The festivities of the evening had been divided into shifts, of which the first began at 8 p.m. on the dot. Foals had swarmed the castle in droves and would, if their parents’ allowed, continue to do so for the next several hours as the halls echoed with squeals of delight. However, those were just the day time foals, as those who were awake in the evening proper would get their chance for excitement and sweets at 8 a.m.

While the Masquerade, the real highlight of the evening, did not formally begin until 10 p.m. that did not stop guests from arriving as early as 7. Early bird catches the worm as they say, especially when that worm was a chance to get in good with Equestira’s newest Princess. Pending that, at the very least it gave them bragging rights over those who came later.

Luna had decided to dress in a sexy bunny outfit. It was attire which, until tonight, had been entirely unknown to Equestria. Complete with large black bunny ears, latex stockings, and a poofy white cotton tail above her own, the Princess of the Night was the undisputed center of attention for the evening and she loved it. She was even able to discern genuine praise from the noble’s empty flattery regarding how cute she looked in that outfit. This pleased Luna on a number of levels, especially since she’d thwarted her sister’s efforts to upstage her by dressing as a sexy cat lady. It wasn’t anything malicious on Celestia’s part, just something sisters were obligated to do to each other. However, the votes were in and it was bunny costume for the win.

Meanwhile, as they maneuvered through the gradually growing crowds in the grand hall, Silver had stealthily taken Talon’s place to Thomas’ right, much to the griffon’s silent approval. The new mare was doing well for herself, especially in how she even took up Talon’s role in encouraging Thomas to mingle a little. Moonlight, on the other claw, was far more disappointing. Despite having the night off, the unicorn simply refused to come out of guard mode and just looked stiff as a golem, at least when she wasn’t trying to set Silver on fire with her eyes each time the smaller mare came a little too close to Thomas. Stabled as she was, the griffon felt it was her sworn duty to resolve this matter.

“So explain to me again,” Silver inquired. “What is your costume supposed to be?”

“Jack Skelington, the Pumpkin King,” Thomas said as he let his eyes roam across the party.

Streamers of autumn orange hung from the ceiling while banners bearing Luna’s cutie mark adorned the walls. The volume of the mingling guests was fairly moderate as all costumed ponies exchanged pleasantries. More than once Thomas spotted some noble pony looking rather shocked when they realized the pony they’d been conversing with was just actually servant and not a fellow guest thanks to the costumes. Near the center of the hall was a large buffet table where ponies casually snatched up all manner of holiday themed treats before resuming their mingling.

“He’s a character from one of my favorite movies growing up.”

“Movie?” Silver asked. “As in one of those instructional films?”

“The same kind of machine, but we also use film to tell stories, like plays,” Thomas informed.

“Well that’s certainly creative,” Silver said with a titter. Growing up in a noble house, the bat pony was no stranger to flattery for the sake of flattery. That was simply part of the culture of the rich and affluent as was on clear display as her bat pony hearing picked up numerous remarks lavishing words of praise onto Luna’s efforts with the party. But she was genuinely impressed to learn what humans were capable of. On top of giving the human stallion a chance to talk, something she was certain would help endear herself to him, she was also looking forward to learning more about his ways in the hopes of simply getting closer on a personal level.

“Why don’t you tell us a bit more about Jack?” Moonlight interjected, shooting Silver a look of disapproval. “What made you like his story when you were a foal?” The unicorn was aware of what the bat pony was trying to do, but something deep down told her that she shouldn’t let herself fall behind.

“I guess it was the songs and visuals, mostly,” Thomas answered as his head swiveled around. “But what’s this I’m hearing about a costume fight between the Princesses?”

“Oh that,” Talon replied. “Leste said it’s an old tradition of theirs to compete to see who has the best costume. Sorry to say, but as cute as she looks in that skin tight cat costume, I’m afraid I gotta agree that Luna’s bunny suit just takes the cake.”

“I had seen them both earlier,” Silver chimed in. “Some were saying Princess Celestia might have stood a better chance if she’d gone with something more eye-popping than plain brown, like stripes or spots. Now, call me biased,” she glanced around guiltily, “but I’d say the Princess of the Night would have had the sun beat anyway, no matter the patterns used.”

“Tell me about it,” Talon chortled. “Moonbutt’s costume practically looks like a swimsuit with bunny ears.” She licked her tongue across her beak. “That’s yummy on all kinds of levels.”

“Agreed, but I think I’ll reserve judgment till I see what the rest of the competition is,” Thomas added.

Moonlight couldn’t help but feel a little dejected at how her inquiry had been dismissed so casually. It wasn’t like Thomas had done so with any ill intent, but it still hurt to be shot down like that.

“Silver Bell!” Exclaimed a golden earth mare with a blue mane and wearing an unflatteringly frumpy pineapple costume.

“Pineapple Punch!” Silver greeted in turn as the mares lightly kissed each other’s cheeks. “How have you been?”

“Not as good as you, I imagine,” Pineapple tittered. “I take it that your presence here means that you’ve finally, as your mother is so fond of saying, ‘reclaimed the family’s lost legacy’? I swear that mare’s going to be insufferable from now on.”

Silver shook her head in amusement at the other mare’s plight. “I’m still just an attendant. However,” she stepped aside and motioned to her companion. “Might I introduce you to Senior Concubine Sir Thomas, Equestria’s one and only human. Sir Thomas. This is Countess Pineapple Punch.”

“Indeed,” Pineapple said with a clearly forced smile as she adjusted her monocle. “And what, might I ask, are you dressed as?”

The older mare’s tone and body language were not lost on Silver as she stepped forward and firmly gripped the earth mare’s hand in a seemingly friendly gesture. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it did deliver the message that the Countess had better watch her tone of voice. The earth mare and bat pony held a silent conversation with their eyes in which Silver made it clear that, even as just an attendant, she was still a Bell and not to be trifled with, especially in front of a stallion whose favor mattered a great deal to her.

Pineapple smiled at the smaller mare. In the world of the aristocracy, Silver’s warning was less of a threat and more of a gentle reminder that Pineapple had nearly made a fool of herself, for which she nodded in gratitude. Disrespecting a colt that a Princess held dear was a faux pas tantamount to social suicide. Moving her social face back into position with a bright smile, Pineapple prepared herself to shower this young feminine colt with the typical bout of praise expected from such engagements, at least until she saw the orange unicorn by his side.

Another silent conversation followed, but this mare dressed as a soldier was quite clearly military at heart. Further, her body language conveyed a very clear aggressive stance. Rather than the defensive stance akin to a mare guarding her stallion, the unicorn’s posturing was closer to an announcement that she was ready to lunge at any moment. Unwilling to risk bodily harm at the hands of this brutish mare, Pineapple politely excused herself to elsewhere in the grand hall.

As she watched the disrespectful mare scurry off like the coward she was, an agitated Moonlight swiveled her head around to make sure everypony knew the score. Thomas was her responsibility and she wasn’t about to let any of them get anywhere near him. Just as she felt the relief of seeing the costumed ponies avert their eyes or back away, she then felt a claw grip her shoulder. There was a rush of adrenaline as she turned to face her assailant and very nearly flipped the claw’s owner over her back before a familiar beak pressed itself against her nose.

“What the hay was that?” Talon hissed.

Moonlight blinked in surprise as she realized she’d nearly hurt her friend. “I…”

Donning a fake smile for the crowd, Talon subtly looked around and gently lead Moonlight off to the corner. Moonlight tried to resist, not wanting to abandon Thomas to those vultures, especially with that gray bat butt, but eventually gave in as she understood that her prior behavior required immediate adjustment. When they were far enough away, Talon released her grip on the mare and stared at her with silent condemnation.

“Smarty,” Talon said flatly. “What’re you doing?”

“I… I was just…” Moonlight wanted so badly to argue that she was just coming to Thomas’ defense, but the truth was that there was no excuse for her behavior back there. “I was overstepping my bounds as Sir Thomas’ bodyguard,” she said robotically.

“Worse,” Talon stated. “You overstepped your bounds as his friend.”

Moonlight blinked in befuddlement.

“Now I could go on a little tirade on how you went way past looking out for his safety,” Talon began. “But you’re out of uniform, so I’m not gonna do that. Instead, I’m going to tell you that you’ve been acting like a spoiled brat ever since Silver showed up.”

It took all of Moonlight’s willpower not to glance over to where Thomas was to make sure he hadn’t been kidnapped by the bat pony. The look in Talon’s eyes told her now was not the time for that. The griffon had gone full military, triggering the mare’s old instincts to stand quietly while her superior officer explained in graphic detail all the ways that she was a complete buck-up.

“Now I’ll admit that I’m not exactly innocent in all this either, but you just crossed a line.”

“Ma’am?” Moonlight asked.

“I noticed what we were doing almost at the start, but I didn’t do anything about it because it didn’t seem that bad at the time,” Talon lamented. “However, ever since Ponyville I’ve been noticing all the looks you’ve been giving to any strange pony that gets too close to the chimp. You see what I’m getting at?” She asked with a gentleness unbecoming of a drill sergeant.

“Ma’am. No ma’am.”

“You bucked up when you let your guard down with Lyra and now you’re overcompensating.” Talon sighed mournfully. “Like I said, we were both kind of doing that from the start, scaring off any that might pose a threat to our stallion.”

Moonlight wanted to protest that she didn’t think of Thomas like that, but kept her mouth shut.

“And, not gonna lie, I really enjoyed it when it was just the three of us like that.” Talon smiled with a sigh. “The little guy… Something about him just triggers a gal’s instinct to protect, ya know?”

“Ma’am.” Moonlight nodded in solemn acceptance. There was no denying the truth. And the truth was the mare really did get a primal pleasure out of staying by Thomas’ side and protecting him like he was her very own stallion or colt.

“But we both bucked up when I let it just go on and you started standing in the way of the chimp making new friends.”

“Ma’am.” Moonlight waited for Talon to give permission to speak. “With all due respect, Pineapple Punch was not a new friend. She was a brownnosing social climber with every intent of using Thomas for her own agenda and then wearing him like a damn bangle.” Moonlight breathed deeply threw her nose. “Ma’am.”

“One hundred and ten percent on the dot.” Talon nodded in approval.

“Ma’am?”

“Call me ‘ma’am’ again and I’ll slap your ears off.”

Moonlight stood at attention. “Yes m-sir.”

“Better.” Talon nodded. “But you’re right. That kind of thing is clear as night to you or me, but chimp’s still pretty naïve about all this. If anything, you should have done what sweet wings did.” Talon narrowed her eyes as Moonlight’s jaw tensed, but ultimately the mare gave no other response. “Not sure if you noticed, but that filly performed perfectly. She gave the other mare a fair warning and then stepped aside to let Thomas have his turn.”

“But…”

Talon coughed, cutting the mare off. “The often neglected part of protecting is making sure your charge is still able to stand on his own two paws even if you’re not around. We might have been building up his body, but we’ve also been denying him the chance to learn social skills, those things he’s been lacking the most. And, sorry to say it, but the only way he’s gonna learn that stuff is trial by fire.”

As Moonlight braced herself for another volley of chastisement, she was surprised to instead be scooped up in a powerful embrace as her face was buried in the griffon’s feathery shoulder. It didn’t take long for another instinct to kick in as she eased into the embrace. Talon had employed one of the oldest tricks she’d learned since moving to Canterlot. When all else fails, never forget that ponies liked hugs.

“Smarty,” Talon cooed.

It took a second for Moonlight to settle on how to answer. “Tali.”

**********

“Well that’s annoying,” Firestorm mumbled as he observed the mare and wren converse through his scrying compact mirror. The orange stallion had dismissed himself from the budding party for some private time in the bathroom. He never really cared for parties. He’d come dressed as a stereotypical bandit with a black wool hat, black eye mask, black and white striped shirt, and black trousers. The mirror’s volume had been enchanted so that only its wielder could hear what was said. And while, from a personal standpoint, he agreed that Moonlight really should stop smothering Thomas, from a professional standpoint the guard backing off her charge potentially left the human open for anypony to get him before Firestorm could make his move.

“Boss’d kill me if I let somepony else get ‘em on my watch. Heh. Probably have my other arm, too.” Firestorm chuckled as he rubbed at the prosthetic on his right arm. He hated the thing as it always made his phantom arm start itching. Unfortunately, the thing was crucial for these infiltration missions so he had to muscle through it.

As he finished relieving himself and prepared to leave, Firestorm lit his horn and the image in the mirror changed to display Thomas and Silver. They were talking to some stallion Firestorm felt had the kind of pompous face just asking for a good punch, but most ponies didn’t ask his opinions on such things. More relevant to the mission was how smoothly the human and bat pony were getting along after such a short time.

“That’s probably gonna complicate things,” he sighed in acceptance. Deactivating the mirror and flipping it closed, Firestorm slipped the innocuous compact into his pocket and readied himself to return to the den of noise, lies, and false faces.

**********

“Fascinating.” Duke Hazel Nut, a pegasus stallion dressed as a clown, said as he nodded in contemplation. “So, in the long run, tariffs actually hurt the nation imposing them?”

“Exactly.” Thomas nodded as he held out his glass of apple juice for one of the butlers to refill. “One metaphor I remember is that the mercantile system views wealth as a pie. There’s only so much to go around and all the countries cling desperately to what shares they have while trying to steal the portions of others.”

“Mh hmm.” Hazel nodded in interest.

“But wealth’s actually a lot more flexible than that. Take that new self-correcting typewriter, for example. Each of its parts are only worth so much on their own, but combined they’re worth more than their sum. They’ve created additional value and, basically, made the pie bigger.”

“And how big does the pie get?”

“There’s no known limit.” Thomas beamed as he imparted his middle school knowledge like he was some great professor onto this well-to-do and learned stallion. “Lowering or even abolishing tariffs gives you access to resources, be they labor or materials, that are of the lowest cost but of the greatest quality, thus creating more or equal wealth from less expense.”

“The free market principle you mentioned earlier.” Hazel pointed out, hoping to impress this colt with his knowledge. Despite his frightful appearance, this foreigner displayed remarkable insights into theories that were only just getting off the ground. The stallion was especially intrigued by the mention that the wealth created in a single century at the height of the human country’s employ of the free market had resulted in that country being dominant in their part of the world the following century.

“Precisely.”

“Thomas,” Silver said as she as she gently brushed his arm. “This is a party. I’m sure the good Duke doesn’t want to stand here talking tariffs and taxes all night.” She shot the Duke the briefest of warnings.

“Indeed,” Hazel bobbed his head cordially, not wanting to overstay his welcome. Besides, he’d learned more than enough to have a few words with his associates back in Trottingham. “In fact, I see some friends whom I’ve been meaning to catch up with. Till next time, Sir Thomas.” He bobbed his head one last time before making his leave.

“I’ll be here.” Thomas waved back, hoping he didn’t look too awkward. Reflecting on all he’d said, Thomas felt he could have organized his thoughts a lot better.

“You ought to be careful with whom you discuss such ideas,” Silver said, not meeting the human’s eyes as she watched the Duke vanish into the crowd.

“Really?”

“Really.” Silver nodded. “It’s like giving away the cow when you could be selling the milk.” The bat pony glanced around at the innumerable ponies who had no doubt been eavesdropping. “You could be making a pretty bit giving lectures at universities with those ideas of yours.”

“You think so?” Thomas asked with a frown.

“Most definitely.” Silver said with a growing grin. “Besides, it never hurts to start setting up a nice little nest egg for the future.”

“Right.”

Silver raised an eyebrow at the human’s skeptical tone, only to find him looking off in the direction Talon had taken Moonlight. “Something the matter?”

“I don’t know.” Thomas sighed. “It’s just something’s been bothering Moonlight all night and I’m worried for her. You have any ideas?”

Uh oh, Silver thought. Her initial reaction to Moonlight’s deplorable behavior was to simply ignore it. However, the more she thought about it, the more she strangely found herself also feeling concern for the unicorn. But the real kicker of it all was that there was this cute little stallion displaying his vulnerability and showing such concern for his friend. How could she resist and still call herself a mare? “For the sake of context, I feel that you should know that Private Moonlight did something very uncouth, which is no doubt what Lady Talon is discussing with her.”

“What’d she do?” Thomas asked. He saw the way other ponies suddenly became apprehensive around her, but didn’t see her doing anything that might warrant such a reaction.

“She assumed an… I suppose you could call it an especially aggressive posture. Even in a dueling ring, such a gesture would be a troubling sight as it suggests the pony is in a dangerously foul mood and has little concern for the wellbeing of any the posture is directed at.”

Thomas glanced back over at his friends. “Why would she do that?”

“I’m not certain.” Silver had a few theories, but didn’t especially care for any of them or how they made her feel. “I suppose you could say she’s being a little overprotective of you.”

“But she’s my bodyguard,” Thomas countered. “She’s supposed to protect me.”

“Not like that.” Silver shook her head. “She’s…” Silver stopped when she saw Talon approaching with Moonlight right behind her. The mare had taken a much more relaxed and even submissive posture while the griffon had a look of determination about her. “Perhaps she can explain for herself.” She motioned to the pair.

“Moonlight.” Thomas rushed up to her. “You… Are you alright?”

“I am now.” The mare’s dour expression suddenly brightened at seeing how concerned Thomas was for her. “I simply needed a little reminder,” she gently brushed Talon’s leg with her tail, “that I need to step back a little more and let you meet ponies on your own. I’m sorry for my lack of manners.” She lowered her head apologetically.

“And I forgive you,” Thomas said with a smile.

Moonlight blinked in surprise at how quickly he’d replied. “Y-you do?”

Seeing her look of confusion, Thomas gestured over to the bat pony. “Silver explained.”

Moonlight had to resist the urge to glare at the bat pony for whatever foul things she might have said.

“And I really appreciate you looking out for me,” Thomas continued. “But I don’t want that to be the only thing you do.” Why’s she blushing? Also, why is my heart suddenly pounding? “You’re my friend, Moonlight. It’d be nice if we could just relax and hang out more.”

While the mention of ‘friend’ stung a little, for reasons unknown, Moonlight felt her stomach perform backflips at the desire for her company. “I’d like that.”

“Oops,” Talon said casually as she took interest in the ceiling. Thoughtless griffon that she was, Talon had bumped Moonlight’s flank with her own, catching the mare off guard and sending her stumbling forward until she had to catch herself on Thomas. “Clumsy me.”

Naturally the human had reached out and soon the pair was staring into one another’s eyes as they held each other’s arms.

Unfortunately, the awkward pause was going on too long for the griffon’s liking. “Just hug and make up, already,” she growled.

The human and mare slipped further along the other’s arms until their chests were pressed together. Both found comfort in their partner’s warmth. Thomas felt Moonlight’s muscles beneath the cloth on her back and took a peculiar comfort in the way her strong arms enveloped him. On the other hand, Moonlight’s examination of Thomas’ hard work at the gym had reminded her of how she’d always had a thing for smaller colts with just a little bit of muscle.

As Silver watched the scene unfold, she couldn’t decide whether to coo at how cute the two friends were as they made up, or if she would have better luck at combustion through will power as Moonlight had tried. At seeing Moonlight open her eyes and give her a triumphant smile, Silver settled for the latter.

Oh dear. This was certainly an unexpected turn of events. It actually took me less time to think of Luna’s costume than you might expect. Moonlight lost her cool, only to for Talon to pull her aside and give her a mature talking to. But she’s not the only one who has to deal with unexpected feelings. Oh no. Silver, for better or worse, can fully sympathize in that area as the both of them seem to be going through some hormonal issues or something.