Scarlet Mane was on the way to Moonbeam's house, however she decided to try her luck with Melody too, especially that her place was closer.
"Hello Melody," said Scarlet Mane, "I... I guess I won't be able to burn anything of yours, so could I be of any help?"
Melody nodded with a smile and made an inviting gesture. Scarlet stepped inside and saw that every wall was completely covered with various instruments. As she looked at different violins, guitars and trumpets, Melody flew from another room with tea, fluttering her sky blue wings slowly, yet powerfully, producing a laminar air flow not to disturb the instruments. She put the tea on a small, very low table and sat on a mat besides it, gesturing towards Scarlet to sit down too.
"Oh, thank you very much," said Carrie. Melody nodded and drank the tea with her.
"So, um..." mumbled Scarlet Mane, but Mel just put the cup away and pointed at a grand harp. Then she got up, picked up a trumpet and walked into another room, again gesturing her guest to follow. When they were both inside, Scarlet noticed every wall is covered with some kind of mattresses or maybe pillows.
I guess the room from which she got the tea has walls covered in tea-related merchandise, she thought.
Melody made a stopping gesture and blew the trumpet without putting much effort to it, but it was still very loud. They went back to the harp and Melody pulled a string. The instrument was several times bigger than her, yet it was still surprisingly quiet. She tapped her ear and shrugged, then walked towards Scarlet and pointed at her horn.
"Oh, you, um... want to make it magically louder, I suppose," Scarlet Mane said.
Melody just nodded with a grin.
"I'm very sorry but I'm afraid I don't know any spells," Carrie added. Déja vu, she thought with sadness.
Melody combed her hair for a moment, then shrugged twice and Scarlet caught herself tapping the floor with her hoof again. Suddenly, she got an idea. She looked around and noticed one of Moonbeam's machines, a gramophone.
"What, uh... what if we... do you have a steel wire or a hairpin?" she asked. Mel combed her hair once more and gave Carrie a pin, which her guest took with her teeth and then got closer to the machine and started to disassemble it. Melody put her hoof on Scarlet's shoulder and gave her a worried look.
"Oh, I'll put it back together," Carrie said as she continued to put it apart. Finally, she found what she was looking for as the pin started to tingle. She took out the magnet and some wire from inside.
"Help me bring this closer, please," she said, and they both moved the machine adjacent to the harp. She attached the pin to the string with a piece of string, then started to work with the magnet and the wire.
"There!" she said after a few minutes, "Let's turn on the gramophone."
Melody nodded and did so as she walked towards the harp and a moment later Scarlet pulled the modified string.
The sound started quietly and harmonic, but instead of fading its volume grew and grew. Melody covered her ears and tumbled to the floor. Scarlet rushed to the machine and switched it off a split second after a single string on each of the instruments on the wall violently broke.
Still dazzled from being just a hoof away from the gramophone's tube, the next thing she knew was that she was being pushed outside by Melody. She shook her head and wanted to at least apologize, but through the note-shaped glass in the doors she saw that dark blue of Melody's eyes was not visible, but the tears within were.
#
Scarlet Mane was devastated. What she managed to do today, instead of helping, was to destroy, burn and break. Nothing went according to any plans. She was ashamed. She couldn't take it anymore. She was on her way back to her room in Moonbeam's workshop. She knocked on the door.
"Come in," she'd heard. "Hi Scarlet, how was your day?" said Moon.
"Oh, um... fine," she replied and headed straight to her room.
"Hey, can you help me with something?" Moonbeam asked.
"I'm sorry, I can't. I don't know any magic."
"Magic? Why would I want any magic? I can cast a few spells myself, I'm a unicorn."
"Oh, I just..."
"And you can too, I saw you cast an epic charm!"
"I... I... but I never—?" a tear appeared in Scarlet's eye as she stuttered. Moon realized that she's accusing her of things no pony but her seemed to remember.
"I'm sorry, never mind what I've just said," whispered Moonbeam as she hugged her. Scarlet twitched and winced nervously, which made Moon tighten her grip.
When she finally felt that her huggee relaxed, she added "I just need somepony to press, um..." she paused, as she remembered the machine has a keyboard too small to press anything on it without using a little bit of magic, "to pull a lever in the right moment."
"Okay, I think I can do that," Scarlet replied. I think I can't ruin that, she thought and smiled.