Chapter 22
It had taken Lyra a month to get to where a normal pegasus could fly, using all the new techniques. Another four months brought her up to speed as a Wonderbolt and let her participate in their shows. Now, at the six-month mark, she was standing in Spitfire's office with Soarin, Scootaloo, and Surprise behind her. "Sir?"
"I thought it would take longer. Honestly, maybe a year at best. I could be unjust, Washout, and say it was all down to your trainers, but I saw you flying each morning before Stumble found you and I saw you flying right up until dusk. You put in the work and showed me that anypony with wings can be a 'Bolt." Spitfire could see pride and resignation in around a sixty-forty mix on Lyra's face. "But, it's time to quit. You don't fit here anymore."
The gasps from behind Lyra were real, she knew. She stood straighter. "So this is it? All done here?"
"Yes, Washout, but I won't drum you out. You'll leave with full honors, the knowledge that you're a Wonderbolt, and an entry on the register stating as much. I have those new recruits coming next week, and there's no more room for you with them here."
Soarin was the first to jump in, trying to come to Lyra's aid. "But commander, she—!"
"Clipper," Lyra said, "this was planned in advance. I was given up to a year to reach the flying prowess of a Wonderbolt. When I started, you had a real newbie on your hooves—but you don't realize how much of a newbie I was."
Halfway through formulating her own plea, Scootaloo froze as a familiar golden magic aura enveloped "Bubbles." She stared in growing shock as the soft gray coat of the mare she'd spent six months training, practicing with, and performing with revealed— "Mum?!"
"Sorry for the deception, but Tailstrike and I both needed something out of this, and having me get training in disguise was the best way to accomplish it." Snapping a salute, Lyra looked between Soarin and Surprise. "Sirs! My time here was one of the best in the E.U.P. Guard to date, and I thank you for your excellent work in—"
"Mum!" Scootaloo stomped forward and eyed Lyra. "You are the worst, sometimes." It was hard to keep any amount of anger, though. "But, at least you're a good flier now."
Catching Scootaloo up and hugging her with forelegs and wings, Lyra squeezed tight. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all. There were—"
"It wasn't her fault, Stumble. I insisted on it. As you three know, there has been a pervasive hazing ritual that has resulted in us almost losing an impeccable flier recently. I asked that Washout come in disguised to give you a chance to work on that—which you did. I liked the ritual of having the trainers pass on the nickname. Keep doing that." Spitfire looked specifically at Scootaloo. "Good work with this project. Keep it up and you'll be a sergeant in no time."
"Sir!" At the mention of rank, Scootaloo was all serious business again.
"So, Washout, get out of here and I never want to see you here again. Keep the name, though. It suits you." Standing up and walking around her desk, Spitfire snapped a salute to Lyra and was pleased to get a confident reply. "You are no longer my problem."
Turning and walking for the door, Lyra couldn't stop herself from pausing beside Scootaloo. "You make me proud every single day." And, at the doorway, she ruined her perfect exit by teleporting far up into the sky above Cloudsdale.
Spitfire managed to keep her cool for a few seconds longer than she thought she would. "Trust her to make flashy!" Giving her best trainers a chance to get over the ridiculous show, she cleared her throat. "Okay. I wasn't joking about new recruits. They arrive in four days, so I want to see how you plan to train twelve ponies that are probably a bit better at flying but a little worse at dedication—than Washout."
The sky had, formerly, only held ballistic equations and teleportation magic. Now, Lyra could fly and feel the air currents for hundreds of meters around herself as surely as she could feel her own heartbeat. Below her, Canterlot stood on its enchanted platform that hung out over the mountainside, shading everything in a huge circle off to the east.
She didn't care that she was still wearing her Wonderbolts uniform. She tipped into a dive and, picking her spot exactly, executed a perfect dive that would have made any of her trainers happy. The thing she wished she'd thought to bring with her was a spare smoke can.
When a Wonderbolt did a trick landing before them at the main gate leading into the royal castle, Sure Fire felt like giving a little applause. Clopping a hoof, he opened his mouth to ask what they wanted and something clicked in his head—telling him to look at the Wonderbolt's forehead just as she pulled her hood back to reveal— "Captain Heartstrings?"
"Don't say it too loud or there'll be a crowd. Is Princess Celestia in?" Asking as if she were on a social visit, Lyra knew she was putting Sure on the spot a little. She could practically hear the gears in his head processing her uniform and state.
Zest Spiral, the second guard at the main entrance, rolled his eyes and gestured over his back with a wing. "She's in, but not taking court right now. A Wonderbolt should be fine."
"Hey, I'm still a Friendship Guard—I needed some flight training." Lyra tried not to prance as she walked past the pair, but it was hard not to do. She was free! No more being yelled at! Spitfire's voice had driven her as much as it had terrified her. Now she was her own captain again!
None of the Royal Guard could find a reason in their oaths to block Lyra, despite Celestia not actively holding court, so they let her through and into the corner of the throne room where she found Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight all seated around a table. She stood patiently, as any Guard would, waiting for somepony to notice her.
Celestia was talking, going over plans for the future. She had noticed movement among the guards, but the pattern of the new arrival's uniform caused her to completely ignore them for the moment.
Twilight, however, had noticed Lyra. "P-Princess C—" At the raised eyebrow sent her way, Twilight nodded toward Lyra. "I think we're missing somepony who should be here."
It took Celestia actually looking at the pony for a moment before she cursed under her breath. "I'd heard of this alicorn blindness, but this is the first time I have encountered it. Lyra, please, sit with us."
Taking an offered seat beside Twilight, Lyra looked at the contents of the table. Reports on cities and towns across Equestria. Each had little notes stuck to them and those notes—Lyra knew from experience—were color-coded. "Twilight has been busy."
Beaming in delight, Twilight gestured at the paperwork. "There are anomalies showing up. The ones with a red tag on them all show it."
Gathering the red ones, Lyra started reading them. "Are you going to tell me what I'm looking for, or is this a game to see if I find the same things?"
"The anomaly is that each of these towns is lacking a Guard presence. They have refused to establish an outpost, even when substantial recompense is offered." Luna gave her sister a piercing glare for almost a whole second. "We suspect there may be more going on than simple mismanagement."
"I could—" Lyra began, but stopped when Twilight booped her on the nose. "What was that for?"
"Research and Acquisitions is already taking care of it. You know, Lyra, you spent so much time putting out fires and putting safeguards into place to prevent future ones, that you have made your old adventures obsolete." Withdrawing her hoof, Twilight looked down at Lyra's outfit. "Nice uniform."
Noticing a second difference in all the paperwork for the targeted towns, Lyra reached out a hoof and summoned some of Twilight's stationery. "Thanks, but you saw it already. Your illusions aren't as good as Trixie's. None of them have had a change in leadership for over… seventy years." She looked at Twilight, then Celestia, then Luna, and finally a grinning Cadance. "Unless they're all ancient ponies, alicorns, or both—I'd say you have some shape changers up to no good."
Cadance and Twilight both stiffened. Lyra looked between them. "Something I should know?"
"Not all the changelings are bad." Twilight did her best to make the story plain. While Lyra had been training, they'd discovered at least one changeling who could leave behind his heritage. "He's staying in the Crystal Empire for now, but Thorax is proving to be a wealth of information."
Cadance took over. "He has the heart of a pony. It wasn't easy to accept at first, but Thorax is different from the others. He shows remorse and compassion, which go a long way toward bridging the gap toward friendship."
"I won't say I like it, but I've given a lot of creatures the benefit of the doubt, so I trust both of you to judge for yourself. Is he nice?" Lyra asked.
"He's adorable! At first, he had a problem—he was starving—and would hiss whenever given too much positive energy. But lately, he's gotten a shimmer about him and he's so vibrant!" Barely coming up for air, Cadance tapped her hooves in excitement. "He's been working with Sunburst on a…" In a moment of clarity, she realized she was geeking out over something within her domain while four other alicorns were looking at her with serious, but amused expressions. "Sorry."
"I expected this. It's why I chose to schedule the entire day for the meeting," Celestia said.
"Sister, if you don't make up with Lyra this second," Luna said, "I shall get cross. You too, Lyra. Whatever has come between you must end."
Glaring at Luna for a moment, Celestia sighed and looked at Lyra. "You were supposed to be my student."
"I was, and still am." Her time training had left Lyra with plenty of moments of introspection. "But I need to learn more if I am to be what you want me to be. I'm sorry I went to Discord, of all people, before coming to you to learn about your domains."
"You felt so distant." The words hurt Celestia to say, but almost the moment after they were out, she felt relief. "And— And I shoved you further away. Can you forgive me?"
"Only if you'll forgive me—and teach me about light, change, and motion magic?" The smile that broke out on Celestia's face warmed Lyra and reaffirmed their friendship.
"Of course I will. Did you really train with the Wonderbolts?" Celestia asked the question she'd been dying to ask since she realized it was Lyra in the uniform.
"They don't exactly give out these uniforms to anypony. I've been with them for the last six months. I assumed, since harmony gave me wings, it was the least I could do to learn how to use them. Who better to teach me how to fly than my own daughter and her friends?"
Twilight was the first to break into giggles. Then she started to laugh. "I missed having you around." Wiping her eyes with a summoned tissue, she blew her nose and made the result vanish with her magic. "There does seem to be something weird going on in those locations, though, so let's have Research and Acquisitions take a peek."
Nodding, Celestia flipped through her paperwork. "The next matter is Den. Sister, you have been taking them under your proverbial wing?"
"Yes. Their railway has been completed for a month now. Goods and bits flow in and out, and they have accepted a Guard outpost to boost their funds further. The dragon there is, surprisingly, amenable to trade and interaction. I believe she is young enough to have not become adrift from every relationship. The griffons there are most helpful, and Gavin the griffon is very honorable." As she spoke, Luna recited the planned speech about the town while also thinking about the train she got to drive. "It is a very nice train. I mean, town!"
Even Celestia had to smile at her sister's obvious hobby taking a lot of her attention. "This is good news, truly. Den is a new jewel in the crown of Equestria. It is a shining light of friendship and pony attitudes being adopted by others and working. Cadance, what of the north?"
"Those new allies"—Cadance nodded to Lyra—"have done a wonderful job of protecting not just Equestria's north-western coastline, but also the yak's. We recently hosted them, and Prince Rutherford was most surprised to find that attacks on his outer coastal villages have completely stopped.
"The Empire itself is growing more by the day. The railway"—now Cadance nodded to Luna—"brings new ponies, new skills, and spreads opportunity wherever it reaches."
Luna did her best to contain her enthusiasm, but hearing her peers getting it made her feel extra bubbly. "We're even building a line to Griffonstone!"
Her jaw hanging open, Celestia finally managed to ask, "How are you crossing the sea?"
"We aren't! We're going from the Crystal Empire to the east, crossing the river that leads into the Celestial Sea, and then south to Griffonstone. I designed the river bridge myself." Luna had no qualms puffing her chest out a little and fluffing her wings. "It will stand for many thousands of years!"
Lyra waited for the next point to be raised, but everyone went quiet. "So, uh, what do you want me to do?"
"With Firelance doing some training of his own, you'll be my bodyguard—which I'll point out is your job, Lyra." Twilight stuck her tongue out at her friend. "And maybe you can show me some of those neat flying tricks."
"Nope. If you want to learn to fly like a Wonderbolt, you join the Wonderbolts yourself. They're taking new admissions, and I think Tailst—Spitfire—is excited about getting more princesses trained. She might want the whole set…" Lyra ended her words, looking around the table.
"Not me." Cadance flicked her snout up a little at the idea. "I was born a pegasus, so I already know how to fly."
"Cadance, remember our race? That was before I learned how to fly properly." Lyra enjoyed the blush on Cadance's cheeks. "Have you considered the opposite? The Guard are always happy to provide unicorn training to princesses."
Having a raspberry blown in her direction, by the princess of love, made Lyra grin all the more.
Twilight cleared her throat. "I will be spending some time here in Canterlot, I believe. There are some research projects I need to clear up that require access to the Royal Library." Looking at Lyra, then Celestia, Twilight wondered how long it would take either to figure things out. She'd come a long way from the socially clueless filly that had to be removed from Canterlot by royal order, and she really hoped she could give two ponies that meant the world to her some time to renew their friendship.
Lyra, for her part, was anticipating spending more time with Twilight.
Celestia simply nodded, understanding that while she had seen her student spread her (literal) wings and grow—she still acted like a magnet for books.
Confusion and a little bit of annoyance were sinking in. Lyra, in her best armor, wings exposed but folded at her sides, stood at the door to the library at sharp attention. She could, of course, handle the pose all day. She might have spent half a year never being still except for sleeping, but standing at attention was not something she could simply forget.
The confusion was why Twilight felt the need for Lyra to be on guard, while the annoyance was when she'd been told this was a solo paper. So she stood there, ignoring her wings' desire to fly, her hooves' desire to run, and her magic's desire to cause mayhem (that last bit, of course, was her chaotic magic—and Lyra agreed that mayhem would be fun).
A familiar face, several in fact, approached the library. Lyra nodded to Seltzer Spray and Long Shift and did her best to wink at Celestia while also maintaining her careful separation from actually being present in any form other than a guard.
"Captain Heartstrings," Celestia said, smiling at the memory of their closeness—and the promise to reforge it. "Guards, you can wait out here. I'll be inside."
Royal Guards, Lyra had to admit, had the standing at attention gig down probably better than she did. Of all the skills guardponies might have, though, standing still better wasn't high on her priority list to obtain.
Movement behind her (the doors of the library opening) alerted Lyra to Celestia's emergence nearly a half hour later.
"Twilight says she'll be busy the rest of the day. She told me, and I will quote her, 'Take Lyra and make sure she eats something and doesn't bug me.' Fall in, please." Celestia was starting to suspect a setup, and she couldn't find it within herself to be upset in the slightest. Twilight had manipulated both her and Lyra—and it would be a delight.
Doing as instructed, Lyra fell in on Seltzer's flank, and the four of them marched around to the main entrance of the castle and then up to the castle grounds. It was basic maneuvering, and giving the Royal Guards pride of place meant she only had to follow their lead.
Celestia skipped the castle. She walked around to the far side and advanced on the Royal Guard pavilion, specifically the training rooms. "You two can wait outside." She didn't bother telling them they could go off duty—they wouldn't. Some things, Celestia knew, were out of her hooves. The devotion of her own guards brought her to tears some days, when she wished she didn't need them. "Captain, come with me please."
They walked through the sparring field where Lyra had taken on Gavin. She nodded to a few of the Royal Guard who were working there, and got a few nods back, but Celestia led her into a side room.
With the door closed, Celestia found a spot on the far side of the room and set herself down. "Which do you wish to start with?"
It finally clicked for Lyra. She relaxed and hoped her positive feelings for Twilight got through to her friend in some way. "Motion, I think, would be a good starting point. I have an affinity for motion spells—or so Twilight tells me." She lowered herself and got comfortable.
"Lyra, you have an affinity for all magic. I've seen the poetry you create in combat where you make use of an entire symphony of spells. How many do you have memorized?" It was far less formal than she'd ever been with a student before, but Celestia could make an exception for a fellow alicorn. "This may be the wrong place to commune with it, then. Would you like to fly?"
"I would love to." Lyra was almost afraid of using a title or name, lest it be in the wrong tone. For now, she could simply feel things out since they were together.
"Perfect." Summoning a scroll, Celestia scribbled down her destination on it, rolled it back up, and used her magic to set it outside the door with a little popping sound to get her guards' attention. "Are you ready?" she asked, standing up and reaching out a wing.
Lyra wasn't expecting help standing, given her athleticism was a known quantity. Nonetheless, she took Celestia's wing with her own—and then wasn't in Canterlot anymore.
Spreading her wings after the teleport, Celestia squeezed her eyes closed for a moment to banish the tears that were already flowing. She didn't need to see to know where they were, but opening her eyes, she nodded and flew toward the ruins floating on a sea of clouds.
Everything felt both wrong and right. Lyra glided after Celestia in the warm skies, but a few quick probing magics told Lyra some unbelievable thing: there was no ground nor water below her. Clouds stretched to the horizon, warm updrafts threatened to carry her upward, and the warm sun on her back soaked into her very being. When she landed on the stone ruins at the edge of a vast, decayed city, she asked, "Where is this place? This isn't in Equestria."
"Lyra Heartstrings, alicorn, welcome to the home of your kind. This is Skyros." The stones under her hoof thrummed, even now, with the magic that held Skyros together. Even now, over a thousand years since she'd lived here, it felt solid. "The library here was one of the last buildings to collapse. After Luna…" She started over. "After I was alone, I came here as often as I could to bring the books back to Equestria with me. There were so many, and it took so long—I almost lost Equestria several times trying to extricate everything. I had to limit myself to shorter trips."
Of all the collapsed buildings, the one Celestia led her to was the most recognizable as a building and not ruins. The roof had collapsed, the walls folding, but the structure was still visible. "What happened?"
"No one knew. We were the last three born, were raised, and when the alicorns started winking out—we were sent away. Whatever was devouring the lives here is long gone, but it took so much."
Moving fast, Lyra rushed to Celestia's side and used her own wing to flick Celestia's out and onto Lyra's back. "Lean on me."
Tears flowed again. Memories of her family here, which she'd thought long since faded, flared back hot and painful anew. The mare beside her was strong, though, strong enough to keep her from folding down and just stopping. After some time crying, her tears slowed and Celestia got back to what she had intended this visit for. "Motion."
"We don't have to." Lyra was doing her best to be supportive. She hadn't expected this but considered it worth sacrificing a little time to help her mentor and friend. "Was this the library?"
Nodding, Celestia energized her horn and tried to lift the blocks of stone away. "I can't move them. There are still books in there, but the magic of the stones is too great."
"If you can't move them, I can't. Not with any of the magic I have access to." The last time Lyra had checked, she could heft a fifty-ton weight if she braced her magic well enough and used leverage. For a few seconds at least. When she applied her normal magic to this, though, it didn't even budge. "How much does the moon and sun weigh?"
"Irrelevant. They are affected directly by our special talents. I could juggle the sun all day long, but lifting this one block is beyond me." Trying one more time, Celestia braced and angled her magic, but the block didn't flinch.
"Teleporting books out?" Lyra asked, prodding the stone with her right wing.
"The stones block that. They draw on your magic and use the force itself to resist you. This is why I tried to remove as many books as I could before I couldn't get in anymore." Releasing her magic, Celestia sighed. "Our ancestors forgot more about magic than we'll ever learn."
"Maybe," Lyra said, "or maybe not. What were the sources of magic at the time?"
"Mostly as they are now." It was hard for Celestia to fight off hope. The way Lyra pitched herself at problems had never resulted in a problem remaining.
"No friendship?" Lyra waited for Celestia to shake her head. "No chaos?"
Celestia's mouth dropped open. "Chaos magic? N-No. They are—were—a very orderly society." It was too much. Her heart was thudding in excitement and she watched as Lyra gathered one of the few magical elements that Celestia herself had never experimented with. "How—"
The huge magical lodestone turned to jello before Celestia's eyes. One moment it was this immense object, less portable than a star, and then it was a wobbly green mass. "How?"
"You said it yourself, it draws in the magic I use on it. These poor stones were never tested and created to reject chaos magic. I figured, on the whole, anything would be better than what they were, so let chaos have some fun." Pausing a moment, Lyra tapped her chin with an armored hoof. "Odd, normally Discord would appear if I said chaos so many times."
"He can't. There's only one other creature that knows the secret of reaching Skyros." Now that the jello was far less resistant (not at all, in fact), Celestia was able to use her magic to remove it easily. She did manage to taste it. "Strawberry!"
"Chaos does many things, including nothing, but when left to its own devices—it never disappoints." Lyra couldn't stop a wild little giggle from getting loose, the source bubbling inside her wanting to be used over and over. "Calm d-down"—she struggled to get her laughter under control—"you're the hero today."
Celestia had experienced wild and unconstrained chaos magic before, and it had been horrid. Lyra, now, gathered her didgeridoo (though Celestia had no idea where from) and started playing a wild cacophony as chaos poured from her and into the land of Skyros.
Starting at the top, Lyra picked blocks she could see weren't supporting others, and invited a little chaos into them. She recognized how much chaos loved this. The stones were orderly, firm, and unchanging for over a thousand years—they were a playground for chaos.
It was Celestia's job, it seemed, to remove the result from Lyra's infectious chaos magic as each block dissolved, slumped, imploded, exploded, or simply blew away on the wind. There were books under all this—books so old and fragile that they wouldn't enjoy having a ton of custard dropped on them.
Laughing as she went, Lyra's chortling having become infectious, Celestia proceeded as fast as she could to keep up. Whether it was a bucket, a scoop, a shovel, or a mop, she worked furiously to dispose of the messes before any could land on a book within.
Lyra froze when the first shelf became visible. Seemingly as indestructible as the blocks, the shelves had protected their contents from the mass of magical masonry. "Celestia! Over here."
Rushing to the top, where Lyra had been working, Celestia saw the shelf. "Oh. Oh, my. This—" She paused, then laughed. "Look at them."
Reaching in, her hooves almost trembling, Lyra held the thinnest volume and lifted it with effort. "Why is it— These have the same enchantment as the stones?"
"Not exactly. I can't"—Celestia choked at the lost memory—"remember the name of the librarian, but he only allowed one book to be carried at a time, and he used magic to enforce that. There's more to it, though." She looked at Lyra with a smirk. "Only an alicorn with harmony in their heart can lift them."
"That's why it took you so long to get any of these to Equestria?" Lyra asked, opening the book reverently. "This is a cookbook!"
"Indeed. It was hard to justify taking time off from running Equestria, but I finally got all the books I could get to out." Reaching a wing out to the shelf and stroking it, Celestia sighed. "I guess now that work can continue." She paused a moment, her thoughts rolling around. "And it wouldn't have been possible at all if you hadn't learned your lesson from Discord first."
"Discord didn't teach me chaos magic, remember? His daughter did." At Celestia's pointed look, Lyra shrugged. "Hey, I'm not the boss of chaos. She's a nice pony and a great teacher."
Selecting a book of her own and sitting down with it, Celestia let out a relieved sigh. "Harmony always knows the way. I see my own hubris now, at being upset you didn't come straight to me, when the world itself was guiding you to the correct path."
"You might be seeing harmony where it's only happenstance." Lyra moved over to sit beside Celestia, her own book open. She reached out a wing to hug Celestia and started reading. "What's a cloud strawberry?"
"I don't believe they exist anymore." Celestia sighed. The fruit's name brought back the taste and smell of them so strongly that her mouth was watering. "I will see about trying to find one, though. You'll need a bright bit of cloud—but I assume you are well versed in weather control after becoming a Wonderbolt."
"Yeah, that took a bit of work. Soarin is a great teacher. I wonder if I could steal him for training the Friendship Guard?" Lyra wasn't serious, she was simply musing aloud given the whimsical location and the book of amazing desserts that she could only imagine tasted wonderful—since almost every ingredient was something she'd never heard of before.
"I think, of all the alicorns currently alive, you have the closest affinity to the Guard. If you need to change anything, I think you've done so much to improve them they would jump to it because it was you saying it. Alicorn or not, there are a lot more guardponies who look up to you as a teacher or greater-than-peer than there are those who think you don't know what you're talking about." The book was one Celestia hadn't read before, which already made it one of the most exquisite treasures she could imagine. She opened it but didn't recognize the name. "This is a tome about magic. I wonder whom I could ask to help translate it?"
"I'd offer, but the princess I serve has me on somewhat of a tight leash of late. Something about me trying to do too much." Lyra shrugged and turned the page of her book, and noticed the writing seemed to wiggle before coming into focus. "What language is this written in?"
"You noticed that? They're not written in any language. The books are written in magic, raw magic. It will always make itself perfectly clear to the reader in the language they prefer to read. What do you see?"
"It's mostly modern Equestrian, though there are a few words of English I see among it. I guess it likes to pick and choose words that fit best if you know more than one language?"
Closing her book, Celestia let out a heartfelt sigh. "Yes. I've had several languages pop up in these before. If anypony could replicate this, it would make Equestria's libraries second to none in the world." Standing back up, she shook her wings and folded them. "I have a lesson to teach, though."
Motion hadn't been the easiest source to obtain, but for a mare who'd used it so much with her magic, it had slotted in easily enough and left her feeling a need to run even more than normal. She sat in the library in Twilight's castle, cozy enough while reading, but her wings and hooves started to twitch.
"Again?" Twilight asked.
"Blame Celestia. I can't stop wanting to move since I gained motion." The book laying before her was still pristine and whole, with no damage or markings. By contrast, her notebook beside it was a mess of scribble and margin notes. "She gave me a list of what the closest Equestrian versions of all these ingredients are."
Eyeing the book Lyra was reading (and had been reading for the better part of a month) Twilight couldn't stop herself smiling a bit wider. "You made her very happy."
"Don't try to hide what you did. That was psychological manipulation." Lyra narrowed her eyes as Twilight stuck her tongue out. "And none of that. You're going to try all these."
"I look forward to it. Do you have any you could try already?"
"Mostly desserts, but I can try one tonight. I think I'll have to talk to Pinkie about it after. The ratios don't look quite right. You can be my first test subject!" Lyra used a little illusion magic to give a sense of lightning and thunder as she maniacally laughed.
"What about Spike?"
"What about him?" Lyra asked.
Using her own magic to wash away the last of the rumbling thunder, Twilight said, "Have him try everything to see if it's bad."
Deflating a little, Lyra gave Twilight her best deadpan. "Because if Spike gets sick from food, it would probably kill us. I saw him eating a handful of asphalt last week. I asked him what it was like, he said 'chewy.'"
"He didn't set it on fire first?" When Lyra shook her head, Twilight made a surprised sound. "He's been liking spicy stuff lately. I saw him sprinkling iron oxide and aluminum powder on his cereal yesterday."
"Growing up? Don't dragons get more fireproof as they age? If his sense of taste is changing, too, that could be another sign of it." The confused look on Twilight's face told Lyra everything. "He's getting older, Twilight. He won't be a baby dragon forever. At least we can both watch him grow up into a great dragon."
"Oh, can you get ready to escort me to Cloudsdale tomorrow?" Twilight asked, trying to put off the Spike's getting older conversation for after she'd had some time to think about it. He wouldn't be a baby dragon forever, and she realized she could do worse than Lyra as someone to talk about that to.
Lyra perked up at that. "Cloudsdale? Of course, Your Highness. What's going on up there?"
"They have a new bunch of trainees coming from civilian sources and wanted a Guard-trained authority figure to give them a memorable talk. Having two might be even better." Rolling her wings, Twilight stopped and tucked them both back. "Want to go for a quick fly?"
It was an easy sell. Lyra reverently closed the alicorn recipe book and stood up. "You really should attend. It wouldn't be hard, and with their focused training, you'd be flying as well as I do in a few months."
Sighing, Twilight stood up and reached out a wing to pull Lyra into a hug. "I can already fly well, and maybe someday in the future I will take you up on that, but there's too much going on right now."
"There's always too much going on. Hey, maybe we could get Trixie to drop an illusion on me and I'll fill in for you?" Lyra flicked her wings up in the classic alicorn pose that Luna and Celestia liked so much. "Though, I'm not sure if your special somepony would object."
Shock and disbelief exploded in Twilight. "How did you know I have—" The grin on Lyra's face got wider. "Oh dammit. You didn't."
"I do now. Who is it?" Tucking her wings back down, Lyra added, "You can tell me. I promise I won't share it with anypony else."
"No. You've gotten enough out of me. We aren't talking about it with others, and are taking it slow." Twilight walked to the balcony doors of the library and purposefully didn't look at Lyra. "Stop giving me that look."
"What look?"
"The one you were hoping I'd turn around and see. It wouldn't have worked anyway."
"Then why didn't you look back?"
Stepping out and up to the edge of the balcony, Twilight still didn't look at Lyra. "Because I'm a confident mare and I don't need to tell you everything." She ignored Lyra's laughter as she dove off the side of the castle and spread her wings.
Stats
Page generated in 0.013 seconds
Total duration
804 users online
1,097,047 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Spitfire: "that.... Darn it we can't keep making more Academy records, Lyra!"
Wonder if she can bleed off some of the magic anxiety passively? Like, encouraging her mane to flow to appease motion and for the pattern thereof directed by chaos? 🤔 Balance will become ever more important as her power grows...
To Cadance: how do you think Lyra will continue to effect change?
That or Celestia secretly gave you a large caffeine injection to make you hyper...either works.
This was a nice chapter and it's nice to see Thorax has already been accepted. I'm wondering who Twilight's special somepony is as well but that can wait.
The visit to Skyros was also nice but I doubt we'll ever learn what caused the collapse.
Thermite Crunch! Contains 57 essential vitamins and minerals.
In any case, brilliant inclusion of one of G5’s more interesting lore tidbits, to say nothing of Lyra doing Lyra things to it. I can think of no better summary of her effect on the world than turning impervious, millennia-old stone into gelatin to clear the way for retrieving lost knowledge. There are a number of intriguing hooks in this chapter, from those suspciious towns to Twilight’s special somepony. Looking forward to seeing how they all develop.
Spikes going to end up with Mozerello Asphalt Pizza topping? I wonder what the California Reaper equivalent is for Adult Dragons.. Radium crystals?
Spike, I can tell youve been stuffing yourself, youre glowing blue as bad as your breath. And its not even dark out.
11848002 Twilight would be absolutely furious with her if she did that.
11848181 She will never tell—because she knows Lyra would already be good friends with them.
11848288 "Lyra doing Lyra" technically "Lyra doing Discord things"
11848415 Pretty sure Twilight would draw the line at him making the batheroom a superfund site.
11848016
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/12/12/495552.jpg