As I walked over to the bed, I paused and watched Melody's chest go up and down with the pattern of her breathing. She looked so peaceful, but I had to wake her up because the carriage I had arranged was waiting for us outside. I leaned over and nuzzled her face. She moaned as she stretched and turned to face me. Her eyes were half open and her mane was messy.

"Good morning sleepy head." I told her softly. She rolled out of the bed and stood, giving me a quick kiss before running into the bathroom. Weird. I thought to myself. She hadn't said a word to me.

I had woken up earlier to get ready, so I flew up to my bed and stared at the ceiling. I started to wonder what it was that mom wanted to give me. Was it a new tag for my necklace? Or a new jacket? Something didn't feel right to me, but it was mom so I was certain everything was fine.

Melody walked out of the bathroom and stared at me.

"What?" I asked her.

"Your eyes." She said.

"My eyes? What about my eyes?"

"Look in the mirror."

I walked into the bathroom and stared at my reflection. She was right. Something happened to my eyes. The gold that used to stare back at me had changed colors. And not a little change, a huge one. My eyes had turned gray. I jumped, and hit the wall behind me. I slumped to the floor and stared at my hooves for a minute before getting up and running out into the room.

"Come on, we gotta go." I told her.

She stared at me and walked out with her bag. I followed her and we walked downstairs, only to be met by the carriage outside. I put my bag in, grabbed Melody's and jumped into the carraige. Melody stepped inside and sat across from me, staring.

"I thought you'd be a little more worried Feather. Eyes don't normally change like that." She told me.

"I am worried. But my mom is expecting us, and we have to go."

"What if it's serious though?"

"It's not serious. Plus, I have a feeling that if anyone knows what's going on, it'll be Zecora."

When we arrived, I saw mom waiting outside for us.

"Melody, could you do me a favor?" I asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Keep my mom busy while I go see Zecora. Tell her I'm picking something up from town."

Before she could respond, I was already flying off towards the everfree forest.

"I'M WHAT?!" I yelled at Zecora.

"You're sick, very much so. This caused your eyes to lose their yellow." She told me. I loved the way she rhymed her sentences, but I was panicking too much to smile. I'd never really gotten sick before so I didn't know what was happening.

"What's wrong with me?"

"You've pushed yourself way too far. Too far even for an athlete, as you are."

"I'm just tired? That isn't sick!"

"You're not tired, as you say. You pushed too far in a different way."

"What?"

"Our peace of mind keeps us sane, but recent events have caused you pain."

"I'm stressed?"

"No. If you don't fix that which troubles you, the one you love will disappear, as will you. This is a result of a powerful spell. One that is secret, and guarded well. You can survive this, however, if you and the mare known as Melody are together."

Then it hit me. I knew what I had to do. I rushed out the door and headed for home.

Note: Hey guys! I'm sorry this chapter took so long! I've been really busy and writing got pushed to the side for a while. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Zecora will most likely never appear again because its really hard to write sentences that rhyme and also make sense. I'm still accepting ocs so if you have an oc, shoot me a pm. I have a new rule that you can only submit one oc, unless I ask for a specific type of oc from someone. I'm compiling a list of all the current oc submissions to try and be better organized so I may contact some people about details of their ocs.

~featherdash