Chapter 21
The quality of the illusion made Lyra wonder if somehow Trixie had concealed being an alicorn herself. Not one stray hint of unicorn or alicorn magic showed, and Lyra's body looked a little slimmer and younger. Trixie had also worked in a coat and mane change (Lyra still didn't understand how she messed with mane color) and a faux cutie mark. No one short of a siren or changeling should have been capable of such a drastic change.
"Well, newbie? Do you have any iron in you from your Guard days, or did you let it slide like your training?" Spitfire was having the time of her life, but there were positives and negatives to this: she got to yell at Lyra as loud and obnoxiously as she wished and knew the mare would take it and ask for more, but Lyra had no reaction at all to Spitfire's attempts to barb her. It was a reminder to her that Lyra was the mare who had thought her way out from under a changeling queen's mind control.
"Sir! I have iron. For the last three years I've been working on my family farm. Not much flying, but I hope I can change that!" It was fun for Lyra. Spitfire seemed to enjoy yelling and Lyra kept on goading her, leaving hooks for her to latch onto and expand the dressing-down.
There was so much in that Spitfire could pick apart, but chose not to. Instead, she dropped her volume and rolled her shoulders. "So, you want to do some flying?" Lyra's instant affirmative reply was precisely what Spitfire hoped for. "Then come on, newbie, let's do some flying!"
Lyra had to scramble and even use a small flick of pegasi magic to launch herself with any hope of keeping up with Spitfire. In a direct ascent, flapping her wings like crazy, she couldn't help but admire Spitfire constantly getting further ahead.
Spitfire, though, leveled off which gave Lyra a chance to catch her.
"You used pegasi magic. Don't do that. I know you have a pile of magic, Lyra, I want to see what your body can do. Now, try to keep up as best you can without any tricks." Another flick of her wings, looking effortless thanks to her myriad hours of flying, and Spitfire was off at what she considered an average speed.
Struggling to keep up, Lyra did her best to read the airflow over her wings and adjust her feathers but, short of using her magic to move faster, she wasn't able to keep up. Spitfire, though, slowed a little, not pulling away any longer but still keeping the gap wide enough to make Lyra want to push herself.
Then she was put through some tight turns, which Lyra thought she was pretty good at until Spitfire stepped things up. In all, by the time Spitfire drew into a level, slow flight again, Lyra had realized how terrible she was.
"I don't need to tell you that you are pretty slow. Your turns are good, which might indicate you have a particular thought pattern when it comes to flying. Soarin's the best at diagnosing and correcting that. As for stamina, that will improve. You know most of this because it's the same as with running. Flying, for Wonderbolts, is like running is for the rest of the Guard.
"So, I'm going to assign Stumble to get your stamina and base speed up, Slowpoke can turn corners tighter than me, and is looking for a promotion, so she can take you for precision, and with Clipper working on your flight theory—you have a training crew who will make you a better flier than anyone short of a Wonderbolt."
"But not a Wonderbolt?" Lyra asked.
"If you want to be, you can be. Do the work, put in the hours, and we can make you fast and agile. You'll need at least six months for that, though." Swaying her flight a little, cutting patterns into the surrounding clouds, Spitfire looked over at Lyra and saw a mare determined. "You really want to try it?"
"It's complicated. Twilight probably thinks I'll spend a few weeks at most—we even mentioned that—but she also said I should do what I think I should and"—Lyra closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the wind moving along her feathers and wings—"I think I should."
"'Should'?"
"Okay. I need to do this. I need to be the best alicorn I can be for Equestria. If that means putting up with you shouting at me for months or years, that's a price I'll pay." Speaking the words sent a shiver down Lyra's spine. "If you'll have me?"
"Lyra, you underestimate yourself, you know? You have undoubtedly mastered unicorn magic—beyond what anyone could hope for. You were trained by the best earth pony in the Guard I know, and I expect you to go back to her after this and get more training—because I promise you, Lyra Heartstrings, you'll be the best damn alicorn flier Equestria has ever seen by the time we're done with you. Let's get down there and I'll introduce the team who'll be training you."
Following Spitfire's spiral back down to the ground, Lyra was more sure of herself than ever when her hooves touched down. Her wings felt good, like she'd stretched them for the first time and felt her wing muscles and feathers all tremble with anticipation. She snapped to attention beside Spitfire.
"Clipper, get Slowpoke and Stumble and get back here as soon as you can. I have a special task for the three of you." Accepting Soarin's salute with her own, Spitfire tilted her eyes to Lyra behind her glasses. "You know, this is a bit different, but I've got an angle to keep the gossip circles busy."
When three ponies returned—one of them Scootaloo—Lyra felt confused about the names Spitfire had used.
"Okay, you three, this is a wet run. Bubbles here is a former Guard Reserves member. She let her training slide to support her family, but now she has been relieved of that duty and wants to fly. We got her sent here as a test to see how we can handle somepony that has neither the full training of the Guard nor the drive to save the world five times since last Friday." Waiting a beat to let her Wonderbolts assume appropriate grins, Spitfire moved on. "But she has drive and determination. I want you three to test if that is enough.
"Clipper, you're on flight theory and I want you testing her every step of the way. Detailed reports are essential to getting the most information out of this test as possible. Slowpoke, she can turn, but not well. I want you to teach her every trick in the book and invent a few new ones if you think she needs more. Stumble, she's slower at flying than an earth pony and has the stamina of your average unicorn—fix those. Questions?"
Soarin flicked his wingtip out and up, then lowered it just as quickly. When Spitfire looked at him, he asked, "What's our time frame?"
"You have six months starting tomorrow. Three if you are as good as I think you are, twelve if you want to be demoted and assigned to scrubbing the showers for the rest of your lives. I expect you three to plan this project so it doesn't interfere with regular duties or training. Dismissed." Turning on a dime, Spitfire's grim expression broke into a huge grin. When she was outside of earshot, she murmured, "Two birds with one seed," under her breath.
Clearing his throat, Soarin said, "Okay, newbie, let's get you a trainee uniform and see if we can't work this lump of fur and feathers into something capable of wearing the full thing."
"Sir!" Lyra was prepared to play the junior rank, which reminded her of all her years spent at a lower rank. Humbling and comfortable at the same time. She followed along, excitement building.
Walking out, Soarin led Lyra to the requisitions and storage room. "Trainee uniforms come in three sizes. Pick one—I'd suggest getting a small one. Tight fit is better than loose, so go for one size smaller than what feels comfortable. They breathe well, but offer protection against cold airstreams that you'll encounter at high altitude."
Unsure how the enchantment would play with the uniform, Lyra tried a medium first. It fit comfortably, and didn't hang anywhere. "Can you check this for me?"
"This is a medium?" Soarin was a touch confused. To see Lyra (in her Bubbles disguise) he would have thought she'd have been better in a small, but the medium fit her perfectly. "They must have changed the sizes again. This will do. Let's fly some laps to make sure."
"You fly terribly," Soarin said, the words flat and delivered with a shrug. "But, that's good. You don't seem to have picked up many bad habits, so I have less to undo. Let's start from the top. Spread your wings and— No, you've done that wrong. When you spread your wings, even in the most open of places, always flick out the first three primaries on each wing."
Lyra was doing her best, but she was relieved she had less than a year of bad habits to drop. She did as he instructed, extending just her feathers first, and realized immediately why. "So I can feel if I am clear to extend my wings fully."
"Got it in one. You have a good head for this. Next, show me how you would pitch your feathers if you were going to flap to fly straight."
The lesson involved Lyra showing Soarin all the things she'd been taught by Honey Glaze, only to have him show her other ways to do it. "Why is this different from how I was shown?"
"Whoever trained you did the right thing. They picked the right style for your wings, but these styles are for ease of flight. They remove a lot of the thinking from flying, but they also limit what you can do. I won't lie, this is going to make flying harder until you get a feel for all the new input and know how to adjust for it, but you will come out of this a better flier."
Absorbing every word and demonstration, soaking up Soarin's knowledge and letting it demolish what little had been there already, Lyra spent her theory lessons having him explain what to do with certain air patterns, and then feeling them as he used his wings to expertly craft eddies, gusts, and all manner of in-flight effects. This let her build an awareness of the air around her that worked even on the ground, so long as she kept a few feathers exposed to the air.
Her time with Soarin only ate up her mornings, though. Her afternoons were spent with Surprise.
Surprise nodded as they approached the training hoops. "Follow my lead!"
The focus was precision, and combined with what Soarin was training her, Lyra felt herself working hard but managing to keep up with Surprise. Reaching the end of the line, Lyra drew up beside Surprise. "How was that?"
"Well," Surprise started, doing her best to keep her answer from being too harsh, "if you were in the cadets, I'd call that passable for a first year trainee. We're going to work on the most important parts of your wings." Directing Lyra to the ground, Surprise reached out and drew Lyra's left wing to full extension. "You're using these"—she touched the flight muscles—"too much when you need to use these"—and now she brought her primary feathers up to prod the tendons that controlled Lyra's feathers—"and the way to fix that is going to make you a worse flier for a while."
"I've been hearing that a lot lately. What do you want me to change?" So far, in two days, Lyra had been struggling to keep to her history and not out herself. The basic Guard stuff was easy enough to follow, but she was sure they knew something was up with her lack of bad habits.
Managing a small chuckle, Surprise tapped the tendons again. "These allow for individual movement of feather vanes. You won't find flying as easy as normal using these, but they are faster for twitch motion and give better control—once you have it figured out. Flatfoot hasn't caught you doing anything stupid yet?"
"I've focused my entire life on not doing things stupid." Lyra kept a smirk on her face the whole time she said it while wishing she could deadpan as well as her childhood friend, Maud Pie, could. "Do you have an exercise for me to practice this?"
Pausing a moment, Surprise nodded. "It's easy to forget you're new here when you jump at the opportunity to train harder. You're absolutely correct. There are three specific exercises for focusing on developing these tendons."
Following Surprise on her way to the lecturing hall, Lyra asked, "When were these 'exercises' developed?"
"Last night, corporal, while under the effects of a large quantity of coffee. This training is normally done over the course of months, and on a per-pony basis. We're rewriting the books on this, adjusting all the old methods to account for group training. For now, though, we're teaching a group of one. When the commander gets us a squad to train, then we're going to work on protocols for quickly identifying the problems we need to fix." Surprise stepped into the hall and nodded to the board that was full of writing already. "So, this is it."
Lyra didn't reply until she'd read the entire board of notes twice. It was information dense and often fell into anatomy lessons on muscle groups and tendons, but it made sense. "All this for finer control?"
"Finer control and faster control. You'll never cut a turn like me, but the commander can't either. You will be able to maneuver like a Wonderbolt, though."
Nodding, Lyra took the notes Surprise passed to her.
"There are only two things that can ever improve your flight stamina, flying and flying." Scootaloo could see Lyra—even in her disguise—had the kind of stamina a life of constant motion gave, which was fine for overall cardiovascular workout, but flying was its own set of muscles.
Every morning and every evening Lyra's daughter took her mother—unbeknownst to her—for flight stamina training.
The pattern of flight was a slowly ascending spiral above the main Wonderbolts field, forcing each of them to work their muscles constantly as Scootaloo navigated a careful series of turns that avoided any thermal updrafts.
"I get—"
"Got enough breath to talk? That means you have enough to fly harder. Come on!" It was a trick Scootaloo had learned seeing her mothers training ponies. Pushing harder kept minds focused and maximized gains over time. She pitched up at a harder angle and had to pump her own wings harder to compensate. "I only got my wings working a few years ago; surely you can keep up with me!"
Lyra had learned to dislike having her own teaching methods used back on her, not that she would voice that to her daughter. She did allow herself a few grumbles here and there as her wings burned, she strained to keep up, and started to pant. One concession to flying, she had to admit, you got cooler air than running—if you didn't mind the bugs.
"That's our hour. Spiral down with me. Keep flapping slowly to not cramp up." Pitching over, Scootaloo reversed their vertical direction and was pleased that Lyra held to the same spot in formation as if mimicking a coordinated flight.
Nodding, Lyra could feel all her wing muscles being upset with her, but it was the kind of soreness that came from using a muscle well. "Yeah, got you. I suppose you're going to tell me today that I'm doing everything about flying wrong?"
"Me? Nah. I'm the nice one. Clipper and Slowpoke will twist you into a pretzel to change how you fly, but I'll just push you until your wings fall off." Turning her head to look at "Bubbles," Scootaloo gave her best grin. "Flatfoot still hasn't got your nickname pegged, has she?"
"Not yet. I feel like she's watching from every corner. This is a big thing for her?"
"She takes it a bit too seriously. I don't think anypony would object if we kinda fudged one for you." Scootaloo took her conversation with Spitfire about the nicknames seriously and was happy to start pushing away from the old system to something more voluntary. "It has to be self-deprecating, though."
"Of course. Wouldn't work if it wasn't. Flightless?"
"Good start. What about Yessir?"
Lyra winced at that one. She'd thought she was doing what all Guards would. "Am I that bad with that?"
"Kinda. Once you have a nickname, you'll be using that most of the time and no honorifics. Walker?" When Lyra cracked up laughing, Scootaloo was confused. "Bad one?"
Unable to talk about anything specific from Earth in her current guise, Lyra shrugged it off. "Just funny. I guess with all this new knowledge being crammed in my head, I make a better walker than a flier."
"Hrmm." Shaking her head, Scootaloo said, "Nah. Doesn't fit right."
Lyra was at a loss. She had jokes aplenty, and she was absolutely going to unleash every single one on Scootaloo the moment she could reveal herself, but of short and succinct nicknames she had none. "What about if we ask Soarin and Surprise? Maybe it should be the duty of the trainers to give out nicknames. Like a reward?"
"That's not a bad idea. Sit with us in the mess, and we'll talk about it." Not far from the field now, Scootaloo aimed them both toward the showers and brought them down outside. "Let's get freshened up first."
The illusion Trixie had cast hadn't been a simple one, and Lyra knew it could handle water and smoke perfectly fine. She worried that something might happen to her that would reveal it, but she'd worked with Trixie to tie the enchantment off so that it fed on her own magic. Chatting with Scootaloo about her flying, she got through the showering and drying before heading to the mess.
Her third main meal at the Wonderbolts, like the previous two, made Lyra glad for her origins and particularly for her time spent cooking high-protein dishes for Scootaloo. Fish, fish, and more fish. Tonight it wasn't a curry, but rather a stew along with a load of vegetables. Lyra was glad they served such in the evenings. "I could never fly after eating a meal like this."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Part of being in the 'Bolts. You'll get used to all the protein. Not squeamish, are you?" Scootaloo asked.
Wobbling her wing in the air, Lyra gulped down her latest mouthful. "A little, but it's all these heavy vegetables that are going to weigh me down."
"You should see what my mum makes. She does these insanely hot curries that have big chunks of weird vegetables in them. I never even knew that celery had big clumpy roots before. She's got a friend who provides her with these tiny little chilies that are so hot she has to grind them up with a mask on." Shaking her head at Lyra's antics as a cook, Scootaloo noticed "Bubbles" was looking at her with surprise. "I'll see about bringing you some, if you want. Or you could ask the chefs here to make a Captain Lyra Special sometime."
"Your mu—other's a captain?" Lyra almost blurted out a word that would have given her away, or at least made Scootaloo suspect something. To hide her faux pas she filled her mouth with more stew.
Knowing it would have come out anyway, Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. One's the captain of Princess Twilight's guards and the other is captain of some special project group or something. She doesn't talk about it a lot and I don't ask questions. You know how it is—I just want to fly."
"I hear that," Soarin said, finding a seat beside Scootaloo. "So, Stumble, how is our recruit taking to their endurance training?"
"She can't fly. Send her home," Scootaloo said, winking at Lyra.
Sighing and shaking his head, Soarin said, "Well, you heard her, Bubbles, shame it didn't work out."
"What's this?" Surprise asked as she sat, putting her own bowl on Scootaloo's other side. "The newbie's getting kicked out already? What'd she do, stomp on the commander's hoof?"
"Flatfoot did that, but she didn't get kicked out. Hey, speaking of nicknames, got any good ones for Bubbles?" Scootaloo asked.
Surprise paused her spoon halfway to her mouth. "Huh, doing things differently there, too?"
"Captain's orders, or something like that. So…?" Scootaloo asked.
"Useless," Lyra said, drawing three sets of eyes onto her. "It's what all newbies are here, right? I can't fly right, I can't turn right, and I haven't been giving my wings the workout I should have. I'd be the most useless Wonderbolt ever, huh?"
"I like the idea of it," Soarin said, "but that's pretty harsh, Bubbles. You'd be getting called that until you leave the 'Bolts."
"Even after leaving, any Wonderbolt would still call you that." Surprise leaned back with one eyebrow raised. "So, if you're sure, we could spread that around for you."
"Well, I think it will work pretty well as ego-deflation once you three make me the best flier that ever lived, so sure." Giving her best smirk, Lyra tried some more of the stew. In her own mind, it was a touch weak on the spice.
Laughing, Soarin, Surprise, and Scootaloo all shrugged, then laughed a little more.
"Okay, Useless it is. You probably know all of ours. Clipper," Soarin said.
"Slowpoke," Surprise added.
"… and Stumble." Scootaloo was still proud of her own. She'd earned it doing something stupid, just like every other Wonderbolt. "The only thing with Useless is that it isn't taken from something you've done."
"Huh. Now you mention it," Soarin said, "that's right. Back to the drawing board then?"
"SpitfireToo isn't from an action," Surprise said.
Soarin nodded. "That was one of mine. It's still uncanny, even with the dye job."
"So it works?" Lyra asked.
Shaking her head, Scootaloo tapped the table with a hoof. "In the 'Bolts, we have a different name for failure—washout."
"Now that fits perfectly. Corporal Bubbles, you're fine with that one?" When Lyra nodded, Soarin smirked and raised his voice. "You're nothing but a Washout if you can't get these exercises right."
The entire mess hall went silent at the pronouncement, but then Scootaloo spoke up, "Ha! Washout would be the perfect handle for our newbie!"
At the back of the room, Fleetfoot muttered a curse and groaned. "How'd they come up with something like that? This is my thing…"
"You'll get the next one, Flatfoot. Besides, it is pretty good. She's going to have to live with that all her time here." Blaze went back to shoveling food into her mouth.
Looking at the new mare—Washout—Fleetfoot sighed and felt like this was different. It wasn't luck, but that only left one answer. "What if it's Clipper, Slowpoke, and Stumble organizing it?"
Gulping down a mouthful, then having to reach for a drink to not choke on it, Blaze gave her friend a confused look. "Flatfoot, you're not going off the deep end a little here? Come on, it's all just for fun, anyway."
Fleetfoot paused and reviewed her thoughts on the matter. "I guess you're right. If it is them pulling this, though, I can't help but feel it's undoing a lot of tradition."
"We're the 'Bolts, remember. Flying is what we're all about, Flatfoot, not silly names." Reaching out a wing, Blaze prodded Fleetfoot in the side. "And you don't need to come up with silly names to be the second-best flier."
"'Second'?" Even as she asked, Fleetfoot realized she was being set up.
"Of course. You can't help being unable to compare to numero uno." Blaze puffed out her chest and struck a pose, flicking her wingtips up and looking to one side dramatically. She then had to duck a swipe that Fleetfoot made with a wing. "It's true!"
Swinging again at her laughing wingmate, Fleetfoot grumbled and said, "I'm gonna make you train so hard you'll never have a chance to become sergeant."
"Ugh. No way. I've seen what the sergeants are like in this regiment, and I can say I'm not impressed." Blaze had to fend off more wing buffeting from Fleetfoot.
Across the room, Spitfire leaned back into her chair and watched the ponies of her command letting off some steam and enjoying each other's company. She could have yelled and made a big scene of stopping them, but that would have been counterproductive. "She's doing fine. It won't be a few weeks though."
Twilight, in her guise as a pegasus from the Guard HQ paying a visit, sighed and nodded. "I figured as much. She never could do a task halfway. You heard about her recent mission from Celestia?" When Spitfire shook her head, Twilight went on. "It was meant to be a good-will thing. Welcoming a new group of friends into Equestria. She managed to stumble into a fight, and though she performed admirably, she rushed home to report instead of staying to stay visible and ensure everything was fine politically. When she's done here, I'm going to stick her to my flank and let Firelance have some time to brush up his skills."
"He's not liable to grow wings, is he?"
Shaking her head, Twilight said, "Much as he would make for a fine bearer of an alicorn's power, I don't think that's possible. I don't have any hypotheses of my own, but Moon Dancer is researching it."
Opening her mouth to laugh, Spitfire closed it and thought for a moment. "I can't tell, with either of you, if you're joking or absolutely serious."
"What? No. Lyra's the one who always cracks jokes. Well, she and Pinkie Pie. I always tell the truth." Finishing the line as carefully neutral as she could, Twilight tried the meal she'd grabbed. Having gotten used to Lyra's cooking, the delicious stew settled into her stomach well. "Protein heavy?"
Spitfire nodded. "Yeah. Promotes muscle growth, and helps with keeping our feathers in top condition. You don't mind it?"
"I'm used to food cooked for pegasi, remember? One run through the Guard training, and then nights spent studying with Lyra. She never lets me cook." Having some more, Twilight eventually got to the end of her bowl and blinked down into it. "I should visit more often."
"You know, there'll be some positions opening for new Wonderbolts soon. Once we have Bubbles' training squared away and a plan in place, you could always sign up." There was not a single record of an alicorn being a member of the Wonderbolts, but Spitfire was damned if she was going to miss the chance to add two to the roster in her tenure.
It surprised Twilight the genuine regret she felt at having to turn down the offer. "Unlike somepony else, I have too much happening. Between studying history to find the next horrible thing from Equestria's past to show up, and trying to build Equestria up to survive no matter what the future brings, I have my hooves, wings, and horn full."
"The offer's always open."
With Lyra's training going well, and with winter blanketing Equestria, Scootaloo found herself back in Ponyville on leave. Spitfire had all but shouted at her to take a week off, so she'd been given little chance to argue her case to stay and see "Bubbles" grow by increments.
"I can't believe we all have time off all together." Apple Bloom didn't exactly have time off, she just asked her sister if she could spend a week catching up with her friends.
"Yeah. Commander Spitfire practically threw me out of Cloudsdale and told me not to come back until I'd wound down a bit." Talking with Apple Bloom was fun, but Scootaloo looked over at Sweetie Belle—who was completely oblivious with a book propped up in her magic. "Hey, uh, Sweetie Belle?"
When her friend didn't so much as blink at the question, Apple Bloom reached over and flicked the top of the book her friend's nose was stuck in. "Sweetie Belle!"
Jerking her head up, Sweetie Belle looked around with shock on her face. "Oh? Huh? What's wrong? Is the kitchen on fire again?"
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo laughed.
"What's with all the reading?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Magical Theory class. Mr. Dusty Tome assigned homework for our winter break. Literally no other teacher did." Slumping, Sweetie Belle put her bookmark in and closed the textbook. "What about you two? Are they making you do exercises on your time off from the Wonderbolts?"
"Not exactly. I have my daily workout I need to do, but I like doing that." Scootaloo looked to Apple Bloom for support. "Like when Apple Bloom works on the farm."
"Hey! I—" Apple Bloom hung her head. "Yeah." Then, a heartbeat later, she lifted her head back up and looked at Sweetie Belle. "Don't you like learning about magic?"
"I do! I really do. But this is boring stuff because it's leading up to something I already know, I just do it differently is all. You know the worst bit?" When her friends failed to ask, she went on anyway. "The only modern memorization technique is the one Lyra helped me write a book about. That book is one of our textbooks and it has my name on it!"
"Sounds pretty cool to me," Scootaloo said.
Rolling her eyes and looking at the ceiling, Sweetie Belle let out the mother of all late teen sighs. "It would be, if they didn't mess it up."
As Sweetie Belle started to rant about all the ways they were messing up her system, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo managed several seconds before they broke up into giggles, which derailed Sweetie Belle in the end.
"You girls sound like you're having a lot of fun!" Pinkie Pie said, bringing the three milkshake refills. "Can I get you anything to eat?"
"Double fudge mud cake," Sweetie Belle said without missing a beat. "Two slices, please, Pinkie!"
"I'll take a big slice of that lime pie." When Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared at her, Apple Bloom got defensive. "What? Sometimes it's nice to not have apples. Just don't go spreading that, or my sister will be in here to yell at me."
"I think I'll have something light. One of those eclairs would be perfect," Scootaloo said, pointing with her wing at the shelf behind Pinkie.
"Coming right up!" Pinkie Pie took their empty cups and made her way back to collect their choice of food.
"Soooooo…" Apple Bloom said, looking sideways at Scootaloo and nodding, then back to Sweetie Belle. "Have you found a cute guy yet?"
"Or mare." Scootaloo was always quick to add that, given how close her parents were.
Sipping from her straw, using the sound to muffle her words, Sweetie Belle mumbled, "No."
Apple Bloom leaned across and had to angle herself close to the table so she could look up into Sweetie Belle's eyes. "Something you want to fix?"
Finishing her milkshake, Sweetie slumped back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling to avoid Apple Bloom's gaze. "Yes," she said, "but I don't have any time to get to know anypony. It's work, work, work. Even on my week off, I have work!"
"Do you remember when we were in school together, and my homework kept getting chewed up by Winona?" When Sweetie Belle finally looked back at her and nodded, Apple Bloom smirked. "That wasn't exactly by chance. Come on."
"Forgetting something?" Scootaloo asked, gesturing at Pinkie Pie who had arrived with their food.
Laughing, they all focused on eating and, with a fresh shake, Sweetie Belle could continue enjoying a drink.
Once they were done, and on their way out, the three couldn't help but see ponies all over town that they didn't just know, but had helped. Bulk Biceps, Bluenote, Tender Taps, and others all gave them a wave as they passed. Having their special talents put on display in such a way made each almost float along, big smiles on their faces, and happy to talk about anything and everything.
"So why did Winona tear up your schoolwork?" Sweetie Belle asked as they started up the road toward the farm.
"Because of my brother. McIntosh taught her to rip up paper. Has a command for it and everything." Apple Bloom looked around for the dog in question and couldn't see her. "Uh, she normally runs out to say hi."
Looking around, Sweetie Belle couldn't spot the dog either. "Maybe she's scared of something?"
"Like a griffon?" Apple Bloom asked, her eyes widening as she looked upward.
"Ha! Exactly!" Sweetie Belle stopped when her friends stopped. "Like a griffon. But that's just crazy talk."
Scootaloo pointed up to get Sweetie Belle's attention on the griffon that was sitting in the trees above. "Or not!"
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*Ask A Question* So Washout. Are you enjoying your training?
It is nice to see another chapter for the story again Damaged. Hope to read more in the near future.
Suprise uses not just her Earth Pony Mane and Tail manipulation ability but also secret advanced Fluffmancer techniques to manipulate the turbulent vortices accross her body like a salmon extracts energy from the water it flows through to gain vector thrust her muscles dont have to supply?
I tawt I taw a grumpy griff a sittin in a twee?
11825208 Surprise is a pegasus, not alicorn.
I forgot we had two chapters on Patreon and started wondering where the rest was. I'm getting spoiled.
Trixie's reputation is (invisibly) held strong!
Perhaps it's a good thing Spitfire didn't tell Twilight the actual reason she's going to be longer in training, else she might have started yelling. 😜
I wonder how Scootaloo will react when she learns about Lyra's period as a trainee. I'm guessing that the griffon is Gabby.
Oh hi, Gabby. Wasn’t expecting to see you but I’m happy to do so.
Going by the “Bubbles” alias, I’m imagining Lyra disguised as Best Pony, which is a delightful mental image.
And seeing her in her comfort zone of learning new magic is always a delight. The Princess of Failsafes will soon be one step closer to being the best she can be.
To Sweetie Belle, any plans for hijacking a lecture so you can get the record straight on your memorization technique?
Lyra is munchkining hard : ) Glad to see more if this story, it's still one of my favourites.