Melody watched her sister pace around the living room with a dull expression, a hoof massaging her temple with every moment that passed. That was probably one of the pettiest cause to worry about, although she shouldn’t criticize her sister for that. She had had her fair share of unnecessary problems.
She argued in her mind that, while her worries were based on baseless exaggerations or blowing things out of proportion, Choir’s worries weren’t as much. A quick check on the emotions floating around revealed that it was just the unicorn’s nerves that were acting up.
She closed her eyes and bit back a snarl when she saw her younger sister complete another revolution. She dropped down the couch and slunk her way to the stressed out unicorn. Melody bumped her flank with hers and looped a leg around Choir’s neck, grinning while the younger sibling glared at her.
“Stop worrying for nothing, you worrywart!” Melody burst out laughing, poking her tongue out and nuzzling her nose against Choir’s cheek. “Everything’s going to turn out just fine, I’m sure!”
A sigh escaped Choir, and Melody proclaimed her victory by ruffling her sister’s mane. She let go of her sister and smiled, giving her head the faintest tilt. Choir hung her head and sighed again. Uh oh, double sighs were never a good sign. Melody frowned and stared intently at the unicorn.
Averting her eyes and turning her head to the side, Choir replied, “That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to sing in front of a full audience. I never asked to be put in the spotlight like this.”
Melody rolled her eyes and snorted, glancing at her parents to see them trying their hardest to keep their laughter at bay. It was absolutely stunning to see how much they trivialized their struggles. The contagious giggles reached her, though, and she had to cover her mouth.
She watched Choir puff her cheeks and huff, glaring at Melody as if she’d been betrayed, which wasn’t that far off from the truth. “Don’t laugh at me too!” she lashed out. Her lips curled into a pout while her ears slumped over her scalp, her cheeks still puffed angrily. It was the most adorable display Melody had seen in a while, which made her efforts at keeping her laughter contained that much more challenging. “It’s bad enough to have Mom and Dad do it, don’t join their side!”
It was too much. Choir’s squeaks were the last straw, and Melody just stumbled backward, falling on her back. She wrapped her legs around her belly, and she kept on laughing and laughing, wheezing and hacking a few times from the intensity.
“I’m glad my situation amuses you. Can we get back to how I’m super stressed out over this whole thing now?”
Rising cleared his throat and gestured a hoof forward, smiling softly. “I don’t think Melody’s doing it to be rude. Not to sound insensitive, but you’re overreacting, sweetie.”
There was a chime from Coral, and she bumped her shoulder against Rising. She then winked at the two and cooed, “Besides, you’re the best singer in the choir right now. Why wouldn’t they choose you to sing a solo before the Hearth’s Warming Eve play?”
Melody managed to calm her breathing, her laughter fading. She brushed away all of the tears in her eyes and rolled back onto her legs, wincing just a bit once she put some pressure on her hind leg. She moved right next to her sister and nuzzled her again.
“Mom’s got a point,” she said, poking Choir’s side and redoubling her efforts every time she found a ticklish spot. “Out of all the other singers in your group, you have the best voice I’ve heard from your singing club, and that’s not just because you’re my sister. There’s something alluring about your singing that nopony else has, so come on! Cheer up! It’ll be just fine.”
With all her squirming, Choir eventually toppled over and tried to back away from Melody, but to no avail. The changeling showed no mercy to her sister, grinning and giggling. It was better to have her laugh than to watch her worry endlessly.
After a few minutes of Melody possibly finding all of Choir’s ticklish spots, Melody moved back, letting her laughter die down, catching her breath. She shot her parents a glance to see them looking at the pair, smiles spreading their lips. Both of them gave Melody a slight nod, and she felt a fluttering feeling in her chest. It felt good to do good stuff every now and then, instead of moping around and lamenting her existence.
And honestly, that was the biggest reason as to why she had stepped in. She saw herself so much in Choir that it made her sick. The self-deprecating mood made her sick to her stomach. Even thinking about it made her stomach twist in knots and she wrinkled her nose.
“Y-You don’t know th-that for certain,” Choir weakly argued, still wheezing and coughing. With a hoof still clutched at her side, she slowly got up, carefully suppressing her laughter all the while. Once she had calmed down a little bit more, she glared at Melody, despite the grin on her snout and the occasional coughs.
Melody would have none of that. She took a step further and raised a foreleg over her head. Choir gave her a quizzical stare, arching an eyebrow and giving her the “what are you doing” look. Quick as a flash, Melody brought down her hoof, stopping her motion before it even reached Choir, who had yelped and jumped backward. Melody giggled playfully and pressed her hoof to her sister’s nose.
“Boop!” she chimed with her chipper tone, wiggling her ears.
Choir opened her eyes, dropped from her defensive stance and glared at Melody. For her part, the changeling continued to giggle lightly, completely oblivious to the glare thrown her way. She wiggled her nose, which earned a scoff from Choir, to which she answered with a wave of her hoof.
“Are you out of your mind, Melody?!” she barked, her ears pinned back against her mane. “This isn’t a laughing matter!”
Oh, but it was. With less enthusiasm, Melody poked Choir’s nose with her hoof again. Of course, her foreleg was also thrown aside by the unicorn’s leg. That earned her a grumble and a roll of Choir’s eyes
Melody shook her head and took back her leg. Her ears were perking up, and she was evidently Choir’s opposite at that given time. Memories of when she was dropped in the Empire by Occento flooded her mind, and she compared herself to the filly she had become now. She had really come a long way in these past few months.
“You know,” Melody said, taking a few steps back. She pursed her lips in a subtle smirk, and she arched an eyebrow. “You’re almost acting like I was when I first got here.”
Choir’s face twisted in pain as if she’d been slapped. Her eyes widened, and her ears drooped so much further, they looked like they were glued to her mane. Realization seemed to have struck here harshly, and she shook her head. “I didn’t mean to sound like that,” she whispered her voice on the verge of sobs.
Okay, maybe she’d gone in a bit too deep with that. Melody’s ears fell a smidge, and her expression fell. Her goal hadn’t been to make Choir cry, far from it. She just thought she’d make that comparison because it might have made her sister reconsider her behavior. This hadn't been what she had intended at all.
Melody opened her mouth, then closed it when nothing of value came to mind. She turned her head back to find that both Coral and Rising had risen from the couch and were quickly traveling the space separating them. What if they berated her for making Choir this sad the day before her performance?
No, that wouldn’t happen. A quick check of the emotions around Melody—despite a vast amount of it being corrupted by Choir’s sadness—indicated concern from the pair, not outright anger. They wouldn’t snap at her or anything like that. Her parents weren’t like that.
“Choir, sweetie, I don’t think that came out the way Melody hoped it would.” As usual, Coral’s voice was sweet and caring, which was reflected by the love that emanated from her. She could take just a single sip, and she even saw Rising lick his lips, revealing that forked tongue a bit. Was he tasting the emotions with his tongue? Could she do that too? “I’m sure she was trying to say that everything was going to be okay and that there’s no need to panic. We’re all happy you got this opportunity.”
At least, Choir wasn’t near the breaking point anymore. She sniffled a few times, sure, but she wasn’t any more shaken than that. It took a few more minutes of Coral cooing softly and patting Choir on the back to calm her down.
Once she did, she gave her head a light shake, softly slapping her cheeks for purposes unknown to Melody. Probably to cheer herself up or something like that. Either way, it seemed things hadn’t gone downhill. Thank goodness for that.
Choir cleared her throat and looked at Melody straight in the eyes, turning away the next moment. “I’m sorry I pushed you away when you tried to cheer me up.” Her lips were quivering a bit, and her ears perked up—if only barely—from their previous pinned down position. A quiet giggle escaped her, and she pulled her tongue out. “Come to think of it, you did some similar things back then.”
Choir’s eyes widened again, earning her an odd look from Melody. The unicorn brought a hoof to her mouth and gasped. “Wait, have we traded places? Dear Celestia, I really hope we haven’t!”
Laughter spread from one pony to another, and everypony was quick to give in to it. Melody was glad. A family crisis had been averted, and it had managed to lift Choir’s mood. All that needed to be done was for her to keep that attitude up until her performance the next day and not to let her nerves break her down like that.
♫
Melody looked at the theater’s entrance with a fascinated expression. She’d seen other theaters before in Manehattan, but this one was aesthetically more appealing than the others. The sign was completely encased in crystals, with jagged shard protruding from all sides, giving it a unique look. How the pegasi and unicorns managed to change the letters eluded her.
She shook her head. She decided that it was a valid line of questioning, but that it wasn’t an appropriate one at the time. After all, Melody wasn’t there to gawk at the sign at the front. She was there for her sister’s performance and the play right after it. She walked close to her parents, paying close attention to all the other ponies walking in. Thankfully, it was the evening, so the sun had long since dwindled in intensity, and the glimmering coats of ponies didn’t blind her as they usually did.
The surrounding emotions were almost presented to her in a buffet, and she licked her lips more than a few times, only to have Rising’s glance upon her, shaking his head with a simple smile. How did he manage the hunger? Had he fed on Coral before making their way to the theater?
At first, Melody had expected it to be at the school’s gymnasium, but she was surprised by Choir and Coral’s announcement that this year, it would be at the theater. Most of the Hearth’s Warming Eve plays in Manehattan were done in gymnasiums. Though, Manehattan was also a far busier and larger city than the Empire, so that could have been why.
Her ears perked up at the top of her head when she spotted Cherry as she walked down the auditorium. She quickly waved a hoof at her friend, although it was ignored by whatever else captivated her gaze. That also gave Melody an excuse to glance around the auditorium, taking in all the various details. The seats came to her as a surprise. She really hadn’t expected seats to be there at all. There never were any chairs made available for them in Manehattan, but then again, she was in an auditorium.
The laminated wooden surface she walked on was also very comfortable, surprisingly. And it wasn’t slippery in the slightest. Walls that displayed a harmonious, superimposed mix of beige and brown surrounded them and with the dim lighting coming from the lower portion of the walls, they fit in almost perfectly with the light red of the seats.
The crimson curtains had yet to be raised and already chittering voices were making Melody fold her ears atop her head a little bit. There were way too many voices all at once. How many ponies were there, anyway? She looked back at the auditorium and blinked, her eyes widening.
She couldn’t believe how many ponies were in the room in total. If she had to guess, the auditorium could welcome the entirety of the Crystal Empire’s population. It was simply stunning. She continued further toward the stage, blinking once she realized she was in the front row with her parents, most likely courtesy of Choir.
Melody looked back toward the auditorium and tried to find Cherry again, but she failed. The additional mass of ponies that swarmed the theater made it much harder. She would have expected a small number of ponies to attend, but she guessed that Hearth’s Warming Eve attracted more ponies. Even then, this was getting ridiculous.
Turning her attention to her parents, she shot them a glance and a worried expression at the same time, opening her mouth to say something, but closing it right after when no words came out. Looking back at the immense crowd, she sighed and took place in the seat that had been specifically reserved for her.
She slumped into it, eyes widening at the comfort. She felt like she could melt in those. She sighed in content and wiggled her rump into the seat, attracting her parents’ confused gaze to her. She blushed and stopped what she was doing, which further made Coral hold a hoof by her mouth.
“I really hope Choir won’t get stage fright from all these ponies gathered here,” Melody said plainly, as much a fact as an attempt to change the subject.
Coral nodded her head, and so did Rising, looking back at the other rows and licking his lips. It was hard for Melody to resist as well, but feeding in public wasn’t usually recommended by her father. A piece of advice she felt was wise to heed.
“I really hope she won’t,” Coral whispered, a hint of concern in her voice. Melody noticed a glint of surprise in her eyes as her gaze swirled around a bit again. “I know the theater’s director said he wanted to help promote young talents, but I didn’t think it’d attract so many ponies. I fear for Choir’s poor nerves.”
Rising leaned in to nuzzle Coral’s cheek and extended a leg over to her shoulder, pulling her as close as the seats allowed him to. It seemed to calm her, but Melody tasted the worry coming straight out of her mother and winced. That was not an emotion that tasted terribly well, nor did it feel good to feed on it.
“Don’t be so negative, you two. I have faith in my little girl,” he said proudly, puffing his chest, which elicited a round of laughter from Melody and Coral alike.
Just as he closed his mouth, the lights in the auditorium dimmed even more until darkness moved in. Nopony seemed to panic. Likely a regular happenstance, Melody guessed. She let her crisp shoulders fall and relaxed into her seat once more.
Silence reigned supreme until two projectors shone down on the stage, and a round of applause roared so loud it made Melody pin her ears down her scalp. She complained that the chittering was loud before, but this was even worse. She shrank in her seat, comforted only by Rising’s hoof reaching over to her and him giving her a simple smile like he usually did. Simple, emotionless smiles were like a trademark of his. Nopony did them better, but she could taste all the intent contained within it.
She nodded in thanks and went back to looking at the stage, her ears still pinned until the applause died down. Even then, she dared not do it out of fear a second one might sweep through at any moment.
“Fillies and gentlecolts; Ladies and gentlestallions, welcome to the Cheval de Verre!” A male voice called out from who knows where. Melody tried to search for him all over the place, even craning her head back and scanning for any stallions dressed in fancy clothes. “To celebrate the grand return of the Empire into Equestrian society, the actors will be fillies and colts from our elementary and secondary schools. Make no mistake, their ages are no indication of their talent!
“Furthermore, it is also a means to promote the young talents of the Empire and help these young artists find their calling!”
As she had predicted, there was another round of applause, with loud whistles and screams chiming in along with the already obnoxious applauses. Melody rolled her eyes. Where was he going with that? What was the point of exciting a crowd this big? They’re only going to build up expectations and ultimately be disappointed, or whatever.
Why wasn’t he just announcing Choir’s opening, plain and simple? No, he had to beat around the bush and make a spectacle out of it. Melody felt the anger bristling within her. She would find this announcer if this crowd made Choir miss one of the biggest moments in her life.
“Up first, however, is a young filly from our elementary school here to give us her interpretation of Ave Maria before the play! Please welcome Choir Heart to the stage!”
Another wave of applause rang through the auditorium when Choir stepped onto the stage, legs quivering. Her eyes went wide once she saw the sheer number of ponies in attendance, a reaction Melody had predicted.
“Dear Celestia, I really hope she won’t choke,” Melody whispered under her breath, making sure her parents hadn’t heard her. She really didn’t want to spread her negativity.
Once she was sure her comment had clearly gone over her parents’ heads, she went back to focus on Choir. The applauses were slowly dying down, letting silence fill the auditorium once again. But Choir kept static. Except for those trembling legs, nothing else about her moved. Not even her facial expression.
That gave cause for Melody to worry that something was amiss, or that maybe—and she really hoped it wasn’t the case—Choir was getting stage fright. After all, a crowd this big would have intimated her as well.
She tilted her head when she saw Choir close her eyes and give the floor three knocks. Curiosity filled Melody, and she shuffled in her seat. The air filled with the pungent smell of curiosity. The crowd seemed curious, but how long would that last?
Slowly, the strokes of an unseen pianist replaced the pregnant silence in the room, taking hold of everypony’s curiosity. The gentle tune brought a pleasant vibe in the auditorium. Melody noticed Choir’s horn lighting up softly, and she frowned. Why use magic for something like that?
Choir took a step forward and inhaled deeply. The unicorn puffed her chest out and stood ready to begin. The melody grew weaker for a moment, quieting down, to let Choir accompany it. She opened her mouth, and the piece picked up in intensity at the same time.
“Ave Maria!” Choir began, her voice strong and steady. Melody had heard her sister sing before, and this was the first time she’d ever heard her reach a note this powerful. It sent shivers down her spine. The crowd seemed to agree with this in the form of brief cheers that were quick to dim in intensity in comparison to the piano’s strokes.
Choir looked like she staggered for an instant, and Melody couldn’t really blame her. Despite having her eyes shut, it was clear that the unicorn had not expected something like that.
“Jungfrau mild,
Erhöre einer Jungfrau Flehen,
Aus diesem Felsen starr und wild.”
A sense of melancholy implanted itself in Melody’s mind as the song progressed. At one point, it was happiness. The other, it was sadness. That eventually left her very curious as to why she was feeling this way.
She had certainly not been thinking about anything in particular. So why were her emotions so out of control? She was excited, ecstatic, and nervous for Choir. She was also genuinely happy that she could have this sort of exposure for her talent. She deserved it.
She looked at her parents for a brief moment, angling her head when she found Rising standing still, his expression stoic, save for that proud smile that parted his lips. Why wasn’t he affected as she was? She leaned forward and craned her head to glance at Coral. Instead of finding her immune to whatever affected her emotions so much, she looked at her mother to see her wiping the tears that were cradled in her eyes.
“Soll mein Gebet zu dir hin wehen.
Wir schlafen sicher bis zum Morgen,
Ob Menschen noch so grausam sind.”
And it kept going on. Melody felt like she was an emotional rollercoaster. An incredible range of different emotions inhabited her one after another, each leaving her with an even greater burning inquiry in her mind.
She shifted in her seat. She certainly wasn’t happy about that. She was glad to be there. Choir’s voice was powerful beyond measure. Most street artists and performers didn’t hold a candle compared to the vast range that the unicorn could muster. Incredible for her age as well. It was profound and mellow, yet sometimes spiked with high notes that resonated pleasantly throughout the auditorium.
She wasn’t sure why he sister still used her magic, but she wasn’t going to try and figure it out. Magic was complicated to her, especially with how her magic worked now.
Her head felt heavier. Her hoof raised to meet her temple, and she rubbed it. Not that she was annoyed, far from it. The endless stream of new and repeating emotions was just too much. Even as a changeling that can ingest any emotions, it was all too much!
“O Jungfrau, sieh der Jungfrau Sorgen,
O Mutter, hör ein bittend Kind
Ave Maria!”
Choir’s voice had softened into this perfect tone. Her voice was striking, pure, and flawless. This time, the sheer amount of emotions that Choir could emulate through her singing hit her with their full force. The melancholy of her song rang through every fiber of Melody’s body so much that she could only shiver in response.
She was drawn out of her bubble when somepony brushed her foreleg, barely, and she looked to see that somepony was occupying the previously vacant seat on her left. Without wanting to be too impolite towards her sister and look like she wasn’t interested anymore, she barely turned her head, planning on just acknowledging this pony and then return to the performance.
Her eyes drifted to the unicorn mare that stood next to her. Her coat was midnight black, and she could have been mistaken for part of the darkness that shrouded the auditorium if not for that bright orange mane, braided together elegantly, and those piercing purple eyes that glanced back at her. And then she winked. Had that mare just winked at her? And why did she look like…
“Occento?!” Melody cried out in a hushed whisper, her hoof covering her mouth. Her eyes went wide, and she immediately drew the attention of her parents.
The mare nodded and moved a hoof to tousle Melody’s mane, although she did put her hoof in front of her mouth and gestured for the changeling to remain as quiet as possible. “Hello to you, too!” she answered swiftly, her voice a mix between a chime and a giggle. “Please call me Serenade, though. It’s more fitting and appropriate, I’m led to believe, in the presence of ponies.”
Rising, for his part, was glaring at Occento when Melody looked back at him. He was scowling in annoyance or some other sentiment like that. Melody’s ability to detect and identify emotions had been numbed already. She’d need time to recover, most likely.
“We’re going to talk later,” he told the mare dryly. That was the closest to a snarl Melody had ever heard come out of her father’s mouth.
He never got angry. He always found a way to keep himself afloat most issues that surrounded him. She couldn’t imagine what had happened between the two for them to have this much animosity between them. They seemed rather okay with each other the last time they were together.
“Okay! You’re the boss here!”
And just like that, she was alright with that. Rising groaned and rolled his eyes, returning his attention to the stage as the silence ended and Choir resumed her performance, commencing the second verse, her voice as striking and evocative as before, tugging at Melody’s heartstrings. It was fun to relax like this, but it was unbearable to deal with this many invading factors all at once.
♫
Melody stared at the ceiling as she shifted about in her bed. She looked around the room to see Choir sound asleep already. Her nerves had probably worn her out. After all, it had been her big day, and she outdid herself tremendously. The entire auditorium had showered her in an ovation of stomping.
Her attention shifted to the partly closed door of their bedroom. Ever since Rising had sent the both of them to bed, the trio of adults barely said anything to each other. Light crept inside the bedroom and blinded Melody a bit. She turned away from it, but she kept her ears perked up, afraid that she’d miss something if she drifted away.
“Your daughter has good tastes,” Melody heard Occento’s soft and melodious voice part the silence. “She does Greyff justice. Especially Ave Maria. It’s hard to find any singers that can truly sing it.”
There was a pause. From Melody’s bed, it was hard to know what was going on in the kitchen.
“Mom…”
Rising’s voice was soft as well, but Melody guessed he kept it down as to not wake Choir or herself. Not that it mattered to her. She couldn’t sleep. She knew it was late, but she couldn’t sleep. Not with that going on.
“I couldn’t help but notice that Choir was spellsinging. I didn’t think you’d teach her at this age,” came Occento’s voice again, quickly cutting off Rising before he could say anything. “As a matter of fact, I’m surprised she can actually do it, what with her being a halfling and whatnot.”
“Mom, listen…”
“But you should have really warned Melody about that. She was overwhelmed by all those emotions Choir was emulating.”
“Will you please shut up for one moment!”
Melody blinked. Rising got angry again. Twice, in one day. He rarely raised his voice, and he rarely shouted. Whatever Occento had done, he was having none of her evasion.
That was it! Melody slid down her bed and aimed straight for the door, trying to keep whatever sounds she made to a minimum. She carefully stuck her snout outside the door frame and stood completely still. Rising had just reverted to his changeling form, as had Occento, with the former glaring intently at the other.
Coral closed the distance between herself and her husband, and she put her hoof on his shoulder. He disengaged from his glare, and he turned to nuzzle her cheek and smiled.
“Honey, mind letting us a few moments in private?” he asked her gently, lowering his head to her neck and nibbling at the fur.
“Ooooh...alright. Just make sure my kitchen’s still here tomorrow,” she cooed, almost purring, all the while she pushed his snout away, giving him half-lidded eyes.
Melody frowned, her ears drooping. She always found it embarrassing to see other ponies show signs of affection like that. Maybe she was still too immature for that. Or maybe because they were her parents, and it just made that all the more awkward.
Rising replied with a simple nod, lunging forward to nudge Coral once more. The mare giggled and pushed him away, flicking her tail at his neck. She was quick to skid away and headed upstairs. Yep. Awkward parents? Check.
Occento shifted her weight around, still standing at full height. So did Rising, for that matter. He huffed a sigh and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. He then gestured to another chair. “Take a seat, please.”
Complete and pure antipathy oozed from his tone. Melody wrinkled her nose and winced. It was odd to see her father this furious. He had never summoned such a presence while she was in his care. So why was he like that right now?
Occento did as he asked. With her back facing her, Melody couldn’t see Occento’s expression at all. Her tail drooped. Then again, her tail was braided so much it always drooped. Clever. She cut off most of her body language. She had forgotten her only weakness, however. Her ears. Those had definitely fallen against her scalp. It was like she knew she wasn’t getting out of that one.
She kept silent. Her snout pointed in Rising’s general direction.
“Why are you here?” he asked coldly. Mother or not, Queen or not, none of that seemed to matter to Rising. He leaned forward and set his forelegs on the table, crossing them.
Occento didn’t waver. She just stood there, her ears sometimes perking up before falling back down the next moment. It was likely she wanted to say something but struggled to find what would be the most acceptable thing to say.
Finally, she drew in a breath and relaxed in the chair. Or at least she seemed to. Her wings buzzed gently, and she flicked one of her ears. “Can’t a grandmot—“
“Don’t you dare!”
He had actually yelled at Occento. The first time, it was just mild irritation contained within a growl. A loud growl, for that matter. This was a proper yell. Melody recoiled from the suddenness of it all. She had never expected Rising to go that far against his mother.
“You’ve never been there for Choir. You never made time for her ever since she was born. You just sent a card. Now, I’m to believe you had a sudden change of heart and wanted to come visit? Cut the crap, Husk!”
Occento tensed altogether. Her whole body winced and Melody could feel the bristling anger reverberate everywhere. It made her want to close the door and just go sit back in her bed. But she couldn’t do that. If she did, then they’d know she was eavesdropping. Maybe they already knew, for that matter. She brushed the thought aside. If they had been aware of it, they would have stopped before this escalated this far.
Thankfully, Occento stayed seated, but Melody could see that she wasn’t at all pleased that she was addressed by her real name by her son. With such an aggressive tone, no less. And she remained silent. She crossed a leg over the other and leaned forward a bit, dipping her head to be at his eye level. Melody didn’t have to see Occento to know she was glaring. Her entire body screamed it, and yet Rising didn’t even flinch.
Wasn’t she his queen, and mother? So why wasn’t he just standing down and apologizing for talking out of line? Or maybe he was just talking to his mother, and not his queen. That side of her family seemed complicated.
“Don’t give me that look!” Rising replied, snarling even more. He hissed sharply and pointed a hoof at his mother. “And what’s with the silent treatment? Run out of witty replies to get you out of awkward situations?!”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like that!” She screeched in return, swatting his hoof away. Her voice carrying anger that made Melody recoil and whimper quietly, her resolve to keep eavesdropping already faltering. “What do you want me to tell you? ‘Oh, I’m sorry I tried to do what I thought was the best course of action!”
“Best course of action? You call that your best course of action? Mom, you just dropped her here without even asking for her opinion. Crippled, no less! Do you know how hard it was for everypony to warm up to each other? She hurt, and she still hurts!”
They were talking about her. That much was already clear to Melody. She had suspected it had something to do with her, as Occento had never even visited after she was left in Rising’s care. But why were they now fighting over her? Weren’t they both pleased with how things had worked out in the end?
Did that mean Rising didn’t want to care for her anymore? She shook her head firmly. It would accomplish nothing to speculate or panic over baseless worries. Her encounter with Princess Luna two weeks prior had proved her at least that.
“Because keeping her in Serenus would have been so much better as an option. I can’t go around wantonly murdering any changeling that preys on her. I may be a trained assassin, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy killing!”
Occento’s voice cracked and wavered for a moment. Trained assassin? But nothing about Occento indicated she was any such thing. Her shoulders rose and sank along with her frame. Was she crying? If she was, she was doing a good job at keeping it contained. Melody couldn’t even hear a single sob come from the mare.
“Besides, what do you want me to do? It’s out of my hooves now. Plus, I have a hive to run.”
“Convenient excuse!” Rising waved his hoof nonchalantly, lifting his nose as he kept staring Occento down. Whereas Occento just seemed to deflate with every passing moment, he was more than eager to continue hammering her. “I’m sure you can leave the hive to your parliament for a few days! Why else would you be here today?”
Silence. Occento’s ears slid down on her head, and her shoulders slumped. For a moment, Melody was sure that she was going to crumble and bawl in front of Rising. Instead, the only thing she heard was a soft sigh, barely audible from her room.
“I can, but I don’t like it. After Arconon, I’d rather not take any chances.”
Melody winced. That name again? Why did it pop up again? Come to think of it, what had happened to him? She hazily remembered some details, but all she clearly remembered was waking up to a bunch of changelings before Occento drove them away. Her ears drooped as some memories of when Arconon held her captive came to mind, and she let out a soft whimper.
Rising sighed and reached across the table to hold Occento’s hoof, staring blankly at her. Why wasn’t he smiling? This seemed like the perfect time to put on a smile and offer some comfort. Why just the stare?
“Mom, you can’t just give up because of one isolated event. You need to keep moving forward.” He followed by gesturing a hoof toward Melody’s general direction, and their eyes met. His stare remained blank, but her fur stood on end. He knew. He had seen her. He was now aware that she had seen and heard everything. “And you need to make it up to her. You basically turned her into your heir, so you owe her at least that much.”
She wanted to stay there and keep listening to the conversation. She really wanted to, but her legs disagreed with her. She was trembling so much. So many things swirled in her mind. Ranging from the things that Rising would scold her about eavesdropping to all of the implications of what she’d heard up until this point. Heir? An heir to what? She wasn’t related to Occento, so how could she be her heir?
As quickly as possible, she went for the option she thought the wisest. She made a tactical retreat into her room and hopped back into her bed. Maybe Rising would just think she’d gotten up to go to the fillies’ room. Maybe she wouldn’t get scolded that much, if at all. But then again, he was a changeling, and far more adept at sniffing out emotions than she was.
Maybe she wasn’t going to be okay. After that conversation, Melody settled on the fact she’d seen a new side to her father. Despite being the cheerful, and otherwise silent or pensive, changeling that he was, he commanded an authority that had taken her by surprise. He was a prince, after all.
“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” Melody heard Occento speak softly, yet loud enough for her to hear her voice. “By the way, do you think I could stay the night. I’d rather not go back home in the middle of the night.”
She heard a chortle, most likely coming from Rising. “Oh? The mighty Occento is afraid of traveling alone in the dark. Who would’ve thought?”
“Shush. You know I could tie you up, take your form, and snuggle against your wife in that bed of yours,” Occento replied with a mock tone, letting out a chuckle at the end before things fell quiet once more. “Do you have a couch or something like that?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Rising shot back as quietly as he could.
A shiver ran through Melody’s spine, and she shuffled in her bed again. Families were complicated, usually. Her family was downright weird! Would she become this weird? Another chill ran through her, and she shook her head. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!