Chapter 1
"How does that work, though?" Luna looked up from her book and pointed to a passage on the page with a feather. "These machines can move simply with the power of magic?"
A thousand years of history to catch up on. A thousand years of apologies to make. There was only one pony she felt truly comfortable being alone with over the weeks since her return. "I can't do this. How can she expect me to be ready to rule in just two more months?"
"Remember our deal," Joyce narrowed her eyes at Luna, "Your Highness?"
Shuddering at the title, Luna slumped down onto the pillows a little more. "It's these facts. How in Equestria am I meant to catch up so much in so short a time?"
"You don't. I should have asked my daughter to help with this, but she has her hooves full tutoring a princess and a whole town of unicorn foals. The trick to ruling is you make decisions—informed decisions. Your sister hired me to help her because I know several topics intimately and I know when to say I don't know." Flicking the cover up just a little with one wing-finger, Joyce shuddered. "Why'd you pick Great Feats of Railroad Engineering Volume IX?"
Tossing her wings in the air, Luna flopped over to her back. "I don't even know! This wasn't meant to be so complicated. Back when we ruled together, we would listen to what ponies wanted and make a decision if it sounded good or not. Most ponies just wanted to help and it was easy to say yes to them all."
It was exactly as Joyce had suspected. Luna's size compared to the other two alicorns was far closer to Cadance's than Celestia's, which in Joyce's mind implied that when Luna had been banished, she'd been in her late teens. "You could announce a recruitment process for an advisor, but I wouldn't suggest that. You need somepony who understands the politics in Canterlot and Equestria with—"
"You." Luna squirmed on her back so she could look at Joyce. "You're the only pony I trust—except for my sister, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie." Her list had expanded greatly in that first day of her return, but it was a list that hadn't gained any new additions.
"What about Sharp Fang, Phil, and Fire Blossom?" Joyce was referring to the bat ponies who'd come when Nightmare Moon had first returned. "Despite disliking being summoned, they keep returning to Canterlot."
"I don't know. It feels wrong. They told me they were doing it voluntarily now, but what if my power is still influencing them? What if they want the old me back?" Rolling back to her belly, Luna was surprised at the large wing folding itself over her back. In her worried state, however, she didn't shy away from Joyce.
"That's a conversation you need to have with them. I think they like you, personally, and I also think they see you as needing their support. Perhaps you do. Let's forget about engineering for now. Trains work, they need a lot of ponies working together to keep them working."
"I—I'll try." Luna bit her lip a little and let out a slow breath. "Could we have a test run first?"
"I can organize that. I'll find some ponies who can ease you into it." Joyce felt confident that she had Luna steered in the right direction.
"Why do I have to do this?" Lyra looked at her mother, then behind her mother to Luna, then back to her mother.
"Because you are a problem solver and I have a problem. Also, Cadance and Shining both had something mysterious they needed to do without any notice, and I couldn't even find an off-duty Royal Guard. Also, I want somepony who won't feel threatened by Luna." Trying to be somewhat discreet, Joyce pointed at the pages Lyra was holding with one of her wings. "Just read through that and follow the cues."
Looking at the script, Lyra's mind quickly tried to extract all the comedy potential it could from it—then she discarded what it came up with. "Alright. But I have to head back to Ponyville by three. The weekend starts tomorrow, and I need to catch the train to Stonecrop."
"You can leave at two-thirty. Now, places!" Trotting over to where Luna was standing, Joyce smiled enough to show off her fangs. "Okay. Lyra will be playing the part of several petitioners. You have to work out which ones are legitimate and which ones are hiding things. Remember, ponies can still be telling you the truth as they understand it, but…"
"… but that doesn't mean their claim is valid." The phrase had been one Joyce had drummed into her, and Luna knew it by rote. "Okay, so where is my throne?"
"There!" Joyce pointed a wing toward the seat perched on a few wooden crates. "It's the best I could do, but it should give you the perspective to look down and—"
"It will be fine. Thank you, Joyce." Not a trace of sarcasm in her voice, Luna spread her wings and gave a few quick flaps to reach the throne. "Now… SEND IN THE PETITIONER!" The Royal Canterlot Voice was, of course, the most official Luna had at her disposal, and she considered it important to follow this exercise properly.
"Uh, hi!" Her head still ringing from the shout, Lyra tried to will herself to walk toward Luna's dais with limited success. "I'm here about the, uh…" A glance down at her script showed Lyra all she needed to get her head back in the game. "… apples in Ponyville. There's been a bunch of bad growing seasons, and we need you to talk to the weather ponies to fix it."
As simple as the situation seemed, Luna had expected Joyce to try tripping her up from the start. She gave a careful nod to show she heard Lyra's words and was thinking them over. "You must tell the weather ponies they must help your farm. Do whatever you need to." After a few moments, Luna looked over to Joyce. "Was that right?"
But before Joyce could say anything, Lyra cut in. "This was a setup. Getting me to talk to the weather ponies is good, but you need to try to calm down a little. Sure I had a bad apple harvest or three, but there must be a good reason why the weather ponies are doing what they're doing."
Luna narrowed her eyes at Lyra. "You speak well. YOU WILL BE MY NEW ADVISOR!"
Her ears tucked back, Lyra pondered actually stepping away too, but remembered before she did that this wasn't a normal pony she was talking to. "Uh, I—"
Joyce cut in, "Lyra is already performing several duties for your sister, Luna. She is not free to advise you—"
"Mum, hold up. I was going to say all that, but there's more. I can suggest ponies who would make good advisors." Bowing her head to Luna, Lyra hoped she could avoid any further loud voices—but she had her ears pinned back just in case. "They were classmates of Twilight's and mine."
The news excited Luna. She liked Twilight Sparkle and she liked Joyce Mango. That Lyra Heartstrings was Joyce's daughter extended that like to her. Therefore, anypony that was Lyra and Twilight's classmate would have to be likewise worthy of respect. "I would appreciate that."
It was a struggle for Joyce not to flick her tail in delight at solving further problems for Luna. "Alright. Next scenario."
It wasn't exactly terror that kept ponies away from the table in Donut Joe's that day. The correct emotion would probably be shock. Everypony in Canterlot had heard various levels of true retellings of Luna's story—some ranging from he still being Nightmare Moon to her being the true ruler of Equestria—but all knew that something important was going on.
Luna sat on the stool provided at the table and sipped at her third milkshake until it too made the sad sound of a drink reduced to bubbles at the bottom of a glass. "Ah! Another!" Luna raised her hoof high as if her simple request was a royal decree. "In the meantime, Lyra Heartstrings, when are my new advisors arriving?"
Lyra spied the first walking through the door and looking around. Moon Dancer wasn't an easy mare to approach and even harder to encourage to try a new project. "Moon! We're over here." She waved a hoof at Moon Dancer.
"'Moon'?" Luna turned around and her eyes widened. All around them ponies were trying to look like they were doing something else, but Moon Dancer was trapped in her gaze. She spotted Moon Dancer's cutie mark and felt a surge of pride and excitement.
Seeing that Moon wasn't approaching, Lyra got up and walked over to her friend. "This is Princess Luna. You might have heard of her?"
The world started percolating in Moon Dancer's head again. "N-Not really. I've been studying the effects of sleep-deprivation on an analytical mind by repeatedly spending late nights in a private library of late, and didn't exactly pay attention to goings on. There's another alicorn now?" Her sarcasm came easily as a social defense against everything.
Rolling her eyes, Lyra gestured to Luna. "Well, this is Princess Luna. If you persist in calling her Princess Luna, she will promise to fill your dreams with horrible-tasting cream pies." The last part Lyra said with enough of Luna's tone that she was sure the princess would get the joke. "She has a problem—she needs your help."
"You need my help?" If there was one thing that would cut through Moon Dancer's social defenses, it was hearing her help was needed. "What can I do?"
"I need advisors. I'm woefully out of touch with society and only have a vague idea how Equestria functions." Luna hated to admit it, but she was desperate at this point. Her time spent practicing governance with Lyra and Joyce had worried her more with each case they'd brought to her.
The information still wasn't making sense to Moon. "Okay, that sarcastic comment before wasn't exactly wrong, though I was researching the effects of chaotic magic on lawful magic constructs. What is the significance of a new alicorn princess needing advisors?"
Lyra opened her mouth to explain, but Luna cut her off. "I was a bad pony. My sister, Celestia, used the Elements of Harmony to exile me." She had to give Lyra a hard look to keep her from butting in. "I returned and tried to exact revenge, but a group of friends used those same Elements to break my anger."
"It's more complicated than that!" Lyra couldn't keep her mouth closed. She'd listened to the whole story from her mother, now it was safe to do so, and wanted to defend Luna's side of the argument. "You deserved at least a bit of that a—" But now there was a hoof in her mouth and she couldn't finish. A very dark blue hoof.
"I will not have that argument. Regardless of the situation that sparked my anger in the first place, I let it grow out of control. I have been given a second chance and I intend to take it. Now my sister wants me to take on some of her duties." Luna drew her hoof back from Lyra's mouth only when Lyra stopped trying to talk around it.
Mentally masticating the facts she'd been given, Moon Dancer tried to assemble them into something cohesive. "Princess Celestia's sister? But that—that would mean you're—"
"Technically over eleven-hundred years old, yes," Luna said. "And, I'm out of touch."
Moon sat down on a stool at the table just as a chocolate milkshake arrived. She ignored the blue glow that pulled it over to Luna and kept her focus on the problem. "But you're a princess. You were born to… Hrmm."
"Could we get another milkshake, please?" Lyra asked Joe as he started to turn. "Strawberry malt." Her eyes flicked to Moon, who seemed completely oblivious to the order. "Yeah, strawberry malt was always her favorite."
"You need ponies who can help advise you on the technical aspects of problems you face so that you can break things down to simple terms. I can help with some of that, but I'm not—Twinkleshine! She'll try to downplay it, but there isn't a single engineering project in Equestria she hasn't explored. That's somepony for purely theoretical and purely physical, you just need one for political and you should be fine." Moon looked at Lyra and together they said, "Minuette."
"Minuette?" Luna asked.
Moon jumped in to explain just as a milkshake arrived for her. "Princess Celestia's bane. All through school she studied every political trend and decision Princess Celestia made for the last thousand years. Now she publishes a weekly broadsheet paper where she investigates every single move made in Equestria and beyond. It is read by everypony who is anypony, and not only doesn't she spare our former teacher from the truth, she's often critical of the princess' decisions. If you want a pony who will tell you exactly what the political ramifications of a situation are, it's Minuette."
The information dump surprised Luna and took a few moments (spent drinking her chocolate milkshake) to absorb. "So, you intend for me to take on this seditious pony as my advisor on politics?"
Lyra nodded. "Minuette isn't seditious. Even Princess Celestia reads her papers. She is insightful and will never compromise her logic for the sake of somepony's opinion. You don't have to do what she says, but if you ask her for the reasoning in any political situation, she'll give every side without prejudice. If you ask for her opinion, she'll give that too."
"For her to be truly seditious," Moon said, "she'd need to do more than just speak her mind and give great insight on her chosen field."
Carefully draining her latest milkshake down to hopeful sucking sounds, Luna nodded. "I believe I understand. What you're saying is she will give me perfect advice on the current political situation, and her opinion only if I ask for it?"
Giggling, Moon held her hoof up and wobbled it side to side. "She'll give you both, but she'll tell you which is which."
"And you mentioned another, Twinkleshine?" Luna looked forlornly into the bottom of her glass.
"Mum said you were looking at railway engineering—Twinkleshine would be able to explain to you how their locomotives work, why they are built that way, and could probably design you a better one if you gave her some time." Lyra looked over toward Joe and nodded again.
That description suited Luna far more. The facts of the world had been her first choice for a reason. "And yourself?"
"My work is just about done, Your Highness." The slight frown Luna made at the form of address made Lyra grin a little more. "You're going to need to get used to that. Besides, you can't threaten me like your sister does—yet. Anyway, what I meant to say was that I'm a pony who finds problems and tries to find solutions for them. Moon Dancer, Twinkleshine, and Minuette are your solution here. You wouldn't believe some of the things I've signed myself up for of late."
"Oh?" Luna was about to say more when her next milkshake arrived.
Lyra smiled still wider to see Luna so excited for another drink. "I have a filly to take care of, a slew of unicorn foals to teach magic to, and on weekends I've been training a princess how to use magic. Here I thought that getting married to a mare in the Guard would be a big step in my life…"
"You're married?" Moon Dancer stared at Lyra.
"You need to get out of the library more often. I'm married, raising a foal, and I moved to Ponyville." Each statement seemed to Lyra to make Moon's jaw drop more. "I was only joking, but maybe you do need to get out more. Do you want to come to Batstralia on the weekend?"
Moon sighed with happiness when she was given a lifeline—a topic she knew. "Batstralia? They have libraries, right?"
Even Luna couldn't keep from giggling at the wistful note in Moon's voice. "You enjoy books?"
"Does a bunyip like water?" Moon winked at Lyra, trusting her friend to understand the joke.
"Err, does it?" Luna asked.
Twinkleshine had been an easy sell, Lyra had to admit, but this was less so. She sat across the table, in a coffee shop, from Minuette. She studied her friend's face. "Why not?"
"Because nopony would take me seriously anymore. Doing this is my calling, Lyra. If I gave advice on politics and Princess Luna acted upon it, I'm no longer ensuring the truth is revealed—I'm making policy." Minuette picked up her small cup of coffee and sipped at it carefully. She was in shock and she needed the sweet kiss of caffeine to keep her sane. "And before you know it, I'm mad with power. What you're asking me to do is literally advise a princess on actions she should ta—"
"Advice that Princess Luna is perfectly within her right to ignore, refuse, or lock you up for. You honestly think you could manipulate her into your evil designs without her realizing?" Quirking her eyebrow up, Lyra lifted her own large cup of dark brew to her lips. In the Guard, coffee had been provided to anypony who needed it at any time of day, and while the coffee in this particular shop was good, it wasn't amazing.
Minuette stopped and let out a sigh. "No, I don't think I could, I worry I could. When I found out Princess Celestia read my rags, I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. Should I lie in them or keep telling my own truth." The last word came out, as it always did from Minuette, sounding like a fact of life. "I feared she'd take my advice and use it as policy, but she didn't. It was a relief. Though, I have seen her using some of it."
"You're so full of yourself, Minuette." Lyra tipped back the coffee and let it drain down her throat. "Okay, if you won't do it, I won't force you. Who do you recommend to take your place?"
Her eyes narrowing to points, Minuette stared through Lyra, the coffee shop they were in, and even the city beyond. "You… You monster."
Lyra just smirked.
"You know I won't. I can't. Everypony in this city is an idiot when it comes to politics. I might as well name you as soon as recommend the likes of Fancy Pants or Blue Blood." The names were just two of the nobles that Minuette suspected were playing political games already. "They'd destroy Equestria from within."
"So? If not you, Luna needs somepony. Even if they're incompetent."
"Ask me again tomorrow." Downing her own coffee, Minuette started to stand.
"No. This is a one-time-deal. I'm going to meet a foreign princess tomorrow to teach her magic, and I won't be back until Monday. You tell me you're in or out right now so I can go to the second name on my list… or not."
"Give me exactly one minute. If I don't get back to you in that time, you can ask whoever you like."
"Deal." Lyra watched Minuette stomp off to the bathroom of the shop. Turning her attention back to the tray of cakes that sat uneaten on the table, Lyra selected a coffee-chocolate cake and started levitating it up.
"BUCK!" the shout came from the bathroom and was only barely muffled.
Lyra smirked as she saw a furious Minuette storm out and over to the table again. "You have fifteen seconds."
"You play dirty, Lyra. You played dirty in school and you play dirty now."
"Six seconds."
"I'll do it." Minuette huffed out the words and sat back down. Levitating one of the cakes up, she took a deep sigh and let out her annoyance. "So, how's married life treating you?" The decision made, her fate sealed, Minuette was already putting Lyra's manipulation behind her—after all, Minuette would have advised Lyra to do exactly what she'd done. She could respect that.
Relaxing now the stressful part of their conversation was over, Lyra ran back over the content of it and mentally shook her head at how strange her friends were. "It's great. Living together, comfortably, and always knowing she'll be there for me is just the best feeling in the world."
"Rumor is you have a filly, too. How'd that come about?"
Grinning behind her coffee, Lyra nodded with every indication it shouldn't come as a surprise. "Shouldn't your parents have explained that?"
While she didn't appreciate Lyra's sense of humor as much as Sweetie did, Minuette gave the joke a smile. "Ha, ha. Okay, I take it you adopted her. Thanks for setting the bar of Princess Celestia's Students just a little higher."
"Oh come on, Minuette! Twilight Sparkle just literally saved the world from eternal night and Equestria from a succession war. You want a shadow for us all to live in, it's living in my home town now." Rolling her eyes comically, Lyra was glad she got a chuckle from Minuette. "And that's not even adding that she's running the local library and raising a young dragon."
"Yeah. I remember Spike. So what now? You said you're teaching a foreign alicorn? Since I only know of one, and know your history, that means it's the Batstralian ruler." Minuette waved to the barista and waited for her coffee to be refilled. "Thanks."
"Can I get you two fillies something else?"
"I'll take a cupcake if you have one?" Lyra asked. "Something with a lot of chocolate."
"Better make that two," Minuette said.
"Two chocolate surprises, coming up!"
With the order out of the way, Lyra turned back to Minuette. "I know it might be hard to believe, but I'm actually sorry to drag you into all this."
"Pfft! Yeah, right. Between you and me, I think it's probably for the best. I was going a little stir-crazy with all the things I was finding out. Did you know Princess Celestia supposedly has several vaults full of books that she doesn't let anypony read? Why even keep them?" Chuckling at what she thought should have made Lyra laugh, Minuette stopped when she realized her friend wasn't laughing. "Uh, is this something above my soon-to-be paygrade?"
"Yes and no. It has to do with a curse. When Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon first battled, and Nightmare Moon knew she was about to lose, she used her anger to cast and fuel a spell that would rip from ponies' memories all hint of Princess Luna's existence. It was meant to torment Princess Celestia."
Minuette stared at Lyra for a full two minutes; long enough that the waitress arrived with their cupcakes and left again. "So it was true?"
Lyra nodded. "Was is the key word there. If anypony had read one of the books and found Princess Luna's name, the curse would have hit them. It had only gained in potency over the years."
"Curses are like that. Well, I guess I'm going to have to explore all this more and do a full write-up on it for my—" Lifting her hoof to her face, Minuette sighed. "Except I'm now working for Princess Luna, which means I shouldn't be publishing all that anymore."
Chuckling, Lyra shook her head. "She knows about your work. Ask her if you can continue."
"You're joking, surely?"
Though every joke-center in Lyra's brain lit up at the perfect straight-line, she managed to hold her face from showing it. "I'm not joking. And don't call me Shirley."
Minuette's groan was only halted by her shoving some cupcake in her mouth. The decadent chocolate treat made her groan turn to a sigh as she began to chew on it.
Taking the moment to eat her own cupcake, Lyra too was completely distracted by the treat, sharing only a few more words together before she actually needed to leave.
Lyra left Minuette to report to the castle while she headed to the E.U.P. Guard headquarters. She felt an odd sense of nakedness in turning up without her armor on. Walking up to the winged gate guard, Lyra snapped a perfect salute. "Private Lyra Heartstrings here to see Lieutenant Stiff Peaks!"
Stiffening at the two names mentioned, private Tap Dance snapped back her own salute. She'd never seen Lyra before, but she'd learned the kind of way a Guardpony moved. It helped that an appraising glance picked up on how solid Lyra looked. "Private Glitter Bug? Escort private Lyra Heartstrings to the lieutenant's office."
Glitter Bug stepped out from the other side of the gate and looked Lyra up and down. "This way."
Following Glitter, Lyra was amused by how stiff he was and how pretty his coloration. His coat was a soft red leading to a brilliant green mane and tail. It took her a moment to realize what it was about him that took her fancy—he looked like a mare. Pretty and curvy under his armor, she had to bite her lip and try to avoid checking him out further. "Join up recently?"
"Yeah. Was in the group trained six months ago." As he walked, Glitter found himself side-by-side with Lyra. "You're in the reserves, right?"
"Something like that. I joined up a few years ago, but keep finding myself coming back for little jobs and favors. Between you and me, I'm surprised they let me in the gate anymore. This one time I came over just to borrow some sugar." Keeping her face blank, Lyra started the story only when she saw the stallion who'd moved up on Glitter's other flank.
"What? Sugar? What did they do when you asked for that?" Glitter Bug asked.
"Simple," lieutenant Stiff Peaks said, "I told her to use honey and stop bugging me for recipes. Dismissed, private Glitter Bug. Return to your post." His gaze moved from the stunned Glitter to Lyra. "What does the princess want from me today, private?"
"Sir, this is a sugar run. You remember that filly I brought here several months back?"
Walking slowly to toward the mess, Stiff raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Cute little thing, couldn't fly, right?"
"That's the nail right there, sir. I've had her looked at by my mother—she's a doctor, but not a specialist—and she couldn't figure out a way forward. I was wondering if the Guard had any records or history with this problem?" Lyra knew full well why they were headed to the mess. Stiff Peaks was a pony of the Guard, sure enough, but he loved cooking.
Stepping into the back of the mess, Stiff Peaks absolutely ignored the way the staff there failed to salute or acknowledge his presence in any way except to make room—his standing orders, of course, were for them to always carry on in their kitchen. "Wing problems are an issue for any pegasus. What has been tried so far?"
Lyra quickly went through the list of things her mother had tried, then got to her own idea that had fizzled. While doing so, she fell-in beside Stiff and began helping him with prep. "Finally, I took her to Batstralia. This isn't widely known, but a foal without a cutie mark going there will slowly turn into a bat pony. If they get a cutie mark there, they're stuck that way. It was a roll of the dice for her, but fate seemed to have something else in mind."
Stiff Peaks whistled at the length Lyra had gone to. "Can you make me a caramel? Okay, so you tried all that, even gave destiny a chance, and still come to me? Have you thought that maybe it's her destiny not to fly?"
Lyra levitated over some sugar, seasoning, and a pan. "Not for a second."
"Yeah, that's what I figured. You're not the kind to give up—ever—are you?"
Smirking, Lyra started to cook. "Not for a second."
"I'll call in a favor. Commander Spitfire's been excited since your friend's showing at the Summer Sun Celebration, and she remembers who suggested them. I'll have her send the Wonderbolts' medical officer down to take a look at her. How does Monday sound?" Preparing a baking pan, Stiff mixed up a quick cookie base and spread it out.
"Monday would be perfect. You know about my current assignment? It takes up most of my weekends, but I should be back for Monday. Normally Scoots would be at school, of course, but I can keep her out for a day." Whisking the mixture that started dissolving in the pan, Lyra was comfortable judging the caramel without needing to check its temperature.
"Here's some butter and condensed milk." Stiff put the tray into the baking oven and set a timer. "I heard only that you were busy on weekends and off-limits for those days without a world-ending-disaster for a reason to counteract it. How world-ending is this situation?"
"For Scootaloo? About a fifteen out of ten. We can wait until Monday." Adding some butter and the milk, Lyra kept her whisking up on the caramel. "What are we making?"
"Million mare's shortbread. Next is chocolate." Unsurprised to see said chocolate floating over to him, Stiff began setting up a double-boiler on the stove top to start melting it. "And I can certainly understand her dilemma. Even if she can't fly, Lyra, she's welcome in the Guard."
"I didn't worry about that for a second, sir." When Lyra encountered a raised eyebrow from Stiff, she stuck her tongue out at him. "I call my wife 'sir' in the kitchen too, when she's taking the lead."
Stiff Peaks barked a laugh and used his shoulder to bump Lyra's. "I hear that. How well does she run?"
Snorting, Lyra lifted the caramel off the heat and kept whisking it. "Probably about ten times as much as a filly her size should. She manages two laps of Ponyville at a fast trot—for me."
"Speaking of. You're up to renew your training in a month. I'll arrange to have Sweetie get a week off to watch your filly." The timer chimed and Stiff leaned down to pull the tray from the magically sped-up oven. Without any protection, he lifted the hot tray out and put it on the side of the cooktop where the burners weren't lit. "Thanks," he said when he once again took over stirring the chocolate from Lyra's magic. "Can you pour the caramel out?"
"There's a training session coming up?" Lyra asked as she poured out the caramel on the tray.
"Nope, but I have something better. I have no doubt you're keeping up your physical training." Stiff added a dash of oil to the chocolate and mixed it through. "But sergeant Precise Pedagogue is out with a bad case of horn-wilt. He'll be fine, but he needs a month to recover from that and longer to be at the top of his game again."
"You can't—"
"I can. The position won't be permanent, of course, since you're not permanent staff. The rank will only be temporary, too, but you need the rank of sergeant to be a trainer." Opening the magic oven, Stiff Peaks nudged Lyra again. "Put the tray in, quick."
The oven wasn't as hot as a normal one might be, but Lyra felt something threaten her grip on the tray with her magic just as she was sliding it in. She wound up pushing it the last bit with her hoof. "Ugh, this oven just tried to gobble my magic."
"Yeah, they do that. Sorry, thought you'd used one of these before."
"Well, I hadn't, but I'll remember that for next time. Also, someone was saying something crazy." Lyra glared at Stiff.
"It's not crazy. You're the best battle-trained—and tested—unicorn at my disposal. I know you've been teaching foals, and while our recruits aren't exactly foals, I think you can step up to teaching adults." Stiff noticed Lyra's smirk and shook his head. "Who?"
"You know my weekends? It's not exactly a secret that I catch the train to Stonecrop and cross over to give magic lessons to Princess Screech. She needed somepony who was—"
"And you balk at taking on a few recruits for two weeks? You won't even need your weekends. I can count on you then?" The timer sounded again and Stiff lifted the tray out of the oven once more.
"Damn you. Alright. Name your dates and I'll be here, but don't you dare try to make this more than it is already." Lyra stepped back to let Stiff handle adding the chocolate to the tray.
"More? Lyra, if Precise quits, you're the first pony I will be calling on to fill his role—assuming you can handle this trial run." Pouring the chocolate out, Stiff Peaks smoothed it over the whole tray. "Put that in the blast chiller now."
Biting her tongue from more complains, Lyra lifted the tray up quickly opened the chiller, put the tray in, then closed it again. It gave her a few moments to think on this new revelation. "If that happens, how long would I be needed?"
"It would be full-time. Your duties on weekends could be worked around it. There would only be long hours on weeks when you're actively training new recruits. The rest of the time you would spend developing your own techniques, passing that on to existing Guardponies, and taking on any ideas they have." Stiff walked over to the chiller and stood beside Lyra. "I know you weren't interested in a full-time position when you first started, but the Guard needs a unicorn with as good a head on her shoulders as you have."
"And if I need to—"
"Princess Celestia is, ultimately, the leader of the Guard. If she wants to reassign you, she can. I will complain repeatedly and with a significant amount of handwritten letters to her personal chef, of course, but we are all hers to guide." Reaching over to the rack of timers beside the chiller, Stiff Peaks took one down and set it to ten minutes. "Will you think about it?"
"Thinking about it is free." Lyra looked down at the floor and counted to twenty slowly. "So I'll be doing that and letting you know when I get back on Monday. In the mean time, I'd do your training fortnight." When Stiff looked at her confused, she groaned. "Two weeks."
"As you know yourself, you won't be teaching more than a small group at a time, and most of those will be weeded out to remedial training for their first year of training before being made to recertify. Though given your expertise in training and a fresh angle, maybe that process could be reviewed."
Lyra groaned, but she did so with a smile on her face. "You'd love that, wouldn't you?"
"My job—maybe our job—is to ensure every recruit is brought up to speed and ready to pass into the various training courses and to certify part-timers are ready to be useful at a moment's notice. If you can help ensure more of our unicorn recruits find their potential sooner, that would be us doing our job better than expected. You have a reputation for solving problems, Lyra, and I might have a problem soon."
"How long is that going to take before I can taste it?" Lyra jabbed a hoof at the chiller.
Stiff snorted. "Fair enough. Moving on, then. It should be another seven minutes."
"Wait." Glaring at Stiff, Lyra narrowed her eyes. "Is this all a plan to get somepony to be your sous chef?"
Breaking into laughter, Stiff shook his head. "I promise you, having your help while I cook has nothing to do with my decision, though your ease around my command and the authority certain ponies have placed in you helped make it an easier one—acting sergeant."
"Oh poop." Lyra froze in her tracks, her eyes narrowing and heart racing. "Now you've done it."
"Hrmm?"
"I'll outrank Sweetie."
It was a warm Saturday morning. Lyra was on the train that had left Canterlot at sunrise, but was pulling out of Ponyville a little later—when the heat of Celestia's sun had begun to warm the world. She looked out the window and sighed. Her legs were feeling good after the normal run, and the little package of treats to her right were sure to earn her a smile from a particular bat pony she was liking more and more by the day.
"The next school holidays, can I stay with aunt Candela?" Scootaloo knew that Candela wasn't her aunt, but it was what she'd insisted on being called.
"You want to try for bat wings again, huh?" Reaching to the side, Lyra put a foreleg around Scootaloo and hugged her. "If it comes to that, and Candela is fine with it, sure."
"Can I have another piece of that…?"
"Not until we get there. I want Candela and Screech to get some." Reaching up slowly, Lyra ruffled Scootaloo's mane a little before setting it straight.
Working to check her mane, Scootaloo brushed at it with a hoof in annoyance. "Why don't you just fly us there? It'd be so much faster."
"Yeah, but I'm teaching an alicorn. It takes everything I've got to even show her the weaves for the magic she's learning. If I screw something up, I need all my magic to stop whatever horrible side effect it is I might unleash by mistake."
"Have you unleashed anything horrible before?" Scootaloo tilted her head to the side.
"You mean apart from the ticklenomicon?"
Startled and intrigued at the same time, Scootaloo's voice trembled a little as she asked, "W-What's that?"
Telekinesis was simple for Lyra. Multiple targets a little less so. Multiple targets she had to be precise with the strength on took more work still, but suddenly attacking Scootaloo from every side with tickles was something she felt obliged to do. "This!"
Eyes opening wide as saucers, Scootaloo fell sideways and started struggling to get away from the tickles. Her laughs filled the deserted train car all the way to the Ghastly Gorge station, where Lyra let up on her. "You're the monster, Lyra!"
"I can't help it, Scoots. Most of the time I'm the cool and calm Dr. Lyra, but sometimes a darkness overcomes me and I become Mr. Tickles." Holding a hoof out, Lyra helped Scootaloo back onto the seat. She noticed, from the corner of her eye, that several bat ponies were getting on the train.
Outside the window, the Batstralian Embassy building was almost half done. There were lean-to buildings off to the side that staff were using temporarily, and it was from these that the last few bats seeking a ride home for the weekend flew.
"It's not like the train will leave without them. Stamped is too nice for that," Scootaloo said.
"It's different on Earth. At least, it was when I was there. Trains had set timetables that they had to follow to the second. If this was Earth, they'd all be flying after the train as it pulls away." As the car showed signs of filling up, Lyra shifted as close as she could to the window and made room beside her for Scootaloo.
Taking one of the few empty seats, Broadperch settled herself with a yawn. "S-Sorry." Something about the mare beside her was familiar on a level she couldn't place. She didn't even know why she was apologizing to the unicorn.
"That's fine. My mum, dad, and sister are bat ponies, so I know how it can be. New to daylight-schedule?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah." Broadperch blinked a few times in surprise before her thoughts came together. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name's Broadperch, and I can't help but get the feeling I know you from somewhere."
"I'm Scootaloo!" Knowing Lyra's embarrassment about being known by lots of bat ponies, Scootaloo tried to shield her from at least one case of it.
Bumping the little hoof with her own, Broadperch turned her eyes to Lyra.
"It's alright, Scoots. Sorry, Broadperch, she gets a little defensive sometimes. My name's Lyra Heartstrings. It's nice to meet you." Counting down the requisite three seconds it took most bat ponies to jog their memories to the glut of information that'd come with their transformation from human to pony, and its accompanying knowledge of herself, Lyra watched the usual recognition dawn in the mare's eyes. "Yeah, that Lyra."
"But you—That means you're—Wow!" Her wings itching to reach out to her long-lost-big-sister, Broadperch kept them folded only by force of will. "You're going back?"
"Yeah. I've been visiting a friend in Batstralia every weekend for a while now." There was the truth, Lyra knew, and then there was telling somepony that her nation's leader was getting magic lessons as if she were a young filly. Besides, Screech was her friend. "What about you? Working all the way out here?"
"Oh! Well, you know how it is, bureaucracy lives and breathes on paper records. With computers not working so great here—or at home anymore—they needed people trained with typewriters. I'm"—Broadperch normally wasn't so open, but she found herself wanting to chat with Lyra and tell her everything—"a little older than I look."
"Me too, but not more than a few years." The train made the trip between Ponyville and Stonecrop far more pleasant than walking it, and with some talkative company Lyra was surprised to feel the train slowing down as they reached the station just outside the border. "Well, Broadperch, I hope you have a great day. Are you coming back on the train tomorrow?"
"No-no. There's some big thing happening on Monday, but they don't need me there. Long weekend!" Broadperch, despite her seventy-three years alive, had never met anyone she could talk to as easily as Lyra. She was pondering making an excuse to catch the train back to the embassy anyway, just to be able to talk more. "Is that when you're heading back?"
Lyra could practically see the interest on Broadperch's face. The truth was she hadn't minded their little chat, and was glad that she'd gained a new perspective on the changes that'd happened to her former home. "Yup. We come down here every weekend. Hey, if you're working at the embassy full time now, we'll probably be catching the same train together all the time."
The news excited Broadperch and she now couldn't stop her wings ruffling in glee. "That would be wonderful. I guess I'll see you next weekend?"
"Sure! Anyway, I have to go meet my—" The words died in Lyra's throat as the train slowed to a stop and she saw Princess Screech standing there. "So much for a low-key exit."
Mumbling and excited little screeches distracted Broadperch from Lyra and she looked around to see why everyone in the train was excited. "Oh my goodness, it's the princess!"
Scootaloo grinned wide and took off as fast as her hooves would take her for the door. The moment it was open, she bounced outside and ran up to Screech. "Hi!"
Looking down in surprise, Screech smiled as she recognized Scootaloo. "Hey there. I figured I'd meet you at the station today so you didn't have to stress with all the stuff getting into Batstralia. Where's Lyra?"
"She's coming. I told my friends about you and they wouldn't believe me! They said I was making stuff up." It wasn't her fellow Crusaders of course—Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had asked all kinds of questions—it had been when she'd told everyone in class. Nopony had believed her. "Can you come to school on Monday and tell them you're real?"
Lyra, having caught up to Scootaloo to hear the end of the story, shook her head. "Scoots, you know—"
"Actually, I'll be passing through Ponyville Monday morning. Perhaps I could stop in and take a look around?" Screech loved the idea of getting away from her planned event.
Freezing, Lyra looked between Screech and Scootaloo. "If you don't mind, this is probably the moment to tell Scootaloo her big surprise." Turning her head to Scootaloo, Lyra tried for her most deadpan look ever. "Scoots, I've arranged to get some specialist flight doctors to look at your wings. Monday. Wooo. Go me…" Not for the first time in her life did Lyra wish she had Pinkie Pie's ability to produce party poppers from thin air.
"Wait, flight doctors?" Scootaloo's eyes widened in surprise. "W-Where did you find ponies like that?"
"I talked to a Guard lieutenant and he organized for the Wonderbolts' own doctor to come and pay us a visit. But if—" Lyra stopped talking when Scootaloo rushed to her and jumped up to hug her. Catching the filly mid-air, Lyra used a foreleg to hug her back. "I told you I wouldn't stop."
Tears stained Scootaloo's cheeks and she didn't care. She hugged and hugged Lyra as tight as she could. "You—You said that. Didn't believe you. Was stupid."
"You're not stupid, Scoots. Never say that."
"But—"
"You just didn't know how stubborn I am. Now, let's head over and see Candela, then we can start on lessons." Lyra looked over to Screech and grinned. "I'm being asked to teach some other ponies how to use their magic."
"The unicorns at school. I know." Scootaloo quickly scrunched up her snout when Lyra brought a hoof up to boop her on the nose.
Lyra made sure to deliver the boop with a little sound effect to match. "Actually, the Guard have asked me to fill in for one of their instructors. For some reason they think I'm qualified to teach magic."
"Who would have given them that idea?" Screech asked with a tone heavily laden with sarcasm. Turning, she began leading the way to Stonecrop. "It's like you have experience teaching adults and children a foundation in magic."
"Who'd think that?" Scootaloo asked.
Unable to hold back her laugh, Lyra shook her head. "Yeah, yeah. He's also asked if I'd be interested in taking it on full time. I don't know. It would mean I'd be away from Ponyville more, and I kinda like spending time with the most awesome filly in two worlds."
"Well, what times will you be away for?" It wasn't that Scootaloo was worried Lyra would leave her, but she enjoyed their time together too.
"That's the thing. When training is going on, I'll need to be there before dawn and until after dusk. It'll eat each day for two weeks. It would normally be weekends too, but the lieutenant said I can keep it to weekdays only."
"Why don't you have Scootaloo go to Canterlot each evening?" The daily problems of normal ponies was a huge point of relaxation for Screech. What with her duties running a country, a normal home life was beyond her reach.
Lyra looked at Scootaloo beside her. "What do you think? Would you be able to take the train on your own if it's just to Canterlot?"
The thought that she wouldn't be up to a short journey like that made Scootaloo fluff out her wings and strut a little. "Of course. I was living on my own for ages, remember?" She turned her head to look up at Lyra. "Besides, I'm sure I could get somepony to teach me enough geography to understand where the trains go."
"Figured you would. Come on, I want to have some more of this shortbread." Lyra kept the container balanced on her back while she trotted at Screech and Scootaloo's side.
The ride back to Ponyville had failed to dull Scootaloo's excitement. Nor had the night's sleep since. She woke up before dawn and jumped out of bed—just like every day—and just as she always did she slipped over to the door to sneak out, but Lyra was already waiting. "When do you get up?"
"Earlier than you. Come on, let's go for a run. Screech might be coming through town before we head up to Canterlot." Lyra had only just beaten Scootaloo, which concerned her. Mentally, she made note to fight harder not to give up the illusion of being the best. "Rainbow should be waiting for us."
"She's really working hard, isn't she?"
"Yeah. But that's what it takes sometimes. She wants to be the best, she has to become the best." Walking through to their armory, Lyra used her magic to lift her light field armor on.
Scootaloo used her wings to help tug Lyra's armor into place and pull the straps tight. It was a morning and evening ritual that she enjoyed because she got to do some good stretches before their run. "Did you know she was friends with a griffon?"
"Huh? Really?" It was a point of pride for Lyra that she didn't need to check Scootaloo's work anymore. Her armor was fitted and strapped on perfectly.
"Yup! Her name's Gilda, and she's really mean."
"Hold up, you mean that griffon that was being mean to Pinkie?" Lyra's blood boiled a little at the memory, but she'd learned exactly how good Pinkie was at setting someone up. "Huh. Well, I guess she wasn't such a great friend if she broke the friendship over a few pranks."
Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders. "All tight?"
"Yup! You did great, as always. It's going to be funny that I'll have to teach a bunch of recruits who'll be terrible at doing this." As she led the way to the door, Lyra noticed a slightly more bouncy strut in Scootaloo's walk.
Their morning run went well, and Lyra was proud to see Scootaloo do a full extra lap than usual. When the run was over she detoured by the school, where she told Cheerilee the news about taking Scootaloo to a specialist, then made their way to the train station before any other students even reached the school.
"It still feels odd not going to school on a school day," Scootaloo said as they walked through Canterlot. "Like I'm doing something naughty."
"I mean, you're with me. So probably everything we're doing is naughty." Lyra nudged at Scootaloo's shoulder and found it more solid than when they'd first met. "You're building up some strength in those shoulders."
"Not as much as Apple Bloom."
"You wanna bet on that? She's an earth pony, sure, but I bet you know how to use those muscles a lot better than she does. Just don't try to run laps with her."
"Yeah, already learned that one. She just doesn't stop."
Lyra snorted a laugh. "Earth ponies are like that. It takes a lot of work to get more stamina than an average one, and I bet Apple Bloom is anything but average."
Scootaloo laughed. "She's pretty amazing, yeah. I told them about going to Batstralia to get my cutie mark. They were a bit upset with me for trying it alone."
As they approached the entrance to the E.U.P. Guard training headquarters, Lyra noticed both ponies at the gate snap to sharp attention at the sight of her. With a sinking feeling she knew the reason why. "I'm not—"
"Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings! Lieutenant Stiff Peaks said you're to report to his office ASAP!"
Almost working herself up to a growl, Lyra saluted back. "Just wait until I find him…"
Building up to a canter to keep up with Lyra, Scootaloo had to hide her giggles as best she could—which wasn't very well. She could tell when Lyra was serious, and this wasn't exactly it. "Wait, isn't this the kitchen?"
The smell of early-morning baking filled the air as Lyra opened the door. "That's a misnomer. This is the lieutenant's office."
"No need to salute for the sergeant in here." Stiff Peaks was in the process of checking up on his bread dough when Lyra entered. He turned toward her. "Ah, here with Scootaloo, sergeant Heartstrings?"
Lyra knew it was a reminder of this being a favor for a favor. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then snapped to attention. "Sir! Yes, sir! Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings reporting, sir!"
Snapping off a sharp salute, Stiff let out a sigh and lifted a hoof to his left ear. "I asked for that, but at least I know you have the lungs for the job. Let's go see to some paperwork and I'm sure your visitor will be here shortly." Turning back to the chefs, Stiff shrugged. "It's all yours."
Scootaloo made room for Stiff Peaks to get past her, then started following him with Lyra. She had to wonder what was going on when Stiff and Lyra both broke into giggles. "Huh?"
"You're going to fight me all the way on this, aren't you?" Stiff asked.
Lyra nodded. "Only because you made those poor ponies at the gate jump out of their armor to salute."
"Fair enough. You'll be pulled to active duty next week, but I decided to shunt through the paperwork a little early. You're officially an acting sergeant. I get to make a case for this later today to Princess Celestia herself." Stiff walked into the offices of the compound and made his way past his secretary. "Send the Wonderbolt's doctor through as soon as they arrive."
"Yes, sir."
Giving a quick smile to the young stallion working behind the desk, Lyra followed Stiff through to his actual office.
"The paperwork is similar to what you filled out last time. I don't know why you stay in the reserves, Lyra, you're too good at what you do." Stiff plucked up a pen in his teeth and started filling out the form. "You will receive a sergeant's pay, of course."
"You know how much bits worry me. There's only a few things I care about, one's off on her latest mission and another's sitting on the chair beside me." As she spoke, Lyra held out a hoof sideways to Scootaloo and got a firm clop back. "Equestria, as a whole, is on that list—which is why I'm here."
Stiff paused his writing a moment and looked at Lyra with a raised eyebrow. He then sighed and finished the last part of the form and turned it around for her to sign. "I just need your signature and it's all official."
Lifting up the pen with her magic, Lyra quickly scrawled her name in the box at the bottom. "There's going to be more shouting. Every time they salute I will want to shout."
"See, I told you you'd be good at this. How do you think Guard sergeants have kept their voices up since the first days of the Guard?" Stiff filled the paperwork and pulled out a little chit. "Take this to the armorer. She'll get your new rank tags affixed to your armor while the doctor sees to Scootaloo."
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Stiff Peaks called out, "Come in."
Walking into the lieutenant's office, Cloud Bank looked between earth pony, unicorn, and finally set his eyes on the lone pegasus in the room. "Lieutenant Stiff Peaks? Sergeant Cloud Bank reporting, sir. You needed a medical opinion?"
"Yeah. For me!" Standing up on the chair, Scootaloo tried to spin around to face the new pony but her chair decided to spin the other way. Moving a little slower, she buzzed her little wings to turn the chair.
"Well, that is interesting. Lieutenant, may I have the use of your facilities?" Cloud's mind raced. He'd seen such cases before, but not when he was serving with the Wonderbolts, of course.
"Of course. Let me show you the way. Lyra here was just going to collect her sergeant stripes." Standing up, Stiff gave Lyra the biggest grin he could muster. "I'll make sure he doesn't steal Scootaloo away to join the Wonderbolts."
Lyra left the office with one more look and nod to Scootaloo. She knew the way to the armory and made her way over to find Sergeant Sharp Horn in her smithy working on some armor. The mare stood nearly fifty percent taller than Lyra, and looked to have more muscles on her than any of the farm ponies she'd seen in Ponyville. "Sergeant Sharp Horn?"
"Lyra Heartstrings? A blue chit already? You're moving up in the world. How long until I have to salute you?" Sharp Horn's namesake burned bright with red magic and plucked the blue coin from Lyra's. "Well, get out of that and let me take a look at it. Have you been keeping it oiled? Working the straps? You're a reservist, right? So you haven't been using it too much, surely?"
"Yes, yes, yes—kinda, no. I think? Lieutenant Stiff Peaks wants me to take over for Sergeant Precise Pedagogue for the next recruit drive." Lyra didn't use her magic to unbuckle, instead using her hooves to unfasten Scootaloo's work. "Something-something, I can't be an instructor and still be a private."
"Red tape. The joys of life in the Guard. Don't worry, you'll have your own fair share." Picking up the right chisel for the job, Sharp picked her forge hammer up in her magic and arranged the armor's shoulders over her anvil.
The taps of the hammer looked light, but Lyra had a sense of implacable motion, as if there wasn't a single thing that would stop the blows short of an immovable object. The little welded-on insignia of her private status broke free and were grabbed by Sharp's horn.
"Do you reuse those?" Lyra asked.
"Yes and no. We don't reuse the actual insignia. I melt them down and cast them anew. Each one comes from my hammer and my hammer alone." Tap-tap-tap and another one was gone and caught. Sharp set the two insignia aside and looked at her collection.
"You do all the insignia for all the Guard?"
"Yes. From each newly made private to the commander of each detachment." Loading an iron into her forge, Sharp Horn left the door open to keep from melting her iron completely. "Might even do a refresher on combat techniques myself. I'm not one for complicated spellcasting—enchanting is my business."
Lyra made a gagging sound. "Now there's a magic subject I almost failed. Way too much maths in it."
"There is that. I've heard you have a quick mind, though." Lifting out the iron, Sharp pressed it to the armor first to start heating it. "I've heard stories about your flying."
Watching as Sharp added a copper-zinc-alloy in a big blob, Lyra chuckled. "I cheat. There's ways to do teleportation with tons less maths than normal. I can tech it to you, if you want, though I think you'd have a head for the harder stuff if you can do enchantment magic."
"You're thinking about enchantment all wrong. You don't do the math as you're casting it. You have to plan enchantments. I'm no better than anypony else at doing complicated math on the fly." Bringing the emblem down to the melted metal, Sharp pressed it on firmly and used her magic to gather up the excess and drop it onto her anvil.
"But you can do the complicated maths, right?" Lyra asked.
Setting her iron back in the fire, Sharp nodded. "Yeah. That's kinda my thing, though." She nodded toward her flank. "There's enchantments on these insignia, you know."
"Yeah, I know that. Verifying they were properly and lawfully attached. Verifying the owner. I know the spells that trigger them."
"Exactly. Here, let me show you how to put them on. The actual casting of an enchantment is easy." Sharp built enchantments every single day, and for her it was easy. This time, however, she made a point of tracing the pattern out with her horn as she built it. "This verifies that this was affixed lawfully."
Lyra could feel the rush of magic as Sharp pressed the spell into the metal. "That was a lot of magic. Do you use that every time?"
"An enchantment can take as little as much magic as you want to give it. It depends on the material. The longer-lasting the material, the harder it is to imbue." Sizing up Lyra, Sharp built the second enchantment and blasted that into the metal too. "That one will identify you."
Since her time at Princess Celestia's School, Lyra had become better at examining spells, but the enchantments looked wrong. There was certain ways that spell weaves worked, and neither of the enchantments used anything like any of her spells. She watched in silence as Sharp Horn soldered on the second insignia and then repeated the enchantments. Then, when she applied a third to each side, Lyra caught something familiar about it. "Glue!"
"Yeah. I cheat like that. The solder mix I use is pretty good for holding them on, but a little magic never hurts." Sharp cleaned up around the edges of the insignia with a fine brush. "Now it just needs some time to cool down and you'll be right to go, sergeant."
Lyra spent a few moments just looking at the armor and its new insignia. "How long?"
"About half an hour, usually. You have something you need to do?"
"My foster filly. She can't fly, and several doctors have looked at her without any clue, or worse, several clues that all contradict each other. This"—Lyra gestured at the insignia—"is the price I pay to get her the best doctor in Equestria, and I'll pay it gladly."
"Sounds like you have your hooves full then. A wife on active duty, a filly about to leap off the ground, and now a career teaching." Sharp prodded Lyra in the breast with a big hoof. "Sounds like your life is pretty well worked out."
It took a little introspection, but Lyra realized Sharp was right. "Yeah. I guess I am. Also giving foals lessons too, and a not-so-foal."
"Either you swore at an alicorn or you asked for this. Either way, I don't envy you." Sharp nodded toward the door to her smithy. "Looks like you've got a visitor."
"I'll be able to fly one day!" Scootaloo ignored the intense heat coming from one end of the room and raced to Lyra before she latched onto a leg. "They said so!"
Following the direction of Scootaloo's outstretched wing, Lyra spotted the doctor standing in the doorway. "Sorry, Sharp, I guess I'll be back to pick it up in a bit."
"Not a problem, sergeant." Sharp Horn knew exactly the effect her use of rank would have, that was why she'd used it.
Walking wasn't easy with a filly attached to her leg, but Lyra was persistent and got all the way out the door before Scootaloo let go. "So good news?"
"I paid a visit to the hospital where your daughter was first checked, and had several x-rays done, and I can say for certain that the weak tendons and undeveloped ligaments that she'd been afflicted with—that none of their reports even noticed—are not evident any longer. I felt good tendon development and everything seems attached as it should be." Cloud Bank looked Lyra Heartstrings in the eye. "Has she been subject to any powerful transformation magic?"
Scootaloo began giggling. "Bats!" After saying the word, she fell over and ran in a circle on her side. "Bats bats bats!"
"The answer," Lyra said with a big grin, "is yes. She visited an altered-magic location, underwent a transformation into a bat pony, then left it again and turned back. Are you saying that cured her wings?"
"No. What will cure her wings is exercise and more exercise. I can tell she's already getting that, but I want her doing specific things to build up her wing muscles and strengthen those tendons." All Cloud had been told about Lyra and Scootaloo was that there were topics she wasn't meant to probe, and if anything sounded fascinating, avoid asking about it. Bats, to her, was now one such topic.
The news made Lyra want to join Scootaloo on the ground running in circles and cheering, but she managed to keep herself to just an excited stomp. "So, more workouts for you? What do you think, Scoots, up for some wing exercises as well as running?"
"You bet!" Scootaloo jumped back to her hooves and looked from Lyra to Cloud. "How long until I'll be able to fly?"
"That I don't know. It will depend on how much you stick to it and how determined you are. Once your wings are more developed, we'll be able to make a better decision on the next step." Leading the way back to the medical wing, Cloud noticed how positively Scootaloo moved. Seeing as Lyra had just been promoted to sergeant, she could only assume there was a good amount of regiment in their home life.
"'We'?" Lyra asked.
"It was made clear to me by the Wonderbolts' commander and your lieutenant that Scootaloo's recovery was a vital task. I'll be reviewing her recovery every month until she's up in the air, and I can bet that it won't be long after that I'll have her health to worry about because she's a member of the Wonderbolts." Cloud looked at Scootaloo, one eyebrow raised.
"Sir! Yes, sir!" Scootaloo knew how to salute properly, and deployed her best stiff-legged salute to Cloud Bank.
"One step at a time though, right?" Lyra followed Cloud into the room she'd acquired.
"Absolutely. First, I need this paperwork filled out to explain why I was here. The important parts are pre-filled by commander Spitfire and lieutenant Stiff Peaks. You just need to sign at the bottom." In all her years, Cloud had never felt shuffled around by brass so much, but finding out the reason behind it had eased her worries. Being able to give good news was icing on the cake. "Now, as for the exercises, I have some pamphlets here, but I can show you what I want you doing, okay?"
Lyra paid as much attention to the instructions Cloud gave Scootaloo as the filly did herself. Her heart felt lighter, and she was almost on the verge of singing she was so happy. When Cloud was satisfied Scootaloo knew the exercises, and had passed out the little pamphlets on them, Lyra felt her hooves start to itch. "Thank you, Doctor Cloud."
"Don't mention it. The Guard stands together, remember?" Cloud packed up her things into her flight bag. "I'll send a few days' warning before my next visit."
By the time Lyra and Cloud had said their goodbyes, Scootaloo was ready to start bouncing again. Her wings felt stretched in odd ways by the exercises, but it was a good stretch. "I can't believe that's all it took!"
"You mean a little tap of fate and a lot of hard work?" Lyra reached out and ruffled Scootaloo's mane. "That's all a lot of life's goals take, Scoots."
"She called you my mum."
"Yeah. I didn't want to interrupt, and I know—"
"It's okay." Stretching her neck as much as she could, Scootaloo jumped up on her back hooves to hug and snuggle against Lyra's neck. "It sounded nice."
Reaching around Scootaloo's back, Lyra hugged her tight. "Told you I was too stubborn to let things go. So, morning and night?"
"Doctor Cloud said I could do them at lunch, too."
"Yup. But, morning and night are the minimum. Besides, you can do them after running." The feeling of walking around the E.U.P. Guards' training area without armor on was strange for Lyra, and she felt her muscles twitching at the lack of weight.
"Do you think I could get some armor of my own?"
"Armor? Aren't you a little small to need—"
"I mean so I can do that resistance stuff. Your armor increases your weight, so your muscles build faster and stronger. I know it wouldn't do anything for my wing exercises, but I want to be able to run better too."
Waiting at the forge door, Sharp heard the exchange and barked a laugh. "Now that's a filly who knows what being in the Guard is all about. Running, sergeant, is what we do, remember?"
Lyra barked out a laugh. "Right you are. Well, then, can you have something for her to carry while she runs?"
"I'll tell you what I'll do. If lieutenant Stiff Peaks approves, I'll design a Junior Guards uniform with some chain mail and emblems on it, and if he approves, I'll get you something made up by Wednesday." Sharp Horn wore a big grin, her eyes fixed on the lieutenant in question as he stood behind Lyra and Scootaloo.
Stiff cleared his throat. "Sounds like an excellent idea, sergeant, go ahead with that. I understand there was good news?"
"I'm gonna be able to fly!" Scootaloo said. "But it'll take lots of exercises."
"Good to hear! You'll be in the Guard in no time, I bet." He tried not to show it much beyond a big smile, but Stiff Peaks was tickled pink by the news.
"Well, maybe. Unless I join the Wonderbolts first!" Puffing up and spreading her wings, Scootaloo tried to do the pose she'd seen on the Wonderbolts' posters.
"Well, of course you could," Stiff said, keeping Scootaloo entertained while Lyra went inside to get her armor, "but then you'd just be a flygirl. Do I think you'll be able to soar through the sky and do great stunts? Sure, but I also think you'll be able to do much more. Spend a year in the Guard first and you get to be more to the Wonderbolts."
That made sense to Scootaloo, and she'd already all-but decided on taking that path anyway. "Y-Yeah. How old do I have to be to apply?"
"I'll tell you what, when you get your cutie mark, you come up here and present yourself and I'll put you through a basic assessment myself." Feeling the guiding hoof of fate on his withers, Stiff Peaks relaxed and let the words flow. Something about Scootaloo seemed important to him, and he knew that she'd be something special.
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Just a note here. I will not be attempting Luna's affected Ye Olde English Accent for the following reasons:
It's an accent.
It doesn't make a lick of sense.
I, like 99.999% of authors before me, would mess it up.
To apply it consistently (unlike how the show does) would require significant extra time on my behalf.
So I apologize for any of you that hoped to see me spouting off with that. Not going to happen.
Lyra: might have missed this, but any plans to give Scootaloo her proper movie education? Unlaiden swallows, don’t call me Shirley, and have fun storming the castle?
10334714
Well enough, well enough. I myself have only seen it done really well and proper like once.
- MLP: FiM
- Adventure
Princess Luna has found herself on a very different moon after some strange force interfered with her banishment. She doesn't know what the metal objects that keep orbiting and sometimes landing there are, but she's going to find out.Stainless Steel Fox did a fine job, but other than that, it really is hit and miss.
If you had a Regimental Seargent Major called History Buff, what would their expected stats roughly be?
And would their aide de camp be called Whispering Grass?
I tried three times to read this as Stampede missing an 'e' before I realized it was Stamp-ed.
10334874 Stamped Mark is an NPC conductor for the train. He was first introduced in the first story when
MichaelLyra visits Canterlot for the first time.10334864 They are the .001 percent!
i for one know Scootaloo is meant to be something big in time.
This chapter is great I loved the part with Luna and Joyce and Lyra getting her classmates to help. I loved the part with Scootaloo and it's good that she will be able to fly.
Getting banished for a millennium for a pubescent tantrum... This made Nightmare Moon a whole lot darker, no pun intended.
Okay, so she was over a hundred when she went Nightmarish. That's less awful. I think.
Lyra truly does not understand how to seem unsuited for acting as a sergeant.
Wonderful amount of Cutealoo in this chapter, and I love how Lyra's getting dragged kicking and screaming to greater things. Fate isn't done with her yet, it seems.
10336037
And it likely never will be.
On one hoof sad no scootabat. On the other yay for fixed wings.
10334714
On the "Ye Olde English", its usage as running joke material is quite possible... Rosencrantz and Guildenstern style, most likely.
I know your sticking to cannon but man I was rooting for Batpony Scootaloo because that sounds kool with a K.
10902816 More like cool with an eeee~.
10902847
Ah yes, eeeeool.
Haha, you weren't kidding with the longer chapters...
Had a feeling the trip would help reset some things, but magic has limits and technically a lot of ground needs to be made up.
Taking magic instructor to the next level eh? Well she certainly has her hooves full of it now.