Honour Bound

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Corporal Honour Bound was not quite sure if that repetitive noise was coming from the inside or outside of her head. She struggled to open her eyes to find out, wincing at the bright glow of her bedroom window's red curtains.

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Still grimacing, she lifted her head, and that's when she almost felt her brain roll around in her skull. The sensation sent the mare plummeting back into her pillow.

‘Ugh.’

‘How much did I drink last night?’

‘It must have been an awful lot.’

Honour didn’t think she’d gotten this smashed since her early days in the barracks in Filly'.

As thanks for the Whirlwind's success, the Royal Engineer splurged and treated them all to the full tasting menu at Hermitage, one of the finest Prench restaurants in Canterlot, and upped the ante by taking the chef's suggested drink pairings, too. That meant aperitifs with the appetizers, wine with the main course, and brandy with the dessert, all generously poured and eagerly consumed.

Sometime during all that booze and food, it was decided that they ought to show up to one of Canterlot's nicer nightclubs and see if their Very Important Pony, who wasn't actually a pony, could VIP their way inside past the lineup, despite the fact that he was in his formal dress suit, and they were all in their service uniforms.

Their mismatching service uniforms.

Corporal Bound in her red jacket with white belt and black cap, Glamerspear in her black top with the ornate gold trim and matching fur cap, Sparkshower with her Skylander's green-and-tartan kilt and belted plaid, Eb in a black bodysuit that left nothing to the imagination, and Anonymous in his dinner jacket.

They looked like three parade band members that got lost on the way to the drill fields, bumped into a politician, picked up a prowling cat-burglar off the street, and just decided to roll with it.

Their Royal Highness' Multi-Service United Races of Equestria Marching Band, with special guests: an acrobatic performer, and a bipedal hairless monkey in a tuxedo.

But first, because Glamerspear confirmed that drinks in nightclubs were just as overpriced here in Equestria as Anonymous remembered them being on his world, they packed themselves into a plush booth at a clubland bar-lounge and ordered cider by what seemed like the barrel-full. Drinking there was hardly cheap, but the conversation flowed as liberally as the alcohol.

Once they were all feeling sufficiently soused to the gills and the sun had long since disappeared beneath the horizon, they’d set off to crawl Canterlot's hip haunts -- at least the ones which didn't demand a membership card. It turned out that being a member of the Blue Chamber didn't give much pull with the bouncers, especially not with the way they were all dressed. Even though they were a party with a four-to-one mare-to-colt ratio!

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‘What in Tartarus is that?’

It wasn’t coming from inside Honour’s brain-case. She resolutely decided that this audible intrusion demanded investigation.

Slipping out from under the covers, she hesitantly dropped one hind leg, then the other, down to the floor. This done, she allowed one foreleg to touch the ground, then began to shift her weight -- and that's when the problems started. She tilted dangerously over to one side, and it took a long time before this registered to her as 'hey maybe move your hooves so you don't fall over.'

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‘Could we NOT have that racket while I’m trying to figure out getting up?!’

Just as Honour’s fury peaked, she realized she was standing on all fours.

‘Oh, good.’

‘I need something to drink, and it better not have an ounce of alcohol in it.’

With some trepidation, the corporal headed towards her door and pulled it open.

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‘The noise is louder out here.’

In fact it was here.

Right here.

In front of her door.

Honour blinked hard, uncomfortable at the abundance of light in the common room. Glamerspear was sitting at the card-table with a portable sewing machine and a lump of pinkish, translucent fabric. Hunched over the business end of the device, she muttered something under her breath.

"Friggin' tulle, always puckering up."

The corporal pivoted her eyes to the wall clock. It was eight-thirty in the morning. She’d nearly missed breakfast at the canteen, and there was not a lot of time to get ready for her morning shift. To be honest, she wasn’t sure if she could handle it in her current state.

The seamstress unicorn turned to her. "Hey, Honour. I didn't think you'd be up yet."

‘That makes two of us.’

The earth pony groaned and started to lurch for the washroom.

‘Maybe I can wash some of the hangover out of me.’

"Gotta get ready for my shift."

Glamerspear immediately scoffed. "Are you joking? Don't you remember Anon giving us the morning off last night?"

Honour stopped her hooves, but it took a moment for the rest of her body to catch up to the sudden halt.

"He did?"

The unicorn looked her up and down. "Yeah, after we left Marquis, before we decided to try Carré Noir. I thought you were just being cute when you laid into him a bit about how he wasn't allowed to dismiss us." Cocking an eyebrow, she grinned. "Guess that was the booze talking."

‘Two more nightclubs?’

Honour barely remembered how the evening went after they got into the first one. Scrunching her muzzle, she squinted at Glam.

"How many places did we go last night, exactly?"

Her eyes went a bit wide. "Damn, Corporal, I thought you could hold your drink. You sure were guzzling it down."

Honour tried to furrow her brow, but the muscles wouldn’t quite obey her command. "Answer the question, Specialist."

Lily snorted. "Five: Hermitage Restaurant, or 'Restaurant Hermitage' if you go by the sign, then we went to Duke's Tavern for some pre-drinking, then we went clubbing; first to Wunderground, then Marquis, then Carré Noir. I guess it could be six if you count the one the Royal Engineer tried to get us into at the end." Shaking her head, she laughed and turned back to her sewing-work. "Foal, my ears are still ringing from that shouting match. I guess those combat lessons are working because I don't know how else a colt as sloshed as he was could have out-dodged that pegasus bouncer's swoops."

The unicorn chuckled again as she got the machine going once more. "And I don't know how I managed to get a shield bubble up around us when I couldn't even levitate my last drink at Carré, but it sure came as a surprise to that bouncer. Good thing we didn't take the Whirlwind or else we would have crashed it on the way back for sure, even if the Royal Engineer was driving."

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Some of what Glamerspear said was coming back to her. Honour vaguely remembered the aforementioned shouting match. The bouncer may have been the one to take a swing at the Royal Engineer, but she felt pretty certain that her VIP verbally provoked it. Apparently, when properly motivated, he was not just good at politely dressing-down miscreants like Phillip Songwell or Valiant Kilfeather, but also at indecently hollering insults at obstinate door-colts.

Well, at least she didn't have to worry about going on duty. But how the heck was Glamerspear so awake this morning that she was able to work a sewing machine? And where did she even get it?

Honour decided to vocalize those questions. "How come you're so chipper today if we all got drunk last night? And where'd you get that thing?"

Pausing to examine her work, Glamerspear put a hoof up to her brow. "I dunno. I just woke up feeling like I owed Sparkshower for what she did for me on Monday, that I ought to finish up her dress this morning. The sewing machine's from the barracks laundry; I hauled it over."

With her back to the corporal, she shrugged. "I guess it's just motivation carrying me. That and a painkiller charm. I'll probably crash later, once the dress is done. But I also just wasn't drinking as much as you or the Royal Engineer. I may have been hammered by the end of the night, but I paced myself getting there." She nodded over her shoulder at Honour, and then towards Sergeant Ebonshield's door. "Not like you two fish. At least Sparks kept her head in our group. She made sure not to take drinks from any colts, too -- other than the Royal Engineer, I mean."

Honour now vaguely recalled that, despite wearing what was, frankly, a ridiculously unfashionable traditional pegasus dress, the feather-winged member of their quaternion seemed to be positively glowing that night, getting attention from colts just about everywhere they went.

And that was saying something, considering everywhere they went, they’d had a private table.

Oh yes -- that had been the Royal Engineer's secret to getting into nightclubs that didn't want to let their little mismatched, mare-heavy marching band jump the line. He’d just flashed his bits and said he wanted to book a private table for a couple of hours.

That sure got the doors opened quick.

It would have been one thing to let in a group that would pay the twenty-bits-per-head cover charge and then maybe a hoof-full of drinks at ten to twenty bits each over the course of three or four hours. It was another thing to let in a group for guaranteed bottle service fees starting at four hundred bits per hour, plus tips.

When Honour had first sat down at the very luxurious booth in Wunderground, the Royal Engineer admitted that he'd had a certain budget to develop the initial Whirlwind prototype and had managed to come considerably under it. What was left over was more than enough to pay for a full and complete night of wanton entertainment.

The funny thing was, they’d mostly stuck together and mostly sat at the table, whichever one it was. Just sitting, watching the crowd, listening to the live band or one of Canterlot's hip DJs, and trying to talk over the noise. Despite all the alcohol, nopony had really been feeling loose enough to go dance in front of everypony else. It was awkward enough getting drunk with their boss, though he did his best to make it easy to relax, steering the conversation towards pleasant topics. And during lulls in the conversation, the Royal Engineer would study the dance floor, watching the moves and asking questions about Equestrian nightclub culture.

Thinking back on it, the corporal got the sense that he really did want to dance, but wasn't sure enough of himself to get up and do it in front of the four of them -- not to mention everypony else. Which would be a ridiculous notion; there'd be no shame in it, and he did an excellent job presenting to a tough crowd during the Whirlwind demonstration, so what was he worried about?

It would be ridiculous, except that Honour felt the same way, too.

‘Well, maybe there'll be another night.’

‘The Gala’s this weekend, after all.’

Sparkshower at least had had the gumption to get up and then stand at the fringes of the floor, chatting with a succession of money-flush young studs with popped collars. Ebonshield had preferred to sit at the outside edge of the booth, from which she could bat her eyelashes -- and bat-wings -- to tantalize some colt at a distance, then covertly watch them struggle through the crowd to have a chat with her. Glamerspear was chatty the whole night, and the Royal Engineer got ear-fulls about her life. Honour had given up her fair share of details, too, and so had he.

All things considered, it had been an enjoyable night, even if they didn't quite take full advantage of their destinations. She just wished she’d maybe gone a bit easier on the tipple.

There was the sound of hoofsteps, and then a loud, wooden clump from Ebonshield's room. The door opened, and Honour saw the ordinarily graceful and acrobatic batpony emerge, squinting at the light and rubbing a wing against her muzzle.

‘I may have drunk like a fish according to Glamerspear, but at least this trout didn't just bump into her own door.’

Smacking her lips and coughing, Purity lunged over to the sideboard where Honour noticed that, conspicuously, there were now three copper jugs full of water instead of just one.

Glamerspear looked up at the corporal, a telling grin on her face. "I figured we'd be some thirsty ponies up in here this morning, so I filled those up on the way back from the laundry."

Ebonshield unceremoniously plonked herself down on her haunches, filled a cup, and guzzled it down so fast she splashed water all down the front of her neck. That reminded Honour how thirsty she was too, and she licked her lips while heading over. The sergeant's violet eyes were bloodshot -- as Honour was sure her own were -- and the batpony panted heavily once the cup was lowered.

"Gracias, Glamerspear, for your foresight. I appear to have outdone myself last night."

As Honour stepped up for her own refreshment, Ebonshield looked her up and down. "But it seems that I was not the only one."

The corporal swallowed down her own mouthful of Canterlot's icy meltwater. It was cool and refreshing, though the sudden blast of cold in her mouth was likely to aggravate her headache in a moment. Still, it was a start to flushing the toxic brews out of her body.

She nodded as she poured herself a second glass. "Yeah. Though I could have done without the rattle of the sewing machine waking me up."

Ebonshield looked over at the table. "I think this also is why I have awoken."

There was the sound of movement in Sparkshower's room, and Ebonshield leaned over slightly towards it. "Perhaps that will serve to awaken us all, in spite of the commandment of the Great Lord that there should be no duty this morning."

The pegasus' door flew open, and Honour barely got a glimpse of Sparkshower before she bolted for the washroom and slammed the door behind her so forcefully that the latch failed to engage and the rebound left it cracked slightly open. The corporal and sergeant both leaned suspiciously around the corner towards the frame, only to hear the sounds of hideous retching, followed shortly after by the unmistakable plop of vomit into a toilet bowl.

‘Oh…’

That was not helping what Honour had brewing in her own stomach. She put a hoof to her belly as she took another cautious sip of water. "How's she in there heaving when she's the biggest of the four of us and drank the least?"

Holding up the altered dress to examine her work, Glamerspear offered up an explanation. "She's a lightweight who can't hold her drink?"

As another violent outburst followed in the room next door, Ebonshield let out a pained moan, a hoof held defensively up to her muzzle. "Ooohhh… ...But listen to how little comes out of her. This is not the poisoning of the alcohol -- this is the sickness of the dawn. I have witnessed this before."

‘She's got to be joking.’

"We call it morning sickness, Eb. But she hadn't seen her coltfriend in weeks before Friday, and I don't think she got laid last night, either."

Over at the coffee-table-turned-sewing-table, Glamerspear chuckled worriedly. "I dunno, she was talking to some pretty slick colts. Maybe there was some quick hoofy-poofy in the washroom we didn't notice."

It hadn't seemed that serious to Honour, but then again, Artemis had been pretty miserable about the breakup. A mare like that could be easily manipulated into anything… Maybe she should have kept a tighter leash on the pegasus last night.

Finally, Honour scrunched up her muzzle. "Anyways morning sickness doesn't come on that quickly. You have to be at least a few weeks pregnant first."

Ebonshield shook her head. "I did not mean the sickness of the morning which comes with foal. I said dawn sickness, which is something else."

Taking a deep breath and holding it so her cheeks puffed out, she leaned over, stretched out a wing, and pulled the washroom door closed. With relief, she allowed herself to breathe normally again. The noises from the washroom were thankfully muffled now, and the potential propagation of the smell halted. Not that there was a lot going on in there any more.

Honour heard Sparkshower cough and moan a bit, then flush the toilet.

The corporal clopped a hoof against the wall. "You okay in there, Sparkshower?"

There was another moan, but there was also a weak reply. "I... I've been a little sick."

"Don't worry about it. Take your time. Open the window. Wash your face. Gently, now."

"Okay."

‘She'll be fine.’

As Honour took another sip of water, cautious to avoid further upsetting her own insides, she prompted Ebonshield to continue. "So what's 'dawn sickness,' if it's not about having a foal inside you?"

The batpony raised her eyebrows. "Dawn sickness is common at sunrise after you have had something else inside you. Something dark and malevolent."

Eb turned her head and stared tellingly at Glamerspear, whose jaw dropped.

"You mean an Accursed Shadow? Celestia!" Glamerspear lowered her head down to rest on the table. "She's really paying the price for that lesson with Ignacio. It ought to be me in there puking my guts out! It was my lesson."

Cringing, Honour raised a forehoof. "Take it easy on the graphic descriptions there, Glam, unless you want Sparkshower’s solo performance to turn into a duet -- or a trio."

The unicorn sighed, then looked curiously up at the sergeant. "Did you ever -- Ignacio said that older Stars volunteer to be possessed, to train the others in hunting them."

Their somewhat secretive batpony comrade shook her head. "No. Only those who are nearly too old to fight any more do this. I have participated in such training, but only as a hunter."

The corporal had no idea what was being talked about here; there was a lot of conversation last night, but none of it was about dawn sickness, or Accursed Shadows, or possession, or whatever Glamerspear and Sparkshower and Ignacio did Monday afternoon.

"Glamerspear. What exactly was this lesson? You never told us what you got up to in the Rookery."

The unicorn sighed, lifting her head back up. "Well, we weren't in the Rookery for long. Ignacio took us to the Moon."

Glamerspear pointed up and out the skylight. "The actual Moon! Real talk, the one up there! We could see Equestria from it, barely."

As she slipped into Manehattan slang, Honour was dumbstruck by her pronouncement, and she didn’t really know why. She was standing next to somepony who literally was born and lived for decades on the Moon; it was only reasonable to assume they had some conduit to get back there as needed. But it was still an unfathomable leap from a cavern under a mountain to walking on another world.

The unicorn continued. "He took us to what he called 'the' crater. It's a religious site for batponies, I guess. It's where Nightmare Moon landed after Celestia sent her up there a thousand years ago."

Ebonshield piped up. "Not only the Nightmare Moon. The members of the League of Stars who refused to abandon her landed in that crater as well, turned by her spell final into the first batponies. My ancestors."

Glamerspear nodded. "Well there's plenty of craters for everypony, that's for sure. The one we went down goes real deep, though, more like it was drilled than just hit. Ignacio said that was the best place to train in their kind of magic -- the Eclipse magic, I mean. The barrier was weaker there."

"What barrier?"

"The barrier between our world and..." Glamerspear shook her head. "...some other one, full of nasty creatures absolutely jacked up on mana. That's how Ignacio and the Eclipse work -- they're conjurers, bringing those demons into our realm and binding them to stuff. Like Eb's suit of illusion armor, or some medallions another Eclipse, Aldonza, gave us to disguise ourselves as batponies on the Moon."

The batpony in the room nodded. "Yes. And also the sand in the pit of the Grand Hall of Stars. And sometimes even to things not quite substantial, like the sound of the instruments musical, or of the voice singing."

Glamerspear furrowed her brow. "You know that stuff too? He said they don't share their secrets outside their Phase."

Eb inhaled sharply through her nostrils. "No, they do not. But Ignacio and I have a relationship... a little especial."

Even Honour cocked an eyebrow at that one. "Really? You and him...?"

She left the obvious question unsaid, but Eb shook her head. "Not like that. Simply a... strong admiration, I think. But continue your story, Specialist."

Glamerspear shook her head, grinning. "No way. You can't drop a bomb on us like that, Sarge, without explaining it."

Ebonshield looked uncomfortable, and Honour couldn't tell if it was because of the alcohol poisoning or being pressed on what was apparently a sensitive issue. Either way, she wasn't genuinely ill, and Honour wanted to hear what happened to Sparkshower first.

"Yes she can. I don't have the brainpower to follow two threads right now, and I want to know why one of ours is miserable in the washroom first."

The unicorn grumbled. "Fine. So the Eclipse bind these creatures, which they call the 'Accursed Shadows.' And because they're so dangerous, the first thing they learn how to do is how to get rid of them, to banish them back to their other world. That's what he tried to teach me."

Honour jerked a forehoof towards the bathroom door. "And what part did Sparkshower play in this training?"

Glamerspear swallowed.

"She was the Accursed Shadow's... host."

Honour raised her eyebrow and opened her eyes wide, scrutinizing Glamerspear's face. She glanced over towards Ebonshield, who nodded.

"When an Accursed Shadow possesses a creature, they become abomination. To banish them and restore the creature is a skill essential, and Stars train to fight and capture abominations just as Eclipse train to banish the shadows within."

Ebonshield turned her head towards the closed door as another bout of loud coughing and hacking emanated from behind it. "But even after banishment, there are some consequences to the possession, which fade with time."

She turned back towards the hungover corporal and the seamstress. "'Dawn sickness' is one such consequence. They become ill violently at the first kiss of dawn sunlight. After an elder Star volunteers to become abomination in order to train the new generation of Stars and Eclipse, they avoid the surface for several weeks."

Honour narrowed her eyes again. "I don't think we can lock Sparkshower up underground. What other after-effects are there from this procedure?"

The batpony prepared to rattle off a list, but Glamerpsear beat her to the punch. "Irritability, emotional instability, difficulty sleeping, vivid dreams, and strong reactions to the sight of blood -- that's what Ignacio said. He didn't mention anything about throwing up in the morning."

Eb shrugged. "Likely this is because such an effect is generally planned for in advance, and so this rarely happens anymore, except when circumstances force the former abomination to see the sun. He may simply have forgotten."

Honour cocked an eyebrow. "Anything else he might have missed?"

She shook her head. "No. But the descriptions given such as 'irritability' and 'emotional instability' do not do the symptoms justice. When I trained in this, a week after being exorcised, the retired master became so angry over a matter trivial that he became violent, and the efforts of many Stars were needed to subdue him. In his fury, he caused many injuries to others and in stopping him, the Stars caused many more to him -- so many that he perished as a result. This is not a fate uncommon, and this is why we conduct the training only using those Stars considered too old and too physically frail to serve."

Glamerspear inhaled sharply. "It can get that bad? Buck, now really I feel awful for dragging Sparkshower along."

The bat pony nodded. "The Accursed Shadows are not to be trifled with. The Children are all sworn to destroy them whenever they are found outside of our own control -- and that is an oath which is taken most seriously, since this comes from our own history. In the early years of our banishment, our mages toyed freely with the shadow realm. Many mistakes were made, and much suffering was caused. Many shadows were loosed, either freely, or in the form of abominations."

She turned to Honour. "You have been to the Lunar Sanctuary, Caporal. You have seen the Courtyard of the Houses, where much of the scheming and deal-making of the Children is done, and the Vestibule of Priests, where is conducted the remainder. The Lunars are conniving power brokers, and my mother most of all, or else she would never have become the Mother Superior of her House and then the Children as a whole."

Taking another sip of water, she licked her lips. "Yet for all their faults, I still consider them a positive, stabilizing force, particularly with regards to the Accursed Shadows. We must use those foul creatures, because without them, there is no magic for us, and without magic there can be no victory, but without the orthodoxy strictly-enforced of the Lunars, we might easily slip into ancient customs of corruption and experimentation without restraint."

It all seemed to be hitting home for Glamerspear. "Ignacio said that with the easy travel from the Moon to Equestria, no batpony mother will ever give birth under an Eclipse again. He was happy to tell us his kind would one day be no more."

Eb nodded knowingly. "In the old days, birth would be forced during an eclipse, by potion or spell or even violence, in order to produce artificially more Children-mages capable of summoning the Accursed Shadows; they, as well as an army of abominations, were the easy paths to power for any would-be tyrant. There are many dark secrets in our history. The rise of the Lunar orthodoxy put an end to this."

"How'd they win, if the other guys had all these mages and possessed troops?"

Ebonshield grimaced.

"The details are somewhat lost to history, but we believe that the new order focused on training untainted warriors and on developing new techniques for banishment, many of which are still practiced today. Abominations are more vulnerable during the day and especially in sunlight, while an exorcised abomination is merely an ordinary pony again, and the tyrant-lords who produced them in droves did not train their troops beforehoof. Furthermore, abominations cannot truly be controlled and are never trustworthy. So when the untainted forces met the corrupt horde of a tyrant, if they could force the issue on the surface and make things appear as if the tide had turned against the Shadows, then the result was chaos, catastrophe, and utter annihilation. Even a recently-exorcised abomination is quick to panic. Thus the tyrants were overcome or chose to submit."

The batpony whinnied. "This was not the end of war between Children, of course. Once the matter of the Accursed Shadows was settled, there were many details of doctrine to fight over -- that is when my Temple was founded, as were many others. But even once a single religious orthodoxy was established, then there were many wars between the Great Houses over trivial matters, until two years ago, when the return of the Great Mother ended open conflict."

Over at the card table, Glamerspear exploded. "Okay, so much for the history lesson -- and now you know what happened to Sparks, Honour, so how's about we get some details on this 'special relationship' between Ignacio and our sergeant?"

‘She's got absolutely no patience whatsoever, does she?’

Regardless, Ebonshield humored her request. "As I said, he... admires me. But this he does from a distance. I think he is too aware of his disabilities physical to attempt anything more."

She put down her cup, brushing some of the spilled water off her neck with a forehoof. "He is not of my House, you may remember. He was supervising a tournament in which I participated when I was only a Third of the Temple of the Shining Stellar Dance. Such events are common among the Houses of the Children, which compete for the prestige not only of winning prizes, but also in being gracious hosts and staging elaborate competitions. Ignacio's House, House Rima de Serenidad, is particularly famous for them."

Honour cocked an eyebrow. "Are any of these tournaments like the Grand Mélee? Groups all fighting at once, the whole day long?"

Eb nodded. "Sometimes, yes. But these are not commonly entered by the Stellar Dancers, so I have little experience with them. I am afraid I have much to learn in that regard. We shine in solo competitions. In this one, Ignacio conjured opponents of sand, much as you all saw him do, and we competed one at a time to defeat the enemies as quickly as possible."

Ebonshield gracefully spread her wings wide. "This was not my first tournament, and I was considered quite gifted for being only a Third. I took the first prize for my Temple, and by a margin considerable. This would not be the last time I would compete with Ignacio as the Balladeer of Ghosts set against me. Indeed, such pairings became more and more frequent."

There was a flushing noise from the washroom, and the sound of running water from the sink.

‘Sounds like Sparkshower's over the worst of things.’

"In fact I began to notice how frequently my Temple was invited to tournaments; this was uncommon, since we are, as you have seen, not well-appreciated among the Stars. We would be invited to some competitions, yes, because to exclude us completely would be offensive and therefore invite a discounted price being offered for the assassination of members of that House, but we were left out of many tournaments on the basis that we were not soldiers ordinary."

Puffing her tuft out slightly, she wiggled her shoulders and repositioned her plot for maximum effect. "Because House Rima de Serenidad suddenly broke with tradition and kept inviting us, the other Houses were thus compelled to keep up, lest they be seen as laggards. And since I was a rising star within the Temple who could win, I would often be sent as a representative to win more. This situation was so unheard-of in the history of our Temple that I do not exaggerate when I say that in the halls of our Temple there are as many trophies from tournaments which were awarded to me than there are for those of all other Stellar Dancers, past or present. For two years, I was a champion of hundreds of contests, known across the Moon, and all because House Rima de Serenidad invited the Temple of the Shining Stellar Dance to join in every one of their monthly, semi-annual, and grand annual tournaments, instead of being invited only to one of the two semi-annual events."

She was clearly proud of her achievement, and it did sound like quite an accomplishment.

Honour couldn't help but snicker when she saw the conclusion at the end of the story, however. "Let me guess where this is going: Ignacio was the one who demanded they keep inviting you back. Because he had a crush on you."

The sergeant laughed amiably. "Yes, precisely this. Eventually, after one of many such events, he asked to see me in private -- a most unusual request, since the Eclipse are both reclusive and ostracized from formal society."

She swallowed, blushing a little. "We spoke in the guest quarters of his House, in my room. He made only small talk at first: complimenting me on my performance, asking me about other recent tournaments. We discussed technique of combat and acrobatics at length, and I was surprised at how much he knew. We spoke for hours, until both of us were exhausted..."

Her cheeks were rosy-red now. "...Eventually, he confessed his scheme to me. You know that he is blind, as are all Eclipse, but they can 'hear' magic, and this 'sound' they can eventually use to perceive the world around them, in great detail. They call it the third ear."

Glamerspear scoffed. "Yeah, Ignacio kept trying to get me to 'open' my 'third ear' on Monday, but I couldn't do much. Maybe unicorns just aren't built for it."

"Perhaps. I can tell you that his 'third ear' is most perceptive. He could make out and then later recall even the tiniest details of my motions, when I fought in the sand-pit."

She sighed wistfully. "He said that he had never observed someone who could move as I did when in battle. He adored watching me work. I was beautiful to him, even though he did not know the style of my mane or the color of my eyes. He could perceive only the motion, the attacking, the feinting, the defending. And the only way he could think to show his appreciation was to ensure that I would have many tournaments to compete in -- which coincidentally also afforded him opportunities additional to observe me at work."

Bound and Glamerspear both sat, attentively waiting for the conclusion of the scene.

Eb looked a little hesitant.

Honour raised her eyebrows.

Eventually the sergeant relented. "We spent the night together. As an Eclipse, he cannot... ...you know. But we kept each other company. Since then we have remained good friends. And, even though I still owed much of my life to my House, we sometimes kept each other company again."

Honour whinnied. "What'd he call you in the sandpit that first time, when you got injured? A pet name?"

"Yes. 'Angelita de la muerte' -- 'little angel of death.'"

There was another flush from the washroom, then Honour heard hoofsteps on tile. The door opened, and Sparkshower emerged; alive, but looking the worse for wear.

"Uhhh... I don't feel so good."

Ebonshield turned and extended a wing to wrap around the nauseated pegasus. "This illness will pass in time. You have only what we call the 'dawn sickness.'"

Artemis went stark white. "What?! Dawn sickness?! But I can't be pregnant -- I'm not even married yet!"

Honour tried really hard to suppress her laughter, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Eb, however, kept a completely straight face. "Ah, Artemiso, this is not from pregnancy. This is another side-effect from having had the Accursed Shadow within you."

"Oh..." Sparkshower furrowed her brow. "...Oh. It's just that I do remember talking to an awful lot of nice colts last night. And I, uh..."

The yellow pony started turning red. "...I also remember getting sorta really close with a few of them. I mean, uh, physically, like sorta snuggling, except not. And there were a lot of calling cards stuffed into my plaid when I got home."

‘Seriously? She wasn't just getting chatted up by colts, she was grinding with them and getting names and addresses?’

That seemed rather out of character.

Glam suddenly stood up. "Yeah, well never mind those loser colts from the nightclubs last night, Sparks, because you're gonna get a dozen more calling cards from Canterlot's most eligible bachelor noblecolts at the Gala with this!"

Using her telekinesis, she proudly held up the dress, the alterations for pegasus wings complete. It was a gorgeous pink cocktail dress, with a solid, but lacy body and poofy tulle rear. Instantly, Sparkshower's apprehension about last night and illness from this morning seemed to melt away.

"Oh my! It looks just as good as it did in the store, Lily!"

Glam beamed proudly. "Of course it does! I told you I'd do you right, didn't I? Now, let's give it a try on, yeah? And you can let me know if it's too tight or loose anywhere. You're gonna knock 'em dead with this one at the Gala, Sparks."

The two junior soldiers retired into Sparkshower's room for the final dress rehearsal.

Honour sighed. "If we're all done with the sewing machine, I ought to go try to sleep this hangover off some more."

Ebonshield nodded. "I think I will do this also. Perhaps we will check in with the Great Lord after lunch, to see if he is in a condition similar?"

"Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

Next Chapter: Chapter 128 Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 5 Minutes