"You're sure?" Lyra asked.
Twilight could understand her friend being nervous. The first spell involving entirely new magic was something to be kept safe. "Very sure. I have three copies of it recorded. One for the library here, one for myself, and one I sent to the library in Canterlot."
Taking a deep breath, Lyra brought up the spell in her mind. It wanted to be cast so much she had to strain not to just let it go and make it manifest. The old mental trick involving thinking about elephants walking around wasn't something she used often, but now she meditated on it and—cast the spell again.
Just like last time it darted around and linked her to the ponies most important to her—which was a lot of ponies, then radiated outward from there. It stopped, however, just past the edge of town. The spicy-sweet feeling of friendship washed through her and, she knew, every other pony being affected by the magic.
When the spell ended, Twilight felt amazingly relaxed and happy. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance had crowned her the princess of friendship, and this magic was a pure manifestation of her element. "You used the elephants, right?"
"Of course I did. What's better for clearing some room in your head than putting elephants in it? The spell's just there, Twilight. Even just thinking about it now I know for a fact the copy I have is perfect. Is this, maybe, something to do with having made the spell?"
Twilight's mind raced at that. She thought she remembered something from a pony who'd made a spell, and it took her almost a minute of focus to remember who. "Star Swirl. That's how he knew so many spells. How he could always have the right one to hoof when he needed it."
Lyra giggled. "Because he invented so many. That has to be it."
"Exactly. Well, I'll still double-check that, but for now we can work with that hypothesis and upgrade it to theory. Now we need more spells." Looking at Lyra, Twilight couldn't help but smirk. "Maybe try for some that will be more immediately useful?"
"You say that, and yet that first spell was so effective at raising everypony's spirits that it completely shattered the magic-drain effects that the vines had inflicted. Did you figure out where they came from?"
The question reminded Twilight exactly where they'd come from. "Ugh, that's the worst bit. Discord."
"Discord!" Lyra remembered her run-in with him—she'd never felt so helpless before. "S-So you're going to petrify him again, right? Wasn't that the deal?"
That caused Twilight to slump. "Yes, but it's complicated. He planted those seeds over a thousand years ago—before he was turned to stone for the first time. So saying he's innocent of breaking the agreement is technically correct."
"The best kind of correct," Discord said.
"Discord"—Twilight slowly lifted her head to glare at him—"I'm only putting up with you right now because I promised Fluttershy I would and because I don't have the elements of harmony. We're discussing new magic spells right now—do you want me to add petrify draconequus to the list?"
"Oh phooey. You're no fun." Turning to look at Lyra, Discord let out a mirror of the same groan Twilight had a moment earlier—completed perfectly by turning his head into a duplicate of Twilight's. Transforming his head back, he pointed a talon at Lyra. "You make things extra annoying. Twilight, I demand you send this pony as far away from Ponyville as you can—now!"
Angry as Twilight was, she noticed something. "What is it about Lyra that bothers you?"
Before Discord could open his mouth, Lyra said, "Tufts, Tjinimin, Mango. Dad got upset with him last time we met. While I wouldn't exactly go crying to him, he'd be annoyed with me if you did something to me and I didn't tell him. I don't like making him annoyed."
Discord's teeth were grinding. Lifting them up from the circular stone he was peddling, Discord inspected them and put them back in his mouth. "There should be rules against this."
"There are. A lot of towns have instituted a no Discord law. They aren't actually legal to enforce, but Princess Celestia made me promise not to reform the legal system for at least five years." Despite her calmness, Twilight was intensely curious about what was between Discord and Lyra's father. The easiest way to find out, of course, was to ask. "So, what's up with Lyra's father? It's not like you, Discord, to just listen to ponies when they ask you to leave them alone."
"Well…" Lyra bit her lower lip. After Tufts explained everything to Celestia, the bat was out of the bag as it were, so she didn't feel like it was a betrayal of trust. "Tufts was—"
"Still is," Discord said.
"Right. Tufts is a god from Batstralia. Sort of. It's complicated."
"It's not just that." Discord spat the words out as if they were horribly distasteful. When Twilight glared at him, he produced a mop, bucket, and a maid-Discord to clean them up. "He's a fine chaos god, I guess, except that he's been domesticated." He gave the maid-Discord more work to clean.
Lyra managed to hold back her giggles for nearly two whole seconds, then the laughter that followed a second later removed her from the conversation.
Twilight struggled and managed to keep her reaction to the slightest smile. "Have you thought about talking to him about it? What was he the god of, anyway?"
"That's the thing." Discord produced a bouquet of snakes from behind his back, then tossed them on Lyra. "The same as me, near as I can tell."
Lyra, suppressing her laughter and picking the snakes up in her magic, shook her head. "Maybe. Okay, probably, but he's way more mellow now."
"See! She admits it!" Discord pointed his talon at Lyra.
"Your dad's a god? You never told me that." Twilight watched Lyra pet the snakes one by one. "What does that make you?"
"Me? I'm just a mare with a tolerance for the absurd and a mother who found the right guy for her well after she'd had me." Lyra shrugged. "He's been really awesome to Mum, and he helped Scoots and me make our own didgeridoos. Then there's Gara—she's an adorable little bundle of mango-destruction."
Discord's eyes narrowed and he glared at Lyra before he let all his annoyance out in a wheeze—the maid-Discord tried to chase it down, but the annoyance escaped out the window. "He's been completely trapped by the pony lifestyle. I—I feel it happening to me too. Every time I visit Fluttershy and have tea I just—"
"Speaking as an alien that adopted the pony lifestyle, Discord, it's not that bad." Despite every warning to the contrary, Lyra reached out a leg and patted Discord on the back. "You've tried the cakes, right?"
"Cakes?"
"Take this coin, go to Sugarcube Corner, and buy yourself one of the Pinkie Special cupcakes." Lyra put a silver bit in Discord's paw. "And, next time you have tea with Fluttershy, bring a tray of the cupcakes with you."
Twilight watched as Discord stared at the coin in his paw and shivered. "Also, if you did anything else like those seeds, please let me know."
"It's hard to remember all the things I did back then. I mean, I was more chaotic at the time than I… am… now." Discord vanished in a puff of self-realization and panic. Then the puff fell to the floor.
"Don't worry, I'll clean it up," maid-Discord said, using a dustpan and broom to scoop up the self-realization and panic before vanishing too.
"If I'd known having you around would have had that effect on Discord, I'd have stolen you from the Guard earlier." Laughing, Twilight looked critically at the snakes that had infiltrated Lyra's mane. "How do you just go along with all this without shouting at him? And how did you manage to keep him from getting on my nerves?"
"Bluffing. Lots of bluffing. Also, he admitted to a weakness. Fluttershy is definitely your key to having a much more reasonable Discord. These little guys are cute, though. I wonder if Sweetie will let me keep them?"
"You'd bluff Discord?"
"What are the other options? If I don't bluff, I'd probably either run screaming or do something to make the situation a lot worse."
"Right. Thanks for avoiding those two. It's just interesting seeing him recoil so much from a topic." Ignoring the snakes now, Twilight tried to collect her thoughts and get back to the topic. "Where were we? Right, more friendship spells. I like where you went with the first one, but we need more. Is there a day where you would be able to spend time with me brainstorming ideas?"
"Twilight, the whole point of this is you're my boss. You're a princess now, you get to tell me Keep your Wednesday's clear. That kind of thing. I can organize around what you need of me and ensure Sweetie Belle gets her lessons." Waving her hoof, Lyra gestured to the library. "I can help out here, too, if you want?"
"Here?"
"The library. Lending books." When Twilight stared at her with evident confusion on her face, Lyra rolled her eyes. "This is a library, Twilight. Ponies borrow books here."
"I know this is a library, but what—Oh! You mean work here? But you're a soldier. Wouldn't you…" Trailing off, Twilight fumbled for what she wanted to say. "What do you do when you aren't teaching or—or saving the day?"
"Well, I cook, I clean, I visit my parents and little sister, I take my family on holiday, I try to find problems that I can fix, and I get myself into crazy situations where somepony else is saving the day and I do what I can to make sure they do." Tickling the chin of one of the snakes, Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Can I add researching friendship as I work in a library to that? Maybe even be a guardpony for a princess from time to time?"
Twilight's brain froze for several seconds as it tried to figure out which princess Lyra was talking about—before realize it was her. "Why would I need a guardpony?"
"Because there are times, like your coronation, when you need somepony to be all official for you so you can relax. Scootaloo isn't going to be free all the time, you know." That's when it dawned on Lyra. "You know, I could teach Sweetie Belle, Dinky, and any other unicorns that want to study magic here."
Before Twilight could even fully process that, her wings shot up in surprise. "Turn the library into a magic school?"
"I mean, Inkwell is already having me teach Sweetie Belle in an official capacity on behalf of Princess Celestia's school. We—and by we I mean you—could ask if there would be a preferred pre-schooling program we could use to teach fillies and colts exactly what they'd need to know to enter the school—maybe even in an official capacity."
"But—" Twilight was having trouble keeping up with Lyra's breakneck pace. "That would be amazing. You will need to hire another teacher, though, because you won't always be available to give lessons."
"R-Right. I guess I need to think beyond being a sergeant."
"What's thinking like a sergeant?" Twilight asked.
"Sergeants solve problems with the assets they have. If we are meant to have more assets, our lieutenant organizes us to have more." As soon as Lyra said it, and saw the gleam in Twilight's eyes, she realized the trap she'd stepped into. "Wait! Don't say what—"
"Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings," Twilight said, not exactly sure how to phrase what she wanted, but she figured she could write something official later, "I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, promote you to the rank of Lieutenant."
Lyra had buried her face in her hooves. She'd pushed her wife precisely because she preferred to be a sergeant. "Why?"
"Because you need to be more than you are now. You can make bigger decisions, Lyra, and I will continue to remove all the careful little protections you've built that stop you being everything you can be." When Lyra lifted her head, Twilight booped her with a hoof. "And that starts with making you commander of my Guard."
"Why?"
"Because you needed it." Twilight used her magic to start brewing coffee. "And because I needed it. I'll do all the paperwork if you take care of any shouting. But there's one other thing."
Curiosity was always Lyra's weakness. She stared into Twilight's eyes. "You're going to do the paperwork and let me do shouting?" When Twilight nodded, Lyra tilted her head to the side a little. "What's the other thing?"
"I need somepony to teach me how to fight and how to take charge. That used to be your job, right?"
"You want me to order you around and teach you how to use your magic for combat?" The prospect had some appeal to Lyra. "Are you sure of that?"
"Yes. So far I've managed to out-think all my troubles. Even the dragon a few years ago wound up taking some puzzling to deal with. I can't be this lucky forever. Eventually I'm going to face-off against a problem that is going to rely on reflexes I don't have." When Twilight felt like she needed to add a little more, she said, "And, you get to yell at me."
Leaning back, Lyra steepled her hooves and looked at Twilight. "You know I like yelling…" She waited to Twilight to grin before continuing. "Alright. But I have a plan that should get you some good groundwork and give my replacement at the Guard a bit of a test."
Glaring at Lyra earned Twilight nothing more than a devilish grin. There hadn't been any yelling yet, but if the plan worked, that would change. A look sideways, at the mirror, initially confused her. That's me Twilight had to consciously think. The pony in the mirror was a white unicorn mare with a straw-colored mane.
"Well, we couldn't change your cutie mark, but stars are common enough among unicorns." Lyra walked around Twilight. "What do you think, Spike?"
"That she is going to have to explain to Rainbow why she skipped two weeks of flying practice." Spike raised his comic again, but peered over the top of it at the pair.
Twilight let out a snort that spoke volumes about her feelings on that. "Rainbow Dash is an amazing flier, and I couldn't have a more loyal friend, but her teaching wasn't exactly doing me any good."
"She's still learning discipline. Captain Spitfire said she'd going to make room for her, but Rainbow still needs to work on her teamwork skills." Lyra poked at Twilight, testing to see if she'd flinch and the spell would drop—but it held. "I'd recommend getting Derpy Hooves to teach you initially, then going through this again as a pegasus."
"What about earth pony?" Spike asked.
"Good point. Maybe I could find an earth pony who could teach you the basics before you go. But where would I find such an earth pony?" Lyra ducked the spellbook Twilight hurled at her, catching it and setting it back on the table. "We'd better go. We need to be at the training fields first thing in the morning."
"This is still really weird." Twilight slung the saddlebags Lyra had given her over her back and walked out of the library. She froze at the sight of Trixie. Opening her mouth, she paused because Trixie wouldn't recognize her. "Excuse me, do you know the way to the station?"
Looking at the strange pony, Trixie spotted Lyra leaving the library behind her. "Of course. You follow this street here and it's at the edge of town." Turning her attention to her old friend, Trixie smiled a little wider. "This is the new recruit you're escorting to Canterlot? Why isn't Twilight looking after the library?"
Marching right up to Trixie, Lyra hugged her. "You know how it is with princesses, all over the place. I bet she's actually just taking a holiday while us regular ponies do all the work. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon."
"You better believe the Great and Powerful Trixie understands. Don't get into too much trouble, Lyra. It'd be annoying to come and save you when I have such a cushy place here to relax in." Trixie let go of the hug and patted Lyra on the shoulder. "Go, blow up Canterlot. Trixie's sure somepony can put it back together again."
"Thanks again." Trotting off after Twilight, Lyra bumped into her side when they were abreast. "Worried?"
"About what? Weeks of grueling work, not being allowed to read, or leaving Ponyville in Trixie's care?" Twilight asked.
"All of them, but mostly the first one. Also, you'll get books to read, don't worry, and they'll be some of your favorites." It was hard to hold her smirk back, but Lyra had learned to deal with hardship. "And grueling it won't be—you just have to do a little running."
A little running.
Three words that burned in Twilight's brain as being a prime example of understatement. A little running would be a brisk trot to the train station and back with a new delivery of books. It was the end of Twilight's first day at the academy and the running they'd subjected her to was only survivable, she thought, thanks to her alicorn stamina.
The food, though, was worth the wait. It was served up on trays in the mess hall, but each little position on the tray was filled with delicious, filling food. When Twilight got to dessert, however, she pondered if quitting being a librarian and taking up the life of a Guardpony might be her true calling.
"Hey, I heard you know the old sergeant."
Twilight's attention snapped to the pegasus mare who was talking to her. She remembered her name from earlier in the day. "Yes, Cloud."
Cloud Rodeo almost pounced on the knowledge. "Is it true she got kicked out of the Guard? I heard she was—"
"What? Princess Twilight"—Twilight shook her head and only barely stopped herself from saying I—"needed her for a special assignment. She's still in the Guard."
"How'd you find all that out?" Cloud asked, her rumor-senses now prodding at every angle of this problem.
"Ponyville's not exactly a big town. The princess runs the library there and needed a unicorn to help with some—stuff. I don't know exactly what." It was hard to salvage her friend's reputation and not just outright tell Cloud what had really happened. "You should probably ask Lyra if you want to know about what they're doing. Or the princess—but I hear she's a bit busy these days."
Barking a laugh, Cloud shook her head. "I figured, what with becoming a princess and all that."
"Yeaahh." Twilight struggled not to laugh. "Must be a lot of work, I guess. Not that I'd know. Hey, do you know when we'll learn spellcasting?"
"Tomorrow, recruit." Sergeant Long Shift, having spent quite a few years in the Royal Guard, had been excited to be tapped to do work training new recruits. He'd spent years dealing with recruitss who had needed a lot of extra skills to be taught only to find the quality improve dramatically recently. Getting to continue that lineage was a mark of pride. "You'll be going through initial assessment so I can ascertain how much you need to learn to become competent."
Twilight recognized Long Shift, but only peripherally. His armor was the biggest give-away that he was Royal Guard. What really struck Twilight—something that was true for the first time in years—she had a teacher again. There was somepony who knew things about something that she would be learning from.
It wasn't just exciting, it was life-changing. Twilight perked up in ways that made thinking about anything else absolutely impossible. That old need was back in Twilight's life—the need to truly learn from somepony.
She could see, now, how much that need had driven her to odd reactions and an odder relationship with Celestia. Twilight had clung to her old teacher for every drop of educational approval she could get.
And that's when Twilight realized she had been focusing inward a little too much. Long Shift was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and she swore she could hear Cloud trying to hide a giggle. "S-Sorry, Sergeant."
"I asked you what your specialty was. You have a good cutie mark for magic, Recruit Sparkleshine, so I assume you have had some experience with it already?" Lacking in discipline, Long decided, but discipline was something that the academy could teach. He had not a lot of hope for unicorns who lacked in skill with magic.
"Y-Yes, sir!" Twilight had learned fast during the day that yes in the Guard always came with a sir or ma'am after it. "I have done some training with Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings in memorization and magic capacity." It was exactly what Lyra had told her to say when asked. It gave away nothing about her actual capacity or skill, but implied that she'd spent some effort working on it.
There was a little part of Twilight that wanted to dispell her disguise and spread her wings, proclaiming it was all a prank—but that part was drowned out by the combined voices of three years without a direct teacher.
"Ah, the rumor was true? If Lyra has spent some of her time with you, I believe you'll be able to impress me with your abilities. As you were, Recruits." Turning for the sergeants' table, Long felt a little excitement at the prospect of having a recruit recommended by the previous training sergeant.
"So you really do know her? I guess if he wasn't freaked out by you knowing Sergeant Lyra, that means she probably isn't disgraced." Cloud tapped her chin with one wingtip. "Oh! What did you get distracted about?"
"Just remembering stuff. It's been a while since I did any schooling. Is it weird to like learning?" The worlds slipped out of Twilight without her say-so.
"I mean, if the sergeant was a bit younger, I might be into studying too, but he's like twice my age." Cloud waved Twilight's actual question aside in favor of the one she thought had been asked. "But, hey, don't let me get in your way."
The answer just earned a sigh from Twilight. She was about to correct Cloud when a loud throat-clearing subdued all the conversation in the mess.
"Welcome, recruits, to the E.U.P. Guard's training academy. My name is Captain Stiff Peaks and I hope you enjoyed my cream cake for your dessert." Stiff let the implication sink in before continuing. "For the next two weeks you will be in my care and the care of my sergeants. They will teach you the skills expected of all Guardponies between short bouts of light exercise. Some of you may wish additional training, and for that Sergeants Long Shift and Bluebelle as well as Captain Sweetie Drops will be each taking just five applicants. If you think you have what it takes to live up to their expectations, and you want to give the Guard your all, consider talking to them at the end of this week—if you're still here.
"Your mornings will start at four AM sharp and you are expected to be asleep at ten PM. Once I am done talking, you are going to run around Canterlot and, when you pass the entrance of the castle, you will look the part of the best recruits this academy has ever seen because Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be looking you over." With his short introduction done, Stiff finished with, "Dismissed."
"You heard the captain. On your hooves and get them moving!" Sweetie's voice had shouted those words so many times that just thinking them caused her voice to rise. Leading the recruits out, she wondered about the odd unicorn her wife had recommended.
Twilight wasn't a morning mare. The sun wasn't even up yet, but somepony had turned the lights on in the barracks regardless. The only thing for which she was thankful was that they'd been given six hours sleep.
The run around Canterlot, like all the rest they'd done, had been at break-neck speed. She galloped and kept pace with the others and thought she caught a surprised look or two from the sergeants. She'd been so focused on the running, then eating breakfast, that when she finally was put in a building with a half dozen other unicorns and Long Shift, she barely realized what was about to happen.
But, for Twilight Sparkle, she did realize when books were passed around. What she hadn't expected was to see Lyra's name printed as the author. Her brain fuzzed for a second as she sought the mental focus to recall all the books in her library—and she didn't have this one: Flexible Magic Casting by Lyra Heartstrings.
"Open the book to page ten, scan the list of spells there, and tell me what you can cast." There were two unicorns in particular that had already caught his eye—both of them trained by Lyra Heartstrings to some extent.
When Firelance finished reading the list, he felt excitement boil inside him. He had never read this book before, but he recognized the list and only read it to ensure it was absolutely the same. "Sir! I can cast every one."
Everypony turned to face Firelance. Twilight, out of all of them, breathed a sigh of relief—she could not only cast all the spells, but she could cast several variants of each.
"I had heard of you, Recruit Firelance. From Princess Luna's school, if I remember correctly, and you're at the minimum age to sign up for the E.U.P. Guard. I expect to hear from you at the end of the week." Long Shift looked around the rest of the group. He expected at least one more to have a good coverage. "Recruit Sparkleshine?"
It took Twilight a moment to remember that meant her. "All of them too, sir." Three of the other four, Twilight discovered, could cast less than a quarter of the spells—but another mare said she could cast sixteen of the twenty spells.
Spending a little more time on the list, Twilight examined it for a theme or at least some sort of recognition of what it would mean. There was cloudwalking, teleporting, two freezing and three heating spells, spells for making gusts of wind, four spells for advanced telekinesis, and two good horn blast spells. Except for the horn blasts, none of the spells were what Twilight would consider usable as weapons.
"There are two focuses for unicorn training. The first is what we like to call specialists. Your cutie mark and whatever magic it grants you usually gives a large advantage in one particular aspect. The second is the modern, E.U.P. Guard's flexible spellcaster. The commanders of every branch were consulted in what they would want out of their new recruits—and this was the result.
"This book is the current primary material covering all expected uses of flexible spellcasting and is a training device so that you can learn the full effects that combinations of simple spells can have. For example, a cloud."
Twilight had seen ponies use magic rapidly before, but the way the sergeant did so was like water flowing down a fast river. Chilling the air to condense water, heat spell to create steam, cloudwalking spell—and Long Shift stepped onto the cloud—then a series of small gust of wind spells and he circled around the group.
What impressed Twilight was they were all weak spells. Nothing complicated. The sixteen year old in their midst had said himself that he could cast them. But here those spells were doing something that very few unicorns could—fly.
Excitement filled Twilight at the prospect of learning entirely new ways to use the magic she already possessed. She made a promise to herself to get her own copy of Lyra's book—then wondered if there was anything else she'd written.
"I need another week." Twilight was, ostensibly, running laps of Canterlot under the frowning glare of a sergeant of the E.U.P. Guard (Twilight had vowed to remember that she'd promoted Lyra and would ensure the paperwork was filled out when she was done). "Sergeant Long Shift approved my request for extended training."
"I told you this would be good for you. Look at you—running like a Guardpony, excited to learn advanced combat tactics—you'll be a fine member of the E.U.P.A. Guard." Even at a gallop, Lyra could giggle at the joke. "I can cover another week. Trixie said yes, by the way. She's happy to help teaching foals magic, but she said on one condition—she gets to teach them sleight of hoof too."
Picking up on Lyra's gag with the Earth pony, Unicorn, and Pegasus Guard name, Twilight wasn't surprised at Trixie's extra requirement. "I figured she'd want to do something like that. It's pretty much standar—Wait! You never told me you wrote books." Not just one, Twilight had found out, but three. "I expect three copies of each by the time I return. First-run prints of each—signed—and two copies for the library."
"I can probably swing that for my newest fan. How did you like the training?" Lyra realized she felt nervous. The books had been reviewed by all parts of the Guard and had gotten good feedback, but this was Twilight.
"Firstly, it wasn't what I expected. I thought they would fill my head with a hundred kinds of horn blast and tell me to go melt things. Your method of using simple spells to build complex effects is—you have probably heard this from everypony who's read them—brilliant. It puts powerful magic in the hooves of almost any unicorn. Of the group studying with me, only one pony couldn't memorize all the spells needed." Discussing books and magic theory were literally two things Twilight could do all day long—with no pony present who could follow along. Actually having a pony who understood her rants was a new experience.
"Don't get me wrong, Twilight, a good horn blast can still be effective, but not everypony can blast hard enough to break even a simple shield spell. I just want to make sure all unicorn guardponies have the tools to be useful, no matter the circumstance." Seeing Twilight geek out over her very own books made Lyra tingle in excitement. "So you worked through the first two already, now you have to start on—"
"Sergeant Long Shift gave me a copy of the third one already, I've read it." It was a foregone conclusion that, given a book, Twilight would read it. "What I want to know, though, is why all this? These are your training techniques—why didn't you teach me them yourself?"
"The most important reason?" When Twilight nodded to her, Lyra smirked. "To get you in the know with the Guard protocols and people. When we reveal what we've done—and we will—Long Shift won't remember you as the powerful princess who can blast away mountains. He'll remember you as a recruit who put her all into learning and doing things the right way. He'll know he can trust you to stand at his back and protect him while he protects you. And, I promise you, that kind of feeling spreads through the Guard. By the end of the month every single Royal Guard will know you went through training. By the end of the year everypony in the guard will know of the corporal who also happens to be a princess."
Staring at Lyra for a good ten seconds, Twilight let out a little exclamation, "Huh." But, despite all the planning and insight that Lyra had just shown, Twilight could still pounce at her and hug her friend. "You really do take a long view of things, don't you?"
"I prefer to think of it as I look at what you asked of me and what I thought you meant, and then extrapolate what is really important. It's worked for me pretty well so far. So you want another week? That makes it harder to announce to your classmates who you are. Most of them will have shipped off to their chosen branch by the end of the week." Lyra shrugged. "I think Trixie can take care of an extra week. When you get back, though, we have some things we need to organize."
Twilight stood in Stiff Peak's actual offices (not the kitchen where he did most of his best work), without her disguise on. He would have loved to throw Lyra right out of the Guard for this—if he didn't think it was an excellent idea too. Not that he'd give her the satisfaction of knowing that. "So you spent three weeks of training, denied another unicorn a position to learn advanced strategy, and now have come to crow about it?"
The glare from Captain Stiff Peaks should have wilted her, but Lyra knew him well enough to know this was his blowing off steam. "You know and I know, sir, that neither of the remaining two unicorns would have been suitable for that training." When Twilight opened her mouth, Lyra shook her head and cut in. "And we certainly aren't here to crow about anything—except for how genuinely good the Guard training is."
"Buttering me up won't work, Lyra. I've known you far too long to let you get away with that."
"Ahem. But you haven't known me long, Commander." Twilight avoided ruffling her wings for worry that might make him pay attention to them. She liked that Stiff was still comfortable around her. "I agreed to Lyra's plan of putting me through training for several good reasons. It will give me familiarity with the ponies who I will be working with the most. There are things coming—probably worse than the changelings—and harmony has made me into an alicorn to head that off. I can't take this kind of warning and not prepare myself and Equestria to deal with it. The second most important thing this training has given me is a new understanding of how to fight. I don't want to just throw alicorn levels of magic around. I want to be smart with my tactics—and throw alicorn levels of magic around, sir."
Logical and smart, the argument wore down on Stiff's anger—but it was the last word that finally broke him. It had come out naturally, with ease, and respectfully enough that he knew it was a corporal saying it and not a crowned princess. "What now, then?"
"I think this training has been a good start for Twilight to understand how she needs to think and act. I'll be training her further myself. Can we put down Corporal Sparkleshine as being a reservist, with all the regular requirements that entails?" Lyra asked.
Stiff stood up and walked past them to the door. "Sure, but only if you come with me to the mess for the graduation celebration—as you both are."
Lyra shrugged and looked to Twilight. "I guess you get to go and be a princess for a bit."
"Remember, acting captain, you have a role to fill too. Come on." Twilight paused at the threshold and saluted Stiff, waiting for him to return it before completing. "Thank you for understanding, sir."
"'Acting captain'?" Stiff asked, a big grin forming on his face. "Serge—sorry, Acting Captain Lyra Heartstrings, I thought you were comfortable as a sergeant?"
"Well, it turns out that when a princess takes a close interest in your career, things get up-ended." Walking alongside Stiff, the tension now gone between them now a resolution had been found. "Still, studying new magic, creating new spells, teaching filly prodigies magic, sorting books in a library… it's a tough life."
Squinting his eyes at Lyra, Stiff let out a sigh. "I can't tell when you're bluffing and when you're telling the truth anymore. I must be losing my touch." Walking up to the door of the mess, Stiff cleared his voice. "Let me go in first. They of all ponies deserve to know who you are and were."
Twilight shrugged and waited. After a minute, Stiff Peaks opened the door for her and Lyra. Walking in, Twilight was happy to see a lot of shocked faces that were, despite the stunned expressions, smiling. "Captain Stiff Peaks told you all?"
Firelance managed to nod. "Y-Y-Yes, Your Hi—" His eyes flicked to Lyra as she came in, then back to Twilight. "Yes, Corporal Sparkleshine."
"I want to apologize for the deception, but I needed to—to have an edge. All that's happened so far has been by the seat of my pants, but I don't want it to be. I want to know how to act and deal with problems, and the Guard was definitely the best choice for that. Getting to know you all"—Twilight looked around the other recruits and the trainers—"has shown me how strong Equestria can be if we all work together.
"Sergeant Long Shift, you are by far one of the best teachers I've ever had—and you know what kind of list I'm working with here. You worked through Lyra's books, but you always were so careful to fully explain everything in a way that almost any unicorn could master."
Straightening, Twilight brought her hoof up to her brow in a salute—and held it, waiting. Only when the trainers all saluted did she lower her hoof and finish the gesture. "I hope to make you proud of me."
Sweetie stepped forward. She gave her wife a special glare, but relaxed a little when she looked back to Twilight. "I see more than a princess in front of me. I see a somepony who will be one of the strongest, smartest, wisest rulers Equestria has ever had. I see a mare who I'd be happy to have fighting at my side or back, but most of all I see a competent member of the Guard."
When Sweetie looked back at her, Bluebelle walked up. "It's a smart move to train with us. You wanted to be the best at smart engagements with foes who will push you—that's the Guard. We get pushed on every day of our lives, corporal, but we trained, learned, and mastered the art of pushing back. Like the captain here said, you're a Guardpony."
"I should have known." Long Shift stepped up last. "Firelance was, by every account I'd heard, going to be the shining light of this group of recruits. He has trained for years to stand here beside you. As far as training goes, you have everything in the books"—he nodded toward Lyra—"perfect, but you weren't the best unicorn in my group. You hesitated a little too much in the sparring sessions against other ponies—but I guess I see why now. Corporal, you are certainly an above-average spellcaster, and with a little more training you might be as good as Firelance is with his blasts."
There was silence in the room. Twilight stared at Long, but he didn't break his expression of honesty. She nodded to him, then turned and looked at Firelance. It was obvious, now she thought of it, why he was better with a horn blast—it was literally his special talent. "I guess I will need more training then, sir."
"Good. See that you get it. I could suggest a training sergeant by the name of Lyra Heartstrings. If she can't get you up to speed with your reaction times, nopony can." Long tilted his gaze toward Lyra again and winked.
"Acting captain," Stiff Peaks said. "I am sure her commander will file all the required paperwork as soon as she's back in her office, but from what I understand it's Acting Captain Lyra Heartstrings."
The peals of laughter silenced everypony in the room except the one laughing. Lyra looked at Sweetie with her drollest glare and sighed. "That's uncalled for." The words didn't stop Sweetie from laughing.