//------------------------------// // Talents // Story: The Mare Formerly Known as Lyra // by Dubs Rewatcher //------------------------------// In one quick motion, Lyra wrapped a fresh towel around her soaking wet mane. She hummed quietly to herself as she exited the bathroom and walked into the bedroom that made up most of her suite. She looked at the clock: '7:16.' Backbeat would probably be arriving in a few minutes.         Lyra had to wonder: just what kind of budget was Noteworthy running on? It had to be a big one, considering how large her room was. It was comparable to her cottage back in Ponyville. The walls were a pale yellow, with thin brown stripes running vertically down them. The carpeting was soft and ridged, comforting Lyra’s hooves as she walked. Even her bed was spacious, being big enough to fit at least four full size ponies. At the front desk, they had called it the Princess Suite; a fitting name, she thought. knock knock         Lyra turned towards the door. Had she heard something? It...didn’t sound like anything. It was probably just the wind. Lyra turned back to her suitcase, rummaging around for something nice to wear. Knock Knock         The unicorn turned back. She knew that she had heard something that time. She trotted to the door, and looked through the small peephole that marked the center of the white door. Outside, sitting demurely in front of the door, was a unicorn with fur just as white as the door itself. She unlatched the lock, and pulled it open. “Oh, hi, Backbeat.”         Backbeat walked in slowly, gazing around Lyra’s hotel room. “Wow, no wonder this cost so much.”         Chuckling, Lyra stepped in front of a large mirror that graced the room’s north wall. “Thanks again for getting me a room here. I hope it wasn’t too hard. Let give me a few more minutes to get ready, okay?” asked the turquoise mare. She didn’t get a response. “Backbeat?”         “Oh!” Backbeat piped up. “Sorry, what did you say?”         “We’ll be good to go in a few minutes?”         “Oh...no, don’t worry. Take all the time you need.” At that point, Backbeat noticed Lyra putting a somewhat strange looking contraption on her hoof. It appeared to be a dark brown glove, with round plastic rods sticking out of the flat part that covered her sole. Seeing that she had pulled it on correctly, Lyra smiled and began to run the rods through her damp mane, styling it from a flat form to the wavy one she liked.         “Wait...what is that?” asked Backbeat. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so...uh, unique?”         Lyra stopped brushing and stared at her fellow unicorn. “What, you’ve never seen a hoof-brush before?” Backbeat shook her head. “It’s what earth ponies and pegasi use to brush their manes. You know, no magic and all.”         “But...you’re a unicorn.”         “Yeah, but I’m no good when it comes to magic.” Lyra explained, placing the brush’s teeth back into her hair. “I doubt I could even handle trying to move the brush through my mane. I thank Celestia sometimes for making my special talent playing the lyre; all you need to play it is hooves.”         Backbeat nodded slowly. “Right. That’s nice.”         Lyra blinked. “No, not really. It’s kind of annoying, actually, to be a unicorn without magic.” Once again, there was no response. “Backbeat?”         “Huh?”         “Are you even listening?”         Behind her brown glasses, Backbeat’s eyes widened. “I am, I am! You were talking about, uh...your magic? And how, it, uh...” she trailed off. Lyra raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I’m sorry. It’s just...I’m kind of depressed about tonight.”         "Oh, I see. Well," Lyra walked to her friend. "We can still have fun, can't we?"         "Yeah, I guess. But, I mean, I don't wanna sound ungrateful or anything, but you did kind of lead me on a bit." The white mare hung her head. "I guess Noteworthy just doesn't want to go on a date with me."         "Now, wait just a minute!" Lyra exclaimed. "That isn't true at all. Do you want to know why Noteworthy did what he did?"         Backbeat looked at Lyra curiously. "Why?"         "He's a boy."         "A...boy?"         Lyra shut her eyes and nodded sagely. "Yep. And if I know anything about romance at all, it's that boys stink at it. So don't get too worried. Noteworthy will come around eventually, I promise."         Backbeat beamed. "Thanks, Lyra. I needed that. So, are you ready to go?"         Lyra contemplated the question for a moment, before a devilish grin planted itself on her face. "Yeah, I am. But you aren't."         "Huh?" gasped Backbeat, startled by Lyra's accusation. Had she forgotten something?         "Listen. Noteworthy might not think of this as a real date...but that doesn't mean that you don't have to!" Lyra explained. While she was talking, the turquoise unicorn was rummaging through the closet that was built into the west wall of the room. "And, if you're going on a date, you have to look good, don't you?"         Backbeat looked down to inspect what she was wearing, which was...nothing. Well, at least her mane was groomed. And she smelled fine(at least, in her opinion). But the fact remained that Lyra was right: she hadn't dressed up at all for tonight.         "I...I guess I could dress up a little." ----------         “Okay...this should be the address.” Backbeat told the taxi driver, reading off a small piece of paper. “Could you pull over on the right, please. But, uh, if you want to go to the left, that’d be cool too, I guess.”         The taxi veered right, off of the busy Canterlot road and onto a narrow side street. Lyra peered out her window. That was when she realized: unless Noteworthy was just the least romantically inclined pony in the world, he really didn’t realize what Backbeat meant. The street itself was dirty and dark, being situated in the heart of downtown Canterlot. And it only held one restaurant: The Bluenote. Both mares agreed that this must be the place.         Lyra got out first. While she wasn’t ever planning on going all out when it came to dressing up for this date, she was going to at least look professional. However, after giving Backbeat her makeover, Lyra had deliberately made herself look at bit haggard. It emphasized just how good looking Backbeat was. Not that Backbeat needed it. Even Lyra was stunned my the red-maned mare’s beauty. She had borrowed from Lyra an elegant red dress. By pure luck, it had turned out that the two ponies were the exact same size, so the gown fit Backbeat perfectly. After just a little grooming, Backbeat’s fur glistened with the reflected light of the moon. Even her brown glasses seemed to be unusually sleek. Unfortunately, neither of them had any perfume—however, it didn’t really matter, as Lyra had confirmed Backbeat’s suspicions that she smelled fine.         The two stepped into the restaurant, and were immediately amazed by how dark it was inside. It was already night outside, but the two unicorn’s eyes still needed to adjust to the new lighting. They barely even saw the brown waitress approach, levitating two menus. “Table for two, ladies?”         “Uh, no, actually.” Backbeat responded. Dressing up Backbeat had taken longer than expected, and it was well after eight. “Our friend should already be here. He’s a-”         The waitress' eyelids lowered. “Blue stallion, tall build, not too muscular, kinda cute?”         Lyra chuckled. Backbeat only blushed silently at the mare’s description. “H-How did you guess?” Backbeat asked, staring at the waitress’s brown hooves.         “He came in here about twenty minutes ago, saying he was waiting for two unicorn mares. Told ‘im he could only stay if he bought something. He’s right over that-a-way.” She pointed across the restaurant. Sitting alone at a large table right next to an empty platform was Noteworthy. “You two should count yourselves lucky; Wednesday is the best night of the week!”         Lyra raised an eyebrow. “Really? Why?”         She winked. “You’ll see~” the brown pony responded, placing the two menus down on a counter and turning away. Considering the dark lighting, the empty stage next to Noteworthy, and the waitress’ remark, Lyra really began to hope they hadn’t just walked into a strip club.         Lyra began to make her way toward the table. Backbeat, however, stayed behind for a moment. She tapped the waitress on the shoulder, waited for her to turn, and muttered with steely conviction: “I will have you know that he is plenty muscular.”         Once she made it to the stageside table, the first thing Lyra noticed about Noteworthy was his mane. Normally smooth and neat, his hair now looked like the Everfree Forest had somehow gotten up and moved itself on top of his head. Lyra cautiously tapped him on the shoulder. “Uh...Noteworthy?”         Noteworthy threw his hooves into the air and groaned. “I already bought, like, five! What more do you vultures want?!”         Lyra recoiled. “I, uh, it’s me, Noteworthy. It’s Lyra.”         The next thing Lyra noticed, once Noteworthy turned, were his eyes. They looked bloodshot and irritated, as if he had been crying. His cheeks shared the same red color. “Oh, Lyra.” he said. “It’s only you.” Lyra’s nose involuntarily scrunched up at the stench that was Noteworthy’s breath. Despite the odor, it carried a scent familiar to Lyra: alcohol.         The turquoise mare took a seat at the table, facing away from the stage. “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting for too long.”         "Oh, no, no!" Noteworthy babbled, gesticulating madly. "I was fine! It took a while to finish all of these!" He gestured to the many small glasses that populated the table.         Lyra blinked. "Noteworthy. You do realize that there are, like, eight shot glasses here, right?"         Before Noteworthy could answer, Backbeat walked up to the table. “H-Hello, Noteworthy. Uh...nice night out?” The stallion mumbled incoherently before taking another drink. Backbeat sat down opposite Lyra. “So, what were you saying, Lyra?”         Lyra laughed nervously. “Oh, uh, well...I was just commenting on, um...what...a good table to this is.”         Backbeat wasn’t listening. She was staring expectantly at Noteworthy, waiting for him to notice her fancy new gown. Noteworthy was looking through the many empty glasses on the table, and marveling at all the prismatic colors reflected in the container. Seeing that he wasn’t going to respond any time soon, Backbeat looked to Lyra worriedly. Lyra shrugged her shoulders. The white mare shot Lyra an imploring eye.         The turquoise unicorn sighed, before loudly clearing her throat. “Oh, hey, Backbeat! Where did you get such a beautiful dress? I love it so much!” This got Noteworthy’s attention. He now scanned Backbeat up-and-down, examining her borrowed dress. However, the decorated pony didn’t notice, as she was looking at Lyra, confused.         “But...Lyra, uh, didn’t you gi- OW!” Backbeat yelped, nearly jumping out of her seat. “W-W-What was that for?” she shouted at her fellow unicorn.         Lyra swallowed. For a moment, she started to think that she had stepped over some invisible boundary. Backbeat looked as if she was about to cry. People at other tables throughout the restaurant had begun to stare at them, obviously wondering why this sweet, little filly had felt the need to yell at this big, rough mare, who was obviously abusing her. The big, rough mare began to motion wildly with her head toward Noteworthy.         Backbeat’s mouth fixed itself into an ‘o’ shape. She looked to the blue stallion. Luckily, Lyra noted, he seemed buzzed enough that he hadn’t noticed what had just occurred. "Oh, uh...this...old thing? It's, um, a Hoity Toity original, I-I think."         "It looks so good on you, I'm jealous."         Blushing, the bespectacled unicorn glanced at her crush. "What do you think, Noteworthy? I mean, do you like it?"         "Yeah." said Noteworthy, still fiddling with the cups. "You look better than you usually do."         Both mares frowned. Backbeat put her head in her hooves and looked wistfully at Lyra. Lyra returned the stare with a weak smile. "FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS! WELCOME TO THE BLUENOTE CAFE!"         The trio looked up at the stage. Standing proudly at the front, a microphone stand in front of her, was the waitress from before. About a yard behind her was a large machine, behind which a teal stallion stood, fiddling with the buttons. Everypony in the restaurant, except for Backbeat and Lyra, began to stomp their hooves in applause.         “My name is Clockwork, and I have the great honor of being your hostess tonight! Now, please join me in welcoming our special guest: Neon Lights!”         A spotlight opened up on the teal pony. He wore a jet black leather jacket, and sunglasses colored just as dark. His mane, also black, was styled into sharp spikes, reminiscent of a dragon’s scales. He gave a charismatic nod to the audience. It sparked another round of raucous applause.         Clockwork laughed and brushed back a lock of her flowing white mane. “As some of you might already know, Wednesday is a very special day around here! Can anypony tell me why that is?”         A slurry of answers shot forth from the audience. Lyra and Backbeat exchanged confused glances. Backbeat’s ears were folded back at the clamor. Lyra strained to make out what the people were screaming. She immediately wished she hadn’t. She wished she could leave, right then and there. Just get up and walk out. Hay, she wished it had been a strip club. Before she could warn Backbeat, Noteworthy screamed the answer out himself.         “IT’S KARAOKE NIGHT!”         Clockwork signaled for everypony to quiet down. “Well, along with this ringing in my ear, I’m pretty sure you all gave the right answer! It is our Weekly Karaoke Night!”         Backbeat clapped happily. “Ooh, I’ve never been to a Karaoke Night before. Are they fun? Lyra?”         Lyra groaned.         “Hay yeah!” Noteworthy exclaimed, patting Backbeat on the shoulder. “I come here every Wednesday! It’s the best night of the week!” ----------         It was most certainly not the best night of the week—at least, in Lyra’s opinion. Noteworthy seemed too drunk to really care, and Backbeat...well, Backbeat had already downed eighteen large cups of coffee, and was twitching. They had been there for an hour and a half, and had probably only said ten words since the singing started. If you could tell anything, it was that Neon Lights seemed to think his job was to make sure little to no conversation could be made under the torrent of bass and bad singing.         Clockwork seemed to be enjoying herself. Lyra figured that, with all the coffee Backbeat was ordering, the brown mare was expecting a sizable tip. She would visit their table every few minutes, smiling and whistling to whatever song was currently being sung.         Backbeat wasn’t the only one who increased their liquid intake. Noteworthy had, at least, doubled on the amount of alcohol in his system. Now, he was prone to intermittent fits of sobbing about how he was “a failure,” drunken and unintelligible story telling, or scratchy singing.         As for the singing: it was, in the kindest words Lyra could find, terrible. Apparently, they offered some reward to whoever was the “best” singer of the night, and everypony wanted it. Somewhere around the fifth rendition of “Time After Time,” Lyra could have sworn she started to feel some kind of warm liquid fill her ears. She began to regret thinking those insults about Blue Belle’s student, High Class; this is what it must feels like to listen to her singing. She had barely touched her food, a poorly made alfalfa sandwich.         “Hey...Noteworthy?” Lyra asked, prodding the stallion.         Noteworthy raised his head off the table and gazed and Lyra drearily. “Yesh?”         “Is there any chance we could go? Like, soon?”         Noteworthy laid his head back down. ----------         “Well, what the hay do you want me to do about it? I’m not in charge of these ponies.”         Clockwork glared at Neon Lights. “I don’t know, but do something. Every pony who’s sang so far has been a girl. Some asshole already reported me once for sexism, and I’m not about to let it happen again.”         Neon Lights took off his sunglasses. “I’m not gonna go out there and force a stallion to sing karaoke.”         “Well, you’re gonna have to if you wanna get paid. Look, the song is about to end. You don’t have to force him, but try to get one.” Clockwork explained. Turning away and putting her smile back on, Clockwork cantered away from the DJ.         “I swear...” Neon Lights muttered, turning off the music. “The things I do for drugs...” He put his sunglasses back on and walked out onto the stage. “Okay, fillies and gentlecolts! We’re going to do something a little different tonight! Instead of me picking from those who want to sing, I’m gonna pick from the ponies who don’t want to! Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know!”         Lyra gulped before throwing herself under the table. She was not about to get picked.         Neon Lights squinted. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought out the sunglasses; it was already dark in the restaurant without them. He scanned the audience. “Okay...mare, mare...no, too ugly...D.B....drunk...”         He stopped when his eyes reached the table just to his left. Sitting quietly, as if they hadn’t even heard him, was a large, blue mare and a small, white stallion. Neon Lights was straight, he knew, but even this stallion looked oddly...attractive. “Hey!” he called down. “You, with the glasses! What’s your name?”         Backbeat looked up at him. Her eyes were glazed over with caffeine. “Backbeat.”         “Well, Backbeat, how would you like to sing?”         Lyra, still hiding, chuckled. Backbeat was shier than a foal; she would never be able to sing in front of all these people. Neon Lights was barking up the wrong tree.         “HAY YEAH!” Backbeat shouted, slamming a hoof on the table. She galloped to the stage’s stairs, and, within a few seconds, stood next to the teal stallion. “What now?”         Neon Lights smiled. “Well, now you gotta pick your song. We have pretty much any song you would ever want, so-”         Backbeat grabbed his microphone. “I want ‘The Perfect Crime’ by The Tale.” `        “Cool. Just wait a sec, and I’ll get it up.” Neon Lights walked back to his console.         Lyra picked herself up, and settled into her chair. She was happy that Backbeat had gotten over her shyness—even if it was only because of the coffee. However, somewhere in the back of her mind, Lyra was worried. What if Backbeat got booed off stage, or something? She’d probably end up locking herself away for the rest of her life. Still, Lyra didn’t protest. She sat with Noteworthy, patiently waiting for the white mare to start.         A light guitar began to play, accented by a hint of bass every few seconds. And, then, Backbeat began to sing.         “If you love too much, or never enough, there will be no jury fastening the cuffs         You’ll make a strong case in your own defense         The trial will rest on your conviction         That you did your best...”         Lyra noticed her ears craning to pick up every note, every sound Backbeat made. She was...amazing. Not even Blue Belle could compare to this. Everypony in the audience seemed just as enthralled. Some were even crying, and Backbeat hadn’t even gotten through the first verse yet. Even Noteworthy, drunk as he was, had started paying attention.         “When love gets twisted, who'll take the blame It's all in an afternoon and the heat of your shame You'll ask forgiveness; it was insane and this too shall pass away but it won't spare your name...” Noteworthy lifted his head, and was now staring at Backbeat. “You keep pretending it's okay you keep pretending that you'd lay your love on the line Why haven't you?” Neon Lights was grinning hard. He was getting paid, no doubt. “Rhubarb city, here I come.” His excitement only peaked when he noticed Clockwork walking toward him. But...she looked angry. “What? I got you your stallion!” He pointed at Backbeat. Clockwork glowered. “Neon. That’s a mare.” Neon Lights lifted his sunglasses and stared hard at Backbeat. “Oh. Well, that explains why I thought he was hot.” “Love is the perfect crime, and you'll never be convicted Love is the perfect crime and you'll never be convicted of love...”         Backbeat closed her eyes and began to massage her temples. After just a few more moments of solo guitar, the song faded with a soft flourish. There was radio silence in the restaurant. Lyra looked around. Everypony was staring, petrified(save for those who were crying). It was almost scary.         Suddenly, a sound broke the deathly quiet. Lyra searched for the source, only to be surprised by what she found: it came from the same table that she was sitting at. Noteworthy was stamping his hooves furiously, rattling the many plates and glasses that inhabited the tabletop. Lyra eyed him nervously, only to receive a strangely confident glance in return. Lyra opened her mouth to say something, but stopped quickly. She too, began to stomp her hooves.         Soon, the entire room was shrouded in applause. Even Neon Lights, bummed as he was, was stomping. Backbeat opened her brown eyes and gazed bleakly out at her audience. "Wha...W-What happened? Where am I?"         "Oh, snap! That was amazing!"         Backbeat turned her head to the new noise. Moving toward her, with what looked to be a skip in its step, was a large, brown blob. She took off her glasses for a moment to rub the fatigue out of her eyes. Walking up to her, a slightly-annoyed grin plastered to her face, was the waitress, Clockwork. Why was she...?         “Wait.” thought Backbeat. “What just happened?” She looked out at the adoring crowd. Then, she looked at the microphone stand that loomed in front of her. Then at Clockwork. Back to the crowd. The mic stand. Clockwork. All at once, her mind put the pieces together. Backbeat’s eggshell face quickly turned a dark crimson. “I-I-I...” she whimpered, backing away from the black stand.         “No need to be shy!” Clockwork exclaimed, wrapping a leg around the singer and pulling her back up. “That was great! Everypony, let’s give it up one more time for our...Queen of Karaoke, Backbeat!” At Clockwork’s words, the room once again exploded in sound. Clockwork let go of the “Queen,” who was now shaking in fear. Backbeat stood stock-still, staring back at the audience.         Suddenly, Noteworthy rose from his seat and smiled. “We should probably get her down from there.”         Lyra stared, flabbergasted, at the suddenly sobered stallion. She nodded dumbly.         By now, the stomping had settled, and now everypony was staring at the red-and-white mare that refused to leave the stage. Clockwork lost some of her winning smile. She waved a hoof in front of Backbeat’s face. “Uh...you okay?”         “Don’t worry. We got her.” Noteworthy said, making his way onto the stage. Lyra followed behind. He offered a hoof to Clockwork, who shook it hesitantly. “Thanks for the meal. But I think we’ll be leaving now. That okay with you, Lyra?”         “Sure.”         “Backbeat?”         Backbeat squeaked.         “I’ll take that as a ‘Yes.’” Noteworthy remarked, grabbing Backbeat’s front-left hoof and leading her offstage. ----------         “Er...sorry about that, you guys.” said Noteworthy as the three exited the restaurant. “I always end up getting a little carried away with the alcohol.”         Lyra eyed him nervously. “Okay, I can accept that...but how in the hay did you sober up so quickly? You were drunker than Berry Punch on Friday!”         Noteworthy stared, confused, at the unicorn for a moment, before deciding to skip over the poorly-planned anecdote. “Actually...I’m not completely sure. Everything is blur, all the way from when I had my...ah, fourth drink, all the way up to Backbeat singing.” Both ponies now turned to Backbeat, who’s heart was still racing. “Now, maybe it was just because I’m an earth pony. We’re built strong. Or, it may have been because of you, Backbeat.”         The shaking mare jumped. “M-M-Me?”         “That singing...it was bucking magical. I think it may have somehow gotten rid of all the alcohol in my body. I’ve been into music my entire life, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard somepony sing as well as you did, up on that stage.”         Despite her heart still beating like a cheetah, Backbeat’s face had, at the very least, paled compared to the burning red it had been before. But now, it flushed again. “I-Me-My...Er...you...y-you thought it was...m-magical?”         Noteworthy grinned. “Hay yeah. Look, I’ll admit, it was a karaoke bar. But still, you managed to get that place cheering more than I’ve ever seen. And you somehow won the title of Queen.”         Suddenly, Lyra stopped in her tracks. “Uh, Noteworthy, before we go any farther; where are we going, exactly?” She looked down the dimly-lit Canterlot avenue. “We’re pretty far from anyplace I know.”         “Nah, I live a few blocks from here.” Noteworthy responded. “Let’s walk and talk. Anyway, back to you, Backbeat.”         “W-What about me?”         “I’m not completely sure, but I think I might have a plan for tomorrow. And it involves you.” Noteworthy began, shooting his assistant a confident look. “Okay, so we all know what the Windwoods is expecting Lyra to do tomorrow: sing. And, again, we all know that Lyra can’t sing. No offense. So, what I’m saying is that we change our singer.”         Both mares stared at the blue stallion. Lyra was the first to realize what he meant. “Oh, come on, Noteworthy. It took about twenty gallons of coffee to get Backbeat up on stage tonight, and that was for a karaoke bar. How is she supposed to handle a five-star hotel?”         “Wait, what?!” Backbeat yelped. “You, you want me to perform tomorrow?! I...I can’t perform for all those ponies!”         “But Backbeat, you have to! If you don’t, we’re gonna get laughed out of Canterlot before the board meeting even comes. And didn’t you tell me that you wanted to find out what your cutie mark really means?” Noteworthy pleaded, pointing to the microphone on Backbeat’s flank.. A few seconds passed, with no response from Backbeat. “If you won’t do it for yourself...would you do it for a friend?” Noteworthy gave a hopeful smile.         The words stung Backbeat like venom. Friend. While part of her(her more docile part) wanted to give in, just do the damn thing, and make Noteworthy happy, her other part(the part that carried her passion, anger, and self-preservation instincts) disagreed. A small voice sounded off in her head. “If Noteworthy isn’t going to care, neither should I.”         Backbeat, for the first time in as long as anypony could remember, snorted. This small sound shocked both ponies into both pure silence, and pure fear. The formerly demure mare stared Noteworthy in the eyes. “No.”         “No?!” both Lyra and Noteworthy repeated. Now it was Backbeat’s turn to be shocked. While she had been expecting that kind of reaction from Noteworthy—hay, her angry half wanted it—Lyra was another case. For some reason, perhaps because they were both mares, Backbeat had been expecting Lyra to back her up on this.         Seeing her fellow unicorn's face, Lyra quickly added: "Oh, don't get me wrong, I agree with you, but...I guess I wasn't expecting you to actually say 'No.'"         Backbeat’s eyes softened. “Oh, uh, well...”         Noteworthy sighed. "Fine. I won't make you do something you don't want to. But, still: we need to do something, and quickly!"         The trio walked in silence for a few blocks. Lyra knew that she should probably be worried about her coming performance, but for some strange reason, she just couldn’t focus on it. Street lights lined the sidewalk, giving everything a dark orange color. The three of them seemed to be the only ponies on the street at that hour. “Well,” thought Lyra, “it is only a Wednesday.”         Strangely, she didn’t recognize this part of Canterlot from her time living there. If she had heard Backbeat read the address correctly while in the cab, they were somewhere in downtown Canterlot. Downtown was well-known for being very artsy, so Lyra went there often. Usually with her boyfriend at the time, Eiffel. She had loved Eiffel; unfortunately, he also played a major role in her “dropping out.” She hadn’t thought about him in years. He always loved to sing. This made Lyra smile. Imagine, if she were to find him like she found Blue Belle and ask him to help her? That would be the day.         Another thing Lyra would always remember about him was how laid-back he was. Probably a result of smoking too much rhubarb, Lyra always said. The only time he ever became passionate about anything was when he talked about singing. More specifically, lip syncing. He hated the act with a passion, constantly deriding it whenever he had the chance.         “It takes no skill!” Eiffel would say. “All it’s good for is all those wusses who can’t just sing by themselves. Even if they’re good! They’re just so scared that their precious ‘image’ will get ruined that they don’t even try.”         Lyra backtracked over her thoughts. Can’t sing by themselves... Scared of singing in front of others... Suddenly, like a buck to the face, it hit her. She leaped into the path of her companions.         “GUYS!” she yelped. “I think I have a plan that just might save us!”         “Really?” Noteworthy asked. Backbeat stayed silent, still embarrassed by her short outburst before. “What is it?”         “I know both of you have heard of lip syncing. Am I right?” She didn’t wait for a response. “Well...why don’t we do that?”         Noteworthy considered Lyra’s offer. “I...what do you mean?”         “Well, Backbeat’s too shy to sing in front of all those ponies. I’m a musician; I perform for hundreds of ponies all the time. But I can’t sing, while Backbeat can.”         Backbeat and Noteworthy looked at each other. “So, if I get what you’re saying,” Noteworthy replied, “you want Backbeat to sing, while you move your lips?”         Lyra gave her best Big Macintosh impression.         “That...might just be crazy enough to work! Backbeat, is it okay with you?”         Backbeat glanced at Lyra, concerned. “Would anypony be watching me sing?”         Lyra draped a leg over her friend’s neck. “Not if you don’t want them to.”         “...Okay. I’ll do it.”         “YES!” Noteworthy cheered, throwing his head into the air. “We did it!”         “Whoa there, Alky.” teased Lyra. “I only just came up with it. We still haven’t tested it or anything. Backbeat, what time am I headlining tomorrow?”         “It’s a dinner theater, so it’s late. About seven. Eight is the main performance, I think.”         “Okay. So all three of us come into Galaxy early tomorrow to practice.” Noteworthy said, looking between the two. “Is that a deal?” Seeing his companions nod in affirmation, he smiled and reached out a hoof. “We’re gonna do this!”         Lyra put her hoof over his and smiled wide. “Hay yeah!”         Backbeat simpered and let her hoof join the pile. “Right.”         The three lifted their legs into the air and laughed. “Well, this is my stop.” Noteworthy remarked, gesturing to a high-rise that stood behind them. “I’ll see you both tomorrow. Good night!”         As Noteworthy entered his building, Lyra giggled. “Well, tonight went better than expected.”         Even Backbeat let out a small chuckle. “You’re right, it did. Even if we’re not together, it feels great to see Noteworthy happy.” This spurred a small ‘d’awww’ from Lyra, sending the two into another laughing fit. “So, uh, I should probably take you back to your hotel now.”         “WAIT AAAAAAAA MINUTE!”         Both mares looked down the street to where they had heard the new voice from. Galloping full speed toward them, a black fedora barely hanging onto her orange mane, was a light yellow pony with a camera around her neck. She stopped on a dime, just a few inches away from Backbeat, who jumped backwards in fright. Without missing a beat, the new pony(neither Lyra nor Backbeat could identify it as male or female) began to circle the duo, snapping away with her camera.         “Hey- You-” Lyra stuttered, but was stopped each time by the bright flash of the camera. “What-” A flash hit her right in eye. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”         For a moment, the pony stopped and shot Lyra a winning smile. “FILM REEL, HERE ON THE CASE!” it yelled quickly, before taking another picture. From its voice, Lyra could finally see that it was a she.         “What ‘case?’ And calm down!”         Film Reel stopped and frowned. Her eye began to twitch. “Well,” she began, considerably slower than before, “you’re Lyra! Almost two weeks ago, you won the Canterlot Amateur Music Festival! I tried to see you after the show ended, but you up and disappeared! I’ve been tracking you ever since!”         “Ever since...why?”         “You know, pictures, an interview. Equestria Daily readers eat this stuff up! And Film Reel, ace reporter, always gets her shot!”         Lyra sighed. Backbeat was hiding behind her. “Fine. Shoot.”         Film Reel smiled and began bouncing around again. “QUESTION ONE! HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WINNING?”         “Uh...good, I suppose. It was definitely a surprise.”         “SO YOU OPENLY ADMIT YOU’RE A TALENTLESS HACK?”         “Wait, what?” Lyra said, recoiling. “No! I just-”         “SO YOU OPENLY ADMIT YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN EVERYPONY!”         “No!”         Film Reel leaned over Backbeat, piercing the shy mare’s brown eyes with her sharp, blue ones. “WHO’S THIS? YOUR FILLYFRIEND?” Backbeat stared up, terrified.         Lyra blushed and pushed Film Reel away. “Again, no!” Suddenly, she grabbed Backbeat’s hoof and began to run away. Film Reel followed close behind.         “DON’T RUN FROM ME! I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!” (The song Backbeat sang is "The Perfect Crime" by The Story. If you end up trying to find it online, know that the only two places that have it are iTunes and Rhapsody. I had to go to an E.R. shipping site on Geocities to find the lyrics.)