A song of beginnings
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Songs of the Silent

A song of beginnings

A Song of Beginnings

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Thank you for the tickets, I'm incredibly flattered that you would do something like this for somepony like me. Please tell Princess Celestia that I would be honored to perform at the Gala.
Bon-bon and I wouldn't pass this up in a million years.

Your grateful friend,

Lyra Heartstrings

A few moments passed at the table as the unicorn lifted the parchment up and skimmed over it once more. It was short, to the point, and didn't dance around the issue.

In other words...

"I like it, it's very you, " Bon-bon chimed in as she read the letter over Lyra's shoulder. "So are you going to let Derpy handle the delivery, or are you going to deliver it yourself?"

Lyra set the parchment aside as she leveled her eyes with her earth pony friend; a look that exuded "That's not important right now" was written all over the unicorn's face. She quickly broke her gaze and trotted downstairs toward the kitchen leaving Bon-bon in a daze of confusion. Once inside the small kitchen area, she started rifling through cupboards as she tried throwing her thoughts together.

'Alright... let's see here, we have some peanut butter... alright I can work with that. Apples as always, nah, I had apple fritters for dinner. I really don't feel like preparing anything more complicated than oatmeal... Oh to the moon with it, peanut butter and rosebud sandwich it is.'

Bonbon cantered in shortly afterward, faking a hurt expression on her face while Lyra devoured her lunch at the table.

"Oh I see how it is; use me for my supportive nature and then leave me for a..." Bon-bon sniffed the air and gave Lyra a puzzled look. "Rosebud and peanut butter sandwich?... Does that even taste good? I mean surely you could use ros-"

The unicorn sat at the table absently munching her sandwich as she listened to her blue and pink-maned friend list off every conceivable use rosebud could serve.

"...nd if you ground it up and made it into a powder, you could even use it for hard candies! But wasting something as delicate as the taste of rosebud on a peanu..."

Lyra couldn't help but grin inside at her best friend's rant. It wasn't the first time Bon-bon had gone spouting off on a tangent; Lyra usually didn't mind, she settled on tolerable when she weighed her feelings of amusement and annoyance against each other.

"...en you mix it with a gel and let it cool in a sheet, drizzle chocolate on it and víola, candy with rose flavor!"

Bon-bon watched as her friend looked around the room for her quill, shrugged, and grabbed a pen from a nearby counter. Lyra smugly cantered over to her friend holding a written note in her aura.

Sorry, I was SUUUUPER hungry. What did you say?

Bon-bon felt like slamming her head against a wall in frustrated and hopeless defeat.

"Obvious revenge aside, you stomped off to go get breakfast after shooting me with a look that could kill."

I was hungry, I don't like being hungry, that's all there was to it.

Lyra bit on the tip of the pen for a moment.

To answer your question and yes, I was listening. I think I'm going to go visit her myself, drop off the response, and maybe go for a walk. It's a beautiful day outside, even if I started it much EARLIER than I wanted.

"You know I had good reason..." the earth pony retorted, turning her eyes away. "I was just as intrigued by the letter as you were when I told you about it."

While she couldn't fault her cream colored friend's curiosity, it still didn't change the fact that Lyra loved her sleep. The unicorn gave a small shrug and wrote one last response.

I know you did, I'm not THAT upset that you woke me up, it was for a good reason. Don't feel bad Bon-bon, I understand. I do have to get going though, need to grab a few things from my room before I head out.

The earth pony's eyes scanned the page as she read, finishing with a nod as she turned to the cupboards to fix her own lunch.

A small smile crept onto Lyra's face as she walked out the doorway leading from the kitchen to the living room. It was small, some scattered furniture here and there, it wasn't much; but it didn't need to be much.

It was home to her, and she loved how it felt.

She headed upstairs, gently pushed the door of her room open, and stepped inside. Lyra scanned the room quickly, attempting to pick out what she was looking for among the heaps of notes and musical sheets mixed up with diagrams, drawings, and journals on her personal study of humans. After the initial glance across the room turned up with nothing, the mint green pony trotted around looking for her saddlebags on the other side of the room.

'I had them yesterday... where the hay did they go?...' she thought as she turned the corner around her bed. 'Ah, there.'

She had spotted them on top of a crude wooden replica of a human hand. A failed project she had tried to put together to recreate symbols for human "sign language". She brushed the memories aside as the bags were lifted onto her back in a corona of green light.

'Bags, check. Bits,' The unicorn bounced once in place, the familiar sound of metal clinking against metal greeted her ears. 'Double check. Lyre...'

The instrument in question stood on a stand nearby, held above the cluttered mess of her room. Lyra quickly affixed the instrument to the outside of her saddlebag as she turned to leave.

She pranced down the stairs and past Bon-bon as her lyre fluidly unstrapped from her bag. She began a bouncy melody that wafted through the air as she opened the door leading to Ponyville. With a small bow and cheeky grin toward her friend the music carried words only Bon-bon could hear.

"Alright then! I'm off, see you after work... sugar butt."

The unicorn was out the door and headed into Ponyville, giggling like a fool in her head. Bon-bon however, simply sat at the table in their house sipping some hot cocoa with a smile on her face.

'Oh Heartstrings, sometimes you're just nothing but trouble...'

The initial rush to avoid retribution at the hands of a certain earth pony faded rather quickly from Lyra's system. It was fun to tease Bon-bon for her. She couldn't figure it out why, it just was just something best friends d-

"OHMYGOSHLYRAHOWAREYOUIHAVENTSEENYOUINFORRRRRREEEVVVVVVEEERRRRR."

The mint green unicorn jumped back and pinned her ears flat against her skull as she stared into the eyes of the resident party pony. Pinkie had been a close friend for years, due to her claim to fame of knowing everypony in Ponyville. She looked up and noticed she had just walked in front of Sugarcube Corner; a minor detail that explained why the pink earth pony had suddenly ambushed her.

Pinkie bounced in place as she watched the unicorn pull out a familiar tablet of paper and a pen. She slowed her bouncing as she watched Lyra write; something about her friend seemed...

Off.

Hey Pinkie! I've been busy, I had a few high-class events to play for over the past few days. Other than that I've been keeping up with my personal studies, relaxing. You know how it goes.

"Oh yeah! Your personal studies on humans right?! Did the schmati-matimics for my pinkie-copter help you at all? Did it?!"

Lyra closed her eyes as she beamed a big happy smile for the pink pony. The pinkie-copter was really similar to other machines that the humans supposedly used, so Lyra naturally asked the party pony for a copy of building plans to study.

Pinkie had resumed bouncing in place as she watched the mint green and white-maned pony scribble out a reply. Out of all the ponies in Ponyville, Lyra was one of the ones she had the most fun with. Even though she couldn't talk, and that meant she couldn't sing, she still joined in and mouthed the words when Pinkie decided to start a song. She joined in on almost all of her parties even though she didn't like crowds. Lyra just didn't let her lack of a voice ever stop her from having fun. That was what Pinkie loved most about her.

It kinda helped, it was surprisingly close to some other things I was taking a look at. Say, how likely is it that Twilight is at the Library right now? Also, what are you baking in there? It smells amazing!

"Oh, that?" said Pinkie with a giggle. "Just making some muffins, I usually try to have them done around noon-ish for Derpy when she finishes her mail route. Why do you ask? Do you want one?"

Lyra shied away as suddenly Pinkie was everywhere at once.

"Huh? Do ya? Do ya? Lyra? Do ya? Do ya Lyra? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya? I bet you DOOOOOO." Chattered Pinkie as her face pressed up against the startled mint pony.

Slowly Lyra edged away to put some distance between herself and the party pony that was bouncing in place. The unicorn slowly brought her notepad up between her face and the huge expectant blue eyes only to see Pinkie's head move to maintain eye contact.

Sure, that sounds great! How much do I owe you for one?

The earth pony ran her hoof through her frizzy pink mane for a moment.

"Wellllllll... It's normally 3 bits for a regular muffin. But how about I give you 2 blueberry muffins for 3 bits? Just because we're bestest of best friends!"

Pinkie, you're everypony's best friend. And with an offer like that, how could I say no?

A green aura surrounded the unicorn's saddlebags as a small pouch floated out onto the table and the exact change was counted out. Pinkie scooped up the coins, gave a massive smile, a quick nod, and darted inside the bakery. Not one to sit by idly, Lyra took a seat at one of the chairs at a table set up outside the door, looking out over the Ponyville plaza.

'As much as I hate admitting Bon-bon being right, she was... again. I wonder who el- there's Carrot Top. Yikes, it's been forever since I went up to her... I should probably get in touch sometime. Oh hey! There's Applejack's little sister, and Rarity's little sister... Heh, they remind me of Bon-bon and I when we were fillies growing up here. It'll be interesting to watch them grow up just like "sugar butt" and I.'

"Ah' well shoot... what're we gunna try for our cutie marks now? Ah guess Cutie Mark Crusaders: Street Performers wunnint tha' right one." Applebloom grumbled as she picked up some juggling pins strewn around the center of the plaza.

Sweetie belle was gathering up a ball that she was nosing toward the ever-growing pile of props. "I don't know, but can we do something that won't give me a concussion? I've already been hit in the head too many times today..."

Lyra couldn't help but beam at the trio as she watched a little orange pegasus, somepony that Rainbow Dash said was her "biggest fan" trot up with some rope, spit it out, and raise an eyebrow at Sweetie Belle.

"Con-cush-yon? What are you, a dictionary? Anyway, we need to get these props back to Miss Cheerilee as soon as we can so we can move onto the next thing on the list!"

The three of them looked at each other and snickered amongst themselves before shouting out at the top of their little lungs, "Cutie Mark Crusaders crosswalk patrollers!"

'Well, there goes this generation's "Lyra and Bon-bon", plus one.' Lyra thought with a fond smile as Pinkie emerged from the shop carrying a paper bag. The scent from inside was overwhelming and made Lyra's mouth water almost immediately.

"Sorry about the wait!" Chuckled the party pony. "Pound Cake was trying to get into the brown sugar again, you know how silly willy little colts can be whe-"

"Look out below! Teehee!"

Instinctively Lyra dove under the table with her hooves over her head, waiting to hear the inevitable crash.

Three seconds.

Five seconds...

Ten seconds... the mint green pony couldn't take it anymore. She cracked an eye open and saw Derpy Hooves looking at her, upside down, while standing on the table Lyra was hiding under.

"Hi Heartstrings! Um, what are you doing under the table? I was just at your house and Bon-bon said you weren't the-"

"Oh! Are we playing hide-n-seek? Why didn't somepony count? Who's the seeker?" Said Pinkie with her perpetual smile plastered to her face.

Lyra squirmed and twisted as she made her way out from under the table, bumping into chairs and nearly knocking the entire piece of furniture over. She finally popped free and telekinetically reached for her notepad as Derpy and Pinkie giggled quietly.

Sorry, I heard "Look out below!" and hit the dirt. How are you? Keeping busy as always I bet, how is Dinky?

Derpy hopped to the ground and read the note with one eye while the other seemingly followed some cloud off in the distance. The blonde-maned pegasus was one of the few ponies who ever called Lyra as Heartstrings on a regular basis. Lyra didn't mind it at all, it was one of the things that made the kind-hearted pegasus so endearing. One thing the unicorn learned about Derpy was that no matter what, she would go out of her way to make you feel important and special.

"Oh, I see! Well I just finished the morning mail route, and I always come to Sugarcube corner afterwards to get some muffins! Pinkie and I have a kind of... I forget the word..."

"Custom?" interrupted Pinkie Pie as she bounced out of the doorway to the bakery with another brown bag. "Same as always! Two blueberry muffins, extra blueberry!"

"Yup! Same as always, it’s our custom!" giggled the pegasus as she fished out the proper payment and looked in the bag. "Um, Pinkie Pie? I think you made a mistake..."

"Hmm? What's wrong Derpy?"

"There's three muffins in here, I only paid for two."

"Oh silly me, guess I did make a whoopsie doopsie! You keep it, I can't resell it and if anypony deserves a free muffin it's you!" beamed the pink earth pony as she watched a massive smile form on the mail-mare's face.

Lyra watched quietly as the gears in her head turned, she couldn't help but grin as the scene played out. If she was right, she didn't want to interrupt and ruin a good thing.

"Wow! Thanks Pinkie! I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, same time!" the grey pegasus said as she hovered in the air with the muffin bag stuffed into her saddle bags. "See you later Heartstrings!"

"You betcha! Say hi to Dinky for me!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she and Lyra waved their hooves after the mailmare. Pinkie stopped suddenly as she looked down at the notepad nudging her side.

You put three muffins in the bag on purpose didn't you?

The party pony just laughed and poked Lyra's nose. "Of course I did silly filly! Derpy does everything she can for little Dinky, and I do everything I can to make somepony smile. Besides, just thinking about the look on Dinky's face just makes me want to smile!"

Lyra found her own smile creeping onto her face as she wrote.

Everypony in this town is lucky to have you Pinkie, I mean it. But I gotta get going though, I have something I need to go give Twilight.

The earth pony giggled as she finished the note and put the muffins into Lyra's saddlebags. "Okie dokie loki then! Give that silly alicorn a big hug for me okay?"

The unicorn nodded and went through the motions of the infamous "Pinkie Promise" before pulling a muffin out of her pack and heading off toward the library.

'Twilight Sparkle, favored student of Celestia herself... Everypony knows what happened, but not how. I wonder how I would cope if I woke up one morning with wings on my back and I had a different cutie mark... I don't know how somepony could deal with all of that only a few days after nearly dying in a thunderstorm...'

Lyra briefly closed her eyes as she rounded a corner, opening them to see her destination at the end of the street. Feelings of confusion flooded her mind with the events of the day prior each time she thought of the purple pony. Despite inexplicably becoming one of the most powerful living things in all of Equestria; Twilight was scared, very scared. She set out seeking solace in a walk that led straight to Lyra's singing when they met and talked yesterday.

And now Lyra was going to her.

'Alright, remember what she told you, she's just another pony, there's no need to be formal, awkward or stiff with her. She's just a friend; an alicorn, but still just a friend... Well, here goes something.'

Knock, knock, knock.

The unicorn took a step back and looked through the window just as the door creaked open. A young purple dragon stood there in the doorway as he looked Lyra over intently, as if trying to put a name to the face. All at once the small reptile's face brightened and he began to speak.

"Right! Lyra Heartstrings! I remember you, you're Bon-bon's room-mate right? I haven’t seen you since you came by to pick up History of the Humans: the Complete Mythological Compendium a few weeks back."

'For someone so young, he sure knows his words. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though; he does live in a library with one of the most bookish ponies alive.' said Lyra as she smiled and nodded

"I thought so. Anyway, how can I h-"

"Spike, who is i- Lyra?" Twilight said as she slowly walked down the stairs, blinking once or twice in surprise.

The minty green unicorn quickly unfastened her lyre and set into a relaxed and steady melody as she began to "speak" back.

"Hey Twilight, you can still hear me right?"

"Yes, I can," said the alicorn as she let a smile tease the corners at her mouth. "I'm guessing you're here because of the letter I gave you? I wanted to give it to you personally... but your roommate said you were still asleep. I would have stayed longer to wait for you to w-"

The librarian was interrupted by a swift upturn of notes that slowly lilted back down into the melody from before. "Don't worry about it, I'm just glad that you can still hear me! I don't know how, or why, but it's nice that somepony else other than Bon-bon can hear me like this."

"Oh, I can imagine... well, I'm glad that I can! And it gave me something to research when I'm not looking into studies on my own little mystery," Twilight giggled as she gave her wings a tiny flap for emphasis.

The two ponies were oblivious to Spike standing off to the side watching his older sister engage in a one way conversation. At first the dragon thought that Lyra was going to write something like she always did; but when she ignored the conversation, kept playing, and Twilight responded as if something had been said, Spike decided to speak up.

"Uh, Twi? Not to sound insensitive or anything... but you do remember that Lyra is mute... right?"

Both mares looked at Spike, then back to each other with silly grins on their faces. The confused hatchling watched as the unicorn turned to Twilight and continued the song for a bit. The music stopped abruptly as Twilight nodded to Lyra and turned toward Spike.

"She was mute Spike, she's not as voiceless as you think."

"Uh... I don't follow... whaddya mean exactly? She's actually able to talk? How come I can't hear her?"

"Easy, Spike! One question at a time," giggled the lavender librarian. "First off, she's still technically unable to talk. But I learned yesterday that somehow she is able to speak words by playing music! It doesn't seem to work for everypony, as you can tell. But she's been able to 'speak' since she was a filly, and the only pony who could hear her was her best friend Bon-bon."

Lyra listened to Spike let out a gentle, "Whoa..." as his mouth hung open in shock. She gave the little dragon a smile as she plucked at her lyre once more.

"So... I came here to ask a few questions about the gala party; but you said that you got interested in my talent and decided to look into it..."

Twilight lowered her head as her wings drooped from her sides to brushing against the floor. "The books I've read don't mention anypony like you Lyra, I'm sorry. I'll continue looking into it since it's so interesting, but I haven't found anything about it yet."

Lyra waved a hoof in dismissal as she resumed the song. "Oh, it's fine Twilight, I don't mind. I figured I should ask before it slipped my mind. There is one last thing I want to ask though... since you are the resident expert on all things magic."

The alicorn perked up and focused on Lyra intently with a gleam in her eyes. The only thing Twilight loved more than reading was lecturing; and if it concerned magic, it was a pretty safe bet she would have an answer to the question.

"Yesssss?"

"I was curious... if unicorns can get better with their magic, and get stronger with it. And there is a chance that my ability to talk with music is a part of my magic... Do you think maybe someday, if I work on it hard enough, I'll be able to speak to anypony?"

Twilight kept the expectant smile on her face as her heart sank. She felt trapped between giving the poor pony any number of questionable answers. The one thing she couldn't do is tell Lyra that she was guaranteed to get better at speaking with music; she had no facts to base that claim off of. She wasn't even sure how Lyra was able to do that in the first place. And even if it did give her new friend hope, it would hurt her even worse if Twilight was wrong in her assumption. Twilight grumbled as all her lines of thought pointed toward the one right solution; admitting she didn't know.

"Well... Lyra, I really can't say for certain. If it is tied to your magic, I'm sure that it'll get stronger over time. But I also have no idea how you're able to do what you do; so there is an equally likely chance that it won't work out that way... I'm sorry I don't have a definitive answer for you."

'But I won't give up on this, no way. There is so much about magic that we don't know, and this pony isn't going to just accept defeat on a quest for knowledge. I'll figure out whats going on Lyra, I promise... somehow.' Twilight thought as she lowered her head.

"... I'm going to go make some tea," Spike interjected. "I'll be upstairs if you need me..."

Both mares watched a scaly purple tail disappear over the top step of the stairs before meeting eyes again.

"So..."

"So..."

"About the gala..." Lyra strummed as she paused the song to give Twilight her response. "I would love to come, and so would Bon-bon. The gala is something I've always dreamed of playing at since I was a filly! I would have to be crazy to say no to an opportunity like this; so when is it?"

Twilight smiled and shifted her wings gently, nestling them to her sides. "Well, the most recent gala was no more than a week ago. It'll be about a year's time before the next one. Don't worry about it though; I won't let you forget," she chuckled with a wink.

"Wow, I have tons of time to prepare then! Is there anything else I should know?"

"Nothing that comes to mind, unless you had more questions."

"Nope! Thanks again Twilight, this means so much to m-"

"Hold on a second..." Twilight said as she tapped her hoof on the floor. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Lyra paused in thought and tilted her head at the alicorn. 'Forget something... Forget something... What did I forg- the book! Of course!'

A mint-green glow surrounded the unicorn's saddlebags as a hefty tome by the title of History of the Humans: the Complete Mythological Compendium floated out toward Twilight.

"Thank you! I'm sure I'll see you again soon, take care!"

Twilight watched the musician wave goodbye and trot outside before she placed the book back and headed upstairs to her number one assistant. The dragon was sitting at the table thoroughly engaged in a story book he had taken a liking to. Twilight couldn't help but smile at how cute Spike looked as he sat there completely absorbed by the novel. She started to take a few steps toward him when he lifted his eyes from the page.

"Oh, Twilight! I didn't think you'd be done already, you both seemed to be talking about some uh... serious stuff."

"Yea, she just had a few questions about her special talent is all," Twilight said as she visibly slumped in posture. "Poor Lyra, I wish I had more I could tell her."

"She's something special isn't she?"

"Everypony is special Spike. But I guess you could say Lyra is something else entirely."

"Do you think we will be seeing her more often? You both seem to get along really well, especially since she comes in here for books on human mythology all the time."

Twilight couldn't help but smile at the little dragon; he had always managed to see the positive side of a situation.

"I think we will Spike, I think we will."

Lyra levitated her remaining muffin out of her saddlebag and took a big bite of the berry laden pastry. She knew she really shouldn't be eating both of them so quickly, but she couldn't help it.

Those things were dangerously good and equally addictive.

She trotted down the street blissfully occupied with a mouthful of blueberry goodness and completely unaware of a rainbow-maned pegasus swiftly coming up behind her. She polished off the last of the muffin with a smile on her face and a bounce in her step.

"Hey there! Didn't I see you with Twilight the other day?"

Lyra swung her head around to see Rainbow Dash hovering in the air a few feet to her left, floating along and keeping pace with her as she gave a quick nod.

"I thought so. Hey, so I have a favor to ask. I'm doing some tricks here in a little bit and I could use somepony to watch me practice and give me feedback, you game?" the rainbow-maned pegasus said as she landed and started walking alongside Lyra. "I promise it'll be awesome!"

'I don't have anything else planned for the rest of the day, I suppose I could go see Rainbow Dash do a few tricks. Bon-bon is always telling me to get out and get to know everypony better...'

Rainbow did a small flip into the air as the mint colored unicorn nodded and smiled.

"Awesome! Follow me, I know just the spot for us to use."