“So,” Thomas started awkwardly, “How’s life at the castle treating you so far?”

“G-good,” Silver blurted. “It’s good. Very good.” She cleared her throat. “Senior Concubine Lady Sun Dancer came by yesterday and volunteered to let me practice dressing her as she gave me various pointers.”

“Well that was nice of her,” Thomas remarked simply, grateful they were managing to make conversation on their own so far.

“Well, I say ‘volunteered’ but I don’t think I really had a choice in the matter.” Silver laughed nervously. “She was, um…”

“Scary?” Thomas offered.

“Y-yes, Sir Thomas. I suppose you could say that.”

“Please.” Thomas held up his hand. “Could we drop the ‘Sir’ thing? Just call me Thomas.”

“But that would be terribly inappropriate, Sir Thomas.” She grinned. “I don’t want to cause any offense.”

Thomas gave a mischievous smile. “Remember when I said I wasn’t going to order you to do anything you weren’t comfortable with? I’m amending that to only when it’s necessary. And right now I’m asking, not ordering, for you to just call me Thomas when there’s no one else around, okay? That way we’re just keeping up appearances.”

“I… suppose that would be fine… Thomas.” Silver nervously watched his reaction for any sign of disapproval. When none came, she let out a small sigh of relief, only to tense up again when her stomach growled.

Thomas covered his mouth to hide his snicker at her expense. “I don’t suppose you’d be up to accepting my invitation to breakfast?”

“Invitation?” Silver echoed. “Forgive my ignorance, but in Prance, along with most places in Equestria, it is traditionally the mares who ask the stallions out to such things.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not a stallion.” Thomas replied casually. “A male human is called a man, remember? And where I’m from, the man asks the woman out to eat.”

“But I’m not a… woe-man,” Silver said, tasting the odd words in her mouth. “So how does that work?” Her words were punctuated with another complaint from her stomach.

“Any way we want, preferably with getting some food in us as quickly as possible.” Thomas gestured to the door. Silver agreed and they were off, only for things to get awkward again after meeting up with Moonlight at the door. They were nearly at chow hall before anyone worked up the nerve to speak.

“I noticed you didn’t leave with the Princess this morning,” Moonlight observed. She silently congratulated herself for having somehow anticipated this and only having a small meal earlier.

“Senior Concubine Thomas was just taking me out for breakfast,” Silver replied proudly, not meeting Moonlight’s eyes as she glanced away casually. “It’s a human tradition.”

“I’m aware of that,” Moonlight responded evenly.

“You are?” Silver whirled on the guard mare. “How?”

Moonlight smirked back at the smaller mare. “Because on my day off, Sir Thomas asked me to accompany him on a date,” she paused, “with Princess Luna.”

Silver looked like she was suffering another case of temporary-brain-shutdown.

“Then again,” Moonlight continued, “We were only going out as friends. Isn’t that what’s happening now, he’s asking you out as a friend?”

“I…” Silver as her wings ruffled in agitation, having not expected to be outmaneuvered by this other mare. “I suppose that might be accurate.”

“On the other hand,” Moonlight picked up again, pretending not to notice how Silver was balling her hands into fists. “I was treated to a fancy dinner in Canterlot while you’re just getting-”

“Hey now!” Thomas held his hand out between the two mares, stopping them in their tracks. “What are you two on about?”

Both mares relented the moment Thomas spoke and each took a step back. Moonlight in particular looked both crestfallen and confused by her own behavior.

Silver was the first to break the silence. “Private Moonlight Shield. I apologize for the way I spoke. It was most unladylike.”

Moonlight grimaced and nodded back. “I’m sorry too. My mothers would have tanned my flank if they caught me behaving like some spoiled foal.”

“Sounds like you got off lucky,” Silver added with a smile. “My dame would bind my wings whenever she caught me misbehaving.”

“That’s nothing,” Moonlight challenged. “My sire had this spoon that he’d use to…”

As the mares continued to swap stories on the various ways their parents would punish them, each seeming to one up the other in a friendly competition, Thomas couldn’t help but wonder how things had resolved so quickly.

“Hey guys,” Talon called as she flew through the hall and landed beside them. Everyone exchanged polite greetings before she continued. “You weren’t planning on doing something without me, I hope.”

“These two, maybe.” Thomas gestured to the mares. “I was waiting for the life of the party to show up.”

Talon just smirked at him. “No one likes a brownnoser, chimp.”

“Considering our line of work, I respectfully disagree,” Thomas retorted.

“Touché.” Talon nodded in approval. “Anyway, let’s stop standing around and get to some munchies,” she announced. The group immediately fell into formation with Thomas and Talon in front, with Silver following close behind and Moonlight taking up the rear. “Amby filled me in.” Talon whispered into the human’s ear. “Smart thinking with the semi-private meal.”

“Not entirely my idea,” Thomas admitted in a hushed voice, though he wondered how effective it really was considering what had happened earlier.

After grabbing what they wanted and finding their usual table, Moonlight recounted to Silver the tale of the first time she saw Luna and how it had inspired her to join the night guard. Silver gave the mare a much warmer smile as they started their meals. Thomas had grabbed a short stack of pancakes, Moonlight only had a single orange, Talon had an assortment of fish and cereal, and Silver had a large plate of sausages, eggs, and a banana.

“I thought the Princesses were the only ponies that ate meat,” Thomas remembered.

“Not at all,” Silver answered proudly. “Bat ponies have never shied away from our omnivorous nature. Though we tend to prefer fruits, vegetables and other plants, a little bit of protein is a necessary part of our diet.”

“I think ‘little bit’ means something different where you’re from.” Talon added as she eyed Silver’s plate, licking her beak. “You going to eat all that?”

“Trade you for a fish.” Silver offered, and the deal was struck.

In time, the conversation turned to Thomas and his peculiar human traditions. Silver was especially shocked when she learned the sex ratio of humans was so even and that humans were normally monogamous.

“So, given the nature of your land’s culture, I suppose it must have been rather difficult for you to come to terms with this aspect of Equestrian society,” she noted sympathetically.

“Yes, but for different reasons than you’re thinking,” Thomas replied. “It’s actually been pretty low on my priorities until just recently. I’m still not fully comfortable with the general lack of clothing thing you guys have going on.”

“Oh,” Silver said in realization. “So that’s why Lady Sun Dancer advised me to wear this outfit.”

“That’d be my guess,” Thomas agreed, even as he wondered if Sun Dancer had also picked out the short skirt. “Did she say anything else?”

Silver gulped nervously. “She… she made sure that I understood how inappropriate it would be for me to… to lift my tail to either you or the Princess on my first day on the job.”

“That would probably be Tali’s fault,” Moonlight deadpanned. “We took Thomas shopping for clothes a while back and she actually raised it high enough for all to see.”

“No!” Silver gasped.

“In the middle of the department store,” Moonlight continued. “In the little colt’s section.”

Silver snapped her head around to face the griffon, glaring at her in shock.

“I might have gotten a little carried away,” Talon admitted, averting her gaze in embarrassment. “And I said I was sorry. Also, aren’t you a little curious why we were in the colt’s section in the first place?”

Silver blinked and glanced between her three companions. “You were buying clothes?” she asked uncertainly. When no one answered right away, her gaze lingered on Thomas and it came to her. “For you?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Thomas rolled his eyes as he huffed in annoyance as he braced himself for the snickers. “Let’s all laugh at the shorty short -short human.”

“I wasn’t going to laugh,” Silver said. The expression on her face suggested she was offended by the mere idea. “I’m the last pony to go around mocking somepony for their height.”

“Oh.” Thomas realized his mistake. “Sorry for that.”

“Apology accepted.” Silver said with a soft smile. “Although…”

“If you’re asking how I compare to other humans, the answer is about average.” Thomas answered for her. “Maybe I’m a little on the short side, though. That said, finding someone as tall as the average pony is pretty rare. And finding someone as big as the Princesses, any of them, is something you only read about in record books.”

“Fascinating,” Silver smiled eagerly as she prodded him for more details about where he grew up, especially what kind of music he liked.

They continued their conversation on past breakfast and all the way back to Luna’s room. Just as they were about to enter, Talon and Moonlight exchanged knowing looks and smiled in silent understanding. From there they retook their seats at the table from their first interview, only this time Moonlight sat down with them as equals.

“Generally I liked a lot of the classical stuff, but I don’t really have a favorite genre,” Thomas admitted. “I just listen to whatever sounds good. Anyway, I’m still curious about what Sun Dancer said.”

Silver grimaced, knowing this next part would be especially embarrassing, but gave a relenting sigh. “Well, I asked what things I could do to, you know, impress Princess Luna.”

“And what did she say?” Thomas asked curiously as the others leaned in.

“She said,” *Gulp* “She said that it wasn’t her job to tell me that. That… that it was yours,” Silver admitted, fixing an anxious stare at Thomas. “Then she… said that you probably won’t tell me until after I’ve impressed you.”

“That is how these things usually work.” Talon explained. “Ya gotta prove yourself to the rest of us before we decide you’re worth the Princess’ time.”

“Does this really make you so nervous?” Moonlight inquired. “I thought you would have been ready to face any of the Princess’ current lovers.”

“I thought I was,” Silver confessed. “I went over it in my head so many times. I go in, cordially deliver my request to join the harem, and slowly warm up to the group until I’m eventually accepted. But you…” she trailed off, gesturing at both Thomas and Talon. “You’re just so different from what I’d expected.”

“How so?” Talon asked, narrowing her eyes at the bat pony.

“Well,” Silver chuckled, “For starters, I had expected there to be more ponies already in the harem.”

“There were three others,” Thomas explained, “but they didn’t work out so well.”

“So I heard,” Silver nodded. “The race thing isn’t really an issue for me, if that’s what you’re worried about. What’s really throwing me for a loop is your, well, personalities.”

“Ah,” Talon sighed knowingly. “I get it. You were expecting us to be prim and proper nobility.” She affected a less-than-complimentary imitation of the average noble.

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Silver agreed, paying no mind to Talon’s antics. “I was told that the Princesses had a variety of tastes, but I hadn’t expected you to be,” she gestured impotently, “this varied.”

Talon chortled, even as the mare shivered with worry that she’d inadvertently caused some offense. “Well I’m happy to disappoint, because I know from personal experience just how varied the Princess’ tastes can really be. See, I’m actually one of Leste’s bed warmers. I’m just stabled with Luna at the moment because this little guy still has some confidence issues of his own to work out.”

Silver blinked and slowly turned her head to face Thomas.

“You’re worried aren’t you?” Thomas said as more of a statement than a question. “You’re a long way from home and there’s probably a lot of pressure on you to do this. You want to, obviously. Just being around Luna makes you want to do something to make her smile. But at the same time you can’t help but worry you’re not good enough.” Thomas offered the bat pony a wry smile. “I think we’ve got a lot in common.”

“I…” Silver hesitated. “Thank you.”

“I don’t suppose you had any other plans this evening?” Thomas asked.

“Not presently,” Silver smiled, bracing herself for the rush of being asked out by a stallion once more. “Why do you ask?”

Thomas looked to the others, who nodded their approval. “Care to hang out?”

Silver agreed and eagerly accompanied them on the first course of their nightly routine. That enthusiasm quickly faded when it turned out they were just working out. She managed to do more reps at higher weights than Thomas, but Talon still disapproved of her poor performance, saying she’d need to do a lot more to build up her endurance. Taking the griffon’s words to heart, Silver remained at the gym and opted out of joining them with Moonlight’s writing, saying that it was still too early for such involvement, which Moonlight agreed with.

They parted amicably, agreeing that this had all been a most promising first day on the job.

Still so far so good. Not much more to say about this one. I’d have liked to do more with Sun Dancer’s advice, but couldn’t really think of anything else.