Rolling Thunder had never been quite so tired as she was after learning Lyra's sure-fire trick to improving her magic regeneration. Every time she felt her magic starting to recharge a little, she performed the exercise of manipulating air around herself, while simultaneously countering that movement, and was back on the edge of exhaustion. "I hate this."

"I know. It's really annoying, but if you do it constantly, you will build your regeneration up fast. Maximum capacity is harder to do. You let your energy run all the way to full, then drain it to nothing as fast as possible." Lyra had already felt the positive results of her own efforts, and didn't feel it bore saying that it would be a lot of work. "I prefer to work on regeneration first, since having that as high as possible makes you more capable of sustained work than just building capacity."

"And… then what? When I have enough regeneration to do all my cool stuff, where do I go from there?" As her magic started flowing back in, Rolling dissipated it using the exercise.

"That's the fun part. When you can do that, we find you even crazier things to do. Things that will use so much of your reserves that you'll want to keep training." As the train shifted, Lyra took a quick look outside to see the train was curving toward a city that seemed to float on its own island. Like Canterlot and Cloudsdale, Manehattan was a magically supported wonder, though for Lyra the capital would still hold pride of place.

"So it's one of those things where I keep challenging myself, and then improve until I can keep up, then doing it over and over?"

"Yeah." Behind them, in the train car that'd been reserved for the journey, Twilight and her friends were chatting while Short sat in the middle, keeping an eye on things. Lyra was proud of him for not complaining or asking to swap. "Great, isn't it?"

Rolling groaned as the train crossed the bridge leading to Manehattan island.

"And that brings me to another thing. When you're doing this, you need a lot more food. You're burning your magic up so much that"—opening the case, Lyra lifted out a bag of hard candy—"you are going to want to eat these, and get a good meal sooner rather than later."

"Huh?" Pulling one of the candies out, Rolling tossed it in her mouth and froze. Time seemed to slow around her as the flavor exploded. She groaned a little and closed her eyes, lost in the flavorscape of delight.

"Don't eat them all. My wife made those—in case you hadn't noticed, her cutie mark and special talent is specifically in making candy." Reaching out, Lyra plucked one of the treats out and put it in her own mouth. "An amazing candy maker."

They enjoyed another piece of candy each before the train finally engaged its brakes and stopped in the Manehatten station. "Hang back with Short. It's fine to look like you're just visiting the city with him. I'll be taking the lead."

Lyra didn't wait for the doors to open, teleporting herself and the case outside to the platform and taking a quick look around. There was nopony anywhere near the doors, so she reached out with her magic and opened them—and got pounced by Pinkie.

"Hi, Lyra! Why didn't you say hi? We were on the same train for hooouurs and you didn't—say—hi!" Not that it mattered to Pinkie that Lyra was on duty, that she was in powerfully enchanted armor, or that her friend was now an alicorn—she needed to pin her old friend in place for comedic reasons. "Huh?"

Pinned to a support pillar for the huge glass ceiling above, Lyra shrugged her shoulders. "Pinkie, this is my job, remember? I had a new recruit to train, another to observe, and I had to keep Twilight from finding out about all the snacks I smuggled." At the last, Lyra watched Pinkie's eyes widen. "Open your mouth and close your eyes."

Ever trusting, Pinkie did exactly as instructed and, when a familiar and delicious taste hit her tongue, she managed to say, "All is forgiven," around the amazing candy. "Did Sweetie Drops make this?"

"Pinkie, would I dare carry around candy made by anypony else? I got two bags. Rolling Thunder has one, and is under orders to only have a few, but I didn't tell her I have a spare bag. There may also be cupcakes, muffins, and some custard tarts in here." Lyra floated the case into the air a little.

"Twilight said you were carrying her books. Aren't there books in there?" Pinkie got a tiny glimpse of the inside when Lyra showed her carefully, then closed it again. "Sneaky!"

"What's sneaky?" Twilight asked, walking over to where Lyra and Pinkie were talking.

"Lyra." Nodding, like that was all she needed to say, Pinkie kept sucking away on the delicious treat she'd been bribed with. "Sooooo. Where are we going first?"

"I have the best day planned out!" Twilight felt all bubbly at the idea of following the list she'd made. "It's all written down on the scroll that Spike packed in my case. The first thing, though, is we're going to go have some coffee. Then we're going to see the big sights in Manehatten!"

A mild state of panic enveloped Lyra. Without the list that should have been in the case, Twilight would have the worst day ever. Even if they attended every meticulously planned event, Twilight would be on edge because she didn't have that scroll to mark them off. "Where do you plan to get coffee?"

"Anywhere will do. Lead on, guardian of friendship!" Unable to help herself, Twilight took up a prancing stride behind Lyra. So far, the journey had been a huge success. She'd spent some time talking with her friends, a little talking to her new guard—who had passed her first requirement for all Friendship Guards by bringing a friend with him—and there were so many team building exercises she had planned that she genuinely feared it might take them a week to manage them all. "Lyra, can you get my list for the day's activities out?"

There were a million and one things Lyra could do. She could distract Twilight and try to work out some kind of spell to summon the scroll (despite not knowing where it was). Another idea was to lie to her friend, but that was the worst plan of all. "Twilight, I think I inadvertently did a bad thing. I swapped out your books and filled the case with snacks."

For a moment Twilight had her most startled expression ever. She stared at Lyra with shock and panic—but then it sank in. "That simplifies things, then. Lyra, ready some paper to make a list and… break out the snacks."

It had been a tense moment for Lyra, and when her friend brushed it off as a reason to make a new and better list, the emotion hit her like a hammer leading to her pulling Twilight into a hug. "You're the best."

"I don't know about that, but Lyra?" Twilight paused until her friend looked at her questioningly. "Next time ask me if you think I'm not packing the right things."

"So we don't have to do this— What was it called again?" Short Fuse asked.

"Escape Room," Lyra Heartstrings said, "and no we don't. For a start, it costs actual money to do these things, but mostly it seems kinda trivial when I can teleport."

"Wouldn't that be cheating, though?" Rolling Thunder still felt uncomfortably low on magic. Before the start of the day, she wouldn't have even called it magic—it was just endurance, and she'd never figured she'd actually train for it.

"Ponyfeathers, you're right. Would casting a spell that turned the whole building into a mouse be better? What about teleporting it twenty lengths to the right? Actually, that last one would be functionally the same as teleporting myself, so no go. I guess I could always do the puzzles." When both Short and Rolling laughed at her, Lyra raised an eyebrow.

"She couldn't do any of that, right?" Rolling asked, but Short groaned and looked to Lyra.

Ruffling her wings and making her horn glow a tiny bit, Lyra smiled innocently.

"Why is it so hard to remember that you're an alicorn?" The question was meant to be a joke, or so Rolling thought, but Lyra's smile turned into a manic grin, and before she could think of a topic to segue to, Lyra opened her mouth.

"Alicorn blindness. Ponies have trouble recognizing alicorns unless they make sure to show off both outward facets of their tribe. If you ask me, that's why Princess Luna and Princess Celestia always show up at official things with their wings held out and heads high."

". . ." Rolling stared at Lyra a moment. "And why you ruffled your wings and used magic to make your horn glow." A smug grin made Rolling groan. "Of course you did. A different question, then. Are you doing this same training thing we are?"

"I have an alicorn's share of magic that all three of the classical tribes of ponies enjoy, including an extra amount entirely for doing crazy, alicorn stuff. So, of course I'm doing this. Even before I started, I could burn pegasi magic constantly and never run dry, but I've been working on more advanced flight patterns that require more from me than I can do at the moment—so I improve myself."

"Are you meant to tell us this kinda thing? That alicorns aren't omnipotent beings that know all and see all?" Short paused long enough, his face struggling to pull off the surprised look such a joke should be accompanied by, for all three of them to break into a fit of giggles.

The laughter was cathartic, or so Lyra felt, but she heard something that made her stiffen and, without a moment's hesitation, put up a shield spell. With Short and Rolling stopping their own mirth, she distinctly heard the heavy hoofsteps of somepony in armor approaching from the stairs. When Firelance stepped into the hall they were waiting in, she sighed and lowered the shield. "Sergeant! It's surprising to see you."

"Commander, you're needed in Canterlot. I'll take over your work here." Never in his life had Firelance needed to be so formal with Lyra. What he knew about the situation was unable to be blurted before a newly minted guardpony or the civilian that Rolling looked like to him. "Sorry if it's a problem, but we all get our orders from the same places. Is the princess free? I have information for her."

"She's currently locked in a room with her friends. There's probably singing involved. If it's important, you can contact her." Before leaving, she scrawled down a series of codes on a piece of paper, then passed it to Firelance. When he returned it back, with his own verifiable code, she sighed. "I guess I have some flying ahead of me. These are our newest member and a potential recruit. Corporal Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder. I've given them both some pegasi training exercises to do, which they can manage on their own. The suitcase there is full of snacks—don't eat them too fast."

Unsure exactly what was going on, but trusting Firelance not to prank her with something this important, Lyra made her way down the stairs and out of the building. She looked up into the sky and, not seeing any pegasi overhead, spread her wings and did her best to burn up her pegasi magic as fast as possible.

Once she had enough altitude to not pose a risk to anypony if she messed up, Lyra made the relatively simple calculation required for a direct-line teleport that she could acknowledge would have been impossible if she hadn't been invested with motive magic's source. Creating one of the loudest POMFs ever to be heard, she sent herself in a straight line that almost clipped the trees at the mid-point and had her hovering in the air miles above the landscape. She knew it would be two more before she could make it to her destination, so got to work on the next in the chain to Canterlot.

After the last of her three teleports, she was left drained and panting, then she pitched her wings into a spiral descent to give her time to recover for any encounter she might face in the city.

Finding herself a spot at the top of the stairs to the castle, Lyra could see a group of ponies in armor there. She landed among them—recognizing several of her peers from the other regiments. "Do we—?"

"Go in. Now we're all here, this can start." Bright Feather nodded to the two guards at the gate as Lyra, himself, Spitfire, and Daisy Duke all headed along the path to the castle itself.

No one stopped them. Not that Lyra expected anyone to. They were literally half the heads of Equestria's military, including the unit that defends the three currently ruling princesses. She wanted to ask what was going on, but suspected that the answer wouldn't be forthcoming until they got inside.

Celestia and Luna were standing at the base of the stairs that led up to their thrones. Twilight wasn't, of course, but standing before the two alicorns was another of the Guard commanders: Stiff Peaks. When they were all inside and the doors closed, Celestia began, "Stiff Peaks is departing today on a special mission. His place as head of Guard Training is now vacant and must be filled by somepony you all trust to shape the next generations of guardponies. I already have Captains Poppy Bread and Sweetie Drops' personal recommendations, as well as Princess Twilight Sparkle's. I will take your input now on who would be the best pony for the position."

Clearing her throat, Spitfire looked up at Celestia with her drollest expression. "Ma'am, there's only one pony who is qualified for the job, and you know who she is." Muted laughs died around her, but she could feel the wind of their nodding. "It will leave a hole in the captaincy, but there is nopony better for the role than Lyra Heartstrings."

"You're all nodding," Celestia said. "Except for you, Captain Daisy Duke."

As commander of the Equestrian Police Force, Daisy didn't hold much stock in keeping her opinion to herself. "Ma'am, unlike every other section of the Guard, I have not had extended contact with the candidate. Though, given Poppy and Bright are both nodding their heads like carnival shows, I am willing to make my vote an abstain rather than against."

Turning, fighting the urge to snarl at all his peers, Stiff Peaks walked over to Lyra and looked her in the eyes. "You'd get my vote, too. I trusted you to run the training unit once, and I'd trust it to you again."

"Wait," Lyra said, trying to come to terms with what she was hearing. "What's all this about, anyway? I'm flattered, really, but why are you—?"

Shaking his head, Stiff sighed and opened his mouth to reply, but was superseded.

"Stiff Peaks is required for a mission he is uniquely qualified to perform for many reasons. Any of you here would fit the part," Celestia said, "but each of you has something marking you as unsuitable. Spitfire, your face is too well known. Lyra, you're an alicorn. Daisy is not trained sufficiently in active-combat roles. Bright is required here more than ever. Poppy and Sweetie are both ruled out too, for reasons I won't state. What we need for this role is a pony whose dedication is not in question, but can fit in with the mission."

There wasn't a lot that such a job description would cover, in Lyra's mind, except: "Infiltration," Lyra said.

Clearing his throat, Stiff said, "After today, I am a normal pony to any of you or your units. You don't salute me, you don't let your ponies salute me, and you ignore everything I might say—"

"Except," Celestia said, "if he tells you Equestria Save Me."

It was a concession that Stiff hadn't expected. He nodded to Celestia in thanks for it, but turned to the only pony he trusted with his former command. "Lyra, I need you to do this."

Staring at Stiff, Lyra felt the moment she could have said no slip by. There was no guidance from harmony at all, not that she thought there would be. Whatever choice she made, here and now, was the right one. "I have conditions."

"Really?" Stiff asked.

"Really. This is important, so listen. Your cookbooks stay here—I will hold on to them and your command until you return. And I mean that last bit. If you don't come back, I will come and hunt you down—and then there will be no one to train the Guard. Finally, though, I want you to know that you are the best of us, so make sure to represent us well."

Frozen in place at the sound of hooves stomping on the floor, Stiff looked around to see even the Royal Guard present, normally so stoic and silent, all looking at him and stomping in support of Lyra's words. "You can't have my recipe books, Lyra. I've already given them to my sous chef to look after. I will do everything in my power to return to Equestria when my mission is complete, but don't you dare leave when ponies rely on you." The last he said with fire, and gave her a salute. When she returned it, he turned around to face Celestia and Luna. "I'm ready to—"

Stiff Peaks, and Stiff Peaks alone, was gone from the room in a crackle of teleportation magic. It wasn't a spell, Lyra realized, but a raw exercising of motive magic. A firm reminder of how much she still had to learn about her latest source. Musing on that, she eventually realized everyone was looking at her. "Oh. Right. Uh… Firelance needs promoting. He—"

"Firelance already got a promotion to lieutenant when I gave him his orders," Celestia said. "Now, Captain Lyra Heartstrings, you have a new command to be taking over." They were marching orders, though Celestia was far less worried about Lyra's journey to the other side of the city than she was about Stiff Peaks' to the southernmost outpost of Equestria.

Lyra got a hoof out of the doors, walking behind the other commanders, when she was grabbed by cobalt magic in a teleport so smooth it didn't make a sound. She blinked, looked around, and saw Luna standing before her in one of the dedicated offices connected to the throne room. "Your Hi—" A royal hoof in the mouth was still a hoof in the mouth—but with more metal. She grinned around the foot until it was removed. "Force of habit."

"Twilight, I hope, took the same approach?" Luna shook her head, not needing an answer. "Given your existing roles, and the new one, my sister and I felt it important that you know what Stiff Peaks is doing.

"Several of my sister's Dragoons have found evidence that there is a war of conquest consuming the southern nations. A particular group of airship pirates have been pillaging their way through some of our distant trade partners. Reports are scarce."

"But why Stiff? Why not one of the Dragoons?"

"You've never wondered what he did before he headed the Guard?" At Lyra's stunned look, Luna continued, "Stiff Peaks joined the Dragoons, proceeded up the ranks, learning every skill and trick a lieutenant could.

"At that time, Equestria did not have a comprehensive training regiment. Each section trained their own recruits, though they used the single location to do so. Just like Sweetie Drops, he created the training regiment and built it into the institution it is now. But, at the same time, he unified the Guard.

"I wasn't here to watch all this happen, of course, but I have access to the royal documents detailing his actions. Lyra, make sure this thing he built continues."

Lyra wasn't sure exactly what the feeling was called, but it felt similar to being smacked in the face by an earth pony who was trying to explain something with every ounce of their body mass. Like Research and Acquisitions and Royal Friendship Guard, this was something one pony had built to make Equestria safer and better. It rocked her how much it had meant to find a single unified place to call home when she was finding her hooves after Celestia's school, and now to realize that it was the stallion she could admit was a close friend as its creator was revolutionary.

For all this huge revelation forced Lyra to reevaluate everything she'd learned in and of the E.U.P. Guard, Lyra had to respond to Luna's challenge. "I will do my very best to take his work, improve it, and cement it into the history of Equestria so firmly that to break it free would require the concept of friendship to be destroyed first."

Luna, for all her sister's espousing of harmony and fate, had never felt either truly make themselves known—until now. There was a rush of feeling. The overwhelming sense was that the world had heard Lyra's words, acknowledged them, and made them fact. It was, in Luna's opinion, proof that this had been the correct path of action. "Then I look forward to the future even more."

Not delayed any further, after giving Luna a quick hug for the boost to her morale, Lyra left the castle and trotted across the grounds to the front gate. She got a firm salute from both the Royal Guards on duty before she made her way down to the streets of Canterlot.

Lyra got all the way to the wide plaza before something else sank in. "Wait, he united the E.U.P. Guard under his leadership?!" Her wings shot out in surprise at the realization. "But they were always united." Information was what Lyra needed. She aimed herself down the outer loop that led to the training fields and pushed her pace from trot to canter, from canter to gallop, and then stretched out into the faster gait that belonged to pegasi and those who did their very best to live up to the name.

The run reminded her of her first day in the Guard. Running laps of the city with her wife, learning about things like running, running, and more running. Ignoring her problems for the next few moments, she galloped and laughed for the pure joy of being alive and expressing that as much as she could.

But, eventually the gates of the training fields came into view. Lyra slowed her gait back, cycling it down all the way to a trot again before halting. The normal pair of gate guards had gained an extra member. Lyra raised an eyebrow at Honey Glaze. "Sergeant?"

"News travels fast, Commander." Stiff and at attention, Honey snapped off the sharpest salute he had in his whole life. "I'm glad they didn't leave us with somepony green," he said, once Lyra had returned his salute.

"At ease," Lyra said to the two ponies on guard duty when they showed no sign of relaxing. Both smirked at her and she rolled her eyes. "If you don't relax, I'll make you run laps of the city with me." That got both hooves down. "Well, I better get to the office and meet the staff."

Laughing at the obviously-not-toward-the-office direction Lyra took, Honey accompanied her to the mess and into the kitchen. He realized, nearly instantly, that a showdown was taking place.

Marching right up to Stiff's sous chef, Lyra gave the mare a nod. "I understand Captain Stiff Peaks gave his recipe books into your care?"

It was a delicate position Crêpe Suzette found herself in. She knew Lyra mostly by reputation and, to some extent, by her work in the kitchen. She hadn't seen enough cooking from the new commander to judge her skills to her own liking, though. "Sir. He did, sir."

"No." Lyra heard a few sharp breaths. "Don't you dare call me sir in your kitchen, head chef. Forward me your list of kitchen crew by tomorrow evening. Consider them already approved. I'm excited to see what you will be serving tonight."

On her way out, already hearing the kitchen chefs talking animatedly, Lyra asked Honey, "Did you tell everypony already?"

"I didn't know it was you until you arrived. They sent a message down from the castle that our new commander would be arriving today, but not who it would be. I had everypony be on their hooves and ready for whatever new officer I dragged through. I think Crêpe was relieved."

"You don't say? When I said 'no' to her, she looked about ready to unscrew my head. I would hate to see what would happen if an enemy tried to sneak into her kitchen." Lyra entertained herself with a mental image of a panicked bugbear being forced to cut up carrots batons.

Waiting inside the administration building was three ponies that Lyra had wanted to see, though perhaps not immediately. "Sergeants Long Shift, Solid Ground, and Pen Stroke. Pen, I thought you were still flying a desk?" she asked of the unicorn, earth pony, and pegasus (respectively).

"Needs must, Commander. We're running short on trainers, what with each regiment swelling its ranks except ours." Pen shrugged his wings. "If you can find somepony to replace me, I'd be happy to return to my usual work."

Lyra's first reaction was to announce she'd take the role herself, but her break working as Twilight's guard commander had taught her that she couldn’t afford that. "I'll send a request to Spitfire, I believe. There's a few pegasi there that she wants broken into being sergeants for her own purposes." She'd never admit it, because she'd give Spitfire the choice of whom to send, but she had a good idea who would be reporting after that request. "Solid, Long, you're both fine to continue in your roles?"

"The Royal Guard are always proud to be represented among the training regiment, sir," Long said. "But I would prefer to return to active duty in the castle full time."

"Noted. Once I find a replacement, you'll be free to." Her last target, Solid, cleared his throat. "What about you, sergeant?"

Solid wasn't as old as either of the other two sergeants. When she'd graduated, she'd spent two years in the Monster Hunters before she'd been tapped for rapid promotion and offered a spot training new Guardponies. "I am your mare, Commander. This is where I should be."

"You trained under Captain Sweetie Drops, isn't that right?" When Lyra got a nod, she felt a little relief. "Then I will need to talk to you some more, once we're all settled, about working on my own earth pony training. We have an intake in three and a half weeks?" Four nods met Lyra's question. "Then I'll make my requests for your replacements my top priority. Any further questions?"

Retiring to her office when there were only negative replies, Lyra stood in the middle of the room alone. Stiff's personal belongings—sans recipe books—were still scattered around the room. His chair, comfortable as it was, still sat behind the desk. It was hard to believe that he had been here so long that he had shaped the Guard to what it was.

The extra thing that Luna had mentioned. "You've never wondered what he did before he headed the Guard?" she said, repeating the question that'd been asked but with extra inflection. Not headed training or headed his regiment. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Having spent the afternoon packing away Stiff's belongings, and drafting a letter to Spitfire, Lyra examined the roster of unicorns she could promote. The Training regiment didn't exactly keep a staff large enough to promote in that way, so she found herself writing another letter that was addressed to all the E.U.P. Guard commanders—except Spitfire.

She wanted somepony who'd been trained on her own methods, but realized that it might not be possible. Lyra considered asking Long to stay on for one more training and prodding either Trixie or Starlight to take a crack at it—but she had a feeling those two might have too much on their plate in Ponyville already.

That's when she got another thought, and grabbed more paper.

Mayor Gavin, as the new commander of the E.U.P. Guard Training regiment, and with several griffons already signed up for training next month, would you be able to spare somegriff to come and assist with training them? Time spent in Griffonstone's military would be preferred, but if you have a talented candidate I would be more than happy to assess them myself.

Captain Lyra Heartstrings

Short, sweet, and with plenty of room for him to pick the right griffon for the job. She set that aside and looked at the next blank piece of paper.

To whom it may concern, I write to you as the Equestrian E.U.P. Guard's new training commander. Equestria already has several Batstralian ponies trained, and more still serving to guard Princess Luna, but today I am writing to request a meeting regarding a staff member position in the Training regiment's headquarters, assisting both with military relations and to act in an advisory position to my trainers and I.

At your soonest convenience, I would be amenable to a meeting here or at your embassy to discuss this.

Captain Lyra Heartstrings

She had more to write. One went out to Thorax, another to Pharynx, one to Ember of the dragonlands, and the last one went to one specific dragon in the town of Den, thanking her for her role in protecting the griffons there.

Each was crafted to be as honest and forthright as possible, except for the one to Den's dragon ally. She was positively generous with her praise there. Setting each into her desk's "out box," Lyra stood up from the chair and stretched every limb she had. "Too much sitting around. What's the time? Right, too early for dinner." Picking up the contents of the out box, she headed to the office outside where Pen Stroke was waiting with Honey Glaze. "Could you write these up onto formal stationary and have them delivered?"

"Yes, sir." Taking the paperwork with a wing, Pen was relieved to have his normal duties back.

"I feel like a run, but is there anything else important I need to address?" Lyra asked.

"I went ahead and organized an assembly before dinner for you to speak to. All the Training regiment staff. You don't need a full speech, just a few words will do. I felt it was important that everypony see you." Honey looked down his list of tasks. "Dinner, of course, and then I don't have any new business penned. Oh, a representative from Princess Luna's school will be arriving in two days to discuss the coming training session. I have also asked for Princess Celestia's school to send somepony. Those letters," he nodded at the ones that Pen had taken, "will result in more."

"That's fine. I want to review the training process, too. Perhaps not for this coming intake, but definitely for future ones. I'll need a meeting with each of the commanders to review their requirements for new recruits and if we can be doing more for them." The shocked looks she got from the pair of staff sergeants were all Lyra needed to know she was moving in a new direction. "Stiff was a guiding light for the Guard, but I can see ways to do things better, and it's not new captain wants to make her mark on things changes."

Honey rolled his eyes. "Commander, you sat in that big chair for weeks already, and everything you did there made Stiff smile when he came back. I don't expect things to be any different when he gets to see what you've done with your new command."

With nothing else on her plate for an hour or so, Lyra gave them both a nod and headed out into the cool afternoon air. Her run was exactly what she needed to clear her head and let things sink in. First, she realized there was so much work ahead of her that she'd have no time for her normal shenanigans and then, second, she figured out who it was she needed to send another letter to. "Staccato."

In a way, it would be nice to catch up with and talk to all the people she'd met. She still had to locate a unicorn and pegasus to fill the slots with training sergeants. The running helped her keep calm. She had a plan: steal a Wonderbolt and ask the rest of the Guard to find her a unicorn.

On her third lap, Lyra had a surprise guest slot in beside her. At any other time, she'd have stopped and pounced on her wife, but Lyra instead backed off to a normal gallop. "Captain," she said.

"Captain." Lyra jostled sideways a touch, bumping Sweetie—and feeling like she'd hit a wall in doing so. "Do you have a unicorn I can steal?"

"A unicorn? Why would I have a unicorn when I can have an alicorn?" Giving Lyra her own jostle back, Sweetie watched Lyra's wings ruffle.

"I need a new training sergeant. I'd rather get somepony who hasn't been doing too much training, because I want to try some new things, but anypony trained since my routines were added should work." Spotting a group of foals playing in the middle of the street ahead, Lyra stretched her wing over Sweetie's back and teleported them past the group.

"You know over half my roster are retired Guardponies, right?" Sweetie asked. She was annoyed Lyra drew her wing back; not that Sweetie could feel it through her armor. "Have you tried Poppy Bread?"

"Firstly, Poppy is an earth pony— Ouch!" Fully deserving of the thump, Lyra continued, "I'm sending out requests to all the divisions. Long Shift wants back in the Royal Guard and Pen Stroke was only filling in to begin with. Neither wants the spot full time, so I'm trying to find ponies that do."

"Asking Spitfire about a pegasus?" At Lyra's nod, Sweetie laughed. "Good luck with that."

"I expect her to laugh louder than that, but I have an offer, and it'll be part of the changes I want to institute." Waiting, Lyra let Sweetie stew in silence for a bit. To avoid being hit again, she explained. "I want training of active and inactive Guard to be different. I want active Guard training to be twice as long and focus more on advance teaching for the second half—we'd already started doing that ourselves, remember, and it worked."

"And you want a Wonderbolt so you can have all the pegasi trained up to a standard that will make Spitfire's job easier—and every pegasus in the Guard will be that much better in the air?" Whistling in admiration, Sweetie nodded. "She might go for that. So, what would you teach unicorns?"

"To create their own spells, modern memorization techniques, and I want to try to integrate some of what Tree Hugger is doing… somehow. The last I heard from Trixie, it was going well. Don't tell me I can have Trixie, I'd need a crowbar to get her away from Starlight now. And, don't tell me I should try Starlight—for the same reason."

"Trixie is on an extended leave of absence. Truthfully, I doubt she's coming back, but I spoke to Celestia about it and she said the mare deserves every bit we pay her—and I'm inclined to agree after reading the reports on the changeling incident." Despite losing such a great agent, though, Sweetie couldn't keep from smiling at the knowledge that she'd found somepony to be close with. "Shame that Firelance is off the table."

"He's going to have big horseshoes to fill, but I think he can do it. Now he has others to keep an eye on. Besides, if I asked him, and he said yes, you can bet harmony would step in and have Spitfire send Scoots to me. Then I'd be laughed at for transferring my daughter and her special somepony under my supervision." Wanting to lead away from that conversation, Lyra asked, "How are Saffron and Coriander?"

"Maybe you should stick to unicorns in the Guard?" Sweetie ignored Lyra's incoherent groan of despair. "They're doing fine. The preparations on the new place are almost done, and they have set a date to move. Two days. We're invited."

"I'll have my secretary pencil that in for me." Grinning like a fool, Lyra poked her tongue out at Sweetie. "See, because I actually have a secretary, and he writes everything down for me. Then I also have a second staff sergeant, because a mare can never have too many staff sergeants."

"There's going to be a meeting at the training fields in a week. You'll hear about it tomorrow. It's to outline your wider duties."

"Yeah. I heard something about that. Nopony told me this place was the actual center of control for the whole Guard, or that by accepting placement I would— Do you think I can do it?"

"Do I need to tell you that you got wings for being the cleverest damn unicorn in Equestria?" At Lyra's skeptical look, Sweetie groaned. "Yes, you fool. You could run the Guard with both wings behind your back. There's a reason every commander but one put your name forward, and every other alicorn did too. I bet if we asked Equestria's allies, they'd even tell us that they'd rather you doing it than anypony else. So, Lyra, do your damn job."

With the training fields coming back into view around the curve of the road, Lyra stopped sharply, turned, and picked Sweetie up with her magic. Wrapping both wings around her, Lyra kissed her wife with every burning molecule in her body. And, with the both of them possessing significant earth pony backed stamina, the kiss lasted some time before either had to break for air.

Blinking away and trying her best to shove her libido out of her armor, Sweetie allowed herself a sigh. "I think I need to get you promoted to princess, next—though I might not survive the kiss from that."

"At least we'll both be based out of the same city. Also, I won't exactly be going anywhere." Unable to resist herself, Lyra kissed Sweetie with just a peck on the cheek and set her back on her hooves. For the first time since their wedding day, Lyra watched Sweetie wobble a little on her legs. "Are you okay?"

Nodding, but still wobbling a little, Sweetie couldn't help sighing happily. "I just had a reminder of why I married you." She kissed Lyra again as they walked toward the training fields. "I'd say let's take a month off and go somewhere deserted, but we're both in the sort of jobs we can't do that, aren't we?"

"I'm afraid so. There are some perks." Walking along, her flank pressed against Sweetie's, Lyra felt in a particularly whimsical mood, she reached over Sweetie's back with her wing and hooked her love a little closer.

"Would nightly meetings be too much?"

"No. Definitely not. So long as they remain on topic and don't interfere with our other—duties—I doubt anyone would mind." When she tilted her head to kiss Sweetie, Lyra was caught halfway by her wife doing the same thing to her.

The guards at the gate were somewhat ignored, as Lyra and Sweetie kept their focus on each other, and without even meaning to, they'd stumbled up to the little induction ceremony that had been set up for Lyra to take her new command.

Doing her best not to stumble as Sweetie kissed her again, Lyra stepped up to the little lectern that had been set up for her, completely ignoring the grins on most of the ponies saluting her. "At ease. I'm sure no one here wants to delay too long. Crêpe, I hear, has a great meal planned. Captain Stiff Peaks created the Training regiment. He shaped and reshaped it over the years to optimize it for what Equestria and the E.U.P. Guard needed it to be. Things have changed, though.

"Stiff has had to move on to another duty and has left the future of this command in my hooves. I won't do things the same as he did, I have new ideas to work with, and I can assure you that I will never step hoof in the kitchen without the new head chef's okay"—Lyra paused to let the crowd laugh, and wasn't disappointed—"but I will only be able to move the Guard's Training regiment forward, to meet future challenges, with the assistance of each of you.

"There are trials ahead of us, some that I can literally feel on the horizon, others that we've worked to minimize"—Lyra nodded to Sweetie—"and some that we will never see coming. I want to make everypony in the Guard able to meet not just the first two, but the latter as well.

"To that end, I have invited other races of Equestria and beyond to come together and help us learn to fight side by side, whether that means bringing griffons, changelings, dragons, and even sirens into the Guard, or working closely with their own fighting forces. I want us to be strong, together, to ensure that we can continue to be together.

"So, if you'll help me, I want to make Equestria's E.U.P. Guard a shining example of friendship that can be a wall between strife and safety. We're going to be training more, for longer, and to a higher standard than ever before. I know most ponies tend to let these sorts of speeches drag on and on, but why don't we go eat?" Lyra got a resounding cheer for the last bit, and even caught some new energy from the assembled during her explanation of her new plan. Prickles of excitement buzzed up and down the back of Lyra's neck. It was working, they were accepting her ideas, and the unified support made harmony buzz and crackle in the air.

With the speech made, Sweetie could see everyone filing toward the mess. It gave her a chance to slip up beside Lyra and nuzzle her cheek. "Big plans."

"Yeah. It's a continuation of everything I've learned since first arriving here. We weren't ready to step into an active role with the short training we got. We extended that, for ponies who wanted extra training, but even that wasn't enough. I want to produce Wonderbolts candidates that know how to wrestle a griffon. I want Monster Hunters that can mediate a dispute between two ponies as good as the Police. I want—" Lyra was shut down in her efforts to tie all the Guard together by a kiss that she couldn't ignore.

Only when Sweetie was done did she let Lyra break away from the kiss. "You remember when we first joined up? You were only here to support me?" Grinning at her wife's guilty look, Sweetie pecked Lyra's lips again. "And now you're technically my boss."

Walking forward and to Sweetie's side, Lyra put her wing over Sweetie's withers and led the way to the mess. "Only if you're silly enough to hang around Canterlot when there's something big happening. Otherwise, you're my boss."

"How do you figure that?" Sweetie asked.

"Because I should be trying to give you what you need, in terms of recruits. That's why I want to steal at least one of your trainers to spend some time here helping us build an ideal training regimen that will have every recruit meeting a standard that you can more readily build off."

"You helped me build R&A, Lyra, you know exactly what I need." Giving Lyra a little room to enter the mess first, Sweetie followed after and found a seat beside her. Only when they'd both stopped did the noise of the room resume. She looked up to see Crêpe Suzette standing in front of them with a pair of covered trays.

"For your approval," Crêpe said, setting the food down and revealing it to the two captains. "From what I understand, commander, you prefer a protein heavy meal, while the captain prefers something milder and without so much flesh."

Inhaling, Sweetie looked up at Crêpe. "You know your food and know your ponies. Thank you."

It was hardly Crêpe's first time cooking for either, though normally she took Stiff's lead on meals. "Any time you're near the training ground, Captain, you're welcome to attend my mess."

"I once accused Stiff of hoarding all the best sergeants in the Guard," Lyra said, "and now I'm sure I wasn't in error. Thank you."

Lyra made sure to enjoy her meal with Sweetie, as they discussed what Research and Acquisitions would need from recruits, and retired to the commander's quarters to find the bedroom had already been cleared of all personal effects and had been made up with a fresh set of bed linen.

A shower, a little work spent cleaning up her armor, and Lyra was slipping into the bed alone. She barely heard the door open and four heavy hooves approach her bed. "Really, captain?"

Sweetie Drops did her best to get under the covers without letting too much warmth escape. "Yes, commander."

Lyra was on her second lap of the city when Solid Ground caught up with her. "Morning, Sergeant!"

"The sun only came up a minute ago, Commander." Solid had done her level best to be up before the crack of dawn, but then had found her new commanding officer already running.

"It did! Don't worry, Solid, I don't expect you to be up and flying before the sun, or running as it rises. I had some thinking to do, and I do my best thinking while exercising." Lyra didn't want to tell her, but she'd slowed down a touch when Solid had begun pacing with her. "You were in the Monster Hunters for a few years, correct?"

"Two, yeah." Solid wanted to hide the side of herself that hadn't been able to handle that position, but she had to be honest. "I couldn't do it."

"I read the reports. Not being able to kill isn't something to be ashamed of, Solid. The Guard always has your back. You found somewhere you fit in, though. We have that in common, Sergeant. I don't enjoy killing either."

"But you have, sir?"

Lyra nodded. "I don't think any less of you for it. You're serving the Guard well, Solid. Never doubt that."

"Yes, sir. You talked about changing things last night?"

"Over the next week I'm going to chase down as many commanders as I can, not just to steal a unicorn and pegasus for training, but to get a list of specifications about what they need trained into a recruit. New intake training will shift from three weeks to a month and a half. I'll have veteran retraining undergo the new introductory routine, then they will get an abbreviated training to test their athletics and magic handling, and bring them up to date on the latest techniques." Teleporting the pair of them past an obstacle, Lyra continued, "You might not have any expertise on the topics, but even when discussing pegasi and unicorn requirements, I'd like to have your input."

"I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do whatever I can."

Lyra glanced aside at Solid and rolled her eyes. "Solid, I have looked through the reports back from other regiments. Not a single one has had anything bad to say of the training earth ponies received in the six months you've been here." She waited a few moments before adding, "That includes Commander Sweetie Drops."

Leaving her with that to work on, Lyra got back into her groove of running, while also doing the pegasi lessons she'd worked on. Unlike with Rolling Thunder, though, she only drained her magic to the halfway point. As they circled around the city for the fifth time, she spotted a quartet of blue-suited pegasi descend into the training fields from Cloudsdale (which was currently above Canterlot).

As they approached the main gate, Lyra slowed her gallop down to a canter, then a trot. She sketched a salute to the guards at the gate as she passed and gave Spitfire a nod as Solid and herself reached the visiting group. "Sorry to bother you so soon after our last meeting, Captain."

Spitfire waved a wing at that as if it was nothing. "I'd put aside time, Washout, in case you needed something. Despite the distance Cloudsdale sometimes gets from Canterlot, you know the 'Bolts are always going to be the first to arrive when you ask for help."

Hearing her nickname from the Wonderbolts, Lyra relaxed more than all the fancy words a courtier could deliver to soothe someone. "Thanks. I find myself asking for two things. First, I need a pegasus who can train ponies to the standards needed by the 'Bolts—or any other regiment—and I need your backing with my latest idea."

"The second"—Spitfire grinned and shook her head—"I'll help you before you even say what it is. I've seen the way you work, Washout, and it's always the right way. As for the former, you know I can't spare any active trainers."

Realizing she was not going to win the fight by begging, Lyra changed tack and moved ahead. "My plan is to train recruits for a month and a half here. They'll learn the intricacies of using their own magic to a greater extent than before. They'll train, constantly, to enhance their magical ability. It took me a few weeks to learn to fly competently using the 'Bolts' method. I think I can cram that into the head of a recruit in a month and a half—but I need the best trainer I can get."

Spitfire stopped where she stood, deep in thought. After all they'd done to adjust their training methods, Lyra was going to make them change more—in a way that would speed their training up. "See, that's why I agreed to the second thing but not the first. This is a step in the right direction, but I hate that you're right about needing a 'Bolt to do it."

"What about Spitfiretoo?" Lyra asked.

"You think she'd be up for it?” After Flatfoot pushed Sideways up from wing-second to wing-leader, then took off after her own wing, it left Spitfiretoo in a bit of a hole. Her rival was now her boss, and even if Sideways made her wing-second, it still chafed at her. The more she thought about it, the more Spitfire knew it would be a good idea to ask the mare in question. "I'll read her in on this. She'd be her own boss here, right?"

"I'd be the only pony she ever has to report to, and all I want her to do is take my plan, shape it to the pegasi she has to train, and do it all with the skill and absolute attention to detail of a Wonderbolt." Nodding toward Scootaloo, Soarin, and Slowpoke, Lyra said, "And if she does, I'll get you ponies that you can train into full Wonderbolts in half the time."

"You're going to pitch this to the other commanders?" Her decision made about putting the choice to Blaze, Spitfire moved on.

"I need a unicorn still—but unless you're hiding another alicorn up there, I don't think I can ask you for that." Nodding toward the mess, Lyra led the way to where her breakfast would be waiting. "I still have to find out from the rest of the commanders what they require from trained recruits. The Royal Guard will be going to want something different from the Police, and a different thing again from the Royal Dragoons. I need to massage them all into a cohesive training routine that will enable recruits to not just step into their new career with the minimum amount of work from the regiments, but to shift from one to another as easily."

"Well, you'll have your hooves full, then." Spitfire followed suit, acquiring her own tray and joining the line getting breakfast.

Author's Note

Pinkamena Diane Pie: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?

"Silly! Would Chuck Norris chuck a woodchuck if Chuck Norris could chuck wood? Would it matter? Maybe Cluck Norris would know? He's normally too busy to chuck woodchucks since he kicks grass and takes grains."

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any character 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 character to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post!

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