When given the chance to better her life in a new world, Melony decides to take it.
Melony is a young woman of poor circumstances. When she finds herself in a new world of opportunity and prosperity, she can barely contain her joy. Join her and her friends in a tail that will show just how good life can get when given a chance.
That about sums up the city during winter. Oh and busy, very busy. The hustle and bustle of people never stops during the winter season. It was also a very foggy late afternoon, but that’s one of the many things San Francisco is known for. It’s always so wet and uncomfortable to be in, and it most defiantly will soak you to the bone if you’re out in it long enough. Unfortunately for one particular individual this was the case. She was indeed very cold and wet, and hungry as well. But that’s the life of living on the streets. She thanked her lucky stars for the thick coat she had found lying on that park bench a few days ago. Without it she was positive she wouldn’t have lasted the month.
As she walked along the Warf, the shops were slowly beginning to close for the evening. The restaurants however did no such thing. Replacing their casual lunch times for fancy dinners in the more popular, touristy areas. She kept walking; these places were too expensive for her and her little bits of begging money. Still it was more than she usually made in a day. She had gotten lucky. A cruise ship had docked in the port so there had been a lot more people wandering around. At first everyone was too busy with themselves to even give her the time of day. It wasn’t till, out of sheer desperation, that she started singing holiday songs, people would drop some coins or bills in her hat.
Finally after all that walking, she reached her destination. Fog City Café, the sign said on the small diner. She was going to have a hot meal tonight and she was excited about it. There weren’t a whole lot of people in the Café, but she was ok with that. The less people to notice her shabby appearance the better. She slipped into a booth and grabbed the menu.
“Hello and welcome to the famous Fog City café,” said a rather board looking waiter. “What would you like this evening?”
She put down the menu and looked up at the guy. She noticed his eyes go wide for a slit second before he ever so slightly blushed. She sighed.
“I’ll have the grilled octopus please.”
“A-All right, are you sure?” He sounded a bit unsure himself. She knew what was going on though. He was conflicted over her obvious state of homelessness, and how attractive she looked. Daily dips in the bay tended to keep one clean and fit. She sighed again. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, and she didn’t enjoy flaunting herself all over town. It’s not that she was shy, her tracts of land were just an acre or two more than most her age. Plus making yourself a target is never a good idea. She adjusted her coat, covering herself from wandering eyes.
“Yes I’m sure. And I would like some water as well, please.” He nodded, wrote down her order and went back to the kitchen to prepare the food.
Yep this was her life. Living on the streets, begging for money and eating when she could. It wasn’t fun, in fact she hated it, but the commodities she had acquired and the fact that she was still alive sort of made it worth it. While waiting for her food, she looked out the window. The fog had cleared considerably since she sat down. She could see the lights going down in the city and the sunset was shining on the bay. She was glad to be here, and she liked to think of it as her city. Although a life where she didn’t have to beg for money just to feed herself sounded way better every time she fantasized about it.
“Here you go miss.” Her waiter had returned with a steaming hot plate of grilled octopus and a glass of water. “If you need anything else just let me know.” He then left to attend to a few remaining customers. She ate quickly, it was getting late and she needed to get back to her shelter. She left enough money for a tip and slipped out the door.
Making her way back turned out to be a lot less difficult that she thought it was going to be. The fog had come back and was as thick as ever. This proved time and time again to be an ideal way of walking around at night without being spotted. She shivered as the chilling dampness nipped at the exposed skin through the holes in her jeans. All she has to do was make it past the piers and to the fort and she’d be home free. It was a lot easier to slip onto the fort’s property since they ripped out the toll booths and installed self-parking machines. As she passed pier 39, there was a break in the fog, giving her a quick view of her most favorite thing, the moon.
To her, the moon was magical. Something to gaze on and ponder about life and stuff. Many a time she had found herself falling into deep depression about her situation. The moon had always been there to help her realize that not everything was as bad as it could be. Her hand unconsciously moved to her chest, where a very special pendant hung from a silver chain. The pendent was a black circle with a crescent moon painted on one side. It had been given to her long ago by someone she could no longer remember. But she still felt an attachment to it, like it was a part of her. She fiddled with it as she watched the fog obscure the moon. Letting the pendant fall back into its home, she continued on until she came to the fort.
Fort Mason that was the name of the place she had taken up residence in. More specifically, the back end of a boat that was propped up against the far wall. It was called the Galilee, and according to the plaque it had once been a Spanish brigantine. Originally designed as a cargo ship, it had later been outfitted as a research vessel and equipped with an engine. Now all that was left of it was a cracked a faded stern. Not much use for sailing, but perfect for a makeshift shelter. She climbed up the supports, pulled off a loose board on the deck and slipped inside. It had been a long day for her so she just kicked off her shoes and slipped into the sleeping bag on the floor. She fell asleep almost immediately.
Outside the fog continued rolling in off the bay. It got thicker and thicker until the Galilee was completely obscured. The night guard at the fort was used to thick fog but tonight was different. For one, the fog horn was not sounding off from the Golden Gate Bridge. And another was that this particular fog seemed darker than usual. He just shrugged his shoulders and continued on, that is until
*CRACK*
something akin to a very large fire cracker sounded from the back wall. In the short time it took him to reach the wall the fog had completely cleared. And the Galilee was gone. gone.
On the outsert a of Ponyville, the local Apple farm was winding down for the day. Applejack and her brother Big Macantosh were locking up the barn. A loud rumble caused them to turn towards the Everfree. Dark churning clouds were moving towards them from the forest. Applejack put ahoof up and held her hat from the sudden wind. "Looks like a storms a'commin." "Eyeup"
Wind and rain tore at the small town of Ponyville. The storm that had come in from the Everfree forest was the worst one yet. The residents huddled in their homes while Princess Twilight stood on the balcony of her castle firing structural reinforcement spells at the houses and buildings that were taking the brunt. A rainbow blur tumbled past.
“Rainbow, did you manage to subdue the thunderheads?”
“No- wind- strong- can’t- mosphere!”
Twilight could barely hear Dash through the howling wind. She grabbed her struggling friend in her magic and reeled her in. Dash landed on the balcony and immediately collapsed from exhaustion.
“This is insane! I’ve never seen a storm this strong ever.” She rolled onto her back and stretched her wings out on the floor. “It’s a good thing Applejack sent that warning. We had to relocate every cloud house to Cloudsdale to keep them from being destroyed.” She gave Twilight a doleful look. “I’m sorry the team didn’t make it back to actually stop the storm."
Twilight shot one final beam at Vinyl and Octavia’s house. She placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “It’s ok. While you were gone, Pinkie managed to spread the word fast enough that almost everypony had enough time to board up their homes.” She looked over the balcony at the line of ponys retreating into her castle. Unfortunately pinkie was only able to warn ponys that were close to the center of town. As a result, those on the outskirts panicked and ran for the castle just as the storm started. Those houses had been obliterated by the gale, except for Fluttershy’s cottage, which was literally a tree. It was dug in enough to survive the storm. She had reinforced it as well though, just to be safe.
There was a flash of lightning, and to the mares horror it struck the ground only a few yards away from the evacuation line. Thunder shook the castle as twilight readied a teleport spell.
“Rainbow, tell the rest of the pegasi to get inside. There’s nothing more we can do but ride this thing out.” She nodded and took off. Twilight activated the spell and ported down next to Applejack and Rarity.
“C’mon y’all, get your rears’n gear.” Applejack, with a hoof holding down her hat, was yelling at a crowd that was still a little shell shocked from the lightning. Twilight grabbed the last six ponys with her magic and practically tossed them into the foyer. Rarity pulled the doors closed behind them. The storm sounded muffled through the crystalline walls of the castle. They let out a sigh of relief.
“Ok everyone, just relax. We can ride out the storm in here for the rest of the night. There are plenty of extra beds and food, so if you all just stay calm-“
A prismatic bullet shot down from the upper floor. “Twi! You need to boost your spells now! There’s a vortex headed straight for the castle, and it’s gonna tear right through the middle of town!” The ponys who heard this started crying out in panic.
There were shouts of, “My home!”
“This is a disaster!”
“Of all the worst posa-“
“My Cabbages!”
“I want my momma!”
Twilight appeared on the balcony once again. The sight before her was near cataclysmic. A titanic funnel of wind and debris was bearing down on Ponyville with frightening speed. She charged her horn with layer upon layer of magic. With glowing white eyes, she detonated the spell. A wave of pink magic erupted from the balcony. The castle and everything that was still standing began to glow with the same hue. For a moment Twilight thought she saw something spinning around in the whirlwind. It only lasted a second before everything went black.
The cyclone had enveloped Ponyville completely, and it had stopped traveling. It just sat there on top of the town, churning and churning. It tore up everything that wasn’t secured by magic. The rail lines were ripped out of the ground and flung into the air. They ricocheted off the barrier around the castle with a loud metallic screech, and flew off into the darkness. More debris slammed and pinged off the walls. Twilight swore she heard a loud groaning noise, like an immense wooden structure was being warped and twisted. The sound disappeared, whatever it was the storm had carried it out of earshot.
The wind was relentless, her head felt like it was going to split open. Her horn started to spit and spark. Just when she thought she was going to break, everything stopped. Frozen like it had never been moving in the first place. There was total silence for only a moment. The sudden drop in kinetic pressure caused Twilight’s spell to explode away from everything it was connected too. The clouds, the dust and the debris were all blasted up into the air.
Twilight collapsed onto the ground and smiled in relief. She didn’t cancel the reinforcing spell just dialed it back. She knew that Everfree storms are never that horrendous, so why was this one so bad? A light tinkling broke her train of thought. She looked around as small pebbled were bouncing off the shield. A sudden torrent of water erupted up from the nearby lake before she realized that the danger wasn’t over yet. She brought the spell back up to maximum strength as trees, wood, metal and all manner of shredded debris came raining down from the sky. It lasted for about thirty seconds before petering out. Now it was quite. So quiet she could have heard Fluttershy yell from across town. She canceled the spell and walked back to the foyer of the castle.
Everyone waited with baited breath. She slumped down on a bench and rubbed her head.
“Darling are you alright? What happened out there?” Rarity walked up to her. “Everything was so loud and then it just stopped.”
Twilight looked up at her friend. “That wasn’t a normal Everfree storm. Something about it seemed off.” A dark look passed over her face. “I could feel slight magical traces crackling throughout the whole thing.”
“That’s mighty interesting and all, but we need’ta get out there n’survey the damage, and make sure no pony was hurt.”
Twilight got to her hooves. “Applejack is right. We can figure out the oddities of the storm later. For now we need to organize relief teams.” She walked up to the doors and turned to face them all. “Ok everyone, I know this is asking a lot especially after everything you’ve already been through tonight. But we need to go out there and make sure that everything is ok.” The crown of ponys muttered and nodded in agreement. Twilight began to open the door and muttered, “Let’s just hope it’s not as bad as I think it’s going to be.”
It sounded like a train was thundering past. Melony jolted up, smacking her head on the upper bunk. A little dazed, she pulled herself to her feet. As she steadied herself, the planks beneath her began to crack. The walls creaked and moaned. In a burst of splintering wood the back wall was torn off and flung into a mass of swirling winds. Melony just stood there completely dumfounded as what looked like trees and bits of housing were spinning around in the air. To her utter amazement, the only thing that was left of the ship was the bunk she was holding onto and the planks beneath her. As she stared, open mouthed at the chaos, a bolt of pink lightning flashed enveloping her in a bright magenta hue.
A mass of glowing debris flew towards her. She cringed in anticipation of the collision. Instead of pummeling her to death, the chunks of wood and metal swirled around her. She watched in amazement as the ship started rebuilding itself from the scraps. Bit by bit the hull came together. In no time she found herself shielded from the storm. She looked around; the inside looked the same as the Galilee’s four person, stern cabin. The floor pitched forward and Melony was knocked through the cabin door. She had never seen the rest of the ship before, but it seemed simple enough; two doors and a latter leading up to the deck. She stood, and made her way to the stairs, bracing herself against the wall. As she climbed, the ship heaved again almost throwing her to the floor.
Opening the hatch revealed a fully assembled ship. She stumbled out onto the deck watching the lightning flash all around her. Melony clapped her hands over her ears as thunder boomed. The wheel spun freely and the ship listed to the side. Before she could slide off the deck she lunged for the helm. Grabbing one of the spokes she pulled herself to a standing position. Turning the wheel the other way caused the ship to right itself. Now all she had to do was steer the ship past the larger chunks flying around her. The wind speed started to change, and Melony figured that she was getting closer to the edge of the storm. Suddenly a huge structure appeared out of the darkness. It loomed over the ship and Melony furiously spun the wheel to avoid it. The ship groaned as it slowly swerved past what looked to be a castle.
Now she was flying deeper into the vortex. There was a loud clang, Melony looked behind herself and saw big steel bars flying towards her. She squinted; they looked like train rails. Before they collided with the ship, they began to twist and warp. Twelve cannons crashed down onto the deck. Melony looked at them, and then looked around at the storm. She began to laugh. She laughed at the absurdity of everything that was going on. She was piloting a sailing ship through a tornado! She even had cannons now! She laughed like a madwoman, a madwoman steering a boat through a massive vortex of death and destruction. Wild Bill, eat your heart out.
She sighed as she wiped a tear from her eye. “This has got to be a dream,” she said to no one. Gazing down at the cannons with a forlorn expression, “Too bad, I’ve always wanted to see a cannon fire-”
*BOOM*
She stared wide eyed as one of the cannons did just that. A sphere of purple light rocketed away and collided with a bit of roofing, blasting it to pieces. “Huh, well that was unexpected. I wonder what caused it to fire-”
*BOOM*
Another cannon went off, this time blasting a tree into toothpicks. Melony continued to look at the cannons in confusion. Then she had an idea. “Fire.”
*BOOM*
A wicked grin snapped across her face. “And it just keeps getting better and better.” She plunged the ship further into the storm, blasting anything that got in her way. As she neared the center of the cyclone, the visibility steadily increased. She could see the debris from farther away.
All of the sudden the air became crystal clear. The ship had broken through the inner wall of the storm. It felt like being in a huge, empty rotunda. At the core was a smaller funnel spinning in the opposite direction from the rest of the vortex. Melony gazed up. She could see the night sky through a hole in the clouds. It was a beautiful star covered sky with a brilliant glowing moon. She unconsciously gripped her pendant as she gazed up at the glowing orb.
Even in all this chaos, it’s still just as magical. Her attention was torn away from the moon by a loud crackling noise. At the center of the smaller vortex was l large rotating object. It was sparkling with energy. Occasionally a bolt would shoot off into the storm, causing more lightning and thunder. Melony tried to steer the ship around it, but a dark tendril shot out and wrapped itself around the bow.
A well-aimed cannon blast severed the tendril. “Ha. Nice try, but you your goanna have to do better than that.” Several tendrils sprang up and raced towards her. “Ok that’s a little better.” Melony spun the wheel hard avoiding some and blasting the rest. In her efforts to evade the attacks, she had drawn dangerously close to the spinning object. She could now see that it was actually a dark rock, with sharp edges that looked to have been cut to a certain shape.
As odd as it seemed, this thing looked like it was the cause of the storm. “I should probably be trying to get away, but… What the hell.” She turned the ship, trying to set up a clear shot. Whatever this thing was it wasn’t going down easily. It pulsed with dark energy, fueling the storm and continuing its assault on the ship.
One shot that was all she needed, but all these tendrils were blocking her aim. No matter how many she blasted more would appear and rush at her. An idea hit her like a slap in the face. She spun the wheel again, rotating the ship so that the stern was facing the rock. The tendrils lashed out wrapping around the wood of the railing. She cackled and spun the wheel one more time, turning the ship two hundred and seventy degrees. The tendrils were pulled taught against the port as she lined up the starboard cannons with the now exposed rock.
“Broadside! Fire!”
All six guns roared as they unleashed themselves upon the spinning chunk of darkness. On contact, it shattered as if it were made of glass. The tendrils vanished instantly, and everything froze.
She looked around, “Ok, now I know this has got to be a dre-Ah!”
A surge of magenta light exploded up from the ground, blinding her and catapulting everything into the air. Dirt, wood, her, the ship, everything was sent flying straight up. This time though, there was no magical storm to keep the ship in the air. Melony screamed as she plummeted down through the remains of the storm. The wind was defining; it stung her face and brought tears to her eyes. Her clothes whipped around like mad and were on the verge of being torn away. She held onto the wheel praying she would wake up before the inevitable impact.
She was not so fortunate. A torrent of water shot up on all sided, and the ships velocity was halted. The watery impact softened the blow, but not enough to keep her from rebounding off the deck and flying over the rail. She skipped across the water and skid to a halt on the sandy shore. Dazed and with a sizable lump on her head she could barely move. In the end, the pull of unconsciousness won out, and Melony slipped into the welcoming arms of darkness.