Artemis Sparkshower

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So far, this had been a walk in the park.

Literally.

In order to get to the batpony rookery inside Canterlot Mountain, Artemis Sparkshower and the rest of the quaternion had to exit the main palace building and walk through not just Princess Celestia's Rose Garden, but the Jubilee hedge maze and the Royal Canterlot Apple Conservatory, too. Of course, there was an actual road they could have taken around the parks, but according to Sergeant Ebonshield, this was the shortest route over ground.

Nopony complained about her choice of directions, especially not with the cold, blustery weather outside. It really felt like a bit of winter's shadow had come back to haunt spring. Just what was the Airborne Weather And Climate Service up to with this weather? Any colder and those AWACS ponies would be ruining the flowers!

The Royal Engineer had been particularly enthusiastic about getting back indoors quickly, since he didn't have any fur underneath his armor. Before setting off, he'd gathered up a great, grey woollen winter-cloak around him as his only real protection from the cold, but every time the wind whipped up, his legs were exposed to the chill. It wasn't so bad in the rose garden, with the neat hedgerow landscaping, and it wasn't an issue at all in the tight confines of the Jubilee maze, but out here in the open among the apple trees, it was clearly rough going for Artemis’ Very Important Pony, who wasn't actually a pony.

She’d tried to help a bit by extending a wing to hold his outerwear in place from behind, but all she had managed was to just hold the fabric against the back of his legs while the wind opened his covering up from the front.

"Lily, can't you do something?"

Artemis’ unicorn comrade, squinting as another gust came roaring through Her Royal Majesty's apple orchard, looked over at her. "Huh?"

The pegasus jerked her head forward at the Royal Engineer, who was leaning into the wind to avoid being blown over backwards. He struggled to hold his cloak with just one hand, while the other was occupied with the mace resting on his shoulder.

"Can't you project a shield against this?"

Still squinting, Glamerspear nodded her head. "Oh, yeah, sure."

In a flash, the chilly blast died down to nothing more than a light breeze, as the entire group was covered by a broad, green translucent dome. Lily's horn was glowing, and she had a sheepish expression on her face.

"...Sorry, sir. I should have done that earlier."

Anonymous looked back and shook some of the dust out of his cloak as Artemis retracted her supporting wing. "It's all right, Specialist. I didn't realize that your shield worked against the wind, or I might've asked for it myself."

The unicorn nodded. "It works against everything, sir -- hooves, spears, rain, cups of water..."

She grinned awkwardly. "... Even ponies lacking a sense of personal space. And it's at your service any time, sir."

From up front, Sergeant Ebonshield looked over her shoulder, adjusting her own cloak from underneath using her wings. "This is a welcome respite, to be sure, but we shall not enjoy the company of your shield for long, Specialist."

She pointed at a small, two-storey building nestled up against the cliff-face in front of her, not twenty yards away.

"Here is the entrance to the rookery."

No longer inhibited by the wind, the whole group hustled towards it at a tidy clip. Corporal Bound nodded Artemis towards the doors, and she charged ahead, briefly taking to the air, to pull open one of the double doors for the quaternion and their VIP.

Once everypony was inside, Artemis dropped back down to the ground and pulled the door shut behind her. Glamerspear's shield fizzled out with a soft 'bzzrrrrt' noise, and they found themselves in what appeared to be a large garden shed with a lofted ceiling. Tool racks with rakes, hoes, and all sorts of other farming implements lined the left wall, while on the other side, nearly-empty apple barrels awaited the fall harvest.

But Artemis couldn’t think of why an otherwise ordinary orchard shed would have a well-kept office set in the middle, and a full squad of Royal Guardsponies on station inside. Unless, of course, it wasn't an ordinary orchard shed after all.

Directly in front of Sergeant Ebonshield was a Royal Guard lieutenant in his service dress, seated at a desk. Beside him, a young corporal, likewise in his service uniform, was seated at a typewriter. Another ten guardsponies were at station in their armor, spears at the ready. Two of them were flanking the doors through which their group had just entered. Two more were guarding a door at the far end of the room, where the back wall was not but the bare mountain face. One of them was on station beside his lieutenant's desk. The final five appeared to have been seated at a low table in front of the apple barrels, playing cards. They must have scrambled for their weapons in a hurry, because one of the chairs was knocked over, and several of the cards were on the floor, too. Every single one of them -- the ten armored guards and the two desk ponies in service uniform -- were wearing a broad, white-painted gorget around their neck, above their ordinary armor. Written in solid black characters was 'MP' in a large print, with 'RUC' in smaller characters underneath.

MP.

Military Ponice.

This was a checkpoint into the rookery, for sure.

Artemis didn't recognize the three-letter acronym, however.

Despite the apparently-sudden interruption, the lieutenant behind the desk -- a youngish-looking unicorn colt -- appeared relaxed. With a dismissive glance towards his unprepared soldiers, he looked Sergeant Ebonshield up and down, then opened a logbook in front of him and picked up a quill with his magical telekinesis, dipping it in a small black inkwell.

"Name?"

Ebonshield answered him as if she'd done this a hundred times already. "Pureza Ébanoscudo."

As the Lieutenant scribbled Eb’s answer into the book, the Corporal began tapping away at the typewriter as well.

"House?"

"Cadena de Vapores."

"Caste?"

"Estrella."

While the Sergeant answered the checkpoint-pony's questions, Artemis looked around some more and saw that there were two more desks with typewriters at them as well, presently unoccupied. Clearly, her own batpony couldn’t be the only one passing through this entrance.

Maybe this was one of the access points for when the Night Guard went on the evening shift at the palace?

With extra staff to handle the processing, there was more than enough room in there for thirty or forty ponies to wait in line, to say nothing of how much more space there might be beyond the inner doors for a lineup deeper inside the mountain.

"Rank?"

"Estelar Siete."

Having finished noting down the Sergeant's essential details in the logbook, the lieutenant paused, placing his hooves together on the table, and waited for the slower-typing Corporal to catch up. With a 'ding' as the typewriter reached the end of the line, his aide-de-camp gave a quick nod, and the Royal Guard officer continued on.

"Sergeant Ebonshield, who are these ponies with you, and where are you taking them?"

He was obviously familiar with their batpony comrade; she hadn’t even mentioned she was a Sergeant, and her black-on-black batpony uniform didn’t have the standard Royal Guard rank insignia either. She's probably also the only one who passes by alone, outside of the regular shift changes.

"Lieutenant Rapid, I am escorting Anonymous, the Engineer Royal of Equestria, to the Grand Hall of Stars, wherein I shall instruct him in the arts martial."

The typewriter resumed its clattering as the Corporal furiously typed away. From beneath her cloak, Ebonshield pointed her wing-tip at Honour, Lily, and Artemis, each in turn.

"Corporal Bound, Specialist Glamerspear, and Specialist Sparkshower are the other three members of his bodyguard quaternion, and are accompanying me."

Even in the dim lighting from the high overhead windows, Artemis caught a silvery flash from her Sergeant's wing. Did she wear metal armor there? Even though her head was protected only by leather?

Strange.

The lieutenant leaned back in his chair and seemed to consider her words while his corporal caught up. When the mechanical clattering stopped, he shook his head.

"Sergeant, you know the rules: no unauthorized visitors to the rookery -- especially not Royal Guards."

"They are not unauthorized, señor Rápido. I have here with me the papers of authorization."

From somewhere underneath her cloak, she pulled out a scroll and hoofed it over. Lieutenant Rapid unrolled it on the table and scrutinized it closely for several minutes.

Artemis glanced around the room again, and found the other guardsponies looking their group over with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. It was pretty obvious from their wariness that a unicorn, earth pony, and pegasus did not commonly enter the rookery in the company of a batpony. Especially not after charging in under the cover of a unicorn's shield dome. And certainly not when they have an alien, bipedal, armed and armored monkey-creature with them.

Eventually, the Lieutenant lifted his eyes from the paper and nodded to their sergeant. "This seems to be in order."

Rolling up the scroll with his telekinesis, he rose to his hind hooves and saluted the Royal Engineer even as he finished tying the scroll's ribbon into a bow.

"My Lord, may I have a word?"

Sergeant Ebonshield took back the scroll and stepped back as their VIP sauntered over to the Lieutenant's little check-in desk.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

Placing his forehooves back down on the table, Rapid bowed. "My Lord, as the Officer of the Watch for the Orchard Gate entrance to the Night Guard Rookery, it is my duty to inform you that, after you pass through this checkpoint, you will find yourself beyond the powers of the Royal Guard to assist you, should you require aid."

Concealed underneath his helmet, Anonymous' reaction was inscrutable. Perhaps realizing this, he raised one hand and lifted it up, resting the lower tangs of the face-plate against his forehead instead.

"That's a bit foreboding, Lieutenant."

The Lieutenant licked his lips and swallowed. "Yes, my Lord, it is. Has the Sergeant explained to you that your status as a ranking Lord of the Blue Chamber may be considered meaningless amongst her kin?"

Anonymous glanced down at Ebonshield, then nodded. "She has."

The young officer cleared his throat. "Ahem. Then, my Lord, I must ask you to state, for the record, that you enter the rookery of your own free will, with an understanding of the risks involved in such an undertaking."

Their VIP furrowed his brow, adjusting his grip on the heavy mace still leaning against his shoulder. "Just how many ponies have you lost in there, Lieutenant?"

The officer shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say, my Lord."

Anonymous inhaled sharply. "That's rather cryptic, Lieutenant."

"I'm afraid so, sir."

That immediate obsequious answer seemed to get up Anonymous' nose like horseradish up a pony's, but before he could say anything, Sergeant Ebonshield spoke up.

"Great Lord, the Lieutenant Rápido is under the same restrictions which apply also to your own quaternion -- they are not permitted to ask questions about 'batponies,' and they are not to share what information they do chance to learn, as well."

Anonymous glanced over at the three other members of his escort, and Corporal Bound spoke up. "She's right, sir; it's called Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Until Her Majesty visited us, we couldn't really talk with Sergeant Ebonshield, either."

The Royal Engineer nodded, turning back to Ebonshield. "But the way he's making this sound--"

"This is merely what he has been told to say, Great Lord. The Lieutenant is not permitted to share with you this información of which you inquire. It does not matter that Her Majesty has taken you into her confidence; the Lieutenant Rápido is a most dutiful member of the Royal Guard, and obeys his orders to the letter in this regard."

Artemis saw her glance at the Lieutenant, who, despite his stalwart expression, appeared silently thankful for the explanation that he himself was obviously unable to give.

Anonymous pondered what both of them had said for a moment or two, then licked his lips. "Sergeant, I'm not bound by DADT, am I?"

Ebonshield bowed. "No, Great Lord. You are not in the Royal Guard."

"And you're not bound by DADT with regards to me or the rest of the escort, either?"

She bowed again. "No, Great Lord. The Princess has relieved us of this burden."

The Royal Engineer shifted the mace to the other shoulder and gestured openly with his free hand. "So, how many non-batponies have gotten hurt in the rookery in the past few months?"

Sergeant Ebonshield shrugged. "None, as far as I have heard."

Cocking her head, she grinned. "But then again, as the Lieutenant's well-kept log books would surely tell, the list of those who have gone in is not long."

She lifted an eyebrow. "All the señor teniente is trying to tell you, Great Lord, is that the Royal Guard does not have permission to enter the Rookery, and that even if something unfortunate happens within -- to you, or to any of us -- they may still not have this permission. You must not expect a rescue -- we must none of us expect this."

That was a little unsettling, but Artemis trusted her Sergeant. She was a good pony, and if there was real danger, she believed Eb would have brought it up.

Her VIP listened for a moment, then nodded and looked back at Lieutenant Rapid. "Alright, then. Lieutenant Rapid, let the record show that I enter Canterlot Mountain of my own free will, with an understanding of the risks involved."

With that, the Lieutenant saluted and gave a quick bow. "Yes, m'Lord."

He nodded towards the guards at the back passage.

"Let them through."

As the two guards pushed open the doors, Anonymous stroked his chin with his free hand and carried on. "Out of curiosity, Lieutenant, if the Sergeant hadn't presented that paper, would you have refused me entrance to the rookery?"

Rapid nodded. "Yes, m'Lord."

"Just who can grant passes to enter, then?"

The Lieutenant shook his head. "I'm not at liberty to say, sir. Although my Lord may of course take it as given that Her Majesty Princess Luna has the authority, given the signature on his papers."

Artemis shot a quick glance at Sergeant Ebonshield.

'Princess Luna signed the Sergeant's paper?'

‘When did she go and see the Princess?!'

Unfortunately for Artemis’ curiosity, her VIP didn’t press his questioning any further, and, after bidding Ebonshield to carry on, he pulled down his helmet and faced the watch-officer. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Good day."

"At your service, m'Lord."

Sergeant Ebonshield led the way inwards, but before leaving the orchard-shed-turned-gatepost, she turned and nodded at the Lieutenant, now seated at his desk. "Buenos días, teniente."

The young colt nodded back at her. "Good day, Sergeant."

Finally, they passed into a rocky corridor, and the doors shut behind them.

‘Hailshowers, it's dark in here.’

Dark and damp...

There were small red lights attached to the ceiling, but they were so dim and widely-spaced that they provided very little illumination. Plus, they make all of them look far redder than they’d appear in normal daylight. Regardless, Sergeant Ebonshield led them all onwards. The clattering of three sets of armored hooves, one set of unarmored hooves, and one pair of sandalled feet echoed down the quiet tunnel, which descended at a gentle incline. There was a turn somewhere up ahead, too, so that Artemis couldn’t see the end of it.

Gosh. This was really triggering her natural pegasus claustrophobia. At least it was a wide tunnel -- she could almost stretch her wings wide open in there. And the ceiling's nice and high up, too. Even her tall VIP didn’t have to duck.

As Artemis completed her survey of the corridor, Glamerspear grumbled loud enough to be heard. "Geez, talk about a ball-busting nightclub bouncer; that colt could give the best of them lessons in turning away customers."

From up front, Sergeant Ebonshield replied. "On the contrary, Specialist; I have passed through this checkpoint several times, and I have always found the experience quite simple and pleasant."

Glamerspear snorted, rolling her eyebrows up. "Are you kidding, Sarge? All that bureaucratic busy-work they made you do? You like that?"

"When it is done well, I do not mind. Lieutenant Rapid is one of three officers that I have met coming in and out of the Rookery so far, and they have so far all been diligent and most accommodating."

At that, their unicorn scoffed. "Accommodating? You call that accommodating?"

Ebonshield looked over her shoulder. "Within the boundaries of the orders given to them, yes. And the efficient bureaucracy of the R.U.C. is far more preferable to the chaotic experience which awaits us at the far end of this hallway."

With her unicorn comrade still shocked by disbelief, Artemis spoke up. "What's that, Sergeant?"

She looked forward again, though she caught a look of disgust on her face before she turned. "A crude imitation of what was behind us, hastily erected in response by creatures with little care for order, organization, or efficiency..."

Their night-pony comrade glanced back at the group following her, with a hint of anger in her eyes. "...The counterpart checkpoint run by my people."

Next Chapter: Chapter 67 Estimated time remaining: 24 Hours, 44 Minutes