Melody’s eyes snapped wide open, and she bolted upward in her bed, her brow covered in sweat. She clutched a hoof to her chest, panting and glancing around helplessly. She looked at the window and sighed. Outside, the stars still shone brightly in the sky, and no life dared exist outside of the warmth their homes offered.
She rolled around in her bed, dropping her head back on her pillow, ignoring the sweat-filled fabric, and closed her eyes. Sweat rolled down her fur, her every movements heavy, and her head hurt. Almost as soon as she had closed her eyes, they shot open once more.
Visions of her life flashed before her. She faintly saw Star Blaze, Occento, Cherry, her adoptive family but they always looked so distant from her. Every time she’d try to succumb to slumber, those visions would haunt her again and again. What did they mean? What was her brain trying to tell her?
Upon rolling yet another time in her bed, the filly held back a cry when she accidentally pushed her weight on her lame leg. Her eyes watered and grew wider than before, looking around for anything to help her deal with the pain. Eventually, she burrowed her muzzle in her pillow and choked her cry.
Melody eventually grew tired of aimlessly wandering her mattress and decided a breath of fresh air might do her good. She pushed the sheets away and quietly slid down the bed, landing smoothly and without any muffled cry. The last thing she needed was to wake up Choir because of something like this.
Lighting up her horn, she grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door back. She slid through the small space she made, closing the door behind her. It was at times like these she was grateful that changelings could see in the dark better than most ponies. She flawlessly navigated through the small hallway until she reached the kitchen to find Rising sitting at the table, a cup and the previous day’s newspaper floating in his magic, and in the center of the table burned a small candle.
He flipped a page, his ears swiveling slightly, and the candle’s flame flickered, threatening to go out. He tore his eyes from the page and glanced back at Melody, who just stared at him curiously. What was he doing up at this hour? She didn’t remember him working a night job.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked in a calm and clear voice, despite his whispered tone.
Melody shook her head and rubbed her eyes with a lazy hoof, yawning all the while. She took a few steps forward and stopped in front of the sink, igniting her horn again to reach for a cupboard’s handle above. She drew a glass from a shelf and closed the cupboard’s door, absentmindedly lowering the glass in the sink, but just as her magic reached the tap to turn it on, she clutched a hoof to her head and cringed, visions of her brother haunting her mind again.
The glass fell flatly in the sink, barely echoing past the kitchen, but it still caused Rising to turn and frown. From all the times he had seen her use her magic in the past month, he was quite surprised to see her falter like that, but even more concerned about what troubled her enough to make her lose focus that much.
Rising leaned forward. He pressed his hooves under his chin, and he eyed Melody like a warden. He was ready to spring from his chair if she worsened in any way. Thankfully, she pulled herself together. She sucked in a breath and leaned back on a cupboard with her hoof held tightly to her head with one eye closed.
Rising rapidly got up from his seat, leaving the newspaper to fall flat on the table, extinguishing the candle’s flame. “Melody, are you okay?” he asked quietly before sitting next to her and putting a hoof on her shoulder.
His words were honey to her ears. They soothed her mind in an instant. Just as they had appeared, the visions of her brother vanished when Rising spoke. She shook her head and leaned on his chest.
“I’m not. I feel like I don’t belong here,” she answered weakly, snuggling into the fur.
Rising glanced down, his hoof moving to stroke her mane and he hummed her a tune. Rising’s voice was usually deep and formal, but she barely knew he could reach tones like those. She closed her eyes and let the soft melody calm her down.
Melody let out a sigh and opened her eyes again, pulling herself closer against her father. The stallion stopped his patting and stared at her. She felt the gaze on her, but Melody refused to look up.
“You do belong here. What gave you the idea you don’t belong?”
She refused to look up, instead focusing on nestling on his chest, staring into the darkness in front of her. The candle’s aroma finally reached her nostrils, and she scrunched up her nose as the scent of lavender invaded her.
When she failed to answer him, Rising gave her a gentle nudge, and she responded by straightening herself a bit, continuing to rest her head on his chest.
“Can I ask you something, Dad?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
She shuffled her hooves between her legs and bit her lower lip. She didn’t know how her father would react, but she yearned for an answer. She lifted her head to look back at him with her eyes opened wide.
“Do you think I’ll ever get a cutie mark?”
Rising looked back at her with a blank stare for a moment before the question registered, and his jaw dropped a bit. Any attempts at words he tried to come up with ended up in stutters, and every time he tore his eyes from Melody and glanced back at her, those eyes always did the same effect on him.
“Why are you asking me this?”
She tore her head from his chest and pulled herself back. She stared back at him, inhaling deeply and sighing the next moment. Doubt weaved itself in her mind, and she looked at him with pleading eyes.
Rising sighed in defeat. He had always been horrible at dealing with puppy eyes anyway. He hung his head and sighed once more. One way or another, he’d have to answer the question. He prepared his reply in his head and said, “I don’t know, Melody. You’re more changeling than you are a pony now, so I don’t know if you’ll ever get a cutie mark. But you shouldn’t let that drag you down.”
“Why not? Everypony’s going to have one, but I’ll keep being a blank flank forever!”
“Blank flank? Have you been bullied at school again?” he asked, his voice becoming deeper and more intense.
Melody whimpered at the intensity of his emotions. She felt his love for her, but also his possessiveness. She frowned. She wasn’t his. She belonged to nopony but herself. She quickly killed the bravado, her expression softening before she shook her head.
“No, but I saw a colt get bullied for not having a cutie mark. What if I never get one? What if I never find my special talent?”
Rising sighed again. Why was he always the one getting stuck with these sorts of situations? He looked her straight in the eyes and smiled. She furrowed her brow and puffed her cheeks. He waved his hoof dismissively and shook his head, but that did nothing to ease her.
“Not having a special talent doesn’t mean you’re not good at anything, Melody. Why don’t you put efforts like those into finding what you want to be instead of trying to be something you’re not? Just be yourself, Melody,” he said, giving her his best smile.
“How do I do that?” she replied, eyes snapping wide open. She pressed a hoof to her chest and leaned forward. Her eyes threatened to tear up at any time. “I don’t even know who I am anymore! What if I can’t find my happiness? What would everypony that gave away so much for me think if I can’t find even that?”
He blinked and got on all four, trotting the small distance between them to sit beside her again. This time, he pulled her into an embrace and put her on his lap. He was still smiling, and he shook his head at his daughter.
He had certainly not expected that of her, but if she understood that much, he knew where to lead the conversation. He kissed her forehead and ruffled her mane, and then whispered, “Melody, you don’t have to please anyone. Whatever you decide to do, you mother and I will support you however we can. I’m sure Occento would say the same and so would your brother. I was told you used to be a very cheerful filly. Why not go back to being that way?”
Melody’s gaze fell to the floor, and her ears drooped. She didn’t struggle against the embrace. Instead, she just melted in it. “I can’t go back to being that way.”
It was Rising’s turn to frown. His ears perked up, and he stared at her sternly. She never looked up, yet her eyes spoke for her. He lit his horn and faintly illuminated their surrounding to get a better look at Melody.
Dealing with Melody had proven to be tough at times, or so had Rising noticed. Although she had improved in the last week or so, she was still uncertain of herself. So self-doubting that it sometimes reeked in the house for days on end.
Rising Chorus shook his head and blinked. His expression shifted once more and this time, he just smiled at her. “Of course, you can. Nopony said you couldn’t be happy,” he insisted, patting her head lovingly.
Melody failed to answer again and soon enough, silence fell between the two, leaving them to stand in the darkness of the kitchen. Rising’s ears perked up when an invasive sound rang in them and caused them to flatten on his mane. His eyes darted all around the kitchen in an attempt to find the source of that noise.
He eventually tracked the sound to a nearby clock, only to stare at the time. He chuckled a little bit and picked Melody in his magic, putting her on the floor once more. He got up and tiphoofed through the kitchen to a window, lifting the curtain and opening the window.
Not only was he greeted by the chirps of birds that soared the skies above, but he had also gotten front row seats to see the sun rise from two peaks on the horizon as if it rose from the depths of the sea, embracing the land with its warmth.
The smell of freshly baked pastries filled the kitchen and Rising inhaled it, sighing in delight. He cocked his head to the side and eyed Melody intently before he finally said, “You should try to get some more sleep. You have school in a few hours.”
Melody blinked and nodded, groaning when she rose from her spot. She slowly trotted back to her room, disappearing from her father’s sight. She opened the door to her room soon enough and silently moved back to her bed, crawling under the covers. She drew a breath and heaved a sigh before nuzzling into her pillow, closing her eyes shortly after.
She let the soft harmony of the birds singing carry her to sleep, and this time, nothing came to haunt her. She spread her lips in a smile before she succumbed to sleep altogether.
----
Melody yawned and groggily rubbed her eyes. She was already sitting in class, a magazine set up on the desk before her. She hummed a happy tune, looking at the various images. Though she did think some of the mares featured in the magazines looked over the top, there were a few others she just loved.
One, in particular, caught her attention. She had just flipped the page with her magic, and her eyes stumbled on a forest-green mare turned slightly to the side to give a good view on her mane. The pink mane was, for the most part, loose over her neck, while her forelock appeared to have been flattened over her forehead, pulled back and braided over her mane.
The mare’s pastel blue dress trailed over most of her body with little sleeves adorning her front hooves. The mare wore a simple scarf, gray in color, that fit oddly well with the dress, despite Melody’s distaste for it. But those had quickly been put aside by the filly who now only focused on the mare’s mane.
“So, you like seapony braids?”
Melody’s ears sprung to life, and the filly pivoted her head to see Cherry standing behind her with a grin on her lips, glancing at the magazine. The changeling filly blushed and puffed her cheeks, leaving Cherry to crack up and stumble backward.
Melody groaned and shook her head, returning to the magazine. She looked again and again at the model on that page, admiring the way her mane flowed on her neck and shoulders. The changeling closed her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh when she felt somepony breathe on her shoulder.
She turned her head and gave Cherry a soft glare before her eyes went wide, and she turned around completely, jumping out of her chair. She pulled Cherry in a hug while the earth pony struggled to push herself from her friend.
“Cherry, what are you doing here? I thought your mom was pulling you out!”
Cherry rubbed the back of her neck and giggled nervously, looking away. She leaned her head to one side, stealing another glance at the magazine before turning her attention back to Melody.
“I guess I have you and your mom to thank for this change of heart from my mom,” she said with a playful tone, her smile spreading into a smirk. “By the way, you’d look great with your mane done like that, Melody.”
Melody’s cheeks flushed red, and she pushed Cherry back, settling back in her chair when the pressure on her leg became too much. She was getting much better at tolerating the pain, but her leg still hurt a lot at times.
She focused her eyes in a glare once more and crossed her forelegs over her chest, shaking her head while her magic carried the magazine back in her saddlebags. She was taken by surprise when she heard somepony rummaging through her things moments later. She was about to give whoever it was a piece of her mind, but her coat turned even whiter once her eyes landed on Coral. The words rolled on her tongue, and she gulped.
“Resorting to taking my magazines, young lady?” Coral commented with a neutral expression, flipping the page to the same one Melody had been looking at previously. Coral’s glance alternated between the magazine and her daughter, and she nodded every now and then. “But I do have to agree with Cherry here. This mane style would fit you just marvelously.”
Melody’s cheeks turned even redder, and she slid into her chair, trying to hide under her desk. She pouted when both refused to tear their eyes from her. She groaned and rested her chin on the desk, deflating in her seat.
“Don’t joke about this, mom,” she protested, swelling her cheeks and facing away from her mother.
“I’m serious, darling. I could help you with it tonight if you’d like.”
Melody’s demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. She spun her head around and looked at Coral with a toothy smile. A little bit more and she would be bouncing up and down on her seat. Her wide eyes gave her an adorable expression, and she squeaked, “Really?”
Coral nodded and chuckled. She put the magazine back in Melody’s saddlebags and returned to the front of the class. She shot the two fillies a glance and smiled. The two of them giggled, and Cherry leaned toward Melody, whispering something to her before they exploded in laughter once more.
“Behave now, you two. Class is going to start soon,” Cherry said, tapping on her desk a few times and garnering the fillies’ attention, but they soon resumed whatever they were previously discussing.