Things Do Get Better
Life in the Crystal Empire was quite pleasant, Melody concluded. With the Crystal Heart’s protection over the city, there was naught a day where the sun didn’t shine down. Truly, anypony that visited the Empire would find a dazzling beauty.
Melody wasn’t anypony, though. She kept a hoof over her eyes as she trudged through the busy streets of the Empire. She passed by the marketplace she so loved, putting her leg down once the city’s spire cast its shadow over her. She sighed in relief. She did curse under her breath when she fell prey to the sun’s rays again once the shadows abandoned her.
Finding Shimmering Prism’s shop wasn’t hard. She did manage to find it—although she got lost and ventured almost an hour in the wrong direction—after she finally decided to ask for directions. She panted and looked at the sign of the shop in front of her. She reached for her saddlebags with her magic and pulled out the photograph of her parents standing next to Astral and Wishing.
Coral’s words rang in her head again, and she willed the confidence to take the following steps to the unimpressive building. She opened the door with her magic and slowly slid through the small opening. Once she was inside, safe and sound from the sun’s annoying rays, she looked around and saw nopony at the counter.
She flicked her ears one way, then the other, but her results were the same. It was like nopony was there at all. She took a few hesitant steps into the shop, carefully navigating between the various display stations.
“Hello?” she asked tentatively, casting her gaze to the small door that led to the back store. Were they absent? If so, why was the door unlocked? Weren’t they afraid that somepony could steal from them?
Melody ducked her head when she heard the door behind her creak and froze when she heard two ponies walk in. One was talking about something involving hayburgers and a stallion being flustered while the other one giggled heartily.
“Melody?” said of the mares, whom Melody rapidly recognized as being Shimmering Prism. There was a pause, and Melody began feeling as if she was an intruder. “Goodness, if I had known you were coming, I would have asked Prismatic to stay here.”
Melody slowly turned her head and looked at the two mares from the corner of her eyes to see them shimmering like Crystal ponies. She didn’t remember their coat having that effect to them. She thought changelings couldn’t replicate things like that.
Another pregnant silence filled the small shop as Melody tried to avert her eyes, but to no avail. All of her attempts ended up with her staring right back at the pair. Shimmering raised an eyebrow and skidded on by, passing Melody and stopping somewhere behind her. Prismatic did the same, prompting Melody to follow the mare with her gaze to find both disguised changelings standing behind the counter.
Shimmering stared back as she leaned forward and offered a smug expression as she crossed her legs. She parted her lips to reveal her fangs and Melody blinked. She couldn’t do small-scale shifts when in her disguise. Could the disguised changeling queen teach her how to do that in lieu of Occento?
The owner cleared her throat, and her purple eyes bore into Melody’s. “You look like you stole something,” Shimmering commented, her hearty laughter chiming in not too long after, making Melody feel like she wanted to sink in the flooring, or simply vanish from sight. “Come now, spit it out and confess your sins, little filly.”
A teal hoof landed on the mare’s shoulder, and Melody saw Prismatic shake her head behind Shimmering. There was an audible sigh, and Shimmering Prism flashed in blue flames, reverting to her changeling form. Except that now, her chitin was glittering and shimmering just like a Crystal pony’s. Was that normal? Was something wrong with the changeling?
“A-a-are you okay? Your chitin has an odd coloration,” Melody said, a hint of concern about her tone.
Glaesi began laughing, and Melody took a few steps back, ducking her head further, casting her glance around in hopes of finding somewhere to hide from the queen’s stare. It eventually dwindled down into silence and Melody sat down, carefully eyeing Glaesi even as Prismatic glared at her mother and reverted to her changeling form. She let out an exasperated sigh and tried to shove Glaesi aside.
“No, we are quite fine,” said a glittering Gemma from her spot behind the counter. Weren’t they afraid that they would cause panic across the Empire if ponies found out they were changelings? Melody shuffled her hooves and tilted her head to the left, earning a giggle from both mares. “This is our real forms. Ponies aren’t the only ones that are attuned to the Crystal Heart, so I guess that makes us Crystal changelings.”
Melody furrowed her brow and brought her hoof to her chin. “But what about the first time I met you two? You looked like normal changelings.”
Gemma nodded and pressed a hoof firmly on her mother’s mouth, earning a glare from the elder changeling—to which Gemma answered by poking out her tongue tauntingly. She smiled and replied, “Yes, we did. However, to my…” Gemma sighed and cast her head to the side. She regarded Glaesi with cold indifference. “Excuse for a moment, Melody.”
She yanked her hoof free of her mother’s fangs, looked at the bite marks and rolled her eyes. Another intake of air was exhaled into a sigh, “Are you done?”
There was a pause as Glaesi licked her lips and flashed her fangs in front of her daughter. “For the most part, yes. You ought to show some respect, Gemma.”
“And you need to show some consideration!” Gemma shot back, stomping a hoof on the counter and making Melody jump back, causing her leg to send a jolt of vivid pain through her spine. She stared back at the pair apprehensively; a reaction Gemma seemed to notice. “Apologies, Melody. Mother is a professional nag and she obviously cannot understand that you are confused.”
Glaesi rolled her eyes, and snorted haughtily, lifting her nose high and only showing the hint of a slight smirk on the edges of her lips. With an exaggerated motion of her hoof in her daughter’s direction, she said, “Of course I understand that she’s confused. I could taste something that thick from Canterlot!”
While they bickered back and forth about emotions and personal feelings and how Glaesi was apparently too focused on having her own way rather than running her shop, Melody pulled the two photos from her saddlebags. A smile parted her lips as her eyes befell her parents’ photo once more. In contrast, once she flipped the first photo and looked at a picture of herself next to Star, she scrunched up her nose and just stared intently at it, her magic flickering.
For a moment, she considered asking for her brother to be added to the mix, but Occento and Wishing’s words sprung in her mind. She closed her eyes, feeling like an imaginary pair of hooves were currently clenching down on her heart. Her breath quickened as anger filled her up and no less than a dozen insults about her brother took refuge in her mind.
Thankfully, she kept the words to herself, taking a series of deep and long breaths instead. It didn’t take long for Melody to build her courage and take a step forward, then another, thus earning the two mares’ attention as she approached the counter with a fire burning in her eyes.
“Coral said that she gave you enough bits to commission something of my choosing,” she blurted out messily, biting her tongue in the next instant and barely holding back a curse.
There was a hint of confusion for a moment, or so Melody thought when Glaesi lifted her brow and stared at Melody. Her expression shifted entirely, and she seemed to be considering something else as she turned to her daughter again and inclined her head.
“Have you heard of that, Gemma? I certainly don’t remember anyone coming to give us a full payment deposit.” Glaesi pondered with a hoof tapping her chin while Gemma replied with a quick nod and pulled a small notebook from somewhere behind the desk.
“You don’t even remember what we ate last night.” Gemma gave her mother a light jab—receiving a hiss as an answer—and giggled to herself. She began to flip the pages, completely ignoring Glaesi’s glowering gaze, and waggled her ears, flicking them toward the older changeling
Well, older was a relative term. Both changelings seemed just as old as the other. Plus, the grayish chitin was making it hard to dissociate their age. Melody found herself brought back to the point Gemma had tried to make before Glaesi had interrupted her, but just as she was about to speak up, Gemma interrupted her train of thought by shoving her notebook in her mother’s face.
“See here! Coral Charm came here a month and a half ago and made a deposit,” Gemma sang in a victorious tone, wiggling her nose in front of a very unamused Glaesi, who arched an eyebrow, flared her nostrils, and blinked, stifling a yawn with a hoof.
Said changeling queen shoved the book aside and poked her tongue out before turning back to look at Melody, leaning onto the counter and craning her head over it. If that had been her first meeting with the changeling queen, Melody would have been extremely quick to skedaddle as fast as possible from the scene, but seeing Glaesi and Gemma bicker like that made her feel more at ease with them. However that worked.
“You have a very affectionate mother,” Glaesi said, making Melody’s ear go red at the tips, her cheeks doing the same. She scooped the photos from Melody’s magical grasp with her own. The filly’s eyes widened as her magic dispelled and vanished to the wind, replaced by a blue aura.
“H-hey!” Melody gasped, reaching out to the counter with her hooves. She failed to grab the photos from Glaesi’s hold and instead glared at the queen, sitting back and crossing her legs over her chest. She puffed her cheeks slightly and grumbled, “Give those back! They’re important!”
Glaesi offered a nod and a wave of her hoof, making Melody pout. Gemma eyed the picture for a moment, then poked her mother on the shoulder, staring sternly at her elder. Glaesi slowly turned her head to her daughter and arched an eyebrow, setting the pictures down. Melody saw the opportunity and jumped up, sweeping what was rightfully hers in her hooves and hugging them close to her chest.
That led to another waggle of Gemma’s ears as Glaesi hung her head and sighed. “What do you want?”
Melody’s ears perked up, and she looked down at the two pictures that she held in her hooves, quickly setting the second one down and turning the first one around in her magic. With a tinge of joy in her voice, she replied, “Something like what you did for Miss Breeze involving these two ponies,” she pointed at the couple on the right of the picture—her parents, “and myself.”
Glaesi nodded and summoned a pen to her side, quickly jotting down a few notes on a piece of paper scattered across the counter, humming all the while. “And what about that other picture there? Don’t you want that stallion included?”
Melody shook her head as she slid the photo to her side. There was another nod. Glaesi hummed while she scribbled on the sheet in front of her. Gemma pressed herself over the counter and Melody felt the gaze scanning her over and a chill ran through her spine.
“Could I get a better look at that picture?” asked Gemma, offering Melody a delicate smile. Melody looked at the picture and then at Gemma again, taking a quick look at Glaesi to see her glaring again. Melody gulped for a moment, but then an idea filled her head, and she looked back into Gemma’s gaze and nodded. Gemma offered a nod of her own and surrounded the picture in her blue aura. “Thank you.”
Glaesi snorted. “It’s funny how you give this picture to my daughter so easily when you were adamant about me not looking at it.”
“That’s because I asked her nicely and politely. You just grabbed it without Melody’ consent.” Gemma winked at Melody with a grin spread across her lips. She petted her mother’s shoulder and leaned her head against Glaesi, much to the queen’s irritation. Glaesi’s eye twitched, and she pushed her daughter away.
The queen grumbled, much to her daughter’s mirth and amusement, and turned around, igniting her horn again. She flung open the back store’s door and lifted her nose, huffing and swishing her tail as she disappeared behind the door that she made sure to slam.
That caused Melody to jump a little bit, and she regarded Gemma with a worried expression. The mare raised her eyebrow and curled her lips in a smile. Melody tilted her head and frowned.
“Don’t worry about her,” Gemma reassured with a wave of her hoof and a giggle. She reached for the piece of paper that Glaesi had scribbled on and turned it for Melody, revealing a few scribbles that resembled nothing at all. “She’ll be back to normal in a few hours. I just wish she was more responsible as not to get love-drunk.”
Melody furrowed her brow even more and raised a hoof in the air, although she took it back down just as quickly once she realized she wasn’t in class. “Love-drunk? Changelings can get drunk on love?” she asked, a hint of surprise and curiosity coating her words.
Gemma’s ears flew at the top of her head, and she briefly nodded, setting the pictures onto the counter. She rubbed her chin with her hoof, humming all along, not unlike what Glaesi had done. “We can, yes. If we’re not responsible or in an abundance of love or positive emotions, we can get drunk on those emotions. We become giddy, and we lose all forms of filters. It also sometimes affects our inhibitions.” Gemma stepped to the right and moved toward Melody, stopping right in front of her. She scooped up the filly’s chin and lifted her head just so she could stare into those golden, pupilless eyes. “In any case, I will have to sample a sip of your emotions. If that’s all right with you, of course.”
Melody blinked, then gulped, as the words reached her ears and she processed the information. She splayed her ears and blinked a few more times, opening and closing her mouth as words failed her. There was something about being fed on that made her fidget. She backed away from Gemma, but she did not break eye contact.
“Is it g-going to hurt?” Melody stuttered, ducking her head as Gemma’s expression lightened and she shook her head.
In Melody’s mind, the gears were already grinding at full speed, and she was wondering if Gemma was genuine or if she was just trying to trick her. Melody apprehensively glanced at Gemma as she reached for a small crystal with her magic and brought it between herself and Melody. She twirled it about a few times and set it down in front of Melody.
“It won’t. For a sip, you’ll barely feel the effect of being fed on. Plus, I will not be consuming those emotions. This crystal here,” she picked it up in her magic again and pushed it closer toward Melody, “will contain these emotions for me. It’s only for reference’s sake for the work I will do for this piece of yours.” There was another pause before Gemma’s tongue clicked, and she lifted Melody’s chin once more. “Do you trust me?”
Melody blinked again. She did trust Gemma. The changeling princess had been willing to help her get over her fear of changelings without asking anything in return. Of course, she trusted Gemma! There was no reason for her to distrust the changeling mare.
Melody nodded—although she hesitatingly did so—and averted her eyes from the changeling mare, rubbing one leg over the other. Melody’s ears rose atop her head when she saw the photo she had given Gemma just a few minutes ago from the corner of her eyes. Gemma pointed the two ponies on the right of the image.
Melody cleared her throat and remained in silence for the longest time until she turned her head slightly and looked at the picture in which her parents had been immortalized. “Who are these two to you?” Gemma asked in a sweet, soft voice.
“My birth parents,” Melody blurted out in response, hushing her voice to a whisper
There was a slight pause before Melody saw Gemma withdraw her hoof, but she did not follow that gesture and instead kept her eyes glued on the picture. “Excellent. Now, I want you to think about your parents and the love you feel for them. Let those feelings inhabit you.””
Melody closed her eyes. Did she really have to? A single week had passed since she had managed to reconcile with her past, and she was already expected to summon the feelings that panged her heart with pain once more? But she did as was asked of her. She took several deep breaths, calming her trembling jaw, and let her mind wander.
She thought of all the things Wishing had told her about her parents. Despite making her sad that she couldn’t remember them at all and that she would have loved to know meet them, Melody pushed on forward. Her mind began to fill with images of what her life could have been had her parents not perished when she was so young.
Images of her playing around in a backyard with her brother while her parents watched them both formed in her head, and she held a hoof to her mouth to silence a sob. For what felt like several hours, Melody stood there speechless, feeling the tears streak across her fur.
She jumped in startled fright when a hoof landed on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and jerked her head up to see Gemma staring at her with a small smile that radiated warmth. “I think that’s enough. Just focus on relaxing now.”
Melody saw the changeling’s horn glow with a tinge of blue, standing still despite her legs wanting nothing more than to run away. Gemma, for her part, leaned closer until she was face-to-face with Melody and pressed her snout even closer—while Melody recoiled instinctively. Gemma persisted in her efforts until her lips grazed Melody’s.
Melody froze instantly and stared back at Gemma with a shocked expression. Had she just kissed her? The filly didn’t have much time to dwell on that thought as something tugged on that feeling of happiness burrowed deep inside her. She began to panic, frantically lashing off against the intruder in her mind.
“Do not fight it,” cooed Gemma, barely moving except for backing away and suspending the crystal between herself and Melody. Melody shook her head. No! She wouldn’t let this feeling escape her. She’d gone through too much! She wasn’t about to abandon those! “I will not rob you of your feelings and emotions. I only want to duplicate them in this crystal.”
Still, it felt wrong to let Gemma experience something that wasn’t hers. Before even realizing it, however, Melody saw a green tendril of some sort escape her mouth. When had she opened her mouth? The tugging sensation was still strong, but it never robbed her of anything. Dizziness washed over her, but it left her just as fast as it came.
Melody blinked a few times, feeling like an hour had passed, staring blankly at the wall behind Gemma. She shook her head and splayed her ears, staring at the changeling to find her holding a violet crystal in her magic, observing it closely.
“Is that my love?” Melody hesitatingly asked, tilting her head after a slight smirk appeared on Gemma’s lips.
“That it is. I’m surprised, though. Your love for your birth parents is surprisingly strong for somepony who’s never met them. Thank you very much for this,” she bowed her head slightly and winked. “It’ll make my job that much easier.”
“You’re… welcome?” Melody offered, raising a brow and averting her gaze, feeling her cheeks and ears garner a red hue.
Gemma went back to stand behind her counter with a happy trot, shaking her flanks, which made Melody’s cheeks burn even more as the changeling’s tail swayed back and forth. Once behind the counter, she applied her Crystal unicorn disguise. “Can I ask a small favor?” Gemma hummed, jotting down several notes onto the notepad that rested on the counter while keeping an eye on the filly.
Melody raised an eyebrow and took a moment, her mind trying to wrap itself around the changeling’s twisted sense of humor. She finally nodded, and Gemma replied with an enthusiastic clap of her hooves.
“Great! Could you ask the two bat ponies next to your parents on this picture to come visit the shop as soon as possible?”
Melody moved over to the counter and considered trying to look at what Gemma was doing, but the striking pain of her leg returned when she reared on her hindlegs, and she pushed herself back down clumsily, wincing.
“What do Wishing and Astral have to do with this?” she asked quietly, drawing in a sharp intake of air. Looks like she was spent of reserves for the day.
“Nothing, actually,” Gemma chirped, although Melody smelled the worry coming out of the disguised changeling. The mare leaned over the desk and cast a glance over Melody. “I’d just like to talk to them to get a better opinion of your birth parents since they seemed close.”
Melody sat down and held her chin with a hoof and slowly nodded in response. “I can talk to them. I can’t promise they’ll show up, though,” Melody replied flatly, shifting her weight onto her right hindleg and wrinkling her nose at the painful sensation the shifting caused her once more.
Gemma beamed in response and followed with another chipper clap of her hooves.
“Thank you,” she squeaked, jotting down a few more in her notebook that Melody couldn’t really see from her spot, except maybe for the pen that moved in Gemma’s magic. “Give us around two weeks from now, and you’ll have what you asked for!”
Melody nodded, gathered the photo at her side in her magic, and got up to leave the shop. She caught herself when she realized she didn’t have her parent’s picture. She began to raise her hoof to ask Gemma to have it back, but she quickly quelled the thought in her mind. It was likely that the changeling would have need of it for details, as much as it pained her to part with the photograph. Thus, Melody put her leg down and turned around to leave.
Once she was outside, Melody sat down, pressed her hooves against her lips and began vehemently rubbing, making disdainful grunts all the while. A mare kissed her on the lips. Just the thought made it weird, and Melody tried to suppress the mental image, to no avail.
Gemma’s kissy face erupted in her mind, and all mental processes in Melody’s mind stopped. She froze and covered her eyes with her hooves.
“You don’t just do that unannounced!” she muttered as quietly as possible, once again realizing that there were ponies that were watching her with questioning eyes, not to mention the judging stares that she could smell from a distance.
Those tasted terrible.
♫
Melody glared at Gemma with her lips curled in a pout. She tilted her ears forward and tapped her right hindleg on the floor. Gemma, for her part, seemed to be trying to hold back her laughter, what with her holding her hooves to her snout. Melody picked up a few snickers coming from the undisguised changeling.
“You kissed me. On the lips,” Melody growled, her eyes never leaving Gemma’s unmoving form. The mare’s wings fluttered and buzzed behind her. She offered Melody a nod, which in turn made Melody arch an eyebrow through her glare. “And why are you laughing about this?! You don’t just kiss a filly like that!”
Gemma closed her eyes and removed her hooves from her mouth, setting her laughter free as a result. Her wings continued to buzz, and she flailed over the counter, bursting out in series of high-pitched giggles.
Melody continued to glare, although it quickly turned into a frown, as the filly was seemingly confused by the changeling’s behavior. What was so funny that it left the changeling princess in that state?
It took a few minutes until Gemma eventually stopped, or at least her giggles simmered down. The mare took a series of deep breaths. As time passed, she seemed calmer than before, although a broad smile still adorned her lips. With a suppressed chuckle, Gemma pulled herself up and crossed her legs. She waggled her ears and chimed, “I’m sorry. I can’t resist. You’re too adorable when you’re mad like that. Your puffy cheeks only add to your adorableness whenever you’re angry.”
“Don’t avoid the topic, Gemma. You kissed me on the lips!” Melody repeated with a snarl, gesturing her lips for a brief moment before she folded her legs against her chest once more, flicking her tail.
Gemma nodded and stepped away from the counter to come stand in front of Melody, sitting down in front of her fellow changeling. It was really odd to see a grayish chitin that shimmered brightly in comparison to the black chitin she was accustomed to.
Gemma dipped her head in a bow and replied, “You’re right. But you really need to watch yourself in the mirror when you next get mad. You are adorable!” When Gemma noticed Melody glaring daggers at her, as if looks could kill, and that she had flashed her fangs to hiss, the mare cleared her throat and caught herself from saying anything else. “Ahem. Let’s talk about some other matters. Has your father taught you how to feed as a changeling?”
Melody’s glare started to ebb, and she instead started frowning again. What kind of question was that? Of course, Rising had taught her how to feed! It was one of his first lessons. “He did. I know how to collect emotions around me to sustain my reserves,” Melody answered flatly, not seeing where Gemma was going with that thought.
There was another nod from the mare, and her smile faded a bit. Melody briefly wondered what she meant by that, and the sudden possibilities that spawned in Melody’s mind made her ears droop backward a bit.
“So he did not teach you how directly feed on someone else, then?” Gemma inquired, locking her golden eyes in Melody’s.
Melody shook her head. She didn’t remember anything about that from her lessons with Rising. She just knew how to draw in lingering energy around her and use it to fuel her magic. Why hadn’t he taught her how to feed directly from a pony or changeling?
“He might have wanted to wait for you to get older to tell you, I presume. Do you often see him smothering your mother with small attentions?” Melody nodded fervently. She saw it all the time. Just the thought of it made her cheeks go red. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Gemma added with a chuckle.
“Why does it even matter, though?” Melody shot back almost instantly. She gave her head a few shakes when the images started taking root in her mind.
There was another chuckle from Gemma as the mare leaned forward, resting her chin over her legs. Her eyes never left Melody’s eyes, and she tossed her mane before she gave her hoof a shake. “Changelings can feed through two methods. You already know of one. The other one is through direct physical contact using one’s lips. That’s why so many changelings tend to be romantics, along with adding nipping, nibbling, nuzzling, and kissing to the mix. It’s the best way to feed on another pony or changeling.”
Even Melody’s ears had turned red at this point, and she threw her gaze at anywhere in the room save for Gemma. It was for naught. Now all she could think about were the small attentions Rising kept giving Coral at every occasion he got.
“A-anyway, you c-c-called me here t-today,” Melody blurted out, her brain on meltdown. Her tail twitched incessantly behind her, and she kept looking at the window at the opposing corner of the shop. “Is it done?”
As if on cue, Gemma nodded and bolted from her spot with a skip in her trot, opened the door to the back store and disappeared inside, leaving Melody alone to deal with those thoughts. Her first course of action was to take in as many deep breaths as she needed, closing her eyes. She inhaled, then exhaled until the warmth on her face slowly vanished.
For a moment, she thought herself rid of the disturbing images, but as she quickly found out, mentioning them in her head like that only made them surface again. Her hoof met with her forehead, and she groaned.
The door to the back store swung open and made Melody jump when it slammed against the wooden wall at its side. From out the door came Gemma with a medium sized statuette of three ponies. Two adults were holding a filly and nuzzling her cheeks with theirs.
Whatever invading thoughts still roamed in her head vanished in a flash as she gleaned at the statuette in greater details. She was taken out of her bubble when Gemma’s cheerful voice pierced through her focus.
“Come here, Melody. I want to know what you think of It,” Gemma called from the counter, gesturing at Melody with a wide smile on her lips.
Her attention having already been seized by the statuette, Melody wasted no time in slinking her way behind the counter just in time to see Gemma push a bench her way. The filly jumped on it and pulled herself upward, peeking her head over the high counter.
And there it was: the statuette, in all of its glory. The support was made of crystals, and the three ponies that were carved on top of it were made out of three different types of stones. One was pink, and the figure was undeniably female. The other was black and obviously male. And the one in the middle was a bright green riddled with red spots all across its surface.
Melody’s eyes darted toward the picture that rested next to the statuette, and she compared the ponies on there. At first, she inspected a few elements, but her jaw dropped. Each and every detail had been carried out with precise expertise. Melody could clearly see the bright and loving expression the mare wore. The stallion’s proud expression shone brightly from the light cast on the black stone. And the filly, which Melody assumed was herself, was just a bundle of happiness.
Her ears were perked up. Her eyes were closed, and she overall seemed like she was squealing in delight from the embrace her birth parents gave her.
Though, there was something that bothered her.
“Gemma, why did you use a black stone for my dad’s figure?” she blurted out loud, arching an eyebrow and tilting her head. “He had a white coat, so I thought you’d use a white crystal or gem.”
“You raise a fair point. Your father did have a white coat. It would make sense to make a figure of him using a white stone. However, precious stones and crystals don’t work that way. Each as a different meaning.”
That made a lot of sense, actually. Now that Melody thought about it, she nodded to herself and scolded herself mentally for having asked such a stupid question. No, she scolded herself again. Coral said there were no stupid questions.
But the stone used still bugged her. As if on cue, Gemma angled her head toward her and smiled. “You’re wondering why I used these gems, aren’t you?”
Melody only nodded while she kept looking at her belated birthday gift from Coral.
“Your mother’s was made using a type of quartz. We called it the rose quartz. It’s often a sign of unconditional love. And since your two bat pony friends sang such praise of your mother about how much she cared, I couldn’t think of anything else for her. I think that it fits her mane perfectly,” Gemma explained, tapping her chest with a hoof. A proud smile of her own was carved on her lips, and she tilted her ears in Melody’s direction.
Her plea for confirmation fell on deaf ears as Melody was utterly transfixed with the statuette standing in front of her. Melody’s ears perked up, and she pointed to her father’s figure. “What about my dad’s?” she asked, turning back to glance at Gemma’s frown before her mood shifted entirely and her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Ah yes. As you’ve already noted, I used a black stone—onyx—to make your father’s figure. A bit contradictory, but let me explain why. Onyxes of this purity are said to help with one’s emotional state and stabilize it. They have the ability to dissipate unwanted emotions and can also serve as good luck charms. I think that fit him perfectly based on what I learned about him.”
Before Melody could even go about pointing and asking about what stone the changeling had used for her own figure, Gemma produced a green stone and set it next to the whole statuette.
“That is a heliotrope. A bloodstone, as some call it. It signifies courage. You’ve shown such an incredible amount of courage and perseverance that I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to use this to represent you.” She pushed the statuette toward Melody and smiled. “So here, happy belated birthday, Melody.”
Tears formed in Melody’s eyes and her vision became a blur. She threw herself around Gemma's neck and hugged the changeling tightly, catching the recipient of her hug by surprise, as indicated by her stammering silence.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much,” Melody repeated time and time again, tears streaking down her cheeks. She let go of the mare’s neck, amused to find her catching her breath in her corner. Quick as a flash, the filly grabbed the emotional artifact in her magic, and she scrambled off to the door, waving at the confused mare. “Thank you again.”
Gemma waved back, although her confused expression failed all attempts at trying to stay hidden. There was a pregnant pause until the mare yanked on Melody’s tail with her magic and pulled her back a bit.
“One last thing!” She cleared her throat and moved toward the door with a casual trot, her hips still swaying eccentrically, her tail doing the very same thing. “Before you go to sleep, put your hoof on the crystallite support and think of your parents. My mother has a surprise in store for you.”
Melody nodded and ran off into the distance, a delightful step in her gait. She kept the statuette close to herself and moved forward, managing the streets with precise accuracy. Her previous ventures for all sorts of entertaining things certainly proved useful to her now.
♫
After taking a quick evening snack and brushing her teeth, Melody headed to her bedroom with a skip to her trot. She carefully slid through the door to see Choir already asleep. She moved on the tips of her hooves and had to summon every ounce of her will not to yelp when she lost her balance and plunged forward.
Her wings caught her at the last moment, the beating of said wings filling the room with their soft buzzing. Melody glanced over at Choir and heaved a sigh. She restored her balance and landed safely on the ground, making a mental note to avoid unnecessary precautions in the future.
She climbed into her bed and pulled the sheets over herself, directing her attention at the statuette sitting on her nightstand. She smiled and admired the incredible amount of details with a weak illumination spell.
Gemma’s words came back to her, and she closed her eyes. She had to think about her biological parents. Their images sprung in her mind, along with the desire to meet them, at least once, and hug them.
With Gemma’s instructions in her mind, Melody focused on the love she felt toward her parents. She let it consume her, and she reached for the crystal support with a shaking hoof. What was that surprise that Gemma had talked about?
She put down her hoof on the flat surface of the statuette, right in front of the three figures standing happily together as a family. Nothing happened at first. Her hoof just lay there, and nothing happened. Had Gemma made a fool out of her? Oh, she was going to give her a stern talking to if the mare took advantage of her gullibility.
She took her hoof back and whipped her head to the other side, staring at the wall. Anger swirled inside her, and she splayed her ears, gritting her teeth. Were her emotions mere playthings for those changelings?
Her vision blurred, and she shook her head, raising a leg and swinging down. She stopped her motion when she saw the reflection of a green light on the wall. Curious, she looked back to see the statuette glowing green, or at least the base did.
Curiosity again gripped her, and her eyes widened when she looked up at the three figures. Not only were they sharing an embrace, but now they genuinely moved, and she saw her parents nuzzle her smaller gem self as she stretched her legs around their necks as much as she could.
Tears streaked down her tears, and she smiled happily. Just below the three gem ponies was a tiny green heart shape that pulsed and beat. She let her hooves fall to her side, and she lay the side of her head on her pillow. She let a heavy sigh through her lips before closing her eyes.
“Good night, Mom. Dad,” she whispered softly, smiling all the way up to the ears.
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My feels were not prepared... not at all...
7716800 Hey there!
Thanks for leaving your input and comments on the story and thank you for sharing your criticism! I really do appreciate it a bunch. That being said, I'll try to address the points you've made (and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Some things I agree with, some others I don't, but that's absolutely fine).
Distance and time between location were never my forte, nor do I think it will ever be. Unless time is of relative importance, it is not my biggest concern. My intention with this story is to make it about the journey as a whole, not the smaller details (though a lot of them are important)
As for the first chapter, I will openly agree that the pacing is way too rash for what's happening. There is no denying that. It is something I am aware of that irks people, and that is one of my weakest moments of this story. That chapter was published almost three years ago, though, and has experienced no strong revision as I thought it was correct. The more it was pointed out to me, the more I realized that the chapter was flawed pacing-wise. I will revise this chapter once I do find the time to do so because I want to see how far I've come in three years.
From what I am getting from this, it seems unfathomable that a changeling be of good will and good faith, especially since this story is tagged AU. I went for the altruist switch when I initially wrote this. Melody's been kept in stasis in a regeneration pod to better help her changes and heal her injuries. Overall, to monitor her recovery.
I don't think I quite meant that, or implied that. Occento merely states that she might not have been able to adapt to a love diet because she's, well, a pony at her core. How would you react if you were told, all of a sudden, that your entire diet cannot sustain your body anymore, how exactly would you react?
In general, thank you for your honest opinions and critics regarding my story. I hope you enjoy the rest of it as it goes because I've been told by friends that the quality improves with time.
7716809 I'm not sorry!
Nice to see something actually going the right way.
Heliotrop? It sounds like a refrence...
Daaaawww!