Lily Glamerspear

Corporal Bound was giving Lily a look. "Seriously, Glamerspear? 'Spin the Bottle'? Just how fresh out of horseshoe camp are you?"

‘Everypony's a critic.’

What a surprise; Lily’s dour corporal was trying to shut down her fantastic team-building idea. Seriously, after all the booze she’d just poured into her -- and everypony else -- couldn’t she loosen up a bit?

"Come on, Corporal. You told Sparks on Monday that you needed more information about everypony in the quaternion. This is just a fun way to get it, that's all!"

She rolled her eyes at the unicorn. "You know damn well I meant tactical information, Glam."

Before Lily could reply, or Honour could protest further, Sergeant Ebonshield spoke up. "Excuse me? This 'spin the bottle,' what is she? And 'truth or dare'? I do not know these."

Corporal Bound slacked off as Lily leaned in and gave the bottle another hoof-tap with a grin on her face. "Oh, it's easy, Sergeant. You spin the bottle, and whoever it winds up pointing at when it comes to a stop, you get to ask them a question that they have to answer truthfully..."

After freewheeling around a dozen times, the neck of the empty 'Maestro Cazador' pointed at Sparkshower. "If they don't want to answer, then they have to do something on a dare instead! Here, let me show you."

With one confident hoof planted on the table, and another held in the air, Lily turned to face her pegasus comrade. “Specialist Sparkshower!"

Artemis was looking a bit concerned before, but the unicorn’s enthusiasm seemed to have infected her. "Yes, Lily?"

"You're a pretty well-built pegasus, if you don't mind me saying it, with a good pair of wings on your back and some serious power in your shoulders, so I've been wondering..."

Apprehension creeped back onto her face, worried that Lily was going to ask something lewd.

‘Well, of course I am! That's the whole point of the game!’

She just wasn’t stupid enough to start out with that.

"...How come you chose to go 19D Armored Scout instead of 11BX Air Interception?"

The simple, straightforward question about her chosen job hit her like a light slap.

"Oh! Well, uh, my physical came back with excellent scores for vision and hearing, and I aced the memory test, too..."

Lily leaned over, as if expecting more, and Sparkshower shrugged, a little embarrassed. "... And, to be honest, I was always more interested in the idea of flying ahead and conducting reconnaissance than I was in the idea of participating in a big confusing battle."

She shrank a little further into her seat, her forehooves at her sides, and wound up doing the same schoolfilly tuft-out-front pose as Eb pulled just a few seconds ago. Except she really was a somewhat shy young mare, whereas Sergeant Eb was old enough to know better.

"Plus, there was a really big signing bonus for pegasi going into 19D. The Royal Guard really doesn't get a lot of airborne armored soldiers."

Satisfied with Artemis’ answer, Lily sat back down and waved at Sparkshower. "See, Sergeant? It's as simple as that!"

Rubbing her forehooves together for a moment, Lily shrugged as she spread them open again. "Of course, if Specialist Sparkshower hadn't answered, well, then she'd have to take on a suitable dare instead. But since she did, now she can spin and ask a question of her own."

With an excited smile, Sparkshower started bouncing in her seat, leaning forward and lifting a hoof to give the bottle a solid tap.

However, the batpony narrowed her eyes down to tiny slits. "This does not seem to me like a game where the questions are usually about such simple things as this."

The booze hadn't dulled her mind any, clearly.

Before Lily could quell her suspicions, Corporal Bound answered in her place. "That's because it isn't. Usually all the questions are about colts."

‘What a party pooper.’

Having poured herself half a glass of the orange juice mixer, Lily’s Corporal dropped in a couple of ice cubes from the bucket.

But the batpony Sergeant just smiled. "Oh, good. I was worried this was going to be boring."

Sparkshower started giggling, holding both hooves up to her snout.

‘Aw yeah, the Sarge gets it.’

Across the table, Corporal Bound paused, then silently reached for the gin and brimmed her highball with it. Gin 'n' juice, huh? Somepony knows when she's beat.

Lily lifted her eyes from Honour’s drink. "With your permission, O Corporal?"

Honour just shook her head at the unicorn with a disgusted look on her face, before taking a healthy gulp of her cocktail. "Whatever."

"Yay!" Bound's dismissive acceptance was enough for Sparkshower, who instantly leaned over and bopped the bottle so hard that it almost went spinning off the table. "... Oops!"

Luckily, it came to a stop just a few inches away from the edge. And it was pointing at Sergeant Ebonshield. ‘All right, let's get some juicy dirt on the bat-winged moon-creature, Sparks!’

"Hmmm, what to ask..." Tapping one hoof on her chin, Sparkshower stared up at the ceiling.

Sergeant Ebonshield gracefully pushed the bottle back into the center even as she gathered herself up, adjusting her back-combed hair and folded her hooves on top of each other on the table.

"... Oh! I've got it! Sergeant: you know that my first name is Artemis, and Lily's is... uh, Lily, and the Corporal's first name is Honour, so how about you tell us yours?"

‘Seriously, Sparkshower? You wasted your spin on that?’

Resisting the urge to give a death-glare to her pegasister, Lily instead awaited the Sergeant's reply, a pleasant smile on her face. There were plenty of spins left in the bottle, after all.

And if Corporal Bound kept pounding back drinks like that, maybe she would get in on the action.

Ebonshield extended her wings and wrapped them around her body, putting on a pouty face. "A first name is a very private thing to a batpony, and I do not know if we are acquainted well enough yet."

Fooled by the obvious act, Sparkshower looked disappointed. "Awww."

Chuckling, the Sergeant leaned forward and tapped Sparkshower's hoof. "I am joking, darling. My name is 'Purity'; this is most pleasurable to meet you."

The smile returned to Artemis' face, and she gave the Sergeant a hearty hoof-shake. "All right!"

‘Purity Ebonshield, huh? With a brother named Marcos?’ Kinda strange, but then, it's not like Lily knew a lot of batpony names to compare against.

"¡Bueno! Now, the bottle, she is my turn to spin, yes?"

Lily nodded. Hopefully the Sergeant would liven up this with the next spin. "Go for it, Sarge!"

Sparkshower started bouncing excitedly in her chair again, tapping her forehooves together as Purity set the bottle twirling mostly in place. It came to a stop pointing at Lily.

"¡Vale! Specialist Glamerspear, you know that I am a predator of the night, so you will answer me straightaway this very important question.” Speaking quickly, she tapped her hoof on the table for emphasis.

‘This is sounding interesting.’

"Which are the discotecas the most superior in the city at which I may find the young eager colts full of energy and vigor?"

Sparkshower snorted and started laughing in her hooves.

Even Lily had to chuckle a bit at that one. "Uh, well, have you tried 'The Stables'?"

"Sí, this is where we found the gentlecolt last night. And we have also tried 'Tapestry.'"

Those were two of the better ones, although Tapestry lost some of its appeal for real youngsters when the management cleaned up the place and raised the cover charge as a result.

Lily had to think for a minute. "Well, I'm guessing you don't want to snipe the junior enlisted guards, what with DADT and all, so that puts 'Charlie's' off the menu. If you don't find 'The Stables' to your liking, then I'd check out 'The Mad Ox' or 'Earthquake' -- 'Earthquake' is a bit grungier but the drinks are cheaper so the kids like it."

"Excellent, very good. I will try them soon, yes!"

Since Ebonshield seemed satisfied with her answer, Lily glanced around the table. "Alright, so it's my spin again. Everypony ready?"

There was a clunk noise across from her, as Corporal Bound slapped her empty glass on the table. She just chased all those 'Maestro Cazador' drinks with nearly a half-pint of gin. That had to be doing something to her.

Before Lily took her turn, Honour stared Lily in the eyes and reached out herself. Pushing, rather than tapping, she turned the bottle around in circles, making 'whoosh' noises with her mouth, as if the bottle really was spinning. And the whole time she was staring at Lily.

Finally, she brought the bottle to a stop, the mouth pointing straight away from the unicorn, and directly at herself. "Looks like the bottle's made its choice, Specialist. What'll it be?"

‘Okay... this is kind of weird.’

Lily glanced left and right, but in neither of her other two comrades' confused faces did she find any answers as to the unusual behaviour of their quaternion's junior Non-Commissioned Officer.

All Lily could really do was just shrug and try to laugh it off. "Hah... Okay, Corporal, if you say so. Hmmm..."

Well, if she was going to carpe-the-lagenam¹ like this, Lily decided she should take advantage of it -- ask her an actual, tough, penetrating question. Nothing lewd -- the ice was still thick on that one, and Lily didn't feel like being the one to break it. How about something a little bit personal?

"So the Royal Engineer said he'll get us all tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, right? And even an extra one for Sparkshower's coltfriend, yeah?" Lily gave a little head-nod towards Artemis, who smiled and started to bounce again in her seat. "Which set her all a-tizzy. And Sergeant Batwing over here..." Lily gave the same head-nod in the other direction, but all it got her was a raised eyebrow in response. "Well, she was real appreciative of the offer, too. But you, Corporal, you played your cards pretty close to your tuft."

With a sly smirk, Lily leaned forward and placed a hoof on the table, looking up into Honour's eyes. "I wanna know how getting to go to the Grand Galloping Gala with Lord Anonymous makes you feel. Is it just another mission? Or does something about it actually excite you? The dancing, the food, the company, the pageantry? Maybe you're apprehensive, about what you'll wear or how you'll look? Do you regret not asking for a second ticket for your own partner? Or does something even terrify you, like having to mingle with all those high-society nobleponies?"

Straightening up, Lily shot a glance at her other two comrades, who were all ears to her cunning line of inquiry. "What's the strongest sensation it makes you feel? Let's hear it, O tight-lipped Corporal of ours."

Looking at Lily with firm eyes, not the least slackened by all the alcohol she'd imbibed, Corporal Bound took her time in replying, which just left everypony on edge.

"I'd say there's a mixture of feelings."

Her response just set Lily off. "Minotaur-dung! I'm sure you do have a mixture of feelings. But I know damn well that you feel one more than you feel any other. And the question was, which one is it?"

That was pretty aggressive of her. Probably the booze talking more than anything else. But the outburst didn’t seem to have affected the corporal in any significant way. She just kept staring at Lily with her cool eyes, blinking them once as she licked her lips, before sucking on them in thought. Once again, it was slow going before Lily got a response.

Everypony seemed to hold their breath until the Corporal opened her mouth and gave the unicorn her answer.

"Apprehension."

Sparkshower immediately started bouncing in her seat again. "Oooooh, me too! I've got to find a dress! And I've got to finish writing that letter to Huckleberry!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Calm down a second, Sparks. Corporal -- apprehension about what?"

But Honour just shook her head at the unicorn. "One spin, one question, Specialist. You asked for the strongest sensation. That's it." Lily saw her smirk faintly. "Next time, you should be more careful with your phrasing."

‘Damn!’ Honour got her on that one.

Scoffing, Lily sat back. "Alright, fine! I guess it's your turn to spin, then."

Once again, she leaned over and just pushed the bottle around itself, making the same 'whoosh' noises with her mouth.

And she was staring at Lily again. She thought she had a pretty good idea where the bottle was going to wind up. Sure enough, after three or four spins, Honour Bound brought it to a halt facing in Lily’s direction.

As with last time, the unicorn specialist forced out a chuckle. "I'm feeling a little manipulated here, heh."

After glancing semi-nervously around the table, Lily gathered up her smugness, put on a coy smile, and looked her sloshed Corporal in the eyes. "So, whaddya want to know?"

Letting go of the bottle, Bound lifted an eyebrow. "I want to know what you did to be named a Centurion of the Order of the Ram."

Inhaling sharply, Lily went a little pale.

That was a bit of a whopper.

1. Lily does not know enough Latin to use proper declensions.