“Sing stronger!” the teacher mare shouted.
Melody was trying to sing strong, but her melodious voice didn’t let her.
“What a waste of time! Your voice is useless! It’d have been good a thousand years ago, but not now. We need rock singers! Go play some instrument instead. But don’t even try trumpets! Nopony needs more trumpets. We need guitars!” With that, the teacher motioned Melody out of the classroom.
If you want strong voice, then I don’t want to sing ever again, Melody thought. I’ll go play trumpets. Ah… who listens to orchestras nowadays with trumpets. Maybe… eh. Princess Celestia has enough trumpeter. The young filly sat down outside the school. The only sure job as a trumpeter was being part of Celestia’s royal group, but the competition was so big for those positions, that unless one had somepony inside, there was no chance for getting the job. I’ll be a farmer, just like my father. Who wants career and big things anyways? With that, she suddenly appeared at her farm in Ponyville.
“Home!” she cried. She ran towards her house, but stopped. Is this really my home? She sat down. After all the things I went through, and found out the true meaning of my cutie mark? I don’t feel as a farm pony anymore. I feel… lust for adventure, care for my nation, care for… Phoenix. She shook her head. No, I’m not here, this is not my life anymore. I’m sleeping on the coach in Phoenix’s house and tomorrow, the whole world will learn that even somepony like me can change the world, if Love is with her.
“Good morning, Melody!”
Melody opened her eyes. Sophie was grinning in front of her. “Morning, Sophie. Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah! Did you have a good dream? I didn’t dream today. Did you? What ponies dream about?”
Melody sat up, and told her dream to Sophie.
“Aww… That stupid teacher! Everybody loves your voice!”
Melody giggled. “Who knows, Sophie. Maybe Love used those years to prepare me for my journey. Maybe I’d have never met with him, if had become a famous singer in Canterlot.”
Phoenix peeked into the living room. “The breakfast is ready girls.” They looked up at Phoenix, but didn’t move. “Now come on you both! You don’t want to be late now, do you?”
They had a fast breakfast of cereal. Melody was more than happy to taste another food, although not wearing her amulet resulted some biological complications. However, thanks to the teachings of Lyra Heartstrings, she managed to use a human toilet without help. Before they left the house, Melody put on her amulet. Sophie was watching with open eyes as Melody transformed back.
“I’m ready,” Melody said.
Sophie chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Melody asked.
“Your voice. It’s funny how robot like it is now,” Sophie answered.
“Really, I just realized that I never heard your disguised voice,” Phoenix said. “Maybe we could record it after we arrived to the institution.”
“If you want to,” Melody said.
They left the house. Phoenix successfully delivered Sophie to the school without anyone noticing the robot-Melody in the car. After that, he drove to the institution. The day went on with Phoenix learning more and more about the pony culture, and watching more episodes of the series. When they started season two, Phoenix began to notice the more and more external references to other movies. Melody explained that Princess Twilight had come up with the idea. She had asked the anthropologist team to search for movies that had been important part of the current human culture. Then, they had used this knowledge to connect the human and pony culture by referencing them in the show.
Phoenix didn’t even try to eat together with his colleagues. He took the food, and immediately went back to his room. He also took some snacks for Melody, that she devoured happily. Melody spent a few hours during the day to prepare her speech, while Phoenix was watching the show.
During the afternoon, as Phoenix was watching Melody practicing, a question came into his mind. “Melody. Can I ask you something?”
Melody looked up from her paper. “Well, I don’t mind a short break. What bothers you, Phoenix?”
“Your flower. It’s in your mane for… how long?”
“Almost two weeks.”
“Yes, so… Why haven’t it withered yet? Does your amulet also affect that?”
Melody raised her hoof, and carefully touched the flower next to her ear. “It’s a promise flower.”
Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t heard anything like that before. Does it only grow in Equestria?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“So, how come that it still has all its petals?”
Melody smiled. “Most flowers might wither and die in a few days without water, but not the promise flower. It can survive for weeks. Giving it to somepony means that you promise, you’ll see each other again, before the first petal falls.”
“Oh, so you have a boyfriend? Or stallion, or whatever you call it there.”
Melody shook her head. “No, Fluttershy gave it to me. She said that Love wanted her to give me a promise flower. Oh Phoenix, you can’t believe how much that meant for me, when I spent days and nights in a box, without seeing the sunlight.” She sniffed. “I felt so alone. Alone with my worries, alone in the darkness. But,”—she wiped the tears of her eyes, and put her hoof on the turquoise flower—“whenever I touched the promise flower, and felt all its petals, I remembered. I remembered that I was not alone, and I’d be home soon.”
Phoenix bent his head down. He sighed. “Sometimes Melody, I wonder. Why does God allow us to suffer? Why… Why did he let Rachel die.”
“Your wife?”
Phoenix nodded. “After she died, I couldn’t even bring myself to pray for a year. I was angry with him, for letting her die. I knew that in God’s eyes no one is innocent, because his standards are much higher and…” Phoenix sighed. “But I still keep asking, ‘Why’?”
Melody walked to Phoenix, and sat down in front of him. “There is something I learnt Phoenix, after my father died. For us, it hurts to lose someone, we love so much. But this way, we also remember, that Love’s final goal is heaven for all of us. He gives us years to decide, dozens of them. One day, our time runs out. If we decided to accept his grace, we will be with him for eternity, and the joy will wash away all the tears. Focus on this, Phoenix! Focus on heaven! You’ll see Rachel again, and from that time, nothing will separate you.”
Phoenix smiled. “I will.”
Melody stood up. “Good. Now let’s continue the work Love given us. Let’s make this short life valuable.” She walked back to her paper and continued practicing her speech.
After the work-hours ended, they went home. A few minutes before eight, Melody was trotting around inside the house undisguised, glancing at the clock.
Phoenix noticed this. “Are you nervous, Melody?”
“Me? Nervous? I’m about to present my nation to millions of humans and about to blow my cover. So nervous? Yes. A little. No. A lot.”
“Chill, Melody. You’ll be great.”
“But what if I say something wrong? You said it’d be uncut. What if they misunderstand something? What if they’ll see Equestria as an enemy? What if they’ll hate me? What if…”
Sophie ran next to Melody and hugged her front leg. “Hate you? Who could hate you? They’ll love you Melody! Everyone will!”
Melody looked down at the little girl, who was clinging on her leg. She felt as her eyes were becoming wet.
The doorbell rang. Carl arrived, with a camera in his hand. It wasn’t a professional one, but for this purpose, it was enough. They decided that Phoenix and Carl should be also part of the video, Carl being the representative of bronies, Phoenix being… the Phoenix. Melody insisted that Phoenix had to be part of the video, and after some hesitation, Phoenix accepted it. Sophie was in the role of handling the camera.
Melody walked in front of the camera, wearing her amulet, and the two men stepped to her sides.
“Everybody ready?” Sophie asked.
“Ready, darling.”
“Ready.”
Melody took a deep breath. “Ready.”
“Recording in 3…2…1…now!”
Carl started. “Hello fellow bronies and pegasisters! My name is Carl. This is Phoenix, and this Melody.”
“Hi,” Phoenix said.
“We are making this mineo, I mean video,”—He shook his head—“because we need your help. You can see next to me Melody, who for you looks nothing else, but a robot, that somehow shares the traits of our favorite ponies. Well the truth is that she is not what you can see.”
Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Phoenix looked at Melody. “Melody, it’s your turn.”
Melody shook her head with shut eyes. “Oh, sorry, I lost myself.” She put off her amulet, and the camera recorded her transformation. She stepped forward and spoke with her changed voice. “Hello, bronies and pegasisters. My name is Melody Harbinger. What you can see now, might surprise you, or make your mind to protest, but it’s the truth. I’m the harbinger of Equestria, the land that you might thought to be only an imaginary world from a cartoon.” She stopped for a second. “But it is not. After three thousand years, Princess Celestia was ordered to stop hiding. We made that cartoon, that you know as My Little Pony, to start the reintegration of our nation. But now, we’re stuck. We need help. We need help because we can’t do it alone. We need humans, who are willing to support us.” She gulped. “Will you help us? Will you help our nation, to reintegrate and be part of your world again? The hope in my heart is that together… together we can build a better future, a future good for both ponies and humans.” She hung down her head. “I’m still afraid to reveal my location. I fear that somebody would rather hurt me than help me. But I hope.” She raised her head. “I hope that there are people in this world, who’re willing to help me, like this two men,”—she smiled at them—“and this cute little girl.”
Sophie stepped in front of the camera and waved. “Hi!” She then quickly ran back to her position behind it.
“This is what I… What we wanted to say. Thank you for watching the video,” Melody said.
Sophie looked at Phoenix. He nodded. The recording ended. Melody sighed and fell on her haunches. “Water, please.”
Sophie ran out of the office and fetched a glass of water that Melody dried up in a second. She looked up at Carl. “What do you think? Was I good enough?”
Carl smiled. “Melody, you were brilliant.”
Phoenix walked to his computer in the room. “I made a YouTube account and a Gmail address for you Melody. This way, we can submit our video to Equestria Daily.” He turned it on, and sat down. “Sophie, could you bring here the camera, please?”
“Sure, dad.” She picked up the camera and gave it to Phoenix.
After the operation system booted up, he connected the camera to the computer. The drivers were downloaded for the new device and Phoenix started the upload of the video. “It might take some time, maybe half an hour.” He stood up. “Let’s play something until that, shall we?”
After the video uploaded, Carl sat down to the computer, and made the submission to Equestria Daily, on behalf of Melody.
“Now, how much time do we have to wait for their response?” Melody asked.
Carl scratched his head. “Maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours. It depends on how many submissions are there currently in the queue and how willing the admins are to read them. I’ll install an RSS listener on the computer. Ehm… can I?” He looked at Phoenix.
“Sure, go ahead.”
They spent the next hour playing. However, the only one who could actually enjoy the games was Sophie. The rest were glancing at the open office door every minute.
“Are you sure Carl, that this thing works?” Melody asked, while holding her cards.
Carl nodded. “I’m using that for weeks now. It notifies me within a minute.”
PING!
They all jumped on their feet and rushed into the office room. Except Sophie. “Ah, come on! I was about to win.” She looked at her cards and with a ‘Hmph’, she dropped them and followed the others.
“BREAKING NEWS by Sethisto”—Phoenix read—“A pony, a REAL PONY submitted a video an hour ago. I’m not going to say more, JUST. WATCH. IT.”
“Wow, Seth sounds really excited,” Carl noted. “Anything in the comments?”
Phoenix scrolled down. “KyoKusagani1999: ‘SO GILDA IS REAL? Time to start packing then. I'm moving to Equestria as soon as I get a visa. Oh... and of course we help Melody.’”
Melody chuckled. “Someone’s favorite actress is really Gilda? As I heard, she hardly accepted the role as she thought it might not be a good thing to introduce herself to humans as a jerk. Rainbow Dash was the only one who could convince her.”
They continued reading. Some said this was a fake video. Others were expressing their surprise and their wish to meet their favorite characters. The majority was reassuring Melody, that they’ll help, with everything they got.
Melody fought hard with her tears. “They… they really want to help me.”
“As I said Melody, we are more than willing to help,” Carl said.
They kept reading the comments and messages, flowing from YouTube and Equestria Daily. At ten o’clock, Phoenix stated that Sophie had to go to bed. Carl reassured Melody once more, and left.
Finally, things are going forward, Phoenix thought in his bed. We’ll need to send a request to the United Nations. I hope we’ll find someone who knows how to do such a things. He smiled. Of course we will. Nothing bad can happen from now!
What he didn’t know, that there WAS a security camera in his research room. A hidden one in the corner. At that moment, Mr. Johnson was watching the recording from the previous days.
“Tell me, Mr. Freeman. WHAT IS THIS?”
Phoenix could hardly raise his head to look at the screen. The screen showed him and robot-Melody, sitting in front of his computer, watching My Little Pony.
Phoenix and Mr. Johnson were sitting in Johnson’s office. Mr. Johnson took a deep breath. “I trusted you, Mr. Freeman. Among the hundreds of candidates, you were the best. I could see in your eyes, that you’d bring the Sunrise Research Institution to prosperity. And what’re you doing instead? ENTERTAINING YOURSELF WITH THE DISGUISE MODULE OF YOUR SUBJECT!” He banged his fist on the table.
Phoenix tried to look up. “Mr. Johnson, I can ex…”
“Shut up!” Mr. Johnson interrupted. He stood up and turned away from Phoenix. “There’re people who believe in second chances, Mr. Freeman.” He stopped for a few seconds. “I’m not one of them. Pack up your stuff, leave your card at the reception.”
“But…”
Mr. Johnson turned. “I’m not going to repeat myself.” He pointed a finger at Phoenix. “YOU ARE F…”
KNOCK, KNOCK!
“WHAT IS IT?”
A female voice said from outside, “Mr. Johnson, we have a problem. There are journalists and reporters at the front door. Dozens of them. They are demanding to see Phoenix and Melody Harbinger.”
Mr. Johnson glared at Phoenix. “Melody Harbinger? You even gave a full name for that toy and broke your non-disclosure agreement? And I thought my disgust cannot be greater.”
Phoenix couldn’t look up.
“Julia, fetch the pony robot from Mr. Freeman’s room and bring it to the entrance! We will be there.”
“Yes, Mr. Johnson.”
The boss turned to his former employee. “Come, Mr. Freeman. I guess we both want to know what you’ll be accused of at the court.”
“Show us Melody!”
“We know Phoenix works here!”
“Don’t try to hide them!”
At that second, Phoenix, Mr. Johnson and robot-Melody stepped out of the door. The journalists rushed to them, barely letting them breathe.
“Are you really a pony?”
“Was it only a trick?”
“How do you really look like?”
“Show us your true look!”
Melody was drowning in the river of questions.
“Show us yourself!”
"Show it!"
Phoenix stepped forward and pushed the closest reporter. “Hey! Let her breathe, you jerks!” He said.
Melody frowned and clenched her eyes, then with a fast move, she removed her amulet.
“Melody, NO!” shouted Phoenix.
But the damage was done. Melody transformed in front of journalists, reporters and cameramen. They stepped back when they saw the glowing circle. For a few seconds, everyone just stared at Melody.
“This is the story of the CENTURY!” exclaimed a reporter.
That made everybody wake up from the shock. If the previous questions felt like a river, they now felt like a flood.
Suddenly Mr. Johnson grabbed Melody and Phoenix, and pulled them inside. He shut the door, and locked it.
“Hey you can’t just take them away!”
“They didn’t answer anything!”
Two security guards were standing next to the door. “You!” He pointed to the guards “Bring these two into my office.”
The guards stepped to Melody and Phoenix. The four then followed Mr. Johnson.
Phoenix whispered to Melody, “Why did you do that? Now the whole world will know it.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, I was so afraid. I thought if I put off my amulet, they’ll stop.”
Phoenix sighed. “Why would they?” He whispered into Melody’s ears, “But now the biggest problem is that my boss knows it.”
They walked in the office, and a guard closed the door.
“Maybe I was wrong, Phoenix.” Mr. Johnson spoke. “Maybe I should give you a second chance. This subject of yours turned to be… interesting. However, I can’t let you continue your research on it.”
“What?” Melody asked.
“From now on, Trojan is my subject,” Mr. Johnson stated. “You’ll choose your new one tomorrow.” He turned to the guards. “Take this horse to my research room, and attach it to the examination board.”
Melody’s eyes went wide “No! You can’t take me away!” The guards grabbed her tail and pulled her out of the room. “I must stay with Phoenix!”
Phoenix could look up. I lost. I got back my job, my dream. But I don’t care anymore.
“Phoenix, don’t stand here. Go home. You continue tomorrow.”
“PHOENIX!” Melody shrieked.
Phoenix clenched his eyes. God, forgive me for what I’m going to do now. She straightened up and glared at his boss. “No.”
“What did you say?”
Phoenix rushed out of the room. He heard Melody from the left, and followed her voice. He spotted them in a corridor. Melody gasped.
“BUCK!” Phoenix shouted.
Melody’s eyes went wide, but then glanced behind herself, bucked and hit the guard on his leg. He fell over with a shout. The other guard jerked his head at his fallen partner, only to get a right hook on the head from the running Phoenix.
“Follow me!” They both ran towards the exit that Phoenix found a few days ago.
The first guard tried to stand up, but couldn’t. He spoke into his device, “Need reinforcement! Mr. Freeman and his subject attacked us. They’re running to exit three. Stop them!”
Melody was trying to gallop on three hooves. “I can’t run with my amulet in my hoof!”
“Give it to me!” Phoenix put the amulet into his pocket. They reached the exit.
“There they are!” shouted a guard behind them.
“Ah, come on!” yelled Phoenix, as he tried to open the locked door.
“Step away!” With that, Melody rushed to the door, turned and bucked. The door flung open.
They ran outside. Well, Phoenix sprinted, Melody hardly galloped.
“Phoenix, you’re too slow!”
“I’m a scientist, not an athlete!”
They turned left at the corner of the institution.
“Why did we do that, Phoenix?” Melody asked. “Why did we attack the guards?”
“Melody… *hoof*… in this world you are… *poof*… just a horse,… *hoof*... a property. If Johnson wants to,… *poof*… he can dissect you alive.”
Melody stopped.
“What? WHAT ARE YOU… *hoof*… DOING?”
“Ride me!”
Phoenix stopped. “What?”
“As you said, I’m a horse.”
“But… *poof*… you’re too small!”
“There they are! Catch them!” someone shouted from the corner.
“I’m an earth pony! I could even carry you if you’d be a giant rock! Now shut up and ride me before you get both of us caught!”
Phoenix ran to Melody and hopped on the pony’s back. However, his legs reached the ground.
“Pull up your legs, and hold my mane at the sides of my head!”
Phoenix did as told. Melody raised her front legs and broke into a full gallop. The guard behind tried to jump on them, but fell on the ground. “Damn it!”
After ten minutes of sprinting, Melody slowed down. “I think they gave up,” she said and stopped.
Phoenix got off Melody.
“Sorry, Phoenix,” Melody said. “But I had to be assertive. We’d got caught if you keep hesitating.”
“It’s okay,” Phoenix replied. “We have bigger problems now. When the guards return, Johnson’ll call the police. I attacked a guard and stole you from the institution. I’m a criminal.” He put his forehead into his palm.
“What you did shows that human laws are wrong,” Melody stated.
“Yeah, tell that to the police officer.”
Melody took a deep breath. “If human laws are against us, then we must go somewhere else. Somewhere else, where we can find protection.” She grinned. “And I just happen to know that place.”
“To Equestria?”
“To Equestria!” cried she. “I’m going home!”
“Hold on a second. Where is Equestria?”
Melody looked at Phoenix. “Do you have a map?”
Phoenix held up his hands. “Where would I keep a… Oh wait, my phone.” He pulled out his phone from his pocket and switched to map. “Okay, where should we start searching?”
“The portal is in this country. So if you show me the map of the country I can show you where it is.”
Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “Portal?”
Melody nodded. “I needed a method to both come here and go back. Princess Twilight Sparkle said that the best way is to open a portal, and guard it from both sides.”
Phoenix shrugged. “If you say so.” He switched to the country map, and showed it to Melody.
Melody looked at the map, and tried to show the location, but her hoof was bigger than the screen. “Eh… do you have something thin maybe? Like a pen?”
Phoenix searched his pockets. He pulled out his keys and detached the longest one from the ring. Melody put the key in her mouth and pointed to a location on the map. “There.”
“Melody, that’s more than one hundred kilometers away.”
“Oh.” Melody scratched her head. “And I guess we cannot leave Sophie alone.”
“Definitely not. We need a car. Mine is at the institution and we shouldn’t go back there.”
“Does Carl have a car?” Melody asked.
“Ah yes! Good idea, Melody.” Phoenix said and called Carl.
“Hi, Carl!”
“Hey, Phoenix! Did you see the comments? They are…”
“Carl, we have an emergency,” Phoenix interrupted. “I need you to come to my house with your car. Pack clothes for yourself, we’re going on a long trip. Somehow the news found out my location. Even worse, my boss now knows who Melody really is and wanted to take her away. So we knocked the guards out and made a run for it.”
“WHAT? Are you crazy? What were you thinking, man?”
“What’d you do Carl? Would let him take Melody away? That man is so greedy he would even dissect her alive, just to get famous!”
“I… I… I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“Thank you.” Phoenix hung up the phone. He turned to Melody. “We must go home. With your speed, we can be there in twenty minutes. That way we’ll have ten minutes to pack. Let’s hope the police won’t start chasing us based on Johnson’s report.”
“So, let me clarify what you said,” The police officer spoke in the phone. “You’re the chief of the Sunrise Research Institution.”
“Yes,” Mr. Johnson said.
“Your employee stole your pony horse from the institution.”
“Yes.”
“The pony horse is a little more than one meter tall, orange and dark-pink colored, and has a turquoise flower in its mane.”
“Yes.”
“And your employee stole it, by riding away on it.”
“Yes.”
“Can I advise you something?”
“Y… Yes?”
“If you get high next time, put away your phone somewhere you can’t reach it.” With that, the officer hung up.
Mr. Johnson smashed his phone on the table. “USELESS BUNCH OF IDIOTS!”
Phoenix rode Melody, guiding her to his home.
When they arrived, Phoenix jumped down from Melody and rushed in. "Sophie!”
“Wow, hi dad!” Sophie said, sitting in front of him, pulling her shoes off. “You came home early.” She looked behind him. “Why is Melody a normal pony?”
“Sophie, pack up your clothes and whatever you need. We’re leaving this city for some weeks, or more,” Phoenix said.
Sophie stared at Phoenix, blinking.
“Please, Sophie. Just do what I said. We’re going to Equestria.”
Sophie gasped. “EQUESTRIA? YAY! YAY! YAY!” She ran upstairs.
Melody giggled. “What did you expect from a six-year-old girl, when she hears that she’s going to her dream world.”
Phoenix was blinking. “I didn’t… think on that.”
“Anyways, as you said, you only need clothes. I’m sure that Princess Celestia’s hospitality will satisfy everything else. Maybe Rarity’d even make you clothes, but it’d take some time.”
“No thanks. I don’t want to wear purple and pink clothes, thank you very much.” He walked to the stairs. “I’ll also pack some clothes. Tell us when Carl arrives!”
Melody nodded. I hope their life in Equestria will compensate them for all the things they have to go through for me.
Someone slammed a car door outside. Melody trotted to the windows to see that Carl arrived. Melody opened the front door, before Carl could use the doorbell.
“Hi, Carl!”
“Whoa, Melody! You here, opening doors, undisguised?
“I saw you from the window. But still… would it matter now?”
“Of course! Non-bronies still shouldn’t know about you!”
Melody forced a laugh. “Well, then I guess it was a bad idea to undo my disguise in front of thirty reporters.”
“You did… WHAT?”
Phoenix was walking down on the stairs, with a suitcase full of clothes. “Good to see you Carl. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for your help.” He reached Melody.
“Did Melody really blow her cover in front of a bunch of reporters?”
Phoenix nodded. “Yes, but most importantly, in front of my boss. Melody,”—He turned to her—“could you check Sophie? She’s packing for too long.”
“Of course.” She walked upstairs.
“Everybody makes mistakes, Carl.” Phoenix said, looking at the stairs. “We must concentrate on how to fix them. The most urgent problem is that both Melody and I are threatened with imprisonment. Melody came up with a solution that I am pretty sure you’ll love.”
“What solution? Oh! Noooooooo. We… really?”—Phoenix nodded—“No, no I can’t believe it!”
“Yes Carl, we’re going to Equestria. I’ll give you the coordinates for the GPS after everybody is ready.” They walked out of the house, Phoenix carrying his suitcase.
Melody walked into Sophie’s room. Sophie was sitting on her bed, staring at the Fluttershy plushie in her hands.
“Sophie, what’s the problem? Why aren’t you packing?” Melody asked.
“Is she… is she really kind? Or she just… acted?”
Melody smiled. She walked next to Sophie and hugged her neck. “Sophie, Fluttershy is the kindest mare I've ever known. I’m pretty sure that she’ll love to meet with you.”
Sophie was still looking at the plushie. She caressed its mane. “But she’s so shy. What if she will be afraid of me?”
Melody looked down at the plushie. “You know that there’s only one way to find out. Now come, let’s pack up before your dad gets angry.”
Sophie put the plushie on her bed and stood up. They packed some clothes into her school bag and some other bags they found. Before they left the room, Sophie glanced back to her plushie on the bed. You’re just a plushie. I’ll meet the real Fluttershy. I don’t need you anymore. She turned forward, and with a firm look, walked out of the room.
Phoenix met them on the stairs. "Girls, come on! The cops can arrive any second.” They walked out of the house, Phoenix carrying Sophie’s biggest bag. They put everything in the luggage rack. Melody made Sophie and Carl blinking as she sat down on the car seat. Finally, they all sat into the car, and Carl drove away. Phoenix gave the coordinates to Carl.
Carl typed in the coordinates to the GPS, while driving. “What? The coordinates must be wrong, Phoenix. They point to a big building, 100 kilometers from here.”
Phoenix shook his head. “We’ll only do the first part of the journey by car.”
Carl glanced at Phoenix.
“The next part will be done by magic.”
Carl’s eyes went wide, but had to look back on the road.
“We’ll use a portal,” Melody added.
Phoenix kept glancing behind them, expecting a police car, but never saw any. The police sent an officer to Phoenix’s home, one hour after they left. When the officer saw, that nobody is at home, shrugged and drove away.
After an almost two hours long driving, Carl stopped. “This is it.”
They got out of the car. What they saw was a vast, old factory that nobody used anymore. It spread its gloomy shadows on them.
However, Melody beamed. “Yes! I remember. Follow me!” Melody broke into a gallop.
“Melody! Wait for us!” Phoenix cried. Melody stopped and looked back. “We can’t run that fast, and we need to bring the luggage.”
Melody giggled. “Sorry, I’m just so happy that I finally return to home, to Equestria.”
Sophie ran next to Melody. “I’m so excited! Is it really as colorful as on the cartoon?”
“You’ll see, Sophie. You’ll see.” Melody smiled.
Phoenix and Carl reached them, Carl carrying Sophie’s bags. They walked deep into the building, while Melody was guiding them. Sometimes they heard noises and snores. A few homeless people had decided to use the factory as a shelter. Melody spotted one of them.
“Why’s he sleeping here?” Melody whispered.
“Not everybody’s lucky enough to have his own house, Melody,” Phoenix answered.
Melody’s smile curved down. “Don’t you have proper shelters?”
“We have, but they’re always overcrowded. And sometimes, dangerous too.”
“Dangerous?”
Phoenix nodded. “One might think that poverty softens one’s heart, but sometimes it goes the other way. Some of them shamelessly steal from others, especially in the shelters. These people have no rights. If they’re robbed, they can go nowhere.”
“Don’t you have a day or a night court?” Melody asked.
Carl answered, “We have courts, but they’re nothing like Princess Celestia’s or Luna’s. Human courts either don’t care, or you have to wait at least months for your case to start.”
Melody frowned. “This must be changed.”
They kept on walking. After a few more minutes, Melody cried, “We’re almost there!”
“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” yelled someone.
They looked around, but saw nobody. “Hello?” Melody asked.
“WHO ARE YOU?”
“Melody, the harbinger of Equestria. I have the Phoenix with myself.”
Two unicorn royal guards became visible in front of them.
“Ah, I guess you’re the guards who were sent to protect the portal,” Melody said.
One of the guards nodded. “Yes, Miss Harbinger. But why do you have three humans with yourself?”
“They had to come. Princess Celestia will understand.”
The guards looked at each other. One shrugged. “We were told to expect only one human. You’re granted to go through the portal, but unless Celestia declares other way, only the Phoenix can leave Equestria after that.”
Phoenix looked at Carl. “Carl, I’m sorry. I didn’t know this.”
Carl hold up his hand, smiling. “Phoenix, I’m a brony. I’d love to live the rest of my life in Equestria.”
Phoenix smiled. He nodded to Melody.
“Please guards, lead us to the portal,” Melody asked.
“With pleasure.”
They turned left at the end of the room and stepped through a doorway into another room. This room was radiating with ambient blue color. At the end of the room, a blue circle was glowing on the wall, close to the ground.
“We must stay at this side, to protect the portal from intruders. Good luck, Miss Harbinger,” the guard said.
“Thank you, sir,” Melody said. The guards’ horns glowed, and they slowly vanished.
Melody, Sophie, Carl and Phoenix walked to the portal.
“Should we jump?” Carl asked.
“Nah, this is not Sliders,“ Phoenix answered.
“Just step through it,” Melody said.
“On three?” Sophie asked.
“On three,” Phoenix answered. “One.” They stepped closer. “Two.” They took a big breath. “Three!” They stepped through it.
The blue shine blinded them for a few seconds. The first thing that came to their vision was a tall white alicorn, with rainbow-colored mane and spread wings. They all gasped.
“Love never lies,” the alicorn claimed, smiling.
The top petal on Melody’s flower weakened. It swung a few times from the breeze coming from the portal, then left the pistil, and slowly descended on the floor.