Melrose
Character Name: Melrose
Player Name: Pav Feira
Race: Earth Pony Mare
Class: Schooled Bard 4 / Zen Archer (Applebucker?) Monk 1
Role: Support (Songs, Spells, Lasso), Ranged (Apples)
Melrose opens her eyes.
At once, terror grips her. Adrenaline shoots through her body. Something is wrong—something is terribly wrong. Wrong with her, wrong with the world. She isn't where she's supposed to be. There's something she needs to be doing—something very important—but she can't remember what it is and she isn't in the right place! Panic soon overwhelms her, and with a scream, she tumbles from her bed, landing on the floor with a hard thump.
All around her, her room in Conservatory is just how she remembers it, but the things that once brought her joy elect only that bizarre feeling of alienation. The bright and garish posters on the walls, the glitter stuck to her shiniest possessions, the pile of glowsticks and on the dresser and the gemstones around her mirror. All is as it should be, but the more she sees the harder it is to face. Finally she can bear it no longer, and another terrified squeak escapes her. She shuts her eyes, and curls up into a ball on the floor with her blankets, trying to purge the horrible feelings that rack her body like a terrible curse.
It is as she lies there that she notices another thing. It's quiet. It's never quiet in Conservatory. There's always drums banging and mental clanging and horns blaring, unicorns using lightning as a harp, and pegasai playing classical music in thunder. It's always booming, the floor always shaking. But now, it's silent. That doesn't make Melrose feel any better.
To be sure, Melrose has had her fair share of nightmares. They all passed. This one will too. She just needs to hide her head under the blanket a moment more, and this tacky room with its garish horrors will be gone.
Yes, any moment she'll be waking up now. Very soon. Maybe nip at her ankle to speed up the process.
Well. Now her ankle hurts.
Whipping the blanket off her head, she rises to her hooves. "Well," she remarks while making her way to her mirror, "this day is off to a lovely start. Now. Isn't. It."
Her mirror is a… filly thing. All made of gold and filigree, and covered in gemstones that have been roughly affixed to the frame. She sees herself in its glass, with her auburn mane and chartreuse coat. It's more... colorful, than she remembers. She should be a nice, pleasant slate grey. But of all the horrible colors that adorn this horrible room, the color in herself is perhaps the one that doesn't set her off. That, at least, seems right.
"Ugh. Who in their right mind would..." Something rattles about in the back of her mind. A faint memory. She quickly decides not to pull that particular thread any further, instead focusing back on fixing up her mane. Looking presentable. Maybe checking if all of her wardrobe isn't so... so… bedazzled.
Oh sweet pegasai above. Is everything in her chest of drawers pink? Hot pink, even. With palm trees or other garish images on the front. She actually owns clothes with writing on them, ranging from merely tasteless to "If you're reading this, stop staring at my cutie mark," on a long saddle blanket.
Melrose makes a low moan from the back of her throat, filled with pain and unfathomable sorrow.
The only thing she finds that isn't completely repulsive is her old white choker, and that's shoved completely into the back, covered in dust.
"Fine, just—" Catching herself, she takes a few calming breaths. "Fine." She affixes the choker then makes quickly for the door, having had far too much of this room that—oh stars above that can't really be her room. With a shake of her head, she exits.
Her door opens into what appears to be a giant trumpet case.
On account of the giant trumpet inside.
Melrose's day has not improved.
The space is an odd fusion of the Conservatory building she remembers and... well, a giant brass instrument. Each of the three sliders is also a door, roughly representing the three doors she remembers as being in her dorm hall. The latch on the case is another strange doorway, made all of brass, tucked in against the inside of the enormous carrying container.
As she looks around, in a daze, she notices that one of the other two doors is cracked open, a tan eye staring out at her warily. There is a distinct possibility that this eye belongs to a pony. Possibly one who is not covered in glowsticks and glitter.
She approaches the eye, not bothering to hide her weariness. "Oh, please please please tell me you're sane."
There's a pause. "How do I know you're sane?" a stallion’s voice asks after a moment.
Rolling her eyes and rubbing at her temple with a hoof, she replies, "Considering the condition of my room, there's a distinct possibility that I am not. Also, this hallway is a trumpet. So there's that."
The eye scoots to the left, looking out at the hall. It squints a moment. Looks back at her. "I'm only coming out if you promise not to kiss me."
Melrose stares. And stares. Juts her jaw a bit. "I'll try my hardest," she quips.
"It's not funny!" the eye insists. And it's tone is rather upset. "The last thing I remember, I'm starting Conservatory, and then suddenly, everything goes all weird and there's a mare kissing me, and for some reason my room is full of acoustic guitars and smells like burning grass! I hate acoustic guitar!"
Melrose takes an indignant sniff or two. That is, indeed, burning plant matter. A specific kind of it, even. "Yes, well, I'm not fond of glitter and... cutie-shorts," she says, the last word dripping with disdain. "So clearly, both our rooms have been fouled." She motions him forward with a hoof. "Just come on out of your room. I'm sure it would make you feel worlds better."
"Well... alright."
The door slowly swings open, and out steps a stallion. A unicorn, with a pale yellow coat and an off-blue mane. His cutie mark is unassuming—a series of musical notes and piano keys. A glance over his shoulder is enough to confirm that his room is full of guitars, as well as posters with pretentious quotes from dead ponies. He's looking at her carefully though, one ear tilted up. "Haven't we... met?" he asks. "Yeah. Yeah, on orientation day. We were both just moving in. You were… mmm… Mel… boure?"
She gives him a studying glance, much the same as he's giving her. "Melrose," she corrects him, casual, distracted. She does indeed remember bits and pieces. Arriving at the Conservatory. A bit of practicing, of course. Perfecting that one fugue and—Right, the pony in front of her. Oh, of course she remembers his name. It was… Deep something. That's right. Because somepony made fun of him asking if his music was deep. Started with a C. Currents.
"Deep Currents." She says it aloud without much confidence, but immediately it sounds right. "Yes, it is you, isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's me."
When he confirms his identity, the memories suddenly crystalize. Arriving at Conservatory. Meeting everypony. She hid her accent so well, nopony even noticed. Then they all started moving their stuff in and—something she doesn't want to think about.
Many, many things.
Deep Currents seems to get the same feeling, and suddenly looks uncomfortable. "Well. This is uh... strange. I guess we should try to find somepony and... figure out what's going on?" He doesn't sound at all assured.
"Mmm," she replies, equally unconvinced. "At any rate, there's no point in staying around our... rooms. Maybe we could find our effects, or a way out, or just about anything else."
"Y-yeah. Okay." He nods, keeping alongside her, as she opens up the case-latch doorway at the end of the hall.
The doorway opens into a broader space. Melrose vaguely recalls this being a lounge for the attending students, but now the couches, tables, and fireplace are scattered about on a strange track. They seem to be floating in empty space, suspended above nothing, and the track forms the outline of a french horn. Doorways in space hang at odd angles, leading to who-knows-where, and in the center of it all, she can see an instrument stand set up, including a drum set, a series of flutes, and a gong.
There's one other pony in the room: a rather nervous looking yellow pegasus with a wind-harp on her flank. She looks up as soon as the two appear, and then heaves a sigh of relief. "Oh! Good. Sorry, you two scared the heck out of me there. We're trying to gather everypony up in the common room. It's back through the door behind me. Think you can catch up?"
"Uh... maybe?" Deep Currents looks at Melrose. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. It's... weird." the pegasus answers with a frown. "I'll see you soon though, okay?" With that, she turns and makes her own way to the common room, leaving Melrose and Deep Currents to their own devices.
"It would appear that the world's lost its collective mind. Though the lot of us have come to our senses." Melrose nods once to herself, then looks around at the instrument collection. Seeing if anything looks familiar in the unceremonious pile. That gong does. Somehow. She has unpleasant memories of... banging on it... while…
She quickly suppresses the thought. Years of therapy will have to wait.
"Let's go," Deep Currents says, starting off down the same path as the pegasus mare. "You know, a regular size Prench Horn has over ten paces worth of tubing it? So, walking around this room might take awhile." After a moment he adds, "Heh."
Still, the gong seems familiar. Like she's used it before. The gong makes the faintest sound when Melrose picks it up with her tail. But it's a strange sound, not what Melrose was expecting. She can barely hear it, of course, but it's not nearly metallic enough. She gives the instrument a curious glance, then hoists it onto her back.
"Sorry, this is just a lot to take in," Deep Currents continues, filling the void.
"You can say that again..." Melrose trots up quickly to him, then matches his pace as they continue onward. "Still, instruments and students. Perhaps we're on the right path away from this madness after all."
"What, you're thinking of finishing your musical education?" he asks with a little chuckle. "Insanity being no barrier to art."
"After all the bits I paid to get in?" she replies, faintly quirking the corners of her mouth.
He gets a good, proper laugh out of that. "Can't argue with that."
"T'would be a shame to drop out now, just because the universe has gone mad."
Deep Currents: "Well, you know. Dedication," he says as they trot down the long path. "It's funny though," he adds. "When I woke up this morning, I was playing the guitar. I mean, everything else was horrible. But I can't play the guitar. Couldn't. But I felt like I'd had lessons for... I don't know. A long time."
Melrose makes a sour face. "Please tell me I didn't have, I don't know, glowstick lessons."
"I remember..." Deep Currents suddenly makes a disgusted face, and his muzzle scrunches up. "Uuugh. I think you might have."
Melrose groans.
"But, uh..." he struggles for something more positive to say. "Maybe you had other lessons too. You might already be a graduate."
Sighing, she shakes her head. "Well. We'll put this whole affair in order, but for now, let's just regroup with the others. Maybe you and the other unicorn can"—she waggles her hoof in a what’s-the-word sort of manner—"fix."
"Oooh. Um. Well, you know how some unicorns have world-altering cosmic powers and... glowy eyes and stuff? My magic mostly tunes pianos." Deep Currents coughs. "But, maybe one of the others is a wizard."
Melrose chuckles, good-natured. "Perhaps. Anyway, we should be nearly there... if this blasted place weren't so..." She falls off, grumbling.
"Prench?"
That earns a genuine laugh.
Soon, they reach the door the pegasus mare took, and emerge out into a much larger common room. This room looks almost... sane. Granted, everything has a piano-key motif, and the floor makes sounds when Melrose steps on it, but that's not the craziest thing ponies have ever designed. It's a recognizable room, with couches and windows and a bunch of nervous-looking ponies with musical cutie marks. There's even sunlight from out the windows though it's... shifting oddly. Very quickly.
"Oh, hey!" the pegasus mare from before says, everypony looking up. "See? I told you. I think that's everypony. You two were the only ponies left in that wing, right?"
"I—" Didn't even think to check. Horseapples. "I don't know," Melrose admits. "I didn't see anypony besides you and Deep Currents, though."
"I... don't remember anypony being in the third room on moving day." Deep Currents says, though he's hesitant.
"Well, I guess we'll just go then." The pegasus mare shakes herself out, before turning to address the assembled ponies. "Um, okay. Hi. Everypony. I'm Chopsticks, and I'm one of the instructors here. Or I was, I guess. To catch everypony up, no, none of us have any idea what's going on. It looks like all the Conservatory rooms are still here... sort of. But, outside. Well..." She jerks her head toward the windows. "If you haven't taken a look yet, you should go ahead."
Melrose gives a brief glance, watching for the irregular sunlight she noticed earlier. "Better than in here, or worse?"
Deep Currents steps up to the window nervously, looking outside. He swallows. "Worse."
"Of course," she says with a sigh, walking up to his side.
Outside, she sees a world of swirling, floating islands. Of three suns and five and one-half moons, bouncing around the sky like billiard balls, while the islands flick and weave in and out of position. Melrose notes with slight confusion that the half-moon is particularly infuriating to her. At least full moons make sense, even if there's four too many.
But where would the fun be in making sense?
Melrose flicks an ear.
"So, yeah," Chopsticks says, after a moment. "There's enough food in the pantry for a little while, and the well pump still works, so we're not in immediate danger. But... I'm open to suggestions."
"Right. So perchance going outside isn't a great option." Melrose looks about the group of assembled ponies. "And even if nopony here knows any spells to get rid of all this, I mean... We could still fix up the place, by hoof?"
"I... guess we could," somepony says. "But won't we need to go outside eventually?"
That starts some discussion about how they could get things back in order—take an inventory of supplies maybe, map out the new building—when finally, one stallion pipes up, abruptly. "I heard a mare." When his odd outburst prompts stares, he blushes slightly, continuing. "When I woke up, I was freaking out. And uh... playing the ocarina makes me feel better when I'm stressed. But when I played it, there wasn't just music. I heard a mare’s voice." He looks around at his peers. "Has anyone else heard that?"
There's some general shaking of heads.
"What, instead of music?" Melrose arches an eyebrow. "You're saying there was a mare's voice inside your instrument?" An ocarina, though... hmm.
"Uh... no," he insists, embarrassed. "I mean, I heard the music. I just also heard a mare shouting at me. I don't know if it's my ocarina or not but... I haven't tried again." He nudges the instrument by his hoof nervously.
Melrose looks about, waiting for somepony to do or say something. Mostly the room just looks nervous. Scared and uncertain. Ponies have no idea what to make of this, and they aren't exactly a take-charge lot. She sighs, grabs the gong off her back, and hangs it from her upraised tail. "Well, that's reasonably sane, by today's standards. Let's see if Screaming Music Mare has anything useful to say."
She gives the gong a few professional taps with her hoof, causing it to ring out and reverberate. She can't remember playing a gong before, come to think of it, and yet she knows how, turning her hoof just so as to produce a pleasant note. The gong rings clear, and under that note, she does indeed hear a mare’s voice.
"Ponies of Equestria, heed my words!" rumbles an authoritative, booming voice. But nothing follows it, and the gong falling silent.
Melrose blanches, quickly looking about the other ponies' faces, but their reaction seems to put her at ease. About half the room looks excited—the other half worried.
"That's not what it said when I played my ocarina," the first stallion says.
Deep Currents nudges Melrose on the shoulder. “Try it again."
Melrose shrugs. "Well, we've all lost our marbles, but at least we've lost them together, mmm?" She sets the gong ringing once more.
"Ponies of Equestria, heed my words!" is audible clear as a bell. But again, the gong falls silent.
Thinking quickly, Deep Currents gestures across the room. His horn glows as he depresses a number of the piano-key motif pieces, and a few tones sound off in response.
"I warn you, the journey will be perilous," sounds the mare. And then again she is silent.
Catching on, Melrose motions to the pony with the ocarina. He lifts the ocarina, blowing a note.
"I know you will not fail me, my little ponies." The mystery mare reassures.
"Oh, I get it," Chopsticks nods. "They're out of order. Quick—what instruments do we have?"
A massive search of the room and adjacent chambers commences at once. Experimentation determines that simply making noise with the instrument is not sufficient. One has to actually play it with a degree of skill. And that different instruments play different parts of the message for different ponies. As the ponies play a quick game of what Deep Currents can't help but describe as musical chairs, Melrose ends up with the other pony’s ocarina, since when he plays it, it produces a redundant section. Deep Currents is left to play the room with his horn while strumming a guitar with his hoof. Finally, shifting from instrument to instrument, the band begins to play.
"Ponies of Equestria, heed my words!" the voice booms inside the room, significantly louder now that the entire band is assembled. "Hear me and know that I am Luna, Princess of the Moon, and that by the strength and will of myself and my sister, Discord is defeated. The tyrant who corrupted your minds and turned your world of chaos lies as stone, and it is through his defeat that you are restored.
"I hope that you are well, and that you recover quickly, but I must also seek your aid. There are creatures who would prevent my sister and I from restoring Equestria to its rightful form, and they now lay siege to us in our castle in the Everfree Forest. We are trapped within its walls and I fear we may not escape, and so I call upon all ponies of this land to come to our aid.
"I warn you, the journey will be perilous. The world is not as you remember it, and many creatures will attempt to stop you. But all the world hangs in the balance. It is a time for ponies to discover the heroism within them. I know you will not fail me, my little ponies. Seek me out in the Everfree Forest. The sound of the music I have given will guide you there safely."
Then the last note plays, and they're out of instruments. The room is for a moment, silent. A pony coughs. Melrose frowns sharply at the last bit, lost in thought for a moment. She absentmindedly rolls the ocarina about with her tail.
"My grandmother met Luna once." Deep Currents says, in the tone of a stallion trying urgently to think about anything but the matter at hand. "She saw a hungry pony when it was starting to snow outside, so she took them home and fed them. And when the moon came up, they turned into a unicorn with the wings of a pegasus, thanked her for her kindness, and blessed her with good fortune." He looks about the room, meeting skeptic looks, and he squirms. "Or at least, that's how she explained never losing a game of chance. Ever."
"...hmm. Well,” Melrose says at length. “It sounds like this, err... moon princess... needs the assistance of warriors." She looks about the room, dryly. "So if any of you know how to play the broadsword, or the axe..."
"Oh yeah. You'd think Chopsticks is a musical reference, but I actually chop ponies. With sticks. It's my special talent." Chopsticks says, letting out a nervous laugh. "Sorry."
"Yeah, I mean. That's a call for warriors," somepony else agrees. "Besides, just /look/ outside. There's not even any ground! We can't all fly." That produces a number of nods.
"Then I suppose that's that,” says Melrose. “She asked for warriors, but she contacted the wrong ponies.” She punctuates that sentiment with a nod and an air of finality.
Because that's that. Nothing more to think about. Or consider.
"Yeah," agrees Deep Currents.
Melrose grits her teeth. Grinds her hooves against the piano keys underhoof. And as she opens her mouth to speak—
"I'm going."
Melrose snaps her head upright and looks at Deep Currents, eyes widened with genuine shock. "Wait, what?"
"Yeah. I mean. It's a terrible idea, and I can't fly,” says Deep Currents. “So I'll probably just walk out onto the edge of the island and look like an idiot." He forces himself to shrug, his body all tense. "But. It's a royal summons to save the world. I mean, from the Princess of the Moon instead of Princess Platinum. But that's still a Princess. And uh… Yeah." His gaze drops as his dramatic little speech loses its momentum.
"Well..." Melrose kicks at the ground and sighs. "It's more than that, really. We have no idea if any warriors did hear the message. But we heard it. It's kinda..." She looks down at the floor, and as she murmurs, her ostentatious accent starts to sound a bit more… relaxed. "We got a responsibility t'look, right? Make sure the ponies git the message?"
Melrose jolts a bit. "I, uh! I mean." She sits herself up straight and demurely coughs into the back of her hoof before resuming. "And besides, the message said something on that point—the sound of the music guiding us, or some such." She looks around the room. "It might be up to us to, well, lead the warriors to her."
"Y-yeah!" Deep Currents adds, quickly, evidently a bit relieved to have the pressure off. "What she said."
The others don't look so persuaded, though. A few are nodding, but Melrose is mostly getting a room full of blank looks. "I mean, we're not even near the Everfree Forest," one of them says. "And like, all ponies can sing? I'm sure Commander Hurricane can find her way with a good marching song."
"Or Princess Platinum's wizards can just teleport there," adds another.
"Right, exactly." The babble of conversation starts again, and it doesn't look to be going Melrose's way. Three more stallions stand up, including the one who had the ocarina, and Chopsticks floats over to join them, but that only makes the rest of the room more skeptical.
"And you're even assuming that they, or the Chancellor, even received this moon message!" Melrose snaps, growing more indignant with each passing moment. "Perhaps the lot of you are content to sit about, wearing unspeakable phrases about your flanks, but I am not!"
"Wait, what's that about phrases on our flanks?" one pony asks.
She falters a moment. "Err, nevermind that! The point is—"
"Wait, I think I'm getting a... memory or something?"
"You most certainly are not!" Melrose shouts back, stomping a hoof.
The pony tilts her head and looks upward, trying to remember a tune on the edge of her memories. "'Shake your tail because we're gonna have a party tonight?'" she half-sings.
Melrose spins on the tips of her hooves, staring down Deep Current and the few other volunteers. "We are leaving. Immediately."
"Right." Deep Currents affirms through his wince. "Err, right!"
There is a bit more talking, despite Melrose's wishes, as the volunteers try to bring along others. But the class won't be moved, and it's only five ponies who step outside. Eventually, they emerge out of the front door of the conservatory, only to find that the front steps lead out into empty space. Around them, the suns, moons, and sky pinwheel endlessly, stretching off into infinity.
"Well, uh..." Deep Currents draws a breath. "She said the song would show us the way, so… Da daa da da daaaaa~" At once, a chunk of rock hurtles out of the distant infinity, materializing at the base of the steps as a floating trail.
"Well... okay," Chopsticks says, with a shrug.
Melrose leaps back a bit, peering at the newly-formed path. "...indeed." She grabs out her ocarina again, and starts to play along.
And so, the merry troupe marches along, their song making the path appear before them as they go, through the sky they twist, down strange passages and up sheer walls. They see impossible things: rabbits with legs ten feet tall, squares with no corners and animals that talk. They see pegasai with grey coats, floating between the islands and lounging on clouds, who throw rocks at Chopsticks when she tries to get near them. And all the while, their path stretches on, towards the infinite horizon.
The composition of the path does change though. First it's city cobbles, then good road. Then bad roads. And now, dirt. The group has kept in remarkably good spirits, and while the journey has been taxing and at times scary, it's rarely been actually dangerous. The song, it seems, steers them away from the hard trails.
"...I'm telling you, she wasn't a cheat!" Deep Currents insists in response to one of Chopstick's questions. "That mare could pick up ten dice and roll ten sixes. Reliably. She was blessed."
"So she used her blessing from the Princess of the Moon to gamble?" one of the other stallions asks, rolling his eyes.
"Well, Luna never showed up to complain. And it paid for me to be here, so shut up," Deep Currents grumbles.
"It... does..." Melrose stretches her words and works her jaw. She clearly seems to be struggling to contribute. "I mean, there must have been some reason one would pick that. Of any possible favor. Ponies can surprise you, I suppose."
"I suppose,” says Deep Currents. “Maybe moon-ponies approve of gambling. Or are just very honest." He still watches Melrose as they follow the herd, one of the stallions in front playing the song and leading the way. "Is everything okay?"
"Hmm?" Melrose glances his way but quickly looks forward when she notices he's giving her one of those looks. "It is."
"Oh, uh... good." He nods. "The trip is going well so far, I think. I mean, way better than I thought."
"I suppose," she admits, giving a nod. "No sign of these 'warriors' yet, but, well. Perhaps your grandmother's luck rubbed off on you."
"If that were true, I'd play an instrument you can bring on the road." Deep Currents says, trying to lighten the mood. "A piano isn't exactly—" Deep Currents cuts off abruptly when he walks face-first into the rear of the stallion in front of him. Their forward guard abruptly comes to a halt.
Melrose frowns, leaning upright to peer over the top of them. "What? What's the matter?" She peers over the top of the stallions in front of her, and beholds… A vision of loveliness.
Hark, cometh the doe. She who is more graceful than any pony, so fair the world itself sings for the joy of her passage. At a glance, Melrose knows it to be such. She can hear the music, and knows its gentle tune in every ripple of light upon this image before her. She beholds a thing like a mare, but not a mare. A doe. A creature with the most striking black eyes and a softly spotted coat. With legs so fine she seems to ghost upon the soil, and a frame as thin as any reed, bending as subtly with her movements. The slightest motion of her body betrays not just her beauty, but wisdom, and an ageless grace. Here is a creature that tumbled from eternity, and landed without a spot upon the world. She is bare, save for a swan feather tucked behind one ear, and three pony stallions who follow her, a single strand of spider web connecting each of them to her.
"Uh... guys?" Melrose hears Deep Currents' voice, but it is distant, and unimportant. "Melrose? Why are you all just staring?"
Melrose snorts at the stallions in front of her. Come now, it's just some female mare-like creature! And sure enough that sets all the stallions drooling. Just because she's got long legs. And… And a beautifully conditioned coat. And the way she just nimbly flitters about on her hooves, like a delicate young thing. And...
And she looked at Melrose! That's enough to set the young musician's heart aflutter. She gasps a little, and leans her head away, trying to mask her involuntary blush behind her mane.
Now she hears Chopstick's voice, sees her shaking one of the stallions violently. "Scales, snap out of it!" she shouts, but her voice is far away. At the end of a distant tunnel. "Scales, you're scaring me. Wake up!"
Scales just shoves her away. No surprise. Here she comes! Chopsticks and Deep Currents both rear up, facing down the lovely doe as she approaches. Which is fine. More attention for Melrose.
"Um..." Melrose stammers at the approaching doe. "H-Hi."
"Who are you!?" Deep Currents demands. "What did you do to them?"
"She is the fog of minds and the thief of hearts," says the first stallion who walks alongside the doe.
"She is the majesty and the beauty of chaos," says the second.
"She is the creature so graceful she flies on a single feather," says the third.
"She is the Swan Deer," finishes the first.
"But you," speaks the doe, with a voice so warm Melrose could melt in it, "may call me Tox."
And nearly melt she does. This will likely make a painfully embarrassing tale at some point in the future, but for now Melrose is weak at the knees. "P-Pleased t'meetcha, Tox," she says, her fake accent completely forgotten. But after all, mares like a pony who can act like themselves around her, right? "You gotta be the most beautiful thing I err set eyes on, bar none."
The other stallions reach up to brush at Tox's legs with a hoof—just to touch her. She politely brushes them away. "Yes, yes," she says, though Melrose's voice seems to catch her attention, and she gives Melrose an odd look for a moment.
At least, until Chopsticks interrupts her train of thought. "Tell me what you did to my friends!"
"Silly thing,” speaks Tox. “I did nothing to them. They're stallions. This is rather their natural state. Except this one, of course."
Melrose can't help but swell with pride. She's ignoring those silly groping stallions, and has eyes just for her!
Tox gestures, and as though on command, her three escorts rush to Deep Currents and seize him in a powerful grip.
"Hey, hey! Let me go!" he shouts.
"Mmmm." Tox reaches up, tilting Deep Currents’s head this way and that. Lifting his gums to look at his teeth. "A musician. Unicorn. Decent magical talent, if underdeveloped. Yes, I suppose you'll do. My old unicorn was wearing out anyway."
The spiderweb connecting Tox to her unicorn tag-along uncurls itself, and at once, he slumps to the ground from what is obviously exhaustion. Melrose isn't sure how she didn't notice how thin he was before. Ribs showing, coat pale… But that's not important right now.
The spiderweb touches Deep Currents's neck now, and at once, he stops struggling, falling back to all fours unrestrained. Deep Currents is her friend! Maybe that's an in with Tox.
"You know," Melrose interjects, closing the gap a bit. But not getting all touchy, I mean, honestly now, some ponies... "Deep Currents and I just started at the Conservatory at the same time." She gives her mane a flirtatious little flip. I mean... Sure. She's seen other mares do that. She did fine. "Music's really been a passion of mine. 'Bout long as I can remember."
"Melrose, what are you doing!?" Chopsticks shouts. Her voice isn't angry now. It's frightened, and she's backing away. "Guys please wake up."
Tox looks down at Melrose, amused. "Honestly, are you what passes for a musician these days? I swear you lot get more feminine every year."
That connects about as softly as a sack of bricks.
"Ex-CUSE me, but I'll have ya know I been playin' since I was only a little ol' sprout,” Mel snaps, snarling at her. “Just name any ol' instrument and I'll play the applesauce outta it!" Okay, she's got a nice coat but seriously.
Tox takes a quick step back, eyes wide. "How dare you!?" she shouts.
"No, how dare you!" Melrose shouts right back. "Struttin’ about like yer some kinda debutante, 'n thinkin' that ponies'll just roll with it cuz yer nine different kind of hot! And ya totally are, don't get me wrong, but I will not tolerate ya talkin' down to me like that, y'hear?" she says, posturing herself up as much as she can against the much taller doe.
There's a pause.
"Oh dear stars it's a mare," Tox mutters, taking a quick step back before Mel can touch her, her tone wholly disgusted.
Melrose blinks. A lot. "Yeh?"
"Oh dear you... oh," she shakes her head. "Just keep it away from me." At once, the other three stallions move between Mel and Tox, shoving her back and away.
"I... Wait no, Tox!" Melrose tries to no avail to push through the stallions. "Tox, 'm sorry I snapped at ya like that. Ya just struck a nerve, but ain't nopony deserved to get a scoldin' like that...."
"Ugh." Tox makes a face, giving a little flick of her tail as she turns away. "I can't believe it spoke to me. Hideous thing."
"I am so terribly sorry, my lady," Deep Currents says in a dull voice, trotting by her side.
"It's my curse, you know,” says Tox. “I bring them out of th—"
"Well ‘ugh’ yerself, ya nasty she-wench!"
Tox freezes. "Oh, right. I'd almost forgotten."
"Oh, you heard me!" Melrose bellows, her face beet-red. "'s bad enough ya insult me once, but ya insult me a second time and I am not rightfully gonna stand by and take it!"
Deep Currents turns to Tox. "Would you like me to give her a sound thrashing for speaking to you that way, my lady?"
"No. That won't be necessary. Sweet of you to offer though." Tox brushes Deep's head. "You three," she says, gesturing at the three stallions still under her spell. "That deviant mare insulted me. I'd be ever so grateful if you'd..." Tox pauses a moment to think things over. "Eat her."
"I..." Melrose’s face goes blank as she stares at Tox. She has trouble parsing that particular sentence.
"...like. Live... or?" Scales asks.
"Oh, anything is fine, I'm sure," Tox says, so sweet and cheerful.
"...well, if that'll really make you feel better." One of them lifts a big, heavy rock. "Listen, Mel. I'm really sorry about this."
Okay now she's getting it dodge dodge—
"Wait!" Tox calls out as the stallion lifts the rock; they all look her way. "After you're done, throw yourselves off the tallest cliff you can find."
"Anything for you, Tox!" they answer.
"That's a good stallion." Tox smiles, takes her swan-feather in her teeth, and with a single flap of it, she's aloft, dragging her three bound stallions with her.
The stone-carrying stallion looks back, just in time to see Melrose buck him in the face. He staggers back onto the ground, dazed and bloodied, but the other two aren't deterred. "Get her!” one screams, as they tackle Melrose to the ground, kicking and biting.
The battle soon turns into a confused melee, as Chopsticks rushes back and tries to pull them off, while they kick and scrap with Melrose on the ground. Now, strictly speaking, it is not proper to play a gong by repeatedly beating a crazed stallion with it, but Mel is largely playing this one by ear. Improvisation, after all, is key to a musician.
Finally, with one last resounding bang of the going, Scales slumps out of the fight. Chopsticks is badly bruised by a buck she took in the side, and Mel herself is bruised, scraped, and adorned with several nasty bite marks. Also her gong is dented. But they're both alive, and the three mesmerized stallions are out of the picture.
With Tox gone, Melrose's mind starts to clear. The enchantment fading along with the adrenaline in her blood. She gasps for breath, sitting herself back on her haunches. "Oh stars. I... I can't believe I..." She stares wide-eyed at Chopsticks. "And Deep Currents! He... he's..."
"He's gone!” Chopsticks shouts. Bellows really. Melrose cringes sharp at the rebuke, while she continues, "He's gone what were you thinking!? You just stood there and—" Chopsticks trails off, suppressing a sniffle as her panic works its way to the surface.
"I-I'm sorry, I..." Melrose drops off quickly as she realizes how pointless her apology is.
"What were you thinking, Mel, huh!? We can't just leave these three here! They'll starve or get eaten! So now we have to drag them back, except we can't, because when they wake up they might try to kill you and eat you! How screwed up is that!? She was right there, Mel! This horrible, unreal thing, and you call just stood there! You stood there and—"
"I know. I know!" Melrose shouts back, holding her own head in her hooves.
Finally, Chopsticks breaks down, starting to sniffle and shake uncontrollably.
"I know."
Chopsticks needs a moment, trying to collect herself and failing. She can't stop the tears or the shaking, but she makes herself stand up. "Well forget it! I'm going back to the conservatory."
Melrose looks down at her hooves. "You can't,” she replies, weak and quiet. “I know, okay? This is scary, and hopeless, and a ton of danger. But... Scales and them need help," she says, motioning to the unconscious stallions. "And Deep Currents. And even this moon princess." She looks to Chopsticks. "We gotta. Even if it looks hopeless... we still gotta."
Chopsticks looks at Melrose, shaking from head to hoof, a shivering that won't stop. "Fine. Fine!" she shouts at last, gathering up two of the unconscious stallions, dragging them along as she beats her wings. "Fine just shut up and lets go! Sing the stupid song my throat hurts."
"Thank you," Melrose says quietly, eyes still downcast. Grabbing the remaining stallion and the unicorn abandoned by Tox, she heads up to the front and sings.
The world around them starts to darken as they walk, and it is not long before they see their first pony warriors. In the distance, they can see a flight of pegasus knights, most of them already in chains. The mares are screaming for the others to snap out of it, while the stallions cheerfully chain themselves up, letting themselves be lead away by a horde of vicious dog-beasts. Then there are trees, and they lose sight of the ponies, though the smell of the dog-beasts remains.
In fact, it grows stronger. They pass through dark woods, among terrible monsters, so close to them that they can smell the creatures’ vile breath, and Melrose doesn't dare sing the song louder than a whisper. But sing it she does. Until a castle becomes visible in the distance. And gates.
Their path takes them down into a ravine, to a little statue of a pony nestled into the rock. And when Melrose sings to it, it slides away to reveal a tunnel beyond.
Earlier today, Melrose saw an impossible mare. A deer. A thing of transcendent beauty. Now, she sees another impossible mare. A pegasus with a unicorn's horn. A mare with a dark blue coat, and a mane made of stars. One greeted her with scorn, and indifference, but this one greets her with a sad smile.
"Come in," she says. "Quickly, you mustn't linger outside."
Melrose moves along without much of a reply. She walks with the unbalanced urgency of a weary pony who's nearly at their rest.
The Princess of the Moon gestures her inside, and the door shuts behind them. "I heard you as you approached. I am sorry for what you suffered, but you must come with me. We have little time, and much to discuss."