Honour Bound

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It was just after midnight. Honour Bound realized she should be asleep, but she figured she should stay up to see the end of both shifts. She'd hoped nothing would go wrong on the first day, but with a naive young pegasus in one hoof, and a self-absorbed, salt-licking unicorn in the other, anything was possible. Sitting almost sideways in one of the chairs of the living room, Honour Bound was finishing off the final paragraph of an article in that week's 'The New Equestrian' magazine. Over at the breakfast table, Specialist Sparkshower was also staying up late, working through her issue of 'Canterlot Match' that the Corporal had bought her, a quill and paper by her side. That rag was by far the gossipiest of all the gossip magazines in Equestria, but she was actually using it to make notes on the who's-who of Canterlot society. Honour Bound had to admire the effort. Artemis Sparkshower had only recently arrived in Canterlot, after all, and in her own words, she wanted to quickly get the grasp of the capital. Sparkshower had the morning shift tomorrow, but she'd taken a nap that afternoon to make up the sleep time in advance.

As Honour Bound turned her magazine over to start the article on the other side, she could hear hoofsteps out in the carpeted hallway. The steps came to a stop outside the door to their shared quarters, and moments later, Specialist Glamerspear slowly pushed the door open.

She was completely soaked; her coat was streaked with lathery white sweat deposits, and her mane was in desperate need of a blow-dry and brushing. She had her helmet and armor floating beside her in a magical field. Sparkshower put down her magazine, a confused expression on her face, but Glamerspear was speechless. Doing anything more than standing there, panting in the entryway with her head hung low, was apparently beyond her present abilities.

It seemed Honour Bound might not be getting what she'd hoped for. How did a unicorn with Lily Glamerspear's telekinetic abilities manage to get wet in the rain?

Finally, with what seemed like a supreme effort, Glamerspear reached over and closed the door behind her. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head up to face the other two occupants of the room.

"Did either of you know that humans can gallop for EIGHT STRAIGHT HOURS!?"

Sparkshower's jaw dropped. "Anonymous went galloping for your entire evening shift?!"

It was as though the act of getting into conversation had reinvigorated the social-butterfly unicorn, as she began to grow steadily more animated. "No! It was only for an hour, which was impressive enough, but when I asked him if he was a champion athlete, he just laughed and said that one hour at that pace -- which he called a 'jog' although I had to GALLOP to keep up -- was nothing, and that real human athletes can do it all day long without stopping! Can you believe that?!"

Hopping out of her chair, the pegasus darted over to her fellow guardsmare and held her forehooves out beneath the floating armor pieces. Glamerspear's horn stopped glowing and the field holding her stuff up was allowed to drop -- and the armor went right along with it, straight into the pegasus' waiting forelegs.

The relief from finally being able to shut off that last source of exertion had a palpable effect on the poor junior unicorn as she went slack on her hooves, some previously hidden tension evaporating. "... Thanks, I needed that."

The pegasus gave her a smile. "No problem, Glamerspear. You go have a shower, I'll hang these up in your room."

"You're a real pal, Sparkshower. I owe you one."

That was the first time she'd actually addressed the pegasus by her full name. She must have really meant it. While she flapped over to the unicorn's bedroom, Glamerspear trotted over to the washroom. In seconds, the curtain was drawn and the water was running full-blast. Honour could hear the unicorn's sigh of relief. By the time Sparkshower had finished hanging up her comrade's armor and floated back out from the bedroom, the water had stopped again. And then there was the unmistakable deep-bass "shuuuuuuuuUUUUH-WOOOM!" of Glamerspear drying herself off with a WC-40 maneuver.

"What was that?!"

Clearly, Specialist Sparks hadn't been around many "'corn fields" - the lingo for all-unicorn regiments.

"WC-40. Low-intensity modulated telekinetic blast. Unicorns do it in the field for drying off in a hurry."

"Why's it called a WC-40?"

That was such an old yarn, she was a little surprised she'd never heard it. But then again, Sparkshower was pretty green for a Specialist, and much of her time had been spent actually deep in the field, rather than sharing tales back at barracks.

"Because it takes practice. Get it wrong and you can wind up looking like a furball, or worse. Usually newbies practice it outside until they can do it even when they're hung over and exhausted. The story goes that one rookie thought they'd mastered it and went for a shower in Water Closet #40. They got it wrong, and blew the place up."

"At Fort Horseshoe Bend?! I remember using Water Closet #40, that's the one next to the chow hall!"

"And it's a newer building than the rest."

The pegasus rookie looked aghast at the idea that the latrine building might have exploded from a careless unicorn at any time.

"... That's how I heard it, anyway."

Meanwhile, Glamerspear had emerged from the shower, her coat fresh and dry and mane well-brushed. "Ahh, that's better! If I hadn't had to keep up that umbrella shield while also galloping around the rose garden like a madmare, I might not have gotten so beat, but I just don't know how he managed to keep going so fast for so long."

Sparkshower hovered over towards Glamerspear, placing a hoof to her chin "Well, he's tall, so maybe for him it wasn't a gallop?"

Glamerspear waved her hoof dismissively. "Oh, sure, I guess his 'jog' was more of a... canter. But even so, could you keep up a canter -- on hoof, mind you, not in the air -- for an hour, without breaks -- let alone eight hours?"

"No, but... He doesn't have any hair on his body, right?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. And let me tell you, he picked the WORST clothes to wear while exercising. Just these two pieces of plain white, baggy, short-sleeved cotton undergarments. I was lucky we weren't seen; it would have been so embarrassing!"

With a firm flap, Sparkshower hoisted herself up into the air, almost touching the ceiling. "Wait - if his skin is exposed, then he can sweat a lot easier than we can! And that means he doesn't overheat! So that's why he can keep going for so long."

The unicorn cocked an eye up at her. "How’d you figure that?"

Sparkshower dropped from the air and landed with a satisfying thud. "The non-pegasus ponies in Armored Recon -- and even some of the pegasi, actually -- sometimes shave parts of their body when they know they need to do long-distance work on hot, humid days. It makes it easier to sweat and keep cool."

Glamerspear stuck out her tongue. "Yech, gross! ...But I believe you. Still, you're not going to find ME shaving my flanks just to keep up with some hairless monkey!"

The pegasus shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe you could get out of morning Pony Physical Training if Anonymous goes for a run every night?"

Glamerspear smirked. "Oh, believe me, Sparks. I don't mind morning PPT. This flank doesn't keep itself toned, you know what I mean?" Emphasizing the point, Glamerspear turned and tapped her left buttock, adopting an exaggerated 'sexy pose' before relaxing into giggles. Sparkshower started giggling along too, while Glam sauntered over to the couch, and continued. "... And it's more interesting than just sitting in front of a pair of doors all day, right? But I was wondering if maybe you wanted to switch shifts? If he's going to make this a regular thing, anyways."

"Sure, I don't mind. But you said you cast a shield to block out the rain? What if it's raining tomorrow? I can't do anything for him like that."

Toppling backwards over the armrest, Glamerspear lay down on the sofa, bringing a hoof up to her forehead. "Ugghh, you're right. Now that he's gotten a taste of what The Glam can do for him, why would he settle for anything else?" She dropped her foreleg off to the side. "... Maybe I could get him to go somewhere else to go for a 'constitutional' other than Princess Celestia's bucking rose garden? That's for pleasant tea parties or romantic evening strolls, not crazed hairless monkey galloping."

"But it is right outside his chambers. It's the closest open area outside.”

"Ugh... Well, maybe I can suggest some better exercise fashion for him to wear. Something with a trim fit and maybe a pattern, at least."

Honour yawned. Taking a glance at the clock against the wall, she noticed it was half past midnight.

Far past the time for this 'shoe-camp-tier silliness. "Okay, fillies. It's after midnight, let's put the lights out. Figure out your galloping problems in the morning."

Sparkshower gave her a quick salute from where she was standing. "Yes, Corporal."

Glamerspear lazily slapped a hoof against her forehead, still lying on the couch. "Yes, Corporal."

With that, Honour got up and turned off the main living room light. Sparkshower yawned and stretched her wings before making her way to the washroom.

"Hey Sparkshower, don't take too long in there, or else I'll fall asleep out here."

The pegasus already had her toothbrush in her mouth. "Uhhl buh dunn uhn uh munhut."

Putting the two junior Specialists out of her mind, Corporal Bound turned in for the night. If a sweaty, exhausted unicorn was the worst this assignment had to offer, it should turn out all right.

Next Chapter: Chapter 6 Estimated time remaining: 36 Hours, 56 Minutes