Twilght's magic returned in force. Lily didn't let go of Twilight's wrists, deflecting the blasts of energy, absorbing what she could to spare the castle around them. Already, fires were starting, along with rampant storms of errant energy, crackling and arcing arcane bolts into the floor and walls around them.

"Shit. What happened?!" Lily grunted, holding Twilight's wrists as another jagged lavender bolt crashed into the room around them. All the while, Twilight was screaming, repeating three words:

"GET IT OUT!"

The darkness was not absolute. It was actually somewhat familiar to Melody. In fact, the longer she stayed in it, the more it began to lighten, first into a dull grey, then into lighter and lighter shades until it wasn't a blackness that she had lost herself in, but a flat, white plane of existence. This, she knew. This, she was familiar with.

But with familiarity came realization, and she could not handle the loss.

"Verse." She cried onto the whiteness beneath her, her own blood a shock of red in the flat plane. Her legs were in agony, but that was nothing compared to the ache in her breast. She was alone here, with nobody to talk to, to stand back-to-back with. Crippled, bleeding, and alone, Melody laid on the flat white surface, her tears mingling with the ever-growing pool of blood.

Fatigue came then, a sort of deep tiredness that extended past her muscles and into her very soul. Melody felt drained and empty. Her skin was ashy and pale, almost a match for the bland white floor she lay upon. The three months sitting in the dark valley had robbed her of regular sunlight, and she'd lost the healthy tan she'd had. Not just that, but she no longer had her feet either.

Or her better half. Her brother, who had been with her all along.

"Verse. I'm so sorry. I… I should have double-checked. I should have known."

"There's no way you could have known." The voice was familiar to her, and shocked her out of her tears. With a gasp, Melody sat up, ignoring the agony in her legs, staring instead at the strange new man. His skin was jet-black, much like the carapace of a changeling, but his features and physique were all human in appearance. He had no hair that she could see, but Melody was looking at a picture-perfect rendition of a human, even down to the soft features and kind smile he had.

And he wasn't alone. Four other people stood in a semi-circle around him, two women and two men. They were new to her, but she knew them as well. Even now, bleeding and depressed as she was, Lily knew who these people were.

They were the anti-elements, direct opposites to her surrogate aunts and her mother. Still, the fact she was seeing them without Verse was a knife in her chest, and that knife throbbed painfully. She clutched at her chest, even as the tears began anew.

"He's gone."

"Not quite, child." One of the other four elements spoke, nodding to a spot behind her. Melody whirled, looking at the bleak white landscape, and seeing the same wisp she had seen the four anti-elements take on. This one was vibrant and healthy, throbbing in time with a heartbeat. It floated nearer to her, and Melody didn't have to touch it to know who it was.

"Verse."

"Heya, sis." His voice was warm and full of compassion and life. It throbbed in her chest, even as she reached out to embrace it. "Guess we fucked up pretty big this time, huh?"

"I guess so." Melody sniffed, cradling the ephemeral orb to her chest. "I killed you."

"Not quite." Verse murmured, his soul pressing closer to her chest. It felt warm, not unlike his skin did when they embraced. She closed her eyes and held that sensation close to her, even as he spoke again, quietly but intently. "My body sure has seen better days, but I actually saw… Well, Death. And his Mord. It's… complicated."

"Try me." Melody choked. She hadn't even been paying attention to the other five figures sharing this space with her. Right then, it was just her and Verse. And her brother's soul had grown quiet against her, still warm and intense, but almost as soft as a whisper.

"It's not over for us, Melody. We're the Children of Love. We can't be separated that easily, not when there's a task for us to accomplish."

"But you're dead. I… how can we…? I mean, you're here, and that's fine, but your body…"

"Who says I need a body to be a Child of Love?"

Lily watched, stunned, as her brother's soul sank into her chest.

"Tighter! Stop the blood flow!"

"She's lost too much, we need a transfusion right away!"

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" A dozen voices swelled around her, and Melody was vaguely aware of the lancing pain still filling her legs. Her head wasn't hurting as badly anymore, but the agony remained. It was a distant feeling, not quite as intense as it had been upon arrival, but it was still there, and growing more and more insistent as she rose into the realm of the wakening.

"Captain, she's waking up…"

"Then put her out! She's gonna go into shock if she feels all this pain!"

"Captain!" A new voice entered into the fray, urgent and loud. "It's Twilight Sparkle! She's gone mad, blasting the castle! The changeling queen Lily's got her restrained as best she can, but…"

"What?!" A pair of hands left Lily's legs, and in their absence the pain flared to life. "Lieutenant, take over here. Make sure she lives, so we can question her! And get rid of those damn lights!"

"I-I can't!" Someone elsewhere complained. "They're like those old wives' tales… The Will O' The Wisp, or whatever they're called."

Slowly, Lily opened her eyes. She was laying on her back on the lawn still, in a pool of blood. Her legs still throbbed agonizingly, but she was fighting through the pain. Around her, five lights danced, though their voices were lost among the commotion if anything else. And yet, inside of her, she could hear Verse. He was in her mind, a whisper, but much more clear and present than the multitude of sounds assaulting them.

'Huh, so this is what it's like inside you. Man, sure is empty.'

‘Shut up.' She thought at herself, grimacing. 'Only you would die, and have the presence of mind to insult the new body you're in.'

‘At least I HAVE a presence of mind. Death said it wasn't my time, even though I wouldn't have a body to call my own anymore. Looks like I have to share this one with you.'

‘Do me a favor, and don't go touching me all over, like you haven't touched a girl before.'

‘Oh ha ha. Gotta say, though, I could do without this memory of Faith.'

That sent a fresh wave of agony through her, shocking and painful all at once. She hadn't thought of Faith Reigard in ages, at least since they had returned to Southbay from their home in the jungle. Apparently Verse had access to all that, though. While Melody was close to her brother, she wasn't sure she wanted to be that close to him. Indeed, the moment she thought about it, his memories leapt into her mind, almost as if she had been the one living them.

In a manner, she really had been.

'This is going to take some getting used to.'

‘You can say that again. Man, we really did a number on ourselves… This hurts!'

‘Oh, good, you can feel the things I feel.'

‘Menstruation is going to be a bitch.'

Against all odds, Melody laughed. Not a chuckle in her mind, or an inward smirk, no, Melody actually, physically laughed.

"The fuck?" The people around her were taken aback. Understandably, as Melody sat up, her hands glowing and her lips spread in a grin.

"C'mon, Verse, we can beat this." She grunted between pained giggles. She must have looked like a nightmare, rising up despite having amputated both of her feet, soaked in blood and laughing of all things. "We've revived gods, become them in some situations… Fought a wendigo, survived changelings and loneliness… Fuck, one of us just died."

"The hell is she talking about?!" The soldiers backed up, their hands leaving her skin. Blood began to flow anew, adding to the pool around her. Melody just leaned forwards, her glowing hands resting on her calves where they had been sheared off.

"Come on, Verse." She grimaced, her magic glowing densely.

"Together, we can do anything."

"Ugh." Lily grunted as she was finally, irrevocably pushed off of Twilight. Her strength was flagging, and it seemed Twilight had finally managed to use Ephemira's knowledge to work around the naga's innate magical resistance. The prolonged fight had taken too much out of either of them. Twilight's face was still bloodied and halfway mangled, and she had broken more than a few bones in her arms and legs trying to fight against the naga.

At least she wasn't attempting to kill herself anymore. But she seemed to be in utter disregard for her person as she flung herself at Lily, snarling with primal rage as her magic leapt to life.

"Oh no you don't!" Rainbow Dash shot in from the hall, lancing into the space between the two and tackling Twilight to the side. The blast of magic discharged into the air, stunning all three people, but doing no damage that could be seen. Rainbow Dash landed roughly, skidding across the ruined floor towards a collapsed book shelf. Fluttershy flew after her, worry and concern painted on her features. Twilight hadn't given up, though. She rose from the floor, her leg bent at an odd angle, and blood pouring off of her chin.

"Get. It. Out." She hissed, glaring at Lily. Gone was her strength, and Lily shifted back into her human form, cut and bruised several times over.

"Twilight, please." Lily pleaded, standing on wobbly legs. She opened her arms, tears streaming down her face. "It's me."

"OUT!"

"Ow."

'Shut up, it's not that bad.'

"The hell it isn't! Ow!" Melody limped up the castle drive, moving towards the shuddering impacts of magic detonating. The five wisps followed her, the souls looking dim and weak in the aftermath of the teleportation. As near as she could tell, they had arrived intact. It was only their physical bodies that had been damaged in the teleportation, ripping the soul out of Twilight's counterpart, killing Verse, and crippling Melody.

"Ow." She and Verse had managed to use their newly combined reasoning to stop the blood flow and return some of her strength to her. To top it all off, she had regrown a new pair of feet, though they were imperfect and clubbed, and sent lancing pain up her legs with each step. Still, she hobbled towards the castle, having ordered the guards to rush ahead and do what they could to subdue Twilight and the others. One guard stayed with them, looking worriedly at the woman muttering to herself.

'We're almost there, mom.'

"Just hold on a little bit longer."

Melody limped up the front steps of the castle, trailing five lost souls and one very confused guard.

Broken Love, Part 1

---------- Melody’s Tale: Broken Love, Part 1 ----------

The blasts of energy were getting more and more intense the further Melody limped up into the castle. All the while, her escort kept glancing furtively about, grasping his spear tightly. Dust sifted down from cracks in the ceiling, showering them in plaster and cloying, choking clouds. As they advanced up to the second level, Melody’s feet kept hurting worse and worse. She’d correct the pain if she had the time, but as it stood, they could get where they needed to go on them. What wasn’t helping was the guard, who now jumped at each new scintillating blast, thin whimpers escaping his throat now and then.

“Oh for the love of… Here, give me your spear, you big baby.” Melody snapped at the guard, who all but threw the shaft of the spear into her hands, bolting back the way they had came and out of the castle.

’That was mean.’ Verse grumbled inside of her breast. She slapped a hand against her sternum, silencing him.

“He was new. Trust me, no soldier who fought through the war with Chrysalis would be jumping at magic. He probably joined after the war to help the relief effort. Poor sap.” Melody gripped the spear in her fists, using the butt to support her weight as she limped up the steps. “We have more important things to –ow, worry about.”

One particularly vicious blast rocked the stairwell, sending Melody sprawling onto her side near the landing. She grunted as her ribs flared with pain, indicating something else that had gone wrong with the teleportation. Indeed, they felt papery, and very frail. Laying a hand on her side, she felt them buckle under the gentle touch.

“Shit. Hope I’m not bleeding internally.” She grimaced, pushing herself to her feet. Taking the spear once more, she followed the unintelligible sounds of shouting down the hallway, and around the corner she could see flashing lights. Debris littered the hall from various cracks along the walls and ceilings, as well as perfectly-cut, fist-sized holes in the masonry. Twilight was wreaking havoc inside the castle, and nobody could stop her.

’She had to have forgotten about Ephemira inside of her. Either that or Lily. Or both.’

“I can’t even imagine. It’d be like forgetting you.”

’Or Faith.’

“… Or Faith.” Melody sighed, wincing at the pain, but fighting through it. Faith’s memory still stuck to her, even more than Connor’s had. Connor was dead and gone, buried in the mine in Hearth. But last she had heard, Faith was commanding the forces in Eyriewatch, a large leap for someone who had previously been a courier. That was months and months ago, though… Where Faith was now and what she was doing were beyond Melody.

’We can go and see her again, you know.’

“Yeah, we can.” Melody smiled at that. Verse’s tone was sincere, mirrored by his feelings inside of her. They shared even that, it seemed. Still, there were far more pressing matters at-hand. As they approached the intersection at which it seemed the soldiers had made their stand, Melody picked up the pace.

“She’s casting wildly,” a nearby Captain informed her as she approached. “… something has her so upset she’s lost control of her power. The other Elements of Harmony are in there with her, along with Lily, the Changeling Queen. We can hardly see what’s going on, other than Applejack is keeping the elements safe, while Lily does what she can with Twilight.”

“Thanks.” Melody grunted, limping past the checkpoint. She felt something wet running down the outside of her thigh, on the side she had broken her ribs. Breathing was becoming painful as well, making her head swim with each labored wheeze she struggled through. Her feet were like blades, cutting deeper into her legs, feeling almost as painful as when she was missing feet at all. Yet still she limped forward, leaning more and more on the spear as the castle rocked around them. Twilight wasn’t pulling any punches.

The five souls around her were growing restless, though even more dim. One of them was hardly an outline in the air beside them, occasionally flickering into existence for a heartbeat. Only two of them were strong at all, if faded. They were tired souls, too long without a body to call their own. They were due for the afterlife, but first needed to be reunited with their counterparts. The degradation that had caused Twilight to lose her memory was effecting them as well, no doubt.

“Just hang on, everyone… We’re almost there.”

Melody’s body may have been weak, but her magic was still strong. As they passed the guards and walked down the hall to Twilight’s bedroom, crackling energy spilled forth, threatening to rip her apart. Her hands glowed on the spear, casting a dense shield that deflected those brilliant lavender bolts. They weren’t directed at her, thankfully, else even her magic would have buckled under the stress. Instead, they slid off of her shield, cutting through the ground around her clubbed feet.

’We need to get in there fast. She’s going to bring the castle down at this rate.’

“Better safe than sorry.” Melody turned to the guards behind her, jerking her head to the side. “You want to evacuate now. Get as many people as you can and get out.” The guards didn’t wait any longer after that. They ducked around the corner, and the sound of running boots saw them out. Melody turned back to the hall before them, making her way towards the epicenter of spellcasting. More lancing bolts of magic rocked towards them, and she had to pause her limping pursuit to focus on protecting herself. Their pursuit slowed to a crawl, pools of blood gathering under her right foot whenever she had to stand for more than a few moments. She was getting dizzier as well, finding it more and more difficult to focus on the shields.

All the while, the magic was growing more wild, causing the floor beneath them to buckle and shift. “Please,” she prayed to no one in particular. “… please keep this floor from collapsing and killing me.”

They arrived at the room after what felt like an eternity of agony, standing on the threshold of madness. Twilight stood opposite Lily, who had just shifted back to her regular form. She opened her arms to Twilight, her expression pleading. Twilight just snarled at her, roaring that one last word.

“OUT!”

Lily wasn’t a naga, nor had she erected a shield to defend herself. Not that anyone could, with how powerful and primal Ephemira was. Twilight herself could likely shatter any shield Lily would manage in her regular form, let alone as tired as she had been.

Time slowed. Lily’s eyes went wide as the energy in Twilight’s hands condensed. Melody threw the spear aside, willing her broken and frail body forward. Too slow. Applejack stood to the side, her arms thrown aside to protect the others, despite her own injuries at the rampant magic of Twilight gone mad.

Light hung in the air, one heartbeat away from shooting forth and ending Lily’s life. Melody’s own hands glowed, summoning everything she had. It would be too little, too late. The bolt began to shoot forth, and even as slow as time was, it shot across her vision impossibly fast. In its light, Melody saw her mother’s eyes wide, coming to the realization of her death just one blink of an eye before it happened.

She heard screaming as the world turned white.

“What in blazes was that?!” Noth, the changeling lieutenant-turned-Equestrian-general had been coordinating the evacuation effort. Rainbow Dash had wandered off several long minutes ago, looking dazed and confused. He knew of the degradation in their memories, and was grimly holding out hope that the Children of Love that Hurricane and Gale had spoken of would fix this problem. When three bodies had arrived on the lawn, two of them dead and the third dying, he feared the worst. He’d begun the evacuation of not just the castle, but Canterlot as a whole.

He stood on the steps of the castle, watching a steady stream of soldiers and retainers flee the impending destruction. Magic still echoed out of the castle, shaking the whole structure to its very foundation. Some soldiers had been injured by the errant blasts, and limped out or were carried by their fellows.

But as he had gone to help someone carry their bloodied comrade out, a wind whipped past him, almost like a carriage flying past faster than it had any right to go. The streak left behind was confusing, an afterimage of… was that a person? As soon as he saw it, it had disappeared, gone inside of the castle.

“Was that a person?” He asked, rubbing his eyes. Through an upstairs window, he saw a flicker, the same image appearing for half a second before its passing blew a cloud of dust out of the same window.

It looked almost like… no, it couldn’t have been.

Could it?

The last echoing blast of power had nearly blinded Melody. She had expected to see Lily either completely gone or sheared into bits, her scorched remains left standing on the spot she had last been. Instead, she saw something else entirely. Something far beyond comprehension.

A man stood in the middle of her two mothers, his hands glowing more brilliantly and densely than anything else in that moment. Even Twilight’s shocked, limp hand didn’t have the glow his did. What’s more, there was an aura about him, a radiating energy that cast him as a beacon of both hope and salvation. It poured off of him like a river, flowing into the room. Melody felt empowered in his presence, her pains lessened, her breathing easier.

She felt like she knew him. Like he was familiar to him. Just as it clicked, Verse arrived at the same conclusion within her. Together, they whispered his name.

”Uncle.”

“Shining Armor!” Lily gasped, falling to her rear. “Where did you-“

“No time!” Shining barked, jarring them all out of their shock. “Melody, do it now! Resolve this dissonance!” He whirled on her, his firm magic gripping her whole body. She felt herself rushing forth, towards Twilight, propelled by his magic. With her came everyone else. Rainbow Dash, Lily, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and in the blinding light she saw the other five souls, the anti-elements. Closing her eyes, Melody and Verse opened themselves to the magic.

“End this madness.” Shining’s voice chased them onto the white plane.

“What?” Noth blinked as the nascent magic in the air dissipated. Not gradually, as if Twilight were done casting, but it disappeared entirely. The castle groaned, several spidery cracks finishing their journey, but in the end it settled. There was massive damage where Twilight’s magic had broken out of the walls themselves and into the grounds or the city nearby, but it seemed she was gone. It happened in a heartbeat, there and prevalent in one moment, and gone the next. The transition was so sudden he felt as if a vacuum was pulling him closer to the damaged castle. He and everyone else staggered towards the release of pressure, shocked and confused.

“General!” One of the soldiers ran up to him. “We have reports from the edge of the city! A checkpoint had accosted a traveler, but he blasted past them the moment Twilight went rampant! It’s Commander Shining Armor!”

“Shining Armor is back?” Noth reeled at that, looking up into the damaged castle. “That’s impossible, he abandoned Equestria during the war… He and Cadance both fled into Hearth and disappeared.”

“It was him, sir. There was no mistaking his signature. The mages at the checkpoint evaluated his spell, too, it was time magic; forbidden.”

“Unreal.” Noth blinked, then looked around. “Continue the evacuation, and focus on the wounded. We aren’t out of this yet, the castle may collapse at any second. Clear the city, and start transporting to Fillydelphia and Baltimare. If Twilight is dead or gone, we may see a power struggle for rulership, and I don’t want civilians caught in that.”

“Sir!” The guard saluted and dashed off to follow his orders, while Noth stood on the precipice of the castle, debating whether or not he should go inside.

“Fuck it.” He grumbled and shifted into a house cat, nimble, light, and quick. He dashed through the damaged castle, following the trail of blood Melody had left on her way in. The sudden silence in the aftermath of such violence was appalling; it felt like a tomb inside of the castle. Still, Noth didn’t pause until he arrived at the epicenter of the violence. Inside, blood and dust still remained, shocks of it splattered across the floor, puddles sitting in random spots. Arcs of magic ground outwards from the point Twilight had stood, carving slivers and points into the stone as they radiated out. Noth could see the parts where Lily had stood during those assaults, withstanding the magic in her naga form, and others where Applejack had shielded herself and her friends.

And in the middle of it all stood a man.

A legend.

A traitor.

“SHINING!” Noth bellowed as he shifted on the fly, transforming from a docile house cat to a fierce tiger from the southern jungles. His claws swiped through the air, intent on ripping Equestria’s most brilliant military genius to shreds before he had the chance to run again.

His claws passed through thin air, catching nothing. He landed and spun, impossibly quick, and found Shining standing just a short distance away. His face was somber as Noth launched himself forward again, snarling at the traitor. Again, he passed through nothing. Shining blinked, there one moment and gone the next, only to appear just a short distance away. His hands were glowing, intent on grasping Noth and keeping him still.

“TRAITOR!” Noth screamed, shifting into a magic-resistant naga and lunging forward. Shining’s magic died against his scaly hide, stunning him for half a moment as Noth went to wrap himself around the man. Just as he tightened his coils and went to sink his fangs in, though, Shining disappeared, making Noth collapse in upon himself. Tangled and confused for a moment, Noth felt feet on his body, and powerful arms wrapping themselves around his neck. Shining wasn’t using magic on him, the traitor was grappling! Noth twisted and writhed, using all of his muscle to try and thrash away, or wrap around Shining, but he couldn’t quite get him. The arm around his neck tightened, choking his breath out of him, until consciousness fled. Just as he slipped off, Shining whispered.

“I’m sorry, brother… But I’m not going to let her die.”

“Wh-who?” Noth choked, on the brink of darkness.

“Cadance.”

There were seventeen souls in total on the white plane, each of them separated from their bodies and standing in a large circle. The only ones who kept their bodies were Twilight, Lily, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Melody. The rest were wisps, formless souls shifting and pulsing together. Eleven of them there were, though Melody recognized the one immediately next to her as Verse. That one floated closer to her, resting warmly against her shoulder. She felt the same reassuring touch of her brother in that contact, and drew strength from it.

She was still bleeding from her injuries, and her feet felt like white-hot coals strapped to her legs, but she was alive and breathing. Twilight was in a poor state as well, bleeding from her face and standing on one leg while the other hung at an odd angle beneath her. As Melody watched, she wobbled and fell over, whimpering on impact. Lily dashed to her side, obviously ignoring her own injuries as she scooped Twilight into her arms.

“We don’t have long.” One of the souls spoke, his voice clear and loud. “The memory degradation is accelerating. If we are not reunited, we will begin to forget things that ought not be forgotten.” He looked at Fluttershy, who was staring vacantly into space. “Quickly.” Ten of the eleven souls began to mingle and move, each one swirling around the others as if in an intricate dance. As Melody watched, two of the souls grew nearer and brighter, until the light was nearly too much to look at.

“Woah!” She gasped as the two souls merged into one, no longer flickering or weak, but strong and whole. Soon after, the other four followed suit, their conjoined lights making her cover her eyes lest she be blinded. When it was all over, there were only six souls, but one of them was her brother and stayed by her side.

“Now what?” Melody asked, watching the five elements having been reunited. She idly wondered if this is what had happened all those months ago, when they had given Chrysalis’ soul to their mother. The light had been intense then, as well, and had spurred on this whole cataclysmic change.

“Now,” one of the souls sighed. “We need to be taken.”

“Taken? Taken where?” Pinkie Pie spoke up from the opposite side of Melody from the five glowing souls. “What’s even happening?”

“We’re reunited.” Another of the souls chimed in, a feminine voice, very quiet and soft-spoken. “The Elements of Harmony and Disharmony were once six people, their souls split in two to strike a balance. Now that we are whole again, we may die as we were destined to so long ago.”

“And that’s where I come in.” Death flashed into existence, appearing on the white plane as if it were his god-given right. In a sense, it probably was. He crossed his petite arms and glared at the five souls, even as those with a physical body stepped back from him. “If you only knew,” he sighed, hanging his head. “… how much trouble you five have been making. Why couldn’t you be like dear old Rarity and Elizabeth? They joined together and went off properly. Speaking of which,” Death turned to Lily, who blinked at him from her position next to Twilight. “Some of Rarity’s soul still clings to you, child. It’s why the memory loss effected you as well, if at a slower rate than the others. I’ve come to claim what’s mine.” A scythe appeared in his hands, gleaming and deadly. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”

In a blink of an eye, the scythe flashed out, cleaving through all five souls simultaneously. There was a breath of a moment as all five wavered in the air, but split into two and faded away. They flickered and died, gone at last into the hands of their steward.

“So much better.” Death cooed, hoisting the scythe. Melody and the others simply stood in slack-jawed wonder. Just like that, they had witnessed the death of the Elements. Their force was gone from the world, and they’d no longer hold sway over their respective energies. Even Ephemira’s sway over magic was gone, sliced in twain and laid to rest like the others. “Now, dear Lily.” The child stepped forward, leveling the scythe’s blade at her. “Sit still, this won’t take long. And I promise, I’ll not take any bits of yours. I’ll be more careful than I was last time around.”

Lily, in all of her composure and grace, nodded and swallowed hard, allowing the child to bear the scythe at her. The blade passed through her skin with ease, not cutting, simply disappearing inside of her. It delved into her chest, and as Melody watched, wisps of ephemeral smoke sluiced off of her body, dissipating into the air.

“There we are.” Death nodded, opening his fists and letting the scythe flash away. “Those bits will find their way to their master, and Rarity will finally know true rest. Although.” He reached out, snatching a piece before it could disappear. It writhed in his tiny fingers, as if in agony. “I can keep a piece of her inside of you. She should be able to come see you as a ghost, now and then.”

“No.” Lily answered immediately. “If she hasn’t been put to rest yet, I’ll not keep her from that.”

“As you wish.” Death released the sliver of soul, which sifted away until it too was nothing. “My work here is complete.”

“But what about our memories?” Rainbow Dash asked. Her wings had reverted to their normal state, no longer glowing and brilliant, but typical of the slender avian. “Will the degradation stop?”

“Some of it will reverse itself completely.” Death nodded. “But there has been damage done. Three months is a long time for such magic to go unchecked. Some things, you six may never be able to remember. What those things are, I cannot say.”

“And Twilight?” Lily choked, still holding the broken mage’s body close.

“It’s not nearly her time yet.” Death shrugged, turning away. “I’ll come for her when it is, but she’ll survive. Uglier than before, but then again, none of you really cared about looks, did you?” With that, the child disappeared, leaving them all on the white plane. It was just Melody, Verse, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Lily.

Soon, even the other six disappeared, leaving only Melody and Verse alone. She was still bleeding, and still in pain, but a smile spread across her lips.

“We did it, Verse… We saved them.” She panted.

“We sure did, sis.” Verse couldn’t smile, but the feeling she got from him was much the same. Joy, triumph, and happiness abounded between the two of them. It lasted for a long minute before melancholy took its place.

“We’re gonna die now, aren’t we?”

“Probably. But, it isn’t so bad.” Verse nestled into her breast. Slowly, the white plane disappeared from around them. Darkness rushed in, until it crept up her legs, obscuring the pool of blood she stood in, washing up her legs.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Lily smiled. Her legs buckled, the bones finally done supporting her weight. More broke as she fell, but she didn’t even feel the agony erupting into her veins. “It feels…”

The darkness wrapped around her splayed arms, crept up her chest.

“It feels almost…”

Verse’s soul flickered inside of her.

“Almost like I’m…”

She closed her eyes.

“Falling asleep.”

Broken Love, Part 2

----------Melody’s Tale – Broken Love, Part 2----------

“Oh, she is HURT.”

“Quick, get the medical corps in here!”

“But the evacuation-“

“THEN YOU HAD BETTER FLY FAST.”

The voices floated to Melody through the black haze surrounding her consciousness. Falling into the darkness in the white plane was still fresh in her mind, and what’s more, there was a suspicious lack of the child death come to claim their souls. That, more than the voices talking in hushed, panicked tones, kept her from fully slipping away.

There was pain, too. Oh there was pain. Even Verse felt it, his soul writhing inside of her breast. Which was on fire. And splintered with glass.

“We’re losing her.” One voice whispered urgently, and Melody could feel a surge of magic flow through her. It highlighted the agonies twisting her psyche into disarray, making her inhale a gasping breath. The world flooded back to her, borne on a wind of a million knives. The agony was white-hot, urgent, and prevalent. From her feet to her skull, Melody felt broken; shattered, even. She was shivering uncontrollably, and everything felt cold.

There was a face above her, the same face that had borne her onto the white plane mere minutes ago. Her uncle, Shining Armor. She lifted an arm towards him, or at least tried, but the lancing pain stole her breath and sent her into a wracking fit of coughing. White-hot agony filled her mind, chasing away even his face. There were small tendrils of relief flowing into her chest, but not enough to chase away all that pained her.

“Twilight.” She managed to croak between gasping fits and tears.

“Will live. She may lose her leg and nose, but she’ll live.” Shining’s voice was strong and robust, filling her with the sort of surety that came from a warm comforter on a chill night, or the arms of an old friend. She clung to the sound, willing him to continue speaking just so she could listen to him for a few more moments. Another wave of relief passed over the pains in her body, making her sag into the carpet, but soon clench her muscles once more as the pain returned. But with it came her uncle’s voice, strong and sure and pure.

“You’ve done it, Melody. The dissonance is resolved, and their souls are laid to rest. I don’t know how, but the memories have returned.”

“Oh no.” Another voice cut in, tremulous and thin. Melody recognized this one well, and the pain in her tone echoed in Melody’s own breast. “Verse. Is he…”

“Dead.” Melody groaned, once again trying to lift her hand to her chest. A different sort of pain filled her then, this one born in the very soul itself. Her breast ached, begging to be free. Her fingers twitched, but she couldn’t lift her arm.

Not that she couldn’t summon her magic. Gritting her teeth, Melody forced her power to life, gripping her elbow and wrist. Despite the agony of whatever broken, papery bones ailed her, Melody lifted her own glowing hand to her breast, calling on her changeling magic to withdraw Verse’s soul. It filled the air above her, strong and full of energy. His voice was thin, as if coming from a great distance away.

”Applejack, I’m so sorry.” Verse whispered, floating towards her. ”We were casting dangerous magic, even Twilight would have struggled with it. We made a mistake… As you can probably tell.” He drifted back towards Melody, who lay on the ground broken in so many ways. Tears streamed down her face, a mirror to Applejack’s, who lifted her hands towards the essence. She took Verse’s soul into her hands, not like Melody could, but the way only a dear friend could. Applejack was as good as family, and had seen them through tough times and an even tougher war.

She wasn’t the only one present, either. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie slowly wrapped their arms around the wavering soul, mourning the loss. Only Shining Armor remained over Melody, his magic filling her breast. Rainbow Dash was gone, likely to fetch the medical corps. And, as if on cue, she flew in through one of the blasted holes in the wall with a wing of avian medics behind her.

What followed was a myriad of medical banter and jargon even Melody couldn’t follow with her extensive experience healing. The only things she understood were ‘magical disruption’ and ‘soul severance.’ The last thing she heard before the milk passed her lips was Shining Armor’s voice, still full of confidence.

“When they teleported, her soul left her body. Death tried to claim the husk, halfway through her coming back into it.” There was a pause as her head went fuzzy and her eyes closed. “She’s literally half-dead.”

Consciousness found Twilight feeling fuzzy, but whole. She moved her legs, both of them, with ease. At her stirring, a presence at her bedside woke, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t move, love… You’ll pull your stitches out.”

“Mmn… Lily?” Twilight lifted a hand, plucking at the air above her bed. “’S that you?”

“It’s me, Twilight.” Lily took her hand in both of hers, drawing it to her lips. Twilight had never felt something so blessed; so amazing as the touch of her wife. Tears fell down her cheeks onto her pillow, even as she clutched at Lily’s fingers desperately.

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story, love… What do you last remember?” Lily slowly stretched out beside Twilight, her slight weight indenting the bed ever so slightly. She must have lost (or shifted) a few pounds. Twilight weakly wrapped her arms around the changeling, inhaling the scent of her hair. The question, though, wracked her mind. She thought back, to the last moments she had in her mind, and all that had happened.

“I remember… Hurricane and Gale. They had landed on the lawns, and were worried about something.” She frowned, trying to remember past that, but nothing was coming to mind. “There was something after that, a-a meeting, or something…”

“You’ve missed the past week.” Lily said solemnly, her fingers twined with Twilight’s across her stomach. “After the meeting, you awoke and… Do you remember the talk of the degradation? How the Elements of Harmony were unbalanced, with Chrysalis and the element of Generosity gone?”

“…Vaguely, yes.” Twilight did remember some talk of memories lost. It was dangerously close to the fuzzy barrier between the meeting and just now, when she had awoken.

“You’d… forgotten about me.”

Silence reigned for a solid minute, both women quiet and still in light of that little revelation. Twilight had lost so much of her memory that hearing those words come from her wife’s mouth immediately made her cringe inwardly, and nod in knowing. It made sense. With Rarity’s element joining its mate, the other five would slowly degrade into disarray. What’s more, there was something else missing within Twilight. An absence in her breast, not unlike-

“Ephemira is gone, isn’t she?”

“She is.” Lily nodded. “So are the others. The Elements of Harmony are no more.” That too stunned Twilight into a solid silence. Her body felt heavy and tired, like she was so much older than she actually was. Thinking back, Twilight honestly couldn’t remember... How old was she now? Forty? Fifty? Specifically, she couldn’t recall anything. What year it was, how long the war had lasted, how many months or years it had been since Lily’s return after being crowned as the new queen, or if she had lost any time via the memory degradation.

And yet, through it all was a niggling doubt that chased Twilight’s thoughts around her head like a cat after a mouse. When she arrived at the names, a cold sweat broke out on her skin.

“Melody and Verse?”

There was a moment of stillness before Lily began to quake against Twilight, tears squeezing out of her clenched eyes. Her sorrow was mirrored in Twilight, who knew the answer even as the two women shared the first choked, wracking sob.

Melody and Verse were dead.

“Fluttershy.”

“You should still be in bed.” Fluttershy sighed, not as if admonishing Twilight, but like a mother who knew their impetuous child wouldn’t be able to sleep all through a mild cold. Twilight leaned against her IV stand heavily, limping into the impromptu morgue. There were seven bodies collected here, unfortunate injuries sustained during Twilight’s madness-fueled rampage. She herself had a new disfiguring burn scar on her face, but at least had managed to keep her leg. She was followed by a melancholy Lily, the two women joining their third friend for a moment of quiet and tenderness.

“I want to see them.” Twilight’s jaw was set in determination, and even Fluttershy’s kindness couldn’t spare her this much. Maybe it was the lack of an element inside of her, or maybe it was seeing Twilight’s determination, but Fluttershy acquiesced with only token arguments against Twilight’s own physical health. Of the seven bodies collected in the old office, two were laid aside from all of the others. Twilight and Lily grimly stood over one while Fluttershy pulled the sheet back.

Verse’s body was burned and cut beyond recognition. Almost, anyways. Tufts of his teal hair and the general structure of his face had survived whatever horrid ordeal had ripped their son away from them. Twilight looked at the gruesome scene for a few moments longer before leaning forward and laying a gentle kiss on his cracked forehead. Lily mirrored her, their hands finding one another’s as the tears began. Fluttershy replaced the sheet and went to the other.

Melody looked so much more peaceful than her brother. There was a faint smile on her lips and a calmness to her settled features that reminded Twilight of an age-old soul resting at long last. Melody’s injuries had been much more torturous than her brother’s, but the pain didn’t show on her face. Her bones had been changed in their consistency, from hard calcium to papery carbon-like layers, she had suffered so many fractures and breaks that her nervous system had overwhelmed her brain and it had shut down. Fluttershy explained the process coolly and evenly, sparing no details, and while Twilight felt a sickness rise in her stomach at the description, she knew she would thank Fluttershy for her brevity down the road. Instead of losing whatever food was in her system, Twilight pulled the sheet all the way off of Melody’s body, looking over her clubbed feet grown in haste. She didn’t even have any ankles, just a solid fusing of her tibia and fibula into the major tarsal bones. Fluttershy explained that the same teleportation that had claimed Verse’s life had sheared Melody’s feet off, and the guards reported that she had regrown these on the spot in order to limp into the castle.

“Thank you, Fluttershy.” Twilight choked, finally losing her strength. She collapsed into Lily’s arms, who shifted into the hulking Liam to hoist her with ease. “Thank you.”

“I’m assuming you will want to bury them?”

“On the grounds.” Twilight panted. “They deserve everything. A-a monument, or something…”

“A statue.” Lily choked. “They deserve that much.”

“They really did it, didn’t they?” Fluttershy was crying as well, but bore her tears in silence. “They saved us all. Saved the world, really…”

“They did so much.” Rainbow Dash was there, in the shadows, but stepped forward solemnly. “I remember it all now; the way they saved Eyriewatch, twice, helping Connor’s unit in Hearth, even the way they handed Canterlot over to Chrysalis, in the end saving us all from that evil bitch…” A tremor passed her features. “Not all of them… Those soliders, I-“

“You can’t blame yourself, Dash.” Pinkie Pie and Applejack joined them as well, both looking solemn and melancholy. It was Pinkie Pie who spoke, bringing them all together in a warm hug. “We’ve all struggled and lost in this war. Between the elements and the changelings and… just… everything,” she sniffled, a bright smile lighting her face. “… but we’re still here, aren’t we? We owe everything to them.”

Six pairs of eyes cast down to the twin bodies covered in sheets. Their tears fell fast and free, but quietly.

After a full minute of silence, Twilight spoke.

“Rest in peace, Children of Love.”

”Well isn’t this different.”

“Now you know how I feel.”

“Oh, shut up, you spent what, a day like this?”

“Will both of you shut up?” Shining grumbled, his hands still glowing as he gripped the two souls firmly. “I’m no changeling; doing this is hard enough as-is.”

”Sorry, uncle.” Melody fell silent, though she and Verse shared an empathetic waver between their two souls.

Melody had to admit, not having a body kind of sucked. Her consciousness was still absorbing phenomena, not unlike a brain would map memories to specific neurons, but it was something more significant than that. Just travelling as she was, guided and anchored by Shining Armor’s magic, made her have an all-new appreciation for the Elements that had spent however long separated from their bodies. She missed feeling the strain of her muscles, of her lungs filling and emptying with breath. She couldn’t feel the lay of the land beneath her boots, or the rush of wind through her hair and across her skin.

She certainly couldn’t feel pleasure anymore. That more than anything else left an ache in what Melody could only guess was her breast. It pulsed through her essence, making her entire consciousness throb with the sensation of loss. While the others had had over a full millennium to adjust to being ephemeral, incorporeal souls, she had been this way for only a week.

One thing she did not miss was the cold, though. Even though she and Verse had known the blessings of the Roc for the majority of their time away from their coastal home, there were still a few cold nights at the ancient home of the harpies that remained in her memory, and even those seemed like balmy summer nights when compared to the frozen reaches of Hearth. Shining Armor had to wear both pairs of their old clothing and a full thermal overlay to avoid freezing as he trekked his way further and further North.

He was scaling a mountain by now, the barrier that separated the ancient homeland of Equestria (before it had been ravaged by the wendigo and forced them this far South,) and claimed to be closer to the place he and Cadance had hidden away all these years.

Melody had only heard of her uncle and his gorgeous wife, the princess of love, in stories from Twilight and Lily. This past week of grueling hiking and occasional magic-aided flight (which was more akin to gliding, really) had given her and Verse the chance to actually connect with their long-lost family member. Shining had stories to tell about his life in the guard, and what drove him and Cadance to flee from Equestria as the war broke out.

His explanation had been that there was little love and less compassion in war, and Cadance fell ill almost the moment hostilities had boiled to a head. They had managed to fly over the vicious chimera that made their home in the frozen tundra of Hearth, to find a refuge in the barrier between worlds. Shining had delved into what supplies Canterlot had at the time and made them a passable domicile, in which he and Cadance had lived the last twenty years of their lives.

Along with a child of their own. Melody was elated to discover she and Verse had a cousin in Shining’s daughter, Willow.

But desperate measures had called Shining to invoke magic he had been privy to as commander of the guard in order to save his wife. It seemed the lack of love in and around Equestria had driven Cadance to a serious illness, and the dissonance with the Elements of Harmony had been particularly crippling to her, since she was so close to them all. Even Shining had suffered some mild memory loss. The way Melody understood it, there was a mild effect for just about everyone in the world, be it a miniscule, inconsequential memory to a few reports of hysteria and violence at discovering an unbeknownst stranger sleeping beside a victim.

Shining had come seeking the Children of Love, having sensed their magical energy the moment they arrived in Canterlot. He was already on his way there to beseech his sister for help, so the journey was doubly easy. Bending time around him, Shining had shaved precious weeks off of his life in order to speed to Canterlot as quickly as he had, and even trade blows with the changeling lieutenant Noth before saving Melody and Verse’s souls from her dying body.

Changeling magic was still the magic of love, and Shining Armor had been able to mimic their ability to manipulate and grasp souls. He couldn’t hold or absorb them as any changeling could, but he carried them deep into Hearth, making for a dark gash in the side of the mountains that separated the new world from the old.

The long journey from Canterlot had worn on Shining, who was already exhausted from his break-neck trek south. He was already grumbling to himself about laying down for a nice, refreshing coma. About forty hours or so. As they approached the dark gash, Melody could feel a sense of warmth radiating out of it. The sensation was all she had, but there was still snow and ice in abundance. Shining picked up his pace, obviously sensing his destination close by. As they approached the cave, a heavily-shrouded figure appeared from the dark gash, looking at Shining intently.

“Papa?”

“Hey, Willow.” Shining panted, ascending the last few steps into the cave mouth. “I’d hug you, but I’m holding something really important… how is momma?”

“She got better a few days ago, but she’s still hurting, papa.” The shrouded figure proved to be a younger child, possibly ten or eleven, wrapped in thick layers of fabric and still shivering from the cold. “What are those?” She may have been cold, but Willow could still see Melody and Verse’s souls held within her father’s hands, their ephemeral essence unfazed by the freezing air.

“These are… well, do you remember your mother telling you about changelings?” The figure nodded firmly, even as Shining stepped into the crack between two rocks. The dark cave immediately swallowed them, and even though the warmth radiating out of the fissure felt wondrous to Melody’s soul, it was still cold. Willow lifted her hand, lighting the fissure with a golden-colored light. She and Shining followed a set of rough-hewn steps further into the mountain, even as Shining continued his explanation. “Well, this is the ‘love’ that a changeling feeds off of. It’s a little technical, but these souls can exude love. That is, the energy for the magic that momma and I use.”

“And me too?”

“And you, too, Willow.” Shining chuckled. “It’s just that these essences – these souls – are the purest and basest form of what a changeling feeds off of. So by working with our magic, I can do a few of the things that some changelings do. Like carry these, for instance.”

Willow was silent as they walked, but Melody could tell the child was thinking intently on everything her father was saying. She drifted closer to him, sometimes reaching out to wrap the hem of his coat in her gloved fist, or just touching him. Still they travelled ever-down, following the winding staircase until the air seemed to grow warmer and less cold. The walls of the cavern glistened with moisture, condensed as it rose from whatever warmth lay beneath the mountain.

”Is this your home, uncle?” Verse asked quietly.

“Home sweet home.” Shining affirmed, just as they arrived at the base of the stairwell. Before them, a massive antechamber opened up, the stone floor giving way to dirt and grass, of all things. Willow began stripping her warm clothing off, giggling with excitement before dashing off into the massive chamber. She was a skinny girl no older than twelve, the child-like sense of wonder and glee having never left her features. She cartwheeled through the grass, her long mane of luscious pink-and-blue hair looking not unlike a streamer tied to the end of a spindly stick as it was twirled through the air. Melody felt Shining’s strength begin to wane, his weakness showing in light of hearth and home.

Indeed, they had a home down here. There must have been powerful enchantments placed on this area. The whole chamber was lit bright as day without any apparent light source, and Melody could even see shadows dancing between long blades of grass. When she looked at the wall where the sun would be, instead she saw nothing. But still, grass and a few wayward trees grew healthily underneath the mountain. Their home was a modest one-story building that couldn’t have been more than four or five rooms in the middle of the chamber itself, surrounded by a quaint pond, a chicken coop, and a modest garden.

”You’ve lived here for twenty years?” Melody asked, soaking in the energy of the place. It had the same scent of warmth she sensed coming from the fissure, only more prevalent. It seemed to soak into the atmosphere, warming her more thoroughly than whatever enchantment kept them from freezing so far beneath the earth. As Shining strode towards the house, it only seemed to grow warmer.

“Just about.” Shining sighed, skirting the pond. Willow had disappeared inside, though they could hear the lilting tone of her voice carry out to them, underlined by a quieter voice, soft and tender.

And weak.

Melody and Verse realized it almost simultaneously. She could feel the shift in her brother’s essence, and Shining seemed to sense it as well. He paused outside of the door, his strong voice suddenly much more tremulous.

“She doesn’t have long, does she?”

”We may need to put her to rest.” Verse’s voice was even more quiet, sounding for all intents and purposes like an ephemeral whisper, sent on the wind from another dimension. ”Her soul is tired and needs to recuperate.”

“It will be for a long while, uncle… A few centuries, at least.”

“She told me of this day.” Shining sighed, hanging his head at the threshold of his home. “That she would need to sleep again… the war put too much strain on her. If it hadn’t ended when it did, she might not have-“

“Shining?” A woman’s voice carried through the home, stopping Shining in his tracks. She stiffened for a few moments, his hands wavering in the air. Even his magic flickered. Solemnly, Melody and Verse detached themselves from him, floating in mid-air beside the tired man. As he felt them leave, his hands dropped, his head mirroring them. Almost woodenly, he began to shuffle out of his clothes, leaving them heaped by the door.

”We can give you a few days if you’d like.”

“No. The sooner the better. We agreed it would be like this.”

”We can’t ask this of you. She’s your wife, Shining. Our own aunt-“

“Your work is not yet done in this world.” Shining began peeling the clothes given to them by the Roc off of his frame. He seemed thin and muscular, not wasted away, but certainly tired, and old. His deep blue hair was shot through with white streaks, product of his abuse of both time magic and the effect of the war. But still, he was strong and capable. “Just… will it hurt her?”

”Not at all. In fact, she can’t be harmed. At least, not her soul…”

“And you’re going to take good care of the other part, right?”

”As best we can.” Verse hovered forward, resting against Shining’s forehead gingerly. ”It’s the least we can do.”

“Thank you. Both of you.” Shining sighed, scooping Melody up in his magic, bringing her to his forehead as well. He closed his eyes and rested with their souls against his brow for a few moments. “I hardly knew of you, but I knew that Twilight would raise you well. She’s always been good at what she does, no matter what… And Lily was capable, if nothing else. I might not have been there to watch you grow, but I can say that I’m proud of you. Not just for saving the world, or ending the war, or any of it…” He sniffled, pulling away with tears in his eyes and a warm smile on his face.

“I’m proud of you as your uncle.”

That struck Melody in a way she never thought possible. If souls could cry, she shed a few tears into Shining’s palm just then.

As it stood, they had a duty to perform. Shining gently carried them into the next room, where Cadance lay underneath a warm quilt. Willow stood at the bedside, gently wiping Cadance’s shoulders and neck with a damp cloth. As soon as Shining entered, Cadance struggled to sit up.

Here was another woman Melody had never known. Her aunt-in-law, married to Shining Armor so long ago it felt like a different world. That was dozens of years before the war, when their parents had given birth to them. When things weren’t so abysmally hectic. And yet, wasted and tired as her body was, Cadance was still a thing of beauty. She had the same body as Celestia and Luna, that ageless avian form, underlined with human muscle and magi grace. Even if there were bags under her eyes, Melody could tell that Cadance was a woman to behold, even on a bad day.

“Shining. Thank the stars, you’re alright. Twilight, is she-?”

“They’re all okay, thanks to these two.” Shining hefted their souls with a smile. It was a genuine one, and filled Melody’s mind with warmth. “That’s another story for another time, though. They’re here to help now.”

“Are they gonna make momma better?” Willow asked, setting the rag aside. Shining beamed at his daughter, and probably would have ruffled her hair if he had a free hand, but instead settled on bending over to kiss the top of her head.

“Momma’s gonna go to sleep for a long, long time, Willow.”

“Oh. So that’s what’s gonna happen.” Willow’s voice fell, but not in the way Melody had expected. Even Shining seemed a little taken aback.

“I told her about the sleep.” Cadance chuckled. “She’s old enough now to know who I am and what that means for us.”

“That’s good, then. So you know that momma is really old, right?”

“Like, older than gramma Celestia old.” Willow giggled, as only a child could. Even Melody felt her spirits lift in the face of such child-like glee.

“I am not that old, Willow. Such a rude child.” Cadance faked her scorn, pulling Willow up onto the bed to tickle her ruthlessly. The child laughed and screamed, and Shining stepped back to watch with that sad smile on his face. Eventually, Willow calmed down, leaving Cadance to stroke her hair lovingly. When the Princess of Love spoke next, it was to the ephemeral souls before her.

“Can I speak with you privately? For just a few minutes?”

”We’ll not fade away. Shining can leave us here.” Melody pulled away from their escort, who let them go willingly. Their progress was slow, but the two of them drifted closer to Cadance. Willow looked up at them with wonder in her eyes, tentatively reaching her small hand out. It passed straight through Melody’s soul, feeling like nothing, but the sensation of awe and bewilderment was not lost on her. Melody would have twined her fingers through the child’s, if she were able. Instead, she floated towards Willow’s face, letting the young woman lay her brow against the essence.

Eventually, she slid off of the bed, going to finally hug her father. Shining lifted the young girl with ease, carrying her into the next room. Their conversation died away as Cadance smiled warmly at the two of them. When they were sure Shining could no longer hear them, she spoke.

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

”Not at all.” Verse quelled her fear immediately. ”Someone only dies when Death takes their soul from this world to the next, as he did with the Elements of Harmony. Your soul will live on forever, or so we can assume. But it requires rest, as all souls eventually do, and as we humble mortals eventually find in Death. For that, we put your soul to sleep. It’s our duty to not only wake slumbering souls up, but to give them this rest as well.”

“And my body will house my soul?”

”That’s what we wanted to talk to you about.” Melody interjected, slowly floating forwards. ”With your permission, we would… Well, for lack of a better term, take your body. We have, unfortunately, lost ours. But our work in this world isn’t yet done, and we need a body to live in, else Death will come for us.”

“I see.” Cadance sighed, though she lifted both her hands to gingerly cup their souls. She held them like that, her magic playing through their essence as only the Princess of Love could. Hers was the magic of the changelings, after all, but more than that was the magic their had been birthed from. There were other facets to this power, ones that Melody hadn’t yet explored. At her touch, Melody remembered Faith and Connor, and even her parents and her brother and the other Elements. There were so many people in this world to love and be loved by, and Cadance’s touch reminded them of that. Old and weary as her soul and magic were, it was still powerful.

So powerful, in fact, that it drew them into the white plane before any of them even knew what was happening. Verse and Melody floated before Cadance in that place they knew so well. Three souls, and only one body. Cadance smiled at them knowingly, her form as it was meant to be. Even in this world, with no sexual motivation whatsoever, Melody could appreciate how truly beautiful the princess was. Hers was an everlasting beauty, never to be dimmed with age.

“Thank you, both of you, for doing this.” Cadance whispered, inhaling a deep breath before letting it out in a sigh. “I’ll agree, on one condition.”

“Name it.” Meldoy floated forwards. Already, she could feel Cadance’s soul slipping off to sleep. Tiredly, Cadance welcomed the two of them into her breast. As she spoke her terms, both Melody and Verse had to agree…

It was a good reason.

Shining Armor and Willow slumbered on in peace, the two of them laying back-to-back, with Cadance between them. Only Cadance wasn’t Cadance any more. Even now, Melody could feel her soul shuffling into the weak body of the princess, filling it in, growing accustomed to it. Cadance’s body responded in kind, growing stronger now that it had not just one, but two healthy souls within it.

With a tricky bit of magic and some careful maneuvering, Melody and Verse extracted themselves from between the sleeping ex-commander and his daughter. Willow curled her arms around her pillow and groaned, but remained asleep. Shining just looked so… tired.

And yet, all through the house and the chamber outside, a presence settled, as warm and comforting as any there could be. It was a sleeping soul, one of love and peace. Cadance’s soul, keeping her body on lease to the children of her namesake, the Children of Love.

Even in the mirror, Melody could see the changes taking place. Her soul was more familiar to this body than Verse’s, and began to fill it out as such. Her breasts reduced slightly, and her rear deflated. Her face grew softer, and her limbs a little shorter. Even the bubblegum-pink hair began to shift slowly to teal, starting at the roots and growing out.

In just a few minutes’ time, Melody appeared as she ever was, even if it was Cadance’s body.

”Must be the root of the changeling magic in her.” Verse hypothesized from within her breast.

“Must be.” Melody sighed, feeling whole once more. She would forever carry Verse within her, or at least until they could find him a body of his own.

”I kind of like this, to be honest.” Verse quelled her worries with a thought. ”Could get used to it, I think. We’ll just have to see.”

“Indeed we shall.” Melody sighed, fetching one pair of the clothes gifted to her by the Roc. Shining may have needed both to survive, but the clothes were her god-given right. As she slipped into them, she knew the cold wind and ice of Hearth wouldn’t faze her. She folded the other pair and left a note, a gift, for Willow to use. And, as dictated by the magic of the gods who bestowed it on her, the clothes would work for her as they had for Verse in his lifetime.

Feeling the strain in her muscles once again, Melody left Shining Armor’s home, ascending the rough stone stairway up into the barrier mountains, and the whipping wind and ice-cold snow. The chill didn’t touch her arms, didn’t make her shiver, or even feel uncomfortable. Instead, Melody stood in the driving snow, inhaling a deep breath.

Before her sat the world, with its myriad gods and quarrels. She had come from her home in the southern jungle to the very furthest reaches of the northern world, and lived to tell the story. Perhaps not her body, but her soul had.

With a grin, she shifted her wings out.

“Let’s get to work.”

Epilogue

---------- Melody's Tale: Epilogue, Rising Sun, Rising Moon ----------

The sleep had been truly restful. Slowly, and very marginally, consciousness returned to the two of them. Like rising from the depths of a dark lake, both women roused from sleep and into the world of the living. Sitting up, Celestia stretched her arms above her with a wide yawn, feeling the bones in her back pop in sequence.

“Ooh,” She moaned, cracking her knuckles next, and then stretching her legs before her. “Oh, that feels incredible.”

“Always does,” Luna mirrored her, rolling her neck in a circle. “I remember the last time we slept like this… felt like an orgasm coming out of it.”

“Ooh, don’t even say that word to me right now.” Celestia shuddered, her wings flaring out behind her. She flapped them a few times, feeling strength and blood flow return to parts of her body that had been dormant for far, far too long. “Hmm, where are we?”

“Canterlot, near as I can tell.” Luna yawned, glancing out of the nearby balcony at the night sky.

“Aye, ye be in Canterlot.” The third voice caused both sisters to whirl on the intruder, their hands already glowing densely. There in the light of their magic stood a figure, wrinkled and stooped with age, clutching a knobbled old walking stick. The woman was far beyond decrepit, her bones knobby and her knees swollen. She raised her weathered hands defensively, and behind them sat her face, old, but wise beyond measure. “Easy, ladies, easy.” She cooed, stepping back slowly. “’Tis naught but a friend, a steward to help.”

“Who are you?” Celestia demanded, firm, but inquisitive. As always when they awoke, things were blurry. There were memories from long, long ago; eons upon eons of their millennia-long lifespan. But specific things, like names and minor places, happenings of a bygone era, were slow in returning to her. She did not remember what put her to sleep, or even the things that had happened in the handful of years leading up to that particular situation. Already, she could sense things about the world were different than before, the texture of magic all around them so much more thick and prevalent than ever.

“I told ye,” the crone growled, pulling up a nearby stool. She dusted the top of it and plopped down, her bones settling in such a world-weary way that made even Celestia grimace. “… I’m a friend of yers. A steward.”

“Someone assigned by the castle?” Luna inquired, slowly lowering her hand. “To help us out of our slumber?”

“A steward, yes.” The old woman hacked a wet cough, and in her hand was blood mingled with spittle. “But not assigned by any castle. No castle to assign anyone. No sovereign power. No rulers. No government or military, at least, not one that’s yours to command, anyways.” The crone chuckled faintly, wiping the spittle off on their tunic. Surprisingly, the clothing she wore was still vibrant and new, her boots well-fit, and the leather britches still covering her frame warmly. The red-and-yellow color scheme melded well with the soft brown of the leather, and a shawl of beads draped over her shoulders.

In this old woman, Celestia sensed magic, as mysterious and powerful as the magic of the world around them. It was new to her, as was the very texture of the air she breathed. The crone was speaking strangely, and in general the confusion that came with waking after such a long sleep had her mind reeling.

“What happened, friend?” Celestia sat back down on the bed, which sat sunken into the floor around it. Now that she saw, the room was decrepit and old, the drapes rotted off of their rusted rods, the carpet eaten by moths decades ago. Dust and dirt were everywhere. A small hearth crackled merrily, shedding a warm light into the otherwise depressing room. Someone had been living in here, if the greasy stains around the hearth were any indication, along with the bedroll and pack nearby. They were meager belongings, but undoubtedly those of the woman before them.

“Aah, ‘tis a long story, Celestia, Luna.” The woman sighed, nodding sagely. “War. Peace. Turmoil. Magic. Aye, the world has changed since ye last spent yer wakin’ days among it. Here.” The woman’s hand glowed, a dense aura that affirmed Celestia’s thoughts about this woman’s power. She lifted a loaf of bread from her pack, floating it towards them neatly. The bread was warm and fresh, likely baked earlier that day. Celestia broke it in half and gave Luna a fair portion, sitting on the untouched bed to listen to the old woman.

“This story,” Luna mumbled between ravenous bites. “Will it take long?”

“As long as it has to.” The crone grumbled. “It’s your story, you know.”

“Our story?” Celestia arched an eyebrow. She didn’t know this woman, and neither did Luna. And yet, something about her seemed hauntingly familiar.

“Aye, yours… A story of impossible magic, an age-long war, blood and destruction, life and love…” The crone inhaled, closing her eyes and craning her face to the ceiling. “’Tis a tale of the gods themselves. Wind and rain, magic and power, chaos, order, hatred, time, and yes,” she opened her eyes and smiled at the pair. “Even the sun and the moon. ‘Tis a story of epic proportions, many, many years in the makin’. Is the story of a love so true it bent the will of magic to its own purpose. Of a changeling queen so desperate for power and love she plunged the world into war just to have it for herself. It’s the journey of a family, away from the tides of violence, at their attempt of a civil life to raise their blessed children alone and unbiased.

“Your story is a story of tragedy, and death. Violence, blood, and strife. Aye, ‘tis a sad story… but a good one, and there is happiness in it as well. There be love, and joy, and camaraderie as well. As much as there is betrayal and pain, there too is alliance and truth. Solace, and happiness.” The crone inhaled a breath through her nose, closing her eyes and hanging her head.

“’Tis a long, long tale… And as much as it is yours, it is mine too.”

“Your story?” Luna glanced out of the window. “Shiphtur’s light is gone from the night; it’s been at least six hundred years since we slept, that much I remember. Arcanos is wavering as well, and the constellation Mir’nas has faded. Ages have passed since we slept, old one. Nobody can live that long.”

“Oh, it’s no secret I’m on my way out.” The old woman chuckled, looking up at the pair. “But ‘tis true, I’ve lived as long as ye’ve slept. Seven hundred and forty-three years, I’ve walked on these old bones. That’s seven centuries of blood, sweat, and tears.” She tapped her walking stick into the ground. “This story be mine, as much as it be yours.”

“Wait…” Celestia blinked at the old woman. Her hair, though faded, retained a faint tinge of its original, teal color. Her eyes were the same, faded, but teal as well. And inside of this woman, Celestia could feel it…

Two souls.

“Aye, this be my tale.” The crone smiled at them.

“Melody’s Tale.”

Author's Note

In loving memory of Tasha Williams, beloved sister, friend, and mentor. Formerly the co-author of the entire A Different Kind of Love series, Tasha passed before we could finish The Lost Chapters, leaving me to handle the bulk of writing between it and Melody's Tale. Her condition was as much a mystery to me as it was the professionals who conducted her autopsy, and her passing still haunts me to this day. She was too young, and far, far too vibrant to be taken so early.

Thank you, Tasha. I'll always miss you, and I hope you're proud of what I've done.