It wasn't a long wait to see Princess Celestia, and even if it was I wouldn't get bored. The Royal Guard were always chatty with somepony they knew to be attached to the E.U.P. Guard, and apparently I had a reputation as being one of the royal problem solvers. Honestly, I thought I caused more than I solved, but here we are.

So I chatted with Sure Fire for only a few minutes before my name was called and I marched into the throne room of Princess Celestia. Bowing my head as I entered, I heard a scoffing sound coming from above me—the direction of the throne. "Your Highness?"

"Lyra Heartstrings, do I need to attach some titles to your name so I can use them to annoy you? I heard that's what Princess Screech did to your sister." Celestia sounded jovial. "Please, report on any official parts of your visit, and tell me what you're obviously here for."

Inhaling, I gave her as much of the visit to Thestralia as I thought she needed—certainly all the bits she'd asked for. But then I continued on with Screech's request to have me teach her magic.

"I'd considered sending you, but with Scootaloo to think of, I didn't think it would work. You said that Screech will meet you in Stonecrop once a week for these lessons? And you're sure you will be able to attend?"

I nodded. "The train service between Ponyville and Stonecrop will mean a day trip there will be no longer than one to Canterlot. I've told her I'll spend a week arranging things, and then I'll take a message to her in Stonecrop."

"You could attend to this on weekends and take Scootaloo with you. That way you'll not be neglecting any time with her. As for next week"—Princess Celestia took a deep breath and closed her eyes—"there may be some badly timed events then, but the start of next week will be the Summer Sun Celebration, or did you forget?"

Well, of course I'd forgotten, and by Celestia's grin she knew that as clear as day. "Well, I had forgotten, what with my holidays and all. Of course I can attend. It will be here in Canterlot again?"

"Actually, I was planning to hold it in Ponyville this year, and I'll be sending somepony special to make sure everything's organized. Somepony you know quite well." She smiled like there was a grand joke that she knew I'd get only when she wanted me to. I was so not going to ruin her special day by trying to find out what it was. "Assuming everything with your preparations this week goes well, I don't see any reason for you to miss either your friend's party or mine."

"The most important thing I need to know is, do Alicorns need special training right from the start? Can I begin things with teaching her simple spells and work her up to learning alicorn magic later?"

"Everypony has to start from the start, Lyra. Even Cadance began by learning to make light. You've got yourself a talented pupil if she could use her telekinesis so quickly, but don't neglect a second of her study." Almost blinding flashes of golden sunlight pulsed and revealed that Celestia had teleported me several books. "These, however, will be essential additions to her training. Please don't try to return them to my library yourself—just bring them back to me and I'll store them again."

"And it goes without saying that I don't show them to others. Got it, and thanks for trusting me." While Candela felt like a second mother to me, despite only teaching me for a year, Celestia was a mentor who'd guided me through learning everything I knew of Equestria and magic. Knowing I had her trust was a big boost.

Princess Celestia gave me that one-eyed smile that meant I'd guessed things correctly. She stretched out one of her wings to the side and gave it a flick. "Did Scootaloo find her cutie mark?"

"No. Part of the reason we came back a week early was to allow her time to turn back into a pegasus before school starts next week. Though, if I'm taking her with me to Stonecrop each week, there will be other opportunities for her to gain her mark. Destiny sometimes needs a push, as you taught me, but I think this is less a push and more a hoof offered in friendship." I carefully placed the books inside my saddlebags I'd worn today—I'd been expecting as much as what she'd given me.

"Did she get to fly?"

"Yes. Scootaloo soared on the wind under her own wings. I've never seen that filly so happy. If you'll excuse me now, Your Highness, I have other appointments with another princess."

"Hrmm." Princess Celestia tapped her chin as she looked at me from her one twinkling eyes that I could see. "Baroness? Perhaps a dukedom? What's the most awkward form of address I could bestow upon you? A knighthood perhaps?"

It was a joke. Surely it was a joke. I began backing away from Celestia while her grin got wider and wider. I hope it's a joke.

"If you can go two weeks without calling me your highness, I'll not give you a title. Sound fair?" Princess Celestia asked.

"A-And if I don't agree?"

"Dame Lyra Heartstrings sounds good, and I could ensure it carries over to your wife, too."

I know my face paled almost to the same hue as Celestia's. "I agree! I can avoid using that Y—" I halted dead in my tracks. Every hair on my body spoke of the danger ahead if I finished that sentence. "… Celestia."

"Good work, Miss Lyra Heartstrings. Keep it up."

This was my opportunity. I turned tail and ran for the doors as quickly as I could and didn't stop until I'd passed some laughing Royal Guards and was free of the castle itself.

"Running away from Celestia? Now there's some wisdom I don't see in many other mares." Cadance's voice drew my attention. When I looked toward her, she grinned like a fool. "I heard you were visiting your homeland. How was it?"

There was nothing else for it. I rushed over to Cadance and hugged her for all I was worth. "You wouldn't believe how crazy it was and what ended up happening. Do you want to have lunch and we can chat?"

"If you didn't ask, I would have. Shiny's off on a diplomatic mission with Blue, and all I have is my pink plot to keep me company while Celestia keeps calling me in for all sorts of crazy what-if scenarios. I get it, she's grooming me to take over something, but why is it happening so fast?" She wrapped her huge wings around me and squeezed until I felt some measure of normalcy return to my life. "What about you?"

"Sweetie's off on another tour. I have Dad looking after Scootaloo for the days while she un-battifies, and I have to research how to teach an alicorn magic from the ground up." I squeezed her back for all I was worth, but forelegs were a poor replacement for alicorn-strength hugging wings. When she looked at me strange, I laughed. "Not you. Princess Screech of Thestralia."

"You're moving to Thestralia?!"

"Lunch first, then you get the full story." I turned for the front gate and started walking while Cadance rushed to keep up.

Growing up, I'd never been particularly big on coffee. My time training with the E.U.P. Guard had changed that. Coffee was a ritual way to for them to wake up drowsy recruits and train them to keep waking up just before dawn. The ritual usually stuck, and although I hadn't needed any since then, I still enjoyed a cup of coffee.

Over a steaming cup of coffee and another of tea, and with a croissant each, I told the story of my new job. By the time I got to the end my coffee cup was empty and I was trying to get the attention of a waitress.

"So you'll be working weekends teaching an alicorn magic? Lyra, you have really jumped in the deep end of teaching, haven't you?" Cadance sipped at her tea with a big grin on her lips. "But then, I'd expect nothing less from one of Princess Celestia's Problem Solvers."

That title would haunt me. "Ugh. Don't say it like that. I just like helping ponies, okay?"

"And Princess Celestia is a pony. I get it."

The waitress walked up to our table and immediately spotted my empty cup. "Oh my goodness. Here, let me get that for you."

"Thanks." Showing enthusiasm when our conversation was interrupted would normally be hard, but with the conversation having turned to my sort-of job, I was glad enough to have Cadance's train of thought broken.

When the waitress had left again, I narrowed my eyes as Cadance. "So, when are you and Shining…" The look on Cadance's face stopped me. "Still no word from Princess Celestia?"

"Nothing. I ask her each week and the answer is always the same—the time isn't right." The long sigh she let out broke my heart.

I reached across the table with my hoof. "I'll talk to her." Raising my hoof again, I called the waitress over. "Excuse me again, could I have two slices of your most decadent chocolate cake?"

The waitress didn't need my urgent tone to see the kind of cake we needed. Cadance's expression was more than enough. "I'll be right back."

"I haven't really gotten tough with Princess Celestia before, but if she doesn't let you two get married I'll…" I grit my teeth in frustration. Neither Cadance nor Shining deserved this situation.

"Here we are. Two slices of the best chocolate cake in all Equestria. They make it in a little town nearby called—"

"Ponyville," I said, cutting her off. "If I don't miss my guess, they have a new mare working there that is a master of chocolate."

Looking incredulous, the waitress almost dropped the plates of cake. "How'd you know that?!"

Cadance had caught the two plates before they'd gotten too far. "There's one thing you'll learn about Lyra Heartstrings—she knows everypony. This is no joke. She met a princess of another land and is going to be teaching her magic. I place bets with Princess Celestia that Lyra can't possibly surprise us anymore, but I keep losing." Levitating her fork up, Cadance took a small bite off the thin end of her cake and brought it up to her mouth.

"Now to see if Pinkie Pie has put as much effort into baking as she has into everything else." I mirrored Cadance's gesture and, like Cadance, I sat there in shock after tasting the cake. It was literally amazing. I closed my eyes and let the cake's flavor take me on a ride of gastronomical delight.

Not a single understandable word left our mouths until the cakes were gone. Our minds were paralyzed and our bodies focused on just one thing—eating that cake. Even after it was gone the flavor lingered enough to keep us shell-shocked by the experience.

Finally, Cadance managed to say, "Wow."

"Same here. I can see myself needing to run twice as much if I spend too much time in Ponyville." A shiver ran through me. "Though I guess if I'm going to be working with magic more, I can afford to eat a little more cake from time to time."

"Perhaps I could make some visits there. I mean, if one of my best friend lives in Ponyville, surely I can pay her a visit—once a week or so." Cadance and I shared a knowing look that spoke of expanding waistlines and stern lectures from a doctor. Then we both broke into a fit of giggles. "I missed having you to chat with over your holidays, Lyra. It gets so droll here sometimes. I wish things would get more exciting."

The week had been a rush. I'd been running to and from the library, studying the books Celestia had given me, and trying to spend time with Scootaloo while she slowly turned back into a pegasus. With the Summer Sun Celebration scheduled for Monday morning, I promised myself I'd take Scootaloo with me. If nothing else, it would mean some great food.

But first I had Moon Dancer's birthday party on Saturday, and that meant I needed to get the perfect present for her. Knowing Moon Dancer, that meant I had to find a book she hadn't read. "Come on, Scoots, we're going shopping."

Scootaloo now resembled a normal pegasus again except for one thing—well, four things. Her teeth were still far more pointed than any pegasus' had any right to be. "What're we getting?"

"A book." At her groan, I continued. "Specifically, a book for a friend's birthday party. Later today one of my friends from school is having her birthday party. I asked if I could bring a plus one and she said it was fine."

"Did you hear the Summer Sun Celebration is in Ponyville this year?"

"I did. After the party we are heading back home to get ready for it." I slung my saddlebags on over my armor, which was already strapped on tight. "We'll need a big sleep tonight, because tomorrow night there will be a party to prepare for Monday's dawn. Then, on Tuesday, school starts again."

"Do you think my friends will forget me?" She ruffled her wings in a similar way to how she did when they were bat wings. I had to wonder if there was something significant there. How would fate play its hand here?

I was so distracted that I almost forgot her earnest question. "Of course they won't, but I bet they both have big stories to tell about their holidays too. Don't get too caught up talking about yours to listen to theirs, okay?"

She blinked her big eyes up at me in surprise and nodded.

Our shopping involved us trotting around Canterlot, exploring musty bookstores, and finally finding what we needed. I'd assumed that everything we'd studied in school would have been consumed by my book-hungry friend—well, the book-hungry friend who was having a birthday party on this particular day. Twilight Sparkle was a whole other order of book-hungry that I wasn't prepared to deal with right now.

We got the bookstore to wrap the book on E.U.P. Guard magic training up and put a ribbon on it, then headed out again. Trotting down the streets of Canterlot reminded me of how much this city meant to me. It had been the place I'd come to to learn and grow as a pony.

"Hi Twilight!" I said as the mare (no longer the filly who'd taught me magic years ago now) trotted past. She was mumbling to herself and seemed to distracted to reply.

"Was that your friend?" Scootaloo asked.

"No. Well, yes, but a different friend. That was Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's personal student at her school. If you ever want to know anything about magic, and Princess Celestia is busy, you ask Twilight Sparkle. Seven years ago she tutored me on it—and she was the same age you are now!"

Scootaloo looked behind us, presumably at Twilight trotting the other direction. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-five. Not that old, but she was really ahead of the class. I bet that one day she'll know everything there is to know about magic. Odd, though, she should have been invited to the party too."

The party, as it turned out, was a bit of a downer. Apparently Moon Dancer had been excited to meet back up with Twilight Sparkle. In the end I'd sat down with her to discuss E.U.P. training—a subject I liked to think I was pretty good at—which is when I'd told her to unwrap my present.

"This is a book on—" Moon turned to look at me, and I could see that she hadn't read that particular book. "Thank you!"

I had a huggy unicorn to deal with, which was actually something my seven years in Equestria had trained me to deal with. Hugging her back, I felt happy I'd found something for her that she liked. "You could even try some of the techniques in there. Did you ever notice how I went from struggling to do repeated magic to keeping up easily?"

"It makes that much of a difference?" She practically dropped me on the spot and opened up the book. "Ooh…"

And just like that the birthday girl was appeased. At least for now.

"Hey, Lyra, I heard you moved to Ponyville?" Minuette asked.

I left Moon to her reading—something I knew she would enjoy more than mere party chatter—and turned to Minuette. "Yeah. Settled into a nice place there. You should totally come for the Summer Sun Celebration!"

Lemon Hearts let out a gasp. "Would you have room for more? I was heartbroken when I heard it wasn't going to be in Canterlot this year."

I thought about it. We had room, but just needed room for others to crash. "Sure, but you'll need to bring something to sleep on. We have tons of room, right Scoots?"

"We do?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah. We'll move the couch to the side and there's room for a few ponies to stretch out then. So, what do you girls think? Sleepover at our place?" The resulting cheer told me everything I needed to know. "We'd better head off early, then. We'll have to make that room and organize food for everypony."

Lemon Hearts looked confused for a moment. "Food? Oh, didn't you do a lot of cooking in the school dorm?"

"She sure did. Married the dorm manager's daughter, too. I heard they did all their cooking together." Minuette nudged me in the side with a foreleg.

I'm not sure why, but there was a sense of urgency. I felt compelled to head to Ponyville for some reason. Fate? Destiny? They were real powers here, and not ones to be ignored. "I really should go. Scoots will need her sleep tonight if she wants to stay up all night tomorrow night for the big event."

"You'll need to sleep too!" Scootaloo said.

"Right. I'll just say goodbye to Moon Dancer and then we'll be going."

Saying goodbye to Moon was easy—she was too focused on reading a new book to do more than say "bye", but the rest all wanted a hug and a few words. By the time we were on the train headed to Ponyville, it was getting dark.

"I had a lot of fun today, Lyra, but I can't help but feel there's something strange about to happen. Is that silly?" Scootaloo asked.

I shook my head. "No. It's not silly. I feel it too, Scoots. I want you to stick close to me tomorrow and at the party."

Scootaloo nodded and leaned against me. She trusted me way too much, and here I was just a— Okay, I was kinda a trained warrior, and pretty good with tricks and stuff, but I still felt like I wanted my mum to tell me it was going to be okay.

But I was an adult now. I had responsibilities to take care of, and one of those was at my side. Besides, Princess Celestia would be in Ponyville. What could possibly go wrong?

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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