//------------------------------// // Scars // Story: The Melody of the Heart // by Star Origin //------------------------------// The Melody of The Heart Chapter Five: Scars By Star Origin Melody trashed around despite her forelegs being restrained in an attempt to get free of her captor. Unfortunately, that had little success as she was hit for a second time, this time against her belly. The wind was knocked out of her lungs and she squirmed even more, gasping for air. With her tongue, she lapped at empty space in an attempt to regain her breath, apparently serving only to accentuate the pleasure Melody's captor was having. Melody broke down in whimpers and sobs, tears leaking out of her pupil-less eyes, as she lay on her left side. Her face was broken by pain, stains of green blood noticeable under her lower lip. Her eyes were also burning with hate, her face twisted with both anger and fear. Her breathing began to fasten, her heartbeats increasing in speed, pressure collapsing on her throat. She wore a frown on her brow despite her crying, and she tried her best to avoid eye contact with her captor. "Now," the changeling began, his voice instilling fear into Melody yet again, "do you know what's going to happen, pony scum?" When Melody only managed to weakly shake her head, the gesture alone sending jolts of pain in her back, making her cringe and yelp every second of it. The changeling snorted, letting out a quiet snicker, and ominously continued, "Well, it's that simple, you see. You are corrupting our queen and trying to make her believe that peace with your kind is the only way for us to continue living peacefully, so here I come in, slaying you in the name of our queen and liberating her from your dark magic. That way, I'll instill a feeling of betrayal towards ponies in general and possibly overthrow the queen so I can take her place as ruler of Serenus Melodia. And then, we'll invade Equestria with the help of the renegade hive of Chrysalis, and take over Canterlot, and overthrow the princesses. Oh, but who am I kidding? You probably understood nothing of what I said so even if something were to go awry, I wouldn't be in a whole lot of trouble anyway! "I can't even begin to fathom why Occento decided to keep you alive, let alone take you under her wing. You're just a little pony, but she somehow feels committed to you. That is truly disgusting. You ponies are nothing but prey and she goes around befriending them like peace is possible between us! Ha! Preposterous!" howled the changeling, still staring into Melody's golden orbs. "Of all the changelings that could plan a coup, you're the one scheming between our queen's back, threatening her protégée on top of that? I had my doubts about you, Arconon, but I never thought they'd turn out to be true," called a changeling from the other side of the alleyway. "And you like to poke your nose in businesses that aren't your own, Epos. You should fix that habit, by the way," 'Arconon' cackled, his chest heaving from all of his short but several snorts and laughs. "Just as soon as you fix your addiction to those ideas of grandeur you frequently have!” ‘Epos’ replied. The new changeling smirked as Arconon grinded his teeth, glaring at the changeling. “You’ll regret saying that, Epos,” Arconon began, his horn flaring with an ominously dark green aura. “Now bow down to your new king!” “Stand down, Arconon! I do not wish to harm—” Sharp pain went through his shoulder and he found himself falling to his knees when the pain was finally acknowledged. Words escaped his mouth and any attempts to speak were reduced to grunts. “That's a shame, Epos, because I have nothing holding me down. If you try to protect this pony scum, then you are an enemy of the hive. I should execute you right now for high treason!” Arconon shouted, exploding into mad laughter. “Y-you won’t get a—” “Tut tut tut, Epos,” Arcanon told Epos, kicking him on the side of his head. “As long as I have this little one here, I hold Occento into check and only a few moves remain until I can declare checkmate. By the way, how do you like the new hole I made you?” Epos groaned and glared at Arconon, flashing his fangs at him, and grinding his teeth. The wounded changeling slightly turned his head to the side, every movement made him wince. His face twisted and squirmed repeatedly, and he silently yelped each time pain jolted through his body. The filly stared back at him, gazing into empty space. Epos weakly winked at her and she looked taken aback by his gesture, but nonetheless did nothing more. “It hurt a bit at first, but you made one tiny mistake, Arconon,” Epos hissed through his teeth. “What are you still going on about? Do you still mean to stand against me, wounded as you are?” “Your only mistake”—Epos began, his voice getting louder. His chest heaved as he managed to stand on his hind legs, and slid under Arconon’s belly. He lifted the other changeling, grunting as his wound started flooding with blood, but that never stopped him from throwing Arconon against the nearest wall—“was underestimating me and getting in melee range against a trained guard!” Arconon was sent hurling on the wall head first and was knocked out, the changeling’s devious smirk turning into pure astonishment as his vision failed him. The changeling guard struggled to stay on his legs, the pain making his legs wobble while blood slid down his leg. Despite not having hit him anywhere vital, the wound inflicted by Arconon had still made a mess of his muscles and each step only aggravated the case. It wouldn’t be long until it would get infected. His breathing began to get raspy with every step he took. Adrenaline was slowly starting to leave his body and he felt every ounce of pain washing up against his form. Despite the increasing pain, Epos resumed making his way towards Melody, and once he was in front of her, he weakly asked in a raspy voice, “Can you… s-till stand, young one?” Melody shook her head, much to Epos’s chagrin. The filly, noticing the disappointment in his eyes, looked down at the ground in shame, pursing her lips into a pout and adorning a sad look. Without looking at Epos, she said, “N-no. I think my left leg is broken and I can’t get up now.” “Very well,” Epos replied, nodding at her answer, and igniting his horn with a soft green aura. “ Can you fly, then?" Melody shook her head at his question and he sighed before he opened his mouth once more. “I will carry you, in that case.” With no complaints from Melody, Epos grabbed her in his magic and watched her face twist into a mask of pain. She offered no screams although Epos thought that she was just holding them back to look stronger than she actually was. Epos carefully put her on his back and once he felt she was in a good position, he spread his thin and transparent wings and lifted off despite the pain his wound brought him. Epos flew towards the central square, as he had previously been informed that anyling had to report there if they ever found Melody. Just as he was beginning to see the central square, Epos bit his lower lip to the point of bleeding, even though his face was crisped in pain. Unfortunately, his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, and his wings felt sore. Seconds later, his eyes closed and his wings locked on his back, and he began to fall from the air. Before the last of his world turned to darkness, Epos weakly muttered, "Forgive me, my Queen. I have failed you..." As he sunk into unconsciousness, Melody was dislodged into the air and she began screaming for dear life, pleading Epos to wake up. More tears formed in her eyes, but she never stopped trying to wake Epos. It has not even dawned unto her that he was dying. She managed to get close to him and clutch onto his neck and once again tried to call out to him. She yelled and yelled at the top of her lungs, closing her eyes, daring to open them every few times to make sure it wasn’t a nightmare as the ground below her kept getting closer and closer. She quickly braced herself for a rough landing, gritting her teeth while her body quivered against the wind she tore down. It never came. ———— The day after, Occento strolled back and forth in her throne room, her thoughts centered around Melody, who had been quickly placed in a regenerative pod after Occento caught both the filly and Epos in their fall. Usually, the queen would be mainly worried about the wellbeing of one of her changelings, but this time, it was different. In the left side of Occento's throne room stood Arconon. The former advisor did nothing but gaze at Occento, giving his queen an occasional glare, although the moment Occento's glare landed on him, his expression instantly softened and he hugged the wall as if it would save him from his queen's wrath. He could have easily escaped with his magic if he had wanted to, but at his great displeasure, Arconon groaned as his flow of magic was stopped from reaching the tip of his horn. Thanks to Occento the ooze-like liquid produced by glands in her mouth, Arconon was rendered unable to use his magic. Occento's endless march came to a halt and the changeling queen wasted no time in glaring down at Arconon. There was no other way around it: she was furious. She grabbed Arconon with her magic and lifted him at eye level, pressing her nose against his. Occento was so enraged that even her glare forced Arconon to shy away from her, instead choosing to look at the ground rather than his queen. His eyes were bitter and his tongue licked at his fangs rapidly and nervously. "Do you even have a clue about what you did, Arconon?!" Occento began, almost barking at the smaller changeling. "I tried getting rid of this pony scum, my queen. You should be thanking me right now!" "Thanking you?" Occento repeated after Arconon, her eyes burning with a green aura. "For what blasted reasons should I be thanking you, let alone keeping you alive? You wounded Epos and Melody, and you're telling me I should be thanking you?" "He was siding with that pony scum! What else was there to do?!" Arconon replied dryly as he stated right into Occento's glare. "It was either that or risk having my plan be compromised by his intervention!" "Well, for starters, you could have decided not to attack him! And on top of that, you assaulted an innocent filly. What has she ever done to you?!" Occento bellowed, smashing Arconon's back into a wall. "Are you that blind, Occento? Ponies are prey and we're the predators! This is how the natural order of this world works: the strong dominate the weak! There is no peace to be made between changelings and ponies! You're deluding yourself, and you've always done so ever since you took over your mother. Tell me, how did it feel when you finally killed her? Did you feel joy, glee, pleasure, excitement?" "Enough!" Occento screamed, pointing her horn dangerously at Arconon's right eye. "My personal life and my rise to power are none of your business, and it is not the subject today either, Arconon! "Melody's left hind leg has grave muscle tear and strain, no thanks to you, and at this rate, it might be that she's never going to recover her full mobility on that leg! On top of that, she seems to have grown wary of changelings from what I saw from the dreamscape! Is this what you wanted, Arconon?" Occento continued with an undying rage such no changeling in the hive ever saw. "No, it wasn't what I wanted because if I had gotten my way, she would be dead right now. She's a plague for our society, and our species, as a whole!" "You son of a—" Occento began before ultimately opting to keep her mouth closed. Steam was fuming out of her nostrils, and her whole body was tense. "I should kill you right here, right now! No, I should have you torn to pieces and fed to Cerberus!" "What's wrong, Occento? Did I hit a nerve there?" Arconon chuckled through sharp breath. "Tell you what, Your Highness, how about we play a little game?" "Do I look like I have the patience for that, Arcanon?" "Obviously not, but let me ask you this little question instead. Between you and me, how much do you think a changeling queen would be worth to have as a slave?" Arcanon inquired, his lips pursed in a cocky smirk while he only stared at Occento. "No... You didn't..." Occento stammered, the words hardly finding their way to her lips. Her jaw hung low, and she stared at Arconon with a blank expression. "Figured it out, eh? Sadly, I won't be selling my allies, so you'll have to look elsewhere for that information," Arconon dryly retorted, a sly smile pursed up his lips. Occento could feel every ounce of her body burn with rage as her horn's aura starting growing larger and larger. She pinned her eyes in Arconon's, and she hissed. "Why you!" It took a few seconds before Arconon felt a pressure against his neck, and even more before he realized that he was gasping for air. He brought his forelegs to his neck and weakly flailed them around. Whatever that was supposed to mean to Occento did not get her attention, her eyes still locked on the former advisor. As much as he whined, Occento was just too furious to listen to her reason, constricting Arconon’s neck further as she watched him gasp for air. She felt that his eyes were starting to roll back in their orbit under the brilliant blue lenses that protected his eyes. His screams were music to her ears. “Let...me...go!” he begged with a raspy voice. Occento would have none of it and proceeded in pouring more energy into her horn. “I don’t see why I should, Arconon. I should instead have you tried for high treason and have your head on a pike!” “You...can't do...that," he replied weakly, his legs growing weaker and weaker. "It's...outside of...your...pow-" The queen clearly ignored that comment and glared down at him. She ignited her horn even more, blinding the smaller changeling as he clawed at his throat before the sound of snapping bones was heard between the two. Arconon's legs fell to his side, limp and weakened while his body just fell to the side, plummeting against the cold floor within seconds. With one final scoff, Occento cast her gaze away from the changeling and turned to exit the throne room, an ominous laughter echoing out of her throat as she did. Guards, take Arconon's body out of my throne room. The bastard chose the coward's way out when he realized I had the means to make him talk. Make sure he still gets a proper funeral. Occento said through the hivemind, her voice calm and saddened, if only slightly. ———— A few hours later, Occento returned to her quarters after having met with the medical team in charge of Melody's recovery. They had deemed that she was ready to be released from her stasis though they were unsure of how she would react to them. Occento had not argued against the decision and instead went along with it. She desired to see just how much Arconon had scarred her. She led the way into her quarters, letting the medical team proceed ahead of her to inspect the cocoon and how stable it was. A few more minutes passed before one of the changelings overlooking Melody's condition walked up to Occento and began, "My Queen, her mind appears to have suffered no apparent damage, and our magic seems to have healed most of her wounds, including her broken tooth. However, the damage that was done to her leg seems to be permanent. She might never regain her full mobility unless some miracle happens. However, we are not sure how she is going to react to seeing us. It could turn out very well on one hoof while, on the other, it could take a turn for the worst." "And by that, I assume you refer to her having developed a fear or wariness of changelings. Am I correct in that assumption?" Occento asked the changeling, a frown on her brow. The changeling nodded to her words, and quietly lifted a hoof in the air. "I see my colleagues have sent you word, Your Majesty. But, yes, that is the gist of it. Use of the dreamscape on her psyche revealed that she was traumatized to an extent. However, we still ignore the depth of that trauma." "If it comes down to it, I may be forced to exile her to better protect Melody from herself. But I thank you for confirming the words of your colleagues. It is greatly appreciated." "We’ll begin releasing her whenever you are ready, my Queen!” another changeling called from afar. Occento nodded, and the changelings surrounding Melody's pod ignited their horns, making the resistant surface of the pod moisten. It soon began to liquefy, liberating a flow of jelly under the changelings' hooves. In the middle of the pod's remains stood Melody, still unconscious, though it only took her a few prompts to wake her up. She woke up to Occento and five other changelings staring at her. At that point, she did the only thing she thought was natural: she screamed. The changelings belonging to the medical team cringed and immediately sat down to cover their ears, but Occento did not. She advanced toward Melody, unfazed by the filly's screams. She stopped in front of her protégée and sat down next to her. It only took her an instant to grab Melody with her forelegs and draw the filly into an embrace. "Shhh, Melody," Occento whispered in Melody's ear. "It's okay; they're not like Arconon. They want to help you." "No!" she replied as she tried to squirm her way out of Occento's embrace. "Make them go away!" You heard her. For the moment, I'll take care of her. You're all dismissed. Yes, my Queen! the changelings replied in unison, finding their way out of Occento's quarters. Against Occento's expectations, Melody's screams didn't take very long to die down and turn into quiet sobs. She hugged Occento back, crying her heart out. The queen remained in silence, embracing the filly as she wept. ———— Occento looked up, having heard that deafening cry. Recognizing the voice that was producing said scream, she ignited her horn almost instantly. She stomped the ground and firmly gazed at the changeling guard and halfling plummet down. Summoning her magic, she expanded her magic around her and over them, quickly ensnaring their form within her magical grasp, safely stopping their fall. That, however, did not ease her so much. It could have been that way, but it changed when she saw her protégée’s wounds on top of the green blood that quickly poured out of Epos’ wound. She was still relieved when she saw that both were still breathing though she felt a pressure against her heart when she saw that Melody was unconscious. Fortunately for Epos, despite the gravity of his wound, it did not seem to be infected yet. Regenerative pools would most likely prevent any further degeneration of his health. Careful lowering them from the air, she put them on the ground with as much care and tenderness as she could muster, careful not to cause either Epos or Melody any further injuries. She began inspecting their wounds, and she was enraged by her discoveries; Melody’s injuries had been caused by physical trauma while Epos’ wounds had been inflicted on him by a spell, a bolt no doubt. “Epos!” She called out, doing her best to keep him awake despite the loss of blood he suffered from. “Stay with me, Epos!” “M-my Q-queen”—his voice was a mess caught between gurgles and grunts as each breath pushed against his wounds. The more he tried to speak up, the more it would hurt him to draw breath, but he certainly seemed determined to deliver whatever message he had for her—“I have f-failed you. P-please f-forgive me!” “Never mind that, Epos!” She burst out, nearly barking at him. “Who did this to you? To Melody?” “I-it w-was Ar-arco…” He took one last breath before he closed his eyes. He was still breathing. Occento sighed heavily, her chest heaving, in relief. “You can rest now, Epos. I’ll handle this from now on…” To any guards currently on and off duty, I want every single soul searching for Fourth Advisor Arconon. This is a direct order, and I will not accept disobedience from any of you! Now, deploy! “What are you doing, Arconon? What are you planning?” She asked aloud as she tried to understand what was going on, and why Arconon had done something like that. ———— The day had ended, and Serenus Melodia’s sun had long since shut down. It had only been a few hours since Melody had finally fallen asleep. It had taken a while before she felt comfortable around Occento again, but eventually, the new hybrid finally began feeling safe around the changeling queen. Other changelings weren’t so lucky. She was still incredibly wary of them. Occento was about ready to head to sleep as well, carefully moving her legs into a more comfortable position rather than the one she currently was in, though it proved a bit hard to accommodate her own comfort while trying to avoid stirring Melody from her slumber. If there was one thing she desperately needed, it was sleep. Various things weighed down on Occento’s mind as she tried to get some rest of her own. Things like Shining Armor and Cadance’s demand for her to present herself at their castle in the Crystal Empire. Or Arconon’s plot. Though he would have been far more beneficial to her alive, her emotions had gotten the better of her. There was that, plus the ensuing uproar that would have followed a possible trial and the exposition of the truth. The last thing the Queen needed was an open conflict on her hooves. It was both refreshing, and tiring, to see that her life had changed so much ever since little Melody had come into her life. She knew the hybrid was scared by changelings; she had been even before Arconon had assaulted her, but it was a fear that was slowly being worked on. Occento knew this would surely take a while, but she hoped that Melody could one day become a part of her hive, as something more than simply a protégée, but she was scared of asking the question to the one she wanted to obtain permission from. It was too soon, she reminded herself, soon finding herself drifting to sleep shortly after. She placed a soft kiss on Melody’s head and lay her head around the filly’s, letting her nostrils blow puffs of warm air towards her, brushing her green mane a bit, resulting in Melody shifting her position, giggling a tiny bit all the while. “Sweet dreams, little one,” she told her, closing her eyes completely, letting her mind go blank for the night, forgetting all of her worries.