Brutal Awakening
The Melody of The Heart
Chapter Two: Brutal Awakening
Written by Star Origin
“Let’s begin with the simple notions. As you’ve seen when you woke up, changeling hives aren’t just a series of tunnels where we live. Some are like that, while some others are built on the surface, and hives such as ours form an underground kingdom.
“On top of being a kingdom, this hive has another peculiarity: my changelings have individuality. However, the downside to that is that the hive is divided into two factions: those who live by the old ways of my mother and those that want nothing more than peace with Equestria. This makes my role as queen much more complicated than it should be.
“And then there’s the issue of you being in the hive. My changelings have been restless ever since I brought you here, and the council has been questioning me about my motives for turning you into a changeling and integrating your brother into the Voice. That said, I made a promise, and I am not about to break it. Starting today, you are under my jurisdiction. Did you get a— Melody, are you even listening?!” Queen Occento asked the filly, who had apparently not paid attention to anything the queen had told her.
The white changeling slowly raised her head, revealing her puffy eyes and the tear stains on her cheeks. With a weak and tired voice, she said, “Oh, sorry… it’s just... my mind is elsewhere right now. My life will never be the same, will it?”
“I don’t think so, little one, but that isn’t a reason to feel discouraged. Not everything has been lost,” Occento told the filly. “I know you miss your brother right now, but that is not a reason to feel depressed. In time, you’ll like living here.”
“If you say so,” Melody replied with a long sigh, her head hung low again.
Occento looked at the young changeling and couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. Her whole world had crumbled around her in the timespan of a single day, and now she was a changeling living in a hive. She didn’t know exactly how to comfort Melody or how to even approach her.
If only things could be easier, Occento thought as she heaved a deep sigh. She didn’t have the best of awakenings ever either.
----
Queen Occento was walking through the halls of her palace with an advisor following behind her. The tall changeling royal answered his numerous questions with a stoic face, and the smaller changeling used his magic to show his queen the various reports and charts about their current love reserves.
The changeling queen didn’t exactly have a good night, and her nerves and patience were not to be trifled with. The advisor, Arconon, often used his political standing as one of the queen’s advisors to blatantly gloat to the other castes of the hive.
Though Occento had tried to do what she could to get rid of the caste system her mother had created, she was having a hard time with that task, and her subjects were not yet ready to part with it.
“And so if we could manage to gather ten more kilograms of our most potent type of transformed love, we’ll be good enough to last until next year. Now that this is out of the way, I have a question for you, Your Majesty,” Arconon told his queen with all the due respects.
Occento groaned internally. She hated snobs like Arconon with a passion, and anypony that tried to lick her hooves could just as well disappear from her sight because putting a hoof on their faces was something she resisted doing.
As the queen, she could do it, but what image would that send to her hive? Occento wasn’t there to be a tyrant. She was ruling her changelings benevolently, except for the few tantrums she threw occasionally. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself.
“My Queen?” Arconon asked with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
“I heard you, Arconon,” she replied dryly. “I am not well-rested, so if you’ll please refrain from jumping to the unnecessary details, I would greatly appreciate it. Now, ask your question.”
“Yes, about that. The general populace is still wondering why you brought back that pony with you last year and why they felt a stranger being integrated into the Voice. On a related note, I pray you didn’t intend on making her a changeling?”
“And what if I did?” Occento asked him in reply. The smaller changeling’s breathing stopped momentarily, and he looked at his queen with a frown.
“But, Your Majesty, do you have any idea how much this could affect your position if the public learned of this decision?!”
“I do, Advisor. However, I cannot deviate from my promise. I gave a pony my word that I would save his sister and that is what I have done. There were no other alternatives. She’s lucky enough I managed to find a medical team that was willing to keep the healing pod from turning her into a full changeling, otherwise she may not have been able to handle the love diet.”
“My Queen, that is not a wise decision! I know you count on the changelings of the new ways to welcome this idea, but what about the traditional changelings? They will not be happy about this. All you need to do is get rid of that filly, send her back home and be done with this whole situation,” Arconon finished with a sly smile.
All intellectual activities came to a halt in Occento’s brain for a few seconds as she looked at Arconon dead in the eye. The changeling queen grabbed him in her magical hold and furiously glared at him. Hot air blew from her nostrils as she snarled at him. With a harsh voice, she said, “If I ever hear you say something like that again, I’ll throw you in exile! That filly lost everything! Everything! She doesn’t even know that her brother is dead yet. What do you think will happen to her when she learns? He was the only relative she had. I know, I checked their memories. She’ll be placed under my jurisdiction, and that is final!”
“B-but Your Majesty! Surely you—”
“Are you questioning my decisions, Arconon?” She asked as she glared at him.
“My Queen, this is not a good idea. This can only end badly!”
“Enough!” Occento roared. Arconon yelped and shrank when she lowered her head and shoved her snout against his. “I will not tolerate your insubordination. Begone! You are dismissed!”
“B-b-but what about the reports?” Arconon asked, stammering and letting out a small whimper as Occento glared at him.
“Give them to the council. Right now, I have other things that require my attention, and you’ll not delay me from my schedule!”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Once Occento was out of his sight, Arconon gave out a sigh of relief, and his legs collapsed under him. He let himself fall to the ground and heaved a second sigh.
----
Upon leaving Arconon to himself in the palace, Queen Occento made a beeline for her personal quarters. Her steps were hasty and lacked in finesse, and she passed by most of the palace staff without even greeting them. She made herself alert to her surroundings, ready to dash to her chambers if she heard anything concerning Melody.
Unfortunately, Occento had prepared for many things, but a high-pitched scream was not one of them. She rushed to the doors of her chambers and burst them open with her magic just in time to see three changelings gathered around a white changeling that looked utterly terrified.
Stop it, you fools! Don’t you see that you’re scaring her?
The three changelings turned around to face their queen, and the one on the left stepped forward and said through the Voice, We’re trying to get her to stop, Your Majesty, but she just won’t.
Of course, she won’t. She has just awakened, and frankly, it must be a terrifying for a foal her age to wake up with just about any stranger gathered around her. For now, you’re all dismissed before all these negative emotions get to you. I will summon you three once things have been taken care of.
As you command, Your Highness.
The three changelings bowed before walking out of Occento’s private quarters. Once the door had been closed behind her, the changeling queen slowly approached the filly and knelt in front of her, using one of her hooves to lift her chin so the queen could have a better look at the filly’s face.
Occento could see that Melody was scared just by looking into her golden eyes. The filly’s cheeks were moist from the tears she had shed. Melody quickly looked around for a way to get out of the room, but she soon found out that, other than the door, there was no escaping the changeling in front of her.
“Do not fear, child. I will not harm you, nor do I wish any harm upon you,” Occento began, wearing a warm smile on her face. “I can see in your eyes that you have questions. Do not fear in asking them; I am not here to harm you.”
“W-who are y-you? W-what have you d-done to my b-brother?” Melody weakly asked through sobs.
“My name is Queen Occento, or simply Occento, and I am the ruler of this hive. As for your brother, I’m afraid to say the news I have concerning him won’t be incredibly joyous.
“Your brother was gravely wounded in the Neighagra Falls, and I tried the best I could to help him. Sadly, he was so worried about you that he valued your safety above his. I tried to make him see reason, but he only refused. I had no other choices than to strike a deal with him,” Occento explained the filly with a guilt-ridden voice. “I am so sorry I couldn’t help him furthermore. You have my deepest condolences, small one.”
“Star’s dead?” Melody repeated absentmindedly, her gaze empty and devoid of cognition. Was that what that flash of green was back then? She killed him. Sadness and anger poured down in her heart as she stared at the queen helplessly. “That’s not true! You’re lying! My brother can’t be dead; he’s the bestest unicorn I know! He can’t die because he said he’d always be there for me!”
The changeling queen’s heart felt like it was being impaled by several blades when she saw the filly burst into tears. Occento hesitantly put a foreleg on Melody’s shoulder and tried to comfort her as best she could.
“Despair not, child. As I have said, your brother’s conscience is still alive and well in the Voice. In due time, you’ll be able to converse with him when you want, but for now, you should be patient. Now, I sense you have more questions for me. Am I right to assume so?” Occento inquired with her unwavering smile.
“W-why does my voice feel different now? Why do I have holes in my hooves? Are those things healthy for me? Am I sick or something? Am I going to die?”
“That brings me to my second point. After making the… offer to your brother, I told him that, to save you, I would need to seal your flesh wounds and bring you back to this hive to begin heavy treatment. Normally, manticore poison is fatal to ponies, but changelings seem to be immune. Simply put, we’ve transformed you into a changeling but not in entirety. I tried my best to find a medical team to help with your recovery, and I assumed the role of songstress for your recovery. It has been a year since we brought you into this hive and put you in stasis. The reason your voice feels so different is because of your new changeling blood on top of your body’s development while you were in stasis.”
“So I’m a year older?” Melody asked, to which Occento answered with a simple nod. “But what about all of my friends in Manehattan? If I’ve been gone for a year, wouldn’t they have come looking for us?”
“They did. The Royal Guards sent a team to investigate Star Blaze’s disappearance from his post in Canterlot, but they never found his body. Since then, you’ve been declared missing, and the searches were eventually called off,” Occento told the filly.
As reassuring as Occento tried to be, most of her efforts were in vain. The filly was still tense and frightened. Occento could smell that much coming from her. The changeling queen tried her hardest to comfort Melody, but it was not enough to quell the filly's emotions.
Seeing that the filly was on the verge of tears, the royal changeling closed her eyes and took a deep breath before rising back to her feet. It was obvious that what Melody needed wasn’t comfort, albeit she could certainly use some, but some time to accept her new reality.
For the moment, leave the filly alone. She needs time, Occento said to the three changelings before she barged out of her quarters,
----
Queen Occento quickly reviewed the recent events in her mind while she sat next to Melody Swiftsong, although the filly was staring blanking at the ground. It was understandable after what she had learned.
Occento remained in silence after Melody responded to her a few minutes before, one part because she didn’t know what to say and the other because she felt any other comment would be out of place. The way this situation was headed, she would need the help of the filly’s brother.
As the thought of involving Star Blaze became enticing to her, an idea formed itself within the queen’s mind. If she were unable to converse with the filly under normal circumstances, perhaps she could have her brother do it for her. For a few seconds, she closed her eyes and plunged her mind into the vast ocean of thoughts that made up the Voice in search of the stallion’s conscience.
Could I have a word with you for a few seconds, Star Blaze? Queen Occento asked.
Is it about my sister? Star queried amusingly. Occento swore she heard him chuckle.
How did you—
I’m her big brother, so I should know the important stuff about her. First off, she’s an extrovert. She has no real issues making friends or anything else for that matter, but she does have a hard time accepting change. You also need to know that, while she likes changelings, she has never seen one before until today. On top of that, you turned her into a changeling so she will need time to adapt, and like I just said, she doesn’t exactly like change all that much. It’s just a matter of knowing how to deal with her, Star Blaze told the queen thoroughly.
Actually, I was thinking about using you as a medium to talk to her to get her to open up. I placed her under my jurisdiction so it would be better if I had your support to make this happen.
Oh, by all means, go right ahead. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with my sister, Star Blaze answered cheerfully if his tone meant anything.
Occento pulled Star’s conscience out of the Voice when she withdrew and nodded to herself. She turned to face Melody, who was still pouting and looking down at the ground.
“Would you like to converse with your brother, Melody?”
Melody’s ears roused to life when she heard the mention of the word ‘brother’, and she instantly turned to face Occento. The filly nodded excitedly before her ears drooped and she averted her eyes from Occento. She had told her he was dead? How could she talk to him?
"B-b-but, you said that he died and that they never found his body!"
She had a point. That was exactly what Occento had implied. But she'd said too much already. She needed the filly to trust her. She knelt down and put her hoof under her chin so she could look deep in Melody golden eyes. "Queens can sometimes keep conscious minds alive within their own for some time. The pony named Star Blaze still lives on, but in a different way. If you let me in, I can show you."
A tingling sensation rippled through Melody's body when Occento forcefully pressed the tip of her horn on her brow. Shivers ran through her spine, but they were soon replaced by a warmth that felt awfully familiar to her. Trying as best she could, she simply could not identify to whom it belonged to.
This feels weird. It’s like somepony entered in my mind.
In a way, I did, but because I brought somepony along with me. You will find out for yourself soon.
The voice of the queen that resonated in the Melody’s mind left her even more confused than she was just a few seconds ago.
What did she mean?
Melody, whatever you do, do not panic!
Melody had not expected to hear the voice that had just echoed through her mind. Just earlier that day, Occento had told her that her brother had died, and she had now just heard the voice of her brother for reasons she could not fathom. She brought a hoof to her mouth in shock, her lips quivering.
Tears formed in her eyes, and a few of them rolled down her cheeks, staining the sheets of the bed. She tried to form thoughts, but her every attempt failed.
It made no sense. How could a dead pony interact with her? Various questions swirled around in her head concerning what was happening to her, and the more she tried to figure them out, the more she hurt herself.
Are you so surprised that you’ve lost your ability to speak, let alone think?
But how? Melody asked herself, confused. The whole situation made no sense to the small changeling. Isn’t he supposed to be dead or something?
Well, yes and no. I’m talking to you, so that’s proof I’m not dead, but that’s as far as it goes. I’m just another conscience in the Voice. The good thing is that I can easily be contacted. You’ll have to thank Queen Occento for that, Star Blaze replied, his mental tone joyful and cheery.
Please, you’re making me blush, young one. I merely gave you a choice and you took it, that’s all. In any case, I do believe you have something to tell her, Star Blaze? Occento asked calmly.
I’m dreaming! That’s it, this is all a nightmare that I’m going to wake up from any time soon, and when I do, Star’s gonna be next to me, and he’ll try to comfort me like he always does. I just need to wake up!
Melody jumped in surprise when she heard the queen chuckle softly, breaking the link connecting Occento to her mind. The filly looked up to the taller changeling and saw Occento looking down at her form with a simple smile and unreadable eyes.
If it had not been for the wall behind her, Melody would have tried to escape from the queen’s gaze, but on top of being mesmerizing, the queen’s gaze froze her in place.
Queen Occento licked her fangs playfully before she said, “Your fears are unfounded, small one. Had I wanted to make you into a mindless slave, what advantage would I gain from leaving you free will?”
“That’s—” Melody began just before she stopped herself. The queen had a point, and it was hard to refute.
“I told you earlier, I do not wish to bring harm upon you. I made a promise to your brother, and I want to uphold it,” Occento replied.
“I still don’t have a reason to trust you!” Melody snapped, pursing her lips into a pout and lowering her eyes to avoid Occento’s piercing gaze who just smiled back at her joyfully.
“Perhaps so, but let me ask you this: why would I turn you into a slave if I said that my changelings had been granted individuality earlier?”
“I–uh–I… I don’t know!”
“Then let me shed some light on the matter,” Queen Occento announced with a calm voice and demeanor. “The voice you heard in your head was your brother’s, and there is little doubt of that. I integrated him into the Voice with his consent. Since you emerged from your pod yesterday, it was safe to assume you would take time to get used to the Voice and the endless stream of thoughts echoing in its every corner.
“The reason I used my horn and touched your brow with it was so I could manually link you into the Voice so you could have a conversation with your brother,” Occento continued. “Isn’t it your deepest desire to at least talk to him again, small one?”
“It is, but I-I’m not sure if I can trust you,” Melody answered softly, rubbing her little legs against each other sheepishly as she kept her gaze locked on the ground. She refused to raise it to meet Occento’s.
The smaller changeling was taken by surprise when Occento’s chest heaved with laughter. “You are intriguing, small one. Your entire body radiates with contradicting emotions.”
Melody was taken aback by the queen’s comment. She quickly brought a hoof to her mouth in a swift ark of her left leg.
“W-w-what do y-y-you m-mean?” Melody asked aghast. Her voice had grown fearful, and her stammering had increased considerably.
“At ease, small one,” Queen Occento whispered softly, her voice sounding like a lullaby in Melody’s ears. “You are intriguing because you want to trust me and yet, you don’t want to do so at the same time. You need not fear me, for I am here to support you in adapting to your new life.”
“S-so… d-does that m-mean I can s-speak to my b-brother? Really?” Melody asked meekly, her facial expression showing nothing but a frown. She lowered her gaze to the ground until she could hear confirmation from the changeling queen.
Though the queen never answered Melody’s inquiry directly, she did something else. She only brought her horn against Melody’s and let her warm and soft breath caress the filly’s mane, softly blowing it aside. The filly closed her eyes when Queen Occento brought her horn against hers and let another wave of warmth fill her body.
She felt all her stress that had accumulated over the day get washed away by the warmth. The queen’s soft breath against her mane and forehead made her remember all the times Star Blaze had tucked her into bed, and how the soft kisses he gave her on the forehead would simply lull her to sleep.
There was no other way to describe this feeling that was coursing through her body: she felt at peace.
So, how’s my little sunshine doing? Star Blaze asked his sister through the telepathic link Occento was providing, his deep voice echoing through the link and almost reverberating continuously through Melody’s mind, effectively causing another wave of this peaceful feeling she felt to wash all over her mind and body again.
His voice and the memories of what had happened a year before came back rushing into her mind, and all the memories crashed against her brain. Her golden eyes slightly swelled in size, and tears formed at the base of her new golden lenses. They soon began to dribble on her cheeks, staining her pure white coat, just as she started to sob and sniffle.
I’m so sorry, Star! It’s all my fault!
~End of Chapter Two~
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
819 users online
1,130,910 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Beautiful chapter!
More chapters please?
why the hell is there a sex tag?!
5355043 Further content. Occento has an issue with not having a filter sometimes. Plus, it's written in the description of the story why the tag is there. Just a warning for future mature content being discussed into the story later on as it progresses.
5355081 blegh. please don't let this turn into a clop.
5355133 Melody is a filly. I wouldn't dare turn this into a clop. Besides, it's just sexual humor I plan on putting in here and there. If not, I'll just remove the tag altogether.
5355261 phwef! that was a really close one.
5355265 Well, I still have a sense of morality, and I don't support infantile clop/sex. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story so far!
5355269 yes!
P.s PLEASE UPDATE! I BEG OF YOU! PLEASE!
5355272 I'm planning to do so. However, I'm in my last week of finals, so bear with me a bit longer. I've got chapters 3, 4 and 5 complete on my Google Drive.
5355282 okay. good luck on finals!
I was wondering why the name Benny was randomly thrown in the middle of the story...
The story is guided in a rare way. A sudden change that is a process not an event. The closest thing I read that had simlar story state tranzition was Can'terlot and outside of pony stuff - the begining of Mass Effect 2.
How come you have 1 story but your account says it's 2?
Yup, I can only imagine that makes things complicated. But it's bound to happen when you allow folks to have individuality and free thought. Pffbbt!
... Eeif. Well, I mean... plus side, Melody, you're a changeling! That's what you wanted, right?
Oooh. I like the idea of that. Love reserves! It's a neat concept!
But I don't like the idea of that...
Waauugghh... My heart...
I can just hear her voice in my head...
MY HEART.
I find it interesting how Occento sort of... fluctuates and drifts through different emotions. I don't know if it's intended or not, but it gives me the impression that changelings are much more "open" with their feelings? Since it seems to me that they can't really hide their feelings from each other, so they don't have any pretenses?
Nooo, Melody, babby, it's not! It's not!! Wuuugh...
I didn't know you can make changelings
Aaaand a time skip. Completely unexpected time skip. There was no reason, nor need, for a time skip.
We'd already had a prologue, yet this chapter is acting as if the previous chapter was the prologue. Why?
This story could've developed what happened after she went unconscious, why the changelings took them, what was planned for them.
Could have then gone on to show how she adapts to the changes as she's integrated into the new life.
But no, this time skip is just confusing. It's like this is the beginning of the story, and it's already developing new ideas.
Voice? Council? Individuality? Changes? Factions?
It's a bit overwhelming and disappointing.
Here's where I hop off, sorry.
7499488 Agreed this is very poor execution on what could have been an interesting idea.
Alright, so Melody has been with the this changeling hive for a year now, and all because of some promise? What did Star do that would have a queen agree to a promise? And what has happened to Melody in a whole year?
So a full changeling can't handle a love diet... wut?
Was Melody in a cocoon for a whole year? Only explanation for the time passage and the new changeling not really knowing a damn thing.
Deal? That implies Star had something for Occento, but I really doubt that.
I hope they can have their own families here too in this changeling hive.
Okay first bad thing in this story "suddenly timeskip".
I'm curious about how that is supposed to look like, I mean that Filly/CHangeling talking to her dead brother who is probably not allowed to leave earth because of this or something.
I'M confused, at one second it sounded like Melody slept a whole year and is older now and the part at the beginning looked like a huge timeskip, but when the queen suddenly talked with her brother not even a day seems to be gone.
NOw that I think about it, maybe he meant today as in today after she woke up.
I have no suggestion for that queen, at one point I would just like to trow the old hive away, but then I know it probably can't be done just like that.
I mean even for a queen it should be a problem if half the hive suddenly starts to get angry and start a little war.