It's a new life for Lyra Heartstrings, a new set of responsibilities, and a new princess to serve. Now she just needs to survive Ponyville to fully enjoy this new future.
Twilight Sparkle is now Princess Twilight Sparkle and she's successfully rescued Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings from spreading herself too thin into early burnout in Canterlot—by ordering everypony who might have some claim to the mare's time to surrender her at their earliest opportunity.
It's a new life for Lyra Heartstrings, a new set of responsibilities, and a new princess to serve. Now she just needs to survive Ponyville to fully enjoy this new future.
"Me and my big mouth." Lyra Heartstrings stared out her bedroom window in the pre-dawn light—only it was just after three-am. The moon and the sun were both low on the horizon which, if it was Earth, wouldn't have been such a problem. The sun and the moon of Equestria, however, should never be up at the same time unless something Very Bad™️ had happened.
"What are you doing, Lyra? Why do you have the light on?" Sweetie Drops asked.
"Well, you might want to get your armor on, Bonny. I don't know what's going on, but I promised Twilight I'd keep Ponyville safe for her until next week, and I didn't even last a day." Turning for the bedroom door, Lyra felt a tight grip on her tail that halted her in her tracks.
Sweetie let go of Lyra's tail with her teeth and cleared her throat. "Breakfast first. It'll be a fast breakfast, but you need calories if you're going to be using magic all day and you skip lunch."
"You're right. Do we still have those muesli bars?" Lyra asked, her plans now diverted to finding something to fuel her for the day ahead.
Lyra left the room just ahead of Sweetie and reached the stairs first too before an orange nose poked out of the second bedroom. "What's going on?" Scootaloo asked.
"Have you already put your hoof-claws on?" Sweetie asked, ignoring the question she had no answer for. "You might as well come down and grab some food too. Lyra thinks the world is ending."
"Again?" Scootaloo hadn't gotten both her hoof-claws on yet, but it took her barely a moment of trained and efficient motion to get the second one on and strapped in place before she walked out of her bedroom. "I saw the moon and sun and figured something strange was going on."
"Breakfast first," Sweetie said. "Then we will work out what's going on. And don't use your claws at the table."
Emptying the dry storage tub of the bars, Lyra dumped them on the table and started brewing coffee. "Have two of those for breakfast, Scoots, and save tw—ten of them for later. Two more for your lunch and the rest for your friends if they don't get anything." She dropped six in front of Sweetie and grabbed six for herself.
"Lyra, make sure you grab two bottles of liquid lightning in case you need it." Sweetie was already in the process of ripping the top off one of the bars. She bit into it, the oats and bran stuck together with honey a welcome taste.
Three cups of coffee were on the table as fast as Lyra could serve them. She set one down before Scootaloo.
"This bad?" Scootaloo asked, her nose wrinkling at the smell of the bitter drink.
"I know I said you shouldn't drink it, but if something bad happens in the next two hours, you might need to be sharp as a tack. I hate this instant stuff too, but coffee is coffee at this hour." Lyra's nose fared no better under the assault of the coffee, but she gulped down half the cup before she started on her first bar.
Silence—relative silence broken only by the sounds of chewing—reigned at the table. With two of the bars to get through, Scootaloo used the coffee to add lubrication while the honey hid most of the bitterness of the drink. When she was done with the second bar—finally swallowing the last mouthful—she said, "We have to be the only family that sits down to have breakfast before saving the world."
Lyra gulped down the last of her third bar. "We probably won't save the world, that's kinda the job of bigger heroes. We might have to save a bunch of ponies from minor—"
"Very minor," Sweetie cut in.
"Right," Lyra said. "… very minor, mini catastrophes. We don't even know what's going on yet, but you can bet if it involves disabling Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, it's waaaaay above our pay grade."
Sweetie nodded to that. "So, get in the air when we head out, keep away from anything that looks dangerous, and get us a sit-rep. We'll deal with any immediate issues we can see on the ground and then wait for your report. Once there are no obvious fires to put out, we'll work on a plan."
Lyra used her magic to dump all the empty mugs in the sink and ran some water into them to stop rings forming at the bottom of the mugs. While she cleaned up and assembled three saddlebags, Scootaloo and Sweetie both left to fit their armor. "Wish I had my armor here. Had to pick the worst time in history to change positions and need my armor adjusted."
When Sweetie came from the armory with her new and improved heavy plate on, Lyra couldn't help but admit to herself that she loved seeing her wife in armor. "Here you go. I found your stash of liquid lightning, you have six bottles plus a dozen bars." She passed the first heavy bag to Sweetie. "Scoots, you get the ten bars. If you find anypony who needs help, find Sweetie." The smaller pack for Scootaloo, and specially made not to interrupt her flying.
Slinging the last of the panniers over her own back, Lyra used her magic to fasten them. "Come on, let's go be—very minor—heroes."
The gloom of not-day-not-night hung over the town. Lyra barely even heard Scootaloo's wings as she sailed into the sky. "I've got this eye of a storm vibe. Something really bad is happening, somewhere, but things here are calm for now."
"Lyra, this is Ponyville. When are things ever completely calm?" Sweetie planted her hooves on the ground and reached out. It was fairly obvious that something was moving all around—deep in the ground. "I don't know what it is, but it's under us."
"Is it moving fast?" The lack of urgency on Sweetie's part was already a relief to Lyra, but she wanted more information.
"Slow, really slow. We have time to prepare." As she spoke, Sweetie watched more ponies stumble out of their homes, looking around with confusion evident on their faces. "Or we could wind up with half the town getting caught in this."
"Where's it coming from?" Just as Lyra asked, an orange streak dropped from the sky beside her.
Scootaloo folded up her wings and rolled her shoulders. "Whatever's going on, it's coming from the Everfree Forest. There are all kinds of wild black vines snaking out from there, and I don't think they look friendly."
"Vines! That's what'll be under the ground." Sweetie reached out and gave Scootaloo a hug. "Thanks for the report. Now, we need to start warning everypony and giving them the option to deal with it here or flee to the west if they wish."
"Ahem." Lyra rolled her eyes up toward her softly glowing horn. "I'll get to warning everypony in town. Scoots, can you swing by the places closest to the forest? Start with Fluttershy."
"Scoots, if there's a problem," Sweetie said, "focus on getting ponies to safety. You can be a hero, just don't make yourself a target."
"Alright. I'll head to the town square and try to get everypony gathered so we can, at the very least, defend each other. What are your plans?" Lyra asked.
"First thing, find a pegasus and have them get word to Canterlot."
"E-Excuse me. Uh, you said you needed a pegasus?" Derpy Hooves asked, approaching Lyra and Sweetie with her filly by her side. "If you can take care of Dinky for me, I'll get the message through."
"I'll keep her at my side." Lyra nodded to Sweetie. "Captain Sweetie will give you the message." Looking down at Dinky, who was keeping to Derpy's side and looking nervous, Lyra asked, "You want a ride?"
Derpy lifted Dinky onto Lyra's back, relieved that she could help and get help. She waited while Sweetie ran back into her home. "Now, you be good for Mrs. Lyra, Dinky. She has an important job to do too, and you're going to help her with it."
The solemness in her mother's voice convinced Dinky, even if the sun and moon being out together hadn't already convinced her something was wrong with the world. "Yes, Mommy."
Lyra waited until Sweetie returned with an official messenger scroll with her personal ID on it. Derpy got her instructions from Sweetie and, after she'd kissed her filly on the cheek again, Derpy took off—headed north and west. "Alright, Dinky, we have to go tell all the ponies in the town square what's up. Can you tell me what spells are best for getting attention and telling a lot of ponies what to do?"
"Um…" Dinky had to think. She didn't know all the spells yet, but she knew some of the more fun ones that books Lyra had gotten her had. "Farwhistles Fabulous Fart? If you use enough power, that should be nice and loud, and what pony wouldn't try to work out who made that big a sound?"
The suggestion was too good not to take. "Right, so once I have everypony's attention, then what do I use? Something to make my voice nice and loud."
Dinky knew exactly the right answer. "Echo's Expansive Address!"
"Yup. I'll give them a good ol' Fabulous Fart, then clear my throat over Expansive Address, and then I'll show you my special superpower." Turning a corner, Lyra saw hundreds of ponies milling about in the town square. Preparing the first spell, Lyra built up the pattern and poured her magic through it—only to have fireworks go off into the sky. "Uh?"
"That looked like Farwhistle's Fabulous Fart. What went wrong?" Dinky asked.
"Magic seems screwy. Don't try any spells yourself." Clearing her throat, Lyra fell back on her superpower. It wasn't the Royal Canterlot Voice, though the volume a training sergeant could raise their voice to was close. "Everypony! We have a situation!"
Heads turned toward them, and though Dinky's eyes were wide, her ears were pinned down at how loud Lyra had been. Under her breath she said, "Wow."
"What's going on?"
"Why is the sun up at all?"
"Where's Twilight?"
Lyra cleared her throat again, and the entire crowd went silent as if in fear of her shouting at them. In a moderate tone, she began, "Honesty is the best policy, as Applejack would say, so I'm going to lay it out. The Everfree Forest is sending out some kind of vines that are even now traveling overland toward the town and burrowing under it.
"Everypony here has the choice to try to fight them off or heading north-west to clear the area. Word has been sent to Canterlot already, so we can expect help soon. Given that I don't know when that help will come or what is responsible for all this, I'm going to suggest grabbing anything of worth and coming with us.
"Anypony who wishes to send their foals with me are welcome to, but I'd appreciate a few adults along too." Scanning the crowd, Lyra saw Cup and Carrot Cake, along with their foals, and Pinkie Pie standing nervously too. "We'll also need some food. Now, it's important for unicorns not to use their magic. There's a lot going on here we don't understand, and we just have to persevere until somepony comes to help us take care of it."
"Like Twilight?"
Lyra was well past trying to live up to Twilight's power/popularity standard. "Yes, I'm pretty sure a princess will be able to deal with this." But, she wasn't above using Twilight's status by reminding ponies they had a local town princess. "Anypony who would rather stay, I would suggest finding a stout axe.
"Now, Pinkie Pie?" Lyra waited for her friend to bounce forward. "Do you think you could get anything baked to help give everypony energy and get us ready to move?"
When the Cake family walked up behind Pinkie, and each of the parents put a hoof on her shoulder, she giggled. "I think we can handle that, Lyra." Turning to the crowd, Pinkie Pie did what she always did best. "Come on, everypony, let's go have breakfast and get ready to give Twilight some space to do her thing!"
Lyra, as she drafted more and more ponies into cooking, reflected on how good making food was at distracting ponies from disaster. Everypony was eating and fueling up for what was probably going to be a rough day, when Lyra started seeing the vines spread through the town.
Black and more than a little evil-looking, she watched as Sweetie was trying to fight them off in the distance—with little success. Just as the vines started nearing Sugarcube Corner, four friends approached the library in the middle of town.
"Pinkie!" Lyra looked around and spotted her friend looking back at her curiously. "Pinkie, I think your friends are gathering at the library. I bet Twilight will be arriving soo—" Lyra cut short when she watched Pinkie gesture upward with a hoof.
"Way ahead of you. Good luck, Lyra. Keep everypony safe." Shrugging out of her apron, Pinkie began trotting toward the library as if she hadn't a care in the world. She did, though. If she didn't reach the library before Twilight did, so her tail-twitches and mane-wobbles hinted, there would be a big disaster.
"Well, everypony, that was our princess and her friends come to save the day. I think we should give them a little room to do their thing." Everypony around Lyra started gathering up the food, mumbling about this and that, but they were still doing what she wanted.
The march out of town was a little disheartening. Lyra could feel the worry among all the ponies that Ponyville might be destroyed without them, but with the majority of the town evacuated, she knew it would give Twilight space to do whatever was needed.
Sweetie, with Scootaloo flying alongside her, appeared nearly an hour later. Lyra could see several other ponies with them. "What's going on?" Lyra asked when they got close.
"The princess and her friends summoned Discord. I don't know the precise story, but all Twilight's friends stayed in the Everfree while she and Spike returned—then went back in. I have no clue what's going on, but she did free this lot from Discord's fun." Sweetie shivered again at how wrong the ground in Ponyville felt. "Now I'm going back to see if anypony else is left. I can't really do much to the vines, but they can't stop me either."
"There's no point," Scootaloo said. "Everypony is here now. The town's empty."
Sweetie looked at Scootaloo for several seconds. Fighting the vines for a full hour had left her feeling lethargy and hot. She detested not having a single objective—an enemy to bring down. "There might be somepony you missed."
"Wait, there's more going on here." Lyra tried to focus on what had happened. "It's almost like, like our magic is being subdued."
Just about to leave, Sweetie was looking back at the town and felt a deep desire in herself not to approach it. "What do you mean?" Even as she asked the question, Sweetie realized Lyra might be right.
"I felt it too." When Lyra and Sweetie looked back at her, Dinky sat up a bit straighter. "The magic drain. It's not all draining, though."
"Wait, is that right?" Sweetie asked.
Focusing on her magic, Lyra realized why things had felt so strange. "She's right! Friendship magic is still working!" Building up a flood of magic in her horn, Lyra prepared to cast a spell and froze. "But there aren't any friendship spells."
Scootaloo snorted. "Didn't you say that was one of your jobs? What Twilight had assigned you to do?"
"Well, yeah. But I expected to spend days meditating on the new magic type and slowly build up an intent to find what it wants to do—not just spit out a spell for it like I was some kind of fortune cookie." Thinking about it, and twirling the magic in the air, Lyra did start to get some inspiration.
Climbing up a bit higher, Dinky whispered in Lyra's ear. "I think it wants to make ponies happy."
Not one to question the way harmony twists ponies to give her inspiration, Lyra thought about all the ponies who'd left Ponyville and most of their possessions behind just to ensure everypony was safe. Strong, full hearts—full of love and friendship.
Focused completely on the sensation, Lyra started drawing a pattern in the air—one that no unicorn in Equestria had made before. It was full of bonds, knots, and also edges ready to bind more. It was uplifting and powerful. When she had the complex pattern assembled, Lyra fed friendship magic into it.
The rush of power spreading out to wrap up all the ponies present spread further still. Lyra's eyes stared blindly as she felt all the ties she had to other ponies flare bright with colors of the rainbow. Some launched up toward Canterlot, some to Manehatten, some to the far reaches of the frozen Crystal Empire, and yet others south to lands she'd never visited before—even to the ponies of the town around her.
But the magic didn't stop. From each pony it touched more threads spread out to find all the ponies they'd touched, then more, and more, and more. It was dizzying for Lyra to feel all that connection. Just when she thought the spell was going to finish, there was an explosion of power from deep within the Everfree Forest—and the bonds grew stronger still.
Leaning over to kiss her wife on the cheek, Sweetie Drops was careful not to use her own power. She felt the bonds of friendship knit all over Equestria now—then it all finished.
The huge spider-web of magic collapsed, but the way it had touched everypony remained. The townsfolk around Lyra were silent until Scootaloo raised her voice. "The vines are gone!"
Blinking in surprise, Lyra felt a change come over the world—or at least the area around the Ponyvillians. There had been a fog clouding not just magic but also harmony. What was was trying to work out is if her spell had broken it or if it was just something that happened at the same time. "Well, I'll call that a win for Twilight and her friends, then. Come on, everypony!"
A cheer ran through the crowd. Everypony seemed to feel the change as the fog the vines had been producing was gone along with their black tendrils. They just reached the town center to find Celestia and Luna—along with Twilight and her friends—in the process of fixing the sun and moon.
Raising her head, Luna reached through the gap of space to her moon and, with all the tenderness of a mother for her wayward child, eased it to rest once more.
Celestia's blinding light spilled forth, flooding the town with beams of pure golden magic. She only had to nudge her sun to set it on the correct path across the sky.
Feeling a little less triumphant, Twilight watched the other princesses restore the day-night cycle to rights and let out a sigh. "Girls, I know we've give up the elements, but we have to move beyon—"
"Twilight!" Lyra cantered right up to Twilight, halted, and nailed a salute. "Did you see what I did? I made a friendship magic spell!" Unable to contain her glee, Lyra trotted in place. "Wait. Why are you all looking sad? What happened?"
"The only way to stop the vines and free the princesses was to put the elements of harmony back into the tree where they came from. I don't know the full explanation, but Princess Celestia said that's where they came from, so…" Twilight felt the loss of the elements as a personal one. Discord might have been the source of the vines, but she couldn't even blame him given the time frame. "I don't know if we can protect Equestria any longer."
"Hey now, sugarcube, don't go saying that!"
"Twilight, we're too awesome to give up just because we don't have a bunch of rocks."
"As if we needed cool necklaces to be bestest friends."
"Um, uh, we can still do it?"
"Though I did quite like those darling things, we don't need them to be gorgeous."
Twilight couldn't stop herself from pulling her five friends into a hug. "Thanks, girls. This means I need to work extra hard trying to come up with an alternative to the elements. I've got a feeling this isn't the end of things."
What Lyra could appreciate was how Twilight's friends jumped in the moment she seemed to lose heart. She waited for the little group to finish their moment and for all but Twilight to excuse themselves and return to their homes. "Okay, so this tree thing got rid of all the vines?"
"It's been a day, Lyra. Why don't we go somewhere we can relax and discuss the different—Is that Scootaloo?" Twilight stared at the filly striding confidently along beside Sweetie Drops. "When did she start flying?"
"Twilight, don't you pay any attention to what's going on in Ponyville?" Nudging Twilight's shoulder, Lyra nodded toward the library. "You'll both need to come and give us a debrief."
Having learned every little detail of what happened while she and her friends were dealing with the vines and the tree, Twilight Sparkle realized that she very much didn't need to know every little detail of anything.
Sweetie Drops' rundown of her fight with the vines in town and evacuating the last of the ponies out had been expected—Twilight knew that the mare was basically a national hero—but then finding out that the only reason Fluttershy had made it to town at all was Scootaloo's work (and that report had been given in exacting detail too) had left her stunned as she listened.
What she wanted was Lyra's report. Turning to the mare in question, Twilight raised one eyebrow. "Alright, I think we've got a good idea of what happened with the ponies and with the town itself, what happened with the magic?"
"As it turned out, I was lucky to have Sweetie Belle and Dinky with me. They helped me think around the problem. You remember what magic was like in the town with all the vines here?" When Twilight shook her head, Lyra chuckled. "Well, those of us without as much magic as an alicorn had problems using any of it. I was at a loss until my pupils mentioned that friendship magic was still working fine.
"They then helped me come up with a spell that would use friendship magic. It—I think whatever you did might have affected it, or maybe it was just that we needed something to remind us all what we needed. It should have spread through the townfolk and no further."
Twilight was fascinated with this. "How far did it spread?"
"Well…" Biting her lower lip, Lyra blew out a very equine snort. "I think it stopped around Los Pegasus in the south and reached as far as the Crystal Empire in the north. I think."
Snorting herself and almost laughing, Twilight said, "Show me the spell."
Dialing her magic to a trickle, Lyra sketched out the pattern in the air—making careful note to get every little embellishment correct—and then shrugged at Twilight. "This is it."
Examining the spell with the level of knowledge she had, Twilight could piece together elements and pluck out intention. Not all of it was purely functional—there was a lot of artistic flair in places—but it practically thrummed with all the themes of togetherness, friendship, and kindness. "Lyra, without a doubt, this is the first friendship magic spell. The range parameters are all correct, but I suspect the emergency overload element you added here is the reason for the widened range."
As soon as Twilight mentioned the element she'd added to protect the spell from overpowering, Lyra knew what had happened. "And it got a burst of magic from—"
"No, it's more than just that. New magic has been building for a while. Nopony has been using friendship magic, so it's been gaining in mass and pressure. You cast the first spell of it—with a literal hurricane of magic behind you. That the spell didn't affect the whole world means you used up the excess, at least." Twilight patted Lyra on the shoulder to reassure her. "And it's not like this spell was ever going to hurt anypony."
"You know the strangest thing, Twilight?" Lyra asked. She gestured at the spell and waved her hoof at all the details. "I don't have to memorize this. It's just there."
"That's odd. I wonder if it's because you created it?" Twilight asked, her own focus on memorizing the complicated spell so she could record it later. "Perhaps try meditating specifically to forget it—once I've got it recorded—and see if you can still cast it?"
It was a relief to work with Twilight. The mare knew exactly what Lyra was capable of, which greatly simplified any technical discussions. "Just let me know when you have it safely written down."
"Excuse me, ma'am." Sweetie Drops saluted. "If we have your leave, I'd like to inspect our home for any damage, and I'd better go rescue Spike from Dinky."
It took a moment of recontextualization for Twilight to understand what Sweetie Drops meant or even that she was being addressed. "Right. Yes, of course you can. Can I—Can I just ask you to treat me as Twilight when I don't have a tiara on?"
Shaking her head, Sweetie pointed at Lyra. "Maybe for them, but I'm a commander of the Guard, if you raise your voice above a whisper and I hear it, it is a possible order." Sketching a salute, Sweetie turned and escorted Scootaloo downstairs where she saw Dinky and Spike were reading comics. "Dinky? We're heading home. Lyra and Twilight have a lot to catch up on still."
Twilight could understand her friend being nervous. The first spell involving entirely new magic was something to be kept safe. "Very sure. I have three copies of it recorded. One for the library here, one for myself, and one I sent to the library in Canterlot."
Taking a deep breath, Lyra brought up the spell in her mind. It wanted to be cast so much she had to strain not to just let it go and make it manifest. The old mental trick involving thinking about elephants walking around wasn't something she used often, but now she meditated on it and—cast the spell again.
Just like last time it darted around and linked her to the ponies most important to her—which was a lot of ponies, then radiated outward from there. It stopped, however, just past the edge of town. The spicy-sweet feeling of friendship washed through her and, she knew, every other pony being affected by the magic.
When the spell ended, Twilight felt amazingly relaxed and happy. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance had crowned her the princess of friendship, and this magic was a pure manifestation of her element. "You used the elephants, right?"
"Of course I did. What's better for clearing some room in your head than putting elephants in it? The spell's just there, Twilight. Even just thinking about it now I know for a fact the copy I have is perfect. Is this, maybe, something to do with having made the spell?"
Twilight's mind raced at that. She thought she remembered something from a pony who'd made a spell, and it took her almost a minute of focus to remember who. "Star Swirl. That's how he knew so many spells. How he could always have the right one to hoof when he needed it."
Lyra giggled. "Because he invented so many. That has to be it."
"Exactly. Well, I'll still double-check that, but for now we can work with that hypothesis and upgrade it to theory. Now we need more spells." Looking at Lyra, Twilight couldn't help but smirk. "Maybe try for some that will be more immediately useful?"
"You say that, and yet that first spell was so effective at raising everypony's spirits that it completely shattered the magic-drain effects that the vines had inflicted. Did you figure out where they came from?"
The question reminded Twilight exactly where they'd come from. "Ugh, that's the worst bit. Discord."
"Discord!" Lyra remembered her run-in with him—she'd never felt so helpless before. "S-So you're going to petrify him again, right? Wasn't that the deal?"
That caused Twilight to slump. "Yes, but it's complicated. He planted those seeds over a thousand years ago—before he was turned to stone for the first time. So saying he's innocent of breaking the agreement is technically correct."
"The best kind of correct," Discord said.
"Discord"—Twilight slowly lifted her head to glare at him—"I'm only putting up with you right now because I promised Fluttershy I would and because I don't have the elements of harmony. We're discussing new magic spells right now—do you want me to add petrify draconequus to the list?"
"Oh phooey. You're no fun." Turning to look at Lyra, Discord let out a mirror of the same groan Twilight had a moment earlier—completed perfectly by turning his head into a duplicate of Twilight's. Transforming his head back, he pointed a talon at Lyra. "You make things extra annoying. Twilight, I demand you send this pony as far away from Ponyville as you can—now!"
Angry as Twilight was, she noticed something. "What is it about Lyra that bothers you?"
Before Discord could open his mouth, Lyra said, "Tufts, Tjinimin, Mango. Dad got upset with him last time we met. While I wouldn't exactly go crying to him, he'd be annoyed with me if you did something to me and I didn't tell him. I don't like making him annoyed."
Discord's teeth were grinding. Lifting them up from the circular stone he was peddling, Discord inspected them and put them back in his mouth. "There should be rules against this."
"There are. A lot of towns have instituted a no Discord law. They aren't actually legal to enforce, but Princess Celestia made me promise not to reform the legal system for at least five years." Despite her calmness, Twilight was intensely curious about what was between Discord and Lyra's father. The easiest way to find out, of course, was to ask. "So, what's up with Lyra's father? It's not like you, Discord, to just listen to ponies when they ask you to leave them alone."
"Well…" Lyra bit her lower lip. After Tufts explained everything to Celestia, the bat was out of the bag as it were, so she didn't feel like it was a betrayal of trust. "Tufts was—"
"Still is," Discord said.
"Right. Tufts is a god from Batstralia. Sort of. It's complicated."
"It's not just that." Discord spat the words out as if they were horribly distasteful. When Twilight glared at him, he produced a mop, bucket, and a maid-Discord to clean them up. "He's a fine chaos god, I guess, except that he's been domesticated." He gave the maid-Discord more work to clean.
Lyra managed to hold back her giggles for nearly two whole seconds, then the laughter that followed a second later removed her from the conversation.
Twilight struggled and managed to keep her reaction to the slightest smile. "Have you thought about talking to him about it? What was he the god of, anyway?"
"That's the thing." Discord produced a bouquet of snakes from behind his back, then tossed them on Lyra. "The same as me, near as I can tell."
Lyra, suppressing her laughter and picking the snakes up in her magic, shook her head. "Maybe. Okay, probably, but he's way more mellow now."
"See! She admits it!" Discord pointed his talon at Lyra.
"Your dad's a god? You never told me that." Twilight watched Lyra pet the snakes one by one. "What does that make you?"
"Me? I'm just a mare with a tolerance for the absurd and a mother who found the right guy for her well after she'd had me." Lyra shrugged. "He's been really awesome to Mum, and he helped Scoots and me make our own didgeridoos. Then there's Gara—she's an adorable little bundle of mango-destruction."
Discord's eyes narrowed and he glared at Lyra before he let all his annoyance out in a wheeze—the maid-Discord tried to chase it down, but the annoyance escaped out the window. "He's been completely trapped by the pony lifestyle. I—I feel it happening to me too. Every time I visit Fluttershy and have tea I just—"
"Speaking as an alien that adopted the pony lifestyle, Discord, it's not that bad." Despite every warning to the contrary, Lyra reached out a leg and patted Discord on the back. "You've tried the cakes, right?"
"Cakes?"
"Take this coin, go to Sugarcube Corner, and buy yourself one of the Pinkie Special cupcakes." Lyra put a silver bit in Discord's paw. "And, next time you have tea with Fluttershy, bring a tray of the cupcakes with you."
Twilight watched as Discord stared at the coin in his paw and shivered. "Also, if you did anything else like those seeds, please let me know."
"It's hard to remember all the things I did back then. I mean, I was more chaotic at the time than I… am… now." Discord vanished in a puff of self-realization and panic. Then the puff fell to the floor.
"Don't worry, I'll clean it up," maid-Discord said, using a dustpan and broom to scoop up the self-realization and panic before vanishing too.
"If I'd known having you around would have had that effect on Discord, I'd have stolen you from the Guard earlier." Laughing, Twilight looked critically at the snakes that had infiltrated Lyra's mane. "How do you just go along with all this without shouting at him? And how did you manage to keep him from getting on my nerves?"
"Bluffing. Lots of bluffing. Also, he admitted to a weakness. Fluttershy is definitely your key to having a much more reasonable Discord. These little guys are cute, though. I wonder if Sweetie will let me keep them?"
"You'd bluff Discord?"
"What are the other options? If I don't bluff, I'd probably either run screaming or do something to make the situation a lot worse."
"Right. Thanks for avoiding those two. It's just interesting seeing him recoil so much from a topic." Ignoring the snakes now, Twilight tried to collect her thoughts and get back to the topic. "Where were we? Right, more friendship spells. I like where you went with the first one, but we need more. Is there a day where you would be able to spend time with me brainstorming ideas?"
"Twilight, the whole point of this is you're my boss. You're a princess now, you get to tell me Keep your Wednesday's clear. That kind of thing. I can organize around what you need of me and ensure Sweetie Belle gets her lessons." Waving her hoof, Lyra gestured to the library. "I can help out here, too, if you want?"
"Here?"
"The library. Lending books." When Twilight stared at her with evident confusion on her face, Lyra rolled her eyes. "This is a library, Twilight. Ponies borrow books here."
"I know this is a library, but what—Oh! You mean work here? But you're a soldier. Wouldn't you…" Trailing off, Twilight fumbled for what she wanted to say. "What do you do when you aren't teaching or—or saving the day?"
"Well, I cook, I clean, I visit my parents and little sister, I take my family on holiday, I try to find problems that I can fix, and I get myself into crazy situations where somepony else is saving the day and I do what I can to make sure they do." Tickling the chin of one of the snakes, Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Can I add researching friendship as I work in a library to that? Maybe even be a guardpony for a princess from time to time?"
Twilight's brain froze for several seconds as it tried to figure out which princess Lyra was talking about—before realize it was her. "Why would I need a guardpony?"
"Because there are times, like your coronation, when you need somepony to be all official for you so you can relax. Scootaloo isn't going to be free all the time, you know." That's when it dawned on Lyra. "You know, I could teach Sweetie Belle, Dinky, and any other unicorns that want to study magic here."
Before Twilight could even fully process that, her wings shot up in surprise. "Turn the library into a magic school?"
"I mean, Inkwell is already having me teach Sweetie Belle in an official capacity on behalf of Princess Celestia's school. We—and by we I mean you—could ask if there would be a preferred pre-schooling program we could use to teach fillies and colts exactly what they'd need to know to enter the school—maybe even in an official capacity."
"But—" Twilight was having trouble keeping up with Lyra's breakneck pace. "That would be amazing. You will need to hire another teacher, though, because you won't always be available to give lessons."
"R-Right. I guess I need to think beyond being a sergeant."
"What's thinking like a sergeant?" Twilight asked.
"Sergeants solve problems with the assets they have. If we are meant to have more assets, our lieutenant organizes us to have more." As soon as Lyra said it, and saw the gleam in Twilight's eyes, she realized the trap she'd stepped into. "Wait! Don't say what—"
"Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings," Twilight said, not exactly sure how to phrase what she wanted, but she figured she could write something official later, "I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, promote you to the rank of Lieutenant."
Lyra had buried her face in her hooves. She'd pushed her wife precisely because she preferred to be a sergeant. "Why?"
"Because you need to be more than you are now. You can make bigger decisions, Lyra, and I will continue to remove all the careful little protections you've built that stop you being everything you can be." When Lyra lifted her head, Twilight booped her with a hoof. "And that starts with making you commander of my Guard."
"Why?"
"Because you needed it." Twilight used her magic to start brewing coffee. "And because I needed it. I'll do all the paperwork if you take care of any shouting. But there's one other thing."
Curiosity was always Lyra's weakness. She stared into Twilight's eyes. "You're going to do the paperwork and let me do shouting?" When Twilight nodded, Lyra tilted her head to the side a little. "What's the other thing?"
"I need somepony to teach me how to fight and how to take charge. That used to be your job, right?"
"You want me to order you around and teach you how to use your magic for combat?" The prospect had some appeal to Lyra. "Are you sure of that?"
"Yes. So far I've managed to out-think all my troubles. Even the dragon a few years ago wound up taking some puzzling to deal with. I can't be this lucky forever. Eventually I'm going to face-off against a problem that is going to rely on reflexes I don't have." When Twilight felt like she needed to add a little more, she said, "And, you get to yell at me."
Leaning back, Lyra steepled her hooves and looked at Twilight. "You know I like yelling…" She waited to Twilight to grin before continuing. "Alright. But I have a plan that should get you some good groundwork and give my replacement at the Guard a bit of a test."
Glaring at Lyra earned Twilight nothing more than a devilish grin. There hadn't been any yelling yet, but if the plan worked, that would change. A look sideways, at the mirror, initially confused her. That's me Twilight had to consciously think. The pony in the mirror was a white unicorn mare with a straw-colored mane.
"Well, we couldn't change your cutie mark, but stars are common enough among unicorns." Lyra walked around Twilight. "What do you think, Spike?"
"That she is going to have to explain to Rainbow why she skipped two weeks of flying practice." Spike raised his comic again, but peered over the top of it at the pair.
Twilight let out a snort that spoke volumes about her feelings on that. "Rainbow Dash is an amazing flier, and I couldn't have a more loyal friend, but her teaching wasn't exactly doing me any good."
"She's still learning discipline. Captain Spitfire said she'd going to make room for her, but Rainbow still needs to work on her teamwork skills." Lyra poked at Twilight, testing to see if she'd flinch and the spell would drop—but it held. "I'd recommend getting Derpy Hooves to teach you initially, then going through this again as a pegasus."
"What about earth pony?" Spike asked.
"Good point. Maybe I could find an earth pony who could teach you the basics before you go. But where would I find such an earth pony?" Lyra ducked the spellbook Twilight hurled at her, catching it and setting it back on the table. "We'd better go. We need to be at the training fields first thing in the morning."
"This is still really weird." Twilight slung the saddlebags Lyra had given her over her back and walked out of the library. She froze at the sight of Trixie. Opening her mouth, she paused because Trixie wouldn't recognize her. "Excuse me, do you know the way to the station?"
Looking at the strange pony, Trixie spotted Lyra leaving the library behind her. "Of course. You follow this street here and it's at the edge of town." Turning her attention to her old friend, Trixie smiled a little wider. "This is the new recruit you're escorting to Canterlot? Why isn't Twilight looking after the library?"
Marching right up to Trixie, Lyra hugged her. "You know how it is with princesses, all over the place. I bet she's actually just taking a holiday while us regular ponies do all the work. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon."
"You better believe the Great and Powerful Trixie understands. Don't get into too much trouble, Lyra. It'd be annoying to come and save you when I have such a cushy place here to relax in." Trixie let go of the hug and patted Lyra on the shoulder. "Go, blow up Canterlot. Trixie's sure somepony can put it back together again."
"Thanks again." Trotting off after Twilight, Lyra bumped into her side when they were abreast. "Worried?"
"About what? Weeks of grueling work, not being allowed to read, or leaving Ponyville in Trixie's care?" Twilight asked.
"All of them, but mostly the first one. Also, you'll get books to read, don't worry, and they'll be some of your favorites." It was hard to hold her smirk back, but Lyra had learned to deal with hardship. "And grueling it won't be—you just have to do a little running."
A little running.
Three words that burned in Twilight's brain as being a prime example of understatement. A little running would be a brisk trot to the train station and back with a new delivery of books. It was the end of Twilight's first day at the academy and the running they'd subjected her to was only survivable, she thought, thanks to her alicorn stamina.
The food, though, was worth the wait. It was served up on trays in the mess hall, but each little position on the tray was filled with delicious, filling food. When Twilight got to dessert, however, she pondered if quitting being a librarian and taking up the life of a Guardpony might be her true calling.
"Hey, I heard you know the old sergeant."
Twilight's attention snapped to the pegasus mare who was talking to her. She remembered her name from earlier in the day. "Yes, Cloud."
Cloud Rodeo almost pounced on the knowledge. "Is it true she got kicked out of the Guard? I heard she was—"
"What? Princess Twilight"—Twilight shook her head and only barely stopped herself from saying I—"needed her for a special assignment. She's still in the Guard."
"How'd you find all that out?" Cloud asked, her rumor-senses now prodding at every angle of this problem.
"Ponyville's not exactly a big town. The princess runs the library there and needed a unicorn to help with some—stuff. I don't know exactly what." It was hard to salvage her friend's reputation and not just outright tell Cloud what had really happened. "You should probably ask Lyra if you want to know about what they're doing. Or the princess—but I hear she's a bit busy these days."
Barking a laugh, Cloud shook her head. "I figured, what with becoming a princess and all that."
"Yeaahh." Twilight struggled not to laugh. "Must be a lot of work, I guess. Not that I'd know. Hey, do you know when we'll learn spellcasting?"
"Tomorrow, recruit." Sergeant Long Shift, having spent quite a few years in the Royal Guard, had been excited to be tapped to do work training new recruits. He'd spent years dealing with recruitss who had needed a lot of extra skills to be taught only to find the quality improve dramatically recently. Getting to continue that lineage was a mark of pride. "You'll be going through initial assessment so I can ascertain how much you need to learn to become competent."
Twilight recognized Long Shift, but only peripherally. His armor was the biggest give-away that he was Royal Guard. What really struck Twilight—something that was true for the first time in years—she had a teacher again. There was somepony who knew things about something that she would be learning from.
It wasn't just exciting, it was life-changing. Twilight perked up in ways that made thinking about anything else absolutely impossible. That old need was back in Twilight's life—the need to truly learn from somepony.
She could see, now, how much that need had driven her to odd reactions and an odder relationship with Celestia. Twilight had clung to her old teacher for every drop of educational approval she could get.
And that's when Twilight realized she had been focusing inward a little too much. Long Shift was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and she swore she could hear Cloud trying to hide a giggle. "S-Sorry, Sergeant."
"I asked you what your specialty was. You have a good cutie mark for magic, Recruit Sparkleshine, so I assume you have had some experience with it already?" Lacking in discipline, Long decided, but discipline was something that the academy could teach. He had not a lot of hope for unicorns who lacked in skill with magic.
"Y-Yes, sir!" Twilight had learned fast during the day that yes in the Guard always came with a sir or ma'am after it. "I have done some training with Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings in memorization and magic capacity." It was exactly what Lyra had told her to say when asked. It gave away nothing about her actual capacity or skill, but implied that she'd spent some effort working on it.
There was a little part of Twilight that wanted to dispell her disguise and spread her wings, proclaiming it was all a prank—but that part was drowned out by the combined voices of three years without a direct teacher.
"Ah, the rumor was true? If Lyra has spent some of her time with you, I believe you'll be able to impress me with your abilities. As you were, Recruits." Turning for the sergeants' table, Long felt a little excitement at the prospect of having a recruit recommended by the previous training sergeant.
"So you really do know her? I guess if he wasn't freaked out by you knowing Sergeant Lyra, that means she probably isn't disgraced." Cloud tapped her chin with one wingtip. "Oh! What did you get distracted about?"
"Just remembering stuff. It's been a while since I did any schooling. Is it weird to like learning?" The worlds slipped out of Twilight without her say-so.
"I mean, if the sergeant was a bit younger, I might be into studying too, but he's like twice my age." Cloud waved Twilight's actual question aside in favor of the one she thought had been asked. "But, hey, don't let me get in your way."
The answer just earned a sigh from Twilight. She was about to correct Cloud when a loud throat-clearing subdued all the conversation in the mess.
"Welcome, recruits, to the E.U.P. Guard's training academy. My name is Captain Stiff Peaks and I hope you enjoyed my cream cake for your dessert." Stiff let the implication sink in before continuing. "For the next two weeks you will be in my care and the care of my sergeants. They will teach you the skills expected of all Guardponies between short bouts of light exercise. Some of you may wish additional training, and for that Sergeants Long Shift and Bluebelle as well as Captain Sweetie Drops will be each taking just five applicants. If you think you have what it takes to live up to their expectations, and you want to give the Guard your all, consider talking to them at the end of this week—if you're still here.
"Your mornings will start at four AM sharp and you are expected to be asleep at ten PM. Once I am done talking, you are going to run around Canterlot and, when you pass the entrance of the castle, you will look the part of the best recruits this academy has ever seen because Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be looking you over." With his short introduction done, Stiff finished with, "Dismissed."
"You heard the captain. On your hooves and get them moving!" Sweetie's voice had shouted those words so many times that just thinking them caused her voice to rise. Leading the recruits out, she wondered about the odd unicorn her wife had recommended.
Twilight wasn't a morning mare. The sun wasn't even up yet, but somepony had turned the lights on in the barracks regardless. The only thing for which she was thankful was that they'd been given six hours sleep.
The run around Canterlot, like all the rest they'd done, had been at break-neck speed. She galloped and kept pace with the others and thought she caught a surprised look or two from the sergeants. She'd been so focused on the running, then eating breakfast, that when she finally was put in a building with a half dozen other unicorns and Long Shift, she barely realized what was about to happen.
But, for Twilight Sparkle, she did realize when books were passed around. What she hadn't expected was to see Lyra's name printed as the author. Her brain fuzzed for a second as she sought the mental focus to recall all the books in her library—and she didn't have this one: Flexible Magic Casting by Lyra Heartstrings.
"Open the book to page ten, scan the list of spells there, and tell me what you can cast." There were two unicorns in particular that had already caught his eye—both of them trained by Lyra Heartstrings to some extent.
When Firelance finished reading the list, he felt excitement boil inside him. He had never read this book before, but he recognized the list and only read it to ensure it was absolutely the same. "Sir! I can cast every one."
Everypony turned to face Firelance. Twilight, out of all of them, breathed a sigh of relief—she could not only cast all the spells, but she could cast several variants of each.
"I had heard of you, Recruit Firelance. From Princess Luna's school, if I remember correctly, and you're at the minimum age to sign up for the E.U.P. Guard. I expect to hear from you at the end of the week." Long Shift looked around the rest of the group. He expected at least one more to have a good coverage. "Recruit Sparkleshine?"
It took Twilight a moment to remember that meant her. "All of them too, sir." Three of the other four, Twilight discovered, could cast less than a quarter of the spells—but another mare said she could cast sixteen of the twenty spells.
Spending a little more time on the list, Twilight examined it for a theme or at least some sort of recognition of what it would mean. There was cloudwalking, teleporting, two freezing and three heating spells, spells for making gusts of wind, four spells for advanced telekinesis, and two good horn blast spells. Except for the horn blasts, none of the spells were what Twilight would consider usable as weapons.
"There are two focuses for unicorn training. The first is what we like to call specialists. Your cutie mark and whatever magic it grants you usually gives a large advantage in one particular aspect. The second is the modern, E.U.P. Guard's flexible spellcaster. The commanders of every branch were consulted in what they would want out of their new recruits—and this was the result.
"This book is the current primary material covering all expected uses of flexible spellcasting and is a training device so that you can learn the full effects that combinations of simple spells can have. For example, a cloud."
Twilight had seen ponies use magic rapidly before, but the way the sergeant did so was like water flowing down a fast river. Chilling the air to condense water, heat spell to create steam, cloudwalking spell—and Long Shift stepped onto the cloud—then a series of small gust of wind spells and he circled around the group.
What impressed Twilight was they were all weak spells. Nothing complicated. The sixteen year old in their midst had said himself that he could cast them. But here those spells were doing something that very few unicorns could—fly.
Excitement filled Twilight at the prospect of learning entirely new ways to use the magic she already possessed. She made a promise to herself to get her own copy of Lyra's book—then wondered if there was anything else she'd written.
"I need another week." Twilight was, ostensibly, running laps of Canterlot under the frowning glare of a sergeant of the E.U.P. Guard (Twilight had vowed to remember that she'd promoted Lyra and would ensure the paperwork was filled out when she was done). "Sergeant Long Shift approved my request for extended training."
"I told you this would be good for you. Look at you—running like a Guardpony, excited to learn advanced combat tactics—you'll be a fine member of the E.U.P.A. Guard." Even at a gallop, Lyra could giggle at the joke. "I can cover another week. Trixie said yes, by the way. She's happy to help teaching foals magic, but she said on one condition—she gets to teach them sleight of hoof too."
Picking up on Lyra's gag with the Earth pony, Unicorn, and Pegasus Guard name, Twilight wasn't surprised at Trixie's extra requirement. "I figured she'd want to do something like that. It's pretty much standar—Wait! You never told me you wrote books." Not just one, Twilight had found out, but three. "I expect three copies of each by the time I return. First-run prints of each—signed—and two copies for the library."
"I can probably swing that for my newest fan. How did you like the training?" Lyra realized she felt nervous. The books had been reviewed by all parts of the Guard and had gotten good feedback, but this was Twilight.
"Firstly, it wasn't what I expected. I thought they would fill my head with a hundred kinds of horn blast and tell me to go melt things. Your method of using simple spells to build complex effects is—you have probably heard this from everypony who's read them—brilliant. It puts powerful magic in the hooves of almost any unicorn. Of the group studying with me, only one pony couldn't memorize all the spells needed." Discussing books and magic theory were literally two things Twilight could do all day long—with no pony present who could follow along. Actually having a pony who understood her rants was a new experience.
"Don't get me wrong, Twilight, a good horn blast can still be effective, but not everypony can blast hard enough to break even a simple shield spell. I just want to make sure all unicorn guardponies have the tools to be useful, no matter the circumstance." Seeing Twilight geek out over her very own books made Lyra tingle in excitement. "So you worked through the first two already, now you have to start on—"
"Sergeant Long Shift gave me a copy of the third one already, I've read it." It was a foregone conclusion that, given a book, Twilight would read it. "What I want to know, though, is why all this? These are your training techniques—why didn't you teach me them yourself?"
"The most important reason?" When Twilight nodded to her, Lyra smirked. "To get you in the know with the Guard protocols and people. When we reveal what we've done—and we will—Long Shift won't remember you as the powerful princess who can blast away mountains. He'll remember you as a recruit who put her all into learning and doing things the right way. He'll know he can trust you to stand at his back and protect him while he protects you. And, I promise you, that kind of feeling spreads through the Guard. By the end of the month every single Royal Guard will know you went through training. By the end of the year everypony in the guard will know of the corporal who also happens to be a princess."
Staring at Lyra for a good ten seconds, Twilight let out a little exclamation, "Huh." But, despite all the planning and insight that Lyra had just shown, Twilight could still pounce at her and hug her friend. "You really do take a long view of things, don't you?"
"I prefer to think of it as I look at what you asked of me and what I thought you meant, and then extrapolate what is really important. It's worked for me pretty well so far. So you want another week? That makes it harder to announce to your classmates who you are. Most of them will have shipped off to their chosen branch by the end of the week." Lyra shrugged. "I think Trixie can take care of an extra week. When you get back, though, we have some things we need to organize."
Twilight stood in Stiff Peak's actual offices (not the kitchen where he did most of his best work), without her disguise on. He would have loved to throw Lyra right out of the Guard for this—if he didn't think it was an excellent idea too. Not that he'd give her the satisfaction of knowing that. "So you spent three weeks of training, denied another unicorn a position to learn advanced strategy, and now have come to crow about it?"
The glare from Captain Stiff Peaks should have wilted her, but Lyra knew him well enough to know this was his blowing off steam. "You know and I know, sir, that neither of the remaining two unicorns would have been suitable for that training." When Twilight opened her mouth, Lyra shook her head and cut in. "And we certainly aren't here to crow about anything—except for how genuinely good the Guard training is."
"Buttering me up won't work, Lyra. I've known you far too long to let you get away with that."
"Ahem. But you haven't known me long, Commander." Twilight avoided ruffling her wings for worry that might make him pay attention to them. She liked that Stiff was still comfortable around her. "I agreed to Lyra's plan of putting me through training for several good reasons. It will give me familiarity with the ponies who I will be working with the most. There are things coming—probably worse than the changelings—and harmony has made me into an alicorn to head that off. I can't take this kind of warning and not prepare myself and Equestria to deal with it. The second most important thing this training has given me is a new understanding of how to fight. I don't want to just throw alicorn levels of magic around. I want to be smart with my tactics—and throw alicorn levels of magic around, sir."
Logical and smart, the argument wore down on Stiff's anger—but it was the last word that finally broke him. It had come out naturally, with ease, and respectfully enough that he knew it was a corporal saying it and not a crowned princess. "What now, then?"
"I think this training has been a good start for Twilight to understand how she needs to think and act. I'll be training her further myself. Can we put down Corporal Sparkleshine as being a reservist, with all the regular requirements that entails?" Lyra asked.
Stiff stood up and walked past them to the door. "Sure, but only if you come with me to the mess for the graduation celebration—as you both are."
Lyra shrugged and looked to Twilight. "I guess you get to go and be a princess for a bit."
"Remember, acting captain, you have a role to fill too. Come on." Twilight paused at the threshold and saluted Stiff, waiting for him to return it before completing. "Thank you for understanding, sir."
"'Acting captain'?" Stiff asked, a big grin forming on his face. "Serge—sorry, Acting Captain Lyra Heartstrings, I thought you were comfortable as a sergeant?"
"Well, it turns out that when a princess takes a close interest in your career, things get up-ended." Walking alongside Stiff, the tension now gone between them now a resolution had been found. "Still, studying new magic, creating new spells, teaching filly prodigies magic, sorting books in a library… it's a tough life."
Squinting his eyes at Lyra, Stiff let out a sigh. "I can't tell when you're bluffing and when you're telling the truth anymore. I must be losing my touch." Walking up to the door of the mess, Stiff cleared his voice. "Let me go in first. They of all ponies deserve to know who you are and were."
Twilight shrugged and waited. After a minute, Stiff Peaks opened the door for her and Lyra. Walking in, Twilight was happy to see a lot of shocked faces that were, despite the stunned expressions, smiling. "Captain Stiff Peaks told you all?"
Firelance managed to nod. "Y-Y-Yes, Your Hi—" His eyes flicked to Lyra as she came in, then back to Twilight. "Yes, Corporal Sparkleshine."
"I want to apologize for the deception, but I needed to—to have an edge. All that's happened so far has been by the seat of my pants, but I don't want it to be. I want to know how to act and deal with problems, and the Guard was definitely the best choice for that. Getting to know you all"—Twilight looked around the other recruits and the trainers—"has shown me how strong Equestria can be if we all work together.
"Sergeant Long Shift, you are by far one of the best teachers I've ever had—and you know what kind of list I'm working with here. You worked through Lyra's books, but you always were so careful to fully explain everything in a way that almost any unicorn could master."
Straightening, Twilight brought her hoof up to her brow in a salute—and held it, waiting. Only when the trainers all saluted did she lower her hoof and finish the gesture. "I hope to make you proud of me."
Sweetie stepped forward. She gave her wife a special glare, but relaxed a little when she looked back to Twilight. "I see more than a princess in front of me. I see a somepony who will be one of the strongest, smartest, wisest rulers Equestria has ever had. I see a mare who I'd be happy to have fighting at my side or back, but most of all I see a competent member of the Guard."
When Sweetie looked back at her, Bluebelle walked up. "It's a smart move to train with us. You wanted to be the best at smart engagements with foes who will push you—that's the Guard. We get pushed on every day of our lives, corporal, but we trained, learned, and mastered the art of pushing back. Like the captain here said, you're a Guardpony."
"I should have known." Long Shift stepped up last. "Firelance was, by every account I'd heard, going to be the shining light of this group of recruits. He has trained for years to stand here beside you. As far as training goes, you have everything in the books"—he nodded toward Lyra—"perfect, but you weren't the best unicorn in my group. You hesitated a little too much in the sparring sessions against other ponies—but I guess I see why now. Corporal, you are certainly an above-average spellcaster, and with a little more training you might be as good as Firelance is with his blasts."
There was silence in the room. Twilight stared at Long, but he didn't break his expression of honesty. She nodded to him, then turned and looked at Firelance. It was obvious, now she thought of it, why he was better with a horn blast—it was literally his special talent. "I guess I will need more training then, sir."
"Good. See that you get it. I could suggest a training sergeant by the name of Lyra Heartstrings. If she can't get you up to speed with your reaction times, nopony can." Long tilted his gaze toward Lyra again and winked.
"Acting captain," Stiff Peaks said. "I am sure her commander will file all the required paperwork as soon as she's back in her office, but from what I understand it's Acting Captain Lyra Heartstrings."
The peals of laughter silenced everypony in the room except the one laughing. Lyra looked at Sweetie with her drollest glare and sighed. "That's uncalled for." The words didn't stop Sweetie from laughing.
"Where's Twilight?" Mayor Mare looked around the inside of the library. In the middle, Lyra Heartstrings was reading a book while off to the side she saw Trixie Lulamoon talking to two of the town's fillies. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but…"
"Princess Twilight?" Lyra asked, lifting her book away and to the side to look at the town's nominal leader. "She's with her friends taking care of something in the Everfree Forest. How urgent is it, and can I help?"
"I don't believe so. Not unless you've sprouted wings too?" The moment she said it, Mayor Mare slumped her shoulders. "No, that's not fair."
Lyra's must help pony alarm went off (metaphorically speaking) and so she marked her book, set it aside, and walked over to Mayor Mare. "Something the matter? How about some tea?"
Giving a little squeak and a nod, Mayor Mare followed Lyra up the stairs to the living quarters of the library. She was surprised how fast Lyra was able to get two cups of tea brewed and on the table. The hot drink smelled amazing, and without so much as a second thought she took a sip. "This is really good."
"Yup, but tea isn't why we're up here, is it?"
"This is going to sound an awful lot like whining, but I assure you this is a serious problem for the town." Taking a long, steadying sip of the tea, Mayor Mare counter to ten slowly. "I can't get anything done. Everypony who used to listen when I'd say, 'We need somepony to work on the road leading to Canterlot,' or 'The town's railway station needs work," now just—"
Lyra reached her right hoof across the table to rest on Mayor Mare's.
Composing herself and taking strength from the tacit show of support, Mayor Mare continued, "Now, if I'm lucky, they'll ask me if Princess Twilight has approved it." Getting it out helped. Just sharing the burden with another pony split the problem in half inside her. "If I'm not lucky, they will just mutter to somepony else and completely ignore me."
"Ugh." Lyra hated just about everything about that mentality. "Not just is that a stupid attitude to take to the pony who's run this town for years, what do they think Twilight is going to think when they're shirking off work like that?"
Hearing her thoughts in another pony's voice robbed Mayor Mare of the ability to hold back her tears. Rubbing at her eyes with a hoof, she tried to steady herself with more tea. "That. It's been wearing away at me and I am at my wit's end!"
"So, all the maintenance tasks around town?" Lyra asked.
"Have lapsed. The roads are starting to get divots."
"And the public buildings?"
"Are showing signs of neglect. Normally we pay ponies from the town's budget to do this work, but even if I offer extra bits, everypony keeps asking if Twilight has approved the work."
"Then we need a town meeting as soon as possible. Preferably without Twilight."
"Without her?" Mayor Mare felt surprise. "But if she just turned up and said to do what I say—"
"… your authority would be completely undermined as leader of the town. Twilight would then be leader and you'd just be the mare who handles the day-to-day stuff." Sipping her own tea now, Lyra shook her head. "No. You need to lead the town and that's it. What the ponies of Ponyville have to realize is they need you."
When Mayor Mare just stared at her blankly, Lyra smiled. "You're going on a holiday."
That shocked Mayor Mare back into the conversation. "I never take holidays. There's too much to do for holidays."
"Exactly. How many things do you do every day that the town needs doing?" Lyra held up a hoof when she was about to be interrupted. "We'll work out the truly important things, don't worry, but all the little events and work you do around town is going to stop for two weeks."
"Two weeks?!"
"Four weeks." Lyra raised an eyebrow, daring another outburst. "This will be paid leave. How many staff do you have working at town hall?"
By now Mayor Mare's mouth was working but sound just didn't escape. She felt like a millstone had been lifted from her back, sure, but it was a millstone she was comfortable with. In her own mind she could see a wonderful Mayor Mare-sized indent worn into it by her own spine. "This—I shouldn't go—How will it work?"
"I notify Canterlot that you are taking your leave. Everypony who was working with you, if they haven't taken holidays, will be going too." Lyra could see her plan coming together nicely.
"But—But what if things need doing?" It was the last line of defense Mayor Mare thought she could use. The threat of something needing to be done. "Weddings. There's the Running of the Leaves to organize. I—" She stopped herself this time, expecting Lyra to cut her off. "They won't get done, will they?"
"Nope." The word slid from Lyra's mouth with a wrapping of finality. "There won't be any weddings for a month. No Running of the Leaves festival. There won't even be Hawaiian-shirt Friday."
"What?"
"Don't care, it's not happening. You have two hours to tell your staff they are on leave too, get everypony to pack their bags, and we're going to Canterlot to organize you a holiday somewhere. Do you prefer hot weather or cold?" Lyra downed her tea and jumped to her hooves.
Mayor Mare's mind was racing. It got both warm and cold in Ponyville, but she really liked the idea of a nice, sunny beach. "H-Hot weather. A beach…"
It was madness, of course, but from what Lyra had heard—the town had gone mad. She walked out on an unadorned stage with no fanfare and nopony to work the curtains. It was probably the least momentous entrance ever.
The crowd of Ponyvillians was all chatting to each other. Some were asking if anypony knew what was happening while others were just chatting about the weather. When one asked, "Where is Princess Twilight?" Lyra knew it was time to make her announcement.
"Everypony, Mayor Mare and her staff are on leave for the next month. Thank you." She neither raised her voice nor waited for anypony to stop talking. Lyra could have shouted them all down. She could have gone full parade-voice and barked orders that would have had the assembled masses snapping to attention—instead she turned and started walking for the exit with a big grin on her face.
The voices behind her got louder and Lyra could hear them asking each other what she'd said. Waiting in the wings was Twilight. "Hiya."
"What have you done, Lyra?" Twilight had gotten back from the Castle of the Two Sisters only to find the town all in this meeting. Now she wanted to know what was going on.
"Handling things. Hey, have you noticed ponies asking you questions about inconsequential things since you got your wings?" Leading the way to the side door at a fast walk, Lyra was trying to make her escape before ponies got the idea of rushing the stage.
Twilight could heard the raised voices and knew that if they saw her, she'd be duty-bound to talk to them about—She had no idea. Racing after Lyra, she slipped out the door and put a quick and dirty wedge of force into the ground beside it to hold it closed. "Library, now."
Running some numbers in her head, Lyra could spot the front door of the library through the gaps in three houses. She flicked out a little golden magic and, with a pomf, was standing right in front of it. A second, purple, teleport just beside her revealed Twilight was getting far more canny with spells as well as showing off her better math skills. "Want some tea?"
"What does all this have to do with ponies pestering me about potholes and parties?" Twilight asked, nodding as she walked into the library.
"Mayor Mare is the connection here, or rather, was the connection." Lyra brewed up two cups of tea as she spoke. "Since you got your wings, everypony expected you to take over running Ponyville. So much so that they second-guessed Mayor Mare's instructions and requests."
Sitting down, her mind working over the problem, Twilight winced when she figured it out. "So, how can I fix it?"
"Way ahead of you, Twilight." Lyra floated a cup of tea to the table and then carried her own as she walked over. "Mayor Mare and all the administration team for Ponyville are now on holiday. They have a whole month off with no responsibilities. Did you know she hasn't had a holiday in nearly twenty years?"
"Twenty?" The tea saved the room from Twilight shouting her question. Just the smell of it—soon followed by the taste—soothed her. "Sorry. This seems odd. So everypony thought they needed my permission to do the same things they've been doing for years?"
"It was driving Mayor Mare more than a little crazy. She—Oh, hi Trixie." Waving a hoof at her friend, Lyra scooted across a bit to make room. "Mayor Mare came here in tears yesterday morning. She didn't know how to get out of the hole the town had dug for her."
Lifting her hat, Trixie pulled a steaming cup of tea out of it and put the headware back on her head as she sat down. "Is this the drama of the week club meeting?"
Trixie's wit had grown on Twilight in the weeks she'd known her. She nodded. "Apparently I missed the signs that the town has gone crazy again." More tea. She needed more tea and maybe coffee. "So, what do I have to do to help with this lesson?"
"See, that's the easy bit. All you have to do is say—"
Twilight looked at the stairs of the railway station. Ponies had been dragging her from the library every day now for a week to see such things. "I'm sorry, but I really need to work on this paperwork for Princess Celestia. Doesn't Mayor Mare normally schedule maintenance?"
"She did, but—"
So far it had always been the ponies whose job it was to do the work who complained. The ponies this time were Joist and his brother Bearer. Joist ran a joinery business in town with his brother, and the town hired them to do repairs. "She did? Well, I'm sure the ponies she hired will be along shortly to repair it."
Twilight almost got four steps away when she heard the first "But princess" from them. It came thus, "But, princess, we were waiting for you to approve it."
Looking back, Twilight tried to school her best look of confusion she could manage. "Why? How many times have I ever had to approve public works in the past?"
"Uh." Bearer fished for a solution to help his brother. "We just kinda figured, what with you being a princess now, that you would be in charge of the town."
"You could have asked." Twilight was going a little off script, but she felt the pair needed a bit extra. "Besides, I have to work for every town in Equestria. I can't spend time managing every single one." Resuming her trot, she left them with those words to mull over.
Standing out front of her library, arguing, was Rainbow Dash and Applejack. For the briefest moment Twilight hoped that they hadn't noticed her. If she timed it right, she could teleport inside without them seeing her. This plan failed the moment it came together as Rainbow noticed her. "Twilight!"
Applejack was so excited to see Twilight that she even forgot to use some of her better countryisms. "Hey, Twilight, who is organizing the Running of the Leaves this year?"
Would it work? Twilight had to hope it would work. "Sounds like something Mayor Mare would organize." Threading between the pair, Twilight used her magic to open the door.
"Where is she, anyway?" Rainbow asked, following Twilight into the library.
"Holidays, I think." Twilight had hoped they would stay outside. Much as she loved her friends, this lesson for the ponies of Ponyville was starting to become repetitive. She was happy to see that Lyra was in the far end of the library with Sweetie Belle and Dinky Hooves, and from what Twilight could see they were working on a teleport spell.
There was a big part of Twilight that wished she could just take her wings off, peel off her cutie mark, and go sit with the fillies and absorb a lesson on magic.
"So who's going to organize it this year?" Applejack asked.
Twilight walked over to the guide book she'd gotten from Sweetie Drops and opened it back up. Earth pony magic was far more intuitive than unicorn, but she was slowly making headways in the theory and didn't want to stop. Finding out that yet another friend had written a book left Twilight suspicious of all her friends now—she just couldn't tell who was a published author or not. "You could try organizing it yourselves. It would mean you couldn't compete, but at least it would get done and a lot of ponies would appreciate it."
"She's coming back today, right?" Twilight asked with far too much hope in her voice.
Lyra was surrounded by books on magic and had two notepads she was jotting down her insights in. "Yup. You sound relieved."
"It might not come as a shock, but the rest of Ponyville weren't the only ones to realize how important Mayor Mare and her staff are to keeping things moving smoothly here. Did you know it is up to her department to ensure that the mail-route has all the equipment it needs?" Twilight sighed and settled down a little firmer on a beanbag chair she'd claimed. "I only realized something wasn't working when I hadn't gotten my book of the week delivery for three weeks."
"You got your books, right?" Lyra asked.
"I had to fly to Canterlot. On the plus side, there was soooo much paperwork to fill out. Did you know the post office have a form for everything?" Wiggling a little in the beanbag, Twilight closed her eyes and recalled the huge array of pigeonholes that held stacks of crisp forms ready for filling out. "I wonder if I could get a part-time job with them?"
Levitating half a dozen books, two notebooks, and a pair of pens wasn't too great a stretch for Lyra's focus, so she picked up a cushion with a little more concentration and sent it flying toward Twilight. "You are a menace to bureaucracies everywhere."
Having caught the cushion, Twilight slipped it under her head and squirmed more to get more comfortable. "How are the foals coming?"
"Sweetie Belle is a challenge. She has so many instinctive insights for magic that will make her a far better unicorn than I am, but at the same time she can't get her head around some more basic concepts. If I give her an advanced spell to memorize, and it has a pattern she can mnemonically memorize, she will literally never have to memorize that spell again—she just knows it. If there's a simple spell that's too chaotic, though, she won't be able to ever memorize it.
"Which is why I'm trying to make these friendship magic spells be orderly, but it's fighting me. It wants to be chaotic and spontaneous. I bet Star Swirl didn't have this much trouble." Lyra used a little magic to attempt to form the shape she wanted, but it got angry about that and burned her nose instead.
Twilight tilted her head at the explanation. "You know you could make this a lot easier on yourself and just let the spells be as complicated as they want to be. It's not like you have to memorize them."
"Oh. Right. I guess I'll just do that then." It was the driest tone Lyra had used in over a week.
"Now you act all tough and uncompromising, but"—Twilight giggled—"you're working your tail off to make these spells as easy to use for everypony as you can."
"Shh. Don't tell everypony or they'll all want one." Lyra had to catch a different cushion that came winging toward her. "Seriously, though. We only have one chance to make friendship magic spells. I want them easy enough to be used by most unicorns."
Her wings half spread to each side, her butt sunk deep in the grip of the beanbag, Twilight sighed. "And that's why I asked you to work on them. The only mare I know who could reduce complex military tactics down to a group of simple spells any foal could learn—definitely my best decision so far."
"Wait a second. You told me to work on these spells before you knew about that." Glaring at Twilight, Lyra was trying to work out what angle her friend was about to use.
"Mmm, that's the beauty of being an alicorn, Lyra. The historians listen to you more than just a unicorn." As soon as she said it, Twilight put a shield up to stop the flurry of cushions that came her way. She turned her head to gloat, only to have Lyra teleport past her shield and bop her on the snoot with a cushion. "I deserved that."
"Yes. Yes you did." Lyra giggled and teleported back through the barrier. "I almost have the next one done. Unlike the first, which was a bit of a mess with what Sweetie Belle insists are parakeets halfway through taking off, this next spell will use a repeating theme of diamond patterns that repeat over and over again."
"Diamond… Oh! That reminds me. Princess Celestia suggested I might be able to find a book on the chest the Tree of Harmony made—in her old castle in the Everfree Forest." Dispelling the shield, Twilight floated a scroll over. "Spike is off getting supplies, but tomorrow we're heading to the Castle of the Two Sisters."
"Ahhhh. No. No you're not." Lyra shook her head. "You're waiting for me to request a squad of dragoons and maybe a few squads of monster hunters. Then we can go in as a group and guard the castle while you—Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You can come with me if you want, but it'll only be me and Spike. I don't want a mess of ponies there to encourage the timber wolves."
Lyra took her time to carefully close the books around her, stack them neatly, and put her notebooks on top before counting to ten. "Twilight, timber wolves don't need encouraging. If they smell living creatures, while they're mobile, they'll attack."
"That's the trick. I did a little research on them. When I couldn't find what I was looking for, I asked Zecora for help. She gave me a potion to drink that will make us smell like dragons instead of ponies." Using her magic once more, Twilight lifted down a little bottle from a shelf where she'd set it. "I'm all ready. And, if we do have any timber wolves come, we'll deal with them."
It was a reminder to Lyra that her friend, despite being a relative combat novice, was a powerhouse with magic. As an alicorn, Twilight was capable of sustaining a magical output that Lyra couldn't hope to match. "Okay. I guess it's a date. I'm going to grab some lunch from Sugarcube Corner. Would you like something?"
"I'd like to get some fresh air for a start. Let me put some things away and I'll join you." Twilight carefully put the potion bottle back, put away the small stack of books beside her beanbag, and shook out her wings before folding them at her sides. "After I'm done learning to earth pony, I need to spend more time with Derpy. You were so right about her—she's great at teaching flight lessons."
Opening the front door, Lyra put the light sign up that said The Librarians Are Out To Lunch, and stepped out into the warm midday weather. "Yeah. Even when Scootaloo couldn't fly yet, Derpy was helping her with all the theory she needed. Uh, what's that crowd over there doing?"
About to walk over, Twilight paused and remembered she had a unique talent for dealing with line-of-sight related problems. Stretching her wings, she took off and hovered about three ponylengths off the ground. "Mayor Mare's back. I think everypony is asking her for help at the same time. She's smiling from ear to ear."
Lyra laughed. "Sounds like she has things in hoof, why don't we go get lunch before anypony notices you're out and about?"
Landing, Twilight trotted to catch up to Lyra and walk beside her. "It's funny, but if I keep my wings folded, most ponies seem to forget I have them."
"Could be confirmation bias," Lyra said. "They see your horn and they lock in their heads the image unicorn, and even if they happen to see your sides, they look past what obviously shouldn't be there for ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of the population who have horns."
Twilight blinked for a moment in confusion. "Bias? Oh! Cognitive biases? I didn't think of that. You might be right, too. I wonder if I wore a hat to hide my horn if everypony would just see pegasus?"
"We could make an experiment of it." Lyra reached out with her magic for Sugarcube Corner's front door and opened it. Beside her, a pomf of magic revealed a sun hat that Twilight was putting on—it hid her horn perfectly. "Right now?"
"Right now," Twilight said as she walked in.
"Well, we're not completely free from influences here. These ponies all know you. They already have an image of Twilight Sparkle in their heads." Stepping in behind Twilight, Lyra closed the door behind her. "You know what would be interesting? If you hid your horn and wings. Would ponies still treat you as an alicorn or as a unicorn?"
"One experiment at a time. Today I am just a pegasus looking for some lunch with a fellow E.U.P. Guard pony." Leaning to the side, Twilight nudged Lyra with her shoulder. "You don't wear your armor much around town anymore."
"Well, my job has become far more about non-combat duties, though I will request some time off soon so I can brush up on things." Reaching the counter, Lyra smiled at Pinkie Pie. "Heya, Pinkie."
Looking between Lyra and Twilight, Pinkie Pie leaned across the counter and held her hoof up to mute her words from the latter of the two. "Who's your cute friend, Lyra?"
"Doesn't count," Twilight said. "I have learned that where scientific method is concerned, Pinkie is the exception that proves the rule."
"… and how does she know my name?" Pinkie added.
Pausing for just a moment, Lyra decided to just go with it. "This is Butterwings, a friend I was in the Guard with. She likes flying, reading, and cute pink ponies who like hugs."
"Reaaaaaaaaly?" Pinkie shifted across the counter, still leaning forward, until she was looking Twilight in the eyes. "Hugs?"
It took two seconds for Twilight's straightness to reassert itself after the barrage of pink eyelash-batting. "Pinkie! It's me, Twilight!" Reaching up, Twilight removed her hat. "See?"
Jumping back, Pinkie let out a gasp. "Twilight! How dare you mess with my heart like that? I was in love! Lyra was in love!" She turned to look at Lyra. "You understand, don't you, that we can't continue like this?"
"I don't know if I can go on, Pinkie." Lyra raised a forehoof to her brow and turned her head demurely to the side. "I shall surely perish of a broken—Ohh, you have lemon muffins again?"
Pinkie nodded. "We have the lemon ones and a new blood orange. Those are both really tasty!"
"Has Derpy been in yet for her lunch muffin?" Lyra asked.
"Nope."
"I'll take a lemon and an orange one for me, and a chocolate shake, and I'll pay for Derpy's muffin when she comes in." It had become a game now. Lyra enjoyed getting into the bakery before Derpy, if only so she could make the mare smile a little more.
"Okie dokie lokie! Twilight?" Pinkie asked.
"Strawberry shake, and I'll take a blueberry muffin and a chocolate eclair." Twilight's tummy rumbled just as she spoke the words. "Hush, you, I haven't done enough for more than that."
Pinkie giggled at Twilight's antics. "Just find a table and I'll bring your things over."
Following Lyra to a table, Twilight put her hat back on. "I still say Pinkie Pie's reactions don't count."
"Pinkie knew exactly who you were, Twilight. She just saw a chance to have some fun." Lyra pulled out a paper napkin and summoned a pen with her magic and started drawing diamond patterns on it.
"What's this spell going to do?" Twilight asked, then gestured at the napkin when Lyra looked at her strange.
"Oh, well, the last one took all the friendship bonds of everypony it touched and used them to raise the mood and cast out negative pressure. I think one that reveals to somepony all their own bonds of friendship." More diamonds were definitely needed, Lyra realized, and so she started reaching for another napkin.
"Let me summon some pap—"
"No. This is better. Friendship magic should be about friends. The first spell was a whole country of friends needing reassurance and help. I made it on the spot. This one"—Lyra reached across to Twilight with her hoof—"this one is being made by a friend for a friend."
"Just so long as this friend doesn't have to spend hours trying to reconstruct the spell from a dozen napkins with bad drawings and food stains on them." Twilight bumped her hoof against Lyra's.
"If I make the spell, I can always write it down later. This is just to keep my mind focused on a pattern that is easier to memorize."
"Here you go, ladies." Pinkie Pie slid two trays down from her back, balancing the shakes on each perfectly so neither spilled.
"Thanks, Pinkie." Lyra drew her hoof back and took a sip of her drink. "Oooh, that's good."
When Pinkie withdrew and they didn't immediately start their conversation back up, Lyra took the time to try something. She focused on simple and small, squeezed it through the intent of wanting to show her friend how she felt, and then prodded the resulting basic spell with magic until it finally fired off.
Twilight froze as the magic affected her. She looked at Lyra and felt a mirror of admiration, pride, and a sisterly love that echoed with what she felt in her own heart. It was such a unique sensation that Twilight found herself on the edge of tears. "Wow."
Lyra watched her friend and asked, "Did that wor—?"
How Twilight avoided colliding with the drinks and food on the table she'll never know. One moment she was living through a rush of pure friendship and the next she was hugging Lyra. "Best. Spell. Ever."
Squeezing her friend back, Lyra felt the new spell take root in her head, like the previous one she'd created, as something that she'd always retain. "It worked, then?"
"Lyra!" Twilight laughed and slipped back to her own seat, still charged with emotion and friendship magic. "Of course it worked! I can feel your feelings for me and—and I can feel mine for you!"
"Well, want to give it a try?" Lyra eased back her magic to a trickle and made the pattern in the air before her. It was simple, in the end, and featured just a dozen diamonds in various positions around a central larger diamond. She had only a moment's warning before she was hit with her own spell.
It felt like the entire world liked her. She was slammed with joy, excitement, pride, and a blast of raw emotional friendship unlike any Lyra had felt before. Staring back at Twilight, tears leaking freely from both eyes, her smile threatened to split her face in half. "Wow." Her own feelings only swelled in reaction to the raw adulation Twilight felt for her.
"Guess that's all my feelings for you, Lyra." Leaning back in her seat, Twilight let out a relaxed sigh. "It feels good to cast it, too."
Unable to contain herself, Pinkie Pie pronked over to her friends. "Do me! Do me!"
Looking at Twilight, Lyra had to use her foreleg to wipe the tears of joy from her eyes. "Should we?"
Twilight giggled and nodded. "On three. One."
"Two," Lyra said, preparing the spell that she would never forget.
"Three!" Pinkie shouted, and two spells slammed into her. For a moment all she could do is stare ahead, eyes widening and smile growing. "Wooooooooow!" Pronking around in a few circles, Pinkie laughed with pure joy at how much love and friendship rushed around inside her. "You girls are amazing! But—I wish I could cast it so you could feel what I feel for you."
"Pinkie," Lyra said, "you show me how you feel every single day. You are the least reserved pony I know."
"Yeah, Pinkie, I th—" Twilight froze as she saw Pinkie start to buzz and vibrate in place. She'd seen this before and braced.
Pinkie didn't let things like physics get in the way of a hug. She grabbed Lyra and Twilight up in a tackle-hug that made all her previous tackle-hugs look like much littler tackle-hugs. She squeezed them both, their friendship boiling inside her to fuel her emotional outburst. "You're the best!"
Lyra's ears perked up at the sound of Pinkie Pie outside her home. It was her day off and she was planning to try mixing magic and music. The reply to Pinkie's words, however, was too soft for Lyra to hear through the door.
"That's silly. Of course she will." Pinkie giggled a little before knocking on Lyra's door.
Setting her bass guitar aside, Lyra stood up and walked to the door. She opened it to find Pinkie and Fluttershy standing there. "Hiya Pinkie, Fluttershy, come on in."
"Thanks, Lyra!" Pinkie bounced in and then paused. Looking back, she could see her friend still standing on the doorstep—trembling. "Fluttershy, it's okay. I've known Lyra since we were little fillies. Well, I was a little filly, she was a big human, but she got better."
Fluttershy had heard about Twilight and Pinkie's friend and she had seen both talking with her on several occasions, but she'd never had much to do with her. "Y-You weren't born a pony?" Curiosity made her poke her head into the house.
"Lyra? Nope. She was this big, tall, grouchy guy. Can you believe it? Anyway, it was yours-truly that dragged her to Equestria and pinned her down until she became a pony!" Pinkie paused as Fluttershy trotted past, staring at all the things in the living room. "Uh, Fluttershy?"
"These things aren't pony things?" Fluttershy had zeroed in on the two long instruments sitting on a stand. "What do they do?"
Picking her didgeridoo up with her magic, Lyra took a moment to focus and brought it to her mouth. Relaxing her lips, she started to play.
The music was at once utterly unlike anything Fluttershy had heard yet oddly entrancing. She sat down on the spot and her ears perked forward to listen to the bouncing tune Lyra played. When her foot started tapping along to the background rhythm, she made no effort to stop it.
Closing her eyes and losing herself in the music, Lyra barely felt her audience as she worked two tunes at once into a spinning melody. By the time her song ended, she let out a sigh and shook her head. "It's always weird when the music just picks me up like that."
Looking between Pinkie and Fluttershy, Lyra watched them both seem to blink their way out of a daze. "Are you okay?"
"That was beautiful," Fluttershy said. "Where did you learn to play that?"
"Batstralia, well, before it got turned into bat ponies." Lyra saw the moment when Fluttershy's eyes widened and her pupils dilated.
"See, Fluttershy, I told you Lyra was the pony to talk to." Pinkie jumped onto the couch and piked up Lyra's bass, strumming it carefully and tuning it.
Walking closer, Fluttershy felt herself tremble a little, but she needed to know what was going on. "What do you know about vampire bat ponies?"
"'Vampire'?" Lyra looked from Fluttershy to Pinkie, who shrugged at her, before looking back. "I know bat ponies—my parents and sisters are bat ponies—but I don't know any vampire ones. Why don't you tell me what you need to know about and I might be able to help?"
Clearing her throat, Fluttershy realized she was going to need to do significant amounts (for her) of talking. She looked at Pinkie for help.
Listening to what'd happened, Lyra felt more and more confused and a touch angry at the descriptions of how the bats had been treated. When they came to using magic to solve an especially non-magical problem, she face-hoofed. "Okay, so let's pause there. So a fruit bat colony had flown in and started eating her apples, so Applejack persuaded Twilight to use magic on Fluttershy—"
"And it backfired. I was trying to bring up that it wasn't such a good idea, but Applejack had a really catchy song," Pinkie said, and got a nod from Fluttershy. "So, Twilight did the spell and Fluttershy told the bats not to eat apples anymore…"
"A-And that's when I turned into a vampire bat pony." Fluttershy shivered at saying it. She'd been so overwhelmed by her emotions at the time she couldn't break free of the need to eat apples.
Biting back her need to interject again, Lyra gestured to Fluttershy. "And then?"
"It was really scary, and Fluttershy swooped around and hissed at us, and then Twilight fixed it all!" Pinkie said.
"Except—" Fluttershy could feel Lyra and Pinkie's eyes on her. "I mean, she fixed it all and now I can go home?"
"Would you like some tea? I'd be a terrible host if you didn't let me make you a nice cup." Lyra had heard from Twilight about Fluttershy's having tea with Discord. She figured that a normal cup would probably help her relax.
"Tea?" The offer was too good for her to pass up. She had her own preferences, of course, but she was curious what a strange pony-that-hadn't-always-been-a-pony would drink. "Y-Yes please."
Putting her didgeridoo back on its stand, Lyra led the way into the kitchen and set the kettle to work boiling some water. "Do you have a preference for tea?"
"Orange Mocha Frappuccino," Pinkie Pie said.
Lyra raised an eyebrow at her friend. "I'm putting you down for a double-sugar hot chocolate. Fluttershy?" She started adding a saucepan of milk to the stove.
Always struggling to tell when her friend is making a joke or not, Fluttershy stared at Pinkie for a moment before looking back to Lyra. "I'll just have whatever tea you're having—if that's not too much trouble?"
"No trouble at all." Preparing her good tea set, Lyra topped off the sugar, added a few slices of lemon to a saucer, and filled the little milk jug with fresh milk. Adding tea to her infuser, she set it in the teapot and waited for the water and milk. "So, firstly, I have no idea what a vampire fruit bat is, but I know a bit about regular fruit bats. I didn't think they'd be this far north."
"Oh, I've never seen any kinds of fruit bats, vampire or not," Fluttershy said, seeing the opportunity to avoid a topic she'd rather just let go of.
"Normal fruit bats just happily squeeze the fruit in their mouths and get all the juice out, then spit out the not-juice. Were these bats doing anything weird?" Lyra asked, using her magic to stir the milk to keep it from burning.
Pinkie nodded. "Yup! They would bite into the fruit and suck all the juice out. That's why they were called vampire fruit bats."
Pouring the boiling water into the teapot, Lyra made Pinkie's hot chocolate too and brought the whole tea set over to the table. The old method of making tea was somewhat improved by her not having to worry about hot handles. Soon she had a cup of chamomile tea in front of herself and Fluttershy while Pinkie kept adding sugar until her chocolate was right on the borderline of being a solid.
When Fluttershy finally took a sip of the tea, Lyra asked, "So, things got cleared up but something didn't. That's why you're here, right?"
With both eyes closed and the taste of the soothing tea, Fluttershy nodded. It would have been impossible moments ago, but she could pretend she was the only pony in the room. "I still have a craving for fruit and—and…" Opening her mouth, she used a hoof to pull back her lips and bare her little fangs.
"Ah. Some residual effects. They'll probably fade over time. If you'd like, though, I could ask my dad to take a look?" Lyra sipped her tea a little more, trying to ignore the more and more excited look Pinkie was giving. "He's basically an expert in being a bat and a bat pony."
The words sounded odd to Fluttershy not in how Lyra said them but their implication. "Experience as a bat?"
"He wasn't always a bat pony. Tufts started off as a cute, fuzzy little flying fox. Uh, that's a type of bat from my world. Kinda small with a huge wingspan and a penchant for sucking the juice out of fruit." As she spoke, Lyra observed Fluttershy's eyes growing bigger and bigger until, at the end, she looked to be almost bouncing in place. "So do you want to come with me to Canterlot to meet him?"
Fluttershy's wings popped up and she tried to nod or say yes, but it was hard to get the right expression out.
"I think that means yes," Pinkie said.
Tufts Mango opened the front door and his day grew a little brighter. "Lyra!" As soon as he rushed forward to hug her, however, he noticed she had another pony with her. The pegasus, when he focused on her, was burning with a pure energy that almost made his teeth rot—if such a thing could actually happen to teeth eternally bathed in fruit juice. "You brought a friend?"
"Yeah, Dad. This is Fluttershy. Can we come in?" Lyra waited until her father stepped back to wave Fluttershy forward. "Thanks."
"Would you like some tea? Maybe some fruit?" Tufts felt curious beyond belief, but he wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to have a meal with his daughter. What he didn't expect was Fluttershy's eyes to narrow to points and for her to stare intently at him.
Reaching out with what little magics he retained, Tufts felt around Fluttershy. "Well, that's a different kind of bat." He led the way to the kitchen and started lifting out some fruit and set the kettle to boil. Noticing the intense stare from Fluttershy, Tufts let out a chuckle. "Fruit first. Is there a story behind how such a lovely pony ended up in this predicament?"
Being asked a direct question broke Fluttershy out of her single-minded focus on the mangoes that Tufts was slicing up. "I—um—that is…" It was almost too much. She wanted to fly out of the house and back to her home and just hide from everypony. There were three problems with that and two of them were in the room with her. The third, of course, was Pinkie Pie. "I'll try."
The tea, when it was ready, helped. The fruit helped most. Fluttershy wasn't one to buy fancy food, but the moment she started eating the yellowish flesh of the mango it was like she'd reached heaven. One moment she had two cheeks of mango before her, the next she had two badly mauled mango skins and no more mango.
"It's okay. Every bat is like that with mango." Tufts had to stop himself from going to the fridge and getting more. "Please, continue when you feel up to it."
As she worked through her story, Fluttershy noticed a thousand little things about Tufts. The little thumb-claws on the joint of his wings, the fact his eyes weren't slit pupils like the vampire fruit bats, and the biggest thing was the sense of safety and comfort that just radiated off him. When she finished, she realized her cup was empty and there was no fruit left. "And that's when my friend suggested I ask Lyra for help."
Tufts, done with his own plate of fruit and cup of tea, pondered Fluttershy again. Magically she seemed to be mostly a pegasus, with a small hint of bat-like magic around her. Physiologically it was similar, with only slight changes in her mouth and stomach. "I think we'll need to sleep on it."
"Sleep? But it's been weeks since this happened," Fluttershy said, confused.
Lyra opened her mouth to explain, but Tufts gestured to her with a flick of his wing. "Bat ponies have a link to a realm of dreams. It is a world slightly deeper than this one, where reality is more malleable by simple thought. Would you like to try it?"
"It—It won't be scary, will it?" Fluttershy's voice broke at first, but she managed to get the question out. "And can I bring a friend?"
"Anypony but Lyra," Tufts said, which left Fluttershy blinking in surprise. "She has something about her that makes it hard to pull her into dreams."
Lyra snorted. "No, it makes it hurt. He had a headache for a week after he tugged me into a dream to get me and Scoots to make didgeridoos."
"You'll be safe, I promise you," Tufts said. "All the dreamtime will teach you is what you are and what you can be."
"O-Okay."
With a gasp, Fluttershy woke. She was hanging upside down—just like she had as a bat pony. When she looked upward, she realized she was a bat pony. Panic started to fill her until a wing touched her. Somepony else's wing.
"Calm down. You can return to being a pegasus if you'd like." Tufts drew his wing back from Fluttershy. "Would you like a mango?"
The world narrowed around Fluttershy and, between the time she saw Tufts hold out the mango to her and the time she had devoured it and spit the big seed out, she barely even noticed the passage of time.
She felt different. Not the wild bat pony she'd been with her friends and not the meek mare she was normally. Fluttershy sat somewhere between the two. "Where are we?"
"This is Equestria. It is its far past, its present, and its future. Right now it's a little distorted because I have opened a way to it for you and I." Tufts spread his wings, peeked behind him to ensure nothing was in the way, and took off into the air.
The urge to give chase was too much. Fluttershy did the same check Tufts had and launched herself into the air and after him. It was the first time she'd been conscious and able to fly with bat wings. They were nearly three times the size of her feathered wings and, despite the size, for the first time in her life she had a glimpse of what Rainbow enjoyed about flying.
Whipping about in the air, Fluttershy let loose a loud shriek of excitement and immediately froze—mid air. "Oh my goodness."
Swooping to land beside Fluttershy, Tufts folded his wings and waited for her to speak. When she didn't, he asked, "How do you feel?"
"It's hard to explain. I want—I want to fly. I want to fly a lot. Find a nice fruit tree. Just spread my wings and flap them for the excitement of it." She quickly covered her mouth with a hoof. The truth was she was excited. Even on the ground she wanted to fly more.
"Then do it. The dreamtime is the perfect place to indulge in your nature." Tufts gestured to the sky with a hoof. "There is nopony here to judge you. Enjoy yourself."
Around Fluttershy was apple, fig, and mango trees. Unable to control her excitement, she spread her wings and pumped them again and again, launching into the air and flying. Her mind flicked back to when she'd helped Rainbow and the Ponyville weather ponies to funnel water up to Cloudsdale. She'd worked really hard that day, but right now she felt a hundred times better. She did little spins and twirls, dancing through the air with wings that could shove her around so fast it took her breath away.
Finally landing in an apple tree, coiling her tail around the branch tight and hanging upside down, Fluttershy reached a wing out and grabbed an apple to eat.
It all felt natural and right.
She got through another two apples before her hangups returned. This wasn't reality, this was— The thought stopped dead in the face of the fact she didn't know exactly what the place was. She was just trying to figure it out when a bat landed on the branch beside her.
The little thing looked unlike any bat she'd seen before, having a red ruff around its neck. It looked at her and let out a screech.
It might be a strange new animal, but having it here set Fluttershy at ease. She reached out and grabbed another two apples with her wing, sliced one up to smaller pieces with her claw and held one of the pieces out to the bat. "Here you go."
The bat let out a loud meep before grabbing the piece of fruit with one wing.
They hung there, relaxed and eating apples together. Fluttershy felt a strange new peace settle on her. Her battier half seemed to relax and calm down with the fruit and she was particularly happy to have found a friend to eat with.
Given the complete lack of other animals around, though, she peered closer at the bat. "Is that you, Tufts?"
"No." Tufts swooped in to land on Fluttershy's other side. "If she were me, she'd be a lot handsomer—and male. This world is manipulated by the minds that inhabit it. You build a story here and it becomes history in the waking world—or it becomes destiny."
"So I made her?" Fluttershy asked, reaching out and giving the bat's head a little rub with her hoof.
"No. She exists in the dreamtime because she's part of your story. It's important she be here." Spearing an apple with his wing claw, Tufts brought it to his mouth and bit into it with a happy sigh.
Turning her attention back to the bat, Fluttershy fed her another piece of apple. "You're part of my story?"
Pausing in eating the apple, the bat spat out what pulp she had squeezed the juice out of and let out an agreeable meep.
"Oh. Um, will you come back to the real world with me or are you going to stay here?" All Fluttershy got in reply now was another meep from the bat.
Tufts chewed some more apple while he watched the pair. Finally he asked, "Are you sure you want to bring her back? There are consequences to decisions made here. They shape your past, present, and future."
"She's not just a bat, is she?" Fluttershy asked after some thought. "She's—She's my bat side."
Tufts let out a whooping screech of excitement. "Clever. Yes, she is a representation of all the aspects of being a bat, as you see it and more, wrapped up as a cute concept in the dreamtime. You can leave her here, step back into the waking world, and all the urges and things will be gone. You'll be just a pony again."
She had to ask, "And if I take her back?"
"Then she will be part of you forever. You will keep your fangs, you will keep your hunger for fruit, and you may have some other changes too."
"Confidence." The word would normally be so foreign to Fluttershy, but the bat eating fruit with her radiated it. "Would I still have these wings?" She stretched out out wide and gave it a weak flap.
"I don't know that. Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps you'll even be able to change between this form and your normal one." Shrugging, Tufts grabbed another apple. "All I can say is that she represents change."
"Change." It was another word that Fluttershy would normally fear. Change, though, was something most creatures feared. Stability was a good trait to desire because it meant not being confronted with things you had to think too much on.
But, all Fluttershy's life she had embraced change. When she was a filly and found her calling among animals on the ground, she'd changed her outlook and found her cutie mark. When she'd wanted somewhere to protect animals—as her cutie mark told her she should—she had moved to Ponyville.
Reaching out a hoof, Fluttershy let the bat climb onto her and edge her way along until she was snuggled into the crook of Fluttershy's wing. "I think I am ready to go back now."
Tufts stretched his wings above his back and let out a sigh. "You are a brave pony, Fluttershy. Never let anypony tell you differently." As he brought his wings back down, Tufts eased the pair of them from the Dreamtime and back into their bodies in the normal world.
Lyra was mid-rant when Tufts woke. Opening one eye, he watched her pace (and listened to her extol the terrible state of affairs where she couldn't enter the Dreamtime) around the room for nearly five minutes, wondering if she was going to slow down in her pursuit of empathy from supposedly asleep ponies.
At last, though, it was Fluttershy rousing that broke Lyra's monologue. Turning her attention from her own injustice to Fluttershy, Lyra offered her a glass of fruit juice. "How are you feeling?"
Yawning, Fluttershy was surprised at how good the juice smelled. "Thank you," she said, taking the glass and practically inhaling half of it. "I feel a little better after that drink."
"I meant about your bat problems." Used to seeing fruit juice evaporate in proximity to bat ponies, Lyra didn't think much more of the rate at which Fluttershy drank.
"It wasn't—Okay, it was a bat problem." Flashing a smile that had more pronounced fangs in it now, Fluttershy let out a little giggle as she had the perfect pun. "But now I have a bat solution. I just need to get used to it." The last bit she said as she looked into the bottom of the glass and realized it was almost empty.
"Damn unicorns always sticking their noses into somebat's mango." Tufts stood up and stepped over to Lyra to put a wing around her shoulders. "Sometimes we need it though. Thank you."
"Hey, Dad, no need to go all soft on me." Hugging back for all she was worth, Lyra looked at Fluttershy and noticed her stretching and closing her wings, reaching up to rub her ears, and a whole host of other batty behavior that Lyra recognized.
"Because I know you'll hound me relentlessly until I tell you anyway, the Dreamtime allowed her to change her story. In this time, now, she accepted the aspects of the bat she'd been bewitched with, gaining confidence and a new sense of self beyond what she had been brought up with." Tufts gestured to Fluttershy.
Distracted by her wings feeling strange—despite them still being the same ones she'd been born with—Fluttershy looked up at Tufts and nodded. "Everything feels new. I'm noticing things about—about the world because I'm in it, not because I want to hide from it."
"If you need any help with adapting, come up to Canterlot and we can share fruit and tea again." Rolling his shoulders and limbering up his wings, Tufts felt a strange potential in the air. "I think there's more to this. Would you join me in some flying before you leave?"
"Oh. Um. Okay." Still a little nervous, Fluttershy nonetheless followed Tufts out the back door of the house and realized why a family of bat ponies had their home where they did. The yard was a beautiful garden with no rear fence between firm (if magically supported) Canterlot ground and a drop off a mountainside.
Even as a filly Fluttershy had been more than a little troubled by heights, but a nervous energy lit inside her at the prospect of flying and, when Tufts broke into a gallop and jumped off the edge—she followed just as fast.
Joy and elation in equal measure, but something different. Flying with Tufts had a different energy to even her times flying with Rainbow Dash. Exploring her fangs with her tongue, she found she liked having them. The odd ridges at the top of the inside of her mouth were new, too.
But, despite everything that had changed, Fluttershy felt joy. Joy for flying. Joy for being a little less scared of the world. The biggest joy she felt, though, was an odd new connection with animals. Taking on some of the traits of bats, for Fluttershy, meant there was a whole species of adorable creatures she now had to make friends with.
Among all those feelings was a trigger. A tipping point between the bright yellow-coated pegasus and a dusty yellow bat pony. From one flap to the next a rush of magic poured through Fluttershy and she felt as her wings changed from feathery and plush to huge and soft leather. "Yay!"
Letting out a more rambunctious screech of excitement, Tufts led Fluttershy on a twirly dance in the sky to explore and express pure batty delight with life.
It felt like she'd been flying forever, but Fluttershy wasn't tired—she was just thirsty. Circling around and aiming back for the house, where a lazy unicorn was laying in the back yard, Fluttershy slowly made her way back down. The moment her hooves touched the ground, her wings changed again and she was, once more, a pegasus.
"Neat trick that." Lyra, who'd been writing down lazy patterns as she worked on another friendship spell, couldn't fail to see the bravery that Fluttershy had shown. "Are you ready to head back to Ponyville?"
"After some more juice?" Fluttershy blushed as she asked. It was exciting not to freeze up when needing to ask things—her world was boiling with potential and it was a great high for her.
Wasting no time in the fact of a thirsty bat, Lyra stood and turned for the back door of the house. "Come on in, I'm sure Dad has some more juice laying around."
By the time Tufts made it into the kitchen, he got to see Fluttershy gulping down her second glass of juice. "That takes it out of you? You should get used to it in time. I'm sure I know somepony who could help you practice and learn to better control it."
Lyra caught Tufts' look and nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Just drop by the library and I'll make time to help."
Emptying the glass, Fluttershy looked into the bottom of it and made a soft little warbling screech—then covered her muzzle with both fluffy wings in surprise at the noise. "S-Sorry."
"It's fine. You'll get used to random bat noises. Want to grab some fruit on the way home?" Lyra took the time to rush over to Tufts and give him a big hug. "Thanks."
Hugging back, Tufts felt more than a little surprised at the force of Lyra's momentum when it came to helping people. "You did good, Lyra. Thank you."
The whole ride home Fluttershy ate grapes. She wasn't sure, at first, why Lyra had insisted on buying enough grapes for a dozen ponies but—as Fluttershy chewed them up, swallowed them, made a happy little screech that embarrassed her each and every time, then reached for another—she quickly realized a bat pony's appetite for fresh fruit might just be unlimited.
Setting foot back in Ponyville, finishing off the last of the grapes, Fluttershy felt a sinking feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with the vast quantity of pulp and glucose there. "What will my friends think?"
"They're your friends, Fluttershy. You know they'll support you. It's not like Pinkie Pie hasn't known bat ponies for years. Twilight would literally cry if she so much as thought she was losing a friend. Rainbow is known as the paragon of loyalty. Rarity… I don't actually know Rarity all that well, but I bet she'd not turn her back on a friend when she finds out you'll need new dresses to support the wing changes. Applejack—got herself a new best customer." Leading the way to the library, Lyra wondered if events had conspired to bring all the five ponies in question there.
As it turned out, there was only four of the five there—Pinkie Pie intercepted them just outside the library. "Sooo…" Sidling sideways up to Fluttershy, Pinkie reached up and touched the tufty little fluff of fur on one of her friend's ears. "How'd it go? All back to normal"—she made air-quotes with her hooves—"or learning to live with a little battiness in your life?"
"D-Does it matter?" Fluttershy asked.
Tilting her head to the side, Pinkie Pie pondered what Fluttershy meant. "Well, of course it does. I want to know all the cool things that matter to my bestest friends!"
Fluttershy was almost in tears at the first sentence, but when Pinkie backed up her words the tears turned to joy. She hugged Pinkie for all she was worth. "Thank you, Pinkie. It—It means so much to hear that."
"You need to hear it four more times now. Come on inside." Pinkie led the way, letting Lyra slip in behind them and try to remain inconspicuous. "Hey, everypony, I found her! She and Lyra"—Pinkie stepped to the side, revealing Lyra to Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack—"were on their way here. What a coinkidink!"
In the spotlight, and Fluttershy felt her old urge to run and hide rear its head, but there was another part of her that was just relieved to be getting this over with. "Oh. Um. Hello everypony."
Applejack practically pounced on Fluttershy—verbally at least. "What happened, sugarcube? When Pinkie told us all that you were having super-weird reactions to the bat spell Twilight cast, we got worried."
"Yeah," Rainbow said. "Then I couldn't find you anywhere, and even Twilight helped me search."
"It was only by sheer luck that one of my customers had seen you and Lyra on the train to Canterlot. Whomever did you go to see?" Rarity asked.
"A bat pony." Fluttershy took their gasps in stride.
"They're an old mare's tale!" Applejack stomped her hoof on the floor. "The only bat pony was when Twilight messed up that there spell on you, Fluttershy."
Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other, then both turned to look at Lyra. This led to Rainbow and Rarity looking at Lyra too. Finally, Applejack looked at Lyra. "Why's everypony staring at Lyra for?" Applejack asked.
"I mean," Lyra said, circling a hoof in the air for dramatic effect, "it's not like my mum, dad, and both my sisters are bat ponies." When this got a giggle from Pinkie and a slight wince from Twilight, Lyra continued. "And I kinda used to live in Batstralia—where all the bat ponies come from. Also, I met the leader there, really nice mare named Princess Screech. It was tough for her to get on top of the whole alicorn thing, leadership thing, and becoming a mare thing, but she managed it."
Everyone was silent except Pinkie—who giggled.
Lyra took the giggle as encouragement. "And then there's Tufts—he's my dad. When magic rushed into my world, it tried to find—"
"Hold up just a darn minute here." Applejack narrowed her eyes. "I can't tell if you're lyin' or not, but what you're saying doesn't make no sense. Bat ponies—are not real."
"Applejack," Twilight said, "they are. Lyra's telling the truth."
Her temper rising, Applejack narrowed her eyes. "I know she's telling the truth, but one thing I've learned is that just because a pony thinks something is the truth, doesn't make it the real, honest to Celestia, truth." She froze, a look of surprise coloring her own features. Everypony was quiet as she processed how worked up she'd just gotten. "I'm sorry."
"Lyra's family really are bat ponies. Her mother is an advisor to Princess Celestia. Her sister is an advisor to Princess Screech. Her other sister, only a few years old, has both the princesses excited to see what comes of her. And, her father… Lyra was trying to tell you how he came to be." Twilight gestured to Lyra with a hoof. "But, you wouldn't let her. When was the last time you went to Canterlot, Applejack?"
"Uh, the Gala, with all y'all."
"Mom wasn't there for that and the Batstralian embassy was only just being built," Lyra said. "Wait. Nightmare Night. Princess Luna rode a chariot down pulled by Phil and Fire Blossom. You saw that."
"They were just in costume, right?" Feeling less sure of herself by the minute, Applejack slumped her rear to the floor and looked down at the floor. "I—I'm sorry. Sometimes it's easy to get into a mindset that only things I can see and touch exist. I guess if I'm going to be spending more time with ponies from other countries, I need to shake that off, huh?"
"Other worlds," Twilight said, correcting her. "Lyra and her family are from another world. There's a portal to it and everything."
"It's less a portal and more—" Lyra cut herself off. "Sorry, technicalities. Maybe next time the bats start acting up ask my dad for help? He's great with bats."
Curiosity rushed to fill the void where her anger had been, and Applejack brightened up at the idea. "Really? He could get them to leave?"
"Well, he could get them to stick to certain trees. Maybe you could grow a special set of trees to feed the bats and keep them away from your main ones?"
"I'd rather they keep away from all our trees but"—Applejack took a slow, deep breath—"I think the farm could live with that."
"You're forgetting something," Fluttershy said, surprising even herself by cutting in on the conversation. When everyone turned to face her, she spread her wings and focused on the battiness inside and the memory of flying.
"Whoah! Fluttershy! You can grow those cool wings again?" Rainbow couldn't have kept back if she'd tried. Checking out Fluttershy's wings, she touched the membrane. "Huh, I thought they'd be tough like like Harry's skin."
Folding her bat wings at her sides, Fluttershy felt that same excitement from earlier rush to the fore. "You should see how well I can fly with them, Rainbow. It's like—like I was born to have these wings!"
Stepping back a little from the group now she could see that Fluttershy was fitting in, Lyra turned and aimed for the stairs to the kitchen. "Hey, Spike. How was everything today?"
"The usual. Twilight was freaking out about where Fluttershy might be, Rainbow couldn't tell her because she was busy all day with Fluttershy's animals, but then Pinkie mentioned that she'd taken Fluttershy to see you to help with her bat problem." Shrugging his shoulders, Spike followed Lyra up the stairs. "Just minor Twilighting."
Lyra couldn't help but chuckle at the term. "It wasn't a bat problem, it was a bat solution." She liked how Fluttershy had put it. "And I have an idea for a new friendship magic spell."
"You're still going on with those? How many are you up to now?" Climbing up onto the footstool beside the bench, Spike started making himself a sandwich.
"I've got twelve now. I was trying to keep the theme primarily about enhancing friendships, but Twilight was right. If I don't make the spells, someone else will and they'll be too complicated for young unicorns to learn." Checking the time, Lyra realized it was about time for her to go home. "I'll give them a few more minutes and then I think I'll try to herd Twilight and Rainbow out for a nice run."
Spike nodded. "I should probably cook something, then." He picked up his gemstone sandwich and sat at the table to eat it first.
"Hrmm. It's just me and Scoots tonight, I think. A quick pasta might be the best plan. Something I can make quickly."
"Ugh. Twilight isn't a fan of pasta, but if I cook the same thing as Neighponese noodles, she'll eat it all and ask for seconds." They shared a laugh at that.
"One day you'll get her to broaden her palate from that kinda stuff to something more significant. Maybe try making her some Neighsian curries?" Lowering her magic's strength to a bare sliver, Lyra started sketching patterns for spells.
"I could do that. I'll need to order some things specially to make them. If I use noodles, she might not even notice I'm changing the flavor profile."
It wasn't the first time Lyra picked up that Spike was thinking far deeper into food than the average pony. He focused on things like texture and flavor profiles, where most ponies would just struggle to use enough salt and pepper. "Next thing you know, you might be able to have some epic spicy dishes."
It was just a few short weeks after helping Fluttershy get in contact with her battier side that Lyra was stopped on her way to Sugarcube Corner. Somehow, just thinking about the bakery just attracted ponies with problems. Not that she assumed Derpy had a problem, but the tone of the mare's shout suggested she was stressed about something. "What's up, Derpy? I was just about to grab lunch. Do you want to join me?"
"Yes please. I don't like to keep running to you for help, but I don't know who else to ask for help with"—Derpy paused talking while Lyra led the way through the front door of Sugarcube Corner—"looking after Dinky. I've applied for a promotion in the mail service, and I got it, but I need to do a two-week training course in Canterlot and—and I need to focus on that."
The look of worry on Derpy's face concerned Lyra. She reached out a hoof to the other mare's shoulder and gave her the best smile she had. "Calm down. I can look after Dinky for a few weeks."
"Thank you so much!" Derpy flung her forelegs around Lyra and squeezed her. "Oh! Hi, Mrs. Cake!"
"Hello, dears. How has your mornings been?" Cup Cake was bright and cheerful, mostly because two of her favorite customers were before her, but also because she'd managed to foist the twins off on her husband for the day.
"Well," Lyra said, "one of us has saved Equestria three times today, but I just sat in the library reading books." She gave Derpy a little squeeze before letting go of the hug. "What about you, Cup?"
"Well, with Pinkie headed off for some kind of party, it's been a little more rushed here than normal. Thankfully there are no big orders or I don't know what I'd do!" Cup knew for an absolute fact she wasn't jinxing herself because that kind of silliness didn't happen. At least, she kept telling herself that in the hope it wouldn't. "Carrot has taken the kids to get their shots and then they're going to Canterlot for the day."
"You're all alone?" Lyra asked.
"Just until mid-afternoon, then Carrot and the little ones will be back." Even as she said it, Cup knew full well that having them all back wouldn't be a reprieve from work.
Lyra pointed to the toasted cheese and egg sandwich that must have been left over from breakfast. "I'll take the sandwich, thank you Cup."
"Your usual muffin, Derpy?" Cup asked, only to see Lyra give the slightest nod. She was about to ask what was going on when she remembered that Lyra paid for Derpy's muffin each day.
"Yes please, Mrs. Cake!" Not having clued on to it being Lyra paying for her lunch, Derpy was nonetheless curious to know who was. "One day I will watch the bakery all morning and find out who keeps paying for them."
"Maybe," Lyra said, "it's a secret admirer?"
Almost losing control of a giggle, Cup managed to slip a muffin into one bag and the toasted sandwich into another. "Whoever it is, and I promised not to say, they have paid for your muffin once more." Cup took the coins that Lyra slipped across and almost gasped when a flicker of magic made the exact change for a muffin appear too.
"Hey, Derpy, do you need me to help with anything today?" Lyra asked.
Almost about to take a bite of her muffin, Derpy shook her head. "The training starts next week."
"Well"—Lyra turned back to look at Cup—"if you need some time for lunch, I can spot you an hour?"
"Okay!" Cup Cake had never dived on a lifeline so quick before in her life. "If you're sure it's okay?"
"It'd be a pleasure. Just tell me how long until you want me in." Unable to resist the temptation of nibbling the corner of her sandwich, Lyra was setting her mind toward the problem of spells—as she always did when she had more than five seconds of time to wait for something.
Cup's mind raced. If the lunch rush was going to be as big as she expected, having both of them in would be a good idea, but then she wouldn't get any break at all. "If you could come in for twelve-thirty to one-thirty?"
"I'm your mare." Lyra gave Cup a wink as she headed out, doing the math quickly and realizing she had an hour to get ready. "I guess I'll see you some time on the weekend?" she asked of Derpy.
"I'll drop Dinky off the day before I leave—err, Sunday." Nibbling more of the muffin, Derpy only had nerves left for the actual training now. "I'll see you then?"
"Sure!"
Dinky had been to Lyra's house plenty of times, but those didn't include her carrying a suitcase with most of her important things. Her toothbrush, her slippers, and even her favorite stuffed toy (Miss Flapsalot) were in her case.
Her mom and Lyra talked about a bunch of things, mostly she thought it was Lyra trying to reassure her mom, but eventually she got tackled in a huge hug. "Mooom. I'm okay." It was embarrassing, but that didn't stop her grabbing hold of her mom for all she was worth.
"You've got everything?" Derpy asked.
"Yes, Mom."
"You have your favorite blanket?"
"Yes, Mom."
"What about Miss Flapsalot?"
"Mom…" Dinky managed to hold out for nearly five seconds. "Yes, Mom."
"You be good for miss Lyra. Don't try to stay up late or sleep in. Make sure you—"
"Moooom!" Dinky started to squirm in her mother's grip, a sure sign she was done with the hug. "I will," she said, when her mother's firm look told her she wanted a better answer.
Looking up from Dinky, Derpy said, "Thanks again, Lyra. If she—"
"I've got it all under control. We're going to make a spell for her to show you when you get back." When Lyra looked down at Dinky, she saw pure, unbridled excitement in the filly's eyes. "You'd better wave or she'll come back."
Eyes widening, Dinky waved for all she was worth. "Bye, Mom!" She watched her mom wave back before she took to the air and flew above the house. She felt like an entirely different filly when she let out a deep breath. "We're going to make a spell?"
"Kinda. You'll be making the spell and I'll be your assistant." Lyra led the way to the stairs. "Your room is up here—you can leave your case in there if you'd like?"
Trusting Lyra as she had so many times before, Dinky nonetheless wanted to prove she was an adult and could take care of her things. She got to the top of the stairs just in time for Scootaloo to open the door opposite where Lyra had gestured.
"Hey there, Dinky. I heard you'll be spending a few weeks here. I hope you like running." With her new foreleg claws slung over her back (in their protective cases), Scootaloo had plans to go and practice her swooping-slices with a training dummy she'd set up.
"I love running!" Dinky didn't really, but she wouldn't just say that out loud. "Are those sharp?"
"Yeah. My coltfriend made them for me with the help of Sergeant Sharp Horn in Canterlot. They have all kinds of awesome enchantments in them." Lifting the weapons down with one wing, Scootaloo removed the sheathes from one pair just enough to show the sharp blades that made up the "talons".
"Wow! That's so cool!" Dinky had been to Lyra's house often enough that she knew her way around it well, but every single time she came there she found something new and amazing. "Could unicorns use them?"
Sliding the sheaths back on, Scootaloo shrugged. "The problem is that when you wear them extended, you can't exactly walk on your forehooves."
So excited she almost forgot her case, Dinky raced into her temporary bedroom and opened it. The first—and most important—thing she needed to do was lift out Miss Flapsalot and tuck her under the covers. "You can sleep here until bedtime."
Everything else in the case, as far as Dinky was concerned, was expendable. Well, except for her slippers on cold mornings. And her favorite pillow. And her favorite blanket. And her favorite spellbook.
Taking a deep breath, Dinky said a quick "Good luck, Mom" to the empty room and ran back out of her room and down the stairs.
She froze when, reaching the living room, Lyra was setting down a plate of chocolate cookies. Her eyes widening, she walked slowly into the room. "Are we going to work on magic?"
"We are going to work on magic and cookies. The two are generally improved when combined." Lyra gestured to the plate with a hoof. "Help yourself."
Dinky's mom had baked plenty of times for them, it was an almost-daily event. Knowing good manners about such, she selected just two cookies from the plate and started nibbling one. "T'ank you."
"Can you think of a spell you'd like to make? It will need to have something to do with friendship." It wasn't cheating, or so Lyra promised herself, to employ a pre-teen filly to do her work for her.
Asking questions was just part of life, or so Lyra had taught Dinky. Her mother had been most helpful in reminding her that any question about magic definitely has to go back to Lyra herself. But the most important thing about questions that her mother had taught her was you needed to think about them three times before replying.
The first time, Dinky knew, would usually be right—but that was a trap! She always put her first answer aside and came at the question sideways, like a griffon stalking a ripe avocado. The second answer was never right, but it was required as part of the process of reaching the third answer. The third answer required two think-throughs before it so full understanding could be reached.
Finishing off her second cookie, Dinky shrugged her shoulders. "A spell to make cookies?"
Ignoring her own advice on the topic of questions, Lyra tapped her chin. "Getting food magic right is hard because of the delicate balance of chemicals. Even Twilight would balk at casting a spell to produce food from thin air. Besides, it requires more energy to make the food than you get out of it.
"But there are ways around the first part. Copying a food item is absolutely possible and I don't think there's a specific spell for it because no one has put in the effort to make one because it wastes energy."
Dinky listened to Lyra's verbal cataloging of why the spell was bad, pondered it three times, then grinned and picked up a cookie. "But what if the entire point of the spell was to copy a piece of food for a friend?" She floated the cookie over to Lyra.
Lyra leaned back from the table, took her cookie, and started to chew it thoughtfully. When she was done, she nodded. "Okay, and that's why you're the one making the spell and not me. You're a genius, Dinky."
Picking up another cookie, Dinky was ready and willing to accept all the praise on offer.
"Okay, now we need a basic pattern to go along with this." Pushing some paper across the table, Lyra gave Dinky everything she needed to start drawing. "Think about the spell and what it will do, then start sketching whatever comes into your head."
"Hrmm…" Dinky swapped the cookie from her magic to her hoof, then started using her magic to draw shapes. At first she started with triangles, but they didn't feel right for the spell. Again and again she tried various shapes until she noticed something from the corner of her eye—the plate of cookies.
First was a big circle. Curves weren't the easiest spells to weave, but she liked them. Within that circle she made a smaller circle, then another, and two more. With four circles inside the first, she finished by adding another circle in the middle, but made a note on the page that it had to be higher than the others.
From experience, Dinky knew multi-layer spell patterns were almost all considered intermediate. They required a unicorn to literally get on another level. When she was done making the circles, she felt like something was missing. There was a sensation welling up in her that all she needed was a bit more complexity and—smiling faces on each of the cookies!
There was a sense of pressure building up in Lyra. She could feel the spell coming together and, when Dinky added the smiling faces to the cookies—it was finished.
"Well?" Excitement buzzed through Lyra. The spell patterns was a little more complicated than most she was trying for, but this was the very forefront of magic—and she was getting a foal to do it!
Just like she'd been taught, Dinky made the spell pattern in the air with her weakest amount of magic. It was so pretty making her soft blue magic form a plate of cookies in the air before her. When she finished the pattern, it felt hungry for magic and a target.
The target was easy—she had a plate of cookies before her already. The magic was even easier still—it didn't want light, dark, change, motion, emotive, chaos, or harmony magic. She let out a little breath and filled the pattern with a rush of friendship magic.
Not only did Dinky's spell copy the cookies, it duplicated the plate too. With a little pop of raw friendship magic, a second plate of cookies appeared. "I did it!"
Reaching out with her hoof, Lyra took one of the duplicated cookies and tested it in the time-honored way. "They taste just like the original! Great work, Dinky! You know the best thing about making spells?"
Shaking her head, staring at the second plate in awe, Dinky looked up at Lyra. "No. What is it?"
Picking up the paper where Dinky had drawn the pattern, Lyra folded it neatly to hide the shapes. "You have cast this spell just once and haven't spent a second to memorize it. Do you think you could cast it again?"
The question confused Dinky at first. Of course she could cast it again, the pattern was just there in her head. She opened her mouth to say that, then remembered the question rule. Why was the pattern just there? she thought, then tossed that question out. The pattern was just there and Lyra had made sure to say this was something special about making spells. Bulldozing her way through the logic, Dinky tilted her head slightly. "Does making a spell mean it is always in your head?"
"Correct!" Not for the first time was Lyra literally blown away by Dinky's leaps of logic when it came to magic. Sweetie Belle might be a savant when it came to memorizing certain magic spells, but Dinky was the real-deal genius. "Now, how many more do you want to make?"
Dinky couldn't help but grin. "All the spells!"
Twilight grumbled. Glaring across the table at Lyra—who had a huge grin—she struggled to maintain the grumpy demeanor for long, though. "I can't believe you taught a filly how to make spells."
"It's really easy when the filly is a genius for magic." Sipping her coffee, Lyra used her magic to unpack the meal she'd prepared for their lunch in advance. "How does it feel to be third in spells created in Ponyville?"
"She's beating you, too!" Now Twilight had a grin on her face. Hearing about Dinky making spells using simple shapes—good spells for friends to help each other—really tickled her pink. "Honestly, it's good to know that she's taking to the magic I invented."
"She made an emotive spell, too. She was trying to fill it with friendship magic, but the spell was all about reading emotions rather than sharing them." Taking the lid off the curry, Lyra dished two bowls of it out and then added the noodles. "We've both put a pause on making new ones until we get her first spellbook published."
Inhaling the Neighsian curry, Twilight made a happy little nicker. "You got Spike's recipe for this stuff? Also, I want a first-print version of that book—signed, of course."
"Other way around with the curry, Twilight. I shared some recipes with Spike. He said you enjoyed it?" Lyra started in on her own curry noodles, and sighed happily at the fire of the dish combined with the subtle spicing of the tofu she'd used. "And of course you get a special copy of her first book's print edition. I asked her for a copy of the manuscript, myself, and she was happy to let me make one."
Working on her first mouthful, Twilight made a pained sound and swallowed the hot food. "Can I get a manuscript too?"
Lyra almost recoiled from the hurt-puppy-eyed look Twilight gave her. The truth was she'd already asked Dinky about that. "She said, and I quote, 'Why would Princess Twilight want a copy of my spells?'" Lyra enjoyed the little moments when she managed to get Twilight to just geek out about magic or books or books about magic or even magic that affects books. "I mean, it's not like friendship is your specific domain or anything."
Calming herself with more of the noodles, Twilight reflected on how her tastes for food had changed since moving to Ponyville. Her first night in the town had seen her drinking a "hot sauce" that had only been a fraction of the curry's heat. "Thanks, Lyra."
"You're always welcome, Twilight. How's all the princessy stuff going? I hope Manehatten wasn't too stressful."
"It was kinda a relief. The theory of alicorn-blindness was correct. I didn't have to outright hide my wings at all and ponies saw my horn and thought unicorn." Getting anypony to fill out a questionnaire and sign a waiver to allow me to use their words in my book was hard. Most of them started to freak out and notice my wings any time I acted outside of how a normal pony would."
Lyra nodded to that. "That aligns with it. Reality blindness continues until the moment something major breaks their assumption that reality is acting normally—which is when they make a proper list of what's wrong and see a winged unicorn in front of them."
"Exactly. Even without their forms I could draw that conclusion, though it would be nice to have more evidence to back the hypothesis." The sound of the front door of the library opening and closing had Twilight jump to her hooves. "I'll be right down!"
"Don't sweat it, Twilight!" Spike pointed to the stairs that led up to the kitchen. "Come on, let's go up and see how they're doing."
Dinky had enjoyed the morning of shopping with Spike. They'd wandered around, mostly buying food and writing implements, before waiting for Zecora to bring them some special ingredients. She followed Spike up the stairs to see Lyra and Twilight eating lunch together.
Carrying the bags of ingredients to the fridge, Spike started putting them away in the appropriate places. "I got more spices I want to try cooking with, and Zecora had another type of chili for me to try. She, uh, said you could try some if you don't mind mild chemical burns."
Lyra almost dropped her chopsticks. "I missed Zecora rhyming chemical burns?"
"Turns," Spike said. "And I tried one. They're not that hot."
"Not that hot, when I have seen you literally drink lava and acid, doesn't reassure me." Twilight watched Spike just long enough to figure out where he wanted everything and then just teleported each item to its respective temporary home.
"I came up with an idea for a new spell." Dinky climbed up onto a chair beside Lyra and sat up straight. When she noticed Lyra and Twilight looking at her intently, she shrank a little. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No!" Twilight barely beat Lyra to shouting it. "Lyra was just telling me about all the spells and, honestly, I'm amazed. You are okay if I get a copy of your book's manuscript, right?"
Blushing, all Dinky could do was nod.
Lyra managed to not explode with a daww only through a monumental force of will. "Sweetie will be coming over tomorrow. I'd like it if you could teach her how to make a spell."
Excitement bubbled up inside Dinky and she started bouncing in place. "I get to show her how to make a spell? This'll be so much fun!"
Listening to everything carefully, Sweetie Belle's smile tilted to one a side a little as she explored what Dinky said to her. "So all I have to do is think of something I really wish were a spell, make up a pattern in my head for it, then cast it?"
Dinky gave a firm nod. This was exactly how it worked for her and was (now) as simple as breathing. "It's super easy."
Sweetie Belle wasn't one for doubting (well, she was, but she didn't like to admit that too much), but she figured that if making spells was that easy, every single unicorn would have hundreds of spells to their name. "Okay. So let's go with a spell to turn bread into toast."
"Uh, there's already one that does that," Dinky said, "Philomena's Radiant Feast, it's a light spell for broiling foods."
Staring at Dinky, Sweetie Belle tapped her chin. "What about a spell that lets you instantly make your bed?"
"Clover's Cover Convenience," Dinky said. "That's a harmony spell."
Now Sweetie Belle was positive it wasn't super easy. "How do you know all these spells?"
Shrugging, Dinky replied, "It was easier to just memorize what all the spells are and what their names are so I wouldn't accidentally make any more duplicates."
"You can cast every single spell?!" Sweetie Belle had found out she had a knack for memorizing spells, and was getting help to expand that knack beyond the most obvious ones—but even she couldn't contemplate memorizing the pattern to every spell.
"What? N-No. I just remember the names and what they do. I can cast some of them, but that's less important." Scrunching her snout, Dinky knew full well how bad she was at memorizing spells—a little above the average filly, but nowhere near as good at it as Lyra or Twilight. She made spells partly because she liked being able to use lots of magic. "I tried using your method for learning spells, but it doesn't work for me."
Tapping her chin, Sweetie Belle tried to think her way around the problem. "Well, friendship spells would have to be the easiest to come up with right now, right? There're less of them."
Relieved to have moved away from the other topic, Dinky nodded to the assessment. "But I am working to fix that."
"Okay, so, something to do with friendship…?" Tilting her head on the side, Sweetie Belle tried to think of the best parts of friendship, but she was sure Dinky had made most of the obvious ones already. "What about a spell to let friends talk to each other over long distances?"
Dinky blinked in surprise. "I don't think there's one of those. How would it work?"
Tapping her chin in thought, Sweetie Belle scrunched her snout too for good measure. She had never attacked spellcasting from this side of things before. Spells had targets in their patterns you had to fill in on the fly, but deciding how those targets would slot in wasn't something she'd confronted. "How do I figured that out?"
It felt odd to Dinky to have to explain all this. After all the practice she'd gotten, things like targeting and pattern simplification had started to become natural to her. She didn't want to make Sweetie Belle feel bad, but Lyra had instructed her to teach. "Do you know all the targeting methods?" So, she decided to treat the problem like she'd had Lyra teach her.
"Vectors, absolute positions, um—nearest, uh…" It was easy when she had a spell in front of her, but Sweetie Belle had never really focused on what each target type could do. "I do better when casting, I think."
"And I do better making spells." It made Dinky think a little more on the matter. "But I can cast spells still, which means you should be able to make spells still—we're just not as good at it."
"Well, how do you think I should target the spell?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"It's a spell to cast on friends so you can talk to them—if you make it a holding hooves spell, I think it would be perfect."
Blinking in surprise, Sweetie Belle's face lit up into a big smile. "You're right! Okay, so what else do we need for a spell?"
"The pattern. I don't know if you noticed, but I've been working herringbones into most of my patterns. It mostly came because Mom has a floor like that, and when I asked Lyra about it she told me to try to use patterns repeatedly because it makes memorizing a bunch of spells easier." Dinky pulled her magic down to a whisper and drew the pattern in the air with it. "Like this."
"Oh! Arrows! Yeah, I have seen those a lot lately. They make memorizing spells easy when I just have to remember Arrow pattern, but then change these bits." Stomping her feet in a little dance of excitement, Sweetie Belle thought about what she wanted to do with the spell, and then started thinking about the pattern and the targets.
Stopping herself just before interrupting, Dinky tried to hold back her giggles as she watched Sweetie Belle build the spell in her head. When the other filly reached out to her, Dinky connected their hooves and felt the rush of friendship magic over them. "Did it work?"
"I can hear you normally, so I don't think I could tell." Sweetie looked around the library and shrugged her shoulders. "You go upstairs and I'll go outside."
Taking the stairs upward, Dinky kept up a running monologue of each step and the grain patterns on them. When she got to the top, she heard Sweetie Belle clearly say, "You can stop talking now, I can definitely hear you out here," but she realized she never actually heard the words out loud.
"You can hear me?" Dinky asked.
"Yeah! I made a spell!"
"This is really great! Can you teach me how to cast it?"
One clattering of hooves later and they both met up in the library again.
"I don't know how useful it will be. Miss Roseluck walked past and looked at me like I'd done something silly." Sweetie Belle started to make the pattern in the air, like Lyra had taught her, and soon Dinky was writing it down while she held it still.
Sneaking into the library as quietly as possible, Lyra made note of the pattern. "You used Dinky's herringbone? That's going to confuse so many magical scholars, but in a good way. What'd you make?"
Dinky bounced over to Lyra and reached out a hoof. She formed the spell and waited for Lyra's hoofbump before casting it. "You'll see."
"No, she'll hear," Sweetie Belle said.
Giggling, Dinky bounced to the door and outside, then said, "And now you can hear me!"
Lyra froze. The voice was so clear it was like Dinky was still beside her. She glanced at Sweetie Belle, then back to the closed door. "Telepathy? You made a spell that gives ponies telepathy?"
"Only between their friends. It lasts as long as it has magic, and you can stop feeding it any time you want." Those parts hadn't been tricky—what with her copying that pattern from one of Dinky's spells that had a similar duration status.
"Well," Lyra said as Dinky came back inside, "it's awesome! I can see certain ponies with entirely too much magic making use of this. It has to be touch-cast, right? That's why the magic usage is so low. Right, this deserves its own paper."
"Paper?" That worried Sweetie Belle a little. "Why are you giving us a test?"
Mentally giving herself a slap, Lyra dialed back the technical talk. "I mean I have to write a big, important letter to all the other magic researchers to tell them about this. I'd say it is the first one with you or Dinky's names on it, but that ship has sailed. Good work, girls."
"Miss Lyra?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I don't think I'm very good at making spells. Dinky could have come up with this so much easier on her own, and I could have memorized it easily too because it has Dinky's arrows."
"'Dinky's arrows'?" It didn't take long for Lyra to figure it out. "Right, herringbone. Well, I think you have both deserved ice cream anyway. Dinky, you for managing to get another pony to make a spell. Sweetie Belle, you for making a new spell and working outside your comfort zone."
The replying cheer from two ice cream loving fillies was more than enough of a boost to Lyra's mood to have her feeling like prancing. Plus it was another friendship magic spell created. The cost of ice cream was a minor downside given how much Lyra enjoyed seeing Dinky grow into her skills.
The weight of an alicorn princess' gaze, when showing the full force of their disapproval, was a heck of a thing. Lyra had never been subjected to such a look before, but now that she had—it made her giggle.
"I can't believe you. Sweetie Belle? You taught Sweetie Belle how to make magic spells and the first she came up with was long-range telepathy!" Twilight didn't even care if she had an advanced manuscript listing all of Dinky's spells so far—this was too much. "I have made seven spells, Lyra. Seven! I could handle Dinky passing me—making spells seems to be gift for her—but Sweetie Belle?"
When Lyra just giggled, Twilight let out an exasperated sigh and used her magic to summon a duplicate of Rarity's fainting couch—just to flop onto it in her best imitation of a Rarity pose. "I can't take it anymore. I held the element of magic, Lyra. The. Element. Of. Magic! Why are you doing this? Is it to torment me?"
It was hard to giggle and talk at the same time, but Lyra did her best. "Yes! No! You asked me to!"
Narrowing her eyes and glaring at Lyra harder, Twilight eventually let out a sigh and laughed. "That's the worst bit. I expected you to make dozens of spells for me, and that would have been perfectly fine since you are a trained and experienced unicorn wizard. I have—had—a reputation for magic."
"Yeah… The filly looking up at you—her eyes dancing with excitement at having the Princess Twilight Sparkle asking for a copy of all her spells didn't make it just a tiny, itsy-bitsy bit okay?" Lyra asked.
Biting her lip because Lyra had won the entire argument with that one line, Twilight sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it did."
"So, with that out of the way—"
"I didn't say I was done with this, Lyra Heartstrings!"
"With that out of the way, Your Highness"—Lyra smirked at the way Twilight seemed ready to explode—"are you prepared for two weeks of madness?"
"She's really okay with me doing this?" Twilight asked. "I mean, I know she did, but—"
"Bonny agreed to it, Twilight, for three reasons: who you are (a princess), what you are (an alicorn), and that you're a friend. The first two would have required you to order her to do it, the last only meant you had to ask."
There were a million yeah, buts that Twilight could have come back with, but she had learned to take Lyra at her word. Instead she dipped into enthusiasm. "When are we running tonight?"
Relaxing and reading through the spell list again, Lyra had a new thought. "Just before sundown. Twilight, what if every unicorn was taught how to make spells and they all made their own versions of the same spells?"
Lyra had set herself up in the town square with a notebook, a pen, and her whole day off to write about her latest idea. Dinky was putting out new spells on a nearly daily basis, and though she couldn't see the average unicorn being quite so prolific, they could certainly create more spells than they were likely to ever keep memorized.
She was so engrossed in her writing that she didn't notice somepony had walked right up to her until a shadow engulfed her paper. Jerking her head up, Lyra was almost snout to snout with a dark colored pony wearing a frock. "Maud?"
Clearing her throat and staring ahead impassively, Maud Pie said, "Hello, Lyra. It has been a relatively short period of time since we last met—geologically speaking." And, while talking, she used a perfect monotone.
It took Lyra a second to realize the gag behind the comment, but before she could do more than start to smile, Maud cracked up laughing. "Have you been practicing that?! Wow!"
"All the way here on the train. I didn't expect to see you in Ponyville. I came to see Pinkie and—I might have messed up a bit with her friends." Maud slumped into the chair opposite Lyra. "I thought I'd do the same joke with them but they didn't realize it was a joke. At all. It's been two days now."
"Two days?" Lyra folded her notepad closed. "I would have expected Twilight to pick up on it. It's good to see you again, Maud. How was college?"
"Grueling, but great. The course changed about halfway through my second year as they caught up to the changes magic was making to Batstralia. Because there was nopony there with much knowledge of rockforming, I was able to make my thesis based on that—as applied within Batstralia of course." Maud slumped a little. "I have my thesis defense next week. I should be practicing for it, but this thing with Pinkie's friends is messing me up. If I break character now, they'll think I did all this intentionally to make fun of them."
"Well, firstly, come with me." Lyra tucked her things into her saddlebags and stood up. "We're going to visit the local library."
Looking at Lyra with one eyebrow raised, Maud stood up too and started following her. "A library? I think Pinkie said—You're taking me to see her friends, aren't you?"
"Of course. Don't you dare try to avoid this." Giving Maud a big smile, Lyra trotted backwards for a bit to make sure she was being followed.
"I just—"
"She's the princess of friendship, Maud. You don't get that title by turning down a pony who wants to correct a little mistake and be your friend." Lyra turned back around when Maud kept following.
Resigned now, Maud asked, "So, what are you, her fanclub?"
"Nope. I'm captain of her guard."
It took Maud the entire rest of the walk to figure out that Lyra wasn't joking. Though, when Lyra just reached for the door and started opening it, a little panic flooded her. "You're just going in?"
"This has really gotten you shaken up, hasn't it?" Reaching out, Lyra put her foreleg over Maud's shoulder and gave her a quick hug. "I promise you will feel better after you've told her."
After all her time away from family, Maud appreciated the hug. "I know you're right, but it doesn't make it easier. Thank you, Lyra."
"That's what friends are for." Finishing the hug, Lyra opened the door and walked in. Within was just Twilight and Spike, the former looking up at her and smiling.
"Lyra, isn't it supposed to be your day off—?" Twilight froze at the sight of Maud walking in behind Lyra. Maud had proved to be a vexing problem for Twilight—she just couldn't get a read on the mare. As the pony in question entered her library, though, something seemed different. "Hello, Maud. I—"
The pressure of her joke's bad reception had built up like a boil, and even a princess talking couldn't stop the pressure now Lyra had told her she had to lance it. Maud cut in, "Twilight, I need to confess something."
Maud's speech seemed far removed from the slow and aloof monotone she'd spoken with before, and it threw Twilight off a little to hear worry and sorrow in the words. "Please, if you need to get it off your chest, I promise I'll listen."
Taking a deep breath, Maud started, "I do the monotone thing as a gag. It's something Lyra and I used to practice in high school together. Pinkie was in on it, but please don't blame her. I never meant for it to keep going but none of you seemed to get the joke and now I'm rambling because it's my fault you are all so awkward around me and how do I stop talkin—" Maud hoped her whine, when Lyra shoved a hoof in her mouth, was taken as a thank you.
Lyra waited a short moment to remove her hoof. When Maud seemed to be bereft of words, she sighed in relief.
Twilight had a few seconds to think of her reply. "Maud, it's okay. I can appreciate that sometimes ponies have different senses of humor and they don't really work as well in a—Wait a moment. How long have you known Lyra for?"
Looking to Lyra, Maud shrugged. "Since we were both about sixteen. She was a human back then, and I was just a filly attending the same school as him—her. Sorry."
Shrugging her shoulders, Lyra let out a laugh. "Don't worry about it. I was comfortable and happy as a man, now I'm comfortable and happy as a mare. There's nothing weird going on in the middle of those two points."
"Some bat ponies aren't doing as well as you are with that," Maud said, before turning her attention back to Twilight. "I'm sorry. I was only trying to make my sister, and everyone else, have a laugh."
Twilight knew her moment to shine as princess of friendship was right now. Stepping forward, she held out a hoof to Maud. "Everypony deserves a second chance. A third, too—possibly even a fourth and fifth. As long as you still want to be friends, I would love to have a friend in you."
Maud's eyes widened and she lunged forward, ignoring the hoof, and hugged Twilight. It was that moment of relief when the pressure and torment vanished and she could just feel relief and joy again. She had no words, though, hugging Twilight and letting her emotional knot unravel on its own.
Figuring Maud just needed a little more hug time, Twilight looked over to Lyra and raised an eyebrow. When Lyra shrugged at her and grinned, Twilight was left wondering again how many ponies Lyra knew. It was almost like all of Twilight's life she was surrounded by ponies that not only knew of Lyra, but had a profound relationship with her.
When the hug ended, as they all inevitably do, Maud leaned back and felt renewed. She sat there for several seconds just letting herself feel the release of telling the truth and being forgiven. "Can we start from the start?"
"I'd really like that," Twilight said. "Hello, Maud, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Please, don't let the wings fool you, I'm just a moderately confused unicorn most of the time."
"Hello, Twilight, I'm Maud Pie. You probably know my little sister, Pinkie, as well as my foalhood friend, Lyra. While I could go on and on about rocks, I'm pretty sure you're not interested in them as much as I am, so I'll reserve all that for a gneiss joke at some point." Waiting for the groan, and Twilight did groan for her bad joke, Maud looked around the library. "Where'd Lyra go?"
"She'll be upstairs breaking her promise to me." Walking toward the stairs, Twilight gestured with a wing upward. "Come on up."
Maud wasn't sure what to expect from the private quarters of a princess, but the cozy kitchen and dining area wasn't it. Lyra was at the bench making sandwiches while a kettle picked that moment to boil. "What do you mean 'breaking her promise'?" she asked.
Twilight giggled when Lyra spun around with a guilty expression on her face. "That she promised me she wouldn't come to the library or do any work today. I have never known a pony more ready to give up every ounce of her free time to work."
Barking a laugh, Lyra looked back at Twilight. "Then you don't own a mirror."
Giggling, Twilight nodded. "Guilty as charged. I guess that's why we work so well together."
"Would you like some tea, Maud? Maybe a sandwich?" Lyra asked. She was already making tea and sandwiches for Twilight and the latter only for Spike.
"Yes please," Maud said, taking a seat at the table to avoid getting in the way. She watched Lyra work, using magic in creative ways to prepare the sandwiches and even cut them neatly. "You've gotten better at magic."
Twilight picked up on that and nodded. "I remember when Lyra first came to Princess Celestia's school and she needed help learning to use magic."
"When she was still on Earth, she kept having magic surges. Candela said that when foals have them, they have so little power that they barely do anything. Lyra was sixteen and making marching bands worth of instruments appear out of thin air." The memories of that time in her life were a little old, but Maud cherished them. It was a time of change for her—she left one world behind to study in another.
"I only did that a few times," Lyra said, trying not to blush. "And I fixed the fence eventually."
The sound of the library's front door opening, followed by Pinkie's voice calling out, "Maud?!" was followed by all four hooves bouncing on the wooden floor downstairs.
Twilight jumped to her hooves and rushed to the top of the stairs. "Up here, Pinkie."
By the time Pinkie reached the top of the stairs, she gasped. "Maud! Wait, you were talking to Twilight? Are you best friends now?" Each sentence was punctuated by a widening of Pinkie's smile until her face was dangerously close to imploding.
Dropping back to her monotone, Maud half closed her eyes and looked at her sister. "No, Pinkie. I came here to throw rocks at Twilight until she was buried up to her neck."
Pinkie froze. Her expression registered shock and panic as she looked from her sister to Twilight, then she regained her grin when she saw Twilight was smiling. "You finally figured out Maud's joke?" She was bouncing in place already, expecting the answer.
"Maud explained the mix up. I guess we need to call a meetup of all our friends and fill them in on it." Knowing she couldn't avoid the tackle-hug from Pinkie, Twilight stood and hugged her friend back in reply.
Looking down at the pile of sandwiches she'd just made, Lyra shrugged her shoulders. "Looks like I need to make more. Pinkie, do you think you could let everypony know lunch will be sandwiches?"
Maud had retired from the impromptu party at the library to spend the evening with Lyra. Her heart felt lighter for having straightened everything out with Pinkie's friends, but while they weren't actively disliking her now, she didn't have much in common with them.
Strumming her bass with the volume down, Lyra was about as relaxed as she could get. "Do you ever wonder what might have been if all the craziness back in Cowwarr didn't happen?" She looked over at Maud.
"I think I'd be a lot more lonely. I was a lot like Marble as a filly, and if it weren't for meeting you and your sister I think I'd still be that way. Plus I wouldn't have spent nearly ten years studying rocks." Pulling her best stoneface expression for the last word, Maud almost ruined it by smiling. "What about you? You'd still be human."
"I don't have a problem with humans. The thing is I just couldn't imagine myself as one anymore. To be that cut off from magic and destiny would be like having a leg removed." To highlight her feeling, Lyra pitched a grip on the strings that was off-chord and strummed, making the poor guitar practically cry in pain. "Wait, it's really been ten years?"
"Eleven, but it took me a bit to get settled in and classes to start. I volunteered at the school helping to fix things."
"Eleven years. That's a long time to spend away from other ponies." The moment she said it, Lyra realized she'd been less than charitable. "Right, there are ponies there, but I mean bat ponies have a different outlook on things than Equestrian ponies."
"It's changing. Princess Screech is so charismatic, and whatever it was that Robin did to help people adapt really pushed at the pony way of life. There are still a lot of wild parts to the world, but there are also some cute ponies." The moment Maud said it, she blushed. "I mean, ponies."
Lyra's playing took on a more twangy note. "Cute, huh? So you've met some cute bat ponies?"
"You're not going to let me drop this now, are you?" Maud asked. When a grinning Lyra shook her head, Maud slumped back into the chair. If it wasn't so comfortable she might have had an excuse to make a run for it. "Guys. I've been with a few, but it was never a long-term thing. They liked strong mares, I like a stallion with"—Maud winced in advance, knowing Lyra would have more to say—"wings."
"Ooooh." Lyra plucked a little arpeggio on her bass. "I get you. Well, not personally on the whole wings thing, but Sweetie has a thing for wings too." Nodding, but still grinning at the mild teasing of her friend's thing, Lyra started to just slap-strum her bass, getting a slow rhythm going. "I'm with your stallion-friends, though."
"Solid?"
"Muscles," Lyra said. "You'll know what I mean when you see Sweetie."
The door opened and Maud expected fate to deliver the mare Lyra was talking about. Instead, a young pegasus trotted in. Maud blinked in surprise and was about to say something when she saw Lyra make a quelling gesture.
"Hey, Scoots, school out early?" Lyra played an epic-introduction power-chord on her guitar. "Maud, this is Scootaloo, the most amazing filly in all Equestria. Scoots, this is Maud, one of my foalhood friends and a super secret agent—uh, don't tell anypony about that last bit, okay?"
Scootaloo's problem was that with the circles Lyra walked in—Maud might just be a secret agent. She'd met Blue Blood, and she was positive he was a spy, but when Lyra went this far Scootaloo always suspected a joke. "Super secret agent, huh? For which country?"
It didn't take much to realize the game Lyra was playing. "Griffonstone, of course. I am on loan to them from Princess Celestia due to their not having a good spy to infiltrate Equestria with." Her delivery was careful, not a monotone, but not giving away any hint that it was a joke.
Looking from Lyra's deadpan expression to Maud's slightly dismissive one, Scootaloo made a choice. "Lyra, you have to do better next time."
"She got you," Maud said, shrugging. "I'm just one of Lyra's foalhood friends. I've been studying in Batstralia for years and had a chance to come and visit my sisters and found an old friend."
"If you hadn't given up so quickly, she would have believe it." Lyra sat up straighter in her chair when Scootaloo approached and gave the filly a big hug. "I should probably introduce you properly. Maud, this is Scootaloo, my daughter."
Scootaloo found herself smiling every time Lyra did that now. Just daughter. Not adopted daughter, not ward, and not some filly who was living in my house. She gave an extra little squeeze.
Maud took stock of the situation. Unless Lyra got pregnant the moment she left Batstralia and came to Equestria, Scootaloo wasn't her filly. She was left with either adoption or Lyra's wife being the mother. "Do you like rocks?"
It was a surprising question, but Scootaloo figured she should take it on. "Uh, sure. What kind of rocks?"
"All rocks," Maud said, grinning. "Well, you passed my test. You can now be a super secret agent too. Anypony who likes rocks is okay by me."
"Oookay." Scootaloo wasn't all that sure how to handle Maud, but she could get a sense that the mare wasn't laughing at her, but with an old joke she shared with Lyra. "I'm going to hang with the girls. I'll be back in time for dinner."
Waiting for Scootaloo to rush out the door again, Lyra let out a happy sigh. "She's the greatest filly in the world."
"You're really doing it all, aren't you? I wish I had this much of a grip on my life. I'm almost thirty and I haven't found a special somepony yet."
Tilting her head to the side, Lyra couldn't keep from breaking out into a smile. "How long before you have to go back to Batstralia?"
A shiver ran over Maud. She knew exactly when she had to be back, but she could also smell Lyra cooking up something weird. "I have a week—" Lyra vanished from the room with a loud pomf that surprised Maud for nearly five seconds before it sounded again and she was back. "Why?"
"Okay. I couldn't teleport fast enough, but I got Spike to send a message to Princess Celestia, who sent a message to Cadance. She'll be here tomorrow—since I called a best friends love alert—and then we can see about finding you a—" Catching her breath, which actually took a moment, Lyra asked, "Uh, fillies, colts, both…?"
Maud's eyes widened. It had finally sunk-in what Lyra planned. "N-No! I have to go back, uh, right now!" She was halted getting out of the chair by Lyra—who had teleported the two ponylengths needed to be standing right in front of her. Slumping her shoulders because she saw no way out of this, Maud sighed. "Colts—Err, stallions."
Lyra summoned a notepad and started jotting things down. Starting off with male. "Excellent. And just to be clear, wings are required or just a plus?"
"Are you really going to do this? Who is Cadance?" It was starting to become an interesting idea, particularly, Maud reasoned, if she'd get to meet a bunch of pegasi stallions. "Wings are—a huge plus. No. Ugh. Required." Maud covered her face with a hoof and tried to hide her blush.
"Smart or sporty? Both? Don't care?"
"You're not going to let me rest until I've told you my ideal stallion, are you?" The chair, Maud wondered, might be able to come to life and swallow her if she wished it hard enough. So far it didn't seem to be working. "Further testing is needed," she muttered.
"No. No I'm not. Also, I'm going to put down both. You deserve both." When Maud blushed even hotter, Lyra felt a buzz in the air that she liked to imagine was a small sliver of what Cadance felt every time she helped a pony find true love. Thinking about her friend, she realized Maud had asked about her. "Cadance? Oh, you're going to find she's the perfect pony to ask about this kind of thing. Okay, tall or short?"
Maud stared for a good minute while Lyra and Cadance caught up. She tried not to, she really did, but Lyra had neglected to mention a tiny little detail about her friend. "You're the princess of love?"
Having answered Lyra's emergency request as quickly and directly as possible, Cadance bowed her head to Maud. "At your service. Lyra said you have returned to secure a stallion before you go back to finish your doctorate?"
Eyes widening, Maud looked at Lyra, who gave her an encouraging grin. "I—Err—Well."
"Do you think we could get Maud a private show by the Wonderbolts? Just something small, maybe just the stallions?" Lyra nudged Cadance with one elbow, trying not to actually pronk in place.
"Another mare who has a thing for wings?" Cadance nudged Lyra back. "We can ask Spitfire if she'd be able to do something. It might not be today, though. Cloudsdale is definitely a good start, though."
"I'll make us some brunch to take with us. I already checked and Cloudsdale down over Appleoosa right now. They were having some unusually dry weather that the local weatherponies couldn't halt, so they called in the big guns."
When Lyra headed out to the kitchen, Maud was uncomfortably aware that she was standing there with a princess and had nothing to talk about. She dredged up topic after topic, but every time she was about to say something anxiety struck and she snapped her mouth closed.
"Lyra said you were Pinkie Pie's big sister?" Cadance asked.
"Pinkie?" How Pinkie knew another princess, Maud wasn't sure, but the princess sure knew of Pinkie. "I mean, yes, Pinkie's my little sister. We went to the same school as Lyra in Batstralia. Well, before it was called Batstralia."
"It's fascinating to hear of that world. I can't imagine a place where no magic exists." Family, Cadance knew, was often a way to get a pony to open up and just talk. Maud had only actually spoken to her when Cadance had mentioned Pinkie. "I also still struggle to think that Lyra was anything but a unicorn mare. What was she like before she came here?"
Maud giggled at that. "She was every bit a younger version of who she is now. My youngest sister, Marble, was so shy she couldn't say a word to most people. Lyra stood up for her, made friends with her, and coaxed her into conversation. If Lyra wasn't who she is, I probably would have run screaming from this crazy plan of hers."
Nodding, Cadance gestured to the kitchen where Lyra was. "That's the normal reaction you should have to anypony else getting this excited about helping a friend. Lyra is a special case."
"She definitely is." Maud realized she'd been in such a fugue over the misinterpreted joke and the fallout from it to spend much time with her sister. Good friends with two princesses—what else had Pinkie been up to, she wondered. "So we're going by train, then?"
"Unless you want to see how Lyra flies, I would suggest it."
"Lyra can fly? I thought that was rare for unicorns?"
Cadance snorted and shook her head. "Lyra flies by throwing herself at the ground and missing. It's both terrifying and shocking to watch."
Walking out of the kitchen with panniers full of snacks and drinks, Lyra looked between Maud and Cadance. "So, how are we going to get there? Fly?"
"Train!" Cadance and Maud both said at the same time.
The train ride was far more cozy and relaxing than Maud had expected. Cadance had chatted to her as if she weren't the ruler of a whole city-state. Lyra had joined in and kept the topic moving, and it had become far more fun than the ride back to Batstralia had seemed.
It almost seemed normal—so long as she didn't think of what the subject of this trip was. "We're just going to watch, right?" she asked.
"Watch? Well, yes. There will be watching." Cadance's smile was as non-threatening as she could make it—Maud wasn't her enemy, ponies living a loveless life, when they wanted more, were. "There will also be talking. Maybe even dating. We have a week?"
"Yup!" Lyra leaned over and put her foreleg around Maud's shoulders, trying to pull her closer. Being an earth pony, Maud could resist such a physical attempt short of Lyra using Guardpony tricks. She didn't use those on friends—often. "Right?"
Surrendering her resistance, Maud leaned toward Lyra. "Right." Lyra and Cadance were both still staring at her like she had to say more. "What?"
"Have you ever seen the Wonderbolts before, Maud?" Lyra asked.
"N-No." Maud didn't want to tell them she had Wonderbolts posters. Nor did she want to tell them she had a significant amount more of those posters than the average Wonderbolts fan. "No."
Always able to see a little beyond the surface when it came to passions, Cadance smiled a little wider. "Then we'll see about arranging a dinner with them. There aren't a lot of stallions in the Wonderbolts right now, so we can play cover by inviting the whole team to dinner, then you can turn your attentions on those that catch your interest."
Blushing now, Maud tried to remember which Wonderbolts were in the lineup she'd last seen. She hadn't really paid attention to them since she left Equestria to study abroad. "W-Who are the current Wonderbolts?"
"Spitfire took over leadership about seven years back, I think it was." Letting go of Maud, Lyra tapped her chin in thought. "I know Soarin's with them as a training sergeant now. There's also Surprise and Cloud Bank. Uh… Maybe we should have brought Sweetie along. She knows all of them."
"Can we get there any faster?" Maud asked.
"Sure we can!" Lyra made her horn glow for effect. "Just let me teleport the whole train to Appleloosa. The tricky bit is getting the wheels lined up on the tracks. Well, no, that's easy. The real tricky bit is not swapping different ponies around into each other's bodies. Here we—"
"No!" Cadance and Maud both shouted together, then looked at the other and started to laugh.
"Hrmph." Lyra did her best fake pout. "Party poopers."
Getting off the train, Maud was struck by a growing sense of anticipation in the air. She arched her head up, wondering if there might be a pegasus or two about, only to see Cloudsdale itself hovering low over Appleloosa and, along with the huge city, hundreds of wings were visible as pegasi went about their daily lives up there.
Not for the first time she tried to analyze her feelings for winged ponies. She loved the look of wings, but there was always something about how a pegasus looked while flying that made her shiver in a happy way. Gazing up toward Cloudsdale, Maud's eyes flicked between several pegasi who seemed to be out flying just for the joy of it.
"Hey! Maud!" Lyra said, for the fifth time. "Maud!"
The shouting finally snapped Maud out of her distraction. She lowered her head and looked at Lyra—and the two ponies with her that weren't Cadance. Mare with orange and dark orange mane, yellow coat, wings that looked in pristine condition. Stallion with brown-gray and orange mane, white coat, wings likewise in pristine condition. Both were wearing Wonderbolts uniforms. Her eyes seemed locked on the stallion. "Y-Yes?"
Snorting, Lyra set about introducing them again. "Maud, this is Commander Spitfire and Lieutenant Fire Streak. We were just discussing attending their show this afternoon."
Wings, Maud thought, looking at Fire Streak. She shook her head after a nudge from Lyra. "A show! Yes! Yes a show!" She had never been more out of control with her emotions. It was like her latest time spent without somepony special had left her on edge or something. Taking a slow breath, she nodded.
Cadance shot Spitfire a look that she hoped explained everything.
Spitfire only barely managed not to mutter fangirl under her breath. "Well, we'll be seeing you at Wonderbolts HQ a little later. Come on, Lightning, we gotta get prepared for this."
Maud only had eyes for Fire Streak as the pair took off. When he tilted his head back and gave her a wink, she almost melted onto the parched ground.
"Soooooo." Grinning at Maud, Lyra gestured up to Cloudsdale with a hoof. "We need to get up there, and one of us can't fly."
"Lyra"—Cadance's tone held an edge of warning—"whatever mad plan you have, we can—"
Casting the spell, one Dinky had made explicitly so she could fly with her mother, Lyra stuck her tongue out at Cadance. Both she and Maud now had feathery wings—wings that made Lyra look like an alicorn.
Her mouth open to continue warning her friend, Cadance closed it and let out a huff. "That's actually pretty good. New spell?"
"Yup! Friendship magic. It was created by Equestria's greatest living spellcrafter. Gives wings and cloudwalking in one combo." Spreading her wings, Lyra gave them an experimental flap. Friendship magic, still acting within the constructs, converted her unicorn magic smoothly to assist with her flying. It wasn't as good as what a pegasus could do, but she had to admit it was a lot more graceful than using teleports.
Not as much fun, though.
Spreading her own wings, Maud lifted off the ground with barely a thought. She barely held back a laugh.
"Friendship magic? Great spellcrafter? Why didn't you just say Twilight?" Taking to the air too, Cadance started ascending toward the lowered Cloudsdale.
"Because"—Lyra did a quick loop in the air—"Twilight hasn't made nearly as many spells as this pony."
"You?"
"No. My protege." Almost getting carried away enough to sing, Lyra gave a laugh. "Dinky Hooves!"
"I—" It took Cadance a little time to recall everyone she knew from Celestia's school. "Who's Dinky Hooves?"
"She's a unicorn filly a little younger than Scootaloo. When I taught her everything I knew about making spells, it just clicked for her. She took to making spells like I take to overworking myself." Lyra was glad she got another laugh from Cadance before the truth of the matter settled in.
"Wait." Cadance checked to make sure Maud was keeping up, even if the mare was quiet—and blushing again. "So you trained a little filly to make spells using Twilight's new form of magic, and she's made more spells since you started than any pony in Equestria?"
"Technically Star Swirl The Bearded has made more spells, but you should have heard Twilight rant! It was amazing!"
One question remained to Cadance. "Did you do this explicitly to poke at Twilight?"
"What? No. She told me to make spells. I had been itching to do it, but it was a lot of work for me. You should see Dinky work—what would take me days of planning and focus, she does in under an hour. Sometimes it's a challenge to slow her down long enough to write the spells out."
"I'm going to have to foalnap you when I have a foal. Even if they're not a unicorn, I think you'd be the most amazing teacher any foal could have." Cadance was surprised by Lyra's sudden wide-eyed surprise. "What—?"
"You're pregnant?!" Lyra grabbed Cadance and completely forgot about flying, but the raw intensity of her excitement kept her from falling—also Cadance holding onto her.
"Flap your wings!" When Lyra started flapping again, Cadance let go of her. "I'm not pregnant, but Shiny and I are trying."
"I am going to spoil your foals so much! I will be Aunt Lyra, and I will teach them a spell to create candy." Flapping her wings and circling around Cadance, Lyra giggled. "And chocolate! Oh gosh, I'll make a chocolate fountain and we will dip ourselves in chocolate and—"
"Lyra, stop. I'm not even pregnant yet, and today is meant to be about Maud."
Snapping back from the precipice of aunt-madness, Lyra looked around. "Where is Maud?"
Cadance blinked in surprise and looked around too. Her eyes narrowed and she looked up. "She went up there."
"How can you tell?"
"The trail her flapping left in the air." When Lyra just stared at her, Cadance groaned. "I was born a pegasi, remember? She went up. Come on!"
Maud had a problem. Though there weren't a lot of stallions in the Wonderbolts, there was more than two. She might have had two eyes, but generally they could only look in one direction at once.
"Hey there. New to Cloudsdale? I'm Soarin."
Jumping in surprise, Maud was only a hoof's width away from being nose-to-nose with yet another stallion in a flight suit. "Maud! Soarin, hi I'm." The words were a jumble and she tried again. "Hi, Soarin. I'm Maud."
"Well, Maud, are you here to sign up for the Wonderbolts?" Soarin had seen some solid pegasi before, but Maud was something else. If he didn't know better (and he didn't) he'd have thought she had some earth pony blood.
"I—" Maud had a moment to decide on whether to tell the truth or let him keep believing a lie. Recent history came back to slap Maud in the face like a locomotive. "I'm not actually a pegasus."
Narrowing his eyes, Soarin wondered if this was some new kind of pickup line. Expecting her to fall off the cloud at any second and demand he rescue her, he stepped away from the edge. "Sure you're not. Hey, are those wings on your back or did you just become a princess?"
"Actually, a friend cast a spell to give me wings so I could fly up here. She'll probably be along any second now." Despite wanting to wait for her friends, Maud was distracted by Soarin enough to walk with him. "I'm actually an earth pony who works with rocks a lot."
Soarin barked a laugh, then stopped. "Really?" When Maud nodded, he let out a slow breath. "Sorry, it's a bit of a cliché and I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine, really. A few days ago I almost ruined my chances of making new friends because I tried the same joke on them. Uh, I heard you're going to be putting on a show today?" Moving the topic along and trying to show that she didn't take offense was a juggle, but Maud was far more used to communication after so many years at university.
"Oh, yeah. This isn't the first time we've gotten 'love-emergency requests' to put on a little show. Apparently Princess Cadance is helping out one of her friends who has a friend that's far too single and needs—needs…" Soarin wasn't always the quickest pegasus in the Wonderbolts, but his brain started to put things together—in particular how much Maud had been ogling the practicing Wonderbolts—and he came to a conclusion that somehow he'd stuff all four hooves and his wings in his mouth at the same time. "Would it be best if I try to change the topic or just stop talking altogether?"
Rolling her eyes, Maud shrugged off the description of herself—mostly because it was accurate. "I am far too single and I'd really like to find a nice pegasus stallion. Even just to have a chat with and maybe dinner."
Blinking in surprise, Soarin had to ask, "Did you just invite me out on a date?" When Maud nodded, he nodded back. "Sure, but only if we can ditch the royalty. If we hurry, they won't find us. Come on."
Laughing, Maud had to spread her wings and take off after Soarin. He barked orders to other pegasi and soon enough there were winged bodies flooding in behind them. "They all just listen to you?"
Nodding, Soarin said, "I am second in command here. Plus I'm also fairly terminally single and they look out for me."
By the time Lyra and Cadance landed on the cloud where Maud and Soarin had been, all there was to see was Wonderbolts flying odd patterns that seemed to always pass right in front of the pair.
Spitfire, recognizing a defensive-screen when she saw it, landed and walked up to the pair of outsiders—giving a few flicks of her wing as a signal to the others that she was on the job. "Your Highn—Lyra?! Let me guess, you spent too long with Princess Twilight and she decided you needed another promotion?"
Blinking a few times in confusion, Lyra followed Spitfire's gaze and remembered the wings. "Oh! Yeah. New spell to grow wings for a short time. You want an extra pair?"
Struggling with the surprise of being asked if she wanted to try extra wings—and her further surprise that she might say yes—Spitfire managed to shift the topic a little. "A new spell? Just like that? Bam, new magic? Isn't that what Twilight did?"
It wasn't anything she wanted an answer to. Spitfire knew that her Wonderbolts wouldn't fly a screen like that—against a princess and a lieutenant—without a good reason. She put it together with the fact she had seen Soarin leaving the practice field with a mare and came up with her needing to do a lot more screening—which meant asking stupid questions with complicated answers.
Not realizing she was being nerd-sniped, Lyra began her explanation. "Making spells isn't like making new magic. When Twilight made friendship magic, it was like if there was suddenly a new type of cloud in the sky that behaved entirely different to other clouds. What a new magic spell does is takes that new type of magic and uses it to do something fancy. And, besides, I didn't invent this one. I've been teaching a filly to make her own spells, and this is one she made so she can fly with her mother."
Her own plan, working as it was, had blown up in Spitfire's face—now she was curious. "You trained a filly to make new spells? Isn't that—that seems like something that should be hard to do."
"It is! But it shouldn't be. Dinky is a natural at creating spells, though, so she can make them whenever she finds a problem she doesn't know another spell for—or thinks she can do it better. Honestly, I just love winding her up with ideas and seeing what she does. Twilight says it's a teacher thing, but—" Lyra would have gone on and on about her latest favorite subject, but she realized Cadance was giving her a raised eyebrow. "But we gotta find a friend of ours. Have you seen her? About this tall, likes wearing a frock, uh, has about double the average pegasus body-mass?"
Rolling her eyes, but grinning at Lyra, Cadance said, "Earth pony with wings. We brought her up here for the show later. She"—Cadance sighed—"she's really into pegasai and I hoped she could maybe find somepony to connect with, if just for a night or two."
Connections were made and everything made sense in Spitfire's head now. "Well, I might have an idea where she went, but I'm sure she'll be at the show later. Why don't you both relax and get some flying in? Test out those wings against the real thing?" To show what she meant, Spitfire spread her wings and raised an eyebrow behind her sunglasses.
"You're not going to tell us where she went?" Cadance asked.
Smirking, Spitfire shook her head. "I mean, I've bought them enough time it doesn't matter now."
That perked Cadance up. "'Them'?"
"Soarin has a thing for strong mares. Your friend is probably the toughest thing on the clouds today, and if you say she has a thing for wings, I think they'll have a lot of fun if you just leave them alone to figure out what fun is." Doing her best to ignore Cadance (who was practically vibrating with excitement), Spitfire turned to Lyra. "Well? Wanna see if you can fly with them?"
Lyra scoffed and said, "I can fly with them. How do you think I got up here?"
"No. I'm asking if you can fly with them?" Snapping out her wing and pointing upward, Spitfire only had to wait a half a second for a squad of three Wonderbolts to blast by just a ponylength above her.
Cadance, her mission to get Maud a date with a Wonderbolt seemingly completed, was excited for something else now. "Do they make uniforms in my size?"
Laughing, Lyra poked at Cadance with a wing. "Hey, why don't we race each other. I'm sure the Wonderbolts would kick both our butts."
"Speak for yourself. One of us was born a pegasus, after all." Cadance used her whole shoulder to shove back at Lyra, comfortable in the knowledge that she was one of the few unicorns who could take such a push and not stumble—and she didn't.
"Winner gets to play a part in the show." Spitfire liked a little competition, and if a little was good, a lot was better. "So, why don't we go with a standard newbie practice run?"
Not a mare of the aristocracy herself, but attached to it enough to know how to act, even Cadance couldn't deny the fact that she was hot and sweaty. She glared at Lyra. "How did you get so good at flying like this?"
"Practicing. Why don't you use your magic?" Lyra, back on the ground after their second time trial, looked at Cadance with a glint of challenge in her eyes.
"Because that would be cheating." Cadance didn't need to look at the scoreboard to see that they were one-apiece in a best-of-three contest.
"Cheating?" Lyra laughed, though she had to admit privately that it was a struggle. She could run for days on end, but flight muscles were new muscles and she literally couldn't get them stronger thanks to the spell's fade time. "How would it be cheating?"
"Because one of us has pegasus magic and the other doesn't." Despite the joke, Cadance was having a great time just having fun with Lyra. What was a little unnerving was having the Wonderbolts gather around for the last race. "Ready when you are."
Raising her right wing, Spitfire twisted her feathers so they were under heavy tension, then let go so they would make a crack. Her left wing clicked the stopwatch to start.
"Why are you even bothering to time them?" Surprise asked. "Neither is going to get close to any records."
"One of them has already recorded two records. First for fastest unicorn flying with wings, then she broke that on her second try. This might become a thing, Slowpoke." Checking Lyra's split on the first leg of the course, however, told Spitfire that there wouldn't be another record. So, while Lyra was struggling with tired wings, Cadance was just reaching her stride.
"They both need more practice."
Nodding, Spitfire could well support that assessment. "Yeah. I'll arrange to have a pegasus sergeant in the Crystal Empire start getting on her case about—"
"Lyra too. If she's going to use that spell, she should be able to fly well. I know she can't use pegasus magic and she can't train those muscles, but maybe we can teach her some tricks that will make flying a but easier. Who trained her so far?"
"Civvie. She's not even using basic Guard tricks while flying. Who do we have that we could send to Ponyville for a few weeks?"
The next split, again, saw Lyra behind. Surprise shook her head. "You know we have a big rush coming in a few weeks with that new program. If Soarin didn't have himself a fillyfriend here today, he'd probably kick me forward as your first choice."
"Bingo. You got the job—again. I'll put in a request for Cloudsdale to linger over Canterlot for the duration. If it's approved, you won't have far to fly." Spitfire clicked the stopwatch as Lyra crossed the finish line—behind Cadance. "Nice try, newbie, but it's hard to beat a pegasi at her own game."
Struggling with her sore wings, Lyra landed and then just fell into a heap. "Ugh, why am I so tired and she isn't?"
Walking over and offering a hoof to help Lyra up, Surprise hauled hard. "She might be an alicorn, now, but I bet she flies on those things for hours a day. It's the same for all pegasi—though more so some than others. You might not have pegasi magic, and you might not be able to train your muscles, but there are still things you could do better to improve your flying."
Sighing, Lyra couldn't say no to such an offer. "Thanks. I guess it's probably best that an actual princess get to do this rather than a unicorn faking it."
"Don't sell yourself short. You show a lot of talent with those wings, and if you could actually put muscle training into them, you'd give a few pegasi without much magic a run for their money. Commander said you used a spell—maybe you could try one that allows the wings' state to persist? Can you even do that?" Surprise kept back from where the Wonderbolts were congratulating Cadance. "Is she always like that?"
"Popular? Yeah." Stretching her wings slowly, Lyra was trying to ensure she wouldn't get any cramps in them. "You can always tell a couple is head-over-hooves for each other when they don't notice Cadance."
"You've known her for a while?"
"She officiated at my wedding, and my wife at hers. Kinda. That was a complicated day." Lyra folded the wings back on her sides.
It wasn't often that Surprise got namesaked, but she hadn't really connected Cadance with the princess at the center of the changeling invasion, nor Lyra with being one of the heroes of that day. Then she remembered reading the report on how Chrysalis got taken down in the end, and gulped. "So, about the training, do you think you could solve the muscle problem?"
The change in Surprise's demeanor caught Lyra off-guard. "I'll try. Is something wrong?"
"Oh, you know, just realizing who I'm actually talking to. I don't know whether to salute you or bow to Cadance. I came in through the Guard, and it just clicked that you're the Lyra who blasted her way through ranks alongside her wife who is just as big a legend. It's easy to forget that when—" Surprised stopped because Lyra had used her magic to pull her lower lip down and fold her upper lip under it. "What are you doing?"
The next face Lyra pulled required her tucking her eyelashes under themselves and rolling her eyes up in her head.
"What—?" Surprise couldn't stop a nervous giggle, then a more sure one when Lyra managed to make her lower teeth protrude out and over her top lip.
Lyra kept going until Surprise was laughing up a storm. It was the only defense she had against that kind of serious talk, and it proved effective. "Just remember any of those stupid faces next time you think I'm anything but a mare trying her best to make sure Equestria and its inhabitants stay in one piece."
"Yeah, but—" It worked exactly how Lyra had said. The moment Surprise tried to put Lyra on a pedestal again, she remembered the face with one lip behind the other. "This is my burden now, I guess," she said with a giggle.
"You taught my daughter when you served as pegasus trainer at Princess Luna's school." Extending a wing to examine it, Lyra pondered how to make a spell that would retain any changes made to a limb that a pony didn't normally have. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you again, and in this one area you are definitely my superior."
Surprise's first reaction was to play that down and deny everything, but it was true. Lyra had the very basics of flight down, but needed refining. "You're not going to make this easy, are you? You're my her—"
"Don't say the word hero, whatever you do. Twilight's a hero. Cadance is a hero. Shining Armor is a hero. Me? I just do my job, salute, and shout yes sir when I get an order." Walking toward Cadance now, Lyra set herself the task of making Surprise see her for the mare she was and not some kind of ornament.
At the sight of Lyra approaching, Cadance took two steps toward her—which effectively cleared a path for her friend. Something about Lyra's expression told Cadance that there was a problem she was working on. "I assume you're already coming up with a way to beat me?"
Relieved to have somepony to talk to that would never see her as a hero, Lyra nodded. "Yup. Secret training techniques passed down to me by ancient gurus."
"You're full of something and it isn't training." Seeing her friend perking up, Cadance almost cheered out loud. "Do you want to see me completely fail to learn how to do the most basic stunt the Wonderbolts could come up with for me to do?"
"Do I ever!"
"If you don't want to miss the show, we should probably go now." Soarin looked at Maud across the table in the restaurant, his thoughts playing over what had brought them together. "You do want to see me fly, right?"
Maud's eyes widened a little and she nodded. She definitely wanted to see him fly. "Yes. That's a thing I want."
Soarin couldn't avoid the little rush of delight at somepony looked at him with the same hunger he felt for them. "Come on, then. We both have to go back and pay the piper."
"I thought you said you were in charge there?" Maud stood up and, when Soarin walked around their table for the door, she slipped up beside him so they had to press their flanks together to get out.
Both of them were a little quiet as they walked back toward the Wonderbolts' training area. Neither felt obliged to move away from the other enough to stop brushing together.
"Lieutenant! Thought you weren't going to be back today?" Fleetfoot couldn't help but smirk as the two quickly each took a step apart. "How'd the date go?"
Maud, trying to recover from her surprise at how well it went, answered first. "It went very nicely. Why have you been hiding all the cutest stallions here?"
Blushing, Soarin looked at Maud with surprise and, getting a smile back from her, felt even more excited to get to know her better. "I was going for strong and assertive."
"You are that, too, but you are cute, Soarin," Maud said.
"She's got your number, Clipper. You missed out on a crazy race earlier. Turns out our visitors were a unicorn and an alicorn, but get this, the unicorn is some kind of magic genius who can cast a spell to give her wings! Princess Cadance sent her packing in a race, though, and Commander Spitfire was so impressed she made a spot for her in the show. Now they have us all looking for the VIP they'd brought up for this show." Looking sideways from Soarin, Fleetfoot raised an eyebrow at Maud.
"Oh. Yes. That would be me."
Soarin snorted and stepped closer to Maud again. "We better hurry, then, or you might miss out on the best seat in the house."
The walk back wasn't spent quite as close as what they'd started, but Maud was comfortable enough walking with Soarin beside her. After spending the better part of the day just talking about themselves, she'd found a connection with him that made her want to know more.
"There she is!" Lyra called from the bleachers when she saw Maud. "Hey! Maud! Over here!" As Maud and Soarin approached, Lyra couldn't help but smile—they both kept glancing at each other. "Somepony found you or did you just decide to come up for air?"
Maud blushed and started to make an excuse, only to be cut off by Soarin.
"Sorry, completely my fault. Maudalina looked lost and I offered to show her the sights of Cloudsdale. I hope it didn't ruin your plans?" Soarin flicked his wing to brush Maud's side.
The touch, that Maud interpreted as a gesture of apology for the interruption, was quickly rewarded as she smiled. "We didn't get too far, though. There's just too much to look at in this city." She winked to Lyra.
"So I see." Lyra didn't need Cadance's special talent for love to see they enjoyed being together. "Though I think one will be stolen from you shortly—I think Commander Spitfire said something about latrine-cleaning and KP duty for a month if her first lieutenant wasn't back to lead a wing for this show. Do you know who that is?"
Soarin's wings shot up in panic. A month with the two worst duties in any military unit was not something he relished. With a neigh of worry, he shot off as fast as he could toward the briefing room to find his commander.
After a moment Lyra said, "You're checking out his rear, aren't you?"
"Yes." Maud put as much deadpan into her voice as she could and when she got a laugh from Lyra, considered it a job well done. "That is definitely one thing of his I was looking at."
About to reply with another joke, Lyra stopped before she even started as a V formation of pegasi streaked by overhead. The show had started.
Maud watched with rapt attention. The Wonderbolts were a sight to behold as they swept around and pulled off amazing turns in the air. She did her best not to fixate on Soarin, there were other stallions flying, but for some reason her gaze kept drawing back to him.
Paying more attention to the entire show than just one pony in it, Lyra was delighted when Cadance began her flight. She kept a tight arc and, as she flew, Wonderbolts would spiral a loop around and under her, pronk off her hooves while inverted, and zoom off again.
"You know they want to make this a regular thing? Me challenging Cadance. I don't know if I should, but they seem to enjoy watching us both fail to do their course in twice the time they do."
"You raced against a princess? You lost, right?" Maud asked.
"I won one race, but that was because she didn't take it serious. I can say, honestly, that she beat me twice and should have beaten me a third time." The finale of the performance, Lyra noted, involved Cadance revealing she had a smoke generator on her too, but hers made pink smoke as she drew a giant heart in the sky—then the Wonderbolts carved a second huge heart beside it in blue. "I think they're trying to tell you something."
Maud just snorted as she watched Soarin lead the group who drew the second heart. She watched him whoosh by just above their heads and sighed. "Lyra?"
"Yeah?"
"What if he's the one?"
"Then you need to find out. You have more time."
Only when Soarin landed out of sight did Maud look at Lyra again. "How long does this spell last?"
"Since I cast it on both of us at once, until I stop powering it. You have a week, fly-girl." Standing up, Lyra stretched. "And that gives me time to practice for the next race."
"Sooooo…" Scootaloo was fighting off both excitement and curiosity. "Why do you still have those wings? Wasn't that just a thing to help your friend?"
Sitting on the couch and not wearing her armor that she had absolutely refused to have remade with holes for pegasi wings, Lyra laughed. "She needed a week in Cloudsdale. If I keep this going, she keeps her wings and cloudwalking."
"Oh! Huh, I guess that would do it. Why didn't you just cast it on her so it'd last for a week?" Buckling on her armor, Scootaloo was getting ready for the big weekend with Firelance.
"Doesn't work like that. Needs a unicorn to cast it on themselves, I just spread it out to her. If I drop mine, Maud would fall through the clouds." Lyra turned her attention from the spell she was working on to Scootaloo. "Why're you putting on armor?"
"I told you about my date with Firelance?" When Lyra nodded, Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. "We're going to do some sparring first."
"He's taking you out on a date after you are done trying to beat each other up?" Lyra asked.
"Yup!"
"Sounds awesome! Good luck, and don't hurt him too bad." Not for the first time did Lyra wonder at how she'd wound up with the coolest filly ever. "Oh, and remember the rules?"
Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo groaned. "Really?"
"Yes. Really. You know we have rules, Scoots. This is the important one."
"If there is an apocalypse-level monster event, I am not supposed to fly at it." It was silly, but given the track record of their family running into such things, it was probably a good one. Scootaloo looked into Lyra's eyes. "Happy now?"
"And the second rule."
Trying to stare Lyra down was an exercise in futility, Scootaloo knew, but she still tried it. "Fine! And no poking mysterious artifacts. The rule goes double if it is glowing."
Grinning now, Lyra held out a foreleg. "Get over here and give me a hug before you go."
Her family might just be the weirdest in Equestria, but Scootaloo wouldn't trade it for the world. She rushed to Lyra and grabbed her in a tight hug. "Thanks, Mom." The word slipped out, as it had been more and more often, without either surprise or regret. She squeezed just a little tighter, and got the same in return.
"Love you, Scoots, now go and make sure that colt doesn't get into any trouble." Lyra had to let go, though she didn't want to. Releasing Scootaloo, she reached out with a wing and booped her on the nose.
"Ugh!" Even with her groan at the silly gesture, Scootaloo couldn't stop smiling. "See you tomorrow night!"
Lyra hadn't been aware that Scootaloo would be out overnight, but it wasn't a huge deal breaker—certainly not worth stopping her to discuss. She trusted Scootaloo and she trusted Firelance too. She was surprised to see Twilight walk in through the open door Scootaloo left. "Your Highness!" Jumping to her hooves, Lyra bowed deeply. "You honor my humble home with your—"
Picking Lyra up in the air with her magic, Twilight hovered her closer so that—even bowing—they were on eye level. "Why do you still have wings? Is this some prank from Princess Celestia?"
"Further north. Cadance's orders. Maud still has three days left in Equestria and she wants to spend them in Cloudsdale with a certain Wonderbolt. You know how this spell works." Lyra didn't fight the magic holding her up partly because she had no chance of winning against Twilight but mostly because she was comfortable. "I was working on a better one."
"A better flight spell? Better than one that gives you perfect pegasus wings that even pegasi can't tell are magical, that let you beat an alicorn in a race?" Twilight brought Lyra closer so they were practically nose-to-nose. "And you plan to improve it?"
Turning and flopping on her side in Twilight's magic field, Lyra nodded. "Of course I plan to improve it. I heard Cadance is going to be starting a training plan that will have her as fit as a Wonderbolt for next year's race. I need to compete with that. Besides, when would you ever not want to improve a spell, Twilight?"
It was enough to take all the wind out of Twilight's righteous sails—because it was true. Levitating Lyra back to the couch, Twilight flopped down on it beside her. "So how are you going to do that?"
"Adding jet engines." When Twilight glared at her, Lyra laughed. "I want to make it so the wings can be improved by hard work. Training with them will make them better the next time you summon them. It's not been easy trying to build that permanence into the spell."
"Well you have the data storage problem." Twilight reached her hoof up and poked at one of Lyra's wings. "When the spell isn't active, and there's nothing supporting it, where is the information on the status of the wings stored?"
"Exactly!" Lyra waved her forehooves in the air in an irritated and impotent fury at the world of magic. "Where do I store the data?"
"You know about aetheric forms?" Twilight asked.
"Last I heard, that was a hypothesis." As she said it, Lyra watched Twilight quirk an eyebrow. "You mean it's been proven as a theory?"
"It has. You could try storing that information in the aetheric form, though that might have consequences. Aetheric forms are tightly linked to the body. If your body changes, your aetheric form does too—though there is a delay." It was a complete relief to Twilight to find a topic that Lyra hadn't studied and (possibly) written a book series about. "The hypothesis would then be, would the reverse be true?"
"That's—" Lyra winced as her head wrapped around it. "That's immoral for anyone to do."
Twilight nodded with an air of gravity the situation warranted. "Yup. That's why I am left wondering what the effects will be of a unicorn having and training with wings will be. Have you considered writing this up as a paper?"
"I'd need somepony not currently affected by any weird magic to assist. I wonder where I could find such a pony? I might even feel the need to put her name on the paper beside mine." Having effectively cut through the seriosness of the situation, Lyra summoned a notebook and pencil. "I began the experiment two days ago. Subject had experimented with the spell on three prior occasions for less than an hour each and no more than two hours total. Subject was, at time of beginning the experiment, a unicorn."
"You'd better come downstairs and we can figure out how to take pictures of your aetheric form. If this spell is capable of causing those kinds of changes on a permanent basis, it may need to be restricted." Leading the way to the basement of the library, Twilight was confident science and magic would get done, even if the outcomes might not be exactly what they desired.
With Maud departing for Batstralia again, Lyra was free to release the spell. It was odd, at first. With the constant draw on her magic, Lyra had grown more used to just maintaining an active spell even while asleep.
"Okay." Twilight ended the spell she'd used many times during their week of experimentation. "That clearly shows no changes to your aetheric form—at least by this spell and in this situation." It went without needing to be said that more experimentation was required.
"So what does that mean? Am I fine to use that to store the data about wings or could that be a step too far?" Lyra tapped at her chin. "I guess there's no other way to test this but personally."
Unable to help herself, Twilight said, "Assuming you can actually use that to store data."
"That's the trick, you see. I'll make the spell store that data as if they were actual wings. That way, the worst that will happen is I get stuck with a pair of wings."
"Oh, that reminds me, did you experience any wing-blindness during the week? Or maybe horn?"
"For sure. Around Ponyville it was all wing-blindness. Nopony seemed willing to acknowledge them at all. When I went to Canterlot yesterday, it was all horn-blindness. I knew you'd be interested in this." Settling back to her task of spellcrafting, Lyra had decided to not involve Dinky in creating this spell. "Oh, Surprise was telling me that the Wonderbolts are starting their new pre-approval training program. How much do you want to bet Rainbow will come to you the moment she hears about it?"
"Why would she come to me about it?" Twilight asked.
"Because half the application test is physical and the other half is a written exam. We both know Rainbow Dash isn't a stupid pony, but she usually acts it when she isn't sure about how to proceed."
"Don't you feel, I don't know, like her doing all this stuff to have wings is kinda intruding?"
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at Firelance for a moment, judging both his words and his actions, then diving at him and using her speed to plow into his side with the shoulder of her armor. He didn't budge as much as she might have hoped, but it was enough that she could use her right foreleg to hook his and pull just the right way to put him off balance.
Stepping backward in a quick three-step-plus-hop action, Firelance reestablished his footing and circled to Scootaloo's left. He couldn't spare thought for the conversation, not while he had a lightning-fast combatant looking for any opening.
Just when Firelance lifted a back hoof, Scootaloo struck again. This time she didn't focus on a foreleg, instead rushing in and dropping her own shoulder to the ground and spoiling her footing. Grabbing Firelance around the barrel from underneath, she twisted toward the side where his raised rear leg was and spun him in place.
Crashing down on his side, Firelance lost all his wind as Scootaloo scrambled atop him and pinned him in place. He reached out and tapped the floor with his hoof—he knew she wouldn't let him out of the hold.
"Honestly? It's kinda cool. She has not one ounce of pegasus magic in her, so she can't do all the serious tricks even a raw recruit could, but it's nice to be able to just do a little flying with her." Getting her hooves under her, Scootaloo reached down with a wing and pulled Firelance up too. "Next time, slide your rear hoof and don't lift it. The moment it left the floor I had you."
"Yeah, I know. Sergeant Puffball keeps chewing me out for it, and she puts me down harder than you do when I leave myself open." Of the two mares, Firelance knew which he'd rather spar against—though the Monster Hunters sergeant was an expert in using her body as a weapon. "Training's up next week, then I'm going on my first patrol."
"I still have to wait a year, but I think I'm going to do a few seasons in the Royal Guard. I just—"
"You have friends in Ponyville who you don't want to leave. I get that." Firelance started doing stretching exercises, one of which meant he could rub his shoulder against Scootaloo's. "I have somepony in Ponyville I don't want to leave either, but I know she can survive a few months without me."
The touch wasn't accidental and Scootaloo knew it. "Are you sure of that? Maybe she'll cry herself into oblivion?" She couldn't keep a straight face while saying it, so hid her snout under her left wing so Firelance couldn't see it.
"If you were at risk of that, I don't know as we'd be together." Reaching out, he butted his head against Scootaloo's shoulder. "You know the first patrol is mostly on-the-job training for new recruits, right?"
"Firelance, you were scouted by the Monster Hunters. They spent extra weeks training and testing you. They're going to expect you to be up to speed and ready to take over the primary role of caster for a squad."
"And I'm up to it. I know I'm up to it. But, I bet whichever squad I wind up in will have some crusty sergeant who does things by the books. And I'm ready for that too." Tilting his head to look at Scootaloo, he couldn't help but feel lucky to have met her.
"Well," a gravely and older stallion said as he walked into the practice hall. "I give our newest member a few days off to spend with his special somepony before his patrol—and find out he was wrestling with her." Commander Spring Dance tried not to glare too hard from his one eye, not with how he knew it could intimidate ponies.
"Wrestling and losing, sir. She's too fast for me and I still can't keep my back hooves from raising." Firelance felt compelled to admit it, not just for honesty's sake, but Scootaloo's too.
Spring turned his full attention to Scootaloo. "Really? You still have a year before you can join up full-time, right junior cadet?" When she nodded, he raised the eyebrow of his missing eye. "Have you considered the Monster hunters? Fast pegasi are always welcome."
"Sorry, sir, I already have my sights on the Royal Guard." Scootaloo felt proud of that, and more proud given how many of those guards she knew and that she'd served in their ranks once already.
Grunting at the strike to his ongoing efforts to skim the cream of the crop to his arm of the service, Spring turned it into a laugh as his memory brought back who the young mare was. "Right, I should have known. You're Captain Heartstrings and Commander Drops' little one, the filly who demanded her time be spent at the Royal Guard, then conspired with Princess Celestia to accomplish it. Good luck with whatever you have planned, though I think it will be Commander Feather who has the hardest work ahead of him."
Snapping off a perfect salute, Scootaloo couldn't hide her grin. She might be known as Lyra and Sweetie's daughter, but she also had deeds she was known for. She wanted to add to that. "I'll see to that, sir."
"Dismissed, both of you. I don't want to see either of you around here until he's shipping out." Stretching his muscles, Spring Dance started getting ready for the sparring partner he'd organized.
Under orders now, Scootaloo and Firelance laughed as they trotted out of the training hall and fetched their things from the lockers. A shower each and they were out in Canterlot and ready to have some fun together.
"Where first?" Scootaloo asked.
"We missed lunch, so I think we need to get something nice to eat—that isn't out of a mess hall." Firelance made no pretense at it being an accident, he slipped just close enough that his hip and shoulder brushed Scootaloo's.
Scootaloo had seen Lyra and Sweetie walk like that enough times to know it was a good way to be reminded that you were part of somepony's life. She liked the casual warmth of Firelance's coat on hers, but it was the way she got just enough tactile push from each touch to know their walks were in sync that made her want to sing.
The problem would be, of course, that singing would probably upset the cadence of their walk. "Where should we stop?"
"Where do most ponies go in Canterlot if they want something tasty but don't want to have to worry about which fork to use?" For all he wanted to reach the destination quickly so they could eat, Firelance also liked just walking with Scootaloo.
With a laugh, Scootaloo tilted just a little more toward Firelance. "Pony Joe's, of course."
They continued, chatting about meaningless topics and each enjoying the company of the other. When they spotted their destination, they broke into a gallop without a word further. It was a race, but the winner didn't matter.
Laughing as they entered the shop, then froze. If they'd been paying more attention to their surroundings and less to each other, Scootaloo and Firelance would have seen the big, muscled centaur standing in the middle of Pony Joe's as he'd just finished sucking the magic out of the patrons of the shop.
"Run," was all Firelance could say as he lowered his horn and brought his magic to bear on Tirek.
The beam of light that shot toward Tirek was almost blinding, but Scootaloo watched as it froze in the air and he reached out to grab it. "You run!" It was obvious to her that Tirek was capable of stopping magic, so she figured a good crash-tackle would be plan to buy some time for Firelance to run.
Laughing, Tirek opened his mouth and inhaled. The latest two ponies in the shop, he discovered, had far more magic in them than the other patrons. "Delicious, and for dessert…" He slurped up the spear of magic in his hand like spaghetti.
Collapsed on the floor of the shop, Scootaloo stared at Firelance. He looked unconscious and, even when he managed to open an eye, it looked drained and washed out. All their training and all their skills hadn't helped them.
Celestia, Luna, and Cadance weren't doing so hot. Tirek had stormed out of the throne room, and while he hadn't taken an iota of magic from them, their arrival in Tartarus had been a disaster. The doors were locked shut, the cages were all open, and Cerberus was charging around trying to round up all the monsters.
The seat of power in Equestria was without any.
Which is when Moon Dancer, struggling under the weight of having had her magic and cutie mark stripped, walked in with three of her friends beside her. "See?"
"Where's Lyra?" Lemon Hearts asked. "She normally handles these things."
"In Ponyville, where that monster was seen headed next. Let's leave the big action hero stuff to her—we need to figure out how to get the princesses back. Twinkleshine, can you do anything to pinpoint them?"
"Hold on, this isn't easy without magic." Unloading her saddlebags on the floor, Twinkleshine started unpacking little stones that still fizzed and crackled with magic—at least to her nullified senses. The rocks and their markings made up a continual siphon spell that could concentrate magic into an area.
All four felt when the last stone was in position and magic started to trickle into them.
Moon Dancer shook her head. "It won't be enough on its own."
"I know." Twinkleshine sighed and reached for more things in her bag. The first was the magic mane-curler she'd built. It went into the middle of the little series of rocks and the output of it strengthened. "Okay, out with 'em."
The curler was added to, bit by bit, by each of the unicorns. A magic book. Magic chopsticks. Magic horseshoes. Moon Dancer dug the last of her items out of her bag—the magic token that Luna had given to her that would grant her access to all sections of the castle. It fizzled inside the circle and let loose a good pulse of magic.
"Is that enough?" Lemon Hearts asked, her eyes lingering on the small collection of some of her most precious items—not the least of which a little cupcake tray that always made perfect cupcakes. All of them now powerless.
"Let's try." Moon Dancer leaned forward and touched her horn to the ball of magic hovering above the stones. It rushed into her, but though it renewed her magic, it could not restore her cutie mark or her ability to absorb more magic. "Everypony, charge up as much as you can. Twinkleshine, can your lodestone find the princesses?"
Charging her magic, Twinkleshine let out a little whinny of excitement when her spell worked. "They're in"—shock registered as the answer sank in—"Tartarus. And the door's closed."
Minuette had just finished charging her own magic, and stared at Twinkleshine at the revelation. "What? How? How can he have gotten them in there while the door was closed?"
"Same way he got out, probably. We can't do that. We'll need to open a portal there, open the doors, and hold the portal open for them to get back." Moon Dancer was already coming up with calculations to do exactly that. "We don't have enough magic to open the portal a second time. We barely have enough to do it once and then open the door of Tartarus."
Lemon Hearts nodded. "Then we have to be fast—"
"…efficient—" Minuette added.
Twinkleshine sighed. "…and give it everything we've got."
"We are going to have the worst headaches ever," Moon Dancer said as she built the portal spell. Shoving the magic into it to open, a view of the front gates of Tartarus appeared. "Go!" She stepped over the top of the stone channeling circle, absorbing every stray drop of magic from it to power the portal and hold it open.
Charging through the portal, Lemon Hearts was first to reach the door of Tartarus. Their schooling had prepared each and every one of them for this. "Minuette, you match my lead."
"Got it." Minuette focused her horn to provide energy to Lemon Hearts. There was no room for ego in this, even if she considered herself a better lead for group casting, she knew Lemon Hearts had studied Tartarus more.
As soon as the doors opened a crack, Twinkleshine wedged her own magic in to open them further. Together, the three unicorns opened Tartarus—and promptly let all the monsters out. They were so focused on their task of keeping the doors in place that none could react to the rush.
Looking around after the stampede had ended, Twinkleshine spotted Celestia, Luna, and Cadance—each chained to stakes in the floor. It was exactly why they'd kept one of them with some magic. Aiming her horn, she let off a blast at Celestia's chain, a second at Luna's, and as the third left her—so did the last drop of her magic.
"Wait, Cerberus, calm down." Celestia walked to the doors to check on her three students there and found a portal back to Canterlot. "Luna, Cadance, grab a pony each and follow me." Picking up Twinkleshine with her wings, Celestia hefted the mare onto her own back and started helping Cadance with Minuette.
Moon Dancer, when she finally had the princesses through the portal, fell to the ground and collapsed on the channeling stones. She looked up at Luna and smirked. "We did it."
Helping her little sister and niece to unload their cargo on the carpeted lower stairs of the dais, Celestia felt her age far too much. She set-down Twinkleshine, only to find Luna carrying back Moon Dancer too. "We must try to warn Twilight. We likely won't make it to Ponyville before Tirek, but we have a duty to—" She spotted two small figures in the smashed-open entry of the throne room.
Firelance was barely able to move. Scootaloo was only upright by the same level of determination that had seen her able to recover her ability to fly. She hobbled across the floor of the throne room, eyes fixed on the three drained princesses. "Y-Your Highnesses, Cadet Scootaloo and Corporal Firelance reporting for Guard duty."
"You're both able to move?" Luna asked, doubting the answer before she'd even finished asking.
Firelance, on hearing the question, strained to raise his body fully under his own power. Having a princess ask if he was able to move made him able to move. "Yes, ma'am!" He even managed a salute without his legs wobbling too much.
"We need an escort to the railway station and, possibly, somepony to assist working one of the engines." Celestia hated to co-opt the pair, but she needed ponies who could move and think, and they fit the bill. "Take what equipment you can find, but try not to disarm any of our guards."
Wishing she'd have worn her armor at least, but knowing she wouldn't be able to stand up with it on, Scootaloo walked over to one of the pegasi that she saw had hoof-claws in addition to their spear. "Sorry, sir, I need to borrow these." He didn't come-to in all the time it took her to unbuckle them and attach them to her own hooves.
When Scootaloo turned back to the princesses, she saw that Firelance hadn't found anything to use to defend them—which meant that was up to her. Testing her wings gave a mixed result. She had literally no flying magic, but she felt enough air under them she could probably stop herself from falling too fast. The hoof-claws were oversize for her, but she'd strapped them tight enough they shouldn't fall off. "We should move if time is short."
Cadance had seen Lyra and Sweetie in a crisis before, had watched them take apart a situation in an instant and have a plan to deal with it—she'd never expected to see a filly handle it, but Scootaloo's voice was solid and showed no sign that she was impaired. Meanwhile, Cadance could barely think straight still after having given all her magic to Twilight.
Following along anyway, Cadance tromped through Canterlot with her aunties, a hole in her heart growing at the sight of all the ponies who were collapsed.
By the time she reached the train station, Scootaloo had new problems to deal with. There was a train in the station, but the driver, conductor, and all the passengers were unconscious or struggling to move. "Firelance, can you check on the conductor while I see to the driver. We need to—"
A huge red beam of angry magic shot in the sky, drawing a line through the clouds before choking out when the end of its arc brought it close to the ground again.
Looking back over her shoulder at Celestia, Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Any idea what—?" Another red-black-magic effect went off, this time a blast that Scootaloo was glad she wasn't looking toward.
More blasts and explosions, thankfully far in the distance, started to affect even the environment itself. The sky darkened and a reddish haze of clouds filled the sky just below Canterlot.
"They're fighting." Luna said. "Twilight Sparkle is doing battle with Tirek and—Sister, is she winning?"
"We need to find out. Can we get this train moving?" Celestia asked Scootaloo.
"You're asking the wrong pony." Luna, even with her magic gone, could give her big sister a cocky smile. "Come, Guard Scootaloo. I have knowledge of this iron beast and how to work it."
Cadance noticed their four followers first. The four mares that she still couldn't believe had retrieved them from Tartarus were behind them, walking on shaking legs. "You're coming?"
Moon Dancer wanted to say something sarcastic and biting, but her voice wasn't up to it. She just nodded.
Watching her sister march to the locomotive, Celestia led the way onto the train. There were about a dozen ponies in the two cars. She and Cadance carefully helped each off until there was only the pair of them, Firelance, and the four mares that'd rescued them from Tartarus. A whistle from the front of the train and a thud as all the carriages started into slow movement was all the lack of warning they had.
There were more red/black blasts of magic, showing the fight to be continuing. Then things went quiet. Everypony was quiet on the train as Luna and Scootaloo managed to work the train around the switchbacks heading down the mountain.
Just as they reached the bottom, Firelance jerked his head up. Eyes widening, he looked at the four unicorns that were accompanying them. "Do you feel that?!" His excited voice had everypony staring at him, but he didn't care.
"Feel what?" Moon Dancer asked.
"I can't—" Cadance froze mid-sentence. It wasn't the magic she was used to, but there was a tiny trickle of magic starting to flow into her. "What is that? What kind of magic is—?"
"Friendship!" Celestia had been keeping track of what her former and future students were up to—she had a copy of a young unicorn filly's first book of spells. "This is friendship magic, which means Twilight is winning." To demonstrate, and show off having kept up with new trends, Celestia cast one of the simplest friendship spells—one to make friends feel better by showing them the bonds of their friendship.
The weight of being without magic lifted slightly as the newest form of magic swirled around the room, showing each pony how tight their links to each other were. Firelance noticed a huge, thick band of light rushing off toward the front of the train, and felt a giddy feeling of happiness about it. He knew for a fact that wasn't leading to Luna.
For just a few more seconds they could appreciate the bands of friendship between them, even growing new ones as they noticed the other ponies present almost as if for the first time. Then the world exploded.
It shot into the air as a ball of white light that washed away every shadow—but didn't blind them. Everyone was staring out the windows of the train as it rushed along toward Ponyville, so they all saw the ball explode a second time into a rainbow blast that shot across the world.
As the waves approached, Scootaloo was sure she saw Twilight and Rarity, manes and coats a riot of rainbow colors, rush past them. Then the magic connected.
Everypony in the train stopped for a moment and closed their eyes to feel the magic pour over them. It was like a horizontal rain, but among the downpour was little bits and pieces of their own magic.
Luna had positioned herself to be protectively in front of Scootaloo, but that didn't matter to the magic that rushed over them. It wasn't just magic that refilled her—it was her purpose.
Scootaloo felt an extra rush, having her own magic restored to her felt great, but she watched as Luna regained her mantle and majesty. She didn't fight the tears of joy that came to her eyes, especially since Luna wasn't holding any back.
Lyra's will was focused on the task right before her and nothing else. She had burned through her magic at a ferocious rate to teleport every one of the fillies and colts around town to the cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest.
She'd only really had a few weeks to get to know Fluttershy, but she was sure the mare would not begrudge her home being used as a shelter.
Tirek had appeared without warning and had set about draining the ponies of Ponyville of every ounce of their magic and, more horrifying to Lyra, their cutie marks. "Dinky? I need you to make a spell for me. Can you create something that hides a pony's destiny? Hides all their magic, too?"
Blinking in surprise at the request, and looking around at all the foals that were in the house, she realized why Lyra wanted to block those. "I think so. It won't just be friendship magic, though. It needs to be dark and friendship." As she thought about it, though, she realized it needed one more—and thankfully the house was riddled with it. "And chaos."
"Make it, please, and cast it as soon as you can. I—three elements?" Even Sweetie Belle wouldn't be able to work that one. "Make it as complex as you need to, but please make it quickly."
"Okay!" Looking around for writing materials, Dinky realized that the best she had was chalk and the floor. Getting to work, she filled her head with the spell's effect and tracked back to the pattern required.
Lyra washed as more and more of Fluttershy's living room floor became a mess of complex symbols and patterns that would all need to be combined. It was going to push her ability to build patterns, but she didn't want the foals exposed to Tirek if she could help it.
What annoyed Dinky the most about the spell pattern was how messy it was. It had sharp bits all over it that would be disastrous if not correctly built, but she didn't have time to make it simpler. When she finally filled-in the last section, the gathering spirals that would pull in and mix all three types of magic, she was panting with effort. "I—I have it!"
It was a nightmare of a spell. It was the kind of thing Lyra would use to demonstrate to Guardponies why she only taught simple spells to be used in the field. "I'll need a moment. Okay…"
Lyra had to push away most of her usual complex spells. It was fine, she could always go back and memorize them again, but with all the twists and patternless linework of the spell Dinky had made, she couldn't afford to put anything before it.
The problem was, as she saw it, casting this would draw Tirek's attention. That was both good and bad. It would take him time to reach the house, time she could use to head out and meet him, distract him—but if he didn't buy her ruse it would be bad for the foals.
More details she had to shove aside to cast the horrible, twisty, convoluted spell. "I think I have it. Yeah." She felt detached from reality. Her head was filled with a crazed pattern and she couldn't afford to be distracted from it. "Okay, everypony, when I cast this I have to leave you all here. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Rumble—you are in charge of keeping everypony here until I return, got it? Nopony leaves the house and—especially—nopony uses magic. Not unicorn, earth pony, or pegasus. Got it?" She'd called out the names of the older foals in the group.
When she got nods and worried voices affirming they understood, Lyra started to build the spell with her magic. It wasn't easy, but she couldn't afford to use a tracer of magic to construct it first for fear that even that might attract Tirek. In the end, with what she was sure was the spell built and ready, she finally released her magic and let chaos and darkness flow, then friendship bind it all together and—her senses spun for a moment as she had the impression of being alone. The foals in the room weren't just clouded from her magic senses, she could barely see them.
It was perfect. "Thanks, Dinky. You all need to stay here now and wait for me or somepony you trust to come and get you."
Lyra didn't want to look back at the faces. She didn't want them to see the fear and worry on her face.
Now, though, she needed to put as much space between the cottage and herself as possible, but in a way that puts her between Tirek and the foals. Breaking into a gallop, she got as far as where the path to Fluttershy's house split off from the path into the Everfree Forest when she felt the ground tremble.
"Oh sweet mangoes, it's—" Tirek was galloping her way. He was bigger than the library in town, probably bigger than the clocktower. "Tirek!"
Slowing his gallop to a trot, then walking the last few steps, Tirek inspected the pony before him. She had magic aplenty, but there was spice to her that he loved—she was carrying a lot of destiny. "You're the last one. The princesses in Canterlot, the little princess they sent to fight me with all their magic—even Discord lies crushed behind me." Taking another step forward, Tirek felt like gloating. After all, what was the point in executing the perfect victory if there was no one to admire it? "And now you—"
The pony vanished.
Tirek spun around, sensing the destination of her teleport as being behind him. It was a clever ploy, if one that wouldn't affect him. "You wish to fight? Me?!"
The noise of his shout caused Lyra to pin her ears back, but rather than discuss the finer points of using his inside voice, Lyra instead teleported again. This time she chose up. Way up. Almost as high as the clouds. She might be falling, yes, but Lyra was used to ballistic travel and, when Tirek opened his mouth in her direction, she teleported again with barely a thought.
Lyra's magic regeneration was bordering on alicorn levels, and though she could teleport all day, she was being extra careful to by noisy about it. Polluting the surrounding area with her magic cost far more than the teleportations did, and those were already rapid enough to make her actually start to get motion sick from it all.
Finally, standing on the outskirts of Ponyville, she was panting and tired as Tirek walked up.
"Done running?" Tirek asked, amused. "You made this harder than it had any right to be."
"I do that a lot." Shrugging, Lyra could let out a sigh of relief. "I find doing things the hard way is better. It makes the reward so much more worth it." She sat down, content with how her little game had run. "So you got Twilight's magic, then?"
"All of it. Every. Last. Drop." Pondering how to strike down the impudent pony, Tirek just shrugged. "You know, I kinda liked your moxie. If you weren't a pony, and showed some more guts, I might—" And with that he opened his maw and drew hard on the ball of magic spiced with destiny before him.
It felt, to Lyra, like her purpose in life were being ripped out. She struggled and strained, not to keep her magic, but to retain her destiny. All to no avail.
Slumping to the ground, she felt listless and lost, though there was one burning little flame that warmed her still—she'd saved as many foals as she could from the same fate. It was almost enough to rekindle hope, but when Tirek started stalking toward the Everfree Forest, the fear returned and crushed her. Was he going back for the foals? Lyra thought and let out a soft whine.
But just as she was feeling her worst, she saw him angle instead to go deeper into the forest—aiming toward the Castle of the Two Sisters. Letting her head rest on the ground, Lyra smiled just enough to keep herself sane.
She didn't have long to wait.
A blast of rainbow light, spreading out in a familiar arc, rushed overhead. Lyra felt not just her magic return but a rush of destiny with it. Like a warm glow deep inside, she closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of her purpose.
A rumble just in front of her made her snap her eyes open again—to find her nose-to-door with a castle. She opened her mouth as if to whinny, but cut her exclamation off short as friendship magic—wild and rushing around the new building—settled on her. Plates and padding formed itself over her. A helm wrapped around her head and Lyra felt a rush of purpose.
Crying tears of joy, she turned around, stepped to one side of the doors, and snapped a salute to Twilight and her friends. "Your Highness! Permission to—Uh… Go and get the fillies and colts I hid in Fluttershy's house so Tirek couldn't find them and drain them and make them feel terrible about them—"
Lyra froze as two ponies rushed up to her and hugged her with their forelegs and wings. One set of wings was Twilight's huge alicorn numbers, but the other pair were leathery.
"Permission granted, Lyra. Tirek's dealt with." Twilight gave her friend a squeeze before letting go. "Where'd you find the crystal armor?"
Looking down and back, Lyra blushed at the purple, glass-like plate armor she was wearing. "You know what, let's figure that out later. I'll be right back, so if a certain pink pony could bake some cookies for a bunch of hungry—"
"Ooh! Oh! That's me! I'm a pink pony who does baking! Can I do it?" Pinkie Pie felt so full of energy she was fit to burst. She pronked over to Lyra and giggled. "Did you see it? It was all fwooosh and rawr and then Twilight said something awesome and hit him with our friendship magic!"
"I didn't see it, Pinkie, but I trust you all to handle him. He was a bit too much for me, though I managed to keep him from finding the foals, so yay? I should probably go and bring them back."
Disentangling herself from the six friends, and leaving them to an inexplicably-arrived trio of princesses, Lyra made haste for Fluttershy's house. The whole building was indistinct, but Lyra prepared a counter for her earlier spell and—couldn't remember one. "Ugh, I'll ask Dinky for one."
When the door opened, Dinky leveled her horn at it and waited to see if it was an angry centaur. When it was Lyra, she let out a snort of excitement and rushed forward to hug her.
Being hit by a dozen little bodies—all mostly invisible—didn't surprise Lyra all that much. She hugged back where she could definitely feel the right places to hug, but cleared her throat. "I'm so proud of you all, but Dinky, or Sweetie Belle, could one of you cast a magic dispell to stop this effect? I've lost most of my spell patterns."
Sweetie Belle was shocked to hear that. Lyra had always seemed like the most amazing wizard she knew—apart from Twilight, but Twilight was an alicorn—that she'd worked herself to such a limit was almost unthinkable. Still, she always wanted to help and cast one of the better dispels. Pulling in equal parts light and harmony, she made the silly fishy pattern with her horn and let the two magics rush into it.
The room filled with all the little faces that Lyra knew it to hold. "I am so proud of all of you, and guess what?"
"C-Can we go home now?" Dinky asked.
"Bingo! The big angry meanie ran into Twilight and her friends, and they told him he was being a big meanie." Lyra walked to the door and opened both halves of it, leading the town's foals back.
The party, downstairs, was in full swing. Twilight could hear that somepony had talked Vinyl Scratch into bringing her equipment, because the walls of the castle actually trembled a little with the thumping of bass. "You don't have to do that."
"Kinda my job, Your Highness." Lyra just smirked at Twilight, and daring her to physically move her. "Last time I let you out of my sight, you took all the power of every alicorn in Equestria, gave it to the latest big-bad-evil-guy, then had a change of heart and beat him up."
Struggling, Twilight ultimately lost her fight with a severe case of the giggles. "It didn't—I didn't mean to do it like that!" The room felt less echoey with her giggles filling it. "Besides, it worked."
Twilight let her laughter fade and thought about the situation. "I'd hoped you'd helped hide the ponies, but I didn't even think about the foals."
Lyra smiled, remembering all the faces of ponies getting used to having their destinies returned, realizing that their foals hadn't experienced that emptiness. It was a memory she knew she'd remember for a long time. "Tirek seemed… odd. The bigger and more powerful he got, the stupider he got—or so I heard. If I'd gotten everypony to hide…"
"He'd have noticed that. Right. But the foals were less interesting to him so he didn't notice them missing." Looking at the proud mare standing at her door, guarding it for all she was worth in her shiny new crystal armor, Twilight could feel how right it was to have her here. "It was the best you could do, and you pulled it off perfectly. Dinky told me you had her make a spell to hide them. Care to share it?"
"Nope. Can't remember it. Just getting it cast once was a strain." Reaching a hoof up, Lyra rubbed the base of her horn where it poked through her helmet. "Dinky made it in about a minute. I told her, 'Complexity doesn't matter, just make it as fast as you can'. It's ugly and I had to give it so much space that I barely had two teleport spells left. Tirek expected me to fight him with magic—all I did was pollute the area around us so much that he'd never sniff them out. That it worked was a miracle."
"How many magic sources did it use?" Twilight asked.
"Three. Friendship, dark, and chaos. I think I'll assign her to make the spell anew and optimize it. Seems like a good project. Poor filly can't even cast it herself."
"'Poor filly'… Lyra, she's a genius. She crafted an advanced level spell in a minute or so. I'm just glad you spotted this and are developing her talents. It worries me that not every town has an advanced wizard bent on ensuring everypony finds their true calling and has the option to grasp it."
"Well"—Lyra gave up her post and walked over to sit on one of the oddly comfy-looking chairs beside the fireplace—"not every town has an amazing princess in it, either." What surprised her was how comfortable the armor was to wear. "Oh, and did you hear about Scootaloo and Firelance? Or our friends from school?"
"I know! How did they even manage to get enough magic to open a portal, break into Tartarus, and free the princesses—when they didn't have any magic?!" Twilight threw her hooves in the air and slumped back on the chair. "What are we going to do about all this?"
"Firelance requested a transfer, from Princess Celestia herself. Nopony at the Monster Hunters is going to challenge it—not after what he did. I don't think it will be long before Scootaloo petitions for the same post." Still without a spell except for teleports—and those were almost instinctive to her—Lyra sighed. "I hope you don't mind having a small contingent of Guardponies. You have the castle for it now."
Closing her eyes, trying not to argue, Twilight instead summoned some sandwiches from the party downstairs. Passing one to Lyra, she ate her own contemplatively. "I don't need guards."
"Then we'll pick a better name, but I think you'll find that Royal Dragoons is taken, Conquistadors would give a completely wrong idea—probably Crusaders, too, despite Scoots' obvious preferences…" Chewing slowly after that, Lyra looked over at Twilight when the other mare gasped.
"What about Royal Friends?" Twilight asked.
Letting the words percolate through her mind, Lyra wanted to dislike it but there was something there that worked. "Scootaloo has done several things—even just outright helped Princess Celestia with a big problem. Firelance hasn't done anything other than today's effort."
"And, last I checked, you've never done anything for any royal ponies." Twilight stuck her tongue out at Lyra before breaking into giggles. "Besides, I'm the princess, I get to decide these things. Do we get to make up a new uniform?"
"Careful, if you say that too loud, Rarity will come running. But, seriously, offer her the chance to make our dress uniforms. She'll love it, we'll get amazing outfits, and you get to not have to worry about some lunatic in Canterlot trying to do it."
Twilight nodded to that. "I should get back to the party—We should get back to the party. Do you think Firelance will say anything about this transfer request to me?" Standing, she regretted having to leave the peace and solitude of her new—whatever the room was called. Twilight would need to get some royal surveyors in to catalog all the rooms. So far, and she wasn't completely sure, she had yet to find an end to any of the hallways. "I miss my library."
Stopping beside Twilight, Lyra reached out and pulled her into a hug. "I do too. That tree had—it had a lot of character."
Relaxing against her friend, Twilight let her tears flow. All the memories of time spent in her library, all the books and experiences she'd shared with others. "I don't even know who had books out."
Just hugging, Lyra let Twilight complain about all the things she wanted to. From the extra halls that needed polishing and cleaning, to losing her favorite reading cushion. There was a litany of things a mile long, and Lyra just listened to them.
Eventually, Twilight ran out of tears. She just clung to Lyra, face pressed to her friend's neck, and let loose the sobs she needed to. It was one thing to lose a library, but another to lose a home. "Can we get Tirek back out of Tartarus?"
"Why, Twilight?" Lyra asked, sensing that maybe Twilight might be hugged out.
"I want to blast him a few more times." Trying her best to pout, Twilight tried to ignore the wet patch on Lyra's neck. After a few moments of waiting for Lyra to notice and correct her coat with a quick spell, Twilight remembered that her friend lacked most of her patterns. "Oh, um, let me fix your coat."
Smiling like a fool, Lyra stood there and let Twilight fuss with the damp patch on her coat. All it really needed was a quick dry spell, but Twilight got carried away. "Is it dry?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah, but—"
"Come on, then. I like this armor, but I might have to stop wearing the helmet, though. It claims a little of my peripheral vision. Not sure how protective it is against strikes or magic. We'll have to test that." She marched to a set of doors that opened out into the big hallways at the top of the stairs in the huge ballroom where the party was still going on. "Want me to announce you?"
"Don't—you—dare." Twilight gave Lyra a hard stare before giggling. "Can we just walk down together, as friends?"
Lyra nodded and waited for Twilight to walk up beside her, said, "Just this once," and opened the doors.
The wash of thumping music almost pushed the pair back into the hall they'd just come from, but they shrugged that off and made their way down the stairs. By the time they reached the bottom, the music had gotten much quieter.
Everypony in the room cheered, even Twilight's five friends, even Spike. She felt Lyra step off to the side and so, alone, walked up to Celestia, Luna, and Cadance to join them for a moment. "Th-Thanks, everypony. This is all a bit overwhelming, but I appreciate the well-wishes and—" She froze mid-sentence as a cupcake was shoved into her mouth; a delicious cupcake.
Lyra didn't expect to be confronted by Rarity and Applejack, but they carefully backed her into a corner. "Can I help you with—?"
"Yes, but I believe things are the other way around." Rarity's voice was, as usual, impeccable. She'd already spent most of the night hobnobbing with princesses, but when Applejack had spoken to her she'd agreed that they both needed to speak about something important with Lyra.
Lyra, as usual when beholding Rarity, had to very clearly remind herself that she was married to her Bon Bon. "Oh. Uh. What's that?"
"We felt what Tirek was doin' to everypony. It—" Applejack had promised Rarity could do the talking, but she couldn't help herself.
"It was just horrid. I had moments when I couldn't even think about sewing!" Levitating a fan up, Rarity fanned herself to banish the horrible memory. "What we'd like to do, with the utmost sincerity and as representatives of our families, is thank you. Profusely thank you."
"Even after dealin' with Tirek, there was still a lump in my throat at the thought of what everypony went through. When I realized it would have affected my family, too—Shucks, it was almost as bad as when Tirek drained me in the first place."
"Then you said you'd hidden all the foals in Fluttershy's house. I could scarcely hope that you'd managed to keep Sweetie Belle—"
"… and Apple Bloom—"
"… from his clutches." Rarity sighed. "You did what we couldn't."
Lyra snorted and shook her head. "And you did what nopony else in Equestria could." Twirling a hoof in the air, Lyra continued. "You have probably heard this a million times, but you're all my heroes."
"Darling, that's—"
"Wait just a—"
"The thing," Lyra said, cutting in on both of them with a slightly-below-parade-ground-casual-voice, "is that you can't change that with words. You are my heroes, all of you, and it is an honor to do my best so that you can do yours—for everypony."
"Darn," Rarity said. When Applejack stared at her, she felt compelled to continue—though she would have anyway. "I had practiced this speech. I had run over it a dozen times in my head. Now Lyra goes and relegates it to the second-best spot for the night?"
Applejack snorted and laughed. "Drama queens, both of ya. Besides, I think the princesses are going to say some words. Last I heard, they're all way better at speeches than either of y'all."
"I won't argue with that." Lyra turned, along with everyone else, to see where four alicorns were facing them. The look of pride on Celestia, Luna, and Cadance's faces said it all for Lyra—they'd trusted Equestria and probably the whole world to Twilight, and they'd been justified.
Luna pondered, for just a moment, engaging in some gratuitous use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, but she feared that a castle made of crystal might not actually survive it. She was pleased to see that she wouldn't need to tempt fate or structural integrity. "We all owe Princess Twilight Sparkle"—Luna didn't mean to slip, but quickly corrected and returned to her normal tone—"a great debt of gratitude. She has proven herself to be not just an alicorn, but a princess. I won't lie, I was skeptical of my sister's plan when I first heard it—I needn't have been. I have spoken to several of you, heard how our newest princess fought both with skill and then with her heart, and I find no reason to ever doubt her royal highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, again."
Twilight wanted to stare at Luna in surprise. She hadn't realized Luna had felt any reluctance beyond what was sane to under the circumstances, but the support rallied her emotions toward elation.
"I've known Twilight most of her life. I took care of her as a tiny filly and watched her grow into the mare you see now. I was hesitant, like Luna, to part with all my magic. It had nothing to do with Twilight and everything to do with feeling like I was giving up. But, remembering that my sister-in-law never stands alone against any threat"—Cadance took a moment to look around the room, making eye contact with nearly everyone present—"I knew she was the right pony to put our trust in."
Now it was a struggle to keep from rushing around and hugging everyone. Twilight, though, was left waiting for Celestia.
"No pony has worked harder to protect Equestria than you, Twilight. You have shown me such hard work and determination that I wonder why anyone would think to test us. I find it a relief, after holding Equestria together for a thousand long years, to have such brave ponies as you, my sister, and my niece to help.
"The future of Equestria is brighter than it has ever been before, and while I don't doubt there will be more challenges ahead of us—it will be us that takes them on. Together we are stronger of heart and mind than anyone who seeks to destroy Equestria and ponykind."
Twilight gave up trying to be the regal and detached princess. She rushed to Celestia's side and hugged her. Though she was still tiny compared to Celestia, Twilight had never felt so close to her former mentor in stature. Then, realizing there were two others missing out, Twilight reached out with her wings and her magic and pulled Cadance and Luna into the hug.
"And we don't go with her?" Firelance, dressed in the crystalline armor that the castle itself had made for him, watched the train pulling out from Ponyville station while he asked Lyra his question. "Aren't we supposed to guard her?"
"It'd be more exciting, I bet, but protecting Twilight from harm isn't our job. We have fillies to teach, ponies to help, and a castle to understand. And that's not even counting meditation." Using her magic, Lyra used the latest friendship spell Dinky had taught her—one that could clean whole rooms in an instant—to put extra sheen on her armor.
About to question her again, Firelance froze when he remembered who he was talking to. Thinking about his future again, he changed tack. "Can you help me increase my magic regeneration?"
"Of course, and that's part of the meditation, too. As you will know, from your training in the Guard, there are several ways to boost your magic output. I used to believe there were only two, but I have identified two others now."
"Two others?" It made Firelance stand a little straighter. He knew, of course, about the methods for expanding your magic storage and for enhancing regeneration, but he liked the idea of a third and fourth way.
"The two we already knew, capacity and regeneration, are straight forward, and I expect you to be working on both as much as you're able. The third is density, and it will boost the effectiveness of both the first two. I can start teaching you that right away." Of course, Lyra was waiting for him to ask about the fourth, so she left it out of her description.
"Density, so we could store more and regenerate more. I definitely see the advantage to that. What's the fourth?"
"Well, you're not qualified for that, and I hope I'm not qualified either. Frankly, the idea of it terrifies me." Looking around the road they were walking down, ostensibly to make sure no one could overhear them, Lyra lowered her voice to a whisper. "The fourth way to expand your magic is to become an alicorn."
It took Firelance a moment to realize what she'd said and to process it. "Okay, you're right on me not being qualified, but really?"
"Twilight didn't take much convincing to study her magical potential, when I mentioned it. She has three orders of magnitude more storage capacity and regeneration now, at least half of that gain coming from a density boost and the rest from just being an alicorn."
Looking at Lyra's back, Firelance couldn't help but remember the wings Lyra had been sporting recently. "Is that part of a test with that wing spell?"
"No. That spell has nothing to do with being an alicorn."
"Except wings."
"Except the wings. Besides, they were pegasi wings, not alicorn wings. Spend some time around Twilight and Rainbow and you'll understand the difference." The walk from the station took them right through the middle of town, but Lyra diverted them to angle toward Sugarcube Corner. "What are your thoughts on having wings?" Lyra asked Firelance as they stepped into Sugarcube Corner.
"That I'd confuse ponies a lot. That everywhere I go they'd think I was a mare." Firelance didn't have problems with mares, far from it, but he was sure about who he was.
"Do you follow any research journals, Firelance?" Comfortably in line, Lyra set up a gotcha question for him that she hoped would encourage him to do his own research.
"I get the latest training material the Guard puts out, as well as any new spell research."
"This was in a psych journal. A paper under the names of Lyra Heartstrings and Twilight Sparkle that went into details about a social experiment to investigate the phenomena of Unicorn and Pegasus Blindness. Simply put, if you kept your wings down, most earth ponies that see you will spot your horn first, and thus think you are a unicorn. Same with unicorns themselves. Pegasi, however, will see your wings and believe you a pegasus."
"What happens when they see the other parts?"
"They don't. It's a cognitive bias. Unless you slap someone with a wing who thinks you're a unicorn, they won't even notice that you have them." Shuffling forward in the queue, Lyra was only one short of the front of the line now. "Some ponies still didn't after we hit them with wings or used our magic to pick something up."
Firelance shuffled along with Lyra. "I can't believe anypony would be that stupid."
"They're not. Not stupid, at least. Cognitive biases are extremely difficult to take into account in your day-to-day life unless they're pointed out, and there's even a bias that makes having your bias pointed out be treated as suspicious. We trust ourselves and our intuitions to be right." Stepping up into the front of the counter, Lyra was about to ask Cup about the latest delicious cakes when she made some quick observations about her. "Need a hoof?"
Cup Cake, riding the edge of madness, nodded vigorously and almost fell over. "Pinkie left on something she called a map quest, Carrot's doing a delivery in Canterlot, and I have the foals here on my own!"
"Lucky you have Twilight's Royal Guard here to save you!" Firelance wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but Lyra asking if Cup needed help made it obvious they'd found themselves work to do for the morning, at least.
Lyra gave a firm nod in support of her subordinate's statement. "Do you want us to take care of the foals or to run Sugarcube Corner?"
Both. The word was on the tip of Cup's tongue, but she dared not utter it. Normally, at this hour of the morning, running the bakery would be the easier task—but since she'd been baking on her own with the foals distracting her left, right, and center, she'd barely gotten anything prepared for lunch. "The bakery needs two sets of hooves right now. I haven't had a chance to make the croissants for the lunch run, and somepony needs to run the counter out here."
Lyra started gesturing around. "I can do your baking for you or run the counter while you bake, or look after the foals while you bake and Firelance runs the counter. Please, Cup, pick whatever will make your day easier."
"I'll…" Cup sighed and smiled. Despite her foals being more work to take care of when they're excitable, she welcomed some time to spend with them. "… take care of my foals. You know where we keep the boards showing what needs to be baked?"
"I do, Cup. Firelance, permission to shuck your uniform. Use a refresher spell and start memorizing prices. The mission today is to ensure everypony leaves with what they want to buy and a smile." Barking out the orders, Lyra was happy to see Firelance snapping off a salute—that he wouldn't let go of until she sketched one back to him.
Firelance could feel the rush of magic pouring into the kitchen where Lyra disappeared to. This wasn't what he would have considered his ideal duties would be, but made himself a promise that no matter what came, he would face his destiny head-on. The doorbell rang and his first customer entered.
Blinking in surprise when she walked in, Roseluck eyed the stallion behind the counter. "Where're the Cakes?" she asked.
"Carrot Cake is making deliveries and Pinkie has a special mission," Firelance said, having not been told that anything was to be kept quiet. "We're helping Cup Cake with the bakery today."
"'We'?"
Lyra picked that moment to poke her head out of the kitchen. "Firelance, we have—Oh! Hello, Roseluck. I hope you're having a great day?"
Seeing a familiar face, Roseluck perked back up to her usual self. "Lyra! You must come and see our chrysanthemums. They're so pretty right now. We managed to mutate a yellow variant to blue, and it's simply gorgeous."
Not seeing any way out of talking flowers to a flower-crazed pony, Lyra stood in the doorway to the kitchen with her horn blazing, preparing and baking pastries for all she was worth. All Lyra knew about flowers was what Roseluck had said to her during their various meetings in and around town, but she tried not to forget the details of something that meant so much to a pony. "Do you still have the soft cream and the dull pink chrysanthemums too?"
Pointing out what she wanted to Firelance, Roseluck quickly tried to remember what she had growing. "I do, but not many. Did you have something special in mind?" But she didn't closer her mouth long enough to let Lyra speak when she remembered why those colors were important. "Oh! Oh of course! I'll get a perfect bouquet ready. Do you want anything on the card?"
Sappiness was so hard not to slip gags into, but Lyra put in the effort this time. "To my darling Bonny. Happy anniversary."
Almost missing writing down the message, Roseluck danced in place. "It's your anniversary? How long?"
"Seven years now. Time really flies by when everything is so perfect." And just like that Lyra had lost herself to her memories.
From the first time she'd met Sweetie to the previous morning when her wife had gone to work in Canterlot, Lyra's memories were filled with her darling. "Well, if you forget about all the invasions and rampaging monsters."
Roseluck paused for a moment to think on it, then laughed. "It's not like you caused any of that, though. Do you have any spinach and feta danishes?" She knew they did, there was a shelf right in front of her filled with them. "I'll have one of those too. Warmed up if you could."
The sound of a timer chirping drew Lyra back into the kitchen. She located the dough that had finished rising and turned it out onto the counter. Humming a tune to herself, she worked and cut the dough into rounds and then put them all into the fryer one by one.
An oven let her know its contents were done, so while turning the donuts over she used her magic to check the cake and then lift it out. A fresh pan went in to replace it.
With the day wearing on, Lyra was surprised when Carrot stepped through the back door and froze. "Afternoon! Cup is upstairs."
Having worked himself up to kiss the mare (his wife, he expected) in the kitchen, Carrot paused a moment longer. "What happened? Is she alright?" Anxiety started to rise as Carrot's thoughts raced with all the terrible things that could have happened.
"She's fine. Pinkie had to go on some kind of special mission with her friends. We came in and found Cup in a panic as to what she was going to do—and volunteered to help until you got back." Lyra had started with the reassurance to calm Carrot down, but when she got to the part about helping he looked confused. "Something the matter?"
"I'm just overwhelmed. Who else did you get to help?"
"Well, I have a new subordinate in Twilight's Royal Guard, so I stuck him out there on the register. He's doing fine. Even used his magic to heat things up. Go and see Cup, she's been looking after the foals all day." Pulling a tray of cookies from the oven, Lyra set it down to cool on a rack.
"I'd better go and see her. I'm sure we'll be down as soon as we can." Carrot unloaded the last of his things and made his way upstairs.
By the time the pair returned, each with a foal riding on their back, Lyra could feel a relaxed aura about them. They both kept shooting the other happy glances and she was sure that a piece of paper couldn't fit between them. "Welcome back."
Cup walked over to Lyra, pulled her into a hug, and proceeded to squeeze the life out of her. "Thank you so much. I don't know what we could do to make up for this."
Hugging back, Lyra shook her head. "You don't have to. That's not how friendship works." Extracting herself from the hug, Lyra led the way into the front room where, after the lunch rush, things were quiet. "Come on, Corporal, time to find another friendship mission of our own."
"The garrison sent a relief force?" Firelance asked, stepping out from behind the counter to let Cup in.
"Yes, but we have other duties. Come on, we need to get dressed for the part." Lyra left Cup with a wink before retreating back into the kitchen where their armor sat beside the door. Using her magic was considered cheating when it came to putting on armor, so of course Lyra did just that. Even still, they both went through the ritual of checking each other's gear. "You don't mind if we leave through the back, Carrot?"
"Oh! Go ahead, Lyra."
Firelance was quiet as they wandered around Ponyville. Lyra wasn't, she chatted about every little thing that caught her interest. Finally, though, she seemed to pause to let him speak. He wasn't sure how she knew he was ready to say something—but he was. "That felt good, you know?"
Liking the position of wise elder, Lyra just raised an eyebrow at Firelance wordlessly.
"Not in the same way as winning a fight or doing a whole day of hard work until you collapse into bed, but it—It's hard to explain. It's nice to help ponies. Cup Cake could have managed. She would have been ready to collapse by the time Carrot got home, but she would have. Probably nopony would have noticed except her husband.
"But just for a few hours of our time we gave her the gift of not having to struggle. I—I like that. Is that what you mean by Friendship Guard?"
"You heard that one, huh?" Waiting for his nod, Lyra went on. "Yes. That's exactly what I mean. We're never going to be able to fight Tirek, Discord, Nightmare Moon, or Queen Chrysalis on our own. Don't even try. But we can help around the edges. We can make Equestria a better place by finding places where ponies can be made happier and doing that.
"It's more than just helping, too. It's leading by example. It's showing others that being a pony is about more than just smiling and waving to everypony else. Songs and happiness are fine, but to grow as communities, ponies need to raise every everypony else to be better."
Firelance nodded. "It's a nice ideal, but do you think it can really work?"
"I don't know." Lyra laughed and did a quick four-legged pronk for several pony-lengths before returning back to a trot. "But I'll be a monkey's uncle if it isn't a great way to spend your life trying to see."
The rest of the day posed no problems, leaving Lyra and Firelance to roam around and show off their fancy armor. Before nightfall came, a strange unease befell Lyra.
She sat in her living room and strummed her guitar, unsure why something felt off, but realizing that it had something to do with friendship itself. Setting her guitar aside, she stood up.
"Something wrong?" Scootaloo asked. She'd been finishing off her homework.
"Yeah, but I need to check something at the castle." Looking at her armor, Lyra thought about it hard and then opted to put it on. She didn't say anything as Scootaloo suited up in her own, either. If there was going to be a fight, she'd rather her filly be clothed correctly for it. "Ready?"
"Want me to scout the castle?" Pounding her hooves in a stationary run, Scootaloo rolled her shoulders to be ready for anything.
"No. This isn't a problem at the castle, I'm just hoping it can tell me what's going wrong with friendship magic." Stepping out into the evening, Lyra could feel the slight crack of winter coming. It wouldn't be long and the snow would be here and everypony who wasn't a pegasus would be softly cursing the snow slowing them down.
But, for now, autumn was still holding sway and so they galloped through the town, up the roads, and all the way to the castle. Lyra didn't knock, simply opening the door with her magic so they only had to slow to a fast trot.
"What are we looking for?" Scootaloo asked, curiosity running rampant.
"The map room. It formed early today when Twilight and her friends all sat in their chairs. It showed them a location of where they needed to go and—and I let them go without backup." When she ran through the open doors of the map room, Lyra spotted Firelance and Spike already there.
"Lyra! Scoo—" Firelance shook his head, this was business. "Commander, their cutie marks have…" Stepping back from the table, he let Lyra and Scootaloo see what had happened.
Where the six cutie marks had circled, above a strange little village Lyra had never heard of, there was now six orbiting equals signs. Worse, there was a dark and still line of clouds slowly spreading out from the place.
Staring, Lyra wanted to cry. She could feel, now, the break with friendship magic. It was like it had been snapped at its source. "Scootaloo, I need you to take a letter to Canterlot. The train won't be fast enough, and I think I need to do something here."
Snapping to attention, Scootaloo saluted Lyra. "I am ready to go."
"Spike, take a message." Lyra barely had to ask and Spike had writing materials ready.
Not questioning Lyra's request for dictation, Spike did want to remind her about his own abilities. "You know I can send it to the castle quicker than Scootaloo can fly, right?"
"To the princesses, sure, but I need to notify the Guard. She'll reach them before somepony could run across town with word." Clearing her throat, Lyra dictated a quick letter that nonetheless had all the details of what had happened. When Spike passed it to her, she used her magic to duplicate the page. "I will get you to send one to the castle, though. Thanks, Spike."
Relieved to have something else normal to do, Spike took one of the letters, held it up, and blew his flame onto it. He was so focused on it that he didn't even notice Scootaloo had left. "What are you going to do now?"
"Well, we're going to try to anchor friendship magic with the help of the castle. You're going to go around town and bring everypony up here—and I do mean everypony. Every unicorn. Every earth pony. Every pegasus." Lyra closed her eyes and felt for the threads of magic that were unraveling without Twilight to maintain them. "Maybe in time this new magic will be established enough to exist on its own, but for now we need to nurture it until Twilight can—until she is back in control again."
"How can I help?" Firelance asked.
"I'm going to work a feedback. The biggest feedback ever. I'm not going to sugarcoat this, it's not going to be a lot of fun unless we get support." Closing her eyes, Lyra reached both forehooves up and onto the map. She could feel friendship bubbling inside it, evaporating and losing itself by the second. "Come on, you're not going to give up just because one mare is indisposed?"
Firelance's eyes widened as an inferno started to pour into the room. Lyra was working a spell unlike anything he'd seen before. He knew what a feedback was—when a pony tied magic in a knot and usually got their own horn burned as a result—but this was an entirely different scale. Worse, still, he was about to join her.
Reaching out, hesitantly, Firelance touched Lyra and was drawn fully into her working. He grabbed onto the map for dear life and clung to it like a life-preserver in a violent sea. More and more magic funneled through them. It came rushing in with snarls and runs where it was falling apart, and somehow Lyra was weaving it back into a continuous whole before letting it out again.
It should never be needed. Lyra was working through the feedback, filtering all the friendship magic as fast as she could, but it was taking its toll. She couldn't stop, though, or the key thing that had made Twilight who she was would fail—and she had no wish to know what that would mean when Twilight was whole again.
"H-Hello?" Walking into the map room, just as Spike had said, Sweetie Belle strode ahead of her parents. When she saw Lyra and Firelance, she gasped. "We have to help them!"
"But how?" Hondo Flanks asked. He and his wife had been picking up their youngest when she'd informed them they had to come to the castle as soon as possible.
"Hondo, dear, can't you feel it?" Cookie Crumbles gave her daughter's mane a little ruffle. "This is important—we have to trust them to show us. Uh, right?" The last she asked of her daughter.
Sweetie Belle was already walking forward and jumped on her big sister's seat, leaned forward, and pressed her hooves to the map.
Seeing their daughter leading the way, Hondo and Cookie took a position on each side of her and mimicked her actions—and all three were pulled into the working, easing the load on Lyra and Firelance.
It was fitting, Lyra realized, that it was friendship that shared the load of maintaining friendship magic. With each additional pony—not just unicorn—the load became easier and her horn ached less. It didn't surprise her in the least that even earth ponies and pegasi just being present helped.
Ponies came and went. Darkness fell over Ponyville and needing to maintain friendship magic didn't stop them from becoming hungry or getting tired. Lyra, though, couldn't leave. She had to anchor all the others into the spell.
When Sweetie Drops finally reached the castle, with four squads of unicorns, it was to see Lyra and Firelance surrounded by ponies at the map table. "Lyra! We got your message."
The moment Sweetie reached her side, Lyra felt a surge of strength within her. Not just the love she held for Sweetie, but the magic she was nurturing reacted and revived her. "Don't take them all away. One at a time, give it five minutes to let me balance things again, then the next."
"What are you doing?" Precise Pedagogue asked. He might be retired, but he'd been having a chat with Stiff Peaks when the messenger had arrived.
"Something happened to the princess and friendship magic itself started to unravel. I'm holding it together, anchoring it." Talking and focusing on magic at the same time was starting to become a strain. Every second, something would change about the magic and she'd have to coax it back into its normal shape before letting it flow out. "The mass of the magic can be helped by others but—but I have to do the shaping myself."
The explanation went into theories that, to Precise, were nothing more than hypotheses. "Okay." Turning, he addressed the guardponies he'd escorted. "Form a line. We can only replace one pony every five minutes. When you come in, you need to focus on—on friendship."
As time ticked on, Lyra noticed that things became a little easier as the few unicorn residents of Ponyville were replaced with fresh unicorns from the Guard. The rest of the room, though, slowly shifted between residents. It helped to bind her closer to friendship. Derpy, the Cakes, the Apples—she'd forged bonds of friendship with just about everypony in town, and now it made her stronger and capable of undertaking her task.
"You need something to eat."
The words cut into Lyra's task. She spared some focus to look at Sweetie who had a bowl of rice with some kind of sauce on top of it—her nose told her it was something made with bean paste. "Kinda busy."
"Then just hold still and open your mouth. You don't need to chew this." Holding up a spoon, Sweetie pushed the first load in the moment Lyra complied. "It's almost dawn."
"Firelance?" Lyra asked around the first mouthful.
Sweetie chuckled. "Scootaloo already fed him."
The food was distracting, but not as much as her empty stomach. The rice was almost immediately digestible and returned strength to her—though it did nothing for Lyra's fatigue. When Sweetie held a bottle to Lyra's lips, she shook her head. "I don't know how long I need to be here."
"We sent a full battalion. By midday there will be more Guardponies in that area than grains of sand." Sweetie put the top back on the bottle. "Here's some water then. I'll grab you a regular coffee when I figure out where the others got theirs."
"There's one thing you can do for me," Lyra said. She tilted her head slightly toward Sweetie.
Knowing exactly what was needed, Sweetie tilted her own head so she could kiss her wife.
Just like that Lyra felt even more refreshed. She had never had a friendship quite like the one she shared with Sweetie, and the kiss reaffirmed and reminded her of that. Even as their lips parted she turned her full focus back to the friendship magic.
She settled back into her zone, holding friendship magic together by her will and the power of the ponies around her. The sun came up and the crystal castle welcomed it by refracting and reflecting it all around the room.
As the day progressed, Lyra welcomed Sweetie feeding her again and, just as the sun was reaching its zenith, all the weight left her shoulders and Lyra felt a shock of heat pour through her. On the map, six cutie marks reappeared and started circling each other again.
The train ride home had seen Twilight distracted the whole way. Her friends were their usual chatty (even Fluttershy) selves, but she couldn't help but wonder about Starlight Glimmer. The mare was a puzzle, enigma, and a lot of confusion all wrapped up in a unicorn-shaped package. It was like Twilight had a sore on the roof of her mouth and poking it with her tongue didn't stop it from being sore.
As the train slowed for Ponyville, she tried to perk herself back up and wish her friends goodbye, but she still felt slightly drained too.
"Is something the matter?" Fluttershy asked Twilight.
Lifting her head from where she'd been hanging it, Twilight asked, "Huh?" It took her brain a moment to realize she'd been asked a question, but it wasn't until Fluttershy patiently repeated her question that Twilight said, "It's just that whole thing with Starlight. She wasn't—I mean, her magic was formidable, but it wasn't more than I could handle."
"It was her ideology."
"Yes!" That was a thing Twilight hadn't been able to reconcile. "It was like she recognized friendship, but she twisted it into something bad. Friends shouldn't have to reduce themselves to fit in."
Nodding, Fluttershy reached a foreleg out to hug her friend. "Precisely. You don't see me trying to dumb myself down just to hang around with you guys." She waited a moment for Twilight to stare at her before she giggled. "I was joking."
It wasn't that Twilight was unfamiliar with such jokes, but she just hadn't expected one from Fluttershy. "R-Right. You're amazing with animals, the most kind-hearted and empathic pony I know. I wouldn't expect you to even surrender that to hang around with a dork like me."
Fluttershy giggled. "You're the most empathic dork I know."
"Still. We should celebrate our diversity, not restrict it." Twilight finally reached out and hugged Fluttershy back, squeezing her friend a little and leaning the bridge of her nose against Fluttershy's shoulder. "Like right now. Thank you."
The train ground to a stop while they shared that moment, supporting each other and building up their confidence. When the conductor cleared his throat from the end of the car, they finally broke apart and giggled.
Stepping off the train, Twilight felt something renewing in the air, something magical. "Thanks, girls, for helping with this one."
"No problems, Twilight, but I gotta go and sleep for a week. If anypony asks for me, tell them I moved to Yakyakistan." Rainbow gave Twilight her best grin and shot into the sky.
"Likewise, darling. I need"—Rarity paused for effect, as she often did, though instead of trying to look her best she just yawned—"to sleep as well. It is almost unbelievable how those ponies managed to live like that for so long."
One by one her friends excused themselves and left Twilight standing on the platform. She couldn't blame them, everything about Our Town had left her with more questions than answers. Trotting through Ponyville, she got almost to the front door of her castle (two words she still couldn't believe went together) before she realized something was odd. There were hardly any ponies on the streets and what few there were looked completely out of it.
Throwing open the doors to the crystal castle, Twilight was halfway ready to bellow for Spike when she saw two startled Guardponies standing at attention on each side of the doors. "Uh, hello?"
"Your Highness! Commander Sweetie Drops should be in the map room. She asked that if you arrived, you be told she's there." Razzle Dazzle was still a little bit surprised by how small Twilight seemed. He'd spent time in the map room supporting Lyra, and it left him feeling wrung out and drained. Knowing that Twilight was doing the job of a dozen unicorns was nothing short of astounding to him.
"O… kay." Twilight walked through the halls of her castle (the two words never ceased to sidetrack her) until she found the map room. Poking her head in first, she saw Sweetie look up from the map. "I was told to report in to you here, sir." She snapped off a perfect salute—just liked she'd trained to.
"At ease, corporal." What made Sweetie smirk all the more was how Twilight responded to that command. "Lyra's in one of your guest rooms sleeping. I guess it's my job to report in her stead, Your Highness.
"I will debrief you after this, but I want to fill you in on everything that happened. At approximately 4 P.M. yesterday something happened to you. Your connection and support of friendship magic was severed and it started to unravel.
"Lyra rushed here and found your six cutie marks on the map had been turned into two parallel lines. With just Corporal Firelance supporting her at first, she took over your duty of maintaining friendship magic."
Twilight stared in complete and utter shock. She wanted to ask a million questions—a million squared questions—but she recognized Sweetie was going to keep unrolling events from this side.
"She had, before doing this, sent messages to Canterlot via Spike and Scootaloo, to ensure everypony knew what was happening. I led a contingent of unicorn Guardponies here to assist her while the E.U.P. Guard and Royal Guard both sent ponies to your last location.
"Lyra maintained friendship magic, in her own words 'kept it from unraveling', throughout the night and most of the morning. She collapsed when the map showed you'd recovered. Since then she has been sleeping with an order from a commander of the E.U.P. Guard not to be intruded upon in any way, shape, or form. That includes you, Your Highness, Sorry." Sweetie smiled in a perfect example of her namesake.
Taking a long breath and shoving her questions aside, Twilight began to narrate the events that'd taken place in Our Town. She explained how they'd tried to talk ponies out of following Starlight, how things had happened in the cave at approximately 4 P.M. in the afternoon, and how they'd been treated overnight. Even how the whole situation had been resolved.
Twilight was pleased that Sweetie was taking notes, because she didn't want to have to explain this more than at least once or twice more. "And that, led to our trip home and me coming here and finding you. Now, we may need to send word of what's happened to—Sorry, I have to put my princess hat on. Whom is in charge in Our Town now?"
"Commander Spitfire was sent with a squad of her best to be scouts and to assess the situation and take command. If you have any orders beyond what she would require to assist with the recovery there, I can arrange a message to be sent." The idea of dispatching one of their fliers to find Spitfire wasn't something Sweetie relished, but she did have such a contingency. "There was another matter, though it's non-urgent now. Go and rest, recover from your journey, and hopefully Lyra will be able to explain her situation to you by nightfall."
Twilight was now officially curious about what had happened that Lyra would need to explain, but she recognized that there were several facts keeping her from finding out for herself—not the least of which being that Sweetie hadn't told her what room Lyra was in.
Though she'd lost a lot of books when Tirek had destroyed her library, Twilight still had a good collection she was rebuilding. She advanced on her library, the castle's library, and set about finding something she hadn't read too many times.
That took a full two and a half hours of procrastination and the invention of three entirely new methods for sorting books. It was a new record for her.
She finally settled on Spells for Making Fart Noises: Vol. 5 when she heard the door to her library open and hoofsteps slowly advance on her domain.
"Can you turn the lights down a little, Twilight? I still have the world's biggest headache," Lyra said. She'd walked into the library with a blanket over her back and looking about as pale as a mint-green mare could ever look without being confused for white.
Twilight was careful with her magic. She reached out to the curtains and pulled them closed, then adjusted the light controls to dim them. Not for the first time she wondered how the lighting in her castle worked.
Finally, with the light dimmed to an appropriate level, Lyra walked up to Twilight and hugged her. "Please don't do that again."
Hugging her friend back, Twilight kept her voice pitched as low as Lyra had. "Do you want to explain it all? Sweetie said some things, but I'm not sure they make complete sense."
"She does her best to understand magic, but some of this can only be fully absorbed if you have spent years studying and living it." With one last squeeze to reassure herself that Twilight was back and she wasn't still at the map trying to bind reality together with her will, Lyra let go and found some soft cushions to settle on. "I felt the moment friendship magic was severed from its source. It screamed in pain. I almost cried as I galloped up here to find out what was going on.
"Somehow, Twilight, you are literally a leyline of power. You are the anchor for friendship magic. Without you it was dying. I had to do something. I had to save it. It showed me what it needed—what you do every moment of the day and night without even realizing it.
"It was easy at first—is how this normally goes, but it wasn't. Taking up that mantle was the hardest single magical working I have ever done. Is Firelance okay? I buffered him as best I could, but I—"
"He's fine, Lyra. He's sleeping."
Twilight's words soothed one of Lyra's worries. She let out a sigh. "I'm glad. He worked hard to support me until the rest started arriving."
"Who?" Twilight asked.
"Everypony. The whole town came in at some point, did what they could to support me, then left when it was too much for them. They eased the weight of all that magic rushing through me, but I had to keep working to keep friendship alive.
"When you took things up again, I felt friendship slide away and back to you. I don't remember much after that. I noticed something, and told Sweetie about it, but she ordered me to sleep. She's still a higher rank than I am."
"I could invent a new rank for you. Attache to the Princess of Friendship? Royal Magic Ladybug Zapper? First Unicorn of—"
"Ladybug zapper?" Lyra asked.
"Don't ask. Those things are just creepy." Twilight knew that would be the thing Lyra would latch onto—she'd basically dangled the line like bait. "Sweetie said there was something important about you?"
"Yeah. You remember my idea about storing wing and muscle data in a morphic field?" When Twilight nodded, Lyra continued. "Well, one of the effects of dealing with so much magic has resulted in my morphic field becoming somewhat more phase-shifted toward the visible spectrum."
"I hate to ask this, but what exactly do you mean by that?"
Slipping the blanket down her back, Lyra let the barest trickle of magic flow down her horn to gently light the tip.
Twilight gasped at what she saw. Two ghostly, golden wings appeared on Lyra's back. Phase-shifted toward the visible spectrum was very literal, she realized. A smile cracked, then a giggle broke loose. "I thought you said Sweetie out-ranked you, Your Highness?"
Lyra snuffed her horn's light which instantly hid the ghostly wings. "Don't you start that. You know I'm not an alicorn precisely because we'd have Celestia all over us with those pretty white mares singing behold. No. It's just a magical phenomenon that came about from testing experimental spells."
"What's the other thing?" Doing her best to hide her giggles, Twilight was nonetheless utterly failing.
"My magic capacity. Have you ever seen what happens to a hole in a piece of metal when you use a hammer to beat a cone into it? That's what my magic feels like now. I've been regenerating for…"
"It's been seven hours since I recovered my cutie mark."
"Right. I've been recovering magic for seven hours and I still feel like I'm moderately empty." Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Sound familiar?"
"A little. Back before you taught me how to improve my regeneration and before I gained a wingspan, it would take the better part of two days to recover all my magic from empty. Though, given your recovery rate—something I'm still a little jealous of—I'd say you had closer to Cadance's magic reserves."
Lyra slumped down to the pillows, flopping her head down as gently as she could and covered it with her forehooves. "No."
"Only one pony ever needs to know about the wings." Settling down before Lyra, Twilight set her choice of reading material back on the shelf—though she looked forward to deciding to read it another time. "Rarity could redesign your armor to hide wings. Perhaps even make you some more common outfits to hide them when you aren't wearing your armor. As for your magical capacity—nopony has to know about that."
Lifting her head out from below her hooves, Lyra looked at Twilight. "What about Princess Cele—"
"No. You're my Royal Guard. You are my responsibility." Smiling her best smile, Twilight didn't so much as twitch until Lyra smiled too. "Now, would you like to hear about the most incredible, adept-level magic for making rude noises?"
Almost ready to cry, Lyra fought against it with all her heart. "I can't think of a single thing I want to do more than learn about ridiculously difficult spells for doing stupid things."
"There's nothing crazy going to happen. There certainly won't be a mad caterer getting the chefs to make extremely spicy food, for a start." Twilight looked at Lyra with a raised eyebrow.
"Somepony did that?" Firelance asked. When he noticed Lyra grinning, he face-hoofed. "Of course you'd do that."
"I asked Zecora for her spiciest recipes. Given the average Canterlot upper-class palate has trouble dealing with paprika, they were not ready for what we served. Princess Celestia wanted to promote me for that."
"Why didn't she?" Firelance asked.
Twilight cleared her throat to interrupt her two guards while Rarity pinned various pieces of cloth over their armor. "Because there's a requirement that to promote a pony in the E.U.P. Guard, they must be present to receive the promotion." Feeling proud of the mare she'd taught how to teleport, Twilight grinned. "The princess tried to find her for a week, if I remember correctly. When she finally found Lyra, she got halfway through pronouncing the promotion and Lyra vanished again."
"It's a lot harder to track down one unicorn than it is to keep track of a pursuing alicorn." With the biggest grin on her face, Lyra gave a firm nod.
"Please don't move your head, darling. This is hard enough to fit over all that metal already." Rarity was in the process of pinning the pattern fabric over Lyra's shoulders, which the armor did a great job of exaggerating.
"Sorry, Rarity. Thank you again for doing this." Lyra could stand still for any duration, it was just a problem when Twilight was feeding her such great lines. "You're going too, I hope?"
"I wouldn't miss it for all the gemstones in the Crystal Empire…"
Lyra could tell Rarity wanted to ask something. The way she'd trailed the end of empire off spoke of a favor she wanted to ask but had no way of delicately asking it. "But?"
Rarity sighed, though given the circumstances she didn't know if it was relief or anxiety. "You're in Canterlot regularly—and know royalty there—will he be present?"
"'He'?" Lyra asked.
"Blue Blood," Twilight said. "One of the first—"
"It was my first," Rarity said.
"Right. Rarity's first Grand Galloping Gala, she tried to make a move on him, but he—"
"Was an absolute, ignoramus of a brute. That stallion doesn't deserve to see me!" Rarity was so incised she stomped her hoof. "Will—he—be—there?"
Lyra wanted to face-hoof herself now. "I'm going to ask you some things, Rarity, and I want you to be absolutely truthful and try to spare a modicum of trust in me, okay?"
"That's the oddest thing anypony has asked me"—Rarity quickly did some comparisons in her head—"barring Pinkie, all month."
"And if you didn't exclude Pinkie?" Twilight asked.
"Then it's the oddest thing anypony has asked me in the last hour." The setup had very much been to Rarity's liking. "Oh, very well. I'll try to keep an open mind."
"Okay, imagine for a moment you were a very talented pony at looking vacuous, but had a sharp mind and were employed by Princess Celestia. Imagine you were working on an important job at a big party—and you met the most amazing pony. The kind of pony that only comes around once a lifetime. The kind of pony who you don't get a second chance to make a good impression on.
"Now imagine that your job that night requires you to act the foppish fool. Then you have to play that foppish fool for this special pony and shut them down at every juncture." It was as close as Lyra could come to saying that Blue was a spy.
"You can't be serious. Prince Blue Blood is a—" Rarity stopped. She had done a little research since that night and found that most considered him just as terrible as she had. "He's a self-obsessed, foppish, vacuous…" It had started to sink in. "Really?" she asked, starting to entertain the idea Lyra might be telling the truth. "But he—"
"He was on the clock. He's always on the clock. Please don't ask for more details on him, nor try to ask him about it. Just—Just cut Blue some slack, Rarity." Before she realized what she was doing, Lyra hung her head.
"Lift your head back up, dear. Oh, I understand what you're talking about now. Has he found somepony since then, or does he still pine for me?" Getting back to work, Rarity started to wonder how fabulous a dress she should wear to the gala. That was just a mental exercise, of course, she would always wear her most fabulous creation.
"He has. Not some thoughtless noble filly for him." Lyra leaned closer and whispered to Rarity, "Don't breathe a word of it, but he's fallen head over fetlocks for a cook."
Eyes widening, Rarity lifted a hoof to her mouth to bite it. "He didn't?"
"He did. You'll be invited next month, of course, when it is discovered that her family is actually a lost line of nobility that traces its heritage all the way back to an earth pony kingdom nopony but Celestia, Luna, and a quickly written and aged lineage book remembers."
Twilight cleared her throat. "Rarity, you can't breathe a word of this to anypony." As soon as she said it, Twilight could see the realization dawn on Rarity's face. "Lyra shouldn't have told you any of this, but I doubt Blue or Princess Celestia would mind."
A more delicious piece of gossip Rarity hadn't heard for years. She thought about how wonderful it would be to mention just a single sliver of it off-hand to somepony. Looking at Lyra, though, Rarity could see trust in the mare's eyes. "I don't forget that I owe you, Lyra, but this shan't be the time to collect. I won't spill a word of it—so long as you tell me one thing."
"Fire away," Lyra said.
"How did he feel after that gala?"
"Devastated." It was the honest truth and Lyra was sticking to it. "I'm not sure if you realize this, Rarity, but you're interesting. Unique. Talented beyond compare. Standing beside the bland and beige nobles Blue has to deal with, you would shine like the brightest star."
Rarity froze at the barrage of compliments. The frequency of them startled her but, with the strength of character to be able to believe them, she simply fluttered her eyelashes. "Darling… Really?"
Nodding, then stopping so as not to annoy Rarity, Lyra said, "Yes, really. I'm pretty sure he's spoken-for now, but I am sure he wouldn't mind a friend."
It was a weird situation for Firelance to be in. They were all so invested in maretalk that he felt left out. And left out of what, exactly, he wasn't sure. Here he was, a newly graduated stallion in the E.U.P. Guard, getting a dress uniform fitted along with a princess, one of the greater heroes the Guard had ever had, and a mare who had helped fight the biggest threats Equestria had ever seen. Who was he to be here?
Before Firelance could finish his thoughts, Rarity was fiddling with the cloth over him. Lyra and Twilight were talking about some deep magic mystery (stuff that went right over his head), but Rarity seemed focused on him so he had to ask, "What's it like being friends with a princess?"
Rarity snorted while pinning the pieces of fabric in place. "You could tell me. You're part of her guard after all."
"That's different."
"Really?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah. When everything is said and done, I can't tell her when she's doing something stupid." Firelance could, of course, though it would likely mean he wouldn't be her guard much longer.
Humming as she worked and thought, Rarity finally asked, "Can't or won't? And can you tilt your head left and right for me?"
"You're right. I wouldn't tell her she was doing something stupid. That's your job." He did as asked, moving his head and feeling some tightness on the right side. "It's a bit tight up here aroun—"
"Yes, I see it." Adjusting, Rarity mulled over the thought. "You could try becoming her friend as well as her guard. It would make things easier since you could see when she's doing something stupid and tell her about it."
Rolling his eyes, Firelance let out a little laugh. "Right. What could I find in common with Twilight? Just listen to her and Lyra talk." Together, he and Rarity both paused to listen.
"… just have to adjust the flux of the motion magic and you'll get a twenty-percent gain on magic-to-speed efficiency," Twilight said.
Lyra countered with, "But the flux is already within three percentage points of optimal. Any gains there will be insignificant. Why not adjust the jitter I'm seeing in the friendship field instead?"
"Because more efficient means more efficient. You can trim the jitter later. No, what you need to do is—"
Rarity closed her eyes for a moment and attempted to forget everything she'd just heard. She decided some ice cream would help, but that was for later. "I see your point, but I know one thing that you both have in common."
Waiting for him to jump to the same conclusion as her, Rarity felt a jolt of realization that he wasn't going to. "Your training." He still looked at her blankly. "I guess that's one she hasn't told you? Twilight, dear, is it such a big secret that you attended that Guardpony college in Canterlot?" she asked, voice raised.
"Not anymore," Lyra said with a grin.
"I never really had the right time to say it. Uh, so. I guess I should let you know, Firelance, I took the Guard training as a unicorn and as a pegasus." Twilight gestured first to her horn and then to her wings. "Sweetie Drops personally trained me in using earth pony magic, since she said I'd given the Guard trainers enough to worry about twice over."
"Yeah I—I guess it just didn't click that we'd both have an interest in protecting ponies like that." It took Firelance's brain four seconds and one smirking princess to realize what he'd just said. "I didn't mean it like that! I mean, you don't—I couldn't—I…"
Lyra walked over and patted Firelance on the withers to calm him down. "Would you like some sauce with that hoof? Just relax. Everypony sort of expects Twilight to be this bookish nerd all the time." She gestured to Twilight for effect. "But remember, she battled Tirek to a standstill when he had all the magic of everypony in Equestria. There was no rainbows then. She used all the tricks and methods the Guard could teach to exploit every situation he left open to her."
Twilight tried not to blush, but it was an impossible task. "Thanks to all this"—she gestured to her wings—"I was officially a commander for the Guard. I could ask ponies to put themselves into danger. I wanted to make sure if I did, or if I was putting myself into danger for them, I would know what I was doing."
Relieved he didn't have to try explaining himself again, Firelance asked, "S-So what rank does that make you? In the Guard, I mean."
"She's a princess. If she gives you an order, it's a step above mine." Lyra gave ground back to Rarity as she moved in to return to fitting Firelance's uniform.
"For now," Twilight said under her breath.
"So we guard Twilight?" Firelance asked, eyes scanning the crowd gathering in the royal ballroom. The evening was a little cooler than usual, Canterlot's altitude and winter combined to make his natural fur coat, the armor covering him, and his new dress uniform that covered his armor quite welcome. "Without tackling anypony who looks important?"
"Oh, you can tackle ponies who look important, you just want to make sure you have a good reason to. Saving their lives from that guacamole for example." Lyra nodded toward the spread of food on a nearby table. "Whoever made that deserves a promotion. Perhaps we should see if they'd be willing to transfer to another castle?"
"I'm standing right here, you know?" Twilight kept up her big smile as ponies walked in, greeted her, then walked off. "And no foalnapping any of Celestia's chefs."
"Yes," Celestia said. "No foalnapping my chefs."
"With all due respect, Princess Celestia, but you hold no authority over Princess Twilight's Guard." Lyra didn't have to smile, like Celestia and Twilight did, but it was a perk of her job that she could.
"If you wish to foalnap Bread Basket and myself, I would appreciate it." Blue Blood had to keep up a royal smile too, since he was here in official capacity. "I could use a little time off."
"You don't get time off, Nephew, you get royal privilege and nothing more."
"Two hundred bits," Lyra said.
"I'll have it for you by morning," Blue replied.
"Twilight," Celestia said, "surely you can't let your guards foalnap royalty?"
Holding back a giggle, Twilight nodded her head to another noble walking past her before replying, "I try to set good examples for them, Your Highness, but the truth is they're completely out of—"
"I'll pay you fifty bits tomorrow if you don't finish that sentence," Lyra said, stone faced.
Turning her head to look up at Celestia, Twilight let out a whimsical sigh. "Lovely party."
Blue lost the contest first, starting to giggle at the game playing out. "I can't help it. You three are just—I'll be in the bathroom powdering my nose." Turning on his heel, Blue marched off to the side hallway that led to the bathroom—and the kitchen. He didn't stop at the bathroom, instead marching past several of the palace wait-staff and through the door to the busy kitchen.
The entrance of Prince Blue Blood would have been remarked by the staff, except he immediately stepped aside and into the little table-alcove to be out of everypony's way. That he was also a common sight in the kitchen for the last year also helped.
Directing her staff to make little cucumber sandwiches, Bread Basket walked out of the busy part of the kitchen and over to Blue. Slipping up beside him, she nuzzled his cheek and kissed him. "I hope the party is going well?"
"It's going great, if you don't count Twilight, Celestia, and Lyra cracking jokes and trying to make each other laugh at the wrong moment." Blue shifted along the bench to make room beside him then, when Bread sat down, he leaned slightly against her.
"Awww, are they picking on you?"
"A little." When this didn't satisfy her, Blue revised his answer. "Yes."
"Well, you're a big colt now, you can stand up to those bullies." Keeping an eye on the kitchen, Bread relaxed against Blue. "I wish I could just drop everything and foalnap you."
"That's what I just—" Blue halted as the door beside him opened and another pony walked in who didn't actually belong in the kitchen. "Lyra?"
"You don't need to pay me the two hundred bits. If you want to get away from Canterlot for a bit, just say the word." Taking a seat opposite the pair, Lyra settled herself down. "Twilight and Celestia both okayed it."
"W-What?" Turning to look at Blue, Bread quickly glanced back at Lyra. "What do you mean by 'get away'?"
"Abscond. Depart. Make yourselves absent. You can come back whenever you wish, but there is a plan that will take a good month to sort out. You can thank me later for it. Grab your things tonight—both of you—because you're going on a holiday."
"You can't just order us to—" Bread stopped and turned to Blue. "She can't just order us to do that, can she?"
"I could and I would, but I'm not. Let me explain it in a way that Celestia would get annoyed at me for. It will take almost a month of careful work to forge an entire thousand-plus years of lineage for a royal line that was heretofore unknown until a particular princess known for her bookish traits finds it in an old disused library. It will denote the fall of a mighty house of royal unicorns, completely separate from the descendants of Princess Platinum, that culminate in a direct line of first-born foals to one remaining mare and her parents." Looking at Bread, Lyra had a huge grin on her face. "Then, once that's uncovered, the hunt will be on to find you, only to discover that you'd been meeting with Prince Blue Blood all this time, in secret, with him somehow sensing your royalty."
"That'd be lying," Bread Basket said. She looked back from Lyra at Blue, who was staring with his jaw hanging open. "They can't just make that up, can they?"
"'Make it up'?" Lyra shook her head. "I would never make something up. I definitely wouldn't make up something like this, Your Highness." She kept her voice low, and with the noise of the kitchen her words were hidden better still. "So, get whatever work you need done finished, pack your bags for a month holiday, and come back to the castle in Ponyville."
Bread slumped back in her chair, staring through Lyra and into the kitchen. "But what will I do?"
Finally coming out of his fugue state, Blue reached his foreleg around Bread's shoulders and pulled her against him. "Whatever you want to, but I can think of one thing this would let us do."
Lyra beamed and climbed out of her seat. "I'll leave you to tell her. I need to get back to the party and do the boring—"
One of the waitstaff blocked the door to stop others from leaving. "Nopony go out there! Some kind of monster got in!"
"Ah, they're playing my song. Don't let whatever's going on bother you. Go, pack!" Lyra walked up to the pony at the door. "Good work! I'll head out and get the princesses to safety!" Being confident and sounding like she knew what she was doing, Lyra knew, was absolutely the best way to get someone to do something she wanted. They opened the door for her and let her through.
Walking down the hall, Lyra reached the main ballroom and realized things were maybe getting out of hoof. She rushed her way to the stage, but was halted from getting further by a huge, white wing. "Princess?"
"Relax, Lyra. Discord's upset because Fluttershy didn't include him as her plus-one. I made sure Discord got a ticket anyway, hoping something like this would happen." Celestia couldn't shake the big smile on her face.
Looking around, Lyra saw Twilight (with Firelance beside and just behind her), talking to Fluttershy. "Isn't he going to ruin the party?"
It was definitely teaching time. "Lyra, what did I tell you about these parties after I had you serve extremely spicy food at one?"
"'There is no way to ruin a terrible party'?"
"Exactly." Inhaling deeply, Celestia let loose a satisfied sigh. "He's learning things how a pony does, with little mistakes that are easy to deal with. I would like it very much if Discord continued to make pony mistakes rather than lord of chaos mistakes."
It was the most Celestia thing Lyra had seen yet, and she could see the wisdom in it. Taking her own deep breath, she slotted herself beside Celestia and watched the minor chaos unfold. It was obvious, when looking from afar, that Discord really cared for Fluttershy, but what was equally obvious was that Smooze was getting bigger whenever it devoured anything remotely shiny. "Remind me not to take off this uniform."
"Oh? Shine-up your armor, did you?" Celestia asked.
"Yeah. Regretting that now." Watching Discord lock Smooze into a closet, Lyra spotted a glint of gold from within before the door closed. "This is only getting worse before it gets better."
"I know. I reinforced the protection around the room. Hopefully it can contain all the magic within the room." Giggling at Discord's jokes, Celestia watched things spiral to the inevitable explosion—albeit a controlled explosion.
The door gave way a moment before Discord's willpower could. A tsunami of Smooze rushed out and flooded the room. Lyra barely avoided getting her new uniform covered by jumping back onto the dais—but Celestia was not fast enough.
What caught Lyra's attention wasn't Discord, wasn't Smooze, and wasn't Twilight trying to avoid Smooze while giving Discord a talking-to. She spotted the pony stuck to the wall beside Fluttershy and felt her world shift.
It wasn't love, not at all, but Lyra felt a connection to the mare. Even upside down, her green coat and red-orange mane and tail (done in dreadlocks) inspired Lyra to just relax because everything was going to be fine. She radiated, Lyra realized, Harmony.
"I talked to her." Pulling himself up on the dais, Firelance had given up trying to get Smooze's smooze off himself, but at least on a higher level he wasn't getting any more. "She reminds me a lot of you."
"Huh?"
"You can't sense it? Destiny and Harmony twist around her, flow through her, and she smooths them both out for anypony around her." Lifting his hoof, Firelance stopped himself a moment before prodding Lyra with it. "Just like you. I've been practicing, like you said, opening up to new things."
"Lyra!"
Twilight's shout drew Lyra's attention. She looked over to see Twilight and four of her friends inundated with Smooze. "I really hope Rarity doesn't get angry with me for getting this outfit dirty. What do you need, princess?!"
"Just—Just get us out of this!" Shouting still, Twilight had finally had enough of the situation and demanded some normalcy. "Deal with Smoze while we take-on Discord!"
Snapping off her best salute, Lyra prepared a plan of action. "Scoots! I need your help. Firelance, you have been keeping up with your guitar practice, right?" The worried look she got from him told her all she needed. "Right, you're on percussion. Okay, time to flex some of this magic…"
Lyra hadn't been spending too much time working with her expanded magic capacity, and so this was her first time actually really pushing it. She located Scootaloo's didgeridoo, her own bass guitar, and set of clapsticks all in her house in Ponyville. "Hold on to your hooves, this should be—" Lyra summoned the items, a great rush of magic leaving her stored magic very slightly lower. "Huh. Okay, Firelance, give me a beat. Just tap these together and try to keep your notes even."
Scootaloo was almost up to her shoulders in smooze when she reached the top of the dais. "You want me to play my didge?"
"You got it. Firelance has the beat, I'll build melody, you weave." When Lyra got nods from both, she turned her guitar's built-in amp on and gave it a little jolt of her magic. "When you're ready."
Twilight had expected clever use of magic, friendship, and some kind of wild plan from Lyra to deal with all the problems. Instead she got clever use of magic, friendship, and a very wild plan from Lyra—and a song.
With the deep thrumming notes of a bass guitar and soaring voice of the didgeridoo dancing all over the regular beat of the clapsticks, Smooze felt peace once more descend upon him. Wiggling and slipping along the floor, he left a trail of shiny objects and freed ponies behind him as he got closer to the three ponies.
Every note Lyra produced trembled through Smooze. The three of them watched him vibrate and tremble in response to their music. Glancing over to Twilight, Lyra gave her friend, commander, and princess a wink.
The three kept their focus, kept playing, and made sure that Smooze was distracted from the telling-off that Fluttershy gave Discord, the sparkly rift that Discord had ripped through dimensions, and the general unease of the room around them.
Even when Discord relented and apologized, Smooze was just relaxed and calm. Of course, Discord removed the remainder of the gold from Smooze, reducing his size back to what passed for normal.
When the real band struck back up, Lyra let her bass slowly fade out and nodded to Scootaloo and Firelance to finish up. "That was perfect, thanks Scoots, Firelance."
"Lyra?"
Turning in the direction of the speaker, Lyra smiled when she saw Fluttershy and the mare she now knew was Tree Hugger. The sense of Harmony Lyra felt from Tree was almost off the chart. "Fluttershy, glad you made it. Who's your friend?"
"Oh!" Blushing without knowing why, Fluttershy used one of her leathery wings to gesture to Tree. "This is Tree Hugger. We met at a—We met recently and are—" She looked around, making sure Discord couldn't hear. "… special someponies."
"Trying to be, at least. That was a pretty mellow tune," Tree Hugger said, holding out her hoof to Lyra. "Totally cleaned my chakra after all this… clouding."
"This is Lyra, her daughter Scootaloo, and her… uh…" Fluttershy was a little lost for words when it came to Firelance.
"My special somepony," Scootaloo said, "Firelance."
Lyra threatened thermodynamics with how much she wanted to vibrate with pride. It was the first time she'd heard Scootaloo admit to Firelance being her special somepony, and she had to admit that it was an absolute joy to hear. "Right, Firelance." It took everything Lyra had to not say, my future son. "That was some pretty cool stuff you did with Smooze, Tree."
"Everyone is just moving through their own space, you know. Smooze was getting harshed and needed a little chill. Magic wasn't cutting it, and, like, he's made of a liquid. Liquids totally vibe with sound." It was a string of conclusions that all were perfectly justified to Tree's thinking.
Tree's attention, though, was being pulled toward Lyra. Lyra didn't just have clean-flowing chakra, she wasn't just in a vibe—she was the most in-tune with herself and the world around her of anypony Tree had ever met. It was weird, but at the same time totally amazing. "We should totally catch up sometime and, like, discuss the universe."
The grin that covered Lyra's face was irrepressible. "That'd be great. You're in Ponyville, right?"
"Totally."
"Well, want to meet up tomorrow for lunch? Sugarcube Corner sound good?"
Tree nodded. "I'll, like, totally be there."
"We should be going now. Thank you again, Lyra," Fluttershy said, walking up and hugging her friend.
Squeezing back, Lyra eventually let go and let Fluttershy and Tree wander back into the party. When Twilight walked over, looking dazed, Lyra asked, "What's up?"
"I tried to apologize to Princess Celestia for not being able to handle everything at the party. She said—She told me it was all exactly as she'd hoped and she wouldn't have changed a thing. Lyra, am I going insane?" Twilight slumped and sat down on the dais. "Oh, right, thanks for—for figuring out what I needed you to do. I guess I expected something else. It was weird to not understand what needed doing, just that something had to be done."
"Twilight, what are your thoughts on Tree Hugger?" Lyra asked.
The question caught Twilight off-guard. "Uh, I guess she's a nice pony, if a little eccentric. Why?"
"If you were born as an earth pony, and if you had a strong connection to Harmony and destiny, wouldn't you try all kinds of strange things to find ways to explain what you feel and work out ways to make things better?" Lyra asked.
Twilight paused before she said something stupid, and thought about it. "There are rumors that some unicorns in Equestria's past weren't unicorns at all—that they were earth ponies or pegasi that just found other ways to do magic."
"And I think we have one here. I don't plan to let her slip away."
"Uh, commander?" Firelance asked. "I don't think she's the kind of mare you could recruit."
"Into the Guard? For sure. I doubt she'd enjoy the running. But recruiting as a friend? Well, I know a pony who seems to think that anypony can become your friend with a little work." Lifting her foreleg, Lyra elbowed Twilight with it.
"What?" Twilight asked, amused. "You thought I'd tell you not to go and make new friends? You're the Friendship Guard, I expect you to—to rampage around making friends with everypony you can."
"Rampaging?" Lyra asked, trying to keep from giggling and failing completely.
"Yes." Standing up and spreading her wings up into the traditional alicorn display of authority. "I expect you not to leave any stone unturned in your duty of finding friends."
Stepping back, Lyra bowed deeply and brought her nose all the way to Twilight's hoof in her show of difference. "As Her Royal Highness commands, so shall I make it done!"
"Should I bow too?" Firelance asked, trying his very best to keep a straight face.
Celestia, having reassured the few guests who hadn't run screaming from the room, approached and took her place on the dais again. "I think she's bowing enough for both of you. Lyra, why did you ruin all the fun?"
"Orders are orders, Your Highness. My princess commanded me to act." Lyra stood back up as gracefully as she could. "And I am a loyal member of the Friendship Guard—I'd never leave a friend frustrated while Smooze is smoozing up in their smooze."
Clearing her throat so that she wouldn't accidentally break into a laugh, Celestia looked across at the other Guardpony present. "So, Corporal Firelance, what are your plans for next year's Grand Galloping Gala?"
"Wha? Me?" Like a deer in headlights, Firelance stared in utter panic at Celestia. "But I'm"—he turned his head to Twilight, eyes begging for help—"T-T-Twilight's Guardpony."
"Right. He is." Twilight moved to stand between Celestia and Firelance. "And he won't be forced to cater any galas until he is at least a sergeant."
"Then Lyra will have to—" Celestia cut herself off at the look on Twilight's face. "Oh, come on, Twilight. I need somepony to make these things exciting."
"Upper Crust," Lyra said. "Tell her you want it to be exciting and I'm sure she can manage something." When Celestia looked at her with surprise, Lyra gave her best and most authentic smile. "Or you could ask my mum."
"Or Tufts."
Everyone turned to look at the new voice to see Scootaloo standing on the other side of Celestia. She gave them all a nervous smile.
"He would just fill the ballroom with mangoes," Lyra said.
Grinning and ruffling her wings a little in anticipation, Celestia said, "Perfect!"
Tree Hugger had spent a glorious morning meditating, and had worked several hours at her normal gig while doing it. Helping ponies was something she loved doing, and helping ponies hone their art skills was an outstanding way for her to stack her karma.
As she walked through the town of Ponyville, she spent her karma in little ways by smoothing out Harmony to a more consistent coverage.
Tree knew her destination, but she was in no hurry to reach it, though she did eventually reach it. Slowing at the door, which was astounding given how slow she'd been navigating the town, she felt a great amount of positive force nearby. No, not just nearby—behind her. "That groovy aura could only be Flutt—"
Turning, Tree paused. She'd misjudged her target. It wasn't just a positive force—it was overwhelmingly positive in a dozen ways (many of which Tree didn't have names for, but still knew they were karmic positives).
"Hey," Lyra said, trying to contain her own excitement at what she'd seen Tree doing. "What you were just—? No, we should save discussions for over food. Good morning, Tree."
"For sure. It's a blast to see you again, Lyra." Leading the way, Tree inhaled deeply within the bakery and absorbed all the fruit, grain, and sugary smells—all things that were perfect for ponies to eat. "Like, good morning, Mrs. Cake. Can I have a…"
"Y-Yes?" Cup asked.
"Surprise me," Tree said.
Stepping up beside Tree, Lyra looked through the glass of the cabinet. "I'll take a caramel and cream eclair, and a large chocolate shake, thanks."
Nodding in acknowledgment, Cup could see that Lyra had made her bakery into an impromptu office yet again. She didn't mind—particularly not with the times Lyra had helped her—but she was still vexed as to what to provide Tree. Then she remembered the pie Pinkie had baked earlier. "I'll have your things over in a moment if you'll take a table?"
Pausing for a moment, Lyra shook her head. "You know, I think I might take this one to go. Would you like to see the castle, Tree?"
For a moment Tree was confused as to why she'd want to see a castle, then she remembered the castle. "It would be, like, so interesting to see the castle of friendship."
Collecting their cakes and drinks (Mrs. Cake had insisted that Tree have a shake as well), the pair walked to the castle with a companionable silence that should have taken two friends years to develop. Both could feel the connection each had to the world.
As Tree approached the castle, she was confused at first. It was like there was a tree overlaid on top of the huge castle. It was more than just crystal and timber—the castle felt alive. "Whoah."
"It's like that, yeah." Lyra reached a hoof out and touched the castle, only to feel a sense of excitement about it. "I—I've never felt it like this before. I think it's saying hello to you."
Raising an eyebrow, Tree turned straight-on to the castle and held out her hoof to it; touching the wall. "Like, hello there, gnarly tree-friendship dude. It's nice to meet you, too."
Lyra felt the shift in the very field of friendship magic that was wrapped around the castle, but there was also a second resonance—harmony magic. Inhaling deeply, Lyra felt a distant echo of the time she'd held up and protected friendship magic.
"Your wings are showing," Twilight said from the door.
Lyra looked back over her shoulder and let out a gasp. "I'm not even doing magic! Make them go away!"
"I can't and, even if I could, I wouldn't. Equestria itself has decided your course, Lyra. You've never wavered on a task before." Twilight looked at Tree and gave her a warm smile. "Here for the tour?"
Barely noticing Twilight, Tree's attention was on Lyra. It didn't take a lifelong devotee to harmony to get some idea of what she was seeing. "That is far out! Like, you're going to be an—" She stopped talking mostly because there was a hoof pressed to her snout. She looked at the mint-green hoof's owner with a raised eyebrow and a knowing grin.
"You'll have to forgive Lyra. She's suffering from a unique form of blindness where she can't see the obvious, and she's deathly allergic to the A word." Twilight opened the door wider and made room for the two to follow her inside.
Focusing as best she could, Lyra managed to fold the two golden wings to her back and followed Twilight and Tree inside. She listened to Twilight explaining how the castle came to be while Tree replied with a few "far out"s and "whoah"s. It wasn't a standard spiel, Lyra realized. Twilight was leaving things out—mostly explanations and observations.
When the reached the map room, Twilight ushered Lyra and Tree inside. "You might as well eat in here. There are no requests for missions right now, but we're expecting more."
"This is where Lyra did it, right? It's like the world has a chakra point right—right here." Tree walked around the map, hoof reached out over it but not touching. "Like, she bonded with magic that night."
Twilight tilted her head to look at Lyra. "You're absolutely correct. We are still studying the full changes, but it seems like when she bonded with friendship magic, then passed that bond back to me, it left her open to all kinds of magic. She's not sustaining any of them, but I've read three research papers that all report every type of magic as being more stable since that night."
"What?" Lyra stared at Twilight. It was true that she'd been a little behind on reading new papers, but three on the same topic meant that somepony was tampering with her weekly delivery. She looked at Twilight and narrowed her eyes.
"You said you didn't want to hear anything about magic wings for a month." Sticking her tongue out at Lyra, Twilight giggled. "The papers are in the library, filed in the index cards under M."
"That's why my chakra feel like they're constantly being, like, cleansed just being around you?" It might have been inflected like a question, but Tree put the facts together and they made sense. "Far out. Is it like this every day here?"
"Every day? Probably about once or twice a week at most." Lyra started unpacking their cakes, breaking her own one in half and offering a piece to Twilight. "Speaking of week, do you still have that summit in Canterlot next week?"
Twilight might have, once, been capable of turning down such an offer. She had once thought Celestia was a bit of a glutton for sweet things—until she'd experienced the metabolism of an alicorn first-hand. "I hardly think I'll need guards for—"
"Right. I've already asked Spike if he can take care of things for you. Firelance and myself will be doing refresher courses with the Guard." Sipping at her drink, Lyra let out a happy sigh. "If you need us, you know where to find us."
Tree felt the good vibes coming from the pair and basked in the harmony present. She looked into the bag she'd gotten from the bakery and found an apple pie slice inside it. Just inhaling the sweet scent from the treat told her so much about how carefully it had been baked, how happy the pony had been who'd done so, and that all the ingredients had been brought together with joy in a pony's heart. But, what Tree in particular got most from the smell, was how relieved the apple trees had been to see their apples loved. The metaphysics of it would have probably driven her two companions a little crazy, but Tree could just accept that this was part of her talent.
"Uh…" Lyra stumbled as she realized that she and Twilight were excluding Tree. "Sorry, Tree, shop talk. Oh, that reminds me, how were you doing that thing where you were walking around town and boosting the level of harmony?"
A little confused by the description, Tree figured out what Lyra meant by the action described. "Karma? Yeah. I try to maximize my karmic intake and then share it to ponies who haven't had such a good morning."
"That's not how that should work," Twilight said. "Magic doesn't—Okay, I'm not going to finish that because if Lyra said that's what happened, then that's what happened. I'd like to know how, though."
"That's, like, just how it makes sense to me. Can I borrow some paper and a pencil?" Tree asked.
Lyra and Twilight both summoned the items at the same time, only with Lyra's magic her golden wings flared a little brighter.
Tree smiled and accepted both. Touching paper wasn't easy for her, she could feel the trees that had been cut to make it, but even as she braced herself she realized the scrolls she'd been passed were made from bark and not wood. The trees, she could feel, were still alive. "Gnarly. Alright, so there is karma—what you call harmony. That tends to build when you do something to help somepony else better their talents. Three mornings a week I volunteer my time at the art school in town—it, like, gives me such a rush of karma that I can help make everypony in town have a good day.
"Then there's your chakra." Tree sat back on her rump and crossed her back legs before her. "The power of your chakra come from your heart—"
"Emotive," Lyra whispered.
"… your body—" Ready for the interruption, Tree focused on her body-chakra.
"Motion." Now Lyra was taking notes on her own scroll.
"Each primary chakra is split in two. Your heart has positive and negative emotions." Putting her mind to expressing those, Tree let each out into the world—spun around each other—to keep a firm balance.
"Light and dark." Twilight was spellbound at how effortlessly Tree was manipulating real magic. "What about—?"
"Your body, constantly changing and adapting, is—"
"Change and chaos." Twilight was actually flapping her wings a little in excitement. "Tree, can you—" She cleared her throat and bowed her head, then went to one knee. "Tree Hugger, would you allow me to be your student so as to learn your way of doing magic?"
Tree blinked in surprise. "I—Uh—" She took a slow, deep breath, counted to twenty five, then slowly let it out as her chakra and karma reached equilibrium again. "That'd be an experience… uh?"
"Please, just call me Twilight."
"Hoopy." Tree smiled and nodded. "But no bowing, it messes with your karma."
A week. Lyra hoped that Twilight would understand what Tree was teaching her within that time. Finishing off her half of the eclair, she hoped nothing could go wrong in just one week while Twilight was otherwise focused.
The moment she thought that, Lyra tried to backtrack. Panic gripped her as she realized how she'd just tempted fate. "I'll leave you both to it, then? Firelance is on duty, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. He's in the kitchen with Spike learning how to make dragon chocolate cake." Butterflies were going wild in Twilight's stomach as she realized that, despite being an alicorn princess, she could still find a pony to teach her a new way of doing magic.
"The wedding is tomorrow, so we have plenty of time to help out and get everything set," Lyra said, serving a breakfast of honeyed oats to Sweetie and Scootaloo. "Got any plans today, Scoots?"
"Spending the day with the girls. We're going to be helping Apple Bloom do some work on the clubhouse." It wasn't that Scootaloo inhaled the oats. One moment there were oats in her bowl, the next moment her spoon was clanking into the bottom of said now empty bowl.
A knock at the door halted Lyra before she had a chance to sit down and have her own breakfast. "I'll get it." As she walked past Sweetie, she gave her wife a little nuzzle and found herself prancing a little more. When she opened the door, it was to see Derpy. "Hey! How are you today, Derpy?"
Doing a happy little dance with her forehooves, Derpy smiled as wide as she could. "I'm doing great, Lyra! I got all Matilda's invites done and sent in time, and my new job at the post office is going super well! Dinky said she'd be at the castle tomorrow for her lessons. I still can't believe she's going to the princess' school in two more months."
The letter Derpy passed Lyra looked completely normal in every way—except for the stamp of the E.U.P. Guard as the origin. "Time flies so much, and she's practically shooting up in height every single day. I can't wait to hear how she does at Celestia's school. It's a truly great place to learn about all aspects of magic."
The letter was addressed to herself and Sweetie, so Lyra casually opened it and then froze at the purple-colored paper within.
"Anything important?" Derpy asked, recognizing a change in Lyra.
"Oh, you know how it is with the Guard, every day is an adventure." Wanting to change the topic, Lyra picked the one thing Derpy could and would talk about all day. "Is Dinky ready for the interview day?"
"I wanted to ask you for help with that, actually." Looking down and rubbing her hoof against the ground, Derpy felt nervous about asking her friend for another favor. "The letter said both parents need to be present. I—Can you come and explain things?"
"I sure can. Just tell me what day you need me and I'll make time to come." Lyra was ready for the hug, and returned it. "Are you coming to the wedding tomorrow?"
"T-Tomorrow?" Derpy's eyes widened in shock. "Ohmygosh, I need to find Matilda!"
Lyra was almost sucked out the door by the back-draft Derpy made when she took off at full speed. She did have to exert more magic to hold onto the letter, which made her close the door quickly when she realized it made her wings appear.
"Stupid wings." Even as she said it, Lyra had a smile on her lips. The wings couldn't do anything as they were, but whenever she used the modified spell she made to manifest them, they really came to life. "Sweetie, I got a coded letter from the Guard."
Poking her head out of the kitchen, Sweetie Drops had to bite her lower lip. The bright, golden wings of Lyra's made butterflies go wild in her chest. "What's it say?" She couldn't look away from Lyra's wings, and when Lyra flared her magic to work the spell needed to unlock the message, they got brighter still and more defined.
When Lyra started reading and froze—dropping the letter—Sweetie could see panic and terror on her face. "What?"
"The bugbear leader was seen a day's hard gallop from here. He brought a warband of twenty bugbears with him. The Guard have harried them, but the damn things are moving too fast for any but pegasi to stop." Lyra stared at her wife as her blood ran cold. "They'll be here today or tomorrow."
"But all those bugbears would—We have to stop them!" Sweetie was already in motion toward the house's armory. "Can you get Firelance to help?"
Shaking her head, Lyra finally got to the end of the missive. "There are four squads of Monster Hunters outside town. They're coordinating with a squad of Wonderbolts to intercept the bulk of their forces. They want us to be ready in case one gets through."
Walking down the stairs, her hoof-claws and armor on, Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at them when both Lyra and Sweetie looked at her. "Come on, you don't think I'd back out on this? Plus, you need to go talk to Twilight. She is your commander."
"If you were in my chain of command already, Scoots," Lyra said, her tone threatening, "I'd have promoted you for that. Come on, you can help Bonny with her armor." Giving it her best effort, Lyra managed to fold the golden, ethereal wings to her sides.
Ten minutes later they were all dressed for a fight and mentally prepared. Stepping out of the house into the warming air of spring, Scootaloo took to the air and took a stock of the skies above Ponyville. "A few pegasi around, can't see anything out of the ordinary," she said when she got back to the ground.
"Good report. Thanks. Let's head over to the castle and pretend nothing at all is wrong," Sweetie said, absolutely not feeling like nothing was wrong. They all had their eyes peeled, keeping a lookout for anything big, buzzing, and furious. When the castle was in sight, though, all three let out a sigh of relief.
As soon as he hooves set on the stones of the castle, Lyra felt a strong connection with it. The magic of the castle spiraled around and buzzed through her, reassuring Lyra and promising support. "Thanks," she said, eyes closed, simply welcoming the support. "Okay, we should—"
"There you are!" Firelance called when he saw Lyra, Sweetie, and Scootaloo from down the hall. "Come on, Twilight and her friends are waiting for you!"
"And her friends?" Lyra asked, getting closer to Firelance and then leading the way into the map room with Sweetie. When Scootaloo chose to wait outside with Firelance, Lyra wasn't going to quibble.
"Here they are. Come on, Twilight, spill the beans," Rainbow Dash said, gesturing to Sweetie and Lyra. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm on weather duty today."
"This is a bit more important than the weather, Rainbow. I got a letter via Princess Celestia that had—Let's just say it had a lot of protection on it so only I could read it. There is a bunch of monsters storming toward Ponyville, and there's one pony in particular they are trying to find and—deal with.
"Eleven bugbears are rushing toward us. There are a lot of elite Guardponies who are primed and ready to stop them, but if any get through, we've been asked to deal with them before they can become a problem." Twilight smiled at Sweetie and then gestured at the map. "And it's not just Princess Celestia and the Guard who have asked."
Lyra looked. Six cutie marks swirled around one spot, and while she figured it was the castle itself, Lyra realized it was actually the town. "Huh."
"Some might try to figure out what other huge problem could require all six of us, but Lyra, I think you can leave this one to us." Walking around the table, Twilight hugged Lyra, carefully. "Isn't that right, girls?"
Even Fluttershy joined in the excited cheer, stomping her hooves in place and ruffling her wings. For a moment, while Twilight continued talking about plans and attack patterns, Fluttershy focused on Lyra and Sweetie. Every other pony in the room had been helped, in some way, by her. She, herself, had a lot of praise for Lyra's uniquely holistic method of connecting ponies who needed help with those who could, Rarity and Applejack's little sisters had both been protected by Lyra when nopony else could help them, she'd even heard that somepony with a lot of rank in the Guard had put in good words for Rainbow with the Wonderbolts. Pinkie, she knew, was a foalhood friend of Lyra's, as was Twilight herself.
The conversations around the map stalled as a sound like droning thunder blasted past the windows. Of the group, three of them turned and said the same word at the same time—"Wonderbolts."
It didn't take the group to race out and to the front gate where they found two ponies wearing Wonderbolts' uniforms guzzling down bottles of drink.
Stepping up first, Sweetie tried to hide her wince at seeing them drinking the Guard's special stimulant drink. "You have a report?"
Snapping a salute with her wing, Fleetfoot cleared her throat of the sappy-sweet drink. "Captain Sweetie Drops, the Monster Hunters engaged the attacking bugbears but two are missing. We spotted one, their leader, on his way here. We have to depart to track down the second."
"Thank you," Sweetie said, only spotting Fleetfoot's flight suit insignia barely in time, "Sergeant Fleetfoot. Dismissed."
"Alright, Silver, get the blood back in those wings. We have a bugbear to find." Following her own message, Fleetfoot started rolling her wings and getting ready to fly again. "Best of luck, Captain."
"You too." Sweetie turned, letting the wind of two extremely fast fliers buffet the ground around her while she stood perfectly steady. "We have one, maybe two bugbears coming here."
Twilight winced. She'd read the reports Sweetie had filed about how tough the things were during her time training in the Guard. They were reasonably resistant to magic and were tough physical enemies. "We can do this. The Monster Hunters will no doubt come after them once they've dealt with the group they engaged. We just have to keep them busy until then." She nodded to Rainbow. "Can you keep an eye out and report the moment you spot them? Either one. Bugbears can't fly far off the ground, so if they try to engage just get altitude."
All her friends stared at Twilight.
"Twilight," Rainbow said, "when did you suddenly learn all this—this stuff?"
Lyra snorted. "Come on, Rainbow, where does Twilight learn anything?"
Groaning, Rainbow nodded and jumped off the ground, hovering in place long enough to say, "books," before flying off.
"Thanks," Twilight said.
"No sweat. That's what your own Royal Guard are for, right?"
"Ahem." Applejack hadn't arched her eyebrow so high before in her life—or at least the last week. "Rainbow might fall for that, but how do you know all this?"
"That's—" Lyra didn't get any further with her next excuse—Pinkie had stuffed an amazingly delicious cupcake in her mouth. She chewed contentedly and shrugged her shoulders at Twilight.
Resigned to admitting her little subterfuge, Twilight looked at her friends. "When I realized I was going to have to get serious about being a princess and protecting Equestria, I asked Lyra to help me train in the E.U.P. Guard. I did the training for unicorns and pegasi, and then I had Sweetie Drops train me in the extra aspects of earth pony magic. I'm not really a leader because of that, but it helps with things like this—and when I had to fight Tirek."
Applejack felt the silence grow and was determined to ruin its reign of terror. "Mighty sensible if you ask me. Knowing how to do the work is the first step toward getting it done." She looked around at everyone present and noticed Rarity had a smirk. "What's so funny?"
"Darling, a seamstress always knows what physical activities her clients partake in."
"You knew?"
"Of course, dear. I knew the moment Twilight started tearing seams in the same places Lyra and Sweetie Drops tear theirs." Reveling in the small pleasure of gossip, Rarity said, "And, at least personally, I find it a great relief that Twilight has put so much effort into becoming the princess Equestria needs right now."
"I'll say!" Pinkie said. "So, what do we do, captain Twilight?"
Twilight felt relief at her secret being accepted. "I never got past corporal, Pinkie."
"I'm a corporal now?" Pinkie asked.
Reaching up and biting the cupcake in half, Lyra passed the second half to Sweetie. "I'd have to check, but that might actually be legal. Twilight, be careful you don't promote anypony by accident."
Narrowing her eyes at Lyra, Twilight smirked. "Is there a rank above captain?"
"Only princess," Sweetie said. She giggled when Lyra shuddered.
Fishing for a distraction from the topic, Lyra gazed up to see Rainbow Dash in a crash-dive; heading right for their group. "Oh, look, Rainbow's coming back."
Spreading her wings and dumping her speed into a controlled stall, Rainbow made sure there was still enough velocity to make a hard impact with her hooves when she hit the ground. "There's a bugbear racing toward Ponyville. It's not far off now."
"Just one?" Twilight asked.
The inflection of Twilight's question made Rainbow wince. "Yeah, I only saw one. How many are coming?"
"Two. The leader and one of the others. They evaded the Monster Hunters and were last seen coming here. Hopefully they're not together." Twilight wished she'd thought ahead to get her own armor made. "Sweetie, I hate to ask this, but can you work as our backup tackle. Lyra, I'd appreciate you being with us too. If the second bugbear shows up, we'll need all the hooves we've got."
Biting her lip, a little overwhelmed by her family and the literal heroes of Equestria preparing for a fight, Scootaloo stepped up to Lyra and forced herself to say, "This is a bit overwhelming."
"You want to hang back here?" Lyra asked, keeping her tone neutral. "I think we'll have enough already, so it's probably a good idea to keep a fast flier and a trained wizard back here at the castle."
The breath Scootaloo was holding, but didn't realize she had been, rushed out. "Thanks."
"Don't worry, you still might have to deal with some stuff here. Just remember your training and you'll be fine, Scoots." Turning her attention back to where Twilight was discussing tactics with her friends, Lyra walked up and took a position by her flank. When Twilight looked her way, Lyra nodded. "I've given Scootaloo and Firelance instructions to stay here and keep an eye out."
Twilight nodded. "Good thinking. Acting Corporal Scootaloo, Corporal Firelance, if you see anything you think we should know, contact us immediately."
Straightening up, Scootaloo performed a salute while, beside her and at the same moment, Firelance did another.
With Rainbow leading the way, the group set out to intercept the bugbear she'd spotted. The beast was too big to hide well, particularly from a pegasus' sharp eyes. "It's over there trying to use those trees to hide." Rainbow pointed in its direction.
"Alright, girls." Twilight pointed with her hoof. "Let's do this!"
Sweetie had thought she'd seen everything, but the tag-team of Pinkie Pie (who used illogic to just never be where the bugbear was swinging) and Fluttershy (who seemed to make the bugbear worried about hitting her) was a new one. That the pair could seamlessly melt aside to let Applejack or Rainbow strike, then fade back into position to cover for the strikers was just amazing.
Not that the bugbear didn't try to hurt the ponies—except for Fluttershy. As often as it swung at Pinkie, Fluttershy would shift her position to put herself in the way of the swinging claws—and then nod when it pulled the swing to avoid her.
It defied every convention and doctrine the Guard had, but Sweetie could see that it was working. The bugbear was slowing in its attacks, it was wearing itself out faster than six ponies around it were wearing out, and the one moment when it seemed like it was going to reach Pinkie, Rarity wrapped half a bolt of what looked like fine white canvas around all six of its legs.
With the bugbear quickly getting cocooned in canvas, Fluttershy walked up to it and glared at the beast. "That wasn't very nice! Why did you even come this far?"
Lyra sighed in relief. Fluttershy being angry was a nightmare—unless the anger was aimed at your enemy. She elbowed Sweetie. "You haven't seen them in action like this much, have you?"
"No. No I can't say I have. Something-something, working my flank off trying to secure dangerous things before fillies, colts, innocents, and not-so-innocents find them. You have your training session in Canterlot coming up, right? Is this the kind of fighting I should expect to see from you?" Sweetie couldn't pull her eyes away from the sight of Fluttershy outlining everything the bugbear did to make her cross—and the bugbear itself looking like it regretted waking up at any time during the current year.
"Bonny, I'm already known for my unique method of flying, that boat has already sailed. Just make sure you don't get stuck trying to train me."
"Oh, I already planned to be busy doing something else—right up until the very moment you're getting tested—so I can come and watch the poor officer set to ensure your skills are up to date." Walking closer to where Fluttershy was now trying to comfort the crying bugbear, Sweetie sighed. "Do we know where the other one is?"
"No." Twilight shook her head. "Fluttershy said this one didn't even know its leader had broken through the Monster Hunters' force."
"Thank you, Twilight." It was a relief to know that even if they didn't use standard tactics, there was a group of ponies that could take down a bugbear without so much as a scratch on either of them. "Hopefully those Wonderbolts will find—"
Sweetie's combat-sharpened instincts drove her into action. The huge bugbear was charging at her and didn't seem to mind that there was an alicorn in the way of its razor-sharp talons and huge stinger. Planting one hoof, she swiveled on it and shoved Twilight aside a moment before the bugbear slammed into her.
Knocked aside easily, Twilight regained her bearings and turned to see Sweetie being forced backward by the bugbear. The beast looked at least twice the size of the one they'd just dealt with, and Twilight was done trying to be nice.
A roar of magic sprung from Twilight to wrap around the bugbear and seal it inside a sphere.
Backing away a few steps, lest she accidentally ground out Twilight's barrier, Sweetie had a moment to see something around the bugbear's neck flash with green light before the barrier exploded outward.
"The trick with beating up bugbears, Sweetie Drops, is making yourself look bigger than them!" Pinkie said, landing on Sweetie's back with a particularly energetic pronk. She then had to jump again as a huge paw swiped where she'd been. "Oops, too big! Can't catch me, Mr. Crankybear!"
The bugbear, though, dodged around Pinkie and charged at Sweetie again. When its claws met her armor, the heavy plates screeched as the natural weapons tried to find purchase.
The cry from Sweetie's armor sent a shiver down Lyra's back, and just as her wife kicked the bugbear back, Lyra grabbed the ground underneath it and scooped it up—throwing the bugbear away. "Sweetie, drop your ground!"
It was a call that Sweetie had been working with Lyra on for some time. Hard as it was for Sweetie to purposefully lower her guard, she relaxed and drew her grounding up and let it go. Nodding, she felt Lyra's magic wrap around her and throw.
Earth ponies were not meant to fly. It was something Sweetie knew from the tip of her nose to the back of her wingless rump. She flailed in the air with no means to control herself, and then a unicorn appeared beside her. "Lyra!" She didn't bother to try to look down to see how the fight was going—she was completely discombobulated by the tumble she was in. "Are they okay?!"
"They literally beat up Tirek! Come on, let's get to the castle!" Juggling altitude and velocity, Lyra kept tossing herself and Sweetie back into the air. Though her magic regenerated fast, Lyra still hadn't a hope of maintaining her reserves when teleporting repeatedly, but they were so vast now she could easily keep going long enough to land them both on the ground out front of the castle with only a small thud at the end. "It was targeting you exclusively, and good as you are, Bonny, you can't evade that thing like Pinkie can."
Sweetie's shoulders slumped in defeat at that. "Is it my armor? Do I need better armor? I can't compete with Pinkie's… Pinkieness." She froze at the kiss on her cheek. Raising her eyebrow at Lyra, she waited for the explanation.
"You know this is when I say something especially sappy, right? Ready for it?"
Nodding, Sweetie said, "Yeah."
"For all that Pinkie is, for what she can do, and the amazing synergy she has with her five friends, Bon Bon, I'll take you by my side every time." Bumping her shoulder against Sweetie's, Lyra kissed her again. "Come on, let's see if we can catch Scoots and Firelance making out."
"Wait, it's that serious now?" Sweetie asked.
"I'll bet you they are. Loser makes dinner with the winner tonight." Lyra used her magic to open the doors, feeling her regeneration rushing to fill the void of magic left after she'd flown them back.
Sweetie closed the doors behind them with a thump despite not having put too much effort into it—almost like the castle was promising to defend her. As she walked, she took a moment to look at her side where she could feel the plates were dented in slightly. Her face paled a little. "Okay. Any objections I had to being removed from that fight are now null and void. My armor wouldn't have taken a second of those."
"I'll have a word with Sharp Horn. If she needs somepony to provide the magic to create powerful magic armor, well, I'll step up to—I win!" Lyra giggled as she spotted Scootaloo and Firelance hurriedly regain their composure and stand to attention. "We encountered the first bumblebear, then drew back when the main target ambushed us. Twilight and the others are dealing with it now."
"'Bumblebear'?" Firelance asked.
"Ugh! I just need to get a little momentum and people will start using it!" Lyra threw her hooves in the air as she walked into the map room.
"Lyra has, for a long time, been trying to get everypony to call them bumblebears. Nopony is going to call them that." Sweetie followed her into the room and immediately saw why they were here. The six cutie marks of Twilight and her friends were coming toward the castle.
Nodding to Sweetie, Lyra turned. "Corporal Firelance, I order you to call them bumblebears."
"Don't do that, Lyra. You'll wind up encouraging him to become insubordinate because bumblebear is silly."
"Sirs," Firelance said, happy that the argument seemed to be between Sweetie and Lyra. "They're almost halfway here." He very specifically didn't mention the bugbear.
"Scoots, can you fly out and see how far they are a—" Lyra didn't get to finish before Rainbow Dash crashed through the doors.
"Get Sweetie into town. Twilight said the only way to confuse that bugbear is to mingle her scent with lots of other ponies." Actually panting, Rainbow looked around the room for a moment before adding, "Should I try to make that an order or—?"
Focusing her magic down, Lyra teleported Sweetie two feet to the side, leaving her armor behind. She repeated the same for herself. "Come on, Bonny, don't question orders."
Narrowing her eyes, Sweetie said, "We're going to have words about random teleports." She followed Lyra as she walked out of the map room, though, all the way to the front door.
Leaving the castle behind, Rainbow took to the sky and burned magic and stamina to gain a lot of altitude very quickly. Looking over the castle and into the distance, she spotted the huge bugbear approaching. "Move faster! I can see it!" She was glad to see the two of them vanish a moment later. "Well, time to go be a hero, Rainbow Dash."
"What do we do?" Scootaloo asked, looking back at Firelance.
"In my capacity as Princess Twilight's royal guard, I have to say we keep following her order and guard the castle." Firelance used his magic to close the door again.
"How does something so big move so fast?" Rarity was not taking things well. Fighting a bugbear wasn't normally her style, nor was the running they were now doing. The only thing keeping her going was the fact that Twilight, whom was definitely a princess, was doing the running. In Rarity's rating of Things a Lady Should Do, anything a princess does is automatically on the list. So, struggling for breath and desperate to not ruin her mane, she galloped.
Not that Twilight wanted to discourage Rarity, but she had noticed a few things about the bugbear that had her wondering if there was more going on. "Somehow it got some magic items. I bet one of those is helping it do this."
"Want me to try getting a look?" Rainbow asked, flying along easily beside Twilight.
"No. You're one of the best ponies I know to have in a fight, Rainbow. I want you with us when we catch up." That's when Twilight remembered one of Lyra's tricks. "Hey, girls, drop to a canter for a bit. We all need to be on the ground for this."
"What do you me—?" The moment Fluttershy's hooves touched the ground (just behind Rainbow's), she felt the magic swell around her and they were now ahead of where they'd been. "… an? Oh."
Grinning, Twilight repeated the teleport, each time she did so she ensured to keep to only places she could see were clear. More work than a normal single teleport, but it meant they could keep running.
The final teleport brought them to the castle. "Rainbow, can you find it?" Twilight barely finished asking and Rainbow took off in a rush of her namesake.
"I'll look too." Fluttershy spread her own wings and took to the sky in a rush of not just determination, but joy that she could help.
After several seconds of just staring as Fluttershy disappeared somewhere over Ponyville, Twilight turned to look at her friends. "She's a lot more…"
"Yes," Rarity said.
"Yup," Applejack said.
"She's really outgoing now!" Pinkie drew the attention of her friends, who all turned to look at her. "What? It's true."
Twilight thought on it. "I don't think that's it exactly, not all the time. She still doesn't deal well with large groups, and she still gets frightened of things, but I just don't think she lets her anxiety and fear dominate anymore."
"Yeah," Pinkie said. "That sounds about right."
"How're we going to deal with the bugbear, Twilight?" Applejack asked. "It's not that I don't think we can, but we haven't had to deal with something this, uh, resistant to your magic before."
"My magic—" Twilight froze, a smile forming on her lips. "But that's only a third of my magic, isn't it?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Rarity asked.
"Rarity, there's an important truth that all unicorns have to come to terms with." As sincerely as she could, and without breaking into a fit of giggles, Twilight said, "Unicorns aren't the only ponies with magic. Pegasi and earth ponies have amazing magic that's all their own and"—she stretched her wings out and stomped one of her hooves—"and my own. This hasn't been working because I was only fighting with a third of my power."
"Uh, how much training have you had with your pegasus and earth pony magic, Twi?" Applejack wore a slightly concerned and slightly skeptical look on her face, though she feared that was becoming her resting face lately.
"Enough, I hope, and if it isn't—I have some great friends to help back me up." Twilight looked around her friends' faces and got a big boost from the smiles they shared with her. "Now, let's—"
"It's this way, Twilight!" Rainbow's voice struggled against the wind of her flight, but she stopped on a dime beside her friends. "Fluttershy's—We need to go help Fluttershy!"
Even Rarity didn't complain about the speed of their gallop toward Ponyville. Twilight teleported them once to the edge of town, but then it was just too tight to risk bowling anypony over. Or it should have been. The streets of Ponyville were almost empty and the town was far quieter than usual. "Where is everypony?"
"Don't you—remember? Cranky and—Matilda's—wedding!" Rarity had given up trying to look her best when Rainbow said Fluttershy was busy with the bugbear.
Twilight, looking down side streets and trying to find her friends, asked, "Isn't that tomorrow?"
"No, silly, it's definitely today! Derpy delivered all the invitations, she was saying, and they were all for today." Pinkie wasn't so much galloping as she was bouncing along. "What are we looking for again?"
"A bugbear," Applejack said.
"Ooooooh. Like the one over there that Fluttershy's fighting?" Pointing her hoof, Pinkie looked over at her friend who seemed to be doing a good job of evading the bugbear's attacks while also glaring at him.
Without any warning Twilight teleported them closer, then rushed up herself to charge the bugbear and drive her shoulder into it. She didn't have Sweetie's solidness, or the combat-sharpened skill with earth pony magic that the earth pony had, but Twilight was an alicorn, and that meant she was potent by default.
Slamming into the side of the bugbear, Twilight knocked it flying away from Fluttershy. Grunting at the impact, Twilight turned her head to glare at the bugbear, pumped her wings and charged again.
Jumping into the fray with her, Twilight's friends were not about to let her make it a one on one fight. She participated in the fight in a new way, sure, she used her magic, but it wasn't her only tool for dealing with things.
The other thing that Twilight did a lot more during the protracted brawl with the bugbear was watch her friends.
Pinkie Pie was all nervous energy. She distracted the bugbear constantly, always being where it didn't expect her to be—just when somepony else needed its attention off them. Twilight had no doubt that Pinkie could take a hit from the monster, but somehow it just couldn't connect with her.
Applejack was single hoofedly responsible for the few breathers they got. When she cast her lasso, it would hit its mark and quick as could be she'd have a limb tied down. Sadly, the strange magic items the bugbear had would glow and it would somehow rip free of the rope.
Fluttershy was a deadly wasp, flapping around the bugbear's head and, from time to time, making eye contact. It was usually in these moments that Applejack would launch her own attacks. It didn't take Twilight long to realize that Fluttershy was setting up fully half the openings they got to beat on the bugbear.
Rainbow Dash was, without a doubt, relentless. Every time she came down in a sharp dive, it ended with her planting her hooves against the bugbear and delivering all the kinetic energy into it. It was usually her that Pinkie was covering for (to buy her time to get out of reach again), but the work was worth it.
Lastly, and Twilight felt shamed to admit it, Rarity was doing fantastic work given their enemy was immune to direct magic. Rarity couldn't teleport, she couldn't land huge blasts of magic, and she definitely didn't know even the basic set of spells that the Guard taught—but Twilight noticed the little flashes of blue telekinesis everywhere. When Applejack was about to lose her footing while tugging on a rope she'd grabbed the bugbear with, Rarity helped hold her down. When Pinkie mistimed a jump to get away, a blue rush of magic yanked her away from the talons directed at her. Rarity's magic was everywhere at once helping in a thousand little ways.
Twilight almost felt like she was letting her friends down by just charging in and brawling with the bugbear.
Everyone was starting to get tired, though, but just when the fight seemed like it would never end—Rainbow dove in and, instead of landing a strike, she grabbed the magical collar around the bugbear's neck and pulled back up hard.
An oppressive weight was lifted from Twilight, and the moment it happened she found herself growling in victory. With a flash of purple magic she fitted chained cuffs on the bugbear's limbs and manifested a cage around it.
"Now!" Fluttershy hovered just outside the cage, staring at the bugbear with all her focus. "You and me are going to have a long talk, Mr. Bugbear."
The spells had been so simple—for an alicorn. The problem had been the collar blocking her magic. "Where's Rainbow?"
A whistling sound ended with a rainbow and blue ball of fluff hitting the ground hard. Everyone rushed over as Rainbow stood up, holding the collar around herself and giggling. "Okay, putting it around me while flying was a bad idea, but this thing makes it impossible to get hurt!"
"I'd love to know where the bugbear got it and what it does." Twilight, without thinking, tried to reach out and pick up the collar with her magic—only to have her purple telekinetic field just melt around it. "Oh, right, anti-magic."
"I got it, Twi. Where do you want me to take it?" Standing up, Rainbow was aware of a strange strength flowing into her. Lifting the heavy collar was so easy now.
Thinking fast, Twilight knew one place she didn't want to take the anti-magic item. "Let's not take it to my magical castle. So, uh, let's try to find Lyra and Sweetie."
"Given you asked them to hide, this won't be easy," Rarity said.
"Oh, I've got a pretty good idea where we can find them," Pinkie said, suppressing (badly) a giggle.
"Really?"
Nodding, Pinkie pointed toward the town center and the hall where two ponies wearing sunglasses were doing their best to blend in with a crowd wishing two donkeys all the best. "I bet they're over there."
It was impossible to be angry with Pinkie, or so Twilight reckoned, when she was actually right and just being more observant than everyone else. "Thanks, Pinkie. Okay, girls, let's—" Finishing her sentence wasn't apparently required, given Sweetie and Lyra were both trotting toward them. "Probably has something to do with the huge bugbear in a cage," Twilight mumbled.
As she approached, Sweetie was more than a bit wary of the caged bugbear. When she took her sunglasses off, it grabbed the bars of the cage and started trying to rip them apart. "Is that cage safe?" she asked Lyra.
"The cage is perfectly safe. I am sure it has never harmed anypony. The bugbear inside is about as safe as a bugbear can be, given I can still feel the hum of Twilight's magic buzzing around it." Lyra bumped her shoulder against Sweetie's and sighed. "Did I tell you today how much I love you?"
"Probably some time before I had a bugbear almost rip its way through my armor. But I could stand to hear it again."
"I love you so much I'd even run away from an enraged bugbear with you." Lyra kissed Sweetie's cheek. Turning to face Twilight and her friends as they got closer, Lyra asked, "You got the magic thingy off it?"
"Sure did," Rainbow said, stepping forward and using her wing to hold the heavy collar out to Sweetie. "Uh, you're in charge of dealing with these kinds of things, right?"
Sweetie nodded, taking the collar from Rainbow. At first its nullifying effect was all that touched her, then the strength and toughness reinforcement kicked in and she gasped out loud. "Wow. This is something else. We'll have to get this to Canterlot for study and security."
"What about the bugbear?" Rarity asked. She'd spent the last few minutes correcting her mane and finally felt presentable again.
"I think we'll leave that for the Monster Hunters when they arrive." Twilight, though, figured that the bugbear was going to be pretty worn down already since Fluttershy seemed to be giving it a good talking to. Twilight was glad her friend didn't ever think she needed that kind of talk. "Thanks again, girls, for the help with this."
"Ah shucks, Twilight, it weren't nothing." Along with her other friends, Applejack hugged Twilight until she was sure her message got across. "And you're welcome too, Sweetie Drops. I know we don't cross paths all that much, but if half the things I've heard about your work are true, you're as much a hero as anypony."
Sweetie almost choked at that. At a nudge from Lyra, she turned to look at her wife and saw her mouthing go hug them. Letting out a sigh, she walked forward. "I keep thinking that working in the Guard would get me used to working as part of a greater team, but you girls are the real deal when it comes to best friends overcoming anything. Thank you."
Joining in with her friends in mobbing Sweetie, Twilight hugged her mentor and gave her a good, earth pony sized squeeze. When everyone else had left, she remained behind to speak with Sweetie.
"You wanted a word?" Sweetie asked, knowing the way ponies tended to hang around after an event and what it meant.
"I need more training!" Twilight slumped in place. "This"—she gestured to the smoldering bugbear in its cage—"is a warning. I rely far too much on my unicorn magic. I've trained with it for over a decade! Please, I need to catch up! Is there a summer course? Maybe some kind of night classes I can take?"
"I think a better pony to ask about this is the commander of your guard. She has experience with training both regular ponies and alicorns, she is extremely flexible with the way she attacks problems, and I believe she will be dealing with that exact problem herself in the not-too-distant future." Tilting her head just a little, so that she could catch Lyra in the corner of her eye, Sweetie smirked. "Don't you have that big meeting to prepare for soon?"
"The Grand Equestria Pony Summit? I have so much to do still. There's no way I could do any training until after…"
Sweetie nodded. "I think you know what that commander could be doing while you're busy."
"Now if only I could convince dozens of ponies to all gather in Canterlot for a symposium on friendship at its largest scale, I would have no worries at all for at least a month." The very thought of having some time off, though, Twilight knew to be a dream that likely wouldn't come true for a long time.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather Firelance keep you company for this?" Lyra asked. She worried for Twilight because even an alicorn couldn't handle three days without sleep with no repercussions. "He could ensure nopony bothers you."
"I'll"—Twilight froze as another yawn caused her to momentarily stop being able to function—"get Spike to take care of it or something. You go, ensure Den's representative has everything he needs." Immensely thankful for the foresight of writing her speeches in advance, Twilight shook her head as she started to waver while walking. "Sp-Spike? Lyra, could you teleport us both to our quarters?"
Knowing better than to bother trying to explain her plans for Alicorn Training to Twilight while she was in this state, Lyra waited for Spike to come running over and reached her magic out to touch both—running the calculations for a complex teleport in her head—then let loose with the blast of magic needed to rip three ponies through two points of space without bothering with intervening references.
Twilight, as Lyra and Spike realized, wasn't going to make it to her bed. Lyra caught her while Spike jumped onto the bed and pulled back the covers.
"Thanks. She should just bomb out for about eight hours. Just keep the door locked and I'll spread the word that she's recovering and won't be available." Lyra let Spike tuck Twilight in.
"And what if they ignore you?" Spike asked.
"Then I'll spread my wings and yell a lot. It seems to work for Luna." Reaching out a hoof, Lyra ruffled Spike's crest. "Don't forget. If you get overwhelmed, come find me."
"H-How will I find you?"
"Easy. I'll be escorting a griffon around all day. Just look for the explosions." Lyra gave Spike a salute and made her way to the door. There was an odd twitch in her step—something was going to go wrong today and she had no idea if it would be her fault.
Lyra dipped her head and bowed low. "Mayor Gavin, Her Royal Highness Princess Twilight Sparkle wishes you to have your own guide to Canterlot."
Gavin took a slow, deep breath through his nose and let it out with a slight whistle. "There must be some mistake. The other guests aren't getting… What rank are you?" He'd done a little research before arriving. Starting a new town hadn't exactly left any of the residents of Den with a lot of time, nor did it afford a mayor that could just sit in an office and do paperwork—but he'd made an effort.
Lifting a hoof, Lyra coughed into it and said, "Captain."
"You'll have to repeat that. I'm a little hard of hearing." Lifting a talon up, Gavin fussed with the feathers on the right side of his head.
"Twilight has exactly two guards. She thought it'd be a wonderful joke if she made me the same rank as the senior officers of all the other Guard divisions. So, my rank is captain."
"That also makes you a commander. Only two guards? Where's the other one?" Gavin was mildly distrustful now. None of the other delegates had a minder, let alone a princess' Guard commander. "And why me?"
"Firelance is checking on a few other guests for me. As for why you, Twilight decided it would be best if Equestria's newest mayor had an easy way to deflect the more insistent city leaders if they tried to push you around, not that I don't doubt you could push back, but this will be the worst kind of fight." It was Lyra's most diplomatic way of putting it, and she still felt ham-fisted.
"'The worst kind of fight'?"
"Politics," Lyra said. "They'll be all smiles while trying to get concessions. And that's just the other mayors. There will be worse predators here—nobles."
"Are they really that bad?"
"It depends. I can point out one or two who will play nice. Don't get me wrong, they're all fiercely loyal to the princesses and Equestria, but they didn't get where they are and stay there by being exceptionally generous." In her armor, and specifically on duty, Lyra felt relaxed and at ease. "So, if you see somepony approaching with more expensive clothes than your house, feel free to just defer to me."
A growl rose in Gavin's throat. He shoved it back, but not before Lyra gave him an odd look. "Sorry, predator urges. Challenging leadership and all that. I've got a grip on it."
"If you'd like to spar later, and test out your claws, I'd be happy to." Lyra could probably deal with Gavin, she thought, so long as he started at least four ponylengths away from her.
It caught Gavin off-guard enough that his primal emotions receded. "I'm a little rusty, but I think I would like that. Is this one dangerous?"
"Jet Set! Lyra stepped to the side to do introductions. "This is Gavin, mayor of Den. I'm sure the princess has you well-informed of their goings-on?"
Dipping his head slightly, Jet gave his best not-exactly-fake smile. "Of course. Princess Luna would not be pleased if I were to miss such an important new addition to Equestria. Population a hundred and fifteen griffons, thirty-eight ponies, and four diamond dogs. You produce some of the finest wool in the country, and if I'm not mistaken that will change to producing the actual finest wool within five years. The majority of your town, if I'm not mistaken, were griffons who were dissatisfied with the politics of your homeland. A most agreeable settlement and a new jewel in the crown of Equestria."
Gavin just stared. Even he didn't have all their population numbers to heart like that.
"Jet, I'm sure you prepared well for this meeting, but there's no need to show off. Gavin, this fine gentlepony is Jet Set, Princess Luna's seneschal. He is one of the nobles you can actually count on to play nice." As she spoke, Lyra heard an exasperated sigh from Jet. "Though, if his wife is with him, be careful. She's every bit the shark he is not."
"Captain Heartstrings, please, we are all friends here today. We are celebrating and reinvigorating the heart of Equestria's power—its communities." Jet felt his honor somewhat salved by the wince Lyra made when he used her title. "I'm surprised Princess Twilight isn't here."
"How often have you seen her over the last three days?" Lyra asked. When Jet raised an eyebrow, Lyra nodded. "She hasn't slept a wink for two full nights. It took Princess Celestia ordering her to bed to stop her constant need to adjust things."
"How did she even manage that?" Gavin asked.
"She's been trying to master her earth pony magic and that means stamina training. From what I've heard, there's a reason earth ponies don't often drink coffee in the morning—they just don't need it." Changing tack a little, Lyra turned her attention to Gavin. "So, what events were you planning to attend?"
Trying not to slump, but resigned to it, Gavin gestured around. "It's like you said before, the other towns, I'm sure, will have good ideas and plans, but I don't know how that will help Den. We need—Well, we don't need much, but ideas would help. Right now our wool sales combined with the lack of leasing fees are what keeps us going, but there are going to be bad years, and I don't want kittens, foals, and pups going hungry."
Jet cleared his throat. "Well, an outpost of the Guard might help with that. I believe there's a special stipend to towns supporting one. I didn't see the report on food supplies, but so long as you can keep, say, five ponies in food you can sustain an outpost."
"That—" Tilting his head a little to the side and trying to figure out the numbers, Gavin spoke his logic as he pondered it. "That might work. We do have plenty of pony food, it's keeping all the griffons fed that is the issue."
"I'll see about getting Captain Stiff Peaks to forward you the information before you leave." Jet sketched a bow, content that he'd convinced his first border town to accept the new idea Princess Luna had helped draft. "You'll have to excuse me, I believe I am needed by royalty."
"That means," Lyra said, conspiratorially cupping her hoof over her mouth, "that he just noticed Luna looking his way. Tethered at the flank, so some say. Kindred spirits."
When Jet had marched away quickly in Luna's direction, Gavin asked, "I thought you said he has a wife?"
"Yes, Luna and Jet took Twilight's friendship lessons to heart. I'm actually quite proud of having introduced them. Just don't believe Jet if he tries to explain my work as blackmail." Gesturing to the canapes table, Lyra was well aware of who was standing there. "You're in the south-east. You don't have any problems with dragons?"
"We're lucky, there. There's an old dragon in the hills outside town. We give her a few gems in payment to keep away any of her younger kin. Besides, it's not like she eats anything softer than soapstone—our sheep are perfectly safe." Gavin froze as his eyes narrowed on the end of the table. There were several large fish, even some finer seafood. "You—You wouldn't be offended by me eating, would you?"
Leading the way to the carnivore end of the table, Lyra picked up one of the lobster claws and made a show to Gavin of enjoying it. "Not one bit. I won't be eating too much, though. For all I enjoy the taste of seafood, unicorn bodies aren't equipped to deal with it in large quantities."
"I've never seen a unicorn eat it at all." Gavin, unlike Lyra, had a plate brimming with bits of seafood, not the least of which being two lobster claws. He watched her grab a few other things, more traditional pony food this time, from the table. In a moment of weakness he selected one of the little cupcakes as well. "Do you hear yelling?"
Lyra went on alert. Turning to put herself between Gavin and the calm crowd of ponies present, she was more than a little perplexed—until she remembered griffons had better hearing than ponies. "Where do you hear it?"
"Outside." Gavin had been surprised by the response. Griffons tended to raise their voices often, though in Den they had learned to keep such outbursts civil. "Just outside this window and down a bit."
As one of Twilight's representatives, Lyra knew it was partly her job to help deal with such things, but there was her duty. She managed to catch the eye of a Royal Guard and walked briskly over to her.
"Captain Heartstrings. What can I do for you?" Bottle Rocket remembered well the unicorn she'd joined the Guard with, though the serious expression on Lyra's face indicated that now wasn't the time to offer pleasantries.
"Sergeant"—Lyra racked her brain and came up with the right name—"Bottle Rocket, there may be a disturbance outside. I'm bound by orders to keep my charge safe—"
Giving a quick nod, Bottle turned to the stallion beside her. "Corporal Rhodolite, with me."
Watching the two march off, Gavin approached Lyra. "Am I a problem?"
"Nope. Not at all. In fact, you've been a help. Please, don't hold back telling me if you think something is going wrong." Doing her best to put a bright face on it, Lyra gestured to a quiet area in the huge ballroom. "Let's eat and I can try to figure out who would make a good connection next?"
The next few introductions were easily done. Lyra rounded up the ponies Gavin would need to boost his town's exports one by one: the Guard's quartermaster had been a wonderful first target, she then found Cadance, who was just talking up how much she'd been working to attract griffons to the Crystal Empire when Bottle Rocket returned. Lyra, feeling that Gavin was in good and safe hooves with Cadance, slipped aside for a moment to find out what had happened. "Bottle?"
"Captain I—"
"Speak freely, Sergeant."
Grinning, Bottle relaxed a little. "The weirdest stuff is going on. There are construction ponies just standing around a broken water pipe, watching it. There was a pony there to trim the trees, but he was just standing around too. The actual noise was a group of attendants complaining about being lumped together. When I asked everypony what was going on, I was told it was Princess Twilight's orders." There was, in her mind, nothing better than being asked by a higher up what was going on—it meant she wouldn't have to figure out what was going on, just how to fix it.
Lyra stopped and tried to focus on the facts, but when she saw Cadance finishing up with Gavin, she had to surrender her time back to the griffon. Mentally filing away talk to Twilight about better use of resources for a later conversation, Lyra sighed. "I'll ask somepony to go and find out what's going on. Thanks, Bottle." Pausing a moment before walking back over to Gavin and Cadance, she said, "The armor looks good on you."
Clicking her forehooves together, Bottle Rocket snapped off a salute. "Thank you, sir."
Returning the salute, Lyra turned and made her way over just before Cadance managed to get away. "Oh, Your Highness?" Grinning, Lyra swept her best deep bow to Cadance. "Might I trouble you for a favor?"
"Lyra, knock it off. I even managed to get Gavin to just call me Cadance." It had been a long day already for Cadance, and it wasn't even halfway through the afternoon. "Spit it out."
"There's a lot of strange stuff going on outside, apparently at Twilight's orders. I don't suppose you could…?" Trailing off at the confused expression on Cadance's face, Lyra wound up just raising an eyebrow.
"I asked Spike if he could make sure nopony bothered Twilight. I guess there isn't much else for it but to send out a Royal Guard to take up the post and ensure she can get a little sleep for tonight's big event." Cadance was not appreciating the role of foalsitter today. She'd already spoken to Spike once, and though he technically counted as a hero in her homeland, she had to remind herself that he was still just a baby dragon.
Left once more to stew in the inner ballroom with Gavin and a bunch of other city leaders, Lyra let out a sigh. "So, if I don't miss my guess, your largest neighbor is Baltimare, right?"
"Yeah. It's a long way north up the coast, though. What we really need is a railway spur to Den. If we could extend the Dodge City line…"
"Hayseed Swamps put a nix on that. You could have a team of unicorns blasting that muck for a year and still have whole lengths of track just disappear into the mud. Why not a dedicated line down from Baltimare—along the coast?" Lyra focused for a moment and, instead of using her magic to sketch a spell pattern in its lowest power, she instead drew a map of the region with her gold light.
Taken aback at first, Gavin tried to ignore the fact the pony he was with just made a map mid-air with her magic and focused on her suggestion. "That would help us tie in better with Baltimare and Fillydelphia. That's still a lot of track, and you'd need a bridge at the river."
"Right, but you could skirt the swamp down the coast and have it come right into town. Would you like me to find somepony you could talk to about this?"
"You can't tell me there's going to be someone from the Equestrian Engineers here." Glaring at Lyra, Gavin dared her to just summon said pony from thin air.
"Nah. We'd be better off talking to Princess Luna anyway. Since she's been back, she's become quite a patron of Equestria's public services. The railway, the post office, and even the office of records have all found her to be an excellent figure for them to liaise with." Gesturing forward, Lyra started a slow prancing walk.
"Do you know all the princesses?" It was starting to become a little unbelievable. Gavin could sort of get that she'd know one or two, particularly when she was the captain of one of their guards, but the familiarity with Cadance had him a little confused. "Who are you again?"
"If I told you I was just a happily married mare with a filly and a neat job, would you believe me?" The look in Gavin's eyes told Lyra that no, he hadn't believed her. "Well, it's true, but I've also done some stuff for Equestria, helped out a pony or two, and now I'm helping out a nice griffon who only seems to want what's best for those that depend on him."
Gavin wanted to argue, but it was becoming apparent to him that Lyra literally knew everyone he needed to be in contact with to get the town what it needed. He pulled out the notepad he'd brought with him and examined everything he'd set in motion so far. Trade deals, money flow from setting up a Guard outpost there, and now he was going to see a princess about a train. "Th-Thanks."
"No problems. Remember, Equestria is all about friendship. We all grow stronger as each pony, dragon, griffon, and diamond dog grows stronger." Spotting Luna about to duck down a hallway, Lyra had to speed up to catch her before she escaped. "Princess Luna! What a surprise!"
Luna froze. It wasn't that she wanted to shirk her duty, but she was a little sick of ponies coming directly to her for minor problems when any of her carefully appointed aides could perform the task without having to describe each and every problem to her. Lyra Heartstrings, however, had a pass. Having found most of Luna's aides for her, the mare knew what each of them could handle and what needed to go to her directly. "Yes?"
"Trains." Lyra smiled, her grin growing as it was answered by one on Luna's face. "The griffon mayor of Den, on the south-east coast of Equestria, would like to know if it would be possible to build a railway line to his town."
"Will there be a bridge? What line did you think to extend? Would we have an excuse to vaporize that whole swamp? Can I do it?" Luna was trying not to bounce up and down in excitement. Equestria's railways were a delight to her. The timing of them combined with the sense of impossibly large motion with so little magic was itself a special kind of magic to her. "Can I drive it?"
Lyra thought for a moment and then said, "Yes, Baltimare, no, no, and probably. I don't know as anypony in the Engineers would stop you, though you might need to get some training first."
Eyes widening more, Luna trembled for a moment before her wings shot out in surprise. "I COULD DRIVE TRAINS?!"
The Royal Canterlot Voice was something to behold. For Lyra—at point-blank range and in her armor—that meant being forcefully slid back a full ponylength. For Gavin, it meant stopping and clamping both his talons over his ears—not that it helped.
"Come! We must go to the train room!" Luna reached out with her magic to catch up Lyra and Gavin while they were still both stunned by her voice, then teleported all three of them to a huge room in Luna's own tower.
Whatever Lyra had expected, a full layout of Equestria built in miniature, with trains zooming around it, wasn't it. She knew Luna loved trains, but this was a level of devotion to them that Lyra found both amazing and adorable. "Wow."
"Now," Luna examined her map while levitating some fresh new track, "where is this town and how do you propose we build a railway out to reach it?"
Walking up to the massive map, Gavin tapped the shore south of Horseshoe Bay, where the land bulged out the most. "Here's where Den is. Lyra was saying that the swamp was too much to try laying track into, and we'd be better off going up the shore to Baltimare."
Narrowing her eyes, Luna nodded. "Yes. Then we need a bridge"—she reached out with her magic to her collection of assorted rail-bridges and plucked out one of the modern ones—"and we may have to destroy some of the forest along the edges of the shore. The last thing you want is a track where the trains have to run slow from start to end."
Lyra managed to resist helping the pair for nearly twenty seconds—basically the moment Luna produced the awesome little suspension bridge, Lyra became invested with the project. "If you have the bridge too close to the mouth of the bay, and too low, won't it obstruct boat traffic from reaching the docks up here?"
"You are correct, Lyra Heartstrings." Luna swapped out the small bridge for something far taller and more grand. She set it down and started adjusting the railway yard for Baltimare so it had a new outbound track, but also had a split back that allowed it to join the main line back to Canterlot.
Carefully placing the track, joining it up with absolute precision, Luna soon had the new line curling slowly out along the shore of Horseshoe Bay in what she knew was a slow enough curve not to impede the speed of a train. "This is the tricky part. A straight line from here down the coast would be optimal, but without knowing how problematic the swamps are, I simply cannot plan this correctly. Come, we must inspect the swamp!"
"Wait!" Gavin barely got the word out, which halted Luna's teleport a fraction of a second before she carried it out. "I appreciate this, but don't we need to notify the Engineers to let them know to start planning?"
"While Lyra only has moderate engineering experience," Luna said, "I have taken it upon myself to obtain a civil engineering degree for just such a purpose." She started connecting the little tracks on the map and carefully moving aside the flock and working it around the track she placed. "I happen to also have a diploma in railway layout and bridge design."
"Really?" Lyra asked. When Luna nodded, Lyra let out a sigh. "That's so cool! So, do you think we can build the railway along the shore?"
"I will have to inspect it. Unless it is mangrove swamp or, worse, peat bog, there should be a suitable substrate to support a train." Luna gave a little nod of self-assurance that her plans would work. "And, if there isn't, I will ensure there is. And I will get to build a bridge!"
Gavin was at a loss. Somehow he'd managed to get royal authority to begin constructing a railway line to Den, and it wasn't even something he'd hoped to accomplish. "How did that happen?" he asked.
Leading the way out of the royal suites, back down to the symposium, Lyra asked, "What, Princess Luna teleporting us?"
"No. Well, yes. This was nothing like I expected. I thought I'd be welcomed and then politely pushed to the back while the bigger cities discuss important things." Pulling the scroll from the pouches he wore over his back, Gavin shoved it at Lyra. "This is going to keep the town busy for years!"
The panic and enthusiasm combined reminded Lyra of Twilight and, she had to admit, herself. "That's a bad thing?"
Taking the list back from Lyra, Gavin gave his wings a good fluffing up before letting loose with a squawk. "No. And that's the worst bit. I came here expecting very little beyond acceptance." He looked at Lyra and narrowed his eyes. "I'd almost wonder if this was a set up, if everyone wasn't so—so sincere."
"They are."
"I know! That's what makes this hard to figure out. When we left the griffon lands, we didn't expect any kind of welcome. We asked around, we set down roots where no one else was, and even had some non griffon friends join our family.
"And it is a family. When you spend a year or two struggling to live, each giving up food so others could eat, it brings you closer together. We expected to be left alone if not shunned. We were okay with that, so long as we didn't have to deal with the greed of other griffons again.
"So, coming here, I expected ceremony and welcome, but I didn't expect"—he waved the scroll in the air—"this." Stopping dead in his tracks, Gavin looked around and then gestured in the direction of a wall. "I hear a lot of water."
Knowing there was a hallway on the other side of the wall and then the dining room on the other side of that, Lyra instead aimed her teleport at the dining room's front door. "Hold on." When she felt Gavin's talon clutch at her back, Lyra finished up the calculations and teleported from point to point without traveling through the intervening walls.
They were just in time to see Fancy Pants yank the door open and let a wave of water come rushing out. Not one to be caught off-guard, Lyra put up a shield to keep the pair of them dry while the water rushed down the hall. When the wave had passed, she let her golden magic evaporate with a small pop.
What surprised Lyra more was a literal mob of city dignitaries rushing into the room all shouting about something. She headed in with Gavin by her side.
And that's when the arguments really started. "Is this normal?" Gavin asked, looking to Lyra.
With the way everyone was yelling about Twilight, Lyra was sure that the issue would be dealt with shortly. "Nah, this is extra normal. I would have been surprised if nothing had gone wrong."
"Is this really something to be calm and dismissive about? What were they angry about?" Walking around the room that now had a high-tide mark at around head height, Gavin spotted the pile of precious stones and his heart caught in his chest.
Walking over to the stones, he picked up the one from Den. "This is normal?"
"Sometimes things have to be allowed to dip a little before you can see how good it can become." Looking down at the rest of the gems, Lyra felt a stir of magic among them. "I can promise one thing, if you trust Twilight, she'll fix everything."
They didn't have long to wait. Not five minutes later Twilight, Cadance, and Spike walked back into the hall with all the furious ponies behind them. When Gavin looked at Lyra, hoping to see some semblance of the super-resourceful mare that had been helping him all day, he saw her smile.
"There's a reason Twilight became a princess, and it isn't entirely because she is exceptionally good at magic. Watch." When the crowd came in, and Twilight gave Spike a little talk about responsibility, Lyra could feel a huge whirlpool of harmony magic swirling around the room.
What was obvious about the situation was that Spike had gotten in over his head. His confused description of what he'd done wrong appeased the guests, and doubly so when he apologized repeatedly for it.
Leaving Spike to finish making amends, Twilight noticed Lyra looking satisfied with herself. Edging around the stage, she dropped off the side. "I'd ask how this happened, but I remember giving you marching orders and instructions not to spend the day guarding me."
Reaching her hoof up, Lyra gave Twilight a gentle boop on the nose. "Right. So I did what you asked me to do and trusted you to sort this mess out when you woke up—which you did. I'd call that teamwork."
"How was Gavin? Any problems with him?" Seeing the ponies, and the griffon in question, reassembling the gemstone statue, Twilight was relieved that things at least ended the right way.
"No problems at all, in fact. I believe you should ask him yourself, though." Twilight's glare didn't exactly cow Lyra, but it did prompt her to explain. "I talked with him to find out what his town, Den, needs. They need bits, they need trade partners, and they need a way to grow both. I had them connecting with other nearby cities to arrange exchanges of goods. I arranged for an assessment to have a Guard garrison there, which will earn the town bits from the Guard to maintain it, and it will mean more ponies with bits will live there. Plus I might have gotten Luna excited about building a railway line there."
"A railway line? Why would you go to Princess Luna with that?"
"Twilight, do you know which of the currently reigning princesses has a civil engineering degree? I'll give you a hint, the same one who has graduate diplomas in railway engineering and has become the patron figure of the Equestrian railway service." Lyra watched Twilight's confusion turn to incredulousness by the time she finished talking. "You get just one guess."
"She got an engineering degree? It's only been—Oh. It's been five years, hasn't it?" Slumping a little, Twilight let out a groan. "It's hard to remember what's going on in the world for others when—"
"When you're saving the world every other weekend?" Lyra asked helpfully.
"How are your wings coming, Lyra?" Twilight asked, changing the topics. "I wonder how it will go with you. Inventing a new kind of magic? Saving an entire town from disaster? Maybe even—" Twilight managed to laugh around Lyra's hoof pressed to her mouth.
"If you must know, it's getting harder to banish them. Even hours after using magic they're still there. Twilight, is this really what's happening to me? Am I really going to—I can't even say it." Lyra reluctantly removed her hoof from Twilight's mouth.
Twilight didn't reply verbally. Instead, she stepped closer to Lyra and, ignoring the armor her friend wore, she hugged Lyra tightly. When Twilight felt Lyra returning the hug, she let out a happy sigh. "Lyra, you live to help others—every day of your life. If it were up to me, I'd give you every power in Equestria to keep doing that for as long as you possibly can—just to see how far you can go and grow with it. I am sure there is something big in your future. I don't think you'll just wake up one day and, bam, alicorn. Harmony has plans for us all."
"You're just saying stuff I already said." Squeezing a little tighter, Lyra finally felt returned to herself and leaned back from Twilight. "Thanks."
"It's what friends are for." Booping Lyra back, Twilight rolled her shoulders and yawned. "What does Sweetie think of it?"
"The wings?" Lyra snorted and shook her head. "If she had her way, I'd have the spell up all the time. You know, the first time I took her out on a date, I begged Cadance for help to arrange something special?"
"You told me this one before. It's why I asked, you goof." Twilight realized then that a crowd was starting to gather that seemed far more focused on her than any of the other issues that'd happened. "I think play time is over. I don't suppose, Lyra, you could find me something to eat?"
"And a drink. Coming right up, Your Highness." Lyra gave her best courtly bow (which she'd been practicing), and then backed her way out to let the group approach Twilight without committing a social faux pas.
The day wore on to evening and, soon enough, the first mayors were begging their leave from the first Grand Equestria Pony Summit to get rides home on trains or skyships. Gavin, with all his business taken care of, edged his way over to where Lyra and Firelance were standing.
He'd been forced to eat a little of his pride during the event, thanks to Lyra getting him exactly what he needed. Now, though, he had just one favor left to ask. "I was all set to leave when I realized something—we didn't get a chance to spar."
Raising her eyebrow, Lyra smiled at Gavin. "You saw a little of what I could do today. Are you sure?"
"I saw a mare with some good teleportation skills. I did talk to Captain Stiff Peaks a little earlier, and he seemed interested in seeing how well a griffon would do against a trained unicorn." Flicking his tail in excitement now, Gavin looked between Lyra and the younger stallion present.
Lyra, for just a moment, considered telling him that Stiff Peaks was trying to set him up. "You don't mind if I wear armor? It takes a while to remove this when I have it tacked as a dress uniform."
"It will mean I can use my claws and teeth a bit more. Is there somewhere particular for it?"
Nodding toward a nearby Royal Guard, Lyra waited for him to march over before asking, "Is there somewhere in the castle grounds where we could do a little sparring?"
Glancing over to Bottle Rocket, Pace Setter got her attention and she walked over to them. "Captain Heartstrings asked if there was somewhere she could spar."
"The training hall would be best. Follow me." Bottle had overheard Lyra and Gavin talking, and she was excited to see any demonstration that her former fellow cadet would put on. Marching them out to the attached garrison and training area for Royal Guards, she led them inside. "This will do?"
Lyra had heard Scootaloo talk of the Royal Guard garrison and some of their training. It felt like she was walking on hallowed ground to cross the dirt floor and turn to face Gavin. In his eyes she could see someone trained to fight and a natural predator. "Bottle, can you give us a count?"
Bottle was more than a little curious to see how the mock battle would go. She'd made her own assumptions on Gavin, combining the natural prowess of a griffon with the likelihood that he'd had training on top of that. She didn't like the idea of having to fight him herself, and would have called for backup the moment things had gotten serious. Lyra, however, was a unicorn who'd literally written the book when it came to modern unicorn combat techniques. "Five. Four. Three. Two. Go!"
For Lyra, starting just five ponylengths from Gavin was too close, but it was the standard distance for such sparring sessions. So, to correct this grave injustice, she teleported back and at a slight angle to triple that distance.
Gavin had expected some quick magic, but the teleport threw him off his initial idea of pounce-tackle-win. Lyra had put herself out of easy pounce range, which meant he would have to telegraph any attack to get within range. Griffons, though, were not land-based predators. Spreading his wings, he coiled his legs and jumped into the air.
"Unsurprising," Lyra muttered under her breath. She already had a teleport readied, but firstly she wanted to give Gavin some things to think about. First was a combat shield that would appear opaque from the outside but was fully transparent from within. Second was an illusion of a copy appearing on the other side of the arena, likewise putting up a shield. Finally, she grabbed at Gavin's body and pulled down.
Having gravity become twice as strong was not on Gavin's to-do list. He lashed out with his talons at the magic field and jerked backward hard with his wings. When the grip of Lyra's telekinesis broke, he gave a screech of excitement. Not all griffons used dragon scales to strengthen their claws, but the guards of Den did—plying the old dragoness with gems for access to her cast-off scales to make them far more effective in combat against magic users. "Going to have to do better than—"
It was instinct that made Gavin throw himself aside as a beam of coherent magic shot toward him. His claws could cut through magic readily enough, but there was a lot of griffon that wasn't wrapped in them.
More and more beams. Lyra made them dance around the room as she, cheating a little, burned vast amounts of magic to create weak spells. Not that they were all weak—some were strong enough to give a nasty burn. Another teleport fakeout, and another barrier up—then to make it more tricky she actually teleported into that shield.
Gavin knew it was only a matter of time before he would miss a swerve from one of the beams. He'd already had one sear a few hairs on his tail, and had worked up his adrenaline to the point where everything was slowing down. Here and there a beam was about to touch him, but a casual wave of his talons not only stopped the beam but made that one fail and sputter out completely.
Lyra barely had a single second to come up with a teleport calculation when she realized Gavin was diving at her shield—talons first. This time she appeared out in the open and snapped another shield up. More and more and more beams, flickering and dancing, weaving and searing the air as they swept around in pseudo-random patterns.
As his peripheral vision started to strain to the point where he couldn't keep track of the beams anymore, Gavin felt something grab him and realized he was done. "I cede!" No sooner did the words leave his beak than all the beams and all the shields vanished and a very overworked unicorn with glowing golden wings lowered him to the floor.
"You really pushed me, there," Lyra said as she approached Gavin. "I was kinda cheating, using weaker than normal beams, but I think you have to explain those talons to me." Something, though, felt off to her. For one thing Gavin was staring at her with flagrant awe in his eyes. When she turned to look around the room, three things became apparent. The first thing she realized was she'd gained an audience that included Celestia, Cadance, and a group of guards—all of which were looking on with shock on their faces. The second and third things were the glowing wings on her back that were barely visible at the edges of her eyes. "Oh dammit."
Walking forward, her hooves making a slow clopping noise on the stone before she reached the gravel of the arena, Celestia wore a big smile and focused both eyes on Lyra. To her sight she could see that Lyra wasn't an alicorn, but magic itself was making its claim known. "Well, well, well. I had wondered that you and Twilight were a little too quiet in Ponyville. We will chat about this later, Lyra Heartstrings."
Gavin had the distinct impression that he shouldn't have seen this. When Celestia turned her smile toward him, he definitely knew it. He was at a loss as to what to do or say, and in the end just shrugged his shoulders. "It was a good spar."
Celestia cleared her throat. "This was a surprise for everyone present, except for one pony. I hope you understand that, until we know better how this affects Equestria, we would rather it not be—"
"I don't think Gavin is going to say anything." Lyra had spent far more magic than she'd expected to in dealing with him. "I do have some questions about his talons, though. Mostly I want to know how he deflected my magic with them."
Holding up one of his talons, Gavin let Lyra inspect it. "You don't need much, and it's not easy to do, but if you can powder dragon scales and eat a little every other week, your talons will end up resistant to magic."
"Oh wow." Lyra energized her horn and tried to grab his talons—and succeeded. "Huh?" Then her magic evaporated. "You can control this?!"
"Griffons have, traditionally, not had any quarrels with ponies. The griffons of Griffonstone would have no reason to tell you about it—not that many there can afford to acquire dragon scales." Setting his talon back on the gravel floor, Gavin felt proud that he'd actually surprised her in the spar. "So, that makes a secret traded for a secret."
Unable to help herself, Celestia laughed. "Very well done. I am sure that Lyra will have more questions for you about acquiring some dragon scales of our own. In the meantime, though, if you'd like to retire I believe I have my own questions for her."
Rolling her eyes, Lyra made an effort to fold her wings and turned to Gavin. "Don't sweat seeing me before you leave, I might come visit Den and we can have another little spar—this time with a bit more room. I think that would even things out."
"Probably not, but I'd like to find out. Thank you, Captain." Strutting from the arena, Gavin didn't feel the least bit defeated by the spar. When he was outside, a Royal Guard escort guiding him back to the castle, he did have a moment to reflect on the fact that he'd had a mare—almost a princess—escort him around for the whole day and work to ensure he felt as welcome as any of the ponies did.
Holding her gaze on Lyra, Celestia let out a sigh. "When did this start?"
"You're really going to grill her here, Auntie?" Cadance walked over, trying her very best to provide a little wiggle-room for her friend. "Why don't we retire to a nice, private waiting room and discuss this over tea?"
"Of course." Celestia used her magic to put together a note that she sent to her seneschal and led the way out of the Guard building, into the castle, and down a side corridor to one of the castle's more cozy rooms. There was a large glass window that let the evening sunshine in. There was also two alicorns already waiting there along with two mares pouring tea—they were castle maids, but both were also former Royal Dragoons. Once the door was closed behind her she settled down and accepted a cup of tea. "Please, Lyra, start at the beginning."
"What's this about, Sister?" Luna asked. She'd gotten a hasty summons and had arrived only a moment before Celestia had. "I was in a very important meeting."
"Trains?" Lyra asked.
Nodding, Luna smiled just a little. "I was discussing the pending work of an extension to the Baltimare line down to the growing city of Den. I'd escorted some railway engineers in to help decide the finer aspects."
"Lyra," Celestia said, "please spread them again."
Twilight groaned and closed her eyes.
Needing to give her magic another jolt, Lyra spread the golden wings on her back. "I didn't mean to get them. Personally, I consider it an attack on my liberty directly by friendship magic."
Luna, now seeing there was a good reason to be pulled away from her trains, lifted a cup of tea in her magic and took a sip. "Please explain how you got wings."
"It was when Twilight and her friends went to Our Town and were stripped of their cutie marks. You got the reports we wrote on what happened in Ponyville with magic?" Seeing nods from each of the princesses, Lyra continued. "It probably should have burned out my magic doing that, but having so much friendship magic pouring through me started this change.
"The form of the wings is thanks to a spell I've been using that allows me to grow wings if I need to. It stores the condition and form in my body's etheric field so that exercise and training carries over between casting of the spell. This"—she gestured to her back—"is a visual representation of my etheric field.
"Now, whenever I do magic, they manifest again and—"
Twilight cut in. "And, it's happening more often and I believe they're brighter. Lyra now has sixty-five percent of the magical capacity of an alicorn and is gaining more each week. My own hypothesis is that when she can channel the other forms of magic to an equal extent as she did friendship, her magic will quicken and she will become an alicorn."
"That would be one hypothesis," Celestia said. "Another would be that she requires earth pony and pegasi magic. Your own quickening, Twilight, involved the magic of two pegasi and two earth ponies, therefore—"
"Actually," Cadance began, feeling tiny mentally, when sitting there with Twilight and Celestia, but she had one advantage over Celestia in this one case, "Twilight's newest book regarding the magic of earth ponies suggests that it is all the same magic."
Head snapping around, Celestia pinned Cadance with a stunned look, then turned back to Twilight. "You sent a new book to Cadance first?"
"I needed the viewpoint of an alicorn who wasn't quickened from a unicorn. This is amazing new research and the mare who's teaching me this new style of magic is astoundingly astute." It was Twilight's new, favorite topic. "Watch!"
Celestia was watching, also trying to feel-out what Twilight was doing. There was a sense of warmth and earth, and then Twilight's hoof was glowing—without a hint of unicorn magic present. She looked a little deeper, though, and saw a definite skew of light magic toward Twilight. "That goes against everything we know. Earth pony magic can't—it shouldn't…"
"Remember the mare who calmed down the Smooze at the gala? She had a few more tricks." Lyra nodded her head toward Twilight. "So, anyway, right now Twilight has suggested I take things as they come and trust that harmony has something planned. When it comes to things like this, I trust her."
Twilight was aware that all her mentor's attention was on her. Looking anywhere but directly at Celestia, she felt like the heat of the midday sun was beating down on her, razing her with its gaze. In that moment she feared that if she looked at Celestia, she would damage her eyes every bit as quickly as if she looked at the sun.
"Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"Y-Yes?" The trick was to turn her head to look at Celestia, but then dodge her gaze by looking at her teacup.
Lifting her leg and booping Twilight on the nose, Celestia chuckled. "I believe you have everything well in hoof. Far be it from me to get between a teacher and her student."
"Student? But Lyra's older than me and knows—well, we both know a lot about magic. She also seems to be friends with everypony in Equestria, somehow. How can I teach her anything?" Twilight looked askance at Lyra, sharing a worried smile with her.
"I think I can answer this one." Folding her wings, Lyra walked over to Twilight and pulled her into a hug. "You started teaching me the moment I arrived in Canterlot to learn at the school. You helped me build my knowledge of magic, you helped me make friends, and you helped me understand what it is to be a pony. If I have to grow wings, I want to learn what it means to do so from the only other unicorn I know who did so.
"Remember, Twilight, I was almost at the point of a nervous breakdown. I spread myself so thin you could see daylight through my ears. Learning to keep myself for me as well as help ponies has been the latest lesson—but it's one I appreciate just as much as you teaching me about magic itself.
"You're the best teacher I could have hoped for."
Squeezing Lyra back, Twilight spread her wings in pure joy. She had no words, though, so settled with just giving the support she could without breaking into tears.
Returning to Ponyville was a relief for all involved. Lyra sat with a dress covering her armored back (because her magic use from the spar with Gavin was still showing), watching as the station lunged toward the train to divest it of its precious cargo of ponies. When the train started to slow, she stood up and gathered her bag with her magic. "I can't help but think we're forgetting something."
Twilight, with two bags stuffed with paperwork that she was gleeful to get working on, practically bounced in place. "Whatever it is, I'm sure Princess Celestia will send it to us."
"I just hope it won't be via dragonfire." Spike yawned cautiously, hoping nothing would come out now that he'd jinxed himself.
Firelance, hauling most of Twilight's actual luggage, marched along beside the two mares and the dragon. It was an odd life he'd found himself in. Still, he had to admit the promotional opportunities were vast—if only he could get someone else to sign up to be the token corporal.
He was content to keeping an eye out while the others talked, absorbing the sights of Ponyville. He had learned the ebb and flow of Ponyville after several months now, and he felt he could mostly identify terrible things about to happen just by how the other ponies of the town responded.
It was quiet but there was a little noise, which meant there was nothing too bad going on, Firelance knew, if it was silent, that would be a sign of big trouble. "Oh, I just remembered what you're forgetting."
Reaching the castle itself, Lyra used her magic to open the doors as she turned to look at Firelance. "What's that?"
"Oh! Hello, Blue!" Twilight said, walking inside and giving Blue Blood a wave. "I hope you weren't too lonely here?"
Bread Basket rounded the corner and felt a little timid on seeing Twilight, but she had to remind herself she'd been invited to spend time in the castle. "He shouldn't be. Welcome back, Your Highness."
"Please, just Twilight is fine." It wasn't the first time she'd tell a pony, and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. Normally, though, Twilight didn't get ponies giggling from her saying it. "What—?" She turned just in time to see Lyra hiding a sign. "You know what, you'll have your own issues to deal with eventually. Just remember that."
Lyra shivered, at Twilight's counter. Trying to shy away from the questioning gazes, she gave Firelance a nod. "Want to grab some lunch? I'm sure Twilight has a lot of paperwork to do." At the renewed expressions on Blue and Bread's faces, she nodded to them too. "Might as well make it a party."
Lyra sat on the map room table. The normal view of the map was gone and, instead, there were only clouds and twisting patterns of light. Not that Lyra looked at the pattern, it had been something she'd meditated on, opening herself to friendship magic and letting the castle breathe it through her.
After a hectic week during which she had tried to help Twilight in keeping a group of Yaks from declaring war on Equestria, Twilight had headed to Canterlot to take care of some research project (and collect more books for the castle library) and left clear instructions for Lyra to take at least one step toward expanding herself into a second magic source.
So, Lyra meditated, quite literally, with the castle.
Hours slowly eased by. She'd had a light breakfast, not intending to need much fuel for physical labor, and now it was getting toward early afternoon. What helped detach her further from the physical was that the magic itself was sustaining her.
Pony metabolisms were horrendously efficient at turning sugar into energy, be it magical or physical. Lyra, at least in her own mind, was reversing the effect and using magic to sustain her physical self. Breathing evenly, she opened herself just a little wider—hoping to coax another magic type into her.
It took her an entire hour to recognize the new tendril slipping through wasn't just more friendship. It was hesitant, given the blazing path friendship had carved through her, but the longer it lingered the stronger it got.
As night fell outside, the thread grew strong enough for Lyra to actually identify it. She'd been expecting harmony or change—what she was surprised to find was dark. No less welcome, she guided it through her, letting it strengthen and stretch out. She had so much magic roiling within her that it wasn't going to struggle to find purchase. When it finally started to flow, Lyra sank into a deeper trance. The castle and the very night itself cupped her spirit and supported her. As the dark magic poured in and then out, she felt another hoof—distant—reach out through the magic.
An alicorn, one who embodied dark magic and maintained it in the same way that Twilight did friendship.
"Lyra Heartstrings. I am unsurprised. This is your second link to a source?" Luna, princess and alicorn, stood huge in the dreamspace Lyra shared with her.
Feeling the flood of dark magic coming from Luna, Lyra smiled and nodded. "Darkness." The word embodied the magic, coiling with unseen and unknown power, writhing with the concepts of what cannot abide the light. Swirls of deep green, red, and black mixed together around Lyra. "Beautiful."
Luna laughed, the sound tickling the dream and magic both—echoing into Lyra and back out again. "You are a surprising pony, Lyra. I look forward to meeting you here again when you wish to explore change."
The dreamscape ended, Luna having pulled back from the trance Lyra was still meditating in. Dark magic still streamed through her, growing stronger by the second now she had the consent of the source of it.
It might have been dark, but it was cold as ice too. It wasn't just a lack of light, no, darkness was its own thing and it was definitely every bit the force of magic that any of the others were. And, the longer she channeled it, the stronger it got within her until, some moments before the dawn, it just clicked home.
Spreading golden wings, Lyra let loose a silent scream as a thunderous tempest of magic roared through her. Moments before morningtide truly began, the dark magic nestled into her and calmed, releasing Lyra from her focus and allowing her to fold, slowly, down onto the table and sleep at last.
Lyra woke hours later when the castle started allowing light to filter through its walls into the map room. She felt the warmth of the sun and a gentle prodding from the map itself. "Alright, alright. I'm getting up. What time is it?"
The only answer Lyra got was the castle allowing the normal amount of light that midday would bring. Lyra cried out and fell off the table, barely getting her hooves under her and drawing darkness up to shroud her eyes. Darkness that moved and flowed without the need for a spell. Darkness that felt as cozy within her as friendship did. "Oh."
Slowly, with cautious movement, Lyra drew back the shroud over her eyes and let sunlight gather around her. "Thank you, castle. I couldn't have done that without you." She wasn't sure if the castle responded or not, but Lyra liked to think they were friends. Walking out of the map room, she trotted her way to the front door and outside.
It was about then that Lyra's stomach announced that it was absolutely and without a doubt—empty. "Well, I guess there goes my idea of living off my magic resources. There's only one place to go."
Even plump with magic, Lyra didn't want to just teleport to Sugarcube Corner. She walked through the warm sunlight, waving to ponies and doing a little prancing as she went. Within her, she guarded the cache of dark magic and kept it safe from the depredations of its polar opposite.
When she reached the shop and stepped inside, it was almost an hour after the lunchtime rush and she found the place empty except for Carrot Cake behind the counter. "Good afternoon, Carrot!"
"Lyra?" Carrot Cake tilted his head a little to the side in confusion. "Did you have a mishap with your magic again?"
"Huh? What do you—" Turning her head, Lyra spotted her wings. The gold was more intense and seemed, somehow, more solid. Despite them being literally magic constructs, she had to get used to the idea that they might just be real one day. "Oh, right. That again. Yup! I tried copying a spell idea Dinky made, only it turns out it has a few side effects." All true—that was Lyra's story and she was sticking to it. "Hopefully it will go away in a while."
"Right." Doing his best to ignore the glowing golden wings, Carrot looked up to Lyra's face and smiled. "What can I get for you?"
Looking at the display cabinet and spotting the leftover treats from lunch, Lyra started pointing. "I'll have… everything on that shelf." At Carrot's stare, she clarified, "I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday."
Widening his eyes, Carrot moved to grab out everything he could reach. Tossing everything Lyra had asked for—and a few extra eclairs—onto a tray, he passed it over to her. "I'll start bringing milkshakes. Tell me when you're done."
"Carrot, I—" Lyra had been trying to find her change purse when Carrot had put his hoof out to stop her.
"Go and eat. This can be an employee discount." Smirking at her look of shock, Carrot was adamant that he wouldn't accept payment.
Taking her tray and heading for a table, Lyra reached out for the first cupcake and lifted it to her mouth. Somehow, through what she would later swear was magic, it was gone in second. Her hunger now flaring stronger with the knowledge its satiation was at hand, demanded more.
Two cupcakes and an eclair later and Carrot brought over a chocolate shake for her, setting it down on the table. "If you get halfway through that and don't tell me to stop, I'll make another one." He turned, ignoring her protest, and headed back to the counter.
A slave to her metabolism, Lyra gobbled down as much as she could and, sure enough, Carrot had another milkshake prepared and on the table the moment she finished the first.
Carrying the empty glass back, Carrot was glad that for once he could indulge a friend in some care. All too often it was Cup who got to play the role of hero for some pony in desperate need of a meal. He waited, and watched, to see if she'd need another drink or more of their leftover baked goods.
It didn't take long before Lyra found herself with only crumbs before her. "Did I just eat my own weight in baked goods?"
"Close. Here, have a slice of this." Carrot had cut the chocolate cake into a double-wide slice and even put a little candle on it for Lyra. "A customer ordered it, but canceled at the last minute."
"You really don't have to—"
"Like you didn't have to help us so many times. Eat your cake, Lyra." For Carrot, seeing her scrunch her snout was all the payment he needed. "How are Sweetie Drops and Scootaloo these days? It seems like every time I see that filly she's a hoof taller."
"Scoots? Oh, you wouldn't believe the things she gets up to, too. She makes me so proud of her. Just the other week she and her friends helped a pony who'd been scared of his cutie mark all his life. You've seen her in her uniform, right?"
Seeing the same enthusiasm for a topic he knew he had when talking about Pound and Pumpkin, Carrot also knew without a doubt he was unable to resist partaking in it. "She looks so proud of it. I see a lot of her mothers in her. I hope my foals look that proud when they're all grown up."
"With a father who's a literal hero and a mother who loves them more than cake itself? I don't think there's any chance of them not being proud of you both."
"I'm not a hero!"
Lyra rolled her eyes down to the pile of crumbs where food once sat. "You're a hero to me, today." When Carrot looked to protest, Lyra smirked. "Are you going to make me go around town and find everypony you have ever helped feel good and make them come here and tell you? I promise, Carrot, I will."
"I surrender," Carrot said, grinning in the face of his defeat. "It's just hard to reconcile that they think so much of me."
"Mmhmm." Lyra couldn't resist trying the chocolate cake, and after eating just a mouthful she felt as if just that one slice would fully recharge her. That's when a little fact slithered its way out of the data and prodded her. "So that's why she eats so much cake…"
"Huh?"
"Nothing, just had a minor revelation about Princess Celestia. Scootaloo is amazing. She has just internalized this level of morality and adultness that I don't think I can even manage. I'm so proud and confused at the same time." Slumping down, Lyra pressed her cheek to the table. "And then, just when I think I can maybe kinda deal with having this amazing pony looking up to me and trusting me, she asks for my help with something!"
Thinking for a moment, Carrot sighed and nodded. "Don't say that too loud or you'll summon her."
"Who? Celestia?"
Turning his sigh into a grin, Carrot shook his head. "No, your mother. Legends speak of a mighty power all mothers have to blindly leap into a conversation that their children are having to remind them that they aren't the first to feel this way."
"I—" Lyra froze and followed her own advice to not speak before thinking over something several times. "That's a good legend. Probably true, too. Mum has great hearing."
Carrot laughed at that. "So, what had you so distracted you forgot to eat for two days?"
"Magic stuff. After the big incident with friendship magic, Twilight wants me to try to get on similar terms with the other kinds of magic." Sitting up and eating more cake, Lyra chewed it a moment before swallowing. "Just before dawn I managed to finally connect with dark magic."
"D-Dark magic? Isn't that bad?" Carrot couldn't help but sound concerned. "Isn't that what King Sombra uses?"
"No, it—" Lyra stopped herself from explaining something extremely complicated to Carrot. "Magic carries the intent of the user. If I intended to cause harm with dark magic, it wouldn't be the magic itself that is bad, it would be me for making it do bad things. Dark magic, in fact, is Princess Luna's direct domain, like friendship magic is Twilight's."
Straining to get his head around it, Carrot asked, "So it—it's like fire?"
"Exactly! Even chaos magic isn't technically good or bad." It was a good feeling Lyra got at seeing someone get it. "So my next choice would definitely be light, but I don't know if I am going to get a choice. Magic moves as magic wishes in these instances."
"With a unicorn daughter growing up, you don't have to tell me twice."
A hurricane of noise broke into Sugarcube Corner. One foal squealing, one crying, and a harried "Hello, I'll be right back" from Cup Cake, disappeared again up the stairs and into the living area of Sugarcube Corner.
Lyra and Carrot shared a knowing look in silence for five minutes before Cup returned with two calmed down foals.
"Sorry about that. Pound was upset because he had a mess and Pumpkin got upset in sympathy with him. It was all I could manage to keep her from having another burst of magic before I could get them both changed." Slumping against Carrot, Cup pressed her face into his mane and let out a sigh. When he lifted both foals from her back, she let out a relieved little gasp. "I love you, you wonderful stallion."
Blushing, Carrot settled both foals on the floor with a toy each from the toy box they kept for any little colts or fillies that were brought in. "I did something right?"
"You know you did." Cup turned her neck-nuzzle into a kiss and distracted herself for a minute before she remembered they had company. "Sorry, Lyra. You weren't plotting to steal Carrot from me, I hope?"
"Drat! Carrot, she's onto me!" Lyra flopped backward in her chair and raised a hoof to her forehead. "Forsooth, Lady Cake, for I was overcome by your husband's dashing good looks and strong demeanor. Can you truly blame me for being completely overcome in a fit of jealousy?"
Unable to hold back her giggles, Cup shook her head. "N-No! Of course I couldn't. But please, Lyra, try to contain yourself in public."
Carrot, trying to take refuge in his blush, looked down at his foals and managed to disconnect from the giggling mares.
"He's just so domestic! How could I possibly resist?" It wasn't easy, mostly because Lyra was not prone to such actions, but she pulled off a credible fluttering of her eyelashes at Carrot.
"I'm ignoring both of you until you act sensible again." Carrot stuck his tongue out at both of them.
"Thbbbbbtttt!" Pumpkin's mimicry of her father included sound effects, and triggered Pound to do the same.
The door of the bakery burst open, this time with Twilight rushing in. She looked around for a moment and spotted Lyra. "Spike! I have to go to Lyra with Canterlot! I'll be day after midday, tomorrow back." Stopping herself, Twilight shook her head. "Sorry. I need to go to Canterlot with Spike. We'll be back tomorrow or the day after, probably around midday."
Lyra, Cup, Carrot, Pumpkin, and Pound all watched Twilight rush back out of the bakery, leaving two purple feathers behind.
"Do you need to—?" Cup asked.
"Yeah," Lyra said. "Yeah, I probably should go and find out what that was about. Sorry to leave you abruptly. Thanks, Carrot, for saving my life. Bye, Cup!" Pausing, Lyra bent down and gave Pound and Pumpkin a little prod on the nose each. "And you two keep being adorable."
Rushing out after Twilight, Lyra left Carrot and Cup looking at each other with smiles.
"You saved her life?" Cup asked.
"She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning," Carrot said, and when his wife gasped, nodded. "Exactly. I stuffed her with baked goods, cake, and milkshakes."
"Then you probably did save her life. I am not sure how that mare burns up all her energy, but I bet it has something to do with chasing princesses around trying to make them happy." Cup eyed the half-finished huge slice of cake and produced her own fork from her mane to eat some. "Oooh, this is good. Is there more?"
Smiling at Twilight as she got off the train in Canterlot, Lyra fell-in beside her friend as she walked past. "Aren't you going to even tell me wha—?"
"We're collecting some books. You can join us if you want, but Princess Celestia said she needed her conservatory back and I need to empty my things out." Twilight didn't even slow down—books were on the line.
"Wait, why didn't she just ship all the books to you?" Lyra asked, but looked at Spike where he rode on Twilight's back.
"Only some of the books were Twilight's. She needs to pick out all the ones she wants to keep and the rest will stay in the conservatory. I'm guessing she has a new student who needs a place in Canterlot?" Spike shrugged. It was way too much for him to worry about. "On the plus side, I think I left some comics there."
"Ah. Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Twilight. Remember? It's my job to do that." The series of rapid teleports that had gotten Lyra to Canterlot before the train had left her a little drained, but hadn't left her with "flying mane" like her normal attempts at fast travel did. Still, Lyra had had to stop at the townhouse she and Sweetie kept to fetch something to cover her back. She trotted along at Twilight's side with a purple robe stretching down her back.
Stopping abruptly, Twilight schooled her features and turned to look at Lyra. "Princess Luna sent a message via Spike. Congratulations on investigating dark magic, I—It's not something I enjoy working with."
"Since Sombra and all that," Spike said. When Twilight jerked and made him grunt as her bony back became infinitely less comfortable, he added, "Hey, what was that for?"
"It was exactly because of Sombra. That magic he used was—Everypony I know seems to be better with dark magic than I am." Stopping again, Twilight slumped her shoulders. "I just don't like using it."
"Twilight?" Lyra asked, and waited for Twilight to turn and look at her. "Then we can explore it together. I admit I haven't used it much myself, but I'd like to learn. We can learn together."
Managing to hold out her annoyance a moment longer, Twilight practically dove at Lyra for a hug. Squeezing her friend, and getting as good as she gave back, it felt good to give up her upset mood. "Thank you. I just—it's one of the only things that just never felt right with my magic. The other one is chaos magic."
"Oooh. Yeah, that will be a fun one to explore. I wonder how I will manage with that?" Lyra asked while hugging Twilight.
"Given your father, I'd guess pretty well. We can work together on that, too."
"And all the others. I know you know most of the others better than I ever wi—"
"Hey! Uh, not to sound like a downer or anything, but we are in the middle of the street," Spike said, gesturing around them. "You're blocking traffic."
Breaking out of their hug, Twilight and Lyra tried for some sheepish apologies before making their way to the outer ring of the city, leading toward the education district.
"You think they even noticed it was a princess they were grumbling about?" Lyra asked.
Stretching her wings out, Twilight shook her head. "I doubt it. It would take—I don't know—bright golden, magical wings to really get their attention." Bumping Lyra with her shoulder, Twilight's only saving grace was that her earth pony aspect made shouldering a mare in armor not actually hurt her.
Scrunching her snout up, Lyra managed a good ten seconds before she broke into a laugh. "I can't keep getting grumpy about it. Fate is fate. If this is what I am destined to do, then it will happen."
Twilight was on the verge of saying something, but in the end just stretched her wing out and gave Lyra a casual hug while they walked. When they finally reached the little townhouse that Twilight had spent several years living in, she removed her wing and approached the door. "I didn't realize it had been empty all this time. I guess—I guess I figured she'd have another student move in who needed it."
"Isn't that what's happening? Do you happen to know who's moving in?" Lyra asked, following Twilight inside.
"I—" Twilight slumped her shoulders. "I completely forgot to ask. I was so caught up in my emotions that I just didn't think about it."
"Understandable. This place was a big thing for you, right? Freedom from your parents' home, the ability to have soooo many more books?" Lyra easily interpreted the guilty blush on Twilight's face for the nerdy princess' bibliomania showing. "So, how many presents are you leaving for the new student?"
Twilight froze at the implications of that. She had been planning to abscond with as many books as she could, but now she realized what a trove this would be for the young mare who would be coming here. "I've been thinking of this the wrong way. I think—I think I would like to write a letter to them."
"That'd be a great idea." Lyra couldn't help herself, she located a broom and started working on the dusty floor.
"Lyra?" Twilight asked, her tone sweet and warm.
"Huh? What's up?"
"Are you going to make me order you to leave?" Twilight asked. "It doesn't take an alicorn, half her guard, and a dragon to clean up one apartment."
Snorting a laugh, Lyra surrendered the broom. "Okay. Okay. If you need my help, I think I'll be spending some time in the castle." Making her way to the door, Lyra looked back at Twilight. "Best of luck, Twilight."
When Lyra had left, Twilight let out a relieved sigh. "Okay, Spike, can you read out the list so far?"
"Ahem." Spike pulled the scroll out of the saddlebags Twilight was wearing and started reading from it. "Order Lyra to leave, check. Actually cleaning up the apartment, in progress. Steal all the books and transport them to our castle—should I cross this out?"
"Ahaha. How did that get there? Yeah, Spike, cross that out. Add pick my five favorite books but only take one." With a laugh, Twilight imbued the broom with her favorite cleaning spell and set it to work. "Okay, now let's get to work on this floor."
The bedroom, living room, and kitchen were all on the ground floor. Twilight worked alongside Spike to get the carpets brushed and the wooden floors polished, as well as dusting everything. Lunch came and went with the sandwiches Spike had made, after which they got back to work.
When the sun was drawn from the sky and replaced with the moon, Twilight finally had to concede that they were done with the living area. She'd purposefully started there, since once they moved up to the library and research area, she would get so distracted that cleaning would be impossible.
"Oh my gosh," she said, the moment she spotted the lectern where, covered in dust, was Predictions And Prophecies. Blowing the dust off the book, her excitement built further. It was so long ago, five years, that she felt like a completely different pony now.
Feeling so relaxed, she read through the two pages, reliving the night before her exile to Ponyville. "Nightmare moon…"
"Huh, oh, here's that present I was gonna give Moon Dancer." Spike picked up the bear, now looking a little worse for wear after its box had been crushed and it had suffered five years of neglect. "Guess she won't be needing that."
Twilight barely heard the rest of what Spike said. The day and night before her departure was a huge event for her, but there was something she realized she'd been so caught up in researching to notice at the time.
Regret clutched at Twilight. She hadn't been exactly close with—with those friends whom she definitely remembered the names of. "I'm a bad friend."
"Huh?" Spike asked.
"I have to make amends, Spike. Ugh, I can't believe I forgot about Moon Dancer and—and…"
"Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lemon Hearts?"
"Right!" Twilight couldn't hold back a yawn, though. "Maybe, just for old times sake, I could have one more sleep in the bed here."
"What, not going to spend all night trying to research the best ways to ambush your old friends and wind up being drained of energy for half the day leading to repeated panic attacks as things don't go according to plan?" Spike asked.
Twilight barked a laugh and shook her head. "Maybe a year ago I might, but I've grown, Spike. I pay attention to the world around me. I don't ignore the facts of a situation. When I say I want to reconnect to my friends, I mean it, but I'm sure going crazy instead of a night's sleep isn't the best way. Besides, I have four ponies to track down—I'm going to be busy enough tomorrow!"
Staring at the mare behind the counter, Twilight asked, "Could you repeat that, please?"
Ink Blot let out a sigh. If it were anypony but a princess, she would have told them she can't give out the information. "Moon Dancer, Minuette, and Twinkleshine are all advisors to Princess Luna. Lemon Hearts runs a very popular bakery on the inner ring. It's only a few buildings away from the castle from here."
"Okay. So, apparently I'm just going completely insane. Thanks for the help." Twilight hadn't put any sarcasm into the words—she meant them wholeheartedly. She even waved goodbye as she made her way out.
"Not what I expect to see every day. Oh well." Shrugging her shoulders, Ink Blot went back to filing the new batch of student admissions. After the help she'd gotten in getting established, she'd reworked the office into an efficient machine that only infrequently needed a little oil.
Outside the school, Twilight felt her confusion circling around the problem again and again, of how three of her friends wound up working for one of her fellow princesses. It didn't make sense that it worked that way, but there was an outlier and she intended to investigate that first. "Okay, Spike, let's go and see if Lemon Hearts knows anything about this."
Trotting down the street, Twilight found the bakery easily enough since it was the one with a big crowd of ponies inside and a queue outside trying to join them. Joining the back of the line, Twilight wished that just this once a pony would notice she was a princess and let her through to talk to her friend.
The line moved fast enough, but still Twilight could hear soft snoring coming from her back by the time she reached the door. She was just able to look in when she heard a familiar voice from behind her.
"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?" Lemon Hearts had a large, empty tray she was carrying back into her bakery. "It is you! Wow, those wings really suit you. Come in, come in!" Leading the way into the bakery, Lemon gestured to a door in the back corner.
Following along a little numbly, Twilight sheepishly apologized to anyone she had to brush past to follow Lemon. When they were in what seemed like a smallish office, Lemon turned around and hugged Twilight. Hugging back, Twilight said, "It's been a while."
"It really has! I guess we both got too busy after school to catch up. Did you hear that Lyra got married?" Focusing for a moment, Lemon used her magic to teleport a tray of treats onto her desk. "Oh, I shouldn't get distracted. Obviously you're here for some super-important thing."
"Yes! I mean, not exactly, but still yes!" Twilight was conflicted over saying her friends were important but not imminent-threat-to-Equestria important. "I was cleaning up my old flat for a new student to move in, when I remembered how I just sorta ran out on everyone here."
"Ran out? Weren't you ordered to Ponyville?" Levitating up a cream-filled scone, Lemon Hearts took a bite of it and made a delighted sound. "Ooo these are good. Have one, please."
"Yes but—" Twilight stopped talking to take a bite of the scone. The cream was fresh and it had some rich berry jam inside that made her close her eyes in joy. She didn't even notice Spike waking up and taking one for himself. By the time she could talk again, the scone was gone. "But I should have let you know. I even missed Moon's birthday!"
"You were saving Equestria from eternal night!" Lemon couldn't help but laugh at the idea of having to apologize for that.
"That's what I told her. She doesn't listen, though," Spike said.
"I did listen! It's just I still feel I abandoned you all." Despite being ganged-up on two to one, Twilight still managed to feel bad. "And I wanted to say sorry to everyone. But then I needed to find where you all were, and when I asked at the school, they said Moon, Minuette, and Twinkleshine worked at the castle?"
Nodding, Lemon Hearts took another nibble of her scone. "Oh, that happened a few years ago now. I think Lyra arranged it all. You remember her, right? It's odd you didn't mention her, though. Did you forget about your best friend in school too?"
Dumbfounded, Twilight took a moment to recenter herself. "Lyra. I should have known it was her doing. How does she know so many ponies?"
Lemon Hearts shrugged. "I guess while you and I were cooped up inside studying or learning to bake—she just went out and helped ponies. That's what it seems like, anyway."
"But it just happens over and over. Everywhere I go, no matter how far away, I find ponies that know Lyra. It's weird."
Reaching out with her magic, Lemon took another of the scones. "Maybe you should recruit her? I mean, last I heard she's in the Guard, right? And you should have your own personal Guard like the other princesses." As she took a bite of the scone, Lemon Hearts saw Twilight's face descend into a deadpan. "What?" she asked around the mouthful.
"She is in my personal Guard."
Lemon Hearts snorted with laughter and grinned at Twilight. "Then it sounds like you have everything under control. Oh, were you going up to the castle now to see the others? I could bring along some snacks."
To Twilight and her knowledge of alicorn dietary needs, taking snacks to Luna seemed like a great way to talk to her old friends without complaint. "Sure. Need some help carrying them?" The droll look Twilight got in reply to that reminded her that Lemon Hearts had graduated the same classes she had.
The walk up to the castle, with two huge trays of treats, was mostly uneventful. Twilight chatted with Lemon about all the goings on in the baking world, and the answers surprised her with how much she knew about the topic herself. Then she remembered that Lyra often spoke to her about spending a little time now and again helping in Sugarcube Corner—and Twilight was once more reminded how much Lyra got around.
When there was no opposition from the guards at the gate, Twilight couldn't help muttering, "They're not alicorn-blind."
Only when they were out of earshot of said guards did Lemon Hearts ask, "What's 'alicorn-blind'?"
"Huh? Oh!" Twilight snorted a laugh. "It's when ponies don't notice you're an alicorn because they see one of your tribal traits first and their brain skips over acknowledging any other. I guess being around alicorns regularly must make the guards here immune to it. Time to write another paper!"
"You wrote a paper about how ponies don't notice you're an alicorn?" Lemon was aghast.
"Technically I'm a co-author. Lyra helped me with…" As she was saying it, Twilight realized how insidious Lyra Heartstrings truly was. "She just helps. She helps with—with everything!" Pulling writing material from thin air, Twilight passed it back to Spike. "Write this down, Spike. Lyra helps ponies. She helps everypony with everything. She's—she's omnipresent! How can she be everywhere at once helping everypony?!"
Approaching the front door of the castle with what looked like a delivery, Lemon Hearts was fully prepared to be stopped. She expected it, so she ignored it when it actually didn't happen. "Twilight, you're overreacting. Lyra's not omnipresent, she's just exceptionally good at making friends, finding out what their problems are, and helping them with the ones she can."
"A little too good," Twilight said, her eye twitching a little.
The walk through the entry hall, past several petitioners, and finally to the Royal Guard that were in charge of admittance complete, Twilight turned her attention away from her fugue about Lyra to the task at hand. "We'd like to see Princess Luna and her advisors, please."
"Right this way, Your Highness!" Citron gestured to a side door and led the way, opening it for them. "Princess Luna advised us you were coming and has made the moon room her reception hall for the morning."
"How did she know we were coming?" Twilight's heart sank. Deep inside she knew the answer. She knew, because there was no other way. "Was it—?"
"Oh, Captain Heartstrings came in last night and let her know to expect you today." Citron, in the lead, didn't notice the panicked look on Twilight's face. "Here you are, ma'am." He nodded to the two bat ponies at the door and stepped back for them to open it.
The sound of giggling met Twilight and Lemon as they stepped into the room. The walls of the windowless room were all painted in blue and black hues so close it was hard to tell when the blue ended and the black started. Above was a rendition of the moon, shining bright enough to illuminate the whole room while still not glaring to look at.
The mirth was coming from Moon Dancer, Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Luna—all four of them watching Lyra intently as the mare said, "I got better!"
Pure and strong laughter echoed around the room. Luna's laughs so loud that they dwarfed anyone else's. Not that the others weren't laughing too, but they didn't possess a set of lungs and vocal cords that could be classed as a ranged weapon.
"'Burn her!' another cried. 'Burn her anyway!'" Lyra was deep into the telling of one of her favorite scenes, even doing silly voices for the various characters. "But then the clever knight says, 'There are ways to tell she is a witch. Tell me, what do you do with witches?'"
"Burn them?" Luna asked, giggling at the end.
Brightening at getting the right line, Lyra pointed at Luna. "What do you burn apart from witches?"
Eyes widening, Luna shook her head at first, then remembered the point of the jokes Lyra was telling was to be silly. "Other witches?"
Close enough, Lyra thought. She was about to play the part of Arthur when Twilight cleared her throat.
"Wood?" Twilight asked. The huge grin spreading on Lyra's face told Twilight she'd just stepped into some elaborate plan.
"So, why do witches burn?" Lyra asked, pointing at Moon Dancer.
Not sure what to reply with, Moon said the first thing that came into her head that made no sense. "They're made of wood?"
"Good!" Lyra clopped her hooves in support. "So, how do we tell she's made of wood?" She looked around everyone, daring each and every one of them to say the next line—she figured destiny itself was working on her side now.
"Build a wagon out of her?" The logic, to Luna, was absolutely perfect for the situation.
"Ah!" Working fast to adapt the skit to work with the change in item, Lyra asked, "But can you not make a wagon out of iron?"
It hadn't occurred to Luna at all, but now she nodded at the irrefutable mental prowess. "Oh…"
"Does wood sink in water?" Lyra asked, looking around and focusing her attention on Twilight.
Twilight was unsure where it was going, but she couldn't hold back a little smile at the silliness of what she was witnessing—no, what she was participating in. "No…"
"It floats!" Luna delivered her line with gusto, a hint of the Royal Canterlot Voice creeping in.
Minuette decided to take the next logical leap. "So we throw her into a pond to see if she floats?"
It was going to be a huge one. Lyra knew she'd have to ad-lib whatever answer someone gave as the most silly. "What also floats in water?"
"Balls!" Moon shouted, then tried to hide after saying such a silly thing.
"Apples!" Twilight was lost in the magic Lyra was weaving, and couldn't help but shout out one of her friend's favorite topics.
Luna listened to everyone around her coming up with the silliest things to float. Moon was listing off fruit, Twilight was trying to come up with different boat designs, and Lemon Hearts was passing out cakes from her shop (which was the highlight for Luna). In the end, she had a minor epiphany and said, "A goose."
It was as good as she was going to get, Lyra realized. Gesturing toward Luna with a half-eaten apple tart, she said, "Exactly! So, logically…" gesturing for Luna to expand her gander-logic.
"So if she…" Luna began.
"Weighs," Lyra said, sotto voce.
"So if she weighs the same as a goose…"
Moon tried for the most outrageous thing she could think of. "She's made of wood!"
"A witch!" Minuette finally gave in and joined the insanity.
"I'll need my biggest scales!" Lyra said, finishing things as best she could. "And you know what? When the woman was weighed, she did weigh as much as a goose."
"I bet the goose was upset about that." The little bit of fun agreed with Luna's sense of humor, and she felt like there was a particularly interesting bit of interplay between someone seemingly so rational as the good knight and the actual madness he committed in the name of science. "But then, geese are typically upset about most things that aren't feeding them."
"Soooooo. Twilight, I kinda figured you might come here." Lyra tried to avoid outright devouring the treat Lemon had brought, but her bites weren't exactly minimal.
"How? The Guard who escorted us in said you did, but… how?"
"I was at the school earlier, must have just missed you. Ink Blot mentioned you were there and I asked her what you were looking for. She spilled the beans while I helped her get caught up on her filing. I thought you would have beaten me, but she'd been sure that you had gone to Lemon's bakery." Grinning as Twilight's brows furrowed, Lyra shrugged. "So I let Luna know you'd be coming and wanting to speak with our old classmates."
"Ink Blot?" Twilight finally came to the conclusion that this feat of Lyra's couldn't be measured. Letting out a sigh, she focused on releasing all the frustration with it. "It doesn't matter, though. Thank you for arranging this."
With Lyra giving her a lopsided grin, Twilight turned to address all their friends. "I can't believe it took me this long to realize I needed to apologize to you all for just running out and leaving—especially you, Moon Dancer."
"Me?" Moon reached her hoof up to adjust her glasses and then realized the scuff on them needed cleaning off. "Why me?"
"I missed your birthday party!" Twilight hung her head and her wings sagged at her sides. "I got so focused on the Nightmare Moon stories that—" Freezing as she realized Luna was present, Twilight spared an apologetic smile to her.
Luna didn't need to cut in, since everyone present seemed waiting for her reply. "Please, do not fear you have hurt my feelings, Twilight Sparkle. You speak the truth. I have—I have somepony to help me peer inward and see past my own pride and terror. Continue as you please."
Giving Luna a thankful nod, Twilight tried to continue. "I was too caught up in events, and Princess Celestia had given me other tasks that had distracted me further. I should have realized, after everything settled, that my friends—"
"You saved the world, Twilight." Moon was done with letting Twilight wallow in self recrimination. "Several times. You grew up into one of the most important jobs in Equestria! You don't need to apologize for that."
Luna cleared her throat.
Looking at her boss, Moon sighed. "We didn't save the world."
"The wedding?" Lyra asked.
Moon brightened at that and had to hide her blush. "Oh. Well, we did sort of save things there. I thought you meant when Tirek stole all the magic and we scavenged what trinkets we could, drained them, teleported to Tartarus, and freed the princesses."
Looking around the room, Twilight knew she was staring. All her friends were trying to hide some measure of a blush.
"Do not forget the assistance you provided and continue to provide me with," Luna said, "in finding my way in this modern Equestria. You would not have wished to see me had I not found the wonder that is the Equestrian rail network."
"You know, have you looked at the other systems that Equestria relies on for its very survival?" Lyra asked. When her question drew confused looks from everyone in the room, she rolled her eyes. "The mail system. A friend of mine"—Lyra smirked a little at the barely audible grunt from Twilight—"works there. I could introduce you to her next time you're in Ponyville. I'm sure you could help her get done early in exchange for an explanation of how it all works."
Luna's first instinct haled back to a time when she could demand a pony do her bidding. She discarded her first instinct after examining it and holding it up to her own scrutiny. The next thought that crossed her mind was that Lyra had introduced her to an amazing group of ponies who had not just helped her adapt to ruling a modern, technologically advanced nation—but had even saved her and her sister. "I believe I would very much like to meet this pony. So far their credentials are extraordinary."
"So," Twilight said, "you're not upset with me for missing your party?"
Turning her contemplation from Luna's pending mail exploration, Moon looked at Twilight and did her best to sound as sincere as possible. "Twilight, I did. I was upset and angry because I thought somepony I trusted had thrown that trust away. But it has been years since then. I have gained the perspective to see that you were doing what a princess had ordered you to and saved the world because of it." Throwing her hooves up in the air, Moon glared right at Twilight. "So, yes, I was upset. But that was a young mare who couldn't understand how important you would become."
"And now there's Lyra," Twinkleshine said, drawing everyone's attention for the first time. "I saw them. You might as well show everypony."
"They won't go away. Ever since I had that encounter with your darkness magic, Luna, the wings just won't leave." With that, Lyra twitched her ethereal wings and extended them outside of her armor. Twilight, she noted, was grinning at her. Luna looked more contemplative. Moon just gave her a nod of acknowledgment while the others all gasped appreciatively. "Thank you, Luna, for helping me understand darkness magic. It's never been easy for me, but now—now I can feel how it wants to be."
"There have only been three ponies, now, who have mastered darkness such—not including myself, of course." Luna sent her thoughts back to the time before what she thought of as the single biggest mistake of her life. "Princess Platinum was the first. It was surprising how easily she took to darkness magic, given her primary focus was light.
"The second was a young stallion who embraced darkness and emotive magic like he was born to them. He was charismatic and focused, but ultimately proved to be a thorn in the side of Equestria. Like myself, he felt that he was owed more than he was getting. King Sombra was as much the polar opposite of Platinum as could be.
"Now a third has appeared who holds dark magic in her heart." Luna looked to Lyra and gave her a reassuring smile. "I am extremely interested in what you do with this, Lyra."
Lyra felt completely blindsided by the information. She stared past Luna, trying to comprehend that of the previous ponies that knew darkness magic as well as she did, one turned into a megalomaniac and the other was one of pre-Equestria's greatest rulers. "I don't know exactly how to process that."
"We can work on that later, if you'd like. You're not alone, Lyra." Twilight reached out a hoof to her friend and pressed close for a hug. "You might have a bigger role in Equestria than you ever thought, but that doesn't mean you have to stand alone."
"That doesn't just go for Twilight, either," Minuette said, joining the hug in what became an avalanche of ponies gathering around Lyra.
The trip home had been far more relaxed than Lyra would have expected. They'd wound up having a party to celebrate friendship, and now here she was getting off the train and heading for—
"Hey, Lyra!" Derpy called. "Look what I got!"
Blinking in surprise, Lyra couldn't mistake the horn atop Derpy's head. She was standing proud, tall, and had a similar peytral to what Celestia and Luna would wear—except hers had a muffin on the front. "Derpy? Are you an—"
"Alicorn! We all are, Lyra!" Derpy gestured beside her where Cup and Carrot stood—both now sporting horns and wings.
Turning in a circle, Lyra saw Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and even Scootaloo—all with wings and horns. "What's going on here? This is—"
"Lyra?" Sweetie Drops asked. "Are you okay?"
Eyes widening in panic, Lyra looked at her wife's wings and horn and tried to back away, only to plow into somepony. Spinning in place, she saw another winged and horned pony—and screamed.
"Calm down, please. I must admit, Lyra, this is not a nightmare I have dealt with before." Luna looked around at all the alicorn ponies and then back to Lyra—who was hiding under her wing. "Would you rather I just banish all this so we can talk about it?"
"No. No, I have it. Sorry to trouble you with this." Stepping out from under Luna's wing, Lyra was aware that the dream was flawed in so many ways. Smiling ruefully at her friends and family, she blinked them out of the dream and turned to face Luna. "I guess I still have some fears of becoming an alicorn."
"Me too," Luna said and spread her wings. "The worry that I won't be what everyone deserves, that I can't help them when they need me, that I might completely screw something up when my sister needs my help—these are all the fears of somepony who has to sit on the big seat and watch as others look up to me to help and protect them."
"But you're a—"
"I was just a unicorn. Though I understand you started your life not even a pony, I believe I can say you have become a most exceptional unicorn." Luna neither desired nor liked the idea of praising ponies for things they hadn't accomplished, but she had no problem admitting these things to Lyra. "You are asleep in royal carriage number five-six. Twilight is dozing beside you and Spike beside her. When you return to Ponyville it will be exceptionally early in the morning. Waking from this dream, you will have all the best ponies I could imagine to support you and be the friends you need in your coming trials, but should you need one more—I am always a short fly away."
"Thank you." Lyra reached up and hugged Luna, and the hug she got back meant a great deal.
One day at a time. It was something Lyra was having to learn anew. She had ponies who would support her no matter what, even in her dreams, so all she had to do was ask for help and she got it. "Bonny, I need help."
"What's wrong?" Concern colored Sweetie Drops' voice as it did her entire being. Her first thought was that Lyra was dealing with another existential crisis—then, after following the direction of her wife's gaze, she saw it was much worse. "Oh. Pinkie does seem to be particularly high-energy today."
"Should we try to figure it out?" Seeing her friend somehow hiding a fully loaded wagon behind a tree was impressive.
Kissing Lyra's cheek to distract her, Sweetie used her hoof to turn Lyra's jaw for a more firm distraction. When she broke the kiss, she asked, "We already have a job, remember?"
Distracted for a moment, Lyra blinked a few times before she remembered how to breathe. Then she also remembered why they were out and about today. "Oh, right, the cake and stuff. I still can't believe they got their cutie marks at the same time."
"Come on, it was bound to happen. They spend half of every day together—well, when Scootaloo isn't with Firelance." The grin plastered on Sweetie's face was a natural reaction to how adorable she found the pair to be. "Which is why we can't mess this party up."
"Right. So we get the candles and get home to finish cooking. I don't care that they'll be getting two more parties, I want ours to be the best."
When they reached it, Sugarcube Corner was bustling. Carrot was behind the counter serving ponies as quickly as he could and the smell of warm ovens filled with delicious things permeated the room. The line progressed and soon Lyra and Sweetie were standing before Carrot. "What can I help you—Oh! The candles!"
"Thanks, Carrot. And if you don't mind, can we have, uh, seven muffins?" Sweetie asked.
While Carrot saw about getting everything, Lyra looked at Sweetie. "Seven? Why seven?"
"Two for you, two for me, and one each for the fillies so they don't fill-up on cake." It was the perfect plan with no holes—which is why Sweetie felt nervous. "Right?"
"Firelance will be around soon too. I don't mind sharing one of my muffins with him, that way I can fill up on cake." Lyra rubbed her hooves together in glee, but when Carrot returned with a box of candles and a huge tray of muffins, her hopes and dreams were dashed upon the rocky shore of good-will.
"Turns out we have a whole tray spare of orange and mango muffins. Cup told me to just give them away, and I happen to know somepony has a little filly who just got her cutie mark." Setting the tray down on the counter, Carrot taps the register. "That'll be five bits."
Passing over six, Lyra lifted the tray while she left the candles to Sweetie. "Thanks, Carrot." She did her best to keep her utter disappointment with causality out of her tone.
Tossing the candles on her back, Sweetie waved goodbye and followed Lyra out while Carrot got onto the next customer in the queue. Outside Sugarcube Corner, she (and Lyra) both had to jump back to avoid a flying pink missile with a delivery wagon attached—being paced by three familiar fillies. "Don't forget the party in an hour!"
"I doubt they heard." Lyra used her flank to bump Sweetie to a walk beside her. "Because the fillies would have acknowledged you and Pinkie would have instantly broken out of her state and demanded to know where the party was."
Nodding to the assessment, Sweetie said, "That means whatever she's up to is pretty serious. We should put on our armor."
"No. Not me. Twilight ordered me not to put it on unless Ponyville is literally on fire. Now, I could set some buildings on fire, but I think that would only make her inevitable ambush of me far worse."
Sweetie smirked at the mental image that conjured. "You know, I was worried at first. Worried that having a bookworm as a princess would not be the best thing. She has shown commitment to Equestria that has left me breathless. She didn't just train as a unicorn and pegasus in the guard, but she put up with my growling at her for four weeks. Hearing of her accomplishments with that training is a huge boost to my confidence in her. I know not all the Guard know what she did, but seeing her in a crisis, now, would be telling to anypony trained to lead."
"It's good to see, and it sure makes me more confident that she'll know where and how to use me in a fight." Nearing their home, something seemed off, mostly that there was a pair of ponies waiting at the front door—both trying to not look conspicuous. It only took the slightest poke with her magic to tell her both were powerful magic users—though one was exceptionally powerful. "Those disguises are terrible and, if Dinky was here, she'd spot you both in a heartbeat. Get inside, quick."
Looking between her wife and the two strange ponies, Sweetie raised an eyebrow but waited her turn to enter the house while trusting Lyra. When the door was closed, she asked, "What's going on he—?" She stopped when Cadance and Shining let go of the magic hiding them both.
Not stopping before she hugged both of her friends, Lyra waited for Sweetie to do the same before beginning her interrogation. "What's with the disguises?"
"We're trying to organize a surprise for Twily." Shining, without a doubt, couldn't take his eyes off Cadance. Ever since he'd gotten the news, even on the trip to Ponyville, his eyes had been glued to his wife.
Unable to hold in her excitement a moment longer, Cadance said, "We're having a foal."
Shining had expected them to not freak out anywhere near as much as they did. He wound up getting half strangled by Sweetie when she was done with Cadance, and Lyra seemed possessed of supernatural strength too. "The reason we came here first was we want to make this a surprise for Twily."
"And you want some help?" Lyra asked.
"We do. We'd hoped to get all the preparations done ourselves, but plans changed and now we need to distract Twilight while someone else scatters these clues." Shining held out a few slips of paper. "If you can't do it I can—"
Sweetie reached out her hoof and pushed Lyra in the direction of the door. "Shining, of course Lyra can do it. We only have a little work to go here and I can take care of that. Go on, get everything you need done finished so we can get this party started."
"Party?" Cadance asked, only now looking around to see streamers and a banner that had three pictures on it.
"Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom all got their cutie marks at the same time, plus they're all matching in a set. There's our party today, Sweetie Belle's is tomorrow, and then Apple Bloom's the day after. Those three are going to be caked-out by the weekend," Sweetie said.
Unable to help herself, Cadance danced on her hooves rapidly and let out a little squeal of motherly delight. "I can't wait until our little one gets their cutie mark."
Clearing his throat while doing his best not to get carried away with his wife's excitement, Shining held out a series of notes to Lyra. "These are the clues for a scavenger hunt. Twily loved them when she was a little filly, and I wanted to make today special for everypony, but the hitch is we don't have time to place the clues."
"And we'd be a little conspicuous doing it." Cadance stretched her wings out a little to prove her point. "You're not exactly the only unicorn in town who can spot disguise spells."
"What can I say, I love teaching ponies these weird little tricks." Lyra shrugged and took the offered clues. Reading through them, she giggled. "These are great. I bet Twilight will love this."
"How are the—uh—" Cadance flicked her wings again and nodded at Lyra.
"Oh, my wings? Well, you heard about my experiments with meditation and getting better connected with magic?" When Cadance nodded, Lyra went on, "It seems doing that makes them even more intense. So, I guess it's definitely going to happen."
There was still a note of reluctance that Cadance could hear in Lyra's voice. Though she wanted to tell her friend everything would be fine, she knew one way she could help. "You could stop, you know? You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
Lyra's eyes widened. Of everypony who'd been talking to her about the wings, Cadance's was one of the very few voices that had told her she had a choice. She thought about it, though, and let out a resigned sigh. "I'd be a complete hypocrite if I did stop it. All my life I've told ponies to keep their faces to the wind of fate and let their hearts guide them to their destiny. My heart is already pulling me along, as is my common sense—I'm just being stubborn. Don't tell Bonny, though, or she'll lecture me about responsibility."
"I can hear you, Lyra. Also, I've never lectured you on responsibility." Closeness and many years of marriage together meant that Sweetie knew a deflection when she heard one. She walked over to Lyra and pulled her darling into a cuddle. "Wings or no wings, I'll always be at your side."
"That means so much to me to hear that." Doing her best to squeeze back as hard as she was squeezed, Lyra couldn't help but add, "Even if I know your taste for wings."
Sweetie just laughed at that. "Go on, get this done for our friends and then get your wings back here for the party." She kissed Lyra on the cheek and, reluctantly, let her go.
"Right," Shining said, after giving the couple a chance to end their little moment, "we'll take our time going to the castle. How long do you think it will take you to discretely put these in the right places?"
Turning her attention to Shining, Lyra flicked through the locations where she had to leave clues. "I can get this started in no more than five minutes, and can complete the list inside twenty."
While her husband and Lyra discussed specifics, Cadance felt herself bubbling with far too much energy. Pregnancy, she'd found so far, definitely agreed with her—as did seeing two of her best friends so obviously in love after being married together by her. It was all she could do not to break into song. "We'll give you thirty minutes. I'm sure Shining can spend that much time catching up with Twilight and getting excited at everything she has planned."
From her loose stance to a sharp and precise at-attention pose, Lyra wasted not a single big of additional motion in sketching a perfect salute. "Yes, Your Highness!"
Leaning down a little, Cadance brought her head down so she and Lyra were at the same height. She reached up with her hoof and booped Lyra on the nose, then blew a raspberry at her.
Not breaking from her stiff position, Lyra waited until the last moment before booping Cadance back. "Come on, you have to let me get away with this for as long as these things"—she stretched the golden wings out through the cloak she had on—"aren't solid."
Thinking about it, Cadance could nod in agreement to that. "I know I would have poked more fun at alicorns, too, before I became one.—if I'd known any. Very well, you can keep poking fun at me, though I will return it three-fold when those do become solid."
"I know I'm in for a lot of teasing then, but I figure—being an alicorn—I'll just announce I am nocturnal. That way I only need to worry about Luna." Folding the wings back down, Lyra walked to the door. "Remember, twenty minutes at least."
"Got it," Shining said as she teleported. "Wait, why did she walk to the door if she was going to teleport?"
"Lyra," Cadance and Sweetie both said together, drawing a laugh from all three.
High in the sky above Ponyville, Lyra used small, very short distance teleports to keep herself relatively stationary (with error bars only about the size of one pony). The location for the first clue was on a little loop of paper wrapped around it. "Statue in the middle of town? Oh, I know that."
Turning her attention to the statue in question, Lyra spotted a safe place to land—and teleported directly there when she reached her apogee. She only dropped a hoofwidth to the ground, which wasn't enough to even faze her. "Okay, where will this—Ah! The mouth."
Walking over, Derpy watched as Lyra fitted the scroll into the statue's mouth. "Hi, Lyra, whatcha doing?"
This was exactly why Lyra had allowed herself so long. "Hey, Derpy. Just helping some friends set up a scavenger hunt for Twilight. Could I ask a huge favor?"
"I have to be in Canterlot in two hours, but I can spare a little time for my best friend. What can I do?"
"Twilight will be along in about ten to thirty minutes. Just make sure nopony takes that scroll out of the statue's mouth until then." Lyra spared her friend a hug by way of payment.
Squeezing for all she was worth, Derpy did an excited little dance. "I can do that! I bet you'll never guess who I'm going to see in Canterlot."
"Well, my second guess would be to see Dinky, but she's probably got classes today. My third guess would be Donut Joe"—grinning when Derpy gasped, Lyra knew she'd guessed right about that little rumor—"but my first guess would be Princess Luna."
Derpy's mouth formed an O of surprise. "How did you know?!" She couldn't help herself from giving her wings a little flap.
Grinning like a maniac, Lyra winked. "I'm a wizard, Derpy." The skeptical look she got back told Lyra what she was selling wasn't being purchased. "Would you believe a wizard who has tea and cake with princesses every now and again? No? What about a wizard who makes suggestions to princesses who are curious about all the mechanisms of modern Equestria and how they function?"
Now Derpy's wings weren't just flapping, they shot straight up in shock. "What?"
"And, I figured I knew a mare who knew a lot about Equestria's postal service, so dropped this hero's name to Luna as somepony she might want to talk to. I take it you're visiting her for afternoon tea?"
"Y-Yeah. It was such a shock and—I can't believe you did this." Grinning, Derpy dove on Lyra to give her another hug. "Oh, but you have to keep working to get this scavenger hunt set up, right?"
"I always have time for a hug with a friend." Squeezing Derpy again, Lyra loved setting up these little moments for ponies. Giving her friends a chance to shine always made her feel good. "But I do have to go. This next one needs to go to the school."
"You'd better hurry, then! Good luck!"
Trotting, then cantering, and finally galloping, Lyra made her way quickly to the Ponyville schoolhouse. With the building in sight, Lyra checked the note. "Wait." She screamed to a halt with all four legs planted. "'Put it somewhere obvious'?" She recognized Shining's writing. "This is—"
"Extra, extra!"
Her head snapping around, Lyra spotted the foal walking around with newspapers and rushed over. "Excuse me, could I borrow—"
"One copper bit," Pipsqueak said.
"How many papers do you have there?" Lyra asked, fishing around for the pocket in the cloak she kept a few coins in.
"Twenty-five!" Proud as punch, Pipsqueak held up the papers to show her. "Because nopony has purchased any yet."
"Ooookay. Here is three silver bits. That's five coppers more than they're worth. I want to just change your papers a little—and when my friend shows up, you have to give her one, okay?" Holding out the silver coins, Lyra watched the foal's face run through a series of mental calculations. "You can sell the rest after you're done giving Twilight Sparkle one, okay?"
Understanding now, Pipsqueak nodded. "Give one to Twilight Sparkle, then sell the rest. Okay!" He took the silver coins just as Lyra plucked the newspapers out of his grip with her magic. He watched in awe as she held a scroll up to them and the words seemed to flow off the scroll and into the newspapers. "Wow!"
"Now, she won't be long, about fifteen minutes. Got it?" With Pipsqueak nodding and taking the papers back, Lyra felt secure in the knowledge that he actually had an idea what she wanted done. "Thanks. Now, I need to go to…" Taking out the next scroll, Lyra read it. "Town hall!"
No sooner did Lyra reach town hall than she spotted Twilight and her friends reaching the statue. "Shining was meant to give me thirty minutes," she said under her breath. "I better get this done fast and—Why is Pinkie rushing them? Oh no."
Avoiding eye contact, Lyra rushed into city hall and almost plowed right into Mayor Mare. "Please! I need your help!"
Mayor Mare knew Lyra only passingly, and mostly because of the Scootaloo incident (which she had to admit had turned out exceptionally well), but she also knew the mare to be a close friend of Twilight Sparkle's. A friend of Twilight Sparkle's being in this big a panic was usually significant. "What's the matter?"
"I need you to hide this letter, taped to the back of Applejack's birth record." Lyra thrust out the small piece of paper. "And please, when Twilight arrives, try to delay her a little. I'm helping Shining and Cadance with a surprise for Twilight, to celebrate their upcoming foal."
Eyes widening, Mayor mare held up a hoof. "Say no more! I'll have it done at once." Taking the note, and glancing at it quickly, Mayor Mare realized that this was some kind of surprise for the local princess, arranged by her brother and sister-in-law. Approaching the correct filing cabinet, she opened it up and slid the paper into the appropriate spot. "There," she said, turning, "all—done…" Lyra was already gone. That's when the words Lyra'd said connected. "Baby—"
The furniture store was as easy as paying Davenport a few bits to put up with whatever cyclone of an event Pinkie Pie would inflict on his store, and giving him the note to affix to a crib. The last stop, of course, was Sugarcube Corner, though she had no note to deliver there.
Rushing through town, Lyra did her best not to draw looks or questions, but it was impossible not to. She was almost to Sugarcube Corner when she heard commotion behind her. "They're coming!"
She didn't often do precise, point-to-point teleports, but Lyra needed to get inside as quickly as possible, and nothing beat a teleport for doing so. The math was rough, but she put together a pattern before she got two strides and activated it.
*Pomf!*
Panting, Lyra looked between Shining, Cadance, Cup, and Carrot. "They're almost here! Pinkie's been leading them through the clues like a bloodhound! I gotta skedaddle!" With another puff of magic and air, Lyra was gone again—leaving her friends to their special moment with Twilight.
Lyra wasn't exactly winded, but the combination of intense concentration on mathematics while running had left her feeling a little drained. "I don't know how Twilight can do this." She stood still for several seconds before she remembered what her plans had been before offering to help Shining and Cadance.
Though, she decided to just trot home rather than anything fancy. When she reached the front door, she opened it up and slipped inside—almost knocking Sweetie Belle over. "Oops. Excuse me."
"Here she is! We can eat cake now!"
It wasn't a surprise to hear it, or to watch Sweetie Belle pronking over to the table where Sweetie Drops was defending a cake from a group of ravenous teens, but Lyra still felt a little put-out that her only reason to be here was a signal to eat cake. Then she remembered what she'd been like as a mid-teen, and pronked her way to the table as well. "Yay! Cake!"
Scootaloo noticed when Lyra pronked over and raced to tackle her in a hug. "You made it!"
Wrapping a foreleg around Scootaloo, Lyra hugged her back. "Like I'd miss this? Scoots, I'm so proud of you and your friends. I could just burst!"
"Please don't burst. I prefer my moms in one piece. How are the W-I-N-G-S?" Giving her own a little wiggle, Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.
Flying with Scootaloo was one reason Lyra was never actually entertaining the idea of giving up her wings. The few times she'd worked the spell and made them manifest again had been almost exclusively spent learning flying to fly from, in her opinion, the best flier in Equestria. "There's a reason I'm wearing this cloak everywhere that has nothing to do with the weather. They just won't turn off since I—"
"Scootaloo! You need to help us cut the cake!" Apple Bloom shouted.
Letting go of Scootaloo, Lyra walked slowly around the crowd of young ponies until she could stand beside Sweetie Drops. That also gave her a great spot to admire the work that'd gone into the cake, not the least of which being the three young mares in question done in miniature on large disks that were their cutie marks. "Wow, Bonny, the cake's amazing."
Leaning closer to Lyra, Sweetie Drops kissed her wife on the cheek. "I know. Now, cut that cake!"
The party, unsurprisingly, was a huge success, and even as the couple cleaned up once everyone had left, they continued to brush against one another, steal kisses, and then Lyra decided to play her ace in the hole. The spell she'd made was as simple for her to cast as any she memorized—but seeing as she'd created it that was trivial.
A little friendship, a dash of emotive, a big lump of change, and a heap of motion.
She knew full well that the complexity of the spell pattern was impossibly for any unicorn to memorize, but that didn't matter. Lyra cast the spell and her wings became manifest and solid. She did the pose—the one she'd watched Sweetie Drops almost literally start drooling at when Wonderbolts did it. Wings up and out, stretched above her so the tips of her last primaries almost touched, Lyra puffed out her chest and tilted her head to the side.
When Lyra opened her eyes and gave Sweetie Drops a wink, she couldn't help herself and rushed over for a hug. "I love you, you silly unicorn."
Leaning into the embrace, Lyra embraced Sweetie Drops with a wing and said, "I love you too, you—"
Loud knocking on the front door startled them both. Lyra looked at Sweetie and Sweetie looked at Lyra—each hoping there wouldn't be another knock. More knocking came, followed by Rainbow Dash calling out, "You need to come up to the castle, quick!"
"We'll be right there!" Lyra called back and, hearing the sound of wings pumping hard outside, turned to Sweetie. "Do you think we have time for armor?"
"I still don't have mine completed yet. Let's just go. If something needs us armored, well, it can take a number." Marching to the door, Sweetie opened it and made room for Lyra. "Uh, the wings?"
"Are timed. I can't get rid of them for four hours." What annoyed Lyra even more was that she'd been careful to make the spell not ruin clothing, so there were holes in her cloak to let her wings out. "Nopony will notice them anyway, let's go." She shut the door and started cantering with Sweetie—soon breaking into a full gallop.
When they reached the castle, it wasn't to find any invasions in progress or indeed anything attacking at all. Screeching to a stop, Rainbow yanked open the doors and let Sweetie go ahead of her. "Eyes peeled."
Nodding, Sweetie didn't so much as blink at seeing doors open and close as she passed. She spared a glance for each and continued all the way to the map room. Squaring up on the doors, Sweetie nodded to Lyra and stepped in as they opened to her magic.
Lyra froze. The map room was filled with Twilight and her friends, as well as Shining and Cadance. There was cake and drinks and a very surprised looking Twilight. "Rainbow said we needed to come as quick as we could."
All eyes focused on Rainbow for a moment, and even by Twilight's estimation her friend looked very sheepish. "Sorry if we interrupted anything. That wasn't exactly the wording I used, but if you'd like to stay we were just enjoying a celebration for Shining and Cadance."
Realization struck Cadance about what the pair had been up to when she put together the memory of Sweetie's love for all things winged, the fact Lyra's wings were actual wings, and that they both had an air of frustration about them. "Shiny, let's never ask Rainbow to give somepony a message for us," she whispered to Shining.
"Way ahead of you." Shining was careful to keep his own reply quiet too. He was a smart stallion and took advice from his wife in all things social. "Okay, who wants cake?"
Despite the interruption to their private time, Lyra was determined to enjoy the party. She got some cake and a drink and was relaxing when she noticed Twilight surreptitiously approaching. She pretended not to notice until the grinning alicorn was right beside her. "Your eyes are twinkling, you look like you just got told your favorite brother and sister-in-law are having a foal, and you won't stop giggling at me. I know you can see them and I know nopony else seems to have noticed. This will be going in your next paper, won't it?"
Twilight nodded excitedly. "Even Shining and Cadance aren't saying anything about them. I—"
"Darling, if those wings are permanent, we're going to need to schedule you to have an entirely new wardrobe made." Having moved up silently, like a gorgeous fashion-shark, Rarity flanked Lyra and had produced her emergency measuring tape to start planning out a wardrobe.
"What? No, they're temporary. I used the spell for some pr—private research!" Catching herself before she let slip something private, Lyra had to tug her wing back from Rarity's magic grip to fold it back at her side.
Nonplussed, Rarity gripped the wing a little firmer and went back to taking measurements. "Be that as it may, you are going to need clothes to wear if you want to conceal these, aren't you?" When the wing stopped fighting her, Rarity knew she'd won. "There, not so hard now, was it?"
Lyra let out a defeated groan. "When do I need to come in for fitting?"
Eyes dancing with mirth, Rarity used her magic to summon a gorgeous chase lounge to pretend-feint onto. "Oh, be still my beating heart. A client that knows their way to a seamstress' good graces."
"Rarity, if you don't tell me when—"
"Tomorrow, dear, just after lunch so we can make an afternoon of it. Bring the wings." Rarity got up from the couch and used her magic to send it back to whence it'd come. "Hold on a second. Is this another test of your little theory about wings and horns?"
"Not exactly. We were just about to test something for the Guard when Rainbow got our attention with her, uh, request. The spell has a duration, and while I could dispell it, it would have left me with the biggest headache ever." That's when it occurred to Lyra that Rarity had seen through the cognitive bias. "Wait, you recognized I had wings." Looking at Twilight, Lyra grinned. "Rarity saw my wings."
Thinking on it, Rarity interrupted before a huge and headache-inducing conversation broke out between the two. "Well, yes, but I was looking for them. That would ruin your data, yes?"
Twilight, who'd been getting ready for a good discussion with Lyra about the effect, slumped visibly. "You're right. This datapoint is meaningless." She used her magic to return the charts and tables back to her study. "Wait! You're having a foal!"
"Can't keep anything from you, huh Twily?" Shining had been curious about the research the two had spoken of. Having an alicorn wife had made him more aware of how ponies treated her and, to a greater extent, how they treated him for being in proximity to her.
"Behave," Cadance said, prodding Shining with a feather.
Smirking at his wife, Shining bumped her back with his hip.
The party, despite being an interruption to some fun time, was enjoyable. Lyra kept running it through her head to distract her from—
"Darling! What are you doing waiting out here?" Rarity flashed her best smile, knowing full well why Lyra wasn't coming into her boutique. "I have some afternoon tea laid out and ready for us while we discuss options and take measurements."
Walking in behind Rarity, because she was given no choice with an open door that brooked no rejection, Lyra remembered the time she'd spent in the same room to get fitted for her wedding. "I don't know why I have an aversion to getting new clothes from you, Rarity. It's not a reflection on you so much as me."
Stopping and looking back at Lyra, Rarity couldn't help but smirk. "I appreciate the honesty, but you cannot win over this fashionista's heart with mere platitudes and self-blame. You know what makes me truly happy, Lyra?" When Lyra shook her head, Rarity let her smile grow more warm. "Letting me create things that make you more beautiful than you already are."
Lyra blushed. This was a form of combat she had never expected to fight, had never really trained for, and could already foresee her own loss as the outcome of. "Rarity, I'm—"
"Married. Yes, I'm only flirting. A lady likes to keep in practice, and so many of the mares in town all have stallions on their mind." Letting out a laugh, Rarity gestured toward the parlor where some cakes and tea were sitting. "Go, relax, and take that cloak off before somepony reports me to the Guard for harboring a fashion tragedy."
"It's not—Okay, I see your point. This was the best I could do, though." Using her magic, Lyra lifted the cloak off her back to reveal the wings there.
"Where in Equestria did you find something that…" Rarity fished around for a word suitably powerful enough to convey her horror. "Frumpish? Plain? Unkempt? No. No I simply do not have words to describe it sufficiently. That—is—hideous."
"It's a cloak the Guard use when we're in colder climates to keep us warm while wearing armor." Lyra wasn't of course, wearing armor. The cloak had been huge on her and she had to admit it didn't do anything for her. Rarity, she knew, probably didn't approve of any clothing that wasn't somewhat fashionable. "I need something to hide both the magic wings and the real ones, but—"
"… but be able to unfurl wings from at a moment's notice in case you actually need them." It wasn't a question because Rarity knew exactly what her client required—such was her gift. "You'll need several pieces for casual wear, you'll want one dress for special occasions, but I'll talk you into three, and you need me to design some specialist armor for which I will have to travel to Canterlot and discuss strategies for concealment with whomever is the talented armorer who creates your protective garments."
Battered by words, Lyra was losing the fight just as she'd foreseen. She tried to be somewhat graceful as she took a seat, but the truth of it was Lyra was stressed. She liked having the wings when it came to seeing the playful smiles her wife gave her with them, but the moment someone else noticed—really noticed—she had to spend the better part of ten minutes explaining. "Rarity, I'll take four dresses if you can help me."
Taking a deep and obvious breath, Rarity closed her eyes. "Now who's flirting with whom?" When she opened them again, Lyra was blushing once more. "A little pink in your cheeks does wonders for your complexion. Have you considered wearing a little blush?"
"If you can get me something better than that cloak to wear home tonight, I will let you show me how to put on makeup."
Rarity almost dropped the teapot she was carefully preparing. "Darling..." The word spilled out in a purr. "You have never learned to put on makeup?"
Settling back in the chair, Lyra took the offered tea and sipped it. "I'm not as much of a tea sn—connoisseur as my mum, but this tastes very good. Thank you." With another sip, Lyra began her story. "You know most of this already, but not the details. I grew up in another world that had no magic. I grew up as a young man."
Rarity had heard bits and pieces of Lyra's past before, but she'd never focused on it. With the mare showing a predisposition toward becoming an alicorn, she felt it her duty to listen to the full story—but the last two words spoken shocked her. "So you—?"
"Bonny tried to teach me, but she wasn't exactly an expert in it either. We both got ours done by a professional for the wedding, but that taught me nothing. So, if you want to show me a few things, and those things might make my Bonny smile a little more, I would be honored."
Sipping her own tea, Rarity carefully selected two pieces of cake and placed one on each of two plates before passing one to Lyra. "Your training in the feminine ways is lacking, but understandably so. Plus, you have come to the ideal location to correct it. Today we will work on designs, and get you something to wear in the meantime, then tomorrow we'll be going to the Ponyville Spa first thing in the morning—that's ten, sharp, just so you know."
"Rarity, ten in the morning isn't first thing," Lyra said.
"Pish-posh. It's in the spirit of being first thing in the morning. Oh, and don't plan anything for the day. Aloe and Lotus will put their staff at our beck and call for bathing, massaging, a mud bath, some steam time—Lyra, you won't believe how good it will feel."
Resigned to go through everything Rarity said, Lyra remembered one plus point. "And new armor?"
Sighing, Rarity nodded. "I am absolutely dedicated to providing the best clothing I can, be it formalwear, a simple dress, or a suit of armor. I absolutely cannot make the latter myself, of course, not if you want it to work to any degree. Therefore I must collaborate." Even though she put on airs that it would be so terrible to lower herself, Rarity felt a little more excitement at working with a peer—be it a peer in a rather distant part of fashion. "So I will ensure you have the very best suit of armor possible for an alicorn who wishes to conceal her wings. After all, you will be Twilight's Guard captain in the meantime."
"So, what outfits did you have in mind?" Lyra asked, once more seeing Rarity reach new heights of excitement.
Measurements were taken, and styles discussed (even if Lyra was more than a bit lost in the descriptions), and Rarity managed to put together a simple long shirt with concealing pleats along the back that completely hid Lyra's wings.
"I must admit to a certain amount of jealousy," Rarity said while Lyra admired the fit of the shirt.
Lyra stopped in her tracks. "I could teach you the spell, but I don't think that will cause—"
"Not the wings, darling. I've already had one friend spontaneously develop the royal genes. No, I mean what you've done to my little sister." Seeing Lyra look, somehow, even more clueless, Rarity sighed. "She was progressing toward what some would call a greater stature, while the less generous would call rotund."
"Oh." Lyra had a moment to herself to smirk at the wording and plan how to respond to it. "Rarity, that wasn't my doing."
"Nonsense. I see her running along with your family as often as not."
"Well, yeah, but it wasn't me who encouraged that. The target of your appreciation should be a touch shorter with smaller wings and a better use of them." Deliberately circumspect, Lyra waited until she saw the light of realization on Rarity's face. "Scootaloo is a good friend."
Making a thoughtful noise, Rarity nodded to that. "She is, and her mothers have done an excellent job raising her to be one. I'll see you here just before ten."
"Thank you, Rarity." Lyra was unable to hold back the urge to hug—nor did she particularly want to hold it back. Hugging Rarity and showing the emotional level of her thanks felt better than anything right then.
"It's really nothing." It wasn't, Rarity was perfectly aware, really nothing.
Squeezing a little tighter at the downplay, Lyra finally felt like the energy that sprung the hug upon her was down to normal levels again. "Just make sure to send me the bill."
"Be still my beating heart! A customer who offers to pay on time? Where have you been all my life?" Despite her protests, Rarity didn't have a problem with clients paying. For one, she had several royals among her clientele, and the crown always pays its debts on time. Nobles could be a little more problematic, though the divide between families had somehow resulted in a game of one-upmareship when it came to paying on time.
Lyra rolled her eyes at the extravagance of Rarity's pantomime. "I'll see you in the morning, Rarity." Finally managing to depart Carousel Boutique, Lyra walked home feeling light and airy, in no part due to the shirt she was wearing and the anonymity it gave.
She felt like trotting, like strutting, and perhaps even prancing. After all the years she'd spent as a mare, Lyra was finally casting off the one thing she carried over from her younger years that she didn't need anymore—her ignorance toward femininity. Rarity had given her a quick course in eye shadow, eyeliner, and adjusting the sheen of her hooves to better match her coat.
Of the three new skills, it was painting her hooves that felt strangest. Her hooves had always been reliable platforms from which to move about. She had galloped so much distance with them she was sure she could circle Equestria twice and still have some running left over.
But, all that made it seem more magical. So Lyra gave into her urge and started prancing. She started humming and, by the time she made it back to her home, she felt as light as a feather.
The house was empty, but there was a note for her.
Mum (uh, Lyra), is it okay if I bring Firelance over tonight for dinner? Oh, right, you can't answer to a note. Well, I'll leave it here anyway and you can read it and hopefully not get mad when we show up.
Scoots
Walking through to the kitchen with the note floating along beside her, Lyra reread it and only felt happier, lighter. When she looked at the warm part of the refrigerator, that kept room-temperature things from going off as quick (cheating with magic), she spotted some nice tomatoes and had her mind made up right from the start.
Chopping up onions and garlic, she got the former sizzling in a large pot before she added the fine chopped onion. A quick deglaze with some red wine and she tossed the tomatoes in—after a suitable amount of cheating was done to cut and peel them using magic.
With the pasta sauce simmering and building flavor, she moved on to make some pasta. It was an easy process, and rewarding. Lyra kneaded the dough she formed and started working it thinner and thinner. Eventually turning her pasta roller to its cutting setting and passing it through to make nice, long pasta noodles.
Fully expecting a pair of ponies to come bursting through the front door, Lyra was surprised when there was knocking instead of a stampede. "Come in!" she called, turning and finding Cadance and Shining entering. "Oh! I didn't expect you both to still be in Ponyville."
"You're our last stop before going home, actually." Shining Armor couldn't help sniffing the delicious scents coming from the kitchen, though he hoped his stomach wasn't too audible.
Jabbing Shining's stomach with a feather, Cadance shook her head. "Not that you're the last on our list for an important job—you're first, actually." She poked Shining a little more.
"Huh? Oh!" Clearing his throat, Shining executed his best courtly bow. Diplomacy had come late to his career, but he ensured he learned the actions of it so he wouldn't embarrass his princesses or his wife. "Lyra Heartstrings—"
"That's over the top. Shiny, just ask her."
Straightening, even blushing, Shining gave Lyra his best pleading look. "We have to plan for a foal, and that's so much more responsibility on top of running and protecting a city-state, but we can handle that. What we can't handle is if something happens to us and—and our foal needs somepony we trust to look after her. While she grows—" It was a hard subject for him to contemplate because it meant he had to start at Cadance isn't around anymore, but for his foal he summoned his legendary bravery. "Please?"
Opening her mouth, Lyra nearly said yes right off the bat. She would say yes, she knew, but this wasn't something to take lightly. "It's a yes from me, but this is a family decision. Bonny and Scoots have a say in things too. There is one thing to consider—our lives aren't all that separated. For something bad to happen to you, it will usually have already happened to those who put themselves between princesses and danger.
"I'll talk to Scoots tonight and Bon Bon when I next see her. Hey, I could come out to the Crystal Empire and visit, to give our answer."
Still frazzled from having to ask his friend to do something so important, Shining felt most of the tension go out of him. "When did this happen to us?"
"Huh?" Lyra and Cadance both asked.
"We became adults! We have—or are having—kids! We run countries and become alicorns. We ask each other important questions that are so unfathomable to think of that they make me have nightmares." Shining waved his hooves around to emphasize his points, but from the grinning expressions on Cadance and Lyra, the gravity of his distress wasn't translating. "We're being adults!" He let loose a panicked whinny at the end that seemed to finally get through to the pair.
"Okay, you have a point." Lyra tapped her chin. "Maybe I should do something foalish?"
Cadance grinned and nodded. "We all should. What about if we go to a concert before we have our foal?"
"What, like one for young ponies?" Getting into the idea, Lyra felt a burst of glee. "But who?"
"Uh, isn't that new pop star going to be performing in Ponyville next month?" Shining asked. "What was her name? Colora—"
"Countess Coloratura?" Scootaloo asked as she stepped through the door, somehow no longer overwhelmed by having princesses, princes, and alicorns around. "She's coming to Ponyville?"
"Who's Countess Coloratura?" Firelance asked, almost jumping back out the door again when he saw the contents of the living room. "S-S-S-Sir!"
Turning his head to see Firelance snapped at attention, Shining looked back between Cadance and Lyra. "Boop!"
Poked on the nose by the most distinguished Guardpony he knew, Firelance felt more panicked now. He was unprepared for this situation. When they were at the castle, and he was in his armor, everything was by the book—he knew how Shining was meant to be treated. "S-S-S—"
"Firelance!" Lyra didn't often have a use for her parade ground voice, but snapping young Guardponies out of mindlock was a key feature of it. "At ease!"
Relaxing, Firelance blinked a few times. "I—What happened?"
"We're both out of uniform, Firelance," Shining said, trying not to laugh from his silly reaction to be more foalish with the young stallion. "You don't need to salute or follow rank."
"Yeah, but—but you're you!"
"He's also," Scootaloo said, "an off-duty officer. Just relax. Hey, what smells good?" She started to gravitate toward the kitchen, attracted by her olfactory sense and the emptiness of her stomach combined.
Lyra rolled her eyes at Scootaloo's antics. "I'm making spaghetti. There's enough for two more?"
Opening his mouth to beg for the chance to stay, Shining was delivered a look from his wife that told him, under no uncertain terms, that they were leaving. "Sorry, but we really have to go. What about a rain check?"
It was, honestly, a relief for Lyra. She would have had to stretch the sauce a lot more and make more pasta. "That's too bad, but sure. Maybe we'll have to meet up in Canterlot and make a double-date of it." She glanced at Scootaloo, who was trying to dip a wooden spoon in the slowly bubbling pot without being noticed. "Or a triple-date."
Pushing her husband out the door, but stopping to give Lyra a hug, Cadance said, "And, thank you for taking this matter seriously."
"You thought I'd make a joke?" Without missing a beat, Lyra hugged back. "Besides, if I'm going to be that important to them, I get to spoil them as much as Shining's mum does."
Squeezing just a little tighter, Cadance let out a little laugh. "I'm all to pieces over this. Don't put off your visit, please?"
"I promise, I'll be up there before you know it." Letting go of the hug only when Cadance did, Lyra gave her friend a wave. "Don't hurt him too much on the ride home!"
With Cadance's devilish wink still in mind as she turned back, she spotted (in the reflection of her fridge) Scootaloo and Firelance sneak a quick kiss in the kitchen.
"It's good to get away." Sweetie Drops took a deep breath of the crisp, chill air and let it back out. It was a different kind of weather entirely to Ponyville, not that she spent too much time there now the threat on her life had ended. She only wished she hadn't been promoted out of the running for field work. "What are you doing?"
"Setting up a gag." Turning back to the pony selling shaved ice, Lyra nodded and took the three treats from the mare and passed her some coins. "Now, to see how many ponies look at us funny."
"You—" Scootaloo watched in horror as Lyra got a little bag of yellow crystals from her jacket and tipped them over the three snow cones. "At least tell me it's lemon flavored?"
"Of course it is. Here." Passing out the yellow snow cones, it didn't take long for Lyra to both get a brain-chill and weird stares.
"I should have worn my armor," Sweetie said, though she too ate the snow cone she was given. The lemon flavored sugar crystals added a tangy sweetness to the slush that she had to admit was a good move.
The walk up the main street of the Crystal Empire had a background sound of hooves clopping on crystal, which was similar in sound to stone. They approached the front doors of the castle as they each finished their tasty—attention-getting—treats. The two guards were crystal ponies, each in some fancy armor and standing as stiff as any Royal Guard any of the three mares had met.
Clearing her throat, Sweetie spoke up. "We're here to see their royal highnesses, Empress Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor." The titles were intentionally wrong. She couldn't get the testing commander out of her blood. Neither guardpony showed any sign of reprimanding her.
"Their imperial majesties are not holding court today, but I will take word to them that…" Nodding to Sweetie, one of the guards raised an eyebrow in question.
"Captain Sweetie Drops of the E.U.P. Guard." Gesturing to Lyra, Sweetie did her best to maintain an even smile.
"Captain Lyra Heartstrings, commander of Princess Twilight Sparkle's Royal Guard." And Lyra gestured to Scootaloo.
Without missing a beat, and trying to ignore the look she got from the crystal pony guard, Scootaloo said, "Hi! I'm Scootaloo."
Schooling his features as best he could, the guardpony nodded his head. "I believe you are expected." He glanced at his fellow gate guard and got a nod. "Please, follow me."
Stepping into the castle required ascending a whole mess of stairs. The bottom of the thing was literally a group of enclosed stairways that acted as supports for the castle above, with a wide open plaza below that was dominated by the spinning Crystal Heart.
The throne room, when they reached it, had the two huge seats of power at the far end of the room, but sounds of conversation could be heard from an alcove to one side of the room—which is where the guard escorted the three mares.
For all the throne room was huge, the little alcove—where scribes normally recorded events—was cozy for a mare and a stallion to sit and have their lunch. Cadance, hearing hoofsteps approaching, stopped gazing lovingly into Shining's eyes for a moment and looked to see who it was. "Lyra! Sweetie! Scootaloo!"
Having a pair of high ranking officers from the E.U.P. Guard arrive was one thing, watching his princess tackle-hug them was another. Standing firm in the face of having not completely screwed up, the guardpony looked to his commander.
"Return to your post, Prism." Shining waited for the guardpony to leave and for his wife to finish subduing the greater threat. "Please say you didn't mess with him too much?"
"I barely said ten words to him," Lyra said, nodding toward Sweetie.
"I can't help testing guardponies. Too much time spent training them and leading them." With a shrug, Sweetie recalled the reason for their appearance—or at least the main reason. "Let's not keep you waiting. My answer is yes."
Cadance could feel herself radiating excitement. She was all but buzzing with a need to express her gratitude. She opened her mouth to be cut off by the smallest pony in the room.
Scootaloo said, "Which leaves me. It's a heavy decision, because I know this goes further than what was promised. If something should happen to you and Shining, what happens if both my mums were standing in front of you? The Guard isn't a job for ponies who don't feel obligated to defend lives with their own.
"Which means none of us know when that call might require a bigger price than we can pay." Gulping at the thought of it, Scootaloo pushed on. "So if—If you all have to pay that price, and I'm the only one left, I agree too."
The gravity of Scootaloo's statement hit home for Cadance and she bowed her head. "So you're all in agreement?"
Lyra nodded. "Yup. If you still think we're a good pick, we can all agree to raise your foal if the worst happens. But, please don't make us honor this promise." She accepted Cadance's hug when it came, but was a little surprised Shining dove in as well. Her own reinforcements of Sweetie and Scootaloo were welcome at such an emotionally charged moment.
"Now," Sweetie said as they ended the hug by mutual consent, "can we move on to something else now? I want to see the sights and do everything."
Scootaloo laughed. "With the concert next week, they both took leave at the same time. The Guard were in a mild panic about having two senior staff just disappearing at the same time."
"First, I've asked the local crystalberry growers to put on a special tasting of their fruit and their latest wines. It'll be wonderful, I promise." The loss of a major stress hanging over her shoulders freed Cadance, making her feel as light as air. She wanted to prance and fly and pronk—all the fun things she was told princesses should keep to a minimum or at least to important moments.
Sweetie didn't need to glance at Lyra to see she too was grinning at Cadance's obvious great mood. A look at Shining revealed him to have a big grin on his face too. She mostly kept quiet as they walked out into the crisp air. Even with Shining Armor, two of the Crystal Guard followed at a respectful distance.
It was a little detail, but she approved of the positioning, quantity, and make up of the group—a unicorn and an earth pony. She found herself curious of their training, though knowing Shining Armor was nominally in charge of such things, she expected they were more than capable of dealing with threats. If she were in his position, and had to assign guards to watch Lyra and Scootaloo's backs, she would be sure they'd been trained well.
"You're not following the conversation either?" Shining asked, dropping back to where Sweetie was walking.
Sweetie shrugged her shoulders, an action that was a reminder that she wasn't properly dressed—she was missing her armor. "I hate being away from work. I never thought I would become like this. Do you know if there's a cure?"
"Normally I'd say settling down with a loving mare and having a foal, but you've already tried that." Gesturing ahead, Shining let out a sigh. "I know what you mean, though. Bright Feather puts up with my letters. I try not to tell him how he could run the Royal Guard, but when he started asking for tips I couldn't help it."
"Well, that explains how he got up to speed so fast. I wish I'd had a mentor for my promotion."
"The curse of coming up with something that's such a good, new idea that you get put in charge of it." Nodding, Shining smirked after a moment. "From what I've heard, there are a lot less outbreaks of crazy."
It was a common enough term in the Guard. An outbreak of crazy was, in most cases, some magical artifact or creature from the past causing enough chaos that Discord himself sometimes showed up merely to eat popcorn and delight in the mayhem. "Down a lot, yeah. Finding and dealing with these damn artifacts is going to be my life's work, though. It's almost like fate itself produces them."
"If that's the case, what you have there is job security." Shining knew where they were going, but he was happy to let Cadance take her time on the walk. Between her and Lyra, though, they seemed intent on talking about everything and everyone before even reaching the farm.
The point was valid, which was part of why Sweetie missed her work—there was so much of it. "So what is this place we're going to?"
Shining took a deep breath and let it out. "Farmers. Smart ponies doing good work. The kind of people we're doing our jobs for." He looked at Sweetie to make sure she was getting what he said, and saw a look of understanding. "They wanted some big event to show off what they make, and they're getting us."
"So I need to put on a bit of a show as an Equestrian dignitary?" Sweetie wished she didn't put so much distaste into the words, but it was how she felt on the matter. "We should have brought Blue with us."
Rolling his eyes, then laughing, Shining nodded. "This would be the exact kind of thing that Blue loves. Somewhere he can relax and not have his personas in place. How are he and Bread doing?"
"She's now officially recognized as a noble of some out-of-the-way part of Equestria. Now that it's public, she gets to live a bit of a wild life for a while until the next drama happens." At Shining's grin, Sweetie narrowed her eyes. "What?"
"Look at you. Keeping up with all the castle gossip."
She groaned. "I have to. Can you believe two nobles tried to hide an artifact they'd found? The only reason I found out about it was Jet Set."
"You have spies at all levels then?"
Thinking about it, Sweetie nodded. "Yeah. Every town, every city, and every social group. Necessity is a powerful force. If I didn't, those fools would still be duplicating bits and using them to pay their debts."
"Ouch. How did that work out for them?" Shining asked.
"The coins dissolved the moment nopony was actually looking at them. The fools were lucky we caught up to them before the ponies they'd paid did." Nodding back over her shoulder, Sweetie said, "You trained them?"
"Partly. They didn't need training so much as a reason to do their jobs. When the Empire returned, it was fresh out of a nightmare where Sombra was still in control. It wasn't hard to rebuild their trust in rulership, but it is still an ongoing fight to make them trust themselves." His ears folded down as Shining brought to mind all the little encounters—every day—where a crystal pony seemed to dangerously defer to him. "And the first bit, trusting us? It's almost too much."
"'Almost'?"
"Cady is amazing. She has infinite patience and can wait out anypony that thinks she's above them. If it wasn't us here, trying to put this nation back together, then it might well be another Sombra ready to take advantage of them. So, almost. Almost too much, too slow, and too sad—but I'll fight for them."
"I seem to remember a brave captain who had the patience to teach a filly how to be the first female Royal Guard in generations."
"That was entirely borrowed from the filly in question."
"Well, if you happen to know that captain, let him know that he set the bar way too high for conduct in the upper echelons of the E.U.P. Guard." Ahead of them, Cadance, Lyra, and Scootaloo were slowing. "Looks like we need to put on our faces again."
"If anypony asks, we were discussing the latest training techniques." Shining put on his best smile, a genuine one. He didn't need to pretend he was something he wasn't when he had so many friends around him.
"Absolutely." Holding out one hoof when they stopped, she got a bump back from Shining. "Is this the farm?" she asked Lyra and Cadance. It obviously was. There was a small fence and a barn—and hundreds of rows of berry bushes strung out in lines leading away from the edge of the city.
"Bonny, you know it is. Now come on, the nice ponies are waiting for us." Without thinking on it, and mostly because she'd been having them out more and more at home, Lyra spread a wing out and put it over Sweetie's back. A moment later she realized her mistake and snapped it back.
Coming up on Lyra's other side, Shining coughed. "Still not ready to just let 'em out?"
"No. Also, this shirt is custom-made so I can hide them. I'm not going to leave them out for everypony to misinterpret." Lyra's minor grumpiness was overridden by Sweetie giving her a hug.
"I thought you didn't have them unless you cast a specific spell?" Shining asked.
"Go on," Sweetie said. "Tell him."
Groaning, Lyra rolled her eyes. "It's easier to hide them when they're physical. It turns out that ethereal, golden wings will pass right through a shirt meant to hide wings." The huge grin on her wife's face did nothing to cure the ironic pain of that realization.
All three of them froze when Cadance cleared her throat. "I hope you're all hungry and thirsty, they have a big tasting set up for us."
Bowls of berries and cream were dusted with powdered sugar and had smiling ponies near them, ready to explain the full heritage of the berries in question. Everyone got to try the berries, and though they all tried the wine, none imbibed so much as to even get a slight buzz from it.
Scootaloo was having a blast, which at the same time felt almost like a betrayal. Here she was, without her best friends or coltfriend, having way too much fun. The berries all tasted good, and while she wasn't a stranger to wine, she was being trusted to judge how much she should drink.
As they left the farm, she spotted Shining giving the two trailing guards a signal. It was subtle, but one she remembered from her time training with the Royal Guard. Priority shift. Escort alicorn. When he glanced her way and raised an eyebrow, she made a quick gesture for Acknowledged and Request orders.
Realizing he shouldn't have underestimated Scootaloo's perception, Shining gave her the gesture for Accompany me. "Dear, I promised I would do an inspection today. You should take the ladies back to the castle and get ready for tonight."
Eyes bright, anticipation building, Cadance actually did a quick little excited dance. "Of course! Don't spend too long playing guard commander." Turning her attention to Lyra, Sweetie, and Scootaloo, she said, "You're all going to love this! I planned a party for us!"
"I—I'd like to see the guardhouse," Scootaloo said, biting her lower lip. She really did want to see it, too, and not entirely because Shining had invited her. "But you all go and have fun!"
Lyra raised an eyebrow, but shrugged at Scootaloo. "You two have fun, then. Don't be too long!"
Walking to Scootaloo, Sweetie gave her a quick hug. "Sorry if we're no fun."
"You're plenty fun, but—" Scootaloo hugged back before letting go. "Yeah."
Watching the two Guardponies follow after Cadance, Sweetie, and Lyra, Scootaloo shot them a signal for Good work, and got a pair of raised eyebrows back before they left.
"You should see the cool spears we got. Sombra had his armory stocked up pretty well and after checking them over for any of his influence, I got the guards using them." Shining, at heart, was still a colt who loved playing with shiny things. He was absolutely unsurprised when Scootaloo matched his marching pace toward the barracks.
Scootaloo was no less the weapon nerd. Ever since she'd gotten to practice with Royal Guard spears and then acquired her first pair of foreleg claws, she'd been hooked on discovering and mastering everything she could find. "I'd think he would have been equipping ponies with some kind of shield against the Royal Guard spears."
"That's a bit of a grim story, actually. No, there is no shield against Royal Guard spears. Sombra didn't care about losing his Guardponies so long as they could also take down their opponents." It had hurt to realize this, when he put together the tactics training and capabilities of the crystal ponies' guard. "His actual plans for the weapons were to eventually have the death of their user act as a trigger to make the weapon detonate all its magic potential."
Wincing at the realities of that, Scootaloo sighed. "I'm glad he's dealt with. He is dealt with, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Even Princess Celestia made sure of that. He's gone for good this time. Nothing can bring him back." Turning, Shining led the way into what seemed like simply a larger than normal crystalline building.
"Wow." The inside seemed like some kind of converted warehouse. There was a large training area, that several ponies were using to practice formation fighting, and several offices along one side. Scootaloo was impressed. "This is pretty cool. It keeps all of your stuff out of the way."
"The whole block is dedicated to homes and specialist training for the Guard. I've been focusing on group tactics, making them most effective as fighting squads with dedicated roles. Crystal ponies don't have as many unicorns or pegasi among them, so the focus is more on physical control of fights." Leading the way over to one side of the training area, Shining gestured at the rows of weapons. "Want to give them some practice?"
"You're asking if I want to show off, that's always a yes." Selecting a pair of the larger training claws, Scootaloo strapped them on with practiced ease. "These are heavy. Not enchanted?"
"Too heavy for you?"
"Not when I'm in the air." To prove her point, Scootaloo gave her wings a pump and lifted off the ground. Doing a quick spin, she shifted the claws so they sprang out and rapidly reversed their momentum, showing the extent to which her natural pegasi skill had developed—they looked practically weightless.
Shining walked over, fully aware of the hellion mare hovering beside him, and approached the training soldiers at an angle so they could all see him.
"Sir!" All six of the crystal ponies broke off from their engagement and stopped to salute.
"At ease. I have a small challenge for you today, and you can take it or leave it." No sooner did he say that, though, than Shining noticed two of the ponies, a mare and a stallion, stiffen. "It's in two parts. The first will be a solo spar against this young mare. The second will be a group engagement against myself and her."
"Captain," Windbreak, the sergeant of the squad, nodded his head toward Scootaloo, "I believe Prism would be the best for undertaking that."
"Sir." Prism was almost a clear crystal—unique for a crystal pony—and she was even more exotic thanks to her horn.
Sizing up the mare, Scootaloo realized she was at a minor disadvantage. She knew that Prism would have good training as a unicorn, given the scarcity of them among the crystal ponies it seemed a given that those they had would have more training, but she was used to sparring with the best of the best unicorns. What worried her was the two unknowns—she didn't know Prism's special talent and she hadn't been paying attention to the bulletins regarding crystal pony racial abilities.
Flying to the opposite side of the training hall, as directed, she settled down onto the ground and felt the weight and mass of the claws she'd chosen reassert itself. Around her were odd dappled lighting, artifacts of the crystalline roof of the building letting the sun shine through it.
As Shining read the rules—standard Guard ones that she knew by heart—Scootaloo's mind assembled and processed the facts and speculation. Crystal ponies had reacted to light, or so she remembered reading in the report of Sombra's defeat. They had something that related to hope and power. Names were important to a lot of ponies, too.
When Shining Armor signaled the fight to start, Scootaloo latched onto the few facts she could assemble:
The mare was named Prism. Prisms change light as it passes through them. Light was key to crystal ponies' power.
Scootaloo didn't try to take to the sky. She didn't leap into the air, as any trained pegasus would do, to take advantage of her unique racial ability to fly. She dove sideways and forward—which is what saved her from a focused beam of coherent light that would have probably seared her feathers if she'd gone upward.
The next attack to come Scootaloo's way was magical—a spell she knew of. For a moment she dove up and caught some air with her wings, twisting the magical blast so it curved around her like air would when she was flying. Unlike other pegasi, though, she had been practicing something new with her coltfriend's help. Working her wings into an arc, she caught the spell with the primaries of her left wing and rolled it, shifting the magic's momentum and directing it back along her torso and right wing—aimed right back at its caster.
Prism wasn't ready for a spell coming her way, Scootaloo could see. The mare was stunned a moment before she dove to the side. Finally, safely in the air, Scootaloo could start to take some initiative and engage with her opponent. Dodging around the next beam of light, she spiraled down and was only forced back from a bout-winning attack at the last moment by a shield spell.
Circling back to the ceiling, Scootaloo watched as Prism realized her error. "That spell's too strong. You gotta lower it if either of us want this to con—What am I saying, you can't even hear me in—" She had to pump her wings hard as the shield dropped and another beam of light came at her, this time not petering out but drawing an arc through the air as Prism walked it toward her.
Dodging light, Scootaloo mused as she did it, was becoming her least favorite thing. Since she'd returned Prism's spell at her, there hadn't been a single other aimed spell used. Barely getting out of one roll with her feathers intact, she aimed her secret weapon and launched it.
The disassembled claw-pin, a small piece of metal that retained the claw blades in the housing, sailed down at Prism unseen—Scootaloo hoped—by the mare. As the next beam was starting to coalesce, the tiny fragment of metal hit Prism right between the eyes.
It wasn't a big opening, but Scootaloo took it. She didn't rely on gravity to send her ground-ward, instead pumping her wings as hard as she could and pouring her magic into her aerodynamics. The beam of light started to form, but its aim was off. Fortunate, for Scootaloo, since she didn't have an ounce of energy left to spare to bend around it.
When she landed on Prism's back, her left foreleg—the one with a fully functioning set of claws—hooked around the mare's neck and tugged tight.
"Damn, you move fast." Prism relaxed and waited for the smaller pony to climb off her, which she did after carefully removing the blades from Prism's neck. "Was that spell redirection a new training technique from Canterlot?"
"No." Shining Armor walked up to the pair, eyes fixed on Scootaloo. "I talked to some Wonderbolts recently—they would have mentioned something like that."
Looking around the floor for the missing pin, Scootaloo found it and reassembled her right claw. "It's something I've been working on. Firelance helped me practice it. Rather than twisting my body out of the way, I twist the path of the spell back onto itself."
"Yeah, I noticed that. Almost got me with it, too. Why didn't you do it with my light beams?" Prism asked.
"Way too fast. Spells move a lot slower and I can spread the effort out over half a second. Light is just—"
"You were dodging them well enough."
"Yeah, but that was bending me. Completely different." To Scootaloo it made perfect sense. Bending herself around something was far easier than bending it around her.
"Sir?" Prism asked, and when she got a nod continued. "Permission to sit out the squad fight. I know when I'll do more harm than good, and throwing magic her way will only end badly for us."
"If you wouldn't mind, Scootaloo, could you instead give Lark a lesson on how to do that?" Shining felt that the showing off that Scootaloo was apparently always happy to do was more than covered by redirecting magic.
Narrowing her eyes a moment, Scootaloo figured out the game and laughed. "Let me guess, after this you'll talk me into holding off teaching it to anypony in the Guard until after your next visit?"
Beaming his delight, Shining nodded. "Now that you mention it, I might ask that. It couldn't hurt, surely?"
Holding out her hoof, shoe out to Shining, Scootaloo laughed when his huge (compared to hers) hoof made contact. "Deal. Now, Lark, I'm going to get unicorns to throw spells at you. I want you to show me how well you can dodge them."
Lark judged he wasn't much older than Scootaloo, but it still felt a little weird to be taking lessons from someone his junior—until she started on the technical aspects of dodging spells, angling the path of the spell into an arc, and slinging it back at the caster.
Almost a dozen bolts struck him, thankfully without any energy behind them, before he managed to deviate one slightly. It was only a small adjustment, but it let him feel what he should be doing so that the next one he managed to get almost fully perpendicular to its original heading. "This—I can't believe I'm doing this."
"Keep it up. You should be at the point now where you need practice, rather than more theory." Scootaloo didn't mind giving out encouragement. This was, after all, a practice run for her teaching others how to do it. She wasn't being completely altruistic to Shining, of course. Firelance had been practicing with her and knew what spells he could employ that couldn't be redirected—even if they seemed like they should be able to. "Just don't go too hard on the Guard, okay?"
"You say that like turning their own spells on them won't make it impossible for a unicorn to fight. The only reason Prism had a chance was her special talent." Gliding down to the floor of the training hall, Lark landed with Scootaloo at his side. She'd been quite the surprise, over the course of the lesson. He'd expected a lot of you should be feeling and it kinda goes like. Instead he'd gotten precise instructions and critique that had quickly gotten him results. "Sergeant, Captain, I believe I need some more practice and I will be able to do perform this skill as required."
"And teach it?" Shining asked.
"Sir!" Lark nodded, giving his affirmative simply with the lack of denial.
"Good. Round up all the pegasi from each squad. I want you to practice this so you can perform it by the time I visit Canterlot in a month." Shining saluted to Lark. "Dismissed."
The walk to the castle was a good way to cool down for Scootaloo. It wasn't that being among guardponies was tiring, but treating a friend of your family as an officer demanded a different mindset compared to normal conversation. "You know, there are at least one unicorn that will adapt to this trick so fast Lark's head will spin, and I know of another who knows exactly how to counter it."
Letting loose a surprised whinny, Shining bit his lip. "Lyra and…"
"Not telling. I can't make it too easy for you." With a little strut in her step, Scootaloo enjoyed Shining's slight panic—even if she knew it was mostly for laughs. "Oh, I didn't get to see one of Sombra's weapons."
"You're here for a few days, right? Then we're all off to see the concert in Ponyville." Shining loved the idea of getting away, but he had learned to enjoy helping the ponies of the Crystal Empire thrive. Like bringing Scootaloo in to help him boost morale in the guardponies he'd been cultivating.
"Yeah, but then we have to make another excuse to sneak away tomorrow."
"I'll help."
Two days in the Crystal Empire had been fun. Lyra had indulged her girly side and let Cadance guide her and Sweetie around, going to health spas and fancy eateries had eaten the bulk of their time, but she'd noticed Scootaloo sneaking away each day with increasingly esoteric reasons to explain it—that were all corroborated by Shining. She knew the pair had been having a more rough and tumble time of it, but they seemed to enjoy that more than either would with Cadance's itinerary. "So, I arranged with Twilight to get us six tickets."
"Six?" Cadance asked. She had managed to talk everyone out of using the royal carriage because she wanted to keep a low profile in Ponyville. Hence why she and Shining also had disguises.
Sweetie smirked and said, "The five of us and Trixie. She's touring, but she has stowed her wagon at our place in Canterlot, then she'll be getting on the train with us and riding to Ponyville."
Cadance couldn't help but fluff her wings in excitement. "Oh! And Pinkie will be there too? It will be just like old times." Unlike her husband, who was disguised as a unicorn, Cadance had a pegasus illusion in place.
She'd kept a similar color coat to her normal self, but her mane was a single tone yellow. Shining had dulled his coat to a soft gray and had a brown mane, since his own colors were far too well-known.
"Assuming no epic disaster happens that needs Twilight and her friends to stop," Lyra said. When everyone stared at her like she'd let out a string of curses, she went on the defensive. "What?"
"Don't jinx this." Sweetie booped Lyra on the nose. "We're going to have a lovely time, and should anything dare to interrupt it, it will incur the wrath of an entire division of the Guard—"
"…an alicorn—" Cadance added.
"...the Crystal Guard—" Shining held up his hoof to his wife and they indulged in a little bump.
"…and a pegasus," Scootaloo said, finishing things up.
"So, what you're saying is, a small army will ensure this weekend goes according to plan?" Lyra asked. With everyone around her now nodding, she smirked. "Well, now I know something will go wrong. You can't draw up battle plans for an army without everything going to pieces seconds after you're finished."
Shining laughed and nodded in full agreement. "But we make plans anyway. Not making plans is how you lose a fight."
Sweetie nodded, letting out a soft grunt for all the first-time commanders who got to learn that the hard way. "We're about to come out of the tunnel." She'd commuted enough times to know the ride up and down the mountain well. Not ten seconds after she spoke, the morning light from Celestia's sun found the windows and swamped the electric lights inside the carriage.
The conductor entered the carriage and looked around all the ponies within. "We'll be stopping briefly in Canterlot, then moving on down to the south-east."
"Thank you. We'll have another joining us—a blue unicorn." Cadance didn't mean to take the initiative, it was her training and recent events pushing her to take the lead.
Shining, unlike his wife, was perfectly content to be out of the spotlight. He relaxed and let the others talk while the train came to a stop. In a few moments the door at the end of the car opened and Trixie Lulamoon stepped in.
Gazing around at the ponies present, she spotted Shining and Cadance and started to laugh. "Who in Equestria did those illusions?" Marching right up to Cadance, Trixie tilted her head to the side and then let out a sigh. "Was it Twilight?"
"It was Lyra." Cadance was perhaps little defensive, mostly because she liked the illusion.
"Drat. I could have bugged Twilight about it for days. No matter, The Great and Powerful Trixie will fix this." Warming up her magic, Trixie started assembling multiple layered illusions and, holding those patterns, she removed the illusions already on the pair. Or, she tried to. "What is this? I thought you said Lyra put these on?"
"Trixie, we've been trying to keep this quiet but"—Lyra walked up to Trixie and, carefully, began to extend her wings—"I've become an alicorn."
Staring and in shock, Trixie tried to put words together in a row but they kept failing to make sense even in her head. Eventually, when her awareness spread back out to more than Lyra, she realized there was a lot of laughter. "What?"
"She's not an alicorn yet, Trixie," Cadance said.
Lyra folded her wings back and under the folds at the back of the dress she was wearing. "I'm not the messiah, I'm a very naughty filly. It's a joke, Trixie. They're not exactly real."
"But they're not an illusion."
"No, Trixie, they're not. It's a long story, but it seems like I might be turning into an alicorn." Lyra slumped in place. It took a lot from her to finally admit it, though making a joke out of her winged state helped. "It all started when Twilight was on a trip with her friends and a mare stole her cutie mark.
"Friendship magic was coming undone and there was nopony else. Everypony in town helped, and together we—"
"What she's trying to say is that she held Twilight's newly created magic together until Twilight got her cutie mark back. Everyone in town helped, when they could, but she was the center of it," Sweetie said.
"This is a worrying trend." Trixie didn't bother trying to regain the illusion spells she'd been preparing. "At this rate, everypony I know will turn into an alicorn." Turning her head to look at Shining, Trixie asked, "Any feelings of feathers growing in? Maybe some new limbs growing from your back?"
Leaning a little closer to Trixie, Cadance clucked her tongue. "What about you, Trixie? Apparently wings are contagious."
"Growing wings would be too mainstream for Trixie." Always keen to play the straight character role in a gag, Trixie was subtle with her magic, making a pair of illusory wings appear under her cape without a hint of her pink magic showing from under her hat. Stretching one of the wings out, she pretended to preen.
Narrowing her eyes, Lyra let out a groan. "I couldn't detect that illusion at all."
"Well, don't look at me," Shining said in his deeper voice. "You're better at general magic than I am."
The look of joy on Trixie's face at having stumped the pair was, in a word, beatific. "That's because The Great and Powerful Trixie has been practicing, and she has also found a much better partial-pattern blocker for her hat." Lifting the item in question from her head, she passed it to Lyra.
With it hovering before her, Lyra could feel the joyful swirls of wild dark magic inside the threads of the hat. It called to her to dance with it and make it grow until it blotted out the sun. Hearing her name, she shook her head and looked at Sweetie—who was standing right beside her compared to across the car a moment earlier. Her wife looked concerned. "Uh, let me guess. Eyes got all purple-green, black smoke…"
Lyra only had to watch everyone nodding to realize she'd been a bit too carried away with darkness. "Sorry. Ever since Luna shared her source of darkness magic with me, it's been reacting to any spells that have darkness in them. I dread to think what will happen when I share harmony."
Trixie snorted and shook her head. "No. Light and motion will be the worst. All horns leak a little light magic and motion—telekinesis—is the most common spell ponies know."
"Maybe if I had a friend learning them with me, it wouldn't be so much of a problem?" Lyra shot Trixie her best evil grin. "I could give you a lesson in a better wing spell, for a start."
Setting her hat back on her head, Trixie rolled her eyes at the idea. "An illusion spell is all I need for wings. Anything else is not Trixie's style."
With the train moving (not that Lyra noticed it start, thanks to dark magic's little interlude), Lyra got comfortable on a seat and relaxed a little more. The discussion shifted to more mundane topics, and while Lyra did offer small opinions here and there, she was mostly thinking about her wings.
The joke, as good as it had been, was a sign of her slow acceptance of her fate. While sitting there, she kept glancing at Cadance—who didn't have a magic source of her own.
"You're frowning more than normal." Sitting beside Lyra, Scootaloo was a little surprised how little she had to look up to see Lyra's face. "Something wrong?"
"No. No, not really. I'm still working my way through the wings thing. The joke earlier was a bit—It surprised me. Why is this even a thing?"
Not expecting to be able to give a good answer, Scootaloo shrugged and said the first thing she could think of. "Well, the reason you started all this was because you were a—a backup for Twilight. Maybe there's a reason for you to be a backup for all magic?"
"That—" It made a lot of sense and ticked all the boxes that Lyra could think of. "I'd rather work so that that kind of backup isn't needed."
"I've read your training manuals for officers. 'Plan for the worst' was your motto for most tactical situations. Maybe fate itself has started reading them too?" Scootaloo wouldn't normally go so far with Lyra, but she felt the mare she considered her mother needed to hear her own words.
Taking the words and mulling them over, Lyra was both giddy that Scootaloo had read her books and surprised at the way she'd used the information now. "I guess destiny is far more pragmatic than I thought. That would fit, unless it knows for a fact that we can't get in the way of whatever force is trying to stop magic by disabling the princesses. That's a little bleak, though."
"It would mean, I think, that they will lose their ability to guide their magic sources." Extending her wing out, Scootaloo poked Lyra in the side. "That means—"
"… that I should stop shirking my duty and do this. Yeah. I'm going to have to surrender to fate. Ugh, I shouldn't have tried to fight it in the—" It was a hurricane. A swirling mass of raw power that wrapped Lyra up and isolated her. Despite feeling trapped by it, she realized it was allowing her to still move.
Fate, Lyra thought. Harmony.
As the second concept flickered into being in her mind, Lyra felt the magic open up and pull her into it. For an instant that may have lasted an eternity she could see everything stretching out before her. Not once. Not twice. But three times she would have to rescue not simply one of the magic sources—but all of them. The final seemed like it was destined to destroy her with an eternity of agony, but harmony showed her there was a path through it if she trusted her hooves to fate.
"Lyra?! Lyra!" The train had arrived in Ponyville and Sweetie had been forced to order it to halt. Lyra was frozen in place and not even Cadance's magic could coax Lyra back to motion. Bracing, she prepared to knock her wife over when Lyra gasped like a drowning mare and blinked her eyes rapidly. "Lyra?"
"Harmony!" Lyra looked around, her purpose renewed even if she couldn't stop the tears pouring from her eyes. "Harmony magic got to me when Scootaloo told me what I needed to hear. How long was I out like that?"
"It was a slow ride down the mountain, but not that slow," Sweetie said. "Maybe an hour."
"Huh, not bad. Last time it was over a day. Well, that's three now. I hope I didn't drool too much or anything?" Lyra looked around everyone as they stared at her. "What?"
"They're staring at me," Discord said, leaning down so he could put his head beside Lyra's. "Or did you really think your own part in the cosmos was that important?"
"Why are you here?" To Lyra, every time Discord had been present, a calamity had befallen her life. Though, the last one having introduced her to Tree Hugger had been a net victory.
"Harmony!" a good Discord said, floating beside Lyra's head. He was obviously the good one, wearing white with a halo. On the other side was a Discord in a red jumpsuit with his horns painted red.
"What abo—No. No. You can't be—You?!" Lyra stared at the good Discord in shock.
Pressing a paw to his chest, Discord pulled the lyre off Lyra's flank and strummed it a few times. "One of the delicious ironies of life. Don't get me wrong, chaos is my one true love, but harmony couldn't exist without that same chaos. They're stuck together. Crazy and sane. Fun and boring. Se—"
"I get it. It's a yin and yang thing. You can't have one without the other and their balance is—is your job?"
"Hrmm." Tossing the lyre back to Lyra's side, Discord made an excited wiggle as his two halves returned to one. "You know, we should spend more time together. No, we will spend more time together. You might be the only creature alive today that gets me. I want to take you apart and see what makes you tick."
Feeling her perspective shift, Lyra realized she'd turned into some kind of clock that was rapidly falling to pieces. Inside her, harmony coiled around and danced in sympathy to Discord's antics.
"Oh, you don't need this part anymore," Discord said, picking one gear out of the floating, exploded clock parts and flicking it away before the clock reassembled into a pony. "You'll thank me later."
"What was—? You know what, never mind." Centering herself, Lyra closed her eyes for a moment to ignore Discord before saying, "I humbly accept the offer, but it will have to wait until…" She looked at Sweetie.
"At least tomorrow afternoon. We have the concert tonight, and I'll be cooking breakfast for everypony tomorrow, then Shining and Cadance were going to have lunch and leave, right?" Looking at the couple, Sweetie got a pair of nods. "Right, so you two can have your little play-date tomorrow afternoon."
Picking up on the gag and running with it—literally—Discord collected the speech balloon that appeared beside Sweetie's head and shrugged. "I'll put that date in my calendar." Opening the speech balloon like a book, Discord produced a piece of fruit, a date, out of thin air and put it inside before folding it closed again. "Tootles."
"Why do you think Discord goes so easy on Lyra?" Cadance asked Shining. "Every time I've had to deal with him, he's—"
"Removed your horn. I know. He keeps taking my mane off to use to blow his nose." With a sigh Shining shrugged.
"It's probably because of Tufts," Scootaloo said.
Everyone went quiet for a moment, then Lyra nodded. "Yeah, but I guess I need to establish my own rapport with him. But, that's for tomorrow. Tonight we're going to have some fun!"
As all the adults cheered and charged out of the train car, Scootaloo couldn't help but feel a little odd. She was looking forward to the concert, but at the same time she wished she could share it with Firelance. But, what with Lyra getting the day off, his duty was at Twilight's side.
Climbing off the train too, she walked after her friends and family, unsure what to do about her melancholy.
"Hey, Scoots!"
The familiar voice dragged Scootaloo's attention away and brought a smile to her face. "Hey yourself, Apple Bloom. Where's Sweetie Belle?"
"She's already helping Miss Cheerilee with the contest. I came here because Countess Coloratura needed somepony to show her where the concert will be and—I think that's her." Pointing with her hoof, Apple Bloom drew Scootaloo's attention to a mare dressed as bizarrely as any she'd ever seen. Wearing a veil, a big jacket, and with faker eyelashes than she'd ever seen Rarity wear, Apple Bloom figured that was definitely her target.
Shrugging and following, Scootaloo glanced back over to where Lyra, Sweetie Drops, and their friends were collecting all the luggage from the trip. When Lyra glanced her way, and smiled with a nod. Turning back, she watched a stallion leave the train car behind Coloratura and immediately start loading luggage onto Apple Bloom's back. Walking over to her friend, Scootaloo asked, "Uh, what's going on?"
"Ugh, a pegasus? Couldn't they have sent a unicorn to help with our luggage. You'll barely be able to carry a quarter of my—our things."
"They're not here to carry our things, Svengallop. They're fillies from the local school." Coloratura lifted the cases off Apple Bloom's back and passed them back to her manager. "You wouldn't make my biggest fans—also my littlest—carry everything, would you?"
Svengallop didn't have much restraint, but the one thing he knew he couldn't push Coloratura on was her support of school foals. "I'll find somepony to help, then."
When her manager was gone, Coloratura turned back to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. "Sorry about that. It's been a rough trip and—You remind me of somepony I used to know. Anyway, I'm Coloratura! Is there anything you want to talk about while we—" She realized, with her manager gone, she had a little more freedom. "Can you take me to see your school?"
The conspiratorial tone, hidden not at all, got a big grin from Scootaloo. "Sure. The first trick to ditching anypony at the train station is to get back onboard." Leading the way back onto the train, Scootaloo slipped over to the door on the opposite side—the one that had no platform—and opened it. "Now we jump down here and make a run for it."
Freedom never required so much exercise, but Coloratura let out a laugh as she landed and took off at a run with the two fillies—young mares, she corrected herself. She was laughing so much, in fact, that she barely heard the train start to move. For a little bit they ran alongside it before slowing and letting it pull away so they could cross the tracks into the town itself.
"The school's this way." Apple Bloom took the lead now that Scootaloo's sneaky trick worked. Wherever Svengallop was, he definitely had no clue where they were. "Why did you want to get away from him?"
"He can be a bit"—Coloratura didn't want to say annoying, but boy was she thinking it—"uh, pushy. He does it to keep me on schedule, and he means well, but I don't need to practice this early and I wanted to see my special fans."
The excursion was a little odd for Scootaloo. She was so used to being treated as an adult by so many of the adults that knew her, that being lumped-in with foals again had a chord of dissonance. Still, she was committed to the role of guide. "That's the school over there."
Coloratura followed Scootaloo's wing-point only until she noticed the big red building and picked up the pace. "Ever since I was a filly myself, I loved performing for foals. It's so—It's just so uplifting."
Cheerilee had been relieved. Coloratura had arrived at the perfect time, and all the foals looked so excited to have her they all tried to perform their acts at once. She'd relied a little more heavily than usual on the aid of the older foals—particularly Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Despite how tired she already felt, she was careful to make a note that both would receive extra commendations for their assistance. "Okay, everypony, it's time for you all to go home and get ready for the big concert tonight!"
Like a hurricane leaving only disaster in its wake, the combined classes of the school fled the building, running off into the town and for their various homes. Scootaloo could fly all day, run all night, and still have energy left to fight—but she fell to her belly as her reserves flagged. Beside her, Apple Bloom was similarly drained and the pair could see Cheerilee was barely holding up.
Which is why it felt unfair to all three that Coloratura was practically bouncing with energy.
"Can you show me to the concert now?" Coloratura asked, only seeming to take notice of her companions' lack of energy thanks to the now-foalless room. "Or should I find somepony else?"
"No." Scootaloo pulled herself to her hooves. "I can take you. You need help to stand, Apple Bloom?" When her friend raised a hoof, Scootaloo used a wing to pull her standing. "We might be down a crusader, but that won't mean we'll get defeated by—"
"Countess Coloratura!"
The shout from the front of the schoolhouse sounded like a particularly angry Svengallop. When Coloratura tried to step forward and face him, she was surprised when it was Scootaloo who bodily pushed her back and took the lead. "I can—"
"Lower your voice, please. This is a school." Her training coming to the fore, Scootaloo let calm wash through her as she spoke with an even tone. "Coloratura is coming out in a moment."
Straightening himself up and gesturing flippantly at Scootaloo, Svengallop rolled his eyes. "And who do you think you are to speak to me like that? I'm her manager!" Walking up to Scootaloo, Svengallop stood in her personal space to ensure his height over her counted extra.
"I'm Cad—" Scootaloo didn't get any more out. Coloratura pushed past her and stomped up to Svengallop to stand in his face.
"She's a filly who was showing me around. How dare you bully her like that." It was her one trigger, the only one she still held up as being worth fighting for, but Coloratura felt a rising anger that was as pure as her cause and righteous to boot. "Turn around and go back to the venue right now and maybe I'll come in time to do a sound check."
Realizing his error, Svengallop clamped down on his teeth with all his willpower and, with a last glare at Coloratura, turned around. It was the beginning of the end, he knew. Now that she'd stood up to him once, he expected more instances to come. As he calmly walked away, a new sense of purpose filled him. "One last squeeze and she'll be back to the middle of nowhere—just where I found her."
Blowing out an angry little whinny, Coloratura turned back to Scootaloo and looked at her. "Sorry you had to see that." What she saw in the foal changed her opinion of her. Not a foal so much as a young mare, and the way Scootaloo had moved around her as if to protect her revealed more about her would-be defender. She'd had bodyguards a few times, and for the life of her Coloratura was sure Scootaloo had a similar way of standing and moving as they did. "But, thank you."
Apple Bloom, after confirming with Cheerilee that she didn't need their help anymore, headed outside too to find Scootaloo and Coloratura waiting for her. She fell in on the opposite side of the mare, but curiosity about Scootaloo's actions got the better of her. "What's up, Scoots?"
Fully aware that she was focused on keeping a lookout, but not wanting to spook Coloratura, Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, you know, keeping an eye out for my mums and their friends." It was as good a reason as she could come up with.
"I saw Trixie at the station, who were the others?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Err." Caught in a conversation she wanted to avoid, Scootaloo didn't want to lie—so didn't. "I'm not supposed to say. Sorry, Apple Bloom."
Curious, but not wanting to push her friend, Apple Bloom shrugged her shoulders exactly how her brother would. "That's alright. I know your parents get into some odd stuff that needs to be kept quiet. They're coming to the show tonight, right?"
"They've been hyping it up all week. I don't think an actual war would keep them away." Scootaloo laughed at the idea only because she knew it was absurd. "Anyway. You need to do a sound check? What's that?"
"I have to get up with all the mics and stuff and sing a song about a dozen times. Really boring stuff, but it helps Svengallop adjust the special sound equipment to suit the venue." Saying his name reminded Coloratura of her anger, but she tempered it for the sake of her company. "You want a song in particular?"
Scootaloo was in a bit of a panic. While she'd heard some of Coloratura's songs, she didn't know the names of any. She was saved, though.
"Countess," Apple Bloom said with certainty. "I really like that one."
"Then that's what I'll do. It'll give the guys a bit of a warm-up too." Feeling the anticipation of a song, and the joy of sharing it with other ponies, Coloratura couldn't help but prance a little. "How far away is the concert?"
"Not far. My sister donated a field for it," Apple Bloom said.
Apart from some Sapphire Shores events they'd been to, neither Scootaloo nor Apple Bloom had seen a show anything like Countess Coloratura. It was loud, bright, and there seemed to be ten times the energy of a recorded song simply by being there at the front of the stage and watching.
The dancing was nice, though Scootaloo was aware that she'd rather Firelance be doing it. She blushed at the thought and focused on the song to distract herself.
When she was done with the song, Coloratura felt her energy soaring. "Take a break, guys. I think they got enough floor-pounding." She tried to ignore their concerned looks. "Go on. I'll be okay. It's just—"
"He's not being rotten again, is he? I swear, we'll walk out if he talks down to you again. Right, guys?"
The grumbling voices and nods of agreement heartened Coloratura. "I couldn't ask you to do that. He's being a little… prickly, is all." She did her best to ignore the swear words a few of the dancers used. "I'll keep him in check."
"Hey, who're your friends? The pegasus looks cute. Can you introduce me?"
"What? But she's—" Realization dawned that Coloratura didn't know their ages and had assumed they were foals. She glanced down at them and realized they weren't too far off from being adults. "I'll ask, but I don't know if she's old enough—or single."
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom watched as Coloratura and one of the dancers approached the front of the stage.
"Hi!" Apple Bloom hadn't exactly missed noticing stallions, she always seemed too busy to do more than admire them, though.
"Drum Prancer wanted to come and say hi to two of my biggest fans. Drum, this is Scootaloo and Apple Bloom." Coloratura's mind raced, trying to figure out how to get the information she'd promised Drum. "Oh, I meant to ask, do either of you have special someponies coming to the concert tonight?"
"Ugh, I wish. Firelance is on duty tonight at the castle." Scootaloo completely missed the ploy to find out if she had a partner, but she did notice a look of disappointment on Drum's face.
"And I don't have anypony yet. My brother says I should tell my sister to stop giving me so many chores, but she's not that bad." Catching on where her fellow crusader hadn't, Apple Bloom looked between Drum and Scootaloo and her eyes widened. "Oh. Ohhhhh. Uh"—she bit her lower lip, wondering how to ask what she wanted to ask—"so I guess I don't have anypony apart from my friends to talk with later."
Drum had been captivated first by Scootaloo's physique, but turning his attention to Apple Bloom he realized she wasn't exactly behind the field when it came to a fit body. "I—Would you like it if I came and hung out after the show?"
"Yes!" Apple Bloom blinked in surprise at how loud she'd said it. She calmed down, blushing all the while, before managing a more sedate. "Sure. I'd like that."
A little surprised at the turn of events, Scootaloo looked between Drum Prancer and Apple Bloom before settling her gaze on Coloratura. "Soooo. More sound checks?"
"Yeah. They'll want me to walk all over the stage to make sure the sound pickups work, then I'll need to sing a full scale—from every point they want me to. Some nights I wonder if my voice will give out before things even start." It was then that she heard a pony behind her clear her throat. Turning, Coloratura saw an orange mare with straw-blonde made wearing a cowboy hat looking at her hopefully.
"Uh, hi. Remember me?" Applejack asked.
"That's totally a date," Scootaloo said. From the corner of her eye she could see Coloratura talking to her manager again, but they didn't seem to be arguing. She'd been keeping nearby all day in case things got problematic—she didn't know exactly why, but she had a feeling she might be needed.
"No. He's just—" Apple Bloom looked around to make sure her sister wasn't nearby. "Is it really a date?"
Giggling and stomping her hooves a few times, Scootaloo nodded. "Totally. Where's Sweetie Belle?"
"She's helping Rarity. It seems like half the town is coming to watch tonight's concert, and one of the dancers—not Dr—"
The screech of the P.A. system cut into Apple Bloom's words. "You know the drill!" Svengallop's voice was loud and clear over the powerful audio equipment. "Deliver, or the diva ditches your dippy charity!"
Silence reigned, though an astute listener could have heard Scootaloo mumbling some pretty horrid words under her breath that she definitely didn't learn from ponies in the Guard. As Coloratura and Svengallop started to argue, Scootaloo edged closer and closer, her wings loose at her sides and ready to start flying if she needed to.
When all was said and done, though, Svengallop stomped off the stage and left Coloratura standing there. Scootaloo started to approach, but Applejack was already there. Turning, she spotted Drum talking to Apple Bloom and decided that she should probably back up her friend. Walking over casually, she listened to them talking—thought it was mostly Drum.
"… need to do that high-rear kick with the one-two."
Apple Bloom was grinning with more than a little silliness. "We call that bucking."
"I guess that's a country thing? I grew up in Manehatten. We, uh, call something else bucking there." Drum had come to realize either his first assessment of age was wrong or Apple Bloom was about the most isolated young mare he'd ever met. Either way, he backed off his intentions a skosh. "Oh, there's Scootaloo."
"Hey, Drum. Did you hear all that?" Scootaloo asked.
Shrugging his shoulders, Drum sighed. "The guys will tell me what's happening before we need to start. If our show is called off, it's off. Honestly? I was mostly touring to keep my big bro company. He's one of the roadies for the Countess."
"'Roadies'?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Take stuff out, put it away, do all the running around and heavy lifting. That's about all there is to it." Shrugging, Drum tried not to stare at Scootaloo, then gave up and asked, "Do you work out?"
Scootaloo laughed. "No, but I do keep in shape."
Groaning and bumping her friend with her shoulder, Apple Bloom looked at Drum. "What she's not telling you is that her moms are in the Guard, and she's training to be in it too when she's the minimum age."
Drum looked between them like he was lost. "The Guard?"
"Well, I did do the whole cadet thing. I'll be going for initial training soon." On her favorite topic, Scootaloo lost track of everything in the conversation with Drum and Apple Bloom. "We visited the Crystal Empire and I got to see their armory there. You should have seen the spears they get to use! They were sooo awesome! Shining said he's still trying to figure out how some of the special weapons Sombra left behind work, and he thinks he might have to get Twilight's help."
"She really likes Guard stuff," Apple Bloom whispered to Drum.
Stopping in her tracks, Scootaloo blew a raspberry. "I don't often get asked about it, and if the pony asking is in the Guard, it's all technical stuff."
Feeling like a deer in headlights, Drum couldn't stop himself from asking, "That wasn't technical?"
"Nah, she's just pulling your leg. Oh, hey sis!" Not sure why she was blushing, Apple Bloom perked up as Applejack approached. "How is Coloratura taking this?"
"She's in a panic. Rarity's trying to help calm her down and manage the dressing for tonight, but I don't think she's going to be able to put on a show like she normally would. That no good Svengallop did one thing right, and that was to organize things." It was something utterly beyond Applejack. She could organize a barn raising, she could organize a huge dinner, and she could definitely organize a full day's work for as many ponies as she knew—but a concert? "What we need is somepony who knows how all this comes together."
"My bro could do it." When all three of them looked at him, Drum thought he'd said something wrong. "S-Sorry, I—"
"Can your brother organize this?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Well, yeah. He's been working on these shows since Countess Coloratura started." It wasn't merely a fierce need to defend his brother's talent that drove Drum to keep talking. There was something in the air urging him onward. "Let me get him. Uh, who should I tell him to talk to?"
Applejack laughed. "Okay, you see that mare over there that everypony is crowding around—the one who looks like she has a lot of answers but none for the questions anypony is asking her?" When Drum nodded, Applejack managed to keep her laughter to a chuckle. "Well, if you put somepony who knows what needs doing beside her, she'll make sure it gets done."
"Got it." Turning on the spot, Drum started to gallop toward where he knew the crew working on the show would be.
Scootaloo observed where Apple Bloom's eyes went as Drum ran and she looked toward Applejack. "Did you notice anything interesting about Drum Prancer?" she asked.
Reaching a hoof up and scratching her head, Applejack said, "Don't think I did. Was it something about his mane?"
Managing not to giggle, Scootaloo looked back at Apple Bloom and noticed her blush. "Something like that."
Apple Bloom couldn't stop blushing, but she managed to cover her state by giggling, which she was relieved to see Scootaloo start doing too. Only when her sister left her and Scootaloo alone did she breathe a sigh of relief and stop laughing. "Why'd you have to go and point that out?"
"He likes you."
Eyes wide, Apple Bloom shook her head. "Does not! . . . Does he?"
"When Coloratura was talking to all the dancers earlier, he wanted to be introduced to us." Scootaloo smirked and poked Apple Bloom with her wingtip. "And it wasn't like he spent so much time talking to me."
"Hey, girls!" Sweetie Belle walked up to her friends. "What's going on?"
"Apple Bloom was talking to a colt and now she blushes whenever I mention it." Scootaloo noted that merely saying it made Apple Bloom blush more.
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened like saucers. "Ooh. What's his name?"
"Drum Prancer. You should have seen them together. It was so cute!"
Prancing in place, Sweetie Belle couldn't help but let out a squeak of excitement. "I want to see them talking! Where is he?"
"He's gone to get his brother to help get the concert—well, the Coloratura part of it—back on track. Apparently her manager didn't like being called out of being a—" Scootaloo stopped herself before she used something that would likely set her friends' ears burning. "He was being pretty terrible."
"Wait." Apple Bloom managed to think clearly enough to walk back the conversation and find something that didn't make sense. "How did you know that's what Coloratura said to him?"
"It's Scootaloo. She probably has some kind of special thingy that she got at Guard training that lets her hear really well. Or her grandfather made it so she can hear like a bat." Sweetie Belle hadn't even needed to do much thinking to come up with the implausible ideas. "And it certainly wouldn't have been her reading lips."
It took Apple Bloom several seconds to catch up. "You can read lips?"
"Mom, Sweetie Drops, had a pile of books she read through a while back. I was bored." Scootaloo figured a shrug would explain all the motivation she needed to read the book cover to cover and then work her way through the practice exercises. But, alas, her two friends kept staring at her. "What? It's not that weird."
"It is," Sweetie Belle said.
"Mmhmm. Very weird," Apple Bloom said.
Fumbling for an excuse to use, Scootaloo tried to stall. "But everypony has these kinds of things they can do."
"Name one that you can't do," Apple Bloom said.
"Right. Something I can—Ah! I can't memorize waaaaay too many spells for a unicorn my age." As Scootaloo turned to look at Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom joined her.
"Huh?" Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie Belle was blushing. After they both stared at her for a moment, she finally gave up and laughed. "Okay. But it doesn't seem that weird for me."
"Exactly!" Scootaloo felt her own point was justified, if only to one of her friends. "And you, Apple Bloom, I've seen the way you talk to plants."
It was Apple Bloom's turn to blush. "Yeah, but every—"
"If you're about to say every earth pony can do that, you're wrong." Smirking, Scootaloo put a foreleg around her friend's shoulders and pulled them both to her in a hug. "We all have special things we're especially good at. There's nothing wrong with that."
"But they're not our special-special talents," Sweetie Belle said.
"That should make them more special, though." Apple Bloom waved to Sweetie Belle's flank. "I mean, it's obvious that you're going to be an amazing singer. That's practically guaranteed. But you being amazing at whatever-it-is-you-do-with-magic has taken a lot of hard work. To be that good at something that isn't your special talent is extra-special!"
Thinking about it as logically as she could, it did sound right to Sweetie Belle. "I guess. I'll have to think about it some more though."
"You've seen ponies in the Guard, right?" Scootaloo asked, and got two blank stares in reply. "Hardly anypony in the Guard has cutie marks related to being in the Guard. I mean, Shining Armor is one, and Firelance is another, but there's my mums, Captain Stiff Peaks, Sergeant Citron, and—Okay, there are a lot of ponies with food talents in the Guard."
Sweetie Belle saw Scootaloo's point, but there was something in the way she'd perked up when mentioning one young stallion that completely stole the show. "Really? So Firelance is a special pony? Maybe a"—Sweetie winked conspiratorially—"special somepony?"
Eyes widening at first, Scootaloo gave up all pretense of embarrassment and nodded. "He sure is."
This had come as a surprise to Apple Bloom. She knew that her friend had been friends with Firelance, but it was a surprise to her that of the three of them, the tomboy of the group had been the first to find a special somepony. "So are you going to join Twilight's Guard too?"
"I don't think so." Scootaloo stretched her wings out and gave each a twitch. "I want to join the Wonderbolts."
"Didn't Rainbow Dash say you don't have to join the Guard for that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yeah. You can join the reserves like Rainbow did, then become a Wonderbolt as a civilian. But that's not exactly what I want. Rainbow is an amazing flier—a lot better than I'll ever be—but there are things I can do that she can't. I want to use those things to protect ponies, and even if I don't stay in the Wonderbolts, it will be great experience to learn advanced flying from the best. Like what you're doing with Princess Celestia's school."
"Huh." Sweetie Belle looked at her friend and felt a warm rush of belonging at the idea. "You're right."
"Plus, just from Twilight's class, how many of the graduates got jobs in the Guard or working directly for a princess?"
"I guess your mom, and… uh…" Sweetie Belle said.
"All of them. The answer is all of them."
Apple Bloom couldn't keep quiet any longer. She cracked up in giggles at the stunned look on Sweetie Belle's face.
"That can't be right. There's—"
"My mum, commander of Twilight's Guard; Moon Dancer, personal aide and advisor to Princess Luna; Minuette, who now writes intelligence reports that four nations subscribe to; Twinkleshine, who is now a senior member of staff for both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna; Lemon Hearts, who now juggles her own bakery business alongside being a senior speaker at the school you go to; and I'll finish off with Twilight herself—a princess." Grinning, Scootaloo joined Apple Bloom in giggling.
It all left Sweetie Belle with questions about what she was going to do with herself. She had some years to do the thinking, she knew, but Scootaloo seemed so sure of herself. "I'll have to think on all this. What about you, Apple Bloom?"
Like a deer caught in a bright beam of light, Apple Bloom's first instinct after the initial shock was to run. "Uh…"
Lyra stood next to Sweetie Drops, their shoulders together, with her horn glowing. Beside them was Shining and Cadance, still disguised, but that wasn't her focus. Up on the big stage, with an orchestra backing, was Rara singing with Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom.
The togetherness and harmony that the song preached swelled Lyra's heart. Friendship and harmony, two of the magics she carried now as part of herself, spiraled joyously within her, enhancing the moment more. She wanted to sing, too, but didn't know the words. "I love you, Bonny."
Kissing Lyra's cheek, Sweetie Drops leaned on her wife a little more. "I love you too, Lyra. Not having an emotive moment, are we?"
Lyra spared a glance Cadance's way. Luna held sway of emotive magic, but Cadance was master of at least one major part of it. "Not yet, though now that I have three magic domains inside me, it's only a matter of time. Can you tell me again?"
"I love you?"
"No, the other thing I need to hear every second of every day."
Sweetie Drops snerked at that. "You're doing things right, Lyra. You have a filly that has grown up to an amazing young mare; you have a wife who loves you more every day; and your have saved more ponies from boredom, slavery, and worse than you could ever possibly meet. Is that it?"
Closing her eyes and nuzzling her cheek against Sweetie Drops' own, Lyra said, "Mmhmm. That's the good stuff. Something feels different, though."
"Bad-different, good-different, or just different?"
"Good-different. Like an old tension is gone. I don't know what, but it's nice not to have to deal with—" Freezing at the feel of something under her wing, Lyra inconspicuously ruffled it and saw a rusted spring fall free. Details of a conversation earlier in the day came back. "'You don't need this part anymore'…"
"Huh?"
"Another question for tomorrow. I guess it's going to be a busy day." Energizing her horn briefly, Lyra turned the spring to dust with a little shift of its molecular bonds.
"Hrmm? Whatever do you mean?" Fluttering his lashes, Discord sat in the room that'd had gravity reversed, sipping tea from an inside-out cup. "What spring?"
"I'm not going to argue, but I can feel like a tension is gone that I can't remember getting. You did it when you took me apart and removed a spring." Lyra sipped the tea from around the outside of her own cup and then smiled at Discord. "Thank you."
"What? No Spanish inquisition?" Discord had gained himself a red cloak and hat—and a monocle.
"You expected the Spanish inquisition?" Lyra's eyes twinkled and, with a flourish of her own magic, she gained a similar outfit but with a pair of goggles on top of her head. "Our chief weapon is fear! Fear and surprise!"
Naturally capable of looking into a million pasts, forgetting them all, and still pulling something appropriate out of nowhere, Discord made a comfortable pair of lounge chairs appear for them to sit on. "Comfy chairs are in order, then, because I find myself liking you more and more. Quite strange, given the trepidation I felt going into this meeting. So, what do you want to know about harmony?"
"Harmony I already have a handle on, thanks for offering. I want to know about chaos." Finishing her tea, Lyra bit the cup to find her guess had been right—it was marzipan.
"Ah yes, chaos. Sorry, I can't give it to you."
Swapping over to chewing on her saucer, Lyra shrugged her shoulders. "Did you intend to give me harmony?"
Flashing a toothy grin, Discord said, "No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"You're not going to stop, are you?"
"Nope! Please? I'll bake you a pie."
Discord's eyebrow raised—by three feet. He reached up and grabbed it, pulling it back down and attaching it to his face again. "You're negotiating a price?"
"If that's what it takes."
"Okay, two things." Discord snapped his beans and produced another two cups of tea. "You bake a banana cream pie and, tomorrow, you hit Celestia in the face with it."
"Is that all? Sure. You want to be there when I do it?" Lyra sipped the tea. It wasn't her favorite—she was a simple dark tea-drinking mare—but it tasted of caramel fudge with a lot of salt. "This is delicious. I'd ask how you made it, but that you made it for me is all I can really care about. Thank you."
"Well, not being there would make it hard to enjoy. Just say my name before you do it and I'll be there with bells on." Lyra, Discord had decided, was going to be too much fun to play with.
"But here's a counter-offer." The look Discord shot her made Lyra grin—he looked equal parts curious, infuriated, and elated. "I'll tell you why I'm doing all this if you'll teach me about chaos."
Looking around the room conspiratorially, Discord stood up from his chair and fluttered his wings to reach Lyra. He leaned down and whispered into one ear, "I am the lord of chaos and harmony. I already know why you're doing this, and it delights me to know that somepony will keep it all safe. But, to ensure you are the right somepony, I need to test you."
"Ugh!" Lyra tried to escape the trap, but it was too late. Discord's drool-covered lion digit was in her ear and he was twisting it this way and that. "Stop it!"
Pulling his digit free with a loud pop, Discord laughed. "Has anyone ever told you that your very being fizzes and pops with all the strange absurdities of your beginning?"
"Not today—until now. Ugh, I have draconequus drool in my ear." Turning her head to the side, Lyra heard a rush of water and watched as a veritable fire hose worth of liquid started thundering out of her ear.
Despite it all, and even though he was messing with her in ways that would make any serious pony livid, Lyra giggled. It was funny, but more than that it was fun. "What are you going to do next?"
"If I told you, it wouldn't be nearly as fun." Stretching out, Discord wiggled his butt on the seat a little. "These really are quite comfy."
As the flood of liquid from her ear tapered off, Lyra jumped up (or down, since they were floating near the ceiling and upside down) and jabbed at Discord with a cushion. "Confess!"
In response, Discord wiggled around to get more comfortable. After listening to the third "confess" from Lyra, he manifested a duplicate of himself that asked, "Have you got all the stuffing at one end?"
"It's no good, m'lord."
Rubbing his chin, Cardinal Discord sighed. "He must be made of sterner stuff. "Very well. Cardinal Pointy-head, read out the charges!"
"Twelve-pence!" Lyra shouted at the Accused Discord. "Confess!"
Pulling out a little coin purse, Accused Discord counted out twelve one-pence pieces and passed them to Cardinal Discord. "Can I go now?"
Overcome now with giggles, Lyra flopped onto her chair hard enough that it started to spin in midair. After settling her mirth back down, and her rotational inertia, she asked, "Apart from drive ponies crazy with your antics, what do you do with your spare time?"
"You mean when I'm bored?" When Lyra nodded, Discord shrugged. "Take a bath, usually."
Her mind racing, Lyra tried to remember the reference. It slipped and, unfortunately, she lost it. Hanging her head, she let out a soft whine. "I almost had it."
Wiggling his digits, Discord snapped them and produced a projector and screen. There was also a pair of blue and red lensed glasses sitting on the seat beside each of them. "Here, this is the one you'll want."
Putting on the 3D glasses, Lyra watched as a classic Monty Python skit started playing—in 3D. She stared, knowing for sure that it would never have been filmed in 3D. She was tempted to question it, but the fact was she wanted to enjoy the moment more than anything.
She hadn't seen this particular skit before. It was about a group of aristocrats discussing the difference between woody words and tinny words. By the end of it Lyra was giggling and eating the popcorn Discord had passed her (ignoring that it tasted like mint).
By the time it was done, she felt renewed. The popcorn had been delicious (once she got past the flavor) and the skit had left her laughing. "Thank you, Discord. I forgot how good it was to relax and experience some new—to me—Monty Python."
Sitting beside Lyra on a chair, Discord had a very tilted beret on and lensless glasses. He was also holding a clipboard and a pen. "There were periods where the jokes were a little thin on the ground, but overall one of their better skits. I give it four thumbs up." To reinforce his grade, Discord held out his paw and produced four thumbs on it, as well as nearly seven regular toes.
Examining his paw, Discord added, "I think I might have taken this gag too far. I appear to be AI generated—oh dear."
Lyra shuddered at the not-a-mental-image before her. "Some things were not meant to exist—But, Discord, you're not one of them. I think I figured out what you removed."
"Oh? Do you want it back?" Restoring his paw to something that could physically exist, Discord held up the tiny little gear. "It'd take just a second…"
"And if I told you I trust you to know if I would?"
A snap of his digits and Discord was sitting in a seat while Lyra was laying on a couch in what was the traditional psychiatrist and patient situation. "Tell me, when was the first time you thought the Lord of Chaos would make a good decision about your mental state?"
When he saw the gag had hit its mark, Discord sighed. "Life would be so much easier for everyone if they could simply remove the bits of themselves they don't like. It would be dull, but easier. This bit—"
"Dysphoria," Lyra said, smirking. "I figured it out."
"There wasn't much of it. You seemed to have it under control." Discord pinched the little gear between his fingers, causing the metal to flex. "Last chance…"
Rolling her eyes. Lyra snorted. "Send it to Tartarus for all I care." She grinned when he pinched and broke the gear. "It never helped me much anyway. At first it was a lot to deal with, but I like to think that friction over the years wore it down. So, what about chaos? I don't think I want to just let it in like I did harmony."
Breaking into laughter wasn't enough for Discord, he had to break his whole body up into tiny little pieces that then evaporated into a raucous cacophony of giggles. He quickly reconstituted himself. "You could try, but I wouldn't suggest it. There is one pony you could learn from."
That was news to Lyra. "Who?"
"Whom. Honestly, you serve the princess of books and you don't know your grammar?" The word Who appeared in the air and Discord used a red pen to correct the speech balloon that formed around it. "But, if you must know, my daughter."
Lyra froze at that bit of information. "You have a daughter?"
"Doesn't everyone?" The snaggletoothed grin Discord delivered spoke volumes. "It was an accident, but aren't all such accidents just darling? I wouldn't change her for the world—and by that I mean I can't. She's stubbornly capricious and seems able to shrug off my magic with absolute impunity. Her name's—"
"Screwball?" Lyra asked.
Pink coat, violet eyes with swirl patterns in the pupils, inky black mane and tail, and black eyeshadow. Screwball let out a sigh. "Dad sent you, didn't he?"
Lyra nodded, then started walking into the nondescript Ponyville home that she'd never noticed before. "He's really your dad? I mean, it's not that I doubt it, but—"
"There wasn't any biology involved, if that's what you mean, but yeah. He made me." Today, in Screwball's home, the walls were the floor. That meant it was a Thursday. She walked toward the kitchen while hiding her surprise that Lyra didn't seem fazed by the way gravity was distorted. In her usual monotone, she asked, "Do you want some tea?"
"Uh, sure." Lyra had felt a little stymied by Discord's evasive attitude after mention of his daughter, both on the topic of said daughter and chaos magic itself. "Your dad said you'd be the best pony to ask about chaos magic."
"Did he?" It didn't take a huge expenditure of chaos to give herself the idea, five minutes previous, to put her kettle on and prepare two cups of tea. Screwball often had urges to do things that would later prove important, and she now realized she'd actually made the tea moments before Lyra had arrived. "Or did he tell you that your head would implode, explode, and implode again if he explained it?"
"He likes making jokes." Finding a seat was easy. Catching a seat, though, was a little harder. Lyra managed to grab an armchair that had been grazing on a picture of a grassy field and sat on it.
"Yes. Jokes." Screwball carried the tea into the living room, gave a chair and table a death-stare until they crawled over and arranged themselves near the chair Lyra had mounted, and offered one of the cups over. "Careful, it's a little cold."
The tea, Lyra noticed, wasn't simply cold—it was frozen solid. She carefully used a trickle of magic to warm it up.
"Don't do it that way," Screwball said. "That will take more magic than you have. Here."
The magic didn't originate in Screwball's horn, since she didn't have one, but Lyra could see the mare build a spell out of pure chaos magic. The stuff, as soon as it was bound to a form, exploded into life and rejected the confinement. It rushed into the cup, heated the tea to a warm plasma, then cooled it back to a liquid just shy of boiling. "Can you show me that again?" Lyra asked. "Please?"
"No. It wouldn't work now. Chaos magic only works at the time it is cast for a given state of the universe." Lifting her cup and sipping at it, Screwball let out a happy sigh. "Black like my soul."
"…" Lyra wasn't sure how to reply to that, but she was thankful Scootaloo hadn't hit such a phase as Screwball seemed to have going on. Shaking her head, she focused back on the magic. "So it needs to be created on the spot?"
"Mmhmm. It requires you to put all the knowledge of the universe into it, then tell it what outcomes you don't want." Tilting her head in thought, Screwball added, "But, sometimes that doesn't work. At least half of Dad's chaos magic goes wrong, he just rolls with it and pretends it was exactly what he wanted."
"And yours?" Lyra asked.
"About the same. Chaos is chaotic. Give it a try."
The idea of giving chaos a try without any preparation beyond the meager information that Screwball had given her already seemed completely mad to Lyra, which is why she figured on something right away. In the middle of the coffee table she pictured a small lamp—
"No, that's not right. You're thinking of what you want. Imagine what you don't want."
"But how do I know what I don't want if I don't visualize what I want first?" Looking at her current mentor, Lyra watched her shrug. "Okay, so I visualize everything I don't want to appear on the table. Dogs. Cats. A chainsaw."
"Good, good, and good. More broad. You can rule out a lot of things by shoving a concept there. Nothing alive. Nothing that has been alive."
"Ah. This is how you build up overlapping protection to narrow down the possibilities. Okay." Centering herself, Lyra pictured the table with… Living thing. Dead thing. Things that can hurt me. Things that will destroy Ponyville. Things that can never make light. Things that can—
Lyra continued working over as much as she could, narrowing it down more and more. Finally, she felt a little tickle in her horn. Capricious, chaos magic unlike what she'd been taught to use at school started bouncing around—wanting to be used. She let out what she hoped was more than the minimum required to make a candle but not too much.
"Perfect. You even used the same trick on the—Oh, a broom." Looking at the broom, Screwball narrowed her eyes. "Do you know who I am?" she asked the inanimate object, before it quickly became a candle in a lovely candlestick made of twisting, impossibly-shaped brass. "Good. No student of mine will ever fail on her first real spell."
"Student?" Lyra and the candle asked at the same time.
"Hey," Lyra said, gesturing at the candle. "I specifically thought nothing alive."
"Oh. Sorry." And, with that, the candle was finally a normal candle.
"Ugh. Of course student. Why else did you think Dad would send you to me? You want to learn how to do real chaos, this is real chaos. You literally just did exactly what I said and used chaos to do something rather than a spell. It failed, like I said things do, but you rolled with it. Congratulations, you have graduated. Hooray." Around halfway through the speech Screwball completely changed her outlook on life. Her mane changed from black to violet again, but now it hung in scraggly waves down one side of her face and covered one eye and she had gained a pair of torn jeans covering her back legs and rump. "Or, like, whatever. I don't actually care anymore."
The shift had surprised Lyra, but when she reflected on it, she realized it was probably in the mare's nature. "So, uh, any other tricks?"
Screwball let out the most epic sigh in history. It would have devastated anyone to have their creative work be the target of the sigh, and if anyone but Lyra had heard it, it probably would have made them cry for a decade in sympathy. But, having been a training sergeant in the E.U.P. Guard, Lyra was immune to such attempts to derail her—and Screwball somehow sensed that imperiousness and recoiled from it. In an instant her grunge phase was gone and she was a regular pony for a change.
"Well," Screwball said, feeling a bright little ball of joy in her heart for the first time all day, "the more you use chaos, the more it messes with you. I think you know what I mean. I've been in existence for several years, and it catches me by surprise still. Dad… You know what a few thousand years with no one to talk to but chaos will do?"
"Uh." Lyra didn't have to think hard. Discord was pretty much the poster boy for Don't Do Chaos. "Yeah. I might bake him some cookies some time."
"He likes chocolate chips. I'll see you tomorrow at the same time." Standing up, Screwball gestured to the door.
Taking the hint, Lyra stood as well and walked along the wall to the exit. "Do you have a favorite flavor of cookie?"
"How good are you at baking?" Screwball asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Pretty good."
"Salted caramel."
"Got it. Thank you again, teacher." Leaving the house, Lyra felt normal gravity exert itself on her again. It felt a little odd for a moment, but since the universe wasn't going to bend any natural laws simply for the sake of one unicorn's discombobulation, she had to put up with it.
Back inside the house, Screwball let out a sigh. "You can come out now."
Stepping from behind a photon, Discord had a smile from ear to ear. Opening a bag he put the mouth and pair of ears away for later. "That went well."
"You deliberately made that fail."
"Who, moi?" Discord held his paw to his chest in mock outrage. "Well, a little. But it needed to be done. If she'd gotten upset at this point, better she slip quickly into madness than keep pursuing her goal."
"She made a candle appear on her first try. She's good at this." Screwball sipped her tea some more.
"Of course. It's her destiny. There are some hard times ahead, and she'll hold all this together when it would have otherwise fallen apart. I don't envy her—it's a lot for one pony." Discord shrugged. "Now, you're going to keep teaching her?"
"Yeah, yeah. If it's so important, I guess I can keep going. She made me smile."
"Really?" Rushing forward, Discord produced a tape measure and started checking his daughter's face. "I can't see one."
"It was there. You missed it."
"Huh. Well, I'm glad you have time to smile again. I miss how happy you were when I first made you." About ready to zap himself back to his home, Discord was surprised to find himself being hugged. "What's this?"
"Shut up for one second, please?" Screwball said, squeezing her father. "And by second I mean until the hug is over." She let out a little sigh as a paw and a talon met behind her neck as he hugged back.
"Okay," Bread Basket started, "I got the cake. Of all the ponies in Equestria, the princess loves her cake—and that's an impressive one—but why are you also baking a banana cream pie?"
"Well, I am under orders to do a particular thing, and as part of that thing I need to do something completely silly and somewhat disrespectful. The cake, you see, is how a captain of the E.U.P. Guard apologizes for performing their duty to the letter." Carefully using the icing bag, Lyra wrote sorry in cursive on what would be the topmost tier of the cake.
"Does the size of the cake matter?" Bread asked.
"Yup! Bigger the cake, the bigger the apology." Smirking and looking at her friend, Lyra let out a laugh. "So you will probably want to be there when I give her the cake."
Sizing up the three-tiered cake, Bread got a fit of the giggles. "Can I help carry it?"
"Do you want to be involved in this that much?"
"I wouldn't miss this. You're a menace to be around, Lyra, but a fun menace." Helping her friend finish the cake and transfer the pie (that Lyra still hadn't explained) to a paper tray, she set both onto a tray and started wheeling them toward the door. Seeing Lyra cleaning up the workstation reminded her that despite all the hijinks, Lyra was dependable.
Bread wheeled the cake while Lyra carried the pie. Lyra announced herself to the scribe and waited her turn. It wasn't long before her name and full title was announced, and she led the procession of two into the throne room.
Celestia was having a day. Lots of bickering between nobles had led to her having to play mother to several of the more important individuals in Canterlot. Hearing Lyra be introduced filled her with hope that her afternoon might be saved. A pie being carried into the throne room was nothing new—Celestia was well aware of her reputation for sweets, she'd cultivated it carefully after all—but seeing the three tier cake wheeled in as well filled her with actual worry. "All non Guardponies can please leave." Her eyes flickered over Bread Basket and she smiled. "My favorite chef can be present too."
When the room was clear and the main doors sealed, Celestia turned her full attention to Lyra. "Niceties out of the way, the tradition of bringing me cake to apologize worries me as the size of the cake is excessive. Your cake is bigger than the one Shining baked for me after my seat of power was infiltrated and I was captured. What have you done, Captain Lyra Heartstrings?"
The tone might be icy, but Lyra was not going to ruin the moment by being too relaxed. Snapping a salute, she stood as straight as a die. "Ma'am, I have not done the thing the cake is to make reparations for yet. I am still going to do it, however, because I promised it on my honor while carrying out my duty as ordered by yourself."
"And what—?" Celestia had never trained for combat in the modern style (something she vowed to correct if she survived the day). When a lance of magic came at her from one side, burning and golden, she had to dodge it thanks to the damage potential she sensed in it. All around her, Guards were moving to act only to be hemmed back by more spells from what they all knew was probably one of the greatest wizards the Guard had ever had.
The whole room was alight with spells that seemed deadly, but Celestia finally let one graze her and found it didn't even have enough potential to singe her coat. She froze in place. "Lyra Heartstrings, if you don't tell me what the meaning of this game is immediately, I'll—" The pie hit her in the face. The shock of the cream and banana filling spreading over her features sucked the fire out of her retaliatory spells that were thus far building. "What?"
Sitting to one side of the room, his eyes closed and his arms raised, Discord mimed directing an orchestra. He wove his head sinuously back and forth, while a beatific smile painted his face.
The mere sight of Discord told Celestia all she needed to know. "You taught her chaos magic?"
"No, but there was still a price for my help." With utmost reluctance, Discord opened his eyes and looked at the face glaring daggers at him. "And it required this. It needed this. Chaos wouldn't accept anypony who wasn't ready to stand behind their conviction to mayhem enough to plant a delicious banana and cream pie in your royal face. The rest"—gesturing at all the still-alert Guardponies, Discord seemed to be squeezed into a chef uniform as he kissed two pinching digits—"bellissimo!"
The magic, the attack, everything had been a ruse to get Lyra close enough with that pie to make hitting Celestia with it a joke. She could see that, and took solace in Lyra's dedication to the task set for her. "Bring that cake here and make sure everypony in the room gets a piece. Lyra, you'll be apologizing to all of them." Summoning a mirror to inspect the damage to her person, Celestia could hold herself back from it no longer—she laughed.
Bread had to remind herself to breathe. Having watched her friend wade through a room of Royal Guards only to assault Celestia herself, she had no idea how she should respond to the peals of laughter. Falling back on her training, she drew out a knife and started cutting up and serving the cake. She even got a piece for herself that calmed her down a little.
Cleaning off her face, Celestia tried to examine the situation as objectively as she could. Lyra had been following her orders, had been careful not to harm the guards, and had still accomplished enough with her magic to move Celestia herself into an adventitious position for a direct attack. "Also, I expect you to work closely with Captain Bright Feather on new strategies and training for the Royal Guard that would be able to prevent even you from doing that again. Also, I will require a private word with you at a later date about personal training."
Work. Lyra could live with it, particularly since she had magic she needed to learn from Celestia. "Yes, Ma'am!" Since Twilight had absconded with her, Lyra was far more comfortable taking such tasks. They didn't stack up and, ultimately, she could always fall back on her duty first—and begging Twilight to save her from the task.
Leaving her guards to eat most of the cake, Celestia instead opted to treat the pie with more grace than its creator had. Picking around the broken pieces that she had collected from her face, she took a piece and started eating. "And, Discord? In future, if you have dirty work you wish to accomplish, do it yourself."
Returning from his brief sojourn as a chef, Discord saluted in imitation of Lyra. "Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am!" He waited a few beats before sighing. "Ah, dismissal. I was never good at reading such cues." And, with that, he vanished.
"If Discord isn't teaching you, who is?" Celestia asked between mouthfuls of pie.
"A mare and a house in Ponyville I wasn't aware existed before a week ago. Screwball is her name, and she claims to be Discord's daughter—a fact he supported. From what she said, he created her when he first reached Ponyville, but unlike the rest of his creations that were banished by the elements, she stuck around." Lyra selected a piece of cake for herself and levitated it on a plate. "Thank you, Bread. Sorry for all this."
Glancing toward Celestia and seeing her happily eating the pie still, Bread let out a sigh. "Next time, warn me?"
"Would you have told somepony I'd take on a room full of Royal Guard and assault the princess?" The guilty look told Lyra all she needed to know. She grinned and shrugged.
When the cake was gone—but not before Celestia had secured herself a slice—she dismissed her guards and Bread. Once she was alone with Lyra in the room, Celestia slumped. It wasn't that she was always at alert, but with one little show Lyra had demonstrated that she, the ruler of Equestria, had let herself grow lax. "You trained Twilight through subterfuge. Would it work again?"
"Yes and no. I can arrange it, but I can't have anything to do with it and they know all my illusions. Be ready in a week, and you'll need to have Luna cover for you. That includes standing at the foot of the entrance to watch the new recruits run by." Lyra was already doing calculations in her head. "I will be present, in case something strange happens. There's an unimpeachable reason for me to be there."
In barely a week Lyra had spent time tracking down the most elusive illusionist in Equestria, had her visit Canterlot, and arranged for two new recruits to enter the E.U.P. Guard's training program. One, Shining Star, a flaxen-maned unicorn who was a little out of shape for Lyra's liking, but who was going to get a crash course in running. The second was a pegasus mare named Scootaloo.
Lyra wasn't there to be the primary teacher for magic, but she was taking on a few temporary duties in running the recruits around. Specifically, she had offered Stiff Peaks a month of leave—during which time Lyra would fill his horseshoes—for the first run. It wasn't entirely to watch Celestia sweat, either.
"Listen up, recruits. I have the duty of welcoming you to your training in the greatest tradition of the E.U.P. Guard—running. There is no finer way to show your dedication than, when given a task, running to do it. So we run everywhere. Today, we'll be running around Canterlot. Form up!" Having not just a few maturing ponies from the Cadets but a few veterans among their number to get their quarterly training done, Lyra was pleased to see the new recruits forming up loosely behind those who knew what running was all about. In her best sergeant voice, she gave the command, "Move out!" and set the pace to a canter.
The running was good, once she'd built them to a gallop, but Lyra could see several ponies not looking their best already. As they wheeled around the outer circle of Canterlot, ponies had already given them room to make their run—knowing what would be happening in advance.
As they swung by the castle's entrance, Lyra turned her head and gave Luna a nod, getting a return before the princess scanned the recruits. Illusion magic of a quality used on Celestia had required a genius level understanding of light and dark magic. Luna would be able to spot one, but not the other, and that was the key. They blended so well that they covered for each other's weaknesses.
The last look Lyra saw on Luna's face was confusion. "That's that problem under wraps. Let's swing around and settle into a nice run." Rounding them back to the training fields, Lyra called, "Okay, let's try another. Keep it up!"
She kept a close eye on the recruits. The veterans and the former cadets all seemed fine. Scootaloo barely looked like she was getting a workout. The recruits were ranging from doing horridly to not so bad. She got the majority of them around two more times before she could see several were about to drop. "Alright!" she called out as they rounded back toward the training grounds, "I haven't stretched my legs enough yet, and I can see some of you haven't either. This isn't a requirement, but I'm going to keep running—you can try to keep up."
The extra two laps she ran at a full gallop, her hooves thundering across the streets of Canterlot. Behind her, the older guards kept pace for the first one with ease, though two dropped out before the second lap. Scootaloo, she was unsurprised, kept pace easily. Of the three other recruits, two made it all the way around one loop at a gallop, but only one made the final lap.
When she slowed at the end and trotted the group over the line, she was happy to see the group were mostly all fine and weren't simply trying to show off. "Good work. Head over to the mess." She walked with the group, ensuring each got in and had a drink and something to eat.
"Have your fun?" Stiff Peaks asked.
"Mmhmm. Keep an eye on that young gun there. He moves like the wind itself is in his hooves. Started to waver on the last lap, though." Sitting at the officer table, Lyra set a plate of food she'd fetched before her. "The reserves are in good order."
Rolling his eyes, Stiff asked, "And your filly?"
"Scoots can look after herself. She can outrun me and do it for half the day. Don't let any of the sergeants challenge her to a race or a serious combat." The scalloped potatoes were, as always, a shining product of a military filled with good cooks. Lyra made appreciative noises. "Did you make these?"
"No, but it is my recipe. We have a new head chef in the kitchen." It was a position of pride to be a chef in the Guard, particularly under a commander who was a renowned chef in and of himself. "Are you staying with us for the afternoon?"
"Nope. I have penance to pay for a little stunt in the castle."
Nodding, Stiff knew too well Lyra's well-earned position and freedoms sometimes cost her. "Is she really that bad? Your filly, I mean."
"I wouldn't want to fight her," Lyra said, pleased to see the statement earned a frown from Stiff. "Remember that young gun of a unicorn you had thought that I snatched up? They have been training together in methods to tackle unique threats. I caught them dueling a week ago—she curved a lance spell back on him and made him have to shield against his own directed attack."
It was a feat Stiff looked forward to seeing. He whistled appreciatively. "Tell her to write a manual on it. I'll get Bluebelle to start teaching it as soon as possible. Are you spending the night here?"
"No, commander. Despite my desire to ensure a particular student does well, I will stay away—but within earshot, if you know what I mean? If you have any word, I'll either be at my apartment here in Canterlot or at the Royal Guard training grounds." She could see, the moment she'd mentioned the Royal Guard, that she had Stiff's attention. "You're not going to let me get away without telling you why I'm up there, are you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Captain." Stiff gave Lyra a big grin.
"It was a three tier cake apology," Lyra said, and watched Stiff's eyebrows rise. "And a banana cream pie."
"And she asked more of you? I am glad you're not part of my chain of command. What's the officers' creed regarding chain of command?"
Lyra smirked and closed her eyes to recite it. "Horseapples go down, headaches go up." She bowed her head solemnly. "But on the plus side, I only have one subordinate, so there's not many headaches that I don't make myself."
"Of all the ponies I know, you seem to be one of the best—short of an alicorn—at creating headaches." Stiff could see that his comment had startled Lyra only by the slight widening of her eyes. He had to give it to her, she was hard to read. "But enough business. Have you gotten any new recipes lately?"
It was exactly the thing that Lyra was prepared for. Reaching into her saddlebags with her magic, she pulled out a notebook and flipped it to the first page. "You remember that Gala a while back where all the nobles were guzzling water and milk like it was going out of fashion?"
"I heard a very cunning mare provided the recipes to the castle's chefs. There were some rumors that several of those chefs were in a panic over how spicy the food was." Glancing at the recipe, Stiff's grin widened more and more by the second. "How much do you want for that book?"
"Let's start the negotiation with that potato recipe," Lyra said, gesturing at her empty plate with a fork held in her golden magic.
After an afternoon discussing non-lethal take-down strategy with the Royal Guard sergeants, Lyra had slept about as soundly as any mare could. She'd promised herself she would keep away from Scootaloo and Celestia's training, and instead made her way back to the castle. Today she had a new topic.
With Luna wishing to sit in on the talk, it had been moved to the large field beside the meeting hall of the castle. There was a small contingent of E.U.P. Guardponies on the gate today, which left Lyra with three hundred and one pointy ears turned in her direction. Her first observation was the grizzled training sergeant, missing an ear, who stood to one side with his armor on despite the casual situation.
She opened her mouth to address the assembled ponies, when magic screamed a warning at her. Eyes widening, Lyra felt friendship magic recoil from the loss of its source and rush to her for assistance. Gasping, she spread her wings and opened herself to the lost magic and started to channel it.
There wasn't much else that would stir a hundred and fifty Royal Guard into a panicked circle of defense quite as much as a winged and horned mare screaming in shock. The unicorns among them rushed to the center of the formation with Luna beside them while the pegasi took to the sky and the earth ponies planted themselves to repel any threat.
Luna didn't have to ask what was wrong, she could feel the source of friendship magic pulse inside Lyra, held together by a force of will and magic that was more capable of the task now than before. "Do you require my help?"
"NO—!" Lyra was braced with her hooves slightly wider than she'd usually stand to brace herself and lock her knees. "No, thank you. I have this." The magic roaring through her was less a huge hurricane in a paddling pool and more like a strong wind over a lake. Centering herself, Lyra took slow and deep breaths. "Somepony, please, check on Twilight."
Bright Feather could hear the pain and worry in Lyra's voice. She was a newer commander of a newer guard than he, but the agony of her situation was something he could sympathize with. "Bottle Rocket, Sure Fire—get yourselves harnessed and get Bartlett and Long Shift to the castle of friendship. Citron, pick your best twenty-squad and commandeer a train or teleport to—"
"I will teleport you once your first squad arrives," Luna said, drawing on her authority to assist in a way that an alicorn was uniquely suited for.
Bowing his head, Bright Feather said, "Thank you, Your Highness." Turning back to his assembled guard, he gave the order, "Move!"
Part of Lyra's mind processed the orders given and sent a silent thanks to Bright Feather for sending his best—and she knew the best of the Royal Guard were good indeed. But that was a small part. The first time she'd borne the weight of friendship, it had been a far simpler magic.
Few ponies used friendship magic the first time, but now there were a lot more. Each spell cast was a flicker of request and assent. Again and again. She had to allow for all of them and it took a lot of her to manage it. Then her ears perked. "Sorry, what?"
"I asked if you could walk with me inside," Luna said. "I could teleport us."
Testing her legs, Lyra carefully shook her head. "I can walk. Why does Twilight never seem to have this much trouble controlling friendship?"
"Don't control it."
Lyra opened her mouth to challenge that when she realized it was exactly the problem she had. Each spell—each approval. Relaxing herself slowly, further, Lyra simply let the magic flow. The sigh she let out got a chuckle from Luna. "I'm a bit new at this."
"And, being a guardpony, you want to be in control. Of all the magics, friendship is the least of your worry." Gesturing along the path, Luna walked at Lyra's side. "Your wings look good."
It shouldn't have made Lyra smile, but it did anyway. "Thank you. I had to get my daughter to teach me how to preen them."
"Getting easier? It looks like you're doing better."
Nodding, feeling more comfortable in her role, Lyra was able to think clearly. "Yes. Also, I feel bloated. There is so much magic." The path they took was through the main entry hall. Normally Lyra would have screamed bloody murder rather than walk in public with her wings out, but the hallway was empty of petitioners. "This is a symbolic thing, isn't it?"
"I am glad I don't have to point that out to you. You're walking into the throne room of Canterlot, your wings proud and your grip on a magic source sure. The rest is just ceremony and celebrations." Luna nodded up at the two thrones when they walked into the hub of government. "Would you like to try one on?"
It was too much for Lyra and cut through the seriousness of the moment and the environment. She laughed a joyous laugh with Luna echoing her. When a palace maid poked her head in to one side and then stepped fully into the room, though, it caught Lyra up short.
Luna smiled at the young mare who had been checking on them. "Coffee and some cakes, if you would. Thank you."
A fervent wish of Lyra's was that she could chase off after the maid, make her way into the kitchen, and bake a cake. The expansive wings she couldn't seem to fold up made a counter argument. "I'm scared that one day I will wake up with all of it."
"You may." Luna didn't aim to climb the dais to her throne, but rather settled on the lower level and then sat down. "I will do my utmost to ensure you never have to, but it may happen. If it does—" She tapped her chin as a plan started to form. "You need to practice."
"Huh?" Lyra asked.
"You are a Guardpony. You weren't instantly the best wizard in the Guard, were you?" Luna waited for Lyra to shake her head. "Exactly. It took training and effort to grow your skill set to what it is today. You are experiencing your second time in control of something only an alicorn or greater being should be able to withstand—and doing a fine job of it. Practice makes perfect. Once this is resolved and Twilight has her magic domain firmly back under her own control, we shall do some training. You can carry darkness for a week. Feel how it ebbs and flows. Like friendship, I believe it is not widely used."
"Except by me when trying to hide from my responsibilities?"
"You don't hide from them. Lyra, you gallop at them head-on and, when you smack into one, you look for another." Noticing the maid approaching with a tea cart and a group of Guards entering the room. "Thank you for the coffee on such short notice."
Bowing her head, the maid fled as quickly as she could (in a not-running-away-to-gossip manner, too) and got through the side door to find the hallway full of maids, chefs, and more. "I will not speak a word of what I saw, but…"
Luna smirked at the mortified expression on Lyra's face. "You've been in the kitchen. How much did they gossip about every little thing?"
"I doubt they waited that long," Lyra said.
The little tracking spell she'd placed upon the pegasi let Luna know the Guards from earlier were still in flight. "They haven't arrived yet," she told those still waiting. "And, no, I doubt she waited until she reached the kitchen. But don't for a second forget that everyone working in the castle has sworn to not share castle business outside."
"I know. That's why I'm not flying around the room, upside down, screaming." Sparing a smile at Luna, she fetched a cup of coffee from the cart and a piece of cake. Both would help her stay sharp and maintain her physical energy levels. Her magic, right now, felt like she'd eaten a dozen cakes. Bloated was a small word compared to the fullness of an entire type of magic.
Reaching out with her magic, Luna could feel the guards had landed in Ponyville. She looked over at the Royal Guard and nodded to them. They didn't need to move into formation, she realized, because they were already in it. With a gust of magic that would stagger unicorns, she sent them to the location her tracker had ultimately sent her before it ended. "They will do their best, and from what I've seen, their best is very good."
"I know." Lyra had to temper the fact she could beat a room full of them with the knowledge that she wasn't a normal threat. But, anything that could remove Twilight from control of friendship wasn't a normal threat either.
"How is my sister taking to her new training?"
It was a welcome distraction, and Lyra let herself be distracted. "She handled her first run with aplomb. When I offered everypony to partake of extra laps, she declined. That was my request. I know she could run all day with the amount of magic she could channel toward her earth pony self, but nopony else there needs to know that. About now, she should be learning basic command structure and undertaking her tests to see if she will be a competent magic user."
For nearly ten seconds Luna managed to not laugh. It gave her time to swallow the cake she'd taken a bite of before giggles took hold of her. "C-C-Competent!"
"Twilight went through the same test." Lyra kept her own mirth to a smile. "She passed, and I believe Celestia will."
Getting a hold of her giggles, Luna managed a great impression of trying to keep a straight face and failing as she asked, "You believe she will?"
"I literally wrote the book on it, remember? It's a small handful of spells to learn and memorize, and she'll be well into—" Lyra cut herself off at Luna's renewed giggles. "What?"
"I don't know as anypony outside this room knows this, Lyra, but my sister isn't the best at memorizing new spells." Moving on and ignoring Lyra's shock, Luna sighed. "I wouldn't normally pass that on, but you'd have found out soon enough. What would happen if she cannot memorize all the spells?"
"Her casting ability would get narrowed down to a more basic support role. She wouldn't count as the mandatory squad wizard, and she'd have her special talent reevaluated to see if it gives her—her any combat advantage." The more she spoke, the more Lyra had to fight off the giggles until she finally surrendered to them.
After a minute of laughing and wheezing, they finally recovered—then they started to giggle again. Finally, when a side door opened, each snapped from their laughter and looked over to see who'd walked into the throne room without invitation.
Luna recovered first. "Moon Danc—"
Her nose in the broadsheet newspaper she was hovering before her face, Moon let out a grunt. "Luna, you know it's too early. Why are we working like this for the whole week?" She was, of course, getting a vague idea of what had the press of Canterlot's attention for the day. "Wait, there will be no court today? Well, that'll mean we might actually be able to catch up on some paperwork." Walking past Lyra, Moon noticed her friend's legs. "Hi Lyra."
Straining to pull her wings down, Lyra let out a little squeak and said, "Hi, Moon," back.
Stopping at the bottom of the dais, Moon Dancer finally lifted her head above the paper to look at Luna. "You've been crying?"
Struggling to hold her laughter in, given Lyra was now deliberately pulling silly faces behind Moon, Luna shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Her eye twitching now, Moon turned around and looked at Lyra—taking in her completely-not-innocent expression. She caught the gag, though. "Nice wings." She turned back to look at Luna doing her best to maintain a deadpan. It didn't work for long. "Your wings? They're solid now?" Turning and glaring at a very guilty-looking Lyra, Moon tossed the newspaper on the floor in exasperation. "First Twilight, and don't for a second think I am not stuck living in that shadow, and now you?"
"It's not my fault, but if you want a pair, I have a spell that—" Lyra was now actually crying with laughter thanks to Moon's magic aura tightly pinning her mouth closed.
"I—" Luna stopped herself from saying another word as Moon turned to glare at her too. "It's not actually Lyra's fault. You remember the incident some time back where Twilight was involved in that little kerfuffle in a tiny town where her cutie mark was removed?" A short, sharp nod was her answer. "That almost cost the world friendship magic. Lyra caught it and, with the help of all of Ponyville, nursed it until Twilight regained her control."
With the slightest flick of her magic, Lyra banished Moon's grip on her snout. "And that began something. I've become a backup for magical sources. Friendship first, then Luna's darkness and now Discord's harmony."
"Stop that," Moon said.
"What?" Lyra and Luna asked at the same time, each grinning.
"The thing you do where I ask a question and you give an answer that only creates more questions." Frowning more as the pair started to smirk, Moon reached down and picked up her paper with her magic. "So, where is Princess Celestia and why are Lyra's wings up like that despite her apparent desire to lower them—or use the bathroom, I am not entirely sure?"
"Something's wrong with Twilight and I'm holding up friendship magic again." Saying it like that felt so much like a this is my job thing to Lyra that it shocked her how plainly she could put it. "It's easier this time. I think it keeps getting easier the more these"—she nodded to her back—"become more and more part of me."
"So— Wait! No! I'm not going to ask that one." Moon closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out. "Most important question first. Is Twilight okay?"
Lyra felt her worries creep back at the question. "We don't know, but I can't exactly rush off and help because then we risk me losing control of friendship magic. Luna could go, but then that would leave Canterlot with me to defend it—again, not the best."
"We sent two squads of Royal Guard to the scene. If anything can be done, they will do it." Luna could practically hear Moon winding up for the next one. "My sister is involved with something elsewhere right now. Sending her is not an option." She didn't add that, in a pinch, she trusted Twilight's instincts better than her sister's.
"Sometimes," Moon said with a bemused expression, "I wonder why I work here. Then I remember that you've gathered our whole class and the alternative to working here seems to be baking or becoming a princess." She gave a significant look at Lyra.
"So we wait," Lyra said.
At first, with only minutes ticking by, Lyra was confident that Twilight would have whatever it was under her control. She had herself and two squads of the most reactive and highly trained guardponies that existed, after all. But, as the minutes slipped into an hour and then two, concern grew stronger. She was down to counting seconds and minutes, working the numbers in her head in place of the worry that was held at mathematical bay.
Then a note appeared in a burst of green fire.
"Dragon fire? Spike!" Lyra tried to catch the letter out of the air, but Luna's cobalt aura was like a steel fist compared to her limp noodle of gold. "What's it say?" But, Lyra missed Luna's words. The pull within her was gentle and insistent, drawing back on friendship. She could have fought the pull of Twilight but she had no intention of it. Passing control of her magic back to her, Lyra let out a happy sigh, folded her wings down, and relaxed at last. "She's home."
"I was just— Were you not listening?" Luna asked.
"Sorry! I felt Twilight trying to take back her magic. It took a bit out of me to do so." Lyra smiled in apology.
Luna reminded herself this was a new experience and mentally added another underline to teach Lyra to manage her talent. "She was involved with a battle with the same mare as last time she lost access to her magic. This time she says a very troubling spell was involved and she's asking you to meet with her at your first convenience." Grinning, Luna added, "Seeing as she is both a rank higher than you are and your charge, you should probably go there right now. Would you like a fast ride?"
"Ye—"
Moon relaxed. She hadn't realized that there had been tension binding her up while Lyra was in the room. "It's unnerving the way my classmates seem to work."
"I agree." Luna poured herself another coffee, heated it up with her magic, then took a sip. "But I am glad to have them."
Mimicking Luna's action, Moon nodded. "Same. Ugh, could you imagine what would happen if Twilight and her friends or Lyra weren't around?"
"I spent a thousand years in a fever dream of insanity fantasizing about it. A good friend helped me to see that it wouldn't be anywhere near as fulfilling as I'd hoped. That opened the way for the elements of harmony to fix me rather than break me." Another sip. "This is good coffee."
"Mmhmm." Whilst some days it was hard to find the logic in Luna's statements, today Moon was in complete agreement. "It is good coffee."
By the time Lyra arrived in Ponyville, everypony was singing. Lyra wanted to be concerned and get to the bottom of it all, but with Twilight, her friends, and a new mare in the center of everything—harmony took control, and she started to dance and sing with them.
There wasn't much left in the song, but from what she heard it was all for the new mare. Lyra tried to get close to Twilight, but everything was too crowded in the early afternoon. Just outside the effects of the song, though, she could see the Royal Guards. They looked stoic but without the edge of violence she'd dreaded finding here in Ponyville.
"Lyra!" No sooner did the song end and Twilight spotted her friend than she tackled her with a big hug. "You did it! I was so worried when the spell took me away and I lost friendship again."
Squeezing back for all she was worth, Lyra gave voice to her own fears. "You were worried? I was beginning a lecture I'd prepared for some of the Royal Guard when I felt friendship rush to me. You owe Luna a hug, too, as well as at least half the Royal Guard, one maid who brought us all refreshments, and maybe Moon Dancer; she really didn't take the wings-thing well."
"Oh! Lyra, this is Starlight Glimmer." Twilight let go of her friend with one foreleg to pull her around and aim Lyra at her newest friend. "She, uh, will be my new student."
Student, Lyra knew, was a big deal for Twilight. She squinted at the nervous unicorn for a moment before leaning close to Twilight again. "Just for the record, she was the bad guy, wasn't she?"
"Yeah," Twilight said.
"Got it." Leaning back out of the two-pony-huddle, Lyra walked over to Starlight and put on her best smile. "Welcome to Ponyville!"
Looking this new mare in the eyes, Starlight was full of nerves and concerns she thought would make her explode. "Hello!" The word came out so loud, sudden, and with false cheer that for an instant she considered detonating all her magic and moving on to what might come afterward. She wondered if the mare could see all her fears and everything she'd done. "C-Can we start over?"
"Welcome to Ponyville!" Lyra could see nerves, and had no doubt that they stemmed from causing Twilight so much trouble, being defeated by whatever crazy move an alicorn with more power than sense could deploy, and then getting forgiven after it. "Would you like to relax, chat, and have a cup of tea?"
It might be true that Starlight hadn't had a lot of experience in peer-groups, but she could recognize a lifeline when one was offered. "Yes!" When the word came out a bit loud, she lowered her voice and repeated herself. "Yes, please."
Pondering a moment, Lyra decided the castle was probably the last place Starlight wanted to be, so she led the way back to her home in a simple silence she hoped wasn't burning a chasm between them. Once she had Starlight in her front door, she closed it behind her and used the noise to smash the silence. "You've got so many questions and I'm fine answering all of them. Head through to the kitchen while I get this armor off."
It was one of the first things Starlight wanted to ask about, so taking the offer at face value she did. "You wear armor?"
"Comes with being captain of Twilight's Guard, though today I was wearing it to give a lecture to other guardponies in Canterlot." Using her magic to speed the task, Lyra unhitched herself from the straps and lifted her enchanted plate off and carried it to their spare room that all three of them used as an armory. "They keep telling me I don't need to wear it, but I like to think it's my business suit."
"Y-Yeah." Feeling a little out of place, Starlight looked over Lyra and it took her several glances before what she was looking at finally sunk in. "You're an alicorn!"
"Weird, huh? For Twilight it took creating an entirely new type of magic to get her wings. I kinda stumbled into it by making a spell that let me fly with my daughter." Walking through to the kitchen, Lyra used her magic to turn the kettle on and got some cups ready. "How do you take your tea?"
"Milk with two sugars. How many alicorns are there?" Following along and feeling more skittish than ever, Starlight took an offered seat at the normal kitchen table—at any moment wondering if it would sprout wings too.
"Uh, officially there are four. Cadance, Twilight, Luna, and Celestia. We're biding our time letting everypony know about me. It's probably for the best given my role." Sitting down, Lyra created a hand with her magic and held up one finger to forestall Starlight. "Twilight trusts you, which means you're going to find this one out from her anyway. I act as a reserve for the sources of magic. When you—whatever you did with Twilight—it cut her off from magic and left friendship without guidance." The look of shock Starlight gave her was enough that Lyra could see there were holes in the mare's magic lore. "You know each of the types of magic?"
"Change, motion, chaos, emotive, harmony, light, and dark?" Starlight asked, her curiosity shoving aside panic and nerves for a front seat.
"Exactly. When Twilight got her wings, it was because she'd founded a new one: friendship." Simply saying the name of it sparked the little piece of friendship living inside her to swell with pride. "For each type of magic there is a source. A wellspring that has control over it. Twilight is the wellspring for friendship.
"Celestia carries the sources for light, change, and motion. Luna has darkness and emotive. Discord carries chaos and harmony. Cadance is on the verge of founding love, I know it, but she's probably going to need a push."
"What happens if a source isn't sustained by a wellspring?" Starlight feared she already knew.
"Most of them would be able to go some time before they would begin to degrade, but eventually that form of magic would drain out of the world and be gone. Being new, friendship still needs a lot of maintenance. So, when this happened the first time"—Lyra wanted to show Starlight that this wasn't exactly the first time it had happened, so she put extra emphasis on a pause—"I grabbed friendship and held onto it. It almost broke me, but my sergeant backed me up, then the whole town took turns assisting me. That's when I started to develop the wings on a more permanent basis."
Starlight was relieved at the distraction from her own situation, plus she liked knowing that a horrible thing she hadn't realized she'd done actually had a way to recover the situation. "So you act as a backup for friendship magic?"
"Friendship, harmony, and darkness. I'm working on chaos, but it's still a bit elusive in leaving Discord for long enough to give me part of itself." When the kettle let out a little whistle, Lyra poured the water into a teapot and lifted it and the rest of her tea set over to the table. "As far as any of us can tell, that will be my destiny—protecting any of the magic sources from being lost."
Taking her cup when Lyra poured it and added what she'd asked for, Starlight sipped the tea and let it diffuse into her. "Have there been times in the past when magic was lost?"
"There have certainly been times when the source of a magic was adrift for some time. A recent example was when Chrysalis defeated Celestia in combat and secured her in a pod. Nopony noticed the loss since it was only for a short time and we were all too busy trying to fight changelings." She took a moment to sip her own tea.
"You're really going to answer anything." It made the opportunity more distracting from her other problems.
"Well, to be honest, there are some things I'd still need to check with various ponies about, but unless you ask for any of that, I don't have to tell you no. It comes with the job."
"So if I asked what Twilight's weakness is?"
"Neighponese food and books. If you bring her a bowl of golden fried rice, some pocky, and a copy of something she's never read before, she might just propose to you."
It took Starlight a moment before she realized the super serious pony before her had told a joke. "What do you think I'll have to do to make amends?"
"With Twilight? Make friends. Be a good friend. Learn what harmony has in store for you. Live your life the best you can." Floating the cookie jar over, Lyra opened it and took one out. "Help yourself."
"How can I start that with what I almost did?" Starlight asked, but then continued before Lyra could answer. "I used a scroll to go back in time to undo the sonic rainboom that gave Twilight and her friends their cutie marks. All of them. I—" She stopped when she saw the horror on Lyra's face. "You too?"
Nodding, Lyra nibbled on her cookie with her eyes closed. "I wasn't even a pony at the time. I'd stumbled into this world and didn't have any idea what I'd do. One minute I was just having fun with Pinkie, the next we looked up and saw it."
Shaking her head, Starlight buried her face in her hooves. "How can I have been so stupid?!"
"I don't think Twilight would have asked a stupid pony to be her student. Ignorant, maybe, but ignorance has a cure."
Starlight jerked her head up and stared at Lyra. "Knowledge." As soon as she said it the growing smile on Lyra's face made her realize what this was in aid of. "Did you teach Twilight?"
"We teach each other, though we were both students at Celestia's school. If you ask me, I sometimes feel like we never left. She always has a lesson for us." Smirking a little, Lyra remembered recent events. Her smile waned a little as she reminded herself it was one thing she wasn't able to talk about.
"So, if I keep asking questions, you'll keep answering. How do you know all this?"
"You keep asking questions about things I've personally researched. What can I say, the old ideal of the career military commander with a thirst for knowledge is alive and well. Can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer it."
Rolling her eyes, Starlight had a fair idea that the question would be a sensitive one. "Like it wouldn't be hypocritical if I said no. Go ahead."
It wasn't time for heavy stuff, Lyra was trying to keep it light so made sure to tangent. "How much magic training have you had?"
"I—" Starlight hadn't expected that question. "M-Mostly self-taught. My friend sent me his old books for a while, but then I started asking around for more. Then I found out how to remove cutie marks."
Stories combined and built a map of what had happened. Lyra was aware of Twilight's report from Our Town, but she hadn't realized this was the same mare. "Ah."
"Yeah. I wish I'd never—"
"Don't say that. Everything happens for a reason, Starlight. We will have to work at finding out why you are good at this one thing." A knock at the front door interrupted whatever else she was going to say, but someone knocking meant they could wait. "Starlight, if you want to talk about it, I would be interested in hearing about how it works."
Starlight had expected to be dragged off in chains and locked away in a dungeon somewhere. After learning how important individuality was from Twilight, or at least starting to, she found her former goal of equalization should be abhorrent. "But—" And that was when she realized Lyra had gone to answer the door.
"Is Starlight inside?" Twilight asked.
Listening, Starlight wasn't sure if she was terrified of Twilight or relieved that she didn't have to hold her grudge against a princess any longer. "I'm in here."
Walking through, Twilight nodded to Lyra before stepping into the kitchen and finding Starlight with an empty cup of tea and a half-finished cookie. "Do you have a preference for where you'd like to stay tonight?"
The question confused Starlight. She looked from Twilight to Lyra as the latter walked into the kitchen too. "Oh, uh, I don't think I have anywhere to—"
"You can stay here if you'd like," Lyra said. "We have a spare room."
Starlight heard the we and had questions, but she felt like more questions might be a bit much now that the talk was over. "Th-Thanks, but I think I might go and stay in the castle— Uh, if that's okay with you, Twilight?"
"Sure!" Twilight said, then realized there was a weight gathering in the air. She'd learned, after a few years of focusing on her social skills, that there were times where people wanted to talk but were worried to. "What's wrong?"
"Twi, she's all wound up because we were chatting and she thinks you want her to leave so I can give you my report on her." Turning her head from Twilight to Starlight, and filing away their name similarities for later, Lyra raised one eyebrow and watched Starlight look down. "But I want her to hear my report too. She's inquisitive, sharp, and from what little I got her to say about her past—a brilliant magic user. She is terrified of her own power, though, and I think that's wrong, but it gives us something to work with. I'd like to spend some time teaching her magic theory and learning what strides she's made herself—because I know she's done some revolutionary work with cutie marks.
"But, above all, I'm excited to see how Starlight will grow. My preliminary estimation of her magic ability puts her in the top five percentile of unicorns based on raw talent, though I'd place her a little lower than some of my students. I think she will be in the top one percentile with some dedication and work.
"You know what has me most interested?" Lyra waited for Twilight's nod while she looked at Starlight. "What drew my full attention to her is that you chose her to be your student, Twilight. Your intuition on all things friendship related are beyond compare."
Starlight was still trying to take everything in when Twilight led her out of Lyra's house. What confused her the most, now, was that neither Twilight nor Lyra seemed to be lying when they said they wanted to help. "So, uh, did I pass?"
Twilight herself was still a little nervous around Starlight, but the light of her friendship shone through that uncertainty and focused on her newest friend. "You picked up on that? Well, she didn't tie you up in knots and ship you off to the secret vault where all the terrible ponies get hidden, did she?"
"You have a place where terrible ponies get hidden?" The description had been so plain that Starlight was half believing it before seeing the silly grin on Twilight's face. "She said she was the captain of your guard. Why wasn't she… guarding you?"
"That's not the job of my guard. She has already ensured that I am guarded to the best of her abilities by training me. You think I could have fought you like that if I hadn't had the best teaching possible?" Not that Twilight had been fighting to defeat Starlight, she'd been holding some in reserve during their fight, but Starlight didn't need to know that. "Lyra would have gotten to talk to you at some point, and I figured sooner rather than later would be for the best.
"She's blunt sometimes— Actually, no. Lyra's blunt all the time, it's only sometimes she uses jokes to hide it. If she considers you worth teaching herself, that's the highest praise you could ever ask for."
Starlight tried to follow Twilight's logic but still caught herself up on one thing. "Could she? Tie me up in knots, I mean."
"Lyra, on top of her game and with five minutes of planning, stopped Tirek in his tracks and denied him his objective." When Twilight saw a touch of confusion on Starlight's face, she asked, "Did you become weakened about a year back? Lose all your magic." When Starlight nodded, Twilight continued. "The monster that did that, Tirek, was hunting down the foals of Ponyville. Lyra hid them so well I couldn't find them afterward, then led him off on a chase that ensured they will never remember losing their magic like that."
"You defeated him?" Starlight asked.
"No. I had all the magic of Celestia, Luna, and Cadance—and it wasn't enough. He took that from me and started gloating." The battle had seen Twilight use many of the tricks Lyra had taught her but, the most important by far, keeping a cool head had been why she'd been able to get the better of Tirek. "I gave up all that power to protect my friends. Tirek, for all his double-crossing, gave me back what would be his undoing."
"What did he give you?"
"My friends. With friendship, I could probably even defeat Lyra." Twilight let out a little laugh and then asked, "Do you like to run?"
"What do you mean?" Starlight Glimmer was seated with Lyra, in the kitchen of the Castle of Friendship, with a bowl of something spicy before each of them. The food had a slight green color, and simply leaning near it made Starlight's eyes water. "It will ruin a pony's destiny."
The Thai-inspired curry Lyra spooned up to her mouth had so much green chili in it that Lyra was sure she would be breathing more fire than Spike by the time she was done. She'd only added the greater amount after serving Starlight's bowl. "If used wrong, magical medicine can kill a pony in a moment. Should we stop ponies from practicing medicine and researching it?"
Despite the way the fumes of her meal seemed to singe her nose hairs, Starlight finally decided to try the curry. It wasn't as hot as she feared, and the mix of flavors was actually pleasing to her palate. "So you're telling me I should keep using the power that steals cutie marks?"
"Stealing them has at least one use I can think of—restraining a pony without injuring them. But I was thinking more research is needed before you say that is all I can do with this power." Pulling a book from the small set of saddlebags she'd worn (and trying not to think how odd it still felt to not wear armor), she passed it over to Starlight. "This might give you an idea how useful different magics can be in different ways."
Biting her lip, Starlight started flicking through the pages. "Meditation? Training regimes? What is this book about?" She got to the actual magic part and froze up.
"It's a manual for unicorns to better learn a few basic spells to help them." Watching Starlight intently, Lyra noticed her eyes weren't shifting to follow the spell patterns. "Is something wrong?" The moment she asked it was like Starlight tried to close herself off.
Leaning back in her chair, Starlight closed the book and put it down. "Nothing important. So, what's it about then? Why give it to me?"
Her time as a training sergeant had shown Lyra this evasion before. "You'll find out after I've taught you something else important. Can you make a light spell for me?"
Weird as the request was, it bent the conversation away from a sore topic. Starlight made the simplest pattern that even a unicorn foal could envisage.
Lyra smiled. "Just a single dot of light magic, right? I mean, you can do fancy stuff with it, but at its core light magic wants to make light." A flick of her own magic summoned a notepad and a pencil. She drew a single dot and made the mark for light magic beside it.
Starlight realized that Lyra had seen through her. She shook, the embarrassment of being an adult unicorn who couldn't read crushing her—but not as crushing by far as Lyra's hug. "What are you doing?"
"Showing you that you're not alone. You're not the first unicorn I've taught to read magic and I hope you won't be the last."
"How did you move that fast?"
"I have had some exceptional hug-teachers. Ask me how old I was when I learned how to read magic." Lyra tested Starlight, easing her hug a little, but Starlight gripped her a little tighter.
"H-How old?"
"I was eighteen. It wasn't easy, but I had an amazing tutor." Now Lyra felt Starlight try to pull back. For just a moment she resisted, then let go.
"Twilight?" Starlight reached her hoof up to her eyes and dried some of the tears away.
"Yup. I was struggling with Celestia's teaching. She was gentle and knew I was way out of my depth, but she couldn't spare the time to teach me everything." Stepping back to her seat, Lyra started working on the next pattern. "Telekinesis. Pick up your spoon and you make what shape?"
Doing as instructed, Starlight made the familiar dot-plus-target pattern in her thoughts and picked up the spoon. "It's a dot with a line leading to the target I want to pick up."
"And that's motion magic." Finishing the diagram, Lyra tore the page from the pad, passed it to Starlight, and then moved on. "You seem to have a handle on single-item-targeting. Would you like to learn more tricks like that or—" She cut herself off as Starlight formed a telekinetic spoon and started eating with it. "You're self-taught, aren't you?"
"Not entirely. When I was a filly, I had a friend who could read all the books and tell me how to do things, but since then I had to learn it all by myself." Slumping, Starlight felt as if she had given up all her secrets.
"That's amazing. And you fought Twilight to a standstill?"
The excited tone was as far from what Starlight expected as anything could get. "It was all the spell's doing. Some weird scroll that just needed a lot of magic to fuel it. I didn't even know it could carry more than one pony."
"It's a shame we don't have it still, but from what Twilight told me about it, we wouldn't want it to be available to the public anyway. Time travel is…" Rolling her hoof around in the air, Lyra searched for the right word; and failed. "It's complicated.
"Anyway, back to patterns. Apart from the cutie mark magic, what else do you know?"
"I can blast with my horn and I can create a repeating sound." Starlight returned some of her attention back to her food.
"Ah, blasts are good spells. Simple and effective ways to use a lot of power as a blunt force. I'd wager Twilight made you work to beat her with that. What's the pattern you use?" At Starlight's confused look, Lyra explained. "Use the smallest amount of power you can, not even enough to make light, and draw the pattern in the air."
Carefully lowering her magic, Starlight did exactly that. With the slightest whisper, she made the arrow-pointed pattern she used for a beam-blast. "Is that right?" Turning her attention from the pattern to Lyra, she was shocked to see the other mare's mouth hanging open. "Did I do it wrong?"
It took a moment for Lyra to realize Starlight was talking to her. She pointed at the pattern hanging in the air with a hoof. "You made an arrow. There are no back-traces or doubling up. How did you make that pattern? Can you draw it slower for me?"
Banishing her first pattern, Starlight started over. She worked slower, imagining the shape of a large square, tracing two lines along the edges of one corner and then cutting a diagonal with another. The gentle touch of magic was surprisingly comfortable to use. "Like that."
Slumping back in her chair, Lyra stared at the pattern while she went over the building of it in her head. Starlight hadn't traced the pattern with a point of magic, she'd traced three lines at the same time with three different points. Slowly, she closed her eyes and tried to reason around it, then opened them. "Tell me if I'm doing this right."
When Lyra started to make the spell with glowing golden light, Starlight stopped her. "Wait, you're not building a guide. Imagine a square with right-angled corners. You're building the pattern in the corner with the body of it on the diagonal."
Cementing the geometric pattern in her thoughts, Lyra started thinking around the problem. Again and again she tried, pausing for some of her curry between attempts, before she finally made the pattern to Starlight's satisfaction. It was an exciting moment. "I have never seen a pony work a pattern like that before. Do you use multiple lines for all your spells?"
"I, uh." Starlight sighed and nodded. "Yes, I do. You have seen most of them, though."
"Show me the others and I can show you some." Lyra, finished with her curry, pushed the bowl aside and waited. Beside her, on a single page of notebook paper, she had what would likely be another shake-up of unicorn magic in Equestria. On a fresh page, though, she started to sketch out the other three spells Starlight showed her: a cleaning spell, the complicated sound repeater, and a confusion spell that seemed very pointed to her.
"That's a bit more than confusion," Starlight said when Lyra asked her about it. "It does leave a pony confused, but while it is active you can make them focus on things by adjusting the pattern."
"'Adjusting the pattern'? After you've cast it?" Pulling her notepad close again, Lyra beamed in delight. "I want you to teach me everything about adjusting patterns after they're cast."
"How did it go?" Twilight asked.
Gesturing at the table and the spread of burgers, fries, and fizzy drinks, Starlight asked, "Why does everything get done in here while eating?"
"Blame Lyra. I let her into my castle and she made the kitchen into her own throne room. Now Spike won't stop cooking either, and I think they're infecting me with good taste in food. Though, I do sneak hayburgers in from time to time. So"—Twilight popped a straw fry in her mouth—"how'd it go with her?"
"She has a way of opening you up. I spilled everything I knew about magic without meaning to. I figured I'd be getting morality lessons and being told to do homework or something." She gestured to the stack of pages. "Well, she did give me homework, but it's interesting homework."
"Oh?" Twilight picked up a burger and started eating it.
"She wants me to study this book on"—embarrassment threatened to take hold again, but Starlight fought it down—"learning to read magic diagrams. She also wants me to draw the spells I know as best I can." Lifting her head, she asked, "Is it true most spell patterns are made with one continuous line?"
The question caught Twilight by surprise. "Starlight, all spells are drawn with one continuous line. That's how spell patterns work."
"Well, that explains why she was taking so many notes. So, uh, this"—Starlight kept her magic low and barely glowing as she formed the arrow-based beam blast—"isn't common?" Twilight's stunned expression told Starlight everything she needed to know. "She managed to go all afternoon without making it seem weird, but she did pull some funny faces when I—"
"You can't do magic like that! It doesn't work!" Twilight had at least taken the time to swallow her mouthful of hayburger before shouting.
Sliding a piece of paper across to Twilight, Starlight tried her best to look sheepish, but all she really managed was concern.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight let it out as slow as she could. This was, she realized, why she had Lyra as her captain. "I'll wait for the paper this time. Promise me I'll get a copy of the first draft, and I won't cause a fuss."
"Paper?" Starlight asked.
"Yeah. Lyra does a lot of writing. That book you have there, that's one of hers. She's also published several ground-breaking magic papers on new techniques, and she always shares the credit with anypony that helps."
The most that Starlight understood was that Lyra had written the book she was going to be learning to read magic from. "What's a magic paper? Is that something special used for scrolls?"
Twilight settled into her role and started describing the wheels of academia to Starlight. From initial schooling to when a foal starts apprenticing out to experiencing trades and professions, to finally having higher education through both specialist schools or the E.U.P. Guard. By the time she got to the topic of science and magic papers, she could feel a yawn coming on.
Looking at her dinner, with only half the burgers eaten, Twilight sighed—and yawned again. "I can barely keep my eyes open, Starlight. I think I'll turn in."
"Alright. Uh—" Remembering what Lyra had done that afternoon, Starlight rushed to her hooves and hugged Twilight. "Thank you. For giving me a chance, I mean."
Life was always changing, Twilight knew, and now she had a new friend to change it with her. "You're welcome, Starlight."
Trotting through the streets of Canterlot, with his unique armor on, Firelance said, "Relax. She only wants to help. Try to read between the lines of that list and understand what she expects of you. The Princesses' lists are—works in progress. They are guidelines, not laws."
"But did you see the size of it? It's three times longer than I am! Also, who writes on scrolls, anyway?" Starlight had found herself enjoying being with Firelance, but only after she figured out that ponies were staring at him and not her.
"That's how you know she's paying attention. When you get a scrap of paper with pencil on it, from Her Highness, you know you need to stop and ask her what's really going on." Nearing the entrance of the Guard training grounds, Firelance caught more eyes on him now. There were two versions of this armor, and only two suits with his livery. "Sergeant Firelance. I'm here to look over the new recruits." He quickly acknowledged the guards' salutes with his own.
"Head in, sir. Your guest's name?"
"Starlight Glimmer." Firelance waited for the guard to write it down before heading into the practice fields. The squads of recruits, currently performing a mock battle against their sergeants, were doing reasonably well, though Firelance could see that Solid Ground, the newest training sergeant, was doing more work than either Long Shift (a unicorn sergeant on loan from the Royal Guard) or Bluebelle. "This is going poorly for the recruits."
"How can you tell?" To Starlight, it looked like a wild mess of magic with one big earth pony mare putting herself between the bigger group and the single pegasus and unicorn.
"Because Solid Ground is dictating the flow of the fight. Notice the recruits aren't getting past her at all? She's burning through her magic at a ferocious rate, but that's her jam. If they—" Wincing at the beam that flashed into the sky, Firelance caught sight of the orange streak heading up to intercept it, curve it, and send it crashing down at the unicorn sergeant. "Eeeexcept Scoots knew a way around her."
Staring at the curved beam attack, Starlight couldn't believe what she was seeing. "How did that mare do that?"
"You know pegasi can warp space around them with their magic, to make flying easier?" Starlight's look told Firelance she didn't know that. "Okay. They can. It's instinctual, though, so you don't see it used in any other way except—"
"To bend the space the beam is traveling through so that the beam doesn't actually bend but space does. She really learned how to do that?"
"We did a lot of training to— Ah, the engagement is over." Though he wanted to walk over and congratulate Scootaloo, he knew he had a duty to do first. "I helped her perfect it."
"Ha ha. You know, sometimes I'm grateful that I only tried to fight Twilight and her friends."
The sarcasm laden comment made Firelance laugh. "Nah. The Guard will just defeat you. She's the only pony that would defeat you, give you a hug afterward, and assign homework. "
Living proof of that, Starlight nodded—then she realized they were going to a building that smelled like food. "Where are we going?"
"There's a dark secret of the E.U.P. Guard, Starlight." Firelance walked with a purposeful stride. He approached the doorway of the mess hall and stopped before walking in. "Few know of it, but it has to do with the special talents of most guardponies. You see"—flexing his control of darkness magic, Firelance dimmed the world around them to cast long shadows—"most of us are exceptional cooks."
Having her expectation of something dire completely derailed as the light around them restored, Starlight opened her mouth to question Firelance only to see him walking into the building. Rushing in too, she asked, "What do you mean?" And, then she had to stop because Firelance had halted inside.
"Sir!"
"At ease, sergeant." Sitting down, Stiff Peaks raised an eyebrow at Starlight. "A guest?"
"This is Starlight Glimmer. I'm showing her around Canterlot for Princess Twilight." Firelance looked at the other ponies seated at the table and almost fell over. Without even meaning to, he stiffened again and ticked off the commanders of the various parts of the Guard. Captains Bright Feather, Spitfire, Spring Dance, Sweetie Drops, Poppy Bread, and Daisy Duke.
"Ah, well, with a representative from the Friendship Guard, I guess we can get started properly." Sweetie Drops shot Firelance a big grin. "None of this information is sensitive, and from what your commander has told me, Starlight is trustworthy enough. Have a seat."
Sparing Starlight an apologetic look, Firelance sat down at the table. "What's the topic?"
"We're discussing the new recruits and what we can expect from them. As usual, Spring is getting the largest share signing up." Sweetie flicked through her notes. "Two for Spitfire, four for Bright, one is going to Poppy, three to Daisy, and none for me."
"Sweetie," Stiff Peaks said, "you might not be a secret part of the Guard, but less ponies know about Research and Acquisitions than know about the Dragoons." He nodded to Poppy Bread.
"There's that unicorn, Shining Star. Her magic tests out as strong, but she's just terrible with spells. She hasn't expressed any preference yet," Spring Dance said, passing across Celestia's pseudonym's profile information.
Firelance knew exactly who it was. "She'd make a good candidate for the Friendship Guard." He glanced over the paperwork and was surprised by how low she'd scored in spell casting. "And who knows, if anypony could teach her spells, it'd be Lyra."
When a round of chuckles met Firelance's comment, Starlight found herself agreeing with him. She'd been practicing reading spells and started on the training exercises, and already she could follow along with simple spells in books and had felt the breadth of her magic reserves start to grow.
"Oh, there was one here asking about the Friendship Guard." Stiff slid another page across to Firelance. "How long have you got here? Enough time to talk to them about it?"
Firelance nodded. "We have a day to see the city, so that should be fine. You're okay with it, right, Starlight?"
With everyone at the table looking at her, Starlight agreed. "Yes. That's perfectly fine." And it was. She found the interactions between what she could read were ponies with a lot of responsibility and respect, and Firelance (her opinion of whom was rising rapidly), fascinating.
"Okay. Anything else you need me to take care of?" Doing his utmost to pretend to pay equal attention to both pages, Firelance tried his very best not to laugh at some of the information on Celestia's fake form.
"The recruits will be here shortly. You can talk to Scootaloo then." All pretense was dropped as Sweetie told Firelance. "Spitfire, I take it she meets your—"
"I wouldn't turn her down if she couldn't fly," Spitfire said. She laughed at some of the looks she got. "All I'm saying is, that mare knows how to fly. It's in her blood. If she couldn't actually fly, I could have her teaching recruits and the Wonderbolts would be better for it."
It didn't add up. "You are only accounting for about a third of them, though." Starlight hadn't realized she'd spoken until afterwards. "S-Sorry."
"As a princesses' representative, you're welcome to ask questions," Stiff Peaks said. "The reason for that is a lot of them don't know what they want. We have further training systems in place to give them a taste of the sort of work they'll find in each division of the Guard. Some might even discover that Research and Acquisitions exists." He tilted his head toward Sweetie Drops and gave her a wink.
"Hilarious. There's an easy way I've found to pick which ponies will become our specialists." Reaching to her saddlebag, Sweetie pulled out a book and passed it to Firelance. "Sit that beside you on the table and see if anypony other than Scoots looks your way."
Looking at the cover of the book, Firelance tried to figure out the significance. "Daring Do?"
"Is that the latest one?" Spitfire asked, trying to suppress her own fond memories of the books.
"Nope. Not the latest. That's a pre-print of the next one in the series. You see, authors get a box of these things to give out to reviewers and friends. They can become quite valuable, though often those with them would consider them priceless." Looking around the group of captains, Sweetie could see a few with overly hungry eyes fixed on the book.
"You're trying to catch ponies who have an eye for excitement with some good bait there," Stiff Peaks said.
The rumble of hooves coming toward the building was noticeable even before the first pony burst through. Herding the pack to queue up to get their food was the three sergeants training them. Sweetie Drops was the first on the table to speak. "Got two nibbles already. Is it me, or are there more ponies in the last few recruiting groups?"
"Numbers of new recruits are up," Spitfire said, sliding some paperwork over to Sweetie that had the details. "But we also have a lot more reservists now. They need their retraining certifications. Plus somepony has encouraged a lot of ex guardponies to renew their training."
"Come on, that's hardly all my fault." The grin Sweetie shot Spitfire was more than enough to get both laughing.
"Uh, sir?"
Firelance looked up at the stallion who approached him. "Speak freely, recruit."
"Can I ask which book is that? I haven't seen it and I'm a big fan of A.K. Yearling's work." No sooner had he asked, but the stallion had far more senior eyes on him than Firelance's. If it weren't for his curiosity in seeing a Daring Do book he hadn't heard of, he would have apologized and run off to a table to hide.
"Captain Sweetie Drops was just telling me about it," Firelance said. "Apparently it's a pre-print version of the next book in the series. If you want a crack at reading it, you'd best talk to her after lunch. What's your name?"
"Recruit Cabbage Patch."
"Come back over when you're done eating and chat a bit. You might even get to take a look at the first chapter." With the recruit apparently fumbling to thank him, Firelance dismissed him before he fell over his words.
"One for me," Sweetie said, reaching to the folder of recruit information to find her mark.
"Recruit Scootaloo requesting permission to approach the officers' table!"
"Request denied." Stiff Peaks didn't even look up from his notes he was pretending to read. "Sergeant Firelance, I understand you're not part of my command, but could you accompany the recruit back to her table and discipline her in etiquette as you see fit?"
"Sir." Firelance stood and stepped around the table before following Scootaloo over to the queue where ponies were waiting for food. "Now, how should I discipline you? That was a massive breach of rules back there. I'd be surprised if you weren't eventually ejected from the Guard." When her wing grabbed him around his withers and pulled him close, Firelance turned his head to catch her cheek with a kiss before she could do the same.
"I've missed you." Scootaloo didn't care that there were two layers of armor between her and Firelance, she made sure they were pressed flank-to-flank. "It's been a blast, though. Mum took us for our first run, then we all split up and started individual assessment, and Sergeant Bluebelle had me teach the class how to bend magic with my wings. She also got me to teach her how to do it. Did you see our sparring earlier? I was—" She was halted in her tracks by another kiss on the cheek.
"I saw. You don't know her, but Twilight has a student now. She was pretty impressed by that." Taking a tray, Firelance hovered a second one for Scootaloo.
"Thanks. Wow, a new student? What happened there?" Selecting her own food, she directed the server behind the counter as to what she wanted, and Firelance did the same. "Oh, is that a fish curry? That smells so good!"
"Careful, it's spicy," the server said, adding a pile of rice to Scootaloo's tray and ladling the yellow curry over it.
"I know. Mum makes it at home." Bouncing to the next spot and fetching a hunk of agege bread that was shaped into a bowl and big glass of water to go with it all. When they got to a table, she finally asked, "Okay, so spill it. Who's the new student?"
"See the mare over on the officers' table, looking out of place and now walking over here? That's Starlight Glimmer. She—"
"Stole Twilight and her friends' cutie marks, ran away, and we've been looking for her for a while," Scootaloo said.
"Well, she came back and dragged Twilight into some kind of battle. Hey, Starlight. Want to grab a tray and chat while we eat? The food here is the best in Canterlot." Firelance nodded toward the front of the room. When she wandered off to do that, he looked back at Scootaloo. "And Twilight helped her deal with whatever was eating her up. She needs friends right now."
When Starlight returned, she found a spot waiting for her beside Scootaloo. "Does everypony wear armor? Do I need to buy some?" Unwilling to try the spicy option, Starlight had opted for the rich vegetable stew and some buttered bread. She expected mass-produced and bland food, but when she took her first mouthful she exclaimed in surprise. "This is really good."
Looking closely at the stew, Firelance nodded. "That's one of the classics. Until Commander Heartstrings shared her latest recipe book with Captain Peaks, that was standard fare here. I heard Lyra got all these recipes from a zebra."
Scootaloo nodded. "Yup, Zecora. She lives in the Everfree Forest near Ponyville. One of my friends has been learning cooking and mysticism from her."
"A zebra? In Equestria?" Starlight asked.
Her mouth full, Scootaloo sucked in some cool air and chewed quickly to get the curry down. "Yup. She's really nice. I'll introduce you next time I'm home."
"Assuming she doesn't come to the castle with some kind of friendship problem," Firelance said.
Taking a deep breath, and trying not to sound like she wanted to hijack the conversation for her own ends—when she really wanted to—Starlight asked, "How did you curve that spell?"
"Ah. That was something I came up with and practiced with Firelance. See, I talked to Mum about how pegasus magic works, and then Surprise, and they both concurred that it's a lot of really complex calculations that bend the world around us that pegasi can do instinctually. Well, I figured if I can bend the world, that magic is part of the world so I can bend magic as well. It's not easy, but if you do it just right, it doesn't matter what kind of magic it is except for certain teleport spells."
Starlight's mind raced. She'd been reading up on teleport spells and knew two of the targeting methods (because those had been the easiest) but the math for the most complex ones was something she'd put aside to work on at a later date. What she knew about it, though, was it directly targeted points in space. "Oh! Because you can't predict which part of yourself is being touched by the targeting point?"
"I can sort of predict it, but it isn't worth it. The amount of unicorns that can do those calculations I can count on my hooves, and I only know of one that can do them fast enough to track a moving target. Well, Twilight isn't a unicorn anymore either." Scootaloo smirked at that. "So it's a moot point."
The level of understanding of complex magic in a pegasus surprised Starlight. "R-Right. I've been trying to learn those targeting methods myself but it's"—she puffed a defeated sigh out—"really hard."
Poking Starlight in the shoulder with a feather, Scootaloo said, "Hey, you happen to have the best teachers in Equestria and probably the world for that. Twilight is the only pony who could target me in flight with a point-direct teleport, and she taught Lyra how to teleport."
"So Lyra was Twilight's student before me?" Starlight asked.
"Kinda," Firelance said, giving Scootaloo a chance to eat her lunch. "The way I heard it, Twilight helped Lyra learn the mathematics needed for point-direct teleports and Lyra taught Twilight how to cheat with magic."
"Cheat?"
"Yeah, cheat." Sipping at his own drink, Firelance gestured to the side where a fellow unicorn was studying the Guard handbook for unicorn magic. "All the teleportation spells in that book are cheating ways of doing complex calculations without the calculations. Has Lyra shown you how she flies yet?"
"Uh, she has wings. I assume she flies with those?" Each new revelation was sinking Starlight further beneath an ocean of new questions. She knew this was going to be a different answer to what she expected, but she didn't know how. "Wait, with self-telekinesis, right?"
Firelance froze, his original track scattered to the wind. "You can lift yourself with telekinesis?"
"You can't?" Starlight blinked in honest surprise.
"It's an annoyingly specific knack. It can't be taught. Only about one unicorn in a hundred thousand can ever do it." Nodding toward Starlight, Firelance asked, "I take it you can?"
Starlight nodded slowly. "Is that bad?"
"Not bad at all, except you'll have Lyra poking you with questions so she can learn it. I'll wait for whatever crazy paper she publishes from that."
Scootaloo did as all Guards would when left alone for a few minutes with a pile of food—she ate until it was all gone. Almost at the exact same time as she started guzzling down water for the inferno in her mouth, Sergeant Bluebelle called them to follow her outside. "Gotta go!" She moved fast, using some magic and her feather tips to weave around the table and land a kiss on Firelance's cheek. "I've got two more days and then a week of specialist training. See you then?"
Firelance barely got a "Yes!" out before Scootaloo's tail was out the door and gone. He sighed.
Feeling like a bit of a third wheel, Starlight pondered testing one of the teleport spells she'd been studying—not that she expected it to work since she hadn't actually memorized it. "You're both, uh, pretty close?"
"Me and Scoots? Yeah. We've been hanging out together and then special someponies for a few years now. When she graduates I'm going to—" Stopping in his tracks, Firelance blushed. "I mean… Can you forget I said that? I still need to talk to her moms."
"My lips are sealed, but congratulations." It was something ponies said to each other, but Starlight had a new perspective on life—she wasn't giving platitudes and calculating her responses to engender specific emotions or feelings, she was being genuine. A rush of relief came with that realization as if a blister of her own making broke and she would begin to heal a little more.
When Starlight realized she was being hugged, she jumped a little in surprise. She was hugging back, there were tears in her eyes, and Firelance was being a perfect gentlecolt. "S-Sorry."
"I'd be a pretty poor member of the Friendship Guard if I didn't offer a friend a shoulder when she needed it. And, thanks for the well-wishes." Firelance eased his grip a little, giving Starlight a chance to either mutually let go or keep hugging. When she chose the former, he produced some tissues with a flicker of his magic. "Here."
Taking the tissues and using them to dry her eyes, then blow her nose, Starlight didn't know what to do with them and dumbly offered them back—which Firelance quickly incinerated with little puffs of his magic. "Thank you. I am still so wound up from everything I was doing that when a little bit of it comes free, it can hit me hard. I guess."
"Which is why I am here to catch you. You don't have to do this alone, Starlight. You might be Twilight's student, but she has built a network of friends who can help. Right, now we've visited here, did you have anywhere you wanted to go? There are some great sights to see here."
"Is there a lookout over Equestria that's far from the mountain? I want to see—see what I'm trying to become part of." It seemed sillier the more Starlight said, but the look Firelance gave her seemed like he was taking her seriously.
"Come on. We can't get to the one in the castle, but there are some spots close to the castle wall we should be able to get to. I'll have to let them know I'm leaving." Turning toward the officers' table again, Firelance waited for Starlight's nod before he left her.
Starlight, without the need to let anyone know she was leaving, gravitated to the door and outside. She looked at the ponies training, it was more of the mock battles, but this time it was nine-on-nine. The earth ponies seemed to be doing the bulk of the work while the unicorns focused on stymying each other; likewise the pegasi.
What surprised her was when an earth pony put themselves between a unicorn and a pegasus and the spell that'd been hurled fizzled. Her mouth dropped open and, under her breath, she said, "How did she do that? Was that a unique talent?"
Walking up beside Starlight, Firelance heard her words and followed her gaze. "What happened?"
"An earth pony took a spell and just— I could see the magic drain away." Starlight watched as the group that had done such, rushed to take advantage of the action. "And they did it again."
"I guess if you didn't know what pegasi could do, you wouldn't know that earth ponies can ground out magic. Sweetie, Scoots' other mom, almost managed to lock down Queen Chrysalis when she was juiced up on Shining Armor's love. It didn't work because there was too much magic potential, but I hear Sweetie's gotten better since then. If you ever want the worst headache of your life, try casting magic directly on a trained earth pony who doesn't want you to."
It was fascinating to watch, and when Starlight turned her attention to another group sparring she noticed the main unicorn caster in one group kept using spells that picked up the ground or fired water in a jet at the earth ponies. "Twilight's friends can do that?"
"Her friends, apart from Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, haven't had any special training. Fluttershy's was with Lyra's father, and Rainbow's training with the Wonderbolts lately. Her flying was already pretty good, but I hear she's really tightening up— You have another question."
Starlight started walking beside Firelance, pointedly ignoring the way he glanced at one particular practice field. "I don't think I have anything in me lately except questions and explosive emotional outbursts. Which would you prefer this time?"
"Mmhmm," Firelance said, then spun his head back away from watching Scootaloo flying to look at Starlight. "I'm sorry."
The sincerity made Starlight genuinely laugh. She could see how much he was in love and it made her feel happy for them simply by being near. "I was going to ask about Lyra's father, since you mentioned him. Another great unicorn?"
Snorting, Firelance shook his head. "Not quite. In fact, not at all. We can see if he's home on the way. They live on the edge not far away from where I was going to take you."
"Her whole family is uniquely unique, aren't they?" Starlight asked, not minding the exploration of Canterlot at all. Watching the various ponies (and even the odd griffon) going about their daily tasks in the city was soothing.
"Oh, for sure. She has a sister back home who is the right-hand mare of the entire country. Everypony in that family is amazing on a scale I can't hope to match—but I'm trying." Reaching the intersection that led to the drop off-adjacent home of Tufts and Joyce Mango, Firelance turned onto the spur of the outermost ring of the city. "Have you met many bat ponies?"
"None. Are they that different from other ponies?"
"They have a magic that's all their own. Also, don't say the words mango, banana, or pear around them unless you want a screeching feeding frenzy." Firelance didn't care if Starlight immediately suspected him of playing a joke, putting three big elephants in the room would make the topic irresistible.
About to ask for clarification, Starlight instead closed her mouth as Firelance approached a house and walked up to the front door and knocked.
"Comi— Wait! Gara!" Tufts let out a little screech of concern as his daughter rushed to the door and flung it wide. Relief was only brief. He hadn't felt the kind of malevolence that was the cause of his fear, but it was a habit they were trying to get the filly out of. "Firelance! Come in. Come in."
Plucking Garawang up with his magic, Firelance set the filly onto his back (where she was flapping and generally being a little gremlin) and entered. "Thanks, Tufts. I was just showing one of Lyra's new friends around Canterlot and thought it best if she got to meet some bat ponies before she gets surprised by one. Tufts, this is Starlight. Starlight, this is Tufts and his daughter, Gara."
Staring for a moment, Starlight had to shake her head to figure out how bat pony wings worked. She realized she was staring when Tufts held one wing out to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry! I just— Your wings are fascinating. I've never seen how bat wings worked before and there are so many folds and those are bones in there that hold them apart and oh no I am rambling and can't stop!"
Laughing with a little bit of screech in his voice, Tufts shook his head. "You're fine. We're a little unique, though the embassy will hope to undo that. Take a seat. Have you eaten?"
"Yeah. We ate at the Guard." As he sat down, Firelance levitated Garawang from his back and sat her on the seat beside him. "What about you, kiddo? How have you been since I saw you last?"
"I've went to flying school, but they were confused about how I could fly, so then Mum asked some Wonderbolts if they could help, and they did, but they didn't know some of the things I wanted to learn, so they got one of Princess Luna's friends to come and teach me how to fly!" Stretching out her wings, Garawang gave each a little flick to show how they worked. "What about you? You work for my sister now?"
"Yup. Lyra's my boss." Turning to include Starlight, Firelance said, "Me and Scoots foalsat for Gara when she was a little filly. Not now, though. She's all grown up."
Starlight found herself the center of attention as everyone looked at her. "I—uh. I'm sorry, I'm not that good with foals."
"I'm not a foal! I'm six!" Garawang said, jumping so her forehooves were on the table.
Tufts reached out with a wing to coax his daughter off the table. "You're five and a half. Also, Garawang Mango, no hooves on the table."
Hearing her full name, Garawang tucked her ears back and lifted her hooves from the table—though she kept leaning against it. "Sorry, Dad, but I am a big girl now!"
In the village she'd run, Starlight had seen several foals. They hadn't seemed worth dealing with directly, though, because they were all taken care of by their parents. That's when her brain caught up with the conversation. "Mango?" She looked at Firelance. "You said not to say that, banana, or pear."
Letting out a screech of excitement, Garawang started bouncing and flapping her wings. "Dad! Dad! Can we have fruit?!"
"You just had lunch, Gara." Tufts knew his weaknesses, and when it came to ponies he had two that lived with him. "Why don't you get me two mangoes from the fridge?"
Screeching all the way to the kitchen, Garawang missed the grins Firelance and Tufts shared.
Firelance looked at Starlight with sympathy as she had her ears clamped down. "That's why I said not to say those words. Also, you get used to the screeching."
"You brought her here for a reason, Firelance?" Tufts asked, his eyes on Starlight. There was something about her that he felt—a dissonance that she was trying to keep within. "I see. I see. This is going to require some help, if you'd like it?"
Starlight turned to look at Firelance, seeing only a supportive smile on his face. "What—what is it? What can you do?"
"I can give you time and a mirror. I promise nothing will leave my confidence."
Exhaling a sharp breath, Starlight slumped a little. "It's like— Like every other pony knows what I did and can see those I hurt. I want— No. I need to confront—" The wing on her shoulder felt like there was some kind of electric charge in it. Starlight looked at where it held her and she sighed.
"My daughter isn't the only one who can feel the pull of fate on ponies. Relax, Starlight, and listen to my voice." Tufts started working his own brand of magic and, when she looked up at him, he counted, "Three," and pulled them both into his corner of the Dreamtime.
It was surreal for Starlight. All her life she'd trusted her own perception of things implicitly, until Twilight had shattered that. Now Tufts did it a second time. She looked around to see him hanging upside down beside her—only he didn't look upside down because, she realized, she was upside down too. "What—?"
"We're Dreaming."
Tufts' words held weight to them. Starlight could see the world around them shifting and changing, but where the notes of his voice touched—solidity reigned. "Oh. That doesn't make sense, though. Wait, you have magic?"
"Sharp. Yes." Tufts gestured to Starlight and then to the world around them. "This is where you were; where you did things in the past. It's where you're sitting at a table in Canterlot while Firelance keeps us safe. It's where you're going and what you'll do."
As he spoke, the world changed around Starlight. The town she'd wronged and the ponies within it milled around the base of the tree, then the tree was in the middle of a table in Canterlot where she and Tufts were asleep, and finally it was in a building with huge, vaulted ceilings and desks and young ponies, griffons, and other creatures she didn't recognize. It was also still upside down. "Why do I have wings?"
"It's not easy to keep yourself separate from the magic in a Dreaming. I know one mare who can, but I will refuse to Dream with her." Shaking his head, Tufts gestured to their surroundings. "What happened here?"
The world solidified into the town where Starlight had wreaked havoc. She shivered and tucked her wings around herself. "I thought I knew a better way to do things. It was— Twilight showed me it was a nightmare we were all living in."
"It's still a sore spot?"
Starlight nodded. "The worst part is they knew it. They all knew it—and they told me it was alright. That it was okay."
"Maybe it is for them." Tufts watched Starlight and felt her recoil from the answer. "But not for you."
It was a distinction that Starlight didn't think existed. "I was wrong. So wrong. I stole their individuality. I stole their cutie marks and locked them away!" Pulling the wings over her face, Starlight hid in the dark.
"And now?" Tufts asked. "They have their cutie marks back?" He waited for her to nod before continuing. "How do you plan to make up for it?"
"They don't want me to make up for it!" Not realizing she was yelling, Starlight pulled the wings tighter. "Sorry."
"You are fine to yell in the Dreaming, if yelling is what you need." Reaching out a wing, Tufts plucked a ripe mango from the tree and quickly stripped the skin off it. "Take a deep breath and tell me what you smell."
It felt impossible to avoid him. Starlight inhaled and had the most violent bodily urge of her life. Casting her wings aside, she looked around for the source of the smell only to be passed the golden flesh of the mango.
"Such a simple thing. Giving a body what it craves the most is one of life's greatest pleasures, though." Tufts promised himself he'd eat one when he returned. When Starlight was done rendering the fruit to a licked-clean seed, he asked, "What can you do to make yourself feel better?"
Just as Starlight opened her mouth, Tufts said, "Twilight doesn't have the answer. Neither does Lyra." When she looked at him pointedly, Tufts laughed. "There's only one pony that has the answer."
Starlight was afraid of his reply because it came with his wingtip poking her. "I need to look for it myself," she said.
"You've got help."
More bat ponies were preening their wings and screeching to each other now, each had the features of ponies Starlight had recently met. There was, of course, one mint-colored unicorn hanging upside down with the rest, grinning like an idiot at her. "What do I do until I find it?"
"Hang upside down, learn to love fruit. I don't have answers." Tufts reached up for another mango and tossed it to Starlight. "I only have mangoes."
Examining the fruit, Starlight used her thumb claws to peel it. It felt so natural to simply be a bat here, even if being a bat wasn't something she'd ever been or seen. She ate slower, contemplating the mango and its flavors.
It was life at its simplest. Eating. Making her body work. Starlight kept eating the fruit and tried to think past all those supporting her. Some left, some new faces appeared—but the crowd was never gone, even when their surroundings changed to the strange building again. "I know you don't have answers, but do you know what this is?"
"My daughter would call it a lot of things. Big, complicated words that have power because she believes in them." Tufts didn't put any effort into clarifying the future.
"Fate," Starlight said. "Harmony. Destiny." They weren't as heavy words to her as what Tufts seemed to be implying, but Starlight could feel some weight to them. "I thought I didn't believe in it—not after he, Sunburst, left."
"What happens will happen, but only if you let it. This Sunburst left you and took part of you with him. Why don't you find him and see if he will offer it back?" Tufts gestured to a bat pony that, though his features were hard to make out, sparked a gasp of recognition from Starlight. "But first you should eat that mango. These are the best ones in all Equestria."
Returning to the task of eating, Starlight thought of everything they'd explored. As she nibbled away the last of the fruit's flesh, she reached out for Tufts and hugged him. He was warm and real and had offered her no easy answers, but it was what she'd needed. "I will. Thank you, Tu—"
Waking up, Starlight was momentarily distracted by her lack of wings. She shook her head to clear the dysphoria and looked around the room. Firelance was in the kitchen with Garawang and Tufts was sitting beside her at the table. She was about to open her mouth and ask if it had all been real when the front door opened.
"Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!" Garawang raced past the table with her wings flapping a little. She didn't even notice Tufts catching a bowl from the table she'd knocked off or Starlight grabbing a whole side table that was halfway through falling over. Crashing against her mother, she wrapped her wings around her and started to climb. "Firelance came and we have been cooking!"
Joyce Mango didn't so much ignore the stranger sitting at the table as accept her presence and move on with her evening. "And what have you been cooking?" she asked when her daughter had climbed all the way to her withers and wrapped both wings around her neck.
"We made a froooot cake!" Garawang let out a joyous screech at the title, then broke out into a case of giggles. "Dad has been helping Starlight. She needed to see a bit better, Firelance said. Why didn't she get glasses?"
"Because glasses can't show you everything, Gara," Joyce said, walking to her waking husband and kissing his cheek. "Sleep well?"
Letting out a happy chirp of a sound, Tufts nodded. "The Dreaming worked, I think. What about you?" He looked at Starlight with an eyebrow raised.
"It—It was certainly something. I thought you said you don't have any answers?" Starlight asked.
"I don't. All I have are Mangoes." To validate his assertion, Tufts stretched his wing out to gesture at his wife and daughter. "My wife, Joyce Mango, and my daughter, Gara Mango." He grinned without a single hint of sympathy for his pun. "But you got everything you needed?"
"I don't think I'll ever have everything I need, which is probably for the best. We should be going." Starlight looked at Firelance and caught a nod from him.
Stretching, Firelance reached a hoof up and ruffled Gara's mane until it went frizzy. "Yeah, we have to go do some paperwork and a million other things. Starlight wanted to see the edge, too. Know any good spots?"
"There's a reason we got this place, remember?" Joyce nodded toward the back door. "Take a look. It's a breathtaking view."
Following along, Starlight actually gasped when she left the house and saw there was an unguarded edge at the back of the garden that had empty air beyond it. Walking slowly, she stopped when her hoof touched the edge and looked.
Laid bare before them, Equestria was visible all the way from the Applewood mountains in the far distance, Ponyville below and to the left, and Cloudsdale up and to the right. Neither could see any of the big cities, but one thing stood out in Ponyville.
"Her castle is amazing," Starlight said.
"Yeah. You don't often get to appreciate the world like this. Well, if you can fly, I guess you can." The view was impressive, even if a tiny little bat-winged missile ran past them and jumped off.
Starlight jumped and was about to reach out and grab Garawang with her magic when she saw the filly spread her huge wings and soar up into the sky above them. She sighed and leaned sideways against Firelance. "I could do without the heart palpitations."
"She's been doing that since she was three. Joyce joked that she was flying around the maternity ward until a unicorn managed to coax her to land with a mango." No sooner had he said the word than Garawang dove and landed on his back. "I don't have any mangoes, Gara."
"Aww." Climbing down from Firelance's back, Garawang galloped back toward the house.
"Tell your mom and dad that we're heading out now," Firelance said, noting that he got a nod from the filly that he hoped meant she'd heard his request. "We could go up to the castle now if you want. I think Lyra is giving another talk up there today."
"Not unless you want to. I think I need to head home to Ponyville and see about making a few more friends." It wasn't her own idea, of course, but what Twilight had said. Who else, she mused, would know more about friend-making than the princess of friendship?
When the training was over, Celestia had a far healthier idea of what she had done wrong when Lyra had been coming for her in the throne room. Her careful planning had led to her being accepted by the Royal Guard at the end of training and smuggled back to the castle for the (great and) powerful illusion to be banished so she could collapse into bed for a week.
That didn't happen.
Instead, Celestia found herself burning with a newfound energy to improve one aspect of herself that she'd discovered to be deficient. "I failed to learn the spells, Luna."
"I warned Lyra you might, sister. You were never good at learning new magic—even if you are the most adept caster of what you do know." Listening to Lyra talk about the training, and now hearing her sister's account of it, Luna had started to consider submitting to it herself. "You know every spell there is and have studied them over—"
"Over a thousand years. Even those new ones Lyra's protege has been creating. I thought I had this." Looking at the tray of cakes before her, Celestia only took two for herself. "But these were simple spells! Whomever has heard of an alicorn needing to cast Carry-we Cloudwalking?"
"I bet Twilight learned it." Luna had to duck the cupcake that flew through the space where her head had been. She noticed that her sister caught the very same cupcake and brought it back to her plate. "You could have learned them before attending. The books Lyra has written are in your library."
"That's the worst part. I was so proud of her rampant publication—and I read those books—but I was blinded to my own need to learn the lessons in them." A cupcake helped lessen the hubris. The second one would help more. "I'm going to learn them now."
"Because your feelings are bent out of shape?" Luna asked.
"No. Well, yes, but seeing those ponies using such simple spells so effectively has made me want to learn more of them. I know the big and flashy magics, but Lyra didn't use anything big and flashy to break through my defenses and plant a pie in my face." The second cupcake did help. "Our guards have been trained to help them deal better with that sort of threat, and I'm halfway toward being better myself."
Luna, who was working through a stack of pancakes, gestured toward her sister with a fork. "Then study the book and have Lyra herself teach you. What purpose did this training serve?"
"It showed me what I should be. Also, running. I have never exactly relied on my earth pony side to carry my stamina, but I couldn't use it to the same extent there. They had ponies who could identify all forms of pony magic."
"You had to run?" Luna was grinning, the memory of the recruits running past her at a full gallop fresh in her memory. "Sister, you should banish them for such insolence!" Not quite quick enough this time, a chocolate cupcake impaled itself on Luna's horn. When it didn't immediately break off, she ignored it. "Honestly. Expecting their empress to be able to move out of her throne under her own power? What will they be doing next? Maybe they'll even realize all we do is sit up here in the castle and eat cupcakes all day!"
It was too much hyperbole for Celestia to withstand and she started to laugh. "Okay, okay! I'll admit, I let myself become rusty. I have thirty spells to make pretty lights and yet none that makes pretty lights so bright that they can dazzle a pony without blinding them. I didn't see any reason to learn that, but it would have stopped Lyra dead in her tracks."
"How would you stop it affecting yourself dead in your tracks too, though?"
"I could shield my eyes, but that wouldn't be a good idea. Help was coming and I only had to stop Lyra—even if it stopped me. Besides, shielding my face would have been the best way to signal to her that she needed to do the same." After reasoning her way through it, Celestia realized how a little training had adjusted her back to the more in-the-moment thinking of her youth.
Nodding, Luna chewed and swallowed her mouthful of pancake and sighed in contentment. "So you did learn something there?"
"Yes. I know I smuggled myself back to the castle as a Royal Guard, but I may have to join them in training." When she noticed Luna looking at her oddly, Celestia sighed. "You don't feel it too? There is something big coming. Maybe several somethings. The wheels of fate were insistent that I couldn't interfere in your return, in Discord's release, or Tirek's freedom. I have not felt that restriction on anything since."
Luna was about to ask how her sister would alter her plans, when a magic-borne magical snowflake of immense size floated down from the high vaulted ceiling of the throne room to hover over the table between them. Reacting first, she plucked it from the air with her magic and brought it close. "It seems Cadance and Shining have had their foal. It's an invitation to a crystalling. Isn't that an old crystal pony tradition?"
"It is. Cadance discussed it with me when she was last here. She's trying to make the world as familiar as possible for the crystal ponies and, with her foal on the way, she wanted to engage with them too. We have an important event to attend, it seems, and will need somepony to take care of things here. I'll give you two guesses." Grinning, Celestia caught the snowflake with her own magic when Luna was done with it.
"Two?"
"No."
Lyra Heartstrings snorted and poked Blue Blood in the side with her wing. "What? I thought you wanted more home duties, now you have a family of your own to worry about?"
"It's ridiculous. I've spent over a decade building this facade. Putting me in charge and not having me attempt to take as much power as I can would be completely compromising to my persona." He argued while he dressed, his outfit coming together as impeccably as ever.
"Exactly. And that's where I will come in. Right?" Lyra looked at Moon Dancer and raised an eyebrow.
"No. You don't. We let all these stupid factions fight each other for access to you, meanwhile you get to indulge in all manner of stupid behavior—as befits your persona—but accomplish nothing as we ensure that only the briefest of contact is made with your compatriots." The plan had taken them an hour of deliberating to put together. "Them" being Moon Dancer, Lyra Heartstrings, Minuette, and Twinkleshine. "Not only do we get to identify every single one of the worst detractors, but we get to hear their idiotic plans."
"I already know their idiotic plans. It's their serious ones—the ones they keep from me—that I am worried about." Swapping ties back and forth, Blue considered his options with only a thought toward the actual color coding of it. "If you can find those…" He decided the classic black bow tie would be best. "… then all this might be worth it."
"There's a bonus for you, too," Lyra said. She passed him the navy bow tie again. "And that is you get to do all sorts of stupidly Prince Blue Blood decrees rather than the ones they will want you to. They will be so maddened by it."
Blue paused and pondered both the situation and the tie. "Lyra, Moon, you've sold me on this idiocy." He plucked the blue bow tie from Lyra's magic with his own and tossed it back to the table. "But don't ever think either of you have better taste in clothing than I do."
Snorting at the put-down, Moon did absolutely terribly at hiding her resulting laughter.
"Oh, ha-ha. Look, my taste in clothes extends as far as steel and enchantments and no further. I thought the blue tie would suit you." She tried to get in a huff about it, but Blue put one huge foreleg around her withers and pulled her into a hug. "You can't appease me with a hug!"
"Like Tartarus I can't. I heard what you did to auntie. You'd literally do anything—even fight her—to accomplish what Equestria needs, wouldn't you?" He avoided ruffling Lyra's mane only because she'd already had over an hour spent on it by one of the maids.
"Ugh. Yes. You know I would. Celestia knows I would—or she'd have probably vaporized me before I got anywhere near her."
Squeezing Lyra, knowing he hadn't a hope of actually hurting her inside her ceremonial armor, Blue laughed. "And that's why I'll keep picking on you."
"Moon!" Lyra said, resisting Blue's attempt to rub his cheek against hers. "It's all off! Instead of making him ruler for a week, we're assassinating him."
Unable to help herself, Moon lifted her head from the paperwork floating before her and adjusted her glasses. "So back to plan A then?"
"Yup. Eliminate the ruler of Equestria, steal all the bits in the treasury, and escape to the dragon lands to a life of relaxation." Lyra booped Blue on the nose. "Unless a certain somepony lets me go this instant."
Still hugging her, Blue thought out loud, "So you're telling me I have to stop hugging and embarrassing the second most amazing mare in all Equestria? It's—"
"Are you still getting dressed?" Bread asked as she spotted her husband. "Put that unicorn down right now. You don't know where she's been."
Giggling, Lyra took a conspicuous step away when Blue let her go. "We were about to put our plan into effect. We're going to steal all the money in the treasury and run—"
"… away to the dragon lands. I know that one, Lyra." Bread, in the seclusion of the castle, didn't hesitate to nuzzle and kiss Blue. "I'll take half not to tip off the prince about it."
"Deal," Moon said, a moment before they all broke into a case of giggles.
Which is how Celestia and Luna found the quartet. "Nephew, you will take this seriously, I hope?" She looked at the three mares clustered around—at their almost-manic grins—and sighed. "Just make sure there's still a kingdom to return to."
"It's only one week. Tell them the final bit and let's go, sister." Luna was bored at how formal things in Equestria had gotten. All the pomp and ceremony did nothing for her.
Sighing, Celestia nodded to her sister. "Yes, yes. Nephew, if anything serious happens—"
"Stand behind Lyra and listen to whatever she says. You think I'd be so stupid as to let all this go to my head?" Blue asked, giving his adopted aunt a droll look. "I also have every civil advisor you possess to keep me abreast of any actual problems in that area. Now all I have to do is have a little fun, a lot of boredom, and play off the noble fools against each other."
"Perfect," Luna said. She winked at Blue, reached out a wing to make bodily contact with Celestia, and triggered her teleportation spell. The destination was her second favorite place in all of Canterlot. "Is our train ready?"
Phil nodded in assent. "The new royal express is steamed up and all your luggage has been loaded." When Luna came near, he didn't turn down the little nuzzle she gave his cheek. "Your Highness, there is room for you on the footplate."
Celestia hadn't seen her sister prance from hoof to hoof in place for quite some time. The display of affection was interesting to her too, but it was seeing her little sister excited for something in such a visceral way that had her heart lightening. "I'll be in our car."
Clearing his throat, Blue looked out across the gathered nobles in the throne room. He deployed a smile that was at once both dispassionate and fake—one of his best such if he had to admit it. "As all of you undoubtedly know, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Empress of the Crystal Empire and ruler of the Northern Wastes, has had her foal. She and Prince-Consort Shining Armor, Emperor of the Crystal Empire, have invited anypony who's anypony to the frigid northern area to celebrate the birth and crystalling of their daughter, Princess Flurry Heart, Heir Apparent of the Crystal Empire.
"Both my aunt, Princess Celestia, Co-Ruler of Equestria and Raiser of the Sun, and Princess Luna, Co-Ruler of Equestria and Bringer of Darkness, are attending with their guards. As such, I have requested the services of the E.U.P. Guard to provide a detail suitable to an important pony such as myself and they have lent me a pony they assure me is the best guard they have available." Blue waited for the self-deprecating humor to fly completely over the heads of his audience before continuing. "So, as is plain, I have control of all Equestria until further notice. I will hold court here daily. I will dispense my royal will as I see fit. And, I assure you, I will not be swayed in my pursuit of what is right."
It was a right pretty speech, and Blue was proud of it. It said nothing and implied everything. The only thing he wished was for it to have gone for another hour or two. He made a mental note to set homework for the foals in his aunty's school to each write a two thousand word essay on the ethics of leadership—for next time.
"Nice work. You want me to eject anypony who tries to get close to you now?" Lyra asked, sotto voce.
"Eject them where?" Blue asked, equally quiet, as he and Lyra walked up the dais stairs to the pair of thrones.
"I was thinking Baltimare. I wanted to test the range of my teleportation spells…"
It took everything Blue had to not laugh right away, though he loosed a chuckle as his mind imagined all the courtiers in the throne room appearing a few hundred pony-lengths above downtown Baltimare. "If I said to do it, would you?"
"Probably not. Most are too scrawny to properly use as test cases, and the rest would make us both feel bad. Here's your new seat, Your Royal Highness." Lyra turned and stood beside the chair, a not-at-all powerful spear held before her as if it was a true Royal Guard one, and waited for Blue to sit on Celestia's throne.
The first decree was already planned. Blue didn't need to think about it, but he did embellish a little. "My first decree is thus. The ruler will not give any further decrees unless there is ice cream provided to him. Chocolate and mint." He looked to Lyra. "Your preference?"
"Double chocolate with strawberry pieces."
"And double chocolate with strawberry pieces," Blue said. As the castle maid standing at the door rushed out to pass on the order, Blue noticed one of the courtiers step forward and open her mouth. "I simply can't listen to any business until my needs are met. Surely you wouldn't ask Aunt Celestia to hold court without having her breakfast first?"
No questions were taken and no pleas heard until Lyra and Blue both had ice cream. At last the first petitioner extracted themselves from the petty arguing going on around the room and cleared their throat. "Your most excellent Royal Highness, might I suggest a few little changes to the taxation system?"
"Of course." Blue smiled freely and ate some more ice cream while the mare spent the next hour explaining their tiny little adjustment to business taxation. He kept an eye on the other petitioners to discern how bad this particular change would be. Those that he knew were in cahoots with the mare were doing the worst job ever hiding their glee, while those that were her competition looked like they'd just been force-fed lemons. "Well, that sounds too much to handle in one day, so court is adjourned for the rest of the day while I explore it."
He made a big ceremony of walking down the dais, over to the side door, and into the private section of the castle. As soon as the door was closed behind Blue, Lyra turned to the assembled. "Please make your way out in an orderly manner. His Royal Highness will hold court again tomorrow."
The noble courtiers shuffled around a little, but with no further audience planned and with no one of standing to talk to, they made their way out. All but two, who closed the big double doors behind the last of them.
"If I didn't know he was a master of information gathering, diplomacy, and controlling ponies—I'd assume we just saw a greedy stallion ask for ice cream, then eat it while the second most powerful noble mare in the city tried to launch a direct attack on her political enemies, and then blow her off to take an afternoon of leisure," Jet Set said, letting the tiniest hint of a smile form on his lips.
"Second most powerful noble mare?" Upper Crust asked, her voice purring. "You are as eloquent as always, dear." She turned to look at Lyra with a wider smile. She had finally figured out Lyra Heartstrings, and the mare terrified and placated her in equal measure. Directness was usually the best way to handle her. "What's the game?"
"Thinning the herd," Lyra said. "Don't make any suggestions. Take the week off if you'd like. There will be no business conducted."
It was as straight forward an answer as Upper's question had been. "Now you have my curiosity. First you tell me you're dealing with some of my rivals, then you tell me not to bring popcorn?"
Laughing, Lyra shook her head. "You're both crazy and deserve each other. Now, go on a holiday or something."
"They'll get wise if this is your only ploy." Jet made his way over to his wife and kissed her cheek. "I believe we'll be sticking around for this one. At worst, it will be a laugh—at best, you can use us to get under their skin."
Tucking that information away, Lyra started to head toward the door that led to the kitchen. "Let yourselves out. If you plan to hang around for the week, attend tomorrow—otherwise don't show up." She left the throne room and sighed with relief once the door was closed. Blue was nowhere to be seen.
There was a place that had become the primary seat of all of Blue's meetings. He settled himself at the table and looked out over the rest of the kitchen. "That was a lot of fun." When a young chef set a tray of sandwiches before him, Blue looked at the stallion's face. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Si—"
Waiting to see if the newest chef in the kitchen would use an honorific, Blue was relieved when the chef instead spun around and raced back into the kitchen proper. "He'll learn eventually."
"Why do you do that to ponies?" Lyra asked as she sat down at the table. "You know he's spent a year now having all these crazy social rules drummed into his head on top of his cooking talent, and now you're adding to his stress."
"You know that's not the point, Lyra. I found true love in this kitchen—it is officially a place where anypony can talk to me. Even Gretchen learned to call me Blue. Of course, now she just calls me Hey, you, what are you doing in my kitchen? Scram! But she does it with appropriate poise." Being ordered around while in the head chef's domain was one of Blue's little pleasures in life. Here he was treated as exactly what he was, not who he was. "What did Jet and Upper want?"
"They wanted to know the game. Upper is working on a way to personally gain from it, Jet is genuinely interested in what we plan to do. Both will be amenable to playing parts if they are present tomorrow. I warned them both not to forward any business." Picking up one of the jam sandwiches, Lyra lamented that it wouldn't have any Vegemite in it.
"You think Moon and her goons would have roughed them up too much?"
"She'd tear their business apart. They have made a superb monopoly by aligning themselves with Luna's projects. To have that income disrupted would cripple them and leave the princess frowning at me. At us. I don't know about you, Blue, but I don't like to see Luna frown."
"Luna's frowns are of less consequence when they aren't aimed at myself, ponies I care about, or objects that would be a shame to have destroyed. Jet and Upper are good ponies. When they discovered Luna's love for anything that rolls on rails, they worked to secure ownership of Equestria's rail network. I doubt they would be as devastated by Moon's efforts as you think, but their concerns shrinking would mean they'd be less likely to indulge our princess of the night."
Laughing, Lyra reached a hoof up and poked Blue on the nose. "You went from not overly caring about her frowns, to big softie, in the same sentence. Way to show you're not twisted around her hoof."
"Whose hoof is my husband twisted around?" Slipping into the seat beside Blue, Bread Basket had to stretch to reach his cheek to kiss it.
Not content, Blue leaned down and tilted Bread's jaw perfectly so their lips could meet in a far more special-someponies kiss. Before he'd met her, Blue had been struggling to find a reason to keep up his charade that didn't include Celestia needs my help. Now he had an amazing partner in life who was a symbol of everything he wanted to preserve. When the kiss broke, he put his foreleg around her back and squeezed her against his side. "We were discussing what would happen if we upset Princess Luna."
"Don't do that," Bread said. It was a simple matter for her. "What are you up to?" Turning to glare at Lyra, she asked, "What are you getting my poor husband involved in?"
"Overthrowing the crown, taking power, becoming a champion of the ponies…" Rattling the list off, Lyra circled one hoof in the air slowly. "The usual stuff."
"We're tempting the less dedicated of the nobles by giving them a very real chance at having their champion take the throne. What was it you said it's called, Lyra?" Blue asked.
"Giving them just enough rope to tie themselves up." Lyra had long since adapted and learned the fine art of adjusting jokes to Equestrian sensibilities, though Monty Python ones she always adjusted a little less.
"Ah. Well, you two have fun with that. As emperor, or king, or whatever— Will we be able to have a formal wedding?" All of Bread's attention was on Blue.
"Most ponies only ever get one wedding." Keeping a grin plastered on his face, Blue kissed Bread, but only a little peck this time. "Maybe I will announce it."
"Celestia will have kittens if she finds out you did that," Lyra said. "But, Mum can help her with that. I say go for it. It would need to be held by the end of the week or she'll sweep it all up and call things off."
"I'm fine with that, so long as I get to walk beside this wonderful stallion in public."
Sometimes, a mare can't resist having fun. Upper Crust wandered into the throne room, smiling and nodding to the few E.U.P. Guard that were manning the doors, and saw Blue Blood sitting on his throne with what looked like an excited smile. She wasn't absolutely sure, though, because she'd never seen him with any expression except painfully bored.
"… he sent fifteen gallons of ice cream to my townhouse. How am I meant to deal with that?"
"Buy a bigger chiller?"
"Oh. Ha-ha. Very funny. I don't trust him anymore, but this opportunity is too great. We— Crust just walked in."
Gossip and backstabbing was normal for the three noble scions Upper heard. Even gossip about herself wasn't all that uncommon. She'd purchased and doubled down on all manner of things that had confused her rivals, and she'd done well out of them simply for listening to what the princesses' advisors had let slip. "Short Sell, Golden Knife, Peony, how simply delightful to see you here. I don't suppose our prince has upended anything important today?"
"He hasn't even started. Looks smug about something, though. Damn fool will be wanting more ice cream, I bet," Short Sell, a young stallion who had a cutie mark that was a coin broken into pieces, said.
"I tried to have an audience with him, but that damned guard is everywhere he goes. Worse, I think she can teleport." Peony hadn't been born into her title, like the others, she'd brown-nosed her way to the almost-top.
"Unicorn?" Upper asked. "Golden aura?" When she got a curt nod from the mare, she sighed. "I have some information on her, but let's not broadcast it for all and sundry." She hadn't forgotten the warning. She resolved to ask Lyra later what she should misinform the little gaggle with.
"Ahem." Blue cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter. "Is there any business anypony wishes to bring up?"
Looking around the assembly, Lyra discounted all the ponies she'd had words with—the elite of Canterlot that were trusted—but settled her gaze on Upper. Under her breath, Lyra muttered, "Don't do it, Upper. Play ball."
"I would like to inquire on the outcome of my fiscal reforms that I proposed." Short Sell was a master of dodging paying the crown its dues already, the reforms he wanted seemed sane and logical, but were designed to give him a way to avoid those dues completely. "I spent quite a bit of time on them, and—"
"Yes, yes. I forwarded them to whomever it was Auntie said I should, they said they're taking this as a sign that reforms are sought after and are forming a committee to redraft the entire code. But that's all boring stuff. I'm sure you'll be delighted with all the changes that will be made." He knew she wouldn't be. Reforming these laws had been something that had been put off by Celestia because she didn't want to rock the boat for the nobles—but with Short Sell being the one to speak the magic words, all manner of things could now be done and all credit given to him. "No doubt everypony will be happy with the results and, credit where it's due, we will have to call them the Short Sell Fiscal Reforms."
To anyone watching, especially Upper Crust, what Blue delivered was ostracism, bankruptcy, and a slap in the face with one little announcement. Upper now had an idea of the kind of ammunition that Lyra was using to back up her warning.
"Would anypony else like to put anything forward? I'm excited to get so much done this week without Auntie looking over my shoulder." Bait and hook. Blue looked around the room, but there were no takers. Time for the distraction. "Well, that's boring, but worry not. I have an announcement to make. Turning his head to look at the last mare to arrive, Blue climbed off the throne and started walking down the long stairs to the floor of the throne room, his eyes fixed on those of the approaching mare. "Lady Bread Basket, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
"Only if we can have the wedding before the weekend." Her whole body wanting to bounce, Bread managed to hold relatively still despite the script they'd put together. "We'll need somepony to officiate. A princess, captain of the Guard, or—"
Clearing her throat, Lyra stepped forward. "Captain Lyra Heartstrings, at your service. We may not have any princesses around, but the Guard is always happy to lend a hoof in these matters." When Bread and Blue started to kiss, Lyra moved on with the script. "If everypony would like to take their leave, I'll try to have them apart so you can have afternoon court."
The laughs were all socially acceptable, soft, and faded quicker than they'd come. It was also a sign that things were done for the morning. Upper turned with the others but walked slower than they did, finally reaching the doors last and stepping aside rather than taking them out of the throne room. She counted slowly to twenty and turned, fixing Lyra with a single raised eyebrow.
"I warned you. This will be a massacre," Lyra said.
"Yes, well, I hadn't expected it to be quite so fierce. I have learned, over the last several years, to listen to your counsel. So, you said there would be a part in this for me. Whom do I get to skewer?" Peripherally, Upper noticed that Blue and Bread had become lost to an encore of the original kiss. "I don't think I've ever told royalty to get a room before."
Lyra smirked and teleported in a folder, passed it to Upper, and nodded toward the ubiquitous side door. "Technically, this is his room. Come on, Princess Luna won't mind if we use her audience chamber."
"I doubt that, but stranger things are ahoof here." Luna's audience chamber wasn't unknown to Upper. With her efforts to become the single owner of all Equestria's rail network had meant she was often called to private meetings with Luna. Once they were both in, seated, and a maid had brought them cakes and tea, she'd finally had enough of waiting. "So, apart from this"—she flourished the script—"what am I going to do here? Is there a project the princess wants me to accomplish?"
"Nothing you're not already doing. You seem gifted in the art of finding out her heart's desire and delivering it to her on a platter; a platter with your name on it in bold writing so she knows who brought her the shiny thing, but a platter nonetheless. This whole side deal is to thin out those whose alignment is not with Equestria's good." Lyra had learned speeches from the best and worst. From sergeants in the E.U.P. Guard to Celestia herself, she'd studied how language could deliver information and spent almost as much time trying to not use it. "So I propose its opposite. You wish to make the princesses' jobs easier while building an empire, let's do that. What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Do you want a title? Maybe give you all the bits in the treasury to coddle and care for?"
"Stop that. You can't promise those things, nopony short of a princ—" And with that Upper Crust froze. She stared at Lyra and the stretched-out wings on her back. "If this is a joke…" When Celestia and Luna didn't jump out of a stray cushion cover, she decided that it probably wasn't a joke. "This isn't announced yet, which means this is recent. Nopony can keep this a secret."
"And yet we have. I don't actually plan to become a princess, so keep any bowing and scraping to yourself, but I wanted to make sure you knew enough about the future to roll you neatly into our plans. I trust you, Upper, because you are a rare pony. I've met many who want what's best for Equestria as a concept, but you truly want to see this country continue forever, as a paradise, don't you?"
"My father brought me up in the old-fashioned ways. Chivalry, princesses, and all that. I was born with the proverbial silver spoon in my mouth, but that stallion made sure I knew what was important. Oh, I might be a little cutthroat about it, and some ponies might dislike my business practices, but I don't do business to Equestria's detriment." The elephant in the room was growing, though, and so Upper finally asked, "I am allowed some questions about—this?"
"Alicorn of backups, that's me. It's a bunch of metaphysical stuff involving the sources of all magic that ponies use, the wellsprings of them, and making sure that there will be magic forever." Every day Lyra felt more comfortable with the role and with the magic both. She was making good inroads on chaos magic, though that was on a slight pause for a few weeks, and Luna had helped her practice holding the more commonly used magic sources. "Anything else before we restructure your business concerns?"
"My what?" The statement broke the spell of Lyra's wings. Upper stared at the mare and asked, "What exactly do you plan?"
"Your contemporaries seem to believe you are being favored by the crown unjustly. What would they see as the biggest punishment possible, that is also a reward?"
Upper rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Oh, I don't know, put me in charge of the treasury."
"Okay."
Two days was all it had taken for Upper Crust's life to be turned upside down. She'd been comfortable. She'd been rich. She had the ear of alicorns (one more than she'd realized). What she had now, though, was work.
It'd been a joke of a thing to say, but she was sure that Lyra would have angled the conversation to the treasury position anyway. It had turned out that the head of the treasury was retiring. She had been played and stitched up—and when she'd sat down and gotten her head around her new position, she could finally see its scope and reach.
Given the payment system Equestria used, bits flowed out and came back in constantly. There was a sea of money in the country, and now Upper Crust had to tame it. She had given the department a whole week of calm. Things would continue as they always had for seven days.
"I thought there'd be a uniform," Upper said.
"It's a little late to change your mind and join the Guard, but you could become a reservist if you are willing to do the—" Lyra let Upper's glare cut her off better than words could have. "You have a meeting today."
Lowering her offended eyebrow back into place, Upper said, "I am still working through the operations documents. Tell them to come back in a week." When Lyra didn't look crestfallen, Upper narrowed her eyes. "If you want me to use my not inconsiderable talents to improve this department, then you're going to have to let me get a sense of it. Whatever this is, can wa—"
"It's Moon Dancer and your own head of finances. They wish to start drafting the new taxation reforms."
Upper thought about it. "Okay. I'll see them. This isn't something I specifically have to write myself, but I won't let a single drop of ink leave this place that I haven't verified myself."
"That's why I put your name forward for the job. I trust you, Upper. Crazy, right?"
"Yes to the crazy, not to trusting me. Alright, send them in, but I don't want to see you for a month." Upper made a shooing motion with her hoof. Her new office was large at least, spacious and had a huge desk. "Except for the wedding."
Nodding, Lyra walked to the door and waved to Upper with one wing. "I'll see you around." She tucked it back into her armor before leaving the room. With the door closed behind her, Lyra left the treasury building and headed to Guard headquarters.
She passed the guards at the gate with a casual salute and a few supportive words, then headed to Stiff Peaks' office. The smells coming from within had her attention as she slipped into the large kitchen—being spicy and fragrant. She knew the recipe. "Something smells good," she said.
"Several of those recipes you gave me have become exceedingly popular among the Guard." Stiff was stirring a huge pot filled with a bubbling yellow curry. "The next commanders' meeting will include a vote as to which will be going into standard rations."
"That'll make Scoots happy, I bet. So, ready for your holiday?"
Stiff stopped stirring and closed his eyes. "Can you say that word again?"
"Holiday?"
Breathing out slowly, Stiff nodded. "That's the good stuff right there. I love every part of my job, but I have needed some time away from this place for more years than I can count. The first entire day I'm not going to get out of bed. Not once. I'll lay there, nibbling on whatever rations I can reach, and I won't even run."
"Liar." Levitating a kitchen spoon over, she took a small sample of the butter-based curry and let out a whine. "More dried chili and it needs—"
"It needs another half hour of simmering. I know. We divide the batch ten minutes before it's done, spice one all the way to an inferno and leave the other like this. Not everypony likes it spicy." Deploying his cloth, Stiff shooed Lyra back from his curry. "And I'll be adding halved eggs to it five minutes before it comes off the heat."
"Okay, okay." Lyra laughed as she backed up. "I shouldn't have questioned a pony whose special talent is cooking."
"That's right, and don't you forget it." Poking her with the handle of a spoon, Stiff asked, "I thought you were busy at the castle all week?"
"I am. Today I am doing the most vital work—keeping away and letting the sharks take the bait." Looking around, she spotted a crate of apples. "Do you need these cut up?"
"Yes, please, drop them in some water. Sharks, huh?"
"I've been by Blue's side all week. Nopony has gotten to slip little lies in his ears, and being away today is their big chance. Today will do more to uncover ongoing threats in the courtiers than anything else we've done for a year." Fetching a big tub, Lyra started it filling with water while she plucked the first apple off the top. "Any particular way you want them cut?"
"Eighths. I want to make some apple pies, and got those delivered from Ponyville earlier today. Nothing better than fresh apples for hungry appetites. As for your politicking…" Turning his head, Stiff gave Lyra his best stern stare. "I thought I trained you better than that?"
A little focus and Lyra constructed several tiny spells. One to pick up, one to cut, and one to toss the eighths into the tub of water. Powering each, since they were constant effects, wouldn't drain her in a noticeable way. "If you want to keep that dream alive, Stiff, you never want to take a position working with an alicorn."
"Thanks for the tip. Not something I ever planned, though." He stopped and watched for a moment as Lyra set up two more lines of spells. "Remind me again why I never kept you on as my sous chef?"
"Because I would never live up to your exacting standards." Catching him watching her, Lyra asked, "Anything else you want prepared?"
There were always plenty of jobs going in a big kitchen, and Lyra was content to buckle down and work when Stiff started throwing things to her to do. Other ponies came in, permanent staff who worked in the kitchens each night. Lyra had been on the line often enough that she knew her place and how to work with the team.
What helped her relax into her work was that Guard rank meant nothing in the kitchen. Stiff and his sous chef ordered her around and she did what they asked, all the while keeping up a patter of conversation. When all the food was cooked, she left the kitchen with Stiff to sit among the new corporals.
Sans Scootaloo, who had already decided exactly what she wanted to do with her Guard career, the ponies gathered were enjoying their meal while Lyra and Stiff got to talk. "You need a bigger mess. Barracks too, I'm guessing?" Lyra asked.
"Tell me about it. This is just the recruits who are unsure where they want to go. We had to feed the main group in two shifts." With a bowl of curry before them each, Stiff was more relaxed after some time in the kitchen. "Trying to secure the funding hasn't been easy. The latest news was that the royal treasury's head had retired and no one there had the authority to sign off on anything, so no new funding was possible— Why are you smiling?"
Dunking some roti in her curry, Lyra scooped some of the delicious sauce and vegetables up with it. "Mmmmm no reason. I promise I'll have funding approval by the time you return."
"What's your angle? What will this cost me?"
"This curry is great. Your adaptation to allow lower heat doesn't hurt the spicy version much at all." Filling in some silence with eating, Lyra sighed as Stiff's glare hadn't changed. "Nothing. It costs you nothing. Part of all this politicking that you claim not to like was organizing the perfect mare to be in position to take over at the treasury. She's going to have a week to get acquainted, and then she'll be accepting new business."
"How do you do this?"
"What?"
"This!" Stiff gestured at Lyra with a hoof. "You happened to have arranged for a new treasury head and then come in here and it happens that we need new funding but haven't been able to get it because the treasury was in caretaker?"
Tapping her chin absently, Lyra shrugged. "I didn't try to make them retire, if that's what you're asking. That the Guard is seeing an uptick in recruitment isn't directly my fault. So, yeah, just a happy coincidence."
"I give up. If you're playing some kind of game, I don't care anymore. Get me the funding for those buildings and I will never ask about it again." Disgruntled with not finding out the answer, Stiff turned his full attention to his food. When he missed Lyra's next words, he had to look up and ask, "What was that?"
"I asked if you want to lead a detail at the wedding tomorrow?"
"Right. I heard something about a wedding at the castle. With all three princesses gone, whose wedding would be important enough to have at the castle?" Watching as some of the recruits looked like they'd bitten into a raw chili, Stiff shook his head at their antics.
"Prince Blue Blood is marrying Lady Bread Basket. It's been in the works for a long time, but the princess was holding it up for the right moment. You know how such things are." The blank look back told Lyra he didn't, but she had no intentions of stopping now. "And, with her out of the country for the week and Blue in charge, he said it would be so."
"It's all deals and costs up there in the castle, isn't it? Well, I can have my sergeants polish their armor and bring a squad of recruits each. We can have an afternoon contest to see who gets to attend." Then a wonderful, terrible idea hit Stiff. "You're not needed at the castle for the rest of the day?"
Lyra hadn't survived as a sergeant for several years, and been promoted from the rank, to not smell extra duties when it was coming. Of course, being who she was, she beamed. "What have you got for me?"
"Something you'll enjoy. The entire remaining recruits against you. Each pony that manages to score a touch gets to pick another to join them in the detail. That will promote teamwork. You'll do it, of course, because otherwise I could never figure out who to send. Am I doing this right? This is how things work up at the castle?"
"You're just lucky I don't outrank you," Lyra said.
"Ha!" Holding a piece of roti in his hoof, Stiff jabbed it in Lyra's direction. "You'd have to grow wings for that."
Fate, Lyra knew, had a way of setting up jokes. For all the headaches becoming an alicorn was giving her, there were moments where she could have fun with it. "My path of destiny might be complex, Stiff, but I sure hope it doesn't put my cutie marks on a seat that important."
Standing up, Stiff looked out over the ponies present. "For many of you, tomorrow will be your last day with us. It will be a memorable day for some, made more so thanks to an invitation by Captain Lyra Heartstrings. She's in charge of providing a detail at the castle for a royal wedding tomorrow.
"There are too many of you, so I have proposed a challenge. The first of you to touch the captain will be able to attend with one other of their choice. You have until you're done in the mess to prepare." He looked down at Lyra. "Captain, I'd suggest you eat fast."
In response, Lyra threw up a barrier spell. Containing herself, her dinner, and Stiff, she started to eat faster.
"That won't hold them forever."
Gulping down the last of the delicious curry, Lyra laughed. "I know. They should be starting to figure out they can teleport through it any second now, but I don't waste good food somepony has cooked for me." She grabbed up a piece of roti and scooped up the last of the curry from the bowl she'd been eating from and, just as she popped it in her mouth and planned her first teleport, a unicorn mare teleported in and poked her. She gave a wink and vanished from the bubble moments before more teleportees arrived.
Outside the mess hall, Lyra appeared and set off at a slow trot. Her first target was the nearest combat field. Stiff had wanted her to play a game, but she wanted to make there be a way to win.
"There she is!"
The shout had come from behind her, and it made Lyra smile as she stepped onto the soft grass. Inhaling the chill and crisp air, she reached the center of the platform as the first ponies reached the edge of it. "Four of you will get to touch me here, then I'm going to do some running." She evaded the first pegasi who'd thought to surprise her from behind with an emergency teleport to behind them. "Then four more of you will touch me."
She was teleporting rapidly now, blinking around in a random pattern—a truly random pattern. It wasn't hard to make use of chaos magic because it wanted to be used. She pomfed in and out so fast that it wasn't until four earth ponies cornered her that she finally halted and let each touch her.
Darkness wrapped around Lyra like cozy snuggles on a new-moon-night. She watched the astonished stares of the four earth ponies as she poured so much magic into the darkness spell that she simply outpaced their ability to ground her. Then she ran.
With the smoke of darkness flowing off her, once she was a suitable distance away, Lyra heard the thunder of hooves and not a few teleports as her pursuers took up the chase again.
The teleports always came up short because Lyra was expending ridiculous amounts of magic deflecting their approaches. She could have simply grounded their advances, but she didn't want to show off alicorn traits—or put ponies in the hospital.
Eventually a pegasus realized this was an unwinnable foot race and took to the sky. It had been so easy to fly up and prod Lyra that they'd broken into laughter and landed.
When three more had caught up to her, Lyra figured it was time for unicorns to do their thing again. She started using reactive teleports, sending the pegasi still trying to catch her behind the pack of earth ponies and unicorns—and stopped repelling the various teleports that the unicorns were trying. When one appeared beside her, and touched her shoulder, she gave them a nod. "Out of juice now, right?"
Nodding, the unicorn still had a big grin.
"Well, time to call this quits when two more make it. That should do as an honor guard." Looking at the unicorn, Lyra asked, "Can you keep up this pace?" When they nodded, Lyra took that as a sign she needed to pick up the pace. If anypony asked, she wouldn't admit to feeling her wings tingle as she drove herself into a faster gallop.
She let two more unicorns build up their magic enough to teleport to her before again parrying their teleport spells.
As she rounded the outer ring of the city and passed by the entrance to the castle, Lyra winked up at the E.U.P. Guards at the main entrance. The rest of her run was without getting touched until, right at the end, a unicorn parted the ground at her feet and reached up to prod her forehoof as she entered the front gate. It came as such a surprise that Lyra broke into a laugh. "Okay, that's enough. I didn't need another pair, but pick whomever you want and bring them. You'll get special duty."
Flashing Smile, the unicorn in question, had to wiggle and squirm to get the rest of himself out of the hole he'd made.
"And you!" Lyra returned the lazy salute of the gate guards. "Why didn't you warn me? You had to have seen him digging."
"Sir, of course we saw him, sir." Dawdle stared ahead, ignoring the fact a captain was right beside him. He was on guard duty, after all. "And we absolutely did not laugh as he dug in, or when you approached, and you'll note we're not laughing now, sir!"
"But you will the moment I'm out of earshot." Rolling her eyes, Lyra pondered playing a prank on them, but decided against it. Heading back toward a grinning Stiff Peaks, she decided that on top of the regular honor guard, they'd definitely need two more ponies to stand with her to protect Blue. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Corporal Flashing Smile, sir."
"You don't need to sir me. Do you know a cleaning spell? You're still covered in dirt." When the stallion shook his head, Lyra obliged and removed the dirt from him. "I hope you've been polishing your armor, because you're going to be front and center tomorrow."
It was hard not to ask a question with sir at the start of it. Flashing was from a family of guardponies who were themselves offspring of guardponies. Having a captain beside him made him more nervous than the time he'd stuffed half a bee hive in his cousin's suitcase. "Special duty?"
"Have you ever been an honor guard for a prince before?" Lyra asked.
Flashing's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No!"
"In the Guard, you'll get asked to do a lot of things you haven't done before. Sometimes you'll have to come up with solutions that nopony has thought of before—like burying yourself underground and ambushing a target when they least expect it. How'd you come up with that?"
"I've heard about you from my sister. She told me that you are a better unicorn than anypony else in the Guard or not. I figured trying to fight you wouldn't work, and you'd see any tricks coming, so I had to come at you from a direction you couldn't." Trotting at Lyra's side, Flashing let loose with his namesake. "It worked."
"That's the best mindset for any member of the Guard. Knowing what to do and when to take a risk. Have you decided what branch of the Guard you'll be going into?" Always ready to move on a hint of destiny, Lyra didn't doubt for a second that Flashing Smile would have an important role at some point. Everyone did, she mused, but harmony kept steering the important ones her way.
"Not yet. The sergeants said I will have to make a choice soon, or roll a dice."
"Let's go through them; see what you think. Royal Guard?" Lyra asked.
"I'd get bored standing still all day, even if there are times when action is needed. I don't think—"
"Royal Dragoons?"
"They interest me more than the Royal Guard. I don't think I have what it takes to fill an aggressive combat role, though." When Lyra raised an eyebrow at him, Flashing shrugged. "I want to protect ponies."
"But not wait around for them to need protecting?"
"Yeah."
"So Police is out too. Monster Hunters is more proactive, but that is still fairly combat focused unless you're a pegasi and can fill in as a scout. The Wonderbolts are out, unless you're hiding wings under that armor. What about Research and Acquisitions?"
"Ugh. Logistics?" The look Lyra gave him froze Flashing in his paces. "They aren't logistics?"
"Research and Acquisitions is the newes—second newest branch of the Guard. They research and locate dangerous artifacts and magics, and secure them so there are fewer Alicorn Amulets and Inspiration Manifestations around." When Flashing looked at her with a raised eyebrow, Lyra had to remind herself that knowledge of these events wasn't widespread. "Alicorn Amulet gives the unicorn that wears it alicorn-like powers of magic, but it makes the unicorn want to use it more and more. Same for Inspiration Manifestation, though that encouraged the user to think of outlandish things that it would make into reality. Both nasty and mind-affecting, and both now locked away where nopony will find them."
"Huh. So proactive protection?"
"Mostly. Hopefully. If everything goes well, they find the artifacts before anypony unwittingly—or wittingly—gets their hooves on them and into deep water. If not, they call in the professionals to assist in cleanup." Leading the way back to the training field, Lyra closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I happen to know the commander of that branch."
Walking over to the training field, Sergeant Long Shift of the Royal Guard, on loan to the training regiment, felt curiosity boil inside at the sight of Flashing Smile talking with Lyra Heartstrings. "Trying to steal one of my best recruits for the Friendship Guard?"
"Do you think I'd have a chance? He seems a little too active for the laid-back life we live." Lyra waited for the laugh from Long before going on. "He wants to protect ponies, but doesn't want to wait for them to need protecting, and isn't looking for front line fighting."
"Yeah, that's what I got from him too." Then it hit Long that the pair were alone here. "Where're the rest of the recruits?"
"I goaded them to chase me. Put on a show of it. Some managed to catch me." She nodded at Flashing. "He waited for us all to leave, buried himself under the ground beside the front gate, and tapped me as I was walking back through it. The rest are coming."
Looking around Lyra at his training sergeant, Flashing asked, "What's Research and Acquisitions, sir?"
"Ah! I should have known. What did she tell you about them?" Long gave Lyra a sideways look before turning his full attention to Flashing.
"What duties are there within that branch?"
"The captain here will know more than I do, but I have their basic info. Research department, field duties, public relations, and couriers."
"Don't forget," Lyra said, "the extensive surveillance arm. If a town in Equestria has more than fifty ponies in it, there's an agent for R&A."
Long laughed at what seemed like an obvious lie. "So, they have several departments that might match up to your tastes."
The rest of the recruits, looking perky and talking as they approached, stepped up to the training field and muffled their conversations. Lyra was pleased that they all looked at her with a little more respect than at the beginning of the chase.
Long tensed his vocal cords and then began, in full sergeant voice, "This is, as you probably know, Captain Lyra Heartstrings. She is the commander of the Royal Friendship Guard, but is on loan to be Prince Blue Blood's personal guard captain. Tomorrow she will be escorting those of you who managed to catch her to the castle, which means I want all your armor shined up and in perfect condition by nightfall.
"She also wrote the book, absolutely literally, on modern guard tactics for unicorns, so those of you with horns would do well to absorb everything you've seen her do today and attempt to emulate it." Ignoring the choking noises, Long went on. "You'll get a chance to see first hoof what the duties of an honor guard entails. The rest of you will be undertaking a training day and preparing a detailed analysis of what tactics you could have used to catch the captain sooner.
"Now, each of you are to report to your respective training sergeants for your afternoon session."
As the earth ponies and pegasi filed off, and the few unicorns clustered around Long, Lyra let out a sigh. "Well, I guess I need to go plan the final details of a wedding. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"And miss being the only Royal Guard in the castle?" Long asked.
"Nope." Lyra smirked her greatest smirk at Blue. "Not since you were so insistent about how terrible my opinion is." His look of panic, though, broke her resolve. "Blue, you look amazing. Bread is already head over hooves in love with you—you have nothing to prove to her. It's the nobles out there you're here for, right?"
"What? You know I don't care about them. Not even the ones that passed your tests. I'm here and I want to be here for Bread." He knew she was ribbing him and distracting him, but today he couldn't stop himself from playing into her games. "Sweetie's ready?"
"Oh, of course she's not. She managed to become a captain and form her own branch of the E.U.P. despite being disorganized and unable to be anywhere on time." When Lyra spotted some of the tension in Blue's neck ease, she knew she'd hit a mark. "Loosen up, there's only one mare in there you need to worry about."
The struggle not to laugh finally ended and Blue smiled, then chuckled, and finally let out a good guffaw.
Flashing had known Lyra was the commander of a royal guard branch and he also knew she'd been put in control of the castle's safety while the princesses were away—but the relaxed and common way she spoke to a prince was hard to ignore. In the half a day between learning what Research and Acquisitions does, he'd researched the branch and gotten more of its history than seemed to be public knowledge.
While they weren't exactly secretive, Flashing had been forced to go looking for every scrap of information about them. It had been formed by Captains Sweetie Drops and Lyra Heartstrings, though Lyra had been a sergeant at the time. Some of the most interesting information had come talking to the older guards, though.
In a word, Flashing had been fascinated to learn that Research and Acquisitions had quickly become a key part of Equestria's defense against potential disasters. They often operated in supervisory roles for other branches, directing them to the best use of their skills for solving specific problems. He found himself liking it more and more with each new piece of the puzzle he put together.
That's when Flashing realized Lyra was looking at him expectantly. "Uh, sir?"
Blue laughed. "Lyra, where'd you find him? Is he a new recruit?"
Lyra shot Blue a pointed glance that made him immediately step back a pace.
"Sorry. Sometimes it's easy to forget you have so much contact with the recruits. Are the entire guard here today recruits?" Blue asked.
"No. You have Sweetie," Lyra said, getting her own droll look in reply. "Hey, I'd bet on her against any other guardpony in armor." She took a deeper breath. "But, there's also Sergeant Long Shift of the Royal Guard as Bread Basket's guard."
Recognizing relief on Blue Blood's face, Flashing couldn't stop himself from asking, "You have enemies here?"
Blue laughed. "I just assisted in the largest scale political and fiscal attacks on a group of nobles in the history of Equestria. They might have deserved everything that was coming to them, but their grandfoals will remember what I did this week."
A knock at the door cut through the conversation. "We're ready if you are!"
"We're coming!" Lyra called back, then looked at Blue. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah. Yeah I am."
The walk up the aisle felt like a triumph to Blue Blood. Shortly, in the eyes of everyone, he and Bread would be joined. When they reached the dais and Sweetie Drops was standing behind a little lectern, he knew he was almost done.
Lyra steered Blue and Flashing to one side, giving Sweetie a big grin as she did.
Blue was anxious. He started worrying about all the things that could have gone wrong that would mean Bread wouldn't show up. He'd never practiced one of the more advanced teleport spells before, but he was trying to remember the math involved when the doors opened.
Everyone in the room who wasn't looking directly at the door, turned to look at the mare framed by the light in the doorway. Wearing a long, flowing white dress, Bread Basket had her mane up in a way that had it pour back down like a waterfall. She looked up at Blue, and everyone in the room could see the love boiling in the air between them like a heat-haze.
At Bread's side, Long managed the barest flick of his eye toward the recruit opposite her, and they started walking forward. As if in a daze, Bread moved too due to the wonder of peer pressure.
Blue was unable to look away from his wife. The vision of her here, in the midst of the wedding they'd both been promised, made him want to sing. He didn't only because she looked like she'd break into song too if he did—and that might get embarrassing.
Waiting patiently for Bread to take her place, Sweetie began. "Fillies and gentlecolts, we are gathered here to witness today a royal wedding between Prince Blue Blood of Canterlot and Lady Bread Basket of Canterlot.
"Lady Bread Basket, do you take Prince Blue Blood as your husband?"
Her heart thumping like a drum, Bread nodded—then remembered she had to say it out loud. "I take Blue as mine."
It was off script, but Sweetie didn't care, and she was sure no one else did. "Prince Blue Blood, do you take Lady Bread Basket as your wife?"
"In a heartbeat." Blue realized he hadn't said it properly, but neither Bread nor Sweetie seemed to care.
Sweetie Drops felt the light of pure joy washing from the couple and was glad she could say, "Then I pronounce you stallion and—"
The doors at the end of the hall opened again. Striding through them, Celestia could pick up on what was going on. She looked at Blue—tried to give him her best we'll talk later glare—but he ignored her. He gazed into Bread's eyes. While she could have interrupted, she doubted that would ingratiate herself with anyone present. Instead, she took a seat.
Resigning herself to baking a cake, since it would mean she could spend time with Lyra doing so, Sweetie cleared her throat. "I pronounce you stallion and mare." Neither of them required any encouragement to kiss.
The applause, in the form of hoof stomping, was thunderous. Lyra and Long nodded to each other and turned as one. "Come on," Lyra said, "time to make your escape. We have to get you past Celestia before she blasts a hole in the hall."
"Do you have a plan?" Long asked.
"Well, since we're all unicorns, I don't have to worry about one of you grounding me out, so express trip to Blue's apartment in three, two, one…" Lyra didn't try to scoop up Sweetie too, lest her wife be using that earth pony specific power. They appeared together in the bottom floor of the tower that Blue already shared with Bread. "Sorry for the short notice, but I need to get back and start planning a cake."
Long Shift was trying not to laugh when Lyra reached out a hoof and booped him on the nose. The teleport spell was clean, despite passingthrough some of the more powerful magic wards in the country. He let out a soft sigh of appreciation as they both appeared in the entranceway of the hall the wedding had been held in. "Sometimes, when you hear about a pony who is exceptional at something, you have to wonder how much of the opinion is misinformed." Long shook his head.
"Oh, there is one lie that circulates about me. I can't play the violin. Guitar and even bass are fine, but violins are right out. There is a nice mare in Ponyville who plays an amazing cello." Lyra slipped in through the doors and watched as ponies were milling around and talking. Sweetie was doing her best to keep Celestia busy, or so it seemed, but when Lyra appeared Celestia changed targets. "Your Royal Highness."
"At least tell me it was his idea?" Celestia asked. Sweetie had already said it, but she wanted to hear it again.
"No, actually. Blue is compromised. He was mind-controlled by a mare demanding that they have a public wedding while there was a chance." Lyra shrugged her shoulders. "You gave me specific situations when it would be fine to override Blue's orders, Your Highness, and this wasn't one of them."
"You are technically correct. Very well, I want a chocolate mud cake." There was only one pony Celestia preferred to get apology cakes from, but with Stiff Peaks going on leave, she wasn't likely to get anything from him anytime soon. "At least two layers."
Bowing their heads, Lyra and Sweetie smirked to each other once they were at an angle Celestia couldn't see. "Your Royal Highness' word is law, of course," Sweetie said.
"Except when that devious nephew of mine is sitting on the throne?" Celestia spared them any wrath with a smile and chuckle. "I put him there; I should have seen this coming. Please tell me you found somepony to run the treasury?"
"The best. She's already taking things well in hoof." Lyra didn't explain further until Celestia looked on the verge of doing something Lyra would regret. "Upper Crust. I talked Upper Crust into the position. She made a lot of noise about strong-arming and leaving her no other way, but she is as happy as a pig in—"
Celestia couldn't help herself; she giggled. "Lyra Heartstrings, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were studying to take my job."
When the terrifying shock wore off, Lyra waved her hoof at Celestia. "Maybe in a thousand years."
"If that's what it takes, I'll try to hold onto the job a little longer." Reaching out a hoof to Lyra, Celestia brushed her cheek. "You don't have to make me a cake. It's not really—"
Lyra laughed. "No. We're making you a cake. It might not be an apology cake, though, but a thank-you cake."
"I see you're willing to talk about this more, now." Celestia nodded to Lyra's back.
A sideways glance revealed to Lyra that Flashing had kept up with them quite well and was doing his best to appear like he wasn't listening-in. "You know how I treat harmony and destiny, the problem this time was the pony who didn't want to accept the inevitable was me. Dad was right; I'm more stubborn than your average chaos god."
All of them paused and looked around, waiting. When Discord didn't show up, Lyra giggled. "I can do a reasonable impression of him, though I tend to fall flat with some of my jokes." Chaos magic loved nothing more than to make jokes, which is probably why Lyra had taken to it so well. A moment after saying so, she fell to the ground, completely deflated and flat.
Flashing was struggling to keep an even demeanor. He knew he was meant to observe and only act if his attached commander acts, but the familiarity and proximity of royalty was taking its toll. Having said commander deflate like a particularly cursed balloon was a step too far. "S-Sir?"
Reappearing back as her normal self, Lyra said, "Relax, Corporal."
"You should know," Sweetie said, "that my wife commits to her puns with devastating magic." Noticing Lyra looking at her funny, Sweetie raised an eyebrow at her.
Lyra smirked and gestured to the two ponies in sequence. "I should introduce you two, I guess. Captain Sweetie Drops, this is Corporal Flashing Smile. He was interested in joining Research and Acquisitions." The astonished look on Flashing's face was worth it. "But you'll all have to excuse me now, I need to bake a cake."
"I believe I'll join you. Spare your plus-one, I'm sure he and the captain here have some things to discuss." Celestia left the group with Lyra, glad she could slip away from a situation that, while it had caught her by surprise, held no ire from her.
Lyra knew all the secret ways to get around the castle, and led the way to the one that took them to the kitchen. "So, what's up?" she asked when they were out of the more public hallway.
"Flurry Heart, Shining and Cadance's foal, is an alicorn." Celestia was blunt. She had long-since learned that Lyra didn't need soft coercing and gentle direction. The look of surprise on Lyra's face told her Lyra knew that was significant. "There hasn't been an alicorn born for over a thousand years. Something big is coming, but more than that there is something bigger still on the distant horizon."
"You let me read through all the restricted sections, remember? The last alicorns born were you and Luna." Celestia's raised eyebrow told Lyra there was more. "Another?"
"Several. It was a momentous time. Not all took up the mantle of immortality, though. Whether it was fate or just harmony hedging its bets, only three alicorns from that period became immortal."
"There's a third?"
"Yes, but you will never have to worry about them. Now, I want the best teacher possible for Flurry. In my time, we had Star Swirl the Bearded. He was a fine teacher, if a little hard to please. He had notions about— Again, that doesn't matter. When she is of age to learn magic, will you teach her?" Celestia asked.
Lyra stopped in the hall and, after a moment, broke into laughter.
Stopping as well, Celestia waited for her companion to laugh herself out, then asked, "Well?"
"Like you had to ask. Like Cadance would have to ask. Are you forgetting I've helped train three of the four alicorns now ruling in some capacity. I'd ask to train Cadance, too, but I think Shining would have words about that. So, yes. Now, are you going to bake like that?"
"It's my castle, so yes."
"You'll have chefs bumping into you constantly. Oh, how are the new spells going?" Now it was Celestia's turn to freeze, to which Lyra could only smirk and ask, "Anything in particular you're having trouble with?"
Celestia could have tried to maintain her superior demeanor, but Lyra had proved she didn't believe in such a thing. "That third blast spell. I can't get the patterning right for it. I think it's too similar to an old spell that I use to extinguish fires."
"Okay, so show me the spell you're confusing it with," Lyra said, mentally switching gears to her teacher-self.
The paperwork was something Lyra wasn't prepared for. She looked at the pile in the In-Box and narrowed her eyes at it. "How many of you does Stiff ignore, I wonder? Let's see."
By the tenth report on a recruit who was fitting into their new role with one of the Guard branches she was starting to get used to what were definitely reports not written by the commanders of those branches.
Sorting spells weren't the easiest, but it was something that spending time around Twilight had taught her. Constructing it to identify the reports and push them to their own stack reduced the In-Box of Doom by almost a third.
Then she realized something and grabbed at the removed stack until she found one from Sweetie. It wasn't Sweetie's writing style, yet it was signed by her. Putting that into a third pile, she went back to the doom.
"Requests for recruits? These are weeks, months… and this one is a year old." Squinting at them, Lyra realized that each branch of the Guard seemed to use different paper. "I can sort these by texture."
Another huge slab was removed from the doom, leaving it far less doom—though now Lyra had more piles. She riffle-shuffled the requests together and set those aside for perusal. "Now, what do we have left?"
Reports from the training sergeants. Lyra read through those, taking particular note of the unicorn ones and what they said about the current techniques. She was, in her mind, barely getting into the meat of it when a knock announced a visitor. "Come in."
"Sir—I mean, ma'am. You asked for an hour's warning before—" Off his game from the get-go, Honey Glaze froze as he stared at the sorted stacks of paperwork. "You're tackling the in-box?"
Snorting in laughter at the incredulous tone, Lyra stood up from her seat and set down the paperwork she'd been reading. "Cleaning up, I gather, was something Stiff let other ponies do in his kitchen and his office, I take it?" she asked, nodding for the pegasus to proceed her out of the office.
"I wouldn't say that about him. He—" Honey slumped his wings a little and had to ruffle them to hide the motion. "Commander Stiff Peaks has a lot of duties he's responsible for."
"Good defense there, but unneeded. I know this is probably the hardest command of all the Guard, and that's why I wanted to give him some time off, but Stiff isn't the kind of pony to spend two hours reading through the reports written by staff sergeants from other branches, signed under their commanders' names, before tackling the important details." Lyra saw the blush in the stallion's cheeks at having what was probably the collective of every staff sergeant's secret.
"What gave it away?"
"One of those, I noticed, was signed by my wife, Captain Sweetie Drops. She is an amazing pony, and a brilliant organizer, but my dear love has never used an em dash in her life." Using her magic to teleport the offending evidence to Honey, Lyra led the way out of the building. "Now, let's go see what the mess is cooking up for lunch."
"You're not going to storm in and take control?" Honey asked, grateful for the change in topic.
"I am not Stiff Peaks. Sorry if I'll take a little getting used to, but I am not going to step on any hooves. Do you have a request pending for the treasury to approve any new purchases?" Lyra asked.
"I don't bother anymore. Until they get things under control with the new manager, nothing is going to get approved." Honey followed Lyra into the kitchen as a silence fell over everyone present.
"At ease. Anypony would think this is my first time in this kitchen." Lyra looked around the brigade and located Stiff's sous chef. "Please, tell me if you have some plans for lunch? I know there won't be many of us there, but I welcome all input."
The surprise turned to a grin. "Normally you're Stiff's commis, though. We normally take our lead from him."
"Well, for the duration of his time away, I want to see what you can bring to the table. You've been working under one of the most talented chefs I know—what have you learned?" Lyra pointed around to the brigade one at a time. "Pick somepony each day. Have them come up with the menu." The looks of pure panic fed Lyra's chaotic side. "But, if you want to start off easy, a nice curry would be good. Make it about… twice as hot as anything Stiff asked you to make."
Only when they were outside again did Honey let out his breath. "You're not just giving things a shake up, you're turning everything here upside down."
"How long have you worked here, Honey?" Lyra asked.
"I was a desk clerk for four years, then this last one I've been Stiff's staff sergeant."
Lyra was curious about the stallion now. She looked him over and, though he didn't seem to be in peak fighting fitness, he certainly wasn't out of shape. "And before that?"
"I worked two years as an accountant in Los Pegasus after I finished school. I didn't like the way that was heading—I wasn't as useful as I could be—so I decided to sign up and do the same work for a better cause. That led to my training and three years at a desk for Commander Spitfire. Stiff needed another clerk and the position involved less yelling, so I came down from the clouds."
"I've heard she has a pair of lungs that display her high altitude training quite well." The smile Lyra noticed on Honey's mouth, that only lasted a moment, told her she was getting somewhere with him. "Where to from here?"
"Huh?" The monosyllable slipped out before Honey could stop it.
"Are you content with working at this level for the rest of your career?" Lyra asked.
Narrowing his eyes, Honey was immediately on his guard. "Are you trying to promote me, ma'am?"
"I've been known to, but it's not what I'm getting at. Recently I have been reminded that life continues even outside the Guard. It's a strange concept, and I'm still trying to get my head around it, but I wondered if you might have your sights on anything?"
"Honestly, no. This is my life. I keep this section of the Guard running efficiently."
It made Lyra smile. "I'm glad to hear that. The Guard needs good ponies to keep the gears moving. If you don't mind me asking, your special talent…?"
"Cooking, of course. The commander tries to drag me into the mess every chance he gets. It's become a bit of a game, not that I haven't let him win once or twice. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy cooking, but I also enjoy having a Guard branch that functions efficiently." Honey Glaze hadn't realized it, but Lyra had led him to the training field. "What are we doing out here?"
"You were a sergeant in the Wonderbolts and I need somepony with experience using flight magic. Naturally, I could have gone to Cloudsdale to ask them myself, but that would have been a little obvious. I also needed a pony who was loyal to the guard and unlikely to talk—and given how well the staff sergeants have been keeping that little paperwork thing going, I believe I can trust you to keep quiet on this. So, can you teach me?" By the time Lyra finished speaking, they'd reached the practice field.
Tilting his head to the side a little, Honey asked, "Teach a unicorn how to use pegasi magic?"
"Whaat?" Lyra rolled her eyes and laughed. "Of course not. You can't teach a unicorn how to use pegasi magic." She broke the comedy bit and looked right at Honey. "I'm asking you to teach me pegasi magic."
"Ma'am, I am now confused and a little worried for a superior's mental health—which means I am definitely still in the E.U.P. Guard. Okay, so I'm teaching first steps?" he asked, and got a nod. "Then I would instruct the young filly to spread her wings for… me…"
It took Honey a few moments to collect his thoughts, but when he did he said, "Oh," his tone flat.
"It's complicated. So, what comes after stretching out my wings?" Lyra asked.
"Moving along then, as if this was completely normal. Okay! Close your eyes and feel the wind with your feathers. The way it moves, the way your feathers move it—every twitch and shift."
Doing as instructed, Lyra couldn't feel it at first, but as her attention focused on them, she started to feel all those vanes delivering minute information to her. She slowly nodded.
"Okay. That's the start of it. I want you to do this every day for as long as you can. At least a half hour. Each time you are to turn and face into the wind, feel how the direction changes the twitching of your feathers."
It was on the tip of Lyra's tongue to ask what this had to do with magic, but after all the time she'd spent learning and teaching unicorn magic, she knew that not everything would be obvious nor a good idea to explain. "Is there anything in particular I should be focusing toward?"
"Being able to feel the wind even while you're walking. This is the part where I'd tell a foal to walk around with their wings spread as much as they can—but somehow I think that might not be something you can do."
"If I told you it would be as easy as wearing a hat, and that if I hadn't been talking about being a unicorn and a pegasus you wouldn't have noticed—would you believe me?" Lyra kept her wings out. The wind blowing across Canterlot's magical plateau felt nice in her feathers. She also tried to keep focusing on the sensations that wind caused.
Honey had to sigh and admit, "I would believe you, but only because I haven't been able to get a fix on when you're joking or not. Are ponies really that blind to the obvious?"
"It's not that they can't see the extra limbs, but they build an image of a pony based on the first and most prevalent body part that's visible. If I walked around with a hat hiding my horn and my wings on display, a lot of ponies wouldn't recognize me as me because they'd see the wings first." When Honey nodded and turned to walk around her, Lyra felt the air on her wings change. It surprised her at first, but after the initial shock wore off, she found herself paying a lot of attention to her feathers.
"You can feel it?" It was a good sign for a pegasus to feel the movement of things around them in the air on their first try. Honey wasn't impressed, just surprised. "Good. Keep working on that every day. Can you answer why it is important that you can feel the air like this even when distracted?"
"I have new respect for my daughter's flying ability," Lyra said. "But I can assume this is so it becomes second nature when flying?"
"Earned your captaincy with brains, huh? On the money. This needs to become a habit. Once you are used to feeling the air around your wings constantly, then we'll throw you moving those things into the mix. Then, when you can feel me walking around you while you slowly flap, we'll talk about using magic." The truth was, while Honey hadn't specifically been a training sergeant, these were things every pegasus who joined the Wonderbolts in any capacity would know about. "Come over to the edge and feel the breeze."
Walking over, sensing the edge of the platform with her feathers through the turbulence it made, Lyra stopped when the uninterrupted breeze reached her at last. "Wow. That feels like—like if I can listen enough, I can feel all of Equestria with my feathers."
"Pegasi of old, it's written, could see beyond the horizon with the breeze on their feathers. We are the best scouts of the E.U.P. Guard for a reason, and it's not just flight and speed."
"Thank you. I promise I'll do this every day, and will come back and see you when I can walk, flap, and talk—while still feeling things around me." The skeptical look Honey Glaze laid upon her made Lyra laugh. "You don't trust me?"
"Not as far as I could throw you, ma'am, and from what I have heard, you are not an easy mare to throw." The relaxed conversation surprised Honey a little. In the past, it had taken far longer to square away a relationship with a commanding officer into easy banter. "Lunch now?"
"Yup! I want to see if they could add the heat without compromising on flavor. It all comes down to what chili they use to spice it up. A good dried chili, ground to dust, can be an amazing thing." Lyra tucked her wings away into her armor and walked alongside Honey.
"If things work as you say, you should leave them out. The air on them—even when folded—will help with your spatial awareness."
"I guess I should, then, but I'll need to adjust my armor for that. This was built so that when I close them, they fold away into the armor. Also, and you've probably spotted me doing this several times already, you'll have a pegasus sign up for Guard training with the next major intake." She gave him a wink.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Honey's face dropped. "Those discrepancies were your work?"
Annoyed with herself for leaving any breadcrumbs to follow, Lyra asked, "What did I forget to do?"
"Simple, you had the non-existent ponies get assigned to various branches, and while the actual paperwork matched—you didn't send the fake notification of integration. We were all confused about that, but there was no way to report it to higher ups, since that would give away our game."
It was an impactful statement for Lyra. The staff sergeants' little game of message-passing via paperwork, that harmed no one, had found what could have been a major problem—but they hadn't been able to report it without implicating themselves. "In this one instance, it was unimportant, but next time let somepony know, okay? I don't care if you're using unread reports to send messages around the country—there is still the changeling threat and likely others we're not expecting."
Ducking his head, Honey let out a sigh. "It started as a way to chat, despite being stuck in different parts of the world. Did you notice the cipher we use?" When Lyra shook her head, he continued. "Then we started using it to send reports on less-than-great Guardponies. Problems got cleaned up before they started thanks to our little—"
"You need a more reliable way to communicate, so let's do that. If this has helped the Guard, then it needs to grow and mature." Lyra led the way into the mess where some of the staff were already seated, eating, and/or chatting. Everyone stopped as she entered. "As you were."
Taking his seat beside Lyra, Honey watched as she took out a notepad and pencil and scrawled down priority communications for senior sergeants on a page. "Just like that?"
"Exactly like that. Or don't you think these wings count for anything?" Lyra was about to ask what types of information they'd need to move when the sous chef brought out two bowls. "Ah! I've been looking forward to this."
"One at the staff sergeant's normal heat, and one that burned up three wooden spoons during cooking."
Lyra laughed. "Perfect. Thank you." She sniffed, closing her eyes to savor the curry. It smelled hot enough that her eyes threatened to water. "Make out a list of what you want your special communications to be limited to, and then we'll put a proposal in and get it approved."
Honey watched a symphony of expressions play out over Lyra's face in the following seconds. Anticipation, surprise, delight, shock, panic, and finally pure joy. "I should sell tickets…"
"Wow, that's good. Plenty of kick and I can still pick out all the spices used. They know their stuff in there." Digging into the curry, Lyra gave Honey another glance. "Anything else I can do for you?"
It wasn't that Honey's work relationship with Stiff Peaks had been bad, he'd just never heard his commander ask him if he needed anything. "I'll put together a list."
The week had been good. Each day Lyra had spent trying to improve the efficiency of the training regiment one pony at a time. The staff sergeant was the first, then she'd seen each of the training sergeants.
"What's this?" she asked when Honey Glaze brought in an official notice.
His eyes locked on Lyra, but slid to her back where a pair of wings were clearly visible. "It is marked as being from Stiff Peaks, ma'am. Nice adjustments on your armor."
Looking over her shoulder, Lyra was still apprehensive about removing the hiding pockets. "Thanks." As she opened the letter, she tried to remember that so far Honey was the only pony to have noticed. "He wants another week. Well, that's easy enough. So long as he's back in time for the next training uptake."
"Would you like me to draft a formal reply?" No sooner had Honey asked than Lyra lifted out her typewriter. "The new communications protocol is working much better. We've been discussing ways to avoid the previous issue. All senior officers who have any kind of veto power on rules and regulations will be required to provide a passphrase unique to them. If they cannot do that, we will know something is very wrong."
"You know the passphrases, though, so doesn't that make the staff sergeants a weak link?" Lyra asked.
"No—to both. We only know how to decipher the passphrase. The officers can make new ones, but if they don't decode correctly, we'll know where the bad source is." He waited for her to make the next prod at his system, but when she didn't he sighed. "There are two ciphers. Each officer has two, and their phrase has to pass both. It's not hard to make one, or so I'm told. See, there's only five ponies who know both ciphers, and they've each provided us with a series of passphrases. Here's yours."
Picking up the slip of paper, Lyra examined it. "This is a whole sentence." She got a nod. "Well, you'll know best, but I'm going to have a pony try to break your system, okay?"
It didn't come as a surprise to Honey to hear that; not now he was getting a grip on Lyra's thinking. "Thank you. We'll be looking forward to it."
"Now, how goes applications? Anypony interesting?" For Lyra, interesting covered a lot of ground.
"More older guardponies wanting a refresher. Plus Princess Luna's school is letting out another group of graduates. We always get a surplus when that happens." Every time Honey Glaze mentioned alicorns or princesses, he couldn't stop himself glancing at Lyra's back, and this time she caught him doing it. "Sorry, ma'am."
"Do you want to go for a quick patrol?"
The question caught Honey up short. "Ma'am?"
"Of the city. Come on, let's go and see the sights. We could even go and stare at actual princesses if you'd like?" Setting her paperwork aside, Lyra made a quick note to reply to Stiff's letter upon her return and ruffled her wings—not entirely for Honey's benefit.
Honey could have feigned work, but without anything to actually do, he had no excuse than to follow his commander. Outside, he watched as Lyra flicked out her wings and gave them a good flap or two. "Ma'am, I wouldn't recommend flying in armor yet."
"Hadn't planned to, but my teacher tells me I should let my feathers feel the air as much as I can, so when they feel a little settled, well, I give them a fluffing." She repeated the process, smirking for all she was worth. "And, you know, I could walk around Canterlot all day and not a single civilian would notice I have wings and a horn."
"Five bits says you're wrong."
"I'll take that. Okay, let's go get a feel for the city. Did you hear about what happened up north?" Walking to the front gate, Lyra nodded to the two duty guards.
"That something involving the prince and princess' daughter, and that she was fine now. That's about it. We don't have a staff sergeant part of our network up there." With the griffon out of the bag, as it were, Honey had given up keeping that secret from Lyra. "There was more?"
"Cadance's foal is an alicorn. She shattered the Crystal Heart, but they had a spellcasting expert that helped cook them up some magic to repair it. Imagine a unicorn foal with all the usual magic outbursts, only with the vast reserves and burst power of an alicorn." Reaching up and tapping her horn, Lyra remembered back to her own magic mishaps when she first got her horn working. "There are, from what I've heard, holes clear through the castle that they're patching up as quick as they are made."
Laughing, Honey shook his head. "Better there than here. Okay, this is starting to get weird. Why doesn't anypony notice?"
"There are multiple research papers about it, all written by either Twilight or myself, studying this phenomenon. Don't worry, your name will be left out of the latest one."
"I remember a long time ago, maybe last week, when I was sure everything you said was made up on the spot. You sounded crazy." Honey tilted his head back and looked up at the bright sunny day. "But now I must be crazy too, because you make too much sense."
Thinking for a moment, Lyra laughed. "Good. Always thinking inside the box will lead to repeated mistakes that never get fixed. Flexible, smart ponies like yourself are essential to the Guard. Actually… When was your last holiday?"
"Nope. Sorry, Commander, you're not getting me with that one. I had a four week break eighteen months ago. The joy of not being in a command position is that I can step out any time I need to." Seeing bat ponies in Canterlot wasn't too uncommon anymore, but for Honey to see two adults and a foal was a surprise. He only realized that Lyra had stopped and was looking at him with a big grin when he almost bumped into a wall.
Winking at Honey, Lyra turned her attention to the bat ponies. "Hey, Mum, Dad, Gara!"
"Sis!" Garawang Mango poured on the speed and raced directly at Lyra with her legs pumping and wings reaching forward to grab hold the moment they were close enough. "Oooh! Cool wings!"
As soon as the words were out of her sister's mouth, Lyra knew she'd lost the bet. Shrugging, she helped Garawang onto her back. "Yeah, don't say it too loud or all the unicorns will want 'em. Out for a walk?" The last she asked of her mother, who was a little slower than Garawang in reaching Lyra and hugging her, though with no less enthusiasm.
"Lyra! I heard you were romping around in Canterlot this week. Where have you been hiding?" Her eyes straying to the uncovered wings, Joyce nonetheless squeezed her daughter for everything she could.
"I took over the Guard training regiment so its commander could have some time off. You know how these ponies get who are set in their rut, they'll never leave unless they know they can get another who won't screw up." Sitting down, Lyra wrapped her forelegs back around Joyce to return the hug. "Oh, this is Honey Glaze, Honey, this is Joyce, Tufts, and Gara Mango. My mum, dad, and littlest sister."
"She takes after me!" Tufts said, letting out a little screech of laughter.
"It's, uh, nice to meet you all." At a complete loss for what else to say, Honey hoped it wasn't obvious he was in such a state.
"Tufts is my dad, but my biology got messed with by magic, so I'm a unicorn. It's a long story, but trust me, they're family. I also have a sister back in Batstralia." Lyra wished she hadn't dropped Honey in the deep end, but it would give her something to laugh about later when paying him five bits. "Err, alicorn I guess, now."
"Are you always like this?" Honey asked Lyra. Her answering grin shook his conceptualization of Equestria and everyone's place in it to the core. "How?"
Laughing at the interaction with a little screech, Tufts put his wing over Lyra's back. "I am cursed to ever be eclipsed by the women in my family. Not that I mind—a bat's ego needs a little deflating from time to time." Giving Lyra a squeeze, Tufts let out a happy screech at getting a wing-hug back.
"The trick is to take life as it comes and always leave a place in a nicer state than when you arrived. The latest situation threw me a little, but I finally figured out that it's a far smaller change than the last one I had." Letting go of Tufts, Lyra flicked her wings and settled them back at her sides. "Be the change you want to be, and if you can't, get loud and find someone who can."
The logic was wild, but Honey could almost see it working. "It can't be that simple. When has it ever been that simple?"
"Well, I was asked to find a new candidate for the head of the treasury. I did, got them installed, and called on a favor to get her to look at the Guard's long standing projects as soon as she could. That was, technically, solving a whole mess of problems with a small task." At the look of shock Honey had, Lyra asked, "Didn't I tell you about that already?"
"It must have slipped your mind. So I should resubmit—?"
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure Upper Crust has a small army of her new minions working through the backlog." Getting a look from Tufts and her mother, Lyra raised an eyebrow. "We were just taking a walk around—anything we can help with?"
The relief Tufts felt at hearing those words shifted a huge weight from his back. "It's the school holidays, and Gara has been asking about everything. Would you be able to…?"
"Hrmm, that's a tough one. Sergeant, what business do we have for the rest of the day?" Lyra asked.
"Commander, you did all the paperwork for several months both forward and backward in the last several days. We have a meeting at the castle later tonight, but I believe the afternoon has a schedule of showing a prospective recruit around the city." Having grown up in a large family, Honey knew when parents needed time off, and he wasn't going to lock Lyra down with something when it was obvious they were both bored.
"Excellent. Well, here we have a potential recruit." Lyra set Gara down and saluted her. The return was sloppy, but she wasn't going to critique her sister on that before she'd even reached ten years old. "I'm surprised there aren't any bat ponies in the Guard."
Joyce laughed. "And here I thought you had your finger on the pulse of politics. Technically, bat ponies are foreign nationals. While we're allowed to participate in society on an individual basis, things are still awkward at a larger scale. Inviting a foreign army into your ranks is always going to be an issue, but worse is the training requirements." As she got to the end, Joyce realized her mistake. "And now you're going to plan out training specifications for bat ponies?"
"No. Well, yes. There are other aspects to this. Equestria has a population of griffons who were born, raised, and lived their whole lives here. Why aren't they allowed in the Guard? Dragons, too?"
Honey felt like a small rowboat facing off with a tsunami. There was a mountain of work coming, he just knew it. "Ma'am, it's lucky you have another week to work on this."
Manic energy filled Lyra. She started dancing in place with an urge to move. "Come on, we have to think about this, and I do my best thinking at a gallop!"
"It's been nice meeting you, Honey Glaze," Joyce said. "Please don't let my daughter get too carried away. Despite what she might say, she does need sleep."
"I'll try. She's not easy to keep up with." Honey could already see the mare in question bunching her muscles, ready to take off at a run.
Laughing, Joyce gestured to Honey's side. "Use your wings, assuming she hasn't learned how to fly with her own, yet. We'd best be off. Thank you again for helping take care of Gara."
Left standing there with the two bats rushing off in one direction and Lyra starting to gallop in the other, Honey closed his eyes and looked up into the sky with a smile on his face. "I don't remember signing up for this." Spreading his wings, he drew magic into himself and out, shooting into the sky effortlessly. It wasn't long before he spotted Lyra and Garawang.
More in tune with the world around her, thanks to her meditation with her pegasi magic, Lyra was able to jink to the side before Honey crashed to the ground beside her. "Nice catch up!"
It was a test. Honey was nimble enough to have dodged Lyra at the last second anyway, but now he knew she'd been paying attention to her feathers. "Good reaction time. Can you run, though?" He poured on the speed and started to stretch out into the faster "pegasus gallop" that his tribe was known for.
Not for the first time in her life was Lyra challenged. She didn't have a great grasp on what her pegasi magic felt like yet, but even so she felt like she was on the verge of pushing into that faster gallop almost constantly. On her back, Garawang used her wings to pull herself closer to Lyra's ears.
"Open your wings a little. I can feel your magic there," Garawang said.
It surprised Lyra, but she figured it wouldn't hurt. Carefully spreading the tips of her wings out a little to catch the airstream, a shiver ran through her as that new kind of magic rushed up her spine and through her head, then out into her body. "Wo—"
She never got the last part of her exclamation out. When her pegasi magic reached her legs, Lyra strode through that barrier and into a faster gait that she'd never used before.
When Lyra caught up to his side, Honey let out a whoop of excitement. "Figured it out?"
"Nope! Gara did!" Lyra joined in with Honey's shout, her body feeling light as the air she was running through. "This is amazing!"
"Just wait until you actually fly!"
"I can already fly!" Lyra turned her head to look back at Gara, keeping one eye on the road before her. "Hold tight! Alley—OOP!"
Honey knew about Lyra's expertise with fast and precise teleportation, he had done a little reading on her background, so seeing her vanish wasn't a surprise. The air telling him that there was a falling pony some few hundred ponylengths above him, however, was. "What are you—?"
When she reached a point only a little above the road, she did an in-place teleport that simply redirected her momentum at an acute angle back upward. When she looked down, she saw Honey pumping his wings to catch her.
It was ludicrous to see. He'd not heard about this trick, but seeing her adjusting her momentum with teleportation was quite the sight for him. As she reached the apogee of her ballistic arc, he drew up beside her. "You're crazy!"
"Yes!" Lyra laughed, which had Garawang on her back laughing too. "Can you imagine how much—" The wind of her descent dragged her words away, so Lyra adjusted another teleport to skip her upward again. "… better it will be when I can do this and use my wings?" she shouted.
Tucking his wings, Honey left Lyra and Garawang to their impromptu flight while he glided back over the city, his thoughts his only companion. The last week had opened his eyes to weird new ways to do things. He knew some avenues weren't open to him, but he certainly planned to get a unicorn assistant who could learn the sorting spells Lyra had used.
Making sure to angle himself over the gatehouse of the Guard area, he sketched a salute to the guards on duty and aimed not for the office, but the practice field.
When his hooves touched the ground, some small measure of Honey's magic faded. It was always so with pegasi. Born to fly, destined to spend most of their time within a ponylength of the ground—except for those that lived their whole lives in Cloudsdale.
Lyra had seen pegasi doing their "dances" before. Complex routines of attack and defense designed to flow and give the pony's reflexes an extra edge. The motions were elegant, even if she could picture him wearing claws and armor and using the same motions to stab and slash.
Scootaloo had been training this way for some time, and recently Lyra knew her "little filly" had even made a new one, specifically with the motions to deflect and curve spells in it.
"What's he doing?" Garawang asked, her eyes drinking-in the smooth movements Honey made with curiosity bubbling behind them.
"A very special dance. Sit here and watch." Having observed Scootaloo many times, and recently spent time deep in training documents for earth ponies and pegasi, Lyra let Garawang down from her back and circled around Honey to stand opposite him. When the dance reached a major point, she stepped in to provide the duet.
Honey was surprised when Lyra started performing the training dance. Her form was terrible, but she kept time well enough that he could work around any mistakes she made. The two of them flowed and moved together, wings reaching out to adjust their positions and strike as well. When the dance reached its conclusion, he had to take a step back from her. "You need to work on your hoof placement and if I see you move your wings like that again, I'll ground you for a year. Not bad for a newbie, though."
"Thanks. I guess I'll have to get somepony to train me to do these properly, even if the more complex ones will have to wait until I can fly."
"Lyra!" Running up to her big sister, Garawang jumped and landed halfway up her shoulder before using her wings to pull herself up and on top. "You were dancing! Can I learn to dance like that?"
Honey thought about it, but shook his head. "Like that? Well, those dance moves might not work for such a clever filly. We'd have to get somepony to invent new ones just for you!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I wonder if I could get Bluebelle to help?" Doing his best to ignore Lyra's manic grin, Honey asked, "Do you know any other bat ponies? I think Princess Luna has some guards that might be able to help if we asked them."
Lyra saw it. There was a glimmer in Honey's eyes that made her absolutely sure harmony and chaos had combined to show him a path to take. "We have a meeting in the castle tonight, remember? If you can get a proposal together, I can make sure we have the right ponies around to ask for help."
"Right. Yes. It's not like I could order one of the princesses' guards around." Waving his hoof dismissively, Honey froze. "You know them, don't you?"
"With luck Phil will be on duty. If not, maybe Sharp Fang or Fire Blossom." As she spoke, Lyra drank up the look of disbelief that Honey gave her. "It'd be best if we could find Dream Thunder, but I doubt she'd be in Equestria."
"How do you know so many ponies?" The words spilled out before Honey could stop them. In theory he knew she'd likely been up to a lot of things to become a captain and an alicorn, but to see her rattle off names that he had no reason to believe weren't bat ponies was a new shock.
"Well, the various guards for Luna I have met while helping them hunt down a monster from Batstralia. Dream Thunder is a foalhood friend of mine, and probably more powerful magically than anypony in Batstralia, including Princess Screech—but don't tell her I said that."
"Don't tell…?" It took Honey a moment to calm down. "You are infuriating."
"As for all the others, I move around jobs a lot. It isn't so much that I seek out to know everyone, but this last week I've added one more to my list of friends." With a reassuring smile, Lyra winked at Honey. "But, since we have another week, what else can I do to make this part of the Guard run smoother? Or, if you'd rather, your job easier."
"We still have that research on training non-ponies. Isn't there a town of griffons living somewhere south of here?" As soon as he'd said it, Honey knew this was a mistake. "You've been there."
"Nope! Haven't seen the place."
Narrowing his eyes, Honey looked over at Garawang, who was being rather quiet. "Is she part griffon?" When a giggling Garawang shook her head, he sighed with relief. "So what is your connection?"
"Would you believe I'm good friends with the mayor?" Lyra asked. "His name's Gavin."
"Of course it is. I shouldn't be surprised—No! I won't be surprised anymore. Humor me, though, how did you meet him?" Picking up Garawang, Honey slung the filly onto his back while they walked toward the office building.
"About a year ago there was a Grand Equestria Pony Summit. Twilight wanted to make sure the griffon town, Den, got a chance to not be encumbered by the hungry metropolises and nobles, so she asked me to chaperon Gavin around. I found him some not horrible ponies to help him get some trade moving, while Princess Luna herself took charge of building out the rail network to link Den up with the rest of Equestria."
"Ugh. Politics. How can you stand all that?" Honey opened the door for Lyra, letting his commander (even temporarily) precede him.
"The trick is they're still people. Take Upper Crust, she's the mare now in charge of the treasury. She made a killing of a profit selling Den's goods. It turns out that the right customers will buy anything handmade. Toss in them using griffon fur and feathers, and she was marking up goods nearly triple."
"That sounds horrible. Why didn't she pay them more for them?" Settling at his desk, Honey lifted Garawang around to sit on a chair beside him. Across the desk, Lyra got her own seat.
"She used the profits to invest more and more in the Equestrian rail system, doubling down her investments with her partner until they owned it all. Directing more effort toward linking small, growing cities became a big focus. Den's products helped get it that rail link, and helped other areas get one as well."
"You trusted her to do that?"
"It was a test, of sorts. But then, isn't everything you do in life—the actions you show others—a test?" Seeing her chance, Lyra reached out and booped Garawang on the nose. "What about you, cadet. Are you willing to pass the test?"
Eyes widening, Garawang stood as straight as she could and snapped a wing up and saluted. "Yes, Sis!"
"That's captain sis, Gara." Lyra was doing her best not to giggle at the filly using the wrong wing to salute. "Okay. Your first mission is to figure out where Stiff Peaks hides his candy. I know it's in his desk in there somewhere, but I'll be darned if I can find it."
Honey made room for a screeching missile to pass him and launch herself into Lyra's office. "Stiff keeps candy in there?"
"If he does, he's better at hiding it than I am at finding it. I am not Stiff, though. Third drawer down on the left side I have some of my wife's hoof-made candies. I'll gladly sacrifice some to make sure Gara has a reward.
"So, griffons, bat ponies, dragons if they want to. Can you think of any others we will need to address before they start showing up on our doorstep?" Lyra produced her notepad and pencil, then marked down the species she'd listed already.
"Diamond dogs. I know there are a few clans of them living in Equestria, but they never sign up for anything. How would we get the word out that we're recruiting these extra species?"
"Start with Gavin and Den's griffons. I think he said there were some dragons there too. I'll pay them a visit and see what I can drum up." The sound of excited screeching in her office tipped Lyra off that Garawang had found the candy. "Recruit! Report!"
"Aunt Sweetie's candies found in the—in the bottom drawer! I am dealing with them!" At least, that's what Garawang tried to say, but it was a little hard with one of the larger candies in her mouth.
"Good work, recruit. I'm glad you found all the poisoned candies." At the shocked stare from her sister, Lyra held out her hoof and took them from the filly's shaking wing. Quickly putting one in her own mouth, she grinned at Garawang and offered one to Honey too.
"You liar! You said they were poisoned!" Uncaring of the volume or pitch of her voice, Garawang batted at Lyra with her wings over and over until Lyra countered, tickling her back until her screeches of laughter became too much and she devolved into snorting giggles.
Giggling too, Lyra picked Garawang up with her magic and set her on a seat. "How'd you know they were Sweetie's candy?"
"Be-because she put a note with them!" Reaching for the box, Garawang pulled a slip of paper from the side of it. "She really, really likes you!"
Looking at the letter, Lyra couldn't help but get the warm fuzzies. "Yeah. I don't know how I got so lucky, either. She's one of the best things that ever happened to me." Booping Garawang on the nose, Lyra added, "Another is having an awesome little sister."
Watching the two interact, Honey was again struck by how different the two looked, yet were obviously deeply linked as family. He tried a candy from the little box, and almost melted into his seat at how good it was. He knew of Sweetie Drops by reputation and seeing her training recruits—he knew her cutie mark was literally candy. It didn't stop the delicious flavor from making him zone out for a bit in gastronomical joy.
By the time Honey could focus on something other than the sweet, he could see Lyra and Garawang were playing some kind of game that involved tapping out rhythms with their hooves and wings. It reminded him of Lyra's cutie mark being one in music, which was less common than food for the Guard.
"We have an hour until the meeting, right?" Lyra asked Honey.
"Huh? Oh." Looking up at the clock on the wall, and checking his itinerary, Honey nodded. "We do. You wanted to see some other guards there, right?"
"Some bat pony guards, yes. You get to come with us to the castle, Gara." Lyra stood and stretched, not surprised in the least when her sister mimicked her.
Garawang's eyes widened and she started to bounce on her hooves. "I get to see Aunt Celestia?"
Hearing her sister use that title for Celestia was like having harmony itself poke her in the ribs with an elbow. "Yup, but first we have other ponies to talk to."
It wasn't like Garawang hadn't been to the castle before, but she didn't get to go too regularly, and definitely not with her big sister. Even though her dad didn't let her go roaming all over Canterlot on her own, it didn't mean that Garawang hadn't slipped away from time to time for adventure. She knew what streets led where, how to get around without being spotted from above, and even how to duck over the side of the edge and hide under Canterlot—not that she needed to do any of those things with her big sister taking her to the most cool place in the city. So, prancing at her sister's side, Garawang didn't pay any attention at all to the cool alleyways and hidden places she knew were just off the main street.
Lyra hadn't missed her sister's ears looking like they were swiveling all over the place. Excitable was a vast understatement for young bat ponies, but then she had to take into account that even old bat ponies seemed to always be stuck in a higher gear than anyone else. Walking up the entrance to the castle grounds, she noticed her sister was even more excited still. "Doesn't Mum bring you up here very often?"
"She's always working when she's up here, she said, even when I know she's drinking tea in the garden. Sometimes Dad brings me, but he doesn't hang around long and I have to go home. He gets distracted too, sometimes, and I get to go on adventures." She'd been so excited that Garawang hadn't realized she was going to spill some of her secrets before they were out in the open. Looking up at Lyra, she felt worry until her big sister grinned.
"Sounds like fun. Just be careful, okay? Be the sneakiest bat you can be—unless Dad or Mum sound worried."
"Yeah. Dad figured out I come back when I'm bored, so he waits for me. I think he thinks I don't know he's doing it, but I do. Know, I mean." Garawang ducked her head, but not enough, when Lyra rubbed it. It took her a moment of work with her wings to recover.
"We're going to be talking about a lot of boring stuff, but for tonight I'll deputize you as a member of Princess Twilight's Royal Friendship Guard. Acting Sergeant Mango!"
"Wait," Honey asked, "can you do that?"
"I'm a commander. Who would stop me?" Lyra gave the Royal Guards at the entrance of the castle a salute as they passed. "We're here to see Princess Luna."
"You know the way, Captain. Staff Sergeant." A lazy nod was all that was required of Pace Setter after the salute.
"I'm a sergeant too!" Garawang said.
Peering down at the filly, Pace stiffened sharply, banged a rear hoof on the floor for emphasis, and performed another salute. "Yes, Sergeant! Sorry, Sergeant!"
Giggling, Garawang tried to dodge yet another mane-ruffling and failed as the huge hoof of the earth pony pushed around her whole head.
"She's a harsh sergeant, but fair. Come on, Gara, we have a princess to talk to." Lyra nodded down the hall and started off, letting Garawang and Honey keep up.
Waiting for the little group to depart, Pace turned and asked, "The commander is leaving her wings out now?"
"Seems that way. Guess she finally gave up fighting it."
"About time. She has a good head on her shoulders."
The meeting with Luna was interesting for Honey Glaze, but he didn't get to truly take part in it until the end. The first part was Luna venting her displeasure that the leader of the company that ran Equestria's railway was now busy with other duties, despite also admitting she understood why. The second was Lyra questioning Luna's guards.
So, Honey took notes and let Lyra ask the questions. He was so invested with the role that he realized he'd written, "Honey, do you have anything to add?" on the paper he was using. It took him a moment to scan back over all the notes he'd taken. "Mine would be more practical, I'm afraid. What size billets would you require, dietary requirements, and any other allowances for your long-term comfort in the Guard?"
"We can eat most pony food with no problems, but fresh fruit is a dietary requirement. Apples, mangoes, bananas, pears, and figs are the most enjoyed. We sleep by hanging from a pole. And, for long-term stays— Honestly, not much. Phil has been living here for years now. He's handling it fine."
"That should probably be enough that we can offer training, at least." Nodding to Honey, Lyra stretched her neck and wings out before folding the latter back into place on her back. "We have the big meeting shortly, right?"
"That's an understatement. Equestria's most powerful allies will be present there, too, as well as its senior guards. Sister can feel something big coming, and wants everyone safe—not just ponies. Griffons, dragons, yaks, and bat ponies will all be attending." Sitting up from where she'd been reading the latest reports on railway efficiency, Luna arched her wings too before folding them down. "You look better when not hiding them."
Lyra sighed and nodded to Luna. "I'm trying it out. So far no one seems to notice."
"We all noticed," everyone else in the room said at the same time, even Garawang. The ensuing laughter was so infectious that it even caught on with Luna and Lyra.
Surrendering to the inevitable, Lyra made her way to the door and then had to wait for Luna. Only when Luna was ready and led the way did they all fall-in with her. Except Garawang, of course, who was riding on Luna's back.
As they walked, Lyra pondered who the delegate from Batstralia would be. It could be a reunion of sisters if her and Garawang's sister, Robin, was present, or so Lyra mused. The thought put a spring in her step, and she was surprised when, after Luna opened the doors leading into the throne room, she saw not just her sister but Screech herself.
Luna inclined her head slightly to the room, since many important people of a similar rank to her own were present. She entered and made her way over to her sister, stopping only when she was beside Celestia and attempting to rescue her from what was a yak's very descriptive method for dealing with timber wolves. "Prince Rutherford," Luna said, her mind racing over the reports she'd read of the yak leader from Blue and Shining, "I fear I require the assistance of a yak highly experienced in smashing problems."
The entreaty froze Rutherford mid description. He blew a heated blast of breath out his nose. "You need something smashed?"
Nodding while maintaining a serious expression, Luna said, "A problem, indeed. I require a brave chaperon to introduce me to everyone and stomp any unruly interruptions."
That left Lyra to her own devices beside Celestia without anyone else around. "I thought this was a small meeting. I recognize several faces here."
Celestia had been expecting a quiet meeting, and had been proven correct in that prediction until she noticed something. "Your sister is—riding on my sister's back? You brought Gara?"
"I was foalsitting. Luna seems to have a rapport with bat ponies, and Gara seemed to recognize her. Who is the dragon delegate? Isn't Torch the current leader?" Lyra caught the eye of Robin but her sister gave her head the slightest shake and remained at Screech's side.
"That's Ember, Torch's daughter. Given her father's stature, I appreciated his thoughtfulness in sending someone who can fit through the doors. The reason I organized all this is I've felt harmony tremble these last months, and along with your particular alicornhood, I worry that something bad is coming for not only Equestria. Laying cards on the table is a show of trust to our allies, but also a promise to them that they will not be forgotten.
"You brought an aide along? Sergeant from the training regiment, correct?" Celestia asked.
"Princess Celestia, this is Staff Sergeant Honey Glaze. Honey Glaze, Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia." Lyra performed the introduction with a complete absence of any ceremony apart from titles. "Honey is the right forehoof of the commander, and has proved an amazing resource. I dragged him along so I would have an accomplice in raiding your kitchen later. Oh, also, so I could have a second set of brain cells coming up with ways to integrate non-ponies into the Guard."
"Y-Your Highness." As with every pony who was in the Guard, Honey had seen Celestia and even been watched by her as he'd run past the castle in his training days. Being introduced was entirely new, though.
Deciding she would punish Lyra in a creative manner later for dumping an extra thing on her withers, Celestia delivered her best smile to Honey. "Please don't resort to titles after the initial. A simple ma'am works. What do you think about the readiness of the Guard to begin training the less common Equestrian citizens?"
Being put on the spot, Honey felt a moment of panic before he remembered his notes. "Griffons will be the easiest. We already provide protein-rich meal options for recruits and field rations, though specialized training for their feline-focused combat will probably necessitate us hiring somegriff who has experience doing so. Bat ponies will fit in reasonably easy, too. Bedding will need to be specially constructed for them, but they should be able to be integrated if their own information on requirements are correct. We haven't analyzed yaks or dragons," he said, eyes flicking to the different species present as he spoke, "but the Guard will always adapt to whatever Equestria needs."
"That's exactly the frame of mind I like to see. I heard that you have an extra week at the helm over there, Lyra. Please get as much of the work done as you can before Twilight harangues me about stealing you back from her." Snatching a glass of water from one of the waiters' trays, Celestia levitated it to herself and drank down most of it. "Right now I'm giving everyone a little moment to acquaint themselves with each other before we get things moving."
"I'd comment," Lyra said, "on how fortuitous it always seems to be that we're both working on opposite ends of the same problem, but I gave up worrying about that years ago. Harmony is at work, or chaos, and we are just servants of Equestria." Her words earning a smile from Celesta meant a lot to Lyra. "I know about the Griffon council, and Gruff; I am also familiar with Rutherford, from our reports on him and Yakyakistan; but the young dragoness is a mystery as is that odd mare."
Accepting that Lyra was being honest regarding what information she lacked, Celestia set about filling in some blanks. "Ember is forthright but angry with her father. She, like dragons in general, will be reasonably apathetic to our cause unless we make promises to her. That odd mare you note is a new visitor to our little country and is not to be talked about outside this room. The sirens are reasonably nomadic normally, but Staccato has pulled her people together and asked for peace and the right to settle the waters near Vanhoover. I have granted them that so long as they report any uncommon events in the North Luna Ocean."
"Sirens?" Honey asked.
"Sirens were—all but these ones still are—dangerous monsters. Staccato and her school have been keeping their word to not hunt ponies and warn us of problems in her waters, and in return we aid her in fighting off others of her kind. There are two units of Royal Dragoons assisting there. I hope I don't need to remind you both that this information is not public for a reason." Waiting for a nod from the pair, though her focus was on Honey, Celestia sighed when they both did so. "Their magics are focused in three parts: transformational, though limited to themselves; aural, focused via their voices; and mental."
Blinking her eyes as she absorbed the information, Lyra took a slow breath to get her ideas in order. "They will only aid us in their own waters, I take it?"
"Exactly so. I wish I'd offered them the South Luna Ocean instead. These are troubling times, and— Ah." Stopped in her tracks by another arrival, Celestia waited for the announcement to finish and Twilight to enter the hall; Firelance at one side and Spike at the other. "I'm glad you could make it."
"I'm here! I mean, we're here. Why the rush?" Twilight looked around the room and, seeing several allies of Equestria and a few ponies present—including Lyra's sisters and an alicorn bat pony—she started to get an idea that this was an important meeting.
"It was a matter of everycreature being free at the right moment, or I would have planned this far further in advance. As I was explaining to Lyra and her aide, I want to forge tighter bonds with our allies because I see troubling times coming." In the early days of Equestria, Celestia hadn't known what to do with these feelings. She'd struggled to come to terms with having harmony or fate give her warnings, to the point where she had bottled them up until well after the events they'd warned her about. She didn't make that mistake anymore. "Everycreature," she said, lifting her voice to be heard, "I must first thank all of you for coming on such short notice. I feel it is important that we each meet our friends and allies, and acknowledge that we will each stand for a cause that's a little bigger than we are ourselves.
"Of all the skills I have made use of over the past millennia, listening to how harmony's breeze blows is perhaps the most useful. It was warned of dire, though annoyingly enigmatic, times coming. Other portents, too, have caused me to take careful note of events. Two new alicorns coming into their power within ten years is significant, but there has been another born, too. Fate rarely deals good cards in times they are not needed."
Screech, now a little more used to her body than when she'd first taken power, cleared her own throat. "My advisors tell me that Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor have had an alicorn foal." She noted Celestia's surprised look at the news with a glad but hidden joy. "And while everyone present knows of Princess Twilight Sparkle's deeds, whom is the other alicorn come into her… power."
The gasps around the room as she spread her wings weren't unexpected to Lyra. "I guess this was a better kept secret than Princess Flurry Heart's birth."
Of all the reactions in the room, none were so expressive as Robin Mango's at seeing her sister with wings. Rushing across the room, using her wings to accelerate her, she announced her hug moments before she collided with Lyra by screeching at her. "When did this happen? How did you keep this a secret? Why didn't Mum tell me?"
"I've been struggling to come to terms with it. I only started wearing my armor so my wings were out today." Able to return a wing hug with a wing hug surprised Lyra as being far more enjoyable than using her forelegs. "I think we're interrupting the princess' speech."
Celestia did her best to ignore the little chirrup of shock Robin made. "I believe it's a good time to remind all of you that many of us have kin living in each other's nations, as you've seen here between two of the least likely to recognize sisters I know of." She turned a smile to her own sister, and gave Luna a wink. "You know we have greater and greater numbers of ponies joining our E.U.P. Guard each year, in no small way thanks to Lyra, but starting with our next uptake we are throwing open our gates. Griffons, yaks, bat ponies, diamond dogs, and even sirens will be welcome to train with us, and if they wish, join our Guard."
"You are offering our people training?" Normally, Staccato would have held back and kept her own questions for a more private time, but she required clarity. "With apologies to others here, I feel I should reveal myself and end the secrecy I came here under—at least among trusted guests."
When the strange pony turned into a towering, flying, sea monster, Rutherford shifted himself to stand between Luna and the filly on her back—and Staccato. "Siren!"
"Please, Prince Rutherford, she is a guest. Her school has agreed to be an ally," Luna said, walking up beside the yak and, not for the first time, being impressed by his size, speed, and chivalry. "Sorry, Staccato, your stature is quite the sight."
Predatory instincts rose and for a fraction of a heartbeat, Staccato prepared herself to yell a blast at Rutherford so she could create space between them. She shoved that urge away and dipped her head toward him. "I apologize for the abruptness, Prince Rutherford. I meant no offense and hope—I hope we can come to a similar understanding as I have with Equestria."
Lifting his forehoof up, Rutherford cleared aside his bangs so he could look up and see Staccato bowing her head. "And what understanding is that?"
"You help us fight off other sirens and we will warn you of sirens and other threats. I can assure you, Your Highness, invading sirens are far easier to fight when their songs cannot affect you." Flashing a smile that was fangs almost from ear to ear, Staccato caught the nod from Rutherford. "Not that you'll have many threats come so far north. The ice is not comfortable for us."
Luna waited to see if the pair might need to be separated, but Rutherford nodded to Staccato and the matter seemed settled.
Screech, with her advisor once more at her side, felt it a good time to introduce herself a little more widely. "I haven't spent much time on your world, but I assure you, an ally of Equestria should not fear anything from Batstralia. We have established reliable trade and diplomatic missions here, and with your offer I will seek volunteers from my people to partake in your training."
Giving her own little nod to that, Lyra looked over at the old griffon standing on his own. Gruff wasn't a leader, as such, but all the griffons listened to him and he was chair of the Griffonstone Council.
Knowing the look Lyra was giving him, Gruff closed his eyes and reminded himself that he was only here because the other griffons of the council had bribed him to be. Walking over, even in his elderly state, he liked his odds of matching up favorably against Lyra if a fight started—it was purely instinct. "I suppose you want the same from me? I can't promise anything, but if you offer good pay, you'll find griffons willing to work."
Lyra paused for barely a moment before replying, "If we pay them, they will be registered as Equestrian citizens and receive all appropriate benefits. Are you sure that's what you wish?"
"If you don't think I can see the trap there, girly, you take me for a fool. Don't do that. Most of them are layabouts anyway. I'll find somegriff else to pay them for their time." It wasn't a lot of extra work, but Gruff had to admit that it was work she'd forced him to do. The last thing he wanted was another group of griffons following in Gavin's pawprints. Not that he could blame the younger griffons. The funds in Griffonstone were mostly tied up by the elder griffons and they were scarcely going to give it away—he wouldn't.
"I'll personally make sure you get your money's worth out of them." Lyra felt like she'd won at least a partial concession, but as she folded her wings down she noticed the old griffon narrow his eyes at her.
"You should keep those out. Shiny armor and a horn alone don't make your voice any louder than the average pony, but the wings ensure everyone will listen to you."
The advice was not exactly new, it's just that Lyra had seen Twilight get it. She had even given it to Twilight herself once or twice. "Kinda new at this alicorn stuff. I think this is Celestia's way of dumping me in the deep end and seeing if I can swim."
"Kicking fledglings out of the nest is the best way to see if they fly," Gruff said, approving of Celestia's methods. "What's being a princess pay, anyway?"
Lyra was so stunned by the question she laughed. "Pay? You're joking, right? My pay for being a member of the Guard is what I live off."
"But they do give you money for doing all this?" Gruff gestured at Lyra's wings.
"Huh. Probably. I'll have to ask. I don't really take much notice of bits and stuff. I have a nice kitchen, I have a great family, and I know a seamstress who is crazy enough to work for exposure—I guess I don't need Bits to pay for things." As she explained her circumstances, Lyra saw panic cross the features of Gruff. "Right. I get it. But, we're not so different. We can't both agree that our ways of life need protecting?"
Nodding, Gruff held out his talon to shake Lyra's hoof. "Now I can see why you're the one with the wings." Turning away from her after the shake, Gruff spotted the spread of food to one side and made his way for it, the scent of fish growing stronger with each step.
"You handled that well," Celestia said as she approached Lyra. "Gruff isn't the easiest griffon to get along with, but I heard how you challenged him and then gave him a way out of the challenge without him having to spend anything. That's a big part of being a Griffonstone griffon."
"Gavin is so much easier. He doesn't posture or want threats to get things done." Lyra all-but slumped, her wings drooping just a little. "If we ask him, he'll send me more griffons to train."
"Send you?" Celestia asked, a smile borne out in her tone. "I believe the new recruits will be arriving after you give the job back to Stiff Peaks."
"Symbolically to me. I'm getting the ball rolling, setting things up." Lyra shrugged.
"And it has nothing at all to do with you getting him so many applicants that he'll need to call in extra trainers—like you—to assist?"
"I would be available if something like that—"
"No you won't. Twilight?" Celestia had been ready for this.
Taking the three steps needed to reach the conversation she hadn't been overhearing at all, Twilight let out a little gasp. "Oh! You found my captain. Wonderful. I have so many tasks for her she couldn't possibly have any time free in the next… three weeks."
"But—"
"Three weeks starting after you're done setting things up for the training. Why, I bet you won't have a spare second after how much work I have for you to do." The big grin Twilight brandished as a shield against Lyra felt good to wear. This was what she'd promised Lyra, after all. "You are capable of setting wheels in motion for others to steer, Lyra."
". . ."
"You've had a command role for how long now, and you should be able to get used to handing off projects to others with command roles under you." Lifting her hoof up, Twilight booped Lyra on the nose to break her from her ellipsis-filled silence. "So, give Stiff Peaks a command. Spread your wings and tell him what you want him to do and let him organize how it will happen. You trust him to do the job, right?"
Lyra focused on the question and not the annoying lesson that she was being given. "Stiff does things a little different to how I would, but his system works and— I do trust him."
"Great. I'd hate to have to march in there and fire him. Okay, so you trust him and you have set up things to make his job easier and only slightly more expansive. So, you do the big work that he can't, and let Stiff do what he is best at."
"This is payback," Lyra said. "For all the times I gave you advice and helped you. This is the ultimate form of my hubris."
"Yup!" Twilight delivered another strategic boop. "And do you know what, Lyra?" When Lyra looked up at her with a defeated, beaten expression, Twilight giggled. "It feels great. To be able to pay a friend back for all her help by helping her in the same way is not something I expected to be able to do. Now, we have a lot more princess lessons to go over."
Twilight's enthusiasm, and her own desire to actually get things done, had Lyra breaking free of her defeated mood. "You have a list?"
"Not yet, but we can make one together. I think I can leave the visit to Den in your hooves, though. Diplomacy and strengthening friendships is what my guards are for, remember?" Given that Lyra had been there for her when she'd become an alicorn, Twilight was relieved to see that she could help Lyra through the same problems as she grew into her new self. "This hasn't been easy for you, but I remember somepony else it wasn't easy for."
"Sorry to intrude, but I was curious to meet you, Lyra Heartstrings." Doing her best to not stand out, now she was nearly three times the size of them, Staccato inclined her head. "I have heard you not only got word of the changelings' attack to the right ponies to defeat it, but you did so while under the mental control of the queen. Is this true?"
A little surprised at the topic, Lyra carefully nodded her head to the question. "It's true, I was under her control, but she was sloppy with her handling. Instead of giving me instructions that would make it impossible for me to resist, she loaded my head with her power and almost literally just told me to go away."
Staccato managed, only barely, to keep a straight face. "I doubt she will make that mistake a second time. Perhaps my fellow sirens and I may be able to offer assistance in training for the eventual, second attack?"
"Your mesmeric power is similar to a changeling's?" Lyra asked.
"I only assumed. It may not be, but I considered you would be the best judge of that." Staccato did her best to keep her voice level. "Long ago, a wizard developed a spell that could hold siren magics at bay. We have a scroll with the information on it." She knew this was throwing away any hope she and her school would have of escaping should the ponies turn on them, but she had seen nothing but dependable honesty from them since the pact had begun.
Lyra and Twilight both reached the implications of her giving them the scroll at the same time and they both bowed their heads in imitation of her earlier gesture.
"We will ensure it is not used against your school," Twilight said.
Lyra had wondered when Twilight had picked up so many courtly niceties, but she broke out of her contemplation when she realized that Staccato was focused on her. "I—"
"I will place it directly into your care, Lyra Heartstrings." The fact was Staccato was terrified that, upon passing it over, either another siren or a changeling would steal the scroll. She suspected that Lyra had worked on raising her resistance to such abilities, and that she was the only pony she could trust with delivering the precious relic. "We have heard much of your exploits, and will trust no other with this."
"Why didn't you bring it yourself?" Lyra asked.
"A single siren, even with my guard, is not safe."
"Then I'll be with you in a week, after I've—" Lyra stopped when she saw Twilight shaking her head. "Look at that, I've had my schedule free up."
"I'll arrange a replacement for your current position," Twilight said. "This is far more important. You can leave with Staccato and her guard."
Sparing a knowing look at Honey Glaze, Lyra said, "Then I'll be ready the moment you're ready to leave, Staccato. Will it be tonight, or…?"
"Tomorrow. Your Princess Luna kindly offered us the use of a train, and we'll be taking it to VanHoover in the evening." Used to the directness of the Guardponies that had been assigned to assist her school, Staccato was able to appreciate a new level of not needing to ask permission when dealing with princesses. Wings and a horn made all the difference, she realized, when it came to giving and taking orders. She had, though, gained a little insight into the situation, clearly Lyra was very new to the command powers of an alicorn. "Though, if you need more time, I am sure the princess would allow us a little leeway with travel."
"I'll be ready at the appointed time." Bowing her head again, Lyra could see a pair of dark shapes approaching from the side. "I believe you'll have to excuse me I—"
"Go and talk to your sister and her princess, Lyra. I'm sure I can field any more questions." Twilight had to nudge Lyra with her wing before she could divest herself of her friend. "If you don't mind, Staccato, I have so many questions for you."
Leaving Twilight and Staccato to an information exchange the likes of which she was sure Staccato would still be reeling from in the following evening, Lyra walked over to where Robin and Screech were waiting. "Your Royal Highness," Lyra said, bowing to Screech. "And, your not so royal Duchess," she bowed, faltered, and ended up dancing in place a little before reaching out with a wing to pull Robin into a hug.
"Well," Screech said, when Lyra and Robin were done with their hug, "why is it I'm unsurprised to find you with wings now? Robin has spent the last few years talking about all your adventures that you describe in your letters. How many of them are true?"
"The ones I wrote to this little nugget about? Not a single one."
Letting out a laugh, Screech nodded. She was pretty sure everything Lyra had written about was true, but it still made a good joke. "All but the wings? So, you're offering us some training?"
Sighing, Lyra hung her head. "Only in the collective sense. I've been given marching orders, so somepony else will—" Lyra stopped at the giggling from Screech.
"She really says it." Screech did her best to hold back her giggles. "I thought you were joking, Robin."
"Nope!" Turning to look at Lyra, Robin grinned at her. "Sorry, Sis, but you're going to have to repeat that for everyone."
Narrowing her eyes, Lyra glared at her sister. "Are you making fun of how I talk?" Reaching out a wing, she grabbed Robin and started ruffling her mane. "Hey, Spud, are you making fun of your big sister?"
Robin was caught between laughing and screeching, her racket sending Screech into further laughter. "Ah! Stop! Stop! I can't—Hic."
Lyra let go and tilted her head. "Did you just hiccup?"
"She does that when she gets too excited," Screech said. "She'll stop in a bit."
Poking Robin in the ribs each time she hiccuped, Lyra said, "Well, she deserved it. Everypony here says everypony when referring to everypony." She noted, with a smirk, that Robin was now caught between giggles and hiccups. "I'm surprised anypony would find that funny."
Screech was struggling to keep from laughing now, but Robin was a giggling mess of mane and wings, flailing at Lyra while trying to halt her hiccups. Only when they both calmed down, despite Lyra's repeating the words everypony and anypony over and over, could Robin finally put her mane back to some semblance of normalcy.
"Lyra, that was uncalled for," Robin said.
"You started it," Screech said, before reining in another giggle.
Robin turned to Screech, looking startled. "Actually, you did!"
"Hey," Lyra said, "there's no need to argue about who started it, so long as everypony can acknowledge that I'm better at jokes and move forward in peace and harmony."
"Lyra, we need to organize for you to visit again. A lot of politicians are getting a bit hard to deal with, and I think you'd be perfect for causing them apoplexy. Consider it an open invitation," Screech said.
Nodding, Lyra tapped her chin to think. "Make it four invitations and throw in written permission to yell at people and tell bad jokes, and you're on. Well, as soon as I get past my latest duties. Still, not all that far away."
"Four?"
Trying to retain a normal, even look, Lyra replied, "Well, you know my daughter, Scootaloo? She has a special somepony now."
At the same time, Screech and Robin both covered their mouths with both their wings and struggled not to surrender to a new bout of giggles.
Sidling up to her sister, Lyra said, "Is something wrong with how I say special somepony?" She then jumped over beside Screech and asked, "You know who her special somepony is?"
Screech, her eyes wide and lips clamped together, was doing her best not to break into laughter. She shook her head.
"It's Firelance here." Lyra gestured at Firelance with one wing as he approached. "Firelance, I was just telling my sis and her friend about you."
Firelance didn't even blink at Lyra calling a princess "her sister's friend" and instead bowed to Screech. "Your Highness," he said, then to Robin added, "Duchess Mango," and performed another, slightly shallower bow.
"You said he's spoken for by your daughter?" Robin asked Lyra.
"Yes, sis. Firelance is spoken-for. Also, he's kinda mad about Scoots too. You'll understand when you see them both together." With a lopsided grin for Firelance, Lyra shrugged her shoulders. "Apparently we've been offered a family holiday. All expenses paid trip to Batstralia, and we have diplomatic immunity against anyone who doesn't like my jokes!"
"Please don't give her that last thing. No country deserves that."
The honest plea told Screech that Firelance had already experienced far too much of Lyra's sense of humor than was probably safe. "If it helps, I can still eject somepony that has outstayed her welcome." Screech did her utmost to ignore Robin's giggles. "But, you are welcome. Between Robin and Dream's accounts of Lyra's actions, and a promise to Joyce that she and her family are welcome to visit too, I believe there might be room enough for you."
Firelance was starting to see how informal Lyra had managed to make this little group, and though it complicated things a little, he was perfectly fine with not having to maintain a strict composure. "Scootaloo has been curious to learn some bat pony tricks—uh, security wise—and having experienced Dreamtime magic myself several times, I'd be interested to learn more of it and if I might be able to learn it."
"Then you'd want to speak with Dream Thunder. If anybat could teach you about Dreamtime, it would be her." Screech had planned to make the meeting a diplomatic event, which it seemed was already the intention of it, but the invitations to Lyra and her family were bearing fruit she hadn't expected.
"You'd like Dream Thunder," Lyra said. "She has a really batty sense of humor. Like me, but worse." She wasn't sure how Firelance managed to make his face blanch, but the panicked twitching of his eyes was a great capstone. "Sorry, Screech, we got a little sidetracked. So, I won't be handling the training personally, but I have ensured ponies I trust will be undertaking it. That poor guardpony over there, that Twilight won't stop talking to, is the staff sergeant of the training regiment. He'll make sure that the acting captain will look after things. Also, the actual captain will be back shortly to take the reins again."
Tilting his head to look back at where Twilight and Honey had started talking, Firelance couldn't stop a little grin from forming. They had, apparently, completely forgotten the diplomatic nature of the event and were discussing the pros and cons of various filing methods—at least they had been when he'd left them. Knowing the princess he served reasonably well, he was pretty sure her wild gesticulations indicated the topic had either grown more exciting in and of itself or it had moved on to something more serious; like mathematics.
"Wait." Lyra noticed the direction Firelance was looking, saw Twilight looking excited while talking to Honey, and the pegasus likewise excited. "You didn't…" One look at Firelance's grin told Lyra all she needed to know. "You're a monster. Why aren't you in Cadance's guard?"
"Because you got me first." When Lyra started to turn toward Twilight and Honey, Firelance moved to stand in her way. "Let them have their fun. We can rib her about it when you're back and there's something to rib about."
Sighing, Lyra put back on her stern commander face and nodded. "I leave this in your capable hooves, sergeant."
Snapping a salute, Firelance managed to school his own serious face for several seconds before the pair of them began to giggle.
"See, Screech? This is what I had to put up with when I was young." Ruffling her wings at the memories, Robin was nonetheless smiling herself.
"Yeah. Would you be able to see if we can round up some volunteers for this training?" Screech asked her aide.
Pulling her notepad out, Robin balanced it in the crook of one wing while she held a pen in her opposite wing's claw. "Will do. There's still the trade negotiation you need to discuss."
"Any suggestions as to who would be best to approach?" Screech asked.
"Luna," Lyra said, butting in. "Luna would be the best to ask about that. She has a talented group of advisors to assist with such."
Looking around, Screech spotted Luna and she smiled at the mare. "Is your big sister one such advisor?"
"The best," Robin said.
Lyra had woken in her warm bed in her apartment in Canterlot. The bed beside her had been empty, though, which had put a slight dampener on her day. Not that Lyra would let a night or two without her beloved get her down. She'd donned her armor, spent the morning focusing on spells to enhance mind shielding, and headed out to locate her new charges.
The city was being given an unseasonable warm breeze from the south, so that by the time Lyra reached the castle (at a run of course) she was starting to get a bit hot. Trotting up to the entrance, she nodded to the two guards there and headed inside.
She didn't have to go far to find Staccato, the siren was sitting on the edge of a fountain with one hoof dangling in the water. Nearby was another mare who looked at Lyra with hard, appraising eyes as she approached. "Hi, uh, sorry ma'am, I am not sure of what form of address I should use." She stopped and bowed her head, breaking her line of sight with Staccato and her guard.
"Just Staccato is fine, Cap—" Pulling herself up short on using the title, when Lyra gave her an eye-raised grin, Staccato nodded her head and finished, "Lyra."
Turning her head to the guard, Lyra asked, "And you?"
"March."
Smiling, Lyra nodded her head. "March, I'm glad I will be traveling with such a capable guard."
The comment caught March off guard and she looked at Lyra with surprise.
Staccato looked up to her protector and attempted to sooth her. "March, Lyra is a high ranking officer in the Equestrian military and, from what I understand, regularly engaging in combat and training enough to be a sharp judge of prowess. What she said was a compliment."
"Exactly. That's why I bowed enough to lose sight of you and why I have no active protection except my armor. I want to show you trust, but seeing the control you have of your form and your own appraisal, I am fairly sure we would both be pushed to best the other." Lyra raised an eyebrow. "In fact, if you'd like, we could spar."
Thinking about it, March shook her head. "If we sparred, and one of us was hurt, Staccato would have less protection."
"Another time then. I'll be spending the afternoon around the castle, so if you have any needs of me, please let one of the Royal Guard know and they'll be able to contact me." Lyra paused before leaving, and it was March who stopped her with a raised hoof.
"Sorry if I ask, but you mentioned active protection. You already have spells to aid should we be ambushed by a—by another like us?" March asked.
"I don't have anything specific. I spent a little time checking over our library here for similar magics. There's nothing as powerful as the scroll you describe, but there are several spells that can ward a pony's mind from intrusive thoughts and magic. I researched and memorized the best of them last night and this morning."
"Show me."
Having spent hours memorizing the spells, it was a simple matter for Lyra to charge her horn with magic and build them quickly. One after another she flicked them out, six spells in all. "The last is a short duration one, no more than ten minutes, but it's stronger than the—" The weight of an oppressive mind crushed down on Lyra. She could see March's eyes glowing a deep green and so knew her attacker. The spells held, though, and she was able to form an impermeable but transparent bubble around the siren's face. The attack stopped less than a second later.
The reply had been a surprise, and exceptionally effective. March had dropped her attack the moment she tried to breathe and got the same air she exhaled back in. The mask popped as quickly as it formed, and she took a relieved breath. "Very— Very effective."
"I need better spells. I was only barely keeping you back." Lyra knew she'd come close to losing the little test. So much for not sparring, she thought. "How strong are you compared to others?"
Staccato cleared her throat. "March is the strongest among our school with mind magic, but she is not the strongest fish. If you can hold her attacks back, you are doing better than most sirens would be able to manage. Any enemies, however, are unlikely to come singly. A trio is the most common hunting group size among us."
"She's lying. Staccato is stronger with her mind than I am, she just doesn't like using it," March said.
Lyra's mind raced and she settled on the most likely reason. "Is it because you don't want to be seen using those powers by ponies?"
Surprise pierced Staccato at having her exact reason be called out so quickly. "Yes. If it came out that—"
"So, try me," Lyra said. "Show me what I might be facing so I can understand how much I need to grow."
Biting her lower lip, Staccato swirled the water with her hoof and looked into Lyra's eyes. "Swim," she said.
The weight of Staccato's mind was like having a mountain dropped on her. Lyra struggled, fought against the mental mass, but every time she seemed to halt one breakthrough, more of Staccato's will poured into her like seawater. She felt herself sway a little and an image of a vast ocean surrounded her, calm and warm at the same time.
Then Lyra was let go. The weight was gone and all her defenses with it. She stared at Staccato in utter shock—the siren hadn't moved a muscle. "Okay, wow."
March beamed with vindication of her opinion on Staccato now proven. "Told you. The way a siren becomes the leader is with mental challenges. If she wasn't the best, she wouldn't be in charge."
"Are you alright?" Staccato asked, watching Lyra as she seemed to be distracted.
Nodding, Lyra had to reassert herself in her own mind first, then her magic, and finally the world itself. "It's always a shock to be overwhelmed like that. I'll be okay—and thank you, Staccato, for the demonstration of humility."
All the things that could have gone wrong, that Staccato had been terrified of, seemed to ease and flow away. Only then did she realize she'd just mind-assaulted an alicorn on the royal grounds—and all the panic rushed back in. "I-I wouldn't have if you hadn't asked. I didn't mean to—"
"I asked you to, remember? Now I know where I am and where you are. If something is throwing mind magic at us, you fight it while I put it down, okay?" Giving her best please drop it smile, Lyra rolled her shoulders. "And March is right. That is good training. I know my limits. That's better than me having held off March, thinking I had it all under control, then trying to fight off someone as strong as you unprepared."
Relieved to see her hasty action wasn't causing an issue, Staccato relaxed again. "You did take a lot more to subdue than most ponies. With the spell we have, though, it's said that any unicorn can make themselves impossible to control."
"I am sure Celestia, Luna, and Twilight understand the commitment this shows. If they don't, I'll make sure they do." Trying her best to show her oft-used one-sided smile, Lyra forced herself to sit down and calm her inner worries.
Lyra might have been the newest alicorn to be revealed in Equestria, but Staccato felt no less relieved to have any alicorn spare such words of reassurance. "I admit my choice of you to be the courier had an ulterior motive." Lyra's curious expression almost stopped her from spilling it. "We had heard that your cutie mark was a musical one."
It was such a shift in topic that it caught Lyra off-guard. "My— Oh! Yes. I have a lyre as my cutie mark and prefer the guitar as my instrument, but I have played some others." It reminded her that she should get her cutie mark painted on the flanks of her armor.
"You don't sing?" March hadn't meant to sound disappointed, but all the same she did.
"I can sing, but it's nothing special. Would you like me to bring some instruments so I can give you a demonstration on the train?" Despite her instruments not being in Canterlot, Lyra had been itching to test the range on her item-retrieval spell for some time.
Both Staccato and March could feel the hurricane of magic Lyra gathered. It poured through her like an ocean passing through a pinhole, then exploded from her horn.
The spell was complicated as well as hungry. Lyra could do the math needed to target things, but the further away they were, the more careful she had to be with it. What was worse, now she was an alicorn, the difference between teleporting her guitar and didgeridoo and, for example, teleporting her house, was mostly just the radius of the origin. Narrowing the flow to somewhat less than should be required to move a house, she focused on where she left the items.
Not that she had to warn Scootaloo and Sweetie Drops, but Lyra had always put her instruments in the same place, though normally that was for far shorter teleports. Hoping to harmony that she'd gotten the right locations, she let the magic flow into the pattern and with two pomf-sounds, her instruments were sitting on a bench beside her.
"I've seen guitars before, but is that a hollow stick?" Staccato asked.
"Yeah! A very special hollow stick. I made this with my dad's help. It's a traditional instrument of his people. Not, technically, my people. It's complicated, but I try to honor them all the same." Lifting the didgeridoo with her magic, Lyra pressed the end to her mouth and focused her attention on her breathing.
Cyclic breathing wasn't easy, but once she got the rhythm of it going, she began to work the sound down the instrument. The slow thrumming tones took effort to layer, but eventually she got the tune she was aiming for working and started tapping the tune out with her hoof.
As always, she got carried away in her playing. It wasn't often she played for an audience more than her family, but the two sirens listening were enough that she wanted to make the song soar and flow—without even realizing it, she was playing a song about what it had felt like to be under Staccato's control.
The song, like her power, held no malice. It was just a song about swimming in an infinite ocean and letting the water flow and bend around her. She wasn't even sure how it would end until the rhythm petered out and she let the tapping beat fade as well.
Swaying slowly, Staccato hadn't realized when she'd closed her eyes. Even with the song ending, its tune kept pouring through her. "You would make one fine siren, Lyra Heartstrings. You bound that song to me, didn't you?"
Focusing back to normal breathing, Lyra thought about the question. "I don't think I meant to. When you overwhelmed me, you felt—you felt like an infinite and peaceful ocean. I took that feeling and made a song from it."
March couldn't help herself, she laughed at her leader. "You were the one that asked to have an alicorn bent on music to assist us. It's your fault if she snares you with her song."
"'Snares'?" Lyra was a little lost in the conversation. "What do you mean?"
"Sirens can use their music and mind to trap the unwary, but these affinities leave us vulnerable too. I asked for you specifically, hoping to learn a new song or two. Instead I show you how to defeat me utterly." Pulling her hooves from the water, Staccato stood and shook herself to attempt to banish the music that still played through her—it didn't work. "If you're ready now, we could leave early."
"You said there was extra business and—" Closing her mouth with an audible snap, Lyra made the connection. "I was the extra business. Okay, then, I'm ready when you are."
Content, now, to deal with the song that wouldn't stop echoing within her, Staccato nodded. "Yes. Lead the way please, March."
Slinging her guitar onto her back and carrying the didgeridoo with her magic, Lyra walked with Staccato, an odd little procession with two sirens and an alicorn going completely unremarked upon by the ponies around them.
When they reached the station, Lyra let Staccato lead the way to the stationmaster's office, where a well-dressed stallion gave her a nod and trotted off when she explained things. Luna and Upper Crust, Lyra had to admit, had been keeping the railway humming along nicely.
"This way, ladies." The stationmaster led them down the long platform to a cordoned off section where a locomotive and two cars sat. "Please, the rear car is prepared for our visiting guests, and the first is for princesses." He spared a little smile and a bow of his head in Lyra's direction.
"Did Luna do this?" When her question went ignored, Lyra groaned and headed for the first car while two smirking sirens made their way for the second. As she passed the coupling between the cars, Lyra saw that there were doors that linked them. Boarding the train, she saw the obviously placed scroll sitting on the dining table that dominated one end of the car and resigned herself to reading it.
Lyra,
I hope this letter finds you well. You are on official business for the crown, and despite that being your regular job, this time you need to be given a little extra pomp. Sister says there is fresh cake in the chiller and plenty of drinks and other snacks. You will also find a spear keyed to your own magical signature in the weapons cabinet—please don't use it.
When you return, we will have to discuss your learning of the remaining magics. No, I won't let that slide. I'm proud of you, Lyra. Thank you.
Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna.
"A spear." Lyra knew exactly what kind of weapon Celestia would be talking about, and she hoped she wouldn't have to use it. More important, at least in the short term, was the contents of the chiller. Destroying the scroll with her magic, Lyra approached the cabinets down one side of the car.
All the usual things were in glass fronted cabinets: plates, cutlery, bowls, cups, glasses—more delicate little dessert forks and parfait spoons than Lyra could shake a dessert cart at. She found the chiller, hidden behind large ornate doors, mostly by limiting her searching to doors without a window.
There were all manner of cakes, pies, fruit, and other treats. Luna had, apparently, ensured that such cars were well-stocked. A knock from a door at the locomotive-end of her car reminded her that this opulent room only took up one third of the car. "Come in."
A mare opened the door with a little bow and said, "We'll be departing momentarily."
"Thank you for the warning." When the mare left her alone again, Lyra closed the cabinet and took a seat in one of the larger-than-normal benches along the side of the car. When the locomotive tugged at the two cars, Lyra didn't so much as shift more than a little.
She sat there, contemplating events in the garden and musing on what her musical talent would mean to the sirens. Staccato, at least, claimed to be the strongest mentally, seemed overwhelmed by the song.
Lyra was no newbie to songs in Equestria. It seemed like every other day that she'd hear a pony singing about how well their life was going, how much they enjoyed the company of their friends, or even that they liked the color of a particular flower. To find it had a magic all its own was unsurprising to her.
Floating over her guitar, Lyra pressed a little magic into it to activate the amplifier and lifted it to her lap. She had harmony magic in spades, she was sure, but Luna's emotive was something she felt she'd require to delve more into music's magic. Nonetheless, her hooves found the strings and Lyra started to pluck and strum low notes from her bass guitar that filled an itch of need she'd felt.
It was easy to slip back into the music of her youth. Lyra began to bounce from funky tune to funky tune, slapping, strumming, plucking, and ending notes not so much in perfect mimicry of those songs, but simply according to her own ear and what felt right. She didn't notice her audience until the conductor rasped her hoof on the floor when the train jerked.
Looking up, her hooves frozen, Lyra smiled at the two sirens and conductor all equally looking guilty at having been caught. "Sorry, I got a little distracted. Comes with having a music cutie mark. Anything I can help with?"
Staccato laughed, letting her voice bubble around to mix with the echoes of the bouncing music she'd heard Lyra play. "You have surprised us a second time with music. That is a guitar unlike any we have seen or heard."
Bobbing her head, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks and her panic at having been caught, the conductor rushed forward again to slip through the door and hide.
"I tend to get distracted when playing. Was there anything you needed?" Trying her best to switch the topic, Lyra's hopes and dreams were dashed by both sirens shaking their heads. "Okay, about this guitar. I grew up listening to a group of musicians who went by the name of Primus. I know the word sounds strange, it's not a pony word."
"Was that their music you were playing?" Staccato asked.
"Not exactly. That is their style, but I was making up the tune as I went." Bringing her hooves back to the strings, Lyra punched the right ones on the neck and gave a quick strum. "Their songs were mostly nonsense, but some of them had important meanings. One of them saved me from making a huge mistake before I should have needed to make those kinds of choices."
The tune came back to Lyra. She had never told her mother about this, but the song painted such a grisly image of drug addiction that, when people who were supposed to be friends offered something to her, she'd turned them down. She strummed away, playing the bouncing tune, but without the drums accompaniment, it lacked a little for the impactful notes. "You could say my love of music saved my life."
Fighting to be able to talk over the unique music, Staccato asked, "Do you think that was why you got the cutie mark you did?"
Moving on from Lacquer Head, Lyra started on a song that, at least the title, would seem appropriate to ponies. "Maybe, maybe not. The world I grew up in had no magic. It didn't even have ponies until I was older. Then, when I was around eighteen, everything got weird. Magic flooded through a hole from Equestria. My sister, mother, everyone else too—became bat ponies. Me? I was sitting with a friend in Equestria at the time and became a unicorn."
March had picked up the tune change only because of how much heavier it sounded. There was a sense of Lyra's playing trying to pack a lot more music into each second than should be able to fit. "You weren't born a pony? But now you've become an alicorn?"
"Weird, isn't it? Life isn't about where you start or the situation you're in—it's all about where you are now, where you're headed, and what you want to see happen along that path. Was it easy? My life was never harder than I was prepared to deal with. Each new thing, I am sure, I can overcome. I might not be able to do any of it alone, but even if I am reduced to struggling forward solo, I know I can do it." Launching into the chorus of the tune, again Lyra wished she had a set of drums to give the tune its iconic thumps. Then she remembered the hardwood floor of the train car and her hooves.
Catching words sung softly under Lyra's breath, Staccato couldn't for the life of her understand them. The only thing that mattered, though, was that she did sing them. They matched the rhythm of the guitar perfectly, even if the syllables were nonsense to her. The stomped beat helped add context to the rhythm, and along with those hints of lyrics, she could pick up more of it as a song and less as one component. "What's this song about?"
Lyra blushed. "Someone told me it was about men—males… Anyway, that was wrong. I saw a show once ask the song writer. His friend was a vegetarian, that means he didn't eat meat."
"Most ponies don't eat meat," Staccato said.
"Remember," March said, not enjoying the experience of talking while such music was being performed, "she didn't grow up as a pony."
Nodding, Lyra smiled at the logic. "Exactly. His friend did like to eat some meat occasionally, and would have a burger—cooked meat between bread. He called that shaking hands with beef."
"You've eaten meat?" The gears had clicked together for March. "Not fish, I mean, but you said beef."
"Yeah. Humans, what I was before becoming a pony, are predators. Omnivores, specifically. They can eat meat and vegetables and gain energy from both. Oh, one obscure fact about them, the reason they came out on top, with a world full of things that could eat them if given half a chance?" Lyra could see she had the sirens' complete attention. "We could run for longer. Not faster, not with less energy—just longer."
"How did it feel to have that—" March looked at Staccato, worried she was overstepping herself, but her leader gave her a nod. "What was it like to change so much? Ponies can eat a little meat—we've watched the fishers from Vanhoover catch plenty—but they don't eat like griffons eat."
"My body changed and so did my appetite. My sister and mother had similar changes, but their tastes ran differently. None of us really fought against what our bodies told us they wanted. It's been a while, so it's kinda hard to remember what it was like. For every hamburger I had, that had steak in it, I've had dozens of hayburgers." Lyra snorted and laughed at that. "And I'm not even a big fan of hayburgers. I prefer to cook for myself, with friends, or with my family."
"That's not exactly what we were hoping for. We are trying to fit in with ponies, but our appetites include meat and"—Staccato broke eye contact with Lyra—"and emotions."
"Hey, cards on the table. I've told you I have eaten what—in Equestria—are thinking and talking people. I don't think anything you could say would top that." Trying to sooth the sirens further, Lyra strummed a few soft notes on her bass.
The deep, pure notes helped Staccato to continue. "We eat emotions. Some of us, in the past, have forged into Equestria specifically to force ponies to feel them. We don't do that."
Seeing her soft tune lubricating the conversation, Lyra continued without working too much to clean it up. "I'm sure somepony would have noticed if you did. What does this emotion-feeding do to the subject? Does it remove the emotion from them? Does it hurt them?"
March cut in before Staccato could, mostly because she could see the distress this caused Staccato. "It leaves them drained. The more we take, the more drained they are. Some sirens would use this until their prey couldn't move."
Wincing, Lyra nodded and forced herself to accept the honesty. "That would not be a good way to say hello to your new friends. Have you talked to the guardponies about this?"
"We couldn't!" Staccato was jolted out of her enjoyment of Lyra's tune. "They would— They would think of us as monsters."
Leaving that side of things as a topic she needed to discuss with the Royal Dragoon commander present, Lyra moved on to working with Staccato and March's dislike of even discussing the topic. "You're not monsters."
When neither spoke, Lyra continued. "It's easy enough to identify a monster, at least in my opinion. Monsters know what they are doing hurts others, feel no remorse for doing it, and will do it again without any misgivings."
March said, "But we're—"
"You're sirens. That doesn't make you monsters. I've met humans that are monsters, even a pony or two. Being a monster is more than what you are, it's who you are." Lyra grinned. "You're not monsters."
"You are a strange pony, Lyra Heartstrings," Staccato said. "We asked for you simply because of your musical talent, but this philosophy is proving far more interesting."
While they'd been discussing music and morality, the train had fled the locality of Canterlot. Down the mountain and across the long miles of track leading north it sped, unburdened by the usual load such a locomotive would be hauling, it kept up a high speed.
A knock at the cabin door of the royal car got everyone's attention and an impeccably dressed unicorn opened it when there was no challenge. "I can serve the evening meal whenever you wish. Will you be dining together?"
Turning her attention from its most recent target, the chef, to March and Staccato, Lyra got a nod from the latter and said, "We will. What is available?"
"Princess Luna sent word that a high protein diet would be preferred, so I have a selection of egg dishes, as well as fish." It was an exciting moment in any pony's life to be speaking with a new alicorn, but the unicorn managed to keep his composure as he explained. He assumed that Lyra had ascended from a pegasus, since they would more commonly require such a diet.
"I believe, if you bring us a selection of each, it would be a very welcome meal. My friends here are from a coastal town and enjoy the bounty of the sea." Lyra wasn't lying, not one bit, though she could see March trying to hold back a laugh. "And thank you."
When the chef had left, March finally let loose with her giggles. "You didn't even lie. I have never seen a pony rework the truth so well."
"I don't like lying to people. I've made peace with doing so by omission, though." Lyra sighed and gave a few quick strum-plucks of her bass. "I look forward to welcoming you in your regular fo—" She cut herself off as the chef opened the door again.
"I have an arugula salad with a lightly crumbed squid on top. Each are finished with a mild sauce." Sliding a huge platter of the appetizer onto the special table in the middle of the lounge area of the car. A pair of locking clamps secured it in place so the train wouldn't knock it free. "Would you like the entree sooner or…?"
"Please, give us half an hour," Lyra said. "I didn't catch your name…?"
"Spiral Whip, Your Highness." Bowing his head, Spiral witnessed Lyra looking uncomfortable. "Sorry, have I misspoken?"
"Please, just Lyra. I'm not a princess—" Biting the yet off the end, Lyra tried to give her most reassuring smile.
Spiral asked, "That wouldn't be proper. Would ma'am suit?" When she nodded, he felt a flood of relief. "Then I will return in thirty minutes with your next course."
"You're worse than Staccato," March said, the moment Spiral was out of the room. "The main reason I'm here with her is I'm big enough to push her along."
"Okay. I want you to try eating my emotions," Lyra said. She held up her hoof and played a deep, thrumming chord on her bass. Stopping the strings, she waited for both her companions to calm down—and when that didn't happen she explained anyway. "I want you to start with your weakest, then slowly increase until I can sense it. Then we will stop and discuss things."
"I will be filing an official complaint with Princess Celestia about your continued and excessive friendship." Picking up a piece of the calamari, Staccato popped it in her mouth. The sauce on it was tangy and perfect for the rich seafood.
Laughing at the sarcastic humor, Lyra started playing again as she wrapped some of the salad around a few pieces of squid herself.
"That was the first," Staccato said. "Did you feel it?" When Lyra shook her head and went on playing, she tried sampling a little stronger. A spicy tang met her magical palate; Lyra's emotions were a heady mix of excitement and curiosity, joy and hunger. "Now?"
"Nope. Also, can you make note of how much nutrition you get from this?" Lyra asked.
It took four more tries before Lyra's hoof paused above the strings of her bass. "I felt that one. Can you try it again, to make sure?" When Staccato obliged, Lyra nodded. "Yup. That I can definitely feel. Would that be enough you could survive on?"
"We, uh, don't need any to survive on," Staccato said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
March cleared her throat and cut in. "What my wondrous leader is trying to say is, we don't need to feed like this to survive, but we can't use our magic unless we do."
"So, how much does that fuel your magic, then?" Lyra asked.
"Not much. Perhaps three or four lots of that, a day, would keep a siren able to perform her magic duties. More if they had to battle with other sirens." It pained Staccato to admit, but her race relied on the defenselessness of others to thrive.
Fetching some more calamari to nibble, Lyra thought about the problem as she strummed a few more deep thrums from her bass. "We'll need to experiment further. Perhaps even explain things to the folks of Vanhoover so they can help. I'm not exactly the best to gauge how much that feeding takes out of a pony."
"You are very thorough." March sampled a little of the salad and found it had a nice crunch to it. "This isn't your first time examining magic?"
Snorting, Lyra shook her head. "I trained under Princess Celestia herself and, further, the E.U.P. Guard. This armor isn't for show. I spent some time revising the way magic is taught both in the Guard and younger, and have sent two of my own personal students to Celestia's school. Along with my wife, I've helped research and locate ancient artifacts of power and helped design a method for securing them. My latest assignment, under Princess Twilight Sparkle, has been to research all forms of magic—it's how I started getting these." Lyra fluffed up her wings before folding them again. "In a way, I've devoted a large chunk of my life to understanding and explaining magic."
It was a wall of qualifications that Staccato realized shouldn't have been surprising, given the ascent to alicornhood. "And now you're seeking to master mind magic?"
"No. I got invited to assist some fellow Equestrians in securing something, and thought I could help them and strengthen the bonds of friendship that already exist."
March snorted. "Staccato, I don't think she's joking."
A short knock interrupted them again, and out came Spiral once more with more of the meal. The food kept all three busy until night had fallen and, reluctantly, all of them set off for their quarters.
Lyra lifted her armor free, having unfastened it with her hooves, and rolled her shoulders as the weight of it left her itching to exercise. Looking out the window of her quarters, she sighed at her inability to go for a run. "I don't know how Bonny can do this kind of field work without having someone to snuggle with."
Climbing onto what was undoubtedly the hugest small bed she'd ever encountered, Lyra sighed and closed her eyes.
The sound of hooves outside her room, and the feel of the train's rhythm changing, woke Lyra from her rest. She checked the window and, seeing it still dark (though with a slight glow on the horizon), immediately felt on the defensive. With her magic tightly contained, she prepared walls both mental and magical.
Instead of the knock she expected, her bedroom door started to slowly open. She waited, building a spell carefully first in her mind as she readied herself for the first sign of magic use—which she got quickly.
It was the same kind of mental touch Lyra had allowed Staccato and March to test on her at the castle, and no sooner did she feel it than Lyra shoved as much of her mental defenses she could up while triggering her spell.
"What—?"
The voice was neither March nor Staccato. Lyra unleashed another spell, one that removes the air from a small space. She targeted the front of the disguised siren's face.
Panic set in. The siren spun around when he realized his target was behind him, but things were already becoming hazy. Dropping his disguise indoors would not help, but he did it anyway.
The return of the siren's form, markedly smaller than March, wasn't as important for Lyra as measuring how long until he was unconscious but not dead. She approached the weakly struggling siren and, as his struggles slowed further, she cast a sleeping spell over him and removed her ongoing enchantment.
Unable to restrain him further than the spell, Lyra left her quarters and headed down the small hall. Already she'd made the decision to leave the pony contingent of the train and check on their guests. Opening the rear door of her car, she saw March do the same for the rear carriage. "I was attacked!"
"Have you seen Staccato?!" March asked, eyes wild. Having woken up from a deep sleep to sense something wrong, she'd instinctively checked on Staccato's quarters beside her own. Lyra's shake of her head froze March's blood in her veins.
"This way. I have a prisoner!" Lyra backed up to let March follow her. Once the door was closed and they could talk easier, she said, "Resume your form. This is too much of an incident now to bother with stealth. They knew where we would be."
The interior was a tight fit for March, but she swam through the air after Lyra and looked into the royal sleeping chamber. "That coloration. He's from the Capriccio school—the school we fled from to come here."
"Then they have directly attacked citizens of Equestria." Lyra took a slow and deliberate breath. "We need to get more information and alert the Guard. The spell—"
"Even without Staccato, I can ensure you get it." March noticed the male siren was starting to stir and she floated above him, readying her strongest physical blast. "He's waking up."
"I don't know how effective my sleep spells will be on him." Her mind twisting to all the things she'd have to do, or might be forced to do, Lyra took a breath and cast her strongest sleep spell with as much power behind it as she could. "I need to—"
Lyra spun, events having her reactions on a razor's edge, to see the conductor entering, shaking their head and rubbing it. "Are you okay?"
"Your Highness, I must apologize. I don't know why I fell asleep, but…" Trailing off when they realized there was a siren floating in the cabin beside Lyra, the conductor froze in panic. "W-W-W—"
"This siren is a friend. We've been attacked and this—this wasn't your fault. Please go and ask the engineer how long until we reach Vanhoover." Giving them a job to do seemed like the best way to keep them out of the line of any potential fire, but the conductor didn't move.
"We'll be in Vanhoover in two minutes."
Rushing back to her room, ignoring the still siren on the floor, Lyra got dressed in her armor. She didn't care if it would take most of the two minutes to do it by hoof; she wanted to make sure it was on properly because she doubted she'd get a chance to remove it before this was all over.
Walking out of the bedroom, she fixed her eyes on the cabinet that held that spear. Part of her wanted to rush over and grab it, take it out, and defend Equestria with the power it held. It would, at least in Lyra's knowledge, be the only time one was used in direct combat.
Walking over to the cabinet, Lyra opened it to reveal the weapon. "It would be so easy." Running one hoof down the haft of the spear, Lyra used her magic to float her bass and didgeridoo over, and set both into the snug space on each side of the weapon. "Please, once we're off, return to Canterlot and ensure that only Princesses Celestia or Luna has access to that."
"Of course."
Armored and with a clear conscience regarding the weapon, Lyra smiled at March. "Now, let's take that miscreant and find the missing Equestrian citizen, then I want to make sure the Capriccio school knows never to attack Equestria again."
The weight of Lyra's armor was a great comfort, but so too was having March beside her. Even if the siren wasn't the strongest, she was a help. "March, how much magic do you have stored? Full?"
Watching Lyra heft up the unconscious body of the male siren with her magic, March waved her left hoof side to side. "I'm about half—"
"Then sip from me. I have a lot to give and I'd rather you did too. And, don't hide your form unless you feel you need to—I think this has been a secret for too long." It took a moment before Lyra felt the sensation of March drinking at her emotions. The draw was a little stronger than Staccato had used, but not unbearable by any measure.
Outside, in the noticeably cooler air, Lyra spotted four ponies (two unicorns, a pegasi, and an earth pony) that all stood too neatly and too close—with none of them talking to each other. "Our escort's here."
Whippoorwill spotted the armored pony and, knowing to look for an alicorn, made the mental effort to discern wings and a horn. Then he recognized the mare. "Well, this'll be interesting. Get ready, our VIP is here and I don't think you'll have a problem recognizing her." His eyes drifted to the siren at Lyra's side and then the second siren that was being carried behind them. "Ah horseapples."
"You recognize them?" Lyra asked March, a moment before she recognized all four of the Royal Dragoons herself. "Never mind, I know them."
March swam along quietly beside Lyra, feeling more than a little self-conscious at her conspicuously non-pony self. When all four of the Guards snapped a salute to Lyra, she felt something odd was going on.
"Your armor needs a little more polish, Razzle. Sparklebright, you keep leaving that shoulder strap loose and you'll have the whole pauldron ripped off one day. Stone Wall, nice stance, but you should always be grounding when a potential enemy approaches. Whippoorwill, nice promotion—I hope you've been keeping up with the running." Giving the group her own salute, Lyra couldn't stop a laugh. "It's good to see some friendly faces, but I have bad news: Staccato's been kidnapped."
Repeating his earlier curse, Whippoorwill asked, "What can we do to help?" while he completely ignored the elephant in the room (or the siren at the station).
"I need a rundown of all assets in town, I need to know where the nearest Research and Acquisitions group is, and I want to meet with whomever is running Vanhoover. As far as we're concerned, now, Equestria is under attack by a hostile group of sirens and they have taken one of our own." Turning her head to look at March, Lyra asked, "Would Staccato revert to her siren form?"
"Not if she had a choice. We were trying to keep a low profile." It occurred to March that a low profile was the opposite of what would be desired right now. "Though she may have realized that she needs to be visible now."
"Good, that will help." Behind Lyra, she heard the train's whistle blast and the locomotive started grinding its steel wheels on the track to get the two cars moving as fast as possible. The rhythm of the steam-driven wheels struck a chord in Lyra, and she laughed. "I know one way to find her, but I'm going to need help from as many musicians as we can find."
For a moment Whippoorwill started to ask a question, then he paused, and asked anyway, "Musicians, ma'am?"
"Yes. Ponies who have a cutie mark for music are preferred. If you can get me as many as you can in an hour, we can start to work some magic to find Staccato and, if you're amenable, teleport directly to her location and deal with this threat." It was a plan and Lyra was putting as much faith in it as she could.
Consequently, having a captain who was also an alicorn made Whippoorwill's job easier. He saluted. "Sparklebright, you have the best teleportation, stick to the captain's side and relay messages for her. Stone, Razzle, you're with me. Captain, it's good to have you here. I'll have the mayor ready to meet with you while we round up the musicians."
When the other three had marched off, Lyra turned her attention to Sparklebright. "Do you have any idea how weird it is to see you four together? Don't answer that. Okay, you have a Guard outpost here, lead the way."
"Yes, ma'am." Sparklebright nodded to the north-west. "This way. It's three blocks over."
Deciding to head-off any questions ponies might have, Lyra spread her wings and held them in the same pose she'd seen Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance use when they were signaling they were alicorns. It seemed to work, since the first block passed and not a single pony asked a question about who they were or where they were going. Looking back on it, Lyra was sure that wasn't the best, since a changeling could imitate an alicorn.
Finally, barely past the halfway mark, a pony slipped out of an alley and started trotting beside them. Lyra didn't look in the mare's direction, but asked, "Can I help you?"
"Retired Sergeant Sizzle Swizzle, ma'am. R and A." Sizzle didn't glance at the siren swimming through the air behind Lyra, or the unconscious siren floating beside her either. "Do you need anything?"
"Musicians. I have the Royal Dragoons on it already, but I need every pony that has a musical cutie mark at the Guard outpost within an hour. Also, anypony who has kept up their reserve status." Lyra waited for a nod from Sizzle and didn't question the unicorn peeling off from their procession.
"'R and A'?" Sparklebright asked.
"I wish I could say this any other way, Corporal, but that is information for higher-ups. She'll help, though, and she's trustworthy." Feeling a twitch in the siren she was carrying, Lyra did her best not to curse and cast another sleep spell over them. "How're you doing now, March?"
More surprised at Lyra by the minute, March felt for her internal reserve of magic and found it almost brimming. "Almost full. Do you really think you can find Staccato?"
Focusing back to when she'd played the song wrapped around the essence of Staccato's mind, Lyra remembered the connection she'd felt. "Yes, March. I am sure I can."
It was her tone more than anything else that made March feel lighter. A new resolve filled her—she would not let Lyra down, no matter what. It was a surprising feeling for her, given she'd never trusted anyone but another siren in such a way before. "Thank you."
Having secured the siren prisoner in a secure room in the Guard outpost—one Lyra put a continual sleep enchantment on, and spent a good half hour talking with the mayor about the new inhabitants and their old family problem. As the time approached one hour after arriving, Lyra found herself standing before nearly a hundred ponies.
"You're probably all wondering why you're here. It's because one of Equestria's newest residents has been attacked, and you're all uniquely gifted to help me find her. She's a siren, like March here, and they are inherently creatures of music and song." The looks the ponies gave March made Lyra proud. They weren't judging or fearful; more curious and friendly. She waited a moment and finally saw someone about to ask her a question.
"How will our performance help you find this siren?" a violinist asked.
"Sirens have their own magic wrapped in emotion and music. I was fortunate enough to share a deep connection with Staccato, the missing siren, before she was kidnapped. She's part of a group of sirens who wish to live in harmony with ponies, though she and her family here are fleeing others that are less friendly." Noticing another pony, who'd hauled in a set of kettle drums, opening his mouth, Lyra nodded toward him.
"How will you direct us? Do you sing?"
Lyra smiled and closed her eyes. She'd hoped to keep her instruments safe by sending them back to Canterlot, but feeling for the train, building a reference to it and the cabinet within, she found what she was looking for and poured power into her horn—teleporting her didgeridoo to her hoof. "Of a sort. This might not look particularly musical, but I can assure you it will resonate with Staccato—and hopefully all of you." She stretched her wings up and out, tried to ignore the little gasps as the musicians were confronted with her having done magic and having wings. "When you're all ready, we'll play until I can feel a connection with her, and then I'll teleport myself and some Guardponies to save her."
The looks of determination that met Lyra, as the ponies present started preparing and tuning, filled Lyra with pride.
"They're really going to help?" March asked Lyra.
"Of course. Helping friends is what ponies do. Also, who wouldn't want to be part of musical magic? It's the most amazing feeling to get caught up in your talent, and doing so with others increases that rush. This will be short, but the biggest concert of the year."
March was silent for a moment before she finally shook her head. "This is what Staccato has been trying to teach us. Sirens are— We normally do what we're told from our school leader. Alicorns, we know, are the leaders of pony schools, but you wouldn't force any of these ponies to perform?"
"No. Of course not. Even if this was going to fail without them. I'd deal with it and come up with another way." Lyra watched as each of the performers finished checking their instruments or warming up their voices—and every single one looked to her. She gave them a big smile. "I don't expect this will work perfectly from the get-go, but follow your hearts and join in my song, and hopefully we can reach out to a lost friend."
Lifting the didgeridoo to her chin, Lyra practiced a few cyclic breaths before she brought it to her lips and started. She measured the beat on the wood with her hoof, but breathed life into the rhythm with her own lungs.
Around her, many of the ponies gasped in surprise at the music produced, and there was some quiet conversation until one violinist picked up the tune and started weaving her own song around that rhythm.
Doubling down on her talent, Lyra focused her thoughts around Staccato's mind when they'd been linked, and she guided all the other musicians in the performance. When she felt it right, she started to channel harmony and friendship magic, giving neither form nor pattern, but letting them flow through her magic.
The room grew heavy with expectant magic. Every instrument excited it more and every cutie mark was thrumming with the creativity and heart of its owner. Something had to give as the pillar of magic grew more intense, and it was Lyra conducting the symphony. She reached out with one hoof to March, taking the siren's fin, she could already feel her singing for her lost friend.
She added the final piece of the puzzle of magic, though it wasn't one she held the source for: emotive.
Familiarity with all of Staccato's being poured into the magic. It knew the shape of her mind, her heart, and now it knew it needed to find her. The intent of the musicians finally gave it the form it desired and, slipping its power into the pattern, it reached out in two directions.
It grabbed at the powerful mare, her siren friend, and the little group of silent warriors.
It reached out to the target that matched its pattern so precisely as to be the only creature in the world it could possibly resemble.
The magic took the first group and set them down around that lost friend.
The wildest of teleports Lyra had ever performed, the spell strengthened their group the closer they got to Staccato—and she could definitely feel Staccato getting closer. Like some kind of giant rubber band, the magic had stretched itself out between them and the lost siren, and now both ends of the spell were growing closer—it felt like the magic was rejoicing at its impending finale.
A crescendo of power and music slammed the four Dragoons, Lyra, and March down in a ring around a surprised Staccato. She'd never heard or seen a spell like it, but it filled her with the power the others had drained from her so recently.
The first priority, so far as Lyra was concerned, was to protect Staccato. She threw up a shield around their group. "Staccato! Are you okay?"
Recognizing the four ponies that accompanied Lyra, Staccato first dove to March and wrapped her friend up with a hug. "I'm glad you're alright. You got help!" The air still vibrated with the song of her own mind. The magic was still so attuned to her that it was making her feel bloated with energy.
Positioning themselves two to each flank of Lyra, the Dragoons waited for the shield to come down before moving. The moment it was, when each of the four felt the intense magic of an alicorn spell end, they were in motion.
"Five targets." Whippoorwill was already analyzing the situation and, though he didn't like the numbers, he also knew he couldn't stop now. "Stone, I want you everywhere. Razzle, flash shields. Sparkle, move me upward."
Pride burned in Lyra almost as hot as the rush of combat. She'd been part of the training of each of the Dragoons. Whippoorwill vanished, teleported into the air faster than he could have flown, while Stone seemed to get into the faces of the sirens before any of the antagonists could have prepared for her.
Magic flashed as two of the sirens started blasting with the power they'd stolen from Staccato. The first hit Stone square, though the mare grounded it out harmlessly while the second, aimed at Sparklebright, slammed through a shield that Razzle had put up, then a second, before fizzling out on a third.
When the third shield dropped, Sparklebright returned the favor, slamming her own lance of magic into the siren's side while spinning out a teleport spell that sent herself and Razzle in different directions, splitting the targets.
Wanting to reduce the amount of foes, Lyra leveled her own magic at the least prepared of the sirens. Unprepared to deal with defense, the siren screeched as the magic overwhelmed their passive resistances and knocked them down.
Only adjusting his angle slightly, Whippoorwill changed from the target Lyra had knocked down to the next closest siren. Keeping his claws sheathed, he nonetheless slammed down hard on their head and knocked them out before another teleport spell caught him and threw him high into the air again.
The first mental blast caught Lyra prepared. She threw it back with her defenses, which she noted staggered one of the sirens. One of the remaining ones, though, didn't direct their mind attack at Lyra.
Razzle Dazzle felt the intrusion and fought against it. Like all Royal Dragoons, he'd been trained to deal with mind attacks—but his struggle was in vain as the siren's will poured around him like a tsunami. With a new set of desires and goals, he looked at Sparklebright and teleported her into the air just as he had Whippoorwill.
Staccato realized something was wrong when Sparklebright turned her attention on Stone Wall and tried to trap the earth pony in a shield. "Forte! Stop doing that!"
The leader of the siren group, Forte, spotted Staccato and cursed. Content that her two allies still conscious were dealing with Stone Wall, she directed her unicorn to turn her attention on the separatist. "Blast her! Trap her! Deal with my enemies while I—"
Two concussive blasts hit Forte. She'd thought that Staccato and March would be busy dealing with the unicorn, but the final armored pony—that she'd thought to be an earth pony with how firmly her mental probe was ejected—spread her wings and used them to deflect the horn beam.
Fully charged with magic, Staccato and March pressed their attack. Each sent beams of magic at Forte while their target struggled to deflect each one. Staccato opened her mouth wide and sent a wave attack Forte's way, which the siren dodged, but was then off-guard for March's mental strike.
Like a snapped cord, Forte's mind was cleared from Razzle Dazzle's mind. She stopped attacking Lyra and shook her head.
Recognizing the broken control, Lyra focused as much power as she could into a single cohesive beam. It was a trickle at first, just a little squirt of friendship magic. Then she poured darkness, harmony, and chaos into it. The golden beam sparked and fizzed with black swirls and confetti, while harmony magic sought to keep it bound and together. Nowhere near as powerful as the beam she'd seen Twilight unload in times of peril, it was nonetheless impressive to Lyra.
Forte tried to absorb the magic blast, but it was lacking the one kind of magic that would have given her the edge she needed to slurp it all up: emotive. As a result, it blew past her defenses and connected with her like a huge hammer.
Lyra could feel the potential of the beam—of the sources of magic that dwelled within her—seeking her to guide their effect. What she wanted, more than anything else, was to get rid of these threats.
The combined four sources of magic loved a challenge. Combining Lyra's dislike for harming with her desire to remove the sirens from her sight, it exploded a blast of magic outward, impacting the five antagonistic sirens (and scooping their compatriot from the Vanhoover lockup) it cast them far out over the North Luna Ocean.
Panting at the rush of magic ceasing, Lyra was aware that what she'd done was her first ever truly alicorn-level spell. Even though she'd channeled more magic than ever before in her life, she felt all four sources were satisfied and calm, and her body— "Ouch."
Feeling like she'd had a wash of powerful magic sweep over, mostly because that was exactly what had happened, Staccato was about to ask if everyone was okay when she heard yelling above them. Whippoorwill was struggling with Sparklebright's weight. The unicorn he was desperately trying to save was screaming in panic (and still dressed in armor).
Without a second thought, Staccato shot into the air and brought herself up and under the falling pair, angling her back so they could land on it while she took the recoil of the strike herself. They hit her hard, but with as much magic as she had coursing through her, it was not enough to harm her. "Got you!"
Snapping out of the daze of exhaustion, Lyra saw Staccato helping Sparklebright and Whippoorwill down, Stone Wall looking like she was ready to chase after the banished sirens, and focused her attention on Razzle Dazzle. "Hey. Hey, Razzle. You okay?"
The voice pulled Razzle from the dark unconsciousness. He lifted his head, regretted it, but opened his eyes anyway. He felt like he was back in training with Sergeant Lyra Heartstrings standing over him as she demonstrated some brutally effective combination of simple spells. "Did anypony see what train ran over me?"
"A drink will help." Lyra levitated a bottle of restorative from the emergency ration pack on one of her armor's hidden panniers and opened the lid. "Slow sips. Mental attacks can be tough when you're not ready for them."
Drinking a mouthful at a time, and taking it slowly, Razzle Dazzle nodded slowly. "It gets better?"
"Not particularly, but you will learn to fight it off easier. Ask March for help training that. She's good, although Staccato is better." The second of the sirens Lyra'd mentioned landed and helped her precious cargo from her back.
"How did you deflect my spell? That was— That was a full-power beam."
"Would you believe I might have figured out how to use my pegasi magic?" Lyra held out a hoof to Razzle and, when he took it, she helped him upright. "You've got nothing to feel ashamed for. That siren almost knocked me over with her first attempt."
It did sting that he'd been overcome, despite his training. Hearing Lyra confess she'd almost been upended by the siren's mind, though, helped save Razzle's ego a little. "Thanks, ma'am."
"You can call me all the titles and ma'ams you want when I get Poppy Bread to pin a medal on your armor, but until then you call me Lyra. Got it?" Lyra asked.
All the bravado and reassurance threatened to melt out of Razzle when Whippoorwill approached. He stiffened and saluted, and instead of stiff formality, he was blind-sided by Sparklebright hugging him. "Wha—?"
"I'm so glad you're alright too!" Sparklebright felt only reassurance that Razzle hadn't had worse happen to him under the control of Forte. "When you teleported me, I thought it was in response to a blindside from one of the sirens. Miss Staccato said—"
"I said that you stood no chance against a siren of Forte's power," Staccato said, floating closer. "I have a great debt earned this day, and I fear I might be working the rest of my life to pay it back. You risked everything to save me from them. Thank you." She bowed, dipping her head until she couldn't see any of the ponies.
What Lyra saw, as the Dragoons and sirens recovered from the ordeal, was a new certainty. The power she carried could not and should not be denied. She was already walking the path to, as she thought it, becoming an alicorn—but that wasn't enough. Ponies needed her and they needed her completely committed to her path.
Clearing her throat, Lyra waited until she had everyone's attention. "They risked everything for you because you have taken the first step toward harmony; yes I know you don't step, it's metaphorical." She let them have a few giggles before continuing. "You and your school are part of us now, and the members of the E.U.P. Guard will not stand to have Equestrians threatened or kidnapped. I'll also assure you that no alicorn will, either."
Lyra had never been crash-tackled by two sirens before, so the following moments were quite the experience as two aquatic equines larger than her sandwiched in from each side. She did her best to try to hug them, but both were too much for even Lyra's wingspan to get around.
"Your— Capt—" Razzle Dazzle cleared his throat and tried again. "Lyra, you might want to take a look at this."
Disentangling herself from March and Staccato, Lyra walked over to where Razzle was standing and saw immediately what he was interested in, why he hadn't touched it, and at the same time felt intense curiosity herself. "My didgeridoo…"
Not trusting her magic given the circumstances, Lyra picked up the instrument and examined the symbols arrayed around it. They blended into the original pattern, but were definitely magic-defining runes. The whole length tingled with harmony and emotive magic, and Lyra had barely a second to get used to the feel of the latter before the world started to spin and she fell over.
Feeling.
Lyra was warm with concern and worry, love, pride, and awe. It took her some time to figure out that they weren't her emotions, but those of people around her. She was in a dream-state, though, and couldn't identify who was there.
But, that wasn't Lyra's task and she knew it. She could feel the core of magic tentatively within her, trying to reach out. Radiating her own warmth and love, Lyra used the experience she'd gained already in bonding with sources to extend herself and pull emotive magic's source closer.
"Found it on your own, I see?" Luna said.
The shock of Luna's presence almost broke Lyra from her trance. With her wings and forelegs around the new (to her) source of magic, she grinned with faux guilt at Luna. "There was a situation with the sirens. It's dealt with, now."
"I look forward to the report. I'll let my sister know things are well in hoof. You're more confident with yourself."
Taking a deep (though metaphorical) breath, Lyra hugged the source of emotive magic a little tighter for support. "Equestria needs every alicorn it has and more. If I hadn't come here for this, Staccato and March would have been kidnapped, maybe a bunch of ponies too, and we might not even have heard about a tragedy until it was too late."
Putting one of her own wings around Lyra, Luna gave her a squeeze. "It is a harsh world we live in. Wrap things up and return once you are able, but don't rush too much. Watching Twilight serving legal writs to my sister, demanding the return of her guard, is becoming my favorite sport to watch."
"We only got here a few hours ago. With everything going to Tartarus, I decided it was time to cease the masquerade that they weren't sirens. I don't want them hiding in shadows for the rest of their lives, and the ponies here need to learn that they have new friends. If the Guardponies that were sent are any indication, it should be smooth." Lyra focused on her emotions, opening herself up to tempt the emotive source more. "Thank you for the spear."
"You didn't use it."
"Of course not, but it reminded me why I was here. In the end, I think I picked a far better weapon for the battle I had to fight." Visualizing her didgeridoo, Lyra manifested it within the dream. If anything, it was a thousand times as brilliant as what she'd expected it to look like, but that made it more curious. "I think I'll have a lot to discuss when I return."
"You certainly do. That might well be a far more potent weapon than one of my sister's spears—at least in your hooves. Harmony, emotive, and friendship is quite a potent combination, but see that you don't leave the others without an outlet. Perhaps spend some time there looking for one more?" With one last squeeze, Luna left the dream world.
Alone with her own emotions now, Lyra felt more than a little uncertainty still, that came from within herself. She rooted around for the origin of it, using emotive magic to guide her on a journey through her own motives and emotions.
Finally, it was resolved. Sweetie Drops and Scootaloo. The force of her worry slammed into her and she clung to the source of magic and let her tears flow. Her loving wife and the young mare who'd grown to be their daughter.
It hurt because she could see herself forced to leave them behind for her duty to Equestria, and in her heart Lyra knew she would make that choice. It was absolutely unbearable. This would be a wedge, a pain within her that wouldn't stop hurting until she'd ripped her family apart.
Stars flared bright.
One by one, with light that peeled back at Lyra's darkness and exposed it, the sources of magic within her swelled and buoyed her up. Lyra gasped in shock at the sensation, but even darkness was as soft and light as a warm pillow at the end of a long evening—welcoming and there explicitly for her.
Harmony and friendship went hand in hand, the power that held her aloft and connected her with others. Even chaos wouldn't leave her alone. All those sources pinned themselves to parts of her, promising her their own strength if hers would falter. She could almost believe that they would give her the power to deal with any threat that ever appeared before her.
Emotive, though, was new to her. It swelled out and permeated her every fiber. It pulsed bright as a summer laugh and poured through her being like tears in winter. Lyra lived the entire gamut of emotions in an instant, and she could see that they were all within her.
The strongest of all of them, and the reason she was tied in a knot, was love.
Lyra's love for Sweetie and Scootaloo pulled her in one direction but her love for all Equestria dragged her in another.
For one moment, an infinitesimal monad of an instant, Lyra realized that they weren't pulling in different directions—she had simply placed herself between them.
The impact of that thought bound emotive magic to her and Lyra welcomed it. She drew it up inside and found it a place to live within. Now, instead of being pulled apart, she felt a tug back toward her family that was astonishing only due to the intensity of it. "Thank you."
Two huge, warm bodies were curled around Lyra. It wasn't exactly how she normally slept, but she knew the two sirens well enough to know she was safe. Pressed to her stomach was her didgeridoo, the dream-wrought wood softly murmuring with the runes and power it possessed.
A slight touch deep within, and she could feel the warmth and worry of Staccato and March. Emotive magic was now part of her, and Lyra was thankful it had found a place after the way it'd helped. "I am glad I only have to go through this three more times. Sorry about that." She yawned and shifted, tucking the instrument under a wing and moving as the sirens did, standing up.
"Are you alright?" Whippoorwill was the first of the four ponies to approach Lyra. He was more than a little worried, and even though he trusted the sirens to an extent, their assurances that Lyra had been safe had become harder to trust by the minute. Seeing the commander standing, though, was a huge relief.
"Part of my growth into being an alicorn. Sorry to worry you, Whippoorwill. I'm ready to take us back to Vanhoover." The skepticism on the faces of the Guards made Lyra roll her eyes. "Wings and horn, remember? Supreme executive powah." When none of them laughed, Lyra decided to just do it and leave them out of the decision. Then it hit her that such was literally supreme executive power, and she almost fell over laughing.
With everyone staring at her as though she'd gone completely insane, Lyra swept them all up in her magic, did the maths for a point-to-point teleport, and moved everyone back to Vanhoover. She might be able to solve the equations well enough, but the point she'd chosen was off to one side of the railway platform—somewhere she'd been before. "Lieutenant," Lyra said, using the title to emphasize that they were back in public, "I believe you and your squad can serve as our retinue? We're heading back to the place Sizzle Swizzle had arranged."
The walk back through town, her didgeridoo balanced between her outstretched wings and her hooves clopping loudly on the stone road, Lyra was pleased with the looks of surprise and interest from the ponies watching them go by.
In ones and twos at first, then more and more, ponies followed Lyra's little procession down the street. When they reached the building where the musicians were still gathered, she stopped and turned. "Go in and get— Oh, never mind. They're coming out now."
The musically talented ponies, of those present, knew the significance of a second siren with the Guardponies. Several broke into cheers, were hushed, ignored the hushers, and then reluctantly quietened down when it seemed like Lyra was about to speak.
"I'm sorry to have interrupted your evening, everyone," Lyra said, adjusting her initial everypony when she noticed a griffon in the audience, "but I'd like to tell you a story." The confusion in the crowd was superficial, and it was obvious to Lyra that they wanted to hear the story despite that uncertainty. "A group of very special creatures didn't like how they were being treated by their family.
"Those creatures were always struggling to show the joy they felt, the love that filled them, and the compassion that welled up within. It didn't happen all at once, but over time they sought out others with similar feelings and, together, decided to leave that family behind and seek others that felt that way too.
"They traveled far, roamed further from the home they'd always known, and finally found some who felt those emotions they'd been shunned for every bit as strongly as they did. They asked, carefully, for permission to stay there, and wise heads listened to warm hearts.
"So they hid their exteriors, only showing their new friends what was inside. They developed ties to their new friends, built friendships, and grew to become something far more than their old family would have let them become.
"Then, while one of them was honoring the wisest of their new family, they fell afoul of their old family's machinations. They'd been followed and tracked, and now were being hunted. Another begged for help." Pausing a moment, Lyra looked around the gathered ponies. "What do ponies do, when someone with a kind heart asks for help?"
The indignant murmurs grew louder. A low rumble of help them poured like an acoustic waterfall across the crowd.
"Which is what I did, with the aid of some brave Guards and amazing musicians. Everyone, this is Staccato. Her friend here is March. They are both sirens of impeccable taste in company and hearts full of friendship and music. Do you think we could make them welcome—and pretend it's the first time they've been here?" Lyra's joke hit its mark and musical laughter danced among the voices gathered.
Everyone was talking, discussing, planning, and coming up with solutions. With the sun high in the midday sky, Lyra used her magic to send out a call, entreating Staccato to reinforce the magic with her own to attract the sirens of her school.
Ponies carried out benches and food to form a potluck in the middle of the street, and one by one the other sirens arrived. Lyra could see them, picked out in bright pinpoints of radiant emotion among so many glad hearts. She waved to each, beckoned them closer, and gave them a hug one by one. As each finished, she watched them shed their pony disguises and return to their true shapes.
"E-Excuse me?"
Turning her attention from the food, which she'd been enjoying, Lyra noticed a few of the musical ponies had gathered up and one was trying to get her attention. "Hey. Thanks for the help today. You were all amazing."
Blinking a few times rapidly, the asker managed to recover his focus. "Thanks, but we were here to ask about that instrument you played." When she raised an eyebrow, and he got a few pokes in his side, he managed to let out, "S-Skysong, Your Highness."
Now Lyra noticed something—every single one of the musical ponies present had musical cutie marks pertaining to wind or air. The pegasus stallion that seemed to be their leader looked to be in his mid twenties and was a pegasus with a wing/air/notes cutie mark. "Ah! Looking to expand your repertoire?" The nods she got in reply, along with a reverent silence, was all the encouragement Lyra needed to pull out her didgeridoo and show it to them.
"This is a didgeridoo. It's an old instrument, hailing from my homelands, and is made by allowing burrowing insects to eat out the inside of a log. It gets polished and decorated, and has several ways it can be played, but all of them require cyclic breathing." With an audience who looked like they understood what she was saying, Lyra spun her instrument around and offered it to Skysong. "You need to flap your lips inside it, while sealing your mouth inside the opening."
The moment Skysong's wing had touched the instrument, his cutie mark started to hum. Not in an audible way, but it was something he always felt whenever he embraced his talent and played music. Having it from the touch of an instrument was new. Lifting it toward his snout, Skysong paused and looked to Lyra.
"Go ahead," Lyra said, trying not to laugh at how reverent he seemed to be acting.
Used to an instrument that needed a lot of air already, his tuba, Skysong had been the one shoved forward to represent the group of his friends. Even with a strong pair of lungs, though, he barely got the first breath out and then halted. "I'm doing something wrong."
"It needs a lot of air. It took my daughter months of practice to manage it." A revelation hit Lyra. "She's a pegasus too. I wonder if pegasi have a different lung capacity or altered breathing? Well, practice will help. I'm sure you can figure out how to make one?" Another pony, a unicorn mare, pushed up beside Skysong, and Lyra turned her attention to them.
"I could make one. Does it have to be eaten out by bugs or could I turn it on a lathe? Oh, uh, I'm Shimmer Haze."
"Hi, Shimmer," Lyra said. "It might not be traditional, but you should be able to turn one out like that. Don't tell my dad, though."
Seeming to notice the artwork on the instrument for the first time, Shimmer bit her lower lip before asking, "Is this a culture-specific instrument?"
"Yeah, but don't let that stop you from making some music with one. Just don't try to reproduce any of the art on here." Lyra gestured to the didgeridoo and, looking at the art she and Tufts had made, she felt her heart swell a little at how well the instrument had served her. "Nopony would mind you playing one."
Shimmer had an easier time, and could get almost a minute of play before she messed up and breathed in through her mouth. Lyra let the musicians pass the didgeridoo around, each having a little practice with it. None managed to play it perfectly their first try, but there were a few that Lyra heard come close.
After everyone finished eating, here and there, music started to flow as ponies struck up tunes and joined into groups, and a few hesitant sirens joined them to add their voices. The feeling of harmony that swirled around the city left Lyra feeling light and airy, the sources of friendship and harmony spiraling together in a joyous pattern that lifted whatever dark thoughts she could have had about her own future.
This idyllic little day would end and Lyra knew she'd have to go back to Canterlot. It would be impossible to hold back who and what she was, now.
"Lyra?" Staccato swam in place, her fins fluttering in the breeze of strong emotions that poured from every creature in the city. "I have the scroll." She held out one hoof-fin that held the spell. On it, she knew, was the power to make any unicorn immune to siren mind magic. "You know, I'd planned to give it to you, especially after you allowed me to test my power on you in Canterlot. Now—I couldn't think of a single reason to refuse you this."
The weight of the scroll didn't surprise Lyra. It was a specialized thing, so it was understandable it needed a lot of writing to describe the pattern. She didn't open it to read. "You know my own song, as I know yours?" When Staccato blushed and nodded, Lyra let out a happy laugh. "Then I promise you, if I am able, I will come when you sing that song."
"Use that scroll as you see fit, Lyra. You have the same promise from me. Call on myself and my school and we will be with you as soon as possible." When Lyra jumped toward her, Staccato let herself be captured in the offered hug. Wrapping her own forelimbs around Lyra, she let out a relieved sigh. "How long until they will be able to come back, do you think?"
"That magic was stronger than anything I've done before. I think they'll be at least a month away, and hopefully will think twice about invading Equestria again." Offering one last squeeze, Lyra started to release and felt Staccato do the same. "I'll be going the moment I can get Whippoorwill to give me his report."
"He was looking for you earlier," Staccato said, looking above the heads of the gathered Vanhoovians, trying to spot the stallion in question. "Oh, here he is now."
Having watched the two embrace, Whippoorwill had held back a little to allow the little ritual to end with a little privacy. "Lyra, I have my report and some recommendations on my command." He held out the sheaf of paperwork to Lyra.
"You didn't have to do this so quickly, but thank you. I'll be heading back to Canterlot to make my own report." Without hesitation, Lyra opened the unsealed folder and looked at the notes. "I agree with all these recommendations, and I have one more. Your talents are wasted with only one squad. Poppy Bread should have you with three squads under you and, given things here, you might well need them. There won't always be an alicorn free to assist."
"I think, with our new allies here, we should be able to hold up until our commander can send more Dragoons. Though, the way things are now, perhaps a full garrison of regular Guard would be a better choice." Whippoorwill was still buzzing at how things had gone. What made him happier still was not having to cover for the sirens living in the city. "Thanks again, Lyra."
Hugging Whippoorwill, Lyra stepped back and stiffened—saluting. His own response was lightning fast. "Lieutenant Whippoorwill, keep everyone safe."
"Yes, Captain Heartstrings." No sooner did Whippoorwill lower his hoof, as Lyra did, then she vanished. The normal soft pomf of a teleportation spell seemed amplified, and he found himself pulled forward first by the rush of air into the spot Lyra'd just vacated, then shoved back again by the return of the air. "Surely she didn't teleport all the way to Canterlot?"
Try as she might, Lyra wasn't stupid (or strong) enough to reach Canterlot in one jump. A precision, point-to-point teleport would have simply fizzled. One that used a coordinate and direction would have worked perfectly fine, but would have needed more energy to utilize that the most basic. Lyra had aimed a vector toward and above Canterlot, figured out how much power should put her above the city, and had fired the spell.
She judged herself about halfway to Canterlot. She was also in free-fall, since she hadn't intended for her spell to leave her with any forward momentum. Falling, she felt her magic refilling at a rapid pace. When she had enough for two small teleports, she fired one off and twisted her downward momentum by a hundred and thirty-five degrees and launched herself upward again.
It was far too tempting to stretch out her wings and fly. Lyra, though, valued Honey Glaze's assistance and didn't want to arrive in Canterlot as the only alicorn who had hurt her wings and couldn't fly. So, managing her magic so that she gained back enough over time to keep airborne, she kept her parabolic flight going until she was within range of Canterlot castle.
The loud pomf of a teleportation directly to the castle gates put the two Royal Guard there on edge, until they spotted who had teleported in. Wild Dash relaxed his shoulders and said, "Nice wings, Captain."
"Shouldn't that be Your Highness?" Long Shift asked, mouth pulled into a half grin.
"Nah. You see, she hasn't had a coronation yet. So, until then, the highest rank she has is still captain. Now, if we were part of the other-other-royal-guard, then we'd be calling her commander." Wild enjoyed the casual banter. While an alicorn in armor, showing up on the doorstep, would normally be news—this was Lyra. "Now, if the princesses gave her a title, that'd be something new. I think we're due a new viscount."
"Princess Luna made that mare in the Treasury a viscount yesterday. I think it's a dukedom next." Grinning as Lyra looked more and more annoyed, Long stuck his tongue out at her. "We need to get our licks in when we can. Soon you'll be too high and mighty to poke fun at."
"I've overheard you talking to Celestia the same way." Lyra had surrendered her sullen glare and smiled. "But, it doesn't matter. You can't bring me down today. I made new friends, played some excellent music, and got to show some new Equestrians how much they matter to us."
As Lyra walked away from the two Royal Guards, she heard a stray, "just like the last alicorn" from one of them, but decided to ignore it. She had to admit, a lot of Twilight's delight in making new friends had rubbed off on her, and having left Vanhoover united as it was soon had her prancing with her steps.
The hall before the throne room, on most days, had several petitioners waiting, and today was no different. Lyra could have slipped in another entrance, but she felt it was important enough to make a show of her new status and the gossiping noble and merchant classes who tended to populate the hall most days were good targets.
With no attempt to hide her wings, Lyra strode down the main hall and even gave them a ruffle as she reached the end. "Sergeant Citron, would you—?"
"Princess Luna already left word that you are to be seen as soon as you arrive." Opening the big doors, Citron gave Lyra his most droll expression. "Next time, use the side doors."
"There's a reason for this," Lyra said, stretching her wings out and giving them a fluff before settling them back at her sides. "Thank you." Advancing through the doors that had only opened wide enough to allow her through, Lyra stepped to the side as she noticed Celestia was still dealing with the previous supplicant.
"While we can't help you directly, Sir Fancy Pants, you have only to contact the Royal Treasury to see about the funding required. I'll have my purser write a letter to have the funds I described dispensed." Celestia didn't so much as glance in Lyra's direction, though she wanted to.
Maintaining the stoic pose of a Guardpony was about the closest Lyra could get to acting the part of an alicorn. Watching the Royal Guard in the room, likewise maintaining their statuesque image of might and readiness, she realized they were treating her the same as they treated Celestia when there were no other ponies around.
For a brief moment, as she consciously ignored the conversation between Celestia and Fancy, Lyra saw a future where she could never escape the gags and ribbing of Royal Guards. This, of course, meant she would have to give as good as she got. The revelation made her smile and come up with ideas of how to start right away.
"Lyra?" Celestia asked, hoping the growing, manic grin on Lyra's face wasn't because of something that would directly affect her. "Lyra?!"
Schooling her expression, Lyra looked around for comedic effect. "Huh? Oh!" Walking over to Celestia, Lyra snapped a sharp salute. "Ma'am! All sirens present and accounted for with only minimal social impact, ma'am!" Celestia's look made Lyra's face break into a grin. "Staccato was kidnapped on the train as we approached Vanhoover. I figured out a way to teleport myself, March, and the Royal Dragoons there directly to the sirens who'd taken her. They'd been using something to overwhelm Staccato, but my song broke through to her, we kicked the butts of the other sirens, and I blasted them away. Returning to Vanhoover, I introduced the town to their new friends, and we had a party."
Taking it all in, Celestia was more than happy with all elements of the report but one. "And why didn't you stay for a few days? This report could have waited."
Lyra's delivery stalled, and she closed her mouth with a snap. "But, wasn't this a mission to get the scroll from the sirens and make sure they were safe?"
"And to help you have a social life. I had hoped being Twilight's Guard captain would have let you see more ponies and relax a little, but you can't let go, even for an evening. Very well, you have returned that scroll and saved the day, hooray. Now you are confined to Ponyville for the next week. I want you to report to Pinkie Pie and offer her all the help you can to be her number one party assistant." A flick of her nose and Celestia shifted her mane from one side to the other. "You are, for the moment, banned from Canterlot. You have until evening to let everyone who needs to know, know, and then you will be taking a week off in Ponyville. Dismissed."
Lifting the scroll from her back, Lyra silently passed it over to Celestia with her magic, then turned. A whole week being forced to do nothing was panic-inducing. Rather than head for the same doors she came through, though, she instead aimed to the side exit.
The guards waiting on the other side of the door didn't crack wise the moment Lyra walked through, for which she was grateful. When the door closed behind her, though, she heard a snort. "What? Was I that bad at reading this mission?"
"Begging the captain's pardon," Bottle Rocket said, "but this was the same thing she tried to do with her former student, Twilight Sparkle."
It was another hammer-blow. "Ugh. I misread it. She sent me there to let the ponies get to know me and for me to get to know them, and I treated it like a race."
Rhodolite nodded. "You're going to be the next name that's discussed in the first figure out what your mission is actually for rather than what you think it is for talk that all new Royal Guard recruits get."
"At least you get a talk. I'm trying to make this up as I go along." Walking the halls to find Luna's room, Lyra was relieved to see two bat ponies waiting outside her door. Approaching, she asked, "Is the princess in?"
Narrowing his eyes, Phil walked closer to Lyra and reached out with a wing claw to prod one of her wings. "Does your sister and mother know?" The nod he got back from Lyra made him laugh. "You're a weird one, mate, but I can't say much on that score. Head in, she's expecting you."
When the latest alicorn opened the door, stepped past them, and closed it again, the other bat pony narrowed her eyes at Phil. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"Yeah, nah. She's all good, Pear." Ignoring the other bat pony's raised eyebrow, Phil got back in position and relaxed. It was going to be a long afternoon.
Inside the muted chambers, Lyra had to wait for her eyes to adjust before she spotted Luna. "Your Highness," Lyra said and bowed her head low. "You were expecting me?"
"You sent my train back early. Why?" Luna was leaning against her writing desk, a stack of paperwork awaiting her perusal while she instead read the recent train news. Beside her was Lyra's bass guitar.
"They'd been put in enough danger already. The enemy sirens had proven they were perfectly happy to attack civilians, and by sending the train back, I could protect them—and remove temptation." The memory of the spear, its enchantment attuned to her magic, made Lyra shiver. "I have plenty of power without resorting to one of those weapons."
Nodding, understanding completely, Luna closed her eyes and sent out a rush of her second source's magic—the resonance in Lyra was immediate and welcoming. "Tia is upset because you gained emotive magic before you found a single one of hers. I hope she isn't too hard on you."
"She's upset?" The logic fit, but Lyra had never even thought that Celestia could have such an emotion as envy. "Because I have your—"
"And Discord's," Luna said.
"Right. You and Discord—and Twilight's…" Lifting a hoof up, Lyra planted it firmly in the middle of her forehead. "Do you suppose, if Cadance had a magic source of her own, I'd be stupid enough to have gotten that before spending enough time with Celestia to get hers?"
"And you were one of her special students, too."
Slumping to the floor, Lyra groaned. "I've not only been an idiot, I've been a bad student."
"What has she sentenced you to? Hard labor?"
Rolling to her back, her armor making protesting sounds at the treatment, Lyra looked up at Luna with a smile. "Hardly labor at all. I'll be spending a week helping Pinkie Pie. Organizing parties and baking aren't punishment, but she knows I'd rather be running myself ragged trying to do other things."
"It wouldn't be a punishment if you got to do what you wanted. Here's your guitar. It makes strange sounds." Levitating Lyra's bass over to her, Luna was surprised when Lyra took it and settled on the edge of the bed with her. "What are you—?"
"Emotive, harmony, friendship, and maybe even some chaos." A small bit of magic was all Lyra needed to work the amplifier in the bass, and then she started to strum. It was a simple tune at first, just a few chords with some canceled notes here and there, but as she felt out what the music wanted to be, she got some slapping and plucking too until the tune was bouncing around the room.
Luna could have melted into the song. Her ears turned sideways and she let her eyes flutter closed so she could experience the music and magic mixed together. An alicorn, musically inclined and charged with the sources of magic that fueled creative arts, was beyond the merely physical manifestations of music and existed on a level of inspiration unsurpassed. A traitorous little thought in the back of Luna's head whispered, A thousand years lost is a small price to pay to experience this.
Only when the song finished could Luna finally agree with that thought. She sighed, breaking the silence left in the room with her own exaggerated breath. "If you'd played that for Tia, she probably would have been lenient."
"Maybe I'll play for her one day, but until then, you might want to get some practice in." Hovering the guitar to Luna, Lyra smirked and stood up. "I'll be back in a week to see how you've gotten on." As she walked for the door again, Lyra stopped. "How did you get my bass back? The train won't be here for—"
"You locked it in a dark drawer. I knew exactly where it was and thought you might like it with you."
Smiling, Lyra nodded to that and felt a little relaxed that such control was something still beyond her. "Thanks, but I think it's going to take me some time to be able to listen that closely to the sources of magic."
With that, and an acknowledging nod from Luna, Lyra made her way out of the royal chambers. She looked at Phil, ignored his big grin, and walked off down the hall. A mental list took form quickly. She'd let the Guard and her parents know her "assignment," and then leave a note in her townhouse in case Scootaloo or Sweetie went there looking for her.
The ride to Ponyville, on the train, was both relaxing and annoying for Lyra. She could have easily teleported, but knowing that she'd actually upset Celestia hurt, and it stole a little of the excitement from her victory.
Scootaloo banked hard on the outside edge of the turn, her wingtip a span behind Silver Zoom. It wasn't easy, given she was having to fly faster than the others, and she was so focused on following Silver Zoom perfectly that she was a little surprised to see the ground coming up under their group. Timed with the others, she landed on the field perfectly and gave her wings a few extra flaps to straighten her feathers before folding them.
"We might have to change your nickname, Stumble." Soarin walked up to the wing of pegasi, Spitfire at his side. "Nice pattern, everypony. The commander has a special job for you. We have a newbie coming in today. I want you to linger high up, then dive at zero-down. Pull up just before hitting them and leave them in a smoke-field. Got it?"
It wasn't uncommon for a little hazing like that—stuff that hurt nopony and showed off the precision flying of the Wonderbolts to a special guest. Scootaloo hadn't been with the 'Bolts long enough to see more than her own such treatment, but it had been fun to have a bunch of great fliers show off on her first day here. She snapped a salute as she slotted into the rear takeoff position.
One by one they took off with Surprise in the lead. This was her wing, after all, and she took point. Each of the ponies behind her had to speed up to reach their assigned position, with the last being Scootaloo on the far edge. "Wing, hit a seventy-five, keep your wings working and let's see that flight magic in five beats!"
Scootaloo counted the beats of Surprise's wings, not her own. As the fifth beat came down, each of them tilted upward, beating their wings and feeding magic through them in steadily increasing amounts until all were flying in perfect formation behind Surprise. When Surprise leveled off, each of them followed suit and reduced their magic output.
Wings still, apart from the odd flick of a feather or two, Surprise's eyes were scanning the ground below. An old trick, she waited for Soarin's wings to ruffle before she gave the call to dive. "Crash-dive! Aim for the blue mare's six, then pull hard and use whatever you got to keep in formation and on me. Now!"
With her goggles on, Scootaloo was focused on two things: keeping in the right position relative to Silver and waiting for Surprise's signal to pull up. She was so focused on the pair she didn't even notice who the pony they were buzzing was until the fly-by was over and they were pulling off, smokers pouring dark clouds out behind them. "That was Rainbow Dash!"
"Yeah!" Silver was, himself, still focused on his position on Surprise's right wing, but he could deal with that as second nature now. "The commander was finally happy with her physical shape and had the okay for a civilian hire."
Even with the high-speed part of their stunt over, it still wasn't easy to hear, but Scootaloo got the gist of it. "So she's joining?"
"Yeah."
They followed Surprise in a wide curve, shutting down their smokers as they reached the ground. Soarin approached them with his clipboard. "Okay, nice work there. Commander was happy with it."
"Spitfire, happy?" Surprise asked.
"Yeah, Slowpoke, she was frowning less." Soarin waited for the other ponies to stop laughing. "Okay, okay. Calm down. New assignments. We have a show in a few days, and we're a 'bolt short. That's how the commander got Rainbow in. That means we need to train her up fast. Slowpoke, you and Sideways will be taking her through the routine. I've got Spitfiretoo swapping to this wing to put the rest of you through your drills."
"Blaze is stepping up to sergeant?" Surprise asked.
"Word is, Stumble is the first of many we're going to have coming up from the Guard. Don't spread it, but the E.U.P. is expanding with all this new action on our borders, and that means the Guard wants better comms. Until the new telephone network can be expanded to cover the whole country, there'll still be a need for the fastest fliers in Equestria." It warmed Soarin to his core to see the rest of the Wonderbolts stand a little taller at that. "And that also means that we'll be taking a few more civilian 'Bolts to fill in when we're on duty."
Nodding her head, Surprise asked, "Does she have a nickname yet?"
"Nope. Everypony who has ever worn the uniform has screwed up at least once in the first week, and I doubt even Rainbow Dash will be an exception. Stumble, you come from the same town as her. Anything crazy we should keep an eye out for?"
Soarin's question made all eyes turn to Scootaloo, who was still reaching up to lift her goggles free. "Uh, headstrong, kinda do-her-own-thing, and if there's a way to expand her ego, she'll go for it."
Silver Zoom elbowed Scootaloo. "You just described every single Wonderbolt ever."
"I'll send Spitfiretoo over as soon as she arrives. Take a break for a few, but don't go too far." With that, Soarin checked his clipboard and saw that Blaze should be working on her endurance. Heading to their running track, his mind raced as he tried to remember what he'd seen Rainbow do at the one Gala he'd seen her at.
"Better keep your wings limber," Surprise said, nodding to Silver as they started walking off to the dormitory. "We're going to need to keep her focused on staying tight and working in a wing. Do you think you can fly third so she stays between us?"
"You're asking if I can hold my spot in a formation, despite having the pony I'm meant to follow out of position? Come on, Slowpoke, who do you take me for?" Silver snorted and shook his head. "Only reason I don't push for sergeant myself is that you need a good second."
Nodding, Surprise checked both ways on the field they used to take-off from before they crossed it. "If we're getting more recruits, we'll need more trainers—more sergeants."
"You'll have a fight on your hooves if you want to make me sergeant soon. You know who Stumble's parents are, right?"
Surprise didn't stop until they were past the field, but she looked at Silver with a raised eyebrow. "Have you been digging into things best left undug?"
"It's no secret. I asked a friend who works admin at the training center in Canterlot." It was hard not to be defensive, but Silver didn't sweat it.
"I'm having a premonition," Surprise said. "It's somepony— No! Someponies important. Two names are coming to me..."
Silver groaned at the melodramatic tone. "You could have—"
"Captain Lyra Heartstrings and Captain Sweetie Drops?" Surprise asked.
The knowing grin on his sergeant's face made Silver narrow his eyes. "Okay, yeah. How did you find out?"
"So, when Princess Luna's school first opened, and they needed some volunteer trainers, I put my name in. Some really good kids there, and a great filly named Scootaloo. Anyway, the two ponies who set up the school for the princess were Lyra and Sweetie." Shrugging her shoulders and heading to the barracks where Spitfire and Rainbow were inside, Surprise continued. "Then there was Lyra's training for a stupid race."
"Should we head in?"
"Nah. Commander will know we're out here. Besides, she'll be having a great time yelling at every little thing the newbie does wrong. You know how she is?"
Spitfire walked out of the barracks to find the two trainers she'd asked Soarin to find. "Hey, nice timing Slowpoke, Sideways. Newbie is still inside getting ready. Hope she's not too much of a hoofful. If you can get her flying in formation by the end of the day, there'll be a commendation in it for both of you."
"Commander?" Surprise asked. When she got a nod to continue, she went on, "When will we get time to practice too?"
"If you can wear out the newbie, you get the rest of the day." Walking to the runway field, Spitfire checked both ways, waited for Soarin, and then crossed over safely. Spotting Blaze's group, she walked over to ask how their training was going—only to notice something from the corner of her eye.
Rainbow felt great. She was now a real Wonderbolt and, even if she had gotten lost in the dormitory, she'd found a side door and rushed right over to the field. "Hey, look out!" It was already too late. Soarin and his wingman were rushing down the field for a low-pass and, although Rainbow dove out of the way, she still got clipped and thrown through the air—right into a trash bin.
Scootaloo, who'd watched the whole event with growing shock, could already hear the muttering of the other Wonderbolts. It was Fleetfoot, though, who finally opened her mouth to speak.
"More like Rainbow Crash." It would get Fleetfoot free drinks for a week. The laughter that bubbled around her cemented the name as Rainbow's nickname among the Wonderbolts.
It stung. It stung Rainbow hard to hear her childhood name used against her again by ponies she admired so much. "Hey! You guys buzzed me on purpose!"
"Not quite. You forgot rule number one, Newbie." Spitfire raised an eyebrow at the other Wonderbolts present.
"Always check both ways before crossing the runway!"
Scootaloo's mouth snapped closed, not even realizing she'd chanted the words along with her squad. Thankfully, Blaze seemed to get some kind of signal Scootaloo barely caught Spitfire giving, and gave the order to call their squad away and leave Rainbow to Spitfire to handle.
With two days left before the show, Scootaloo was comfortable that she knew her part. That wouldn't stop them spending two more days drilling on it.
The first night in the Wonderbolts' barracks had been a bit weird for Scootaloo, but given she'd spent weeks in the barracks in Canterlot and then time at Luna's school too, it was more that everyone in the room was older than her, than anything else.
Now, though, she was used to it. Some time had seen her settled in and comfortable among her squad and the greater Wonderbolts too. There were two full squads of regulars, while they could pull in reserves as they needed them. What made it super easy to relax in the barracks, though, was training as a Wonderbolt was hard work. Every day was spent flying as hard and accurately as she could, so that each night she'd shower, chow down, and then collapse in her bed—completely exhausted mentally and physically.
Tonight, though, Rainbow Dash was in the room, and while Scootaloo didn't have quite the fawning adoration for the mare that she used to, it was still someone she actually liked. And, Scootaloo could tell Rainbow was hurting over something.
Climbing out of her bed, Scootaloo walked across the darkened hall to where she could feel Rainbow tossing and turning simply from the air currents her covers made. "Rainbow, come outside and talk." When the movement stopped, she added, "That's an order, Newbie."
This time Scootaloo heard the covers tossed aside and walked slowly for the side door of the dorm. When she was outside, and heard the door close behind her, she asked, "So, spill it. What's up?"
"Nothing."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes, though in the darkness she wasn't sure if Rainbow could see it. Gathering up all the courage and stick my nose where it's neededness of Lyra, she said, "Don't give me that. I know a pony who's hurting, and you're definitely that. So, one Wonderbolt to another, tell me what's eating you."
It wasn't nothing, and Rainbow realized that Scootaloo wasn't the little filly she could brush-off anymore. "This. All of this. It's nothing like I thought it would be."
"What did you think it would be?" Scootaloo kept from saying the obvious, that it was probably harder work than Rainbow usually did, because they both knew it was that.
"I don't know, but I didn't— I didn't think they'd call me names."
Stiffening when she heard a sob, Scootaloo stepped closer and put a wing over Rainbow's back—or at least she hoped it was her back. "What happened?"
Once the tears came, it was hard to fight them off. Just like when she was a filly. Rainbow struggled to speak and explain everything. "When I— I know I was supposed to check before crossing, but I was really excited and then— They called me Rainbow Crash, just like—like when I was a filly."
Rainbow had never seemed so small to Scootaloo before. She sat down and pulled her into a tighter hug. "The nickname? Rainbow, they didn't know that. We all have stupid nicknames."
The answer was so far from what Rainbow had expected that she froze and listened. "Huh?"
"Stumble. That's mine. It happened on my second day. I'd been flying and hadn't had enough to eat the previous evening or breakfast—because I felt so sick with worry that I wouldn't fit in—and Hangnail, that's Cloud Bank, told me my blood sugar was low. How I looked, wobbling and almost falling over, earned me that name." The memory alone was enough for Scootaloo to spend a part of every day checking over her energy intake and ensuring she wasn't going to bottom out again. "It's a thing we all go through."
"What about"—Rainbow sneezed out the gunk that'd been gathering in her nose—"what about Soarin?"
"Clipper."
"Surprise?"
"Slowpoke."
"Silver Zoom?"
"Sideways. Look, ask them about their nicknames. They're all stupid accidents they had in their first week, when they tried to show off how awesome they were." Scootaloo could feel Rainbow's shuddering had stopped. She gave her friend a squeeze with a wing. "Crash is a pretty cool one, actually, though a bit more obvious than some. You should ask Spitfire what hers is, and the story behind it."
"F-Fleetfoot?"
"Flatfoot. In the morning, when she walks past you, jump out of the way and pretend she stepped on your hoof."
It was all too much. The weight of her dream turning into a nightmare had eased. It was weird, for Rainbow, to have light shed upon the situation in the dead of night, but she wrapped a wing and a foreleg around Scootaloo and hugged her. "Thanks."
"It's—"
"Don't say it's nothing, because it's everything. I couldn't take another day of—of this. Well, that. You know what I mean. Every time somepony said Crash, it would remind me of when I was a foal. I couldn't think straight and…" It had been hard to talk, to say what she was feeling, but the darkness had helped; so had the hug. "Thanks."
"Hey, we're both from Ponyville. We gotta stick together." Holding out her wing to get a high five, Scootaloo realized it was too dark to be seen and folded it back to her side. "Are you ready to sleep now?"
"How can I sleep? I'm a Wonderbolt!" Rainbow said it with the same kind of energy she'd heard Twilight use when talking about new books.
"Well, Crash, come on. If there's one thing Guardponies know how to do, it's wear themselves out running."
Rainbow barely saw the movement of Scootaloo running out from the deeper darkness of the area around the barracks. Giving chase, she found Scootaloo already running for the end of the field and had to break into a high-gallop.
When Rainbow caught up with her, Scootaloo laughed. "Come on, Crash, you can run faster than that!" She poured on the speed, adding a little pegasus magic to the mix, and forced Rainbow to stretch out and run.
And, run they did.
When Rainbow woke up the next morning, she was stiff, sore, and excited. She jumped out of her bed moments before the sun rose and froze. The memory of the previous night filled a place inside that had been hollowed out by her first day in the Wonderbolts.
"Hey, Crash, sleep well?" Fleetfoot asked as she straightened her bed.
"Yeah. I did. Thanks!" Making sure to get her bed done in time, then look busy while loitering around the foot of it, she waited for Fleetfoot to walk past and then cried out, fell over, and grabbed her hoof. "Hey!"
All the quiet ponies who were rising turned and looked at Fleetfoot. She froze, looked down at Rainbow, at the way she grabbed her hoof, and felt a blush start to rise.
"Hey, Flatfoot?" Scootaloo asked, bumping against Fleetfoot's off-side. "Might want to be careful around Crash. Don't want to ruin her chances of performing by stomping her hoof."
Looking from Scootaloo to Rainbow, Fleetfoot couldn't miss the big grins on their faces. For a moment she felt a little annoyed, then she remembered that she'd been the one to give Rainbow her nickname. "Nice one, Crash. Did Stumble put you up to this?"
"Yeah." Scootaloo smiled as Rainbow took Fleetfoot's wing and used it to pull herself up. "Did you know Rainbow when she was younger?"
"First time I met her she was saving 'Bolts from becoming pancakes. Why?" Fleetfoot tucked her wing back to her side once Rainbow was on her hooves. "Something bugging you?"
"Not anymore." For Rainbow, that was all she needed to hear. Fleetfoot had come up with the name and, as Scootaloo had said, it had nothing to do with her foalhood issues. "So, uh, who am I training with today?"
"Unless the commander tells you otherwise, you'll be with Slowpoke and Sideways again." Fleetfoot grinned at the look of surprise on Rainbow's face. "You know which is which?"
Rainbow nodded, pulling on her uniform. "Surprise is Slowpoke, Silver Zoom is Sideways."
"That's Corporal Silver Zoom and Sergeant Surprise, Crash. Nicknames you can use to bypass rank, but if you say their name, you should stick to using their rank too."
Scootaloo chimed in. "Flatfoot, she doesn't know ranks yet. She's not here through the Guard, remember?"
"R-Right. Yeah. Sorry, Crash. I'll inform the commander that she needs to set some time aside for you to learn the command structure and all our ranks." It pained Fleetfoot to forget, but she was glad to have something to show for it. "Nice work, Corporal Scootaloo."
"So, uh. Why Flatfoot?" Rainbow asked as she pulled her head through the end of her suit and shimmied a little to get it smooth over her coat.
"Stomped on the commander's hoof on my first day. She shouted at me for nearly two hours, then admitted I'd broken her hoof and an academy record." The latter was actually something Fleetfoot was proud of. No Wonderbolt had screwed up faster. "Come on, both of you, or we'll miss breakfast. And, Stumble, you don't want that again, do you?"
Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo replied, "No, Sergeant."
"Remember, if you feel woozy, what do you do?"
"Take a swig of the rocket fuel." The doctor had drummed it into Scootaloo. Her frame was a little small for her age, but her magic output was high for any pegasus. "And, then try to find some actual food. This would be easier if I could hide cupcakes in my mane, like Pinkie."
"Who's 'Pinkie'?" Fleetfoot asked.
Rainbow got a chance to laugh at Fleetfoot. "You'll meet her in Ponyville. She'll be the mare shouting the loudest and carrying more cake than anypony could carry."
"Does she carry around any pies?"
Shuddering, Rainbow shook her head. "Nah, not unless she sees me coming. Why?"
"Hook her up with Soarin and find out." Leading the way to the mess hall, Fleetfoot dropped into her sergeant role and started drilling both Scootaloo and Rainbow on the upcoming show. In truth, of course, she used it to remind herself what routines they had planned.
"What is this stuff?" Rainbow asked as they walked to a table with a bowl of porridge and a cup of coffee each.
"This is like a risotto, but they're using fish stock and vegetables to make it with oats. You get used to it." Taking a long pull of her coffee, Scootaloo let out a sigh. "And this is bliss. Eat up, it's pretty good, and high in protein and carbohydrates. Everything a pegasus needs to spend hours of their morning flying hard."
Rainbow gulped down the first mouthful and blinked a few times at the spiciness of the porridge. "I didn't eat so much fish in Ponyville. Big Mac would give me one a week, out of what he caught for Rarity's cat, but is this really daily— What?"
"You might want to talk to the chef about changing your diet, if you don't want to be having fish for two meals a day." Picking up her own spoon, Scootaloo dug in, the savory porridge filling her empty stomach and building her up to fuel her morning. "I can't wait until we visit Ponyville and I get to catch up with my moms and everypony again."
"Oh, yeah, you've been at this a while now, right?"
"Mmhmm." Not long, of course, but Scootaloo had learned the ropes, and the ropes involved a lot of flying. "You'll settle in too. Don't worry."
Gulping down two more mouthfuls of porridge, Rainbow worked up the courage to say, "Thanks. For last night, I mean. I felt terrible and you— You're a great friend, Scootaloo." She could remember when Scootaloo was a little filly, and idolized her, then they'd become more distant and now—now they were living their dreams together.
The night before a big show was hardly the time to be filling the head of a promising new flier with anything but the stunts that they'd been training on, but this wasn't something Spitfire thought would throw anypony off their game. "Come in!" she ordered, when she heard the knock at her door.
Scootaloo marched in, showing no hint of worry or confusion, was a relief for Spitfire. She nodded toward the seat. "Take a seat, Corporal."
Despite preferring to stand, Scootaloo did as instructed. She waited while Spitfire finished some paperwork, acutely aware of the term hurry up and wait. Eventually, though, Spitfire pushed the last of her paperwork aside and looked up at Scootaloo. "Commander?"
"You know I like to keep as close to my command as possible—I bunk in the barracks like everypony else." Spitfire was taking her time working up to her point—a luxury she usually didn't have. "And I'm a light sleeper. That's the kind of teamwork and support I expect from Wonderbolts—and then some. You did good."
Scootaloo didn't even realize she was holding her breath. She exhaled and took another before trusting her voice to say, "Thank you, Commander."
"It's an old tradition. When I look in the logs, everypony has had a nickname since General Flash Docker Magnus. I don't know the history of that nickname, but I wish I could find out." Spitfire got up from her chair, and was glad to see Scootaloo stop shifting in hers and rise too. "We're going to get more new blood. The 'Bolts, right now, are heavy on younger fliers; more of us below twenty-five than above it. As you know, we're going to draw new blood not only from the Guard, but also civilian fliers.
"I want a whole wing of civvies, with some top-notch leadership, before this time next year. That means we need to streamline the fitting-in part. You've seen how Crash has had to adapt, and she was a huge fan of us and knew most of us by name. There will be more ponies who don't know the binding of purpose that the Guard gives, and they'll have the same reaction to a bad nickname as Crash did.
"So, when we have our new intake, I want you to be a trainer for them—Guard and civilian. Keep an eye on them when they get their nickname. If things are going badly, handle it or find Hangnail."
Spitfire waited for Scootaloo to salute and acknowledge the command. "And, Stumble, this doesn't make you a sergeant. Don't go putting on airs over this."
"Sir! No, Sir!" Scootaloo saw Spitfire's mouth pull into a half smile. "There'll be a new barracks, right?"
"Unless we start installing bunk-beds, yeah. The 'Bolts are going to grow a lot. I'll keep the current barracks as the main one, for—" Cutting herself short, Spitfire raised an eyebrow. "Tell me what you're thinking, Stumble."
"That you're reinforcing the Guard and non-Guard status. If you're going to build an extra barracks, build a third for that extra wing—and have the different wings bunk together. Top wing bunks in the old barracks, and make a contest of it." It wasn't hard to see Spitfire liking this. Scootaloo knew Wonderbolts were already competitive when on-base. "A regularly scheduled flying contest, not directly against each other but style and time based, would be a great incentive."
"Yeah. I like that. Good thinking, Stumble. How do you think Crash will handle tomorrow?" Walking to the door, Spitfire opened it and led the way into her outer office.
"She might try to show off a bit, but I think Slowpoke and Sideways have her reined-in. About a twenty-percent chance of it."
Walking along, leading the way to the mess, Spitfire asked, "Would it be worth giving her one more good yelling-at to discourage, or would that make it worse?"
Scootaloo couldn't help grinning at that. "I'll talk to her, but a good yell won't hurt. She needs to get used to your everyday voice."
It got a laugh from Spitfire as they walked into the mess together. She nodded toward one of the free tables and led the way over.
"There was one other thing. I don't know if Flatfoot brought it up, but non-Guard newbies might have trouble handling the food. It's a lot of fish." Scootaloo didn't shy away from the mild fish curry, loading up her bowl with that, some rice, and a disc of puffy roti.
Remembering an earlier report by Fleetfoot, Spitfire replied, "She mentioned it. Not going for the spicy stuff?" Filling her own bowl with the mild-spiced curry too, Spitfire knew full-well why none of the fliers were having the hot option.
"I am not that crazy. Stumble's not the worst nickname, and I am sure everypony would make an exception and let me have a new one if I ate that and had a problem tomorrow." Following Spitfire back to the table, Scootaloo got comfortable on the bench before she started dipping the bread into her butter fish.
"In a year, Stumble, bring up getting a promotion to sergeant." It wasn't just that Scootaloo's parents were who they were that made Spitfire eager to promote the mare, but all the great qualities she recognized: compassion, leadership, and a tenacity that had led a flightless filly to join the Wonderbolts. That she was exceptionally smart, too, helped.
Rainbow Dash knew that her friend, Pinkie Pie, loved making up words. The strange thing was they were useful words, and one dominated Rainbow's mind now.
"What was that, Crash?" Soarin asked, flying ahead and to the right of her.
"Nervouscited, Clipper." The names were easier to use even as her own nickname stung less and less.
"Huh? Bit louder!"
"Nervouscited!" Saying the word louder made it buzz in Rainbow's head even more. Cloudsdale was parked at Canterlot, and they had another show the next day there, but for today they'd flown hard to reach Ponyville and it was exhilarating to have all these pegasi that could keep up with her and even push her to fly faster.
Taking an eye off Soarin's wingtip for a moment, Rainbow spotted Scootaloo on the other side of the formation Soarin was leading. Like the rest of them, she wore the tight flight-suit of a Wonderbolt. At first her feelings about Scootaloo—Stumble—had been complicated.
Rainbow could remember the stupid magic show she'd gotten worked up at, and only found out that Scootaloo was meant to be part of the show after already having made a fool of herself. It was one of Rainbow's bigger regrets, losing the admiration of the filly, but now they had something amazing—they were both Wonderbolts.
And that was enough. Enough to be friends and enough to be the best of fliers together. Well, she wouldn't admit it out loud, but Scootaloo's training had given her a slight edge, but Rainbow was still the only pony alive who could do a sonic rainboom, and that mattered—but mostly for her pride.
They had been flying at a slight nose-down for a while, gaining more speed by the second, but Soarin gave the signal that a dive was coming. Three. Two. One. She tipped along with the rest of the wing, in perfect formation with Spitfire's wing, and shot toward the ground.
Halfway down, their speed increasing, Soarin gave them the signal to fire their first smoke charges. Rainbow pushed a little of her magic into the tube under her left wing and started its plume of deep blue issuing forth.
Pulling out of the dive and coming in low over the field set up for the show, the Wonderbolts split into the next part of their routine.
It went off without a hitch. Rainbow could tell she still had a lot to learn, but taking Soarin's lead and signals, she was able to manage the flying and even come in with the rest of the 'Bolts for a perfect landing.
A strange shiver of what might have been ran through Rainbow as she flipped back her hood along with the other fliers. What kind of stunt would she have pulled to prove that she was a Wonderbolt, if she'd never found out her nickname was just that? "The stupidest kind," Rainbow murmured.
And that's when Rainbow got blindsided by something pink. She was knocked off her hooves and caught by a hurricane with a mane. "Pinkie!"
Hugging Rainbow, Pinkie Pie laughed and launched into her questions. "How do you fly so fast? Where does the smoke come from? Why aren't you answering? What's the meaning of life? Do you weigh as much as a duck?"
"Slow down, Pinkie. Did you like our show?" The best question defense, at least with Pinkie Pie, was a good question offense. So, Rainbow launched into her own to distract her friend from some of the weirder questions.
Lyra didn't crash-tackle Scootaloo the same way Pinkie had done for Rainbow, but she did get a good hug before backing off and giving her a once-over. "Well, it's not armor, but you're looking good in that uniform, Scoots."
Unable to keep her wings from fluffing a little at the praise, Scootaloo replied with, "Yeah! It feels great to do some serious flying, but I didn't join the 'Bolts only to fly shows. I've been helping the commander with new recruits since she wants to expand the Wonderbolts soon. She, uh, told me I should make an appointment in a year to talk to her about promotion. Is that normal?"
"If I had a recruit under me that showed initiative, and I was looking to expand my command, I'd encourage them too." Not having worn her own armor for the show, Lyra felt oddly light and under-dressed—something she tried to berate herself into ignoring to little success. "How'd Rainbow shake down in the Wonderbolts?"
"Usual hazing, which is what the commander wants me to help her with but, after that calmed down, she's put her nose to the grindstone. You saw the result." Stiffening when she saw Spitfire walk over to stand beside Lyra, Scootaloo saluted.
"At ease, Corporal. Go about your day. I think Soarin has set up an autographing line over there." Spitfire returned the salute with practiced ease and then nodded to Lyra. "Enjoy our little show, Captain?"
"Not as much as another captain." Lyra nodded toward where her wife had cornered three Wonderbolts and was doing her best not to act the rabid fanfilly—and failing utterly. "Sometimes I wish it was her that got the wings."
"I heard you got some training with them and are cleared to fly?" Watching as Lyra stretched her wings out one at a time, Spitfire took careful note of the muscles that showed beneath the otherwise fluffy feathers. "Good preening work; that's usually the hardest thing to teach a pony who's unfamiliar with feather care."
"Yeah. Honey Glaze said I should be able to fly, and I've been doing little bits here and there." Fishing for an invitation, Lyra could only hope that Spitfire would take her on. "I guess I should see a pony about some more long-term training to—"
"Inform your princess you'll be getting specialized training and head on up to Cloudsdale in two days. Dawn, if possible. And hide that thing on your head." Lyra's antics of getting several princesses trained incognito hadn't gone completely under the radar. Spitfire had needed to extract it from her staff sergeant with alternating shouts and gifts. When Lyra looked at her in shock, she knew the information was fact.
"You know?"
"I'm the commander of the second best information-gathering division of the E.U.P. Guard. Of course I know. Just make sure you get your butt up there and I'll see you get to spend some time flying." Spitfire could already imagine how things were going to go. The truth, though, was that it would help her kill two birds with one stone—teaching her how to fly right, and giving Scootaloo a chance to prod at the hazing ritual.
Snapping to attention, Lyra stared at a point above Spitfire's head. "Yes, Com—"
Flicking her wing out, Spitfire shoved Lyra's hoof down. "Knock it off. If the others see you, they'll get suspicious."
"You know I'm not being secretive about these anymore, right?" Flicking her own wings only a little before ruffling them back down, Lyra smiled a little wider. "You want me to poke at something?"
Spitfire groaned and nodded. "The hazing. To hear Scootaloo talk about it, it almost cost us Rainbow Dash in the 'Bolts. With opening up for another wing, we're going to be taking more civilians in—and I don't want them to be lost because somepony couldn't tone down the fun."
Lyra tapped her chin and asked, "So you want me to arrive as a civilian?"
"Can you pull it off?"
"I might give myself away. Old habits die hard. What if I was a civilian who let their reserves training lapse? That would mean I have an excuse for any Guard habits."
"That will work. You can fly a bit, right? Or will we add in that you were injured and are recovering?"
Nodding, Lyra tried out a limp, then shook her head. "I can fly, but I'm not exactly the best for my age. The real problem will be not letting it slip to Scoots."
"She'll figure you out in no time. Might as well tell her. That mare is too smart by half to be a corporal. Why didn't you take her into your division so you could promote her to sergeant and bounce her over to me?"
"Scoots wouldn't have gone for it. Besides, if I'd had her and her special somepony in the same room, neither would make it past corporal."
"Wait. That stallion that sticks to Princess Twilight's side is Scootaloo's…?" Spitfire found herself nodding. "I can see that." She cleared her throat. "Just so you know, and I know you won't ask; neither you nor Sweetie Drops' being her parents have any bearing on my decision."
Lyra didn't even realize there was a knot in her stomach until that statement unraveled it. She nodded and replied, "Thanks. I could never have asked that; you're right."
"Hey, it's not like I wouldn't consider any pony you raised to be a pillar of ethics and outside-the-box thinking, but it's still pretty cool to see the two ponies I helped get together doing such great things."
It took Lyra a moment to remember that it had been Spitfire who'd followed Cadance's request to put on a private show for Sweetie Drops so many years ago. "I'd forgotten that. Is it wrong that I'd like to be the pegasus flying past her that she fixates on?"
"That's almost half of what being a Wonderbolt is all about—if you ask any of the stallions. I think you're pretty safe to picture that since she's your wife. Anyway, you have your orders. I'll go take somepony's position in the autograph line."
"One last thing," Lyra asked. "Would you consider non-pegasi for the Wonderbolts?"
"You're the second pony to ask me that. I'll tell you what I told Captain Stiff Peaks: 'If they can perform to the same standards as I would expect of any Wonderbolt, I'll pick them up in a wingbeat.'" Taking her leave, Spitfire left a grinning Lyra to one of her favorite duties. Slipping behind the desk, she nodded to Fleetfoot. "Have a break. Now, who am I making this out to— Scootaloo, you're supposed to be back here, not asking for autographs!"
Grinning for all she was worth, Scootaloo prodded at the poster. "Make it out to Sweetie Drops."
"If you want to do more training, I'm all for that." Twilight lowered her book further to look Lyra over. "The disguise is a good one. Did Trixie help with it?"
"Nopony makes better illusions than her. If she'd only sign up for the Guard, I could retire since she could twist any villain into knots with her hallucinations. Also, Twilight, thanks." Lyra had made a promise with herself to be open with her feelings where Twilight was concerned, and right now a hug was the only way of showing sufficient amounts of friendship to match what was in her heart. "You've always got my back."
"Of course I do, and speaking of that, we need to talk seriously about something when you are done learning how to impress your wife." The teasing tone, Twilight was pleased to see when they pulled apart, had put a big grin on Lyra's face. "It's not urgent."
"You've got me curious now, Twilight, but what's the gist of it?"
"As you know, I put Spike on the job of collecting every book he could. Copies were fine—but I want a complete library. There are two things I have discovered in some more esoteric books. There is a land known as Skyros, that doesn't appear on any map…"
"And?"
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both came from there—along with another alicorn. I don't have details, or even a name, but it is clear there were three." Biting her lower lip, Twilight looked at her own hooves. "I don't know how to ask either of them about it. It's like—"
When Twilight didn't finish her sentence, Lyra took a guess, "… when Celestia concealed Luna's existence?"
Nodding, Twilight struggled to maintain any semblance of composure. "It was hard to trust her after that, but I managed. Why would she have hidden another alicorn?"
"I think we should ask Luna."
"I'll ask Luna—you go and get yelled at for a few weeks. It feels wrong going around Celestia like this, but"—Twilight closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed—"it could be similar to the curse from Nightmare Moon."
"Twi—"
"I know Nightmare Moon wasn't a completely different pony from Luna, but it helps to think of it that way." It was a topic they'd gone over before, but Twilight couldn't visualize the gentle, caring mare Luna as Nightmare Moon. "It's my problem, though, and I'll work through it eventually."
"We're all works in progress, Twi. A pretty awesome pony taught me that." Arguing, Lyra knew, would get neither of them anywhere. She decided to give her friend a hug.
The hug was, in Twilight's opinion, a good idea. She squeezed Lyra. "I know they don't talk about it, but I also know one day they'll move on and it will be up to us to keep this whole world from imploding."
"Yeah. We gotta figure it out, though. I don't want a throne and all that, so you can handle that bit."
"What?!" Twilight pulled back and shook her head. "No way. I want to be a daring adventurer, charging around the country and dealing with friendship problems! Oh! Maybe I could become a pirate queen?"
"You can't. You've got a castle and a crown. Meanwhile, I have been looking at some great peglegs in Baltimare. They have an oak one that— Hey!" Lyra cut her gag short mostly because of Twilight poking her on the nose. "My nose is not for boops!"
"Boop!" Trying to get around Lyra's defenses, Twilight ended up teleporting to the side—only to get blocked again. "Oh, using magic? Two can play at this game."
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!"
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.
Lyra had done her best to be hands-off with the situation. Even though Twilight had planned to go to Wonderbolts HQ, fate had decreed that there was a friendship emergency and had dragged Rainbow along too.
Even when it seemed to all come crashing down, with both Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail looking to drop out, she'd not felt the pull to interfere. "They'll save the day."
Glaring at Lyra, Spitfire rolled her eyes. "They'd better, Washout. You want to know the stupidest part of all this?" She didn't actually want Lyra's nod, but was willing to make concessions to conversational norms. "I want Vapor Trail in the 'Bolts precisely for that technique of hers. We're a team, being able to support each other without compromising our own flying? She's a natural."
"What about Short Fuse?" Lyra asked.
Shaking her head, Spitfire hated saying the words. "Washout. You can't make up for that with skill—and don't get me wrong, he has skill, but being born like—"
"It's an injury. He was attacked by a monster that left him like that." The string of bad words Spitfire let loose would have blistered Lyra's ears if she weren't born and raised in Australia. "Is there anything that can be done?"
"Unless you can magic him up something, no. He's determined, has an attitude that could see him be the best, but he doesn't have the wings for it." Spitfire, now, felt worse. It was already bad seeing an otherwise good flier not make the grade because of how they were born, but this was the second time it had been something changing that stole a Wonderbolt from her. "Have you thought about taking him into the Friendship Guard?"
The question took Lyra by surprise, and this time she felt the touch of harmony prodding her to make a difference. "He'd need to go through the Guard." Seeing Spitfire's eyebrow rise, Lyra groaned. "You're right, but it'll take some doing. First, he needs to know he can't be a 'Bolt."
It was one thing to tell a cadet that they couldn't be a Wonderbolt right now, and another to tell them they would never be. Spitfire would be happy for that duty to fall to someone else. "If you lay that one on him, I'll help figure out a way through the Guard with minimal fuss."
"I can handle that myself, Tailstrike, but I'll help anyway." Holding out her hoof, Lyra got a clop when Spitfire met it with her own. "Come on; better now than later."
There was so much about a pegasus that Spitfire could fix with training. So long as they had two properly proportioned wings that worked, and the drive to become the best they could be, she would take them. "Have I ever said I hate turning down anypony?"
"I figured. Normally, you don't quit until the other pony does. You shout and blow your whistle all day to make everypony fight back against you and anypony that tells them they can't make it. Those with a heart or thick head will break through, those who don't walk away." Lyra's eye was on the sky above as they neared the edge of the field. "There he is."
Blowing hard on her whistle, Spitfire brought herself to full voice and shouted, "Get down here, Short Fuse!"
Banking over into a dive, Short Fuse could read faces well enough that his ire was rising before he touched down. Both Spitfire and the strange "pegasus" looked upset—and his last few days of training had told him what it would be. "I'm out?"
"Of the 'Bolts? Yeah, I—" Lyra widened her eyes at the flood of angry words. He was inventive and had bigger lungs than his size would hint at. "You're done with the language lesson?"
"No, but I don't care anymore." Turning and spreading his wings, Short felt something grab him—refusing to let him fly. "Hey, wha—?" He stopped. The weird thing about alicorn blindness was the moment when it was shattered. "You're a princess?"
Snorting, Lyra shook her head. "I should hope not. Not now and not ever. But I am looking for brave ponies who can help me in my most important mission. Do you know anyone who's brave enough to come back from being attacked by a vampire to join the Wonderbolts?"
The words hit Short like a jolt of lightning. His eyes widening, he found himself without an adequate curse for how he felt. "You were there— You were with the bat ponies when they found me and— You helped kill it?"
The stare on Short's face might have been directed her way, but Lyra could see he wasn't seeing her. "Yeah. I helped some friends find it. It shouldn't have ever been in Equest—" During her conversation, Lyra had released her grip on Short. Now he surprised her by rushing over and hugging her. Used to hugging a smaller pony. With one leg around his shoulder, she squeezed him against her. "Are you okay?"
The question broke Short out of his surprised show of thanks. "You didn't have wings back then!" he accused her.
"Ponies change. Turns out harmony needed another alicorn for something."
Without anything else to do but take her word for it, Short straightened back up and rubbed his eyes to dry them. "So, what are you doing here, then? It doesn't take an alicorn to kick somepony out of the Wonderbolts, right?"
"Hardly," Spitfire said, rejoining the conversation. "She has a job for you."
"A job? Wait, what do you do?" For the first time, Short took extra notice of Lyra beyond the wings and the horn. "And—uh—who are you?"
"Captain Lyra Heartstrings, commander of the Friendship Guard," Lyra said, bowing to Short. "And that's also the job I want you for. You're a powerful flier, you have guts and determination, but you don't fit the perfect image of a 'Bolt."
"Hey!" Spitfire and Short said at the same time.
"I think," Spitfire continued, "I'll head on over to the others so I can yell at them a bit. Give you some space."
Watching Spitfire leave, Short took a deep breath and turned back to Lyra. "So, I don't fit in here. What about it?"
"Have you thought about joining the Guard?" Lyra asked.
Glaring up at Lyra, Short snorted. "You think I can handle leadership and taking orders?"
"I think you could if they weren't stupid ones."
It got a laugh from Short. It was true that he had a problem with authority, but he'd hoped the Wonderbolts would see past it. "And what then? What's this Friendship Guard do that it could use another pegasus?"
"We don't have any pegasi yet. It'd be you, me, and my daughter's coltfriend." At the increasingly raised eyebrow, Lyra shrugged. "Firelance is a unicorn, I used to be a unicorn, so we have a spot for a pegasus or two. Do you know anypony else?"
Staring now, Short opened his mouth to say no but sighed and shook his head. "I do. I ran into her because she sounded like those bat ponies, but it turns out there's an island way down south where they speak like that too."
For Lyra, it didn't come as too much of a surprise, because she knew Scootaloo had an Australian accent before having a chance to contract it from her, but to meet another would be new. "Okay. Find her, if she’s willing, and enroll both your flanks in the Guard, do your training, and tell the sergeants you want to join the Friendship Guard."
"That's all? Sign my life away to the Guard for— Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You can resign any time you want. There's nothing that holds you in the Guard. You get a little more pay than everypony else, and you get some great armor." Lyra regretted letting Twilight talk her into not wearing it.
"What makes you think I can pass that if I failed here?" Despite himself, though, Short felt excitement. He had no idea what Friendship Guards did, but in a group of three—four if he could get Rolling Thunder—it would be easy to stand out.
"I've spent time training new Guardponies, and even wrote the book on unicorn training, but the one thing the E.U.P. Guard doesn't do? Kick anypony out who wants to be there. You'll learn to run until you can't talk, then you'll learn to do it until you can. They'll push you to do things you'll never believe you can do—until you do them. But they will not kick you out if you want to be there." For Lyra, it was a little odd giving such an inspirational speech, and she wouldn't have if not for the prod of harmony. "So, in?"
Given how he'd thrown himself into trying out for the Wonderbolts, Short didn't have to plan much to do the same for the Guard. He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I will be. How do I sign up for this training?"
"So sign up and, if your friend is willing, sign her up too. Tell the Guard Lyra sent you. That'll be enough to make them take you seriously." After months spent training with the Wonderbolts, and more time spent with Celestia freeing as many books as they could at Skyros, Lyra was hit with a bout of surprise that she couldn't remember when the next Guard intake would be. "They run training regularly, but until you can get in I have a place you both can crash at."
Snorting, Short said, "I guess meeting you really opens doors then."
It took a moment for Lyra to register the pun, but when it hit—it hit hard. She broke into laughter and, spotting Twilight, gave Short the best farewell she could. "I gotta get back to work. Don't forget to tell them I sent you."
Unsure whether to try to salute or hug Lyra, Short settled for doing his best to keep his legendary emotions in check. "Sure. I guess I'll see you after that?"
"I'll head down after we're done here to make sure you find somewhere to stay and get settled in." Lyra waved after Short with a wing and was happy to get a wave back from him. When she reached Twilight, she could see her friend had a suspicious look on her face. "What?"
"You. What have you done, Lyra?" When her question only made Lyra smile, Twilight closed her eyes. "Lyra? What have you done, Lyra?"
"Calm down. I have arranged to swell the numbers of your guard. We will be getting some pegasi." Falling in beside Twilight, Lyra walked with her. "But let's forget about that for now. How did your friendship mission go?"
"That's just it, it went great. We helped Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger establish a healthier friendship without co-dependence, and they're both graduating into Wonderbolts training. But what I can't figure out is why. What makes them so important?" It was enough that it had Twilight's wings twitching and her instinct was to find something to graph to display her utter annoyance at the nebulous concept.
"It sounds like they'll have an important job to do in the future."
Twilight froze, then slowly turned her head to look at Lyra. "You did not just play a because harmony card with me. You tell me right now this isn't some—some butterfly effect thing that will result in Equestria being saved or destroyed."
"I can't, Twilight. I was talking with Spitfire before about Short Fuse. He's failed, you know. He can keep up now, but with the style of flying the 'Bolts need, he won't be able to adapt. Then I felt it." Lyra held up her hoof to forestall Twilight's impending interruption. Then, before she continued, she lowered her hoof. "You know, ask."
"What does it feel like?"
Closing her eyes, Lyra coaxed the source of harmony that dwelled within her. She begged it, promised it she would always love it and follow it where it led, and it washed out and over Twilight. "A little like this."
Twilight simply nodded. "That's exactly what the map does through our cutie marks when it wants us to go on a mission for it. Not all of us have a direct link with harmony." She finished up by poking her tongue out. Then she stopped. "Wait, you got me sidetracked. Why them?"
Lyra opened her mouth.
"And don't tell me because harmony."
Pausing, Lyra closed her mouth and thought for a moment. "Okay, but with it being literally because harmony, that makes it hard to come up with something else that's inspirational." She pushed on, ignoring the sigh from Twilight. "So I'm going to say this: friendships are literally your specialty. If nothing else, Sky Stinger finding out about all this without you and Rainbow pushing him would have ruined their friendship."
"I think I'm trying too hard. Like you said, friendship and harmony, plus I got to see more of how Wonderbolts training works."
"Not thinking of getting some training in, are you?"
Ignoring Lyra's waggling eyebrows, Twilight shook her head. "No, but I feel it's important that a princess—a leader—knows how those she's going to command can be best used. It means there are fewer losses should the worst come."
That stopped Lyra's eyebrows dead in their tracks. She gave a little nod. "Good answer."
"Is this some kind of test?"
"Maybe."
Her tone shifting toward joking, Twilight asked, "Did I pass?"
"Barely. B-plus."
"I didn't get an A?!"
"No. I don't give out As." Spotting Rainbow Dash, Lyra waved to her with a wing to get her attention. When Rainbow flew over, Lyra said, "I think we're ready to head back." She glanced at Twilight and caught her nod, then turned to Rainbow. "Are you coming?"
"Yeah. Hopefully I can get back to Ponyville to get a little relaxation before I need to be called back." Looking around, Rainbow spotted Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail, gave them both a wave, then spread her wings. "Last one back to Ponyville has to buy lunch?"
"Wait, that's not"—Twilight could only stare as both Lyra and Rainbow took off like the literal Wonderbolts they were and left her behind—"fair." Sighing, she decided she'd just have to beat them both. It took a few moments more than normal to run the calculations, particularly with the range she was covering, but once she had a solution she plugged the patterned targets into a teleport spell and vanished with a pomf.
Appearing on the doorstep of her castle a moment later, Twilight looked up and back over her shoulder. Rainbow was beating Lyra, but it was going to be close. The pair were diving right at her, which would normally worry Twilight except she could always just teleport to the side—which she did as neither showed any sign of slowing.
Lyra, in Rainbow's opinion, cheated. Less than a second before Rainbow would have beaten her, Lyra teleported to the ground beside Twilight, leading to Rainbow grunting and stalling herself to land. "That's totally not fair!"
"You should have become an alicorn as well. Then you could do cool magic." Completely unrepentant, Lyra opened the door of the castle and held it open for the pair. "But to make it up to you, I'll cook lunch."
Walking in, Lyra closed the door behind the three of them and they made their way to the kitchen. A sound from a side hallway got her attention then, and just in time to see Twilight—or something that looked like Twilight—blast them with green magic.
Lyra staggered and tried to put up a shield against magic, only to have "Twilight" swirl with green flame to reveal Chrysalis—the changeling queen.
"The other two I need, but you…" Licking her lips and blasting away the strange alicorn's shield, Chrysalis nodded to Twilight and Rainbow. "Bind them," she told her escort, "and bind this one, too." Not one to spend a little magic when she could instead use a lot, she blasted the alicorn and robbed them of consciousness. "Now, our next target is the orange one."
Waking up from being blasted with an overwhelming amount of magic was a new kind of headache for Lyra. It was uniquely unlike anything she'd felt before, and she hated it. Looking around, she found herself struggling to turn her head and having even more trouble making sense of what she saw.
Only Lyra's experience in the Wonderbolts—and in particular on the dizzitron—let her figure out the reason things looked odd was that she was hanging upside down. The world was also green, which didn't seem right.
That's when the memory of what happened moments before she passed out returned to her aching mind. Changelings. She would have said the word aloud, but the fact everything was green and the "air" seemed about as thick as jello led Lyra to believe she was in a similar pod to what Celestia had been in during the invasion of Canterlot.
Holding still now, not wanting to show that she was awake, she looked around as best she could. Beside her, Rainbow Dash was likewise in a pod, and behind her, she just made out a hint of orange fur that would be Applejack. If nothing else, she felt honored to be held in such company.
Focusing herself, she centered her mind on the sources of magic within her and tried to coax them free—only to hear their cries of panic. She immediately stopped, her thoughts going to the source of that panic, and finding that she couldn't use magic at all.
She narrowed her mind down again, meditating into a focus she hoped would let her draw some magic—but still got nothing. Deciding it was time to figure out who would be coming to rescue them, she strained in the gooey pod to look around. Her heart sank when she spied Luna, Celestia, Twilight, and all of Twilight's closest friends. That wasn't everyone, of course, but it was the usual characters who tackled these kinds of problems.
"You are a conundrum."
The voice startled Lyra almost as much as the black face that took up all her vision. Chrysalis, queen of the changelings. Lyra pulled a silly face at her enemy.
"Who are you?"
Pausing mid-expression, Lyra thought about answering, but instead blew a raspberry as best she could in the pod. The furious expression on Chrysalis' face almost made the kidnapping worth it. She rolled both her eyes back and stuck her tongue out the corner of her mouth next. When Chrysalis reached into the pod—ripping through its wall—and dragged Lyra out, Lyra wasn't at all surprised.
It would have been the absolute best if Lyra could have made a witty quip but, with her mouth full of the thick goop, she instead managed a combination cough and sneeze that painted Chrysalis' front with the gunk. Not bad, she thought.
Groaning at the mess, Chrysalis used her magic to grab the strange alicorn's forequarters and lift her up to eye level. "What is your name?"
"Typical," Lyra said, coughing a bit more of the slime out before getting her voice working fully. "Last time we met, you didn't bother to even ask. What makes me more interesting now? The wings? The horn? My devilish good looks?"
Lowering her horn, Chrysalis blasted Lyra with potent magic, driving the mare to the ground under the force of it. "You think to make fun of me?! In my own hive?!"
The magic, Lyra realized, was completely unfocused and its intent seemed mainly to force her to the ground. When she lay there, the beam was cut off. "Look, I make fun of Celestia in her throne room all the time. I even hit her with a pie once. If you want me to not make fun of you, you shouldn't make it so easy."
"Just tell me your name."
"My name?"
"Yes."
"The name with which I am called? That being my name?"
"Yes."
Lyra relaxed and rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you say so? My name is Mike Robertson." The words were said with the full truth and honesty that she could muster. "You can ask Celestia if you like. She'll back me up on this."
Chrysalis, a consummate liar, couldn't detect anything but the truth. "You are lying," she said, regardless of her own gut feeling. "Tell me what your name is."
"Washout," Lyra said.
Again, it sounded like the truth to Chrysalis, and it seemed like it could be a pony name. "Well, Washout, it was quite a surprise to see a new alicorn. What is it you're the princess of?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Yes, I would."
"No, you wouldn't." Her own magic might not work, but there was something about comedy in Equestria that seemed capable of engaging no matter what restraints might exist.
"Yes, I would." The feel of something steering and controlling her ground Chrysalis' gears. This wasn't right. The pony before her shouldn't be able to force her to speak words she didn't wish to. "This isn't even a proper argument."
"Yes, it is."
"No, it isn't! An argument is a collected series of statements intended to present a proposition. It isn—" Eyes narrowing, Chrysalis glared at Lyra. "I don't know how you did that, but I think you are too dangerous to be outside a pod any longer."
For Lyra, the process of being stuffed back in the pod, and the pod itself sealing and filling back up with goop, and the worst part of her lungs filling with the stuff, was something she could have spent her entire life not learning the joy of. When Chrysalis inspected the pod, and caught Lyra's eye, Lyra stuck her tongue back out and crossed her eyes.
It was a long wait. Lyra hung in the pod, trying to collect as much information as she could. There was no sensation of emotional drain, like when she'd been fed on by the sirens, but she couldn't discount that something was making her not notice.
Luna, she spotted, looked asleep. It wasn't the peaceful sleep of a pony after a long day, but the sharp angled lines around her eyes betrayed effort. It struck Lyra that she might be calling for help in somepony's dream.
It was boring. Lyra's only communication, given she couldn't even so much as twitch her body, was blinking. Twilight was in a pond nearby, and bit by bit they had built a language based on blinking. It had been fun to do, but after each word started into the order of fifteen blinks at different cadences, it was growing unwieldy and annoying.
Then it was decidedly not boring. First Trixie and then Discord were brought in, both already sealed in pods, and both added to the array of them hanging already. Lyra tried to catch their attention, but Discord was crying, while Trixie was unconscious.
Can you see anything? Lyra asked Twilight, spending the time to blink a question mark, only because she knew Twilight would complain otherwise.
Look! Twilight replied, gesturing with her eyes toward the ground below where Starlight Glimmer had just been captured.
When Chrysalis shot Starlight, and Starlight turned into a changeling, it shocked Lyra. Then she remembered that there was one changeling in Equestria that would be on their side. The only problem was neither had invented a blink pattern for "thorax" or "Thorax."
The fight, the monologuing, and the final reveal of Thorax as more than just another changeling made Lyra's heart sing. The resulting blast from all the changelings following his lead not only destroyed the magic-suppressing throne but smashed the hive wide open and broke all the pods.
Shaking her head and standing, along with all the others, Lyra looked around for one particular creature. "Where's Ch—?" She was interrupted by Chrysalis revealing herself. "Oh, that ham. I'm going to blast her through a portal or something." Her own studies of magic had revealed quite a few portal-based-exile spells. She wasn't sure who had made them, but there seemed to be one for every occasion.
"Wait," Luna said, her eyes fixed on where Chrysalis and Starlight were. "It feels like this is a moment of import."
Focused on only one creature, Starlight held her hoof out to Chrysalis. "When Twilight and her friends defeated me, I chose to run away and seek revenge. You don't have to. You can be the leader your subjects deserve."
The world itself was quiet, as though a great tipping point had been reached. The wind, formerly gusting and blowing hard, had stilled to barely a soft breeze.
Chrysalis stared at the offered hoof, at the pony before her, and those that had been freed. In a way, it was sorely tempting. She'd always done everything for her hive, even warping her own plans of revenge so they would serve double duty to feed her children.
Turning her gaze slightly, looking at what had become of her children, it was less a nightmare and more relief. With her children now standing on their own, with Thorax guiding them, she felt the single greatest tie to them weaken and break.
Pure joy filled Chrysalis for a moment—joy at being able to do whatever she wished. Anger and fury flared next, no longer tamed by the need to support her hive. Reaching her hoof out to Starlight's own, Chrysalis felt perfectly aligned with her desires. She smacked that hoof away. "There is no revenge you could ever conceive of that will come close to what I will exact upon you one day, Starlight Glimmer!"
Watching Chrysalis fly away, Lyra looked up at Luna. "Now can I go zap her butt into whatever other realm a random portal spell will send her to? Look, she's not even flying that fast. I could catch her—mfffmr." A deep blue hoof shoved in her mouth told her exactly what Luna's opinion was.
Celestia rolled her eyes at Luna, only one of which was seen. "What my sister is trying to say is, everycreature deserves another chance. She may yet walk away without further attacks, and we have to give her that chance." Even with Lyra's desire to be proactive, it still made Celestia happy to hear she would have chosen exile over worse forms of punishment. "Follow me, both of you. Ah, Cadance is already over there."
Walking on Celestia's left, while Luna took her right, Lyra felt far too unimportant in present company but had no way to make an excuse to leave. The direction they were heading was to where Thorax stood talking to Cadance. She figured it was Thorax, at least, since he now looked nothing like the changeling he'd been.
"They're coming. What do I say?" Thorax tried to focus on Cadance because otherwise, he'd be staring at three alicorns marching toward him and—given what Chrysalis had just done—he could only imagine they were not happy.
"I can't see. Who is it?" Cadance asked, her back to the new arrivals.
"P-Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess… I don't even know who. Sort of green-blue—"
"That's Lyra. Don't worry about Lyra and don't worry about—" Cadance heard the hoof steps coming closer on the stone plateau that used to be the changeling hive. She turned and aligned herself to stand beside Thorax as the three reached them. It probably should have surprised her that he was the same height as her, but it would help him project the authority he didn't think he had. "Auntie, Luna, Lyra. It's always so good to see you, although maybe next time we could all go to the Crystal Empire instead? We have better catering."
Lyra broke first, snorting and letting out a laugh. "It's good to see you safe."
Never one to turn down a hug, particularly if it meant showing to Thorax that at least one other mare present would devour him, Cadance pulled her friend in tight and gave her a squeeze. "He's awkward and terrified," she whispered. "Can you please try to reassure him, because I don't think Celestia will."
"I'll do what I can. He did save my butt." Breaking apart again, Lyra stepped back to Celestia's side, but back just a fraction more.
"Thorax, as the new leader of the changelings, I look forward to discussing how we can improve our relationship in the future. Is there anything you need?" Celestia asked, putting on her best talking-as-equals voice.
"Well— I, err— We might— Um…" Thorax was struggling. He remembered how things had gone during the invasion, and while Cadance having enough power to blast every changeling out of Equestria's lands had been impressive, he'd come to know that she would never do such a thing unless in the most dire circumstances. Celestia had almost bested Chrysalis while she'd been boiling over with so much love that it had almost hurt him to look at her. Luna, he remembered, was the mare Chrysalis absolutely didn't want to fight, because she would play dirty. That left Lyra. He had no idea what was the deal with Lyra except that she was Cadance's friend.
Looking around, Lyra could see a lot of uncertain changeling faces, not so much looking at each other, but the rubble of their once-home. Shooting a glance at Cadance, Lyra nodded.
"Maybe Thorax is a bit overwhelmed by his changes and everything that's happened." Cadance saw instant relief on Thorax's face the moment she'd started talking, and by the time she was finishing, he was nodding. "But it would be a good idea to leave somepony here that has the authority to speak on behalf of Equestria and help the changelings in any way they need."
Already overwhelmed, Thorax nonetheless liked the idea of reducing the amount of scary ponies so he could start to calm down the changelings that he could already tell were on the verge of hopeless panic. "I can feel what they feel…"
The look of help from Cadance would have been enough for Lyra to volunteer, but Thorax himself looked so lost—and Lyra was a sucker for a creature that needed help. "I'll stay, with your permission princesses? I can figure this out and do the job right this time."
"You're sure?" Celestia asked. At Lyra's nod, she smiled. "Thank you, Lyra."
"I promise, she can help." Cadance reached a wing out to spare Thorax a little hug. "Lyra is absolutely the perfect pony for this task, Thorax. You both share a lot in common, actually, but I'll leave you to find out what."
Having passed her instructions on to Twilight, so that Short Fuse wouldn't be literally left out in the cold, Lyra waved to the huge group of ponies up until they vanished. She closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts for what was to come. Of the changelings, she had recognized some kind of military force among them, before they became changed, and hoped she wouldn't cause them too much friction.
"E-Excuse me," Thorax said, trying to steady himself. "I mean— Can I start over?"
"Well, this is now your home, so I guess that makes me the guest, and you the resident who gets to make the rules. So a start over is fine. Want me to go first?" The palpable relief on Thorax's face put Lyra at ease. "Lyra Heartstrings, hopefully a friend soon, and here to do whatever I can to help."
Thorax had a head full of crossed wires about Equestrian society, but he was fairly sure of one thing. "Aren't you a princess?"
"Hardly. If they made me be a princess just for having wings, I'd make them disappear—or fly away really fast." Relief came quickly when she saw Thorax smile and then giggle. "How much damage was done to your hive?"
"Quee—" Halting before he said her title, Thorax took a breath to calm himself. "When the throne exploded, it destroyed everything above ground level. I think the magic doors for the lower parts are broken, but we should have shelter down there." Speaking his way through the answer made Thorax realize what Lyra was asking, so he finished by saying exactly that.
"Good. Familiar places will help anycreature… Oh, do you have a preferred collective term?"
"Everybuggy."
"Noling says that." Stomping over, Pharynx glared at his little brother. "We don't need a pony. I can get everyling fed and—" He stopped, realizing he didn't have all the information he needed. "Do we need love anymore?"
"If you do, I can give what I can," Lyra said. The shocked look from both changelings made her shrug. "It wouldn't be the first time I've helped emotivores. You know of the sirens?"
"You let a siren feed on your anger?" Pharynx was a little disarmed by the statement and question, but he knew of the more distant creatures of Equestria. "Ugh, that doesn’t matter. We need shelter, food, and security. The plains aren't safe at night unless we patrol to make them safe."
"Exactly my thought." Despite herself, Lyra liked Pharynx's quick thinking, if not his abrasive attitude. "I should have asked Shining to put a shield up, but I could do something similar myself for a night—so long as I don't have to do too much tomorrow. Shelter is taken care of, food is still questionable, and water?"
"There are wells in the hive," Pharynx said. "Would you let me drink some love to test?"
Lyra felt, again, a nudge from harmony. She couldn't say no to that, but she wasn't completely crazy. "Go ahead. Not too much, though. I saw what it can do to a pony if you take an excess, and you still need me to raise that shield."
Of course, Pharynx had considered the possibility of draining all of Lyra's love, stuffing her in a pod, and sending back a changeling to replace her. That was literally the hive's standard procedure. He looked at his brother and saw the simple, trusting smile on his face and sighed. "Yeah, we do."
The probing of her defense, Lyra let slide. She relaxed and thought about Sweetie. She got so focused on thinking about her wife, in fact, that she almost missed Pharynx's annoyed grunt. "Is there a problem?"
"I don't think he can drink. That means we don't need to kidnap ponies anymore!" Thorax did an excited dance where he stood, even buzzing his wings in joy. "But then, what do we eat?"
"Did you eat anything at all before apart from love?" Lyra asked.
"Love is how we fueled our magic. We ate"—here Pharynx shuddered—"other things when we needed to grow a new carapace."
"Show me what you have that you'd eat."
Lyra had expected mushrooms or other bugs, but the bleached white gourds they grew in their hive were something else. She used her magic like a knife to cut one open, then applied some heat to cook a small piece. Chewing it, she smiled. "Try this and tell me if you like it."
Taking the piece of food from Lyra's glowing gold magic aura, Thorax popped it in his mouth and chewed. The flavor was intense and rich and completely unlike the gourds had ever tasted before. "What did you do to it? This tastes—"
"Good. How can it taste good? These are horrible!" Staring at Lyra, Pharynx narrowed his eyes. "Did you use magic?"
"Only to cut it and heat it. With a little spice, I could do even better. Here, you don't need to use magic. Make a fire for me, and I'll show you how to roast them on it." Sometimes, Lyra mused, she was asked to fight a battle or defeat a monster. Sometimes, though, she just had to show some new friends how to cook.
Fire, normal fire, wasn't a common tool for the changelings, but they figured it out quickly enough. Some bundles of dry, packed moss from the bottom of the hive were fine to feed it, and in no time Lyra had them roasting squashes around the fire while it spat sparks and seemed to snatch the gaze of the new changelings.
"All the patrols and foragers are in," Pharynx said, settling down beside his brother.
"I'm a bit rusty on this shield, but it will hold anything short of a dragon outside. Uh, you don't get attacked by dragons, do you?" Lyra asked, mentally working over the shield spell in her head. When she couldn't remember it well enough, she decided she'd have to make a new spell and deal with the inefficiency.
When she cast the horrid mess of a spell, she had to blast it with so much magic it left her feeling drained, but not overly so. Shaking herself off after the expenditure of mana, she tilted her head up at the golden dome above them. "I hope it's not too bright, but I couldn't work any invisibility into it without using chaos magic, and I don't think you want a shield made with chaos magic."
"Wait." Lowering her head from staring up at the inside of the shield, a changeling asked, "What do you mean, you 'couldn't work any invisibility into it'? What spell did you use?"
Raising a brow at the changeling, Lyra asked, "Where did you learn about unicorn magic?"
"I—" Hanging her head a little, she replied, "I worked at Princess Celestia's school for many years as their secretary. I didn't do any teaching, but there was a lot of love there that made it easy to provide for the hive."
"Oh." Timing and facts connected before Lyra smiled ruefully. "I think I helped train your replacement. Ink Blot. You were Inky Stamp, right?" When they nodded, Lyra thrust out her hoof. "It's nice to meet you. Is that your preferred name?"
Blushing, sampling the emotions Lyra was giving off, the changeling couldn't find any recrimination-markers among them. "Corpa Allata." She had never liked her name much, and felt it was a bit high and mighty to have a two-word name meaning bugsmarts, but Chrysalis had given it to her, and that was back when their queen meant more than a means to her own ends.
Tilting her head to the side a moment, Lyra smiled. "A pretty name. Well, Corpa Allata—"
"Corpa is fine."
"Okay, Corpa, I just made that spell specifically for right now." Lyra never got sick of seeing that mix of horror and shock on people's faces, when she explained that she did something that most ponies think is impossible. "It's not that hard, but it makes your spells use a lot more mana than normal if you don't spend at least five minutes refining the series of already forgotten patterns down a little. It's been a bit of a day, as you can imagine, and I didn't want to go through all that."
"But you made a spell!" Only realizing she was shouting when she finished, Corpa covered her mouth with a hoof. "Sorry."
"It's a pretty recent, uh, discovery. I found a foal whose special talent was making spells. The creator of a spell doesn't need to know the pattern of it to cast it. Bringing the name of it to mind lets you produce it as if you'd done all the hard work. As I said, I've already forgotten that mess of a shield spell, but I could cast it again— Okay, I could, but then I'd pass out." Never happier than when she was in teacher mode, Lyra moved through the mechanics. "That filly has grown up a bit more now, and she's studying at Celestia's school."
"Wait, I remember you now. You were that—" Eyes widening, Corpa covered her snout again. "Human creature, that then turned into a pony. Now you're an alicorn?"
"Yeah. Turns out if you eat enough boxed oats, you can find a pair of wings in the bottom of it. Or, something like that. Why'd you leave Canterlot?" Realizing after speaking it sounded like an interrogation, Lyra cleared her throat. "You don't have to answer. I was just curious."
"I was too good. Changelings are not normally allowed to spend more than a year in one position. Queen Chrysalis let me have twenty. She wouldn't have, but I sent so much love home that she made an exception." Her voice lowering, Corpa fought not to cry—and lost. "I loved my job there."
"You could go back to it if you want. The wings do give me a little sway with ponies." For effect, Lyra fluffed her wings and spread the outer four primaries before closing them again.
Shaking her head, Corpa said, "No I can't. Even if they'd accept me as me, there's already a pony doing that job. Oh, I hope I didn't leave the filing system in too much of a mess. When I started, I didn't know the pony language so well, so I filed everything by how it feels in my head when a pony says i—" Watching as Lyra giggled like a maniac, she asked, "What's wrong?"
Trying to rein in her laughter, Lyra managed to say, "Ink Blot was driven crazy by it. I took ages with her to fix it all."
Tucking her ears back, Corpa slumped to the ground. "I'm so sorry!"
"All in the past, and hilarious to look back on. But I guess you're right. What about a new job?" Offering a hoof, Lyra hauled Corpa back to her hooves and walked back inside the hive. "You see, I've got this friend who desperately needs an actual secretary—instead of a little brother acting as one—and you would fit in perfectly."
"By 'fit in' you mean as a pony?" Corpa's ears sagged at the idea.
"No, as yourself. You know my origin, at least a little. I was accepted as myself even before I became a pony." Leading the way to the first campfire where some changelings were practicing roasting squashes, Lyra nodded to them and sat down. She watched them a moment, some trying to roast theirs above the coals while another argued that it would be easier to dump all their squashes into the coals and then chip off the burned bits. "Ask me who the last creatures I welcomed into Equestria are."
"Am I going to regret asking? What could be worse than changelings, after the attack on the wedding?" The weirdness of talking to an alicorn, Corpa had discovered, was offset by remembering said alicorn when she couldn't work the simplest spell.
"A group of sirens is now part of Equestria, openly and without any regrets. I can even call them my friends." It gave Lyra warm and fuzzy feelings, and it had nothing to do with her friend being the princess of friendship, nor even that she carried a duplicate of the source of friendship within her. "Plus, I think your new style shows a deliberate change in your lives. You can no longer feed on love, but rather eat the same things as regular ponies."
"Diet matters?"
"Not to me, and not to a lot of ponies, but to some it will. You also look nothing like the changelings that invaded the royal wedding—that only the ponies in Canterlot at the time saw." Taking an offered squash, Lyra used her magic to carve it in half. The inside steamed and smelled amazing. "Here."
Taking half of Lyra's squash, Corpa felt herself remembering all the meals she'd eaten as a pony, all the times she'd faked an appetite. None of them smelled as good as that roast squash on an empty stomach. She wanted to reply to Lyra, she really meant to say thank you, but all she could focus on was food.
Manifesting a notepad and pencil (with a moderate teleport from her office in Twilight's castle), Lyra wrote down a list titled, Goods Required. The first entries were foods and spices. As she sat at the fire, enjoying her meal, she listened to the changelings eat and start to talk. They were mostly discussing how they felt, what the changes meant, and frequently she heard Thorax's voice as he wandered around to reassure them.
Almost without meaning to, Lyra drew pictures of the changelings. Depictions of them sitting around their campfires, and even some younger-looking ones. The idea that there would be children here warmed her heart and, when Thorax arrived at their campfire, she nodded to him and then to a group of the younger changelings. "They remind me of my filly."
Nodding to that, Thorax sighed. "One pony who had my side from the moment I met her was Flurry Heart." At Lyra's incredulous look, Thorax actually managed to laugh. "Cadance said you'd want to hear about that. When I looked into Flurry's eyes, she looked back and past my black carapace, blue eyes, and hissing tongue. She laughed and reached out for me."
The single biggest thing reassuring Lyra that sleeping in a hive full of changelings, led by Thorax, was safe—was the tears in his eyes. "Foals do see past a lot of things, don't they? When I found Scootaloo, she was terrified and alone. Her parents had passed on, and all she had was the house I'd arranged to live in. You know, I looked into her eyes, though, and there was hope looking back. I've spent the years since trying to make myself be who she saw."
Turning his head so he could see the changeling nymphs playing, Thorax felt what Lyra had said deep inside. He smiled and closed his eyes, then lowered his head and drifted off to sleep.
