Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pored through Zecora's book in the middle of Ponyville as they waited for Scootaloo to return. Scootaloo had decided to get a few supplies for the day and meet them right where they were absorbing every bit of information the book had to offer. The two fillies looked up as they heard their friend approaching on her scooter. The wagon trailed behind her and contained snacks, refreshments, and three shovels in case they'd need to dig anything up. Scootaloo skidded to a stop and hopped off her ride, a sly smile on her face.
"Are we ready, ladies?" she asked as she sauntered up to her friends.
"Pretty much," Sweetie Belle said, suddenly looking at Scootaloo oddly. "Where'd you get the hat?"
Scootaloo looked up at the beaten-up brown fedora that sat on her head. "Cool, huh? I thought it'd be a nice touch."
"It's, uh…" Sweetie Belle tried to find decently tactful words to describe how ridiculous she thought Scootaloo looked in the hat, but thankfully Apple Bloom stepped between them while putting the book into her saddle bags.
"Daylight's burnin', girls," Bloom told them. "We gotta find the pieces to that key an' get to the temple pronto."
"Right on," Scootaloo said eagerly. "So where do we start?"
"Accordin' to Zecora's book, the pieces of the key were scattered all over Ponyville," Bloom said as she recalled what the book said. "Zecora couldn't figure out exactly where the pieces were, but she did write down a buncha clues she found about 'em."
"What's the first clue?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"There were a buncha drawings of horses an' music notes an' somethin' spinnin' 'round an' round," Bloom told her.
"Sounds like one of the rides at the Annual Ponyville Harvest Fair," Scootaloo said. "But that's not for months! We can't wait that long."
"A ride at the fair…" Sweetie Belle said, pondering the clue. "That goes around and around with music and horses…"
"A merry-go-round!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, putting it together. "But Ponyville doesn't have a merry-go-round."
"Yes it does!" Sweetie Belle said as her eyes shot wide. "Come with me guys!"
"Where are we going?" Scootaloo asked as she and Apple Bloom quickly followed the unicorn filly.
"Back to my house," Sweetie Belle told them, grinning wildly. "Another word for a merry-go-round is a carousel!"
"Carousel Boutique!" both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo said together as they realized what Sweetie meant.
The run from town square to the boutique didn't take long, but just before the trio went bursting inside Sweetie Belle stopped short of the door and got her friends to skid to a halt as well.
"Sweetie Belle, what's with the hold up?" Scootaloo asked impatiently.
"My sister's hard at work inside and I don't wanna disturb her," Sweetie told her. "Plus, do you really want to try and explain to her what we're doing today?"
"She's got a point, Scoot," Apple Bloom added. "The less folks know 'bout this, the better."
"Alright, I get it," Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. "Let's just get in there and find this piece of the key."
Sweetie Belle nodded and carefully opened the door for her friends. She closed it behind them and ushered her friends through the showroom and up the stairs. They stopped again as they peered into Rarity's room and saw the unicorn fashionista staring intently at a dress that she was hemming on one of her dress stands. Sweetie Belle motioned to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to continue up the stairs to her room. Once her friends were gone upstairs, Sweetie took one more look at her sister before turning to head upstairs.
"Sweetie Belle, is that you dear?" Rarity called out without looking around. Sweetie cringed as she'd been discovered. Rarity always did have rather good hearing.
"I was just stopping back for a couple of things from my room," Sweetie said as she hesitantly entered Rarity's room. "I didn't want to disturb you, sis."
"Thank you for the thought, Sweetie," Rarity said, abandoning her work for the moment to face her sister. "Most days I do appreciate peace and quiet to work, but this is one of those days that the silence is a bit maddening. Do you suppose you could sing a little something for me?"
"Right now?" Sweetie asked nervously as she quickly cast her eyes to the doorway. "I'm kind of in a hurry, sis…"
"Oh just one song, please?" Rarity pleaded. "Then I promise I'll let you get back to your friends."
Sweetie Belle bit her lip as she considered her choices. Running away in a panic was always an option, but while it was usually an attractive one she nonetheless felt compelled to comply with her sister's request. It wasn't often she was actually asked to sing for anyone, especially Rarity. She made a silent and quick wish that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo weren't trashing her room too badly looking for the key fragment as she searched her memory for a song to sing.
She looked at Rarity who watched her hopefully and then looked around the room at all the fabrics, thread, and other tools of the trade her seamstress sister used. For just a moment it made her think of their parents' and grandparents' homeland. While she and Rarity had been born and raised in Ponyville, their parents and grandparents were originally from an island just north of Equestia called Emerald Isle. The ponies there had a unique culture and a rich tradition of folksongs, many of which Sweetie Belle had learned from one of their grandmothers. Sweetie Belle and Rarity had never actually been there, but through the many stories told and songs sung to them by their grandparents they knew quite a bit about it and were both thoroughly enchanted with it.
All at once she knew which song to sing. It was a song that one of their grandmothers who had long since passed away had sung to them both when they were little. It wasn't a particularly happy song, but it had a special place in their hearts. She set the tempo of the song in her head, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and began to sing a soothing yet bittersweet song of a town in decline.
"At the east end of our town at the foot of the hill, there's a chimney so tall that reads Bridlefast Mill.
But there's no smoke at all coming out of the stack, 'cause the mill has shut down and it's never coming back.
Bridlefast is a city built on factory and mill. Though her heart has been broken, she's a mill town still.
The Lunar, the Celestian, we all could work the flax, and we clothed the world in linen from beneath those old smokestacks.
And the only tune I hear is the sound of the wind as she moans through the town, 'weave and spin, weave and spin.'"
Rarity found herself already tearing up as the song was one of her favorites. She levitated her glasses off of her face and sat down near Sweetie Belle, closing her eyes to let her imagination take her away as the song continued.
"Clonard, Rosses', Greeveses', the great mills are no more. The Pound and the Milewater have shut down and closed their doors. There are no children playing in our wee, dark narrow street. Now the mills have all closed, it's so quiet I can't sleep.
I was a hackler in Campbell's 'twas the only job I know. So what will I do now? Tell me, where can I go?
I'm too old to find new work and I'm too young to die. So we'll just live off our pensions, my dear stallion and I.
And the only tune I hear is the sound of the wind as she moans through the town, 'weave and spin, weave and spin.'"
For her part, Sweetie Belle felt her own emotions stirring as she sang. She missed their grandmother who had taught her not just this song but many others. She kept her composure, though, knowing that she had to finish it to properly pay her tribute.
"Now the doffers are all gone, no weavers at their looms; the singing of the spinners is an echo in a tomb. No more laughing mares going home with their friends. No more we'll hear the doffing mistress cry 'lay up your ends!'
Hacklers, tanters, band-tiers – workers from the past. Warpers, winders, reelers, spreaders, nothing ever lasts. Work is here for a day or two, then the next day it is gone. So you do your job as best you can, and the world goes on and on.
And the only tune I hear is the sound of the wind as she moans through the town, 'weave and spin, weave and spin.'
And the only tune I hear is the sound of the wind as she moans through the town, 'weave and spin, weave and spin.'"
With her song finished, Sweetie Belle opened her eyes again to see one of the rarest sights she'd ever seen. Rarity stood back up and smiled at her, but with obvious tears still running down her face.
"That was one of Grandma Aubrieta's songs…wasn't it?" Rarity asked, her voice quivering lightly. Sweetie Belle just nodded quietly. Grandma Aubrieta had been dear to them both, but especially to Rarity. She not only had taught Sweetie Belle the song, but it was also she who'd inspired Rarity to become a seamstress in the first place with her stories of the finest cloth and textiles in the world that once had come from Emerald Isle. Rarity stepped over to her sister, sat down next to her and nuzzled her affectionately.
"She would have loved to hear you sing that song, Sweetie," Rarity told her. "You have an incredible gift in your voice. Don't be afraid to share it someday. I would hate to think I'm the only one in the world who gets to enjoy your songs."
"I'll, uh, keep it in mind," Sweetie Belle said hesitantly. The very idea of singing in front of anyone other than her sister or her friends scared her to death, but she nonetheless appreciated the praise Rarity had given her.
"Well, I've kept you from your activities for the day for long enough I suppose," Rarity said as she stood back up. "Oh by the way, Sweetie, I found this odd thing as I was going through one of my boxes of gems earlier today. Is it one of your toys?"
Rarity levitated something that looked like a large slice of pie but flat, made of bronze and with part of a symbol on it that Sweetie Belle recognized as being part of the insignia of The Colts Templar. She stifled a gasp and nodded vigorously at her sister.
"Ah, well do try to keep your toys out of my jewels please," Rarity told her as she levitated the piece slowly over to her sister. "That is unless you want one of them to end up as part of somepony ensemble someday. You know how I get when I'm in the zone, after all."
"Yeah, like the time you sewed two of my dolls into that robe you made for Bon Bon," Sweetie commented, recalling the scene that had caused. Lyra had gotten a good laugh out of it, but Bon Bon had been furious at Rarity, which in turn had led to Rarity being furious at Sweetie Belle.
"You had to bring that particular incident up, didn't you?" Rarity said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Anyway, do run along. I imagine Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are simply dying of boredom waiting for you."
Sweetie Belle thanked her sister again quickly before grabbing the floating key fragment in her mouth. She rushed upstairs to find her friends almost ready to begin ripping her pillows apart as they'd already ransacked the rest of it. The state of her room almost didn't matter to her, though. She dropped the key fragment at their feet and smiled brightly as she proudly pronounced,
"One down, two to go!"
Next Chapter Preview: The clues to the first key fragment may have been simply to figure out, but it only gets harder from here. Where will the next piece of the key be found?
Author's Note: I'm quite a fan of an Irish singer names Seamus Kennedy, so when I got to thinking about a song to use for Sweetie Belle I immediately went to my collection of his music. I chose his rendition of "Belfast Mill" as the basis for her song and simply altered a few lyrics to make it pony-appropriate. If you'd like to hear the song yourself, below is a link you can use to listen to it.