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