Lily Glamerspear

---

It was good to be back at work.

"By the glory of the Morning Dawn, I hereby relieve you at this post."

Corporal Bound returned Specialist Glamerspear’s greeting.

"By the peace of the Evening Dusk, I stand relieved."

Time for Lily’s evening shift with her VIP, the Royal Engineer of Equestria.

‘How I’ve missed this.’

It was almost strange that she’d been pining for work duty, because while she was off, she’d had her chance to do all the fun stuff she originally entered the VIP service for.

Skipping out on the bulk of stupid morning drills.

Socializing with the upper crust.

Shopping in Canterlot.

All the fun, outside-of-work stuff that, in the VIP service, sometimes became inside-work as well. But, wearing a confident smirk on her face, Lily knew the truth of why she was glad to be back at her post. The unicorn wasn’t really a socialite playmare; that's just her weekend persona. Valiant Kilfeather, the sociopath, was actually right about her; deep down, she enlisted in the Royal Guard because she liked to fight. And even if her assignment right now mostly involved standing around in front of a door, at least there was still the chance of a good battle. With Anonymous as her VIP, it was, apparently, an unusually good chance, too.

Especially considering the batpony Sergeant Ebonshield's plan to train him in combat.

Before Honour could pass Lily and exit the Royal Engineer's chambers, Anonymous spoke up from behind his desk. "Just a moment, Corporal, if you please."

Stopping in her tracks, she stepped back inside and shut the door for privacy.

"Yes, sir?"

The Royal Engineer put down his quill and stood up. "I just wanted to greet Specialist Glamerspear." He smiled and stepped around from behind his desk, walking over to the chamber doors.

Lily snapped to attention and saluted him.

"Specialist, welcome back. It's good to see you on your own four hooves again."

That was considerate of him.

"Thank you, sir."

He held out his hand, and she dropped her salute to shake it with her hoof.

‘Gosh, he's in a friendly mood this evening.’

‘Must have had a good day so far...’ she supposed, uncertainly. A quick glance over at stony-faced Honour told her nothing, though.

"No, thank you, Specialist. It was on my account that you were put in harm's way. I should have said this before, but I'm sorry you took an injury for your troubles."

Lily smirked. "Oh, no, sir, it was no trouble. Anytime you need a fly swatted, I'm your mare."

Anonymous chuckled and nodded. "Aha. Which brings me to a thought I was having earlier, actually. If I might bring up your duel with Lieutenant Kilfeather?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "Yes, sir?"

Anonymous folded his arms across his chest. "You mentioned before that you normally operate in a battery, with a spotter and other gunners. That, of course, wasn't the case when you duelled the Lieutenant."

‘Oh, geez.’ Was he going to chide her for failing to swat Val all by herself? Did Honour or Ebonshield put him up to this? It couldn't have been Sparkshower, that's for sure.

She felt a lump in her throat, and her good cheer from being back at work started to evaporate. "No, sir, it wasn't. But--"

Anonymous continued before she could continue her objections. "Well, it seems to me that your main disadvantage as an anti-air gunner is mobility. Would you agree?"

What was he trying to say? That she was a wide-hipped Pony Other than Grunt who, like every POG, just sat on her fat plot all day? That if she was a little more nimble on her hooves, maybe 'Icepone' wouldn't have had such an easy time juggling her around from position to position?

This is just like the armor-strap incident on Friday! Lily and her plot are both perfectly up to Pony Physical Training standards, damn it!

Unwilling to let herself quite blow up in her VIP's face, she awkwardly thought of how to reply.

"Uhm..."

Anonymous carried right on in spite of her discomfort. "Oh, of course, I forgot also how you can't shoot and shield at the same time. But I assume that's common to every unicorn in the anti-air duties?"

Now that's just not fair, comparing her to the elite AA gunners who could do both at the same time! Yeah, she was a Centurion of the Ram, but she was one of the youngest members on the order's rolls, only a few years into the Guard. She wasn’t some bearded old unicorn who could shoot, shield, and flip three pancakes at the same time!

"... And then there's target acquisition, but then again, that's just the state of sensors and optics, correct?"

'Sensors and optics?’ Was he trying to say that not only was she a fat-assed mare, she was as blind as a bat, too? Just because she couldn’t see a spec two miles away, even with the two-times magnification?

Damn, she hadn’t had a dressing-down this bad since...

Well, not since she’d gotten into that argument with Sparkshower over the Gala shift.

Which was on Tuesday.

So... not even a week ago.

Damn.

The memory of that tantrum, more than anything Anonymous had said so far, and despite it being excusable by the effects of acute manaburn, deflated her even further, and she averted her gaze from the penetrating questions of her imposing VIP.

"Er, it, uh..."

Honour seemed to pick up on Lily’s discomfort.

"Sir, may I ask the reason why you're asking these questions?"

‘Thanks for the save, Corporal.’

Swallowing, she tried to compose herself and look her VIP in the eyes again.

‘He's still smiling, what the buck?’

‘That's just psychotic, smiling while he's laying into somepony like-’

"Oh, well, I was just thinking about practical military applications for the steam-car. I was going to ask Specialist Glamerspear if she would be interested in mobile gunnery training; I think she might find it agrees very well with her training and techniques, and it would make for an interesting demonstration when we show off the vehicle."

‘... Like he wasn't doing at all, apparently, buck! Way to misread your VIP, Glam.’

Anonymous turned to her with a smile, and waved a finger in the air. "I don't know if you've heard yet, but Corporal Bound is shaping up to be quite the driver."

Honour cleared her throat. "I barely avoided that tree this afternoon, sir."

The Royal Engineer grinned. "You did avoid it, though. But let's not have last week's conversation about wrong decisions and right outcomes again."

"Yes, sir."

Lily looked over at Honour, and -- ‘is she tufting a bit out her armor?’

The stoic brown earth pony, who was so down on herself yesterday morning, was showing a bit of pride?

What the heck is going on here? Just what has the Royal Engineer been up to while Lily had been out of it?

"Pardon me, but I'm a little lost here. Steam-car? Tree?"

Her VIP chuckled. "I suppose I did rather get ahead of myself there, didn't I? My apologies. Corporal, perhaps you could best put it in simple terms?"

He looked at Corporal Bound, folding his arms behind his back, and Honour turned to look over at Lily.

"The Royal Engineer's put together a self-powered carriage based on an ordinary dogcart; it runs on lamp oil and water, with a tiller for steering. We first drove it around yesterday while you and Sparkshower were out on the town."

‘What the buck, lamp oil and water can move carriages, now?’

Before Lily could get any deeper into that, the Royal Engineer spoke up, still in good cheer. "Oh, by the way, I hope you enjoyed yourself yesterday. Over lunch today, Specialist Sparkshower gushed about what a good time she'd had."

Well, of course she did! When Lily was out with her marefriends, she always made sure they were having a good time.

"Yes, sir, we got all our shopping done for the gala."

"Ah, yes, that's right. I suppose it's almost time for me to head over for my first fitting at the Bridle Path Clothiers. Should probably be getting a note from them this week."

That should be interesting. He'd made quite the order there.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Lily glanced at Honour, but the corporal nodded at the unicorn. Bound was, after all, technically relieved of her duties, if not yet formally dismissed by their VIP. The specialist pulled open one of the doors to greet their visitor. A purple pegasus colt with an orange mane was flapping in place in front of the door.

"Message for the Lord Engineer! Have a good day!" Before Lily could say anything, he pressed a card into her hoof and bolted it.

‘Sheesh! These express-messenger ponies are always in a hurry!’

Closing the door and turning back to her VIP, she hoofed him the note. Anonymous took it in two hands and held it up to read it.

"Hum. It seems bronze is easier to work with than wool." He held the card up in the air. "Bronzehorn says my armour's ready for a test fitting."

Corporal Bound nodded. "Tomorrow morning, sir?"

The Royal Engineer looked out the window. It was a nice, sunny day, and there was still quite a lot of light.

"I don't know... Dusk isn't until seven or so now, isn't it? How about we go tonight?"

‘Oh, sweet Celestia.’ First day back on the job, and she was going to have to get stuffed into that Tartarean flying circus again? And she hadn’t even practiced her levitation spells!

"Is Her Majesty's flying carriage still available to you, sir?"

‘Please say no, please say no, please say no…’

"No..."

‘PRAISE THE SUN!’

Anonymous grinned. "But we don't need it anymore. We'll take the steam-car. You need some more time at the helm, after all."

Now it was Honour's turn to gulp. "Yes... sir."

"You'll be able to handle it, Corporal. I can take over if you get worn out. And the car's plenty tough now after the reinforcements we added this morning."

"Yes, sir."

The Royal Engineer checked his pocket-watch, then glanced out the window again. "Maybe it'd be a good idea to pack a tent and some bedrolls, though... just in case anything goes wrong."

Her first day officially back on duty, and it was a potentially-overnight field op to Smellyforge, Nowheresville? Well, Lily could think of worse things.

Just... not many.

---

The one thing Specialist Lily Glamerspear didn't expect to do this afternoon was climb into a carriage powered by water and lamp-oil, and piloted by Corporal Bound, and proceed to absolutely gallop their way to Newcastle-upon-Mare, with Ebonshield and Sparkshower following above in the sky. Lily also didn't expect that the trip would be so comfortable that she didn't even get carriage-sick.

And she certainly didn't expect to witness the sight of her VIP, Anonymous, stripped down to his skivvies and being strapped into a suit of armor by a towering black minotaur.

Well, not quite being strapped in yet.

"Let me know if anything feels too tight."

So far, Gunther Bronzehorn, the smith, was just fitting him with a padded cloth tunic.

"...Here, the left sleeve's gotten all bunched up, let me unroll it. You don't want it tight or it'll impede motion."

It was a bit amusing seeing the enormous, bipedal cow-person with colossal fingers delicately unfold the fabric, but he managed it with a surprising skill.

"Alright, how does that feel? Move around a bit."

The Royal Engineer twisted his torso back and forth, then squatted down and stood up.

"It seems to fit well. A bit stiff, I suppose. And a bit loose."

Bronzehorn nodded, his huge ivory horns catching the evening light streaking in through the window. Sparkshower, standing beside Lily, didn’t seem to be able to figure out just whom she should stare wide-eyed at -- her nearly-naked VIP, or the big minotaur bull.

"The looseness will disappear once we strap the armor on you. And stiffness will fade a little with use, though you'll need to replace it when it gets too soft -- the stiff fabric will give you better impact resistance." As the smith turned towards a large wooden chest with brass fittings, he continued. “That's not just an ordinary linen weave, it's several layers stiffened up and then glued together. It works well as an underlayment, but for people with less money, it can serve as armour all by itself."

Lily scoffed. "Linen armor? Why even bother?"

Looking back at her even as he opened the case, the minotaur shook his head. "Don't laugh, Specialist. Stiffly-glued linen will easily stop an arrow, and blunt a spear or crossbow bolt, too. It doesn't get as hot as metal in the summer heat, either. Diamond Dogs use padded linen armor almost exclusively, for example."

‘Is he seriously bringing up dirt-dwelling dogs as an example?’

‘They live in caves underground, and not entirely by choice!’

"Yeah, and look where they are now."

Bronzehorn narrowed his eyes and rolled his jaw over, chewing her words as he pointed a fat, black-furred finger in her direction. "Maybe they didn't do so well against Equestria, but next time you're in the Champions' Hall in Canterlot, look up at the frescoes on the ceiling. You'll see armies of ponies in linen armor -- the armies that united the three kinds of ponies and founded this nation."

Lily had been in the Champions' Hall before, and seen the artwork, but she didn't remember seeing what he was describing. But then again, she mostly remembered seeing the epic heroes of legend, and those ponies probably were wearing metal armor.

Meanwhile, the smith hefted open the case -- containing her VIP's actual armor set. "Anyways, there's still pony soldiers wearing linothorax armor on an everyday basis. Not everypony has easy access to bronze."

‘Huh?’

Who couldn't get their hooves on bronze these days?

Corporal Bound beat Lily to the question. "Who? I've never seen armour like that in the Royal Guard."

Still rooting around in the case, the bull pointed a finger back at Ebonshield. "Ask her."

All other eyes in the room -- Glamerspear’s, Sparkshower's, Honour's, and even Anonymous' -- turned towards the batpony, one of only two that Lily had ever met. Compared to her usual nonchalant reactions, this time she seemed to feel the attention.

"This is true, yes. Common soldiers in the Night Guard wear armor made of fabric in this style."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "But you don't."

The Sergeant arched her eyebrow. "I am not a common soldier."

That prompted an eyeroll from Lily.

Sparkshower picked up where the unicorn left off, though. "What about your brother, Marcos?"

Their batpony comrade didn’t miss a beat. "He is not a common soldier, either."

As Sparkshower furrowed her brow in reflection, Honour followed up with the obvious next-question. "Sergeant, are there any 'common' Night Guard soldiers in Equestria?"

Ebonshield shook her head. "In fact, no. They are all still on the moon. Only a select few Night Guard are here."

Bronzehorn stood back up, holding her VIP's true bronze armor, while the batpony looked up at him with her slit eyes. “But even these elites may own such armors for training purposes; I suppose this is how the honorable smith knows of them."

The minotaur grunted noncommittally as he hefted the sizable cuirass of bronze up into the air. "Uh-huh."

Stepping over to Anonymous, he held it up for everyone to see. "Anyways, here's the real deal. Arms up, please, m'Lord."

The Royal Engineer stretched his arms up, and Bronzehorn slowly lowered the cylinder of metal down over his torso. When it came to a rest on his shoulders, the minotaur busied himself making minor adjustments and instructing Anonymous in how to secure the cuirass, blocking Lily’s view, so she glanced over at her heavily-armored pegasister instead.

Artemis was still wearing the standard set of an Armored Corps pony: forty pounds of bronze plate, polished to a shiny reddish-gold hue. Most of that glossy weight was in the form of the horseshoe-shaped croupiere protecting her flanks and plot, with much of the rest allocated to the massive peytral that rendered her chest and shoulders utterly immune to anything short of a scorpion bolt or cannon ball. Compared to those massive pieces, the criniere covering her neck, helmet on her head, and greaves on her legs were almost afterthoughts. It still boggled Lily’s mind that Artemis could fly while loaded down with all that metal, but then again, she was a pretty powerfully-built pegasus.

So, how would their hairless monkey do while wearing Bronzehorn's creation?

As Lily finished her examination of one armored creature, the smith took a step back from Anonymous and she got her first glimpse of another. Their VIP's chest and shoulders were encased in what appeared to be a single solid piece of bronze. Except it wasn’t gold-colored like Sparkshower's -- it was dark; a deep reddish-brown, like bronze for a statue. The waist, and shoulder holes were crimped outwards and lined with overlapping strips of thick black leather, each one riveted with another flat piece of the unusual statue-bronze. Even the neck piece was similarly crimped and fitted with a leather collar, plated with metal.

But it wasn’t all dark -- there were two spirals on his chest, made out of flattened, golden-bronze wire.

As their VIP turned to look himself over in a free-standing mirror, Sparkshower was the first one to speak up.

"Um, excuse me, Mister Bronzehorn?"

The smith kept his eyes on his customer. "Yeah?"

"What are those swirly lines on the chest? Didn't you say you don't do decorations?"

Once again, the minotaur rolled around his jaw, chewing on her words for a few moments. Or maybe it's just that he didn’t want to prejudice his client's first impressions.

But as the seconds went on with Anonymous having said nothing, the smith replied. "Well, Specialist, first of all -- they're not just decorations."

The Royal Engineer turned around to face the room, and Bronzehorn pointed at the golden 'non-decorative' decorations. "Those are reinforcements. The bronze formula I use for the outer facing is very hard but can shatter under heavy blows. The wire helps to keep it together."

Stepping forward, he bent over and made a final adjustment, untangling some of the armored kilt strips that overlapped the wrong way. "Secondly, although I don't decorate my own designs like this, that cuirass isn't one of my own designs. It's an old pattern -- very old, handed down from generation to generation."

The smith stepped back again and stood up tall, putting his massive hands on his hips and nodding austerely at their VIP. "You're wearing armor there that, according to minotaur oral tradition, was originally made in the age of legends, when our kind first emerged from the Divine Labyrinth of Asterion. It's said that back then, there was no land -- only water -- and my people had to fight and topple the ancient titans, creating the earth from their floating corpses. Beginning with the isle of Kaptara, those epic heroes of old eventually made enough land for all the world's creatures to live on."

The imposing smith huffed steam from his nostrils and folded his arms. "That's the creation myth of the minotaurs; you can imagine that for a job like that, slaying mythological beasts big enough to build mountains out of, my ancestors would have needed some serious armor to stand up to the monsters. The story passed down from smith to smith is that, on that ancient first island of Kaptara, after a lot of experimentation and a lot of tragically-killed heroes, one of our kind, Khalkeus, finally figured out the formula by mixing in the blood of one of the newly-fallen titans, creating the Erefloga Panoply, the Black Flame of the Minotaurs. At my wife's suggestion, that's what I've recreated for you."

Somehow, Bronzehorn's telling of that legend made the strange, dark mail look more heroic than a simple encasement of bronze. Instead of her hairless monkey in a tin can, Lily saw instead a stoic noblepony outfitted in armor befitting their stature.

The kind of colt who would -- and did! -- refuse to back down from a challenge.

And the kind of colt Lily was, to be completely honest, a little eager to see in a fight.

Anonymous, rubbing his fingers gently over the spiral designs, bowed his head slightly. "I'm very honored, sir."

Bronzehorn uncrossed his arms and grabbed the next set from the large trunk. "Right, well, if that fits, let's get the rest of it on you. Legs first."

Clutching a pair of two-piece greaves made of the same metal, the smith bent over and strapped them onto the Royal Engineer. The non-articulated front piece covered the front of his leg up to and just past his knee, while the back piece protected just below it, much like Sparkshower's set.

"And here's the bracers."

Those were simpler than the leg armor, being just a single bent piece each that covered just the outside three faces of the Royal Engineer's forearms.

“Next, the gauntlets."

The gloves were of black leather, with a single large piece of the 'Erefloga' bronze on the back of the hand, and smaller pieces covering the first end segments of his fingers.

Lily was getting a very 'warrior of the night' kind of vibe from all this dark-tinted equipment. Maybe it was fitting that he was going to be trained by a batpony. But then again, she didn’t seem to wear much armor at all, while Bronzehorn wasn’t done loading up Anonymous with gear.

"All good? Okay, here's the helmet."

‘Now that's a solid-looking piece of metal.’

Besides the hole for his neck, there was only a curved 'T' shape cut into the front to allow him to look out and breathe. There were no decorations or ornamentations on it either, save for a single small plume holder at the top and slightly towards the rear, currently empty. And when Anonymous fit it over his head, facing away from the window, the overhead lamp-lights cast deep shadows across his face. All Lily could see were his eyeballs and, when he opened his mouth, his teeth.

It was a little intimidating.

‘But then again, that's the idea, isn't it?’

And it was the same thing with Sparkshower when she lowered her visor, too.

Lily glanced down the line at her comrades. Sparkshower seemed to be in awe of the strange, dark metal, her eyes darting all over their armored VIP. Ebonshield's irises kept opening wide and then closing up to slits again as she made what appeared to be an approving inspection. Honour, at the far end, was her typical, inscrutable self.

Bronzehorn leaned over sideways to look their VIP in the eyes, and spoke loudly to get through the helmet now covering his ears. "All good? Everything fits?"

Anonymous rolled his shoulders and raised and lowered his legs, bouncing about in place for a moment. "Yes, everything fits, I think."

The smith nodded. "Good. You'll find the armor can take just about anything sharp with barely a scratch. If you punch somepony with those gloves on, it'll definitely hurt 'em, but let's get you armed properly so you can do some real damage. Here's the shield."

No case for this one; from a heavy sack, Bronzehorn hauled out another piece of blackened metal, handing over a large, round shield. It held a spiral-engraved golden boss in the middle, and four spiral golden-wire 'reinforcement' embellishments evenly spaced around the perimeter.

“Put your forearm in here, then grip this handle with your hand, there you go, you've got it." The smith took a step back and gestured at the Royal Engineer. "Wave it around a bit, see how the weight feels. That's Wyrm's Rosewood serving as the body underneath the bronze; it's a very sturdy wood that won't splinter even if pierced."

Almost like he'd done this before, the Royal Engineer spread his legs slightly fore and aft, and collected his right arm up against his chest, then abruptly started to bash outwards with the shield in his left arm, grunting energetically with each mock blow.

"Hurgh! Huah! Huuh!"

On Lily’s left, she spotted Sergeant Ebonshield as she raised an interested eyebrow, and an eager smile appeared on her face.

Further to her left, she saw Corporal Bound shake her head dismissively. They both knew where they’d recently heard those kinds of sounds before -- and they were slightly higher-pitched, and coming from the batpony's bedroom.

Accompanied by more feminine cries of 'Sí! Sí! Sí!'

Even Sparkshower, glancing back and forth between them, went a little rosy-cheeked.

‘Celestia!’ Not only did Lily get saddled with a nymphomaniac batpony sergeant who didn’t have the decency to get a hotel room for her one-night stands, but Eb was a noisy one who liked to pick noisy colts, too!

After Anonymous had had his fun swinging around his shielded left arm, Bronzehorn clapped his hands. "Good! I like the enthusiasm! The last piece, though, you can't swing around in here -- not without probably unintentionally smashing something, anyways."

Turning around, the minotaur grabbed another chest, long and relatively thin, and flipped open the latches. From it, he produced as strange a weapon as Lily had ever seen. It was basically a mace, sure -- but nothing like the ones she knew. Those were all spiked or flanged or, heck, nothing more than just a rock on the end of a stick. This one was a long wooden rod, with a leather-wrapped handle and a generous handguard, topped by a bizarre, spherical shape. The head was some kind of geometric almost-sphere, symmetrical and pointed all over, each flat face in the shape of a little triangle.

Bronzehorn explained the weapon as he handed it over to their VIP.

“This is an 'Icosapligi,' or 'Twenty Blows' mace. Here, feel the weight -- but keep it steady."

Anonymous took the weapon and waved it slightly in his hand, gauging the heft as he slowly extended and flexed his arm. The mace seemed to agree with him, and he tried to lower it down, before realizing that the handle was far too long for him to simply hold it down at his side. Instead, he gently placed it against his shoulder, its tip almost touching the ceiling, and smiled from behind the darkness of the helmet.

"It's fantastic, sir. I'm simply overwhelmed." Shrugging -- a move which was now accompanied by a gentle clattering of the metal plates hanging off his shoulders -- the Royal Engineer shook his head. “These pieces you've made are so beautiful that I'm almost afraid to wear and wield them in combat lest I mar your work."

At this, Bronzehorn immediately stepped forward and leaned over to jab an imposing finger into their VIP's chestplate. "No! Don't put it on a pedestal!" He prodded Anonymous once more, pressing the black bronze up against Anonymous' flesh. "You take these things and go train, and you get 'em dirty. Get them scuffed! Clang your weapon into your shield! Knock your greaves into the earth! Bang your helmet against the wall! Punch wood with your gauntlets!"

The minotaur leaned back, huffing out steam and towering over the Royal Engineer -- and everyone else in the room. "The only way this equipment can help you is if you make it part of yourself. And the only way to do that is to treat it as if it wasn't there at all."

That wasn’t too far off from how even the Royal Guard taught recruits to get used to the simple segmented armor that everypony wore. Lily had to imagine that Sparkshower had that drilled into her even more forcefully.

Sure enough, she spoke up. "He's right, sir! It's just like Drill Sergeant Tandem always told me: you can polish and care for the armor all you want while it's off you, but once it's on, it's nothing."

Anonymous sighed, nodding. "Of course, of course. I suppose I have a lot to learn." He turned to Ebonshield. "Well, Sergeant, when shall we begin? I'm eager to start."

The batpony gave a polite little bow. "We may start tomorrow morning, if the Great Lord wishes it."

‘Really?’

Anonymous read Lily’s mind, or else she just thought the same as him. "Really? Excellent! Let me get changed and then we'll pile into the car for the trip home! Corporal, why don't you fire up the boiler right now?"

Honour saluted and turned to go. "Yes, sir!"

‘Huh, she's really taking to that contraption.’

Lily hadn’t pictured Honour as being a particularly hooves-on kind of mare, but there she was.

As Bronzehorn helped Anonymous strip back down, he offered some parting words of advice. "Don't push yourself too hard the first time you train. Don't hold back, either, but do give yourself time to get used to the armor. Come back if anything feels off. Come back anyways after you've had a few sessions, so I can make sure it's all holding up."

"Thank you, sir, I will."

The smith glanced over at Lily -- at her behind, in particular. "I can see your quat' knows how to take instructions, so I've got hopes you'll listen, too."

‘Guh!’

‘Everybody's always going on about my plot!’

Next Chapter: Chapter 65 Estimated time remaining: 25 Hours, 6 Minutes