Songs of The Heart

As soon as John opened the door to the parking lot, I saw the look in his face when he laid eyes on Lyra - pure shock. The whole scene was amusing, really; two old friends, standing in a parking lot, one of them being proved wrong of something that was thought beyond impossible, the other just standing there with a look on their face that screams 'I told you so.'

John looked at Lyra, then back to me, to Lyra again, then back to me again. Finally, he said something, and I already figured what it would be.

"Dude, that's impossible, there's no way that she's here. I figured you just went crazy and I was just going to humor you by abiding by your request anyway. How the hell did you get her, and I didn't get Twilight?"

I thought about my answer for a second, then I gave him my reply, "Because you ain't swag enough." We both laughed, while Lyra just stood there beside me, with a confused look on her face.

"Well don't just stand there, come in. You said you wanted to let her try out a few instruments, right?"

"Oh yea, right. Come inside Lyra."

"Coming!" She excitedly bounced from the parking lot and into the store, taking in the sight of all the instruments hung on the walls, on shelves, and in glass display cases. Instinctively, she hung around all of the string instruments, though most of them weren't really catching her interest. I turned to John, who was already behind the counter again, and I whispered so Lyra couldn't hear us.

"Dude, you know what her talent is, right?"

"Yeah, she loved playing the lyre... actually, I think I have one in the back, and in pristine condition too - never been used."

John then disappeared behind the counter, into the storage area, and went fishing around for a lyre, leaving me to occupy Lyra. 'Shouldn't be too hard,' I thought. Looking around, I saw a Guitar Hero Arcade game standing near the amps section of the store; I moved towards itl, and called Lyra over to show her. She looked up at it in wonder and amazement.

"What is that?" She pointed a hoof at the acrade game with wonder in her eyes. 'I swear, ANYTHING this filly does is flipping adorable!' "That's called a video game, they -" I was interrupted by Lyra, "I know what video games are silly, I meant to ask what game it is."

"You can't read?" My question was full of concern. Lyra gave her head a slight shake.

"Nuh-uh."

'Gee Lyra, your parents just seem so nice...' If she could here my thoughts she would be able to plainly hear the sarcasm in that statement.

"Well, looks like I'll have to teach you at some point, probably tomorrow." I went on to explain the object of the game as I put in a couple of dollars, "This game is played with a controller that looks like a guitar; you strum this part down here," I pointed to the strum bar of the controller, "And the notes are color coordinated; when a color comes down to the empty circles near the bottom of the screen, you strum the guitar, and press the corresponding fret buttons up here," I directed her attention to the fret buttons near the top. "When there's a line between the start and end of a note, you hold down that note. Can you remember all of that?" Lyra enthusiastically gave me a nod.

"That's good. Now, I'm gonna pick a favorite song of mine, and demonstrate how the game is played, and then I'll pick another song that's a bit easier, so you can play with me and get the hang of it." I scrolled down the list, until I came upon one of my favorite songs - Heroes of Our Time by Dragonforce. I set the difficulty to expert.

The start of the song was abrupt and slightly insane, but I persevered, which was sort of easy, because of how many times I listened to that song months ago, and how many times I tried playing that song on Guitar Hero, trying to complete it. I thought to myself, 'Today's the day that I complete this song on expert, and get 100%.' My forehead was beginning to sweat as I barely kept up with the song, though I was given a break during the piano solo, and looked at Lyra, her eyes were even wider than when she first saw this, as if it were possible. Then came the hard part - the really, really, really long solo. Before I could start playing it, Lyra stole the guitar from me with her magic, and just before the solo started, she had the guitar in front of her. I figured that she may not be able to pull off completing the solo.... I was wrong.

You know those moments when something so ridiculous happens, that you have a ton of trouble believing that it's happening? That is pretty much what describes this moment. The solo started, and Lyra's horn went ablaze with magic, as she kept strumming away, eyes glued to the screen, getting EVERY. SINGLE. NOTE! This little filly, who doesn't have a lot of magic, is kicking my ass in Guitar Hero, and she's never played this game before. John emerged from the stockroom, and just stared at what was happening. and dropped the lyre that he found on the floor in shock. I saw a flash for a moment, though I simply disregarded it as my eyes playing tricks on me, keeping my attention on Lyra and her awesomeness. Finally, the song ended, and I stared at Lyra, who barely broke a sweat. I simply said one thing.

"Cheater."