“Pelly?”

Acapella peeked her head out of her covers, her ears perking up at the sound of her wife’s voice. “Opie? Wh-what do you want?”

Fire Opal gently tapped at the door, as she always did when she was trying not to scare her. “Pelly, you’ve been in there for days. That’s not good. Can you please come out?”

“No! I cant leave the house without being ravaged by paparazzi! Why should I even leave my room?!” Pelly whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks once again.

“You can’t stay in there forever, Pelly! Can I at least come in?”

“Fine! But youre not gonna convince me to come out!” Pelly arose from her bed and allowed her wife to come in, where the pair proceeded to have a long, deep conversation about what happened between her and her sister.

*****

Opal told Pelly they were going on a date. She didn’t expect to find herself at a concert, surrounded by the paparazzi who had harassed her for so long. Since her sister told them everything.

“Opie!” She exclaimed, hiding behind her. “Why did you drag me here!?”

The dragon had the widest grin she could muster on her face as she watched the lights dim. With a wave of the wing, she swiftly placed Pelly on her back so she could have a clear view of the stage.

Suddenly…Mistress Melodious stepped out in a simple natural sundress, and no makeup at all.

“You can be amazing

You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug

You can be the outcast

Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love

Or you can start speaking up

Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do

When they settle ‘neath your skin

Kept on the inside and no sunlight

Sometimes a shadow wins

But I wonder what would happen if you

Say what you wanna say

And let the words fall out

Honestly, I wanna see you be brave!”

Pelly was frozen, but not out of fear. Not entirely. She felt all eyes on her and her heart began to race, but the resentment she had held towards her sister seemed to melt away. What Mel had done was awful, nobody could deny that, but…she couldn’t stay mad at her sister. Especially not now. Mel had really put in all this work to write a song for her. She had stripped down in the public eye, all for her. Pelly couldn’t help but feel touched. Tears began to well up in her eyes…happy tears this time.

Mel followed through with the rest of the song all the while keeping eye contact with her little sister. Once it was all over, she walked to the edge of the stage. Reaching out a hoof fight for little sister up on stage with her, a content smile stretched across her face.

Pelly smiled, sincerely, grabbing Mel’s hoof and pulling herself up on stage. Crowds were screaming and bright lights on her, but that didn’t matter so much right now. Her sister was right, she did have to be just a little bit brave.