Author's Notes:

This was uploaded from a mobile device, so my apologies for the lack of editing and formatting.

A Different Kind of Love: Melody's Tale

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The spell was taking shape all around them. Melody and Verse's hands were dense with magic, the humming sensation filling the air around them. Melody wasn't exactly going by any book here, nor was her brother, but the two of them had accomplished feats the likes of which even the gods they'd revived would gawk at. Twilight would be furious if she ever learned what the two of them were doing, despite having done it herself with the entirety of Canterlot's military before Chrysalis had taken over in her absence.

Melody sure wished she had her mother's expertise to lean on just then. As it was, she and Verse were both flying by the seat of their pants.

"You realize mother would kiss us if she found out we're doing this."

"I'm well aware." Melody grinned as Verse finally put words to the doubt in her mind. "I wasn't even sure if we could target souls without a corporeal form before today. Though, when you get right down to it…"

"The soul is the target of any given spell anyways." Verse finished her thought. Another surge of magic filled the air around them, and Melody grasped as much of it as she could, recognizing a large portion of her mother's magic among the thousands of strands. Twilight was trying to do something somewhere. Some small part of her hoped it was because their mother had learned of their need for energy and was supplying as much of it as she could.

The other, larger part of her wondered what was going on that Twilight would need that much energy.

"Almost done."

"Are you? That was fast. Twilight has been trying to do something pivotal for a short while now. I almost feel guilty taking so much energy from her."

"Don't stop." Melody finished one spell-form and waved it into place before starting on another. Just a few more and they would be prepared. "Don't stop even when we teleport… We can explain how and why we're doing this when we get there, but if we just give her all this back, it's likely going to cause trouble."

"Canterlot really doesn't need crater any time soon." Verse mused, finishing another form. He began on the last he'd need, while Melody was two behind him. She'd always be behind her brother in magical prowess, it seemed. At least she was the better flier of the two.

"Hang on, everyone… We're coming."

----------

"Twilight, stop! You're hurt!" Lily's voice was panicked now, even as she struggled to pull Twilight's hands down to her sides. Instead, her wife screamed again, writhing on the blood-soaked sheets. Even Ephemira was getting some magical energy through her counterpart's leeching, and Twilight had cast sporadic, broken spells in an attempt to claw the deity from her head. Lily panted and screamed for help once more, even as she traded her time between keeping Twilight's arms pinned and stopping the flow of blood from the blasted side of her face.

Help finally came as Applejack slid through the door to their room, pausing to take in the scene for a minute.

"Help me!" Lily pleaded, holding Twilight down as another arcing flash of energy lanced off of her hands and into the sheets. They crackled and burned like paper, almost searing Lily's leg. She kicked at the flames, ignoring the heat until they died away, then went right back to holding a screaming Twilight down.

"What's happening?!" Applejack leapt onto the bed beside Lily, pinning Twilight with her considerable strength. Lily took a moment to sit back, breathing heavily.

"I have no idea! Twilight's freaking out; I think she's forgotten that Ephemira is inside of her!"

"Damnit. Fluttershy's doin' the same thing right about now. Rainbow Dash has her, but she ain't doin' so hot neither."

"That bad?" Lily passed her hands over her throbbing leg, using her meager magic to do damage control on the cut inflicted by a stray bolt of Twilight's power.

"Ah'm losin' it too." Applejack admitted grimly. "Ah c'in feel somethin' inside my head, an' it feels like a million bees tryin' to get out, ‘cept each of ‘em has a voice, and they're all talkin' at once." She looked down at Twilight, who was sobbing helplessly, her face half-scorched. "Ah ain't tryin' ta rip ‘em out… Yet."

"I don't know why, but Twilight can't use her magic right now. If she could, I'd be dead." Lily grimaced as she shifted, her body replaced with the imposing, serpentine form of a naga. "Let me hold her. Thisss way I can be safe from her magic, if it returnsss."

"Shore thing. Ah'm gonna see iffen Fluttershy's good ‘nuff to help Twilight. Might as well bring the party here, eh?"

"Did someone say PARTY?!" Pinkie Pie burst through the door, trailing streamers and confetti galore. "Where's the party?! I heard a party! LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

"Go." Lily hissed at Applejack, brushing a stray square of confetti off of Twilight's shoulder. "I'm okay here."

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"I think that's it." Verse and Melody stood in the midst of an imposing spell-form, arcane scribbles and seemingly random patterns jumbled in the air and on the ground around them. The diagram spread wide, with seven separate circles for each of them. The anti-magic element stood in one, Melody and Verse in their own, and the four souls in the rest. "Did we miss anything?"

"I don't think so. Double-check the Corporeal Arc just in case."

"It's fine." Verse squinted at a diagram a short distance away. "Manifestation equation?"

"Erm, I got forty-nine… That sound right to you?"

"Yeah, considering those four don't have bodies."

"Alright." Lily looked around once more, thankful they would finally be leaving this dark, bleak valley filled with nothingness. "Let's do it."

"We're going to need just a bit more energy. You're still stealing from Twilight, right?" Verse looked at the anti-element, who nodded solemnly.

"As you said, I'm not stopping until we arrive and explain what's happening. We should hurry, though… I sense something is wrong."

"I'm right there with you." Melody grimaced. There was a flavor of desperation to Twilight's magic. Panic. Fear. It left an oily sensation behind, one that had Melody's heart racing. "Verse? You ready?"

"Mavericks. That's what mom used to call us, remember?"

"'Mavericks in the field of emergent changeling casting.' I'm sure that was Ephemira as much as it was Twilight."

"Alright, then. First non-deities to cast a multiple-party teleportation array."

"Heavens help us all."

"Should I be concerned?" The anti-element frowned. Verse and Melody shared a look before the both shrugged and said in unison,

"Probably."

The light was blinding.

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"Woah! Captain, get over here!" The voice was jarring, and came to Melody as if from a great distance. Faint, and horribly distorted. Her eyes flickered open, revealing a cloudless sky, grass, and far-off buildings. Faint tremors reached her through the ground, accompanied by the pounding of boots. Her head was aching something fierce, making each shallow inhalation feel like someone was inflating a balloon inside of her skull.

And oh, how her legs hurt. She dragged a hand through the grass, putting her palm down and slowly pushing up. Just that small movement sent waves of pain radiating through her whole body, threatening to spill her meager lunch where she lay. The boots came closer, their voices mingling together confusedly.

"Hnn… Verse?" She asked, groping for her brother's body. He should have been close, right beside her…

Instead, she felt a wetness in the grass. A sticky, viscous fluid she was familiar with… But from where? What was it?

She pulled her hand in front of her face, and knew. She knew something had gone wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong.

She was looking at blood. And as she looked down at the reason her legs were hurting, she saw where it had come from. Where her feet had once been now sat two clean-shorn, bloody stumps, halfway between her ankle and her knee.

"Well that's unfortunate." The anti-element's voice reached her, sounding familiar, but different. Idly, she was aware of the boots all around them, bustling, moving about. Their voices spoke, but they were lost on her. Around her were five floating lights, the souls of the elements. Wait, five…? There had only been-

"We did mess up the manifestation arc." Melody whimpered, the pain intensifying to all-new levels. She wasn't aware of it, but the tears had begun, streaming down her cheeks as she blearily held one hand to her head. "We ripped your soul out of your body. Killed it. Oh, gods above, Verse. Verse!"

"Relax." One voice broke through them all, cutting into Melody's consciousness. She recognized the tinge of magic around it, the resonance of a powerful healing spell. She'd spoken to her own patients like this before. "You're badly wounded. Try not to move."

"Verse." She panicked, her chest heaving now. Against all instinct, she moved her leg, trying to crawl forward. The lancing shot of pain made her cry out, but she whimpered through grit teeth. "Verse, is he…"

"I'm sorry." The voice whispered into her ear. "Don't look…"

"Don't look? Look at wha-"

She saw them, then. Verse and the anti-element. Their bodies, or what had once been their bodies, laying a short distance away. The grass around them was matted with blood, and more of it flowed outwards.

Consciousness fled her, and she fell into the darkness.

----------

"Woah!" A lancing bolt of lavender energy erupted into existence, streaking through the room to crash into the far wall. Lily recoiled out of reflex, her serpentine body releasing Twilight. Another shot burst forth, tearing up the carpet as it dashed forth out of Twilight's hand. The blood-soaked bed beneath them groaned and cracked as it was blasted away.

"Magic's back!" Applejack burst through the door with Fluttershy on her arm. Rainbow Dash trailed, looking last. All three of them were buffeted with a blast of hot air as Twilight cast another impromptu spell, this one would have roasted Lily if she weren't in her naga form, already resistant to magic.

"Get out of here!" Lily roared, reaching out to grab Twilight's hands just as they turned up to her face. The next blast of energy nearly blew Twilight's own head off, but instead lanced into the ceiling, raining plaster and stone on their heads. Applejack wasted no time in shepherding the other four elements out of the room, even as Twilght's magic returned in force. Lily didn't let go of Twilight's wrists, deflecting the blasts of energy, absorbing what she could to spare the castle around them. Already, fires were starting, along with rampant storms of errant energy, crackling and arcing arcane bolts into the floor and walls around them.

"Shit. What happened?!" Lily grunted, holding Twilight's wrists as another jagged lavender bolt crashed into the room around them. All the while, Twilight was screaming, repeating three words:

"GET IT OUT!"

----------

The darkness was not absolute. It was actually somewhat familiar to Melody. In fact, the longer she stayed in it, the more it began to lighten, first into a dull grey, then into lighter and lighter shades until it wasn't a blackness that she had lost herself in, but a flat, white plane of existence. This, she knew. This, she was familiar with.

But with familiarity came realization, and she could not handle the loss.

"Verse." She cried onto the whiteness beneath her, her own blood a shock of red in the flat plane. Her legs were in agony, but that was nothing compared to the ache in her breast. She was alone here, with nobody to talk to, to stand back-to-back with. Crippled, bleeding, and alone, Melody laid on the flat white surface, her tears mingling with the ever-growing pool of blood.

Fatigue came then, a sort of deep tiredness that extended past her muscles and into her very soul. Melody felt drained and empty. Her skin was ashy and pale, almost a match for the bland white floor she lay upon. The three months sitting in the dark valley had robbed her of regular sunlight, and she'd lost the healthy tan she'd had. Not just that, but she no longer had her feet either.

Or her better half. Her brother, who had been with her all along.

"Verse. I'm so sorry. I… I should have double-checked. I should have known."

"There's no way you could have known." The voice was familiar to her, and shocked her out of her tears. With a gasp, Melody sat up, ignoring the agony in her legs, staring instead at the strange new man. His skin was jet-black, much like the carapace of a changeling, but his features and physique were all human in appearance. He had no hair that she could see, but Melody was looking at a picture-perfect rendition of a human, even down to the soft features and kind smile he had.

And he wasn't alone. Four other people stood in a semi-circle around him, two women and two men. They were new to her, but she knew them as well. Even now, bleeding and depressed as she was, Lily knew who these people were.

They were the anti-elements, direct opposites to her surrogate aunts and her mother. Still, the fact she was seeing them without Verse was a knife in her chest, and that knife throbbed painfully. She clutched at her chest, even as the tears began anew.

"He's gone."

"Not quite, child." One of the other four elements spoke, nodding to a spot behind her. Melody whirled, looking at the bleak white landscape, and seeing the same wisp she had seen the four anti-elements take on. This one was vibrant and healthy, throbbing in time with a heartbeat. It floated nearer to her, and Melody didn't have to touch it to know who it was.

"Verse."

"Heya, sis." His voice was warm and full of compassion and life. It throbbed in her chest, even as she reached out to embrace it. "Guess we fucked up pretty big this time, huh?"

"I guess so." Melody sniffed, cradling the ephemeral orb to her chest. "I killed you."

"Not quite." Verse murmured, his soul pressing closer to her chest. It felt warm, not unlike his skin did when they embraced. She closed her eyes and held that sensation close to her, even as he spoke again, quietly but intently. "My body sure has seen better days, but I actually saw… Well, Death. And his Mord. It's… complicated."

"Try me." Melody choked. She hadn't even been paying attention to the other five figures sharing this space with her. Right then, it was just her and Verse. And her brother's soul had grown quiet against her, still warm and intense, but almost as soft as a whisper.

"It's not over for us, Melody. We're the Children of Love. We can't be separated that easily, not when there's a task for us to accomplish."

"But you're dead. I… how can we…? I mean, you're here, and that's fine, but your body…"

"Who says I need a body to be a Child of Love?"

Lily watched, stunned, as her brother's soul sank into her chest.

----------

"Tighter! Stop the blood flow!"

"She's lost too much, we need a transfusion right away!"

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" A dozen voices swelled around her, and Melody was vaguely aware of the lancing pain still filling her legs. Her head wasn't hurting as badly anymore, but the agony remained. It was a distant feeling, not quite as intense as it had been upon arrival, but it was still there, and growing more and more insistent as she rose into the realm of the wakening.

"Captain, she's waking up…"

"Then put her out! She's gonna go into shock if she feels all this pain!"

"Captain!" A new voice entered into the fray, urgent and loud. "It's Twilight Sparkle! She's gone mad, blasting the castle! The changeling queen Lily's got her restrained as best she can, but…"

"What?!" A pair of hands left Lily's legs, and in their absence the pain flared to life. "Lieutenant, take over here. Make sure she lives, so we can question her! And get rid of those damn lights!"

"I-I can't!" Someone elsewhere complained. "They're like those old wives' tales… The Will O' The Wisp, or whatever they're called."

Slowly, Lily opened her eyes. She was laying on her back on the lawn still, in a pool of blood. Her legs still throbbed agonizingly, but she was fighting through the pain. Around her, five lights danced, though their voices were lost among the commotion if anything else. And yet, inside of her, she could hear Verse. He was in her mind, a whisper, but much more clear and present than the multitude of sounds assaulting them.

'Huh, so this is what it's like inside you. Man, sure is empty.'

‘Shut up.' She thought at herself, grimacing. 'Only you would die, and have the presence of mind to insult the new body you're in.'

‘At least I HAVE a presence of mind. Death said it wasn't my time, even though I wouldn't have a body to call my own anymore. Looks like I have to share this one with you.'

‘Do me a favor, and don't go touching me all over, like you haven't touched a girl before.'

‘Oh ha ha. Gotta say, though, I could do without this memory of Faith.'

That sent a fresh wave of agony through her, shocking and painful all at once. She hadn't thought of Faith Reigard in ages, at least since they had returned to Southbay from their home in the jungle. Apparently Verse had access to all that, though. While Melody was close to her brother, she wasn't sure she wanted to be that close to him. Indeed, the moment she thought about it, his memories leapt into her mind, almost as if she had been the one living them.

In a manner, she really had been.

'This is going to take some getting used to.'

‘You can say that again. Man, we really did a number on ourselves… This hurts!'

‘Oh, good, you can feel the things I feel.'

‘Menstruation is going to be a bitch.'

Against all odds, Melody laughed. Not a chuckle in her mind, or an inward smirk, no, Melody actually, physically laughed.

"The fuck?" The people around her were taken aback. Understandably, as Melody sat up, her hands glowing and her lips spread in a grin.

"C'mon, Verse, we can beat this." She grunted between pained giggles. She must have looked like a nightmare, rising up despite having amputated both of her feet, soaked in blood and laughing of all things. "We've revived gods, become them in some situations… Fought a wendigo, survived changelings and loneliness… Fuck, one of us just died."

"The hell is she talking about?!" The soldiers backed up, their hands leaving her skin. Blood began to flow anew, adding to the pool around her. Melody just leaned forwards, her glowing hands resting on her calves where they had been sheared off.

"Come on, Verse." She grimaced, her magic glowing densely.

"Together, we can do anything."

----------

"Ugh." Lily grunted as she was finally, irrevocably pushed off of Twilight. Her strength was flagging, and it seemed Twilight had finally managed to use Ephemira's knowledge to work around the naga's innate magical resistance. The prolonged fight had taken too much out of either of them. Twilight's face was still bloodied and halfway mangled, and she had broken more than a few bones in her arms and legs trying to fight against the naga.

At least she wasn't attempting to kill herself anymore. But she seemed to be in utter disregard for her person as she flung herself at Lily, snarling with primal rage as her magic leapt to life.

"Oh no you don't!" Rainbow Dash shot in from the hall, lancing into the space between the two and tackling Twilight to the side. The blast of magic discharged into the air, stunning all three people, but doing no damage that could be seen. Rainbow Dash landed roughly, skidding across the ruined floor towards a collapsed book shelf. Fluttershy flew after her, worry and concern painted on her features. Twilight hadn't given up, though. She rose from the floor, her leg bent at an odd angle, and blood pouring off of her chin.

"Get. It. Out." She hissed, glaring at Lily. Gone was her strength, and Lily shifted back into her human form, cut and bruised several times over.

"Twilight, please." Lily pleaded, standing on wobbly legs. She opened her arms, tears streaming down her face. "It's me."

"OUT!"

----------

"Ow."

'Shut up, it's not that bad.'

"The hell it isn't! Ow!" Melody limped up the castle drive, moving towards the shuddering impacts of magic detonating. The five wisps followed her, the souls looking dim and weak in the aftermath of the teleportation. As near as she could tell, they had arrived intact. It was only their physical bodies that had been damaged in the teleportation, ripping the soul out of Twilight's counterpart, killing Verse, and crippling Melody.

"Ow." She and Verse had managed to use their newly combined reasoning to stop the blood flow and return some of her strength to her. To top it all off, she had regrown a new pair of feet, though they were imperfect and clubbed, and sent lancing pain up her legs with each step. Still, she hobbled towards the castle, having ordered the guards to rush ahead and do what they could to subdue Twilight and the others. One guard stayed with them, looking worriedly at the woman muttering to herself.

'We're almost there, mom.'

"Just hold on a little bit longer."

Melody limped up the front steps of the castle, trailing five lost souls and one very confused guard.