Rainbow Dash soared through the skies above Ponyville, smiling to herself. That date last night had gone even better than she’d hoped, after that bit of initial awkwardness, of course. Twilight and Lero had gotten along as well as she’d thought they would, and both of them got along swimmingly with her, too. By the time they’d left the restaurant it had been pretty late, and Rainbow and Lero had both gotten a shy kiss from the unicorn when they’d walked her home.

Of course, the pegasus had stayed up rather late with her coltfriend afterward. That game had been fun.

She was so wrapped up in those memories that she barely had time to see the other pegasus shoot out from a cloud in front of her and cut straight across her course.

The other mare’s wake fouled Rainbow’s airstream, causing her to momentarily lose control and spin out. She recovered, of course, her airborne agility was top-notch and she had reflexes to match, but she hadn’t been flying all that high in the first place and she came perilously close to crashing. Rainbow landed for a moment, just to get her bearings, grumbling to herself about the clumsiness of the other pegasus, who she hadn’t gotten a really good look at. That idiot. You always check to make sure you’re not gonna run into somepony instead of just shooting out like that! I nearly freaking hit her!

She looked up in irritation, and to her surprise saw the yellow-coated, black-maned mare that matched the colors of the blur that had nearly hit her. “Honeybee, what the heck? Watch your freaking airstream next time!” Rainbow snarled in irritation, fluffing her feathers in an attempt to settle them. “If I’d been anypony else, I coulda been hurt!”

Honeybee snickered. “Aw, did the monkey-lover get a boo-boo?”

Rainbow froze, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “What did you just call me?”

“She called you a monkey-lover, freak. ‘Cause that’s what you are.” Two other mares stepped out from behind a building ahead of her. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed another mare pacing out into the street behind her. She recognized them all; Honeydew and Honeysuckle, Honeybee’s two earth pony sisters, and a unicorn named Glitter Dust who hung around with them. She knew that all four of them disliked her human friend, intensely. To the point that they’d harassed him in the past, though Rainbow had thought they’d backed off after she and Applejack had confronted them about it over a month ago. Okay, not an accident, then.

“You’d better watch your mouth, Honeysuckle,” Rainbow growled, her wings flaring aggressively. “Somepony might decide to shut it for you.”

“Ooo, somepony’s a big talker.” Honeysuckle and her sister sauntered closer, while Glitter Dust snickered nastily behind Rainbow’s back. “Is your monkey toy a big talker, too? Did you teach him to sit up and beg?” She licked her lips ostentatiously. “Maybe teach him to do some tricks?”

Even though the insults were pretty juvenile, Rainbow actually heard her teeth squeak, she was grinding them so hard. A red fog was threatening to descend over her vision, but she tried to fight it back. Are they looking for a fight, or are they trying to make me start one? The cyan pegasus had seen something like this act before; there had been a group of ponies at her flight school who’d liked to taunt and tease her until she started a fight, and then get her in trouble for making the first move. She was older now, and had better self-control, though admittedly not by a huge amount. Her eyes flicked from one mare to another, trying to assess their intentions. If they want a fight it’d be better for me to start it. Her fighting teachers had stressed that getting into a fight where she was outnumbered was a bad idea. If she was facing a fight like that, she should act first, and as aggressively as possible to reduce the numbers against her. Take out Glitter first. Unicorns usually take a second or two to get ready. Honeybee next, then I’ll have the sky to myself while I deal with the other two.

Still, that… wasn’t ideal. She’d have to move fast and hit really hard, and there was a really good chance she’d badly hurt or kill one of them without meaning to. And if they’re trying to get me in trouble, that’s exactly the wrong thing to do.

Rainbow drew a deep breath, fighting for control. “You’re gonna want to shut up and turn around,” she said, her voice as level as she could make it. “You keep talking about Lero like that and it’s gonna make me mad.”

“I’ll talk about the monkey any way I want, freak. What’s wrong, couldn’t find a real stallion? Had to get that big bald thing on top of you instead?” Rainbow snarled in fury, and Honeydew let out another nasty laugh. “Ooo, she’s getting mad, girls. I’m shaking.” The earth pony mare stared at Rainbow, a challenging light in her eyes. “I was in the tournament you were in, you know,” The seeming non sequitur made the pegasus pause, frowning. She couldn’t remember seeing Honeydew’s name on any of the matches. Her memory wasn’t perfect, but… “I know you wussed out after getting a little boo-boo. I don’t think you’re as tough as you pretend to be, monkey-lover.” The earth pony glared. “See, ponies oughta stay with ponies, and freaks like you shouldn’t be in a place called ‘Ponyville.’. So you’re gonna move. I hear there’s a nice hospital in Fillydelphia.” She snickered nastily, echoed by her sisters and their friend. “Don’t worry, the princess’s little pet and your precious monkey’ll be joining you before long.”

Rainbow felt a strange calm descending over her. Nope, she thought, there’s no way I’m letting you hurt Lero. Or Twilight. No. Way. Her reluctance to start the fight vanished, as did her worry about accidentally inflicting serious harm. She was forcing her body to relax, so her attack would come as a surprise, when another voice interrupted.

“You try sending her there, Honeydew, and you’ll find out she’s pretty much exactly as tough as she thinks she is.” Rainbow glanced aside, startled, and saw a mint-green unicorn stepping out into the street with them. The newcomer gave a whimsical smile, though her gold eyes stayed fixed on Honeydew, who was clearly the group’s leader. “Did you actually watch the match you were just talking about? The tournament match where she got hurt?”

“No,” Honeydew replied, shortly, “I didn’t need to. I know what happened.”

“Do you?” Lyra Heartstrings walked down the street, approaching the tense scene. “Oh, that’s right, you couldn’t have actually watched it. You were two ranks down from the bracket Rainbow Dash was competing in, and you had a match at the same time, didn’t you? I, on the other hoof, did watch it, so I can tell you exactly what happened.” She stopped, a short distance away from the two earth ponies. “I can tell you, for example, that Rainbow over-extended on a strike that would have hit far too hard to be tournament-legal, and when she pulled it her opponent got her in a grapple, which is where she’s weakest. And, since I talked to that opponent after the match, I can also tell you that she twisted way too hard in that grapple, since Rainbow Dash here had just scared her so badly she almost wet herself. She knew, you see, that if that strike had landed it probably would have killed her, and she was so jumpy after that near-miss that she put too much into her own response and dislocated Rainbow’s wing. That’s not a minor injury, it’s actually quite serious, and Rainbow withdrew on the advice of her coach and the judges.”

Honeydew snorted. “Yeah, whatever, she could’ve kept going. I don’t think she’s all that tough.”

Lyra’s eyebrows climbed. “Really? Well, perhaps she could have fought in her next match, at the risk of sustaining a permanent disabling injury. It would have been a stupid thing to do, but perhaps she could have done it. But you’re missing what I said. I’ve just told you that, in a tournament, a simple contest with no provocation involved, the first instinct of the mare you’re trying to pick a fight with was to strike hard enough to potentially kill her opponent. And you’re not only goading her, you’re threatening her lovers.” The unicorn shook her head slowly, golden eyes not wavering from Honeydew’s face. “I question the wisdom of that decision, regardless of how tough she is or isn’t.”

“Whatever,” the earth pony snarled, “Question all you want. Just stay out of our way.” Her sister, Honeybee, darted down out of the sky to hover next to her, whispering into Honeydew’s ear while keeping a frightened gaze locked on Lyra. Huh, Rainbow thought, well, one of ‘em recognizes her, at least. Honeysuckle was standing rigid, next to her sister, watching Lyra unblinkingly. Okay, two.

Lyra Heartstrings was no joke. While Rainbow had heard she was kindhearted and sweet, with a whimsical sense of humor, the unicorn mare was probably the third most dangerous individual Rainbow Dash had ever met in her life. It was her presence that was keeping Rainbow from starting the fight right now; she didn’t know how Lyra would respond if she did. It seemed like the mint-colored unicorn was trying to prevent the fight, and if Rainbow went ahead and started it she was worried that Lyra would smack her down. The pegasus had seen the gold-eyed unicorn fight, once. The match had lasted less than three seconds.

Honeydew listened to her sister for a moment, then snarled and swatted the yellow-coated pegasus away. “Honeybee thinks you’re some kind of big fighty type,” she said to Lyra, “Whatever, I don’t care. You just stay over there while we teach the skinny freak that Ponyville’s for ponies, not monkeys or monkey-lovers, and we won’t have a problem.”

Lyra shook her head, still smiling gently. “No, I don’t think I’ll be doing that.”

“What, greenie,” Honeydew sneered, evidently choosing to ignore that her own coat was almost the same color as Lyra’s, “You gonna help the freak out? Let me guess, we wouldn’t like you when you’re angry, something like that?”

The unicorn laughed, a surprisingly silvery sound that made the Honey sisters bristle. “Oh, no, I’d never say that. I don’t like being angry, so I almost never do it. No, no, you see,” Lyra smiled apologetically, “I’m actually an auxiliary member of the Royal Guard. So I’m actually required to intervene when I see, for example, four ponies planning to start a fight with a fifth. The Guard frowns on ponies hurting each other, you see, so I’m supposed to step in, regardless of whether the four would hurt the one or the one would wind up seriously hurting or killing the four in self-defense.”

“Wait, you’re a Guard?” Rainbow blurted, surprised. Her four antagonists turned to glare at her, reminded of her presence, and she readied herself for a rush.

“An auxiliary,” Lyra said, drawing attention back to herself. She gave Rainbow a shut up look before shifting her attention back to Honeydew. “Here, I’ve got my badge with me.” The small bag at Lyra’s hip opened, and a small gold-and-bronze solar disc floated out, encased in a soft green-white glow. The unicorn tilted her head, smiling. “See? I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anypony, though,” One gold eye winked. “It’s supposed to be a secret. Well, not actually a secret or I wouldn’t even have this,” the emblem wagged back and forth in the air, drawing attention to itself, “but it definitely isn’t supposed to be common knowledge.”

Honeydew was silent for several tense seconds, her eyes flicking back and forth from Lyra to the badge floating next to her. The mint-colored unicorn’s slight smile didn’t waver; she just stood there, waiting. Honeydew cleared her throat. “Look, I don’t want trouble. We were just telling this freak that her kind isn’t welcome here, any more than her monkey toy is.”

Lyra’s head tilted again. “That isn’t really for you to decide, is it? That’s a matter for the Mayor. If you think Rainbow or Lero should be expelled from the town, you should take it to her, not start a fight in the streets. Please, all of you, why don’t you all just go home and think this over? I really do think you’re overreacting.”

“C’mon, Honeydew,” Honeysuckle whispered to her sister, just loud enough for Rainbow to hear. “I told you this was a bad idea. Let’s just do what she says and go home, we don’t want to get in trouble with the Guard.”

“Shut up.” Honeydew snarled suddenly, her momentary hesitance vanishing. She took a step toward Lyra. “Maybe you’re Guard, and maybe you aren’t. And maybe you won’t be telling any-” She was cut off when her forehoof stuck to the ground while she walked, her own forward momentum pulling her awkwardly to the side. A tiny flare of green-white light pushed her shoulder further sideways, causing the earth pony to stumble and fall, rolling to the ground. There was another flare of light, and Honeydew’s head snapped back violently. The hostile mare went limp, collapsing to the ground.

“Approaching a Guardsmare in a threatening manner is a felony offense,” Lyra observed, mildly. The badge, which hadn’t even twitched, tucked itself back into her saddlebag. “I’ll overlook it this time, though.” She raised her head, locking her golden eyes on Honeysuckle. “Your sister isn’t hurt. I made sure she was on the ground when I knocked her out, so she couldn’t fall and hurt herself. Please, take her home and let her sleep it off.”

Rainbow gaped. She’d never seen a unicorn cast that fast, not even in the tournament match she’d seen Lyra in before. The mint-colored mare had just dropped a pretty tough earth pony and hit her with a sleep spell in a fight that had taken maybe a second and a half.

“I… o-okay,” Honeysuckle said haltingly.

Lyra smiled. “Thank you. One more thing,” The unicorn’s expression shifted, her gaze turning hard. “I really, really wouldn’t recommend trying anything like this ever again.” The three ponies who’d accosted Rainbow nodded in unison. “Against anyone. Mister Lero has the dispensation of the government to live in Equestrian lands, and he enjoys the same protections of the law that you do. Should he be harmed, you would all be facing banishment after this little incident. Which I will be reporting, both to the Mayor and the Guard.” She smiled again, grimly. “And Twilight Sparkle has the personal attention of the Princess. Harming her, as your sister threatened, would be extremely unwise. As for the third recipient of your threats,” Now the unicorn glanced at Rainbow, “Should you threaten her again, I may interpret it as a challenge. If you genuinely want to fight her, I’ll let you. I’ll be her second, to make the numbers a bit more even.”

“I’ll take ‘em up on that,” Rainbow chipped in, feeling the tension in her chest loosening.

“Are we clear?” Lyra asked, ignoring the interruption.

There was a general murmur that indicated assent from the three ponies still conscious.

“Great!” The mint-coated unicorn exclaimed with a happy grin. The Honey sisters carefully picked their sister up off of the ground, while Glitter sidled past Rainbow to join them. The three hastily carried their compatriot down the street and around the corner, leaving Rainbow and Lyra standing alone in the road.

Rainbow let her breath out in a long exhalation, tension finally leaving her body. She looked at the mint-colored unicorn. “Thanks, Lyra. I thought that was gonna get really ugly for a second there; you really pulled my flanks out of the fire.”

“Glad to help. It is part of my job, after all.” Lyra glanced around. “And please, keep the fact that I’m with the Guard to yourself.”

“Sure. I guess I was just lucky you were right there when Honeybee knocked me down!”

The unicorn chuckled. “Oh, that wasn’t luck. Bonbon and I have been listening to that bunch for a while, now. She heard them talking about picking a fight with you and told me so I could follow them.”

“Oh.” Rainbow blinked. “Uh, is Bonbon with the Guard too? And if you’re a Guard, how come you aren’t wearing the armor? And, uh, why aren’t you, y’know, a hot stallion?”

“So many questions!” The unicorn stuck her tongue out playfully. “First off, no, Bonbon’s not a Guard, just a friend of mine. She helps me out when I need it. Second, like I’ve said a couple of times, I’m an auxiliary, not a regular. Technically, I’ve got a suit of armor, but it’s sitting in the main armory in Canterlot and I’ve never worn it. As for your last question, let me guess, you’ve never lived anywhere but Cloudsdale and here?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Ooo, do the Guard have a file on me or something? Are you here watching me? Am I dangerous?” The pegasus was obscurely pleased with the idea.

Lyra burst out laughing, hard enough that it took her a few moments to speak again. “Oh,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye, “Oh, my. Sorry, no, I’m not here watching you, and I don’t think there’s a file on you, at least not as far as I know.” Rainbow’s face fell a bit, and she fought back a feeling of bizarre disappointment. “I’m sorry if that disappoints you. It’s just that there isn’t a resident Guard here since the town’s small enough for the Mayor to handle things, and Cloudsdale has its own, separate force. Part of the Treaty of Unification, if I’m remembering my history correctly. So the only Guards you’ve seen are the Princess’s personal escort, yes?”

“Yeah. They’re hot, though.” Rainbow remembered her attempts to tease a reaction out of one of the stoic Guards. Mostly because she’d kinda wanted to get the stallion to pay a little attention to her.

“Well, yes, that’s Commander Bright Gleam’s work. Most of the rest of the Guard is female.” Lyra looked down the street. “Do you mind if we walk and talk, by the way? I’ve got somewhere to be.”

“Sure.” Rainbow hovered up off the ground. “Actually, I can buzz off and leave you alone if you want.”

“No, I’d actually prefer if you stayed close by for just a little while. In case Honeydew’s bunch decide I was joking.”

The pegasus shrugged in midair. “Meh, don’t think they will with her down for the count, but I don’t have anyplace else to be. You were talking about why the Princess’s guards are all stallions?”

Lyra started walking down the street, Rainbow hovering alongside. “Oh, yes. Well, the Princess’s guard used to be composed of veterans. Tough old mares that were always bored out of their skulls, because Celestia can take care of herself just fine. That changed about, oh, a hundred and fifty years ago. Celestia and the Guard commander at the time, Bright Gleam, were apparently trying to work out a new system for selecting her personal escort, since like I said, the veterans were really bored. The Princess made a joke about wishing she could be surrounded by gorgeous stallions all the time instead of grumpy old mares, and Bright Gleam basically said, ‘yes, ma’am, I’m sure that would be nice,’ and ignored the joke. Or so the Princess thought.” Lyra giggled. “But Bright Gleam had a better sense of humor than anypony realized. A couple of months later, the Princess walks out of the Palace and she’s met by a whole new personal detail, every one of which is a stallion and all of ‘em good-looking. Bright Gleam had recruited them all personally and put them through the standard Guard training, so every one of ‘em was qualified.” The unicorn chuckled. “The Princess was a little embarrassed, but she didn’t complain, and the tradition stuck around. So wherever the Princess goes, so too goes a bunch of gorgeous stallions. It’s no wonder she’s constantly being invited to visit various places.”

Rainbow laughed. “That’s kinda funny, actually. How’d you know about that?”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Oh, when they recruited me they put me through this ‘History of the Guard’ class. Only lasted a couple of hours, and the teacher tossed in funny stories like that to keep everypony’s attention.”

Rainbow laughed again. She cocked her head, looking at Lyra curiously. “You know, I haven’t hung out with you much. I gotta say you’re not quite what I expected.” Rainbow had heard from other ponies that the green unicorn was cheerful and funny, but that was totally contrary to her experience dealing with other accomplished Still Way practitioners. Those unicorns tended to be very calm, tranquil… and boring.

Lyra laughed again, stopping in front of a building. “Oh, what, thought I’d be all stillness and tranquility?” She made an expression of false disgust. “No thanks. Yeah, a lot of the other masters are like that, but they haven’t really learned the big lesson.”

“What’s that?”

“How to be still while moving.”

Rainbow blinked in bafflement, trying to process the statement. “…what?”

Lyra’s golden eyes danced with mischief. “And now I get to end the conversation and be all cryptic, like a grandmaster ought to. Bye!”

She ducked into the building and closed the door, leaving a very confused Rainbow Dash hovering over the street outside.