“Come on, girls! I gotta show you this new place!” Melody chirped, rushing ahead of her best friends. “It just recently opened and you have to try those milkshakes. You have to try them!”
Cherry and Raine followed behind, and as Melody turned her head back to glance at her friends, she saw them exchanging looks and laughing. At the back of her mind, Melody already knew that Cherry or Raine, or even both, knew about the Sweet Tooth incident. Raine would no doubt have heard about it since she lived in the palace with her parents, but Cherry was surprisingly well-informed despite living in the Outer Ring of the Empire, but then again, she was the most outspoken and extroverted filly of the three.
“So,” came Cherry’s slow humming voice from behind Melody, “is that related to the guards that showed up on your doorstep the other day?”
Melody froze in place, gulping loudly as the comment passed her by. Her ears flattened on her scalp as she struggled between telling a lie or being honest with her friends. On one hoof, telling a lie would likely get found out later after some additional poking. On the other, being honest currently didn’t seem to offer any kind of downsides. Melody gave a weak nod and turned around, her lips curled in a smile.
“Yup,” she admitted in a chipper tone, wiggling her ears a bit. She had to sell her act, after all. “I want to fix my leg at some point, so I need to save up some bits—a lot of them actually—for that. Asked the owner here if she was hiring. When she said I wasn’t of age yet, I crafted a disguise with my magic and gave away my secret of being a changeling. And, well, you know the rest!”
“Yeah, I heard. At this point, we might as well start counting the number of times that somepony called the guards on you,” Cherry snickered as she trotted over to Melody’s side. “Aren’t you a little young to be working, though?”
That was an excellent point that Melody had talked gone ahead and discussed to great lengths with her parents. Sure, she was a bit young to be working, but if she did want to get her savings accumulated in time to pay for her surgery, she needed that job. Plus, after the incident with the guards, Sweet Tooth had become much kinder to her. Maybe it was because the mare thought that Melody was only there to syphon love out of her customers, but Melody would never do that, let alone think about doing that. Gemma’s revelations on feeding methods scarred her.
“Come on, now, I want to see what the inside looks like now!” Melody chirped, igniting her horn and pushing the door.
The trio of fillies was greeted by the soft chime of a silver bell. Melody looked up at the bell, smiling before she set her eyes at the inside of the shop. The walls, once a drab dark grey colour, were now a vibrant a symbiotic combination of lilac purple and regal purple, along with various strokes of pink and white in uneven patterns. Sprinkled along the walls were various products that had been painted there. Melody fought back the urge to drool as her eyes darted over the painted illustration of the ice cream, often licking her lips.
The shop felt so different now. Sitting on top of a step were the displays and the cash register, but Sweet Tooth was not to be seen at either spot. Melody looked about a bit, and she saw nopony except for customers eating their treats or drinking their milkshakes. Melody looked at those, trying to familiarise herself with the imagery as she would eventually be tending to customers of all sorts. Maybe even classmates of hers, for that matter.
And yet, Sweet Tooth was nowhere to be found. Granted, Melody had only entered the shop, and Sweet Tooth could be busy.
“I’m coming. Give me a moment. Brownies are just about ready!” came Sweet Tooth’s voice from the back, likely the kitchen. “You can sit at a table in the meantime!”
The fillies looked at each other and nodded, quickly making their way to the closest table they could find. They sat down, and all three of them propped their legs on the table. Melody craned her back to look at the kitchen, taking a few sneak peaks at the decorations on the wall. She heard the stomping of hooves coming from the kitchen and the restless silhouette of the mare that owned the business.
Melody perked an ear and tried to listen in to whatever she could, but the sounds of the snickering fillies next to her didn’t help. She gave up after about a minute of trying to listen in on the kitchen and turned back to her friends. Her gaze met with her friends again, and she lit up her horn. She turned her gaze to look pastries counter, levitating three copies of the menu from the pile resting close by the cash register. She dropped one in front of her and gave the remaining ones to her friends.
She turned around once the deed was done and she took in a breath, “We took the menu, Sweet Tooth.” Careful to mind her tone, Melody turned back to her friends and found them already perusing the blue and pastries-decorated laminated piece of paper. She rolled her eyes at the eagerness, and she gave the menu her full attention. She knew she would be going for a milkshake, but she wasn’t quite sure what she would get to complement the dairy treat.
Her eyes trailed along the menu until they stumbled on the candy section. She stopped there and quirked an eyebrow at one of the items on the menu. Despite the few times she had been to the shop, she’d never noticed rock candy on the menu. What even was a rock candy? A confection made out of rocks? What kind of madpony would eat anything like that? It just sounded like the best way for somepony to break their teeth. What if candy makers worked in league with dentists and the whole appeal to that kind of candy was a vicious circle? Melody snorted and shook her head. Nah, that was a really far-fetched idea.
“Okay, I’m here now. Thanks for waiting, girls,” Sweet Tooth said, the chime of a voice betraying the abruptness of her arrival. “What can I get you, then?”
Melody jumped in her seat, perked up her ears, and looked up at Sweet Tooth just in time for a tinge of crimson to tint her cheeks. She stole a look at her friends, finding them staring at her. She took in a breath and straightened in her chair, clearing her throat. “I’ll go first, I guess,” Melody sighed, shooting a glare, at least as subtly as she could, to her friends. “I’ll have the wildberry milkshake, and I have a question. Are rock candy… made out of actual rocks?”
Sweet Tooth stared, in silence, at Melody for the longest time, at least enough time for Melody’s ears to droop, before she burst with laughter and staggered back. For a few good moments, Sweet Tooth did nothing but laugh, attracting the curiosity of the establishment’s other patrons.
“Oh, sweet Love, no, you silly filly. Rock candy is just crystallized sugar. It’s pretty relevant to the theme of the Empire too.”
Melody blinked, looked down at the menu, and stared back up at Sweet Tooth again. She noticed her friends snickering from the corner of her eye, and rolled her eyes when theirs met hers. “I… Wait,” Melody stuttered, returning her focus to the mare next to her. She scratched her head and blinked again. “I’m not sure what I was expecting any more.”
♫
“So, how do you feel about Raine going back to Canterlot by summer’s end?” Melody’s ears perked at the question, but she didn’t react.
Melody glanced at the setting sun while she gave herself another push on the swing. She stole a glance at Cherry and looked back at the horizon. He ears draped over her scalp, and she heaved another sigh. Her meeting with her friends at Sweet Tooth’s hadn’t gone quite how she had been expecting it. Thoughts conflicted in her mind. She knew and understood the reasons behind the whole thing, but she didn’t want to part with Raine so quickly. It had only been a year, after all.
“I’m… not sure,” Melody replied, her gaze still locked to the horizon, her soft-spoken voice betraying whatever turmoil raging inside her. “I get that her parents are bound to Princess Luna’s wishes and orders, but it still hurts a bit that she has to move back to Canterlot.”
Cherry gave herself another swing, although quickly settled down shortly after until her swings stopped and she dropped her hinds in the sand. Melody turned her head to her friend and quirked an eyebrow. Cherry hung her head, strands of ruby red and snow white hair licking at her fur. Cherry reached for the rubber band in her mane and pulled it away, although with some effort. Melody had to choke down a giggle while watching her friend struggle with a rubber band. Magic was so useful.
“I see that smirk, bug princess. Think you’re so much better than me because you’ve got magic?”
Melody brought a hoof to her lips and shrugged, thankful again that her changeling form hid the mirth dancing in her eyes.
“I would never!”
And just like that, both fillies succumbed to laughter. Melody soon stopped her swing as well and sat there next to her friend. After the initial bout of laughter, the two turned quiet. Melody tried to speak up, but each attempt left her with a gaping mouth. What was going to happen after Raine was gone? Would things really be the same?
“I’m skipping secondary school.”
Melody’s head turned to the side in an instant, eyes wide and mouth agape. A gasp left her, and she just stared at her friend. Why would she stunt her life so much? Melody wanted to go to secondary school, if only because she wanted to be as prepared as possible for the future, but why would Cherry want to do that.
“I know that look. It was a hard decision to take, in all honesty. If only I hadn’t gotten this cutie mark,” Cherry said with a downcast voice.
Melody noticed Cherry’s crisped expression, but more than that, she tasted the nauseating smell of disappointment and anger. What did Cherry’s cutie mark have to do in all of—Oh. Now it made sense why she looked so ashamed of her cutie mark at the slumber party. She didn’t want that cutie mark. Melody had been right all along. She anchored herself in the reality of the situation and shrugged off this victorious euphoria.
“What so wrong about your cutie mark?” Melody asked, covering her mouth mere moments later. What was wrong with her?
Cherry looked at Melody as if looks could kill before lowering her gaze back to her legs. A foreleg ran down her flank to touch her cutie mark. She closed her eyes and ground her teeth while Melody looked on as emotions of all kinds flooded her senses. Why was Cherry feeling all of those things about her cutie mark? She’d told herself she wouldn’t violate Cherry’s right to her privacy, but this was too much for Melody. Amid all of the swirling sensations licking at her mind, she flicked her tongue and immediately withdrew it. She blinked a moment, unsure if she’s tasted the right emotion, but another look at her friend said all she needed to confirm her assumptions.
Cherry was ashamed of her cutie mark.
“Can you keep a secret?” Cherry whispered. Melody, of course, nodded without a moment to spare. “Like, no telling anypony or anyling about it?”
Melody blinked again and frowned. No telling anyone? But what if this secret led to Cherry hurting herself more than anything? What if she couldn’t keep that secret one day? She wasn’t sure giving her word was such a good idea now. Was it worth it? Could she keep a secret?
But before she could process everything happening in her head, she felt her lips move. “Of course. You can count on me,” Melody replied softly.
Cherry took a pause and stared at Melody for several moments, so much that Melody shuffled in place as if those eyes stared deep into her soul to validate her claim. Knowing Cherry and how sensitive she was to those around her, that wasn’t such a stretch.
She took in a long breath, exhaled and gazed back to the horizon. “I don’t know if you remember me mentioning it, but it all started when I heard my father died during the changeling invasion in Canterlot. Once we were told of his passing, everything changed.”
Changed how? Melody remembered something about Cherry saying her mother hadn’t gotten over her father’s death, but how was that relevant to this conversation? She could actually relate to that. Without ever really knowing them beyond her early days, Melody still felt melancholy towards her biological parents, despite having gotten closure about them. If she was reading the situation right, Ocean wasn’t so different from her; she had lost her husband and Melody had lost her brother and her parents.
Although Melody was starting to get wary of her brother’s intentions now that she’d met with Wishing and Astral.
“Mom was… devastated. Yeah, devastated is the right word. She couldn’t function, she wouldn’t eat, and she even quit her job. She could not accept that my father was dead. She…” Melody heard the lump in her friend’s throat. For all the preaching about seeking help for problems, she wasn’t setting a prime example. Snark aside, Melody felt and tasted the sour fish aroma of the sadness intertwined with the bitterness that hung around Cherry. “…left me and my sister to care for ourselves for months.”
Children inheriting the problems of their parents? That sounded like a tragedy, alright. Melody tried to shut out the overwhelming emotions, but there wasn’t much she could do. Before this day, she had always seen Cherry as an insurmountable fortress of happiness and cheerfulness, but what she saw here was a completely different pony. There was close to nothing that could topple Cherry, and yet, the only times when she had seen anything topple her friend had been when her newfound cutie mark was the topic of the conversation at the time.
“And there were nights…” Melody’s ears perk again as Cherry choked on the lump in her throat. She stared at her friend, watching her attempts to utter something, anything before she closed her eyes and hung her head. “There were nights where she’d open up a bottle, and she’d get nasty.”
Melody quirked an eyebrow and gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves as the realization came down over her. A bottle? By the intensity, she knew it was something to do with alcohol. She shivered, the hair of her fur standing on end as scenes filled her mind and dread filled her up.
“Did… she beat you?” Melody asked, her voice as soft as possible, almost as if uttering the very thought was painful.
Cherry shook her head and wiped the tears welling in her eyes. She sniffled and took a deep breath before saying, “No. She never beat Glimmer or me, but she sometimes got nasty at me because I was over my father’s death…”
She smirked, her lips quivering all the while. “I wasn’t over my dad's death back then, but I had come to terms with what had happened. I tried to soldier on like he had taught me.”
Melody smiled, flashing a fang at the same time. She tasted the slight fluctuation in emotions, a bubbly and sweet scent oozing from Cherry now before it mixed with rest. “You got along well with your father?” she asked, her ears splaying back.
“Oh yeah. Dad was the best. Despite loving his job in Canterlot, there was nothing he loved more than his little fillies. He’d always come home with a smile, and he would teach my sister and me about being brave and strong in the face of adversity.
“Mom’s verbal abuse is what made Glimmer turn so sour at school. She needed a way out of what was happening at home, and she took it on other ponies by making fun of them.”
But there was still one lingering question about Cherry that confused Melody. All of that, all of what she had expressed; they were not related to her cutie mark.
“For a changeling, you should work on your non-verbal game, Mel. You are terrible at hiding what you’re thinking,” Cherry said, a snicker replacing the previous lump in her throat. She stepped down from the swing and pointed at her cutie mark.
“My mom coped by drinking, my sister coped through bullying. How do you think I coped? I was the nice pony that was always happy-go-lucky where the sun was made of cotton candy and the street of chewing gum. I’ve got my fair share of wearing masks, and I’m afraid that this cutie mark is just a cruel reminder that it’s what I do whenever there’s a problem: I run away.”
Melody felt like she had been struck. She had not been expecting this much self-loathing from her best friend. How could she have expected it in the first place? But that wasn’t the Cherry she knew. The Cherry she knew was stronger than this. She was the one that helped her in the first place.
Then, it all clicked. That’s why Cherry had told her that she was lucky to have parents like Rising and Coral. She had been envious because she longed for her family to become whole again. No, whatever had taken hold of her friend was poisoning her self-worth.
“You stop that right now,” Melody growled back, a low, thrumming hiss grating at the back of her mouth.
Cherry cocked her head back, wide eyes staring at her friend. Melody wouldn’t have any of what was happening with her friend. She did not deserve to suffer like, to punish herself for things that were beyond her control. She would not allow her friend to walk down the same path she had walked.
She moved out of her swing and toward her friend, her stomps vanishing into the endless abyss that was the sand below her. She stopped in front of Cherry and stared her down, shifting her eyes to pony eyes.
“You want to talk about running away? Talk about me avoiding my adoptive family for forever and not realizing the incredible luck that I was blessed with. If you want to talk about pain, I can tell you about pain. I was plagued with questions about my biological parents until Wishing Star gave me a chance at closure.
“I have to hide the pain I go through every day because I have a lame leg. You trying to weather the storm of your mother’s scorn because she needs a reality check is not running away. It’s staying sane. You’re surviving the only way you know how to survive: you help others.
“You could have given up on me at any point. You could have not given a care at all about me, but you saw me, you felt my pain and you stuck by me, and now we’re best friends. There is nothing weak abo—”
Melody blinked as warmth rushed over her lips and she found that Cherry had very much latched onto her. Melody’s eyes darted down to see that Cherry’s lips were pressed against hers. She whinnied and whined, eyes going wide, as she tried to back out of Cherry’s embrace.
She eventually managed to put one hoof over to Cherry’s chest, and she summoned all of her strength to push her back, easily pushing herself away from the alabaster white filly. Both of them were panting, and the two stared at each other. Melody’s ears were splayed and her brow furrowed.
Cherry looked at her friend for a few moments, the events quickly rushing back to her, her eyes going wider and wider, her emerald pupils barely visible in the sea of white. She shook her head and turned back, shouting, “I’m sorry!”
♫
Melody was still trying to make sense of what had happened the other day. She ran her tongue along the inner lining of her lips and asked herself the same question as before: had Cherry really kissed her? Every time that question was asked, only more questions arose from the pondering.
She had meant all of the things that she told Cherry. Her circle of friends was small, but that didn’t stop her from believing that Cherry was nothing like she had described herself. But that still didn’t answer her question.
“Shield up!” came the familiar barking of the unicorn standing at the opposite end of the training hall.
This was her routine training day with Shining Armor, so of course, she was going to be assaulted with bolts of magic. Granted, she had improved a lot since the last time she had trained with him, especially with holding shield spells.
She took a deep breath and looked at Shining Armor as his horn lit with a purple aura. She focused her own magic, the energy from her reserves tracing across her fur and caressing it gently.
Her fur stood on end as magic swirled around her horn and focused around her. The air around her tingled, and the fabric of reality seemed to bend to the whims of her magic as a thin layer of magical energy surrounded her. Melody stomped her hooves on the ground and watched the bolt of magic split the air and collide directly with her magic. Her barrier held steady, the blast of his magic dissipating and vanishing all around her. Once she made sure that everything was safe to dispel her barrier, Melody did just that and looked at Shining Armor again.
He didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t seem angry either, so she was likely doing something right. Or at least she thought so. It was hard to read Shining Armor, even as a changeling. Rising had openly said to her that she was still young and lacked experience, and had explained to her that this was likely why she couldn’t identify every emotion or read situations perfectly.
“Hurt him.”
Melody’s ears swivelled as the voice echoed in her ears and she cast her glance to the side, although careful to not make any sudden movements. Alerting Shining Armor was not on her list of things to do, but at the same time, if they were in danger, maybe it would be best to speak up.
“That was good. Again,” came Shining’s voice, making Melody’s ears swivel again and forcing her back to the training. She readied herself again and nodded back at Shining Armor, keeping her facial expression as stoic as possible. She needed to focus again.
“You know you want to. He hurt you before,” came the voice again. It was familiar if anything, but Melody couldn’t quite put her hoof on where she had heard that voice before. “What’s different this time?”
Her ears perked up, and at that moment, she relaxed from her training stance. She saw Shining looking at her with that battle-hardened stare as his horn charged with magic, but it felt so slow. Everything around her seemed to slow down as she focused on the voice ringing in her ears. Could Shining not hear it, or if he did, was he just shutting it out?
No, he would have called the training session off if he had.
“Melody, shield!”
The shriek pulled her out of her trance. She blinked back to reality just in time to see the bolt of magic zapping across the training hall. She tried to summon her magic, but before she could even charge her horn, the bolt hit her square on the chest. It didn’t hurt. That was funny. She had expected plenty of pain, but at the same time, she couldn’t feel the floor under her legs. What was happening exactly?
She blinked, her vision blurry as everything spiralled and meshed around her, colors and structures coming together, creating things she’d only imagine in her nightmares. Pillars detached from the ceiling and bent into arcs on the floor while the walls twisted at the middle.
See? This is why you shouldn’t trust that stallion. He only wants to hurt you.”
She snapped her eyes open, and the scenery snapped back into places. Time took back its flow, and she collided with the floor. She gasped and shrieked, the pain spreading to every corner of her body while her entire form burned with a different sensation. Her peripheral vision glowed in a green tint. As a matter of fact, the pain slowly faded away.
“Hurt him back. Make him pay. Make him bleed for what he did.”
Hurt her mentor? Her mind felt at odds. Sure, she did have her reservations about Shining Armor, but to go as far as hurting him felt wrong. Not to mention he was infinitely more powerful than she was.
She rolled onto her legs again and, much to her dismay, was reminded that she instinctively used her reserves to minimize the damage the blast caused. Her leg screamed agony, and she found herself panting before she could get up. She shut her eyes and ground her teeth, lifting her head and taking a glimpse of her surroundings, only to see Shining Armor rushing to her side with a worried look on his face.
“Do not trust him. He will betray you and hurt you again.”
She tried to take a step forward and immediately froze as the pain returned tenfold. Again, she felt a weird feeling spread through her body, and she found her vision clouded by that green tint again, almost glowing with a pulse. She took a deep breath and stole a look at Shining Armor. Was he concerned for her safety, or was he worried that she still breathed? That blast hadn’t been the most potent blast ever, but the magic she summoned from her reserves was substantial. To be hit by something like that, it needed precision and an opening.
So, he was trying to off her! Was he still holding a grudge about changelings after Chrysalis tried to ruin his wedding? Likely, yes. She felt betrayed. Betrayed by a stallion she had trusted with training her in the arts of magic. She didn’t quite know how to feel, but she felt weird. She was gaining power, she felt the pain ease back to the back of her mind, and her leg no longer bothered her. What’s more, she felt her reserves slowly filling back up.
She stood straight, and she snarled. Shining Armor stopped dead in his track, as he should when Melody stood her ground. She was invigorated. Anger, rage, betrayal. They all burned within her and soothed her pain.
Shining Armor was going to pay for hurting her. She would make sure to remind him of his place.
“Melody?” came Shining’s voice, a concerned hiccup staggering his voice as he took a step back when she took one forward.
“Do not believe his deceit. He acts nice now, but when the time is right…”
“I will not let you hurt me. Stay back!” Melody barked, her horn charging with energy, with power she’d never felt before. She felt powerful now; she felt in control.
She visualized a bolt of magic and flicked her horn. A loud screech tore the air apart, and from her horn, a bolt dug at the ceramic tile in front of him. She saw confusion run across his face as his horn instantly summoned a shield.
A shield, of all things? Pathetic. Shields were for the weak, for those that couldn’t press on an offensive and adequately engage in battle. She flicked her horn again and again, over and over again, sending a barrage of magic on Shining Armor, and yet his shield showed no sign of wear or decay.
“What are you waiting for? He’s vulnerable. Break his shield and make it submit to you, to us!”
Her entire body froze on the spot, and she looked at Shining Armor, who, despite his usual intimidating stature, looked terrified of Melody. His eyes screamed at her. They cried in fear and confusion. He was afraid? Why?
The voice rang again in her head, although barely audible now. She had heard all she needed to hear in that one instant. The voice she had heard was not the voice of a stranger. It was herself. She had listened to her own distorted voice, and she tasted the maddening embrace of anger.
She felt the warmth of her tears welling in her eyes and streaming down her fur. Shining was afraid of her. He had tried to help her, and she rewarded him by being hostile. She gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth, backing away. Reality quickly reminded her that whatever fueled her magic was now gone, and her leg crumbled, and the pain shook her entire form, sending shocks through her spine.
She tried to get back up as she saw Shining Armor dispel his barrier and look at her with that disgusting mix of fear and concern. She tried to open her mouth, to say something, but silence was all that emanated from her throat. Tears flowed freely through her cheeks, and she tried to meet Shining’s gaze once more.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
Her mouth froze, and her world turned to darkness. She tried to look around, but darkness gripped at her. Pain wrought for power throughout her body, and she tried to fight, but to no avail. Her eyelids threatened to close, while her head hung heavily. Sleeping felt like an excellent option right about now.
“Hurt you.”