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// Terrible fates 
// Story: Lyre of time 
// by Jordipien 
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	Lyra looked behind her and there she saw the weirdest looking stallion she had ever seen in her entire life. The earth pony's coat was very pale and he had a short, ginger mane and tail. His eyes looked like they were being squeezed shut, though Lyra could just about make out the stallion's pupils peeking through his seemingly closed eyelids. 
On his back was an enormous backpack covered completely in a collection of the most extraordinary masks Lyra had ever seen. There was one mask of a pale pony with a short black mane wearing a red hat saying 'M' on it. Another mask resembled a pony in agony, screaming at the top of its lungs and yet another looked like the face of a wailing pony being turned to stone. 
The mere sight of this strange stallion made all the hair on her coat stand upright. She felt almost more unsettled than she remembered doing in her nightmare, walking all alone in the dark. It wasn't the pony's weird appearance though that gave her this unsettled feeling, nor the collection of strange masks on his back. What really did it for Lyra was the stallion's constant unnatural grin, exposing all his perfectly white teeth.
"Such a terrible fate indeed", the pony went on in his high-pitched, unfitting voice. "Oh ho ho, you wonder how I know, you do. Well I will tell you, my dear friend. I can tell by the look on your face, I can. I can tell by the way you walk, I can. I can tell by the way you were panting, like you'd just been running for a long time, oh ho ho."
That did it for Lyra. This pony not only unsettled her, he was creeping her out. The way he talked was just so unnatural and weird. Everything about him just felt wrong.
"But oh, what terrible fate is it that you have met, my little friend? For this I cannot read right from your face, nor from the way you walk, nor from the way you pant. This, if you wish not speak, I have to think about first. Let's see now, my dearest friend, you have quite an unusual mark on your flank. Pray tell me, what is that instrument called?"
Lyra was staring at the scary pony, mouth wide open. It took a lot of time and effort to pull herself back together and answer him. "It... it's called a lyre. It's sort of like a smaller version of a harp, only... it isn't a harp."
"Oh ho ho, a small harp that isn't a harp, I see. How very interesting indeed, my little friend. Allow me to throw in a wild guess. You are the pony they all talk about, are you not? The one that will play at the opening ceremony of the beautiful new theater later tonight?"
Later tonight? What was this madpony talking about? Surely she was already more than an hour late. Lyra decided not to worry about the time anymore. This crazy stallion was probably just wrong.
"Yeah, I suppose", she said as a response. "I mean, I guess some ponies have been talking about tonight's opening ceremony, but to say that I'm the talk of town..."
"Oh but sure you are, my sweet little friend, you're all the hype. I have been all over town today and everywhere I went I heard them talk about 'the mysterious musical mare', I have. But please, allow another wild guess by me, since the last one turned out to be oh so right. Tell me, my dearest little friend, does this terrible fate you have met with have anything to do with your beautiful musical skills?"
Lyra's silence was answer enough for the stallion.
"Ah, I can see in your eyes now quite easily that I'm right, or at least partially, but I can also see that there is more on your mind, little friend, or is there not?"
Lyra stared at the pony in awe. How did he know all this? Was he really this good at reading facial expressions? She still didn't trust him. In fact, she trusted him less than she did at first now, as far as that was possible, but she decided that this pony, however crazy he might seem, might actually know more about what really happened to her tonight.
"Yes, you are. Right I mean. You see, I was on my way to the opening ceremony when suddenly, I was completely engulfed in darkness and then some unseen pony attacked me. It was really quite scary. I think that was all just a nightmare though, since I woke up from an apparent unconsciousness shortly after that and I could see no signs on my body of the attack ever really having taken place. I did however fall on the ground when I passed out and I landed on my lyre. It shattered into a hundred pieces and now I wouldn't have an instrument to play on even if I had been on time for my performance."
The pony's grin widened even more, which made him look even creepier. "I see. I think, my dear friend, that you and I, my little friend, are going to be very dear little friends, you and I. For you see, I just so happen to have a replacement instrument for you in my backpack. I am willing to lend you this instrument, even give it to you, if you help me with one, simple thing. Does the sound of my proposal interest you, my little friend?"
Lyra tried to be as wary as she could of this strange pony, but she had to admit he had her attention. What could he mean with 'replacement instrument'? Did he actually happen to have a spare lyre in that over sized backpack of his? Somehow she doubted it, and yet she somehow felt like she wanted to hear more. She nodded. "Go on."
The grin grew even wider. Lyra thought that if she'd say one more thing that pleased this stallion, his face might suddenly burst from the wideness of his grin.
"Oh ho ho, very good. I see I have caught your attention. You see, I am but a humble traveling merchant of masks that is not from around this place. I am a foreigner from another country where, believe it or not, I fought against evil with an oh so friendly green-clothed fairy boy."
The stallion was just speaking absolute gibberish now. Fighting against evil? Fairy boys? She was getting more and more certain of the fact that this pony was deranged.
"My oh so friendly friend, he gave me two gifts once we had triumphed over the oh so evil villains, he did. One was his instrument that he then had no other use for, which is now in my bag and which I will soon pass over to you, should you wish to accept my oh so generous offer. The other was an oh so very special mask that he had retrieved for me after it had been stolen from me that I'd had to work oh so very hard for to get in the first place. But oh, cruel fate! It would seem that I too, have met with a truly terrible fate, I have! For the moment I walked into this fair country, at once I was attacked by my mean little brothers, I was! They knocked me over in the dirt and tried to take my oh so special mask, they did, but oh as luck would have it, there was one quicker to the mask than them, my little friend. This one I speak of was the stunning day princess of your fair and beautiful country. With her magic, she drove my mean little brothers away, she did! But then, oh cruel fate, she took the mask for herself, never taking notice of poor old me. My humble request for you is to simply take the train to your fair country's capital and kindly ask your oh so fair princess to return that oh so precious mask to its rightful owner. This is a simple task that will take you no more than half a day, but you mustn't hesitate, my dear little friend, for my brothers have planned something oh so mean for the night of the third day counting from tomorrow. I will give you your instrument now, if you accept my humble request, but in return you must hurry, my friend. Do you understand that, dear friend?"
Lyra had to think a long time before she could give an answer. The pony was absolutely insane, that much at least was clear to her now. However, even if she didn't believe a word of what he was saying, what did she have to lose? It was true enough that a quick trip to Canterlot and back took no more than a mere half day. She made up her mind. The prospect of possibly getting a new lyre was too tempting, even if this pony was absolutely crazy.
"I'll do it", she said.
It turned out she had been wrong earlier. The grin apparently could get even wider without making the stallion's face burst. Lyra had never seen anypony grin so widely in her entire life. "Excellent", he said.
In the blink of an eye, his enormous backpack was off his back and on the ground. The stallion was rummaging through it now, mumbling to himself as he was doing so. Finally, he pulled out of the bag the most beautiful instrument Lyra had ever seen.
The pony had spoken the truth. As it turned out, he really did have a lyre in his bag. And what a lyre it was. It looked at least ten times more stunning than her old, wooden one. This instrument seemed to be made out of pure, solid gold and the three strings were made out of a soft feeling nylon.
"Go on, my little friend, try it out! See if it fits you as oh so well as I'd hoped it would."
Lyra carefully pulled back one of the three strings with her hoof. When she let go, it made a sound purer than anything she'd ever managed to get out of her old lyre. She didn't understand. Who was this strange stallion and how could he be so creepy, crazy and generous at the same time? And where did he even get this magnificent instrument? Surely not from his 'oh so friendly fairy boy friend'.
"I see that indeed, it suits you perfectly, my little friend. And now that I have kept my end of the bargain, it is time for you, my dear friend, to keep yours. But oh, I almost forgot. You still have a performance to do, have you not, my little friend? Very well, plenty of time for that I'd say, but remember: only three days. Starting tomorrow at six in the morning, you mustn't fail, or else you'll be mourning"
Suddenly, Lyra felt uneasy in his company again. What did he mean by 'or else you'll be mourning'? And what 'oh so mean things' did his 'little brothers' have planned for the night of the third day?
Lyra nodded. "I'll get right on it first thing tomorrow morning", she said.
"Good, my little friend. My counsel to you is to be on your way before six in the morning, for that is when it starts. Better hurry now though, my little friend. The show will be starting soon, no more time to talk."
He still confused her. What would start at six tomorrow morning? And didn't he know the show had probably been cancelled because she never showed up? She looked over her shoulder, in the direction she'd come running from. To her greatest surprise, she saw that the theater was right ahead. How is that even possible? We were out on a big, open field, not remotely close to the center of town.
She wanted to ask the strange stallion some more questions, but when she turned her head again, he was gone. She was really very confused now and wondered if she had been hallucinating again. This time, she could make sure she hadn't though, for she was still clutching the golden lyre tightly in her hooves.
She looked over to the clock tower of the train station. Nine forty-three. she was just on time for her back-stage preparations. This wasn't right. She'd have been just on time if it hadn't been for all the trouble and distractions she'd met on the road. Lyra looked at the lyre in her hooves and thought again of the strange pale earth pony. Or else you'll be mourning. Had she gotten herself into an unnatural underworld of masks and shadows? Somehow, something had changed the time. It was impossible and yet it had somehow happened.
Come on, Lyra, let's not be silly now. You've just been driven paranoid by that weird pony's crazy talk. Bon Bon's clock was probably just wrong. What other logical explanation is there? She could not fully convince herself.
The moment she stepped into the theater though, she forgot all thoughts about crazy conspiracy theories and remembered she was nervous. Regardless of all the things that had happened to her tonight, she was still on time, but that meant she'd now have to perform in only fifteen minutes. 
She tried to concentrate and made her preparations. She drank a glass of water, played every note on her lyre from low to high and back to low again and in her head went over the chords of her songs one last time. Then it was time.
She walked up on stage and before her sat what seemed like the biggest collection of ponies Lyra had ever seen in her life. For one moment, she thought she was going to faint at the mere sight of this crowd, but then she saw Bon Bon sitting on the first row, giving her an encouraging smile. This was all she needed to go on. She took her seat on the chair that had been set out for her and without hesitating another moment, she began to play her first song.
The crowd was completely entranced and so was she. The sound coming from this new lyre was like nothing she had ever heard, especially now that she actually played it in an arranged composition. It sounded so pure, so beautiful. When she was done playing her first song, every single pony in the audience looked at her with their mouth wide open.
The nerves were completely gone now that she was in her element. She played song after song without making a single mistake, never touching the wrong string. She soon found herself already playing her final song.
It was supposed to be the most enchanting and magical song of them all, but something was wrong. The electricity in the theater was going out. The microphone set out in front of her now failed to amplify the sound coming from her instrument and the lights were flickering on and off. When the electricity had completely gone out, it was pitch black in the theater; just as dark as her nightmare had been after sunset.
There was a scream. A single scream sounding far too familiar. High-pitched and cut short. Then, everypony in the audience panicked and nopony was on their seat anymore. The electricity came on again. The lights were on and now everypony could see what had happened.
The sight was too horrible for Lyra to handle. Every single feeling she'd had that night came back to her at once. She threw up all over the stage before fainting. The last thing she'd seen was Bon Bon's corpse, lifeless and still, staring at her with pale, dead eyes. That's why the scream had sounded so familiar.