//------------------------------// // Separated at the Cutie Mark // Story: The Lyruminati // by Silly Words //------------------------------// “That was an epic failure,“ stated Scootaloo between preening and picking stray stalks of hay from her mane and wings. “How did 'Cutie mark crusaders scarecrow' get on the list of things to try anyway?” “It wasn't all that bad?” ventured Sweetie Belle. “I mean, except for when instead of scaring the birds away, more flocked in to laugh at us. So yeah. I guess it was that bad.” “It did sound a bit fishy ta me,” admitted Apple Bloom. “Maybe it should have been scarecrow makers? Ya know, only somepony forgot to turn the paper over?” “So what now, girls? Think there's enough time to go into town and try something, I dunno, chimney sweeps?” Apple Bloom shook her head. “I don't think so. Also, Soot Smearer was super clear about us never bein' allowed to touch his tools.” Scootaloo looked at her. “I didn't mean that exactly. Mom just keeps going on about how we're going to need one soon. But why wouldn't he allow us? We've done nothing to him yet.” “I think that's his point,” Sweetie chimed in. “Also, I second not being chimney sweeps. Rarity almost eviscerated me after how dirty we ended up yesterday and I wouldn't like to push her twice in one week.” “Sweetie Belle?” “Yes, Scootaloo?” “Please stop being a dictionary.” The unicorn retorted with a 'humph' and a scrunchy face. Before an argument could break out, Apple Bloom suggested an idea: “Well, we could always use more inspiration on what to do next. Ah think there's one mare in Ponyville we haven't yet asked about her talent!” “There is? Which one?” “Lyra Heartstrings. Ya know, the unicorn with the music shop?” “Oh. I don't know. Rarity always warns me that I should not be listening to her. She's weird.” “Yeah, mom's the same way. But that's even better! I mean, who knows what interesting stuff we might find in that workshop she has?” It didn't take long for the Crusaders to reach the unicorn's workshop. And the closer they were, the more excited Scootaloo felt. “She could be one of those strange ponies that keep their shop dark, then, when a customer enters, they lead him to the deepest darkest corner and do unspeakable things to them!” “W- what kind of unspeakable things?” shuddered Sweetie Belle. “Uh… I don't know! They never speak about them! That's why they call them unspeakable!” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Don't be silly. We'd heard about stuff like that. She's been here for a few months already.” Sweetie Belle kept shuddering. “But- But- Unspeakable!” she squeaked. “She's just one pony. We can take her if something happens. Oh, there's the entrance.” The three fillies slowly approached the door. They stopped once they were just before it. After one final glance at each other, Apple Bloom knocked. There was no response. After another final glance, the Crusaders opened the door. They were welcomed by a dark interior. Only the doorway provided some kind of light, as the windows were covered both by curtains and by cardboard. They were able to see tables and shelves full of all kinds of instruments in the dim light. Only one big table at the back of the big room held a strange mesh of wires and pieces of some thin, long, curved chassis. A smoky smell lingered in the air. “Miss Heartstrings? Are you in?” There still was no answer. Curious, the trio moved towards the big table. Just then they were startled as the shop's lights suddenly turned on, and a voice asked from the basement: “Huh? Who's there?” In just a few moments, the fillies were startled again, as Lyra burst into the room, giving them a nasty glare. “How did you get inside?!” While Sweetie was busy hugging Scootaloo in fear of her life, Apple Bloom spoke to the aquamarine unicorn, trying to hide her own fear. “Uhm, we walked in through the door.” Lyra blinked, her angry stare at the earth pony slowly being replaced by a confused stare at the door. She made her way over to the offending object and grimaced. “Of course. I get a new magilectric lock installed, and the first thing I forget is to lock it the conventional way. And I just had to blow a fuse too. And ponies say I'm paranoid. I say this is proof that I'm not paranoid enough!” she shouted to the street, turning heads of a couple passerby's. “Stupid piece of crap! With a dumb setup that makes things easier for thieves. I Never should have bought this thing in the first place,” she continued mumbling. “So, what's that thing supposed to be?” Scootaloo's question prompted the mare to snap from cursing at the lock and start another flurry of activity. She rushed to the table holding the mess that the fillies' attention was drawn to. On the way, she grabbed a blanket. Once she reached the table, she covered it. “Oh, no you don't! Nopony gets to spy on my magilectric lyre! Now shoo.” Sweetie Belle, still hugging Scootaloo, risked a question. “A what lyre?” Apple Bloom waved a hoof. “That doesn't matter, we're actually here to ask you about how you got your cutie mark.” Lyra paused and looked at her flank for a moment. Then back at the three fillies. “That's actually somewhat related.” As the Crusaders started looking dejected, she added: “But fine, I suppose I could cut down on the technical details.” A loud “Yay” sounded throughout the workshop. When the ringing in Lyra's ears passed, she looked at the three ponies sitting in rapt attention and started her story. “The story of how I got my cutie mark began before I got my cutie mark.” “No kidding,” Scotaloo mumbled, only to be hushed by her friends. “About a week, actually… I was about your age, and I was best friends with a filly by the name of Symphony Stream.” Upon hearing the name, Sweetie Belle frowned, and tried to remember why that name sounded familiar. “She was wonderful when it came to playing almost any instrument. But she was the best at anything with strings. It was why her parents wanted to buy her a lyre for her birthday. She was so excited she couldn't stop talking about it.” “Unfortunately, their house caught fire from a stray lightning bolt. The compensations were not enough to cover the repairs, and they had to take funds from elsewhere. They weren't all that rich, so Streamy's lyre was to wait for sometime else. All of her giddiness vanished overnight. Seeing her that sad made me take action.” “My dad is a part of the royal marching band, and he'd often bring damaged and otherwise decommissioned instruments for me to play with, so I had a basic understanding of how they work. Among them I found what I needed to put together the basic body for a Lyre. The only thing I could not find were proper strings. But I made do. I plucked some hairs from my own mane and with an afternoon spent experimenting, I put it together.” “Then came the day of her birthday party. By that time, she wasn't that sad anymore, but I could tell she was not enjoying herself as much as she could. All of us could make her smile by being near, but a little bit of sadness was betrayed in her eyes.” “That is, until the time for presents came. She got a lot of nice things and I could tell it helped her get her mind of things, until she opened the last one, from me. Her expression of pure joy was something even Pinkie Pie would have trouble pulling off.” Lyra paused and wiped a happy tear from her eye. “She hugged me, then tried a few notes. I worked on it the whole week, not satisfied until it sounded perfect, and it did. She then went to play our favorite song, her grandmother's favorite song, and a few other. Then she hugged me again. A moment later everypony present was gasping and cheering, and we soon knew why. On both of our flanks, at the same time, the picture of a lyre appeared,” finished Lyra, showing off her mark with a swing of her plot. The revelation prompted an “Aww,” from Apple bloom, an eyeroll from Scootaloo and a revelation of her own from Sweetie Belle: “Ohh! I know! Symphony Stream is the real name of Quicknote, the musician from Manehatten! Rarity has all of her records!” “Bah, if I had known this story would end up like one of those… I mean seriously! Either we get covered in tree sap, or in story sap! What the hay! Doesn't anypony have a cool cutie mark story to share? Come on girls, let's go.” Lyra stopped her, before she went out of the door: “Well, that just the story of how I got my cutie mark. But if you want something cooler, I could tell you about how I found my calling!” Applebloom gave her a confused look. “Aren't those the same thing?” “Of course not! Well, some lazy ponies say they are instead of trying and searching. But think about Blossomforth for example. What do flowers have to do with being a yoga master?” The crusaders looked at each other. Silently they decided to humor the unicorn. “Ah guess that makes sense?” “Right. Now, it was not long after that birthday party. We were still best friends, playing together, singing together and getting into trouble together. But then, one day, we were forced to part ways. Without us even knowing in advance. Basically, I was at the entrance exam in the school for gifted unicorns my parents enrolled me in. 'For my brighter future', they said. But soon I figured out their angle. You see, they did it at the same time Streamy was invited to study music in Manehattan.“ “No matter what I did, my parents wouldn't let me leave with her. So I had to suffer through boring classes, where hardly anything they ever taught us was in any way useful to what I wanted to do. And without Streamy, I didn't have a friend I could be really open with. That made me bored. And as I got bored, my thoughts went in various directions. Especially about my classmates. And I started to figure things out. All the other ponies had all kinds of agendas of their own. How they would herd toward a specific individual at specific times. And from there the thoughts went on. If they have agendas, perhaps my own predicament was an agenda of my parents? Sort of like 'Yes, out filly is a student of that school, how about yours?'. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized it went to higher and higher levels. Who knows where it would stop?” Lyra striked a determined pose, looking at a point in the distance. “And that's when I knew I could help uncover these secret plans and help ponies who would suffer because of them.” Next to Apple Bloom an Scootaloo, who had no idea how to react, only Sweetie belle said: “Aww, that's kinda sad. Did you ever get in touch with Streamy again?” “Oh, of course. As soon as I left the school, I found out a way to get in contact with her. Ever since I opened up this shop, she doesn't let anypony else touch her instruments. And these magilectric lyres are my latest creation. Many have tried before, but I'm not ashamed to say I'm the only one who's really close to making them work.” Lyra then stopped abruptly, blinked and fixed a stare on the Crusaders. “And that's all I'm telling about them! You think you're sneaky, trying to get me to talk about them in a roundabout manner, but I'm smart enough to figure your angle out!” Applebloom smiled uneasily and nodded. “Yeah… So… how about we let you get back to them and… um… rethink our strategy?” A full minute after they left, the Crusaders were still quiet, not sure what to take from the whole interaction with the instrument maker. “Well, that happened.” finally offered Sweetie Belle. “Girls, if we ever split up, promise me you won't become that weird.” A mumbled “sure“ could be heard from Apple Bloom. Scootaloo followed a bit more vocally: “Actually, I think it was kinda cool.” “It was? Weren't ya the one complaining about sap?” “Well, not that story exactly, but the whole visit did give me an idea! Cutie mark Crusaders spies! We just need dark sweaters, rope, night-vision goggles…” “Yeah, good luck with that.”