//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: And Now For Something Exactly the Same 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//




[[ A Scootaloo Perspective ]]




This was it. It would have been impossible to sleep last night, so I'd done extra laps of Ponyville to literally wear myself out. It'd worked. After a shower and a light dinner I'd passed out and—seemingly seconds later—I opened my eyes again.

It was still dark. I don't know when exactly I'd gotten used to waking up this early, but the moment my eyes focused on the moonlight outside my window I was fully focused on my day. "This is it."

Flinging myself from bed, I was out in the hallway and aiming toward the stairs down to the kitchen. Moving too fast for my hooves to keep up on the stairs, I stretched out my wings so I could brace between the wall on one side and the banister on the other.

Sliding down, I let out a laugh of excitement as my hooves hit the floor at the bottom. I just couldn't keep the strut out of my step as I walked into the kitchen. Lyra and Sweetie had both beaten me. "Hey." Best to play it cool. We all knew what today was.

Lyra lifted her head from the toast she was eating. The smell of the hell-spread she'd brought home couldn't put me off how awesome the day was going to be, though. "Hey yourself. Are you ready?"

Loosing my wings a little on each side, I took up the primary, defensive combat pose and glared at Lyra. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready."

I could count the seconds. By the third I could feel the magic boiling around Lyra. If I didn't move before she unleashed whatever spell she was building, I was done for. Of course, if I dove at her and she tried to hit me mid-air, she'd barely get whatever the spell was to hit—but that would be little consolation if it was one of her favorite minute-long-stunners. My hooves itched and as I watched golden light pour up her horn, I dove to the side—

Sweetie stepped between us. Whatever the spell was slammed against her side and fizzled as she set a bowl of porridge on the table. "You two! Lyra, let Scoots have her breakfast or I'll take your Vegemite away. Scootaloo, sit up at the table and eat your breakfast."

Tucking my ears back, I climbed up onto the chair and sat up straight. Looking at Lyra, she'd cast a forcefield dome over her toast and was mock-glaring at Sweetie. Even when she was trying to look fierce, I could see how much she loved Sweetie. It'd been hard at first, and sometimes I thought they were fighting for real, but then one or the other would crack a grin and they'd both laugh it off.

Grabbing the spoon beside my bowl with my wing, I started scooping the porridge into my mouth. I was nearly half done with breakfast when a glass of juice floated over in Lyra's magic. Gulping down my latest mouthful, I barely managed to get, "Thank you," out before I tipped half the glass of juice down my throat.

"We'll be running to the school, so no need to do our usual laps of town. I saw two names on the try-out sign-up form. Your doing?" Sweetie asked, looking at me.

I stopped shoveling porridge long enough to nod and grab another mouthful of juice. When she seemed to want to know more, I laughed. "Yeah. When I told them I was going to spend my Monday and Tuesday trade-schooling days for this, they wanted to know what it was like just in case they—"

"Get their cutie marks. Of course," Lyra said.

I beamed at her. She knew us that well. "They also get to see what I want to do—even if Sweetie Belle goes back to learning singing from Vinyl and Apple Bloom slips back into learning horti—hart—growing things from Miss Roseluck."

"It's a shame I couldn't talk Trixie into staying. Though I might take time out of the new school from time to time to check on the growth of unicorn foals here." Lyra carefully slipped a piece of her toast out from under the shimmering, gold forcefield. "Did you hear about Dinky's score?"

I wasn't sure if Lyra had mentioned it before, so I shook my head. She seemed to be having fun talking about it anyway.

"Princess Celestia told me only two ponies have ever scored higher on the modern magic test—Twilight Sparkle and Moon Dancer. I probably don't need to tell you how stupidly knowledgeable Twilight is, but Moon is just as smart when it comes to magic theory." Somehow Lyra was munching her way through the toast as she spoke, biting off little bits here and there and gulping them between sentences. I had to wonder if she even tasted the horrific black stuff.

"What'd you get for your score?" I asked.

"Didn't do it. Princess Celestia invited me to her school before I'd turned into a unicorn. It would have been pretty crazy being there as a human—I would have missed out on so many things." She picked up the last slice of her toast with a hoof and stuffed half of it in her mouth. "Glad things worked out how they did." At least, I think that's what she said. There was a lot of crumbs involved.

Sweetie just sighed expressively and rolled her eyes at Lyra. "Don't forget, we have dinner with Celestia on Saturday. Try not to organize anything too crazy for the weekend. We'll need to do some shopping Saturday morning in Canterlot."

Lyra gulped down the last of her toast. "And, don't forget Scoots, you have Thursday with the Wonderbolts doctor."

Yeah, that's right. I'd been trying to keep from thinking about that so I didn't start prancing everywhere, but now she'd reminded me I felt a bit light-headed. They wanted me doing glide-practice. It wasn't going to actually be flying, but I'd be gliding on my own two wings! "I know! I can't wait!"

"Well, both of you need to stop yapping and get ready. We need to beat the sun to the school if we can. Scoots, do you want to wear armor?" Sweetie asked.

"W-Would it be too much? On my first day and everything…" I mean, I wanted to be awesome, but I didn't want to be too much. I had a job to do, after all.

"Bring it with you. If you want to wear it for classes, wear it, but you could always just leave it in the armory." Lyra stood up, charged her horn, and literally zapped all the plates, bowls, and cups clean. Sticking her tongue out at Sweetie, she put them away.

"Just remember, your armor isn't all show. It has weight and will slow you down in both running—and you're going to do plenty of that—and martial practice." Sweetie kissed Lyra on the cheek as she walked past. "Let's get our armor on, girls."

Mine was the easiest of all three to get on, so I helped Sweetie with hers first and then Lyra helped us too, after she got her own on. Then both got to work on my armor and I felt—I felt great. For the last four weeks I'd been practicing with my armor on, learning how to use a spear with my wings and, despite Sure Fire's grumbling, foreleg claws.

None of us had weapons to bring because we didn't need them. The training school had plenty of practice weapons and light, wicker armor for foals to practice with. That had been Sharp Horn's idea, and I'd been the guinea pig. You can make wicker armor that moves almost the same as regular armor for much cheaper, and you could even weave weights into it.

Stepping out of the house on the cool Monday morning, the sun was still some time from being risen. "How fast are we going to go?"

"Teleport on every tenth stride, keep a cool gallop and try not to stumble as you come out of the teleport. You both ready?" Lyra in her Sergeant Heartstrings mode was something else. Her words bore into your head and her questions required answering.

"Yes, ma'am!" I shouted.

Sweetie bumped my shoulder and flashed a grin at me. "We're all ready, sergeant!"

"Okay, by the numbers." Lyra was grinning now, though her words were still perfect commands for what we were about to do. "We'll build up to it and I'll give you the first count. On ten, expect a teleport."

In lock step we broke into a trot together. After ten paces we stepped up into a canter and ten more saw us in a gallop.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten!" Lyra's horn flashed and we were maybe fifty strides ahead of where we'd been. She counted up again and on ten her horn flashed once more.

It became just another part of the gallop. On every tenth stride as we left the ground we'd be that much closer to our target. The thing with this was it didn't mean any less work for us over time, it just meant Lyra was working harder and we covered massive distances fast. 

With the moonlight shining down on us, we kept the gallop-teleporting going until the lights around the school were in view. "Holding teleport! Maintain gallop!"

This was where we could just stretch our legs and get some good running in that didn't require concentration to keep from stumbling. The gallop-teleport style was something Lyra had worked on, claiming she'd timed it so that she could regenerate her energy constantly and still finish up the pattern with a full tank. Nights for the last two weeks had seen us practicing it.

It was kinda cool to see it really work in practice. "That worked great!"

"It did!" Sweetie said. "Remember when we ran that together back when Twilight did that spell?"

"That's why I came up with it. There had to be a better way to get around fast than just running. This is running and magic!" Lyra slowed her gallop to a canter—something I'd been looking for (and Sweetie too, apparently). We all slowed down and then again when Lyra dropped to a trot at the front entry to the huge courtyard of the school.

"Sergeant Heartstrings! Sergeant Drops! All's quiet here!" The voice came from the guardhouse that Lyra now wheeled us toward.

"That you, Razzle?" Lyra asked. "It is you! How are you going?"

The unicorn named Razzle, or so I assumed, snapped to attention rather than relaxed. "Ma'am!"

"Ugh, damn this rank sometimes. At ease, Private."

It was like a magic word. Razzle dropped from their sharp stance and smiled. "And here I heard my old fellow recruit made sergeant. Good to see you, Lyra."

"You're the only one out here?" Lyra asked, bumping hooves with Razzle.

"Nah. Bottle Rocket is doing rounds. She wanted to keep an eye on the surrounds. She probably saw you zoom in. What was that you were doing, anyway? It looked like you kept teleporting closer." That's when Razzle's eyes spotted me and I saw him blink in surprise. "Hey, sarge, is the Guard takin' recruits a bit young now?"

"Careful, Razzle," Lyra said as she looked back at me, "she'll be taking your job in a year or two."

I wasn't the filly that would strut around at hearing that—not anymore. Instead, I just stood beside Lyra and waited for her to tell me what I should do next. 

"So, today's the big day, sarge?" Razzle asked.

"Certainly is. We have two dozen foals who are going to be here about an hour after dawn, and from then on it'll be full-steam ahead. Scoots here is ahead of the pack—she's been hanging around the H.Q. for a few years now, and every now and again I catch Bonny showing her how to swing a spear. She'd probably outrun you right now." Puffing her chest out, Lyra looked, well, proud. I'd never thought how much what I did would reflect on her and Sweetie, but it made sense I guess.

"Flies like she was born to it too, I imagine?"

If I wasn't wearing armor, I would have flinched at that. Well, I did flinch, it's just the weight of the armor kept me from actually moving because of it.

"She will, soon. Old injury in her wings—she's got Cloud Bank from the Wonderbolts helping her get on top of it. Isn't that right, Scoots?" She turned and looked down at me with a big smirk. Damn but she was pretty awesome.

Well, there was only one way to answer that. "Sir! Yes, sir!"

"Head inside and change out of your armor. I don't think we want to scare all the new students away," Lyra said.

Walking inside, the place smelled like fresh paint. There were three classrooms, two sparring halls, and offices in the main building. A second building, I knew, had showers and bunks for the students, while a third had similar for the adults who would be running the school. There was a fourth building that I'd been told was just a warehouse for storage.

Each of the offices had attached a small dressing room for armor and weapons. I walked into the biggest office and into its dressing room and grinned at the four poniquins set up to put armor on. 

I'd just gotten most of the straps undone and was about to lift the armor off my back and onto the small poniquin when the door of the office opened. Looking, I spotted Sweetie walking in, then another pony coming in behind her.

I recognized the pony instantly. She might not be wearing her flight suit or dress uniform, but Commander Spitfire was the most identifiable pegasus I know—well, excluding Rainbow Dash. But there was more. Behind Spitfire walked Shining Armor, then Stiff Peaks, then three other ponies I didn't recognize. 

Hiding in the closet and listening to them would be the most awesome thing ever. It didn't take a genius to realize that the other ponies were likely all commanders of their own branches of the E.U.P. Guard—they all walked like soldiers. 

But I was a good pony, drat it. Stepping out of the closet, I ruffled my wings to make sure I was noticed.

"Your first student, Sergeant?" Spitfire asked. But she didn't stop there. While all the other important ponies watched her, she turned and walked up to me. "Spread those wings."

Even if I wasn't shocked out of my mind at the situation, my wings would have shot out in panic. Spitfire reached out and started feeling over my left wing, her feathers squeezing muscles and then the tendon that I'd been working on.

"It's an amazing recovery. I hope to see you in the Young Fliers program in a year." She let go of my wing and held a hoof out to me. I was almost too freaked out to return the hoof-bump. Almost. 

"Scootaloo, I'd like you to stay for now if you would. This was your idea, after all." Sweetie fixed me with her eyes and had a tight smile. 

With nothing else to do, I stood my ground and waited for her to continue.

"You've all read the brief. We're planning to hold a contest at the end of each six months that will find the best three new recruits—one earth pony, one pegasus, and one unicorn. Each will be given their choice of what part of the E.U.P. Guard they wish to join. Participation will be voluntary, of course." Sweetie looked around the crowd. "Any questions?"

"And we will have to entertain them?" Shining Armor asked. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but all parts of the Guard have jobs to do. We don't have room to add a civilian."

"You don't have to. Anyone we allow to participate will be at least as well-trained as the recruits leaving H.Q." Sweetie nodded to me, and all eyes were once more locked on me. "Each of the trainers here will be sergeants and I can assure you that any foal we allow into this will be as well-trained and disciplined as Scootaloo."

Shining Armor was a rock. His eyes were hard and evaluating. Then a smile creased his features and he laughed. "The Royal Guard are fine with this, then, so long as we have the option to cease the training."

"A month trial should weed them out," Stiff Peaks said. "If they're so terrible they can't hold a spear, you can always assign them to your armory."

Spitfire snorted at them. "I've heard Sure Fire complain about sparring with Scootaloo, he showed off bruises that made me think he'd spent time sparring with an earth pony. If she's a sample of the recruits you will give us, the Wonderbolts are on-board with this."

"And Public Safety," one of the ponies I didn't recognize said.

"And the Guard itself." This came from Stiff Peaks.

"And the Scouts."

The last holdout wasn't looking at me but Sweetie. The stallion only had one eye and there was a crack in his horn that looked to have been reinforced with bands around it. "You were one of the best up-and-coming Monster Hunters, and I see now that you've hit the ground galloping here. It's more dangerous even than the Wonderbolts—being in the 'Hunters—but if you think a foal is up to the task, the Monster Hunters do too."

I'd forgotten that she'd been in the Monster Hunters. They were meant to be the toughest fighters in all Equestria—rivaling even the Royal Guard. And Sweetie had been seen as a strong member there? I knew she was tough as old nails, but that was really something.

Sweetie didn't look like she'd just won a major battle with words, but I could tell by the way she shifted her left forehoof that she was happy about something. It was her tell. Trixie had taught me all about tells and watching where ponies looked so you could do things where they weren't. 

"Now, I asked for two hours of your time for a reason. We have a group of fillies and colts arriving soon and in a few more years they'll be your sergeants and corporals. If you'll come with me we'll put on a stern display for them and make them want to fight to be in your units." Gesturing to the door, Sweetie was clearly inviting everypony to leave.

Well, I might as well take the lead. Turning for the door, I left the room at a trot and headed to the front of the compound to find that the sun was up.

Lyra was talking with a pegasus from the Wonderbolts. Unlike Spitfire, Surprise was wearing her Wonderbolts flight suit, though she had the hood pulled back so her mane and head were free.

I trotted all the way up to the pair and stood to the side, trying to be obvious with my presence.

"Hey, Scoots, you've met Surprise before?" Lyra asked me.

Well, of course I hadn't, but now I was getting to meet all the awesome ponies in the Guard, I might as well add another. "No, sir."

Lyra reached a hoof out to me and ruffled up my mane. "Lay off the sirs unless we ask for 'em. Anyway, this is Surprise. She's going to be our pegasi trainer here. And, according to Commander Spitfire, she will be assisting you with gliding lessons."

This time my wings did shoot out in surprise. I stared up at Surprise and tried the best I could not to start bouncing excitedly.

"I talked to Cloud Bank. She told me how much work you've been doing. I figure anypony who wants to fly as much as you do deserves the best flight trainer in Equestria." I guess now I really know who Surprise is. The markings on her shoulders—applied to her flight suit directly—were those of a sergeant. Training was her job, then. "But then Commander Spitfire suggested I might want to take on the training position here."

"We wanted the best," Lyra said with a shrug. "So I asked the Wonderbolts for their best."

The sound of a train whistle broke our conversation and all three of us turned to look for it. The school only had a small platform for trains to stop at, but it had its own little section of train track for them to pull up on. And, the train was just pulling off the main line.

Hoofsteps behind us made me glance back for a moment to see all the Guard leaders approaching—but there was two ponies missing. Shining and Sweetie were conspicuously not there. "Where's Sweetie?" I asked Lyra.

"Huh? She…" Lyra looked around and groaned. "She'll probably try to make a grand entrance or some—"

Sweetie and Shining appeared beside us with a loud pomf sound. In a very Lyra-esque move, a pink puff of magic heralded their arrival—Shining's magic.

"… thing." Glaring at Shining, Lyra did a double-take, something I almost did too. Sweetie had the biggest smile I'd ever seen on a pony ever. "What's the deal with—? No, don't tell me. They're already here."

The other foals were walking over from the train platform. Some had bags with them, others had cases, and then there was Sweetie Belle with two chests and a hat box. I only knew what a hat box was because she'd told me all about her new hat for the last week.

Lyra, Sweetie Drops, and Surprise took the lead, the Guard leaders coming up behind them, and I kept to the back behind the leaders—which was easy when they were almost all about ten times bigger than a normal pony, or so it seemed.

"Welcome, cadets, to Princess Luna's School of Excellence. Please come and set your things down in the storage room and we'll get you some breakfast and have you ready for your first day. Do any of you have any questions or any special requirements?" The speech Lyra was giving was a good one, but she had one major problem. She was a normal looking unicorn in E.U.P. Guard armor, while behind her stood living legends. Commander Spitfire and Shining Armor got most of the excited looks, while others looked at the commander of the Monster Hunters and whispered among themselves.

When nopony actually asked a question, Sweetie Drops gestured back toward the buildings behind us. "This way, cadets." As Sweetie Drops turned and started walking, I fell-in behind her. 

"Scootaloo?" I heard Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom's voices and then the pounding of hooves as they rushed up—then the hooves falter. When I looked back, Sweetie Belle had dropped her boxes.

"Hey, girls. Sweetie, do you want a hoof with that?" I asked.

Looking relieved, Sweetie Belle gave me a nod. "I tried to tell Rarity I wouldn't need all this, but she insisted I needed three ball gowns in case there would be dances. Three! Then she wouldn't let me leave without bringing my new hat, and I don't want to ruin it here!"

"Relax, cadet. We can put all that in storage for you." Along with hearing Lyra's voice, I saw her golden light pick up all of Sweetie's things. "Does anypony else have anything they'd like stored?"

Tons of foals passed over things that their parents had obviously made them bring. I watched as everything right up to musical instruments were passed over to Lyra for storing. When everything was put away, Lyra closed the door and led everypony to the barracks. 

"Alright. This will be where you sleep while here. There's enough room for nearly three times as many of you, so I don't want to hear about fighting for the top bunk, got it?" Lyra looked around us all. I knew what kind of reply she wanted, but I also didn't want to stand out. When a few foals mumbled something in reply, Lyra shook her head. "I said, got it? This is the bit where you get to shout."

I was about to give the reply she wanted, when a colt I didn't recognize shouted, "Sir! Yes, sir!" He had a yellow coat like Apple Bloom, but a deep blue mane and tail—oh, and he was a unicorn. He was also just a bit taller than me.

"That's what I want to hear. Can you all try that?" Lyra asked.

"Sir! Yes, sir!" The colt's and my shout came out and echoed around the barracks while everypony else's was a little softer, but Lyra looked happy enough with it.

"Okay, we're going to have to work on that, but for now it's fine. Let me continue the tour." 

We followed her around, and while everypony else was paying close attention, I was watching them pay attention. The colt from earlier looked really focused on everything, but there was something I noticed about him—he had muscles that showed he did more than the usual amount of work. 

We looked around the kitchen, the training rooms, and even got a quick peek into the adults' barracks—which were exactly the same as ours but with bigger bunks a bit further apart. I hadn't actually looked into this area, so poked my head around to look at everything. 

When I noticed Lyra leading us away, I looked around everypony again and saw the colt looking back at me. He froze for a moment, then nodded. What did it mean? Should I nod back? I did, trying to keep my own the exact same as he'd used.

Lyra cleared her throat to get everypony's attention. "Alright, cadets, we're going to go for a little run. No matter what you do in life, build up your physical wellbeing will keep you ready for anything. We'll be keeping things slow today, so I can judge your ability, but I hope to have you all able to do a full gallop by the end of the course. Now, let's go!" 

Sweetie Belle bumped into my left side. "I am so glad I've been running with you."

I rolled my eyes at her as we started into a trot. "Hey, you did the work all on your own. I just ran beside you." 

"Yup!" Apple Bloom slipped in on my right side and moved easily, her own maximum pace faster than Sweetie Belle's, not that we'd pushed past a trot yet. "Who knows, we might all get cutie marks in bein' guardponies!"

Cheering with my friends over the prospect of getting our cutie marks, I glanced to one side and saw that colt. On his flank was a cutie mark of a shield and spear. I boiled over with envy. It was like everything I'd been through was for nothing that somepony could get a soldiering cutie mark so easily!

"Hey, are you gonna speed up?" Apple Bloom's voice jerked me from my anger.

Realizing everypony was speeding up to a canter, I followed suit. "Sorry."

"What's the matter?" Sweetie Belle, who was keeping her own canter pretty well, sounded concerned. "You're not normally like this."

"I just want to get my cutie mark," I said, then quickly added, "I want all of us to."

A little frown creased Sweetie Belle's cheeks. "We'll get them eventually. Not everypony gets theirs when they're smaller."

I glanced over at the colt again. "Yeah but I—"

"Oh." Apple Bloom bumped me with her shoulder—which wouldn't normally have done much but I wasn't ready for it.

I broke stride for a moment and had to fight to get my pace back in order. "'Oh' what?"

"Sweetie," Apple Bloom said, "I think Scootaloo's got a crush on somepony."

"What?!" Sweetie Belle and me shouted at the same time, though my shout was higher pitched and louder than Sweetie Belle's.

"Keep up here for a sec. I'm gonna go ask him what his name is." My jaw dropped open as Apple Bloom swerved through the crowd of foals, getting closer to the unicorn.

"Him? You're special someponies with him?" Sweetie Belle asked, her voice rising in pitch. "He's so—Hrmm. He is kinda cute. In a dashing and strong way."

"He's not—" I said, just as I saw Apple Bloom start to plow her way back over to us. Earth ponies…

When Apple Bloom reached us, she had a huge grin. "His name's Firelance."

Firelance. Okay, that was a pretty cool name. "Did he—?" I bit back my question.

"Did he ask your name? He sure did. I told him, too." Sounding smug, Apple Bloom almost seemed to prance along in her canter. "Didn't have time to ask him anything else, but he didn't ask for my name, if'n you catch my drift."

"I don't like him, I just—" Ugh. Now I couldn't even remember why I was angry with him. "Did he really want to know my name or did you just tell him?" The words had spilled out. It was stupid, and I couldn't take them back, but I don't think I'd ever listened to anything so carefully as I was for Apple Bloom's reply.

"He asked me."

"Okay, cadets, this is enough for most of you. If anypony wants to try another lap, at a gallop, shift to the right and get your hooves ready!" Lyra's voice drowned us all out.

To the side I saw Sweetie Drops, and she was opening her mouth ready to shout. "Everypony over here who wants to take a break!" 

"That's enough for me, I think," Sweetie Belle said, breaking to the left. 

"I'm gonna try to push another lap. I've been practicing a good gallop lately, time to put it to the test." Apple Bloom, like me, shifted to the right.

Firelance moved up to my side—where Sweetie Belle had been. There was only six of us lined up behind Lyra, including three other colts who didn't look to have half the definition in their muscles as Firelance did.

Why was I looking at his muscles?!

"Hey. Scootaloo, wasn't it?" Firelance nodded over to Apple Bloom. "You run a bit?"

Lyra didn't shout anything, she just broke from her canter into a gallop. The three of us moved easily into a matching stride, and so did two of the other three—the third colt stumbled and fell over in the grass.

"Sometimes," I said, trying to not let on everything.

Apple Bloom snorted at that. "Are you kiddin'? She runs morning and night every day." 

"Every day, huh? Just like in the Guard?" He was barely even breathing hard at the pace. Wait, he knew the Guard run morning and night? That means he must know somepony in the Guard.

"Yeah. Lyra and Bon Bon are kinda my parents. Long story." Kinda my parents? They were my parents. Ugh, could I possibly say the right thing for once. "You know anypony in the Guard?"

"My mom. Dad was too, but he got injured pretty bad before I was born. We run." His voice cracked when he talked about his dad. I wonder what happened? "Wait, Sergeant Lyra and Sergeant Sweetie are your parents?!"

Okay, time to just say it. "Yeah. They are." It felt good to just not tack anything on that.

Firelance's eyes widened a little. "Wow, that's pretty awesome. It explains why you're—uh—I mean you have—" He snapped his mouth closed.

"I think that will do me!" Apple Bloom said in a loud voice. She dropped her pace just enough to fall back and then sped up again as she ran toward where Sweetie Drops was.

Leaving me alone with Firelance. I had a momentary desire to rush after her and kick her. Kick her a lot.

"Come on, Cadets. Let's stretch those legs. Last pony back to the line has to help in the kitchen tonight!" Lyra shouted. 

I knew what she wanted. Stretching my muscles, I stretched into that longer gait that was still a gallop, just with more pegasus in it.

Firelance seemed to struggle to get it, but after a few strides he seemed to be keeping up with me. It was kinda weird to have another foal keep up. When I looked at the other two colts, they were gone. 

"Just two of you, huh?" Lyra asked. "I know Scoots can keep this pace up, but wouldn't have figured a unicorn could. Got some pegasus in you?"

"M-Mom's a pegasus. Dad's a unicorn." His voice strained and struggled. He was fighting to keep up with the two of us. It was pretty awesome.

Lyra didn't seem bothered by the speed at all—her longer legs meant she wasn't even doing more than a normal gallop for her. "Ha! Just missing an earth pony and you'd have a bit of everything. How're your spells? Know any good ones?"

I only barely held back my giggle at seeing Firelance trying to speak. "Maybe wait until we aren't running crazy-fast to ask?" I asked.

"Ha! We're almost done. There they are." Lyra nodded toward where Sweetie Drops and all the other foals were standing around. "Let's start slowing now." Her pace slowed to a canter—which still had us at a gallop, but only barely.

Eventually we worked down to a trot as we neared the group, then finally a walk. Okay, so Firelance struggled, but he actually kept up with me at a hard gallop. That was kinda cool. 

"Now we're all together again, I want all of you breaking up into three groups. Pegasi with Surprise, unicorns with Lyra, and I'll take earth ponies." Sweetie Drops walked off to the side a bit, which left us all looking between her, Lyra, and Surprise. 

"Well, that kinda splits us up a bit," I said. I realized that though I'd stopped beside Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, Firelance was on my other side. "I mean—"

"Hey, we'll have to meet up after this and figure out what each class gets taught that's different. It was cool to meet you, Scootaloo." Firelance turned toward Lyra, only to have Sweetie Belle trot to catch up and walk with him.

"Soooooo," Apple Bloom said, "how was it?"

I stuck out my tongue at her and set off to stand with Surprise—trying to ignore Apple Bloom's laughter behind me.

There was only four pegasi, though I was pretty sure that after word spread that a Wonderbolt was teaching here, that number would go up. There was two more fillies and one of the colts who'd tried to keep up at the higher speed gallop.

"This looks like everypony. Why don't we do some introductions?" Surprise looked around our little group. "My name's Sergeant Surprise, you can call me Slowpoke if you like."

"Is that your nickname?" the colt asked.

"Close. That's my flight name in the Wonderbolts. Commander Spitfire gave it to me when I kept slowing down to check out—When I kept looking around." Shifting her legs, Surprise looked embarrassed about something. "What's your name?"

The colt looked embarrassed too. "Daffodil Dreams."

I mean, it was a cute name, but I guess if he wanted to join the Guard at some point, it might seem a bit odd. Then again, I'd heard so many stranger ones that you'd never expect to be a soldier. 

"You next." Surprise pointed a wing at me.

"Scootaloo, ma'am. Friends call me Scoots," I said back.

As her wing moved, the other two fillies said "Sun Shine" and "Wing Flare".

Surprise nodded to that like it all made sense or that she knew who they'd be from the start and was only asking to get us to know each other. "Okay. Has anypony had experience working with their own inner magic?" When I raised a wing—not realizing I'd be the only one to do so—she gave a curt nod. "Well, you'll have to just work along with us, because that's what we're working on today."

It shouldn't have been a surprise when she produced five of the snakes that Trixie made. It was a struggle not to giggle when she asked us to move our focus around our bodies to guide the snakes. I had mine zipping all over and doing little jumps as I got it to leap into the air.

Surprise noticed. She walked over to me and tapped my shoulder while "Scoots, since you seem to have this bit down, would you care to show us how to compact your size with the magic?" 

It was one of the things Sure Fire had been able to teach me. Focusing on my magic, I drew it down smaller and smaller—but still flowed it around my body. Thin lines in my bones and feathers. Everything that was me was drawn out and fine—though my body still looked the same.

"Good form. Who taught you this?" Surprise sounded impressed, which almost broke me out of my focus on being small.

I didn't know if she had any inkling of the plan I'd cooked up for Princess Celestia. Did she even know I'd been getting trained by the Royal Guard? Damn, I'd been spending too much time with Lyra, for sure. "Corporal Sure Fire, ma'am."

There! I saw the little twitch of one eyebrow. She knew who Sure Fire was. "Great. I'm going to try and hit you now, just to demonstrate how effective this is." She waited for me to nod before she rushed at me.

It was ridiculous. She was about double my size and about four times my weight, but she took a swing with her hoof regardless. It was coming for my head, but I was ready for that. Leaning forward slightly, I trusted in my pegasus-nature to let the hoof go sweeping down from the top of my head and along my back as I closed with her and brought my own hoof up to her breast. If I'd had hoof-claws on, that would have been a fight-ending move.

"Can any of you tell me what she just did there?" Surprise asked. She had a big grin on her snout.

Daffodil pointed at me. "I mean, she ducked." 

"No she didn't. The hoof just didn't hit her," Wing said.

"But that means she had to duck. The hoof was coming for her face!" Sun waved her wing at me as if I would back her up.

Wing had gotten it right, though, and I wanted to make sure she knew it. "I didn't duck, I was just too small to hit."

"You're not that small," Daffodil said.

"It's not physical smallness. Scoots spread her magic out through her body, then focused it down tight. I can barely even feel it—nice work. Tell Sure Fire he's doing good work next time you see him." Turning back to the others, Surprise gestured at me with a wing. "But can any of you think of a good way to stop a pegasus who's done this?"

Sun Shine rubbed her hoof on the ground and seemed embarrassed about raising her wing.

"Yes, Sun?" Surprise asked.

"If she spreads her magic out thin into lines, shouldn't we use a weapon that can work perpendicular to the lines?"

"Exactly! You can focus your magic on being long and thin too, or you can use a weapon to do it. The haft of a spear can be more useful than the point for this." Again Surprise turned to me. Was she going to try attacking me? "Scoots? Come at me and try to hit me like that." 

"Yes ma'am." I was a bit nervous. Surprise seemed well-trained, and seemed to know what this was all about, but I had been training with the Royal Guard. Focusing, I brought myself small again and charged at her. Just before I reached her I felt that she too had shrunk her magic lines—even smaller than mine. 

Without her wings being spread, my targets were her forelegs or neck—and I didn't plan to go for Surprise's throat. Darting in as close as I could, I brought my leg forward. At the last moment I twisted myself so I was sideways in the air and my leg was perpendicular to hers.

Our legs connected, though I kept from delivering any force through it. Just after the hit I was still turning in the air and braced to roll and get my hooves back under me. "Like that?"

"Exactly like that. Nice work finding that angle. As you can see, this technique gives you a lot of advantage if you're going to collide or connect with something. Your magic will strengthen your body so that even a crash from high altitude will leave you unharmed. Now, let me show you how to do it."

I could have ignored the rest of the morning. Surprise was drilling the others on how to use the shrinking technique, but I figured if a Wonderbolt was going to do the teaching, I was definitely going to listen—even if I did know it already.

Turns out it was mostly the same as how the Sure Fire taught it. Still, I spent the time working on my own focus and trying to do other things while maintaining the small nature. 

When it came time to break for lunch, I felt really worn out. It was odd, not like running-tired, just drained. The mess hall was barely a third full, but I think everypony was just as hungry as me. The unicorns all looked drained like Lyra had made them cast magic constantly, and it was even crazier to see the earth ponies looking ready to wobble on their hooves.

That's when I realized where I'd seen this before—whenever Lyra used too much of her magic, or messed herself up with it. Slumping down at a table, I realized I did not like this feeling at all.

"Hey, this seat taken?"

My head jerked up and I almost bumped into Firelance. "Uh, no!" He was carrying a tray with food on his back. Wait, he was carrying two trays!

"I saw you hadn't gotten anything to eat yet." Lifting the two trays from his back, he set one before me. His magic was spluttering the whole time, and I could imagine that Lyra had probably pushed him to his limit already. "You don't mind?"

More than a little nervous, but overruled by my hunger, I shook my head to him. "Nope. Not me!" As I straightened my head back up, I spotted Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom across the room. They both had trays in front of them, and both were watching me with big grins.

I wanted to grind my teeth. What I actually did was reach for the knife and fork with my wings. "Did they send you over?" I scooped up some of the mashed potato with the fork and shoveled it quickly into my mouth.

It was almost like it dissolved into raw magic. I groaned a little and completely missed Firelance's answer. When I looked up at him, he laughed.

"They didn't tell me to come over, but I did ask them if you would be cool with it. Uh, do you really live with Sergeant Lyra?" He used his hoof to hold a fork, which made me think he'd really done a number on his horn.

"Yeah." I'd had to gulp down the food I was eating, but the second mouthful had been even better than the first. "Let me guess, she made you all work extra hard and now you can barely lift a fork?"

"She's like a firehose with magic. She explained how she built up her stamina, but that must have taken years and years of work."

I only nodded since I was halfway through another mouthful. I picked up the glass of water on my tray and took a long sip. "I've only really seen her have problems with it a few times, and it wasn't really because she overdid anything. One time she tried to teleport Sergeant Sweetie Drops while she'd grounded herself."

Firelance's eyes narrowed to points. "Ouch. Mom told me once about how she and her partner were trying to help a drunk griffon get home one night. Well, it turned out the griffon's friend thought they were trying to drag him off somewhere, and the friend tried to grab her partner their magic. She said he grounded and the stallion was in hospital for days."

"Your mom's a pegasus, right?"

"Yup! Dad's a unicorn, which is where I got my horn from. He—" I saw that look of pain again in his face as he tried talking about his dad.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it." Reaching my wing out, I didn't even realize I was patting him on the back with it. How many pats was being a good friend and how many were—Drat Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "Both my original parents died. They were kinda adventurers."

I don't know why, but once I started talking about them, the words wouldn't stop. I talked about everything, spilling all the stupid stuff I'd done while living alone right up until Lyra had let herself into my life.

"Dad was in the monster hunters. Mom said he was one of their best magic users. There was this thing that they were trying to hold back. He had to use his magic to keep it from attacking anypony. They stopped it, but it literally sucked the magic out of Dad." My wing, still over his back, twitched and I found myself giving him a little hug. "And you know what? He didn't try to stop me from coming."

We ate the rest of our lunch in relative silence. He used his hoof to hold his fork while I used my free wing. From the corner of my eye I spotted Lyra approaching us and carefully drew my wing back from Firelance.

"Hey there, cadets. Hope morning exercises weren't too taxing?" Lyra sat down across from us, and I just knew she was looking at Firelance holding his fork with a hoof.

"You ground us up hard so our natural regeneration would improve. You also used it to teach defensive tricks too, I bet. At least, that's what Sergeant Surprise had us learning," I said.

Snorting, Lyra raised an eyebrow at me. "She had a trick you hadn't picked up already?"

"Not yet, well, not exactly. She gave me some tips on how to make my small shape a little tighter, but she had to teach the others how to do it at all. I spent my time trying to focus on keeping small and doing other things."

"Multi tasking is important," Lyra said with a nod. "What about you, Firelance, pick up any tips?"

"Let's see. Don't try to race against a pegasus. Don't try to show off my magic to an E.U.P. Guard sergeant. There's probably another one, but I can't think of it now." He had an edge of laughter in his voice that was so different to when he talked about his dad.

"We're going to go for another run after lunch is over. Make sure you get whatever drinks you need. Firelance, you were last coming back from the earlier run, you'll be reporting to the kitchen." Lyra stood up.

"You need an extra hoof?" I asked.

Lyra smirked as if she knew something I didn't. "Only if you want to give up a bit of time to slave away in the kitchen with us."

"Sounds good, actually." Looking aside to Firelance, I asked, "What do you think?"

The sadness from earlier was gone and he nodded. "Sounds good!"

With Lunch done we went on the run Lyra had told us about. It wasn't so much one to wear us out as to just get our bodies working, I think. I caught back up with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, but they wouldn't stop giggling at me.

Rounding back to the camp buildings again, I realized Lyra was missing from the run. And I could see why now. The wicker armor was all laid out in neat lines—except for one. Should I have been surprised she would bring my actual armor out when Lyra liked showing off so much?

"Welcome back, cadets! Next we're going to teach you how to get hit safely. Please line up and stand beside a suit of armor." By the way she stood before my armor, I kinda figured she was going to make a show of this.

Well, why not? I was proud of my armor! I'd had to work my tail off to get it, and now I'd get to show it off. What I didn't expect was for another foal to run over and stand beside my armor as if it was theirs.

"What's going on, you think?" Firelance asked. "Is that a special prize for the best foal?"

"Not exactly." Walking up, I could see Lyra looked a little confused as to the situation. "Hey," I called, "can you let me put my armor on?"

The unicorn filly spun around and glared at me. "I got here first! This armor is mine!" I realized that even if she looked older than me, and a little taller, my armor would kinda fit her.

"Copper, I think that is Scootaloo's." Standing on the opposite side of my gear from her, Firelance pointed with a hoof to the back. "It's pegasus armor. Also, her parents are our instructors."

Copper looked determined still. "Well of course it has wing holes. If they made it so anypony can wear it, it would have to."

Much as I kinda liked that Firelance was sticking up for me, I didn't really need it—even if she was older than me. "Look, you can wear it today if you want, so long as you can get the helmet on."

When Copper's horn glowed silver and she lifted up the helmet, she saw exactly what the problem with that was. She tossed it at me. "It's not fair!"

"Ahem." Lyra stepped closer. "This is Scootaloo's armor, but I had another little announcement. The pony that we think shows the best improvement—at the conclusion of each year—will get their own suit of armor."

Everypony started talking at the same time. It was like Lyra had lit a fire inside every foal there. While they talked, I picked up my gear and lifted it onto my back with my wings.

"You need any help with that?" Firelance asked just as I wiggled and got my wings through the holes for them. "Huh, guess not."

"Ha. I've been practicing getting this on and off on my own for ages. Let me know if you need help with yours." It was a bit cocky, but I didn't care. This was my armor and I knew how to wear it and take hits in it.

Of course, he used magic to put his wicker armor on, but I kept catching him looking at me while I got mine strapped down and in place. I couldn't exactly hold it against him, my armor was really cool after all.

"Now"—Sweetie Drops looked around all of us and her eyes came back to me with the kind of evil grin I'd come to associate with a rough workout—"I need somepony to volunteer to help me demonstrate how to safely get hit while wearing armor. One of the requirements for this punching bag—I mean valued position—is that you're wearing metal armor."

Everypony laughed and looked at me—I did too, at least the laughing bit.

"Come on, step up here and show off your undented armor." It was a joke, but I knew too well she could easily destroy my gear as if it were tissue paper. Well, not quite tissue paper, but it wouldn't take her a heck of a lot of effort to body me into a cube of uncomfortable steel. When I walked up, I knew to stand off to the side so that everyone could see me, which earned a nod from Sweetie Drops. "The most important part of working in armor is getting used to the weight. If you can't move easily in your armor, it'll only get in your way.

"Now, I know Scootaloo can move almost as fast in her armor as out of it, so I'll only hold back a little." She turned to look my way now, and just when I expected her to charge at me, Lyra passed her a quarterstaff. "The next most important thing to remember about armor is that it will only save your life if it is still in good condition. If Scootaloo takes hits straight on from a heavy, blunt weapon, her armor will get dented in and create weak spots. So, always move aside from strikes if you can—armor works best against glancing blows."

An earth pony holding a length of pole snug under one foreleg shouldn't have been able to move as fast in heavy armor as Sweetie Drops did. Like a Royal Guard lance, the pole flew toward my breastplate with deadly precision. Using my wings I shifted sideways just enough for the pole to connect at my shoulder and deflect off and under my wing.

The next jab was toward my leg, but I expected that—this was a standard training pattern. To protect my legs I pumped my wings and jumped a little. It wasn't enough to fly, but it was plenty good enough to support me while the staff missed me again.

Now I knew the plan, I knew how she wanted me to react—not that I moved before her staff did each time, but at least I knew which way to shift so she could speed up.

It was practically dancing. I dodged around in the correct steps, while Sweetie Drops led. We both knew the dance perfectly so it seemed a bit of a blur. I was still getting sore, though, because as good as my armor and dodging was, she was hitting hard.

Even after the pattern ended I kept light on my hooves in case she decided to start over. Instead, Lyra walked over and shook her head. "You girls need to slow that down so everypony can see those steps. Start again and I'll keep time."

Lyra started banging two heavy sticks of wood together, creating a loud clocking sound with each strike, and on the third beat Sweetie Drops started again.

We danced slower, which was harder. I couldn't use my wings without breaking tempo, so had to stick to the earth pony form of the defensive motions. It wasn't exactly showing off, but I could feel Firelance watching me, which spurred me on to keep perfect time with the beat.

When we finished our little dance, Sweetie Drops tilted her staff up and turned to the crowd. "Now, form up into three groups. You're going to learn how to dance."

Lyra walked up to our group and grinned around at us. "Looks like you get to learn from me. Alright, did all of you pay attention to how Scoots stood at the start of the exercise? The second time, that is."

Everyone shuffled into position, though a few watched me to see my stance so they could copy it. Not that it mattered if they did—copying it was what Lyra wanted them to do.

"You really know your stuff." I thought it would have been Firelance whispering to me, but it came from my other side—Copper. "Sorry about earlier. I got really excited."

"No sweat. I got pretty excited about my armor too the first time I got it. Watch your left-back hoof, you need to fall back onto that if someone tries to come at you directly." I used my wing to nudge her hoof to a better position.

She looked about to get angry, and for a moment she opened her mouth and I expected her to shout, but Lyra seemed to reach our spot in the line at just that moment.

"Good leg-placement, Copper Fluff. Keep it up, Scoots. Firelance, shift your back-left leg a little." Lyra moved on down the line.

"Thanks," Copper Fluff said.

Biting my lip as I moved through the stances as Lyra called them out, I managed to reply, "No sweat. Do you, uh, know Firelance?"

"We met in the morning in the unicorn class, that's it. He couldn't stop talking about you." Copper was openly watching my legs now as we moved through the positions. "And given the only thing you've asked me about is him, I'm going to assume the feelings are mutual."

I had no idea what she was talking about. "Huh?"

Copper laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

"Okay, now that we're through those, why don't you try going through the ones you can remember yourselves?" Lyra brought out her sticks again. "On the third strike, I want you to start. One, Two, Three!" 

Only about half the group managed the first stance—Copper and Firelance nailed it, and so did I.

"It's okay if you watch each other and learn. Learning's the important bit here. It took me almost three days to work out this full drill, and I was a lot older than you were. Alright, you're all in the right stance, next one."

We spent four hours on the stances. Everyone was getting them mostly right by then, but that's when Sweetie Drops walked up to our group. "Listen up, cadets, those who were assigned KP duties, fall in with me."

When only Firelance stepped forward, I quickly moved to walk with him. Sweetie Drops and Lyra both looked at me, but Sweetie just shrugged and led us off toward the buildings while Lyra's group absorbed half of Sweetie's.

"What are you doing?" Firelance asked in a whisper.

"Helping. I know that drill by heart, anyway. Might as well have some fun cooking." I ignored his shocked look and raised my voice. "What're we cooking?" 

"A hearty stew, some bread to mop it up with, and a self-saucing pudding recipe—no, not that kind of pudding." The last she had to have said for Firelance's sake, since I knew what she was talking about. "I've got plenty of stock already heating in our biggest pot, I just need you two cutting up vegetables for it while I sear off the onion and garlic."

The kitchen wasn't huge, but it had plenty of room for the three of us—even wearing armor. 

"Alright. All those vegetables need to be peeled and chopped up into pieces about"—Grabbing up the nearest kitchen knife with her hoof, Sweetie quickly and easily cut a carrot up into small cubes—"that big. It all goes in the pot here. I want carrots in first, then celery, potato, and then I want you to wash all those beans and dump them in."

I picked up a knife with my wing and got to work on carrots. "Put all the extra bits we don't toss in the pot here," I said, pointing at a tub between us.

"Why's that?" Firelance was much slower at chopping vegetables, though he was better than nothing.

"That's how you make a stock. All the off-cuts means you don't use so many actual vegetables." He watched me scooping up the first three carrots I chopped before I dumped them in the huge pot.

He followed along, and while I think it was kinda cute that he tried, he wound up chopping less than a third what I did. We dumped in carrots, then moved onto the celery, then the potato, and just as we were tossing in the washed beans Sweetie Drops was sizzling away a huge pan worth of onion laced with garlic.

"Do you—uh—help like this a lot? At home, I mean." He stepped back from the bench, setting the knife down and seeming to relax a little.

"Often enough, though Sweetie and Lyra usually like taking care of the cooking themselves." I cupped over my snout with a wing. "They really like cooking together."

He looked about to say something, then he cleared his throat. "Well—I mean—That is—When you cook with someone, I guess you get to spend time talking to them and getting to know them."

"Yeah. Running, too." I looked at the pot and over to Sweetie. "Are we done?"

Sweetie turned and looked at us with a smirk. "Looks that way. Why don't you head out and run some laps before dinner? Try not to disturb the others with their training." She picked up the big pan with her hoof and tossed the onion and garlic a few times.

Walking out of the kitchen, I nodded toward the circle we'd run for breakfast and lunch. "Come on, try to keep up."

I knew he wouldn't be better at running right away—that's not how bodies worked—but I didn't try pushing him too hard. After all, I wanted to talk to him more. "After this I need a break to do my wing exercises."

"Wing exercises? I've never seen a pegasus need to do those before."

"My wings have never worked properly. Something to do with missing tendons. Long story short—"

"Why short? Tell me what happened." His interrupting me was surprising, but I guess we had time.

"I went on a holiday with Lyra and Sweetie to another world. They had different magic there, and anypony who goes there who doesn't have a cutie mark already turns into a bat pony." The memory of my time in Batstralia would never dim. My first time really flying with my own wings. "If I'd gotten my cutie mark while I was there, it would have meant I'd always be a bat pony."

He was looking at me like I was crazy.

"What?" I asked.

"You have got to be kidding, right? A bat pony?"

"I'd ask Lyra's mom if I were you. She is one, after all. So is her sister." He still didn't look convinced, but I couldn't exactly prove bat ponies existed without showing him one. "Anyway, we came home and I was still a blank flank."

"That's…" Firelance looked a little worried and a little confused. "That's kinda an insult where I'm from."

A year ago I wouldn't have had the guts to call myself a blank flank, but here I was—a Cutie Mark Crusader! "Ha! Not where I'm from. Well, okay, it kinda is, but we took it back. Being a blank flank just means you have more life ahead of you."

"Huh. Never really looked at it like that." His eyes drifted back as he slightly turned his head—looking at his flank, I guess. His cutie mark was pretty cool—a spear and shield—classic Guard marking. "And that fixed your wings?"

"It fixed my tendons. But now I'm missing out on about five years of flying that would have been strengthening my wing muscles and those tendons. So I do stretches. Cloud Bank—that's my doctor—said I can start gliding practice soon, and then in about a year I can start trying to fly."

He was quiet for nearly a quarter of a lap. I let him be quiet because he looked like he was thinking on something, and I knew (thanks to Lyra) that you don't interrupt a unicorn when they're thinking. "You've done more with your life before getting your cutie mark than most ponies ever would after getting theirs."

"I mean, most of it comes from being with Lyra and Sweetie." Sweetie's name, as was happening more and more lately, confused me with Sweetie.

"Mom mentioned Lyra once. She said something about her being a problem solver. What is that? I thought she was just a sergeant."

Opening my mouth, I barely managed to stop myself before spilling it all. "She works for Princess Celestia, like, directly. Her rank is only so far as she helps the Guard train new unicorns. If Princess Celestia has a problem, she talks about it with Lyra and a few other ponies, then they work out a way to solve it. That's kinda common knowledge, but there's so much more to her.

"Helping ponies with problems would be her special talent if it wasn't for her lyre cutie mark. When she found me, I—I wasn't doing good. I was living on my own and trying to not deal with my original parents being—being dead.

"She basically adopted me. I mean, the house is still technically mine, but it's our house. Lyra and Sweetie—" It was still hard to talk about, but for more reasons now. "They're my parents now." Four words. Just four words that felt so strange and so good to say.

We were running around at a good gallop, though it was Firelance's gallop, not mine. He was quiet until Lyra flagged us down to begin slowing up. "She took you to this other world in the hope you'd get your cutie mark there, right?"

"Yeah. Something like that. Didn't quite work—she said it was because I was destined to be a pegasus—but I got to fly for the first time in my life, and it set things up so I could get my proper wings working." 

As we drew up close to Lyra, I dropped from a trot to a walk and then dropped to the grass and started doing my stretches. Firelance looked at me for a few seconds before Lyra cleared her throat.

"Don't sweat being late to dinner. I hear there's plenty to go around." Lyra kept looking at Firelance for some reason. "You can head-in, Firelance."

"I'll keep Scootaloo company out here, if it's okay?"

The grin on Lyra's face said that she knew something, and even while doing wing-ups I could see her enjoying whatever the secret was. "I wasn't asking, cadet. I need to discuss some things with Scootaloo."

"O-Oh!" Still, he looked at me with a grin before taking off at a canter for the dining area.

Lyra snorted and bumped my shoulder with a prod of her magic. "You stopped your wing-ups to watch him? How serious is this after just one day?" 

"What?" I got back to my stretches. "What do you mean?"

She snorted. "Sometimes I forget that for all your maturity, there's some things that will take time to work out. I'm sure your friends will ask you that too, so you probably want to come up with a good answer."

I couldn't follow what she was talking about and it didn't make sense. "I'm almost done, anyway."

"Don't tell anypony else, but Princess Luna will be making an appearance tonight. Make sure you get to sleep early and don't stay up all night talking with anypony." When I paused to look up at Lyra, she laughed again. "If you don't tell me straight, I will… I'll eat all your Vegemite."

Her face went serious in the time it took me to finish saying Vegemite. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me. I've eaten worse things than that. Last week Sweetie Belle cooked lunch—and I choked that down with a smile." I glared at her—this was no time for bluffing.

"Ugh. Applejack told me about that. Apple Bloom was sick for two days." Reaching her hoof up to her face, Lyra pressed it to her forehead. "Alright, you win. The truth is"—she looked around like she was worried somepony would overhear—"Firelance has a crush on you."

"Huh?"

"Have you been paying attention at all? When you were galloping around, he was watching you. I had to yell at him nearly constantly during the first training period because he kept looking over at the pegasus group when he should have been practicing using up every last drop of his magic. Finally, he jumped to your defense when Copper Fluff was about to take your armor. He didn't hesitate for a moment—I don't even think he cared if it was yours or not." 

She was saying things, and I could remember them happening, but it didn't make sense. "Hold on. What do you mean? He was barely able to keep running when you made me gallop first thing, when I got my armor, he already knew it was mine, and he was just admiring it."

"And you didn't stop watching him, either."

Of course my memory started a veritable slideshow of images—every time I'd looked at him. It was a struggle to shove them aside. "So? He has his cutie mark, I just…"

"And you stopped doing your stretches to talk about a colt."

She was right. Well, I can fix that right now. Turning to my back, I leaned on my wings and used them to lift me in inverse-wing-ups. "So?"

Lyra walked around until she was standing with her own head over mine, but looking upside down to me. "What I'm saying, you stubborn pony, is that he is pretty cool. He was straining hard to keep up with you, but he did. He was distracted all morning, but he was still the best out of the unicorn foals. When he was relegated to cutting up vegetables, he did the job as instructed. But do you want to know the thing I like about him most?"

I gulped and shook my head.

"When he realized you didn't need protecting, he let you defend yourself." Lyra stepped around me and started walking away. "Come on, you've done enough stretches."

Now I just wanted to do more—just so I could get a bit angry—but she was right. I rolled over to my belly and, bracing my legs, was up and moving in one smooth movement. "S-So, are you saying he has a crush on me?" Where did that stutter come from and why was I so alert for an answer?

"Yeah. He does and you do."

"I what?"

"It's not the worst thing in the world. Just be his friend, okay?" Lyra's golden magic reached out to the door handle of the dining room, but she didn't open it. "But importantly, don't forget your other friends."

As she opened the door, I felt shock settle on me like a huge weight. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom might have been trying to avoid me, but that didn't mean I had to let them. "Thanks, Lyra."

I spotted Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle eating together, but there was another pony sitting between them. He was easily recognizable because I'd been staring at his stupid flank all day. I turned toward them and took a step before Lyra prodded my shoulder again. "What?"

"Get yourself some food, Scoots." She pointed to where Sweetie Drops (I had to work out a better name for one of them) was standing behind a counter with the big stew pot I'd helped fill earlier on. 

Walking over, I got a tray that had a bowl of stew, two dinner rolls, and a big glass of water. Carrying it across to where Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Firelance were sitting, I tried to attach myself to the end of the group—but I'd made the mistake of trying to put Sweetie Belle between me and Firelance.

"Scootaloo! Here, I saved you a seat!" Sweetie Belle scooted across to where I'd planned to sit, leaving the seat beside Firelance free. I looked at her and tried to judge how carefully my friend was planning this—but I realized I'd never been able to ever get a hint of what she planned before something very problematic occurred.

"Thanks." I sat down and put my tray on the table. "So, uh, how was the afternoon training?"

Sweetie Belle bounced excitedly in place. "We got to thump into each other. Lyra and Surprise had us practicing how to use our bodies to hit things, and then had us practice on each other after we'd learned how to do those dances."

"Dances?" I asked.

"She means those defense moves we were taught—though you seemed to already know 'em." Apple Bloom had to lean forward to see around Firelance, and she had a really odd expression—like she was waiting for me to say or do something.

A sharp inhale was all the warning I had of an impending Sweetie Belle counter-argument. "They are dances! You even have to do them with a partner!"

"Well, you don't have to, but it's easier," Firelance said.

That's when something hit me—neither Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom were complaining at all. "So, what do you girls think of this?"

Apple Bloom grinned and nodded her head. "It's fun."

"Yeah!" Nodding in agreement, Sweetie Belle looked really happy. It was reassuring and a surprise that my friends liked this so much. "Seeing them together is just so cute!"

Hoof meet face. "Sweetie, we were talking about the camp." I knew I was blushing. I knew that Lyra had been right. I knew that Firelance was also blushing. Why did all this have to get so complicated?

"Well I wasn't." Sweetie Belle crossed her hooves and glared at me for nearly five seconds before giggling. "It's true, though."

There was only one thing to do under the circumstances. I picked up my knife and fork and started eating. Beside me, Firelance did the same, and together we ate and ignored my terrible friends and their conversation about cute couples.

After dinner was finished, we all stood up—still ignoring two particular fillies talking about relationships, marriage, and old age together—and started filing out for the dormitory. I could just ignore them because of how much work the day had been. It wasn't any one thing, but running here from Ponyville, running laps, doing exercises, and running more laps—in armor—had me looking forward to sleep.

"Uh, do you sleep in your armor?" Firelance asked.

I stopped and looked down. "Ah horse-apples. Excuse me." I turned back toward where the offices were and spotted Lyra and Sweetie Drops standing there and chatting. Trotting toward them, I waited for them to pause in their conversation (they were talking about Princess Luna, but I tried not to listen). "I need to take my armor off."

Without waiting for either to say anything, I rushed inside and started unbuckling. As I worked, I tried to think over Firelance. He was cute, and I liked that he didn't just fawn over me, like I'd seen some stallions do with mares—he saw me as a challenge and a challenger.

By the time I lifted the armor off, I had no clue what to do about him. Turning, I saw Sweetie Drops standing in the doorway wearing a big grin. "Hey, Scoots, you better hurry to bed or you'll miss the fun."

"Huh?" I shook myself to get rid of the matted feeling of my coat. "What do you mean?"

"Just go to bed. Early start tomorrow. Shower and then more running."

Nope, not getting any answers. "Yeah, yeah." I trotted out of the offices and back to the dormitory. Walking around, I spotted where Sweetie Belle was because she made a little green glow with her horn to guide me in the dim lighting. There was a heap more beds than we needed, so we all got our choice of bottom or top bunk. The fillies were on one side and the colts on the other.

Slipping into the bed beside my friends, I felt the weariness of the day pour over me like warm honey. The moment I closed my eyes, I was out.