Requiem for a Belle

by theNDinspector

The Midnight Train Going Anywhere

A solitary train steadily moved across the Equestrian landscape. Most of the ponies inside were fast asleep due to the lateness of the hour. There was, however, one passenger aboard who couldn’t sleep. Instead, she stared out the window—not that she could see anything in the blackness of the night.

Sweetie Belle sighed. She had gotten all too used to these long, overnight train rides. Ever since her career as a singer hit off outside of Ponyville, she found herself traveling all over Equestria from city to city. Many of which she had heard of, but there were a few she didn’t know. All of them were completely new to her a few years ago—outside of Canterlot, where she attended a musical arts program at the university.

It was a pretty glamorous life. She often got to meet royalty and other very important or famous ponies. And she also got to spread her special talent in music to all ponies. She particularly enjoyed performing for—what some would call—the common ponies, to which she identified the most with given her humble roots in Ponyville. Yet, despite her background, she had become a nation-wide sensation—much like Sapphire Shores.

Sweetie Belle loved her career and how she spread joy and other emotions through her music. She enjoyed the privilege of knowing many high class ponies, as well as connecting with the mass population. She also knew that many ponies coveted the type of life she lived and the position that she held in the eyes of society. But even with all of this knowledge, she still sometimes felt a pang of emptiness at night—particularly ones on lonely train rides like tonight.

The success that Sweetie Belle enjoyed, however, came with a price. She couldn’t have much of a social life, or even a personal one, without being subject to paparazzi and their mostly outlandish headliners about her choices or what she was “really doing.” Even most of the stallions she dated seemed more interested in her fame or prestige rather than her personally. But the biggest issue for Sweetie Belle was that her touring schedule drew her away from her family and friends for several weeks at a time. She would miss a lot of personal events like birthdays or other celebrations. She would take the Hearthswarming holiday off, like many other ponies, but in her opinion that still didn’t make up for all the lost times.

One event Sweetie Belle refused to miss, however, was the wedding of one of her dearest friends. She had always wondered when Apple Bloom and Wood Frame, the stallion she worked with, would finally come together. When the wedding invitation finally came, she worked hard with her manager to rearrange her schedule to get that week off. Plus it was completely irresistible to see Scootaloo, one of Equestria’s premier stuntponies and total tomcolt, in a dress! The rare sight only happened a few times before: once at a royal wedding where they were the flower-fillies—for reasons still largely unknown to Sweetie Belle—and then the wedding of Miss Cheerilee and Big Mac. Then there were the occasional dances and proms that Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom managed to coerce her into going, mostly thanks to a crush on a certain grey pegasus stallion named Rumble.

Sweetie Belle enjoyed the time she was able to spend with her friends and family, supporting Apple Bloom in this changing moment of her life as one of her bride’s maids. It was a wonderful week, reminding her of old times from their fillyhoods, but it had to come to an end some time. That time came the night after the ceremony. She had to leave to go to the north-western region of Equestria and continue her tour. In fact, this very train was taking her there right now, far away from those she loved. The tangible moments enjoyed at the wedding now fading to a happy memory.

Sweetie Belle sighed.

“Well, things aren’t all bad,” she thought. “I’m going to a new place and share my talent with new ponies.”

She finally got up and retired to the sleeper car. She went to one of the beds, exhaustion falling over her from the exciting events of the wedding several hours earlier. She rested her head, making herself as comfortable as she could in the cramped and very stiff sleeping space.

“Yes,” she thought, before drifting off to sleep. “It’s going to be a good trip.”

***

Stormy weather was scheduled in Ponyville a few weeks after Apple Bloom’s wedding. Due to unexpected complications in the weather factory earlier in the year, several overnight rain showers were scheduled to make up for the drought. This caused some young colts and fillies to be upset about being cooped up inside, but since it was night, they simply slept though most of the downpour.

There was, however, one pony that was finding it hard to sleep with the constant drumming of raindrops outside. Then she realized that the drumming wasn’t coming from the rain, but rather her front door. She looked at her alarm clock on the night stand. 2:14 a.m. She went back to bed, ignoring the knocking at the door, hoping that whoever it was would realize their folly, go away and return at a more respectable hour. However, the knocking persisted. She groaned.

“ALL RIGHT, I’M COMING!” Rarity yelled, throwing off the sheets and reaching for her robe and slippers. She then lit a candle and carried it with her magic.

“Do you have any idea of what time it is?” The fashionistà yelled as she descended the stairs to the main floor of the Carousel Boutique. “A mare needs her beauty sleep! Why, I have half a mind to….Sweetie Belle?”

Rarity’s anger was replaced by confusion as she opened the door, revealing the sight of her younger sister on the doorstep, with only a couple of pieces of luggage and her saddlebags. Sweetie Belle was completely soaked, though not all of it was because of the rain. Her head was downcast, and eyes red and puffy, looking completely pathetic.

“Hi Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said in a quiet, and somewhat croaky, voice. “May I stay with you tonight?”

Comments

[StarDancer1123]

Amazing story! I love where this is going