Melody Gold was standing in the castle library, watching as Twilight Sparkle gaped at her. She winced and huffed out a sigh.
“Look. I don't know, okay? I really don’t.”
“WHAT?? YOU- I- WHAT????????” Twilight stared at her, open mouthed and nearly hyperventilating.
Melody flared out the coral wings at her side. “I don’t know! I woke up with them!!”
Twilight shook her head and rubbed one side of her temples. “Oh my gosh okay what- i- how? No, when? Okay okay wait…”
She grabbed a scroll and a quill and rubbed a hoof over her eyes. “Okay okay. Did you cast any spells last night?”
Melody winced again. “Um. I….don’t know. I had...a lot of cider last night.”
Twilight’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You were DRUNK and then you woke up as an ALICORN?????”
Melody cocked her head. “To be fair, I don’t think you can technically call me an alicorn. These wings aren’t...natural. So it shouldn't count right?”
“Uuuuuugh! Not the point. Okay while you were….drunk….did you cast any spells??”
“I don’t think so. I was talking with my mom about what it’s like to fly? Last night was the anniversary of her injury. She and River always used to make a big night of it. Since I can drink this year, they let me join in.”
Twilight was furiously taking notes. “So maybe you cast a spell in your sleep? By Celestia how is it that you’ve been studying with me your whole life and this has only come up now?!?!”
“Um...maybe because I’ve never been drunk before?”
Twilight eyed her over the top of her scroll. “Yeah I suppose that might do it.” She paused then tucked away the scroll. “Have you tried to fly?”
“No.” Melody opened the wings, flapping them slowly. “I wasn’t entirely sure they would work.”
“Okay well let’s get some measurements and te-”
Before Twilight could finish speaking, Melody’s horn ignited a bright aquamarine, surrounding her wings in the same color. The two mares looked at each other in alarm. They both knew what that color meant: danger.
Melody Gold had been conceived using a special spell that Twilight and Starlight had invented. Even before she was born her magic was next level strong. She had been able to levitate her mother even from in her belly. And since graduating school, Melody had taken to furthering her studies at Twilight’s castle. Her magic had never been one prescribed color. Not only did it change to reflect her moods, but it would also sometimes change depending on the type of spell being cast. Aquamarine had only ever shown up right before something went terribly and horribly wrong. Melody and Twilight had dubbed it the ‘Chaos Color’.
Melody’s new wings began to buzz, moving so fast they were just a coral pink blur. Her hooves began to lift from the floor as she tried desperately to grab hold of the table.
“Twilight!!!!”
The princess rushed forward and tried to grab her student in her own magic, but she couldn’t get a grip. Melody floated for half a moment before she suddenly shot upwards.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!” The pink mare screamed as she hurtled uncontrollably towards the castle’s tall crystal ceiling.
Twilight yelped and ignited her horn, concentrating with all her might. Just before hitting the ceiling, Melody disappeared in a poof of magenta sparkles.
oOo
Melody reappeared above Ponyville, eyes wide and hooves tucked nervously against her body. She risked a quick look down, the ground far below her. With a start, she felt her horn fizzle out, the last aquamarine sparkles falling past her eyes.
“Uh oh.” And she plummeted down towards the town.
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Somerset was showing a townspony her pottery when her large ears flicked back, catching the sound of a scream from somewhere above her. She raised an eyebrow and gestured to the mare to follow her. They walked out of the market stall and looked up. A coral pink pegasus was falling out of the sky, flailing helplessly.
“Why doesn’t she just fly?” The mare asked.
Somer didn't have a chance to answer as she suddenly noticed where the falling pony was going to land.
“No! My shop!!”
She ignited her horn, trying to catch the mare, but her magic simply bounced harmlessly off her. The pegasus crashed spectacularly right through the roof of Somer’s stall. There was a beat of silence before the mare popped up out of the wreckage, laughing.
She worked herself free of the debris and bounced up, grinning. She turned towards Somer and drew up short as she found herself face to face with the half kirin.
“You ruined my store.” Somer deadpanned.
“Oohhhhh was that yours? Sorry about that.” Melody grimaced and turned back towards the broken planks of wood and shards of pottery. But her smile quickly returned and she whipped her head back around to Somer. “But I can fix it!”
She ignited her horn, but Somer simply licked her hoof and pressed it to her horn. Melody blinked and looked back at her, something tightening in her stomach. No one had ever had the gall to extinguish her horn before. She flicked her eyes up to watch the magic fizzle out of her horn.
“No. All of that pottery was hoof made. I will not have the quality and integrity of my shop...diminished by some alicorn magic spell.” She quirked an eyebrow at Melody’s wings. “Pottery made with magic doesn’t have the same structural integrity.”
“Oh well I’m not actually an alicorn. See I actually woke up wi-”
“You will come to my house tomorrow and you will work with me until you have replaced all the pottery you broke.” Somer cut her off, her voice still level, showing no trace of emotion.
Melody gulped and nodded. “Yeah yeah yeah totally sure I can do that.”
Somer rolled her eyes and turned back towards her ruined shop. “Great. Dawn. You can find my cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest.” She kicked a board out of her way and sighed, the first indication of disappointment.
Melody tilted her head and stepped towards the light tan pony. “Hey, I’m really sorry.”
Somer hung her head slightly and angled her muzzle over her shoulder. “Just….dawn. I’ll see you then.” She ignited her horn and disappeared.
Melody Gold blinked the lights out of her eyes and drooped her ears. “But...I didn’t even get your name.”
Melody sighed and picked her way back to the castle, keeping her wings clamped steadfastly against her sides.
“I’m living everypony’s dream,” she mused. “An alicorn. And yet all I want is for them to be gone”
The pink mare shook her head and walked sheepishly into the castle. Twilight was standing there, pouring over a scroll. At the sound of hoofbeats, she whipped her head around to Melody.
“Oh my Celestia!!! I tried to find you but had no idea when I teleported you to!!”
Melody bit her lip and shrugged. “I crash landed in the market. I’m fine.”
Twilight blinked a few times then shook her head. “Okay well I think I may have figured out a spell to get rid of the wings but it’s risky…” She looked sideways at Melody. “Uh… how attached are you to your tail?”
“What?! No!” Melody groaned and dragged a hoof over her tired face. “Look, I’m just going to get some sleep okay? We can keep looking tomorrow.”
Twilight nodded absently as she turned back towards the table and her giant mountain of scrolls. Melody let loose a long breath and started on her long walk home.
oOo
“Hey mom, I’m home.” Melody collapsed onto the couch, then leapt up with a shriek.
“You okay?” Sparks stood in the doorway to the kitchen, a tray of cookies balanced on her back.
“Yeah I just…” Melody ran a hoof over the new appendages on her back and winced.
“Ah. Laid down the wrong way?” Sparks grinned and offered the cookies out to her daughter.
“Yeah. Not used to the wings I guess.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. You’ve only had them for a day.”
Melody groaned and laid back down more gingerly, tucking the coral pink feathers tight against her sides.
“Twilight had me try flying. It...uh...didn’t go well.”
Sparks had wandered back into the kitchen and was standing at the sink, washing her cookie dough-covered bowls.
“Is that so?”
Melody crossed her front legs over her eyes. “I went crashing into this pottery stall in the market. Broke everything in there. The mare says I have to work for her until I replace it all.”
“Oh? Who was it?”
“She didn’t give me her name. Super strange looking though. She had this gorgeous blue and purple mane that went all the way around her head. And a curved, dark red horn.”
The sound of the water stopped and Spark’s steps clicked on the kitchen floor. She stood at the end of the couch, smiling down at her daughter.
“Did she have a cutiemark?”
Melody scrunched up her face. “Now that you mention it, I don’t think so. Why?”
Sparks’ smile widened. “Ah you met Somerset! She’s a few years older than you. One of our campers for a couple summers. She stopped coming not long after you were born.”
“Why does she look like that?”
“She’s half kirin. They’re a species from the Peaks of Peril. You could ask Twilight, or Fluttershy or Applejack more about them. I don’t know much else.”
Melody wrinkled her nose. “Maybe tomorrow after I apparently learn how to make pottery at the nice convenient time of dawn.”
Sparks laughed and held out a plate with a daisy and daffodil sandwich. “Well let’s get some dinner in you so you can get some sleep then.”
The two sat in comfortable silence while they ate. Melody caught Sparks eyeing her wings every few minutes, always flicking her gaze away as soon as her daughter noticed.
“Do you miss flying?”
Seeking Sparks closed her eyes and sighed. It had been years since her accident. The night before had marked the anniversary in fact.
“Sometimes. But if I hadn’t lost my flight then I would have never gone to camp, or met your mother, or had you. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
Melody knew there was a certain conflict under her mom’s words that she would never understand. But she never doubted for a second that her moms loved her. Heck, they went so far as to have Twilight create an entirely new spell for them just so they could have her. Melody smiled ironically. That spell was the whole reason they were in this mess.
“Well if I can ever figure out how to actually do this…” she ruffled her wings, “spell, then I’ll see if we can get you your flight back.”
Sparks stiffened ever so slightly, but her daughter still noticed. “That’d….be great honey.”
Melody wasn’t sure what that meant, but a deep yawn interrupted her chance to ask. Sparks took the opportunity to grab their plates and hasten to the kitchen. She busied herself with the dishes again and kept her gaze down on the sink.
“Well goodnight then sweetheart. Your mom will be home late so don’t wait up.”
Melody stared after her, confused, but too tired to argue. She wished her mom a good night and went up to her room, nearly collapsing into bed.
When she woke up in the morning, the wings were gone.