//------------------------------//
// 6.) Lyra 
// Story: Of the Past and its Mysteries 
// by Sb129 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6 (Lyra)





~A few minutes later~




        She looked at her flank for a few moments, watching as the magical light was still slowly fading away. |Sades!! My cutie mark!| “I finally have it! Wooohooo!!!” Her lyre dropped to the floor as Vega jumped onto her bed and bounced up and down in pure elation. “Wooo!!” She stopped for a second upon hearing her mother say something. 
    “What?!” “Is everything alright in there?” Vega thought carefully for a few seconds before answering back 
     “Yeah, I’m fine, everything’s fine…” Vega hopped off her bed somewhat tired by the sudden expenditure of energy.The minty unicorn looked to her book again, still open to the page showing the constellation of Lyra. She turned to her flank, then back to the page several times before stopping at her actual lyre. Quickly and suddenly she ran out of her room and back to the living room. Her parents in their usual spots, her mother was in the kitchen washing dishes while her father was reading the paper again in the main room. 
        “I want to change my name!” Once again her parents were taken aback by their daughter.
     Deneb recovered from his shock first, “Don’t be silly Vega, you have a beautiful name already.” 
    She had already formulated a response while she was on her way to the room. “Oh yes, it is nice but i want to have a different one. I want my name to be Lyra!”
     Altair and Deneb exchanged looks while Vega, or Lyra, sat on the floor with a wide grin on her face. “Honey, you see, your name of Vega was specifically chosen for you. I understand if the other names in our family… Appeal to you, but you can’t easily change your name just like that.” 
     Vega’s big wide grin subsided to merely a smile as she got up and turned her hind legs to her parents.“But look, I got my cutie mark! And it’s a lyre, Lyra would be simply perfect!”
     Her mother just shook her head slightly as she came over to Vega. “I am very excited that you have found your natural talent, but don’t you think changing your name is a little bit too far?” 
     Vega contemplated this, “Well, I was reading this book about stars and constellations and stuff and I saw my name in there as a star’s name but it was in a constellation called Lyra but now it’s a plow and…” -gasp- “...and then you brought that book out with the names and it was in there-” Deneb spoke up once more, “Hold up, slow down there Vega.” 
        “Yes dear slow down, now what’s all this about stars and books and the like?” Her mother glanced at Deneb as she asked Vega the question.
     “Well to be honest, I was studying some history books when I came across some old names for stars and constellations.” Her parents breathed a small sigh of relief, “And the reason I was studying these books on history was to learn some more about man, though the scroll called them human.” At the mention of the word human, both of her parents’ ears twitched with unease.
        Altair mustered as calm as a demeanor as she could in this circumstance. “Whatever led you to seek them out? School work? A project maybe?” It was very small and subtle, but Vega sensed the discomfort in her mothers voice as she spoke. The little filly looked to her father, he was sitting still but looked like he was starting to sweat, like he was listening to something he knew he shouldn't. 
 “Y-yeah, something like that; the teacher was talking about their, mythological...myths…last week.” She frowned, “I just wondered if there was anymore stories about them anywhere. And I did-” 
Her mother quickly interrupted “And you didn’t find anything else, right?” For a fleeting moment Vega could see the pleading in her mothers eyes. 
    “Sssure, yeah I couldn’t really find anything else.” |This can’t be a coincidence, Ms. Pen was distant from the ‘human’ subject, but I thought she just was busy or something. But for mom and dad to be like that too? Something’s definitely off|
        Her mother, wanting to change the subject as quickly as she could, looked at Deneb and then back to Vega “So you wanted a name change, yes?” Vega nodded her head enthusiastically. “Well you still need to carry our families naming tradition. So, even though it goes slightly against tradition, you may have Lyra as a first name and your last name will remain Heartstrings.” Vega, now Lyra jumped up with an excited squeal. “However, you must retain the family name of Vega as a middle name.” Lyra was overtaken with joy, she didn’t even notice her parents talking to each other for a few seconds until her mother walked over to her again. She whispered into Lyra’s ear, “And lets keep this whole ‘human’ thing to ourselves hmm?” 
Lyra only answered with a weak “mmm hmm” of her own and ran back upstairs.

        With a flash of her golden magic she opened the window in her room and looked out at the stars. “I am Lyra Vega Heartstrings!!” She declared to the night time sky. Lyra was so caught up in the moment of her triumph that she didn’t realize right away that she just woke some ponies up.
 “Oops, sorry everypony” She whispered to the outside right as she closed up her window. She took a quick look at the Lyra constellation in her book before plopping herself on her bed. |Really though, this human thing just keeps getting more interesting with each passing experience.|
        
Downstairs her parents talked in hushed voices. “You don’t think she’s genuinely trying to study -them- do you Altair?” 
She paced the floor. “I can’t be sure of anything right now, I sincerely hope she wasn’t talking aloud about -them- when we weren’t here. The last thing we need is more imperial entanglements.”
 Deneb nervously looked back and forth. “Stay your tongue, because of your blood you know She listens to everything in this house.”
 Altair drooped her head but still shot back. “Don’t you talk to me that way, do you think I chose this? To forever live in Canterlot? To live in fear of the crown simply because of my bloodline? I 
don’t know what curse my families’ history has with the princess, just that -they- are involved…”
      “I’m sorry Altair I didn’t mean to place any blame on you, it isn’t your fault you were born into this. But all we need to do is steer Vega away from that whole thing long enough for her to come of age. At least then she will be allowed to live beyond Canterlot.” 



~The Next Morning at School~




        Two unicorns paced around their usual hangout. “She’s never this late you know.” Vinyl told Amethyst, “She’s like always here before we are.” 
     Amethyst just stood looking out to the road. “I, I think I see her Vinyl..”
      “Where? Lemmie see!” They both could see a familiar mint colored pony running to see them. “I wonder why she is late.”
      “Doesn’t matter she’s here now.” Vinyl got on her hind legs and waved with both her front hooves to Lyra. 
        It was only a few minutes before Lyra made it over to her friends. “What’s happenin V? Where ya been at this morning?
           ” Lyra had to take a few deep breaths before she answered. “Oh, I needed to get something from my parents for the teacher. But that’s not important right now, check this out.” She proudly showcased to her friends her brand new cutie mark. 
      “Woah V, that’s a pretty schweet cutie mark.” Vinyl paused for a moment “Yup, I knew you’d get a musical cutie mark just like me.”
    Amethyst admired the slightly more complex cutie mark. “This really fits you Vega, you play the lyre better than any other pony in class.” 

“Yeah, you’re totally awesome with that lyre of yours.” 

“How did you get it Vega?”
        
     “Well first, I want you both to be the first ones to know at school that I am changing my name.” Vinyl and Amethyst just looked at each other. 
    Amethyst was curious “How are you expecting to do that?”
     Lyra dug in her saddlebags with her magic until she produced a small scroll. “With this! See I already talked with my parents about it and they are letting me do it. They just told me to give this scroll to the teacher and everything would be fine.” Lyra grinned as she held the scroll. 
     Vinyl was just a little bit confused but accepted it. “Sooo, what’s the new name gonna be V?”    
     “It’s Lyra.” “Woah, I know you love playing the lyre an all that but naming yourself after it? kinda out there V.” Lyra rolled her eyes.
        “That’s only part of it Vinyl.” Lyra scanned the school yard for a spot in the open. She found one by the balcony, “Come over here and I’ll tell you both how I got my cutie mark and why I want my name to be Lyra.” She started walking over to the clearing. Amethyst looked at Vinyl and Vinyl just shrugged. “K we’re comin over V.”
     Now it was Amethyst’s turn to be confused, “Why did we have to come over here to talk?” Lyra sat down “That part is a long story. Anyways, you know how I love learning about history right?” Amethyst nodded while Vinyl stuck out her tongue and let out a “-bleh- Don’t know how you do it V.” The minty filly just smiled and continued. “Well I had a book that told what names the stars and constellations used to have. The one constellation that is a plow now used to be a lyre a long time ago. And it was called Lyra, when this all happened I was playing my lyre. And when I looked outside at the Lyra constellation while playing my lyre, it appeared.”
         “Sooo why the name change? And you know I’m still gonna be callin you V right?”
         “I had a feeling you still would, it’s ok. Anyways, when I looked I saw that my cutie mark was a lyre with one side turned up. It’s just like the constellation. And the constellation was pronounced differently in the book, it sounded closer to lyric than lyre, so I want my name to be pronounced that way.” The other two unicorns were still a might bit turned around by all this. “Oh and the best part, was that the brightest star in Lyra is Vega, crazy right?”
     The purple one was intrigued, “That is quite strange, how old was this book?”
      “I don’t know, some names are the same, some are like names of creatures and some I have never heard before.” 
        Before their conversation could advance any farther the school bell began to toll, signalling the start of another day of classes. Lyra started to run to the school building, “I got to give this to the teacher, see you later!”
 “See ya later V!!”
 “See you after classes Lyra!” The mint pony smiled at the mention of her new name and almost ran into a wall. |Guess I better watch where I’m going.| She slowed to walking pace went she got inside. No need to get an infraction just for running. 
        Lyra walked to her classroom and right up to Ms. Silver Pen. “Good morning Ms. Pen.” “Good morning Vega.” Lyra slowly went behind the desk next the silver maned pony. Lyra spoke in a low tone, “Can I see you alone for a few minutes?” The teacher nodded and both of them stepped out in the hall. 
“What’s this about Vega?”
 “Look! I got my cutie mark!” And once more she turned to show the teacher the new image upon her hind legs.
    Silver Pen did not seem amused. “That is wonderful news Vega but I need to begin class now.” She turned to the door. 
“Wait, that’s not all, I want to change my name to Lyra.”
 “Don’t be ridiculous, a filly cannot change her name on a whim, cutie mark or not.” Lyra floated her parents’ note over to her instructor. “Mmm yes well it seems you were able to persuade your parents into agreeing with you. but that decision is their choice, so long as they are willing, you are now Lyra. Now it is time to begin class if you don’t mind.”
        Ms. Silver Pen put Lyra’s name change note into a drawer and addressed the class. “Good morning students, I hope you studied well for today's quiz on classical magic theory. But before we begin I would like to announce that your fellow student Vega Heartstrings will now be known as Lyra Vega Heartstrings.”
 It was at that time that Lyra herself got up to show the whole class her cutie mark. “And look, I finally got my cutie mark!” Then the whole class stomped their hooves as a sort of congratulations.
   “Yes well, you may have a seat now Lyra.” 
    She started to sit down but quickly remembered something and got back up. “And just a reminder everypony, my name is Lyra like lyric, not Lyra like lyre, why would I want my name to make me sound like I lie a lot, know what I mean?” 
“That is quite enough Heartstrings.”


~End of Day~


        The rest of the school day went with little excitement. A magic test here, spelling lesson there, art class, music class; but at last the school day came to an end. Lyra was making her way to the same little clear spot she had met with her friends prior to school and at lunch. She got there before they did so she just looked out over the balcony. She saw small settlement here and there. The closest was Ponyville, right next to the vast Everfree forest. |Sure was nice today, every look I got was followed by some compliment about my new cutie mark. Hmmm, wonder what’s keeping them. Whatever, I bet Vinyl gets here before Amethyst. Hey, what’s that?| Lyra walked closer to the edge of the balcony. She looked into the huge expanse of the everfree forest and squinted her eyes. |It looks like some kind of orange beam of light shooting out of the Everfree. Heh, guess that place really is weird.| She looked back to the school and saw her friends coming over to greet her. She turned her head to look for the light to show them but it was gone. |Weird|