//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: A Unicorn and an Alicorn Walk Into a Library 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

"I'm telling you, she can help." 

Lyra's ears perked up at the sound of Pinkie Pie outside her home. It was her day off and she was planning to try mixing magic and music. The reply to Pinkie's words, however, was too soft for Lyra to hear through the door.

"That's silly. Of course she will." Pinkie giggled a little before knocking on Lyra's door.

Setting her bass guitar aside, Lyra stood up and walked to the door. She opened it to find Pinkie and Fluttershy standing there. "Hiya Pinkie, Fluttershy, come on in."

"Thanks, Lyra!" Pinkie bounced in and then paused. Looking back, she could see her friend still standing on the doorstep—trembling. "Fluttershy, it's okay. I've known Lyra since we were little fillies. Well, I was a little filly, she was a big human, but she got better."

Fluttershy had heard about Twilight and Pinkie's friend and she had seen both talking with her on several occasions, but she'd never had much to do with her. "Y-You weren't born a pony?" Curiosity made her poke her head into the house.

"Lyra? Nope. She was this big, tall, grouchy guy. Can you believe it? Anyway, it was yours-truly that dragged her to Equestria and pinned her down until she became a pony!" Pinkie paused as Fluttershy trotted past, staring at all the things in the living room. "Uh, Fluttershy?"

"These things aren't pony things?" Fluttershy had zeroed in on the two long instruments sitting on a stand. "What do they do?"

Picking her didgeridoo up with her magic, Lyra took a moment to focus and brought it to her mouth. Relaxing her lips, she started to play.

The music was at once utterly unlike anything Fluttershy had heard yet oddly entrancing. She sat down on the spot and her ears perked forward to listen to the bouncing tune Lyra played. When her foot started tapping along to the background rhythm, she made no effort to stop it.

Closing her eyes and losing herself in the music, Lyra barely felt her audience as she worked two tunes at once into a spinning melody. By the time her song ended, she let out a sigh and shook her head. "It's always weird when the music just picks me up like that."

Looking between Pinkie and Fluttershy, Lyra watched them both seem to blink their way out of a daze. "Are you okay?"

"That was beautiful," Fluttershy said. "Where did you learn to play that?"

"Batstralia, well, before it got turned into bat ponies." Lyra saw the moment when Fluttershy's eyes widened and her pupils dilated. 

"See, Fluttershy, I told you Lyra was the pony to talk to." Pinkie jumped onto the couch and piked up Lyra's bass, strumming it carefully and tuning it.

Walking closer, Fluttershy felt herself tremble a little, but she needed to know what was going on. "What do you know about vampire bat ponies?"

"'Vampire'?" Lyra looked from Fluttershy to Pinkie, who shrugged at her, before looking back. "I know bat ponies—my parents and sisters are bat ponies—but I don't know any vampire ones. Why don't you tell me what you need to know about and I might be able to help?"

Clearing her throat, Fluttershy realized she was going to need to do significant amounts (for her) of talking. She looked at Pinkie for help.

Listening to what'd happened, Lyra felt more and more confused and a touch angry at the descriptions of how the bats had been treated. When they came to using magic to solve an especially non-magical problem, she face-hoofed. "Okay, so let's pause there. So a fruit bat colony had flown in and started eating her apples, so Applejack persuaded Twilight to use magic on Fluttershy—"

"And it backfired. I was trying to bring up that it wasn't such a good idea, but Applejack had a really catchy song," Pinkie said, and got a nod from Fluttershy. "So, Twilight did the spell and Fluttershy told the bats not to eat apples anymore…"

"A-And that's when I turned into a vampire bat pony." Fluttershy shivered at saying it. She'd been so overwhelmed by her emotions at the time she couldn't break free of the need to eat apples.

Biting back her need to interject again, Lyra gestured to Fluttershy. "And then?"

"It was really scary, and Fluttershy swooped around and hissed at us, and then Twilight fixed it all!" Pinkie said.

"Except—" Fluttershy could feel Lyra and Pinkie's eyes on her. "I mean, she fixed it all and now I can go home?"

"Would you like some tea? I'd be a terrible host if you didn't let me make you a nice cup." Lyra had heard from Twilight about Fluttershy's having tea with Discord. She figured that a normal cup would probably help her relax.

"Tea?" The offer was too good for her to pass up. She had her own preferences, of course, but she was curious what a strange pony-that-hadn't-always-been-a-pony would drink. "Y-Yes please."

Putting her didgeridoo back on its stand, Lyra led the way into the kitchen and set the kettle to work boiling some water. "Do you have a preference for tea?"

"Orange Mocha Frappuccino," Pinkie Pie said.

Lyra raised an eyebrow at her friend. "I'm putting you down for a double-sugar hot chocolate. Fluttershy?" She started adding a saucepan of milk to the stove.

Always struggling to tell when her friend is making a joke or not, Fluttershy stared at Pinkie for a moment before looking back to Lyra. "I'll just have whatever tea you're having—if that's not too much trouble?" 

"No trouble at all." Preparing her good tea set, Lyra topped off the sugar, added a few slices of lemon to a saucer, and filled the little milk jug with fresh milk. Adding tea to her infuser, she set it in the teapot and waited for the water and milk. "So, firstly, I have no idea what a vampire fruit bat is, but I know a bit about regular fruit bats. I didn't think they'd be this far north."

"Oh, I've never seen any kinds of fruit bats, vampire or not," Fluttershy said, seeing the opportunity to avoid a topic she'd rather just let go of.

"Normal fruit bats just happily squeeze the fruit in their mouths and get all the juice out, then spit out the not-juice. Were these bats doing anything weird?" Lyra asked, using her magic to stir the milk to keep it from burning.

Pinkie nodded. "Yup! They would bite into the fruit and suck all the juice out. That's why they were called vampire fruit bats."

Pouring the boiling water into the teapot, Lyra made Pinkie's hot chocolate too and brought the whole tea set over to the table. The old method of making tea was somewhat improved by her not having to worry about hot handles. Soon she had a cup of chamomile tea in front of herself and Fluttershy while Pinkie kept adding sugar until her chocolate was right on the borderline of being a solid.

When Fluttershy finally took a sip of the tea, Lyra asked, "So, things got cleared up but something didn't. That's why you're here, right?"

With both eyes closed and the taste of the soothing tea, Fluttershy nodded. It would have been impossible moments ago, but she could pretend she was the only pony in the room. "I still have a craving for fruit and—and…" Opening her mouth, she used a hoof to pull back her lips and bare her little fangs.

"Ah. Some residual effects. They'll probably fade over time. If you'd like, though, I could ask my dad to take a look?" Lyra sipped her tea a little more, trying to ignore the more and more excited look Pinkie was giving. "He's basically an expert in being a bat and a bat pony."

The words sounded odd to Fluttershy not in how Lyra said them but their implication. "Experience as a bat?"

"He wasn't always a bat pony. Tufts started off as a cute, fuzzy little flying fox. Uh, that's a type of bat from my world. Kinda small with a huge wingspan and a penchant for sucking the juice out of fruit." As she spoke, Lyra observed Fluttershy's eyes growing bigger and bigger until, at the end, she looked to be almost bouncing in place. "So do you want to come with me to Canterlot to meet him?"

Fluttershy's wings popped up and she tried to nod or say yes, but it was hard to get the right expression out.

"I think that means yes," Pinkie said.





Tufts Mango opened the front door and his day grew a little brighter. "Lyra!" As soon as he rushed forward to hug her, however, he noticed she had another pony with her. The pegasus, when he focused on her, was burning with a pure energy that almost made his teeth rot—if such a thing could actually happen to teeth eternally bathed in fruit juice. "You brought a friend?"

"Yeah, Dad. This is Fluttershy. Can we come in?" Lyra waited until her father stepped back to wave Fluttershy forward. "Thanks."

"Would you like some tea? Maybe some fruit?" Tufts felt curious beyond belief, but he wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to have a meal with his daughter. What he didn't expect was Fluttershy's eyes to narrow to points and for her to stare intently at him. 

Reaching out with what little magics he retained, Tufts felt around Fluttershy. "Well, that's a different kind of bat." He led the way to the kitchen and started lifting out some fruit and set the kettle to boil. Noticing the intense stare from Fluttershy, Tufts let out a chuckle. "Fruit first. Is there a story behind how such a lovely pony ended up in this predicament?"

Being asked a direct question broke Fluttershy out of her single-minded focus on the mangoes that Tufts was slicing up. "I—um—that is…" It was almost too much. She wanted to fly out of the house and back to her home and just hide from everypony. There were three problems with that and two of them were in the room with her. The third, of course, was Pinkie Pie. "I'll try."

The tea, when it was ready, helped. The fruit helped most. Fluttershy wasn't one to buy fancy food, but the moment she started eating the yellowish flesh of the mango it was like she'd reached heaven. One moment she had two cheeks of mango before her, the next she had two badly mauled mango skins and no more mango.

"It's okay. Every bat is like that with mango." Tufts had to stop himself from going to the fridge and getting more. "Please, continue when you feel up to it."

As she worked through her story, Fluttershy noticed a thousand little things about Tufts. The little thumb-claws on the joint of his wings, the fact his eyes weren't slit pupils like the vampire fruit bats, and the biggest thing was the sense of safety and comfort that just radiated off him. When she finished, she realized her cup was empty and there was no fruit left. "And that's when my friend suggested I ask Lyra for help."

Tufts, done with his own plate of fruit and cup of tea, pondered Fluttershy again. Magically she seemed to be mostly a pegasus, with a small hint of bat-like magic around her. Physiologically it was similar, with only slight changes in her mouth and stomach. "I think we'll need to sleep on it."

"Sleep? But it's been weeks since this happened," Fluttershy said, confused.

Lyra opened her mouth to explain, but Tufts gestured to her with a flick of his wing. "Bat ponies have a link to a realm of dreams. It is a world slightly deeper than this one, where reality is more malleable by simple thought. Would you like to try it?"

"It—It won't be scary, will it?" Fluttershy's voice broke at first, but she managed to get the question out. "And can I bring a friend?"

"Anypony but Lyra," Tufts said, which left Fluttershy blinking in surprise. "She has something about her that makes it hard to pull her into dreams."

Lyra snorted. "No, it makes it hurt. He had a headache for a week after he tugged me into a dream to get me and Scoots to make didgeridoos."

"You'll be safe, I promise you," Tufts said. "All the dreamtime will teach you is what you are and what you can be."

"O-Okay."





With a gasp, Fluttershy woke. She was hanging upside down—just like she had as a bat pony. When she looked upward, she realized she was a bat pony. Panic started to fill her until a wing touched her. Somepony else's wing.

"Calm down. You can return to being a pegasus if you'd like." Tufts drew his wing back from Fluttershy. "Would you like a mango?"

The world narrowed around Fluttershy and, between the time she saw Tufts hold out the mango to her and the time she had devoured it and spit the big seed out, she barely even noticed the passage of time.

She felt different. Not the wild bat pony she'd been with her friends and not the meek mare she was normally. Fluttershy sat somewhere between the two. "Where are we?"

"This is Equestria. It is its far past, its present, and its future. Right now it's a little distorted because I have opened a way to it for you and I." Tufts spread his wings, peeked behind him to ensure nothing was in the way, and took off into the air.

The urge to give chase was too much. Fluttershy did the same check Tufts had and launched herself into the air and after him. It was the first time she'd been conscious and able to fly with bat wings. They were nearly three times the size of her feathered wings and, despite the size, for the first time in her life she had a glimpse of what Rainbow enjoyed about flying.

Whipping about in the air, Fluttershy let loose a loud shriek of excitement and immediately froze—mid air. "Oh my goodness."

Swooping to land beside Fluttershy, Tufts folded his wings and waited for her to speak. When she didn't, he asked, "How do you feel?"

"It's hard to explain. I want—I want to fly. I want to fly a lot. Find a nice fruit tree. Just spread my wings and flap them for the excitement of it." She quickly covered her mouth with a hoof. The truth was she was excited. Even on the ground she wanted to fly more.

"Then do it. The dreamtime is the perfect place to indulge in your nature." Tufts gestured to the sky with a hoof. "There is nopony here to judge you. Enjoy yourself."

Around Fluttershy was apple, fig, and mango trees. Unable to control her excitement, she spread her wings and pumped them again and again, launching into the air and flying. Her mind flicked back to when she'd helped Rainbow and the Ponyville weather ponies to funnel water up to Cloudsdale. She'd worked really hard that day, but right now she felt a hundred times better. She did little spins and twirls, dancing through the air with wings that could shove her around so fast it took her breath away.

Finally landing in an apple tree, coiling her tail around the branch tight and hanging upside down, Fluttershy reached a wing out and grabbed an apple to eat.

It all felt natural and right. 

She got through another two apples before her hangups returned. This wasn't reality, this was— The thought stopped dead in the face of the fact she didn't know exactly what the place was. She was just trying to figure it out when a bat landed on the branch beside her. 

The little thing looked unlike any bat she'd seen before, having a red ruff around its neck. It looked at her and let out a screech.

It might be a strange new animal, but having it here set Fluttershy at ease. She reached out and grabbed another two apples with her wing, sliced one up to smaller pieces with her claw and held one of the pieces out to the bat. "Here you go."

The bat let out a loud meep before grabbing the piece of fruit with one wing.

They hung there, relaxed and eating apples together. Fluttershy felt a strange new peace settle on her. Her battier half seemed to relax and calm down with the fruit and she was particularly happy to have found a friend to eat with.

Given the complete lack of other animals around, though, she peered closer at the bat. "Is that you, Tufts?"

"No." Tufts swooped in to land on Fluttershy's other side. "If she were me, she'd be a lot handsomer—and male. This world is manipulated by the minds that inhabit it. You build a story here and it becomes history in the waking world—or it becomes destiny."

"So I made her?" Fluttershy asked, reaching out and giving the bat's head a little rub with her hoof.

"No. She exists in the dreamtime because she's part of your story. It's important she be here." Spearing an apple with his wing claw, Tufts brought it to his mouth and bit into it with a happy sigh.

Turning her attention back to the bat, Fluttershy fed her another piece of apple. "You're part of my story?"

Pausing in eating the apple, the bat spat out what pulp she had squeezed the juice out of and let out an agreeable meep.

"Oh. Um, will you come back to the real world with me or are you going to stay here?" All Fluttershy got in reply now was another meep from the bat.

Tufts chewed some more apple while he watched the pair. Finally he asked, "Are you sure you want to bring her back? There are consequences to decisions made here. They shape your past, present, and future."

"She's not just a bat, is she?" Fluttershy asked after some thought. "She's—She's my bat side."

Tufts let out a whooping screech of excitement. "Clever. Yes, she is a representation of all the aspects of being a bat, as you see it and more, wrapped up as a cute concept in the dreamtime. You can leave her here, step back into the waking world, and all the urges and things will be gone. You'll be just a pony again."

She had to ask, "And if I take her back?"

"Then she will be part of you forever. You will keep your fangs, you will keep your hunger for fruit, and you may have some other changes too."

"Confidence." The word would normally be so foreign to Fluttershy, but the bat eating fruit with her radiated it. "Would I still have these wings?" She stretched out out wide and gave it a weak flap.

"I don't know that. Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps you'll even be able to change between this form and your normal one." Shrugging, Tufts grabbed another apple. "All I can say is that she represents change."

"Change." It was another word that Fluttershy would normally fear. Change, though, was something most creatures feared. Stability was a good trait to desire because it meant not being confronted with things you had to think too much on.

But, all Fluttershy's life she had embraced change. When she was a filly and found her calling among animals on the ground, she'd changed her outlook and found her cutie mark. When she'd wanted somewhere to protect animals—as her cutie mark told her she should—she had moved to Ponyville.

Reaching out a hoof, Fluttershy let the bat climb onto her and edge her way along until she was snuggled into the crook of Fluttershy's wing. "I think I am ready to go back now."

Tufts stretched his wings above his back and let out a sigh. "You are a brave pony, Fluttershy. Never let anypony tell you differently." As he brought his wings back down, Tufts eased the pair of them from the Dreamtime and back into their bodies in the normal world.





Lyra was mid-rant when Tufts woke. Opening one eye, he watched her pace (and listened to her extol the terrible state of affairs where she couldn't enter the Dreamtime) around the room for nearly five minutes, wondering if she was going to slow down in her pursuit of empathy from supposedly asleep ponies.

At last, though, it was Fluttershy rousing that broke Lyra's monologue. Turning her attention from her own injustice to Fluttershy, Lyra offered her a glass of fruit juice. "How are you feeling?"

Yawning, Fluttershy was surprised at how good the juice smelled. "Thank you," she said, taking the glass and practically inhaling half of it. "I feel a little better after that drink."

"I meant about your bat problems." Used to seeing fruit juice evaporate in proximity to bat ponies, Lyra didn't think much more of the rate at which Fluttershy drank.

"It wasn't—Okay, it was a bat problem." Flashing a smile that had more pronounced fangs in it now, Fluttershy let out a little giggle as she had the perfect pun. "But now I have a bat solution. I just need to get used to it." The last bit she said as she looked into the bottom of the glass and realized it was almost empty.

"Damn unicorns always sticking their noses into somebat's mango." Tufts stood up and stepped over to Lyra to put a wing around her shoulders. "Sometimes we need it though. Thank you."

"Hey, Dad, no need to go all soft on me." Hugging back for all she was worth, Lyra looked at Fluttershy and noticed her stretching and closing her wings, reaching up to rub her ears, and a whole host of other batty behavior that Lyra recognized.

"Because I know you'll hound me relentlessly until I tell you anyway, the Dreamtime allowed her to change her story. In this time, now, she accepted the aspects of the bat she'd been bewitched with, gaining confidence and a new sense of self beyond what she had been brought up with." Tufts gestured to Fluttershy.

Distracted by her wings feeling strange—despite them still being the same ones she'd been born with—Fluttershy looked up at Tufts and nodded. "Everything feels new. I'm noticing things about—about the world because I'm in it, not because I want to hide from it."

"If you need any help with adapting, come up to Canterlot and we can share fruit and tea again." Rolling his shoulders and limbering up his wings, Tufts felt a strange potential in the air. "I think there's more to this. Would you join me in some flying before you leave?"

"Oh. Um. Okay." Still a little nervous, Fluttershy nonetheless followed Tufts out the back door of the house and realized why a family of bat ponies had their home where they did. The yard was a beautiful garden with no rear fence between firm (if magically supported) Canterlot ground and a drop off a mountainside.

Even as a filly Fluttershy had been more than a little troubled by heights, but a nervous energy lit inside her at the prospect of flying and, when Tufts broke into a gallop and jumped off the edge—she followed just as fast.

Joy and elation in equal measure, but something different. Flying with Tufts had a different energy to even her times flying with Rainbow Dash. Exploring her fangs with her tongue, she found she liked having them. The odd ridges at the top of the inside of her mouth were new, too. 

But, despite everything that had changed, Fluttershy felt joy. Joy for flying. Joy for being a little less scared of the world. The biggest joy she felt, though, was an odd new connection with animals. Taking on some of the traits of bats, for Fluttershy, meant there was a whole species of adorable creatures she now had to make friends with.

Among all those feelings was a trigger. A tipping point between the bright yellow-coated pegasus and a dusty yellow bat pony. From one flap to the next a rush of magic poured through Fluttershy and she felt as her wings changed from feathery and plush to huge and soft leather. "Yay!"

Letting out a more rambunctious screech of excitement, Tufts led Fluttershy on a twirly dance in the sky to explore and express pure batty delight with life. 

It felt like she'd been flying forever, but Fluttershy wasn't tired—she was just thirsty. Circling around and aiming back for the house, where a lazy unicorn was laying in the back yard, Fluttershy slowly made her way back down. The moment her hooves touched the ground, her wings changed again and she was, once more, a pegasus.

"Neat trick that." Lyra, who'd been writing down lazy patterns as she worked on another friendship spell, couldn't fail to see the bravery that Fluttershy had shown. "Are you ready to head back to Ponyville?"

"After some more juice?" Fluttershy blushed as she asked. It was exciting not to freeze up when needing to ask things—her world was boiling with potential and it was a great high for her.

Wasting no time in the fact of a thirsty bat, Lyra stood and turned for the back door of the house. "Come on in, I'm sure Dad has some more juice laying around." 

By the time Tufts made it into the kitchen, he got to see Fluttershy gulping down her second glass of juice. "That takes it out of you? You should get used to it in time. I'm sure I know somepony who could help you practice and learn to better control it."

Lyra caught Tufts' look and nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Just drop by the library and I'll make time to help."

Emptying the glass, Fluttershy looked into the bottom of it and made a soft little warbling screech—then covered her muzzle with both fluffy wings in surprise at the noise. "S-Sorry."

"It's fine. You'll get used to random bat noises. Want to grab some fruit on the way home?" Lyra took the time to rush over to Tufts and give him a big hug. "Thanks."

Hugging back, Tufts felt more than a little surprised at the force of Lyra's momentum when it came to helping people. "You did good, Lyra. Thank you."





The whole ride home Fluttershy ate grapes. She wasn't sure, at first, why Lyra had insisted on buying enough grapes for a dozen ponies but—as Fluttershy chewed them up, swallowed them, made a happy little screech that embarrassed her each and every time, then reached for another—she quickly realized a bat pony's appetite for fresh fruit might just be unlimited.

Setting foot back in Ponyville, finishing off the last of the grapes, Fluttershy felt a sinking feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with the vast quantity of pulp and glucose there. "What will my friends think?"

"They're your friends, Fluttershy. You know they'll support you. It's not like Pinkie Pie hasn't known bat ponies for years. Twilight would literally cry if she so much as thought she was losing a friend. Rainbow is known as the paragon of loyalty. Rarity… I don't actually know Rarity all that well, but I bet she'd not turn her back on a friend when she finds out you'll need new dresses to support the wing changes. Applejack—got herself a new best customer." Leading the way to the library, Lyra wondered if events had conspired to bring all the five ponies in question there. 

As it turned out, there was only four of the five there—Pinkie Pie intercepted them just outside the library. "Sooo…" Sidling sideways up to Fluttershy, Pinkie reached up and touched the tufty little fluff of fur on one of her friend's ears. "How'd it go? All back to normal"—she made air-quotes with her hooves—"or learning to live with a little battiness in your life?"

"D-Does it matter?" Fluttershy asked.

Tilting her head to the side, Pinkie Pie pondered what Fluttershy meant. "Well, of course it does. I want to know all the cool things that matter to my bestest friends!"

Fluttershy was almost in tears at the first sentence, but when Pinkie backed up her words the tears turned to joy. She hugged Pinkie for all she was worth. "Thank you, Pinkie. It—It means so much to hear that."

"You need to hear it four more times now. Come on inside." Pinkie led the way, letting Lyra slip in behind them and try to remain inconspicuous. "Hey, everypony, I found her! She and Lyra"—Pinkie stepped to the side, revealing Lyra to Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack—"were on their way here. What a coinkidink!"

In the spotlight, and Fluttershy felt her old urge to run and hide rear its head, but there was another part of her that was just relieved to be getting this over with. "Oh. Um. Hello everypony."

Applejack practically pounced on Fluttershy—verbally at least. "What happened, sugarcube? When Pinkie told us all that you were having super-weird reactions to the bat spell Twilight cast, we got worried."

"Yeah," Rainbow said. "Then I couldn't find you anywhere, and even Twilight helped me search."

"It was only by sheer luck that one of my customers had seen you and Lyra on the train to Canterlot. Whomever did you go to see?" Rarity asked.

"A bat pony." Fluttershy took their gasps in stride.

"They're an old mare's tale!" Applejack stomped her hoof on the floor. "The only bat pony was when Twilight messed up that there spell on you, Fluttershy."

Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other, then both turned to look at Lyra. This led to Rainbow and Rarity looking at Lyra too. Finally, Applejack looked at Lyra. "Why's everypony staring at Lyra for?" Applejack asked.

"I mean," Lyra said, circling a hoof in the air for dramatic effect, "it's not like my mum, dad, and both my sisters are bat ponies." When this got a giggle from Pinkie and a slight wince from Twilight, Lyra continued. "And I kinda used to live in Batstralia—where all the bat ponies come from. Also, I met the leader there, really nice mare named Princess Screech. It was tough for her to get on top of the whole alicorn thing, leadership thing, and becoming a mare thing, but she managed it."

Everyone was silent except Pinkie—who giggled.

Lyra took the giggle as encouragement. "And then there's Tufts—he's my dad. When magic rushed into my world, it tried to find—"

"Hold up just a darn minute here." Applejack narrowed her eyes. "I can't tell if you're lyin' or not, but what you're saying doesn't make no sense. Bat ponies—are not real."

"Applejack," Twilight said, "they are. Lyra's telling the truth."

Her temper rising, Applejack narrowed her eyes. "I know she's telling the truth, but one thing I've learned is that just because a pony thinks something is the truth, doesn't make it the real, honest to Celestia, truth." She froze, a look of surprise coloring her own features. Everypony was quiet as she processed how worked up she'd just gotten. "I'm sorry."

"Lyra's family really are bat ponies. Her mother is an advisor to Princess Celestia. Her sister is an advisor to Princess Screech. Her other sister, only a few years old, has both the princesses excited to see what comes of her. And, her father… Lyra was trying to tell you how he came to be." Twilight gestured to Lyra with a hoof. "But, you wouldn't let her. When was the last time you went to Canterlot, Applejack?"

"Uh, the Gala, with all y'all."

"Mom wasn't there for that and the Batstralian embassy was only just being built," Lyra said. "Wait. Nightmare Night. Princess Luna rode a chariot down pulled by Phil and Fire Blossom. You saw that."

"They were just in costume, right?" Feeling less sure of herself by the minute, Applejack slumped her rear to the floor and looked down at the floor. "I—I'm sorry. Sometimes it's easy to get into a mindset that only things I can see and touch exist. I guess if I'm going to be spending more time with ponies from other countries, I need to shake that off, huh?"

"Other worlds," Twilight said, correcting her. "Lyra and her family are from another world. There's a portal to it and everything."

"It's less a portal and more—" Lyra cut herself off. "Sorry, technicalities. Maybe next time the bats start acting up ask my dad for help? He's great with bats."

Curiosity rushed to fill the void where her anger had been, and Applejack brightened up at the idea. "Really? He could get them to leave?"

"Well, he could get them to stick to certain trees. Maybe you could grow a special set of trees to feed the bats and keep them away from your main ones?"

"I'd rather they keep away from all our trees but"—Applejack took a slow, deep breath—"I think the farm could live with that."

"You're forgetting something," Fluttershy said, surprising even herself by cutting in on the conversation. When everyone turned to face her, she spread her wings and focused on the battiness inside and the memory of flying.

"Whoah! Fluttershy! You can grow those cool wings again?" Rainbow couldn't have kept back if she'd tried. Checking out Fluttershy's wings, she touched the membrane. "Huh, I thought they'd be tough like like Harry's skin."

Folding her bat wings at her sides, Fluttershy felt that same excitement from earlier rush to the fore. "You should see how well I can fly with them, Rainbow. It's like—like I was born to have these wings!"

Stepping back a little from the group now she could see that Fluttershy was fitting in, Lyra turned and aimed for the stairs to the kitchen. "Hey, Spike. How was everything today?"

"The usual. Twilight was freaking out about where Fluttershy might be, Rainbow couldn't tell her because she was busy all day with Fluttershy's animals, but then Pinkie mentioned that she'd taken Fluttershy to see you to help with her bat problem." Shrugging his shoulders, Spike followed Lyra up the stairs. "Just minor Twilighting."

Lyra couldn't help but chuckle at the term. "It wasn't a bat problem, it was a bat solution." She liked how Fluttershy had put it. "And I have an idea for a new friendship magic spell."

"You're still going on with those? How many are you up to now?" Climbing up onto the footstool beside the bench, Spike started making himself a sandwich.

"I've got twelve now. I was trying to keep the theme primarily about enhancing friendships, but Twilight was right. If I don't make the spells, someone else will and they'll be too complicated for young unicorns to learn." Checking the time, Lyra realized it was about time for her to go home. "I'll give them a few more minutes and then I think I'll try to herd Twilight and Rainbow out for a nice run."

Spike nodded. "I should probably cook something, then." He picked up his gemstone sandwich and sat at the table to eat it first.

"Hrmm. It's just me and Scoots tonight, I think. A quick pasta might be the best plan. Something I can make quickly."

"Ugh. Twilight isn't a fan of pasta, but if I cook the same thing as Neighponese noodles, she'll eat it all and ask for seconds." They shared a laugh at that.

"One day you'll get her to broaden her palate from that kinda stuff to something more significant. Maybe try making her some Neighsian curries?" Lowering her magic's strength to a bare sliver, Lyra started sketching patterns for spells.

"I could do that. I'll need to order some things specially to make them. If I use noodles, she might not even notice I'm changing the flavor profile."

It wasn't the first time Lyra picked up that Spike was thinking far deeper into food than the average pony. He focused on things like texture and flavor profiles, where most ponies would just struggle to use enough salt and pepper. "Next thing you know, you might be able to have some epic spicy dishes."