//------------------------------//
// Making a Move 
// Story: Welcome to Batstralia 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//



Language check. All in English.



Lyra found her sister trapped under their mother's wing. She was about to ask if Robin wanted some help getting out—as she knew her sister's sleeping pattern mostly involved being awake now—but stopped before she shouted. Taking a deep breath, Lyra slowly built energy in her horn and wrapped a field around her mother's wing and lifted.

A scant few seconds passed, but in that time Robin slipped out and Lyra in.

"Thanks, Ly. You're the best." Robin pressed her cheek to Lyra's. "Make sure I'm awake tomorrow morning—before you go?"

Opening her mouth, Lyra quickly closed it and just nodded.

Joyce picked then to shift in her sleep, pulling on her wing and the daughter her subconscious knew was there.

Robin pulled a cushion over for Lyra to rest her head on, and then stealthily clip-clopped out of the room.

Laying her head down on the soft cushion, Lyra closed her eyes and let dreams of Canterlot flood her head.





Lyra felt something pushing on her dream.

She was in school in a magical castle, and a huge white pony with twelve wings and a dozen horns stuck a funnel in her ear. Books of all shapes and sizes were shoved in, and they shrank as they poured down the funnel.

The edges of her dream rippled, but she liked silly dreams, and easily held the morning (as she thought of it) at bay.

Shaking her head, the funnel went flying, as did the huge pony. Books dribbled out each of Lyra's ears for a few seconds until she found a pair of comically large corks. With her knowledge safely retained, Lyra bowed to the huge white pony and left.

The pony hadn't been huge—Lyra was tiny. She looked up at all the big ponies around her, and used her magic to pick herself up. Imagining giant staircases, Lyra formed her magic into a huge hand with two "walking" fingers.

Again the edges of her dream quivered. This time she had had it with all the normal stuff. "This interruption is no more!" The quivering continued, but got weaker. "It has ceased to be!"

A huge robe pulled around Lyra's body, and she wore a great, pointed hat upon her head. Across the front of her hat was the word "Wizzard." She opened her mouth for the next words of the great banishing spell. "It's passed on! It's expired and gone to meet its maker!"

Lightning and rainbows (she had wanted thunder, but rainbows seemed a better mix for ponies) raced around the sky, and Lyra was thrust upward on a dais. "Vis-a-vis the dreamy-processes, it's 'ad its lot! All statements to the effect that this interruption is still a going concern are from now on, interpretive!"

Lifting her hooves high, Lyra Heartstrings, Wizzard of Equestria, called down the greatest power she could.

"It's fucking snuffed it!"

"Lyra!" Joyce bopped her daughter on the nose. "I told you to wake up, silly-Billy."

Having lost the fight, for now, Lyra groaned and leaned her head up. She let out another whimper when her mother kissed her cheek. "Mum!"

"We're going today, Lyra." Delivering another nuzzle, Joyce stretched her wings out and climbed up from the couch. "I could have sworn I fell asleep with a different daughter…?"

"Yeah! We swapped before Robin got bored out of her brain! Night time is go time, remember?!" Lyra finally noticed her loud voice and snapped her mouth shut.

Arching her back like a cat, Joyce staggered out of a huge stretch. "Come on then. Breakfast, then we grab our things, one last goodbye, and we go."

Lyra sometimes wished she had wings. They seemed so good for keeping balance, but then having four legs was still pretty good. She wobbled along after her mother to the kitchen and began the usual things that breakfast entailed: coffee and salad (greens for Lyra, fruit for her mother).

Thudding hooves came down the hall and Robin poked her head around the kitchen doorway before launching herself at Joyce.

Not bothering with words, Joyce cuddled Robin against her.

Still chopping up a further salad for lunch, Lyra quickly put together something for Robin for breakfast. Keeping the kitchen silent, Lyra set a bowl down on the table beside her mother's.

Robin switched targets and pounced at her sister. Catching Lyra with a wing, Robin pulled her big sister into a hug. "Gonna miss you."

Lyra let out a deep sigh and then kissed Robin on the cheek. They held together until Dream Thunder and Candela walked into the kitchen.

Riding on Dream's wing, of course, was Tufts. Rocking his body forward, he spread his wings and only needed two quick flaps to get to Joyce and cling to her wing instead. "Good morning, love." As he spoke, one of his wings reached up to the table and grabbed a piece of cantaloupe.

Too caught up in the emotions of the morning, Joyce leaned her head to the side and kissed Tufts on the nose without thinking about it. She froze for a moment, then drew back. "Good morning, Tufts. Are you ready to go?"

"But of course. I have seen to all my affairs here, and will be free to travel." Tufts stuck the chunk of fruit in his mouth and began masticating enthusiastically.

Remembering the walk she had made to and from Canterlot the first time, Lyra attacked her breakfast the moment Robin let her go. She ate quickly, downed her coffee, and headed for her bedroom. Laying on her bed was her guitar, little amplifier, and her old backpack of pony-fitting clothes.

"Lyra, I need to boop you." Dream Thunder was behind Lyra. "S-So you can go to Equestria."

Nodding her head, Lyra turned around. Instead of a boop, she got a hug. Squeezing back, Lyra ruminated on it being a morning for hugs. As she leaned back, Dream struck.

"Boop. To Equestria you'll go." Pulling her hoof back, Dream set it back on the floor. "I'm gonna miss you. Growing up in Equestria, I didn't realize what it was like to have a big family."

Opening her mouth only to close it again, Lyra took a deep breath. She tilted her head toward Tufts, then looked directly at Dream, and then winked. She had the satisfaction of seeing Dream look a little startled and happy at the same time. "I'll miss you!"

Dream Thunder's ears tucked back with the acoustic assault, but perked back up the moment Lyra's mouth closed. "You'll visit during the holidays, right?"

Lyra just nodded her head.

"I know things are only going to get more crazy, and with the Rainbow Serpent gone I'll be a little on my own, but I can't help feel something big is about to happen, and I'm going to be in the middle of it." As Dream Thunder spoke, she became aware that every eye in the kitchen was focused on her and it wasn't hard to tell that. She suddenly clamped her mouth closed and looked around like a startled bat.

"You'll be awesome!" Lyra hugged Dream again, and felt her adopted sister relax once more. Together, they turned and made a start on breakfast.

No one seemed willing to break the tableau of quiet that settled on the dinner table. Lyra and Joyce both ate hearty meals, and when they were done looked at each other across the table.

However, Lyra watched her mother turn a look on Candela. A chill ran through her at that look.

Candela seemed to read Joyce's look for the pain and hope that was in it, and spoke up. "You can't. You'll have trouble supporting yourself let alone Robin too."

Joyce's expression was hard. "I did my medical doctorate and my veterinary—"

"There was a reason I moved out of Canterlot, Joyce. It is a busy place for one mare to be, but it makes taking care of a filly a full time job." There was pain on Candela's face as she told her close friend, someone as close as a sister, the harsh reality of the magical pony world.

Steel seeped into Joyce's eyes, and the muscles around her mouth tightened. "But I—"

"Mum!" Robin's voice was the only thing that could have stopped Joyce this time. Pushing her chair out from the table, Robin walked around and looked up at her mother. When Joyce slid off her own chair, Robin pulled her mother into a tight hug. "Dream needs me."

Lyra had to clamp down on her own first reaction of shouting out in surprise. She saw her mother's body freeze—hardening like steel. She jumped down and rushed around the table to join the hug. She felt a tingle in her senses—her new senses.

"You heard Dream, Mum. I don't know how I know, but I know she needs someone—" Robin shook her head. "Not someone. She needs me."

Joyce's left wing was around Lyra, letting her eldest daughter hold her up while she hugged her little filly with the other. "But…"

"There's a lot of talk about destiny and that today!" Mentally cursing her inability to keep her voice moderated, Lyra had to push on. "Does this have anything to do with all the magic?!"

"It feels right, Mum." Robin's eyes were as dry as her mother's, which weren't dry at all. "You're going to need to study hard, and you can't do that with me there."

"You just said you need to be here to help Dream." Keeping her wings around her foals, Joyce struggled with the reality of the situation.

Robin almost disappeared into the wing of her mother. "We'll help each other. I can't really figure out why it's important, but it feels important. I don't know how else to say it."

"You sound ten years older than you are." Joyce snorted at her own comment. "I'm going to come and visit every holiday."

"Not if I visit you first!" Sticking her tongue out, Robin giggled like the filly she was. "I love you, Mum."

Joyce squeezed Robin. "I love you too, little bird." When she saw her daughter about to say something, Joyce tapped her on the nose. "You'll always be my little bird, Robin Robertson, no matter how old you are."

While snug against her mother, Lyra started using her magic to collect and shift bowls to the sink. She was so focused on the task—juggling multiple items at a time—that she didn't notice Candela until a chaste kiss landed on her cheek.

"You need to take care of yourself, Lyra Heartstrings." Stretching out a feathered wing to hug Lyra, Candela even hugged with a foreleg, too. "I have some things for you and Joyce to take with you. You might have gotten a direct invite to Princess Celestia's school, but once there they will want an indication of your schooling thus far."

"And Mum needs something to say she is a fully trained doctor, here, right?!" In the moments with her family, Lyra had completely forgotten about her voice.

Unfolding her ears, Candela nodded and drew back from the hug. "I have papers that state her training as clear as I can make it. The medical board will, at the very least, accept you as a new student based off that, Joyce."

"I hope they will let my training count for at least something. Spending six years studying medicine from scratch, again, would be a bit maddening." Joyce let go of her fillies and folded her wings up at her sides.

"They would be quite moronic to not have you teaching at least one class. You're going to Equestria to learn pony medicine." Candela backed away from Joyce and Lyra to let them stand up without being crowded. "I would lay odds on you knowing a few things they don't, too."

Lyra watched her adopted sister approach her mother from a blind side. Before Joyce could react, Dream Thunder lashed out and booped her on the nose.

"Boop! To Equestria with you!" Giggling enough that her words were a struggle to get out, Dream drew her hoof back. "Sorry. It's just too much fun doing that."

"Wait. Are you telling me that that's all it takes to decide who goes to where?" Spinning to look at Lyra, Joyce only got a nod from her eldest daughter. She turned back to Dream. "So what happens when a rush of people come here wanting to go to Equestria?"

Dream Thunder blinked at the question. "Well, I don't boop them? I don't think Princess Celestia is going to want a rush of bat ponies flooding in without somepony to introduce them." She looked between Joyce and Candela. "Right?"

"I'll talk to the Princess!" Having overheard, Lyra considered that since she had spoken to Celestia before, she could probably do so again. "Since I'm going to her school and all!"

"Why'd you teach her to be so brash?" Joyce gestured at Lyra while talking to Candela.

Candela rolled her eyes. "Teach her? I am sure she grew up that way. Blame her mother."

Both mothers looked at each other for a few moments and then cracked up laughing.

Ignoring her parental figures, Lyra left them to their own goodbye and found the gear they were taking with them. She hefted each pile with her magic and found neither particularly heavy, although she was glad to have use of a cart.

The concept of pulling a cart like a horse was somewhat new to Lyra, but she could see the big buckle and strap. Loading all the things into the back of the cart, she walked around to the front and stepped between the two shafts and fastened herself to them with her magic.

One step and then another. Lyra slowly walked the cart around in a circle in her backyard. A screech of excitement announced Tufts' arrival. "I suppose Dream didn't have to boop you?!"

Tufts landed as far forward on the cart's shaft as he could, and shuffled around a little so that he could look up at Lyra. "Of course not." He licked at one foot a few times before considering it clean. "You haven't told her at all. Thank you."

Lyra let out a sigh. She wasn't humble by any means, but it was strange for her to be thanked by a god. "You did kinda save the world!" She actually laughed at how much Tufts suddenly reacted to that.

Ruffling his wings and puffing out his chest, Tufts gave a little nod. A moment later his head snapped around to look at the house. "She's coming. This is so exciting!"

"Yeah!" Lifting her hoof, Lyra reached around and got a wing-to-hoof tap from Tufts. "Hey, Mum! You ready?!"

Leaving her home for the last time, Joyce caught sight of Lyra and Tufts and laughed. "What have you two been conspiring about?"

"Mangoes." Tufts looked back at Joyce as seriously as he could manage. "Lots of mangoes."

Reaching out with a wing, Joyce put a sealed plastic tube of papers into the back of the cart with their things. "Well, I think it's high time we left." She clenched her jaw a moment and then relaxed. "Before I break down and cry again."

Lyra nodded and looked back at the house. "Bye everypony!" Sadness and silliness warred on Lyra's face, but the latter won. Stepping forward, she started to walk the cart while her mother plodded at her side.

The three walked in silence until they reached the edge of the town. Two worlds collided and overlapped starting just before them. Together, Lyra and Joyce stepped through the barrier that wasn't.

Lyra pulled the cart through all the way before stopping. She took a deep breath. "Am I still yelling?!"

Joyce's head snapped around and looked at her daughter in dismay. "I thought this was supposed to stop—?" She cut short her question when she saw Lyra's face sporting a huge grin. "How long did you plan that one for?"

"Since I couldn't stop yelling." Her voice even and at a normal volume, Lyra let out a happy sigh. "Do you have any idea how annoying that was? I couldn't even swear without doing it at full volume."

"Oh, trust us. Everyone knew exactly how annoying it was." Joyce reached out and booped Lyra on the nose with a wing. Movement from the corner of her eye got her attention, and Joyce turned her head to see what it was.

Standing to the side, looking a little bewildered, a fox looked up at Joyce. It turned its head to look at Lyra, then spread a big pair of bat wings. "Well this is different." The voice was unmistakably Tufts', but a little deeper than usual.

"Careful, Mum, he looks a little… crazy…" Lyra could barely hold in her giggles, and finally gave up and let them out.

"Or maybe a little sly." Joyce couldn't stop herself from adding to the gag. "Is that really you, Tufts?"

"Very funny. This feels really odd. I've never had four legs before." Tufts lifted one paw at a time to inspect them, then he noticed his huge tail. "I've got a tail!"

Lyra walked closer to Tufts, pulling the cart with her. "Y-You know what you are, right?" She reached out with her magic and lifted Tufts into the air before depositing him on her own back. "Come on, Mum. You have to have gotten this?"

Sighing, Joyce nodded. "But tell me one thing, Lyra Heartstrings. Did you infect this world with your horrible sense of humor?"

"It was already silly when I got here!" Gesturing toward a nearby path, Lyra started walking. "Honest. Although, I don't remember anypony mentioning a flying fox."

Joyce examined Tufts for a few minutes before she spread her wings. "Want to fly?"

Lyra felt the small weight on her back jump, and the flapping of black wings pushed Tufts and Joyce into the sky with ease. "Well, it was silly. Now it's positively batty."







Language check. Everything from this until the end of the chapter is in Equish.



The walk to the Pie's rock farm wasn't a long one, but Lyra did have to walk it while Joyce and Tufts spent most of the morning flying around. Plodding toward the farmhouse, she was aware of how little the wagon seemed to actually tire her.

"Pa wants a talk with you." Limestone Pie, her voice as enchanting and soft as ever, stomped toward Lyra. She got to within a pony length of her target when a shadow caused her to look up.

Joyce landed at her daughter's side, while Tufts landed on Joyce's back. Panting, she waved a hoof to Limestone. "Hi!"

"Wait!" Lyra managed to cut in just before Limestone could reply. Holding her hoof up to her head, Lyra closed her eyes in mock concentration. "I'm sensing something. A large rock—maybe a boulder. I can sense it belonging to or beholden to somepony named Holder. And, Mum, you definitely shouldn't go near it."

Limestone's mouth almost threatened to stop scowling, but she brought herself under control. "Come on. You're wasting enough of my time already."

Stepping to follow Limestone, Joyce got a nudge from Lyra just as she was opening her mouth. She looked at her daughter quizzically.

"Limestone is an adorable mare who loves her family more than anything else in Equestria. She'd never show that, and keeps a defensive wall of antagonistic threat up at all times. Secretly, just between you and me, I think she needs a big hug." Of course, Lyra was speaking loud enough that Limestone could hear, and even heard her give a mocking grunt.

"You're lucky you make me laugh or I'd have to…" Limestone let her threat trail off as they reached the house. Sitting on the porch, in a rocking chair, was Igneous Rock Pie. "Here they are, Dad." Limestone stepped up on the porch and turned around to glare at Lyra and Joyce.

"Limestone," Igneous said. "Go and help your sister." He didn't even turn to look at his eldest daughter, and held his tongue further until Limestone was inside the house. "Lyra Heartstrings. It's good to meet thee once again. This is your sister?"

Lyra cleared her throat to chase away all the jokes that could spill forth if she weren't careful. She knew from experience that Igneous was a big fan of formality. "Igneous Rock Pie, son of Feldspar Granite Pie, this is my mother, Joyce. Mum, this is Igneous Rock Pie."

"You mentioned that magic had changed things a lot, but this is a surprise. I'm pleased to meet you, Joyce, mother of Lyra Heartstrings. Please call me Igneous."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Igneous. Thank you for giving my daughter a little place to get away to." Joyce carefully sat down and gestured to the cart Lyra had been hauling. "As you can see, we're taking a little trip in your lands."

"If it pleases, I would like to get down to business." Igneous put his serious face on (which was hard to tell from his resting or relaxed faces, but that was a Pie family trait all over). "My daughter wishes to see more of Equestria. I persuaded her to go to Canterlot first, and I would beg to ask if you could see your way fit to escorting her there?"

A rush of gray exited the front door of the house at high speed and slammed into Lyra. The only thing that kept her standing was that the missile wrapped their forelegs around Lyra's shoulders and squeezed.

"Marble?" Lyra managed to ask. "What's wrong?"

"Pinkie's going away…" Marble's voice was so soft Lyra barely heard it.

Squeezing back, Lyra hugged Marble. "She's only going to Canterlot. You could visit and you could send letters."

Pinkie Pie left the house next. She looked to be in almost physical pain at the sight of her little sister so distraught. With her ears tucked back, she moved and stood next to her father. "Ever since that light I knew I had to be somewhere else. It's what my cutie mark tells me."

Marble glanced back at Pinkie Pie for a moment, then turned to Lyra again. "I don't want her to go."

Shooting a pointed look at Pinkie, Lyra managed a little smile when Marble's sister was close. Magic, Lyra knew, was the cheating way to do anything. But cheating was the best way of getting things done. She poked Pinkie Pie in the back and pulled her into the hug.

"I'm gonna miss you so much!" Suddenly clinging to Pinkie Pie like a limpet, Marble Pie lost all hint of composure.

Joyce smiled at Igneous as best she could. "Of course we can take Pinkie Pie with us. She spent so much time in my house learning guitar that she almost feels like family."

"Pinkamena said the same thing about you and yours. Still, I'd like to give you a little compensation." Igneous, his face as even and severe as ever, reached for something and tossed it to Joyce. "This should help you get established."

Joyce shook her head, not daring to open the bag. "This is too much! You don't need to pay us to—"

"That boy of yours—now girl of yours—made my little fillies smile." Igneous rocked a few times in his chair, looking past Joyce at Pinkie and Marble hugging. "Their smiles are worth more than anything you could put in a bag."

Tucking the bag away in her saddlebags, Joyce bowed her head. "Thank you."

"I don't expect ye to take care of her forever, of course. She will probably move on from Canterlot fairly quickly, if I know our Pinkamena." Igneous shared a smile with Joyce that was returned, each of them knowing parents. "Thank you, Joyce."

"You've said goodbye?" Joyce's eyes flicked to Pinkie Pie.

Igneous nodded. "Ye are leaving now?"

Lyra, who had been trying not to listen in on her mother and Igneous talking, decided it was better to announce herself rather then keep eavesdropping. "Pinkie said she's ready to go."

Narrowing his eyes on Lyra, Igneous let out a deep sigh. "Cloudy Quartz's leg started twitching last night. Then her tail seemed to squirm. She said it means harmony is working nearby. You, and those near you, are destined for big things, Lyra Heartstrings. Be sure you stand tall and face them." Igneous stood up and turned for the front door of the house and then entered it—closing the door behind him.

"Is he always like that?" Joyce ruffled her wings and turned to Lyra. "He didn't seem hostile, but…"

"He's a very proud stallion, Mum. His little girl is leaving, maybe forever. Come on." Putting some space between them and the house, Lyra sighed. "He didn't want us to see him cry. It's a man-thing."

"I did not just get a lecture from my own daughter on 'man things,' did I?" Poking Lyra in the shoulder with one wing, Joyce made her way over to Pinkie and Marble. "Are you ready, Pinkie?"

Marble, who was used to being around Joyce more than the average stranger, let out a little whine as she let go of her sister. "Come visit."

"Silly Billy. Of course I'll come visit!" Pinkie Pie looked around for Lyra, and spotted her climbing back into the harness of the cart. "I left your guitar with Marble if that's okay?"

"Sure. I can always get a new one." In the harness, Lyra waited for Joyce and Pinkie to walk up to her. "Are we all ready?"

Pinkie Pie froze in place and turned to regard empty space. "Are we? Yeah. I think we are." She turned back to face her friends. "I hope everypony likes sequels."

"Sequels? What are—" Lyra cut herself off, but it was too late.

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Well duh. We're leaving on a big adventure in a new city. Seems like a great sequel to me."