18. A Day Off. Part 1
A gentle breeze blew through the orchard as Melody started to stir, moving a hoof to her pounding forehead. “Oww,” she dryly muttered as hoof made contact with a very large sore spot that was smack dab in the middle of her forehead. It felt like it was raised a few inches culminating into a nice, large mound of throbbing pain. “Fucking hell that hurt.”
Blinking a few times as the pain slowly subsided, she looked around and shivered as the cold breeze ruffled her fur. It was still night outside and the outhouse was directly in front of her. The moon was in roughly the same position as before, so she gathered that she couldn’t have been out for that long. Fighting with a headache that had swept over her as soon as she moved, her head felt like it had been hit over and over with a baseball bat. The world around her became a blur for a moment as she got into a sitting position, wobbling a bit while gravity did its best to bring her crashing back to the ground.
“Ugggh… You didn’t have to be such an ass about it,” she said aloud while gently rubbing her forehead as the dizziness faded away. She was half expecting an answer, but only the sound of the rustling leaves above answered her back. Stumbling to get back to her hooves, the wind picked up, sending a ripple of shivers down her spine as she waited a moment to catch her balance before attempting to walk.
It was hard to wrap her head around there being a sinister voice inside her head. And, what it had demanded of her, which was almost asking the impossible. How could she just forget about everything? The voice did say that it would happen naturally if she didn’t think about it and force the memories to stay, but if she just let it go, she would be losing everything that she was. On the flip side, if she tried to forcefully remember her past or told anyone about it, then who knows what would happen to her or whoever she told it to.
But there was one thing she knew for certain, whatever that voice was, it was powerful enough to control her body at will it seemed, it knew intimate details about her life and it has information about Gennie’s whereabouts that it was withholding from her. But overall, there was little question that she would have to play along with its scheme until she could find out more solid information about it. Like how exactly it knew about her and Gennie, and why it had pulled them from their world to this one. Besides, when something can completely take over your actions seemingly on a whim, you tend to listen to them.
“So that’s it? You’re just going to come into my head, threaten me, give me an ultimatum, and just leave?” Melody snarled out in frustration up to the sky, her eyes fixated on the moon as if it was somehow the source of her problem. “Well... fine! Don’t answer me! But you forgot. One. Little. Thing.” She smirked a little, licking her lips. “You just said I couldn’t tell them about my past. You never said I couldn’t tell them about you or what you are doing to me! So HA!”
Grinning up to the heavens on her little victory, a single ear swiveled towards the sound of the back door opening as she watched the silhouette of either Ma or Granita coming out, probably to check on her since she had been out here for a while. Melody was about to speak up only to have that same sharp pain in her head again, causing her to gasp at the sensation. Her front legs gave way, and she slammed herself into the ground, her face taking the full brunt of the blow, yet again. You know exactly what I meant, stupid girl. Do not try and test me again, the voice hissed.
“Melody! Are you alright?!” The sound of Ma’s voice could be heard through the ringing in her head, along with the pounding of hooves as they drew closer before coming to a complete stop next to her as she started to remove her face from the small impression it left in the ground.
“D-dammit!” Melody said in English, rubbed her raw nose, covering her hoof in something slimy. Sitting back up, she felt Ma’s hoof on her back, rubbing it up and down as she looked at her hoof. It shimmered in the moonlight, covered in a layer of blood that caused her to stare at it for a moment before looking up to Ma. “I, umm, slipped,” she quietly replied in a nasally tone, rubbing her nose again. She was shaking a little, but doing her best to hide how terrified she felt. If they found out that something was wrong, she would either have to outright lie to them, or crack and tell them the truth and possibly be killed or worse, and she had enough near-death experiences to know that the latter was not a smart option.
“Goodness me…” She gently placed her hoof under the filly’s chin, lifting it up to the moonlight so she could get a better look at it. “Ah say ya did a fine job of slippin’ by the looks of things,” the older mare bluntly stated, still looking her over. “Tsk tsk, ya even have a huge bump on yer noggin’ too.” She lightly sighed, running her hoof lightly up Melody’s cheek with a small, yet warm smile. “Let’s get back inside and get ya taken care of.” Turning around, she started back towards the house, looking back to make sure the filly was following.
With a sigh, Melody got up and started back as well, sniffling along the way as she thought about how utterly stupid this situation was. Not just the crazy, fucked up, body controlling voice in her head and what it was forcing her to do, but just everything that has happened in the past month or so now. The more she thought about it, the more upset and depressed she was becoming. But for now, those thoughts had to be pushed aside if she wanted keep all this a secret.
As she entered the small, yet warm house, Melody was pinching her nose shut with a hoof as Ma guided her over to the sink. Granita was busy washing dishes from dinner while Pa was reading the newspaper at the table. Neither of them seemed to have noticed what had happened to her yet.
“‘Scuse me there dear,” Ma said, stopping next to her daughter with Melody by her side, “I need to get a wet rag.”
“Sure Ma, what did ya-” Granita stopped mid sentence. Her mother took the wet rag as Granita’s eyes ran over the injured filly. Melody’s mane was all disheveled and her face was caked with dirt, along with fine red scrapes that ran across it. To top it all off, there was a large, red bump on her forehead. “Melody?! What happened to you? Are you alright?!” she suddenly said in an outburst.
“Tripped,” Melody quickly responded in a wispy voice, closing her eyes and holding her head back as Ma held the rag to her snout; it was cold and soothing on the burning, raw flesh.
“Oh, she’ll be fine. No need to fuss about a bloody nose and a few bumps and scrapes,” Ma responded, placing Melody’s hoof on the rag to hold it in place. “Just hold that there fer a few minutes while Ah get some of that there healin’ salve, if’n Ah can finds where I put it...” She went over the few rows of shelves, rummaging through the items.
Granita looked over Melody’s face for a moment and shook her head. “You should really be more careful in the dark. Take your time and watch where yer goin’. You could seriously hurt yerself instead of just a few scrapes and whatnot.”
Overall that was some pretty sound advice, but they didn’t know the real cause of these injuries. Her best bet was to just play it off that she was clumsy and to just take the hit to her pride. “Sorry for worrying you. I’ll be more careful next time,” she solemnly replied with a small sigh, still keeping her eyes shut and holding the wet rag to her nose.
Granita ran a hoof over the filly’s head and smiled before going back to the dishes. “That’s alright, it was just a mite bit shocking to see you like that is all. But, you know, we are going to have to fix your mane up again,” she said with a slight giggle causing Melody to groan.
Pa had been quite this whole time as he read through the day’s paper. It was only after Granita went back to the dishes that he spoke up. “In a hurry to git to the outhouse, were ya?” he asked with a warm smile as Melody cracked an eye and glancing over to him. She gave him a small, but cute grunt in acknowledgment. “Let me take a good look at ya.” He sat down the paper and scooted back his chair from the table a bit, giving him some room.
Balancing the rag on her snout, Melody walked over to him. He picked her up, gently setting her in his lap as he looked her over with his large, caring eyes. Moving the rag away, he examined her snout as well. “Ya really did a good number on yerself but the bleeding seems to have stopped.” He chuckled, wiping some of the dried blood from around her muzzle off with the rag as Ma came back over, mixing the healing salve in a small, wooden bowl.
“Yeah, but I’ll be fine. I’m tougher than I look,” she said in a nasally voice, giving him a smirk that made him grin.
“Ya maybe a tough filly, but ya still need to be cleaned up,” Ma said, setting the wooden bowl of foul smelling stuff on the table in front of her, causing both Pa and Melody to wrinkle their noses at the pungent smell. She grabbed the soiled rag and rinsed it out a few times before coming back over and cleaning the caked on dirt off of Melody’s face while Pa held onto her in his lap just in case she got any bright ideas about running away from a good cleaning like most fillies and colts would.
Without any struggle at all, save for scrunching up her face and grunting at times when the rag would run over a tender spot, Melody sat there and let the older mare wipe her face down until it was free of any dirt. The worst was yet to come though. She had been smelling that healing cream that was just a foot away from her this whole time and was dreading having that spread all over her face. It smelt like a mix of rotting greens, fish oil, and a hint of something sickly sweet which just made the whole concoction that much more nauseating. Oh yeah, it was also the color of snot.
“Do I have to have that nasty stuff on me?” she asked with a grimace, tilting her head away from the bowl of putrid goop as she leaned back into Pa’s chest and started to squirm in his grasp. “It smells horrible!”
Pa chuckled, holding on to the writhing ball of fur a little tighter. “Ah know it smells awful, but it’s for yer own good, so hold still and let Ma put it on ya, unless you want me to just tickle ya into submission,” he said with a wide grin as his hooves moved to her sides.
That made Melody sit straight up and look forward, closing her eyes. “Just get it over with then,” she hastily conceded, knowing that it was good for her as she had watched Ma put some of that stuff on a few cuts that he had gotten before—they healed up almost completely the next day too—and the fact that, somehow, Pa was a top notch tickler even with those huge hooves of his. He somehow could get to just the right spots on her sides that threw her into a laughing fit, unable to do anything until he stopped.
Ma smiled and shook her head at how easily Pa got the filly to sit still. He always was good with foals, ever since their first one. She started applying the salve to Melody’s cuts, putting on just enough to cover the affected areas while getting as little of it on her hoof as possible. No pony liked the smell of that stuff, but it was worth it. Nothing else could heal small cuts and bruises save from actual unicorn healing magic.
“All finished.” Ma pulled back after several minutes, admiring her handiwork as Pa released his grip on Melody, letting her down.
“Ugh, this stuff is horrible… How long does it have to stay on for?” she asked, scrunching her face and sticking out her tongue as she clambered into her own seat at the table.
“Just a few hours and most of it will soak into your skin, but don’t ya go rubbin’ it off now. I don’t want ya gettin’ infected with anything,” she sternly said, going over to wash her hoof off as Granita was finishing putting the cleaned dishes away before sitting back down at the table herself.
Melody mentally grumbled hearing that, but at least it would only be a few hours of having to smell this. “Does it smell this bad the whole time?” she hopefully asked.
“Nah, smell wears off rather quickly,” Pa said, picking back up his paper. “Give it, oh, another thirty minutes an’ ya won't even notice it anymore.”
“That’s good at least.” Melody sighed and sat there quietly after that, just watching and listening to them converse with one another and occasionally chiming in on something or answering a question. Now that she had time to think and calm down, the darker thoughts that had built up while she was outside faded away, replaced by those of caring and love from this unlikely new family of hers. It put a smile on her face, reminding her just how lucky she was to have met Granita on that fateful day.
One good thing did come from all this though; getting hurt seemed to have made them forget that she was going to tell them about her past this evening. It was a perfect opportunity to be able to push off telling them for another day or so and to come up with something to tell them instead of the truth, but she had to find out more about this world in order to make it more believable. She really didn’t want to get beaten to a pulp or killed by some pissed off, powerful being that resided in her head.
Speaking of her head, not only did it still hurt quite a bit when she touched it, but as she ran a hoof past her sore forehead to her mane, she saw a tiny bit of dirt and dust shake free as she frowned. “Definitely going to take a bath tomorrow,” she muttered to herself.
<><><><><>
Morning came all too soon and Melody was awoken by Granita’s voice yet again calling out her name. Letting out a yawn, she clambered out of the mound of blankets that seemed to be determined to hold her in their warm embrace for just a few moments longer. After a brief struggle, she was completely out of bed, stretching out. At least today didn't seem as cold as it was yesterday. The floor wasn’t freezing and the sun was already out, nice and bright. The smell of breakfast already being made was nice thing to wake up to as well. Today seemed to be starting out wonderfully.
Breakfast consisted of fried eggs, pancakes, and apple juice and it was delicious as always. Ma and Pa were already talking over what they were going to do today as the four of them ate. Melody just sat there quietly finishing up her meal as Ma got up and said her goodbyes to before heading outside.
“Well girls,” Pa said, smiling at Granita and Melody, “since you two have been working so hard and have gotten ahead on all your chores, me and Ma think you both deserve a break.” He pulled out a small, jingling bag, letting it plop onto the table with a smile. “There is some extra bits that we made thanks to both of yer’s help. It’s not much, but you two deserve it.”
Melody and Granita both stared at the small bag of bits as what Pa said sank in. “That’s great news, Pa,” Granita said but there was a hint of worry in her voice, “but are ya sure ‘bout lettin’ us spend this? Don’t we need it fer the farm?” She looked back over to her father who was still smiling kindly to them.
“Ah’m positive. Now you girls go have fun and enjoy your day and don’t come back till ya spent every last bit,” he playfully said, getting up from the table, putting on his hat. “Ma and Ah have to go meet with a few ponies today ‘bout those cows we’re gettin’, so we won’t expect ya back till suppertime, if’n ya wanna stay out fer that long.” He smiled back to both of them before walking out the backdoor.
“Huh, reckon we got ourselves a full day fun in town then.” She chuckled, picking up the small bag of coins, dumping them out haphazardly onto the table to count them.
“I guess so.” She hummed a little bit. “But is nice to have a day off every once and a while you know?” Melody idly said, putting her dishes in the sink before trotting back over to the mare. Standing on her hind legs with her hooves on the table’s edge, she poked her head up to the table surface, looking at the coins as her tail wagged gleefully from side to side. “How much did Pa give us?”
“Yeah, having a day to just relax will be nice, and Pa gave us ten bits.” Granita placed the gold coins back in the pouch.
“That a lot?”
“It’s a fair amount. Enough to keep us busy fer most of the day if’n we’re careful.” With a smile, Granita got up, mussing the filly’s dirty mane, causing her to scrunch her face and get back down on all fours. “You need a bath first though. Gotta wash the rest of that gunk off your face and check out yer scrapes too. How’s yer noggin’ feelin’?”
“Still a little sore right here,” she replied, placing a hoof gently to the middle of her forehead. The lump was still there, but it felt much smaller. “How does it look? Does it look bad?” she asked, removing her hoof and showing the spot to Granita.
“Not bad for a unicorn,” she giggled.
“Granita~!” She pouted, placing her hoof over the bump again, looking rather embarrassed.
“Ah’m just messin’ with ya.” She smiled, still giggling a bit as Melody huffed. “You look so darn cute when yer all flustered up, Ah couldn't help myself.” She grinned. “But don’t worry your little hide, you can’t even tell it is there. Yer lucky ya have dark fur, it hides it all nice like.” Getting out of her chair, Granita put her dirty dishes in the sink as she continued talking. “Ah’ll get the mornin’ dishes cleaned while you go take a yer bath. Remember to wash yer face really good,” she said, tossing a rag to the filly, “I need to check on yer face after it’s all nice and clean.”
Melody caught the rag in her hoof and smirked at how good she had adapted to her new body as she turned to head out the backdoor. “You don’t have to tell me twice to get cleaned up. You know how much I hate being dirty~” she responded in a sing song voice as she stepped outside.
“Oh, Ah think Ah know,” she hollered back, laughing a little as she went back to cleaning the dishes.
<><><><><>
The sun was about a quarter of the way to its zenith in the near cloudless sky already when Melody and Grantia said their goodbyes to Ma and Pa before they left, finding them in the yard, taking measurements. Just as it had looked earlier, this morning was turning out to be a gorgeous mid October day and the warm rays of sunlight falling down on Melody’s back felt wonderful, making it that much easier to forget about that voice in her head, even if that was exactly what it wanted her to do in the first place.
“So what are we going to do first?” a properly cleaned and brushed Melody asked as she trotted side by side down the only road to Ponyville at a lazy pace next to Granita. It wasn’t often that she got to go into town. In fact, she could count the times on all four of her hooves, so, needless to say, she was a little bit excited to get to go and explore a bit and maybe get to see a pegasus up close. She had been thinking about that ever since she saw the first one a little while back.
“Well, I reckon we could go check out some shops, go see the new park, get lunch, and then just wander around for a bit to see if anything catches our fancy. How’s that sound?”
“That’s sounds good to me,” she replied with a big smile, looking over the landscape as they exited their property, the farmland turning into slightly rolling meadows with wild grass and flowers of all colors. It was kinda odd to see so many vibrant colors this late in the year. Usually things started to die off or go into hibernation mode by now, or at least they did back in Chicago. “When does winter usually start in Ponyville? I’m not used to it being this colorful at this time of year.”
“Hmm, that is a good question. Ah meant to ask Pa that myself but plum forgot. We traveled around so much before settlin’ down here, that Ah never really paid close attention to the seasons since we tended to travel south befer it got too cold.” Grantia though as they walked for a few moments. “Said, Ah got an idea. Ponyville just got a weather team to, ya know, take care of the weather and schedule them sorts of things. We could stop by their office and go have a chat with them if’n ya like. Ah’m sure one of those pegasi will be kindly enough to talk fer a spell.”
Melody’s eyes lit up as she heard that word, pegasi. “Oh! Can we? Please?” she practically begged, hopping around the older mare as she enjoyed her seemingly boundless energy of youth that desperately needed an outlet.
A hearty laugh filled the air as Granita nodded with a grin on her face. “You seem mighty eager to want to go talk ‘bout the weather.”
With a large, toothy grin, Melody stopped bouncing around long enough to respond. “It’s not the weather I’m interested in,” she grinned even wider, “it’s the pegasi!”
“Huh, the pegasi? What’s so special ‘bout them?” Granita asked, a perplexed look on her face.
“What’s so special about them?” She parroted as she stopped, giving the mare a ’you can’t be serious’ face. “They have wiiiiinnnnggggsss!” she happily said, starting to bounce around again. She didn’t know why exactly she was acting this way but it just felt right, and it was way better than mopping around and worrying all the time so she just went with it. “So can we go talk with them? Pleeeeease?”
Shaking her head with a chuckle, Granita started to walk again. She was not really sure what was up with the filly today, but she sure was in high spirits. “Yes, we can go see them, but why ya so interested in wings? All pegasi have them, just like all unicorns have horns, and all earth ponies have endurance and strength.”
“Well, there weren’t any pegasi or unicorns where I came from, and I-” She quickly shut her mouth after blurting that bit of information out, hoping that the mare wouldn’t pick up on it.
“What’d ya mean there ain’t any where ya come from?”
Crap. “Uhh, what I meant to say was that I never got to see any up close before.” While it wasn’t exactly a lie, it wasn’t the whole truth either. “I got the see the doctor and nurse up close when I stayed at the clinic, but I haven’t got to see any pegasi up close yet, so I am excited to finally get to see one is all.” She let out a cough, hoping that Granita would take that as a good enough explanation.
“Mmhmm…”
Time for Plan B. “So, you gonna tell me who that stallion I saw you with a few weeks ago in the barn is?” she quickly asked as Granita’s faced flushed with blood, making her normally light green cheeks look like a McIntosh apple.
“If’n Ah tell ya, ya don’t tell nopony, understand?” She gave the filly a stern look. “Especially Ma or Pa.”
Melody nodded enthusiastically. It had worked! And, she was finally going to get to know about this mysterious orange stallion. “I swear I won’t. Now, who is he?” she excitedly asked, leaning closer to the mare.
“Good, if’n ya do tell, Ah’ll let Pa know that ya like to check out his flank when he ain’t looking.”
“WHAT!? I-I do not!” Melody said with a scoff, holding up a hoof to her chest in protest.
Granita chuckled, staring directly down at her. “Mmhmm. So, we have a deal then?”
With a begrudging sigh and a blush of her own now, she nodded. “Y-yeah, deal.”
“Okay then, now that that’s settled, Ah’ll tell ya,” she stated as they started walking again. “Ya remember me tell ya about our neighbors, the Oranges?” Melody nodded. “Well Ah was over there with Pa talking and getting to know them a bit more one day and that is when I met him, Moro Orange, or just Mo for short. We kinda just fell for each other, love at first sight and what not, but Ah didn’t want to break the news to Ma and Pa just yet since we have been so busy with the farm and all. Ah have been trying to keep it real low like.”
Melody smiled widely hearing all this. “So, do you think he is the one then? When are you going to tell Ma and Pa? Have you guys been on a date yet?” she asked in rapid succession.
“Whoa, slow down there. As fer the answers to yer questions, maybe, dunno rightly know, and no. Haven’t had time yet, you know that.”
“Oh yeah, I guess so… So why don’t we go see him today? You two can go on a date today while we check out the town.” Melody grinned widely, doing her best to help play little matchmaker.
“Eh-hehe, well wouldn't be much of a date if’n Ah have to watch you all day.” That caused the filly to pout as Granita rolled her eyes. “Yer too young to be running around on yer own, missy. Besides, trouble seems to follow you like flies to manure.
“It was a nice thought, but today wouldn’t work anyways. He’s out of town fer the week anyways.” She smiled to Melody as they crossed the bridge over the babbling brook that acted as a natural boundary for the city limits on the West side of town.
Oh, how she wanted to say that she was really twenty-six years old and that she could take care of herself and not have to be watched like a little kid. But, the older mare was right. She did seem to have trouble following her everywhere she went, and having Granita around was probably for the best, especially around town with a bunch of strangers consisting of the small horse variety. “Oh, well it was just a thought,” she quietly replied, glancing away from her at some of the quaint houses that they were passing.
Quite a few ponies, mainly earth and only a few unicorns so far, were out and about today in town, most likely making the most of the nice autumn weather they were having. Melody still wasn’t that comfortable around other ponies, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was the last time she was in town. At least she wasn’t hiding in Granita’s mane this time around, but she still stayed close to the mare as they entered the town proper.
“Hey, Granita?”
“Hmm?”
“Why are there so many earth ponies here and only a few unicorns and even less pegasi?”
She thought for a second. “Ya know, Ah never really thought about that befer, but Ah reckon it’s due to the fact that Ponyville is a new, and it’s mainly a farming town. Earth ponies are well suited for farming while most pegasi live up in the clouds, tending to the weather and such, with only a rare few living on the ground. As for unicorns, they tend to stay in the larger cities like up there in Canterlot.” She pointed way off into the distance, high up on a distant mountainside where a huge castle-esque looking place was. “But some like the charm of small towns. Plus ya can make a small fortune if say ya are the only unicorn doctor in a town.”
“Huh… You think that is why Dr. Charts lives here?”
“Yup, that there would be my guess, squirt.” She smiled and waved to another mare. “Hello, Minty!”
Melody looked over to the other mare apparently named Minty that seemed to be around the same age as Granita, or at least that was her best guess. It was hard for her to tell the differences in ages of mature ponies. Minty was a creme colored earth pony with a medium length, pale red and white mane and matching tail. Both curled up on each other at the ends, making her hair have a swirling pattern of the two colors. Melody thought it looked really unique and interesting, especially compared to her almost black, shorter mane that had a few lighter gray streaks in it. Her cutie mark was that of two pieces of hard peppermint candy leaning against each other.
“Granita, hello! Pleasure to see you again,” Minty said, a smile on her face as she walked over. “Been a few months. How you been and who is this? Is she yours?” she politely asked, smiling down at the filly.
“Ah’ve been real busy at the farm, so Ah don’t get to town as much as Ah would like. And, this here is Melody.” She giggled a little. “To answer yer other question, yes and no. Kinda a long story, but me and my family are watching over her for now till her parents can be located.”
“Oh my. That’s awful!” She looked back down to the filly, a sad look in her eyes. “What happened?”
Looking away, Melody didn't want to start thinking about that right now. She especially didn’t want anyone else feeling sad for her, she didn’t need that kind of guilt piled on top of what she already had to deal with so she needed to nip this pity party in the bud asap. “I’m fine, Miss Minty, but I don’t want to talk about it. Granita, Ma, and Pa take really good care of me. So, can we talk about something else?” she asked, looking up to the mare with pleading eyes as Granita placed a hoof on her back, comforting her.
“Oh… I’m sorry dear.” She gave her a remorseful smile having apparently opened back up something in the filly’s life that she was obviously having a hard time going through. She would have to ask Granita in private about it later. “Say, do you like sweets?” she asked, changing the subject.
Glancing back up to Granita for a second, she looked back over to Minty, giving her a questioning look. “Y-yeah? Why?”
Minty’s mood went back to the cheerful, bubbly state she was in a minute ago. “Good! You two should come by my new candy shop. We just opened it up last week. I’m actually running around picking up a few things before we open today. I’ll let you two pick out anything you want. Free of charge of course.” She beamed, giving Melody a wink and adjusting her saddlebags that were half full and half falling off her back. “I love your accent by the way.”
“My accent?” Melody looked over to Granita, cocking her head to the side a little. “I have an accent?”
Granita chuckled. “Yeah, ya do have an accent, sweetie.”
“Huh.”
Minty smiled at the two, mentally kicking herself for bringing up that the filly’s voice was different. “So free treats on me then?”
“That sounds mighty fine of ya, Minty and congratulations on the new shop.” Granita was still stroking Melody’s back as she looked down at her. “Sound good to you, squirt?”
“Sure, yeah.” She nodded and glanced back to Minty, a bit conscious of the way she sounded now. “Thanks Miss.”
Minty laughed with a grin. “It’s no trouble at all, but Miss makes me sound sooo old. Just call me Minty, k?”
“Okay, Minty.” Melody smiled.
“You two want to accompany me while I pick up the last of my things? We can catch up while we walk.”
“We were just going to wander ‘round the market anyways, so sure.”
“Great!” She turned and started walking over to a nearby shop. “This should be my last stop.”
The two mares talked as Melody just listened in on the gossip and looked around inside the small grocery store while Minty shopped. It only took her a few minutes to gather up and pay for everything she needed before they were back outside again. Once outside, Melody spotted a fast moving shadow on the ground with no apparent owner until she looked up and grinned. Her gaze followed a light blue pegasus as he moved a cloud over to the town before taking back off out of sight again. She was so fixated on trying to find him again, that she accidentally ran into a vendor’s cart of fruit, almost knocking some of it off.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” came a gruff voice from above as she caught her balance, rubbing her shoulder.
“S-sorry, Sir,” Melody said to the stallion who was manning the cart before quickly looking around and spotting the two mares several feet to her right. She quickly ran back over to them and was glad that they didn’t notice what had happened, seemingly too caught up in their gabbing. The rest of the walk to Minty’s shop was thankfully uneventful as Melody walked in between the mares.
“Well, here we are,” Minty said with a grin as they stopped in front of a small, two story bakery.
Like most of the shops in Ponyville, the outside looked like what was sold on the inside. Different decorative confectioneries of all shapes, sizes and colors adorned the outside of the shop, even the roof and chimney had some candy decorations on it. There was a few wooden steps that led to ornate, wooden double doors that served as the entrance with a large painted, wooden sign that read ‘Swirly's Sweets’ in nice bright, red bubbly letters. The doors, steps and sign were also decorated with various painted on sweets.
Just looking at the building made Melody’s teeth hurt, but the aroma coming from it smelled divine. “Wow, you really went all out on trying to draw peop-ponies’ attention to you store,” she said as they walked up the stairs.
“Sure did! Do ya like it?”
“Yeah and something smells really good too, like…,” she sniffed the air again as Minty held the door open for them, “vanilla and cinnamon.”
“You got a good nose, kiddo. My husband and son are making vanilla and cinnamon bread as we speak.” She smiled to Melody and waited for both of them to enter before entering herself.
The smell of sugar, spice and everything nice flooded they noses as they all went inside the confectionary shop. Granita chuckled as she just remembered something when Minty mentioned her husband and son. “Minty, this is a very nice shop ya got here. You and yer husband did good,” she said looking around at the counters and multiple shelves lining the walls with sweets of all kinds and the counters filled with different breads and pastries. There was a door leading into the back of the shop where it looked like the kitchen was and stairs that lead upstairs, most likely where the family lived. “How are Golden Beam and Silver Blast? Ah haven’t seen them in a while now.”
“Thank you kindly, Granita,” Minty spoke as moved past them to the kitchen door. “They have been doing well, Golden and I have been teaching Silver the family trade, and he is picking up on it quite well. Much faster than it took me to teach his father too,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll just be one moment.” She backed up through the door. “I’ll see if they have a moment to come say hello. Look around, see if there is anything that catches your eye.” She winked before disappearing into the kitchen.
Melody wasted no time looking around at the different items displayed throughout the store that Minty and her family had made. There was everything from licorice, to hard candies, to pies, to breads. Just so much to choose from that it was going to be hard to chose just one thing. In fact, having to pick one thing was almost a form of torture. This mare knew exactly what she was doing when she brought them here, offering just one single thing for free, like a candy-coated drug dealer that offered the first hit of a pixie stix just to get you hooked on its sugary high.
Her foray into deep thought about deciding what one item to get was interrupted as the kitchen door opened again. Her ears swiveled picking up the sound of a younger male voice that was hidden from view.
“Hi, Granita!”
“Hello thar, Silver! How’s ya been, kiddo? Long time no see?”
Melody’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped a little as the colt came into view. He was a light grey with a short, brown mane and tail, no cutie mark yet. He also had what looked like flour in splotches all over the front of him that he started to dust off his chest before ruffling his wings lightly, as more flour fell from them.
“Silver! What did I tell you about making a mess in the shop area?!” Minty chided, glaring at him before he could answer Granita. “Clean this up right away before we get any customers,” she demanded, pointing to the small, white mess now laying on the once clean floor.
“Sorry, Mom.” He quickly went back into the kitchen, coming back out with a small broom and dust pan, cleaning up the mess and disappearing again into the kitchen.
“You try to keep the place clean. I swear, between him and his father…” Minty shook her head as she laughed before looking back over to Melody. “So, find anything you like?”
Melody was still staring at the kitchen door with a small smirk on her face. “Yeah, I think I did.”
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Oooh, looks like Melody has a crush~ SO CUTE! (Hope it works out.)
(Looks at cover) (dies of cute Indosed seizure)
it's not called Sugar Cube Corner.
if this other voice is Discord then i have a real issue with it. he is imprisoned in stone and should not be able to do anything et.
5496893 iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/23352157025474243827071.gif
I'd think that a non-native speaker wouldn't even be capable of making the "people"/"pony" error, since they'd have never learned a translation for "people" in the first place, just the word for "pony".
5496968 That is a very good point actually... I will remember this for the future.
5496958 Double kill^^
Nice Chapter. But I wonder who could be this Voice? And will Maelody really forget everything? And how will she handle her first crush on a colt?
"This and more to seen in the next episode of: Orchestrated Chaos!"
IT UPDATES, SO FRICKIN HAPPY RIGHT NOW
Ahem, Fangirling aside brilliant chapter here mate, love how you touched on the whole omnipotent being in my mind thing, I was really curious how you were going to do that and you didn't disappoint.
Can't wait for more!
*Incoherent screeching*
5497096 Now we just need a cheesy announcer to say this and we're good :D
a colt AND a Pegasus at that oh boy let the teasing begin...
-You like him dont you?
-No! but he has wings!
-Uh huh sure its just the wings.
Firstly, fuck that semi omnipotent bottom feeder.
Secondly, great job on the chapter!
changing a species nature and mentality is horrible I hope it only some memories of her sealed away the mind never forgets but blur
5497170 5497635 Yay! I am glad you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter.
5497458 Nothing good can come of this pairing.
5497646 We shall see what happens!
So much is still occurring....I can't say more without seeing the next play that voice makes.
5498384 What, can't handle a villain?
Oooh, really nailing down the alternate universe equestria with "Bon Bon" Minty. Or perhaps it's back in time from the MLP:FIM and Granita is Granny Smith.
*spoilers*
5496958
what's the big deal about the cover any- *looks at cover*
I'm sure it won't
stream1.gifsoup.com/view6/4068869/rainbow-projectile-vomiting-o.gif
TOO MUCH CU-BLAARGLAGL
Color me more interested than I was before...
ReFro, you are holding my attention.
5498666 *Hands you a towel.*
5497458 Oh my Celestia... That sounds like she had some kind oft fetish...
5499023
5499991 The town was just founded a few months back, they were still even building the guard barracks at the time. So there wasn't a lot of choices. Plus, having Dr. Charts say it like that meant there would be a greater chance that it would push Granita to take her and he wouldn't be left having to find another place for her to stay. Kind of an underhanded tactic, but he knew Granita's family was kind hearted and would be a good temporary home for Chloe.
This story just gets stranger and stranger...
5501844 Well it is orchestrated chaos.
My advice to Chloe: Write down everything human she can remember, in English. Her memories are safe on paper and she isn't communicating it to anyone else.
5525585 But if she forgets everything, then she will forget how to speak and read/write in English later on in life.
5525822
I wasn't saying she should leave it there untouched for the rest of her life. She should reread it every now and then.
(looks at cover after 3 weeks)armystrongstories.com/blog-assets/thomas-harper/images/luke_NOOOOOO.jpg (dies of adoreableness)
Ok, my first guess to who is behind this is discord, but this doesn't seem anything like his style, he hasn't made a single joke at the expense of his quarry, nor would he normally just go and right out and directly physically hurt someone, like I said, not his style.
Though I am confused as to why he would have a problem with Melody telling them anything, or even how or why he did this. It seems rather irrational, he could of simply not said anything and let her tell her story, which they would either not believe or be confused by, and they still couldn't of done anything about it with out knowing the cause or culprit, now he's exposed himself and caused conflict within her which could start to show, which could back her into a corner and make her tell anyway, not to mention that the bargain he made is entirely useless to her, as in order to find out where her friend is she needs to forget about her past life, meaning that it wouldn't matter to her any-more, meaning the only thing keeping her silence is his ability to bring pain, which is entirely hinged on him controlling her body, hell she could tie herself to her bed by her hooves and he couldn't do squat. So what's his angle? What could he possibly gain by keeping her silent?
5581149
Sure, but wouldnt that necessitate they keep her at the clinic or hospital while they arrange to ship her off to said orphanage?
5664749 There is no TF tag, so the human tag is the closest one available since her mind still is human.
Falling in love already? Oh my!
Love is brewing. To bad almost all childhood relationship never last that long
*cough cough* power puff girls reference
6002175 eeeyup
Accent?
I AM OCTAAAAAAAAVIAAAAAA
Also, nuuuu. Mah DJ shiiiip
6002175
how did I not notice that lol
7892763
Um... it seems to be that this is octavia’s mom, as she’s a bit older than AJ’s parents, seeing as how granite matches younger granny smith to a T.
Well Dang!