And Now For Something Exactly the Same

by Damaged

Chapter 18 Part 1

"She said it was the only way she could foresee of dealing with all these insane little problems that keep cropping up. Chaotic magic is growing in strength without him around." Sweetie Drops was standing comfortably on a crest overlooking six friends talking to Celestia. Behind her was two squads of Monster Hunters and one of Royal Dragoons.

At Sweetie's shoulder, as she ever was when she could be, Lyra watched the exchange in the distance. "I felt it myself. It is not nice when your spell wants to make custard pies instead of letting you safely land."

Sweetie gave Lyra a nod. "And here it goes. Keep your eyes open, everypony. If things look to go wrong, we move in. Not before."

Together the three dozen and two ponies watched as Celestia departed on a chariot pulled by her guards. When Discord was finally released, and only performed minor chaotic actions, it was somewhat of a disappointment.

"Isn't he going to go wild and turn the sky into chocolate rain again? I can't even feel a wave coming off him." Lyra cautiously activated her horn and cast a few simple magic-detecting spells. "There are a few ripples, but it wouldn't even hurt a fly."

When the six friends—and Discord—left the field and headed their own ways, Sweetie let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, stand-down. I believe the Heroes have it under control."

Waiting for the small army to relax and start to organize a withdrawal, Lyra waited until she got Sweetie alone to ask, "Heroes?"

"Twilight and her friends. They just seem like ordinary ponies until you see them face-off against Discord or Luna when she was—" Sweetie cleared her throat. "To me, and to a lot of ponies, they're heroes."

Lyra snorted and shook her head. "It's a lot harder to picture Twilight as a hero when you have fond memories of engaging her in a burping contest." She looked among the platoon of Guardponies and spotted the three lead sergeants in each. They all looked at her for orders—it was starting to freak her out.

"Come on, let's get this lot back to Canterlot before they charge us for a second day of rental."

"Okay, everypony, the captain says we're heading home. Form up your squads for fast movement. Unicorns, you remember the drill?" Lyra didn't have to shout—everypony could hear her just fine because they were all listening for her. Getting six shouts in reply, she turned to Sweetie. "Ready when you are, captain."

Twenty-eight ponies stepped the moment Sweetie did. She'd never asked for this level of authority, but she was damned if she was going to let Celestia, Luna, or the soldiers under her (provincial) command down by screwing up. She stepped from her initial trot to a canter after ten strides, then to a gallop. When her tenth stride of the gallop finished, the first teleport happened.

The pattern was simple. Ten strides—ten pony-lengths. Lyra galloped alongside Sweetie, but while she performed the teleports, she was focused on the three squads and their own patterns. The spell was simple, as teleports went, the only strain to it was they were required to move nine ponies each per cycle. To combat that, she had two unicorns in each squad alternating their teleports so they only moved every twenty.

Lyra hadn't made the task hard. The spell was pre-built with all the variables punched in. All the unicorns had to do was count the strides and activate it. The combination of stamina and magic shunted them across the landscape faster than even the best squad of pegasi. Even reaching the bottom of the mountain and starting their assent didn't slow them down.

Only when they reached the plateau that Canterlot was built onto did Lyra call a cease to the teleporting. "Cease casting!" Sweetie guided them around the edge of the city and toward the Guard facility at the "rear" of Canterlot.

Sweetie slowed them down to a canter and trot, then she halted and turned—finding every single one of the platoon standing straight and looking proud of themselves. "Good work today. Any situation we can walk away from is successful. Dismissed."

"You heard the captain, you're all on leave until the end of the week, but ensure you report in here each morning." Lyra turned to walk with Sweetie, and was joined by the three sergeants from the squads. "Nice work."

"Ha. It was a cakewalk. That spell is ingenious, Heartstrings. I take it all the new unicorn recruits are being trained to use it?" Jam asked, her body still at fully readiness despite the command being given to stand down.

"Absolutely. I've tweaked it to within an inch of its life. Just a normal teleport, but it sure eats up the distance." Lyra looked to the two Monster Hunters sergeants. "Your scouts are in position?"

"Just visiting Ponyville," Fresh Baked, one of the Monster Hunters' finest, replied. "One of our scouts has been in Ponyville for years now, but his brother came home to spend some time keeping an eye on things. With the Everfree Forest so close, you better believe we keep an ear on that town." She looked over at Glider, the other Monster Hunters' sergeant.

"Yeah. On top of that, we have a family visiting the town. Daughter is in your training program, the couple are both in the Guard. Hey, heard your filly won the end of year award this year. Joined the Royal Guard—how did Shining Armor take that?"

"Change of hooves up at the castle. Shining took up with his wife, Cadance, and they're securing the Crystal Empire. Captain Bright Feather is commander up there now, and he took it well. After some research, he discovered that the Royal Guard used to have mares in it, but some hundred or so years back they got a little strange about it." Lyra didn't mind keeping to the official line that Bright had always been fine with the change. "So Cadet Scootaloo is the first mare in nearly two-hundred years to be in the Royal Guard."

"Oh, right, the changeling attack. How'd the defense against that go? I heard you had a queen to deal with," Jam asked.

"Ugh. Don't remind me. I thought I had pretty good mind-control resistance, but she cut through it like a knife through butter. Best I could do was tip a friend off what was happening—and only then because Queen Chrysalis was dumb as a plank when it came to giving restrictive commands." The conversation ran to less exciting topics as they worked through the city of Canterlot and finally advanced on the castle entrance.

On guard at the front gate, Scootaloo watched her parents and three other Guardponies advancing and tried to keep as unflappable as possible. It was hard to do, given seeing them both meant whatever mission they'd been on was done. "Halt! Who goes there?"

"Commander Sweetie Drops of the E.U.P. Guard, along with Sergeants Lyra Heartstrings, Jam Scones, Glider, and Fresh Baked." Their reply wasn't urgent, so Sweetie wasn't inclined to ask for express service. "My identification."

Scootaloo examined the mark that Sweetie held out, then brought her own one close to it. "Very well, I'll escort you in, commander." Shifting her spear to a position she could carry it while moving, Scootaloo turned and started marching.

Jam shot Lyra a big grin and nodded, and got an answering smile back. Cute as it was to see the young mare taking her role as Royal Guard so seriously, the weapon she carried and her skill from the sparring match was a firm reminder to Jam that she had to always be prepared.

The entry hall was quiet, no nobles apparently needing anything. They marched right through and into the throne room to see the throne vacant and Celestia at a small desk doing paperwork. Scootaloo halted, adjusted her spear, and took a step to the side. "Commander Sweetie Drops of the E.U.P. Guard, Sergeants Lyra Heartstrings, Jame Scones, Glider, and Fresh Baked!"

"At ease, Cadet Scootaloo." Celestia stood up from the seated position she'd been in and gave her tail a few flicks to remind it that she should be able to feel it. "Things went well, commander?"

"Exactly as you expected, Your Highness." Sweetie stepped forward, reaching hot a hoof to give Scootaloo's shoulder a gentle poke. "They freed Discord and immediately he started acting up. By the time they left, it all seemed under control."

"He won't be for long. I hold no expectations that this will go perfectly, but I believe it vital that he be offered redemption." Taking a deep breath, Celestia tried not to think about all the others she'd helped deal with in her past that also deserved a second chance. "How goes the search?"

"We dug up three candles that could, apparently, be used to summon a demon. They were just honey-scented. Our special instructor is training a squad of Guardponies in the fine art of defeating traps, and is itching to head out on a mission herself." Giving a knowing wink when she mentioned special instructor, Sweetie continued giving a rundown of their continued hunt for dangerous artifacts. "A set of teaspoons that were passed down from mother to daughter, in a small town, turned out to actually be haunted—by the spirits of the ponies who passed them down. We left them with the last in the line and offered her an exorcist, burial plan, and access to some really good silver polish my mother used to use. She has not gotten back to us about which of the three she wants."

Celestia struggled not to laugh, eventually compromising and sighing. "Perhaps I will let you go after the bell. At least it would give you something worthwhile to do. The item is said to be quite powerful, too. School holidays end in a week." Her eyes (the one she let remain visible and the one currently hidden by her mane) slid sideways to Scootaloo.

"Yes, Your Highness. We have already arranged with schools all over Equestria to provide unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony instructors if they lack anypony nearby to fill the role. A good example is Ponyville itself. Being predominantly settled by earth ponies, they lacked a lot of the extracurricular teaching that pegasi and unicorns would need. We have a pegasus in town who is competent enough that we're paying a stipend to help, but with Lyra's workload increasing, she isn't likely to be able to teach unicorn foals anymore."

"Trying to fill all the gaps in society?" Celestia asked.

"No. Just trying to fill the gaps I know I can fill."

"Very well. I will authorize a stipend for teachers in locations you can't provide for. This is more load for your shoulders—ensure you tell me should it become too much." Waiting for Sweetie to make eye-contact with her, Celestia nodded and smiled. "Now, I have plans for another gala, and given how well you planned that wedding—I wouldn't miss having Lyra help in its arrangement."

Lyra perked up at "I've already got a great idea for food. Zecora, the zebra I told you about, has been teaching us so much about her home's food. The trick will be teaching the kitchen how to emulate the dishes."

"Those overly spicy dishes, you mean?" Sweetie asked.

Celestia's smile widened and she wasn't able to stop her giggling this time. "This will be perfect!"

Sweetie rolled her eyes and "Why do you torture your courtiers?"

Schooling her giggles down to a confident smile, Celestia managed a moment of calm to say, "Tradition." She noticed somepony important waiting by the staff door and cleared her throat. "Joyce, please join us."

With a binder of papers under one wing, Joyce walked over and carefully stood beside her daughter. "Sorry to bother you, Celestia, but you wanted this information from the archives?"

"Perfect timing. This is the manifest of the magical items in the Castle of the Two Sisters." Just saying it made Celestia's heart ache, even if her last time there had been far more joyous than sad. "And one extra item. Commander Sweetie Drops, would you be able to arrange a pickup?"

The question captured Sweetie's interest and curiosity. She knew the Castle of the Two Sisters was where Luna had returned to and been restored by Twilight. "'Manifest'? How many ponies will I need for this pickup?"

"No more than a dozen. Most of the items are inert, though I would ask caution to be taken as many of them have significant value, both obvious and not." Celestia passed the notebook to Sweetie. "There shouldn't be any surprises there apart from any local beasts, but I wouldn't suggest taking the Everfree Forest lightly."

Sweetie bit back from all the wonderful and sarcastic responses she could have given, instead just taking the notebook and slipping it into one of her armor's little nooks for such things. "Of course, Your Highness, I'll begin work immediately."

Seeing her wife start the telltale motions that begin a salute, Lyra snapped one off too, both of them holding still, waiting for their dismissal.

Celestia waited longer than normal—giving the pair some time to panic and wonder what was going on. "If you don't hurry, I might get cross and assign you to the kitchen." But, to her delight, neither moved. "Dismissed."

Lyra and Sweetie both giggled on their way out of the throne room, not realizing their little retinue was giving chase. When Jam reached their side, both tried to get themselves under control. "Yes, sergeant?" Sweetie asked.

"Do I even need to ask what the deal is now? The princess gave you a new mission—do you think you'll need the Dragoons for it?" Jam was still trying to process what she'd seen. She'd heard of bat ponies, but it was her first time seeing one up close—to say nothing of how casual Lyra and Sweetie were with Celestia.

"You'll have to speak with your commander, Jam. We only had you because of Dis—" Lyra cut herself short of saying his name, knowing that doing so could attract Discord's attention. "Him." She had to freeze in place, halting her trot.

"Me? You should know just thinking my name is enough." Discord looked at the five ponies with more than a little curiosity. "You know, if I just took away your horn, and got another pegasus"—with a snap of his digits, Discord made Lyra's horn vanish and Scootaloo appear—"you'd be the spitting image of another group of six friends."

"Discord!" Sweetie didn't have time to notice Lyra's horn missing. She aimed herself at Discord and, walking right up to him, fought to keep herself grounded against magic attacks.

"My horn—" Lyra sat back and reached her hoof up to her forehead. "Where's my h—?"

Sweetie stomped a hoof on the ground and glared up at the draconequus. "You're out on parole, and that means not hurting ponies! Give Lyra back her horn and put Scootaloo back where she was or—"

"Or what? What could you possibly do to me? In case you hadn't noticed, you six are not the ponies with ancient-and-powerful artifacts of deus ex machina at your beck and call. For that matter, even they aren't in a good position to deal with my antics right now." Discord was just getting warmed up when Sweetie bumped against him. He'd felt earth ponies try to ground away his magic before, but none had come anywhere near what she did with the slightest touch. "You know, that almost hurt."

The relief Sweetie felt at actually being able to affect Discord completely failed her when he gestured her way and she started to float off the ground. It should have been impossible to break her bond with the stones of Canterlot, but he'd done it effortlessly.

Floating Sweetie all the way to eye-level, Discord poked her nose with one claw. "Didn't anypony ever teach you it's not nice to get all pushy?"

"I can't believe I'm going to do this." Lowering her head, Jam Scones warmed up her horn and unloaded her best lightning-blast spell. She'd never seen a non-pegasus ignore it, but the way Discord just flinched slightly at the crackling electricity left her starting to panic.

"This is odious," Discord said as he snapped his digits. The second blast coming at him from Fresh Baked turned into a long candy cane that he snapped off mid-air. Raising his paw again, he prepared to alter the fabric of reality. "Now it's time to have some fu—"

A rush of wings announced a new arrival. Dark fur covered Tufts' body as he slammed into the ground between Sweetie Drops and Discord. Clearing his throat, Tufts leveled a glare at Discord. "Are we going to have to do this after all?"

Freezing mid snap, Discord looked down at the bat pony and ground his teeth. "I was willing to leave you and all your family alone, but these"—Discord gestured with his talon toward the group—"don't look anything like you."

Seeing Tufts confused Lyra for several seconds, until she remembered what he was. "Dad? What's going on?"

When Tufts raised an eyebrow, Discord threw his head back dramatically and snapped his paw to return everything to normal again. "Oh bother. How many ponies are related to you?"

"Lyra and her wife, their daughter Scootaloo, and Scootaloo's coltfriend." Tufts wasn't about to leave anypony out. Reaching his wing up, Tufts poked Discord on the nose with it. "I'll consider this a favor you owe me." With no more words Tufts vanished.

"Well, that's what I get for not reading the previous two stories. Okay, since I'm not allowed to play with you, I'll go back to making Twilight's life a misery." Discord vanished too.

Sweetie dropped to the ground with a thud to find her earth pony magic reassert itself. She turned her head to see Scootaloo gone and Lyra's horn back. She felt like saying a whole string of bad words, but she held herself in check.

Clearing her throat, Jam asked, "Would somepony mind telling me what the horse apples just happened?" She slowly set aside the magic she'd been spooling up in the back of her head.

"My dad, uh, he's a bit of a big deal back home." Lyra looked to Sweetie for help.

Rolling her eyes, Sweetie tried to fill things in as politically as she could. "As in, a big enough deal magic wise that he'd give Discord a headache."

Fresh Baked shook her head to banish the thought from it. "I'll need to report this, even if I'm glad he sorted things out. What's your father's name?"

Lyra felt defeat settled in. She watched Fresh pull out a notepad and pencil to start writing details down. "Tufts Mango." Slumping against Sweetie, Lyra felt like she was betraying Tufts' trust by giving even that. "Please, he doesn't want to cause any trouble."

"It's less that I have to report your father and more that I have to report how a fight with Discord was resolved." For some reason it stung Fresh to have to do, but she knew it would be her rump on the line if somepony else reported it and she'd been found to let it slide.

Sweetie kissed Lyra on the cheek. "I'll start organizing a group to deal with the princess' needs, you find Tufts and talk to him."

"He should have left it up to us. We could have dealt with Discord."

"I don't know what fight you were watching, but I gave him my best frequently-lethal spell and he didn't seem all that fussed about it." Jam looked at the other two sergeants. "I'll be making a report too."

"You're right." Lyra shook her head and let out a sigh. "Thank you, commander, I'll take care of that and be with you as soon as possible." Turning for a side street that led to the outer-radial of Canterlot, Lyra stepped up from a trot to a gallop.

It didn't take Lyra long to reach her parents' home. She froze at the door, unsure whether to burst in or knock. Focusing her thoughts, she lifted a hoof and rapped on the door three times.

Tufts sighed and stood up. He'd managed to calm his anger only by taking it out on a mango, though he hadn't felt like he'd caused enough damage to the poor, delicious fruit yet. "Coming." He was unsurprised to see Lyra waiting for him. "You might as well come in."

Walking inside and closing the door behind her, Lyra practically fell onto the couch before heaving a sigh. "The cat's out of the bag."

Sitting on the couch beside her, Tufts reached around Lyra with a wing and gave her a squeeze. "I thought that would do it. He shouldn't have tested me."

"Tested you? What was all that about?" Lyra asked.

"Did you read anything about what I was in the Dreamtime?" When Lyra shook her head, Tufts continued. "Discord is close to me at my worst. I did—bad things simply because I wanted what others had. When Discord was first freed, we met. It wouldn't have been much of a fight, but it would have been a fight he wasn't prepared for. We had tea, we shared a mango, we were cool. Then I find him using magic on my little filly."

"Dad, we could have handled him. You didn't have to step-in like that. Now we all have to file reports detailing that he stood down because of you." Lyra, even in her armor, leaned sideways against Tufts.

"Would you be able to take care of Gara while I go and make my introductions to Celestia?" Tufts asked.

Lyra shook her head. "No, but I'll come with you while you take her with you. Mum was working up there today."

Letting out a surprised meep, Tufts looked into Lyra's eyes with surprise. "You're coming with me?"

"Of course I am, Dad. What, you'd think I would miss this—miss being there on your side?" Lyra scoffed and straightened up before stepping off the couch. "Grab the little mango thief and we'll all head on up to the castle. I was literally just coming from there."

"You don't have to—"

"Yes I do. Now, where's Gara and I'll carry her—if you're so nervous about this."

Rolling his eyes, Tufts fetched Gara and together they made their way to the castle. Scootaloo was once again at the gate and looked at Tufts with some surprise.

"I'm here to see Celestia," Tufts said.

"Relax, Scoots, we're just here to let the princess know who Tufts is." Lyra wanted to give the filly a relaxing pat on the shoulder, but under the circumstances she knew Scootaloo wouldn't appreciate it.

Long Shift looked from Scootaloo to Lyra and finally to Tufts. "Cadet, you wait here with Seltzer. I'll escort them in." He nodded to Lyra and the bat pony and led the way toward the castle. "How do you want to be introduced?" he asked when they had the privacy of distance.

"Tufts Tjinimin Mango." Looking over his shoulder, Tufts felt his serious expression melt at the sight of Gara yawning. "And Garawang Mango. Daughter of Joyce Mango."

"Tufts is my dad, and he's also Duchess Robin Mango's dad," Lyra said. "And even if Gara can't say it yet, he's her dad too."

The walk inside almost felt like a funeral procession. Lyra carried her little sister on her back and walked just behind and to the side of Tufts. There was two petitioners in front of her, but neither spent more than five minutes in the throne room. She lifted her head at last when the sergeant at arms called out Tufts' name, Gara's name, and her own.

Inside, Lyra could see her mum standing beside Celestia, looking as nervous as Lyra felt. She opened her mouth, intending to speak, only to see Joyce shake her head very slightly.

"And here I thought we had just one agent of chaos." Celestia's tone wasn't hard or angry, she didn't want this to be punishment. "Long have I maintained that anycreature is allowed to live in my domain so long as they maintain my peace. Why are you here?"

Tufts tried to read Celestia, at least visually, but there was nothing giving away how she was going to react. "I came to your country to be with my family. My wife, daughter, and"—turning to Lyra, Tufts lifted Garawang from her back with his wings and held the filly close—"my newest daughter."

"That's not an answer to my question. Why are you here—in my throne room?"

Joyce cleared her throat. "Your Highness?" When she got a nod from Celestia, she continued. "My husband was attempting to not cause trouble while in your domain. He kept his powers restricted to just our family. He was under the impression you would be unhappy with his mere existence."

"There are several beings with whom I am unhappy with, but their existence is not the reason I am. King Sombra, for example, because he attempted to enslave an entire continent and did manage to come back for a second try, or perhaps Tirek, a centaur so depraved that he would use his magic to drain others of theirs to fuel himself. Tell me, Tjinimin, what great crime have you done to draw my ire?" Celestia only managed one minute of confused stuttering before she smiled at him. "So, no great crimes, and you bring warmth and comfort to several ponies I have found to rely upon. Let me put it another way—in what way do you believe the scales of my judgment would be shifted from favorable?"

Tufts stared at Celestia with more than a little shock. "I—I could have fought Discord. Back when he first showed up."

Closing both her eyes for a moment to steady herself, Celestia looked to Lyra. "Sergeant Heartstrings, is he a member of the E.U.P. Guard?"

Lyra, seeing where Celestia was going, felt pure relief—but also playfulness. "Your Highness! No, ma'am!"

Celestia ignored the sharpest response she'd gotten from a Guardpony in over a hundred years and instead quirked her eyebrow at Tufts. "Well? While defending your home country would have been nice, you were under no obligation to." She let out an expansive sigh she'd mastered nearly six hundred years earlier. "But I assume you want to have a long talk, and I suppose I must, but you are under no obligation to."

"I—I would appreciate that." Tufts took a deep breath and looked to Lyra at his side. "Could you take care of Gara until I'm done?" Lyra's smile warmed him more than any words could. She trusted him to a ridiculous level—or so he judged it.

"Why don't I give you the rest of the day off, Joyce, and you can take care of your filly while I talk with your husband?" Celestia asked.

"Of course, and thank you." Joyce left Celestia's side and walked over to her husband and kissed his cheek. "You're making a mountain out of a molehill. Come home when you're done flagellating yourself."

Lyra waited for her mother to take Gara before sending Celestia her biggest smile, turning, and walking from the throne room.

When it was only her and Tufts in the room, along with her guards, Celestia sighed. "So, what manner of creature were you before you chose to be a pony?"

A feeling of utter relief poured through Tufts. He stretched a wing out to its full extent. "That's complicated. When magic leaked through to Australia, it made me. I was a god to the people there, though I wasn't worshiped. I did bad things in the past, but my daughters and wife have worked hard to convince me that I didn't do those things.

"Where was I? Right, created. Magic bubbled around me, and at first I thought about just using it to get what I wanted. It would have been easy to, but the more I looked at the world the more I saw magic warping the natural order. So I stepped-in. The magic was heavily loaded with patterns, but it was like they were dormant compared to local patterns. I used a mix of local patterns and the magic's patterns to make bat ponies."

Celestia listened, struggling to hide her shock at hearing how Tufts brought order from the chaos the magic of her world inflicted upon his. Deciding how a whole species would look chilled her to her bone, but he had wrought well—or so she estimated.

"But that wasn't enough. The animals of Australia were getting twisted, too. The Dreamtime wasn't a safe place for humans, so I had to make things work. I didn't have much time, either, but I had a—a friend.

"They gave up their freedom to secure the magic from flooding the world, but it probably won't stop forever. Damn big noodle is trying to protect them all, though. The last piece of the puzzle was that people didn't know how to use their new bodies or deal with the threats that magic needed to create. So, we made a—a package. A package of knowledge." Tufts let out an annoyed screech. "No, not just like that. We had help. Dream Thunder, daughter of Candela the teacher, put the information needed together, we gods just gave her all the magic she needed to make sure everyone in Australia got it."

"You don't sound like much of a god of chaos. If anything, you seem to have brought order from chaos," Celestia said. "I take it you spoke to Discord?"

"Twice. We had tea and mangoes the first time. It seemed to be a stand-off, so far as him wanting to face me in a fight, but when I showed him my daughter he ran away about as fast as I've seen any creature go."

Bursting into laughter, Celestia tossed her whole mane to the side as she howled with laughter at what she could see happening. "You, a god of chaos, remade a world about to be a blasted chaos-waste into order, settled down with a wife and three kids? He looked at you and saw his own possible future, and I would give somepony all the tea in the kitchen if they showed me a picture of his face when he realized that."

Tufts blinked at the assessment. Then he started to laugh in long, screeching bellows. It was a good release of pressure, and as it drew on Tufts felt more and more at-ease in the presence of Celestia. Finally, when they'd both managed to curtail their mirth, he admitted, "Not that I'd be able to stand up to him. I gave the bulk of my magic away to Dream Thunder. Uh, please don't let others know that."

"So you're out of the god business?" Celestia asked.

"I am. Too much responsibility. Exciting things are for the newer generation."

Letting out a short wheeze that threatened to become more laughter, Celestia shook her head. "You know, I believe you have my full support in that. I used to be young—used to chase around monsters and stallions—but now that is far better done by others. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy helping them grow, but I am weary of it. I think, however, I've found a solution."

"Giving your power away too?"

Shaking her head, Celestia felt at ease knowing the story behind Tufts. "Well, maybe eventually, but I'd rather encourage some to grow to surpass me. The wheels of destiny and harmony are already in motion."

"They needed a push?"

"Not usually with your daughter around, but in this case it has required a few nudges." Celestia's throat felt a little dry, and she considered it a perfect time to take her leave. "If you'll excuse me now, I believe I have business to get back to. If you ever need to talk, Tufts, please don't think me too busy."

"And if you ever want to share a mango, please visit." Tufts didn't need to be explicitly told to leave to understand Celestia's dismissal. It was a comfortable way to say goodbye, though, and a very batty one. Turning, he walked to the main doors and then out into the Canterlot air.

His wife had told him often enough that you don't fly over Canterlot castle, so he waited until he reached the front gate, when he saw Scootaloo was absent. Part of him worried that his visit had complicated her work experience, but he couldn't do much about that now. Spreading his wings at the top step, he took to the air with a joyful screech.

Not bothering to spiral into the clouds, Tufts flew relatively straight home, landing in their backyard and slowly folding his wings back up. A home on the outer rim, for bat ponies, was the best possible thing. Tufts delighted in being able to just step off the edge and glide, but it also served as a good landing area out of the way of the crowded streets.

"How'd things go?" Lyra asked when Tufts walked in the back door. "Did she exile you?"

"Yes. She told me I couldn't leave your mother's side for the rest of our lives." Tufts walked across the floor to where Joyce was laying on the couch nursing Gurawang, then sat down so he could face her. "I shouldn't have worried."

"Dad, you have a lot to worry about these days." Lyra started walking to the door. "Now you're all settled, I'll head off and find out what my new job is. Love you, Mum, Dad!"

As she walked outside, Lyra felt more relief take up the place where an old secret had been. It had never been a heavy secret—except when she'd had to keep it from her mother—but now it was in the open she felt like she wanted to trot. Except she needed to be at the Guard offices as quickly as possible.

Arching her neck, Lyra looked up into the sky and gave a little nod. Pomf! High above Canterlot, she tucked her legs under her as she began to fall. Soon it took another teleport—aimed on an angle—to shoot her on a ballistic trajectory toward the Guard training fields. At the last moment she teleported so that all her momentum pointed up. A final teleport, at her apogee, set her back on the ground with no momentum.

"It's not every day I see a unicorn fly. Welcome back, sergeant. Your commander is waiting in her offices." Solid Ground snapped off a salute to Lyra and got a quick one in reply.

"It's not every unicorn that can fly, that's why. Thanks for the message." Trotting through the gate, Lyra made her way to the offices that had been assembled for Sweetie's command.

When Lyra walked into the briefing room, Sweetie spotted the smile on her wife's face and felt herself relax somewhat. "Now we're all here, we can begin. Glider, Fresh, I got confirmation that you'll both be along with your squads. We don't know all the nasties of the Everfree Forest, but being ready for them will be your job. Sergeant Heartstrings will be my two-IC, in charge of the squad of Research and Acquisitions, while Sergeant Well can take care of the expertise aspect." She nodded toward Daring Do, A.K.A. Deep Well.

"Our list of targets includes a large quantity of royal jewelry, books, and as many scrolls as we can find. There should also be a set of horseshoes." Daring had started to fit-in, and that had scared her. She was the lone wolf, the wanderer who needed no assistant. Now? Now she had a squad of ponies she'd trained herself in how to get items out of ruins—and she was going to be accompanied by nearly twenty Monster Hunters.

"Everypony has a copy of the descriptions and quick concept sketches," Sweetie said. "Now, we could take a train down the mountain and ride in luxury, but we're the E.U.P. Guard!" Her voice was still just as loud and commanding as when she'd been a sergeant, and Sweetie was starting to appreciate how much Spitfire enjoyed delivering commands at full volume.

"You heard the commander. Form up outside. Two unicorns per squad. You all know the drill, let's beat the train!" Lyra stepped to the side of the door to let all the other ponies file out of the briefing room. When Sweetie came to her side, she gave a bump against her wife's hip with her own. "Tufts decided it was time to face the music—or in this case the princess. I wanted to be at his side to reassure him that it'd be okay, but he was still terrified when he went to meet her."

"How'd Princess Celestia respond?"

"She asked him why he was here. Making him think about his time in Equestria and what he loved about it. She was actually asking why he was bothering to bring it to her throne room. Nicely, though. She made a big deal about him not having done anything wrong." Following the last of the Guardponies out the door, Lyra let Sweetie walk behind her.

They avoided the ring streets of Canterlot, instead taking the grass of the mountain plateau—a longer route, but with less disruption to the city as 116 hooves flew in a gallop around to the southern descent from the mountain.

The descent involved a careful teleport at each rounding of the switchback, which meant the Guardponies were always turning. Lyra had considered using teleports to round the corners, but the resulting calculations were far harder to bake into a pre-made spell than merely forward.

When they reached the bottom of the mountain, Sweetie wheeled them around. "You're up, Lyra. Get us moving."

Even at a gallop, Lyra knew what Sweetie meant. "Alright! Ten strides, then teleport. First up in twenty. Prepare yourselves and no grounding!" She counted the strides. "Five. Four. Three. Two. Now!"

Three squads blinked out of existence and then reappeared again further down the road. Lyra and Sweetie were still in the lead, and everypony was still in formation.

"Good work. Five. Four. Three. Two. Now!"

Lyra felt and heard the failed teleport as she was activating her own. She slammed the brake on her own spell, accepted the blooming headache with grace, and turned to look at what had happened. Fresh's second unicorn was shaking his head while somepony tried to reach for him to check his horn. Trotting over, she came up on his off-side and could feel the crackling feedback of his horn from a full ponylength away.

"S-Sergeant?"

"Misty Vapor, you got some feedback there, huh? Let me balance it." Lyra stepped closer and started to weave a balancing net of magic. When she got to his side, she extended it around his horn and anchored it with a six hour duration. "Sorry, Corporal, but you're not using magic today."

As soon as the spell wrapped his horn, Misty almost folded in relief. The agony that had overtaken his horn faded to a dull throb and he found he didn't have to hate the world anymore. "S-Sorry, sergeant, I just—"

"You pushed too hard. Next time, Corporal, you let us know if you feel stretched. We have spare unicorns in this platoon." Lyra disliked dressing down a Guardpony, but this was not only something completely avoidable, but it would now cause them to be late.

"Are they alright?" Sweetie asked as she approached Lyra and Misty.

"They'll be fine. No magic casting for a week, and they shouldn't be around magic for a day. We'll have to run to Ponyville." Checking over her spell one more time, Lyra judged it a good enough splint to keep Misty from further injury.

Fresh Baked looked at Misty and felt her own annoyance grow. "Corporal, you can still run?"

"Yes, sir!" The shout might worsen his headache a little, but he needed to prove himself all over. The rookie of the squad, he always felt behind the 8-ball.

Turning his look away from Misty so the unicorn didn't see her anger show, Fresh addressed Lyra. "Sorry, sergeant. If you want to push on ahead, we'll catch up once we drop Misty off at the railway station in Ponyville. If you want to head the rest of the squad yourself, I'll make sure he is on that train and you still get over two teams."

Lyra turned to look at Sweetie, who she knew would be overhearing. The tight nod was enough. "Keep an earth pony with you too, there shouldn't be any trouble between here and Ponyville, but shouldn't isn't how we operate."

"This'll leave the squad with just one unicorn. You can take up the slack?" Fresh was already working through her squad to work out who best to take with her.

Giving a nod, Lyra turned to the squad of Monster Hunters. "Make ready to move out. Sergeant, do you have your escort picked out?" When Fresh nodded and tapped one of the heavy-armored earth ponies of the squad, Lyra returned her nod. "Okay, form up and we'll catch up with the others. I'll be calling the teleports and will be carrying them out."

"S-Sir?" the other unicorn in the squad, Dilly Dally, asked.

"Take a break, Corporal." The truth was Lyra worried Dilly Dally would do something stupid like try to show the training sergeant how awesome their teleports are. "Form up ranks!"

Running together as a command team, Sweetie was always the one in charge of the pair of them, but being in the squad with Lyra meant Sweetie had to follow her wife's instructions—particularly when it came to keeping in sync with the squad. She slipped into position in the squad where the missing earth pony had been.

Halving the distance she would teleport, Lyra drove the squad into a canter and finally a gallop before teleporting them to just behind the other two squads. When Lyra's squad appeared, the other two immediately kicked up from trot, to canter, to gallop as quickly as possible and stretched out to their flanks. "Ten strides, then teleport. Five. Four. Three. Two. Now!"

Having invented the fast travel system, Lyra had the best feel for the timing of it. What she'd been trying to do, however, was teach other squads how to get a similar feel for it. As they repeated the pattern again and again, she noticed the other two squads swapping unicorns several times—keeping one fresh magic user in case anything happened on the run.

By the time they reached Ponyville, Lyra felt a strain that reminded her of when she'd first started working to expand her capacity and regeneration. She wasn't physically panting, but she was feeling, magically, like she'd just gone a round with Twilight Sparkle. "Reports?!" As she shouted it, Lyra checked over the squad she'd been shifting. They all looked perfectly fine for Guardponies who'd just galloped from Canterlot.

"Monster Hunters ready for orders," Glider said.

"Research and Acquisitions ready for orders," Daring Do said.

"Nice work everypony, take a break and I'll see what our commander wants to do from here." Turning to Sweetie, Lyra raised an eyebrow at her.

"You show off. You didn't have to do that all alone." It was a struggle for Sweetie not to kiss Lyra, given how much work she'd put in, but she barely managed it and kept it to a butt-thump. "Fresh is probably going to dress-down that corporal all the way back. Let's keep moving. I'll take over control of the Monster Hunters squad, you keep everypony else in order, and we'll get this done with as little fuss as possible."

"Uh, begging the commander's pardon," Lyra said, "but shouldn't I be the one running the squad, Captain Drops?"

Sweetie glared at Lyra for a second then sighed. "I almost managed to retreat back into the cozy life of a sergeant then, didn't I?"

"Not for a second. You took the post, you have to do the work. Now, get your fuzzy butt out there and make a big announcement, then let me yell at everypony some more." Lyra delivered another thump with her flank against Sweetie's armor. For a moment she had to wonder if her wife even felt it, but Sweetie had a big, silly grin on her face.

Shaking her head and trying to banish her love-struck-filly expression, Sweetie said, "No dice. If you're running a single squad, I get to do the yelling." Clearing her voice, Sweetie called out, "We're going to circle around the town to the far side. From there we will wait for Sergeant Fresh Baked to catch up with us. Form up!"

The shouted order didn't need any discussion, everypony present knew their place in their squads and took them without complaint.

"We're not doing anything fancy, just keep it at a trot and move on my mark." Sweetie leaned forward and started to move. "Mark!" As tempting as it was to drag twenty-seven soldiers to Sugarcube Corner for something to eat, Sweetie knew that wasn't appropriate. She took them, as she'd explained, to the edge of the Everfree Forest.

Author's Note:

Princess Luna: If Princess Celestia enchants the guards spears for destruction, are/were there any enchants that you placed upon them as well?

"The finer points of enchantment were not really my domain. The night, its denizens, the ponies sleeping in it, and fighting to survive are where I focused my attention." Luna looked happy to leave it there, but sighed and rolled her eyes. "Though, credit where it's due, my sister has wrought a grand weapon for our ponies."

---

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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Comments

[harts fire]

it looks like Tufts secret is now out in the open, so Discord is scared of having a family?

this is a grate chapter.

[Kiper]

Ah yiss. Figured there was an update coming and spent last couple days catching back up.

"Uh, begging the commander's pardon," Lyra said, "but shouldn't I be the one running the squad, Captain Heartstrings?"

I think that should be Captain Sweetie Drops. (Captain Drops sounds weird)

Ask Tufts: Do you ever regret giving up so much of your power?

[Damaged]

11013360 Whoops. Fixed, thank you!

[Hobbestc]

So Scoots apprenticeship is almost up. Hope she's been learning a lot!

[redmar]

This was an interesting chapter. I liked the conversation between Tufts and Celestia. It's good that they are retrieving items form the old castle, I hope they aren't any nasty surprises there.

[Damaged]

11013736 Well, it's in the Everfree Forest—what could possibly go wrong?

[Booster Spice]

Lyra is getting into the swing of things, but how will the Everfree respond to her style of magic?

Or will Neighton still be the last word?

[FanOfMostEverything]

It does help to maintain good relationships with the higher powers. Friendship is magic, after all. Some friendships more than others. And Discord encountering Tufts shortly before Fluttershy throwing the ice skates and breaking his heart… Oh, he knows what’s coming and has no power to stop it.

I will give my usual comment about your approach to perspective and how it doesn’t play well with tense scenes. Tufts sweating before the solar throne loses some impact when we’re explicitly told Celestia isn’t mad.

That said, looking forward to more. The ripples are spreading in a most fascinating way.

[tsaukpaetra]

Silly Tufts. Though it would have been hilarious if he went there in flying Fox form. 😂
Time for Discord to reevaluate his values!
It's a little surprising nobody seems to have noticed the tight bundle of power sequestered in Gara. Wonder if Tufts is behind that.
Also wonder if anything versed in tracking came upon the guard's tracks what they would think about the odd pattern. A test of lateral thinking.