Wearing her armor just felt comfortable to Lyra. Being forced to wear it every day for a month and a half left it etched into muscle memory so much that she decided to wear it on the walk home. Beside her was Sweetie, and there was no place Lyra would rather have her.

Wearing armor for the same reason as Lyra, Sweetie had other feelings in common. She kept looking at her fillyfriend, and each glance made her want to smile more—so she did. Despite their trotting in lock-step, Sweetie Drops wanted to prance.

"Lyra!" Minuette waved her hoof. "Lyra! Looking good!"

Spotting her classmate, Lyra led the Sweetie over and introduced them. "Sweetie, this is—"

"I know Minuette, Lyra. She lives in the dorm, remember?" Rolling her eyes, Sweetie held out a hoof to bump with Minuette. "How were your holidays?"

"We got homework! I couldn't believe it. We were meant to have two months off, but we got this huge project to work on together and—Who am I kidding, it was great fun. We really missed having our silly ooman around, though." Minuette poked at Lyra's armored chest. "I take it you got out of the homework by doing all this?"

"I hope so. What was it about?" Lyra eyed a market stall with the most delicious apples she'd ever seen on it.

"We studied cutie marks and explored everypony's special talents. It was kinda fun, but I think your bestie got into it way more than anypony else." Minuette looked between Lyra and Sweetie. "Not counting your special somepony as your best friend. I meant Twilight."

Lyra looked at Sweetie, and caught Sweetie looking back. They both gave a happy sigh.

Minuette rolled her eyes. "Wow, you two have it worse than ever. So what happened at soldier school?"

"Running," Sweetie Drops said. "Lots of running."

"We ran soooo much." Lyra turned to the pony at the stall. "How much for three apples?"

"Just got done with your training—?" Nodding in the direction of the E.U.P. Guard training grounds, Braeburn shook his head. "Y'ain't payin' for a few apples. Here ya go."

"You'd just give a mare a bunch of apples for being in the Guard?" Lyra wasn't saying no—her magic collected the offered fruit—but she wanted to know what the stallion's game was.

"Ya know what? Even if you weren't the prettiest thing Ah'd seen all day. Enjoy 'em, my cuz grows the best apples in all Equestria, and if'n she knew I'd not given some to hungry ponies, she'd string me up by me ears." With a wink, Braeburn looked between the three mares. "Besides, Ah think my luck is pickin' up."

"Why's that?"

"Well, not just one but three pretty mares wandered past my stall."

Lyra had a moment where it seemed natural to hear the compliment, but then her human—male—side reared its out of date head. She took a deep breath and shoved aside her problems. This was Equestria, Lyra thought, There's no problem with being gay, straight, or whatever here. And if ponies have no problem with me, I can't have a problem with ponies. "Thanks!"

Finding her friend and fillyfriend chatting away, Lyra slipped up beside them quietly and passed each an apple. When both thanked her, Lyra let out a sigh. "You both know about the before time, and I try to get past all that angst and craziness, but sometimes it just comes up and smacks me in the head."

"What's wrong?" Sweetie asked and bit her apple.

"The stallion called me pretty." Even to Lyra it sounded silly. "I know it's stupid, and I—"

"It's not stupid, Lyra. There's something you've got to understand," Minuette turned to make sure her flank was between Lyra and the apple vendor, "people are entitled to their opinions so long as they don't hurt you."

"Nah. It's not even that. Back where I came from it was—well it wasn't exactly accepted that ponies (people) have same-sex relationships. I don't have a problem with it, but my brain sometimes still thinks male thoughts, and it just—" Lyra was in full verbal diarrhea mode when Sweetie kissed her on the cheek. The affection of her fillyfriend completely cut through the neurotic thoughts and poured happy-sunshine on her mind. "Thanks."

"You looked like you needed a distraction." Sweetie kissed Lyra's cheek again, then trailed her mouth up to Lyra's ear. "And maybe I could show you how much of a mare you are later?"

Minuette couldn't help but smile at how quickly Sweetie defused Lyra's freakout. "You two are so adorable together. Have you picked a date?"

"A date for what?" Lyra asked.

Sweetie kissed Lyra's cheek again. "She's asking if we're going to get married."

Lyra Heartstrings has encountered an error and needs to shut down. She stood still for a few moments, staring at nothing—hearing nothing. When a little voice in the back of Lyra's head kicked her mind to get it started again, it hit a single word and stopped—married.

"Lyra?" Sweetie asked.

Sighing dramatically, Minuette proved how well Lyra had rubbed off on her. "We broke her. Such a shame. She was doing well at Celestia's school, and I guess she did well at soldier school if she got a set of armor out of it. To lose such a promising unicorn in the peak of her—"

"Marriage?!" Lyra had progressed to talking, but that word (or its base form) still dominated her thoughts.

"Well? I guess this isn't the best way to ask, but will you?" Sweetie asked.

"I—" Shaking her head to free it of words and voices, Lyra Heartstrings turned to Sweetie and looked at her directly. "I'm supposed to ask that."

Sweetie smirked. "Because you're the guy?"

"Y—" Words were still a problem, particularly when Lyra insisted on falling for a smart mare who could talk rings around her. "You're too good at that."

"So?" Sweetie asked.

"Yes, so?" Minuette asked.

"So what?" Princess Cadance asked as she walked up to her friends. "Sorry if I interrupted."

"Shhh! Sweetie just asked Lyra to marry her." Minuette tried to cover Cadance's mouth to keep her from interrupting further. She wasn't prepared for Cadance's near explosion, or the alicorn's wings shooting out and up. It took her mind another second to realize this was the Princess of Love she was trying to hold back.

"If—" Lyra said with a pregnant pause after it, "—I said I'd think about it, that wouldn't be good enough." She closed her eyes and searched her heart. Rose had been a big part of her life during an intense part of her life, but Lyra's time with Rose held nothing on how she felt about Sweetie.

"Say something!" Cadance covered her snout after she yelled the words. "Sorry," she added, much quieter.

"So joining the Guard together was a date?" Lyra stepped forward, her armor barely whispering around her as her legs moved with confidence she in no way felt. "Sweetie Drops…"

Cadance couldn't believe it was luck that it was her privilege to witness this moment. Her magic boiled inside her like hot lava. When Lyra leaned forward and kissed Sweetie, she almost lost control of herself.

"…Yes."

Launching herself into the air, the pressure of her magic drove Cadance almost to song. When she realized the ponies below her were still talking, she tucked her wings in and teleported (the first time she'd managed the spell) back down to the ground. "What did they say?"

Finally turning on Cadance, Lyra stomped over to her with a glare on her face. She could see her expression had a sobering effect on Cadance, but it didn't stop Lyra from pointing her hoof at the alicorn. A smile cracked Lyra's face as she shouted, "This is all your fault!"

Cadance, Minuette, Sweetie, and Lyra all broke into a fit of giggles, and not a one of them could stop for nearly five minutes. Every time somepony calmed down enough to get a word out, they would inevitably lose it again and return to giggling.

At last free of the laughter, Cadance put a wing over Minuette's back. "Come on, we need to plan their wedding."

"Wait!" Sweetie stomped a hoof and blew a loud, horse-like snort. "We can't have the wedding until after my training is done, and that starts in a few days. Then I have duties to—"

"Ahem." Cadance flicked out her wings and gestured to her forehead. "Alicorn says—"

"Huh?" Sweetie looked from Cadance to Lyra. "What does she mean?"

"She means, Sweetie, that as princess of love she can have words about how a particular mare is disposed within the E.U.P. Guard." Lyra kissed her fiancee. Just thinking that word made Lyra kiss Sweetie a second time. "But it'll take a year or more before you are done with that."

"You said you start in a few days?" Minuette asked. "Why don't you just have the wedding before then?"

"No." Sweetie Drops shook her head and pointed from Minuette to a wide-grinning Cadance. "Definitely no. That's too rushed and you both know it! Cadance, if you could nudge somepony to give me a little time at the end of my training—" she looked at Lyra and raised an eyebrow. When Sweetie got a nod back, she grinned, "—then we'll have it."

"That is sooooo done. I'll talk to, uh, somepony about it later. Celestia will know who." Cadance managed to reign in her excitement no longer. "Eeeee! I get to plan a wedding!" She turned to Minuette. "We have to plan a wedding!" Before anypony could get a word out, Cadance grabbed Minuette and flew off.

"Uh," Lyra said as she watched the abduction in progress, "Should we tell somepony about that?"

"Pfft. You think she won't tell everypony she meets already?" Sweetie kissed Lyra, properly and on the lips. The two froze in mutual appreciation of a quiet moment until Lyra broke it with a giggle. "What?" Sweetie asked.

"We better tell our mums before they hear it from Cadance." Lyra nuzzled Sweetie's cheek. "Hold on and don't ground yourself."

When the last two of the mares teleported out of sight, Braeburn sighed. "It's one of them strange days. Ah well." He straightened his hat and turned to a pony walking toward the stall. "Howdy there, ma'am! Would ya like t' buy some apples?"

"Mom? Tufts?" Lyra knocked on the door and froze when a stallion answered it. What shocked her more was the sight of the bat wings on the stallion's back. "S-Sorry, I think I have the—" Shock turned to near-panic as the stallion stepped out and stretched a huge wing to grab Lyra.

"Our little pup is home from training!" Tufts squeezed Lyra. "Joyce will be happy to see you!"

"Wait. Back off for a second." Lyra looked at Tufts, narrowing her eyes. "Tufts?"

"Your mom's pet?" Sweetie asked.

"Her mate, not her pet." Tufts tucked his wing back to his side.

Lyra looked at her batty stepfather. "You told her? You finally told her when I couldn't see the look on her face?!"

"It required a delicate touch. Several delicate touches." Tufts stepped back from the door. "Please, come inside."

"I don't get it. You were a batfox, I thought?" Sweetie pointed an armored hoof at Tufts. "I mean, yeah you talked, but that wasn't so strange for animals. What's going on?"

Stepping forward to the threshold, Lyra looked back at Sweetie. "This is big. Since you're going to be part of the family, you should probably know about all of us. Come on inside—love." Lyra put emphasis on the last word and felt a shiver go down her spine at saying it and meaning it.

"This sounds heavy. How heavy?" Sweetie asked as she followed Lyra inside.

"Well, you know how I'm friends with Cadance, and Celestia is my teacher?" Lyra asked.

"Yeah."

Lyra shrugged. "Kinda like that. Maybe a little bigger." By the time they closed the front door and walked through to the kitchen, Tufts had already started cutting up fruit. "Okay, so he's the closest thing I've had to a dad. Tufts saved—Tjinimin saved everypony where we come from."

"Wow. Okay, that's pretty awesome." Smiling at Tufts, Sweetie tilted her head to the side. "So why all the hiding as a batfox? Why not lead wit—" She froze. "Your mom didn't know."

"She does now. We talked." Tufts, being a gentlebat, would not speak of what they did between the talking. "It wasn't easy for either of us. Joyce was having trouble keeping the idea in her head long enough to understand it and I was fighting the urge to just keep telling her. It was like when I started speaking back on Earth."

"So," Lyra said, "Staying bat pony, then?"

"Maybe. For the moment it is easier to do chores like this. Nothing beats being a bat or even a batfox for lounging around. You should try it." Flashing his fangs in a grin, Tufts used his wing to grab the broom he'd been using.

"We better get going and find our mums. We have big news—You should probably hear it too, Dad." Giddiness suddenly filled Lyra. She looked to Sweetie and started bouncing on her hooves. "I can't say it!"

"I asked Lyra to marry me," Far from immune to excitement—particularly with Lyra bouncing beside her—Sweetie wore the biggest, happiest grin ever.

Watching Lyra bounce up and down excitedly while wearing almost her full compliment of armor, Tufts felt joy wash through him. Though he hadn't ever expected to have a connection with other creatures as intense as his one with his family, he nonetheless let all that excitement bubble out of him in a screech of joy. "This is fantastic news! When will you be having pups?"

Both mares froze in shock at the question, but Sweetie managed to recover first. "W-We're both mares. Besides, ponies don't have pups."

Snorting in disdain, Tufts reached a wing out to pull both mare's into a hug. "Not with that attitude. I can fix that, you know?"

"Our attitudes?" Sweetie Drops asked as she was pulled into a hug.

"No, both the other things." Tufts waggled both eyebrows just before squeezing both mares too close that they'd see. "I'm proud of you both."

Lyra was nopony's idiot. She could take a few guesses as to why Tufts had changed himself to this particular shape—not that she particularly minded. He'd been a better father, even as a bat, than the man her mother had introduced her to once—the one that helped make her. A stray thought came into her head. "You've had more to do with making me who I am than any other male."

Even as terribly worded as Lyra's statement was, it meant a lot to Tufts to hear it. But he knew he had to let his pup fly. "Go on. Go tell your mothers what you've done. I'll begin preparing for a party." He released the two mares and couldn't stop smiling. When both finished bouncing out the door, he let out a screech of excitement.

Sweetie Drops' ears twitched forward again after she heard the batty exclamation of excitement from within the house they'd just left. "Your dad is pretty cool. Who next?" Leaning closer despite the clank of their armor meeting, Sweetie kissed Lyra's cheek.

"Your mum's on the way to the castle." Lyra couldn't stop from prancing again, her hooves flashing on the stone as she walked at Sweetie's side. Everything was too perfect. "Your training is going to keep you away a while."

Glancing at her fiancee (and enjoying using the word in her head), Sweetie raised an eyebrow. "Cold hooves already?"

"Pfft, never. Just wondering what comes after it. You'll be a qualified monster hunter—and don't think for a second you'll fail. What will you do once you are fully into that?"

Sweetie's thoughts refocused on the question. What her life meant to her? "I want to protect ponies, Lyra. I want to make sure that everypony is safe, especially you. I won't be gone all the time, but I'll be on duty for two months out of every three."

"You know I'm going to blow your socks off every time you come back, right?" Lyra kissed Sweetie's cheek.

"I don't wear socks, Lyra."

"You know what I mean. I guess we'll have to play it as it comes, and if it doesn't work—" Lyra shrugged, "—then I'll have to join up full time so we can be together more."

Joyce: Are you gonna have baby with Tuffs?

"I-I hadn't actually considered that, I guess—kind of a theme with my children—but I don't think I'd have a problem having another filly with a stallion I love." Joyce looked both excited and introspective.

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

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