Hi, I’m Lyra Heartstrings and I’m a lyrist in Ponyville. That’s my special talent, but it’s not what everypony knows me for. I’m good at romance and love too, but nopony ever asks for advice and I’m still single. I’m used to it now, so it doesn’t bother me so much anymore.
I’ve lived here for years, although my parents moved to Canterlot when I was twenty. I should’ve gone with them, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to leave my home. Can you blame me for that?
Nopony here hates me. Yet nopony likes me either. I try to talk to them and I get met with false smiles and fake acts of kindness. In group conversations, I hang around on the outside and occasionally make small contributions, nothing more. I never have to fake my kindness around them.
Everypony thinks I’m weird, but I’m not anymore. I can remember when I was, though. I was only a young filly when it started. Everything was better back then, though I guess every adult says that about their childhood.
I was a little shy when I was young, but I could still make friends and could be quite energetic when I wanted to be. My imagination was also very active. One of my favorite pastimes, apart from playing my lyre, was to make up imaginary creatures and draw them.
This one time in school, I had come up with this brilliant idea for a new creature. Something unlike anything I had thought of before. I couldn’t wait until home time to begin drawing it, so I stayed inside class during recess. I sat at my desk, paper and pencils in front of me as I put the images in my head onto paper.
“Lyra?”
I looked up at my teacher, Ms. Write (her full name was Play Write). I remember her clearly: brown mane, yellow coat, black tie, small glasses and three pencils for a cutie mark. She was a bit old, but really nice and encouraging all the same.
I spat the pencil out of my mouth. “Yes, Ms. Write?”
Ms. Write got off her chair at her desk, her mug of coffee empty from the early morning lessons. She always loved her coffee and so did the class, since it smelled so good. “Aren’t you going to go outside with your friends?”
I shook my head, grinning eagerly. “Nuh-huh! I got an idea for a new creature that I really wanna draw now!”
She nodded, then looked outside the window, where all the kids were running around, playing. “I see. In that case, would you like me to see if one of your friends will join you?”
“I don’t mind!” I chirped, going back to my art work.
Ms. Write let out a little chuckle. “Alright then, have fun.” She then took her empty mug and opened the door, letting the din of excited school fillies flood into the room. It wasn’t open for long and soon I was alone. Not that I minded, of course.
I scrunched my face in concentration, teeth gripping my pencil, as I drew a pink limb for my fantasy creature. There were a few other creatures on the page too, each adopting a different pose, but I hadn’t colored them in yet.
Just when I was adding the final touches to the outline, the door burst open and in came my best friend at the time, Colgate. “Hey, Lyra, guess what?”
“What?” I asked, after spitting out the pencil again. I had to put my hoof down on it to prevent it rolling off the table.
“Berry kissed Caramel and now they both have cooties!” she announced, trotting up to me and giggling.
I turned in my seat, giving her my full attention. The drawings could wait; this was so much more important. “Really?!”
Colgate nodded a couple times. “Yeah! Berry was all like,” she pouted her lips, making embarrassingly corny smooching sounds, “and Caramel was all like this!” She put on a nervous face, her lips jutting out only slightly.
I burst out laughing at her display, almost falling out of my chair. “I bet he was so embarrassed! Why did he do it?”
“Berry dared him to, but at first he didn’t want to, until she called him a chicken.” That explained it. Caramel was really competitive as a child. I think he’s grown out of it now, though. We don’t talk much anymore, so I can’t say for sure. “And afterwards his face went red like an apple and he started rubbing his face in the grass!”
We both burst into a chorus of childish giggles, like good friends often do. It took us a little while to settle, but eventually Colgate looked over my drawings. “Whatcha drawing?”
“Oh, these?” I pointed at my work. “Just some creatures I thought up. But these ones are better than all of them combined!”
“Huh... lemme see...” She took a closer look at them, leaning on the table. They were quite the spectacle, unlike anything I had imagined or seen before. They walked on two legs, like minotaur, but didn’t have their hooves. Instead, they had feet that ended with little digits called toes. Then they had long arms that ended in hands, kinda like what dragons have, just with much smaller claws. They didn’t have any tails and the only fur on them was on top of their heads, like our manes.
Colgate’s eyes widened as she quickly became interested and curious. “Ooooo...” She then blinked, her wonder disappearing, and looked at me. “What are they?”
“Humans,” I replied confidently.
Colgate scrunched up her muzzle. “That sounds weird. How did ya come up with that name?”
I simply shrugged. “I dunno. It just came to me.” It was like I got hit with a lightning bolt of inspiration.
Colgate took another look at the humans, rubbing her chin. “Hmm... something’s missing.”
I blinked, then inspected my drawings. Everything seemed A-OK to me. “What?”
She tapped one of the humans. A female with her hands clasped behind her back, smiling. “I know we don’t normally wear clothes ‘n’ stuff, but these things look weird without them.”
Upon taking another look at them, I could see her point. Humans were kind of boring things. The most colorful thing was their hair. “Yeah, you’re right.” Another brilliant idea hit me. “Oh! I’ll give this one a dress!” I quickly scribbled an outline of a long, flowing dress on the female. It covered her shoulders but didn’t go very far down her arms. The dress spread out from her waist and ended near her feet.
Colgate nodded in approval when I finished. “That looks much better! She looks really pretty ‘n’ stuff.”
I held up the paper, staring at all the humans on it, and smiled proudly. “Yeah. Clothes do look better on them.” I was so focused on them, I didn’t hear Colgate until she prodded me in the side.
“Lyra! Wanna go play outside now?”
I gazed through the window. I could see Berry talking to Carrot Top and Caramel hiding by a tree with his friends. Other kids were hogging the swings and sandbox. It looked fun and all, but...
“Nah. I think I’ll keep drawing,” I said, putting the paper back down on the table.
Colgate gave me a disappointed look. “But it’s all sunny and stuff and you could do all this at home.”
I huffed quietly to myself. “If I don’t draw them now then all the genius from my head will leak out!”
Colgate backed down away from me and traced a circle on the ground with her forehoof. “Um... okay then.” I want back to my drawings as she slowly walked out of the room. I didn’t even say bye or anything; I was too wrapped up in my own, silly world.
That was when ponies didn’t mind my humans. Hay, they were the coolest thing in school for a while. Nopony had seen anything like them and were impressed by what my imagination had produced. But like all fads, my humans grew to be boring with everypony. I wish I could have seen that at the time, but I didn’t.
“Okay, I’ll be The Brush Bomb! Defeating plague everywhere with her magic brush!” Colgate shouted, striking a heroic pose in the playground, levitating her toothbrush beside her.
“And I’ll be Berry Blaster! Getting rid of evil with her awesome berries!” Berry exclaimed, stuffing a few cherries into her mouth from her packed lunch.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! I’ll be Muffin Mare! Giving everypony tasty muffins, for the good of Equestria!” Derpy proclaimed, saluting. Her eyes were looking in different directions, which diminished the heroic affect she was looking for.
We were playing one of our favorite games: superheroes. We usually changed what we were each time, but we all had our favorites. Colgate and Berry looked to me expectantly and I grinned back at them. I was going to impress them today.
“I will be—” I paused to up the suspense, “a human!” My friends exchanged skeptical looks as I raised myself and stood on only my hindhooves. It was a trick I had learned at home. It earned me a lot of bruises, but I got pretty good at balance by then. My unique pose only caused them to frown at me, except Derpy.
Berry snorted, looking unimpressed. “Lyra, the humans were kinda cool at first, but now they’re real annoying.”
“And... what are you even doing?! That isn’t natural!” Colgate cried, pointing at me like I was some thing.
“I think it’s kinda cool how she can do that!” Derpy said, smiling at me.
Berry shot down Derpy quickly. “It’s not cool, it’s weird. Have you seen any other pony do that?” she retorted, looking at Derpy.
Derpy frowned and was quick to reply. “No, but have you seen any other pony’s eyes like mine? Does that make me weird?” Berry looked down, silent. “No, it makes me unique.”
“But Derpy, nopony likes her humans anymore,” Colgate reasoned. My face fell and I fell back onto all four hooves. She glanced at me and bit her lip. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, but she still likes them,” Derpy defended. She always got defensive about her friends and always told them to embrace themselves. I really admired her. I still do. “So she can still be a human if she wants.”
Berry snorted, scuffing a hoof across the grass. “But what if we don’t want a human in our game? We wanna have fun too.”
“You can still have fun, sillyhead!” Derpy stomped a hoof on the ground.
“No, ‘cause I don’t want a stupid human in my game!” Berry shot back.
I didn’t hear the rest of the argument because I had gone. I went back inside the classroom and began to draw more humans. I didn’t think they were stupid. I thought they were wonderful. Why couldn’t anypony see what I was seeing?
I heard the door open a couple of minutes later, revealing Derpy. She gave me a smile and walked up to me. “Drawing more cool humans, huh?”
I nodded. “Where’s the others?”
“Playing superheroes,” Derpy answered, nodding.
“You should play with them,” I said, focusing on my drawing.
“Nah. They’re being meany jerks.” Derpy pouted, going cross eyed. “If you like humans, that’s fine with me! I think they’re still pretty cool.”
I offered her a small smile. “Thanks.”
Derpy gave me a pat on the back. A bit too hard, since my face nearly smacked the desk. “Nopony can stop you from liking humans, okay? You keep on drawing them and making them awesome.”
I nodded again and gave Derpy a hug. “Yeah, I will. Thanks, Derpy.”
Derpy stuck by me in school, defending me when anypony insulted my fascination with my humans. But the others drifted away and so did I. I didn’t want to be with anypony who hated humans and they didn’t want to be with me. At the time, I just soldiered on without a care.
That came back and bit me during my teenage years. That’s when social status is a must and I came into the game with a handicap.
By now, my human obsession had well and truly gone away, but the stigma associated with it remained. One of the first days of school after the summer holidays, I saw Berry and Colgate talking to each other by some lockers.
I was going to walk by them like I normally did, but this time I stopped and glanced at them. I mulled it over, looking between them and the hallway ahead, full of students. I bit my lip and approached them instead.
“Hi, guys,” I said, giving the pair a friendly wave. The two stopped their conversation and both looked at me, glancing at each other occasionally.
“Uh, hey, Lyra,” Berry replied. Colgate just gave me a wave and a smile that seemed a little forced.
“How are things?” I asked, smiling. Things felt a little different, but it was good to talk to them again.
“Oh, y’know...” Colgate rubbed the back of her neck. “Good, I guess.”
“Yeah, I’m on top of homework and stuff,” Berry said with a shrug. Nopony said anything else after that, but that didn’t last long.
“Hi, Berry!” came the cheery voice of Derpy. “I can’t wait for your party!” Berry and Colgate both shot annoyed glances at Derpy, who blinked, then turned to face me. Her jaw dropped slightly. “Oh! Uh, hey Lyra!”
“Party? What party?” I questioned, looking between all three of them.
“My birthday party.” Berry rubbed the ground slightly with a hoof, not looking directly at me. “My mom says I can only invite a few ponies. Sorry.”
My ears fell back. “Oh... yeah, makes sense.” I glanced at the clock on the wall behind me. “I better go to my lesson anyway. See ya, guys.” I walked off, not giving them a second glance. I still had ten minutes until my lesson began.
I stared at the ground and shuffled my way past other ponies. I thought about other things, like my lessons and homework. Anything important, really. The positive about being an outsider was that you got work done—no distractions.
“Lyra! Wait!”
My ears twitched and I looked back to see Derpy galloping through the crowd of students, knocking one or two over.
She rushed up to me, a little out of breath. “Lyra... look, about the whole party thing.”
I raised a hoof and interrupted her. “It doesn’t matter, Derpy. I’m sure you guys will have lots of fun.”
Derpy lifted her foreleg off the ground, her mouth scrunched up. “Er...” She then beamed brightly, like she usually did. “Thanks!”
I was about to say bye and walk off, when she put her wing over me and gave me a warm hug. “But we’ll have to hang out together sometime, yeah?”
I smiled, returning the embrace. “Yeah, we will, Derpy. Thank you.”
I realise now that I had put Derpy in a far more difficult position than I was in. She was torn between two sides: the cool ponies, and me. It wasn’t fair on her, but I’ll never forget her kindness. It’s one of the few things I’ll cherish and never let go of. That and my music.
We said our goodbyes and parted ways, eager to meet up again. Our brief conversation had cut a minute or two into my time, but I’d still arrive at class way too early. I walked forward, yet couldn’t help but look back at Derpy as she returned to her friends.
I then felt my body collide into something soft, yet hard enough to knock me down. I blinked, peering up. What I saw was perhaps the prettiest face I’ve ever seen. A cream colored earth pony mare with beautiful blue eyes was staring down at me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she cried. “Here, let me help you.” She gave me a hoof up and I dusted myself off.
“Thanks. I’m should be sorry, really.” I let out an embarrassed laugh. “Wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“That makes the two of us, then.” She grinned, then looked up at the clock. Letting out a little gasp, she began to move past me. “Gotta go to lesson, bye!”
“Uh, bye!” I waved at her and she did the same to me, just avoiding bumping into another pony. I watched her go, her curly pink and blue and tail bobbing as she walked.
I shook my head, snapping myself out of my reverie and continued to my lesson. I kept seeing her around school and town, but never had the courage to talk to her. I wasn’t even sure if she did want to talk to me anyway.
Going through education wasn’t easy and I’m not entirely sure it was worth it. It did help me grow into the mare I am today, though. These days, I usually sit in the park in Ponyville and play my lyre. I like to watch life go by and imagine the stories of ponies’ lives.
I had secured my usual spot in the park, right by the fountain and sat on the bench. I didn’t recline on it like most ponies did. Instead, I sat on it like how a child would sit on their chair in school.
I held my cherished lyre in my hooves, caressing it gently. I had it since I was a small child. Friends had come and gone but the lyre stayed by my side. I looked at the ground, lost in thought.
Two mares walked by, chatting to each other like old friends. I recognised them easily once I looked up and saw them. Berry and Colgate. They kept walking and didn’t stop, becoming specks in the distance. I didn't make the effort of going after them. We were just all separate ponies, living very different, separate lives.
I sighed and gazed down at my lyre. I didn’t feel like playing it today, for some reason, so I just sat in silence for a while. I don’t know how long I was sitting there like that. Eventually, the sound of flapping, a crash, and a yelp got my attention.
I looked over the back of the bench to see Derpy right in the midst of the bushes, her limbs sticking out of the greenery. I giggled to myself and got off the bench to help her out and upon standing on all her hooves, she gave me one of her classic smiles.
“Hi, Lyra! How ya doing?”
“Better, now that you’re here.” I got back on the bench and patted the spot beside me. Derpy hopped on and stretched her hindlegs.
“Better? What’s wrong?” Her brow furrowed as her eyes became unfocused. “Or should that be, ‘what was wrong’?”
“Berry and Colgate walked by,” I answered, plucking a string of my lyre with my telekinesis. It produced a single, high note.
“Aah.” Derpy tapped the bench. “Nopony hates you, you know that, right?” I nodded. Then conversation died.
Derpy cleared her throat, shuffling a little. “I think... I think you should make a little effort in socialising.”
I stopped leaning against the back of the bench, staring at Derpy. “What?”
She fiddled with her forehooves. “Well, think about it, Lyra. All you do is kinda... hang about. You play your lyre, but you don’t talk much. And when you are in a group, talking, you hardly make any contributions.” Derpy sighed, looking at her hooves. “Sorry...”
I snorted, folding my forelegs across my chest. “You think it’s that easy, Derpy? To just go up to a pony and start talking like you’re the best of friends? I can’t do that and you know it.”
Derpy looked up and reached towards me with a hoof. “Lyra—”
I lightly pushed her foreleg away. “No, Derpy. It’s easy for you to say all that because you’re so nice and bubbly and everypony loves you. But for me? I got cut off from my friends a long time ago and I never recovered from that.” I fiddled with my lyre, gazing at the fountain. “It’s mostly my fault too. Stupid humans. I got so wrapped up in my own little world that I forgot about everything else! I didn’t want to be with anypony!”
I let out a shuddering sigh. “And because of that, I’m not like other ponies. I don’t know all the social graces. I’m awkward, Derpy. Just awkward.”
Despite my outburst, Derpy still had this small, hopeful smile on her face. “Doesn’t mean you can’t have friends. You still have me.”
I frowned, looking away from her. “Yeah... but only when you feel like it.”
There was a small pause. “Wha... what do you mean?”
“Whenever there’s some party or other gathering, you’re right in there with everypony else and forget all about me!” I gritted my teeth. “You... you ditch me for other ponies.” Saying those words felt like ripping off a band aid.
“Now that’s not true!” Derpy raised herself, turning my head so I faced her. Her eyes were crossed, but that didn’t stop her from looking mad. “Those ponies are my friends too! I can’t pick you all the time, can I?!”
“Yeah, but—” Right then, I realised that she was right. In the heat of the moment, I had completely forgotten to see things from Derpy’s point of view. She probably thought of me a lot when she was at those parties. At least, I hoped so. “No, that’s fair. Sorry...”
“It’s fine, Lyra.” Derpy shuffled a bit and wrapped her wing around me. “Need time to think this through?”
I just shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Alright then.” Derpy patted my back with her wing and got off the bench. “See ya later?”
I nodded, waving at her. “Yep. See ya.”
Derpy then took off to the skies, although her flight pattern wasn’t exactly the most elegant. A couple of her feathers fell to the ground and I just stared at them, thinking. She had a point. I could have offered to be a bit bolder when socialising. Show more of my real self instead of cowering, worried about what others would think. I should just be myself. I was normal now. No more humans.
A cream pony trotted by, kicking up Derpy’s feathers. I watched her go, recognizing that blue and pink mane. That one pony I had bumped into many years ago was still here, but I had never taken the opportunity to talk to her.
And now she was getting away again.
I slipped off the bench and left my lyre behind, racing after her. I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by. I had to be brave and be myself. “Wait!”
She stopped in her tracks and turned around, giving me a suspicious look. “Er... can I help you?”
“It’s me!” I cried. Clearly I wasn’t thinking before speaking. “That pony you bumped into all those years ago at school?”
“Um...” She looked over me and stepped back a little. “Okay...”
I bit my lip, beginning to sweat a little. I couldn’t mess this up. Not again. I wasn’t weird! “Sorry, I, um...” I stared down at my hooves, wracking my brain for something to say. “I never introduced myself back then and... I thought you were nice. It’s just that—” I sighed and let the truth come out. “I’m awkward and never approached you again. Until now.”
She raised an eyebrow at me and then there was silence.
That was it, I had totally blown it. “Look, sorry for bothering you,” I spluttered out, beginning to go. “Won’t happen again.”
“Now hold on.”
I froze in place.
“I’ve seen you around town and I’ve listened to your music. The sounds you make with your lyre are really beautiful,” she said casually.
I looked back at her, grinning. “Really?”
“Really. So, you want to be friends? Then sure, you seem nice enough.” She outstretched a hoof, smiling at me. “I’m Bon Bon.”
I tentatively reached out for her hoof and shook it. “That’s a lovely name, Bon Bon. I’m Lyra Heartstrings.”
“I like yours. Rolls off the tongue quite nicely,” Bon Bon said with a smirk.
“But yours is cuter.” My grin grew wider and I cleared my throat. “Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon...”
She giggled delightfully and I eventually stopped. “You’re weird, Lyra.”
I bit my lip, unsure of whether that was good or bad.
Bon Bon blinked and quickly continued. “I kind of like weird. It’s different.”
I let out a little sight of relief. “Thanks. It’s good to be unique, I guess.”
Bon Bon nodded firmly. “Yep.” She glanced over to the bench where I had just been sitting. “Hm. That looks big enough for two. What do you say to sitting and talking together?”
I beamed at her, already trotting ahead. “Sure!”
We took our places on the bench together in no time at all. I sat on my haunches and picked up my lyre, while Bon Bon lay down, all her hooves on the bench. She looked up at me, skeptical.
“That’s not how you sit on a bench.”
I held my lyre close to me and shrugged. “It’s, er, how I sit on a bench.”
She nodded in respect to that. “Alright then. If that’s how you do things...” She peered at my lyre. “Play me a tune.”
I looked from my lyre to Bon Bon. “What?”
“Play some music. C’mon, show me a great performance.”
I was a little unsure of what to say. Here was a mare that I had just met again, asking me to play my lyre for her. She was actually interested in what I had to say and what my real passions were. She was sticking around because she wanted to. She was...
A new friend.
My horn glowed and I got ready to give her the best performance I could. I flashed her a confident grin. “Your ears are going to be dancing to this.”
Bon Bon blinked. “My... ears?”
“Er... just listen.” I chuckled sheepishly, then began playing the start of a new song that marked the beginning of a new relationship.
Her ears never did dance. But she was always happy to let me keep trying.
