What My Cutie Mark is Telling Me

by Blueheartpegasus

Rating: everyone
Tags: Derpy Hooves, Slice of Life, DJ P0N-3, Alternate Universe, Doctor Whooves, Lyra, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Bon-Bon
Length: 2825

The mane six background ponies have switched cutie marks and Lyra has to get their destinies back!

Lyra Heartstrings wakes up early to the sound of thunking outside her door. When she answers it, she finds Vinyl Scratch trying to deliver her the wrong mail. What's even stranger, Vinyl had Derpy's cutie mark! All five of Lyra's friends have been cutie-switched. They're not themselves anymore. Lyra has to find a way to fix this mess!

Based on this post: http://magicalmysterymod.tumblr.com/post/44124806183/magicalmysterymod-au-with-the-mane-background the concept is all this person's!

Oh, and Octavia is a main character too, but I can only mark five characters and there is not 'mane six background ponies' one :(

Published 2013-03-11 14:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-06-26 07:35:03 UTC

What my Cutie Mark is Telling Me

Lyra Heartstrings snoozed peacefully, snoring softly. Her chest rose and fell slowly, showing how deeply asleep and relaxed she was. The sun didn't reach her bed from the nearby window, leaving her to sleep as long as she wanted. Her alarm was off and the birds outside were keeping quiet. Her lyre sat nearby, leaning against the wall, undisturbed.

*thunk*

The birds outside the window let out a loud squawk of terror and flew off noisily. Lyra's breathing became unbalanced, but didn't wake her.

*thud*

Something smacked against the side of the house, causing the window to shudder and make a loud bang. Lyra's breathing became even more uneven, but her slumber continued.

*WHAM*

*DRRRRIIIING*

Lyra bolted upright, panting in shock and panic. What was that noise?! The green unicorn gazed around wildly, trying to find the source of the noise. Her bed seemed fine; it was on a metal stand with springs attached to the bottom so it was extra-bouncy, making it very loud if something falls on it, but that wasn't the source. Her clocks, given to her by Dr. Whooves, were all securely in place on her teal-painted walls, so none had fallen and created that noise. Finally, she realized what it was.

Her lyre was lying on its side on her wooden bedroom floor. Whatever had gone 'wham' must have hit the wall so hard it knocked the instrument over and it caught on the bedside table on its downwards travel. This resulted in the strings getting pulled and making the loud, startling noise.

Lyra gasped and picked up her lyre. She held it in her hooves like it was her baby, and carefully examined all the strings. She levitated it up the air and stroked her hoof through it. She sighed with relief when the strings made the right noises and she set it gently against the wall again.

Then came the business of finding out what had made the 'wham'. With one glance at her many clocks, Lyra found that it was 3:00pm. It couldn't be any of her friends; they knew she liked to sleep until long into the afternoon. "Hello?" the green unicorn called. she trotted over to the door and into the living room. Out the window she saw a familiar blue mane. Now she was even more confused; What was Vinyl Scratch doing up before 6:00pm?

"Vinyl, what are you doing out here?" Lyra opened the door with her magic, stepping outside into the early afternoon sunlight.

"Sorry Ly, I'm a bit late today." Vinyl Scratch turned to look at her friend. In her mouth was a huge package with a sticker on it that said 'To Novella'. It was a mail package. What was Vinyl doing delivering Lyra's mail? More importantly, why was she delivering Lyra the wrong mail? "I got chased by a dog."

"Are you wearing Derpy's saddlebags?" Lyra raised an eyebrow. On the white unicorn's sides were two saddlebags with a bubble-shaped clip. They were bulging with different forms of mail and a few stamps fell out every time she moved.

"Derpy's?" Vinyl asked, raising her own eyebrow. "No, they're mine. They've got my cutie mark and everything." she lifted a hind leg, moving the saddlebags away from it and revealing a bunch of bubbles on her flank. "I musta just woke you up, if you're sleepy enough to confuse bubbles with an hourglass!"

Lyra tilted her head to the side with confusion. "...Hourglass?"

Lyra Heartstrings stood in front of Ponyville's local workshop. She could hear the chaos inside, endless ringing and off-sync ticking. "Vinyl had Derpy's cutie mark...." Lyra spoke out loud to herself, looking quite worried. "She said this is where Derpy lives. What in Equestria is going on?"

She reached out a green hoof and knocked on the door. She waited a few minutes, and when there was no response, she knocked louder. After the fourth time knocking, Lyra called, "Derpy, are you in there? Derpy!"

"Lyra? Please! Please come in!" the voice of Derpy Hooves rang out loudly, panic in her tone. Lyra gasped and threw the door open, running inside.

What she saw made her blink in confusion. Derpy Hooves was laying on the floor, covered in various gears and clocks. She was covering her ears with her hooves and crying. "Derpy, are you okay?" Lyra ran over to her friend, lifting the debris from some sort of clock-explosion from her. The gray pegasus looked up at her gratefully before flying into the air and looking at the biggest grandfather clock. Its hands were spinning quickly and kept making a loud ringing sound. She opened a door in front of it and stuck her head in. There was a cry of pain and she removed her head, a gear stuck to her snout. She shook her nose free of the gear and looked sadly at the face of the clock again.

"Derpy, are you okay?" Lyra could barely hear herself think over all this noise, but Derpy seemed to hear her just fine because she landed in front of the green unicorn. She grabbed two smaller clocks and held them up to Lyra, pointing at how their hands weren't moving at all. She opened her mouth and began singing.

"These clocks just won’t start ticking,

They won’t cooperate,

They don’t show the right time,

Not even the date.

It’s up to me to fix them,

Cause plainly you can see,

It’s got to be my destiny,

And it’s what my Cutie Mark is telling me."

The pegasus pointed to her flank, where there was a picture of an hourglass.

Lyra ran into the main room of Bon-Bon's Sweet Shop, skidding to a halt. Ahead she saw the Doctor hoofing out different candies to a crowd. As each pony took one and popped it into their mouths, they spat it out in disgust and turned away. The Doctor would frown and try to make more, pulling more sugar out of a cabinet. When he noticed Lyra standing there, he opened his mouth and started singing,

"I try to make them candy,

To give them all a treat,

But no matter what I try,

They’re just not very sweet.

I have to keep on trying,

cause it’s there for all to see,

It’s got be my destiny,

And it’s what my Cutie Mark is telling me."

He turns and points at his cutie mark; three little candies.

Lyra ran to the concert hall where Octavia usually held her concerts. There she saw Bon-Bon attempting to hold a cello and was awkwardly holding a page of music in front of her. She scratched the strings and they made a terrible sound, making everypony cover their ears and flee the hall, even the rest of the orchestra.

Lyra ran up onto the stage to comfort her friend. When the white earth pony saw Lyra, she pointed to her cutie mark, a treble clef, and started singing.

"I don’t care much for music notes,

And hitting chords is just a joke,

Despite my best efforts, this cello ain’t worth my oats.

I’ve got so many concerts and it’s no fun being me,

But it has to be my destiny,

Cause it’s what my Cutie Mark is telling me."

Lyra pushed through the doors of the Oppa Pon-3 Style Night Club. It at first seemed deserted, but upon closer inspection Lyra saw a group of ponies huddled in the corner, cowering and covering their ears. Octavia was standing at a turntable, scratching records that might as well have been blackboards. Lyra had to cover her ears as well as she ran up to Octavia.

Octavia stopped and pulled out a disk, slotting it into a player. She pressed a button and a horrible version of the Pony Pokey began to play. She sighed and turned to Lyra, singing,

"Listen here to what I made,

I think it’s a remix.

I’m not cut out for dubstep tunes,

And I’m stuck in quite a fix,

Could you give a hoof here,

And show me how this ticks?

My destiny is not pretty,

But it’s what my Cutie Mark is telling me."

Lyra found Vinyl Scratch shoving a large book into a mailbox much too small for it. After a lot of pushing, the mailbox exploded, sending letters everywhere. Vinyl was tossed backwards, her saddlebags flying open and spilling all the mail and newspapers across the street.

"Oh my Celestia! Are you okay, Vinyl?" Lyra ran over. Vinyl looked up at her sadly with her big, red eyes. She began to sing.

"I’m in love with sending mail,

But the others have concerns,

Cause I just sent a lawyer,

A book on treating burns.

I have to keep on trying,

For everyone can see,"

Lyra turned around and saw her other four friends had come up behind her, joining in the song.

All: "It’s got to be,"

Doctor: "It’s got to be,"

Bon-Bon: "My destiny,"

Octavia: "My destiny,"

Derpy: "And it’s,"

All: "what my Cutie Mark,

It’s what my Cutie Mark,

Yes it’s what my Cutie Mark is telling me."

To Be Continued

Author's Note

Song written by the person in this post: http://magicalmysterymod.tumblr.com/post/44124806183/magicalmysterymod-au-with-the-mane-background

Sorry about how short it is. I was kinda taking it slow in the beginning and making the scenes go faster near the end to create the stressed and rushed feeling that was in the episode.

To the Library

"Oh no, oh no, how am I going to fix this?!" Lyra raced into her house, the door slamming behind her. She locked it and peeked out the window. Outside she saw a group of ponies, all looking angry. "Guys, this is really bad." she turned around to face her five friends, all of which had also fled into her house as the angry mob had appeared.

Derpy, who was hiding under the table and hugging one of Lyra's clocks, kept her good eye on the door. "Can they get in?" she asked fearfully. "I-I think Minuette is gonna strangle me. I t-told her I d-din't know why her c-clock exploded!"

Lyra sighed and trotted over to Derpy. Moving the table helping the pegasus to her hooves, she said, "It's alright Derpy, nopony's going to strangle you." Derpy nodded and silently curled up in the corner with the clock. Lyra's frown deepened as she saw how upset her friend was. She looked around the rest of her living room; Bon-Bon was awkwardly holding the cello whilst trying not to fall backwards as she wasn't used to standing on her hind hooves, Vinyl was tangled in her saddlebags and covered in stamps, Octavia was holding a fish and looking very confused, and the Doctor was looking bewildered at a piece of candy that had somehow caught on fire.

The green unicorn glanced at the angry mob outside, then back at her friends. Nopony was happy. She didn't know how this had happened, but it had to be fixed! With a determined look on her face, she trotted back to the door. "Stay in here, I'll be back." she told her friends. They were all too upset or involved in what they were doing to even notice Lyra or each other. This just made the mare want to move quicker.

She flung open the door and dived outside. She magically shut and locked the door behind her before the mob could get inside. without access to the cause of their problems, the angry ponies turned to the next best thing: Lyra.

"Derpy set my clock on fire!"

"I don't know what the Doctor put in those candies, but my tongue is transparent!"

"Bon-Bon scared everyone out of my concert hall!"

"I STEPPED INTO OPPA DJ PON-3 STYLE NIGHT CLUB FOR TEN SECONDS AND NOW I'M DEAF."

"I was supposed to get my Sugarcube of the Month today and instead I got somepony else's water bill!"

"Everypony, calm down!" Lyra commanded. They continued to close in a tighter circle around her, like a bunch of predators. She took in a deep breath before shouting as loud as she could, "SHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUTT UUUUUUPPPP!"

Suddenly, there was silence. Like somepony had hit the pause button, everypony was frozen. All staring, all waiting to see what Lyra had to say. The unicorn had to wait a few seconds for her breath to come back, but when she did she spoke seriously and loudly. "I know you're all upset but this isn't anypony's fault. No one here is to blame and until I find the one who caused all this you may as well go home."

"What do you mean?" an orange mare stepped forward. "It seems to me that those friends of yours are to blame. I know Derpy's the one who threw a clock through my window." There were shouts of agreement from the crowd.

"They're not themselves!" Lyra shouted again as the crowd began to gain volume. "Don't you see? They're not doing what they're meant to do! Their cutie marks are wrong!"

A blue unicorn with an hourglass cutie mark trotted up to stand beside the orange pony. She levitated the charred remains of a grandfather clock beside her. "What are you talking about Lyra?" Minuette asked. "I've known Derpy and Bon-Bon since foalhood and they've always had the same cutie mark. Derpy's always repaired my clocks and Bon-Bon's been carrying her cello around since she was ten years old."

Lyra was silent. She was so stunned by this statement that a few ponies stepped closer in case she fainted. They... always had these marks? she thought. But... this isn't who they are... this isn't who they are... "I..." she finally spoke. "I... am going to the library." with that, she turned and ran in the direction of the public library.

"I STILL CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING AND I'M REALLY CONFUSED."

Lyra didn't waste a second. The instant she crossed the threshold into the library, she started levitating books of shelves. She didn't need permission to do so: there wasn't a librarian. She didn't know why Mayor Mare didn't just hire one, there had to be somepony willing to do it, but that was a mystery to be solved another time. For now, she had to find any clues as to what was going on.

"History books first." she though aloud. "I need to know if anything like this has happened before." she did a quick scan of a few shelves, every once in awhile surrounding a book with golden magic and levitating it over to table. When she felt she had enough, she sat down comfortably on a pillow and got reading.

"Ow!" Lyra rubbed her forehead. It hurt badly and she thought she felt a bit of blood running down her face. Foreheads tend to bleed when you smack them with a heavy book. The unicorn decided to take a quick break to find a band-aid and think. "I've read so much and I haven't found anything!"

She trotted from room-to-room in her search for bandaids, and all the whole she thought out loud. "Something like this doesn't just happen! It doesn't make sense: if this is the first time in history that is has happened, why would it happen to them? They're special to me and each other, but they aren't daughters of princesses or saviors of the world. They're just ponies..."

In her thoughts she stopped paying attention to where she was going and walked right into a shelf. She fell backwards, barely dodging the books that fell. "Ow!" she yelled again, rubbing her forehead. "My head just can't catch a break, can it?" With some magic she lifted the books back onto the shelf. She glanced at the covers as she slid them back into place, not really concerned with them. However, on the last book, she did more than glance.

Lyra levitated the last book over to her, examining the cover. This book seemed... right? It was like the answer to a problem she didn't know of. It was brown, imitation leather with gold leaf images pressed into it. The picture was of a unicorn, or maybe alicorn for it only showed the shoulders up, with six gems floating around it. The title read 'The Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide".

She flipped it open and started reading, forgetting her pain."Loyalty, Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, and Generosity. The sixth is a mystery." She balanced it on her back and continued on her search for bandaids. "I'll read it later, it doesn't look like it'll help me right now."

Author's Note

So yeah, the alternate universe tag shows itself in this chapter. Basically, Twilight and her friends don't exist. This takes place before Luna's return, Lyra isn't a student of Celestia, and nopony holds the elements.

Sorry it took so long to update.