Lyra huffed out a breath and kept working to clear away the cotton candy. What had happened had been right out of left field—not even Princess Celestia had seen Discord coming. "How are you doing, Bon Bon?"
"Well, it's sticky, but a bit of water gets rid of it quickly. Don't you have a spell for that?" They were clearing off the construction site. The training fields were all built, the offices were mostly done, and the barracks were about half finished.
The cotton candy clouds that had blanketed Canterlot and Ponyville hadn't missed their little camp at the base of the mountain, even if Discord had ignored it personally. This didn't stop some of the rampaging, giant bunnies from causing problems.
"I told you why I'm not using my magic for a few days."
"Yeah, yeah. Thaumic overload and all that. Isn't your telekinesis magic?"
"Well, kinda. I'm just using as little as I can until everything is under control again. Think of it like the ocean. Normally there's a few little waves as various ponies cast big spells and cause the magic to slosh around. Well, Discord made it more like huge tsunami waves. If I drain my tank, I might literally get blasted by a supercharged wave of magic rather than it just washing past me." Sweeping cotton candy off the ceiling was now Lyra's least fun activity.
"So, hypothetically," Sweetie said, "if there was a huge explosion of rainbow magic over toward Ponyville, that would be a bad thing then?"
Lyra managed one more stroke of the now-sticky broom before what Sweetie said actually made sense to her as being the opposite of a hypothetical. "I wanted a break from sweeping, anyway." Walking over to where Sweetie stood, she looked back toward Ponyville and saw the remnants of a wave of light. "Yeah, now that's going to leave somepony with a headache tomorrow, but you know that rainbow blasts coming from Ponyville mean one of two things."
Leaning against her mate, Sweetie rubbed her cheek against Lyra's jaw. "Either something needed Twilight and all her friends to beat up, or Rainbow is doing something crazy. Odds are pretty even either way of late."
"If it was Rainbow, and she used that much of her reserves, she might have hurt herself then."
Setting down the mop she'd been holding for support, Sweetie leaned back off me and started walking toward the exit of the half-finished barracks building.
Lyra followed, and even without having suitable armor on, the pair ran at a full gallop toward Ponyville. The wind in their manes was a nice side benefit, but having Sweetie at her side was the best feeling Lyra could ever experience. The center of the blast, as near as Lyra remembered it, was outside of the town itself—on a nearby farm.
They arrived just in time to see Applejack measuring out the ground beside a huge pile of smashed and burning timber. The fire was burning low, thankfully, Applejack apparently capable enough not to cause a grass fire.
Sweetie, thanks toher earth pony stamina, was first to be able to talk. "Uh, excuse us, Applejack, but did you see Rainbow Dash cause a—?"
"Well, howdy there Bon Bon, Lyra." Applejack turned from her task and jutted a hoof toward the two newcomers. "Put 'er there." A mare with old fashioned sensibility, she preferred to shake hooves rather than bump them. With the ritual greeting complete, Applejack gestured to the pile of rubble that was burning. "Yeah, Rainbow got upset when Twilight delayed her work demolishing my old barn, so she did a big, flashy thing—typical Rainbow Dash, really—and smashed the rest up with a huge blast."
Lyra winced, which earned her a confused look from Applejack. "After all of you defeated Discord, the magic around here has been a little troublesome. Most ponies who only use a little at a time don't need to worry, but if you are lacking in reserves and a sort of wave of magic hits—" Lyra stopped, realizing she'd completely lost Applejack. "She's probably curled up in a ball somewhere with the worst headache ever and hurting all over."
"Oof, an' all because she helped me. Well, I saw her flying back toward her house, but I don't know if she stopped somewhere on the way. Ya got most of Ponyville between us and there." Genuine concern ate at Applejack's normally relaxed tone. For all their one-up-ponyship, Rainbow was one of her best friends.
"We'll find her even if I have to burn up some of my own magic doing it," Lyra said.
Tilting her head to one side, Applejack squinted at Lyra. "Won't that, uh, leave you with a bad headache and feeling terrible?"
"Yeah, but at least I won't be suffering alone. A problem shared is—"
Applejack cut in with more of that country drawl and an expression that betrayed a lot of appreciation. "… a problem halved. Ye're a good friend, Lyra. Let me know if ya can't find her and I'll give ya a hand."
Sweetie sighed and nodded. "It's the least we can do after we dropped the ball on the whole Discord thing."
Curiosity struck Applejack at the way Sweetie had spoken. "'Dropped the ball'? Whaddaya mean?"
Lyra winced and looked at Sweetie before turning to Applejack. "The Guard. She means the E.U.P. Guard. He was just way too much for us."
"Well, lucky we all got Twilight around to remind us who we are and what it means to be ponies. I couldn't imagine tryin' t' fight Discord again without her." Applejack reached up and adjusted her hat a little.
"Yeah!" It wasn't just lip-service—Lyra was genuinely relieved Equestria had a pony like Twilight. "We'd better go if we want any chance of catching up to Rainbow before she crashes."
Saying their goodbyes, Lyra and Sweetie took off at a trot toward town that they quickly built into a canter and then gallop. And that's when they spotted the rainbow blur in the sky above them.
"Rainbow Dash!" Sweetie Drops put every ounce of her earth pony lungpower behind the shout. The practice of hours spent as a training sergeant in the Guard was the only reason she managed to catch Rainbow's attention.
Stopping on a dime, Rainbow shifted her direction and shot down to her friends like a multi-colored missile. Stopping just before the ground, she started flapping her wings to keep hovering. "Hey, what's up with all the shouting?" As she asked, she felt a little stiffness in her left wing.
Lyra closed her eyes and got her words straight. "Rainbow, if you don't want to have the worst day ever, land and stop flapping your wings."
A little surprised, and curious, Rainbow nonetheless dropped to the ground and noticed the twitch in her wing was getting worse. "Uh, you'll have to excuse me. My wing is starting to cramp pretty—" She didn't get any further. The muscle in her left wing decided to cramp up hard and jerk her wing out at the same time. Rainbow's forelegs buckled in pain at the muscle tension.
Sweetie moved faster than her wife or Rainbow. She rushed up to Rainbow Dash's side and reached out for the traitorous wing. The muscle was an angry ball of tension that she started rubbing with the undersides of her hooves. "Try to relax it. You can't pull it in, you need to stretch it all the way out."
Rainbow, as was her prerogative, was trying not to scream through clenched teeth. She followed the instructions and slowly managed to fight the muscle and stretch her wing out—repeating the motion for her other wing. That was the only reason her right wing didn't cramp too. Eyes wide, she stared at the ground as tears welled in them.
"You'll be okay. You just used too much magic and got hit by a dirty magic wave." Explaining the problem, Lyra tried to work out what was the best way from here. "Hey, can you get up on my back and we'll head over to our place?"
Having never been in so much pain before, Rainbow let herself be lifted onto Lyra's back like a foal and carried along. Her wings remained stretched out to each side while Sweetie swapped sides and started massaging the muscles of her right wing.
Inside, Rainbow barely noticed that she'd been transferred from Lyra's back to a bed, though she did let out a relieved sigh when she felt another pair of hooves massaging her left wing again. That's when a horrid smell hit her. "W-What was that?"
"You explain it," Sweetie said to Lyra. "You actually understand what it is."
"The easiest way to explain it is that when Discord used magic, he would suck up a huge amount and then release it all at once. The effects might have been random, but he made what became huge waves of magic. Normally this would only be a problem for a unicorn, but you've started using a lot more magic lately—like that explosion up at Sweet Apple Acres. Each time a bad wave comes, it beats against the part of your body that regulates magic—your wings."
Rainbow wasn't a fool, but when it came to maybe not being able to fly, she lost about half her IQ. "So, what, I can't fly now? Also, what is that stuff that stinks?"
"Liniment. It will sooth sore muscles, aches, and pains. Also, drink some of this—but don't use your wings to hold the bottle." Lyra floated a bottle of E.U.P. Guard Rocket Fuel over to Rainbow. "You'll be fine to fly, just stick to doing normal pegasi stuff."
"Boring." The idea of just being a normal pegasus was antithesis to Rainbow Dash. What was most annoying, however, was that she trusted Lyra when it came to magic. "How long's this going to last?"
"No longer than a week. We sent a warning to all the unicorns in the area, but I guess you guys probably should have been warned too." Lyra could feel the muscle stop twitching at last. "I told you to drink that."
"What is it? Wait, is this that stuff from the Guard?"
Sweetie rolled her eyes out of Rainbow's line of sight. "Rocket Fuel. Down the bottle and you'll feel better. The electrolytes will ease your muscles. Just don't start flying again right away."
Opening the bottle and tipping it up, Rainbow tasted it and found it sweet and not terrible—though it was no Apple Family Cider. It took nearly thirty seconds for the effect to hit her wings, but when it did she let out an appreciative moan and flopped bonelessly into the bed's embrace. "Wake me in an hour."
"Wake you? With that much Rocket Fuel in you you could never"—Lyra blinked in surprise as Rainbow began to snore—"sleep. How did she do that?"
"It's probably what she needs right now. I wonder what it is she needs to be awake for in an hour?" Walking around the bed, Sweetie caught up the empty bottle and balanced it on her back as she walked out.
Following her wife out of the room, Lyra used her magic to pull the curtains closed and closed the door behind her. "No clue, but I bet we can find out if we ask one of her close friends. Let's go visit Pinkie."
That walk, of course, was interrupted by a unicorn. A purple unicorn. A purple unicorn who looked like her mane had seen far better days. "Twilight?" Lyra asked.
Freezing mid-teleport, Twilight Sparkle craned her head around to look at Lyra and Sweetie. She scanned them, mentally looking for fractious friendship issues. "Are you having a p-pleasant day?"
There was something wrong with Twilight. Something very wrong that Lyra was worried had something to do with the magic waves. "Yes, uh. Twilight? Is everything okay? You shouldn't be using teleport spells…" She trailed off because a moment after she said Twilight's name, Twilight vanished with another teleport.
"She's going to have a massive headache later, isn't she?" Sweetie asked.
"That or her magic is going to go wild. Probably a fifty-fifty with her. Nothing we can do—she got the same warning as every other unicorn." Gesturing forward, Lyra started to trot the last half block to Sugarcube Corner.
Stepping inside, the smells of dozens of pastries seemed to combine into some monster of sugar, spice, and all things nice that almost knocked Lyra and Sweetie back a few paces. Both shook their heads to regain their bearings before standing in line.
It didn't take long to reach the front. Generally, when most ponies had made a purchase, they wanted to rush off and eat the treat and not stand around and chat with the baker. "Lyra? Sweetie? How are you guys going?!" The baker—one Pinkie Pie—was more than happy to chat.
"We're doing fine, Pinkie, but Rainbow isn't so hot." Walking up to the counter, Lyra wasn't at all surprised to have Pinkie vault over it and hug her. Squeezing back, Lyra felt herself relax a little. Pinkie Pie was a literal force for good, and having grown up with her as a friend meant the world to Lyra.
"Wait!" Pinkie jerked back from the hug, her brain catching up on the conversation she'd only just started. "What's wrong with Rainbow?"
Describing, Lyra made sure to warn Pinkie about using her earth pony magic too much. "And so she fell asleep, telling us to wake her in an hour. We figured it would be better to let her sleep more, but if the thing she has planned is important…"
"Oh! Our picnic! We were all planning to have a picnic together just outside of town. As far as I know it's still on, but I've been noticing some weird stuff today." As soon as she said it, Pinkie let loose a giggle. "Weird! Can you believe I called something weird?"
"Twilight?" Sweetie asked and got a nod back. "We met her. She asked if we were having a good day, when Lyra said yes, she teleported away."
"That… kinda sounds like Twilight, but not." Thinking for a moment, Pinkie tapped a hoof in thought. When no Pinkie Sense™️ triggered, she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sure we can get to the bottom of that at the picnic. Hang on, did you say not to use magic? And Twilight was teleporting around? Did you warn her?"
"Tried to. She should have gotten a warning about it earlier, anyway. Discord made some real waves in the magic field around here, but it should be fine to work bigger magic in about a week." Lyra pointed her hoof excitedly at the choux pastry, chocolate, and cream creation in the cabinet before her. "Four of those—the eclairs!"
"Lyra!" Sweetie looked at Lyra with a stunned expression.
"Huh? Oh! You want some too?" Turning to look at Pinkie, Lyra wore the biggest grin of the day. "Better make it eight."
Lifting her hoof up, Sweetie face-hoofed. "Why not. I'm sure we'll find some hungry ponies to eat them."
Pinkie dutifully loaded eight of their chocolate eclairs into a tray and then put it into a large paper bag. "Anything else I can get you?"
Looking left and then right, Lyra leaned in and whispered, "Did you manage to find any Vegemite?"
"Yes!" Pinkie quickly covered her mouth, then tried to whisper (far too loudly to be a whisper), "Maud sent some. She's in her last year of her doctorate, and thought we'd need some tastes of home."
"What is Vegemite?" Sweetie asked while trying to ignore the fact that the line of ponies behind them were now all leaning forward to hear.
When Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out a glass jar of the substance with the familiar (to Lyra and Pinkie) yellow label and lid, Lyra began to bounce in place. "You can have this one," Pinkie said. "She sent me a whole case of it."
Tilting her head forward, Lyra leaned her forehead on Pinkie's and let out a sigh. "I owe you big time for this. I'd been asking Robin to get me some, but she's always too busy to get around to it."
Pinkie snorted and replied, "We're practically family, Lyra. You only owe me a smile and a giggle. But for these you owe me big time." With that, Pinkie Pie slid a packet of Tim Tams from her mane and passed them to Lyra.
Sweetie Drops, along with everypony else in the bakery, had to cover their ears to block out the high-pitched squeal of excitement from Lyra. "Lyra! What—?"
"ThisisthebestthingeverandIoweyousooooomuchPinkiecomeonSweetiewehavetogomakecoffee!" Grabbing the bag of eclairs, the Vegemite, and the Tim Tams, Lyra lifted Sweetie up with her magic and—with the door currently closed—jumped out the window of Sugarcube Corner and took off at a gallop.
A few coins on the counter in Sugarcube Corner were all that was left of Lyra and Sweetie. Pinkie dutifully scooped up the payment and put it in the register. "Who's next?"
"I'll have some of that vege-whatsit and tammies too," Granny Smith said, her head still turned to observe the dust cloud wake of Lyra Heartstrings.
At any moment during the mad dash back to their home, Sweetie could have dropped out of Lyra's grip merely by calling the ground to her hooves. It was a trick not all earth ponies could do—in fact usually getting an earth pony off the ground was to defeat them—but Sweetie had dedicated herself to being the solid rock that anypony could depend on, and that meant being the best at what she did.
But of course she didn't. Breaking from Lyra's grip like that would have left Lyra with almost as bad a headache as if she'd used magic like Rainbow had. Instead, she had to content herself with the fact that Lyra would at least have something tasty for her to try.
Inside, Lyra set Sweetie down. "Okay, for the first thing I need to make us some coffee. I can—" She stopped as she realized Sweetie was staring at her with an unreadable expression. "What's wrong?"
"Lyra Heartstrings, if you can't tell when you've gone silly mode, I am not going to be the one to shatter your fun. Okay, so what are these things?" Sweetie followed Lyra into the kitchen and set about boiling the kettle.
"Well, one will require bread, which I guess we should have gotten from Sugarcube Corner, but Tim Tams only require a hot drink to truly enjoy." Despite the fact that the bakery was only a short walk away, Lyra nonetheless started lifting out some bread flour to start making dough.
"Bread? What is this stuff?" Reaching for the jar, Sweetie used her hooves to open it and took a sniff of the Vegemite—and almost gagged. "Lyra!"
"It's really good, I promise. It's literally pure umami, but once you get used to it—"
"Once I get used to it?" Sniffing again, and finding the smell not to have improved, Sweetie screwed the lid back on tight. "Why in Celestia's name would I want to get used to it?"
"Well, it…" While Lyra started kneading the dough she was making, Sweetie just kept staring at her. "It tastes nice?"
Leaning close to Lyra, Sweetie kissed her wife on the cheek. "That's good enough for me to try it."
"So despite it smelling horrible and me having no logical reasoning for why it is good, you'd still try it just because I said so?" When Sweetie nodded to her, Lyra's magic winked out and she let the dough drop to the bench while she hugged Sweetie. The strong return of Sweetie's hug only deepened her emotion. "I love you so much, Bonny."
As Sweetie closed for a more intimate kiss, she whispered, "I love you too, Lyra."
Their lips joined for nearly two whole seconds when the front door of the house burst open and four hooves stampeded through the living area and upstairs. Both broke the kiss off with a giggling grin apiece.
"Just leaving my school stuff here! Going to get up to shenanigans with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom!" Literally dumping her bag on her bed, Scootaloo turned back around and reversed the path she'd taken entering the house. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, and noticed things were quiet, she slowed and leaned her head around the corner of the kitchen. "Uh, is something up?"
"The usual madness. Lyra got some tastes of home while I over-ordered chocolate eclairs. Would you like to take three?" Assuming she knew the answer, Sweetie was already picking up one of the bags and lightening its load by one for Scootaloo.
"Are you sure?" Scootaloo rushed into the kitchen and spied the bag. "Are these from Sugarcube Corner?"
"Mmhmm! Here, take one for each of your friends. This one's for me, and Lyra gets the other four." Rolling her eyes at Lyra, Sweetie passed the treats to Scootaloo, who quickly balanced them on her back with her wings flanking the bag.
Lyra groaned. "You make it sound like I'd planned to eat four of them from the start!" Her tone was full of self-mockery. "Go and have some fun, Scoots, but don't forget our run."
Nodding with excitement, Scootaloo raced to the front door with the snacks balanced on her back. Outside she grabbed up her scooter and fell-in with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "Got us something to eat, too."
Sweetie Belle's eyes opened as large as saucers at the sight of the chocolate eclairs. Though her magic spluttered with sparks from her horn, her grip was as sure and steady as that Celestia had with the sun. "Thank you," she said, the words of thanks having been drummed into her, before taking a bite of the treat.
The flavors that hit Apple Bloom were almost enough to make her fall over. One mouthful turned into a second, then a third, and before she knew it she was done with the eclair and only had the lingering chocolate-cream taste in her mouth. "That. Was. Amazin'!"
Scootaloo had to wipe the cream from her lips with her forearm before she licked it off again. "Sure was. So, girls, what are the Cutie Mark Crusaders going to do next?"
"Picking apples!" Apple Bloom bounced in place excitedly. "Wait, no, planting apple trees!"
"Maybe you'd get a cutie mark in that," Sweetie Belle said, "but I want to practice magic!"
With both her friends looking at her, eager to hear which of them Scootaloo would pick, Scoots closed her eyes and grinned as she shook her head. "You girls are thinking too narrow." When she opened her eyes and saw two confused expressions, she continued, "Let's combine them. Picking and planting apples with magic!"
Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom started bouncing in place with excitement.
Back in the kitchen, Lyra Heartstrings was grinning like a loon at Sweetie Drops. "Now you do it."
Looking at the chocolate biscuit that she'd been given, Sweetie tried to work out if this was another thing Lyra was going to prank her wing. "I can't believe I'm trying this." Carefully nibbling opposing corners through the chocolate layer, she carefully held it in her coffee and started sucking through it like a straw.
"Now in your mouth! All of it!"
Since the snack was about ready to completely discombobulate due to the heat melting it from the inside, Sweetie did just that and tossed the Tim Tam into her mouth. For a species with a predisposition toward sweet things, the Tim Tam Slam turned out to be just about the best chocolaty treat Sweetie had had in her whole life. Her eyes widened and her pulse quickened.
Watching the shudder that started at Sweetie's nose and ended only at the tip of her tail, Lyra giggled. "So?"
"How many more do we have?" Sweetie asked, only it sounded more like, "Wow wewwy war woo we wave?"
Passing another of the biscuits to Sweetie, Lyra pulled out another for herself and repeated the procedure. And again. And again. And finally the two came to the ultimate test of their marriage.
"You're kidding?" Sweetie asked. "Why do they put an odd number of them in the packet?"
"This is fate. When two great powers must come together and do battle for the ultimate prize." Lyra glared at Sweetie over the empty-but-one packet. Thanks to her magic being at the speed of thought, Lyra plucked the last Tim Tam from the packet and pulled it toward her.
Ignoring the daggers Sweetie was looking at her, Lyra bit the opposing corners off and then floated it over and into Sweetie's coffee. "Well?"
Realizing the direction things had gone, Sweetie sighed and smiled at Lyra. "You are a most horrible tease sometimes, you know that?" She leaned down and, with Lyra holding the biscuit, sucked her coffee up through it.
Lifting the Tim Tam from the coffee when it was suitably laden, Lyra leaned forward across the table held the precious, final biscuit between them—hoping her grin and inviting eyebrow waggles gave Sweetie an idea what to do.
Leaning closer to Lyra, Sweetie positioned her mouth just right at one end of the Tim Tam while Lyra did the same at the other. Pushing together into an open-mouthed kiss, they both bit into the last treat and let their eyes flutter closed in married bliss.
The kiss lingered far past the moment both had swallowed their share of the last biscuit, and even toward the point where neither could taste the chocolate-coffee-toffee mix any longer. Neither seemed to want to break apart, but as all kisses must—it ended.
"Okay, they might be onto something with the odd numbered thing." Lyra's eyes had opened and were spellbound by Sweetie's. Her heart was thudding away in excitement at being alone together.
Smirking, equally lost in Lyra's eyes as Lyra was in hers, Sweetie ran her tongue over her lips to remind her of not just the taste of Lyra's, but also the chocolate sensation she'd just experienced. "Seems that way. I can't imagine how two ponies that were just friends would cope with that."
Lyra snorted and bit her lower lip. "You know, with Scoots out with her friends…"
Sweetie didn't reply in words, but actions.
An afternoon having fun while their dough rose turned out to be what both of them needed, but the insistent knocking at the front door eventually grew too much for either Lyra or Sweetie to ignore any longer.
Untangling herself from Sweetie, Lyra rolled over to her side of the bed and off it. "I'll get the door, you—" She had looked back and saw Sweetie looking at her, hungrily, and for a moment Lyra thought of putting up a sound-barrier and climbing back on the bed.
"They really sound like it's important. If it was Scoots, she'd just come in," Sweetie said, surrendering to the inevitable and slipping from her side of the bed. "Should I start putting my armor on?"
"Magic's all bent to Tartarus and back. I can't see it being anything serious." Lyra walked out of the bedroom and used her weakest freshen up spell to get her coat in a semblance of order. When she opened the door, it was to see a panicked Cheerilee. "What's up?"
"It's something really serious!" Cheerilee had never been so relieved to see a member of the Guard in her life. "Please, I didn't know who else to ask. Everypony is going crazy on the other side of town!"
Turning to look for Sweetie, Lyra was relieved to see her heading out of the bedroom too. A quick zap with the same freshening spell sorted her darling out. "You ready to roll?"
"Yeah. What's going on? Did you see if something was attacking?" Sweetie was all business, despite not having her armor. Even devoid of the mass that made her one of the more fearsome creatures in Equestria, she still had a lot of weapon in just her body.
"They seemed to be attacking each other. There was dust everywhere." Making room, Cheerilee stepped aside to let Lyra and Sweetie out of their home. "This way!"
Already able to see the dust cloud in the distance, Sweetie nonetheless suppressed her desire to gallop ahead of Cheerilee. As it was, the teacher was their only source of intel and she was a civilian to be protected. "Lyra, keep behind me. I'll be able to take any blowback from using magic better than you."
It was annoying for Lyra that Sweetie was right. She liked to deal with problems with her magic—at range—and not have anypony need to get physically involved in a fight, but she also had to face facts that Sweetie was always going to be thinking the exact same thing. "Okay, but whatever it is, remember you haven't got your heavy gear to protect you. Dance, Bonny, don't brace."
Sweetie tilted her head just enough that she could still see forward and spot Lyra behind her. "Lyra, you didn't just lecture me on how to fight?"
"And what did you just tell me?" Lyra asked, her grin a mile wide.
For a moment Sweetie reviewed what she'd just said and, if she weren't galloping hard, would have face-hoofed. "Sorry. Too used to recruits needing instruction."
"Yeah. Same. So what do you think would cause—" Lyra's voice faltered as she saw what looked like half the town brawling. There were spot fights here and there, but it seemed like most of the melee was happening in one big glut. Beside it, Twilight Sparkle looked terrified. "Okay, so what the heck is this?" When Sweetie didn't answer and didn't even slow, Lyra looked toward Sweetie and then followed her gaze toward that big fight.
Something caught Lyra's eye. It looked like the ugliest little stuffed toy she'd ever seen, but even as far away as she was, Lyra realized two things—she wanted it and she needed it. Grunting and blowing her breath out angrily, Lyra sped back up to a full gallop as she aimed herself squarely at the thickest of the fighting.
Sweetie, too, had a head full of desire to get the stuffed toy all for herself. Eyes fixed on her target, she brought her speed up to a full gallop and tried to shove her way through the crowd. Something about her fixation stopped her being able to use her earth pony magic, but she was still a solid mare moving at high speed.
The collision almost knocked McIntosh over. He let out a grunt turned to look at what had hit him. "Mmm—nope!" Turning his head, he grabbed the stuffed toy from a foal and started plowing his way out of the melee as fast as his mighty limbs would carry him.
Running along beside the main crowd, Twilight tried to keep pace with the mad rush and aim her horn at the doll—but every time she thought she had a clear shot, somepony else would grab it and steal it from her sight. That's when she watched the leading few ponies charge through the middle of her friends' picnic.
"Don't look at it!"
The shout made Rainbow turn to look around, of course, only to have Twilight grab her head before she could focus on the amazing thing—at least she'd thought for a moment that it was exciting. The jerking around caused her head to get dizzy again, and she felt the ground coming up to say hello.
With Twilight ranting about magic stuff above her, Rainbow slowly got back to her hooves. She opened her mouth to ask what was actually going on, when she realized it had suddenly gotten very dark.
"Twilight Sparkle!"
Everypony present heard the shout. It shot through their heads and was followed a moment later by a bright flash of golden magic. The silence was deafening. Where there were shouts of "mine" and "give me that" over the sounds of actual violence, now the meadow was quiet.
"What—?" Sweetie Drops looked up at McIntosh, whom she'd been trying to fight just moments earlier. "I'm so sorry!" She tried to scoot backward from McIntosh, acutely aware that she could have seriously hurt him.
McIntosh, however, was worried of the same thing—but in reverse. "Are"—he had to fight his normal almost-mute tendencies—"are you hurt?"
Sweetie and McIntosh stared at each other for a few seconds before they both laughed. A moment later each winced as the soft-tissue injuries they'd dealt each other became more evident.
Blinking away the daze of the Want-It Need-It spell, Lyra tried to sort out where she was, what had happened, and what she needed to do. As her eyes started to focus, she realized she was laid-out on her belly. "Uh, did anypony get the number of that truck?"
Looking up, however, revealed that it was Apple Bloom who was standing over her with her own dazed expression. What shocked Lyra the most was there didn't seem to be a mark on the filly. "Uh, hi. You're Scoots' friend, right?"
"Uh, yeah." Apple Bloom looked at Lyra with a little worry. She could see that Lyra had been roughed up by something, and when she looked to another mare that was with them (she had no idea what their name was) she looked in a similar condition to Lyra. "Are you both alright?"
Slowly getting her legs under her and standing, Lyra looked at the pegasus who had apparently also not done well against Apple Bloom. "Yeah, just a bit sore. You've got quite the buck, Apple Bloom. Sorry, Orange Swirl, right?"
"Yeah. Hey, you're Lyra Heartstrings? My little sister has been getting lessons from you." Tucking her wings up carefully, Orange felt a little tender just about everywhere.
"I've been doing some for Cheerilee, yeah—That's Princess Celestia!" Things started to slot into place. Celestia had arrived to stop whatever had them all fighting. Lyra started walking in Celestia's direction, only to realize Twilight Sparkle was cowering on her belly.
It was one of those scenes that immediately screamed at Lyra that they were above her pay grade. She waited for a while to see if Celestia would leave or hang around, and to her relief Celestia walked down from where the six friends were. "Princess Celestia," Lyra said, bowing her head.
"Don't bow, please. I'm angry enough already and I don't want to take it out on anypony." Celestia's teeth were grit together almost too hard for her to talk. It wasn't just being upset at Twilight for so badly misunderstanding her request that did it, it was also the brain-splitting migraine from using so much magic with Discord's discordant waves still sloshing around Ponyville. "How is everypony?"
"I—" Lyra realized that in her distraction and waiting for Celestia, she hadn't checked on anypony but the two she'd woken up beside. "What was that spell? I didn't even think to check on anypony else. It was—"
Seeing the panic and concern well to the surface of Lyra's mind through the expression on her face, Celestia sought to calm her back down. "Shh. It was a Want-It Need-It. One of the more contagious and insidious mind-control spells. Thankfully it can be dispelled by its source—but requires a significant amount of magic to do so."
"Would you like some tea? We've got some chocolate eclairs at home." At mention of the eclairs, Lyra noticed Celestia's ears perked forward a little sharper. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, let's check up to make sure everypony is okay." That's when Lyra's blood ran cold—she spotted Scootaloo.
Celestia moved instead to the nearest ponies. "Is everypony okay? Any injuries?"
It hadn't been a teleport spell that Celestia used to leave the balcony of the Golden Oaks Library, rather she'd used a combination of her weakest invisibility spell and a simple disguise to glide down to the street below. When she was out of sight of the library, she let go of the invisibility spell—rubbed her head with one wing—and started walking off to find where Lyra and Sweetie were.
All the lights in Ponyville were on that night. After the event, Celestia was sure that everypony was trying to make sense of what had happened and take care of whatever minor wounds they had. For her part—hiding her horn and stature with the illusion—she wanted to reassure two of her more valued instruments that this was not their fault.
"Excuse me?" Celestia asked when she finally found a pony. She recognized Derpy Hooves, of course, but not the little filly at her side—though she could take a guess at it being Dinky. "You wouldn't happen to know where Lyra Heartstrings lives, would you?"
Blinking at the bright white pegasus that stepped out from between two buildings, Derpy smiled without a hint of worry. "It's that one just over there." She pointed a wing at a building two doors down.
With her head feeling better by the minute, Celestia gave her best, genuine smile. "Thank you." With a wave of her wing—something that Celestia had to remind herself to do since she was a pegasus right now—she started walking toward the indicated house and made it up to the front door.
"I'll get it!" Scootaloo had been bent down to the floor with all her weight on her primaries when she heard a knock, but she jumped upward with the strength her wings now had and practically pounced across the room to the front door. When she opened it, she looked up at the pony waiting there. "Uh, hi. Do you want to speak to Lyra or Sweetie?"
"All three of you, actually, Scootaloo. May I come in?" Celestia had to restrain herself from giggling at the earnest look from Scootaloo. It was equal parts evaluation and curiosity.
Taking a deep breath after she decided that it would be best to leave the actual decision to Lyra and Sweetie, Scootaloo called out, "Lyra! Sweetie! We have company!"
As she walked from kitchen to living room, Lyra could feel a slight buzz of active magic against her senses. It was only the slightest hint, but when she looked at the pegasus she could tell it was definitely coming from her and it was some kind of illusion. "Hi there. Please, come in." It was hard to restrain herself from asking the stranger to dispense with the magic.
Walking inside, Celestia noticed Sweetie step into the room beside Lyra. She waited, however, for Scootaloo to close the door behind her before she finally let go of the illusion. "Sorry for the subterfuge, I didn't want to cause a ruckus in town."
Lyra actually face-hoofed. She'd been on her guard and everything, and had completely failed to detect the most powerful alicorn in the world in her living room.
"P-Princess Celestia?!" Scootaloo's back was pressed to the door as the larger than life (literally) princess seemed to take up more space now.
"Please, just relax. I'm not here on business." Berating herself a little, Celestia realized that Joyce might just be the only pony in the whole world that wouldn't freak out at seeing her. "I was just wondering if you might have a spare cup of tea?"
The normalcy of being asked for a cup of tea broke Sweetie from her own stupor. "We were actually just about to have dinner. Would you like to join us?" She did her best to ignore Scootaloo and Lyra's shocked expressions, which was made easier that Celestia smiled and nodded. "I'll just go and make sure to get a little extra on each plate…"
Her brain spinning around on its horizontal axis, Lyra tried to figure out what to do or say when she had Celestia in her home. Pointing out the various pictures on the wall? Maybe showing off their armor collection?
Thinking a bit quicker than Lyra, Scootaloo walked carefully around Celestia and gestured to the didgeridoos on a stand mounted on the wall. "Have you ever heard anypony play these?"
Intrigued, Celestia shook her head. "Can you?"
It was hard for Scootaloo to keep her wings from flapping in excitement at getting to play. "I sure can!" She reached out a twitchy wing and picked up her smaller didgeridoo. She made her way over to the couch to sit down and brace it with her forelegs while holding the end with her wings.
"You've figured out the reciprocal breathing?" Lyra asked.
"Mmhmm. Listen." Holding the small wooden pipe to her lips, Scootaloo started the special breathing she'd need to keep the sound up and started.
Celestia froze at the sound that came from the instrument. It was at once both ancient and new. Closing her eyes to focus on it, she snapped them back open when she realized there was no pause to the tune Scootaloo was making. Sitting down, she focused all her attention on listening and trying to follow the guttural notes that vibrated on the air.
Getting into her music, Scootaloo lined up her hoof on the side of the didgeridoo and started tapping a rhythm on it. It was easy to just let the song of the instrument play through her. Almost stumbling at one point, she watched Lyra float her guitar across the room as she settled back on the couch with the instrument balanced on her lap.
With perfect timing born of her special talent, Lyra joined her guitar's bass notes to Scootaloo's tune and chased it through the rhythm, always just a moment behind the filly.
Now that she had Lyra backing her up, Scootaloo felt like she was riding the music now, tapping out percussion with her hoof that also colored the notes that the didgeridoo made. It was easy to get swept up in music with Lyra playing too, and it wasn't until the tune wanted to finish that Scootaloo was finally able to stop playing.
Panting a little as she got her breathing back to normal, Scootaloo quickly checked her flank. A musical cutie mark wouldn't have been as awesome as one for flying, but with everything she'd seen Sweetie and Lyra do, with food and music cutie marks, she wouldn't have complained. But, her flank was still blank. What snapped her out of her contemplation was the sound of hooves clopping together.
Sometimes Celestia wished she could bottle moments in time. Slip them into a stasis and save them for later enjoyment. The improvised music she'd just witnessed was one such moment. Clopping her forehooves together enthusiastically, she did her best to contain her almost overflowing enthusiasm. "That was wonderful!"
Sweetie, too, was caught up and applauding the music. Her eyes were mostly focused on Lyra, her pulse thudding in her ears at her wife's show of support for their adopted filly.
Lyra struggled to break her own gaze from Sweetie's, but managed to turn to Scootaloo. "You really worked that out well. Been practicing?"
"Every day." The realization that putting in work and practicing things really paid off had inspired Scootaloo. Her weapons practice, her wing exercises, and her breathing had all stemmed from her running and how much easier she could move now. Even her best friends were looking and sounding better after their nightly trots together.
"How's the weapons training going?" Sweetie asked.
"They won't let me train with hoof-claws. I really want to, but Sure Fire said I can't use those safely until I can fly." Blowing out a huff, Scootaloo looked at the didgeridoo and ran a gentle hoof over it. "So he's sticking to unarmed combat. Hooves, wings, biting, the whole business."
Sweetie couldn't help but giggle. "Even when you can fly, that kind of fighting will be useful. There's been several pegasi recruits I've seen now that surprised a unicorn by just bracing and diving into them. You'll get to claws when you can fly. After all, you couldn't walk properly with them extended."
Looking at her hooves, Scootaloo pondered that. "But I could rear up and use them to strike forward. I just think it's a good idea not to rely on only one weapon. When I was talking to Shining Armor, he was saying that the Royal Guard were trying to work out less-lethal ways of dealing with problems than poking them with spears—spears that do bad things if you get poked."
"That's an understatement." Celestia cleared her throat when everypony in the room looked at her, seemingly surprised she was still there. For just a moment she pondered making an alicorn in the room joke—it took a lot of willpower to resist. "I enchant every single one of those spears myself. Part of the Royal Guards' promise to me is that they wield my power with the same compassion I would."
It was a little more information about Royal Guards that both Sweetie and Lyra had learned. Both were quiet while they digested it. Scootaloo was not.
"Why do you only allow stallions to be Royal Guards?" Scootaloo asked.
Though they'd both gained substantial information on the Royal Guards, neither Lyra nor Sweetie had ever actually asked Celestia directly. Both felt shocked at the brashness of Scootaloo.
"Momentum. Well, momentum in the form of tradition. It started in 572. The year was hard on everypony, but there was a sickness that hit mares harder than stallions. Everypony came down sick at some point, but there was a certain formality in my female guards at the time demanding the stallions protect me." It was a situation Celestia certainly wouldn't have bottled to remember, but remember she did. "They made that part of the oath—that the stallions of the Royal Guard will protect me to their last breath. I need to change that. It's not a healthy mindset."
Looking to the side, to her foster parents, Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. "I think we can help."
Celestia was startled by the certainty in Scootaloo's voice. The assuredness that she could do a thing and nothing would stop her. For a moment Celestia wondered if she really could help—despite being a young filly.
"So, what we do is have an end of year contest. A display of prowess with weapons, with agility, and even magic and smarts. The winner gets to choose a section of the E.U.P. Guard to apprentice to." Turning her head back to look at Celestia, Scootaloo smiled as wide and happy as any foal her age would. "Because I'll win, and I'll demand to apprentice as a Royal Guard."
"It—" Celestia was stuck. She tried to work out how to argue against the plan, but the only fault she could begin to find was that Scootaloo might not win. Not in her first year at least. "It would take some PR work. Everypony would need to believe you were going to join the Wonderbolts."
Sweetie snorted. "That'd be easy to arrange. We ask Spitfire nicely to help. She and a few of her best can schmooze around and Scoots can spend time with them. But there's one thing we can't do."
"What's that?" Scootaloo asked.
Nodding, Lyra picked up what Sweetie was putting down. "I get it. We can't help you. It'd be seen as favoritism. You have to win this on your own."
"Nuh uh!" Scootaloo tucked her didgeridoo under her wing and jumped down to the floor. "If I'm going to apprentice to the Royal Guard, they can keep training me, right?" She raised an eyebrow at Celestia as she put her instrument back on its stand.
"Ha!" There was something about the raw forwardness Scootaloo displayed that made Celestia feel more alive and excited to be around her. A stray thought hit her that if this all worked, Scootaloo might be spending more time at the castle. "I daresay after this it might be a requirement that foals specify their desired target ahead of time so they may only get outside training from that group."
"But we can't do that at first. At least we can't do it until Scootaloo wins. I think this could work. I'll have to speak to all the branches of the E.U.P. Guard." Sweetie tapped her chin, voicing her thoughts on what it will take.
"Make sure to run it past Raven. I'll ensure to let her know I want this meeting to happen and I want to be in attendance." Unsaid by Celestia was that her presence there would ensure Sweetie and Lyra had full cooperation without anymore coercion.
There was more than a little consternation that Celestia would just put her weight behind Scootaloo's plan, but Sweetie had to console herself with the fact it would show their school as being a power in its own right. "I'll do that as soon as I can."
For a moment Celestia dreaded that Sweetie would tack on some formal address at the end, but it came as great relief to just be able to talk without them. She pondered briefly if it was because she was a guest in their home.
Standing up, Sweetie turned for the kitchen. "It should be ready if you give me a few minutes to serve?"
Lyra looked down at her bass and turned the volume down on the little amplifier inside it. Her hooves moved, and before she knew it she had a soft, thrumming beat going. It wasn't any of her homeworld's music, but just something new to keep her hooves busy. "Do you think we could convince your friends to join too?"
Scootaloo was about to answer with a no, but then she thought about it. "I wouldn't have said yes a year ago. Sweetie—Sweetie Belle—was out of shape and Apple Bloom didn't approve of fighting. But if I tell them I'm going, they might come. Those girls would do anything if it meant a chance at getting a cutie mark."
"Unlike somefilly we know," Lyra said, rolling her eyes to Celestia.
The laughter in the living room—especially Celestia's—made Sweetie smile a little more. She couldn't remember another time when she'd heard the princess actually laugh and, combined with Lyra and Scootaloo's, it made her feel lighter and more accomplished. "Dinner's ready!"
Being summer, the dinner was lighter than the heavy meals they made for colder months. Each plate had a little bread roll with it and was a warm but light stew. Sweetie knew the meal had hit the spot because nopony spoke while eating.
When the meal was finally done with, Celestia couldn't help but think she'd done her tastebuds a great disservice. She had some of the greatest culinary experts working to put the finest dishes on her table, and yet she always ordered the same things. A simple stew, made by a mare with a culinary cutie mark had blown away all the fine dining meals Celestia'd had for the last fifty years. "That was unforgettable."
"Uh, err…" Sweetie wasn't sure what to say.
"It occurs to me that, except for special occasions, I have eaten the same meals every day for nearly three hundred years. This—this was a welcome change."
"We'll have to put on something more interesting next time you come to dinner." Lyra stood up from her seat and used her magic to gather up the dishes. "But there's one more thing." Opening the refrigerator, she lifted out the bag with the last five eclairs. "I promised you these, after all."
Seeing the chocolate eclairs float to the table, Celestia wasn't sure if supplying them was worth a knighthood or perhaps a higher honor. There was something about the treats that just called to her, demanding to be eaten. "My goodness."
"We got them earlier from Sugarcube Corner." Lyra set each of the plates down and took her seat again. Using her hoof, she reached out and carefully grasped one end of the eclair.
Noticing that, Celestia had to ask, "I noticed you don't use your magic to eat."
Sweetie snorted. "She thinks it's being understanding. I try to tell her she's a fool and to use her magic." She gave her wife a pointed look and only got a silent raspberry in return. "But I'd rather her care too much than not enough."
Celestia accepted the answer and, carefully setting her shoes down on the floor beside her, reached out and picked up her own eclair with one hoof. "This is your house. I should have asked earlier." She enjoyed the vindicated look that Lyra shot Sweetie almost as much as the first taste of the baked treat.
Having already tasted one of the eclairs earlier, Scootaloo knew what an amazing thing she was about to experience. From the first bite to the last, she completely forgot about everything else in the whole universe but her and that eclair. Even with it gone and just the fading taste remaining, she was so intent on the eclair that she failed to notice somepony talking to her until they repeated themselves. "Huh?"
"I said"—Lyra was trying and failing to keep from giggling—"you got a little something on your snout." She gestured to her own nose.
Both Scootaloo's forehooves flashed up and, before she could think to stop them, covered her nose. Carefully sticking her tongue out, she licked upward until she found more of the Chantilly cream and pulled it into her mouth before using her hoof to wipe in case she'd missed some. "Thanks."
While that was happening, Sweetie gave Lyra a curious look, but said nothing about the last eclair. "It's been nice to have you visit."
Again Celestia breathed out a figurative sigh of relief. She was doing her best to keep things informal, though that was hard when she'd already had to use a little magic to reinforce the chair she was sitting on. "You realize I have to return the favor now?"
Not sure what to say, Sweetie chewed her lower lip a little before finally realizing that she really shouldn't turn down such an invitation. "Pick a night and I'm sure we can all come and spend the afternoon in the kitchen together." It was bold and forward, but she saw Celestia's smile widen and continued. "Perhaps we could cook a big meal together and show your cooks the kind of food you'd like?"
That brought Celestia up short. Not that she'd planned the evening herself, but she'd immediately thought have a large dinner cooked by the castle kitchen. "I think that would be wonderful. I'm afraid I'm not much of a cook, though." It was a bit of a lie since Celestia could cook cakes quite well, but at the same time she'd never learned to cook normal meals.
"That's okay. Good food only needs two things, a loving heart and a keen sense of taste." Sweetie attempted her most reassuring smile. Her only hint it was working was the replying smile from Celestia. "I'm sure you know how to contact us, just give a little warning in advance and we can do some shopping and make a fine meal."
It was almost too much for Celestia to handle. She bestowed her widest genuine smile and stood up. "On that note, I really must be going. Something tells me I need to be up early in the morning to do something."
Scootaloo giggled at the implication and because Celestia winked at her.
"I believe I'll fly home tonight. Goodbye, and thank you for dinner." Walking to the front door, Celestia remembered to employ her little illusion again. It didn't actually make her a pegasus, just hid her height, horn, cutie mark, and jewelry.
When they said their goodbyes, Lyra, turned to Sweetie and kissed her cheek. "You're amazing, you know that?"
"What did I just set us up for?" Sweetie asked, tossing plates on her back and turning for the sink.
"We're going to be cooking with Celestia!" Scootaloo jumped from her seat and pronked around a bit in excitement. "What are we going to make?"