Twilight could feel every sore blood vessel in her eye right now. They twitched with burning irritation, begging for her to sleep, or blink, or do anything other than continue to stare at the sparkling headpiece before her. She didn’t listen.

Before her sat the Element of Magic, along with its kin; each was hooked up to several wires and metallic clamps, each sending signals to various machines that lined the walls and floor of the library’s basement. Each machine was calibrated to detect even the slightest magical surge, and for the past few days each one had emitted the same, heart-monitor like beep each time the Element of Magic sparkled. It was starting to get to her.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Come on!” she shouted at the machine. “Give me something, anything!”

Beep.

“Gah!” Twilight pressed the side of her head onto one of the machines. A second later she was forced to rip it away as a searing heat rippled across her forehead.

It seems my magicspectrometer is overheating, Twilight mused to herself, a hoof placed to her slightly burned temple. But I don’t see how. That could’ve only happened if I’ve been using it for a long time, but it’s only been… She paused, realizing she actually didn’t know how long she’d been down here.

Glancing around for a clock she found that the room was currently devoid of any timekeeping device. Understandable to say the least; before she’d assembled all her equipment down here, the basement had originally been empty. Searching for a different point of reference, Twilight saw six plates, each containing crumbs and stains. Spike had been bringing her meals down here, so she reasoned at least two days had passed.

“Wait… two days?” She said aloud. “Have I really been down here that—”

Beep.

She groaned, her train of thought cut off. “Just shut up!”

Beep.

With her magic, Twilight yanked every cord connecting the machines to their power sources, hoping to silence the annoyance for good. When the plugs fell in a limp heap, she paused. After giving it a moment she decided that the noise had finally ceased, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Finally silence.”

Two seconds later the entire basement was shaken by a pounding electronic beat. Twilight fell over with a yelp of surprise, and felt her eardrums recoil in pain. The noise didn’t let up as it continued to rattle every bone in her body as she struggled to stand.

Even though her ears felt like they were bleeding, Twilight could tell the noise was coming from the floor above. She struggled up the stairs as the beats grew louder. She finally managed to kick open the door to the first floor, and with the final barrier gone, the music reached skull-shattering levels.

Wincing in pain, Twilight’s ears folded down and she cracked open one eye. Standing in the center of the library, sound equipment surrounding her and a turntable in front, was Vinyl Scratch, bobbing her head along to the sound.

“Vinyl!” Twilight screamed, doubting her voice could reach across the room. Miraculously, Vinyl tilted her head past one of the amps, flipped her sunglasses up, and smiled.

“Smart Mare! Hey, wassup?”

Her teeth ground together. “Turn it off! Turn it off right this instant!”

Vinyl cocked her head to the side. “Hold on a sec!” she screamed. “I can’t hear you too well. Let me just…” The sound abruptly stopped, leaving Twilight with ringing ears. “There we go. So what did ya want?”

Twilight shook her head, yet the ringing did not go away. “Vinyl, what is wrong with you?”

Her eyebrow rose. “Is that a trick question?”

Scrunching her face in annoyance, Twilight groaned. “No, look just… why? Why were you blasting that ear-grating noise in a library of all places?”

Vinyl clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Well, I wanted to make sure they still worked, ‘cause I left them here last time I came over, and with the annual Music-ade coming up I needed—”

“Wait, what?” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Music… aid? Is that some sort of program that helps musicians improve the quality of their music?” She glanced over the turntables. “Because I feel that in your case that would be something you should have more than annually.”

“Not Music Aid, Smart Mare. Music-ade. Kinda like parade, but mashed with music.”

“Right…”

Vinyl gave a short laugh. “Hey, don’t judge. With the amount of celebrations this town has, all the good names were already taken.”

"So in order to prepare for this... Music-ade, you decided to bombard a library of all places with noise?"

Rolling her eyes, Vinyl sighed. "Point taken, I'm sorry. But I thought it'd be fine, I mean, your dragon-kid-thing didn't seem to mind."

Twilight blinked. "What, do you mean Spike?" She turned her head suddenly, curious as to where he was. Her eyes fell upon a dragon sized hole that had been punched into the wall. “Spike?”

A tiny purple claw slowly extended from inside the hole, and waved. “Hey, Twilight.”

She cringed. “Are you all right, Spike?”

“Yeah?” he weakly offered. “I just… I’m gonna stay in here for a little bit.”

Twilight whirled around. “Are you responsible for that?”

"Little bit,". Vinyl admitted. "I cranked up the base to eleven and the little dude went flying."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "Are you insane?"

Vinyl shrugged. “Maybe, which is good. Insanity is the trademark of a good musician.” She paused. “Not that I’m insulting Octavia, but like, DJ-wise I mean.”

“I don’t care.” Twilight trotted over and pushed at the turntables, causing them to budge slightly. With a grunt, she continued to shove.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Vinyl asked, stepping down.

“Kicking — er — you out!” she said.

Pushing with all of her strength, she got the turntables to move an inch.

Vinyl snickered. “You’re just doing my work for me.”

Groaning, she stopped. “Fine. Kick yourself out… uh, please.”

Chuckling, Vinyl nodded. “Okay sure. So can I expect to see you at the parade? Yours truly has a starting float all to herself.”

She sighed, putting her splinted hoof to her head. “You know what? I’m already sick of Music-ade. You, Octavia, and Lyra can just have a good time without me.”

Vinyl tilted her head. “Lyra? What makes you think she’s going to be there?”

“Well, she’s a musician, isn’t she?”

“She is? Really? I had no idea.”

Twilight sighed as Vinyl positioned herself to push the turntables. “She has a lyre for a Cutie Mark.”

“Is that what that thing is?” Vinyl asking, putting her hooves on her equipment. “I thought it was some sort of upside down gate or something.” With a grunt, she started pushing, and immediately made more progress than Twilight. As the sound system scooted along, Vinyl kept talking. “Anyway, I didn’t see her at the sign up, so I guess she won’t be there.”

Twilight tightened her lips, then frowned. The memory of Lyra’s hypnotic playing came back to her, and she sighed. “That’s a shame, she was really good.”

"So ask her why she's flaking." Vinyl shoved, her turntables scraped the library's floor as they moved through the door.

"Well..." Twilight pondered the idea for a moment. Her machines would need some time to cool down, lest she wanted to risk them exploding, which gave her plenty of time to go talk to Lyra. At the same it wasn't really her business; perhaps Lyra simply didn't want to be in the parade.

Maybe I’ll just stop by and see, she decided. After all, it couldn’t hurt to pop in on an acquaintance.

“Okay, I’ll go—” Twilight realized she was talking to nopony. “Vinyl?” She eyed the tread left in the dirt out her door and figured out the rest. She turned to Spike. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” Spike replied, still in the hole. “I’m probably going to take the rest of the day off though.”

“Fair enough. I’m heading into town.” She trotted out the door without listening for Spike’s response.

Bon Bon’s shop was bustling with activity, which was not the norm that Twilight had grown accustomed to. Each table was surrounded by ponies who held a motley of desserts. Chocolate permeated the air to the extent that it was almost difficult to inhale.

Twilight stepped in, glancing around as the seemingly chaotic ritual of rush hour took place before her. She spotted Bon Bon not to far away, at the forefront of a line at the counter. Each move she made was a calculated effort to simultaneously take orders, grab goods from the display shelf, and check on whatever was currently baking.

For a brief moment, Twilight considered that now was probably a bad time to bombard Bon Bon with questions, and given that fact that her stomach felt rather hollow right now, she opted to wait in line and talk to her acquaintance when she ordered something.

Falling in line behind a blue stallion, Twilight began tapping her hoof as the ponies before her shuffled side to side.

Eventually she found herself at the front of the line, conveniently before her stomach digested itself.

“Hello miss— Oh, Twilight, hi.” Bon Bon gave a perky smile, which was a marvel given how frustratingly busy she was at the time. “What can I get you?”

“A raspberry tart and the quickest route to find Lyra.”

Bon Bon’s eyebrow arched up. She moved her hoof into the display case. “Well, the tart will be two bits, but I’m afraid that directions to Lyra aren’t on the menu.”

Twilight blinked. “Yeah… well, no. I didn’t want to buy that part, I meant—”

Bon Bon giggled, pulling a tart free. “I was kidding, Twilight.”

“Oh…” She chewed the inside of her cheek. “Right.”

“Anyway, why do you want to find Lyra?” Bon Bon shoved wrapped the raspberry tart in a napkin, and tapped on a cash register.

“I was just curious about something,” Twilight replied, opting for vagary. She didn’t want to drag Bon Bon into this, mostly because she was hoping to avoid talking with anypony else today aside from Lyra as much as possible. She just wasn’t in the mood.

“Curious about what?” Bon Bon returned, failing to hand the tart over to Twilight. She was holding it hostage for more information.

“Things,” Twilight aptly dodged.

Bon Bon’s eyes narrowed. “Things, huh?”

“Yup.”

She leaned forward, obviously implying that Twilight should elaborate. When her stomach rumbled, she finally conceded.

“Lyra isn’t signed up for Music-ade and I just wanted to know why.”

“Oh, that’s all.” Bon Bon surrendered the pastry. “Twilight, don’t bother her, all right? Lyra’s never participated in Music-ade before and that’s her business not yours.”

It was Twilight’s turn to raise her eyebrow, her curiosity peaking. “What? Why?”

“Her reasons are her reasons. Two bits please.”

Twilight fished out the money, her thirst for answers far from dampened. “Well can you at least tell me where to find her?”

“Twilight you know how you like being left alone during certain… well, all the time?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s Lyra when it comes to stuff like Music-ade, all right?”

“Oh…” Twilight tightened her lips. “Well, I still want to talk to her about it.”

Bon Bon sighed, glancing through Twilight and noting the long line of impatient ponies forming behind her. She couldn’t keep up this conversation for much longer, lest she wanted an angry mob on her hoof, but she could tell that Twilight wouldn’t leave until she had what she wanted.

“She likes to hang out in the park.”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks Bon Bon.” She turned and trotted out.

“You better not whine the next time we try to hang out with you,” she muttered under her breath as the next customer stepped forward.

Ponyville’s park was a surprisingly serene place, contrasting heavily with the near insane denizens of the town. Lofty trees overlooked a grassy knoll, shielding the ground from the sweltering summer sun.

As Twilight trotted through the park, eyes diligently scanning for Lyra, she made a mental note in the back of her mind that this would be a good place to get some light reading done one day. Assuming she’d ever get around to light reading at this rate.

In fact, she hadn’t even gotten around to reading all the letters Celestia had sent her. Here she was, wasting valuable research time just to ask an acquaintance why she wasn’t partaking in a parade that she herself didn’t want to attend.

Twilight stopped moving, realizing she had just brought up some very good points. Why am I doing this?

Granted, Lyra was talented with a lyre and her lack of participation would be a hefty loss for the parade, but why should she care? Music-ade hadn’t wormed its way into her heart since she learned about it an hour ago, and if it hadn’t done the same to Lyra, then why should Twilight care? She was just a pony — well, granted she was a pony who had carried Twilight for miles through the Everfree Forest and stood by her side when they blindly fought Nightmare Moon together — but she was still just a pony to Twilight… right?

The delicate plucking of strings invaded her thoughts. A warm melody permeated the park, and Twilight’s ears flicked in the direction of the sound. Her eyes followed shortly after.

Sitting on a tuffet, coat helping her blend in with the grass, back reclined against a tree, sat Lyra. She cradled her lyre, her magic gently strumming the mellifluous tune.

A smile slunk onto Twilight’s face as she listened, her inner debate put on hold so she could enjoy the music.

Unfortunately, much like the last time she’d been infected by the earworm of Lyra’s music, it was cut short in the midst of her immersion. Lyra opened her eyes for the briefest of seconds, and spotted her audience of one.

“Tw-Twilight?” The melody ended unceremoniously, as Lyra ripped her hooves away, accidentally slapping the chords awkwardly and ending her sweet song on a sour note.

Ripped away from her music coma, Twilight blinked. “Oh, uh… hi Lyra.”

She gave an uncomfortable laugh. “This is like, the second time you’ve snuck up on me when I’m playing… hehe, geeze, privacy much?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Twilight’s ears folded down. “I didn’t realize I was intruding.”

“It’s a joke.”

“Ah.”

Lyra nodded to the spot next to her, and Twilight trotted over. She sat down, taking great pains not to put too much weight on her injured hoof. Lyra began fidgeting with her instrument.

“So… what brings you out to the park?”

“I was looking for you, actually. I was hoping we could talk... about Music-ade.”

Lyra froze suddenly, her pupils shrinking and joints stiffening. It lasted only an instant, before she quickly stood. “Well Twilight, as much as I enjoy our little chats I have to go be… anywhere else. Let’s do this again never, bye.” She bolted.

Thinking fast, Twilight ignited her horn, latching onto Lyra’s tail. She jerked to a stop, shooting back an annoyed glance. “Hey, let go!”

In response, Twilight dragged Lyra back to the tree and forced her to sit down before releasing.

“Lyra, what’s up with you today?”

Clenching her jaw, Lyra gave the ground a vicious stare. “Why do you care?”

Twilight sighed. “Lyra, my curiosity is… a bit like an anthill When somepony pokes it, the ants go crazy, pouring out of the hill like lava from an erupting volcano. And everything about you and Music-ade has just been whacking down on that anthill hill as hard as hail on a metal roof during a blizzard. You understand?”

Lyra opened her mouth and paused, eyes narrowed in confusion. “Uh… no. You lost me about three similes back.”

Rolling her eyes, Twilight sighed. “Bottom line, tell me what your problem is… or I’ll have to hit you with another barrage of similes.”

“Oh no, not figurative language!” Lyra smiled, and they shared a soft giggle.

When the laughter died down, the tone shifted as Lyra bit her lip. She pondered her options for a moment, not sure if she really wanted to open up to Twilight.

“Well…” Twilight felt impatience gnawing at her.

“I… I don’t like performing in front of other ponies.” Lyra looked away.

“Oh, you have a social phobia?” Twilight asked.

“Phobia? No. I’m not scared of performing. I just…”

“...just…?”

“Loathe it with a passion,” Lyra finished.

Twilight blinked. “Uh… why?”

Lyra bit her lip. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Probably not,” Twilight admitted, pushing herself up. Her question had been answered, quenching her curiosity. She had no more desire to press Lyra for more personal information: the Derpy fiasco had taught her that much. “Thanks for talking though.”

She moved to leave, only to find a sudden jerk in her hindquarters. She glanced back to see a golden aura enveloping her hindquarters. With a swift yank from Lyra, Twilight was back on the ground.

“Oh no you don’t. If I couldn’t walk away from this, neither can you.”

Twilight sighed. “Great, now I've opened up a dam and should be prepared for the flood.”

“I thought we agreed no more similes.”

“That was a metaphor.”

“Semantics.”

Twilight grumbled, debating how difficult it would be to run off before Lyra could grab her again. Eventually she decided it would be too hard with her splinted hoof, and resolved to get this over with quickly. “Fine, so talk.”

“Well, it all started when I first got my Cutie Mark.”

Twilight groaned internally.

“You see, I’d always loved playing the lyre, but when it became my special talent, a lot of pressure set in to turn it from a simple hobby into a career.”

Twilight couldn’t really empathize with that kind of plight, but nodded along to feign understanding.

“My first real performance was a high school talent show. I can still remember feeling lighter than air when I stepped on stage.” A smile slipped onto her lips, but was swept away by a new batch of memories.

As Lyra paused her story, Twilight felt curiosity peck at her again. “...and?”

Her head slumped down, cheek pressed against her lyre. “They hated it,” she whispered.

“What?” Twilight’s ears flicked, still reverberating the faint echos of Lyra’s infectious melodies. “There’s no way. Who could say anything bad about your music?”

“Well… they didn’t say it to my face if that makes it more plausible.”

It doesn’t. “Surely it wasn’t all bad.”

Lyra scrunched up her nose and her next words came out as a nasally imitation of other ponies. “‘Gah, that was so boring.’ ‘I practically slept through the whole thing.’ ‘It’s pretty sad when the juggling act was more entertaining than that gar—’” Lyra froze, lip curling at the memory. She looked away, jaw clenching.

Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but she paused. The can of worms she had inadvertently opened was dredging up some bad memories for Lyra; the last thing she needed was an unthought out, unintentionally hurtful comment.

“Well, I guess I kind of know what that feels like,” she finally decided on.

“How so?”

“You’d be surprised how rough it got being Princess Celestia’s personal student. It felt like anypony at her school was just waiting for me to make a mistake so they could pounce in and tell me how much I didn’t deserve such an honor, how the Princess was wasting her time with me. Given the whole Elements of Harmony debacle I can bet they’re—”

“Are you really comparing what I’ve been dealing with my entire life to what happened last week?” Lyra interrupted, recoiling as if Twilight’s breath smelled like raunchy garbage.

Twilight lowered her head, grinding her teeth together. “Yeah… I think I need to stop doing that.”

“Definitely.” Lyra looked at the ground.

“I’m sorry. I guess… this whole, dealing with other pony’s problems thing is kinda new to me. I probably should read up on it before I try it again.”

“I’ll say.” Lyra sighed, fiddling with one of the strings of her lyre.

Twilight eyed it, then Lyra. “Do—”

She was cut off by a loud, pounding blast of music. One she had hoped never to hear again, or at the very least not twice in the same day: Techno

Both she and Lyra threw their hooves over their ears, wincing in tandem. The music sprayed over the park, seeming to come from all directions at once. Around her, the ground seem to shake at the ferocity of the noise, pebbles bouncing up and down to the beat.

“Gah! What the heck?” Lyra screamed, her voice caught in the sound before it could reach Twilight’s ears mere inches away.

Twilight’s eyes scanned the horizon, eventually coming to rest on a house that seemed to vibrate as spasmodically as the music. I don’t even have to guess.

“Vinyl,” she hissed. The word couldn’t even reach her own ears before being drowned out.

“What?” Lyra shouted.

“Come on, let’s see if we can get her to shut up.” Twilight grabbed Lyra and pulled her against the force of the noise towards the building.

“What?”

They fought against the ear-bleedingly loud song — and Twilight used that term in its loosest possible form — until they reached the front door. Twilight gave it a swift knock, before realizing that there was no way anypony inside could possibly hear her. Nevertheless the door actually swung in, having been knocked open by the sheer force of the noise.

Twilight poked her head in, unsure if she should intrude uninvited. Two more seconds of the pulsating noise changed her mind and she walked in, Lyra in tow.

“Hello?” She called out before realizing that it was another fruitless effort. She looked around, her ears trying to pinpoint the origin of the music, which was no easy feat. Lyra, however, tapped her shoulder and then pointed to the ceiling. Twilight nodded, the message coming through.

She focused her energy into finding a staircase, making sure to put in extra effort. If she had to be subjected to Vinyl’s techno music, she might just cause an explosion.

She caught sight of it at the end of a long hall and made a rush for it, only to bump into something in the process. Twilight fell down, taking the thing she had bumped into with her. After getting a mouthful of carpet, Twilight looked up to find that the thing she had bumped into wasn’t a thing at all. It was Octavia.

Wide-eyed with confusion, mane a frazzled mess, but definitely Octavia.

Lyra swooped in to help them both up, her presence only adding to the confusion on Octavia’s face.

“Uh… hi,” Twilight shouted over the music.

Octavia cocked her head, not having heard. It was then that Twilight noticed the noise canceling headphones Octavia was wearing, and she immediately felt a bitter twinge of jealously. Then she noticed that there was a second pair of noise canceling headphones duct taped crudely over the first. Her jealousy grew exponentially.

Before Twilight could even try speaking again Octavia held up her hoof, silently asking for her to wait. She tilted her head towards the stairs.

“VINYL, MUSIC OFF! WE HAVE GUESTS!” The force of her shouting took Twilight aback. She had never expected such a soft voice from somepony so civilized could trample the noise coming from the amps upstairs.

Surprisingly, the blaring techno noise ceased, ending with a sudden record scratch. Noting that the house stopped shaking, Octavia removed her dual headphones in anticipation for a response.

“If it’s the Filly Scouts, tell them I want two boxes of—”

“It’s Lyra and Twilight!”

“...I’m guessing they don’t have any Thin Mints.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Get down here.”

“Kay.” Shuffling noises could be heard overhead.

Swiveling around, Octavia faced Twilight and Lyra. “So… why are you here?”

“Yes, I do like apples,” Twilight replied, her ears ringing. Octavia tilted her head in confusion.

Lyra — whose bleeding ears could hear a bit better than Twilight’s — spoke up before Twilight could amend her statement. “We just wanted Vinyl to turn down her… everything.”

Octavia nodded, a shaky smile of agreement on her face. “You just described my day-to-day life.”

Vinyl appeared on the stairs behind her, glasses donned and grin wide. “‘Sup guys?”

“Hello.”

Twilight rubbed her ears, the ringing dampened enough for her to hear again. “Vinyl, what the heck were you doing?”

“Practicing for Music-ade. Duh.” Vinyl grinned. “By the way, how’d it sound?”

“Loud,” Lyra replied.

“Ear-bleedingly so,” Twilight added.

“Awesome.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Not awesome, Vinyl. I think you may have done some serious damage to my cochlea.”

Everypony stared uncomprehendingly.

She sighed. “My ear hurts.”

“Oh, that’s all?” Vinyl shrugged. “I don’t see why you’re complaining then. I mean, Tavi doesn’t… anymore at least.”

“That’s because I learned that whenever I tell you something it just goes in one ear, gets bored, and dies.” She tapped her dual headphones. “And I finally invested in these.”

“Whatever. Hey speaking of Music-ade, you going to be in it Lyra?”

Lyra tightened her hold on her lyre. “I… don’t think so.”

“Bummer.”

“Wait, you won’t be playing?” Octavia asked. Lyra shook her head. “That’s a real shame, the orchestra float could sure use a few more soloists.”

“Definitely not.” Lyra tightened her lips. “Everypony focusing on me, judging me, just waiting for that one slip up so they can—”

“I understand,” Octavia interrupted, allowing Lyra to breath a sigh of relief. “But you should still join, we could use a good lyrist.”

“Then you should probably find a good lyrist,” Lyra mumbled.

Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “I’m sensing a confidence problem here.” Twilight shot her a “gee, you think?” look, which was met with Vinyl holding up her hooves in sarcastic surrender.

Octavia ignored them, focusing instead on Lyra. She was glumly plucking at the strings of her instrument, avoiding eye contact.

“Can you at least audition?” Octavia asked.

“What?” Lyra’s head poked up. “But I didn't even go to sign up; I can't audition.”

“Well, technically you can. You see, I’m managing the orchestra float; if I want to I can put you in. I only ask that you play something for me just so I can get a taste of your capabilities.”

“I dunno…”

“Come on, Lyra.” Twilight pleaded with her eyes, but Lyra refused to look at them.

“Can you just stop trying to push me out of my comfort zone?”

“Psshh. Comfort zones are overrated. I say go for it.” Vinyl brushed her mane from her face, offering a grin.

“Hmm…” Lyra shifted in discomfort. She weighed her options, looking at each of the mares in front of her: Octavia’s comforting smile, Vinyl’s expectant stare, Twilight’s hopeful gaze. “Fine.”

Twilight cheered internally. She’d been hoping to hear Lyra’s music again.

“But… uh… can you guys not be here for it?”

“What?” Twilight asked, stunned.

“Yeah I’m with Smart Mare on this one. What?”

Octavia pressed her lips together. “Lyra, we can’t just ask them to—”

“You too… please.”

Octavia leaned back, eyebrow raised. “You want me to not be here?”

“Yes.”

“During your audition that I’m supposed to witness?”

“...Yes please.”

Twilight bit her lip, realizing just how much Lyra hated performing in front of ponies and resigning to leave.

Octavia wasn’t as sympathetic. “Well I can’t just not hear your audition.”

“We could just chill upstairs,” Vinyl suggested. "She won't see us, and we could still hear her."

“Don’t be stupid, Vi—” Octavia blinked, cutting off her automatic response. “Actually that could work, right Lyra?”

“I guess?”

Twilight smiled. “Let’s try it then!”

They piled towards the narrow staircase, and after a few shoving matches they all made it to the top, sheltered from view. Twilight leaned over the banister a little, not wanting to miss a single note of the performance.

“Okay Lyra, whenever you’re ready.”

She didn’t offer a response.

She didn’t start playing either.

At first Twilight thought Lyra was just taking a brief pause. Then Twilight thought Lyra was just taking a long pause. Then she thought Lyra was taking an overly-dramatic, thespian-style, tension-building pause of doom.

“You don’t think she bailed, do you?” Vinyl whispered, beating Twilight to her next thought.

“Sh!” Octavia said, not even considering the possibility.

Either Lyra heard the remark, or she finally decided the pause was dramatic enough, because a soft, simple earworm of a tune began playing. Its slow start was soon contrasted by a speedy build-up and climactic surge of passion and energy.

Twilight was whisked away by the melody, even more so than any other time she’d heard Lyra play. A dopey grin spread on her face. She looked over to Octavia, trying to size up her reaction, only to be met with a stuck-in-concentration straight face.

The song abruptly ended as Lyra apparently decided she couldn’t play anymore with the knowledge that ponies were present.

Vinyl gave a half-smile when the music ended. “Well, it’s not wubs… but it was nice.”

Twilight bobbed her head, grateful to hear a positive reaction. A few more of those and Lyra’s confidence would undoubtedly soar.

“H-How was that?” Lyra’s cautious voice asked.

Octavia — face emotionless — crossed to the stairs and trotted down, Twilight and Vinyl not far behind.

Lyra’s nervous face appeared before them as they descended. Her eyebrows scrunched together and raised, her lip in her mouth, eyes wide with a mixture of giddiness and fear.

Octavia cleared her throat. “I have good news, and bad news.”

“Uh… okay.”

“The good news is, you’re in.”

“Oh, really?” Happiness slipped into Lyra’s voice, but concern as well. “T-thanks I guess. But, I still don’t know if I want to do it....”

“That would be the bad news,” Octavia said. “I’m not giving you a choice in the matter.”

Lyra’s pupils shrank. “What?”

“There’s no way I’m letting a musician as talented as yourself slip away. In two weeks from now, I expect you to be on that float.”

“But I… you… audition…”

“Whelp, now that that’s settled,” Vinyl clapped Octavia and Lyra on their backs. “I could go for some cookies. Anypony wanna help me track down the Filly Scouts?”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Anything to keep you away from the turntables for a little while.”

“Cool. Lyra?”

“...lyre...crowd...judgement…”

“Sweet. How about you, Smart Mare?”

“I feel the strong, strong need to say no. By now my machines should have cooled down enough to use again and if not there’s still dozens of Celestia’s letters I need to start reading. I’ll see you girls later.” She turned.

“At Music-ade perhaps?”

Twilight stopped. “Depends… Lyra?”

She momentarily broke out of her panicked trance. “Y-yeah?”

“Are you going to be in it? Of your own free will, I mean.”

Lyra opened her mouth to respond, but instead glanced at Octavia. Her fellow musician offered her a reassuring smile. “Well…”

“I say go for it,” Vinyl interjected. “You got what it takes.”

“I’m still nervous.”

“There’s nothing wrong with taking foal steps if you want,” Twilight assured her. “I mean, I had to learn how to levitate before I could learn to teleport.”

Her words made Lyra exhale a relaxed breath. “Thanks, Twilight. I’m glad you’re my friend.”

Twilight coughed. “Well, technically acquaintance, but you’re welcome.” She waved goodbye and trotted for the door, happy to know she had helped Lyra take the first step towards overcoming her dislike of performing.

She let out a content sigh when she shut the library door behind her. It was barely two o’clock, but the day felt like it was over already. Twilight stretched her neck before setting her sights on the stairs the basement.

As she walked towards them, she passed the Spike sized indentation in the wall, now bereft of its maker. She could say with no uncertainty he was upstairs, asleep. Honestly, she couldn’t blame him; she was feeling the anvil of exhaustion start to weigh down on her. Unlike her number one assistant, she wasn’t allowed to take a break from her work.

Twilight descended the stairs to the basement, only to be greeted by a new annoying sound she thought she wouldn’t have to hear twice today.

Beep. Beep beep. Beep.

“Are you kidding me?” she demanded, nearing the final steps. “And I could’ve sworn I unplugged the—” She froze.

Wait… I did unplug the magicspectrometer. How is it still…

Twilight cleared the last step, and bolted over to the machinery. The plug was still lying discarded on the floor, but the internal motors were whirring away.

“How is that…” Twilight’s eyes shifted, catching a faint green glow.

Lying on the table, hooked up with the wires that she’d left with, was the Element of Kindness, matching the sparkling in tandem with the Element of Magic.

Several emotions slapped Twilight at once. Awe, curiosity, shock; the most prominent however, was anger.

“HOW DID I MISS IT AGAIN?”

Author's Notes:

It's alive!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VkrUG3OrPc

Annnnd we're back to this story. Took me freaking long enough, considering the last update was what, February? Yikes. Well, we're back on track, and hopefully this train won't be so derailed again anytime soon. As an apology, here's the schedule of the next few chapters.

The DJ - Vinyl centric chapter
Interlude: Tea Party - Celestia and NMM
The Baker - Bon Bon centric chapter
The Cellist - Octavia centric chapter
And the Adventure Begins... Again - The adventure tag comes back into play.

So now you guys have that to look forward to. See ya then.

(P.S. did you find the hidden link?)