//------------------------------// // 02 // Story: Son of Man, Daughter of Pony // by Marvelous Cheshire //------------------------------// Melody gave a sigh of relief as she managed to get into the train just seconds before the doors closed. “Thank God I live within walking distance of the train station,” she muttered, leaning against one of the windows, her fingers still locked around the handles of her luggage. Looking around, Melody spotted a few somewhat familiar faces scattered within the half-filled Train car, but for the most part they were all strangers from other towns and cities. “Plenty of humans, a few ponies… doesn’t look like there are any other anthros though,” she muttered, before making her way to one of the empty seats and sitting down, kicking her suitcases under the bench with a hoof. “Not surprised though. Last I checked, there aren’t many anthro my age that live anywhere close to this area.” She dropped her backpack beside her and pulled out her Smartphone and a pair of headphones. “Glad dad got these for me last month. Such a pain using normal ones, and the ones designed for pony ears like these are usually hard to come by on Earth.” She glanced back at the crowd. “Don’t see Marcus anywhere either, maybe he’s in another car,” she muttered in a somewhat solemn tone, leaning back and selecting a song. As it started playing, Melody closed her eyes and let the world around her dissolve, letting only the sound of the violin remain. Instinctively, her arms and head moved into position, as if playing her own violin along to the the piece. After a few seconds, Melody began humming lightly in tune with the music, smiling as she felt a relaxing warmth envelop her, despite the light chill in the car. As the piece drew to a close, Melody heard someone chuckle before a familiar voice spoke up. “Well, you certainly know how to make yourself stand out even more so than usual.” Melody’s eyes snapped open, revealing a tall, lean-muscled human male with short, dark brown hair looking down at her with a casual smile. Calmly, Melody removed her headphones and set her phone back into her backpack, before jumping up and wrapping her arms around the human. The man stumbled slightly but managed to stay upright. “Good to see you too Mel. How’ve you been lately?” he asked, wrapping his around her. Melody pushed herself from the man and gave him a deadpan stare. “Really, Marcus? That’s all you can say after you completely Vanish for over two months without even so much as a single notice!?” Her deadpan slowly turned into a glare. Marcus just stared back in confusion. “What? Mel, I wrote like, every week.” Melody’s glare quickly dissolved into a look of confusion as Marcus set her down. “Didn’t you get any of my letters?” She shook her head. “No. The only information I got was when I asked your parents, and they just said you were visiting family out of state.” Marcus stared at her with a blank expression for several seconds, before facepalming. “I swear someone in the postal service hates me,” he muttered before dragging his hand off his face and looking back down at Melody. “Sorry Mel, I was staying at my uncle’s farm for past couple months to make some money, as well as get a feel for Agricultural work.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “My uncle hasn’t had a working phone in years, so I pretty much had to write every week to try and keep you up to date. I just got back a few days ago, and I’ve spent the entire time packing.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I guess the letters got lost in transit.” Melody sighed and glanced up at her childhood friend. “I guess that makes sense, but you could’ve at least tried to find some way to get in contact with me last month.” “I know,” he replied calmly, reaching into his messanger bag. “I might not have been able to get in touch, but I sure as hell didn’t forget my best friend’s Birthday.” Melody watched as he pulled out a small rectangular box and held it out to her. “I know you don’t really wear this kind of stuff, but I thought you’d like it.” Curiously, Melody took the box and opened it, her eyes growing wide at what she saw: A small silver chain necklace with a circular gold pendant featuring the image of a violin on the face. Turning it over, Melody found the words “Musica est vita” engraved in the center. “It’s twenty four carat,” Marcus said, causing Melody’s eyes to widen as she looked between him and the necklace. “I got it from a unicorn jeweler in the town near my uncle’s farm. She’s an old friend of his and even offered to give me a small discount… still had to work my ass off to barely afford it without- Oof!” Marcus grunted as he was knocked back by Melody ramming into him and wrapping her arms around him in a powerful hug. “Thankyou-thankyou-thankyou-thankyou-thankyou!” She cheered, holding onto Marcus with more force than normal for someone of her size. Marcus smiled and glanced around the car, seeing that several of the other passengers were staring at them. After a moment someone behind them gave a small cough, earning Marcus’s attention. “Right, sorry dude,” he said to the figure, a man with short, blonde hair. Melody finally released her friend and look at the previously unseen companion. “Mel, meet Jareth Blake, met him a couple hours ago when the train first arrived,” Marcus said, gesturing to the man. “Jareth, this is Melody, whom I’ve known since elementary school.” Melody gave a slight smirk. “Jareth, as in-” “Yes,” Jareth groaned, covering his face with a hand. “Blame my folks, my dad pretty much grew up on Jim Henson, and my mom’s a bit of a David Bowie nut. Labyrinth was one of the few times those two interests met.” Melody gave a light chuckle as she sat back down, Marcus taking the seat beside her while Jareth sat across from them. “Well it is a pretty good film,” she mused, reopening the box and taking out her new necklace. “So, any particular reason you’re heading to Aurora Academy?” she asked as she began putting the necklace on. Jareth rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, part of the reason is that I wanted to study computers, hopefully get a job working in computer engineering.” Melody nodded as she finished locking the necklace in place, the gold pendant resting softly on her short fur. “But I also wanted to study all I could about Equestrian culture, hence why I’m going to Aurora instead of… pretty much any other school in the country.” Melody closed her eyes and gave another nod as she crossed her legs, resting her hands on her knees and leaning her head against the window. The trio remained silent for a few moments before Jareth spoke up once more. “So um, how long have you two been dating?” He asked nervously, unsure of anything else to say. Both of them stare at him wide eyed for a moment, before bursting out with laughter. Jareth’s nervousness quickly turned to confusion as he stared at the two of them. “Two things,” Melody said after a moment, managing to get herself under control. “One, that isn’t really something you should just ask people out of the blue like that. Two, we’re not dating.” He opened his mouth to speak, but Melody quickly cut him off. “You’re not the first person to make that mistake, but we’re just friends. We only act like we do because we’ve known each other for so long.” Melody placed a hand on the pendant. “As for this, Marcus has always been pretty generous towards those around him, but really, we’re just close friends.” “Yeah, can’t really see myself dating Mel. I’ve always thought of her as something like a little sister than anything else.” Marcus added, leaning back in his seat. “I’m four months older than you,” Melody deadpanned. “I said little sister, not younger sister,” Marcus said, looking at the anthro with a smirk. Melody just glared back. “Te odio (I hate you),” she growled. “No you don’t,” Marcus replied calmly, wrapping an arm around Melody and pulling her close. “Besides, most anthropomorphs are shorter than humans. I think the average for mares was…. five feet, right?” Melody nodded. “And how tall are you?” “... Four feet ten inches,” she muttered reluctantly. “But of course I’m going to look short next to a six foot giant like you,” she added as she slid out of his grip. “Six foot three,” Marcus corrected. Melody’s eye twitched. “Christ you’re tall,” she muttered, before taking her phone back out. “To change the subject, Jareth.” The blonde blinked in surprise at her sudden change in tone. “Y-yeah?” he stammered. “Doing you like any particular genres of music? I’ve got a little of everything other than rap, can’t stand that garbage,” Melody asked as she began looking through her music. “Got any Panic at The Disco?” Jareth asked. Melody remained silent for a moment as she search for the band. “Yep, got a few of their songs stored on here,” she said as she turned the volume down enough to keep from disturbing other passengers before playing one of the songs and leaning back and closing her eyes, content to simply listen to music for the majority of the remainder of the trip.