Artemis Sparkshower

---

Artemis Sparkshower had just experienced a rude awakening to the reality of social life in Canterlot, and Equestria as a whole. It was after midnight, and Corporal Honour Bound had left the specialist's room a few minutes ago. The paltry few letters she'd received from Huckleberry Pudding, her coltfriend, were feeling even paltrier than usual.

She felt a compulsion to sit down at her desk and read them over one more time.

But if she did that, she'd probably wind up working herself to tears all over again.

And the time for tears had passed, because Artemis had an apology to deliver. At least if she wanted to get a decent night's sleep that night. With newfound purpose and energy, she got off the bed and finished removing her dress, gently laying it on the bed for now.

She took a deep breath. 'Yes, you can do this.'

Quietly leaving her room, Artemis walked two steps over to Glamerspear's door.

She knocked twice.

Nothing happened.

On the other side of the common room, Artemis could hear Corporal Honour Bound in the washroom, brushing her teeth.

Moments passed.

From inside Glamerspear's room, Artemis heard a loud, metallic squeak that slowly trailed off.

"Come in." Her voice was flat, and her speech slow.

Pressing on the handle, Artemis quietly pushed open the door.

Glamerspear was sitting in a swivel chair in front of her writing-desk. Her head was hung low and she sat slumped over in the chair, a glum look on her face and her forehooves on the seat in front of her. Without glancing up at Artemis, she reached out one of her hind legs and pushed against the desk, sending her into a slow spin. The chair squeaked loudly as she turned around one more time.

Artemis shut the door behind her and took another step in. "Is it okay if we talk?"

Lily Glamerspear shrugged, and slowly kicked out her hoof again, spinning the chair once more, yielding another squeak.

"... I wanted to apologize for what I called you earlier."

Again, the swivel chair slowly creaked to a stop. Glamerspear lifted her eyes up to look at Sparkshower, although she kept her head pointed down.

"... I'm sorry. You're not what I said you were."

Glamerspear took a deep breath and looked back down at the ground.

"Yeah, well..."

Artemis could see her roll her tongue around in her mouth, seeming to chew something over.

"... I guess it's really my own fault in the first place." Finally, she lifted her head to look back at the pegasus. "... I'm the one who made you feel like you were something you weren't, first. And I'm sorry about that, too."

She straightened up a bit in the chair, and Artemis took another step closer.

"Honour explained things to me a bit more."

"Yeah..."

She nodded at the wall next to her bed.

It was the one their rooms shared.

"... I couldn't make anything out, but, you know, I figured." Glamerspear turned her chair a quarter away from Artemis and laid her forehooves out on the writing-desk. "... It didn't make sense the way I said it, really. But when you first told me, I just couldn't believe it was anything but that."

She turned her head and looked up at the pegasus. "... VIPs don't treat us to anything unless they want something in return. That's just the way things are." Leaning forward, she lay her head on the desk and started to scratch at its surface with a hoof. "... Except when they aren't, I guess."

The wooden, scuffed-up writing-desk seemed to have her full and complete attention, so Artemis took a moment to look around Lily's room. Her wardrobe was so stuffed that the doors wouldn't close fully, and she could make out several slips of expensive-looking fabric poking out below the left door. Piled on top of her dresser were two, roughly-treated jewellery-boxes, also full to bursting and drawers half open, leaking pearls and chains of gold and silver. Sitting between them was a jewellery-stand adorned with feathered fascinators and other small head-pieces. The bed was made, but the sheets were ruffled and loose. Pieces of her armor lay neatly on top of her hoof-locker.

Her desk was clear, save for a single item. In an open box lined with dark blue silk, sat a silver medal attached to a white-and-blue ribbon. The medal depicted an ancient-style helmet, in silver and finely detailed, with a pair of large ram's horns curling out from the front. It was the badge of a member of the Order of the Ram, the Equestrian Royal Guard's highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. That it was made of silver marked the bearer as a Centurion, the middle of the three ranks of the Order, and the highest available to an enlisted soldier.

It was hard for Artemis to reconcile the kind of bravery needed to earn that medal with the dejected pony that sat before her.

Suddenly, as if she'd at last come to some kind of realization, Glamerspear snapped back up in her chair and swiveled it to face her again. "Let's make a deal, Sparkshower."

"A deal?"

She motioned for the pegasus to come over, so she stepped up to her chair.

"It's simple: we each promise never again to make the other pony feel like they're something that they're not." Glamerspear held out her hoof. "... What do you say?"

Artemis smiled and reached out her own. "Deal."

Shaking hooves, the unicorn started to smile again.

"Great! Then we're friends again, okay?"

'That's good.'

"Yeah."

Glamerspear nodded, satisfied. "Cool. Since we're friends, I'm going to let you know that my first name is 'Lily', and you can use it all you want."

Artemis couldn't help but file a new, and more complete mental note about her. It was the recon training. Specialist Lilly Glamerspear, 14E Air Defense, Unicorn, Centurion of the Order of the Ram. French-pink coat. Teal-and-Cyan mane. Teal eyes. And her cutie mark now made sense; it was a glittering green spear-tip with a lily-blossom at the base.

"Mine's Artemis."

"Pleased to meet ya', Artemis. But I might still call you Sparks if that's okay with you?"

"Sure! I like that nickname."

As the two specialists shook hooves on a first-name basis, the misery of the past hour was washed away. Yet, something still nagged at the back of Artemis' mind. A curiosity that she couldn't quite suppress.

"...We can still talk about things, though? These kinds of things, I mean?"

Glamerspear shrugged her shoulders and scrunched her mouth up into a wry expression. "As long as we don't break the deal, sure..." She pushed against the desk once more to spin her chair, but this time she hopped out as it came around full circle, winding up almost uncomfortably right in front of Artemis. "... Why, you curious?"

"A... A little bit. I mean, Honour filled in some of the gaps, but not everything."

"Okay, but if we're going to go into that, I want to know how I got tonight so wrong. How about a little quid-pro-quo?"

That was only fair. And sometimes you could learn more from questions than you could from answers...

"All right. You ask first."

Glamerspear smiled at her. "Aww, ain't you sweet, Sparks..." She playfully pawed at her shoulder. "... Buck, I really read you wrong, didn't I? Anyways, tell me how Anonymous asked you to go to the theater with him; was it just you and him?"

Artemis shook her head. "No, the Chancellor was with him, and so was the Chancellor's bodyguard. Actually, going out was the Chancellor's idea. He accused Anonymous of not having left the castle since he became the Royal Engineer."

It was Glamerspear's turn to scrunch up her face and shake her head.

"Ah, see? That's a big tell right there. Your usual salt-lick type goes out every weekend at the very least, if not every night of the week! At least to his favorite gentlepony's club. But when did he ask you to wear a dress and sit next to him?"

She instantly recalled the details of the conversation. "Well, the Chancellor brought up that he'd want to get a box so as not to appear overly ostentatious, then I explained to him a guardpony's place in a regular show, and he said that it was ridiculous for me to be so far away and not even get to enjoy the performance."

The unicorn arched her eyebrows and Artemis saw her eyes darting left and right, like she was having trouble seeing something run by her.

"I mean, I guess he's not wrong. Sticking a guard in the hallway doesn't help anybody; it doesn't even show off. But being the only one in the audience with a guard at the wall makes you look like a pompous donkey; that's why nobody does it. The whole deal makes a lot more sense when it's a big gala and everypony's got their escorts lining the aisles."

Suddenly, she snapped her head up and looked straight at the pegasus.

"... Wait, the Chancellor was there when he asked you out? Wow, that must have been awkward." She forced out a laugh. "... I mean, picking up a new saltine is one thing, and taking them out is another, but I can tell you, filly, the picking up part is strictly done in private."

"Oh."

That would explain why it felt like the Chancellor and his guardsmare had wanted to say something, yet had remained silent.

Glamerspear sighed and shook her head. Walking over to her bed, she casually batted the back of her chair, sending it squeakily spinning around and around. "If you'd told me all that..." She clambered up into bed and rolled out onto her back. "... Well, I might have still been pig-headed enough to say the same things, I guess."

Reaching over, she grabbed the other bed-pillow and tossed it at the hoofboard, and nodded Sparkshower at its direction. "... Your turn now, Sparks. Whatcha wanna know?"

She climbed up and took her spot on the far end of the bed. What to ask?

There was really just one question that mattered.

"Why do you do it?"

Glamerspear giggled. "Geez, straight to the big one, huh?" With another sigh, she looked aimlessly up at the wall behind her, pawing at it with a hoof. "... I mean, I like the attention, and I like the gifts, and I like getting to go places I couldn't normally go..." She looked back down at the pegasus and shrugged. "... but I guess I really do it because I don't feel like settling down. And I don't mind knowing I'm the 'other' mare."

Artemis found it a little hard to understand how anypony could not want to find the love of their life and settle down forever... But if that's how she felt, well, she supposed that what she did made sense. Still, though...

"You've never... fallen in love?"

Lily chuckled. "I've thought I was in love, but I usually turned out to be wrong. And if I find myself falling for my salt-lick, well, that's my cue to end it there. Wouldn't be fair to try to turn that relationship into the other kind -- not for any of the three ponies involved." The unicorn pointed a hoof at her. "... Which is not to say I don't like the colt I'm with, though. I mean, I gotta like them or else I won't let it happen, ya know? They don't just pick me, I pick them too."

"Like with Captain Mailedhoof?"

"Sure. He's cute, and I figured him for a player when I first saw him at the swearing-in ceremony for the latest 'shoe-camp graduates assigned to the Castle. We'll see where it goes, though."

"Have you ever been with anypony... famous?"

She really giggled, then. "Come on, Sparks! A mare doesn't kiss and tell!"

Aw. Artemis was hoping she had some interesting stories.

Suddenly, Lily burst into more giggles. "... Kidding! 'Sisters before misters', right? OK, so this one time..."

'Yay, storytime!'

---

Honour Bound

---

The corporal was tucked into bed and half-asleep. By the foalish giggles coming from three doors over, she didn't have to worry that the other two members of her squad were going to have trouble reconciling after their argument.

One thing was certain, though: this was by far the most bizarre bodyguard assignment Honour Bound had ever had. By all accounts, the Royal Engineer spent most of his day doing paperwork. Yet on day one, he'd sent his unicorn home drenched in sweat. And on day two, his pegasus had collapsed in tears. What prospects did tomorrow hold for her, his earth pony?

Only time would tell.

---

It was just before eight o'clock in the morning. The other two soldiers in Corporal Bound's little squad were still fast asleep when she'd gotten up that morning and trotted off for a quick breakfast in the chow hall. And they were still asleep when she'd returned and got dressed for duty as well. Glamerspear must have kept Sparkshower up pretty late telling stories about her various salt-licks.

Maybe she'd even veered into war tales and shared how she'd earned herself the silver horns of the Order of the Ram. That medal had certainly caught Honour's attention when they'd all moved in. There had been all kinds of grumbling and cussing coming from Glamerspear's room as she'd struggled to fit her sizable wardrobe into the meager storage furniture of her bedroom.

How had she even fit it all into her duffel bag in the first place? Unicorn magic?

Whatever the reason, it took her almost an hour to unpack. By the time she'd finished, Honour Bound was already back from the commissary and reading a magazine in the easy chair. But when things had finally calmed down, she'd looked over into Glamerspear's room and watched the specialist place the Silver Ram on her writing-desk as the final piece.

It was a little surprising that Lieutenant Vi hadn't mentioned it when she'd introduced the specialist. Actually, the Lieutenant hadn't really mentioned any of their war records. Maybe she'd just decided to keep things simple for the alien Royal Engineer with little knowledge of Equestrian history.

Or maybe Celestia had simply asked her to keep the ceremony brief. It had been an extremely short introduction, overall. The typical VIP liked to hear the Lieutenant extol the virtues of each guard and relate every combat action they'd been in. For the VIP, it let them know when to have the guards themselves repeat those same stories for their guests on command. The more decorated and veteran the guardspony, the greater the prestige for the socialite VIP who liked to show off.

But so far, the Royal Engineer did not seem like that kind of VIP. Upon reflection, it was a bit of a wasted opportunity for a Centurion of the Ram. Somepony else would have made better use of her prestige.

Honour found herself standing before Anonymous' doors. She reached up to knock. Based on Glamerspear and Sparkshower's reports, she fully expected him to be in the middle of either breakfast or paperwork at this hour.

"Enter!" The reply from within seemed muffled, distant, and maybe even a bit curt.

She worked the handle and pushed open the door. "Corporal Bound, reporting for duty, ..."

The Royal Engineer was nowhere to be seen.

"... Sir?"

A half-eaten croissant and an unfolded newspaper sat on his dining-table. Anonymous called out from the far side of the movable partition wall that divided off the private area of his chambers.

"Don't get comfortable, Corporal! I'm just getting ready to go out."

He seemed upset. She could only hope it had nothing to do with last night. Could Glamerspear's original read have been right after all?

Anonymous stalked out from behind the partition, wearing his dress pants and adjusting the cuffs of his shirt.

"...It's absolutely appalling, isn't it?"

Honour allowed herself to blink in confusion. 'This couldn't be about the theater, could it?'

The Royal Engineer sat down on the sofa and slipped on his shoes, bending over to tie them.

"Sir?"

He nodded towards the newspaper. "Haven't read the news? Take a look for yourself."

Honour stepped over to his dining table and took a peek at the front page. The headline read, 'ALL CLEAR AFTER BITSMOUNT SCARE'. Apparently, there'd been a tunnel collapse in the Bitsmount silver mine yesterday afternoon. But the story explained that the miners were trapped for less than three hours before a special Royal Guard emergency team got them out, safe and sound.

So why did Anonymous sound so upset?

"I don't understand, sir." She turned around to face the Royal Engineer, who was already standing over at his desk, hurriedly scrabbling through his papers.

"The mine collapse, Corporal. Doesn't it shock you?"

She shook her head in confusion. "Mines do sometimes collapse, sir. And the article says nopony was hurt."

Anonymous continued to look down at his papers while he spoke to her. "There are forty-six active--" He abruptly stopped and tilted his head, before reaching over and lifting up a paper on his desk and looking down at the ledger-book underneath. "... forty-seven active silver mine shafts in Equestria. The five shafts at Bitsmount account for half of all mine collapses recorded in the past two years."

He stopped, as if that settled the issue, but the corporal had no idea where he was going with this. She looked back at the newspaper and tried to read it for clues.

"The article mentions a tremor was felt just before the collapse. Isn't it just an unstable region?"

Still going through his papers, the Royal Engineer answered her. "A reasonable assumption. But there are seven mine shafts just outside the town with different owners. They produce less valuable ores, probably due to tapping weaker veins, but none of them have had a single collapse since they opened."

The Royal Engineer looked up at her with a stern expression.

"... Bitsmount has had ten tunnels collapse in the past two years alone."

She was still not quite sure where he was going with this. But his apparent willingness to indulge her curiosity was surprising and refreshing. Anonymous grabbed a portfolio and stuffed the papers he'd gathered into it.

"Do you know what the greatest day-to-day operating expenses of a mine are?" He held up one finger. "... The first, at least for a large mine, is wages." Putting down the portfolio, he turned around and grabbed his suit-jacket from the coat-rack in the corner, slipping it over his arms. "... But the second-greatest is timber."

He strode over to a mirror on the wall beside the door, pulled a necktie out of his pocket, flipped his collar up, and began to tie it.

"Timber is what shores up mine shafts against collapse. Timber is the first thing a mine-owner can skimp on to save costs, using weaker cuts of inferior wood, or instructing the workers to spread out the supports too thinly to be safe. And according to last year's public accounting records, the timber loads going into Bitsmount mine are out of all proportion with the amount of silver hauled out of there."

His tie made, the Royal Engineer paused and stared at himself in the mirror with a look of concern on his face. It was almost a scowl.

"Here in Equestria, you have the luxury of unicorn magic to dig miners out of collapses before they can suffocate or die of thirst or even drown in flooded tunnels. But back in my world, greed and poor safety standards killed them by the hundreds."

The Royal Engineer looked over at her.

"... I've made it my goal to industrialize Equestria, and it will take a lot of sweat and hard work. But there are about to be a lot more mineshafts in Equestria, digging out coal and iron, and I won't let you ponies pay for that in blood."

He was serious. She was a little impressed.

"If you think Bitsmount is skimping on supports, sir, then what are you going to do about it?"

The Royal Engineer walked back to his desk and picked up his portfolio, then glanced at the lighthouse clock in the middle of the room.

"Day Court begins in an hour, but Princess Celestia hears from members of her privy council from now until then. I'm going to ask her to issue me a warrant of inspection for the mine, and a summons for the mine's owner, Galloway Bitsmount, to appear for an inquest at Day Court."

He brushed himself off, making some final adjustments to his outfit.

"Then we'll arrange transportation, get the mine plans from the archives, get the land survey and some tools from ordnance, visit a few other palace departments for some sundries, and with luck we'll be off there first thing to deliver the writ tomorrow morning."

OK, now she was more than a little impressed. This is the sixth Very Important Pony she'd been assigned to as a bodyguard since she decided to enter the service. She'd escorted visiting dignitaries, barons and counts, accomplished magicians, even a retiring General of the Royal Guard. The rich and famous of Equestria and beyond. But it seemed that the Royal Engineer was the first one who wouldn't be spending all of his time idling around with his social equals, sipping bourbon and smoking pipes.

He'd forgotten something, though.

"It almost sounds a little dangerous, sir."

Anonymous, Royal Engineer, looked at the corporal and lifted a single eyebrow.

"... You'll want to arrange for all three of your bodyguards to accompany you tomorrow."

He nodded. "I'll contact Lieutenant Violetta first thing after we speak to Her Majesty. Let's go."

Next Chapter: Chapter 11 Estimated time remaining: 36 Hours, 2 Minutes