It was almost dusk when I heard the front door open. In truth I was almost getting ready to just go to sleep in the sleeping bag I'd purchased when my ears twitched with the noise. Planning an ambush against an unknown "enemy" required me to plan for everything. If they were a unicorn, that meant I couldn't use magic initially or they'd feel it. If they were a pegasus I couldn't have ambushed them outside or they could have flown off. As it was, I didn't relish dealing with an annoyed earth pony either, but I had to trust that I could deal with most such.

The sound of the hooves, though, were all wrong. Too light and too quick. A foal. Dammit, that meant I had to be a lot more careful not to hurt them. Straining my senses, I caught whiff of something spicy—cumin, curry.

The sound of hooves were coming closer to the kitchen. I stayed hard up against the wall as a short foal walked in with what looked like a take-away food box held in her mouth. She turned toward the oven and froze.

I'd been cleaning up, and had completely forgotten I'd done some work on the beautiful old ironwork. "Hi."

The foal—filly—dropped her food as she spun around, and it was only my magic that stopped a big mess from eventuating. "Who—Who are you? What are you doing in my—my parents' house? They'll be home soon!"

Okay, Lyra, don't grab her or she'll freak out ten times more. She's calling my bluff now, I didn't want her screaming loud enough to call the town down on me. "Wanna chat while you eat?" I sat down and held her curry out before her with my magic.

She looked so small it made me wonder how young she really was. Eyeing me, she reached a hoof out to grab her food and then walked to the kitchen drawers, reared up, and pulled a fork out. "What are you doing here?"

"Thinking of moving in. What are you doing here?" I asked.

Worry and anger seemed to register on her face as I spoke. She narrowed her eyes but started eating. Well, that was perfect. Nopony could out-wait somepony trained for guard duty. She must have eaten half the curry before she finally let out a sigh. "You're gonna move in, so I guess the gig is up anyway.

"My mom and dad didn't come—come back after one of their trips, but I didn't want to tell anypony. I like living here, and it's not like I'm not doing good at it!" She glared at me, daring me to gainsay her. "I was living with friends while they were away, and nopony asked any questions when I just moved back in."

Silence reined while she ate the rest of her dinner. Looking at her, I realized she was probably younger even than Robin. "They got rid of your parents' stuff?"

"Someone came in and picked it all up. I had to be tricky to stop them getting into my room or the bathroom. Hidin' stuff in other rooms. Bed was hardest."

"This isn't right. Somepony should at least be keeping an eye on you." I bit my lip on saying more along those lines. "Do you have any relatives nearby?"

"Couple of aunts, but they don't live in Ponyville. I'm not leaving here. All my friends are here, and even if you try to make me, I'll just run away and come back." Her wings were out and she glared at me with all the force I was used to seeing Robin deploy in a similar situation.

Well, I could do things by force and drag her to her aunts, or I could use my head—something Princess Celestia insisted was always a good idea—backed up by my heart. "So what do you want to do, then?"

It seemed to take the wind out of her sails. "What do you think? Stay here. I like it in Ponyville. All my friends are here."

"What about school?"

"I've been going to school."

Full marks there. At her age, I wouldn't have been so keen. "So you want to live here and keep going to school with your friends?" Lyra Heartstrings, you are the biggest softy in the whole of Equestria—probably Earth too.

"Y-Yeah!"

"Well, that's a problem. You see, I really like this place. I like the old oven, I like the nice big bedroom over there, and I really like the idea of settling in here." I tried to keep my face as nonchalant as possible—hard under the circumstances, but not impossible. "Yours is the upstairs bedroom?"

"Yeah." Dammit, I could see some tears in her eyes.

"Well, I don't think Sweetie or I'll need that." Raising one eyebrow, I waited for it to sink in. When she looked more than a little shocked, I continued. "We'll have to talk to some ponies about it, you understand, but I think we can spare the room."

Sweetie was going to kill me. This was too much, but I couldn't stop myself. Just looking at her scared face had almost made me give up the house and leave—but that wouldn't have helped her. She wanted to stay, and probably stay in this house, but I wouldn't have been able to let that slide.

I'd probably be in the doghouse for a while, but she'd understand I couldn't let this go. The filly still hadn't said a word. "Do you have a name?"

"Scootaloo." She walked back to the bench and opened a cupboard to reveal a rubbish bin inside it. "What if they say I can't stay here?"

Scootaloo? Kinda cute name. "What makes you think I'll let anyone say no?" The truth was, if Princess Celestia turned me down, I'd have no say in it whatsoever. It wasn't like I could just tell her I was going to help her anyway. "My name's Lyra Heartstrings."

"So what now?" Scootaloo seemed to be examining me from horn to tail.

This was the big bit. Trusting her was important, and her trusting me more so. "Well, I was going to sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day, so you should probably do the same."

"You're not going to make me promise not to run away?" She looked skeptical. I couldn't really blame her, she'd had to do a lot of growing up for a small filly.

"What? Nah. I think we've both been pretty straight with each other so far. Good night, Scootaloo." Shifting a little, I squirmed into my sleeping bag on the floor.

Scootaloo didn't budge. She stared at me in the dim light of my horn. "Wait. What do you mean about a big day? What are you doing?"

"First I need to talk to your teacher. It's a school day, right?"

"Yeah." That honestly seemed like a default answer to her. Maybe one used quickly so that ponies didn't prod any further?

"Right. So we're going to your school to let her know you won't be there for a day or so, then we're going to Canterlot to talk to a friend." I managed a yawn as I pulled the bag up to my neck and set my head on the pillow.

Slowly dimming my horn, I waited for the sound of her hooves leaving the room, but they didn't come before it was dark. "This is the bit where you go to bed."

"What if I want to go to school instead?"

"Then I have to act like an adult should and tell somepony about you. Probably have to track down your aunts, talk to your friends, find out what they think. You'll miss a lot of days of school." I yawned and closed my eyes.

Finally, I heard her hooves retreat for the stairs and go up to her bedroom. Well, Lyra, if she's still there in the morning, you have a hope of doing something really stupid.

Throughout the night I felt something tickling at my thoughts. It was odd, but I'd felt it before. Throwing silly dreams at the tickling always did the trick—this time it was singing the Song That Never Ends that did the trick. When I finally woke up, I felt wonderfully rested and ready to face one of my stranger days for a while.

My sleeping bag was like a warn and snuggly sack of comfort around me, but it wouldn't protect me from all the day had to offer. The golden glow of my horn lit up the dark room and I pulled the zip down on the bag and climbed out.

Yawning, I kept my horn going just for the light it gave off and looked through my saddlebag. The cupcake from the previous day was a passable breakfast, though I would have preferred something a little more substantial. Nonetheless, I walked out the back door just as the sound of little hooves rattled through the house behind me.

"Where are you going?" A glance back showed Scootaloo rubbing at her eyes with a forehoof. There was worry in her voice—fear.

"A run. Do you like running?" I held the door open for her, and cursed my not having saved the cupcake for her.

Scootaloo seemed hesitant. She walked a bit closer, halfway across the kitchen. "You go for a run before the sun's up?"

I gave a laugh. When I was her age, I would have been just as flippant. "Yeah. Keeps me from getting bored. Wanna come?" It was insane to ask a little foal to do this, particularly with a big day ahead, but what the heck. If she got bored, she could jump on my back—she wouldn't weigh more than my armor.

Instead of dismissive (as I would have been), Scootaloo tilted her head up and grinned. "Why don't you run and I'll ride?" At my nod, she ran back upstairs—presumably to get whatever she was going to ride.

I walked outside and waited. The sun wouldn't be much longer. I knew Princess Celestia liked to adjust times for different seasons, but I also had a feel for when—The sun came up. I yawned and rolled my shoulders, then trotted in place until I heard the unmistakable sound of wheels on hardwood floor. The soft buzzing sound that accompanied Scootaloo from the house was her little wings working away.

A scooter. It had what looked like a skateboard deck with a handle leading up to a T bar. She crouched low over it with her forelegs on the bars and her wings working like crazy.

With a laugh, I struck my back hooves into the dirt and launched into a canter. When it seemed like she was able to keep pace with me all the way to the edge of town, I turned to trace the same track as the previous day.

Stretching my pace out, I drew into a full gallop, but she started falling behind. Slowing again, I waited for her to catch back up.

"You wanna go faster, don't you?" Scootaloo asked.

"We'll do one lap like this, then one faster. That's pretty impressive speed you get on that thing." And it was. Scootaloo was keeping up with my canter gait with just the push of her wings. On a more solid surface than the occasionally grassed path I was on, she would have probably kept up with me at a gallop.

"Sure!" She kept up with me easily until the halfway mark, but started to slow a little. "I can go faster, but not on grass."

"Yeah, I figured. Paths and flat ground are your thing, right? Think you can keep up until we get back to the start?" I looked aside at her, only to see Scootaloo smirk and lean into her handles a little more.

She managed to keep pace with my canter all the way back around, but I could see she was slowing as soon as we crossed the mark. Well, it was time to improvise. Magic was the solution to every problem in Equestria, or so some unicorns thought. Okay, so it might not be, but here it was. I formed up a golden length of magic and floated it over to Scootaloo. "Grab that!"

"What?" She might have asked for clarification, but Scootaloo grabbed the rod of magic and held it to her handlebar.

With her holding tight, I lengthened my stride to a gallop and then stretched further. Running with a load was one thing, but running with drag was another. Scootaloo wasn't a lot of strain, but she was more than I was used to. She was also squealing in excitement and flapping her wings like crazy. "How're you doing back there?"

"This is great! Can you run faster?!"

"Not exactly. I can do this, though." Ahead was one of the bridges over a stream we'd need to cross. Rather than aim at the bridge, I veered off to the side and aimed at the water itself. Just before my hooves hit the water, I teleported us both to the other side.

"What just happened?!" Scootaloo sounded a little shocked, but when I looked back she still had a big smile on her face. "What did you do?!"

"I'm a unicorn. It was magic." Well, saying things like that would make me a smugicorn, but I didn't need to downplay it.

"Can you do it ag—?"

I teleported again, the spell quick to cast and the vectors easy to add in when I was just running in the open. "Are you hungry? What do you normally have for breakfast?"

"Normally I just grab an apple. Big Mac—that's my friend's big brother—said it was okay." When I glanced back, Scootaloo was riding her scooter without flapping her wings at all. She looked to be enjoying herself at least. "Most unicorns I know aren't all that good at running and doing physical stuff."

"Everypony's different, ya know? How long until your teacher will be at school?" The extra pull on me from dragging Scootaloo along was definitely making my gallop more work than normal, but it agreed with me. I liked having a bit more load.

"She'll probably be there soon. Miss Cheerilee's always there when we arrive, no matter how early we get there." Scootaloo let go of the golden rod with with hoof to point at a building that stood apart from the rest of the town. There was a playground and everything there. "That's it!"

I shook my head with a laugh. "We'll catch it on the next lap. I'm not done running yet."

"You really are a strange unicorn. My friend doesn't like running at all. She's the only unicorn I know."

"She's not anymore. You know me." With that, I lengthened my gait a little more and ran a harder, faster lap of the town—only slowing down as we reached the same spot again.

With my sights set on the schoolhouse, I slowed down to a canter and then a trot. There were no other foals around, which was preferable for a serious little discussion. As we neared the front door, I let go of my magic that Scootaloo was holding and stopped. "You want to listen to this?"

"Grown-up speak, right?"

"Yeah, but it's about you. I used to hate when people would talk about me behind my back when I was a kid. I figure the least I can do is let you know what's going on." If she'd been living on her own for a while, Scootaloo already knew some of the hard truths of life. She deserved to be able to make a few more of her own decisions.

She looked surprised. "Really? Okay."

"Also, ask all the questions you want." I lifted my hoof and knocked on the schoolhouse door.

Hoofsteps approached from inside, and the door opened to reveal a mare that was pink/purple all over except for her bright green eyes. Her coat was the darkest shade, but her mane and tail were a two-tone deal with lighter shades. I couldn't see any wings on her back, and she definitely had no horn. "Yes?" Her tone was friendly and curious—exactly what I would have expected.

Alright, Lyra, big smile and best tone. "Hi there. Private Lyra Heartstrings from the E.U.P. Guard. I wanted to let you know I was taking Scootaloo to Canterlot today." Now was the key bit. Did she know Scootaloo was living alone? My training reminded me that if this was going to turn into a struggle, standing close to an earth pony was a terrible point to begin one. Training was, of course, rarely useful when dealing with regular ponies.

"She won't be here for the day, then? Well that's perfectly alright, but you won't mind me asking what this is all about?" I assumed this was the Cheerilee Scootaloo had mentioned.

She didn't sound like she was trying to hide anything, and truthfully I couldn't think what she would have to gain by covering up for Scootaloo's solitude. "Miss Cheerilee, I assume? Mind if we come inside?"

"Of course." Cheerilee (she hadn't claimed otherwise) backed up and turned so that I saw the three pretty flowers on her flank. There was a sense of youth about her, like she was around my own age but without any of the harshness I'd dealt with. She led the way to a room marked Office, and left the door open as she entered.

After I stepped inside, Scootaloo hesitated. "Come on in, Scootaloo, if you want."

For a moment I wondered if she'd run. Her eyes flicked to the side once but then came to rest on me again. Holding her head a little higher, she walked into the room with us.

"This has to do with Scootaloo's living conditions." Using my magic to pull the chair out, I sat down on one held the other back for Scootaloo to jump up onto the second. We both watched Cheerilee take a seat behind the desk. "Were you aware she's been living alone for…" I gestured to Scootaloo.

"Since the news about Mom and Dad."

I was relieved that Cheerilee looked shocked. I know I'd felt shocked when I'd first realized what was happening. "And that's not right. She's a bright, independent filly, but she needs somepony to—"

"I don't need anypony!" Scootaloo glared at me.

"…to make sure she's doing okay." I reached out a hoof and booped her nose. "I know you don't want anypony, but you can't live off leftover curry and apples forever." When she kept glaring at me, I raised an eyebrow. "Ask. I said you could ask."

"Why are you doing this?"

Cheerilee was being quiet. On the plus side, this gave her time to catch up on the situation.

"Because I have a little sister who's just fourteen. She lives on another world, and she doesn't even live alone. Scootaloo, I don't want to take over your life, but you need somepony to help you learn how to live better." I held Scootaloo's gaze, not willing to give an inch on this.

Cheerilee cleared her throat, which earned her both of our attention. "I agree that things can't be left the way they are. You're taking her to the authorities?"

"Yes." Totally not a lie. I just didn't say which authorities I was taking her to. "We'll be leaving the moment we're done here."

"That's a relief. Please, make sure this is all resolved. If you need anything else from me, don't hesitate to come here." Cheerilee did look relieved. Her smile was the last thing that reassured me she had no knowledge of Scootaloo's situation.

Scootaloo, I'd noticed, had gone quiet. My experience dealing with Robin told me that either she wanted to yell at me or she had something she wanted to talk about without Cheerilee hearing. I stood up and looked at Scootaloo. "Well, ready to go for a ride on a train?"

She was too young and too pony to outright lie to me. Scootaloo glared at me as if I'd just told her I was going to drag her away from everypony she knows—which I was doing. Kinda. "'Kay."

We got outside and I said my goodbyes to Cheerilee, then we got all of about twenty steps from the school before Scootaloo trotted up in front of me and glared at me. "You didn't say you were taking me to the authorities, and you didn't say you were the authorities. You wouldn't have let me just leave, would you?"

I nodded. "I would have, but I would have gone looking for you. Scootaloo, living on your own isn't right."

"What? You said your little sister live—"

"This is nothing like my sister's situation! She has adults to keep an eye on her. That's all I'm saying you need. You don't need somepony to be watching your every move, or paying you an allowance to do chores. You kept your bedroom, bathroom, and the kitchen spotless. What I'm going to do is ask a friend to make sure you're given the payments you deserve, and to—" Lyra, you let her goad you into this, but you'd already made the decision. Don't back down now. "—to help you live your own life."

Turning away from me and back toward town, Scootaloo started walking. "Why you?"

"Because I don't trust anypony else in town to look after you. You did want to keep living here, right?" I walked along at her side. "Your friends are here and all."

"Yeah. Why don't you trust them?"

"You're too clever. You hid this, you looked after yourself, so well that nopony noticed. So no, I don't trust anypony here to be able to see through you and see when you need help."

Scootaloo was carrying her scooter over her shoulder, but at my words she stopped and just looked at me. When I stopped, just ahead of her, she finally let out a laugh. "Really?"

"How were you getting food, how did you manage to sign up for school, and how did you move all that heavy furniture yourself?" When she didn't look to respond, I started walking again. "This is a two-way street, Scootaloo. If I'm going to trust you, you have to be honest with me."

"I'm being honest." She cantered quickly to catch up and settled into a trot beside me.

"Being honest is more than just not telling a lie, it's telling the truth."

Scootaloo sighed. "I have 'part-time jobs' at four restaurants. I wash dishes two nights a week at three of them, and one night a week at the other. They give me a few bits and dinner. None of them realize I'm working for the others on different nights."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," I said. "You're too smart for anypony else."

"And you would have caught me?"

I nodded. "Of course. Either I would have followed you to talk to your parents, or—" I realized what I'd said a moment too late.

The sob that came from Scootaloo told me I'd screwed up.

"Sorry." What else could I say? I could beat myself up over it, or treat her as an adult.

"It's alright. You just caught me out of the blue with it. I managed to stop crying, when anypony asked about them, after the first month they were—they were gone." She turned her head to the side, lifted a hoof to the side of her nose and blew hard. She swapped sides before taking up trotting again. "How else would you have caught me?"

"I would have asked around about you. Being nosy is my job." I couldn't believe it. She looked like she hadn't just been hit with a curve ball.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a guardpony?"

"Because it didn't come up. Your teacher might have been suspicious about me otherwise, so I figured I'd start off with all the truth."

Through my directing our walk, we'd reached her house again. I opened the front door with my magic and walked inside behind her. "I'll just grab my bags and we can head to Canterlot. Is there anything you want to bring?"

"Just my scooter."

I grabbed my saddlebags from the kitchen and walked back out to find her waiting for me. "You ready then?"

"You say that like we're leaving for good. We're not, are we?" Scootaloo narrowed her eyes at me like she expected me to tell her a half-truth.

"Celestia no. I like this place, and I know you like it. Come on, this is only temporary. We'll be back tonight, unless you want to spend the night in Canterlot?" I opened the front door for her.

No sooner did we leave the house than two ponies—foals—confronted us. "Scootaloo!" a young earth pony filly called. She bounded toward Scootaloo with a similarly sized unicorn at her side. Both of them looked around Scootaloo's age. "Are you ready for school?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and looked back at me. "No. I gotta go to Canterlot for something. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

The two new fillies grabbed Scootaloo and pulled her to what they probably thought was out of earshot of me. It was, but only because Ponyville was waking up and getting noisy. After some chatter between them, Scootaloo finally turned around and looked up at me. "Guess we should be going."

I was about to answer when both the fillies walked past Scootaloo and stomped their way right up to me. The yellow one with a cute bow in her mane glared furiously. "Bring Scootaloo back when you're done! Got it?"

Looking between her and the silent unicorn, I decided I was so done with being the responsible adult already. I dropped to the ground on my belly and swung a foreleg around and behind my back dramatically. "Please! I'll do anything! I promise!"

The yellow filly stood, jaw gaping wide at my performance, but her companion broke into a fit of giggles.

Crawling up to little miss yellow, I looked up at her and then reached up with a hoof to boop her on the nose. "I promise I'll bring her back. We're only going to talk to a friend."

After straightening up and letting Scootaloo say goodbye to her friends, we started off for the station again. Scootaloo looked to be distracted by something, so naturally I had to ask. "What's up?"

"Why'd you act so silly?"

"Because your friends didn't expect it. Also, I like doing silly things. Your friend seemed like they were being super serious for a situation that wasn't." I shrugged my shoulders as we reached the railway station. "Besides, it made her laugh."

"Are you sure you're in the Guard? Aren't they meant to be all serious and stuff?" She waited by my side while I paid for our tickets.

I passed Scootaloo a ticket and approached the train car closest to us. "When I'm doing serious stuff, I'm serious. I just like helping ponies, and the E.U.P. Guard was a good way to do that. Also, my wife's in the Guard full-time."

We stepped onto the train together and looked down the empty seats. "You're married?" Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie Drops. Being reminded of her brought my love to the front of my mind. It made me giddy and put me off-balance. I wouldn't have it any other way. "Yeah."

We sat together in silence for nearly ten minutes before the sound of the train's whistle cut through the lack of conversation. "Finally," Scootaloo said.

"You've been on trains before?" I asked.

A jolt rocked us in place before the train started moving in earnest. The sound of the locomotive laboring forward—just one car away—echoed down the train to us.

"Duh. Mom and Dad took me everywhere when I was smaller—before school started. I've been all over Equestria… but I can't remember much of it." She looked a little sad, and I could totally appreciate that. "It hurts whenever I think about them too much."

Bat ponies were lucky. They had neat wings that were built for casual hugging. The only option I had to deliver hugs was my legs, and they were a much bigger commitment, all told. I might as well keep treating her like an adult, since that's how she wanted things. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." Scootaloo seemed to shrink from her already small stature. With a sigh, she leaned a little closer and I found myself with her head against my foreleg. "It was the second time they'd left, but that's kinda wrong. They only came back here for a few days between their expeditions before going again.

"Aunt Lofty and Aunt Holiday came to visit once a week—for the weekend—but it was kinda like I was a burden to everyone. Mom and Dad had arranged for ponies to look after me for the other days, but they mostly just checked up I was okay and would leave me alone.

"I don't even remember who was meant to be looking after me that week. They'd come on Monday, done some cleaning up, then left me alone until Miss Derpy arrived with the mail on Thursday. She had a special letter from—"

I put my foreleg around her shoulders and held her while Scootaloo cried. What could I say that would help? I had no idea how to deal with this other than to hold her and let her keep crying.

We were almost halfway to Canterlot when I heard the conductor open the door behind us and start to walk through the car. Scootaloo jumped against me and hurriedly tried to dry her eyes.

Thinking quickly, I took her ticket and stood up to meet the conductor halfway. It was hardly a surprise when I realized it was Stamped Mark. I smiled at him, and nodded toward Scootaloo. "Just two, thank you."

Stamped Mark's eyes wandered over to Scootaloo, then to me again before one eyebrow raised. Nonetheless, he used his little device to notch both the tickets and pass them back. "Have a nice ride… Lyra, wasn't it?"

I nodded. "Thanks, Stamped." My words earned a smile from him. I turned back to the seat and this time sat between Scootaloo and the aisle so she didn't have to look at Stamped.

As soon as Stamped was out of the car, Scootaloo let out a grunt and resumed trying to dry her eyes. "You must think I'm such a wuss."

"For crying?" I watched her nod. "Nah. Losing someone is just about the hardest thing you'll ever go through, I figure. I don't know what I'd do if my mum or dad—if either of them died." It was hard to say, hard to even think about. "You'll probably get to meet them, depending on if my friend is busy."

Truthfully, I wanted to show Scootaloo how good adults could be, which meant introducing her to the best I knew, but there was more than that. What had happened was a failure of "the system", or society, or something, and I had no idea how to fix that side of things. There was only one pony I could think to talk to about such an issue and be sure it would get handled. "Trust me. You know her."

"Her? Are you making this a guessing game?"

"Not really. It's P—"

"Why'd you call your mom mum? My dad talks—talked—like that too." Scootaloo had changed the topic, not me. Interesting. Did she like the idea of this being an adventure?

"You want to hear a crazy story?" Okay, time to make this filly not think about her parents for the rest of the ride to Canterlot. "I'm not a pony. Well, I mean I wasn't born a pony. I was a…" I looked around suspiciously, then leaned down to whisper in her ear "human."

Scootaloo looked up at me. "Human? What's th—"

"Shh! Nopony must ever know about them." Illusion magic of the kind I wanted was easy enough to do, just shaping my telekinesis into the forms I wanted. Making them move and animating them was harder. "Humans,"—I looked around suspiciously again and got a laugh from Scootaloo—"look like this."

I didn't just make a human appear in front of us, I made me appear. The old me. Of course I didn't leave him—me—naked, I had my old hoodie on, shorts, and my beanie.

"You're making this up," Scootaloo said. "That looks just like a minotaur without any horns."

"I know. I haven't seen any minotaurs, but I learned about them in school. But it's not like it would matter. You'll never see one of these in Equestria anyway." I gestured at my old form with a hoof, dramatically, and it started to change. "Because the moment they get near any magic, they turn into ponies."

Scootaloo watched as the human boy turned all the way into a unicorn mare. She paused a moment and leaned closer, then turned her head to look at me, then back to the copy. "That's you? Wait. Go back."

With a snort I turned it back—slowly—to human. "The whole point of it is, once a human gets a cutie mark, they just start turning all the way. Up until then, it seems leaving the magic lets it go back."

"So you used to look like this? What was it like?"

"Well," I said, "balancing wasn't a problem, in case you were asking, but it is odd all the little differences. Humans need to wear clothes to keep warm or stay cool, but I've never had a problem with that as a pony. Not having hands kinda sucked, but I have magic now, and that's so much better. Mum has her wings.

"The oddest thing was learning to walk on all fours. Oh, and dealing with being a mare."

Her head snapped around as if it were on a cord. "You were a colt?!"

"Yeah. I had to go through this special process to get all the cooties off." I made the animated me start washing themselves as they turned into a pony again. "Not sure what caused that, but it seemed really random. My sisters and mum were fine, but I wound up like this."

"Your mom's a pegasus?"

"Not quite. You'll see." I banished my magic illusion and looked out the window. Rock. Looking back to the other window I could see nothing but sky and a distant horizon. Canterlot always seemed to sneak up on you like this.

Scootaloo seemed like she was ready to pounce to another line of questions, but instead took her time to come up with one. "Did you join the Guard because of your special somepony?"

"Yes and no. Yes because I did. No because I had other reasons. It felt right, it seemed like a fun thing to do, and I like knowing I can protect ponies who need it." As I spoke, the train left a tunnel and lit up as Canterlot came into view. The city still felt like a home to me, but the desire for something more was there too now. "We're almost there. You got this?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Scootaloo looked up at me as I stood. "What do I need to get?"

"I'm going to have to describe everything. It'll be okay if you cry, but try not to run," I said as I started walking for the door.

Keeping up beside me, Scootaloo scoffed. "I don't run away from nothing."

Leaving the train together, it seemed a quiet morning in Canterlot. Not quite as early as I normally toured the city, but at least I had a companion again. Compressing my gait a little, I kept at a trot that Scootaloo was able to maintain too.

I took the main path through the center of the city. Ponies were everywhere. Selling and buying goods were the main two things everypony did in the morning, but there was also a lot of chatter, too. This was the rumor mill of Canterlot, and nothing was safe from being discussed.

Half conversations rolled over us from every direction, but I kept our course straight through in the direction of Canterlot Castle. Scootaloo was dead silent as we walked up the path that brought us to the castle's entrance.

I smirked at the guard on duty at the gate and winked at him. "Okay, Scootaloo, you distract him while I sneak in." My voice was easily loud enough to be heard from the gate.

Scootaloo looked shocked. "W-What?! You didn't say we were going to sneak in! How do I distract—"

"Halt!" Shining Armor's voice was every bit as stern and sharp as I'd expected. Life in the Royal Guard had definitely agreed with him. "Who goes there?!"

"Distract him!" Charging my magic, I teleported beside Shining and then put a foreleg around his neck.

Shining stretched out his own leg around my neck and hugged me back. "Lyra! It's good to see you! What's going on that you have to sneak into the castle?"

I looked down the path at Scootaloo and saw her staring between us. "Just bringing a friend to see Princess Celestia. Shining Armor, this is Scootaloo. Scootaloo, this is Shining Armor, Sergeant of the Royal Guard."

"You know her? So what was with all the shouting about distracting him?" Scootaloo narrowed her eyes at me.

"That was to distract you," I said.

"Head on in. She's in a meeting right now, but it should be a short one." Shining let go of me and retreated to his guard post again. "And try not to scare anypony else."

"No promises. Come on, Scootaloo." I turned toward the castle and looked back at Scootaloo. As she slowly walked past Shining, I asked, "Have you figured it out yet?"

"No, because it's crazy." Scootaloo glared up at me. "This is all crazy. I must still be asleep. Can you pinch me?"

I used my magic to carefully pinch her shoulder. "That help?"

"Nope. I must be crazier than I thought, because I thought you asked if we could see Princess Celestia, and then he just told you to walk in and see her, and why isn't anypony stopping us?" Scootaloo ran in front of me and turned to face me with her little wings flared out. "I want an answer!"

Nightmare Moon: have you ever heard of a creature that gave others nightmares as a defense mechanism?

"There were many such creatures that used dream magic not only in defense, but also offense." Nightmare Moon looked serene as she pondered her history—the time before her banishment. "I killed most of them off. Hunted them until every last one was no more than a scary story to tell little foals to make them behave."

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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