Chapter 1
A young filly was standing at the edge of a cliff. The sky was black with burning smoke and the barn her family had moved in was on fire. She looked to her left to the road and saw a bunch of pegasi and earth ponies with pitch forks and torches. Her parents had gotten her out just in time and they were caught in the blaze.
She hated leaving them but she couldn't do anything else. Not against all those ponies. She shed tears as she turned away and ran away. She didn't look back as she made her way away from the fire. She saw ponies looking around and quickly hid in the bushes to avoid their wrath. “Where is the girl!? I know she got out!”
“That freak is going to burn!” A colt said looking over passed some trees. The colts nodded and walked away. She waited for them to vanish and quickly moved out of the bushes and sneaked by trying to not make a sound.
Then some torch light comes over her from her left making her look over. She gasped and turned her head to see a stallion glaring at her. “She's over here!”
She quickly ran right and was followed by the group. She noticed she had run straight to a cliff. “Oh no!” she smacked herself for running to a dead end and turned to face her pursuers. She didn't notice but her horn started to glow a green color.
Vines hanging from the cliff started to move. The mob cornered her and readied their weapons. “Your not welcome here. Just like your mother!”
The filly was scared out of her mind. She started to panic and her horn glowed even more. “Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you! My parents didn't do anything wrong!”
“Your father married a unicorn, that right there is a crime to us!” A stallion said placing a torch on the ground to start a fire in front of her cornering her in flames quickly. “You even being born is a affront against nature!”
The filly's horn glowed even brighter now and suddenly a group of vines came from the cliff and grabbed her lifting her up into the air. “Huh!?”
The mob looked shocked as more plants suddenly slapped the fire out like tentacles of a kraken and each vine started to attack the mob. The filly didn't know what was going on but was happy to get away from them. The vines lowered her down on the road below safely. The filly then ran from the scene and got away from the mob and her horn stopped glowing.
Weeks later a unicorn mare was walking down the road until she heard the sound of a twig snapping. “Huh?”
She looked at where the sound was coming from and went over to the bushes. She looked passed them and saw the little filly on the ground. She was covered in dirt and bruises and the mare could see her ribs due to the lack of food and water. “Oh my! You poor little thing”
She picked up the barely breathing filly and took her to her home in the nearby town. She took the filly and cleaned her up, before bandaging her and laying her down on a clean bed. It took several days before the filly started to stir and woke up.
The filly didn't know where she was and was scared to know. She sat up and felt pain in her stomach as she hadn't eaten in a long time. The mare walked in almost on cue with a bowl of soup. “Glad to see you awake my little pony”
“Who...who are you?” The filly asked scared.
“My name is Pom Pom and I saved you from dying out there in the woods” She said happily. “And your name?”
“Mel....Melody Bloom” The filly said unsure about her but she knew that Pom Pom saved her life.
“That's a good name Melody Bloom” Pom Pom nodded. “Now let's focus on getting you better”
“Why bother? Everyone wants me dead...” Melody said flatly. Pom Pom could tell the filly had given up on life.
Pom Pom sat down next to the bed and looked at her with a serious face. “Do you want to talk about it? Because I'm here to listen”
“My family was killed because my daddy and mommy weren't the same race....” Melody said expecting Pom Pom to get mad or sickened with her.
“That's terrible, racism has only gotten worse since unicorns. Pegasi and earth ponies started to live in the same areas” Pom Pom said showing no signs of hate. “What where your parents?”
“My dad was a earth pony and my mother was a unicorn...” Melody Bloom said keeping an eye on her still scared.
“That would explain a lot actually. Most ponies aren't fear our races mixing. All for different reasons. Some unicorns might think it deludes their offspring's magical power, Pegasi might believe their wings would shrink or deform. Earth ponies themselves are afraid of anything that isn't like them. For earth ponies magic and the power to fly is...unnatural. They probably attacked your home because your mother and you are unicorns and hated your father for marrying one” Pom Pom explained to the filly.
“They killed my family...because of fear?” Melody Bloom asked shocked and tears went down her cheeks. “We didn't do anything wrong...and they murdered my parents like animals...”
“I'm sorry Melody Bloom. It must be hard for a little girl like you to take all this in. why don't you eat something and try to take your mind off things?” Pom Pom said giving her the warm soup.
Melody takes it and nods before she started eating. She wished she could forget what she saw, but how do you forget the murder of your whole family? All she could hear was her mother crying for her to get out and run and her father's hug. She started to cry softly to herself as she she sipped on the soup. Tears falling from her cheeks into the soup.
Pom Pom let out a sigh and left the room to give her some space. Earth ponies made her sick. Seeing a little filly like that forever tortured by the faces of her parents burning in a fire. She had heard about the fire the earth ponies caused on a farm outside of a town a ways away from the town they were in. she figured Melody had been running and hiding all this time. She wished she could do more for Melody. But all she could do right now was make sure she was healthy.
Pom Pom went outside to get some fresh air. She brushed her blue mane out of her greenish blue eyes. She looked at the view of her little town and smiled a little. It wasn't a large town. Everypony knew everypony by name and there was no one that was raciest. She knew Melody would be safe here, at least for awhile if nothing else.
It wasn't much of a town but they got by, it was a little bit of paradise in Dream Valley. Pom Pom waited for awhile and the sobbing coming from inside quieted down. She went back inside and saw that Melody had finished the soup and was still choking a bit on her tears but she looked better already.
Pom Pom smiled at her and took the bowl away placing it to the side. “Are you going to be alright?”
Melody nodded as she laid back down, Pom Pom put the covers over her. Melody turned on her side and drifted off to sleep, Pom Pom left the room and went into her kitchen.
Pom Pom went out of her house and relaxed a little, she honestly had no idea how to work with children, and dealing with traumatized fillies was something on a whole other level. She couldn't just abandon her or kick her out once she got healthy, but it was ultimately her choice.
“Hey Pom Pom!” A friend of hers waved walking over to her. She was another unicorn that was a white color.
“Oh hello Sweetheart. How are you today?” Pom Pom asked as she walked up.
“I'm fine, so I heard you found a kid on the road, is that true?” Sweetheart asked.
“Yes actually, Melody Bloom lost her parents....so...” Pom Pom explained.
“There you go again Pom Pom. Always helping ponies in need” Sweetheart giggled. “And people say I'm the bleeding heart of the village”
“Well I couldn't just leave a little filly to die could I?” Pom Pom pointed out blushing a bit.
“That's true. Only a heartless person would. So where is she?” Sweetheart asked.
“She's in the guest room resting, she's just skin and bones poor thing” Pom Pom said looking down to the ground.
“It'll take some time before she can even leave her bed” Sweetheart nodded. “Well if you ever need help just call okay?”
“Thanks Sweetheart” Pom Pom smiled at her before they both heard a sudden cry.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Pom Pom knew it was Melody and quickly rushed inside, she went into the guest room and saw Melody Bloom crying in a panic, her horn started to glow once more and the plants around the room started to grow and twist. “Don't leave me!”
“What the!?” Sweetheart looked at the magic controlling the plants. Pom Pom always had plants in the different rooms but they were always small plants it was impossible for them to grow this much so fast.
“She's using nature magic. That's incredibly rare for even a high level unicorn!” Pom Pom said shocked.
The plants were growing so much they covered the whole room in seconds. Pom Pom knew she had to stop it. She quickly went over to Melody and hugged her gently. “Melody, wake up! It's just a nightmare. Your safe and sound I promise! Your not alone anymore”
Melody opened her eyes slowly unaware of her magic still going and tears flowed down her cheeks. She felt Pom Pom's hoof gently stroke her mane, it was rather relaxing and reminded her of her mother. She sniffled and buried her face against Pom Pom's chest to cry.
“There there...your safe...it's alright” Pom Pom said holding her close. “Just relax...no one will harm you here”
The out of control magic dimmed and the plants slowed in their growing. Pom Pom was able to put out the filly's magic and Melody wasn't crying as much now. Melody rested her head on her chest and felt the warm motherly embrace. “Mommy...”
Pom Pom blushed as Sweetheart gave her a look that said aw. She smiled at Melody and kept her there for a bit until she was completely calmed down. She then laid Melody down and tried to move back but the filly was attached to her like a baby to it's mother. Pom Pom sighed and laid down with Melody to keep her company. She knew that she needed someone she could trust around her at all times.
“Your really good with kids” Sweetheart pointed out happily.
“I don't know. I just know what it's like to lose someone you love, I can't abandon her...maybe all she needs is a mother figure?” Pom Pom said keeping her eyes on Melody and stroking her mane gently to keep her calm. The little filly was too out of it to know what was really going on. She snuggled against Pom Pom and fell right back to sleep.
“Mama...” The filly said in her sleep. Pom Pom knew what she had to do now and she was set on it.
Several weeks passed by and the filly was up and running around, she was a lot better now and didn't even know about her magical powers over plants, Pom Pom was cleaning her house when Melody poked her head out of her guest room and watched her.
Seeing Pom Pom like that reminded her of her mother. She was always up early in the morning and making sure everything was clean, Melody herself would help out her mother clean and knew how to do it rather well.
Pom Pom saw Melody come out of the guest room and smiled at her. “Would you like to help me?”
Melody nodded and Pom Pom gave her a wash cloth. “Could you clean the tables for me?”
Pom Pom gave her a wet cloth and Melody started to clean and helping her out. Pom Pom was happy to see her out and about. “So how do you feel Melody?”
Melody looked at her and looked down for a second. “I'm okay...”
“You don't sound okay” Pom Pom pointed out dusting some selves. “Listen...I've been thinking and if your okay with it, I'd like you to stay here with me”
“Huh?” Melody looked back at her. “You wouldn't mind me staying here?”
“Well it gets lonely here all by myself and it's been great having someone around the house again” Pom Pom explained.
“Again?” Melody asked confused. “You had someone else here before?”
“Yes actually” Pom Pom smiled and looked at a picture on one of the selves. Melody went over and looked at, it was Pom Pom with a stallion and they looked happy.
“You had a special somepony?” Melody asked looking at the picture.
“Yes, he was my husband...” Pom Pom said with a bitter smile. “He was taken from me by...by a monster. It attacked the village years ago and he tried to save me...”
“I guess we both lost our families huh?” Melody said with her ears dropping. “I'm sorry...”
“It was years ago my little pony. You weren't even born when it happened sweetie” Pom Pom pointed out.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Melody asked her.
Pom Pom giggled a little at this, she was surprised to hear Melody being so sweet even after what happened to herself. “Don't worry about it Melody. It's been years and I've come to terms with it”
“Is that even possible?...to get over the loss of somepony so close to you?” Melody asked looking for answers.
“Melody...I said I've come to terms with it...you never truly get over the death of a loved one” Pom Pom said with a sigh and then shook it off. “But you learn to live with it and...then it gets easier”
“It does?” Melody looked at her unsure.
“When you lose something important for a long time you start to forget things about them. The sound of their voices. Their favorite foods, even how much you loved them” Pom Pom explained, she almost never talked about her late husband as it was a touche subject.
“Oh...” Melody wasn't happy to hear that as she just wanted to feel better...forget about what happened to her family. She shook her head and looked Pom Pom over again. “You....you remind me of my mommy...”
“I do?” Pom Pom asked glad for the change of subject.
“Your sweet...kind...you cared for me even though you don't know me...thank you for that” Melody thanked the mare showing a smile that was rare at this point.
“Melody?” Pom Pom went over to her and placed a hoof on her head. “Would you like to live here with me? I've always wanted a daughter”
“You'd take me in? Just like that....wow...” Melody stopped and hugged her gently.
“It's just that having someone around is a nice change of pace, you don't have to stay if you don't want to of course” Pom Pom smiled at her.
“Actually...I don't have anywhere to go so...I'd like that” Melody felt Pom Pom was the best chance she had at a life now and was happy to take her offer. She really did remind her of her mom.
It had only been a a little under a month since everything happened but she was happy that Pom Pom wanted her to stay. She needed a mother figure after all, she went back to helping around the house and Pom Pom smiled as she did this.
Pom Pom had a feeling her life was going to be exciting again and loved that idea. Before she got back to cleaning she spoke to Melody. “Listen, I know you have a gift for magic. I can teach you what I know as well”
“You would teach me?” Melody asked with a big smile. “That would be great!”
It wasn't going to be easy but Pom Pom knew that Melody's magic was special and she needed to train to really use it and gain her full potential. But it was going to take time. Several weeks seemed to pass rather fast after that, Melody Bloom lived happily with Pom Pom as her adopted daughter. Melody made friends and helped Pom Pom around the house everyday.
Pom Pom did her best to teach Melody magic and it worked for everyday things. But Melody's control over plants seemed limitless. Melody was happy with the magic she knew not really caring about being the best or anything. She was just happy to have a family.
Melody Bloom was outside looking at the small village of unicorns, lately things had turned for the worse for the small town, the sky split in two as night and day and normal animals were changed into strange monsters and the plant life was overgrown and tangled.
“Are you seeing this Pom Pom?” Melody asked as Pom Pom walked out and nodded.
“It's the work of that monster Discord, he's finally reached our home” Pom Pom said looking at all the chaos.
“Is there anything we can do?” Melody asked worried.
“I don't think so...his power is unmatched, nobody has beaten him ever” Pom Pom explained.
“Our beautiful home...it's getting ruined by that thing” Melody said getting upset. She already lost one home and she wasn't ready to lose another.
“Pom Pom!” Sweetheart ran over to them. “We have a problem!”
“What is it Sweetheart?” Pom Pom asked looking at her old friend worried.
“Discord found us! The earth ponies from the neighboring village told Discord about how Melody escaped and the strange magic she has, Discord wants that power and is heading this way!” Sweetheart explained in a panic.
“Those earth ponies are so hateful towards a child they would tell DISCORD about her!?” Pom Pom growled in angry. Melody had never seen her that upset before. The filly couldn't believe that after all this time the earth ponies that killed her parents were still after her.
“We have to get Melody out of here, keep her away from Discord” Pom Pom said beginning to pace. “If Discord gets his claws on Melody's nature magic there is no telling what he'll do”
“I don't know what I can do to help Pom Pom, but I'm with you” Sweetheart nodded.
“How much time do we have?” Pom Pom asked.
“How much time indeed?” They heard a voice suddenly and a potted plant turns into Discord's face. Melody jumped back and behind Pom Pom as he turned into his normal self.
“Discord!” Pom Pom stood her ground.
“Listen, I have more magic then I know what to do with. BUT nature magic is something even I have a hard time with. That filly is all I need, so tell you ponies what? Give me the filly and you little ponies will be free to go” Discord said with a grin.
“I don't believe you, you never let any pony go” Pom Pom said and pushed Melody over to Sweetheart and motioning her to run.
Sweetheart nodded and slowly backed up with Melody. Discord rolled his eyes and snapped his claws creating a box around Sweetheart. “Oh! Melody run!”
Melody's mind went rushing back to her old home and her mother screaming for her to run, her body just froze and Pom Pom used her magic to shoot a beam at Discord to get his attention away from the filly.
Discord didn't even bother to dodge her attack and just slapped it away like it was nothing. Then he used magic to lift her up and threw her through her house's wall. “Ahh!”
Melody was having a hard time breathing and her eyes went wide at Pom Pom getting thrown through her home. “No...no..not again...not again...”
Discord used his magic to grab Melody Bloom and lifted her up. “Now to get what I came for, with your magic I have the perfect plan to stop any alicorn from attacking me, nature magic is the only way to control plunder seeds after all”
He used his magic to start sucking away her magic when Pom Pom appeared and tackled Discord from behind. “Don't you touch her!”
“Oof!” Discord let the filly go and glared at Pom Pom. “You've just become more trouble then your worth”
He grabbed her with his magic again and this time focused around her neck to start choking her. Sweetheart got out from under the box and saw her friend getting choked. “Let my friend go you beast!”
Sweetheart used her magic to blast him making Discord turn and block her attack, when he turned however he didn't release Pom Pom and with such a quick movement they all heard a snap come from Pom Pom and she went limp. Discord looked back and dropped the body. “Oops, I just wanted to scare her not kill her”
Discord shrugged at this, it wasn't too big of a deal for him. He saw the little filly looking at the body in utter shock, Discord figured he had enough of her magic and puffed away in a cloud of smoke. Sweetheart looked at Pom Pom's body and couldn't speak. “Oh Pom Pom....”
Melody went over to Pom Pom's body and nudged her. “Pom Pom...wake up...Pom Pom?”
“Melody...Pom Pom is...” Sweetheart tried to say it but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Melody lifted up Pom Pom's front hoof and got under it so Pom Pom was hugging her, Melody nuzzled against her chest and felt the last of her warmth. “Pom Pom...mommy...”
Sweetheart bit her lip and tears fell from her cheeks. She went over to her and frowned as she put a hoof on the filly. “Melody Bloom...Pom Pom is...is gone...I'm so sorry..if I hadn't tried to stop him...she might still be alive....I'm so sorry...”
Melody shook her head. “She's not gone! She's not!” Melody knew better but she couldn't handle losing another mother figure. She could feel the warmth of Pom Pom's body leave her, but she couldn't let go of her. She just couldn't.
“Melody...I...I think it's best...if you leave...” Sweetheart brought up suddenly. “Once word gets out about this...they will think your bad luck...let's get you some supplies”
Melody nuzzled Pom Pom's chest not caring what Sweetheart said. Sweetheart had to work fast and went into Pom Pom's house and gathered some things into a saddle bag. In a couple minutes she was done and went back outside. “Melody please, you have to go, I don't want to see you blamed for this and Discord knows where we live..we have to leave soon anyway”
Melody wouldn't leave Pom Pom like this. “I don't want to leave, she's not gone!”
Sweetheart couldn't let this little filly go through anymore pain, she had to do something to help her. She picked Melody Bloom up and hugged her gently. “Melody...I can't take away your memories of the pain...but I can help you survive it, just remember Pom....Pom Pom loved you so so so much, she wanted you to live without fear and sadness”
“But...but...” Melody choked on her tears and hung her head. “She was the last mother figure I had...”
“I know, but your a strong filly and I know you'll survive because Pom Pom taught you everything she knew” Sweetheart said and put the saddle bag on her. “Please...be careful...”
Melody nodded and started to run, she just ran and ran trying not to look back, she wanted to forget everything that happened. She wanted to wake up and there would be Pom Pom right there hugging her and telling her everything would be okay.
Melody ran for what seemed like hours until her legs finally gave out on her, she took as many steps as she could and collapsed on a stump on top of a hill. She finally broke down and cried loudly. She stayed there until night and she finally calmed down a little. She took some deep breaths and looked over the hill to see in the distance the town she was staying with was dark, she knew they were all leaving to find a place away from Discord.
“This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the earth ponies...” Melody Bloom said softly to herself, she then realized it really was earth ponies fault. They burned down her home and killed her parents, then when she finally found a home again and a mother figure they told Discord about her nature magic and he found her new home and killed her second mother. “Earth....earth ponies....are scum...”
Melody Bloom sat up on the stump and growled showing hated for the first time in her life. “I'll get stronger...strong enough to make them pay...to make them all pay!”
Melody Bloom innocence snapped as did her heart that night, she had come to realize that violence was the way of the world and now she was going to bite back. She loosened the ribbon in her hair a bit to make her mane flow in the mind but keep the ribbon in place. She then started her journey to the unknown.
Several years passed and Melody Bloom was now a beautiful teenage mare, her hair was longer as she let her hair grow, she now had a cutie mark that was three musical notes that were flowers. She was at a waterfall cleaning herself enjoying the water going over her. She got out of the water and using her magic she took out a towel from her saddle bags and dried off. She felt great now that she was freshly clean and she picked up her saddle bags as she started to walk.
She had left Dream valley for awhile and traveled around the world for a time. She studied magic for all corners of the world and improved her special nature magic as well as learned all sorts of spells along the way. She even learned order magic, a type of magic to go against chaos magic.
She had heard of a forest back in dream valley where she once lived that had a lot of strange magical anomalies. She was headed there because she wanted to study it and figure out if there was something there causing it. Discord was long gone as well. Turns out two girls teamed up and turned him to stone. The magic he used to change the world was still lingering but all that chaotic magic was vanishing over time.
Melody Bloom saw a village as she walked that was right at one end of a bridge she needed to cross to get into the newly renamed Dream valley, they called it Equestria now as a way to forget about the horrors that had happened. Thanks to these girls all the races were living in peace.
However Melody Bloom knew better then that, she knew you can't trust earth ponies, she went straight to the village and saw it was full of earth ponies, the sight of them made her sick. All she wanted was to hurry through the village as fast as she could.
“Hello there, are you a traveler?” A mare asked walking up to her. “Greetings!”
Melody ignored the mare as she kept walking, she didn't want to even look at her. The mare kept her smile however and walked beside her. “My name is Maple Pie and yours?”
“None of your business” Melody said coldly as she kept walking.
“Huh?” Maple was surprised at her cold shoulder. “I'm sorry did I say something wrong?”
“Listen earth pony, I don't talk to your kind and that's all there is to it” Melody said annoyed by the mare. “I just want to go through that cave”
“What!? Oh no no, you can't go in there, it's infested with monsters!” Maple Pie said worried. “And no pony uses the bridge anymore, there is a leviathan that lives under it!”
Melody let out a sigh, only earth ponies would live near a monster infested cave with a leviathan right outside. She realized she needed to bring out her combat magic for this. “That's nice Marple, now please leave me alone”
“It's Maple actually and I'm telling you it's not safe. It used to be fine but when Discord was beaten the monsters all fled into caves and such. I'm begging you not to go there” Maple said. Maple was a kind mare and didn't like to see pain in anyway, she also loved making friends.
“You earth ponies are so nosy, I'll be fine, I've dealt with monsters before” Melody said as flat as she could, she stopped close to the bridge and put a front leg in front of Maple. “Now stay back and I'll deal with this so called monster”
“Please don't, you don't know what how strong that thing is” Maple said begging for her to stop.
Melody ignored her and went straight onto the bridge. Maple backed up and Melody walked over the bridge, she didn't see what the big deal was. There was nothing there, it was an old bridge, but she figured the earth ponies were just scared of nothing. Granted she never saw a leviathan before but still.
Melody laughed as there was nothing there. “Hey earth pony? I think your scared of nothing!”
Maple's eyes only grew as she looked up, this made Melody stop and look behind her seeing a towering blue scaly leviathan, it's teeth were even bigger then three ponies standing on top of each other. Melody's ears dropped and her slowly backed up. She didn't think it was THAT big. “Ooooohhhh...that's why your scared of crossing the bridge...”
The leviathan roared loudly making the mare jump, Melody tried to run but the monster's roar made the bridge shake so she couldn't move very well. Maple watched in horror unsure of what to do. “Ms. you have to run!”
“Oh because that's SOOOO easy!” Melody shouted scared. She grabbed onto a rope from the bridge to steady herself and she focused, her magic glowed over her horn and her horn shot a beam at the monster but the beam just bounced off it's scales.
The large monster breathed fire right over the mare's head and she created a bubble shield around herself to avoid getting burned. Melody then used her magic to teleport herself back to the cliff and she looked down the cliff to see a rather rock, she used her magic to lift it into the air and threw it at the large monster's maw as it was open while it was breathing fire.
The large rock got jammed into it's jaws stopping the fire breath. Melody took this chance and sparks flew from her horn as she casts even more magic, she opened her saddle bags and tossed out a couple black seeds and used her nature magic to rapidly grow them into black vines that seemed alive.
She jumped on one of the vines and the rest of the thorny vines start whipping the leviathan and cutting into it with the sharp thorns. Even through the scales which magic couldn't do, she then lifted herself up with the vine she was standing on and used her horn like a gun shooting it with a bunch of concentrated blasts.
The leviathan chomped down on the boulder and roared as it took a bite of one of the thorns. This was a bad idea as the vine extended it's thorns and stabbed the inside of it's mouth. It let go of the vine and Melody focused again with her magic flaring up and every plant life around the area started to grow. Melody then fired a blast of magic at the monster hitting it on the side of the face hard.
The leviathan roared in anger as it slashed the vine she was standing on. Melody panicked as the leviathan slashed the plunder vines apart and she was flung into the air. The monster opened it's maw and was about to swallow her when her horn flared up again and a black cloud formed right about her. “Crud! Crud!”
Melody fell into it's mouth and slid down it's slimy tongue, she did her best to keep from going down it's throat but there was nothing to hold onto and her magic was weakened right now so teleporting was out. “No! No! No!”
The cloud then shot a concentrated bolt of lightning right down it's throat, the leviathan roared in pain as it swallowed Melody Bloom down it's throat and fell onto the ground. Maple Pie looked over the cliff in shock. “Ms!? Ms are you okay!?”
The leviathan wasn't breathing and Melody was nowhere to be seen. Maple quickly ran down the path to get down to where the monster laid. As soon as she got down there Melody Bloom managed to crawl herself out of it's mouth. “Gah...sick!”
She was completely coated in the monster's slimy saliva and felt sick to her stomach from the smell. Maple smiled at her and put a hoof on her. “You did it! I had no idea unicorns were so powerful!”
Melody glared at her and smacked her hoof away. “Don't touch me you filthy earth pony, no earth pony touches me!”
Maple felt hurt from this but she decided she needed to stand up to her. “Okay really? What is your problem with earth ponies? I have only been nice to you!”
“My problem? My problem with your kind is earth ponies killed everyone I ever loved! I hate all earth ponies and I'll never forgive them for that!!” Melody shouted in anger.
Maple's ears dropped at this. “I'm...I'm sorry...I didn't know”
“What would you do even if you did?” Melody said looking over the monster's body and then kicking it a little to make sure it was dead.
“You know not every earth pony is bad, and there are bad pegasi and unicorns too. Like that Sombra king” Maple said kicking her hoof to the ground a little.
“Whatever” Melody said annoyed as she jumped into the river and cleaned the slime off of herself. “Sombra didn't kill my everyone I ever cared about, it was earth ponies like you”
“Someday Ms....you'll see not every earth pony is bad and when that day comes...I hope we can be friends” Maple said turning away and walking.
Melody rolled her eyes as she finished cleaning herself. She knew better then that, she would never be friends with an earth pony, she looked at the leviathan and took some scales from it, she could sell them or use them for magic for something. Wasting such loot was just a bad idea.
Melody filled her saddle bags with the scales and walked back up the cliff, she just wanted to get through this place and get to the forest through the cave. She made her way back to the bridge and looked back to see Maple watching her, she turned away and walked into the cave wanting nothing to do with that village.
She cast a light spell over her horn so she could see in the dark cave and walked through it, it was very dark and she could see eyes watching her, monsters really did live in here. She was lucky they didn't like light. The eyes followed her as she made her way through until a large spider like leg moved making her slow down.
She didn't like spiders giant or otherwise, she started to pick up the pace and heard the hissing of a couple spiders. She finally could see a light coming from the other side, she tried to dash forward when all of a sudden a large figure landed in front of her. “Whoa!?”
She light up her horn more and saw a giant spider like thing standing there. “Oh goodness....”
Melody backed up and stopped as she noticed another one of them behind her and a third one to her side cornering her. She gulped seeing something straight out of her nightmares. They hissed at her and one of them thrusts one of it's many arms out at her. She quickly used her magic to create a flare effect blinding them and dashed passed them.
She focused her magic and blasted one of the from behind, the spiders hissed in anger and rushed at her still blinded. She created a bubble around herself as one of them tried to bite down on her. She saw some moss and plants around the cave which gave her an idea.
She used her magic to grow the plants as fast as she could and dashed to the side where the exit was. The spiders ran after her and the plants grew fast enough to hit the spider in the lead and pin it's head to the wall making it flail around and hiss, Melody took control of the plants with her magic and wrapped the plants around them and tied them up so the monsters couldn't move.
Melody then ran out the cave and let out a sigh of relief. “I hate spiders...so gross”
Melody shook it off and continued her walk, she knew she blocked off the cave for the earth pony village but they would be fine, that was a closed off cave anyway. She looked around and saw the valley she was born at was better then when she left it. The sky was actually a sky and the ground was green with fresh grass.
She almost didn't recognize the place, then again she was only a filly when she was here last after all. Melody walked through the valley for what seemed like hours, she eventually came to the forest she was after or at least she believed it was the forest, she saw a very beautiful castle as she came walking up.
Melody didn't expect to see a castle, but she did remember hearing the sisters that beat Discord were rich so it wasn't too odd, she figured beating Discord of all monsters would make one rich and famous. As she was about to go into the forest when she heard a voice call out. “Who goes there!?”
Melody looked to the side and saw an earth pony wearing armor, he looked like a royal guard or something. She didn't have time to deal with this and she quickly dashed through the forest.
Halt!” The stallion said giving chase.
Melody groaned as she dashed through the forest. “Why in Tartarus are there guards for a castle wandering the forest!? Are those sisters that important!?”
“Get back here!” The stallion cried out noticing the way she was going. “Don't go that way! It's dangerous!”
“Like I'd listen to an earth stallion!” Melody shouted and used her magic to teleport herself farther ahead.
“You don't understand, that's the forbidden area of the forest. Don't go there!” He shouted but she was too fast for him and she couldn't hear him and ran through some dark bushes. He stopped short of the bushes and scratched the back of his head with his hoof. “Well this isn't good, I need to tell the princess's right away!”
Melody dashed through the dark forest for a while and stopped when she was out of breath. She realized she had been running for awhile and that not only did she lose the guard she was completely lost. “Oooohhh...great”
Melody looked around the dark forest and started to wander. “This place...the magic feels...off, it's not chaos magic or maybe it's not magic at all?”
Melody stopped and shook her head. “Yeah right, everything is magical, even that weirdo Starswirl the bearded knows that and he thinks there are other dimensions”
She walked for awhile and started to get worried. “I wouldn't have gotten lost if that stupid guard didn't chase me, oh well I just have to find my way back”
She then saw a rainbow colored light coming from behind a couple of bushes. “What's that?”
Melody went over to the light and used her magic to push away the bushes and revealed a rainbow waterfall. “Whoa...”
She looked around and noticed it was a rather large pool of rainbow colored liquid. She knew Pegasi made rainbows in their sky cities but this rainbow falls was strange, there was no source or mixers or anything the Pegasi use to make rainbows.
The rainbow pool glowed and she smiled at it. “This is...really amazing, what kind of place is this?”
Melody felt like the pool was calling to her, she hesitated for only a few seconds and then stepped into the pool, it felt rather nice and she stepped further into the pool she realized it was deeper then she thought and she felt compelled to go all the way in the pool.
Melody took a deep breath and jumped completely in the pool, she could feel the the water get heavy for a few seconds and then suddenly get lighter. She swam all the way back up and splashed out of the water. She took a deep breath of fresh air and swam back onto solid ground. She looked at the water and realized the water was no longer rainbow colored, it was just a normal pool.
She took a towel out of her saddle bag and dried off with it. It took a second but she realized the towel was dry. “But I was just in water...huh?”
Melody was completely confused by this. She put the towel away and looked back at the water, there was nothing that showed there was ever a rainbow pool at all. She also noticed the forest was older looking as well.
Melody figured she would think as she walked, she wanted to get out of the forest so she could figure out where she was. The magic of this place was odd, rainbows going into pools and weather controlling itself. None of it made any sense to her.
She walked for awhile until she saw the castle again, but the castle looked old and broken down. “I wasn't in the forest that long. What happened!?”
Melody got a better look of the castle as she got closer. “Something is wrong here, but what?”
Melody looked around and kicked some rubble. “So old...but I just saw this castle and it was brand new...”
She walked into the old castle and saw the the interior, it was all in ruins but she found some old looking tapestry's around. They were of the two girls she heard of. She lifted one of them from the wall and rolled it up before putting it into her bag. She figured if it was abandoned why not take a little souvenir. It was a of the white sister, she found her strangely appealing.
She looked around some more and found a library, she pulled a book out and opened it. This book was recent, it only just came out and yet it was old and moldy. It didn't make any sense, even an aging spell couldn't do this to a book.
“This makes no sense...I need to get out of this weird forest!” Melody said to herself closing the book and a cloud of dust hit her face. “Ah..ahhh...achoo!”
Melody rubbed her muzzle and shook her head a bit, she then turned and left the castle. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, nothing made sense in this forest but as far as she could tell the magic in the forest was strange, if anything she believed that it was aftermath of Discord's magic. Chaos magic was all sorts of crazy after all.
Melody walked for another couple hours before finally finding the exit. She looked up to the sky and enjoyed the sun washing over her, she then realized there were houses suddenly around the entrance of the forest. “Huh?”
She went around and looked at the homes realizing that it wasn't just a few houses but a whole town. “I must have found the wrong exit, I didn't know there was a town near this forest..where am I?”
Melody saw unicorns, pegasi and even ugh...earth ponies walking around. This was unheard of, three races in one place living together? Melody figured this must be a dream or a nightmare. Melody saw all types of mares and stallions walking around and talking, laughing and playing.
Melody then noticed a pink mare with hot pink hair walk up to her, she was an earth pony which made her put up her guard. The pink mare spoke as she walked up. “Hello! You look like your new here, and I know everyone in Ponyville so you must be new here, my name is Pinkie Pie and yours!?”
Melody looked at her with no emotion hoping that would tell her to get lost. She never even heard of a Ponyville before and she wondered if all earth ponies had the last name of Pie. What was earth ponies obsession with food?
“Sooo...your name?” Pinkie asked again.
“It's none of your earth pony business” Melody said using her magic to move her to the side and walked passed her.
“What just happened?” Pinkie asked herself. She took out a check list and looked it over.
Melody didn't have time for an earth pony so she ignored her and walked along, she noticed a white unicorn having tea at a local cafe. Finally a unicorn to talk to, she was getting sick of seeing only earth ponies. She approached the unicorn hoping to get some answers. “Excuse me?”
The white unicorn smiled at her and brushed her beautiful purple mane out of her eyes. “Yes darling? I don't believe we've met, are you new in town?”
“Actually yes. I've never been here before, I just came from that forest over there” Melody explained.
“You came from the Everfree forest? I thought only Zecora lived there” The mare said to herself. “My name is Rarity and you are?”
“Melody Bloom” Melody said as she sat down across from her. She opened her saddle bag with her magic and took out a map. She unrolled it and looked at her brand new map. “Hmm...”
She didn't see any Ponyville on the map. “Ponyville isn't on the map..”
“What in Equestria are you doing with that old thing?” Rarity asked.
“Old? This is the newest map of this place” Melody said completely lost.
“Hmm, you should ask Twilight Sparkle, she's the princess of this town and she could help you figure things out” Rarity said getting up. “I'll go with you!”
“A princess?” Melody asked, she wasn't sure what she meant but then Rarity pointed to a large crystal castle just outside of town. “How did I miss that?”
Rarity took Melody to the castle and knocked on the door. “Oh Twilight~!”
The door opened and a purple unicorn...or was she a pegasi? She had a horn and wings. Melody stopped and looked at the purple mare with dark blue hair with strip of pink in her mane. She looked her over and over confused. “Huh?”
“Oh hello Rarity, and uh...whoever your friend is” Twilight said looking at the mare that was messing with her wings.
“This looks like one of Starswirl's methods, a spell that combines the best of earth ponies, pegasi and unciorns. I heard he was making this spell and he called then Alicorns. Honestly he sneezed when he said that but it just stuck. Amazing on the detail of the wings” Melody said to herself. “Although the earth pony part seems completely pointless, they have nothing to offer”
“Excuse me?” Twilight pulled her wing back. “Your accent is very....old, who are you?”
“My name is Melody Bloom” Melody mentally smacked herself Twilight was right, she didn't even notice how odd they were talking. What was going on?
“And did you say Starswirl?” Twilight asked.
“You should see the map she has, it's very old” Rarity pointed out.
Twilight thought about all this for a few seconds. “Rarity can you call the others? I want to figure this out”
“Of course darling, I'll be right back!” Rarity said leaving quickly.
Twilight noticed Melody had old style saddle bags and even her hair style was old, everything about her was strangely old. Like when Celestia and Luna were young. “Follow me”
Twilight walked into her castle and Melody followed after her, they went to Twilight's personal library. “Can I see what's in your bags?”
Melody shrugged and magically took off her bags and set them on the table in front of them. Melody opened the bags and took some things out of it. Twilight's eyes went wide from all the things inside them, to be honest there was no way all that large stuff could fit into those bags.
“Did you enchant your saddle bags to hold all that stuff?” Twilight asked.
“Yes actually, it's bigger on the inside” Melody said with a nod.
Twilight looked at the map Melody had and gasped. “This map is ancient yet it looks so new...”
“Hey Twilight? Who was at the door?” A small purple and green baby dragon walked in.
“Is that a dragon?” Melody asked.
“He's my assistant and a good friend, his name is Spike” Twilight pointed out. “Spike this is Melody”
“Melody? Nice to meet you” Spike said walking up to her with a large smile.
First earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns and now there is a dragon. This town was weird to Melody. “Nice to meet you as well”
“We're here!” Rarity called out as her and four others walked in. there was a blue pegasi with rainbow colored hair and a yellow pegasi with pink hair, as well as the pink mare called Pinkie and another earth pony that was orange with blond hair.
“What are earth ponies doing here?” Melody glared at the two of them.
“Let me introduce you to my friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you've met Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack” Twilight smiled happily. “Girls, this is Melody Bloom”
“Nice to meet you!” Applejack went over to her first and put her hoof out to shake.
Melody looked at her hoof and shook her head. “No thanks earth pony”
“Is something wrong dear?” Rarity asked going up to them.
“You didn't tell me you were friends with ugh...earth ponies” Melody said annoyed.
“Is that a problem?” Applejack asked. “Do you have something against us earth ponies Melody?”
“I have a problem with your kind alright” Melody said walking out of the room in a huff.
“What's her deal?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Everypony likes Applejack and Pinkie Pie”
Twilight looked over some of Melody's things and saw some photos, they were in black and white but still good. One of them had her parents and her as a filly and another with a single unicorn. “You know girls....I think she's from the past”
“The past?” Fluttershy asked confused. “What do you mean?”
“Back in the day earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns didn't always get along, and look at her things. They should be old but their new, this map is current for her but it's ancient for us!”
“Ahhh!!” Rarity suddenly screamed making everyone jump in shock. She dashed over and looked at the scales on the table. “Are those Leviathan scales!? Leviathans died out thousands of years ago!”
Twilight held her chest still shocked and took a deep breath. “Then that proves it! I'm going to have a chat with her”
Twilight went out of the room and found Melody looking at the tree above them with all the memory crystals attached to it. “Melody, can we talk?”
“What is it?” Melody asked still watching the tree.
“Listen...your not in your-” Twilight began but Melody finished it for her. “In my own time? Yeah I figured it out”
“Then I have to tell you, things are different in this time. All of us races are friends, the best of friends actually” Twilight explained.
“It doesn't make any sense, earth ponies are evil. Their worse then that Discord monster” Melody said annoyed.
“Not every pony is bad, Applejack and Pinkie Pie are the kind and loving, they wouldn't hurt you” Twilight said.
“I've heard that before Twilight, you don't know what I had to go through. What I saw. My mom and dad....and my sister that was still inside my mother's womb at the time...they all died in a fire, and it was earth ponies that caused that fire” Melody said as the memories made tears form in her eyes. “Earth ponies took away everything I ever cared about”
“I am so sorry Melody” Twilight said with a sigh and hugged her gently. “But things change”
Melody couldn't buy that, she didn't believe it. “I'm sorry Twilight, but that's just not the case...and I have to find a way home or in my time”
Twilight nodded and let go of her. “Well don't worry we'll help you with that and I hope with the time you spend with us for this short amount of time you'll see things are different in the future”
Melody could see that they all got along from the crystals hanging from the tree, she tried to deny it but she couldn't seeing how close they all were. “Well...maybe...”
“Well well, if it isn't Melody Bloom I haven't seen that face in eons!” A voice suddenly spoke.
“Huh?” Melody looked back and Discord appeared from out of nowhere. Twilight looked at him confused.
“You know Melody?” Twilight asked.
“Not really that much but we meet with she was a filly” Discord said.
Melody's heart felt like twisting, that monster was still alive and somehow he knew Twilight. She realized that Twilight and the others were under some sort of spell, that had to be it. “YOU!!!?”
Melody shot a blast of magic at Discord as she pushed Twilight to the side. Discord dodged it and puffed outside the castle. “Whoa, somepony has issues”
“Melody wait!” Twilight shouted as Melody teleported herself outside after Discord.
“Monster! Your the reason everything is weird, you probably sent me to the future too!” Melody growled.
“Do I look like a shape shifting demon to you?” Discord asked. “I have no idea what your talking about”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Melody's horn glowed and cast a spell that created a light that froze Discord.
“What the? Order magic? I haven't seen that used in a long time” Discord said. “It's almost like being stone, but a little better”
Melody hated how Discord wasn't taking their fight seriously at all. “I'll make you pay for what you did!!”
“What I did? What do you mean?” Discord asked completely confused. “It was thousands of years ago, I don't remember every little thing”
Melody froze and her eyes went wide, her anger only grew and Twilight ran out and jumped in front of her. “Melody wait! Discord isn't evil...as evil as he was before, he is a friend now!”
Melody used her magic to push Twilight out of the way. “That's no friend Twilight, he murdered my adopted mother Pom Pom! He was after my magic to control plants and he killed her in cold blood! And he doesn't even remember it!!”
Discord got to thinking and remembered what happened, it was honestly an accident he was evil back then sure but he did honestly feel awful about taking a mother from a child. “Listen Melody...I'm sorry about what happened, it was an accident”
“Okay let's just take a breather and talk about this okay? Let's all be friends” Twilight said worried that Melody would explode in anger. “I know you want to get revenge Melody, but is that what Pom Pom would have wanted? Or your parents? Would they really want you to be like their killers?”
Melody stopped and her magic faded due to her losing focus letting Discord go. Memories of her parents and Pom Pom flooded her mind and tears started to freely flow from her eyes. “I..I...No...they wouldn't...they wanted me to forgive and live happily...”
“Then why don't you give them a chance? You don't have to forgive right now, but at least try” Twilight smiled at her trying to help her new friend out.
Melody hung her head and nodded. “I don't know if I can...I've never had friends before...I've always pushed them away...”
“Don't worry, friendship was hard for me when I first tried it myself” Twilight pointed out. “Everyone has problems at first, and don't worry we'll get you back to your time no problem”
“I think that will be a problem darling” Rarity said coming outside with the others.
“What do you mean Rarity?” Twilight turned to her friends.
“Ask her” Rarity pointed to the door and Celestia herself walked out, Twilight forgot that Celestia was coming for a visit thanks to Melody showing up.
“Hello Twilight, and you must be the mare Rarity told me about. The one from the past?” Celestia greeted them.
“That's...me....” Melody said still in tears.
Celestia sat went over to her and brought her into a hug. “You've been through so much without any friends or family, Starswirl told me about you before. But isn't it time to get rid of the hate? Turn that anger into something nice....let yourself Bloom”
Melody looked at her, she was amazed on how close she sounded to Pom Pom. “I don't think I can made friends...”
“I'd like to be your friend” Pinkie spoke up.
Melody wasn't sure about making friends with an earth pony. But for some reason she smiled at this. They all noticed how much of a warm smile she had and the plant life around her started to grow around her, a blue flower bloomed beside her and Rarity picked the fresh flower and put it into Melody's hair before speaking.
“We'd all like to be your friends Melody Bloom, you don't have to be alone anymore” Rarity said happily.
“But...won't I be going back to my time soon?” Melody asked confused.
“Actually...I'm afraid the magical way you took was a one way trip, back when you went into the forest when I was young you went into the forbidden area and found the rainbow pool. It's a special pool that acts like a portal. But no pony knew where it lead, until today that is” Celestia explained.
“Great, so I guess I'm stuck here” Melody said but she couldn't bring herself to not smile, it felt nice here.
“You can live with me in the castle Melody, it's really big so I don't mind” Twilight pointed out. “Right Spike?”
“Yeah!” Spike said with a nod. “It would be great to have another pony in the castle!”
“Well...if you'll have me, then okay” Melody nodded and hugged Celestia. “You know something? They were right to choose you as princess of Equestria”
“Thank you Melody” Celestia smiled warmly at her.
“Oh! Oh!” Pinkie jumped up and down. “Let's throw a welcome to our time slash welcome to Ponyville slash moving in with Twilight party!!”
“Yeah!” The others shouted and giggled.
“But uh..first let's let Melody take a shower, she's a little...gross” Rarity said honestly.
Melody blushes at this. “Sorry, I've been through a lot and I just never had the time to clean up”
“You know you remind me of a mare I met named Maple Pie” Melody pointed out to Pinkie.
“You knew my ancestor!? Maple Pie is the reason my family moved to Equestria, from what I heard she got inspired but a unicorn to go there....which was you wasn't it!?”
“She did?” Melody laughed a little bit. “Amazing, I have a lot of history books to read and find out what I missed”
“By the way Melody” Twilight suddenly beamed now that all the trouble was over with. “You said something about Starswirl the bearded, did you know him in person!?”
“Yes I did” Melody said as they all walked back into the castle. “Would you like to know about him?”
“I'd like to know everything!” Twilight squeed happily.
“Well he was goofy and liked to do all sorts of weird magic, alicorn's theory, other world theory's, but whenever we talked which wasn't a lot of times but he always tried to make me smile” Melody explained. “And if Alicorns are real...maybe his theory of mirror's being a kind of portal with the right spells is true too...I have to start looking into that”
They all went into the castle laughing and Rarity spoke up. “So Melody....can I have your Leviathan scales!? They have given me millions of ideas for fashion!”
“Hey what about me?” Discord asked being left behind.
END