Everypony knows Lyra Heartstrings. Now before Twilight came to town her, Derpy, Bon Bon, Octavia, Time Turner, and Vinyl Scratch were the stars. Everypony used to thank Derpy as she soared in the clouds, clearing the sky. People would come to Lyra for help with magic. People appreciated Vinyl Scratch's mixing and Octavia's classical music. Bon Bon would make amazing desserts for Ponyville. Doctor Hooves was a great doctor and timekeeper pony. But when Twilight came and saved the elements of harmony, people forgot about them, and by the time Twilight became an alicorn, they separated. Vinyl moved back to her hometown, Manehatten, and hoped to regain her fame. Time Turner moved to the Crystal Empire, in hopes of better business. Octavia moved to Canterlot, in hopes the unicorns there would enjoy more of her type of music. Bon Bon got a job at Sugarcube Corner, and almost never leaves there. Derpy moved to back to Cloudsdale, and all that was left was Lyra, who stayed in Ponyville.

Lyra opened a cyan sparkled notebook. A spark came from her horn as she moved a quill and some ink over to her table. In the book she wrote:

"Dear Diary,

I know I hope everyday, but I wish my old friends were back. We had a lot of fun together, and the only reason why Twilight and her friends are popular is because she does nothing but study, and her friends are popular just because of her. Other ponies around Ponyville do amazing things, but no one cares anymore. I just don't get it. What would even happen if I brought them back-"

Lyra closed the notebook and looked across the room at her fireplace. A picture of her and her friends stood on the mantel in a frame. Lyra looked closer.

"Their lives must be horrible. I know what I have to do." She said out loud.

She grabbed her backpack and a map of Equestria.

"First stop, Cloudsdale!" she yelled.

Then she looked over at another picture on her mantel. It was she and Bon Bon. She knew she couldn't leave her best friend here. She put her backpack down, and then dashed to Sugarcube Corner. She saw a pony with a cobalt blue mane with light fuchsia highlights.

"Lyra?" a voice called out.

"Bon Bon?" Lyra replied.

The two ponies hugged each other.

"Bon Bon, I need to tell you something." Lyra said letting go of her friend.

"Tell me anything." Bon Bon replied.

"Ok." Lyra continued. "It's just that ever since we all separated I've been thinking, maybe we can get back together. You know, me, you, Derpy, Octavia, Time Turner, Vinyl. Maybe we can become stars again. Just think about it. Are you in?"

Lyra held out her front right hoof. Bon Bon reached out her right front hoof and shook Lyra's.

"I'm not stupid. Of course I'll help you. I'd love to see them again." Bon Bon said proudly. She dashed upstairs and came down with a backpack.

"Wait, what about food. We can't starve!" Lyra whispered warily.

"I'm sure there's food in wherever we're going." Bon Bon reassured Lyra.

The two friends dashed to the train station. Luckily, there was a hot air balloon ready to go. Lyra handed the handler enough bits for both of them to ride to Cloudsdale. They got in the pink and brown balloon and soared off to Cloudsdale.

"Lightning!" the handler yelled.

Lyra panicked. She grabbed onto Bon Bon and screamed as the balloon got struck by lightning and the three slowly floated down. In the distance they could see Canterlot. Bon Bon looked at the ground. The handler had fainted.

"Let's get her to Canterlot." Lyra suggested.

"Sounds good." Bon Bon replied.

The two frantically picked up the handler. But it was two much for the two.

"Didn't you do a spell once where you can teleport all of us? Or make us all unicorns?" Bon Bon asked Lyra.

"I could try." Lyra replied warily looking at the handler.

A spark came from Lyra's horn. In a flash of light blue light, they arrived at Canterlot. When they got there ponies there gasped as they looked down at the handler's body. Princess Celestia from her balcony heard all this. She flew down from the balcony.

"What's all this about?" she questioned the two.

Lyra panicked. She didn't know what to do. It wasn't her fault this pony might be dead. Bon Bon nearly went into tears. She couldn't imagine what would happen to them.

"Those two murdered Balloon Flight!" a voice rang out from the crowd.

"You know what I must do." Princess Celestia said to the two in a stern voice. "Balloon Flight was our only handler for hot air balloons, making travel between places such as Cloudsdale easy. But if she is dead, we have no transportation from Cloudsdale to Ponyville. You've ruined a transportation system and now ponies are stuck in Cloudsdale your punishment will be-"

"No." a stern voice called out from the crowd. A pony with a goldish brown coat and dark gray mane with lighter tints came from the crowd to the front. The ponies gasped.

"Octavia?" Lyra thought.

"How dare you interrupt me?" Princess Celestia yelled.

"How do you know this was murder? There is no proof yet. There is no blood. These ponies were my best friends at one time along time ago" Octavia explained. She winked at Lyra and Bon Bon. " I know these ponies and they would never do this. This must be a accident."

Suddenly, Balloon Flight got up. All of Canterlot cheered.

"See?" Octavia continued. "It was a mistake. The lightning probably knocked out Balloon Flight. These ponies did a favor by bringing her here. She might have gotten even more hurt if they left her out in the wilderness alone."

Tears came from Lyra and Bon Bon's eyes. The two ran to Octavia and hugged them as hard as they could.

"Thank you." Bon Bon said through her tears.

Lyra just stood there crying.

"I'm sorry, I just shocked." She murmured.

"So what brings you to Canterlot?" Octavia questioned Lyra and Bon Bon.

"You see, we're trying to reunite you, me Bon Bon, Vinyl, Time Turner, and Derpy. We might even try to regain our popularity!" Lyra explained to her.

"I'll help you!" Octavia exclaimed enthusiastically. "But how do we get all the places we need to get to?"

Lyra tried doing the spell to teleport the three. Her magic didn't work.

"Guys." Lyra called to the two. "The magic didn't work. How do we get to Cloudsdale? Balloon Flight needs to recover from her accident."

Bon Bon stopped walking. "I never though about that."

"I got an idea!" Octavia told the two. "Maybe we can write a letter to Derpy. Then once she comes, we take a train to Manehatten, and then the Crystal Empire?"

"Ok, but where do we stay until then?" Lyra questioned Octavia.

"Funny story." Octavia murmured. "I live in Twilight's old observatory."

Back in Cloudsdale, Derpy was in the post office. It was late at night and she was almost done her shift. She sorted the mail. She noticed a scroll with a blue cyan seal. She put the scroll into her mailbag. She flew back to her cloud home. She turned

on her TV, and grabbed a muffin out of her refrigerator. She opened the scroll. It read:

"Dear Derpy,

Lyra here, and I am with Bon Bon and Octavia in Canterlot. I've decided to reunite me you, Bon Bon, Octavia, Vinyl, and Time Turner, and hope to regain our popularity. Unfortunately, Balloon Flight, the peagasus in charge of the hot air balloons to Cloudsdale, had an accident earlier today during a storm. We really hope you'll come to Canterlot with us. It's not the same without you.

Love,

Lyra, Octavia, Bon Bon"

There was a picture of her, Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl, Octavia, and Time Turner attached in the bottom right corner of the scroll.

"We were so happy together." Derpy said to herself. "But I can't just leave the post office without me!"

Derpy thought about her friends.

"But my friends need me more!"

She grabbed her backpack and ran out the door. She started flying. She flew through the night.

The next morning she saw Canterlot in the daylight. She flew as fast as she could. Suddenly her wings stopped. She couldn't handle it. She landed with a thud in a street. Around her she saw many elegant unicorns in dresses and suits.

"No pegasuses." Derpy thought as she walked down the streets carefully.

She decided she needed to fly. She'd never find her old friends by walking. She carefully fluttered her wings and she was in the air. At a moderately fast speed, she looked below trying to find a place her friends might be. She then saw the purple building that looked familiar.

"Twilight's observatory!" she thought. "Maybe Twilight knows where Lyra, Octavia, and Bon Bon are."

She flew downwards and walked up to the door. She rang the sparkly doorbell next to the door. The door opened a crack. Derpy saw a flash of cobalt blue hair through the crack.

"Bon Bon?" Derpy called.

"Who's there?" a voice called out.

"Derpy Hooves." Derpy replied.

The door opened immediately.

"OMG Derpy!" Bon Bon reached out and hugged Derpy.

"Come in!" Bon Bon called to Derpy.

The two walked up the steps at the front door and went into the observatory. Deroy noticed Lyra practicing her magic. Sparks of bright light flew in all directions. Octavia had been writing sheet music.

"Derpy!" Lyra and Octavia yelled.

The two ran over to Derpy and hugged her. The two let go.

"So you're going to help with Lyra's plan?" Octavia asked Derpy.

"Yeah." Derpy replied.

"Well then, now we need too catch a train to Manehatten!" Bon Bon exclaimed happily.

Lyra got up from the floor.

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe it might be quicker if we pick up Time Turner, then went and got Vinyl." Lyra explained.

"Sounds good." Octavia replied.

The four ponies all got their backpacks. They ran out the door.

It was night by the time they arrived at the train station. They four went up to the ticket booth.

"Four tickets to the Crystal Empire." Lyra said to the unicorn at the ticket booth.

"Thirty bits." The unicorn replied.

Lyra handed the unicorn thirty bits.

The four friends, now reunited went on the train. After a while of riding, Lyra went to get food. As she walked across the platform, she noticed the connecters that held the two carts together starting becoming loose. Before Lyra could get back on the platform to get to the passenger car, the two carts got detached. Lyra was trapped on the cart and couldn't get back to her friends. She screamed for help. No one heard her. Lyra looked towards the train. She noticed that the train was about to go downhill. She jumped off the cart and ran towards the passenger cart. She jumped on the platform.

"You." A voice called from the darkness.

It was Twilight Sparkle. She slowly walked towards Lyra.

"So, I heard about your little plan, and you better think twice about it." Twilight continued. "Me and my friends will always be the stars and you know it. Don't even try. Who's that sad excuse of a Pegasus, what is her name, Derpy? Think about it, Lyra. She'll get you nowhere. You're plan will never work."

"How dare you say that about my friend!" Lyra yelled.

Then, Twilight teleported away in a cloud of purple mist. Lyra opened the door and went in the passenger cart and saw Octavia, Derpy, and Bon Bon.

"Are you ok?" Bon Bon asked Lyra.

"I'm fine." Lyra replied.

"So now that we're separated from the kitchen, how do we get food?" Octavia asked.

"I never thought about that" Lyra replied.

Derpy was looking out the window.

"Guys." Derpy continued, "I think I can see the Crystal Empire."

The four friends walked out of the train. They looked around.

"How do we find Time Turner?" Bon Bon asked as the approached the palace.

"Maybe we can ask one of the princesses." Octavia suggested.

"Ok." Derpy replied.

Lyra remained quiet. Twilight knew what she was doing. She knew Twilight would do something horrible to her friends if they went in there.

"Guys" Lyra continued, "When I was getting food and I got back on the platform, Twilight was there. She said that she knew our plan and it would never work. She said Derpy was a sad excuse of a pegasus.

"What!" Derpy yelled.

"Yeah, she said that." Lyra continued. "She said we had no means of defense. I think what she means is she's going to something horrible to us. I don't think we should go in a palace."

"Yeah, we shouldn't go in." Octavia replied.

"But we need Time Turner!" Bon Bon added.

"Guys." Derpy continued. "There's a shadowy figure over there.

"Seems suspicious." Octavia replied.

"Let's go." Lyra replied.

The four creped over to the house. The figure knocked on the door of a house. The figure was Twilight. A grayish amber pony answered the door.

"Hello?" he asked.

Twilight grabbed Time Turner and said "Look Time Turner, your old friends, Derpy, Octavia, Bon Bon, and Lyra are coming to pick you up and take you to and Vinyl back to Ponyville get back on top again. Now, you know I'm not going to let that happen. So by royal decree, you will not go with them. Hope you have a good night!"

With a flash of purple mist, she was gone. Lyra ran over to Time Turner. As Lyra was about to speak, Time Turner told them what happened and how he couldn't go.

"We can't let the old alicorn stop us!" Bon Bon replied.

"She's right." Octavia added.

"I want to go." Time Turner continued, "I really do. I miss being a doctor and a timekeeper. And I don't want to hold you back."

"Who cares about Twilight?" Lyra continued, "You need to follow your own path. If you want to come with us, then go ahead. If you want to play it safe and stay here, that's fine."

Time Turner looked at the ground. He knew he had to help his friends, but he knew he might die if he went. He thought about it. He couldn't leave his friends.

"Come on guys." Lyra replied. "We'll just go get Vinyl."

The four ponies walked away sadly. Time Turner grabbed his backpack and ran out the door.

"Wait!" he yelled as he tried to keep up with the other ponies.

"I'm coming with you!"

A sigh of relief swept over Lyra. Time Turner had caught up and was walking next to Derpy.

"So Derpy," Bon Bon asked. "How come you were silent around Time Turner? I'd think you'd be the most excited to see him."

Derpy hated being asked about Time Turner. Besides, they hadn't seen each other in years.

"I just-"Derpy muttered. "We haven't seen each other in a long time and our last date was years ago."

"Whatever." Bon Bon replied.

"So should we get to train station?" Octavia asked.

"Yeah." Lyra replied.

Lyra, Derpy, Bon Bon, Octavia, and now Time Turner approached the train station. Lyra went up to the ticket booth.

"How much for five tickets to Manehatten?" she asked the pony at the booth.

"Twenty bits per pony." The pony replied.

The five ponies frantically searched their bags for bits. Octavia panicked. She only had ten bits.

"What do I say?" she thought.

"I have bad news." She told the four. "I only have ten bits. I can't get on the train."

The ponies were shocked. They looked through their bags. No bits.

"Maybe we can stay here another few days! And you can a favor for a neighbor here and maybe get some bits!" Bon Bon suggested.

"I don't think she should." Lyra replied. "Twilight's after us. We can't stay in a place longer than we have to. Twilight might hurt or do something to Octavia. We can't leave her here."

"Then what do we do?" Derpy added.

Octavia was nearly in tears.

"Maybe I can stay here until tomorrow, and then take a train to Manehatten, and I'll meet you there." She said through her tears.

The four ponies hugged Octavia. Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, and Time Turner hugged Octavia, and then hopped on the train. Octavia started towards the city, with her head held down. She had nowhere to stay. She walked around the city. The only light there was the faint moonlight. Suddenly she heard rustling from the bushes.

"So there you are." A voice called out.

A pony pounced on Octavia and pinned her to the ground. It was Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash?" Octavia asked warily.

"Yeah. But anyway," Rainbow Dash continued. "Twilight originally told me to tell you watch out and all that, but I have a deal for you. I can get you to Manehatten now."

"How?" Octavia questioned curiously.

"I have my ways." Rainbow Dash responded.

"So we're in?" she added as she held out her front right hoof.

"I guess." Octavia replied warily as she held out her front left hoof and shook Rainbow Dash's hoof warily.

"Come on then!" Rainbow Dash replied.

She grabbed Octavia and flew at full speed and did a circle around the Crystal Empire. She then dropped Octavia from the sky. Octavia screamed for help. Within a few seconds, she landed on a train. She saw Manehatten faintly in the distance.

"Yes!" she thought. Then the train made an immediate turn and headed towards Canterlot. Octavia starting crying. She didn't know what to do.

Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, and Time Turner hopped off the train. They had arrived in Manehatten.

"Wow." Bon Bon muttered as she looked at the high rises and skyscrapers.

"Focus." Lyra told the three. "We don't have Octavia. Manehatten is a huge city. We're just country ponies. We live in a small town. This city is huge. We have to split up to find Vinyl. I'll go with Bon Bon. Derpy, you and Time Turner look for her. We should look in places she'd most likely be, like nightclubs or parties."

Bon Bon and Lyra walked towards the northern section as Derpy and Time Turner walked to the south.

Bon Bon and Lyra looked around them. There were several small boutiques and shops.

"Over there!" Bon Bon tapped Lyra then pointed to a nightclub. "Maybe she's in there?"

The two friends walked into the nightclub. The crowds were much bigger then Ponyville parties or even Canterlot parties. They approached the DJ stand. No one was there.

"We're never going to find Vinyl!" Bon Bon said sadly.

"We can't stop." Lyra replied. "We need Vinyl."

Derpy and Time Turner walked down the streets of Manehatten. It was dark by now.

"Wow. It's night yet it's still so bright, because of all the lights." Derpy said as she looked at the high rises. Suddenly they heard footsteps from an alley. A flash of cobalt blue and brilliant cyan flashed in front of them. A huge crowd followed. Time Turner had fallen over.

"Are you ok?" she asked Time Turner.

"Yes." He continued. "I just don't want to be here longer then I have too."

"Me too." Derpy agreed. "How does Vinyl live here?"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, they were pulled into an alley.

"I thought you'd be smarter than this to come here." A chilling voice called. "But, like Octavia, you were dumb enough to fall for it." The voice was Pinkie Pie.

"What about Octavia?" Time Turner questioned Pinkie Pie.

"Rainbow Dash told her she could get her to Manehatten for free. So instead of that, she flew up high and dropped her on a train. Who knows where she is now? She might not even be alive. Besides, the train she fell on was headed towards Canterlot." Pinkie Pie laughed.

She pushed the two down on the ground. She was about to knock them out when a spark came from the darkness. Pinkie Pie ran.

"You ok?" a voice called out.

Derpy and Time Turner responded "Yeah."

A unicorn came from the darkness. The unicorn looked down at them and gasped.

"Derpy? Time Turner?" the unicorn called out.

"Vinyl?" Derpy responded.

The three ran to each other and hugged.

"What brings you two to Manehatten?" she asked them.

"Well you see," Derpy continued. "Lyra had a plan to reunite me, you, Time Turner, her, Octavia, and Bon Bon, and to regain our fame."

"Cool! I just, have so many fans now that I can't just abandon my fans!" Vinyl replied.

"You still have fans in Ponyville too! Maybe your fans will come to Ponyville to see you!" Time Turner added.

"I guess." She replied. "But if this doesn't work, I'm taking the next train back to Manehatten."

"Ok." Derpy replied.

"So where's Lyra?" Vinyl asked.

"Searching the city for you." Derpy replied.

"Oh." Vinyl replied warily.

A spark came from Vinyl's horn. She summoned a scroll. In it, she wrote:

"Dear Lyra,

Vinyl here. I have agreed to go forth with your plan. However, if it doesn't work, I'm going back to Manehatten.

Love,

Vinyl"

"I think that's a good letter." Vinyl said proudly as she sent the letter to Lyra.