Lily Glamerspear

---

‘A blind colt is staring at me.’

‘I don't know how he’s doing it, but he just is.’

And even though his mouth was closed, Specialist Lily Glamerspear felt like he was grinning at her, too. Ignacio Blazon, the old, hunched-over batpony Balladeer of Ghosts, sat idly on his haunches in the sandpit with her, leaning on his crutch.

Sergeant Ebonshield had already left for her chambers, accompanied by the two initiates that probably saved all of their plots with that daring little infiltration and smoke-bomb surprise attack. To say nothing of their unseen, two-versus-two against the 'Swarming Meteor' goons sent to kill them in their beds.

Corporal Bound and the Royal Engineer had also gone off with that 'Reverend Sister' who strode in there with her tuft sticking out like a bucking fresh-picked bouquet. Heh, maybe those 'refreshments' the Reverend Mother Carmen was supposedly offering would involve their VIP getting himself a little poon-tang with that particular young little piece of flank; she did try to serve him up one of her Lunar mares last time, and Celestia knows Anonymous deserved some R-and-R, the big hunk of colt-meat.

Despite being busy shooting, Lily saw the way he KO'd that Meteor by diving in and walloping the batpony in the back of the head. Even without that slick move, though, she respected her VIP's decision to stand and fight with the rest of them to start with.

Still coming off her gunner's high, Lily took a deep breath and looked anxiously over at the crippled old batpony next to her. It was just her, him, and Sparkshower left in the Grand Hall of Stars, with the musicians up in the gallery having also headed out for what passed for a midnight 'lunch' under the mountain.

Lily shot her fillyfriend a glance and turned towards the batpony who had been blindly eyeing her up. "So, uh, Mister Blazon..."

He tilted his head slightly, and she saw his long-haired ears twitch subtly. But he didn’t say anything; he just waited for Lily to continue.

"... About your abilities to shape and control sand-creatures..."

Ignacio sniffed the air, but still remained silent.

Lily took another breath. "...I, uhm, hit the books, spoke to an expert, thought long and hard about the problem..."

It was more than a bit of a stretch to call Ebonshield's collegiate foal-toy an 'expert,' but at least he had some formal training in abstract magical thinking -- unlike the heavily practical learning Lily had done. Still, she really did hammer away at De Magia Unicornis, the definitive magical theory-book, looking for a solution.

Clearing her throat, she delivered the disappointing conclusion. "... And I'm afraid I'm still coming up empty."

Shrugging, she tilted her head slightly, lowering her ears. "...Sorry. D'you think you could maybe give me another clue, or maybe another demo?"

After a moment, Ignacio snorted. "Hunh. That is all? The great unicornio, who laughs while she demolishes an entire swarm of the Meteors, whose horn buzzes so loudly even when idle that she wakes me from sleep -- she investigates my magic and yet she finds nothing?"

Lily sighed. "No, sorry. This kind of investigation isn't really my strong suit." She shrugged once more. "I'm a guardspony. I shoot stuff, I shield against attacks, I can even do a little healing and a few other useful things. But I'm not exactly trained in deep magical theory."

"Jou have nothing at all? No proposals, no theories?

Lily shook her head, dejected. "Nothing that fits what I saw you do."

Ignacio chuckled. "¿Oh? Let us double-check this, eh? What do jou think jou saw me do?"

At that, the unicorn frowned.

‘What's he on about now?’

‘I already talked about what he did last time, didn't I?’

Shuffling her hooves slightly, Lily cleared her throat, glancing at the sandpit around them. "You formed the sand up into shapes of ponies, and a dragon, minotaur, and even a human who you'd never met before that morning -- and then you made the shapes fight with Sergeant Ebonshield, just as they would have if they were the real deal."

Ignacio grinned, revealing crooked teeth. "Ah... I did this? All of this? Are jou certain?"

Now it was Lily’s turn to chuckle awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. I'm not blind..."

Realizing she may have misstepped, she stopped herself. But there was no reaction, so she went on. "... Er, I mean, we were right here. We saw it all, right, Sparkshower?"

There was an armored scraping as the pegasus nodded her head, but Ignacio just muttered dismissively, turning to step away from Lily.

"No, no, jou miss the point, unicornio..."

Grasping his crutch with the crippled foreleg it supported, he tapped it in the sand, then batted it left and right, splashing the yellow specs to and fro.

"...How do jou know that I have made all these things?"

Lily shrugged, and the armored tassels on her shoulders clinked together. "I mean, if not you -- then who else?"

Ignacio turned again to face her, and he was wearing a grin once more. "Ah... There she is, the question."

Placing his crutch back properly under his shoulder, he hobbled back towards Glamerspear. "... But tell me first of jour studies. Jou say jou are a simple soldier. Among the Children, even the 'simple' Stars are well-taught. Tell me of these books jou consulted."

Lily gulped. She hated having to show her work.

"It was just one book, I guess -- but it's a really important book, you understand? It's the definitive treatment of magic: a classical text that has yet to be surpassed in the field of magical theory. And it's required reading at any magical university. Even Princess Celestia herself was quoted as saying it's the first and last word when it comes to all things magical."

He seemed to perk up at her description. "Ah, jes? And what is he called, this book of the wonders?"

Lily straightened her back and head, out of respect for the ancient tome. "'De Magia Unicornis,' by Titus Wealthwisher. In Ancient Equestrian, the title means-"

Ignacio cut in before she could translate. "'On the magic of unicorns,' jes..."

Nodding his head, he explained as she sat there, jaw open -- and Lily could hear Sparkshower's visor scrape as she lifted it in shock as well.

"...We Children also remember the ancient tongue. And our language today is closer to her than jou may think; closer, perhaps, than jours..."

With a chuckle, he shifted his weight on the crutch. "But I think that a book about the magic of unicorns is not going to get jou very far in understanding a magic which was not done by one of them, no? Ehehehe, after all, I am no unicorn... So tell me about this 'expert' jou spoke with -- who were they?"

‘Ugh. What is this, an inquisition?’

Lily swallowed again. She was not going to tell him exactly who she consulted about this.

"He was... just a friend. But he's a unicorn in college, the Schola Magia -- that's Equestria's premier arcane university, up in Canterlot. He's had more training in magical theory than I have, ya know? Even though I have more practical experience. We talked about the problem a bit, workshopped the possibilities."

Ignacio tilted his head back, lifting his tattered, tufted ears. "Ah, and what possibilities were these?"

Lily shifted on her hooves again, shrugging. "We talked about them being some kind of golems, but those usually need time to prepare, whereas we'd barely been in the room for ten minutes before you did it. And you have to be able to examine the subjects being reproduced, but there's nopony like Anonymous in all of Equestria, plus you're blind, and you were asleep when we walked in. And you have to get a piece of the target for the golem to be authentic -- but you didn't have the chance to get any part of Anonymous, either."

After listening attentively, he nodded. "This was the only theorem?"

Lily tilted her head sideways. Remembering the blathering of Ebonshield's barely-post-pubescent dweeb gave her a headache, but she managed it.

"No, but the others made even less sense. One of them was that you had seen stuff like that before, and were therefore able to recreate it. Another was that it was enough to simulate, like, the magical 'reflections' of the guardsponies and our fighting VIP. But both of them needed you to have been able to see..."

A thought occurred to her, and she craned her neck forward, eyes narrowing and ears perking up. "...Which kinda brings up an interesting other question, Mister Ignacio. For a blind guy, you sure seem to be able to 'see' a whole lot."

The batpony cocked an ear. "Oh? How so?"

Lily looked slyly over at Sparkshower, who seemed to be just as focused as she was. "Like how you managed to get down here so fast, without really worrying about tripping or falling. You sure hustled your way over to Marcos pretty quickly, too..."

Lily’s wingmare chimed in as well. "That's right! And you also looked right at one of the injured batponies when you pronounced that his neck needed special attention."

The Balladeer of Ghosts nodded his head. "Jes, jes. These things I have done..."

The nod turned into a shake. "... I am blind to the world of light and darkness as jou know him. I have been blind in this way since birth; all Eclipse are so..."

Inhaling, he raised himself up a bit. "... But... I do have a sense which allows me to perceive these things, and others."

‘Jackpot!’

‘I knew there had to be some trick up this old batpony's sleeves!’

Not that he wore a shirt or anything, but still.

Grinning at Sparkshower, Lily relaxed a bit, glad to receive an explanation for some of this mystery. "And what 'sense' is that?"

Ignacio sighed. "This is a sense related to the magic, but one which is difficult to explain. I am not sure if jou can understand."

Lily frowned. "I may not be a college-educated pony, Mister Ignacio, but I've got my head on straight, and so does my fellow Specialist Sparkshower. Try us."

Chuckling, he licked his lips, and she saw him smile. "I do not mean to insult jour intelligence, unicornio, or jour abilities, or those of jour friend the pegaso. But jou have already demonstrated to me that jou do not have this sense. Imagine if jou were to explain to me the experience of 'sight,' knowing that I have never seen anything before."

Lily’s brow furrowed further as he continued. "I have been told before, jou know. That there is light and dark, and there are colors in-between. That the moon is grey, that grass is green, that blood is red, that the mirror shows a copy of whatever is in front of him."

He shrugged. "...But these descriptions are meaningless to me. Could jou explain to me what 'red' looks like? Eh?"

Lily was left a bit speechless, and Sparkshower took a step forward. "Well, red is the color of the setting sun, and of beets and tomatoes, strawberries and cherries..."

Ignacio turned towards the sound of her voice. "But I have never seen such things. I have never seen anything at all. How can jou describe what this is for something to look red, to somepony who has never seen? Jou do not need to understand that a thing is a beet or a tomato to know that this is red, no? They have an intrinsic appearance in jour mind, does they not? That is the nature of the sense, not a catalog of the properties of the objects."

As Artemis was also unable to find a reply, he slouched down and continued. "This is why I lie a little when I say that jour horn 'buzzes,' unicornio. There is not a 'buzz' like a sound in my ears; this is something I perceive with the other-sense. For the sake of communicating this to jou, I describe the sense as a sound, as the magic grabs my attention as a sound would -- and that, at least, is a sense which we share in common."

It took Lily a moment to parse what he was saying, but she thought she had the gist of it. Like trying to explain colors to a blind pony, he was saying it was going to be tough to explain to her this sense of his, since she didn’t have it. Except she wasn’t quite as blind as him in this regard, since as a unicorn she did have an affinity for raw magic. And there were legends of great unicorns who could shut their eyes and nonetheless see the world around them...

"I see what you mean. But why don't we continue with the 'sound' analogy, then? What is it exactly that you can 'hear'?"

Ignacio tilted his head back and took a deep breath. "This is not so much what I can 'sense,' as what can be recognized."

The tassels on his mask jiggled to and fro as he shook his head. "This sense... is like being in a very loud and noisy room, and trying to pick out the soft fluttering of wings from far away. There is much which I can 'hear,' but the problem is in recognizing the 'sounds.' This is what is difficult -- but great disturbances are easier to find than others, as when jou draw magic through jour horn."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "But what is it exactly you're 'hearing'? Spells being cast?"

Ignacio cocked his head sideways and wiggled the whiskers on his nose.

"...The magic, I think..."

‘'The' magic?'

He turned his head slowly to and fro.

"...Magic is everywhere, jou know. In the stones, in the sand, in the air, in each of us..."

Then he looked up towards the ceiling. "... Especially on this world. And particularly on the surface, during the day -- things are much quieter at night, and quieter still on the moon."

Mana -- the raw stuff of magic, the source of a unicorn's spellcasting powers, and a force that empowered earth ponies and pegasi in their own ways as well -- was generally thought to be spread just about everywhere, in fairly even quantities. It seemed to just be a natural part of the universe, an ethereal field that pervaded reality. There were some places where it was maybe a little stronger, and some places where it was a little weaker -- the latter, often the result of magic spells gone wrong.

But underground versus above-ground?

Daytime and nightime?

Lily had never heard of that being a difference.

And certainly nopony had ever ventured to sound out the force of magic on the moon -- besides Nightmare Moon, of course, or her batpony 'children,' but they weren't exactly an expedition from the Schola. What if mana wasn't so evenly spread around as everypony thought?

As Lily pondered that question, Ignacio smirked. "Have I lost jou already, unicornio? Shall we change the subject?"

Lily shook her head, brow still furrowed in thought. "No, I think I'm getting you. So how does it work -- what do you 'hear' when we're in the room?"

He shrugged. "This I cannot describe. But jou have been here twice now, and the impressions, they start to become familiar. Not as familiar as the walls, the floor, and the ceiling of this Grand Hall, but I can recognize jou more easily."

Straightening up, he called towards the ceiling in a proud voice. "I am a Balladeer of Ghosts; I watch over the Grand Hall of Stars, here in the Rookery of Canterlot today, and before this in the Great House Rima de Serenidad. To call forth such enemies as jou witnessed last time, and to heal the Stars as jou have seen twice now, these are my duties, and I know them well."

Sparkshower piped in again. "And with this magic-sense, when you identify something, you can tell how far away it is? And what direction?"

Ignacio nodded. "Sí, jes, I can. And often I turn to face the direction, for the sake of jou who can see me. This does not change anything for me, however."

He grumbled, tilting his head. "Hmmm... On jour first visit, I knew there were three of jou Equestrianos, but I did not know which was the unicorn, which the pegasus, and which the earth pony. Not until the horn was used to cast magic, was one of them made clear."

Lifting a forehoof, he scratched at his chin. "...Jour 'VIP,' however -- he is difficult to perceive. I did not notice him completely at first. Even tonight, he is faint and distant; he blends into the background more readily. I cannot pick him out from the cacophony; not quite yet."

‘So the Balladeer is blind to Anonymous?’

‘Interesting.’

And that revelation also completely demolished all of that college-colt's theories.

"I guess that explains why you can move around the arena here so confidently. But if you have trouble recognizing the Royal Engineer even now, that sure blows away all three theories we had about how you managed to create a sandy replica of him last time."

The batpony chuckled. "Perhaps. But I have given jou a hint already, now, unicornio -- the suggestion that I was not the one to make these things."

‘Not this again!’

"Yeah, okay, but I don't see anypony else around here who can do magic stuff. You said it was just your Eclipse Phase who could do any kind of spellcraft among the 'Children.' And neither the sand nor the sandpit seemed to be contributing to the spell in any way, either."

Lily concluded with a dismissive snort. "So I gotta ask, again: if you didn't do it, then who did? 'Cause I'm not seeing any other options."

Ignacio remained silent.

‘Ah, horsefeathers.’

‘I won't be getting any more out of this colt tonight, will I?’ Or maybe not ever, given how cagey he was about this 'mana-sense' of his.

To Lily’s surprise, the Balladeer of Ghosts opened his mouth.

"Tell me, both of jou, unicornio and pegaso -- What do jou know of our Great Mother?"

Lily exchanged confused glances with Sparkshower before answering. "Who exactly do you mean? Princess Luna? Or Nightmare Moon?"

He chuckled. "Ehehe. What is the difference? Is there a difference?"

Artemis answered glumly. "Ebonshield's brother Marcos sure seemed to think so."

Ignacio chuckled again, but shook his head. "Nightmare Moon wished to lead her Children in conquering the world, and Princess Luna does not. This is the only difference which matters to Marcos."

He grinned, exposing his crooked teeth once more. "But I am asking if there is a difference deeper than this -- deeper than what might merely be a decision or a choice."

Sparkshower looked at Lily and shrugged her shoulders.

The unicorn had to dig real deep in the back of her head to think of anything relevant. That was the trouble with Princess Luna -- the concern many ponies had in the immediate aftermath of her dropping the mantle of 'Nightmare Moon,' and the concern many ponies still had even two years later. Most Equestrian ponies were kinda like Marcos; they only saw what she tried to do before, and what she wasn't trying to do now. And they worried it was just a simple 'switch --' a choice she'd made that she might just as easily un-make.

It didn't help that few details had come out of her duel in Ponyville with the wielders of the 'Elements of Harmony.' All that was certain was that six ponies in the village had each individually made use of the magical artifacts that Princess Celestia had previously harnessed all on Her own. And one of those ponies was a personal protégé of Her Majesty, from her small private tutoring school for unicorns.

Then a while later that protégé had been knighted or something? Ennobled somehow? Lily didn't really pay attention to the goings-on of nobleponies outside of Canterlot, especially if they weren't rich, and doubly so if they weren't colts.

But when it came to rumors about the fight, hoo foal, did everypony go wild over that.

Even the newspapers and magazines got in on the action. Lily remembered reading one article that said after getting blasted by the Elements a first time, Nightmare Moon transformed into a strange mutant creature, with six smaller wings for legs, and a great big black wing in place of her midnight horn. Published in a pro-unicorn and somewhat anti-pegasus rag, the story went on to say that the Elements had to down that second form in order to defeat her once and for all.

Another tale claimed that before going down for the count, she grew to a giant five hundred hooves high, a titan that burst through the ancient Castle of the Twin Sisters and towered over the forest surrounding it. The writers outdid themselves describing that hypothetical battle against a shadowy colossus.

Yet another big news magazine ran as a cover story the idea that the first shot blew Nightmare Moon's black horn straight off and sent her hurtling to the ground, but then the detached horn itself began to pulsate with a twisted red energy that brought the crumbling ruins of the Castle back to life, sucking the energy from the surrounding forest and animating the dead as twisted masses of flesh and bone to assail the Elements. That one was dead serious, too, and the magazine's editors allowed ample space for the horrifying illustrations that accompanied it.

But in the absence of any details, Lily had to imagine that those more outlandish theories were probably wrong. If she really did grow five hundred hooves tall, for example, she ought to have been visible back in Ponyville. Heck, they might've even seen her from the Watchtower -- though Lily supposed they would have been too busy fighting off the batponies at the time. The multi-wing metamorphosis idea was just a racist fantasy, and the 'independent horn' idea, while engrossing, was just body-horror fiction. There were tons of other, smaller, lesser rumors, but one of them had stuck out to her at the time.

Witnesses in Ponyville described Nightmare Moon as looking different from Princess Luna, with a black coat instead of blue, and slit, batpony-style eyes instead of normal ones. They even said the same thing when Her Majesty 'pretended' to show up as Nightmare Moon a year later, too. But why would the real deal have gone to the trouble of putting on a glamor like that if she was still the same inside?

Lily licked her lips. "I've heard that... That when Nightmare Moon was defeated by the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, they blasted her with rays of overwhelming magic, and that they didn't just figuratively knock the fight out of her..."

Lifting her head, she looked at the Balladeer of Ghosts. "...But that they literally knocked something out of her as well. Something dark, and shadowy. Something that was inside of her before, and isn't now. And that's why she's different, in attitude and in appearance."

Ignacio Blazon sat quietly, then inhaled deeply through his nose.

Licking his lips, he started to nod his head. "Jes... Jes..."

All of a sudden, he picked himself up and started to hobble forwards, passing right between Glamerspear and Sparkshower.

"...Come with me, both of jou. There is a place especial for such discussions. A place where the noise is quiet."

Artemis shot Lily a concerned look. "But... Corporal Bound told us to stay right here until she got back."

The batpony immediately waved a forehoof in dismissal. "The Corporal and jour VIP will be occupied for some time by the Reverend Mother Superior, who loves the sound of her own voice. We will return before them, I promise jou. And before Pureza is finished with her initiates, as well."

Sparkshower didn’t seem convinced. "But... We're not supposed to leave, in case we get into any trouble in the Rookery."

Ignacio stopped, and Lily scowled at the junior Specialist.

"Come on, Sparks. We're going to be with the only mage here under the Rookery. And after we just swatted all those 'Swarming Meteors,' nopony's going to want to mess with us, right?"

With a confidence stemming more from her eagerness to find out what was going on than any true feeling of safety, she made a final pronouncement.

"We'll be safe. A batpony sorcerer, one of Equestria's finest gunners, and an armored pegasus with a rocket-powered lance that can apparently ping-pong off of walls."

She hadn't missed that little surprising incident either. And anyways what was going on with Sparkshower getting cold hooves all of a sudden? With how excited and eager she'd been to try out that 'Bradamante' Lance the other day, one would think she'd be willing to go on a little excursion with a harmless old batpony!

"With our firepower, we'll be safe from anything; probably safer than Anonymous and Honour are with the Reverend Mother, I'd bet. And you heard the Balladeer: we won't take too long."

Reluctantly, Artemis nodded. "O-Okay."

Standing at the edge of the ring, Ignacio turned his head to face Lily. "Build me some of jour stairs magical, unicornio, before I fall off the edge of this arena."

Then he grinned. "And then, when we reach our destination, perhaps I can open jour mind to these sounds which only the Eclipse can hear."

---

Suggested interlude music: Eagles - 'Journey of the Sorcerer' [1975]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdZKolMIl0

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