Peaceful days at school seemed to be a luxury, Melody assessed. Well, ponies usually left her alone after her little stunt with Clear Cut, so somepony had apparently learned a lesson. That made Melody happy. She wiggled her ears a bit, her smile broadening while she listened to Choir’s story.
Her sister talked, but her mind rapidly drifted elsewhere. Of course, she kept on nodding, laughing when she heard Cherry and Raine laugh on either side, but that was the best she had to offer. It had already been a month since she met with Sweet Tooth and her little altercation with the guards shortly after. Which, obviously enough for Melody, ended up backfiring in Sweet Tooth’s face and left the mare with no other option than to apologize. At that rate, the whole ‘tell the guards’ thing was going to become a recurring gag for the changeling.
After the dust had settled between them, Sweet Tooth was kind enough to offer Melody the job she had been craving. Not a bad deal, all in all. At least, Melody didn’t have to scour the city in search work anymore. Although, the earful she got from her parents after everything had been talked over still rung in her ears. When the changeling learned that she could have gotten her parents’ written consent to go around the age restriction, she had felt pretty stupid. Especially after all the trouble she had gone through to weave a new disguise just for Sweet Tooth’s shop.
“And then, just as Beryl opened her mouth to sing, this super loud belch comes out instead. The look on her face was priceless when everypony started laughing!” Choir let out before cackles swept her away.
Melody cracked a grin at that finale, but quickly hid it away when she took notice of Clear Cut and a bunch of his friends trotting nearby. The colt glared back at Melody, but that was the least of her concerns.
If he tried anything again to hurt Raine, she would bare her fangs. When he walked past the four of them, tail flicking behind him while he pinned his ears back, Melody turned her glare away to refocus on her friends and was met with concerned expressions before her own softened. Cherry stared back with a quirked eyebrow. Melody hung her head and sighed. There was no hiding her intents from the Earth Pony.
“I am not going after him. I’m sure he learned his lesson after our last encounter,” Melody said, flicking her ears up.
“Hey! Aren’t you tired of hanging around with that Canterlot freak?” a voice shouted from behind them.
Melody instantly turned around and glared at the source of the voice, a colt, probably in the same grade as she was. Her fur bristled, deep breaths flaring out of her nostrils while her tail whipped the air. She got up from her bench, although a hoof caught her own, Cherry’s if the white leg she saw from the corner of her eye was any indication.
“I won’t hurt him. Let me go, Cherry!” she hissed, slipping her hoof free of her friend’s hold. She wasn’t going to let something like that ruin Raine’s day. Not on her watch.
Besides, there was nothing Cherry could do to prevent what Melody had in store for this colt. Nothing too bad, of course. She was just going to have a little talk with him. Melody looked at Cherry and smiled, her magic making her fangs lengthen and her pupils shift to vertical slits. “I promise.”
“Fine,” Cherry said, curling her lips in a pout. She rolled her eyes and shifted her attention to Raine. “But no hurting him. I’ll take care of Raine in the meantime.”
Melody nodded. She had Cherry’s blessing, and that was all that mattered. She looked at Raine to see her friend resting her head on the table, ears splayed on her mane. Anger swirled inside Melody, and she ground her teeth, but she took a deep breath. Anger didn’t need to take over every time. Anger wasn’t going to help her friend. But fear would.
She took it slow at first, each of her step calm and steady, carrying her toward the colt that had called Raine a freak. She narrowed her eyes and huffed. That upstart even sported a grin! Melody cocked her head and smirked, letting a scoff through her teeth.
“What did you say?!” Melody asked, her tail swishing behind her.
The colt’s grin slowly melted away, and he took a step back while Melody kept on drawing closer and closer. His ears flicked, but stayed atop his head, while his eyes darted back and forth between her and his surroundings.
“That she was a freak…?” he repeated slowly, gulping and taking another step back. It looked like Melody’s fangs and eyes worked surprisingly well with ponies.
“And do you know who I am?” she asked in a low growl. She snarled and wrinkled her nose. Each of her steps turned to light stomps. Her tail continued to lash out at the air, even after the colt had backed himself on the fence of the courtyard.
He froze when he sensed the cold metal, looking back and slowly turning to face Melody with a nervous smile. He tucked his tail between his legs and Melody wasted no time in pressing her muzzle against his. She pushed a foreleg on his chest, and she could have sworn she heard a whimper come from him. When he failed to respond to her question, she snarled again. He tensed and opened his mouth, stutters about the only thing that parted from his lips.
“Do you know who I am?” she repeated dryly. She shoved her hoof on his chest again, this time much harder than before. He nodded, and she pushed herself away when he did. “Good. Then, this is going to be simple. Raine is one of my best friends. If I see you bullying her or say mean things to her again, I’ll remind you of where we stand. Is that clear?”
The colt nodded and was quick to skedaddle away the moment Melody put down her hoof and backed away from him. A grin washed over her snarl, and she waggled her eyebrows while she donned her usual appearance once more. She flicked her ears before she turned around to see Choir and Raine flocked to Cherry’s sides. Something about it felt wrong to Melody, though. Her white-furred friend looked distraught for some reason. Melody arched an eyebrow and trotted back to her friends.
“Cheer up, Cherry! You know how cutie marks are! Don’t worry too much about it!” Choir chirped as she looped her legs around Cherry.
Melody frowned. Had Cherry shared something about cutie marks with those two? She opened her mouth but quickly shut it when she noticed a hint of black on Cherry’s flank. Had her friend finally gotten her cutie mark? She squinted and tried to peer, but Cherry moved a hoof to cover what little Melody had seen. The changeling shrugged and went to sit in front of her friends and sister, pressing a hoof to her chin and tilting her head to the left.
“So, what’s with all the excitement?” Melody asked, drawing all attention to her, save for Cherry’s.
Her best friend instead kept on looking down at the table, silent. Cherry breathed out a long sigh and hugged one leg with the other, sometimes biting at her lips. Cherry wasn’t usually like that. Something was wrong, obviously, but what? Did it have something to do with the cutie mark? Weren’t they cause for excitement? So then, why was Cherry looking so glum all of a sudden? It wasn’t like her at all. After all, Cherry would never keep secrets hidden from Melody. They were friends. Friends told each other secrets all the time.
“Don’t mind Cherry. She got her cutie mark! I’m so excited for her, but I think she’s overthinking what her cutie mark is all about,” Raine answered, giving Cherry’s shoulder a few pats.
Melody nodded, but she saw the disappointment in Cherry’s eyes. She flicked her tongue out and drew in a long breath. Fear and disappointment swirled around Melody abundantly, and she barely managed to keep the gagging feeling inside of her under control. She lurched over and tried her best to smile. She perked her ears up and clapped her hooves, though.
Cherry lifted her eyes and Melody saw the pain reflected in them. Something was up. Something felt wrong. There was definitely something that Melody didn’t know or understand about Cherry’s reluctance to this cutie mark of hers. And it worried Melody. Cherry was an upbeat, optimistic and cheerful filly. She wasn’t the sort to let something like that bring her down!
“That’s great, Cherry! Come on! Show some more excitement! You only get one cutie mark, after all!” Melody chimed, climbing on the table and reaching out to nuzzle the earth pony’s.
Cherry wrinkled her nose and backed away, staring at Melody with wide eyes. Melody’s smile widened, and she wiggled her ears again. A small smile cracked through Cherry’s pout, but it was short-lived. The earth pony’s eyes sank to her shuffling hooves again while her smile melted away.
“Y-yeah. I guess…” Cherry replied with a sigh before turning away and rising from her seat.
Melody wanted to rise from her seat and try to figure things out, but it wouldn’t do Cherry any good. It was like when she first got adopted. When she lashed out at Coral and later sent home, Cherry listened to her because she needed someone to talk to. Melody didn’t like the logic behind it, but she sighed and followed Cherry as she headed back to the school, this time noting the twin masks on the filly’s flanks. Melody blinked and peered at the cutie mark. For a moment, she thought that one of the masks was over the other. She shook her head. She was probably just seeing things.
♫
Melody clapped her hooves when she saw Coral come in the room, carrying a tray on her back, four steaming cups resting on said tray. The Crystal pony mare smiled and looked at Melody with a waggle of her eyebrows and Melody perked up her ears, rolling her eyes before she pressed a hoof to her forehead.
“Sorry, Mom,” she said, igniting her horn and grabbing the tray in her aura. “I kinda forgot that the room is a bit packed.”
Once rid of her weight, Coral gave a wave of her hoof and smiled, pulling out her tongue shortly after. Melody returned the smile, though she kept on concentrating on her task of carrying the tray down in the middle of the pillow fort that she occupied with Choir and her friends.
“Don’t you worry about it, sweetie.”
Cherry and Raine both grabbed a cup in their hooves while Choir dragged one to her lips with her magic. All the while, Melody noticed Coral’s watchful eyes still set on the four of them, that smile persisting still.
“Enjoy your sleepover, girls. And remember, don’t talk too loudly. Rising’s had a hard and busy day, and he wants to rest up tonight.”
The four nodded and turned to Coral with smiles on their snouts. The mare nodded in return and turned around, carefully closing the door behind. As soon as her parental presence was gone, all four fillies put down their cups and looked at each other while giggles erupted amidst the pillows and blankets.
Melody lifted her mug to take a sip of her hot cocoa but stopped her motion, gazing at her drink as the thoughts of what she had done to that colt and how Cherry had reacted to her decision to take action surfaced. She knew Cherry was different in that aspect, and she would be lying if she said that she hadn’t enjoyed putting that colt in his place.
But what if she hadn’t been justified in doing what she did? What if she wasn’t in the right for defending her friend? She was sure she was right in doing what she did. Unlike Cherry, she knew and understood that bullying wouldn’t stop by just ignoring the bullies.
Somepony had to act and stand up for those who couldn’t. But what if Cherry was right and she could just walk away? No, she couldn’t stand there and watch as other fillies and colts hurt her friends in front of her eyes. She would not stand by and do nothing about a situation she had power over.
She was justified in her actions. She wanted to defend her friends. What was so wrong with that? Why was Cherry so adamant that it wasn’t the right thing to do? She didn’t want to stand on the sidelines again. She was justified by Coral’s words. When they tried to convince the principal to stop Cherry’s mom from pulling her out of the school, Coral told her to fight for what she held dear. Fighting back the bullies was her way of defending those she held dear.
“Equestria to Melody. Are you still with us?”
Melody’s ears shot up, and she pulled her head back up to see Choir looking at her with a slight tilt of her head, her brows furrowed. Her cup of hot cocoa floated carefully above her hooves. The other two fillies giggled at her reaction and heat flushed over her cheeks.
“I know Mom’s hot cocoa is dreamy, but that’s a bit too dreamy.”
Chitters filled the room as Raine and Cherry tried to hold their laughter. Melody rolled her eyes and later frowned at her friends, which only made them glance at each other, hooves pressed to their lips. Whatever failed attempts they tried to summon to not laugh at Melody were in vain.
Besides, before she could get properly mad at her friends, the laughing frenzy crept up to her, and before long, all four ponies were laughing in a cheery mirth. Melody brought her cup of cocoa to her lips and drank a significant portion of the cup’s content, exhaling a large puff of steam from her mouth.
The thought of using her magic to imitate the appearance of a dragon crossed her mind as she watched the steam disappear, although she was met with disappointment when she reminded herself that she was not proficient with her magic to go that far. Her ears slowly drooped before springing back up when she saw Choir take a deep breath, much like how she did when she was about to sing.
“I’m curious. Now that we all have our cutie marks, except for Melody of course, what do you all want to do?” Choir inquired, moving her mug slightly to lean in while she gave the other residents curious looks, grinning as Melody’s frowning expression came into her line of sight.
Raine was the first one to react, giving a slight shrug and flicking her ears proudly. She, however, looked at Cherry before saying anything, extending a hoof towards the Earth Pony. “I think we should let Cherry speak first. After all, she did just get her cutie mark. We need to properly celebrate that!” she chirped in a sing-song voice, although it held no equal to Choir’s voice.
Melody shifted her attention to spot Cherry shrinking in her spot. If she continued anymore, she would likely vanish into her blanket entirely. Why was she so afraid to speak, or at least appeared too scared to speak up? Out of respect for her friend, Melody decided on not probing her emotions and the air around her, as curious as she was. Instead, she wiggled her ears and nose as she stared.
But Cherry still didn’t speak up. Her gaze met with the floor, and her ears flattened on her head. What was so powerful that it could turn the optimistic Cherry Blossom into a pessimistic pony? It had something to do with her cutie mark, that much was clear. Even when she got her cutie mark, her reaction hadn’t been cheerful or enthusiastic, so what was wrong?
As the silence filled the bedroom, Raine’s ears wiggled before flattening over her mane while her smile fell. She swiped a hoof near her ear, scooping up the stray strands of hair that escaped the bulk of her flowing mane. She looked at Choir, who shrugged and tilted her head as she cast her gaze to Cherry and then Melody.
Melody shook her head when she saw where Raine’s eyes pointed. She did not want to intrude on Cherry’s personal feelings. It felt wrong to do it on personal friends. If Cherry wanted to tell them something, she would tell them.
“Okay,” Raine said slowly, her voice dragging on a bit. She cleared her throat and smiled once more, reaching forward to Cherry. She stopped in her motion before her hoof could reach the earth pony. Raine slowly sat back down in her spot and withdrew her hoof. “It’s okay if you don’t want to go first. Choir, do you want to share anything?”
Choir nodded, her ears flaring back to life. She flicked her tail and wiggled her nose, clearing her throat. “When I’m done with secondary school, I want to move to Canterlot and audition at the Royal Canterlot Choir. That, or try to make a career out of singing solo. What about you, Raine?”
Raine shot her nose upward and grinned, a snicker escaping through her teeth. She wiggled her flank, showing off the combination of the moon, clouds, and stars that made up her cutie mark and waved her hoof in an arc in front of her. “I’m going to enroll at the Royal Observatory to become a great astronomer, like my parents, and dutifully serve Luna as her Stargazer!”
Choir’s eyebrows furrowed, staring at Raine. She tilted her head in reply, as did Melody. She remembered it had something to do with being close to Luna, but that was as far as her memory could reach, rubbing the back of her head with a frown when Choir looked back, grimacing with her eyebrows perked up.
“The name sounds familiar, but could you explain it differently so that I can understand you better?” Choir asked, her gaze meeting up with Raine’s once she flared her nostrils at Melody’s shrug.
Raine blinked, the realization flashing across her face. She blushed for but a moment and smiled, offering a brief nod. “Oh. Sorry. Stargazers are Luna’s personal assistants, as far as I’m aware. My parents go places for her and otherwise work as confidants and advisers to the princess. And they, of course, help the princess organize and rearrange the night sky as a result of their trips around Equestria.”
Choir nodded and smiled, wiggling her ears and swishing her tail behind her. Melody pursed her lips at that reaction, eliciting a slight giggle from the changeling at the same time. Although that did make her think about herself. What did she want to do? What would she do after school was over? She pondered becoming a guard before, but would she be able to carry on with that dream? What if her leg couldn’t be fixed at all?
So, then what? What could she do? She couldn’t just work at Sweet Tooth’s shop for the rest of her life. But she also wanted to tie the loose ends of her life. She knew her parents now, but she wanted to know why Star had run away from Wishing and Astral. It didn’t make sense. Why would he do that when their parents were their best friends?
And, she also wanted to embrace the changeling culture that half of her belonged to. But if Occento used her blood to save her, did that make her a full changeling instead of being half changeling? Was that how that worked in the first place? Were hybrids a thing at all? They had to be! It was what everypony used to describe her as before, so they had to be real.
She blinked when a hoof appeared in her vision. The world around slowly came back to life, the blurs vanishing and allowing the room’s soft lavender hues to surround her once more. Her ears perked up, and she traced the hoof back to its owner, staring at a frowning Choir. Had she zoned out again?
“Melody? Are you okay? You haven’t been as talkative as you usually are. Neither has Cherry, for that matter. Did something happen between you two that I need to know about?” Choir asked, her eyes sometimes darting in Cherry’s direction, her ears flicking and her gaze hardening as she alternated between her friends.
Nothing had happened between them, except for the gazes—almost glares at that point—they exchanged when Melody decided to take the bullying matter into her own hooves. She had expected some form of backlash from her friend, but it never came. Instead, she kept to herself.
Melody offered a shrug, shaking her head and picking up her mug to empty the contents of her drink, pinning her ears and sighing once the hot cocoa was no more. She cast her gaze to Cherry, curious to see if her friend would have any kind of response, but the only thing that she got was the earth pony still avoiding every glance aimed at her. “Not to my knowledge. She hasn’t talked to me all week either. Has she been that way to you too?” Melody asked, turning her head to spot Choir and Raine’s nodding heads.
Melody sighed once more. She wanted to do so much more for her friend, but she knew she could do little if Cherry insisted on remaining silent. Her ears dropped flat on her mane when the realization struck her: this was exactly how she behaved when she was told she would live in the Empire. Well, to a degree, as she remembered being more destructive to those around her, but similarities were forming in her mind.
The changeling shook her head briefly. Happy thoughts. She needed happy thoughts. Or a distraction. She managed to get another look at Cherry’s cutie mark. Those twin masks that adorned her flank were oddly familiar, but she simply could not find what they meant or where she’d seen them. Not that it mattered. She had her perfect distraction there.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll work something out soon. In the meantime, I’m really curious about your cutie mark, Cherry. What do you think it means?” Melody chirped, her eyes finding Cherry’s. The filly’s ear perked up, and she stared back with an incredulous expression.
Cherry’s eyes escaped Melody’s gaze once more, finding the ground for the umpteenth time. She looked at her flank for but a moment and her ears crashed on her mane instantly. Was she that ashamed of her cutie mark? Or maybe she was afraid of what it meant. But that would mean she already knew what it meant. Did cutie marks work that away? Was a pony supposed to instantly know what their cutie mark meant? For the life of her, she couldn’t remember anypony explaining that to her.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” was all Cherry responded with, burying her muzzle in the purple blanket she currently rested on.
Melody wrinkled her nose. Why was Cherry so opposed to this? Was there something she didn’t understand about that cutie mark. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, but she didn’t want to prod too much either. Already, she felt like she’d done it enough.
“I’m rather curious, as well,” Raine said calmly, although the twitching of her wings and tail betrayed her tone. “That cutie mark reminds me of the masks associated with theater and the dramatic art. Maybe it’s a sign that our Cherry is going to become a performer when she grows up!”
Raine clapped her hooves together excitedly. That excitement, however, was not met in kind by Choir and Melody. The latter furrowed her brow and shook her head. This wasn’t what Cherry needed. Not now. If she said that she didn’t want to talk about it, then they shouldn’t make her speak about it. Maybe she could have a taste of her friend’s emotions, after all.
She took a deep breath. Was this even a good idea in the first place? What would Cherry say if she found out? Well, it wasn’t like she needed to find out. No! Bad Melody. She nudged herself mentally, urging herself to not resort to methods like this. Maybe, just maybe, Cherry just needed time to deal with whatever she was dealing with.
Melody lifted her hoof for a moment, the attention of everypony soon gathering to her and she cleared her throat. “Maybe we should change the topic. Let’s talk final projects instead! Choir, what do you think yours will be about?”
♫
Were it not for the fact that she was in class, Melody would have been bouncing around the room. She wiggled in her chair, tail swishing behind her while she eyed Coral busying herself on some pieces of paper scattered across her desk. Noises and merry chitters filled the air, but she cared not for those.
Her ears flicked briefly, the soft buzz of the chatter around her finally invading her ears when she felt a hoof gently prod her leg. Her ears flattened to her mane, and she turned to her left to see Cherry staring back at her with that cheerful and enthusiastic smile. The one she almost always had. It felt good to see her best friend back to normal after whatever tough times she was having after getting her cutie mark.
Melody smiled back, wiggling her nose and pushing herself closer to the earth pony. She took a deep breath, trying to taste the air as subtly as possible. There was a lot of excitement in the air, but there were too many different emotions in the classroom to single out Cherry’s. Despite that, it was clear that her friend was just as excited.
They exchanged a brief nod before Cherry returned her attention to the front of the room. Meanwhile, Melody turned her head back and looked at Raine, smiling and nodding at the pegasus. Raine replied with a smile of her own, her eyes shimmering while she exchanged her attention between Melody and Cherry.
“Okay, class! Today’s the big day!” There was a slight moment of silence that accompanied Coral’s voice before it was overtaken by a round of stomping. Melody winced a bit, not participating for reasons she deemed... obvious. “Okay, okay. Let’s all calm down, children. I know you’re excited, but there will be plenty of time to be excited after class!”
Her voice carried a soft mirth, and her steps bounced as she tiptrotted between the desks, a smile spread along her lips. Whatever the project was, Melody was even more excited than before. Her classmates’ excitement eventually dwindled down, and before long, Coral was back at the front, facing the class.
“As you all know, I will be unveiling the topic on which you all will need to work on to present at the end of the year. This year has been exceptional for the Empire. Not only did it reappear, but it is now home to a diversity of ponies from all over Equestria thanks to the efforts put in place by the princesses,” Coral continued, practically putting on a show at this point.
Many of Melody’s fellow students looked back at each other, the veil of confusion started to stain the scent of the room. Melody noticed furrowed brows as she looked right and left. Her eyes met with Cherry’s, and the only thing the earth pony had to offer was a shrug. Where was her mother going on with this? What was with the needless exposition?
“To commemorate this diversity, your project will see you paired in teams of three and will be very personal. You will have to spend time with one of your teammate’s family to learn more about them, where they came from and how they came to come to the Empire to later present it to the class. You can bring visual support at the time of presentation, but it is not obligatory.”
Chitters and squeals briefly erupted in the room. Melody’s smile climbed to her ears while she listened, her ears perked all the way up. Her legs rocked back and forth. Were they going to be given a choice of partners? If so, she already knew who she wanted to spend time with. Ideas and scenarios began playing in her mind, and while she continued to listen to Coral, all of her words were lost on her. She occasionally nodded, but that was the extent of her responsiveness.
She jumped when a hoof poked her side, shrieking in response, turning every head to her. She blushed when she noticed, and then found Raine and Cherry standing at her side, playful expressions brightening their faces.
“Come back to Equestria yet?” Cherry said in her chipper tone, offering a smirk.
Melody blinked, her ears drooping, but then perking back up as the happy thoughts overwrote the embarrassed ones. She nodded to Cherry and pulled out her tongue in response. Before she could get off her chair, Cherry poked her on the chest and stared at her with a serious expression unbefitting of the lively earth pony. Melody blinked again, casting her gaze to Raine for help, instead receiving a confused stare and quirked eyebrows.
“I-Is there something wrong?” Melody squeaked quietly. She began feeling sweat rolling down her brow as scenarios reeled in her brain.
Cherry remained stern and serious, never budging or breaking her eye contact with the changeling. To the point where Melody’s breath started shaking. She whined quietly when Cherry poked her chest again and then broke her expression with her signature smirk.
“Nope! By the way, dibs on your folks!”