Pristine Melody felt so terrible about what she had done. She never stooped to the level of stupidity that made her believe she was innocent, nor was she unaware of Turq’s…unwell demeanor lately. However, she most definitely could be blissfully indifferent. She needed to buck up like a mare should and apologize, be honest to others like her Ma taught her and true to herself like Mum told her.
 
So she made her way to the rock farm with her tail between her legs. She began to worry though; what if Turq didn’t forgive her? She done a terrible, awful thing, playing with her emotions like that. Not to mention…what if Turq wasn’t…around to forgive her?
 
She didn’t want to think about such a horrible possibility. Hopefully it hadn’t gone that far. Hopefully she could apologize and everything would be okay…but even if it hadn’t come to that, it was still wishful thinking. Nonetheless, she stepped up to the entrance, taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.
 
“Coming!”
 
The door opened to reveal the familiar blue mare she was looking for. Turquoise Edge looked…better than she’d expected. She looked pretty well put-together and even her signature bun was in its usual place, if a bit more stylized. And tucked under her wing was a foal…Holly’s foal! He had been born and Mel didn’t know?
 
Turq’s eyes widened upon opening the door. “Mel?” She quickly cleared her throat as if to hide her surprise. “Uh…hey.”
 
Mel’s gaze darted from the foal to her ex-wife and back again, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping slowly. She was half-shocked to see Turq doing so well, and half-surprised to realize that she hadn’t been told about the birth of her grandchild. However, she tried to keep calm and collected for now.
 
“Oh yes. I came to talk to you, but…”
 
She bent down to the foal’s eye level, her hoof tickling underneath his chin which caused him to sweetly giggle.
 
“Who’s this sweet bumpkin?”
 
Turq cracked a smile. “This is Oleander, Ollie for short. M…our grandson, born just five days ago. Do you…want to hold him?” She opened up her wing, holding the baby out to Mel.
 
Since Turq had to move backwards to hold him out, Mel took this as an invitation to come inside. So she took the baby in her foreleg and trotted into the house. She instantly spotted Holly and Candy and felt sweat forming on her brow, so she focused all her attention on Turq and the baby.
 
“Girls…this cutie patootie is so precious, how come nobody told me about him?”
 
“Well…” Candy began, avoiding eye contact.
 
“We were planning to. But we figured you were too busy with ‘Quilly’ to come right away, so we figured we should wait till y’all settled into your dream home. Didn’t want to intrude.” Holly said this in a calm, neutral manner, yet her words were as biting as if she’d spat them out contemptuously.
 
Mel shook at the knees as her daughter’s words sunk in, but she sighed deeply and glared at Holly.
 
“He’s my husband, and I’m happy with him. You should know I still love you. My children come before any stallion or…mare.”
 
She didnt exactly read her daughter’s words correctly at first; she spoke with the same tone in her voice as Holly. She had definitely gotten her poker face skills from somewhere.
 
Holly’s eyes quickly glanced over at Turq, then back to Mel, raising an eyebrow.
 
“Sure, Mum. If you say so. Now, Candy and I are gonna let you two…work stuff out.”
 
She wrapped a foreleg around a nervous-looking Candy and led her out, leaving Mel and Turq alone together.
 
The earth pony rolled her eyes and turned back to Turq, her lips quivering as she now realized it was time for a much more serious discussion. Her expression almost melted back to the worrisome one that it was when she entered.
 
“So, it’s been awhile…”
 
Turq lifted her gaze up from their grandchild, looking Mel in the eye for the first time since she’d arrived. “Yeah…it has.”
 
“I’ve been meaning to come talk to you. I was just rummaging around the attic the other day and I came across some tapes. There was the tape of the concert; you remember which one I’m talking about, right?”
 
“The concert…” Turq’s pupils shrank in immediate recognition. “Yeah, I remember it. It was after we got engaged, when you sang…that song.” She cringed as the words fell from her mouth.
 
“The one I sang with Quilly the day y’all met,” Mel continued. “I had forgotten who I wrote the song for in the first place, it was awful of me to do that. I feel like three wheels short of an apple cart…”
 
Turq suddenly flinched as if she’d been slapped. “You forgot?”
 
“I know, I know how terrible that sounds, and I’m sorry. A thousand moons, I’m sorry.”
 
Mel mumbled under her breath, staring down at the foal in her arms. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she observed the best thing to come out of this whole terrible situation, her grandson. Through all the heartbreak and sorrow, he made it. The little angel.
 
She was brought back to the situation at hoof as Turq drew a shaking breath.
 
“It hurt, Mel. It really did. I can’t believe you did that. And with all the other shit that was going on in my life, it was just another thing to put me through hell. I lost everything, and just when I was trying to apologize you had to do that…” Mel could swear Turq was choking up as she spoke.
 
It was just as she had feared. There was no way in Tartarus that Turq could forgive her now, there was nothing she could say or do. The tears began to fall hard and fast, droplets falling onto the head of the sleeping Oleander.
 
“Turquoise, Ah…there’s no way to heal this. Ah know.”
 
Turq kept her eyes shut, shaking ever so slightly with her head silently bowed. “It was hell…”
 
Mel shook her head at herself. How could she think she could be forgiven for something so terrible? She held the baby out for Turq to take. “I better go.”
 
“But we can’t leave things like this. Not again.”
 
Turq looked back up at Mel, placing her hooves on hers and pushing back until Ollie was snuggled into her chest again.
 
“Yes, you hurt me. I hurt you too. We both fucked up, but it’s not gonna get any better if we just keep leaving each other with loose ends and painful memories. It’s not good for us, it’s not good for the girls, it’s not good for him.” She looked down at the sleeping baby. “It’s not gonna be how it used to be, but what I wanted to do back was make peace. And that’s what I still want right now.”
 
Mel held Ollie tightly and couldn’t help but smile, the tears of fear and sorrow becoming tears of joy.
 
“From now on, it’ll be a fresh start. For all of us. Deal?”
 
Turq smiled back at her, more genuinely than she’d seen in a long time.
 
”Deal. Here’s to a fresh start.”