Dawn was a magical time of the day, a time of change, of rebirth and newness. As the sun rose over the horizon, guided by Celestia’s gentle touch, nothing really changed: and yet everything changed. The world woke up from its nightly slumber, and there was new, untapped potential in every day. That was part of why Lyra always woke up early to greet the dawn. Of course, it was also partly out of habit. Her own teachers had insisted she wake up early, and it had been so ingrained in her that even years later, when she could sleep in, her body wouldn’t let her.

Truthfully, in recent years it had become something of a burden. When she was living alone, she never gave a second thought to getting up in the pre-dawn hour, heading outside to some quiet corner of Ponyville. She would meditate, go through basic stretches, and find her inner peace to get her through the day. But now that she had her herd, Lero and Twilight and Rainbow Dash, she couldn’t help but feel a bit short changed. She wished she could wake up with the others, just to be with them. Even if she returned to bed after completing her meditations, there was something fundamentally different about it. Part of Lyra wanted to wake up next to her herd, and, well, do the sort of things one might do in that situation. But part of the fun—at least as Twilight or Rainbow told it—was the spontaneousness of waking up next to a loved one, and there was nothing spontaneous about crawling back into bed once you were already awake.

Not that, Lyra suspected, there was going to be any of that today. For once, Lyra was privately glad that she had a solid excuse not to be home in the morning.

But that same reason wasn’t exactly making her meditations particularly easy. Usually, by this time of the morning—long before the sun was peaking over the horizon—Lyra had already found the sort of peace she had come to expect. It wasn’t happening for her today. It didn’t really surprise her.

It wasn’t the first time the rest of her life had interfered with Still Way—she could remember the first few weeks of dating the herd, for example, when she was so love-sick she had difficulty focusing. That had been frustrating, if not particularly bad. Now… Now…

Lyra hadn’t felt this unhappy, she suspected, since she had been a teenager, before she had found Still Way. The martial art had given her the peace she needed and craved, and it had shaped her life more than anything up until she had met Lero. Yet now, when she needed that sort of peace and calmness more than anything, she couldn’t find it. She couldn’t let go of her dark thoughts and worries. She dwelled on them, and they dwelled on her.

This was all her fault, the thought would whisper in her ears everytime she came close to reaching her goal. You’ve caused this disharmony.

It was difficult to deny, no matter how hard she tried to.

It had seemed so simple, so obvious at the time, and it made sense to Lyra, both then and now. But for all the logic of it, for all the cool reason behind it, Lyra wished she hadn’t agreed with Twilight. Or did she? Lyra let out a sigh. Perhaps that was what was really disturbing her… she had hurt her herdmate, her friend and lover… and if she was in the same situation, she’d do the exact same thing again.

Giving herself a shake, Lyra unfolded her legs and did a couple of stretches to relieve the greater-than-normal stiffness from her muscles, before moving into the standard muscle relaxation techniques. Even if she couldn’t find inner peace, at least she could relax her body to a degree. Celestia knew she needed it.

For some time, Lyra had suspected that Rainbow wasn’t the strongest lead mare she could be. Even though she admired—and fully supported—Rainbow’s insistence that Lero be included in the decision making process, more often than not, it seemed that Rainbow relied almost too heavily on what her herdmates thought and said. She very rarely made decisions on her own. It wasn’t that she couldn’t be decisive, or strong-willed, it was just that, when put into an uncertain or unclear situation, Rainbow dithered or took a third way out—usually by doing nothing or just following what her herdmates were saying. Whether Rainbow realized it or not, Twilight had been making decisions for the herd beyond her position for years.

On one hoof, Lyra suspected it was wrong of her to cast her vote in such a way that formalized what she had known for a while, but, at the same time, Lyra was certain that the confrontation would have happened sooner or later. Yet, at the other same time, she agreed with Twilight, she honestly did. She wasn’t an academic, of course, but she was willing to trust Twilight if the mare said there wasn’t any way around it—and there was no reason for the herd not to expand, nor were Rainbow’s objections particularly convincing. Lero, no matter how beloved, was only one pony. One human. Nor was anypony expecting him to fall in love with whomever they might add, or to make love to him either.

It might be a bit unusual, but heterosexual stallions were more common than mares like Rainbow, and they were able to handle dealing with a partner they weren’t attracted to.

And she wanted foals. There was that.

Yet, she hadn’t foreseen Rainbow being so utterly upset. Or running off.

Which was a big part of why, when Lyra got to her hooves, she decided not to head directly home. Given that the sun had been up in the sky for a while now, she suspected Twilight and Lero would just be waking up, and Lero would no doubt notice Rainbow was missing. Lyra had no desire to fight with Lero. She just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for such a confrontation now.

Apparently she was a bit of a coward.

So, instead, she went for a walk. It was still pretty early in the morning, but Ponyville had always been a town that woke up fairly early, probably due to the large earth pony population and work ethic. It was somewhat relaxing to walk through the town and watch ponies—her friends or acquaintances, or just ponies she knew on sight—going around their happy, normal lives. They had no burdens like she did, nothing to weigh them down or cause them to doubt themselves.

Lyra snorted and rolled her eyes. Oh, of course they did. Everypony had problems, personal and otherwise. She could probably pick any one of the ponies out of the crowds here, and find they had just the same sorts of problems in their lives too. Self-pity wasn’t going to help her out of this mess. No. It wouldn’t.

On the other hoof, a box of candies might just help smooth things over. Plus she was sort of hungry herself and had no desire to go home for waffles smothered in angry looks and syrup.

Bonbon’s shop wasn’t open yet, since her best friend was probably one of the laziest earth ponies Lyra ever had the pleasure to meet and befriend. Luckily, Lyra knew exactly where her friend kept the spare keys—under a rock that looked nothing like a rock. It only took a couple of moments to open the door and slip inside. She was careful to make sure nopony saw her enter, however; Bonbon would never forgive her if the town got it into their heads that her store was going to be open before lunch.

It was strange, the store with the lights off. It felt almost painfully lonely and a bit eerie. Adding to that impression was the fact that many of the shelves were empty, or partly empty, only the unsold candies from the day before were still sitting on the trays. Still good, of course, but they looked a bit sad, sitting there by their lonesome. Lyra smiled and hauled out a box. Don’t worry little friends, I’ll give you a good home.

“I’ve told you before, Lyra, it’s creepy when you talk to the candy.”

Lyra very nearly leapt out of her skin as she whipped around to reveal a tired-looking and bathrobe-dressed Bonbon. The mare’s mane was out of place, as if she had just rolled out of bed, which she probably had, but she had an amused looking smirk on her lips as she watched Lyra from the door that led to the backroom. When Lyra had moved out to be with her herd, Bonbon had taken up residence in the loft over her candy shop. She wondered if Bonbon was ever unhappy about that.

“I still get nightmares about that time I found you singing to them,” Bonbon shook her head in amusement.

“That wasn’t me, that was Harmony,” Lyra protested, finally finding her voice. Goodness, she must really be out of it if her friend could sneak up on her and get a few jabs in.

“Yes, well, I wish you had been singing a love song to me, not to my candy,” Bonbon ran her hoof through her mane and let out a huff. “So, is there some reason you’re burgling my store, Lyra?”

“I am not,” Lyra said indignantly as she felt her cheeks redden. She’d never steal. Well, she hadn’t since she had been a teenager. She certainly wasn’t going to start now. “I was going to leave some bits.”

“With no bit bag?”

“Okay, so I would have come back with them,” Lyra sighed and put the half-full box on the counter. Most of the candies were of the non-chocolate variety, since Lero hated it for some reason. More for her and the girls, she supposed. “I didn’t think you’d be awake.”

“I wasn’t,” Bonbon confirmed, before hiding a jaw cracking yawn behind a hoof. “So, what brings you to my store so early.”

Lyra opened her mouth, then paused, briefly considering what to say. She hated lying, but, at the same time, she didn’t want to blab her herd’s secrets and dirty laundry all over the place, even to her best friend. Perhaps the basic truth would be the best. “Herd had a bit of a fight last night,” Lyra said with a sigh, shrugging. “And I doubt it’s over.”

“Ah, the ‘please forgive me’ sorter,” Bonbon said with a knowing nod. “Half of my business, not that I’m telling.” Bonbon’s jovial attitude slipped slightly as she smiled sadly at Lyra. “Do you want some fresh stuff? It wouldn’t take too long to make.”

“No, it’s fine,” Lyra said, shaking her head. She had never understood why some ponies thought fresher candy was better—it all tasted the same to her.

“Come on,” Bonbon beckoned with her hoof as she bumped the door open with her rump. She didn’t wait for Lyra to come, but slipped into the backroom expecting Lyra to follow. So she did.

Besides the stairs leading up, the back room was dominated by the kitchen that Bonbon used for most of her candy-making needs. There were all manner of tools and specialized knives and mixers Bonbon had acquired over the years, most of which Lyra had no idea how to use. After her experience with setting the sameself kitchen on fire in an attempt to help her friend, she could honestly say she had no desire to find out. Bonbon gave her another smile and started up some of the machines, along with the oven and pulling out some pots and what not.

“So, you want to talk about it?” Bonbon asked as she grabbed a bag of sugar with her teeth and started pulling it up onto the counter. Lyra lit her horn and hoisted the bag for her friend. That much, at least, she could do.

“Not really,” Lyra shuffled her hooves nervously and avoided her friend’s gaze. Talking about that sort of thing with non-herd members wasn’t done, and she didn’t want to start any rumours about Rainbow either. She had already hurt her enough.

“It’s just,” Bonbon said with a grunt as she poured the bag, “I don’t think I’ve even heard of you girls fighting before. Even with Lero in your herd.”

“Sometimes I think Lero’s better at being harmonious than we are,” Lyra said with a chuckle. It wasn’t true, really, but for someone who had been born and raised in such as violent and chaotic world, Lero had a gentle soul.

“Uh huh,” Bonbon pushed the bowl onto the burner and started mixing it. Lyra couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose at the smell. She loved candy, but the smell of cooking sugar made her want to vomit. “You know I won’t tell anypony, right?”

Lyra bit her lip. That was true. If she couldn’t trust her best friend not to spread nasty stories around about her and her herd, who could she trust? So Lyra let out a sigh, and she told her.

Bonbon listened attentively, although she didn’t say anything or move much beyond what she needed to do to make her morning’s candy. Slowly, however, Bonbon’s face grew a frown.

“So, Rainbow didn’t want to expand the herd?” Bonbon asked as Lyra’s voice trailed off.

“Not really.” Lyra poured herself a glass of water and took a sip a she studied her friend.

“So I guess there’s no chance I might be able to join?” Bonbon said with a sudden grin and chuckle.

“I didn’t… think you liked Lero. Like that?” Lyra asked, feeling a bit put off. Her friend had certainly never expressed such. Of course, she was probably just kidding around, although sometimes it was difficult to tell. That was part of the reason Lyra liked the mare so. She wasn’t easy to read.

“I don’t...” Bonbon’s grin vanished in a heavy sigh. “I just see how happy you are, and I guess I can’t help but be a bit jealous.” Bonbon’s knowing smirk returned. “‘Sides, I should think an earth pony like me could teach you mares a trick or two.”

Lyra just snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she seemed offended by the idea that we might expand the herd to include another stallion.”

“Hrmp, well, I’m not really sure what to tell you, Lyra,” Bonbon said between bites of the half-melted candy, probably testing to see if the recipe was right. “She’s always been sort of shy though.”

“Rainbow? Shy?” Lyra wondered if all that candy fumes her friend had been inhaling had alded her brain. “Are we talking about the same pony?”

“Mhmm, I’ve known Rainbow a bit longer than you, and I can tell you right now, that filly is shy,” Bonbon frowned and tapped her hoof on the side of the heating pot. “Well, not exactly shy… but not confident.”

“Again, are we talking about the same mare here?” Lyra asked, as she stole a cooling candy from a tray. Bonbon glared at her and Lyra gave her a winning smile. She hadn’t had breakfast yet!

“Have you ever known Rainbow to talk about stallions?” Bonbon turned back to the pot and turned down the heat. Judging from the look, it was carmel. “Give me a hoof with this, would you? Or, have you ever heard of her dating anypony before Lero?”

“Uh, no...” Lyra lit her horn and lifted the pot for her friend, hovering the pot over to the heated candy table and pouring it out for stretching. She wasn’t sure what her friend was driving at, but she was willing to humor her. “I guess not.”

“And you don’t think that’s a bit odd? I mean, you’ve had dates before, haven’t you?” Bonbon knew full well Lyra had dated before. “I’ve dated—hay, even Twilight dated a herd when she was in university.”

“Oh yeah,” Lyra still thought it was sort of amusing that Twilight, the textbook case of a bookworm, had been so involved with a herd like that.

“So, why hasn’t Rainbow?”

“She’s… had some bad experiences,” Lyra said slowly and reluctantly. She had a feeling Bonbon already knew about that, but Rainbow had told her in confidence, and she didn’t want to betray her friend like that.

“Right, exactly,” Bonbon declared with the air of a philosopher who had just refuted a fellow philosopher’s position.

“I don’t…” Lyra paused and let her thoughts catch up with the rest of her mind. “You’re saying that… what, Lero’s the first good experience she’s had with a stallion?”

“Mhmm.” Bonbon started to stretch the carmel out on the table with a couple of specialized tools. “She doesn’t want to lose that, and she’s probably worried she will.”

“But she wouldn’t?” Lyra felt like she was starting to understand why Rainbow had objected so strongly. Maybe it wasn’t just that they weren’t including Lero in it, or that she was worried about hurting him. Or, rather, she was worried she’d hurt him so badly he’d leave. And they had basically forced it onto her.

“The heart thinks with the soul and blood,” Bonbon said with a chuckle, causing Lyra to blink. Did Bonbon just quote Still Way? To her? That was her thing! “And the Mind thinks with truths and lies.”

Lyra frowned and didn’t say anything for a moment. “I think I ought to go find her.”

“Any idea where she went?” Bonbon asked, to which Lyra shook her head sadly. She knew Twilight had stayed up most of the night keeping vigil, hoping Rainbow would come home, but obviously that hadn’t happened during the night, given that Rainbow wasn’t home and Twilight’s cheeks had been matted with dried tears when Lyra had woken up.

“Well, good luck,” Bonbon said, before reaching under the counter and passing Lyra a box. “For Rainbow, if you find her.” Lyra hadn’t even seen the mare put the box together. Sometimes she thought Bonbon was some sort of sugar witch. Before Lyra could take the box, Bonbon leaned in and kissed her on her cheek. “And chin up, Lyra, you’ll get through this, I know you will. You and your herd.”

For the first time that morning, Lyra found her inner peace. Now, if only she could find Rainbow Dash…

**

In the past few years, and especially in the past few months, Ponyville had grown, and there was no denying that. So far however, the sleepy earth pony town hadn’t lost its small town charm that had attracted Lyra to move there in the first place. Everypony seemed to know every other pony, even if only a few, like Pinkie Pie, really did. So when Lyra set out to find Rainbow Dash, she sort of imagined it would be easy. The hard part, Lyra had assumed, would be convincing the mare to come home, or getting her to talk. Rainbow was relatively well known around Ponyville even before she had become an element bearer or herded with Lero. Nor was she particularly stealthy.

Yet, no matter who she asked, Lyra couldn’t get a useful answer out of anypony. It wasn’t that they were being deliberately obstructive, it was just that no pony had seen Rainbow since yesterday evening. She was, apparently, hiding, and hiding well. For the first time in her life, Lyra wished she had wings, if only to make searching easier. It wasn’t frustrating enough to get Lyra worked up, but after the second time around the town, carrying a box of chocolates which Lyra strongly suspected were starting to melt in the heat, she was starting to feel rather stupid.

In fact… wasn’t it supposed to be raining today?

Lyra came to a stop in the middle of the street and found herself frowning as she looked up at the cloudless sky. There weren’t even the beginnings of a rain storm, which suggested that somepony wasn’t doing her job—namely Rainbow Dash. On an ordinary day, it wouldn’t have troubled Lyra very much, since Rainbow was notorious for leaving work to the absolute last minute, relying on her speed and skills to allow her to do the work in a fraction of the time. Yet, the fact that Lyra couldn’t find her herd mate, nor had anypony seen her, was making her feel more than a little bit concerned that there might be more going on that she had originally suspected.

Had RD done something foolish, like try and sleep in the Everfree? Ever since Twilight and Rainbow had done whatever they had done to save Equestria—again—back a month ago, the two mares had been increasingly casual about entering that dark place. Lyra worried—although she didn’t try to badger them about it—that they were vastly underestimating how dangerous the Forest was for ponies, even ponies as strong and skilled as her herdmates. What if something had gotten her?

Before she got overwhelmed by her own panicky thoughts, Lyra took a couple of deep breaths and returned to her center, allowing her fears to recede. She didn’t suppress them, or make them go away, but she wouldn’t allow fear to rule her like a filly, nor would she be so foolish as to ignore them altogether. They were her tools, ones she drew on now to motivate her mind to work sharply and quickly. Hopefully, she’d be able to find Rainbow soon.

However, Lyra was more than willing to admit she probably could use some help. She might have told Bonbon what was going on, but she’d rather not draw too many more outsiders into her herd’s private affairs, so that left only Twilight to turn to. And Lero. If Lyra was lucky, they’d have fought it out by now, and there’d be very little in the way of yelling. She hated it when ponies who loved one another yelled at each other. Still, she could only imagine the look of dread on her herdmates’ faces when she told them she couldn’t find Rainbow Dash. It was, however, the best and most logical solution, so after one last glance up at the sky, Lyra turned towards the library and her home.

Even if she had given up, she wasn’t about to stop keeping a careful eye out for the mare’s rainbow mane and strong flanks. And her ears. The first thing they taught a pony in basic Guard training was how to keep their senses open, looking for trouble, so they could step in and stop it before it got out of hoof. Thankfully, for all the trouble Ponyville experienced, they were a relatively crimeless town in many ways.

“Miss Heartstrings! Miss Heartstrings!” Lyra paused mid stride and glanced over her shoulder—it didn’t surprise her greatly to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders come barreling around the corner. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were in a wagon being pulled by the third of the group, Scootaloo, and as usual, the orange filly was going too fast for her to really control. Lyra waited until the last possible second to step aside and grab the wagon with her magic so they didn’t hurt themselves.

“Yes, what is it?” Lyra asked, feeling a bit surprised at how strained and unhappy her voice sounded. It wasn’t quite a snap, but it was far too close to one for Lyra’s comfort. She took a deep breath.

“Uh,” Clearly the three fillies had picked up on it, and Lyra instantly felt bad.

“I’m sorry, you three,” This time, her voice was much calmer, “I’m afraid I’m just having a trying day so far. What can I do for you?”

“We were wondering if you’ve seen Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo piped up, recovering the quickest from Lyra’s unintended rebuke. “We’ve looked everywhere and she’s supposed to give me some flying lessons today.”

Lyra’s felt her ocean of worry grow a few leagues deeper. That didn’t sound like Rainbow Dash at all. “And you haven’t seen her at all?”

“No!” Applebloom spoke up, “My sister’s right mad too, Rainbow was supposed to meet with her over today’s rain, too!”

“What rain?” Sweetie Belle craned her head back and squinted at the sky.

“Today’s rain!”

“But there isn’t a cloud in the sky,” Sweetie Belle shot back, with the air of somepony who expected to win the argument. Privately, Lyra suspected Sweetie Belle was right and there really wouldn’t be any rain today.

“Well, I don’t know!” Applebloom grouched, throwing her hooves up in the air. “My sister’s been grumpy ever since she caught Twili and Lero scratchin’ each other’s itch! Says she needs to have words with Rainbow over somethin’!”

Lyra felt her cheeks start to heat up slightly.

“What’s wrong with scratching another pony’s itch?” Scootaloo asked, sounding completely mystified. “We scratch each other’s itches all the time!”

“Yes, well,” Lyra coughed delicately to cut the three fillies off. “I’m afraid I haven’t seen Rainbow either.”

“You’re looking for Rainbow Dash?” Lyra’s ears sprung up as she turned to face a bemused looking Cheerilee. The mare was carrying a picnic basket and saddle bags—Fluttershy’s saddlebags, if the butterfly clasp was anything to go on. Lyra couldn’t help but smile slightly at the sight. And the possible clue.

“Yes, we are,” Lyra said before the Crusaders could jump into the conversation and derail it. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”

“Do you know where she is, Miss Cheerilee?” Scoots asked sounding hope, as the other two fillies nodded.

“Hello, girls.” Cheerilee’s bemused look turned into a frown. “Why aren’t you at school?”

“Uh, well,” Applebloom drew the word out, “You said you weren’t gonna’ be in for a few days, so school’s cancelled, right?”

“Nevermind that, Cheerilee: do you know where Rainbow is? She’s missing,” Lyra interjected before the school teacher could get on the wayward fillies case.

“What? Is she?” Cheerilee shook her head. “I can’t tell you where she is, but if anypony knows, it’s Fluttershy. That filly—” Lyra assumed Cheerilee was talking about Rainbow, from the tone of her voice “—walked in on us, last night, right when we were in the middle… of…” Cheerilee’s voice trailed off as her eyes darted to the three little ponies standing beside Lyra. “A big jigsaw puzzle. Took us forever to get back to it. Anyway, Fluttershy and that mare talked for a while before Rainbow left.”

“Then I’d better go talk to her,” Lyra said at once. She really hoped Fluttershy hadn’t promised not to tell or some foolish thing like that. Lyra knew full well she could lean on the mare and get everything out of her if she had to, but Lyra hated doing that even with ponies she disliked, and Fluttershy was just too nice and kind to think about using those techniques on. “Do you know where she is?”

“You know, this is supposed to be ‘us’ time,” Cheerilee said sharply, sounding like Lyra was in risk of getting added to whatever list Cheerilee had put Rainbow’s name on.

“I know, and it won’t take more than a second or two,” Lyra said, shifting her weight uneasily. If Rainbow had talked to Fluttershy, it wasn’t likely she had done something stupid like sleeping in the Everfree—unless she told her to spend the night at Zecora’s. Either way, Lyra wanted to get this mystery solved.

Cheerilee considered it for a moment, before sighing. “She’s at her cottage with Big Mac right now. Try to be discreet, please.”

“Of course.” Lyra turned tail and started into a canter as she went back the way she was walking towards Fluttershy’s cottage. A gallop wouldn’t do, and besides, if Fluttershy was anything like her and Lero, she wouldn’t be interrupting anything if Lyra took her time getting there. But not too much time.

“Miss Cheerilee,” Applebloom’s voice came from behind Lyra before she got out of earshot. “Why were you doin’ a jigsaw puzzle with Miss Fluttershy and my brother? I thought date night was for makin’ love.”

Lyra half stumbled, half snorted, and almost stopped so she could hear the rest of the exchange, but she was sure she’d hear about it later, when she met Cheerilee again. Or the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Since it was located mostly outside Ponyville’s township, Fluttershy’s cottage tended to be one of the most idyllic and beautiful spots in the whole village. Somehow, even the Everfree forest looked less menacing here, all due to the work Fluttershy had put in. The knowledge that it was unlikely to change, even with development rush currently affecting Ponyville, due to Fluttershy owning most of the land in the area, made Lyra feel happy. She just wished Fluttershy lived closer so she could come out here for her morning meditations.

It was, however, unusually quiet as Lyra crossed the bridge that went over the small creek and trotted up to Fluttershy’s door. After a second she realized that, far from the usual horde of animals, Fluttershy’s yard and fields were completely empty of animal life, something that replaced Lyra’s happiness and eagerness with a sense of dread, however briefly. Then it occurred to Lyra that the mare might have just asked her animal friends for some alone time, and she doubted any of them—except Angel, perhaps—would begrudge her the time and space to spend with her herd.

Still, it seemed like every hoofbeat was a clap of thunder as she slowed to a walk as she approached the door. Lyra paused for a moment, running her hoof through her mane and taking a few good, deep breaths, and listening. She couldn’t hear anything that would suggest Fluttershy was otherwise occupied, but then, she suspected the mare would be on the quiet side.

Unless she had a tendency to scream like Twilight did.

Lyra chuckled to herself as she tapped the door, knocking lightly, but firmly, exactly six times. The number of harmony.

To her surprise, the door opened at once, to reveal a tired, mussed-but-pleased looking Fluttershy. The mare looked like she had been up all night, but not in a bad way. There was a tiny little smile on her lips, and she looked far more relaxed that Lyra could ever remember seeing her. It took her a moment to focus on Lyra’s face, and an expression of disappointment flashed very briefly before a look of understanding came over the mare’s face. If she had to guess, Lyra suspected Fluttershy had been waiting for Cheerilee to come back; if her own experience with stallions was any indication, Big Mac was probably sleeping it off, meaning until Cheerilee got home, there wasn’t much for Fluttershy to do.

She also guessed Fluttershy knew exactly why Lyra was there.

Lyra opened her mouth to greet the mare, only for her to notice she wasn’t the only pony there—she would have expected Big Mac, but to her surprise, Lero was sitting in his chair at the back of the room, eyeing Lyra carefully. The skin around his eyes was unpleasantly red and puffy, and he looked extremely miserable. If it wasn’t for the hint of anger appearing on his face, Lyra would have probably shoved Fluttershy aside to comfort her stallion. From the looks of things, Lero had only arrived a few minutes before Lyra had, and Fluttershy had been trying to comfort him with tea. She shifted uneasily, feeling rather awkward. She’d hadn’t really had the time to prepare, to figure out what she might say to him.

“Hello, Lyra,” Fluttershy said in her usual soft voice as her wings fluttered ever so slightly at her sides. “Are you looking for Rainbow, too?”

“Do you know where she is, Fluttershy? I’ve looked all over town,” Lyra jumped right into it, forcing herself to look at her, rather than Lero. She didn’t feel like beating around in the bush anymore than she had to.

“You haven’t found her?” Lero asked, sounding dismayed. He must have come right here, rather than trying to look for Rainbow himself, Lyra thought, Maybe he thought Rainbow would be staying with Fluttershy… Or perhaps he just wanted somepony to talk to. It wasn’t that he didn’t have friends, but over the time she had watched Lero, Lyra knew full well most ponies had difficult treating him as just another pony. Even good hearted ponies like Applejack would be a bit wary around him, and Fluttershy was probably one of the few who wouldn’t. Lyra suspected that was because on some level the mare saw Lero as just another of her animal friends.

“I heard she came here, last night,” Lyra decided to gloss over the nature of the visit, for Fluttershy’s sake. Perhaps one day they’d all look back at this and laugh, but Lyra wasn’t seeing the humour in it right now.

“She did?” Lero glanced at Fluttershy with a suspicious look on his face.

“Um, yes?” Fluttershy shuffled her hindhooves nervously, and stepped aside with a gesture to Lyra to follow her inside. “Would you, um, like some tea?”

“No, thank you.” Lyra shook her head and gave the room a sweep. She was hardly a detective, but all Guard ponies, auxiliary or not, received training in how to size up a room and look for clues. If Rainbow had been there long, though, Lyra couldn’t tell.

“Fluttershy,” Lero said gently, “Where is she? From what Twilight’s told me—” Lero gave Lyra a sidelong glance and made her feel skittish “—she was very upset last night. I want to talk to her.”

Fluttershy slowly turned around and her eyes darted between Lero and Lyra nervously. There was a pause, and Lyra opened her mouth to prompt the mare again, before she suddenly responded.

“Please don’t be mad,” Fluttershy begged, sounding very stressed out. Had Rainbow asked her to keep it a secret? “She’s in Cloudsdale, visiting her mom.”

“Cloudsdale?” Lero and Lyra echoed. Lyra knew Rainbow was upset, but to fly all the way to Cloudsdale? In one night? That was insane.

“Why?” Lero said, getting the question out before Lyra could ask the very same thing.

“I, um, thought it would be a… good idea,” Fluttershy’s wings twitched nervously and she avoided both of their gazes. Lyra suspected that Fluttershy had a good idea what was going on, but from the confused and frustrated look on Lero’s face, Twilight hadn’t explained what the fight was about to him yet. Lyra wasn’t sure if that was for the best, but one crisis at a time. Small steps, those were the key to any problem, and the first step would be getting Rainbow back. “She hasn’t seen her mother in a long time, or her birthherd, and um,” Fluttershy’s eyes darted back and forth and she pulled back in on herself, like a turtle, “Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not,” Lero said gently, but Lyra could hear the frustration in his voice. Knowing him, he probably wanted to go and comfort Rainbow in person, but of all the places in Equestria, Cloudsdale was the one place Lero couldn’t go. Neither could Lyra, not without spells to help her walk, and unlike Twilight, who could teleport, Lyra would be nearly helpless. Twilight could fly now too, so she’d probably be right at home there now. “I’m glad she’s with family, at least.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Lyra added, walking over and giving the curled up pony a hug as best she could. Poor Fluttershy. “We’d better be going now,” she added, patting her on her back and turning towards the door. “Enjoy the rest of your day, and sorry for all the interruptions.” Lyra sighed and glanced at Lero, “Come on, Fingers.”

It wasn’t until Lyra was halfway out the door that she realized Lero hadn’t gotten up from his chair. Lyra glanced back at him, and met his eyes, if only for a moment. She could see the anger in him, and it was unlike anything she had ever seen. It only reminded Lyra that Lero was from a whole other world, and for the first time, that scared her a bit. “Please?” Lyra added. It wasn’t like she was being intentionally rude.

Lero stared at her for a moment longer, before sighing and getting to his feet. “I’ll be along in a moment,” Lero said, before he half pushed her out the door and shut it.

To say Lyra was shocked would be a bit of an understatement. Lero never handled her—or any of his herdmates—like that. But she recovered quickly and just sat down by the door. She needed a few moments to figure out where to go from here anyway. Obviously, Lero was still in the dark, and Twilight had purposefully kept him that way. Lyra wasn’t sure how to feel about that, and she wasn’t sure what exactly to do. It wasn’t like she wanted to tell him, not when he was like this, and more over if Twilight didn’t want to tell him, then surely it wasn’t her place to go against her wishes… right?

Was Twilight the lead mare now? Or Rainbow Dash? Lyra wasn’t sure. But she also wasn’t sure it mattered. Not in her heart. Lero deserved to know.

“Let’s go,” Lero said, interrupting Lyra’s train of thought as he stepped out and closed the door behind him. Lyra hoped Fluttershy would be okay.

Together, the two of them walked down the path and across the bridge into Ponyville in silence. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable one either. Rather, Lyra could almost feel the tension in the air, as if somepony was wrapping her aura around her and picking her up. That was nearly as frightening, as what she was about to do…

“I’m guessing nopony has told you what we were fighting about,” Lyra said, stopping mid-stride right before they passed the first few buildings on this side of Ponyville. Lero stopped a moment later, turning back to look at her. He seemed a bit surprised, as if he had been expecting her to stonewall him too.

“Twilight wouldn’t say,” Lero confirmed after a moment, “And Fluttershy… said it wasn’t her place to talk to me about this.” Her stallion’s face grew slightly mortified, and Lyra wondered how aggressively he had questioned Fluttershy. When this was all over, they’d have to take the poor mare out to dinner or something, to make up for everything. “Is Rainbow Dash… leaving us?”

Lyra blinked for a moment, both at the absurdity of the suggestion, and the naked fear in Lero’s voice. Suddenly, he wasn’t this scary human, standing over her so tall and angry, he was like a little colt, afraid of the dark and trying to fight it with his anger. It must be so confusing for him, to wake up one morning and find his best friend missing, and his herd in the aftermath of a fight. Had he ever experienced something like that? She doubted it.

Most herds did their best not to fight, but when the mares did have an argument, it was the sort of thing they dealt with internally. It wasn’t proper for their problems to leak out and affect the herd’s stallion or foals, and most did their best to keep it… if not secret, at least controlled. That was the ideal, of course, and one Lyra knew full well was a load of horseshit—to use Lero’s amusingly accurate curse. But as a herd, Lyra couldn’t remember the last time they had such an explosive fight.

Perhaps they just never had much reason to be at each others throats.

There was, of course, only one response; Lyra reached up and hugged Lero as hard as she could. Lero stiffened for a moment, and then returned the hug, rubbing along her mane and between where her wings would be, if she was a pegasus. He always did seem to forget that part didn’t mean as much to her as it did to Rainbow. Or Twilight, now.

“Rainbow isn’t going to leave you,” Lyra said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. If anyone ended up leaving, it would probably be Twilight and herself… not a thought she particularly wanted to dwell on. “That wasn’t what we were fighting about.”

“Then what?” Lero asked. “Please tell me.”

“It’s… complicated,” Lyra said, feeling herself frown. That much was true, and she wasn’t sure she could really explain the political shift that had occurred in the herd with Twilight forcing the vote. Nor was she really sure she understood it. Instinctively, she could tell things had changed, but how could she put that into words? Lyra didn’t know. “We wanted to expand the herd, and… Rainbow disagreed. Things got heated.”

“Expand the herd?” Lero echoed. Lyra could feel his fingers curl up against her back. “I don’t understand. Who were you thinking of asking?”

“Nopony,” Lyra said, suddenly feeling self-conscious. It wasn’t like they were doing anything kinky, but Lyra couldn’t help but feel a bit exposed with her body stretched out like this. That’s part of the reason she prefered to meditate in private. “It was… more of an idea, than anything.”

“I see,” Lero said in a tone of voice that suggested that he really didn’t. Maybe it was the coldness in his voice, but Lyra suddenly felt more than a little bit self-conscious and uncertain, and her position wasn’t helping any. “This isn’t the whole story, is it?”

“I did say it was complicated,” Lyra said, pulling back and dropping down on her hooves again. Part of her was disappointed Lero didn’t resist, try and hold on to her. But you can’t have everything. “The important part, Lero…” Lyra paused and licked her lips, looking up at Lero so she met his eyes. “The important part, Fingers, is that Rainbow loves you and she isn’t going to leave you. None of us are.”

Lero looked ill for a moment, before relaxing and giving Lyra a lopsided smile and a half. “I’m glad. Let’s go see Twilight, then.”

Lyra nodded, and the two of them set out to towards the library. After a moment, Lero’s hand came to rest on the back of her neck—which Lyra tried not to feel too good about. They still had a long road ahead of them.

**

To an outsider, there was nothing unusual or unhappy about the way Lyra’s home looked as she and Lero approached it. While Twilight’s Library tree only made up a small part of their home, at least in terms of usage, the structure dominated their house in size and appearance. Of course, most of the space wasn’t exactly usable, given that it was a public library, but it was still the most prominent part of their house. This was ignoring the fact that the house that Lero had built, and then expanded over his time with the herd, was nearly twice as big as most normal pony dwellings. But as normal as it looked from the outside, and despite the fact that Twilight—or perhaps Spike—had opened the library to the public, if the sign was anything to go by, Lyra couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of dread with every step she took towards the towering tree.

The sense of dread was at odds with Lyra’s normal emotional state, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit put off by the fact that, despite Lero walking beside her, his presence didn’t seem to do much to comfort her in anyway. Even her best calming techniques didn’t seem to do much for her.

Even though the library was open, and it was somewhere between mid morning and noon, it didn’t really surprise Lyra to find the library deserted as she held open the door for Lero. It might have been a public library, but attendance had always been somewhat low—many of the tomes were more oriented towards research or obscure studies, and because Twilight was so interested in lending a helping hoof to ponies, if you wanted a specific book, you could usually get in and out within a few minutes. Ever since Twilight had become a Princess, however, the meager attendance that usually filled the room had dropped off; presumably because ponies that didn’t know her only saw the crown on her head, not the eager, happy-to-help mare under it.

Twilight said it didn’t bother her, but Lyra knew better than to believe her.

As they slipped inside, however, Spike tumbled down the steps from the upper levels, with an eager “Coming!” Lyra hadn’t had a chance—or the desire—to ask what had happened when Lero had awoken, but given how tense he had been, and the unease edge in Spike’s voice, Lyra suspected it had been a rather yell-y response.

“How can I—” Spike’s voice and put on smile faltered as he caught sight of the two of them standing in the doorway. Lero shut the door quietly behind them, and Lyra tried not to look worried as she smiled at the baby dragon. “Oh, it’s you.”

“It’s us,” Lyra confirmed unnecessarily as she shuffled her hooves. The longer Spike looked at the two of them, the darker his expression became. Although she doubted the drake had any clue as to what was going on, at least in concrete terms, it was equally doubtful that he had somehow missed the fact that the four of them were fighting. And, while Lyra liked to count Spike as something like a brother or close friend, she knew full well that if push come to shove he’d defend his surrogate mother to the end. “Do you know where Twilight is?”

“What are you going to do, yell at her some more?” Spike wagged his claw at the two of them, looking disgruntled.

“Of course not,” Lyra said at the same time as Lero said, “I wouldn’t rule it out.”

“Lero!” Lyra added, giving the human a hard glare as Spike’s eyes narrowed. “Yelling isn’t going to help anypony, least of all Rainbow.”

“Twilight’s—” Lyra could hear the lie on Spike’s lips before he had even gotten to the second word. But there was no need to call him out on it, as Twilight herself appeared on the upstairs landing.

“I’m right here,” Twilight interrupted Spike, causing him to look a bit sheepish. Lyra met her eyes and tried to figure out what the mare was feeling; her voice was cold, or at least cool, and even from the distance Lyra could see the streaks of tears crusting the fur under her eyes. But other than her disheveled appearance, Twilight looked as if she was completely in control. Twilight stared back at her for a moment, before her eyes flicked to Lero, then back to Lyra and finally down to Spike. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, Spike?”

“Take the day off?” Spike echoed, sounding both interested and unhappy; he might be a baby in terms of age by draconic reckoning, but he wasn’t so easily fooled as a foal might be. “I can stay here, Twi, I don’t mind.”

“I think Twilight’s right,” Lero said, earning a dirty look from the drake. If Lero saw it, he gave no sign. “Why don’t you, uh, go play with the Cutie Mark Crusaders or have something at Sugar Cube Corner?”

“You guys are just trying to get rid of me!” Spike grumbled, throwing his arms up in an expression that was remarkably human. As a herd they might have adopted many of Lero’s unusual mannerisms, like these continual references to ‘hell’, but of their herd, Lyra suspected it was really Spike who had picked up the most from having Lero living with them. After all, Lero was the only other critter in Ponyville who walked on two legs and had hands. More nimble and longer than Spike’s certainly, but far closer than hooves were.

“Of course not,” Lyra began—lies to children, if only her sensei could see her now—but Twilight interrupted her.

“Yes, I am.” Twilight said, sounding grim. Spike—and everypony else—looked at her in shock, before her expression softened and she sighed. “I’m sorry, Spike. I love you, and you’ll always be my number one assistant, but this… is between Lero and me.”

“But Twilight!”

“Spike, please,” Twilight’s voice took on a begging tone, and Spike’s expression fell. Clearly he knew a foregone conclusion when he saw one.

“Alright, alright!” Spike said, before spinned and hopping down the steps he had just climbed, sputtering and grumbling the whole while. He only spared Lyra a grumpy glare as she tried to say goodbye to him, before he yanked open the door and disappeared into Ponyville with an angry slam of the door.

Twilight stared down at them from the landing for a moment longer as the echo of the door slam died down, before spreading her wings and gliding down to a fairly smooth landing in front of them. Up close, Lyra could tell the mare—her lead mare?—was still very much upset, despite the calm tone of her voice. Her lower lip was quivering, and her ears kept flattening themselves against the sides of her head, although Lyra suspected the mare was doing her best to suppress that reaction. Still, Twilight only spared her a glance before turning to look at Lero.

“Did… you find her?” Twilight asked finally, after a long, awkward stretch of silence in which Lero just stared at Twilight. While he was clearly upset, Lyra could tell there was far more anger directed at Twilight than there had been at her, and in spite of the situation, part of Lyra couldn’t help but admire the fact that Twilight was meeting their stallion’s glare unflinchingly. Well, for the most part.

“No,” Lero said. Lyra waited for him to continue, but he just left the word hanging, ominously in the air. Twilight flinched and her tail flicked uneasily—it wasn’t lost on Lyra that the news was alarming Twilight, and she doubted Lero didn’t know that too. It was unusually cruel, for Lero to say that and imply that Rainbow wasn’t around or missing; maybe some part of her felt they—or at least Twilight, since she was the only pony not in the know—deserved it, but it seemed petty to her more than anything. Twilight loved Rainbow Dash just as much as she did Lero, even if Rainbow wasn’t always on the same wavelength. It had hurt her too, to see Rainbow storm out of their home last night.

“She’s in Cloudsdale,” Lyra added in Lero’s place, avoiding Lero’s gaze as she did. Punishment wasn’t going to resolve this conflict, certainly not now. “She’s visiting her mother, according to Fluttershy.”

“Cloudsdale?” Twilight asked, sounding shocked. After a moment the shock and alarm on her face morphed into grim determination. “If I go now, I think I can make it by lunch.”

“Wait, really?” It was Lyra’s turn to feel alarmed. While it was a bit surprising to hear that Rainbow had flown to Cloudsdale in a single night, it wasn’t really that big of a surprise when Lyra thought about it. After all, Rainbow’s whole thing was flying faster than any other pony, and it wasn’t unusual for her to clear the sky in a few seconds—the work of dozens of pegasi, work that would take them several hours to do. But Twilight never struck Lyra as particularly fast, and some days Lyra was amazed the mare didn’t crack her horn, with all the crashing she did. There wasn’t that many hours left in the day either. Of course, Twilight might just be overestimating her abilities, but that didn’t sound much like her either. She had always been modest, perhaps unnecessarily so.

“I can teleport most of the way,” Twilight explained with a nod. Then she grimaced. “I think. I’m sure I can get there before nightfall, at least.”

“What makes you think you should?” Lero asked, with a hard edge in his voice. “Whatever you’ve done, you’ve hurt her badly. I’m not sure she’d want you there, Twilight.”

Twilight flinched as if she had been slapped, and she stared at Lero for a moment, before breaking eye contact and staring at the floor, as her wings drooped to drag on the wooden floor, making her look utterly defeated. It was an unusually vulnerable look, and certainly not the sort of thing Lyra might have expected to see on a Princess.

Lyra gave herself a mental shake. Princess? How could she think of Twilight like that? It wasn’t that Lyra didn’t think Twilight was a princess, or shouldn’t be, but first and foremost, Twilight was her friend, lover, and herdmate. She was a pony like any other, one who had feelings and wants and wholly normally problems and complaints. Twilight wasn’t some aloof, distant pony living in a Castle somewhere, seemingly untouchable by the affairs of mere mortal ponies. She was isolated enough, without her friends doing the exact same thing to her.

Of course she looked weak. Of course she looked vulnerable and hurt; why wouldn’t she? She was a mare like any other, and her stallion had just said something cruel to her.

Ignoring the surprised, slightly grim look Lero was giving her, Lyra trotted over and wiggled under Twilight’s wing, giving her a hug. After a moment the weak, limp limb returned the gesture, and Twilight smiled at her, in a very small and quiet way. Lyra returned it, and leaned in to nuzzle Twilight’s ear ever so lightly, hoping to give her some small measure of comfort. Especially given what she was about to suggest.

Shifting slightly, Lyra stepped between Twilight and Lero—not in the way that made it obvious that she was doing so, but enough that Twilight was forced to focus on her, more than the angry looks Lero was giving them. She couldn’t say exactly when she had made up her mind, but perhaps she just didn’t see what good secrets were going to do anypony at this point. They were like dirt in a wound, it might be painful to clean it out, to get the secrets out into the open, but it was only then that they could begin to heal and move past this.

“Twilight, I think we should tell him,” Lyra whispered, pitching her voice low enough that only Twilight could hear her. “Before you go chasing after Rainbow.”

Lyra was expected Twilight to flinch, or gasp and outright refuse, but Twilight did neither of those things, rather, she adopted a resigned look and let out a sigh that had probably been hiding inside her for ages.

“I was thinking the same thing, before you guys came back,” Twilight admitted, and for some reason the confession made Lyra’s heart soar. Maybe they had been in the wrong, but at least they knew they were wrong, and were willing to fix it. Twilight gave Lyra a small peck on her cheek, before stepping sideways and around Lyra so she could see their stallion again. Lyra turned to follow her gaze. “Lero, I’m sorry. I’m sure you want to know what’s going on.”

“You want to expand the herd,” Lero said, nodding to Lyra. “She already told me… just not why it upset Rainbow so much.”

“You…” Twilight glanced at Lyra with her mouth open, looking as if she was going to go off on a tangent, when she shook her head and returned to looking Lero in the eye. “Yes, we were talking—only talking!—about adding another pony to the herd.”

Lero stared at Twilight for a moment, his expression softening, if you could call it that, to something more or less unreadable. “Are you going to tell me the whole story, or just bits and pieces?”

“Lero, please try to understand,” Twilight said, her voice taking on a plaintive tone. “I wanted to include you, and get your opinion, but… usually this is the sort of thing you talk to other mares with, first and foremost. And it wasn’t all that pressing either.”

“‘Other mares,’” Lero echoed, sounding ever so slightly disgusted, “Why? Because I’m—”

“No!” Twilight cut him off with a vigorous shake of her head. Then she looked confused. “Or… I don’t know. Maybe. I know Rainbow and I talked about Lyra a lot—” Twilight gave her a glance and Lyra returned it with a supportive nod and an encouraging smile “—before we brought her into the herd.”

“Twilight,” Lyra added as Lero opened her mouth to retort. “I think you’re getting ahead of yourself here.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Twilight said with a frustrated look on her face. “We were talking about expanding the herd with another guy—a stallion.”

Lero’s grim expression turned shocked, looking for all the world as if he had never considered the possibility. And perhaps he hadn’t. Even if a herd with multiple mares and stallions was considered the ideal sort of herd, they weren’t exactly common. Other than Twilight’s birth herd, Lyra couldn’t say for certain if Lero had ever met a larger herd; and, with Twilight’s birth herd, she suspected the issues with those ponies kept Lero focused elsewhere. Like on Twilight’s wellbeing.

“Why?” Lero asked, and for some reason the tone of surprise irritated Lyra. But she quickly and quietly crushed the toxic emotion under hoof before she could express it, seeking and finding the inner calm that so far today had been tested to its breaking point. It was as if he couldn’t understand or think of why they might be interested in more stallions than just him. Lyra loved him dearly, and he was like no one else, but… Lyra forced herself to shake her head

“Foals, Lero. Children.” Twilight said, her voice coming out extremely tiredly. “I’ve been trying to find a way, any way, that we could have children, but…”

“You’re saying I’m never going to be a father,” Lero said quietly. Lyra couldn’t tell if he was angry or upset, it just wasn’t easy to tell.

“I… I guess… I didn’t mean to be so...” Twilight swallowed in what looked like a painful fashion, and Lyra lit her horn and gently stroked Twilight’s cheek with her magic. “So blunt, I’m sorry.” Lyra suspected the mare hadn’t even considered that Lero might find that particular tidbit of information upsetting, not because she was uncaring, of course, but because it had gotten lost in the shuffle.

Perhaps it was time she stepped up.

“You shouldn’t think like that, Lero,” Lyra said gently, glancing at Twilight before letting her magic go and trotting over to Lero and rub up against him. “Our foals, no matter who their biological sire is, are your foals too.”

Lero began to say something, but Twilight seemed to take comfort from Lyra’s words more than Lero did, and nodded in agreement. “Lyra’s right. My own mother is a good example of that: she might have foaled me, but in many ways, she’s never really been my…” Twilight’s voice didn’t quite break, but it did seem to grow a bit strained “...mom. Twilight Velvet’s always been there for me, more than her.”

“I…” Lero said, but didn’t finish, letting his voice trail off and then die as he frowned. But it wasn’t an angry sort of frown, but rather a thoughtful, interested one. Or maybe Lyra was just being hopeful and projecting. “I’m not sure I understand why Rainbow ran off, though. Why was she so upset?”

Twilight glanced at Lyra with an expression that made Lyra suspect her wife wished they wouldn’t have to go into this, but there was no escaping it. It was what it was, and what was done was done. They couldn’t put the yoke back in the egg. Lyra just shook her head, hopefully communicating that point to the mare.

“It’s… complicated,” Twilight said meekly, making Lyra flinch. Lero stiffened beside her, but thankfully Twilight didn’t leave it at that. “I’m… not really sure why Rainbow was so upset. I think… I don’t know, Lero, I wish I could explain it to you. I know part of it was because you weren’t there, but she just seemed so upset in general.” Twilight’s face grew slightly pale, and she swallowed hard. “But I think part of why she ran away was because… no, I’m certain it’s because I Challenged her.”

Lyra heard the capital C, but glancing up at Lero, she could tell the human wasn’t quite certain what Twilight meant. It was part of why she was reluctant to explain it to Lero. So much of it was—in Twilight’s terms, no doubt—ingrained and instinctive in nature, Thankfully, Twilight picked up on Lero’s confusion and, if there was one thing the alicorn loved more than her books, magic and herdmates, it was explaining.

“What I mean is, I challenged her position as lead mare,” Twilight said, sounding—in Lyra’s slightly bemused opinion—somewhat comforted. “I… cast doubt on her leadership, I guess you could say.”

“So…” Lero’s voice was filled with anger again, “you basically told her she was a shit leader, and now you’re the lead mare?”

“No, not exactly.” Lyra wanted to groan—Twilight apparently hadn’t picked up on the fact that Lero was getting angry. “I can give you the sociological references, if you’d like, but I’m not really the lead mare of the herd, unless we put it to a vote. However, as Well Cited notes in her research, such challenges tend to erode the Challenged mare’s power base—I use the term lightly, and it’s more appropriate for a larger herd with blocs and similar—unless she successfully wins the challenge by persuading the other mares to follow her. Now—”

“You told her she was a crappy mare.” The anger was unmistakable and it was enough that it cut Twilight off mid-sentence. It wasn’t that what she was saying wasn’t true, but when Twilight laid it out like that, in such a clinical and brutal fashion, it seemed far more harsh than it was. It could be brutal and hard, it was true, but in the herds Lyra had known over the years, the power shift tended to be far more subtle and gentle, and usually every pony settled into their positions naturally. Even in this case, Lyra suspected Rainbow Dash would come to be okay with Twilight being in charge, if that’s how it ended up. “And you don’t understand why she ran away?”

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again; “I never wanted to Challenge Rainbow, Lero, please believe me.”

“Then why did you?” Lero snapped, pulling away from Lyra’s flank. Lero was smart enough that he probably knew Lyra’s own vote had been a deciding factor in the fact that Twilight’s Challenge had succeeded.

For a moment, Twilight just stood and stared at Lero, her lips quivering, before she took a deep breath—something Lyra recognized as a technique Cadance had taught her for calming her nerves.

“Because, Lero, I want foals. I want to raise children and have a family… and I didn’t want to have to choose between that dream, and you. Or Lyra. Or Rainbow. I love you all so much, and there’s no reason—no reason at all—that I can’t love you and have children with another stallion. If that’s what it comes down to.”

Lero opened his mouth and jabbed his finger in Twilight’s direction, but Twilight shook her head with all the dignity and poise of a Princess. “That’s all there is to it, Lero. I’m sorry.” Twilight turned to Lyra, and she caught a glimpse of a pony who was not nearly a strong as she was trying to act, before she shook her head. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find my wife.”

“Take this,” Lyra said, pulling the box of chocolates off her back and passing it to Twilight. Hopefully the cold breeze from flying would harden the chocolates that had gone soft. “It’s for Rainbow.” She paused, then trotted over to Twilight and kissed her. A bit of affection was something the two of them probably could use right about now. A reminder. Lyra suddenly felt a strange sort of panic rise up in her throat, and it made her next words come out strained sounding. “Tell her I’m sorry, won’t you? And that I still love her?”

“Of course, Lyra.” Twilight smiled lopsidedly at her as she took a moment to stretch her wings as she looked at Lero.

Their stallion’s—their human’s—face was dark and grim, like a thundercloud, and Twilight took a hesitant half-step towards him, then stopped and shook her head, as if she was deciding she probably wasn’t going to get a kiss or a farewell from him. The pain was still too fresh and raw for that just yet. Twilight stared at him, bit her lip, and turned away with a sigh. Then she walked slowly to the door—pausing every couple of steps to glance back at Lero, as if she was hoping he’d stop her or forgive her or something.

There was a sharp snap of wings unfolding, and then Twilight was gone.

Lyra waited for a moment, and then she closed the door behind her herdmate and let out a heavy sigh. Then she steeled herself and turned back to Lero.

“I’m sorry too, Lero.” Lyra shuffled her hoof against the ground. “Neither of us meant to hurt her, I hope you know that.”

“But you did,” Lero growled, “and you call her your friend.”

“Friends can hurt one another, just as surely as an enemy can, Lero—I’m sure it’s like that where you come from too.” Sometimes, Lyra suspected Lero had an unreasonable expectation of ponies like herself or Twilight. It’s true they did their best to be good and kind to one another, and live in harmony, but that didn’t make them infallible.

Lero said nothing, just stared at her for a moment before looking off at one of the shelves. Obviously he wasn’t actually looking at it, of course, but…

The silence stretched and grew between the two of them, a pony and a human in a big house meant for twice their number and several times more positive feelings than Lyra was feeling right about now.

“Do… do you want to talk about it?” Lyra asked, breaking the silence before it came unbearable and completely oppressive. Lero started, then shook his head.

“Not right now,” Lero turned and headed towards the door that led to the rest of the house. “I think I want to talk to Rainbow more than anything. Or anyone else.” Lyra tried not to flinch. “And I need some time to think.” Lero added, before he disappeared as well.

Lyra shut her eyes and took a deep breath, reaching for that inner peace again. It was gone, and that wasn’t at all unexpected.

Author's Note

Next Chapter will be called Lero's Boner.