Lily Glamerspear

---

By the grace of Celestia, Specialist Glamerspear had managed to avoid making an embarrassing, hot mess on the customer sofa in that fancy Canterlot coltswear store. Or, maybe, not so much by the grace of Celestia herself as by the fantastic prospect of being able to attend Her Majesty's biggest party in the world.

"Gala? What Gala?"

Unfortunately, it appeared that her VIP was sadly ignorant about that aspect of Equestrian culture.

With a genteel grace, the salescolt clued him in. "The Grand Galloping Gala, sir. The most important event in the Canterlot society season."

"Oh, really? I haven't received any invitation, however."

Bowing his head slightly, the salespony gave a small smile. "As a member of the Blue Chamber, sir will doubtlessly be invited. Her Majesty Princess Celestia issues the tickets personally, and ponies started to receive them a week ago. Invitations to members of the Court are often sent last, due to the nearness of the delivery."

"I see. And I take it that my everyday outfit is insufficiently ostentatious?"

The salespony cleared his throat. "Ahem. As the premier Season event, I would say that it is not, sir."

"What do you suggest?"

Pulling a white puffed shirt off the rack, the colt drew out its arm to show the style.

"Ruffles are considered very stylish this year, sir."

‘Ugh, ruffles.’

"Sure, if you want to look like an old nag." That one, Lily did mean to say out loud. It still got her a look from the Royal Engineer, and a pair of pursed lips accompanied by a raised eyebrow from the salescolt.

Time to make good on her interjection.

Lily hopped off the sofa and trotted over to the small platform where her VIP was still standing before the mirrors. And still dressed in that extremely revealing, skimpy outfit of his. But she’d managed to overcome her most recent magically induced mood swing, so it didn’t bother her anymore.

"... The Grand Galloping Gala isn't just a party, sir; it's the party. It starts early in the afternoon and goes all night."

She pointed a hoof at her Very Important Pony for emphasis. "... Dressing up for the Gala is dressing up for all Equestria to see you. There'll be mares there with hats taller than you stand, or trains dragging behind them like they're getting married. Colts dress to the nines, too, with all styles and colors depending on their race, background, and profession. And a few ponies who can afford it even change dress halfway through so that they can show off twice!"

Looking in the mirror, she tried to visualize the kinds of clothes that would suit her hairless monkey.

It wasn’t easy.

"... Dignitaries from other nations get invited as well -- griffons, minotaurs, dragons, and more -- and they all put their best hoof, foot, or paw forwards too. I've never been, but the press publishes thousands of photos each year. So, you need a look that projects who you are and what you represent to the rest of the world."

She started to think of something, but then mentally put it on hold when she remembered what the Gala evening held.

"... And there's lots of dancing, too. You do dance, don't you, sir?"

Anonymous faced her reflection in the mirror. "I haven't since I arrived, but I was known to dabble in it previously."

"Well, then, you'll want something you can dance in comfortably." Lily’s vision for Anon started to form again. "... Your normal dress is neutral and matte, which is fine for looking respectable, but doesn't attract attention like a proper Gala suit should. You need bolder colors or shinier clothes, or maybe both."

Leaning back, she shot a glance at the salespony. "... Could you bring out some fabric swatches?"

He nodded, and walked towards the counter.

"Hold on..."

Everypony looked up, and the Royal Engineer seemed deep in thought.

"... Shiny, bold, suitable for dancing, and projects what I represent... A White-Tie full dress."

Anonymous gestured at the salespony, who quickly pulled out a quill and pad.

"... An evening tailcoat, non-closing, in black worsted barathea wool with matching pleated trousers cut for a high waistline, to be held up with shoulder suspenders. Black silk lapel facings, with a boutonnière-hole on the left side and stem holder behind. Three ornamental black buttons on each breast, four on each sleeve, and two at the back, in the same material. Lapel-less waistcoat in white piqué, cut to line up with the tailcoat while covering the trousers waistband. Three buttonholes for three black studs. Stiff-front shirt in the same fabric with removable collar, and trouser tabs to fasten it to the waistband. Buttonholes for mother-of-pearl studs. White bow tie in the same fabric, with Prench cuffs. Patent leather lace-up shoes, whole cut, with inner quilting for comfort while dancing. Black silk socks. Two pairs of white kidskin gloves, to be accessorized with my red Royal Engineer's sash beneath the tailcoat for some color. In case there's any confusion, I'll send over some sketches of the ensemble by the end of the day."

The salespony scribbled enthusiastically as Anonymous rattled off his list.

He detailed an outfit that sounded like it could work with such confidence that Lily was actually a little impressed.

'A colt with a firm idea of fashion? That's kind of hot.'

Previous unintentional speculatory sofa session notwithstanding. Behind her, even Sergeant Ebonshield seemed surprised, blurting out a soft "Hunh!"

This didn’t go unnoticed by her VIP, however.

"Something on your mind, Sergeant?"

The dark pony of the night instantly bowed her head. "I apologize, Great Lord. I did not mean to interrupt."

Waving his hand, Anonymous beckoned her back up. "No, no, by all means, Sergeant, if you've something to say about the proposal, then please speak up. As I've previously told your comrades such as Specialist Glamerspear here, I'm not familiar with Equestrian society, so I appreciate any candid feedback."

‘As if a batpony is going to know anything about society!’

For once, Ebonshield seemed flustered, and it took her a moment to reply. "Great Lord, I simply find the occurrence is so very rare when a colt can take the advice of his mare, but still make up his own mind. I find this quite refreshing."

Apparently, she shared Lily’s opinion on this. Batpony mares must have the same problems with their colts as regular-pony mares do. Wait, are there even batpony colts? Or do they just go around stealing regular-pony colts?

‘Hold on…’

'His mare'...?!

‘Does she think Anonymous and I are... ?’

"Ah, my thanks. Now, perhaps, I'll dress for the street once more, eh?"

Receiving a sincere nod of agreement from the salescolt, he headed into the change-room. Leaving Lily alone with Ebonshield, the salespony hustled over to the main counter and began to discuss his notes with his coworker.

Lily eyeballed the batpony and approached her. "I'm not the Royal Engineer's marefriend, Sarge."

Ebonshield lifted an eyebrow. "No? You could have fooled me..."

She turned and glanced back at the sofa.

‘Foal of a bitch, she noticed!’

There was no evidence of her misadventure, though. Taking that last uncomfortable step forwards as she did, the Sergeant looked her in the eyes with their noses almost touching.

"... But if you are not, then who is?"

‘Really? She had to get all in my muzzle just for that question?’

Lily could not be bothered to step back to regain some personal space, and with a look of disgust, she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Nopony, I suppose."

"I see."

There was something really weird about the way she said that. Lily couldn’t figure out what, though, and, after a moment's pause where neither of them said anything, Ebonshield turned away from her and started to look around the store, leaving the unicorn confused. If Anonymous wanted a marefriend, he just had to get out there and get one. And if Sergeant Ebonshield wanted to hit on him, well, that was her prerogative. She'd be disappointed, though.

Lily watched as the batpony prowled around the store like a fox in a chicken coop.

After this latest demonstration, it was clear that Lily's VIP was far too clever for Ebonshield's Tartarean machinations. And if she tried anything, well, she’d be there to put her down, sure, but Lily got the feeling that Anonymous could handle her all by himself. Hopefully, when he dismissed her after this excursion, Sparkshower and Bound wouldn’t have any trouble with her, either.

Filled with confidence, there was just one question on her mind. In their new schedule, who would Lieutenant Violetta put on duty on the day of the Gala?

And if it wasn’t her, how would she get her hooves on that posting?

---

Artemis Sparkshower

---

Specialist Sparkshower was feeling a little confused about everything right now. Glamerspear and Lieutenant Violetta had gone downstairs to introduce the new Sergeant, the batpony Ebonshield, but they'd been gone for over an hour.

Do introductions really take that long?

Did something bad happen?

Or maybe nothing was wrong, and Artemis' new Sergeant just had somewhere else to go afterwards.

Whatever the case, Corporal Bound had stormed off to the library with a large book, saying she didn't want to wait any longer for Ebonshield to get back. Her frustration with their new team member was obvious, which was surprising. Artemis had barely known her for a week, but she could tell that the Corporal didn’t normally wear her heart on her sleeve. So, for her to so publicly broadcast her annoyance must have meant she was really upset.

And she wasn't the only one. Glamerspear had thrown out every single batpony legend and rumor, and it really seemed like she believed them, in spite of any evidence to the contrary. On the one hoof, Artemis thought she took prejudice too far. They’d only just met one of their kind for the first time, after all.

But on the other hoof… she had to admit she was a little concerned, too.

There were a lot of stories told about the strange, nocturnal pony creatures, and most of them were pretty horrible. What if even a few of them were real? And anyways, what was any good Royal Guardspony supposed to think? Nopony had said anything about batponies. They had just sort of appeared, shortly after Princess Luna's return.

The official word from Command was that if you didn't already know about batponies, then you weren't supposed to ask. And if you did know, then you weren't supposed to tell. When it came to the Night Guard, the only things that any regular working pony in the Guard could be sure of were the things they didn't do:

They didn't train with the Royal Guard.

They didn't conduct joint missions.

They didn't sleep in the barracks.

And they certainly didn't eat in the mess hall.

Despite supposedly serving Equestria just as the Royal Guard did, the Night Guard were a completely separate army. There was a whole detachment of them right there in Canterlot, but until today, Artemis could have counted the number of batponies she’d ever seen on two hooves. So, two, in other words. And those were just glimpses during a large ceremony. Probably nopony else in the crowd even noticed them besides her. Heck, at the time, Artemis wasn’t even sure that she’d seen actual bat-ponies. Only now, after having gotten a good, close-up look at one, could she be certain.

But there was nothing else to be done at the moment. It was a big mystery, and it was going to stay a mystery for the time being. And so, she’d been sitting on the sofa in the common area of their four-bedroom guard quarters, churning things over in her head, too concerned to just relax and read a magazine or book, but none the less frustrated for the absence of information.

It was like... getting a glimpse of an army, but then being held at bay by an invisible force field, unable to go deeper to get a look at the main force. All she could do was report back that she saw the enemy, while being unable to provide anything better than wild-guess estimates.

She was in the middle of another, fruitless round of going over the evidence in her head when the door opened. Sergeant Ebonshield of the Night Guard, the object of most of Artemis’ current thoughts, walked into the room.

"Ah, the Specialista Sparkshower, you are here. Where is the Caporal Bound, if you please?"

Artemis took a moment to more closely scrutinize her accent. Most obviously, she rolled every 'r.' She also put stress on almost every syllable, making words that should be short too long, and sharply clipping others down when they should trail off. Her 'if' also sounded more like 'eef.' It's not something she’d ever heard before, although it reminded her vaguely of a griffon accent.

"She went to the library, Sergeant."

Remembering that it was only Corporal Bound who insisted on informality in their quarters, Artemis got to her hooves and stood in parade rest. She did refrain from calling the room to ‘at ease,’ though. Mostly because it was just her and Ebonshield in the room.

"That is most inconvenient. But perhaps you can help me instead."

'Inconvenient' came out more like 'inconbenient," and she overemphasized the 'h' in 'help.'

Artemis watched her carefully as she walked over to her bedroom door, and pushed it open.

"... You have something that I want, Specialista."

'Something?'

‘Ulp… ‘

‘Maybe some of the legends were true.’

Looking at the batpony in her room, Artemis saw her pull off her sabots; they still had those strange blades running up the sides of them.

"... Although I outrank you, since I am not in charge of this quaternion, I cannot order you to give this thing to me."

Her weapons removed, she pulled off her helmet and armor as well. It was then that Artemis realized she had a cutie mark. She had completely failed to notice it, earlier. If batponies had cutie marks, then they couldn't be all bad, could they? The image on her flank was a black heater shield surrounded by a pale white glow. As she tried and failed to make out any other features in the dark design, Ebonshield brushed her tall, pale mane and then returned to the common area, stepping right up in front of her.

Sergeant Ebonshield brought her muzzle close enough to Sparkshower's that they almost touched, just as she did with Corporal Bound.

She was awfully close. How quickly could she just lean over, extend her fangs -- assuming that she actually had fangs -- and dig into her neck?

Would it even be worth struggling?

Maybe she just needed a quick sip?

"... So you understand that you are under no obligation..."

‘Oh, phew.’ That was a stormcloud off her back.

"... but I will consider myself in your debt if you agree."

‘Uh…’

‘Is... is blood some kind of currency among bat-ponies?’ Just how much was drinking from Artemis’ arteries worth to her? A few bits like at the blood bank, or...? Wait, what if the batponies RUN the blood bank? She felt herself start to slip into Glamerspear's paranoia, and decided she needed to ground herself.

"Er, just to be clear, Sergeant, what are we talking about, exactly?"

Without withdrawing even an inch, so that she could feel every breath of the batpony's words on her face, Ebonshield smiled and replied. "I wish to hear about the fight your quaternion got into at Newstirrup Bridge. I understand that a 'Lieutenant Kilfeather' was involved?"

‘OH!’

‘Ohhhhhhhh!’

‘Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.’

"Oh! Of course, Sergeant, I can tell you about that. It's not a secret or anything."

"Thank you, Specialista."

With a smile, she gave Artemis a bow, which she found herself hesitantly returning. The Sergeant backed away from her and took a seat in the chair, and Artemis likewise did the same on the couch before launching into a full account of the battle -- starting with the encounter in the dining hall the day before.

All through it, Artemis couldn’t quite get away from the questions that were bothering her before the bat pony walked back in. She wasn’t quite sure if she’d really busted any myths just now.

But she certainly didn't confirm any.

That was a decent first step, at least.

Next Chapter: Chapter 25 Estimated time remaining: 33 Hours, 24 Minutes