The apples were wonderfully red and larger than most she had ever seen, the one in the middle more so than the rest. Just looking at it, she could almost taste that first sweet bite and the delicious juice within. Her stomach started to grumble a bit at the thought. It would be a shame to let such a perfect apple go uneaten, unwanted. She could almost hear it calling her name.
“Lyra…”
Yes apple, I’ll eat you, she thought. Come to me.
“Lyra!”
The sound startled her out of her thoughts. Lyra turned to the light blue unicorn next to her. “What is it, Minuette?”
Minuette sighed. “You’ve been staring at that apple for ten minutes now. Just buy it and let’s go.”
“Well I would, but…”
“What?”
Lyra looked down at her empty money pouch. “I didn’t bring enough bits with me, I spent my last ones on those carrots a while ago.”
Minuette took a look into her own pouch. “I have a few extra bits if – “
“No, it’s ok. Let’s go.”
They started to walk away when they heard a voice behind them. “Hey there, catch!” Lyra turned around and saw something sailing in the air toward her. Catching it with her magic, she saw that it was the apple. She looked up at the orange mare at the apple stand. “All yours,” the mare said, smiling.
“No, I couldn’t possibly – “
“Don’tcha worry about a thing, it’s on the house.”
“Th… Thank you!” Lyra replied, a foalish smile on her face.
They turned and continued browsing through the market, that smile never disappearing until long after she had finished eating.
“Same time next week?” Minuette shouted to Lyra as they were leaving the market and going home.
“Of course. You stay out of trouble.” Lyra called back.
Minuette laughed. “When have I ever?”
The walk home was peaceful, the weather getting nicer by the minute. A blue pony with a multicolored mane was busting the clouds, making room for the sun to shine down and warm the air. Rainbow Dash hadn’t been a weather pony since joining the Wonderbolts, but sometimes she helped make the sky just perfect for special events or holidays. She finished clearing away most of the clouds by the time Lyra got home and was moving the rest into position for a beautiful sky as well as conveniently placed patches of shade.
It would be a shame to spend the day inside. Maybe I’ll go visit Bonbon today, Lyra thought to herself. She said she was going to be busy, but I’m sure she won’t mind me popping in on her. Her thoughts were interrupted when she opened the door and saw a couple older ponies sitting on her sofa that she’d recognize anywhere, a light green unicorn mare with a golden mane and eyes and a pale blue unicorn stallion with a darker blue mane and green eyes.
Lyra’s eyes widened. “Grandpa? Granma? What are you doing here?”
“Surprise!” they shouted in unison. Her grandpa walked up to her and tousled her hair. “Happy birthday kiddo.”
Lyra’s jaw dropped. “Is it already?” she stumbled. “I thought that was next week. Oh no, I’m expecting guests this evening and this place is a mess!”
“Woah, calm down Lyra. Your birthday is next week.” Her granma said in a reassuring tone. Lyra looked at her a little confused. “Fiddle and I decided we’d come over and celebrate a little early.”
“It’s hard to have a surprise birthday party on your birthday,” Fiddle said. “Surprise!”
Lyra chuckled. “So it is.” She reached forward and hugged each of them in turn.
Fiddle looked at his wife. “Viola, what do you say we head into town for some fun with our favorite birthday mare here.”
“Oh I’d love to, but I’ve got to prepare a few things for tonight.” Viola winked at him.
“Ah yes.” Fiddle turned to Lyra. “Looks like it’s just the two of us, Little Lyre. Shall we?”
“Let’s go,” Lyra said enthusiastically as they left the house. “And you know I’m not a little filly anymore, Grandpa.”
As they walked through the town, lots of ponies were going about their business, shopping, visiting friends, relaxing in the shade. It seemed there were more out than usual, though the nice weather was probably to thank for that. A couple minutes later they arrived at the music store.
“Grandpa, you know I still have that lyre Dad gave me, right?” Lyra asked. “I hope you’re not planning on convincing me to get a new instrument.”
“Sure I do. I know how much you love that thing. Still, it can’t hurt to browse.” Fiddle replied.
As they were looking through the various instruments and musical accessories about the shelves, Lyra noticed a familiar purple alicorn doing the same. “Twilight?” she said, surprised.
Twilight looked around. “Oh Lyra, long time no see. What have you been up to?”
“My grandparents came to town to spend my birthday with me, we came in to look at some instruments.”
“Well happy birthday!” Twilight said. “I thought that wasn’t until next week.”
Lyra replied, “It is. But when you have awesome grandparents like mine, sometimes you get to celebrate it twice a year.” She laughed. “So what brings you here? You’re don’t play a musical instrument last time I checked.”
“I came to get a book on how to play the piano, I thought I’d give it a try tonight.”
A shrill screech cut through the store. “Ahhh!” Twilight let out before covering her ears. Lyra sighed.
“Sorry!” Fiddled called out. “That was me. My mistake.” He put the flute back on the rack.
“Oh, I should be going. Lots to do.” Twilight said and went to pay for her book and leave.
“Bye Twi,” Lyra looked at her grandpa. “Grandpa! What are you doing?!?”
Fiddle turned toward Lyra, holding a tuba. “Browsing of course.” He placed the tuba back on the shelf.
“Then browse, you don’t have to try out every instrument in the store.”
“Oh alright then,” her grandpa replied. “Besides, I already found something I think you’ll like.”
Lyra sighed. “I told you, Grandpa. I have my lyre, I don’t need another instrument.”
Fiddle only smiled at her. “No new instrument, I remember. But how about a little something for that one you already have?” He showed her a small bottle of gold polish he was holding.
Lyra looked at the bottle, surprised. “That’s… well,” Lyra thought for a second. “You know, I actually do really want that,” she admitted. Noticing her grandpa’s widening smile she added, “Don’t look so smug about guessing what I wanted, I won’t actually be getting it. I didn’t expect to be shopping so I didn’t bring any bits with me.”
Fiddle only laughed. “I didn’t expect you to pay for it. It’s your birthday, it’s my treat,” he said, taking the polish up to the counter to purchase it.
Lyra followed after him protesting, “But Grandpa, it’s not really my birthday, and that stuff’s high quality, it’s expensive.”
“Are you kidding? Nothing’s too expensive for my Little Lyre.”
She frowned for a second at the “Little” but smiled again when she realized there would be no convincing her grandpa not to buy her that bottle of polish.
As they left the music store, they made their way out of the center of town and toward a park. It was Saturday and a lot of fillies and colts were enjoying their day off. They were having fun with their friends or playing with their pets. The sounds of laughter and joy in the air brought a smile to any nearby pony’s face. There were adult ponies out walking their pets as well, an earth pony couple walking their dog, a yellow pegasus mare leading a family of ducks to a pond.
They went to a bench at the edge of the park with a well-placed cloud casting shade over it to sit and watch. Fiddle gave Lyra’s posture a peculiar look, but decided not to mention it. “Before I forget,” he said, “your uncle Tota wanted me to wish you a happy birthday for him. He couldn’t make it out himself.”
Lyra pulled out her lyre and tended to it with her brand new polish. “Uncle Tota? What’s he up to? Knowing him it could be anything.”
“It’s actually pretty mild this time.” Fiddle replied. “He’s just been helping his neighbors with their harvest.”
“I suppose I’ll accept that reason for not coming out to tell me happy birthday himself.” Lyra tried to pretend to be mad but gave in and they both started laughing.
Fiddle and Lyra left Sugarcube Corner in high spirits. They had headed there after leaving the park to grab a bite to eat before going back home, and it started out as just a nice meal with a little conversation. Then somepony mentioned to Ponyville’s favorite pink party pony that it was Lyra’s birthday, and from there the place practically turned into a party, complete with cake, confetti, music, dancing, everything. It was quite the festive event, but after just a little while Fiddle insisted that they had to leave, saying they had “other festivities to attend”.
As they headed back home, Lyra couldn’t help asking. “What festivities, Grandpa?”
“You know I can’t tell you that Lyre. It’s gotta be a surprise.” Fiddle said. “But I’ll say this much, your granma and another friend of yours have been working hard to make sure you’ll have a grand time.”
“One of my friends?” Lyra said, surprised. “Who?”
“Sorry but I can’t tell you that either, not just yet. But who have you not seen today? Everywhere we went, there was somepony missing.”
“What? But she knew weeks in advance that she’d be busy today. How far ahead did you plan this visit, Grandpa?” Lyra asked in disbelief.
“Nope,” Fiddle winked at her, “can’t tell you that yet either. You’ll see when the time comes.”
They got to the house and saw Viola standing just outside the door. “You can’t come in just yet. We’ll need a little bit more time before we’re ready for you.” She said apologetically. “But to help the time pass, I picked up a ticket to that concert just outside Ponyville today. You two go and have a good time, and don’t give this house a second thought until it’s over.”
Lyra took the ticket and looked at it, Symphony in Green. She looked at her granma and frowned. “We’ve been out having fun all day while you’ve been here working. Can’t you take a break and enjoy it with us?”
“Don’t worry Lyra, I got a ticket for myself too. I’ll be there before it’s over, trust me.”
Lyra looked at the ticket, then back at her granma. Then suddenly she reached forward and hugged her tight. “Thanks Granma! Don’t be late.”
“I won’t” Her granma replied. With that, Lyra and Fiddle left for the symphony.
“Bonbon?!?” Lyra exclaimed.
“Surprise!” Bonbon shouted. “Happy birthday, Lyra!”
Lyra had known something was off when she and her grandpa were arriving and saw nearly everypony in Ponyville was there. She thought this was supposed to be a smaller event, just something a few music fans would attend. She knew she was right in that something wasn’t quite right when she saw Bonbon out front, welcoming everypony.
“I thought you were at my house helping my granma prepare something for my birthday.” Lyra said.
“Oh we were,” Bonbon replied, “but nopony ever said it was at your house. We just implied it so you wouldn’t get suspicious.”
“Then what – “
“This, silly.” Bonbon said, gesturing all around her at the concert. “The Symphony in Green.”
Lyra could’ve kicked herself. It was obvious. If she had been paying attention, it was obvious. All day, everything had been subtle, she couldn’t see it, but it was all there if she had just looked.
“Have you, has everypony known about this? How do you get an entire town to keep this secret so well?” She asked in utter awe.
Bonbon laughed. “For a friend, anything’s possible. Now come on, follow me. We’ve got a seat picked out for you.” They walked up toward the stage. “Oh, and I should probably mention, it’s not really a concert in the traditional sense. We don’t have a band playing, we’ll have anypony who wanted to sign up to perform up on stage, though we will have a few special guests at the end. We’ve put somewhat of an order to the performances, so it’s not just a mishmash, there will be a little continuity to it. But here on the stage tonight, we’ll be seeing the total of all of Ponyville’s musical talent before us. It’ll be an event to remember.”
Bonbon showed them to their seats, the middle of the front row, and left. If there were seats of honor, these were those. Lyra looked around. “If this is what Granma and Bonbon were putting together, then where’s…?”
Viola walked up onto the stage, a microphone in hoof, and even after all of this Lyra’s jaw still nearly dropped in surprise. “Welcome one and all to tonight’s event, the Symphony in Green! I’m sure all of you know why we’re really here, so without further delay let me just say,” She turned to Lyra, “happy birthday Lyra.” Clapping rang throughout the crowd, and Lyra blushed as she felt all eyes on her just for a second. “Now let’s not embarrass her. We all came for a show, so let’s get that show going.”
She stepped off the stage and took the seat next to Lyra, just opposite Fiddle. A gray earth pony with a cello she recognized as Octavia walked up on stage. She began to play one of Beethooven’s symphonies. The beautiful melody carried over a silent audience, and Lyra already knew this was going to be a great night.
As the evening went on, ponies took their turns going up on stage, playing their pieces, and making way for the next pony. Some were great, others not quite as good, but each and every pony was giving their best efforts, and that itself made the music wonderful. Lyra was impressed with Twilight when she went on stage and played a couple songs on the piano, given that she had only just started learning earlier that day. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders gave an impressive, if unique, performance.
The Symphony in Green seemed to be winding down when Lyra saw Bonbon hop onto the stage with the microphone. “First let me thank every one of our musicians who played tonight. Now we have the moment you’ve all been waiting for, two of our special guests have a duet they’d like to perform tonight, just for Lyra. Come on up here Fiddle and Viola Soulstrings!” More applause sounded through the crowd, and Lyra found herself with the biggest grin she had ever had on her face as her grandparents walked on stage with their fiddle and violin. Fiddle looked at Lyra and said, “This is for you kiddo.” A tear streamed out of Lyra’s eye as they brought bow to string and played the most beautiful melody she had ever heard.
Five minutes of perfection left the audience in awestruck silence, followed by applause as Fiddle and Viola finished they’re song. Viola stepped off the stage. Fiddle called to the crowd. “I think it’s time we heard from our guest of honor.” He walked to the edge of the stage just in front of Lyra. “Our turn Lyra.” He said softly.
In that moment Lyra panicked. “No no no! I haven’t practiced anything, and I can’t keep up with that performance you just gave.” She whispered frantically.
Fiddle only smiled. “Trust me on this. I think you know this one.” He reached out a hoof.
Still nervous but trusting him, Lyra took his hoof and climbed onstage, taking out her lyre. Her grandpa readied his fiddle and let out a single long note. Lyra knew the melody instantly. It was the lullaby he had played for her as a foal. In that instant, Lyra felt completely relaxed. All the stress she just had, all the panic and fear, all of it was gone when she heard that single chord.
Her grandpa leaned close to her and whispered. “Let’s show them why they call us Heart and Soul.”