//------------------------------//
// The Café in Serene Village 
// Story: Melody Café 
// by Nitro Indigo 
//------------------------------//

Planet Equus had been destroyed.
After the bearers of Elements of Harmony had fought the tyrant Triek, the Tree of Harmony had malfunctioned, releasing negative magic and causing the world to literally fall apart. The inhabitants had been spared by a deity from another dimension known as Arceus, who had saved them and sent them to his own world, which was inhabited by beings known as Pokémon. The ponies had been sent to live in the Water Continent, and the inhabitants of Ponyville had been sent to live in Serene Village, a quaint little village by a lake, surrounded by forests.
Two such ponies were a unicorn named Lyra Heartstrings and an earth pony named Sweetie "Bon Bon" Drops, two very close friends who were living together. It was made of wood and fairly small, with only a few rooms, but that was all the duo needed.
"So, Lyra, what are you thinking of doing here?" asked Bon Bon, as the pair were unpacking their saddlebags in their new home.
"I'm going to try continue my musical career," Lyra replied. She levitated her lyre in front of her. "See?"
"Oh, that's great then. I'm considering taking up baking... say, what do these Pokémon eat?"
"Why don't you just ask them? I'm pretty sure they can talk."
Just then, a Pokémon knocked on their door. It was a Kangaskhan.
"Come in!" shouted Bon Bon.
"Hello, sweeties!" the Kangaskhan said. "Once you're ready, if you want, you can come over to the café down in the plaza. It's a great way to get to know the residents! Would you mind if I stayed for a bit?"
"No thanks," said Bon Bon. "We're busy unpacking right now." After the Kangaskhan left, she turned to Lyra. "So they can talk. That's a relief."
"Think we could go there later?" pleaded Lyra.
"Well... depends on where it is," replied Bon Bon.
"Relax, it's not too far away. And besides, I can't wait to meet all of these Pokémon!"

Now that she was old enough to live on her own, Elfa the Clefairy had decided to move from the hustle and bustle Lively Town to Serene Village. It had taken her days of trudging through caves, over mountains and across ridges, all while being attacked by hostile Pokémon, in order to get there, and she couldn't wait to go to the local café and relax. However, once she arrived, she was in for a shock.
"...This is the sort of stuff I miss when I go travelling for a bit? Someone, anyone, could've told me about this!" she yelled, while drinking berry juice.
"You consider this to be strangest thing you've ever seen?" replied a Meowstic that Elfa was sharing her table with. "Where were you a few months ago?"
"Oh, yeah, the whole darkness thing and all that..." muttered Elfa. "I wasn't affected by it, thankfully, but a lot of Pokémon are still upset about it." The Meowstic just stared at her.
"Don't worry, everyone's fine now. But..."
A bell rang as someone burst into the café. The new arrival was met with many stares: a mint green unicorn with a horn, carrying a lyre on her back. After a moment of silence, the Pokémon all started conversing about her.
"I wonder how she plays that?" asked Elfa.
"Well, I once heard that there was a Fletchling who could play the lyre. She must have some way," replied the Meowstic.
"Hi, everyp- I mean, one!" exclaimed the unicorn. "My name is Lyra Heartstrings, and I want to get to know you all!"
Elfa facepalmed. Did this pony, as they were apparently called, know anything about subtlety? You don't just slam open the door and announce to everyone that you're here, everyone knew that. It was common sense. It was things like this that bothered Elfa, and when Elfa was bothered she hummed a short tune, only four notes long, that helped her to calm down. She actually wanted to be a proper aria singer, but never really had the opportunity to.
Lyra Heartstrings was followed by another pony, a beige one with no horn and curly, pink and blue hair.
"Honestly, Lyra... you are such an embarrassment sometimes..." the other pony muttered. Under all of the talking, only Elfa heard it; Clefairy have very sensitive hearing. "LYRA!" the pony then shouted, but the unicorn ignored her.
Lyra bounded to the highest part of the café. "Do you all like music?" she said. The unicorn's horn glowed gold, and then she levitated the lyra up.
"Impressive!" said the Meowstic. "If only my psychic skills were that good..."
Using her telekinesis, Lyra vibrated the strings of her lyre, creating a simple, but beautiful sound. The gossiping Pokémon stopped talking and turned to look at and listen to her. Once Lyra had finished, some of the Pokémon clapped.
"Glad to see you all like my music!" she exclaimed. The other pony stormed up the stairs towards her.
"Okay, Lyra, that's quite enough," said the pony, as if Lyra was a child who had misbehaved. "I know you're excited and all, but that? You're going to far!"
"Bon Bon, wait! They all love my music!" Lyra argued, but the other pony, Bon Bon, ignored her, and practically dragged Lyra out of the building.
"Well that was awkward," deadpanned the Meowstic.

That evening, Elfa arrived at her new house. She hadn't brought many possessions, just a looplet, a few emeras she kept losing, and some seeds for an emergency. Unpacking didn't take long, and soon enough she was about to fall asleep in her straw bed, when she heard the familiar sound of lyre music coming from outside. She realized she was living right next door to Lyra. She walked over to the window - a circular hole in the wall, divided vertically by a stick - hummed the melody she hummed when she was bothered. Only Elfa wasn't bothered, and she wasn't really humming, she was singing without words. Lyra played the tune Elfa had sang on her lyre in response.
Without even talking, the two of them knew exactly what they would do tomorrow.

The next morning, Lyra and Bon Bon were preparing to go back to the café. The sky looked slightly overcast, but there were no pegasi around.
"I think I'll become a waitress," said Bon Bon.
"We'll, enjoy your job. I'm going to the café again today, too," replied Lyra.
"Don't go embarrassing yourself today, okay?"
"I won't, promise. I already have a plan."
Once Bon Bon had left, Lyra met up with the pink, bipedal Pokémon who she was playing music with the night before.
"Say, I never got your name. What is it?" she asked.
"Elfa, the Clefairy," replied the Pokémon.
"Well, I'm Lyra Heartstrings the unicorn. Pleased to meet you!" she exclaimed, holding out a front leg. When she realized that Elfa was just staring at her, she added, "you're suppose to hit it with your hoof... or any forelimb, I suppose."
"Oh. I heard that humans did something similar, a long time ago..."
"What?"
"Nothing... anyway, I think we should practise at my place for a while."
Elfa and Lyra practised their musical performance they'd be playing at the café that evening for the next few hours. Although it was short, they needed to make sure they got everything just right and were in-key. Lyra suggested extending the music piece, but Elfa told her not to.
"The simpler, the better," she said.

That evening, thunder was rumbling. It was time for the duo to play their performance at the café. Lyra walked in much more calmly and sensibly than the previous day, and Elfa followed her. Lyra noticed that Bon Bon was delivering a couple of drinks to a white and green bipedal Pokémon with blue eyes, and a blue and white, snake-like Pokémon.
"Hello, Miss Kangaskhan!" Lyra said politely at the counter. "Elfa and I are a duo of musical performers called the... umm... what were we called again?"
"We're called the Starweavers," added Elfa.
"Well, sweeties, I'll sort out a time for you to play," said the Kangaskhan, smiling.
Lyra and Elfa waited for the time of their performance on the table Bon Bon had recently delivered drinks to. It turned out the the two Pokémon - a Kirlia and a Dratini - also knew someone who played the lyre, and that she could calm down angry Pokémon by playing it too. In fact, that lyre-player had once saved their lives.
"It's such a shame I didn't get to hear you play yesterday," said the Dratini. "It must've been AWESOME!"
"Really? Today's performance will be even better," replied Lyra.
As the evening went on, a lot of Pokémon came and went, but the café seemed to become more and more crowded. Outside, the rain was pouring down rapidly, and a lot of Pokémon and a few ponies came in damp. They had all come to shelter from the rain, as many of them were from out of town. Soon enough, arguments began breaking out.
"Look where you're going! You banged my beak!" complained a Murkrow who had come from Lively Town.
"Hey! It was just an accident!" a Makuhita shouted back.
"It's YOUR fault the weather is like this!" an earth pony shouted at a group of pegasi.
"No it isn't! Did you do ANY research on this world?" snapped a pegasus.
The sound of the arguing almost drowned out Kangaskhan's announcement. "Okay, everyone! The Starweavers have come here to play their music! Enjoy!"
Elfa and Lyra scrambled to the centre of the upper part of the café, but nobody seemed to be interested in them. In fact, one Pokémon even complained that Lyra had pushed him. Still, the Starweavers began to play their music, a simple, calming, four-note melody. After repeating it a few times, all of the Pokémon and ponies had stopped arguing, and some of them had even fallen asleep. Once they had finished, the duo were met with applause from everyone who was still awake, much louder than the previous day.
"Great performance!" said Bon Bon, a few minutes after the performance. "Sorry for getting mad at you yesterday..."
"It's fine," replied Lyra. The two ponies and Clefairy turned around when a huge figure, the Kangaskhan, approached them.
"Everyone loved you performance, sweeties! Would you mind playing here regularly?" she suggested.
"Sure!" Lyra and Elfa exclaimed in unison.

Every week since then, the Starweavers have played at the Kangaskhan Café in Serene Village. Although they don't settle room-wide arguments any more, their many melodies are enjoyed by all.