Helen of Troy Ranch

Forward:

Hello, readers! This is the first fan-fiction I have ever written, but I've written other things before so it's not like I have no concept of grammar or plot or something else ludicrous like that. (BTW ludicrous is my favorite word!) It seems most everyone else has a disclaimer, so I will too. I don't own harvest moon or any of its characters, however, Helen is indeed an original character. I also do not own the Greek myth about Helen of Troy. (Whew. Glad that's over.) Since it is "Magical Melody" I will have Fun Facts about music at the end of each chapter, just for fun. I do have a few things to say about what I have done with this story.

I have changed a few things to make it more realistic. For instance, I've made things like the land bigger, Helen starts with five acres of land, which is still very small for a ranch. I hated how everyone was kind of fat in the game, it was cute, but they will have realistic bodies and I will describe people. I've set the time for the technology around 1900-1910-ish, maybe a little earlier, but that's just for the technology, the fashion and attitudes are the same as in the game. So they all have old fashioned telephones, but the only person with a car is Theodore, and everyone else has wagons. In retrospect, I suppose these are all very normal things to do.

I wont keep you from your reading pleasures any longer. Enjoy the prologue!

Prologue: New Beginning

She sat alone on the train, watching scenery of hills and trees go by through the window. She was leaving everything behind, but it would be better this way. She was on her way to Flower Bud Village to start a Ranch. In the letter they called it the "Exciting Ranch Plan". She suspected it was really just the mayor trying to expand the village, but she was never one to argue with gimmicks.

Soon it was her stop and she walked out into the evening light. The way the sun hit her brown curls made them look like gold. She had to shade her green eyes to see. Directions in hand and rucksack over her shoulder, she made her way down the dirt road and soon found the town square. She could see lights in the surrounding shops, but not a soul in sight.

She looked at her letter again, and it clearly stated to meet the mayor in the town square. When she looked up, sure enough, there was a car headed straight towards her. It was the only car in the village. The driver was a mustached man in a red suit and a top hat, and he stopped the car right in front of her.

"Well, howdy there! It's good of you to come." The man said as he hopped out of the car. "I'm Theodore, the mayor of this village. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." She replied as they shook hands. "That's a very nice automobile you have."

"Well, thank you. It's one of the perks of being a mayor in these days. I really think these automobiles are going to catch on with people very soon. They're quite handy, and much faster than wagons." His mustache seemed to dance while he talked, and it was very hard for Helen not to laugh. "What's your name again? Oh yes, it's Helen, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"I'd like to register your ranch, so please pick a name for your place."

"Troy Ranch."

Theodore let out a little chuckle. "Like the Greek Helen of Troy?" Helen nodded. "Uh-huh. That's a good name. She caused quite a bit of trouble. Ten years of war all because she was so beautiful. You are too. The young men will be fighting over you, hopefully not as bad as it was in the story though."

"Thank you."

"It's already late today, and you probably need to unpack. I'll show you to your house."

"Thank you." Theodore opened the car door for her and she climbed in. On the way there Theodore talked more about the village, about his daughter, about the weather; he talked enough that Helen didn't need to say much. She noticed a large ranch as they were passing by that turned out to be right across the road from her little one. She was starting out small for a ranch, with only five acres of land. The one across the road looked to be about fifteen or twenty. Theodore dropped her off at the house, and wished her the best of luck as he drove away.

It is an understatement to say that the house was small. It was teeny. A one room cottage, unless you count the bathroom, then it was two. It had been previously lived in so there was already some furniture there, and most of it was in a good spot. Helen had sent most of her belongings ahead of her, so she only needed to unpack a few boxes before she was finished. It was late before she finally did, and she was too tired to even write in her diary; she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"People forget how to appreciate. . . they forgot kind thoughts. . . the heart to believe. . . the heart to love. . . and my existence." It was a woman speaking, the most beautiful woman Helen had seen. She was speaking to three little people, sprites. Helen realized that she could see them, but they couldn't see her. "Goodbye everyone." And with that, the beautiful woman turned to stone. The sprites started crying, and an angry looking man ran in. When the man saw that the woman had turned to stone his angry expression changed into one of pain and sorrow. . .

Helen sat up straight in the bed, her eyes open wide. She relaxed when she realized it was a dream. 'What a strange dream. It seemed so real.' She thought.

The sun was about to rise, so she got out of bed and tried to shake the feeling off. She ate an apple for a quick breakfast and got ready for the rest of her day. She looked in the mirror and decided she approved of her image. She truly lived up to being the namesake of Helen of Troy; she was beautiful. She was tall for a woman, about 5'7", she was fair skinned, and she had a curvy body. She was wearing denim shorts and a tight white t-shirt with a pink vest. Her hair was in one loose braid that went just below her shoulders.

She was walking out of the bathroom when she heard a noise from outside her door. She went to open it and what she found nearly gave her a heart attack.

It was the three sprites from her dream.

She slammed the door shut and leaned her back against it, breathing heavily. Surely it couldn't really have been sprites? She decided she must just be tired from staying up late and waking up early. She slowly opened the door just a crack and peeked out, but they were still there.

"Oh my go- They're real!" She exclaimed.

Suddenly they all looked just as shocked as she was. "What? You can see us?" Asked the one in red.

"Um. . . Yes?" Helen could hardly believe this was really happening.

"It's been awhile since someone could see us." Said the one in blue.

The one in yellow gasped; he had an idea. "Since you can see us, I have a favor to ask."

Helen opened the door a little more and stepped so she was standing in the doorway. "Oh. Um. . . What kind of favor?" She was almost afraid to know.

"Come with us!" They all jumped excitedly and Helen had no choice but to say yes.

Since it was six in the morning none of the other villagers were around to see her as the sprites led her out of the village. On the way she learned their names. The one in red was Arthur, the one in blue was Billy, and the one in yellow was Carlos. They led her through the woods to a calm, dark spring, and there before her stood the stone woman from her dream.

"That's the harvest goddess, but something has happened to her." Said Arthur.

"She turned into stone one year ago and has been that way since." Billy said gravely.

Carlos couldn't hold it in any longer. "Please! I want you to return the harvest goddess to her former self!" He blurted.

"Me?!" Helen still wasn't sure if she had actually woken up from her dream. "What can I do? I'm just a farmer!"

"You can do it!" Said Arthur. "A lot of notes are needed to return the harvest goddess to her former self."

"We want you to collect a lot of notes!" Said Billy.

"Notes? How do I even do that? What IS it?"

"They're bits of magic that feel a lot like music does, and when they come together they can even create music." Explained Arthur. "They are created when special things happen."

Helen was about to ask another question when she was interrupted by a voice from behind her. "I guess you found another person who can see you, huh?" They all turned and saw that it was the angry man from her dream. His purple eyes still looked angry. He was an average height, he looked very strong and had tan skin like he worked outside all day, and he had purple hair to match his eyes. "Give up already."

"Jamie! We can all find notes together!" Exclaimed Arthur.

"Stop bugging me!" Jamie looked as if his glare could melt the skin off the sprites. "I don't wanna be with you guys! She got that way because of humans in the first place. . ."

"But the harvest goddess told us to get along with people." Said Billy.

Jamie turned away. "You guys can do whatever you want to do. I'm the one who will rescue her, you'll see." And with a "Humph." he walked away.

"He'll come around. We'll all try to help you." "Helen, do your best! Don't mind Jamie for now." "If you do a lot of things, you'll get a lot of notes!" The sprites all spoke at once.

Helen didn't really know what to do. It was a lot to take in at once. She started to turn to go. "I guess I'll try."

At that moment she stopped. She could feel something in her heart. It was the First Step note. A warmth was there and she could almost hear a faint whisper: 'It is difficult to take the first step no matter what you are doing.'

The three sprites gasped. "It looks like you already picked up a note." Said Arthur.

"So you can get different notes like this." Said Billy.

"When you get more they make Magical Melodies. You should come back here when you get five." Said Carlos.

They all wished her good luck, and she headed back to her ranch. When she got back it was only about 6:30 in the morning. When she reached her home there was one more surprise waiting for her.

A pretty, young woman holding a puppy was about to knock on her door. She was fair skinned and short, only coming up to Helen's chin, and she was fairly thin. She had short, mouse brown hair and brown eyes to match. She was wearing a yellow dress and a white apron.

"Did you need me for something?"

The woman turned around, startled. "Oh! Hello. You are the one starting this ranch, right?"

"Yes, I'm Helen."

"Name stealer!" She giggled. "Well, sort of. I'm Ellen, and we also run a ranch. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

"I know this is sudden, but I have a favor to ask."

Inside Helen's head she thought that she had promised enough favors today. "What kind of favor?"

"This dog was born on our farm. Would you mind keeping it? The dog would be much happier here with you than alone on our farm."

Helen's previous thought vanished. "Oh! Of course. He's so cute!" Ellen handed the dog to Helen, and he barked, causing both women to giggle.

"Thank you! Why don't you name this little puppy?"

Helen thought for a moment and decided on the perfect name. "Zeus. His name will be Zeus."

"Oh, isn't that great, Zeus?" Ellen spoke to the dog. "You will be treated well." She looked back up to Helen's face. "Bye, now. If you want we can hang out sometime at our Blue Sky Ranch. It's just across the road." That was the bigger ranch that Helen remembered from the ride home last night.

"Sure, that'd be great." Ellen turned and started walking back to her ranch, and Helen took her dog into the house.

It was only about 6:35 on her first day there. Helen now had a new house, a new job, a new pet, oh, and a new spiritual quest to save a goddess. What else would Flower Bud Village bring her?

What a setup, huh? Complete with foreshadowing. Personally, I usually don't like beginnings too much because they are nowhere near as interesting as middles; and I have some very interesting ideas for the middles of this story. Oh, and the romance part of the story will kick in during Chapter One. And now for the longest fun fact in the universe, let alone this story.

MUSIC FUN FACT: How to read music with note names.

Reading music is a lot like reading a graph in math. As you go from left to right the time goes on, and as you go up and down the pitch goes higher and lower. There are two main "clefs" that change how you read it. Treble Clef is higher and is usually what girls sing. Bass Clef is lower and is usually what men sing.

In Treble Clef (starting from the bottom) the first line is E, the next space is F, the next line is G, the next space is A, the next line is B, the next space is C, the next line is D, the next space is E, and the last line is F. An easy way to remember is the spaces spell FACE, and the lines spell EGBDF (Every Good Boy Does Fine).

In Bass Clef (starting from the bottom again) the first line is G, the next space is A, the next line is B, the next space is C, the next line is D, the next space is E, the next line is F, the next G, and the last line is A. An easy way to remember this is all the spaces spell ACEG (All Cows Eat Grass), and the lines spell GBDFA (Good Boys Do Fine Always).

The very last thing to complete this chapter's (well, prologue's) Fun Fact is sharps and flats. A sharp looks like # and it raises the note half of a step. A flat looks like b and it lowers the note half of a step. This way you get a note in between all of the other notes. (Except between E&F and B&C. Those are the only notes that do not have half steps in between them.)

That is the longest Fun Fact I will ever, ever write. Chapter one coming soon!