"You don't act like a lot of mares I know."
Shining's question caused Lyra to raise an eyebrow. They were walking alone together toward Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns—Cadance had offered to show Joyce, Pinkie Pie, and Tufts around Canterlot, since Lyra had already had one tour.
Lyra didn't expect him to catch on so quickly. "That's part of the reason for all this." She walked slowly at Shining's side—the two not in any rush. "Normally, where I'm from, people are about—three times this tall. We stood on our two, back feet, had hands, and—"
Shining Armor was intrigued as to where Lyra was going with her story. "Minotaurs?"
"Huh. Something like that. Try a minotaur but without any of the bull in it. Anyway, I was a stallion." Lyra gave the words a few seconds to settle in before she continued. "Then a lot of magic went wild and got loose. A lot of craziness happened, and now I'm a unicorn mare."
"So you were a stallion, and not a pony at all?" His gait not faltering, Shining Armor nodded a few times. "I guess that's what it is. Wait! Back when you kept making all those odd comments about Cadance and me…?"
"I bit my lip. It's not exactly something I'm enthused about, but I'm getting used to it." Sighing, Lyra actually felt a weight shift from her shoulders. "So, anything else you want to ask me?"
Tapping his chin with an armored hoof, Shining Armor nodded. "Is Joyce really your sister?"
Thinking for a moment, Lyra nodded her head enthusiastically—she could see a gag based off the classic complement in the making. "Absolutely! She's my twin. Tufts is totally our brother. My whole family is completely—"
"Don't you dare say—"
"Batty!" To top off her joke, Lyra pulled a silly face.
Which is exactly how Cherry Fizzy saw Lyra Heartstrings for the first time. He was sitting at the front counter at the School for Gifted Unicorns, working the weekend shift. He was an earth pony with a light orange/brown coat and an almost black mane and tail. Watching as a young mare and a Royal Guard stallion entered, Cherry Fizzy took note that each seemed completely oblivious to where they entered. "Can I help you?"
Lyra's head snapped around to look at Cherry Fizzy. "Hi! My name's Lyra Heartstrings. Uh, I don't know how else to say it, but Princess Celestia gave me this." She held up the token.
"Another student!" Cherry Fizzy's special talent wasn't teaching, magic, or administration. He had a pair of cherries on his flank, and grew his own cherry trees at home. That's not to say he wasn't good at his job. "This is wonderful. Can I get you to fill out this form, and this form, and I'll need any certificates of study."
Delving into her saddlebags again, Lyra produced a little bound folder. She carefully pulled out one copy of the certificate Candela (her previous teacher and almost-mother) had given her. "There's this one."
Cherry Fizzy saw several other documents in the folder. "What are those ones? Are they important to this?"
Shaking her head, Lyra nonetheless offered Cherry to see her graduation certificates from Earth. "They're—they're from another world. Candela's a pony, but she was teaching a foreign syllabus. She said it would count for most of what I needed here. History—"
"History and magic will be your weak points. She takes good notes this… Candela." Cherry quickly ran the paperwork through a duplicating machine that buzzed with magic he didn't even care to understand. It worked, he didn't have to do things by hoof. "I'm sure Princess Celestia will work with you to create a course-load that will ensure you learn everything you need and want."
Lyra watched as Cherry Fizzy stamped a slip of paper and slid it across to her. "Thank you, uh…"
"Cherry Fizzy. Welcome to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Do you need accommodation?"
"She will require room for herself and her siblings." Shining Armor cut in before Lyra could respond. "Princess Celestia herself sent me to ensure they have everything they need."
Cutting in, and sparing an apologetic smile to Shining, Lyra corrected. "Room for my mom and me. Oh, and a fox—uh—flying fox."
"Will this fox require their own bunk?" In Cherry's estimation, the fox in question was a pet, and it would hardly be the first pet in the dorm.
Lyra shook her head. "N-No."
"Then it's fine. We have our dormitory, which costs a standard two bits a night. Normally we would have two ponies to a dorm room—they have facilities for two—but pending Princess Celestia's approval I can free up a room for you and your mother, for two bits. The charge is per student, you see." Pulling more forms out, Cherry Fizz slid the important one across the counter.
"M-Mom will be attending school here—in Canterlot—too. She's going to learn medicine." Lyra didn't know why she was explaining everything, but it soothed her nerves. Normally she would have channeled it to humor, but she wanted to make a good impression before being kicked out.
While Lyra filled out the forms, Shining pondered the little lie Lyra had told him. He thought back to the moment, and realized it had been a joke. He relaxed a little after the revelation, finding Lyra a little more interesting still. He watched as she used her magic to hold a pencil to fill in the form.
Almost halfway through filling out the form, Lyra glanced at Shining. "You missed out."
"Missed out on what?" Shining mulled over the motives of the strangest pony he had ever met.
Sighing, Lyra half-smiled. "Well, I was going to get you to prank Mom and Tufts. Telling everypony she's my sister…"
"I can still do that, you know."
Lyra's head jerked up and around. Her magic almost broke the pencil in half on the page. "You would?!"
"The secret," Shining said, "is to tell Cadance in a way she thinks she is prizing it out of you. She's like a shark when it comes to gossip, but if it's freely given she will consider it worthless."
Putting the pencil back to work, Lyra pondered her options. "I was just going to let you get really confused, but now this brings greater fruit. Who are we going to prank, and what will be the payoff?"
Despite his status of being on duty, Shining Armor giggled. "We could hint to Cadance that Joyce was turned into a bat pony and got younger that way. That she was your older sister."
"Well, that's kinda how she got like this now, you know, being my mom and all. What about if we claim it was a curse by dragons?" Chatting away, Lyra worked to fill out the forms as quick as she could, while also being as accurate as possible.
"A curse would work. Oh! Why not have bat wings be the curse? So your mom is turning into a flying fox too!" Unable to stop giggling now, Shining Armor was quite excited to get the plan into effect. "Should it be contagious?"
For a moment Lyra was going to say yes, then she realized the kind of ostracism that could cause her mother. "Nah. We want confusing sympathy, not running and hiding. Otherwise, I think it's perfect."
Lyra finished off the last form and went back over them. "This says we need to pay for the room each day. Princess Celestia said we would be getting some bits, but I don't know when that is."
"Oh, right, not from Equestria. Everypony gets a standard of eight bits a day. Being one of her personal students, however, you're going to get a lot of things for free. You're sister will get the same payment, but she won't get any extra stuff unless her school provides it. We can go and arrange your money next, if you want?" Shining tried to explain everything as straightforward as he could. From his little sister he knew what the deal was with Celestia's school.
"That's kinda neat. So if I got a job to make a few extra bits…?" Lyra walked up to Cherry Fizzy and passed him the paperwork.
"I have no idea, but there's a lot of tax involved and stuff. You'd need to talk to somepony about that." Shining felt every clank of his armor as he stood up—he still wasn't completely used to it. "We can meet up with your sister again, and head there."
Cherry, having followed the somewhat confusing conversation enough to work out Lyra and Shining's plans, checked over the papers and nodded. "This is all done. I can give you a map to the dorm, and your room number."
Lyra took the map Cherry offered and put it in her saddle bag. "What about paying—"
"You're new, and I for one am not going to tell Princess Celestia that it was my fault you didn't have anywhere to stay for your first enrolled night. Besides, you pay at the end of each week." Cherry Fizzy gave the young mare the biggest smile he could. "Welcome to Canterlot."
Leaving the school building, Lyra and Shining trotted out to the main thoroughfare. To their right was a large tower, and then the huge city center. To the left was the rise of the castle grounds.
Shining pointed to their right. "If we head to the center, Cadance or your sister will probably see us."
"Practicing?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah. I'm not the best liar, and if I'm going to pull this off I need to be in the habit of calling her your sister." Shining couldn't help but spare a few glances at Lyra as they walked together. Most unicorn mares he saw lacked any definition, but Lyra seemed—for want of a better word—fit.
"So. You used to be a stallion?" With his mind circling the fact like a hungry timber wolf, Shining Armor couldn't stop himself from asking.
Lyra steeled herself against what she thought was going to be more stupid questions. "Yeah. It was really odd, changing that is. One day I'm a guy getting my cutie mark, then literally seconds later I am a mare."
"What? Really?"
"No. It took a few months to happen." The astonishment Shining Armor had shown her got a giggle from Lyra. "Plenty of time to do stupid things, too."
Shining Armor didn't reply at first. Instead of opening his mouth and demonstrating what an unthinking idiot would say, he thought about the situation. They were walking around the big tower in the middle of the road when he finally spoke. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's cool."
Stopping dead in her tracks, Lyra tilted her head a little while she looked at Shining Armor—he was a guy, but in her estimation he had just reached nice-guy status. "Likes my jokes and smart? If I liked guys, you'd be at the top of the list."
A tumble of facts hit Shining in the head at the same time, as if they were all balanced upon his horn and had tipped: he was attracted to Lyra, he got on well with her (so far), and she wasn't into him. The last bit stung a little, but it was a lesser sting to a young stallion's ego to find out a mare didn't like any males rather than just him.
"I like mares." Shining's voice threatened to break for the first time in months.
The two unicorns, staring at each other, started to giggle. They got halfway between the big spire and the city center before Lyra said, "Just buddies?"
"Yeah." Shining Armor felt the tension ease away completely.
But Cadance and you? Lyra almost asked. She kept her mouth closed, however, because she wanted to know a little more about the pair before accidentally giving either ideas.
The huge city center was bustling with ponies. There were market stalls everywhere except the very center—which was where Shining led Lyra. Neither heard the rush of wings until Joyce and Cadance hit the ground before Lyra and Shining. Joyce turned and waved toward the opposite direction of the school, leading Pinkie Pie to gallop up with her cart bouncing along behind her.
"There you are! We've been looking all over Canterlot!" Pinkie Pie rushed up and hugged Lyra Heartstrings. "Cadance and Joyce tried to find you, but—"
"I got through my enrollment at the school. They gave me directions for the dorm rooms. Apparently we might be able to share." As Lyra said the last, she turned to look at Joyce.
Joyce hadn't spent a lot of time just flying back in Cowwarr, but there was something about Equestria that made it easier and more fun. What was more, having somepony who just loved flying as much as Cadance did, flying with her, made it ten times better. Her wings didn't feel tired in the least. "That's great. Can we move in right away?"
Lyre nodded. "Sure. We could probably put all our stuff in and then go and have some lunch. I'm sure Pinkie would like a break from pulling the wagon."
Almost in shock, Shining Armor watched as Lyra Heartstrings unhooked Pinkie Pie from the wagon and slid between the arms herself. Most unicorns he knew wouldn't think to spell an earth pony who was (apparently) happy to pull a cart. He found himself liking Lyra's odd ways.
"What're you looking at?" Cadance had slid up beside Shining, coming up from his blind spot.
"She's an odd pony." The way Shining said it betrayed obvious interest in said odd pony. "Such a shame about her sisters." It was the best Shining Armor could manage.
Hearing something interesting not said, Cadance's eyes flicked to Joyce and Lyra. "What's a shame?" She kept her voice low—only for Shining's ears.
Shining was almost at the point of breaking and spilling everything when Joyce and Pinkie destroyed the privacy of the conversation.
Pulling forward, Lyra set the cart in motion with none of the ease with which Pinkie Pie seemed to manage it. As she caught up with her friends and family, they fell into step with her. "We need to go and work out about these bits Princess Celestia was talking about."
"What was that all about, anyway? I know back in Austr—back on Earth—students and unemployed got paid until they could find things to do or finish school. Is it like that here?" Joyce happily stretched out a wing to stroke a bit of Lyra's mane into place.
The walk to Princess Celestia's School dormitories took them back past the school itself, and then a sharp left just before ascending back to the castle grounds. They talked of boring things: food, the city itself, and even what schools they were going to.
They crossed a bridge of slow-flowing water, and walked into what seemed like its own little village within the city. There were young mares and stallions sitting around in a park, talking, while on the right there were shops and several large buildings with the uniform look of close-packed accommodation. Lyra double checked her map and nodded. "This is it."
With Lyra still hooked to the cart, Shining Armor took it as his duty to see things along. He walked up to the front door of the dormitory and lifted a hoof. Three loud knocks and the door jerked open.
"Oh! Royal Guard! My name's Candy Cane and I'm the manager of this residence, what can I help you with?" Candy Cane was an earth pony who had a pair of her namesake on each pale-yellow flank. Her long, flowing mane of light fuchsia.
"I'm escorting a new student and her family. Princess Celestia herself admitted her, and asked me to personally assist in seeing she and her kin were accommodated." Shining Armor stood proud and gestured behind him to Lyra, just as she was unhitching herself from the wagon.
Candy examined Lyra from a distance, then leaned in to privately whisper to Shining. "Are you sure she's a student? I don't think I've ever seen a student of Princess Celestia's School pulling a wagon before…"
"I escorted her to Princess Celestia myself, and from there to the School." Shining Armor felt compelled to defend Lyra, it was his special talent after all.
Raising one eyebrow at the quick defense, Candy Cane looked from Shining Armor to Lyra Heartstrings. Her face blossomed into a smile. "Lower your hackles. I'm just saying most of the layabouts we have wouldn't dream of pulling a wagon when there was an earth pony around to do it. Your fillyfriend's something special."
Lyra loved the changes to her hearing that being a pony brought. As Shining and Candy started chatting, her ears twitched and turned to hear the conversation. She quickly slipped from the cart and trotted over to Shining. "That's a lot of work, but I couldn't let Pinkie Pie pull it all day." She casually reached a leg over Shining's shoulders.
Shining Armor had been about to deny his involvement with Lyra, but the leg around him stunned Shining in place. "W-W-Wait!"
"I think it's lovely when two ponies find each other like that. Your room is ready, let me find you some keys and your coltfriend can give you a hoof getting everything settled." Candy Cane missed the shocked expressions on both Shining Armor and Cadance's faces. She turned and headed inside the building.
Managing to hold back her giggles until Candy had closed the door after her, Lyra promptly fell on the ground laughing. "Your face!" She pointed a hoof at Shining.
For a brief moment a torrent of anger had clouded Cadance's thoughts, but when she saw Lyra laughing it all made sense. A giggle broke from her mouth. She wasn't as taken with the gag as Lyra seemed to be, but she could definitely see the funny side of the joke.
But the anger had been an interesting thing for Cadance to consider. Did she care if Shining had a fillyfriend? she asked herself. Well, of course she did. He was her friend, and only the best would do for Shining Armor! Despite Lyra's kooky sense of humor and apparent skill with magic, Cadance threw away the idea of Shining and Lyra ever working.
"Lyra, quit the jokes and help us carry this stuff inside." Joyce had already grabbed her sleeping roost from the cart, and was walking toward the doors Candy Cane had entered.
Still giggling, Lyra got to her hooves and was happy to see not only Shining wearing a smile, but Cadance. "Sorry, I couldn't resist that. I'll tell her we're not a couple."
Shining fell in on one side of Lyra while Cadance took the other. Pinkie Pie, however, was already at the cart and fishing out some of the heavier things. "Hey Lyra, what do you want to go in first?" Pinkie held up Lyra's heavy backpack with all her clothes in it. "This one?"
"Thanks, Pinkie." Lyra advanced on the wagon with Shining and Cadance while Pinkie followed off after Joyce. "I really am sorry. If you don't want to hear my jokes, just tell me." She looked between her two new friends.
Waving a hoof dismissively, Cadance scoffed. "You and your sister are literally the most interesting people in this whole city. Like I'd tell you to stop being interesting. Besides, you brought up a good point."
"I did?" Lyra used her magic to lift her guitar out, then balanced her amplifier on her back.
"She did?" Shining Armor used his magic to levitate another bag of clothing.
"Yup!" Cadance ruffled her wings and puffed up importantly. "As the Princess of Love it is my duty to ensure you have a cute mare walking beside you, Shining Armor!"
Lyra Heartstrings came very close to dropping her precious guitar. She looked between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance: they were perfect for each other (in Lyra's estimation).
Cadance nodded, using her wing to grab Joyce's medical case from the cart. "Now, I don't want to offend, Lyra, but I don't think you'd get on well with Shining."
Getting a case of the giggles the same time he noticed Lyra getting one, Shining saw a future ahead of himself—married to Lyra. He would be a trophy husband, of course, while Lyra fetched up with every cute mare in town. He started laughing outright.
"Hey! I'm not that bad a catch!" Lyra poked at Shining's shoulder with a hoof. "I'm sure I'd make a great wife!"
"Am I missing something here?" Finally alerted to something being wrong, Cadance looked between the two unicorns with her.
Shining looked at Lyra with a questioning expression. "Can I tell her?"
"Tell me what?" Cadance looked at Lyra, as if expecting her to reveal she has been some kind of otherworldly monster.
It wasn't as easy as it could've been for Lyra to admit—she still carried some Earth prejudice. "I prefer mares."
Cadance's eyes narrowed to pinpricks. She studied Lyra Heartstrings in an entirely new light. Connections and pony names rattled through Cadance's brain like slot-machines in Las Pegasus. Sadly, no love hearts came up. It was like this whenever a single pony put themselves before her. "Well. Did you have your eye on anypony?" When Shining Armor giggled at her, Cadance bristled a little. "What?"
"Just remembering what she said about you." Lifting his hoof up, Shining Armor booped Cadance on the nose. "We should hurry up—I'm getting hungry."
"What did—?" Cadance cut off when Shining Armor trotted off with his load. She turned to Lyra. "What did you say about me?"
"I'd boop you on your nose, like Shining did, but that might be a thing only filly and coltfriends do. So I'll just tell you: I think you're cute." At the look of shock on Cadance's face, Lyra let loose a giggle and trotted after Shining Armor.
Watching the two go with unfocused eyes, Mi Amore Cadenza lifted one hoof up to brush her nose—right where Shining booped her. She blinked in realization. "I've really gotta find him a fillyfriend."
Joyce followed Candy into one of the suites. There was two beds, a big row of empty bookshelves down the middle, a desk for each side, and an attached bathroom. First thing was first, however. "I won't need a bed."
Candy Cane raised an eyebrow at the statement. "I thought you both needed a room?" She watched as Joyce set down what unfolded to look like a wooden stand with a beam at the top of it.
Making sure her perch was steady, Joyce turned around and jumped. With a smooth motion Joyce wrapped her tail around the perch and swung just once before she was steady. She looked up at Candy Cane with a toothy grin.
"Well that's somethin' I don't see every day. Why in Equestria do you do that?" Candy Cane looked at the odd setup, and tried to work out how Joyce's tail was secured.
Before Joyce could reply, Pinkie Pie walked into the room with a big backpack atop her and a flying fox atop that.
With a screech, Tufts attacked! He barely got a flap of his wings in before he had to adjust his angle to hit the perch tail-first. "There you are! We were looking all over for you." He let out another screech and nuzzled against Joyce's side.
Candy blinked in surprise at the strange creature. "Hello there. Sorry, but we haven't been introduced…"
"Sorry. Candy, this is Tufts, he's a flying fox. Tufts, this is Candy Cane." Joyce, fighting off her urge to sleep, introduced the pair with vague gestures.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Tufts. As for the bed, I'll have my daughter remove it the next chance she gets. You're okay for her to come in and do that?" Candy had given up on the matter of how many would be in the room—she made a note to contact the school.
"Well, we were going to go out and spend the day exploring the city, but—" Cutting herself off with a yawn, Joyce had to fight not to just pull a wing around and go to sleep.
"What my darling wife is trying to say is, that will be most acceptable, although she will be asleep in here for the afternoon." Tufts nuzzled again at Joyce's side, and earned one big wing curling about him for his effort. He was not upset about this.
Candy blinked in surprise. "You're married?"
Lyra entered the room just in time to hear Candy's question. She spotted her mother almost asleep and spared her a smile. "Where are we putting our things?"
Distracted from Joyce and Tufts, Candy Cane turned to see Lyra hauling in more things, and backed up behind Pinkie Pie. "Oh! Just pop them over there. If she's going to sleep the afternoon away, it will be better if my filly gets rid of the other bed."
Setting her load down carefully, Pinkie Pie slipped to the side of the room and sat down. Lyra, Joyce, and Tufts were all everyday things for her—friends—but the sheer number of ponies in Canterlot was a little overwhelming to her. She didn't know just how odd she was behaving until a pair of cyan legs wrapped around her neck in a hug. "Lyra?"
"You looked like you could use it. What's wrong?" Lyra drew back a little so that only one of her forelegs was around her friend.
"This's really different to our farm, or even Cowwarr. There's so many ponies here." Scuffing a hoof on the floor, Pinkie Pie tilted her head down and felt her mane unfrizz a little. "It's overwhelming."
Lyra let out a sigh, leaving the others to their own devices while she comforted Pinkie. "I had things go the other way. I grew up in a big city full of people who didn't know me, then I moved to a tiny town where everyone knew me before the first day was over. I wonder what we could do to help?"
Pinkie Pie giggled a little. "It's like one of those huge math problems. There's so much I don't know and can't work out." She tilted her head to the side and a wave of excitement poured through her. Pinkie's mane twanged and returned to maximum frizz. "It is a math problem. What did Miss Candela tell us to do with those?"
"Uh, 'Do this by tomorrow or I'm failing you'?"
Booping Lyra on the nose, Pinkie Pie shook her head. "No, silly. Solve the little bits first." She pulled her notepad back out. "I have all sorts of parties I need to throw just for you, but I think there's an important one for us first. A Welcome to Canterlot party!"
"There's a lot of ponies who might want to come. Can we handle that?" Lyra was too easily carried along with Pinkie's plan.
Overhearing the conversation, and believing in anything to relieve boredom, Cadance insinuated herself into Lyra and Pinkie's conversation. "I can help with that. I'm not in charge of anything yet, but I'm still a princess. When do you want the party to be?"
Lyra was used to Pinkie Pie's slightly strange ways, but when she reached nearly two ponylengths and pulled Cadance into the hug Lyra knew there was something a little odd going on. Unicorns have magic, so why not earth ponies? she thought.
"This is going to be great! The biggest party in Equestria!" Pinkie Pie squeezed her newest friend into a hug with her oldest.
It was evening, and Lyra looked down a long scroll of tasks with only the bottom one uncrossed.
Fetch Joyce and Tufts
"… which is how I managed to get drafted into being Cadance's lackey for the day. She knows everypony, Mom." Lyra was happy to see the second bed was missing, and moved her mother's things to that side of the room with her magic while she tried to find her bass guitar.
Joyce yawned and cracked an eye open. Then she unfolded her wings so she could actually see. "Okay. But why are you waking me up?" Stretching, she arched her back and scratched at the base of one ear with a wing.
"A party, Mom. Pinkie Pie threw a Welcome to Canterlot party, and somehow we managed to invite everypony in Canterlot. Cadance knows a lot of ponies, and when everypony else found out that there was going to be a princess at the party they just had to come." Finding her guitar, Lyra picked it and her amplifier up in her magic. "Come on!"
Swinging her head, Joyce landed on the floor as Lyra started trotting out. "Tufts? Are you coming?"
In answer Tufts pulled his wings tighter around himself and made the soft sounds of a snoozing bat.
"Oh well." Joyce traced Lyra's clopping hooves all the way outside and found her daughter waiting. "So how'd this party happen again?"
"Pinkie Pie was sad that she couldn't work out how to really begin plying her special talent, and I said something that gave her the idea of throwing a party for us—a Welcome to Canterlot party—and then Cadance volunteered to help get things together for it, and I helped her, but she arranged for about half of Canterlot to come. That half invited the rest." Lyra was panting by the time she got everything out. She gestured to her guitar. "And this is because Shining Armor said I couldn't get a guitar to go so low as to rattle his hooves."
"So you're going to show off?" There was no heat to Joyce's accusation. The feeling in the air was anticipation, and for someone part bat that made her itch to fly. "So, how are we going to show off more?"
"That's a simple one. I'll play something that has a rising crescendo, and you dive down at the right moment as I hit the big note. Then I'll tame the wicked beast with music!" Lyra had her guitar out, and was already trying to tune it as she walked.
Joyce groaned. "I'm the big bad beast? You know that won't work as well as you think. What if ponies actually get scared and run?"
"Oh…" Lyra Heartstrings tapped her chin. "Well. Still do the dive—it'll be really cool. And I can introduce you to everypony."
Shrugging, Joyce figured they could work something out. As they neared the center of Canterlot, she could feel an energy in the air—happy voices raised, excitement, a lot of ponies having a great time. "I'll see you for the right moment. Don't make me wait too long."
"Don't sweat it. I'll having him bouncing in no time." Lyra broke into a canter as Joyce took to the air. She had to slow down as she broke into the crowd of ponies. Her target, of course, was the middle.
Music started playing from the middle of the huge city center. Joyce could make out some big speakers and ponies singing into microphones. She smiled and waited for her daughter to make her appearance on the impromptu stage.
"There you are! Somepony brought their speakers, and then somepony challenged another to a singing contest." Princess Cadance rushed up to Lyra and gestured to the stage that had been put together quickly. "I told them a friend was coming. What's that?" She pointed a hoof at Lyra's guitar.
"You really haven't seen a bass before? Okay, this is going to be fun. A bass guitar is the warm butter sliding over pancakes. It is a bubble bath with at least five times more bubbles than you should have. It's going to make Shining weak at the knees." Lyra walked with Cadance, and she could appreciate the singing for the untrained voices they were.
Cadance was skeptical. "So it's a guitar? What's with all the strings?" She reached a hoof out to gently touch the strings, but no noise came from them. "It's not very loud." Lyra's sudden giggles made Cadance lift an eyebrow.
As the singers finished their "battle" with a sweet duet, Lyra stepped up on the stage. A quick check revealed the audio jacks for the mics to not be the right size for her guitar. She shrugged and set the little amplifier down and angled a mic toward it.
Cadance stared as Lyra stood up on her back hooves and cradled the long-necked guitar to her with her forelegs.
"Ahem. This song's normally got lyrics to it, but a friend,"—Lyra waited for Shining's shout to die down to continue—"said I couldn't make his hooves wobble. This is called, 'My Name is Mud.'" The bass rhythm was one of Lyra's favorites, and she knew it off by heart.
Closing her eyes, Lyra mouthed the name of the song again, and started playing. Using every inch of the long neck of her six-string, fretless bass. No pick was needed for the deep rumble and strum-slap sound.
The sound that came from the big speakers could be felt more than heard. It rolled over the crowd and earned nearly a minute of stunned silence. Then they exploded into dancing. Lyra was too into the music to notice more than a crowd loving what she was doing. But she had a job to do, and started to ad-lib and bring the speed up.
Shining Armor, in all his years, had never danced. It was a family tradition to not dance. His father hadn't danced. His mother hadn't danced. His sister's not-dancing was awesome to behold. But with Lyra Heartstrings' music washing around him and causing everypony else to dance he started to move.
Much more used to dancing than Shining, Cadance moved easily to the music. Lyra hadn't lied to her, the deep notes guided her body and guided her like a dance partner would. But the music got faster, building up to a fever pitch before a huge thump hit the stage. Jerking her head toward the former source of the music, Cadance blinked. "Joyce?"
"Everypony!" Lyra pulled the mic over to be between her and Joyce, and was pleased it suffered none of the problems her guitar amp did with magic. "Put your hooves together for the first bat pony ever in Canterlot!"
To answer the cheers, Joyce spread her wings and heard a loud thumping of hooves against the ground. She realized it was pony applause. She was about to say something when all her words just fled. She froze and stared at her daughter.
Seeing the sudden worry on her mother's face, Lyra grabbed the mic again. "So what do you want next: music or a joke?"
"A joke! A joke!" Pinkie Pie had to climb up to Shining Armor's back to be seen over the crowd. "Tell a good joke!" The crowd quickly picked up Pinkie's enthusiasm.
A million jokes ran through Joyce's head, but none seemed to actually want to come out. She looked to Lyra and saw her mouth a word. "Argument?" she asked, softly. When Lyra nodded and waggled her eyes, Joyce caught on and moved closer to the microphone. "Is this the right place for an argument?"
"I told you once…" Lyra rolled her eyes at the crowd, earning a few giggles.
Joyce only knew this joke so well because her daughter had played it so… many… times. "No you haven't."
"Yes I have." Lyra had the right tone, condescending and ever suffering.
"When?" Joyce looked around, even raising a hoof and peering under it.
Lyra pointed vehemently at the floor. "Just now!"
The crowd stared at Lyra and Joyce as they continued, right until the point Lyra stopped. "Oh. I'm sorry. Is this a five minute argument, or the full half hour?" The entirety of their encounter suddenly fell into place, and a loud stomping accompanied many laughs from the crowd.
"Just the five minutes. Thanks." The laughter of the crowd buoyed Joyce onward as she and Lyra launched into another rapid-fire back and forth of "arguing."
By the time they were done with the skit (or as best they could off the top of their heads) Lyra and Joyce were practically buzzing with excitement. They each took a bow and let the next ponies up to perform.
"That was amazing! You really can play! What is that thing?" Shining Armor was intrigued at the guitar with a longer neck than any he'd seen before.
Joyce left Lyra and Shining to talk about guitars and approached Cadance and Pinkie Pie. It didn't take a critical eye to see they got along well. "That was fun!" Even as she said it, Joyce realized she sounded like the teen she looked like.
"You look like you just ate a lemon. What's wrong?" Cadance asked, flanking Pinkie Pie with her concern for Joyce.
"I don't really look it, but I'm actually almost thirty-five. The magic transformation thing that hit us seems to make everyone revert back to late teenager. I guess I just wasn't expecting to feel like a teenager too." Joyce wasn't expecting to be hugged by an alicorn, but when it happened she realized she needed it.
"I've got this from the other way. Because I'm an alicorn, everypony expects me to be some wise princess who speaks with hundreds of years of experience. The only friend I've managed to make so far is a nerdy stallion who barely notices my horn." Squeezing Joyce, Cadance realized it made her feel better just for finding somepony with a similar situation to her own. "Wait a second. How old is Lyra?"
"My daughter? Lyra's eightee—" Joyce didn't get any further.
"What?! Daughter?!" Cadance glared in the direction of Shining and Lyra. "Those— They were going to—" An angry whinny left Cadance's mouth.
"Oh no. Lyra making jokes, whatever will we do?" Looking Cadance in the eyes, Joyce raised an eyebrow.
It wasn't that Cadance's rage evaporated, it just found a channel to travel down. Her angry expression swapped to excited. "We prank her back?"
Joyce nodded and glared at her own daughter's back. "Both of them. I bet she has Shining in on it. So what do we do?"
"It can't be too big. I might be an alicorn, but Princess Celestia would still not like it if I freaked out all of Canterlot." Cadance finally and fully let go of Joyce to tap her chin. "Wait, that's it!"
Joyce's face lit up when Cadance started whispering her plan. She began to nod along with each point Cadance made.
With the party over, Lyra and Joyce began walking to their new home. The almost frenzied fun of the evening had left mother and daughter too weary to do much else than walk, but the same was not so for Pinkie Pie.
Bouncing along at her friends' side, Pinkie hadn't been drained by the afternoon of preparations or the party itself—both activities had only left her more excited. "It was so awesome! I got to make the biggest party ever! And then Cadance said I could help with her wedding one day! Do you think her and Shining are going to get married?! I think they will! They don't seem to realize how awesome they are together! Why am I shouting?! I'm so excited!" Pinkie Pie continued a stream of unfiltered consciousness until they reached the entrance to Canterlot Castle.
"Are you sure Cadance said it would be okay to stay up there?" Joyce asked. She'd heard Cadance make the offer herself, but wanted to make sure Pinkie Pie knew what was happening.
Nodding, Pinkie giggled. "Of course. She said we could play board games until late!" With that she began to pronk her way up the ramp to the castle.
"I still can't get over actually living in a magical kingdom full of unicorns and pegasi and—well—magical kingdoms." Joyce turned in a circle, gesturing with her wings at everything around them. "Robin would love this."
"She will love this, Mom. I doubt she'll turn down coming to at least visit." Sparing a smile for her mother, Lyra plodded along. They both chatted about inconsequential things until they reached the dormitory.
Joyce pushed the door open, only to find Tufts trotting along beside Candy Cane. "Hello there. Sorry we're late coming back."
Candy clucked her tongue and shook her head. "Oh don't worry about that. When there's a big party in the city, I can hardly hold anypony back from having fun. Tufts here kept me company."
"I could not leave such a lovely lady all alone." Tufts took two bounding jumps and then spread and flapped his wings once. Landing on Joyce's back, he practically curled up between her wings. "But I'll always be yours."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Great. My dad has a better run with mares than I do."
Biting her tongue for a few moments, Candy Cane couldn't hold back her giggles, and was happy that Joyce joined in.
"Ugh!" Lyra tried not to stomp her hooves as she made her way upstairs to her bed. With her final destination for the evening in sight, she felt sleep attacking her from all sides. Barely making it into her bed, Lyra was asleep the second her head hit the pillow.