Honour Bound

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Getting into a fight with a batpony sorcerer was not in Corporal Honour Bound’s plan of action for this morning.

As she skidded to a stop with the Royal Engineer not two hooves behind her heels, Sparkshower landed on the other side of Glamerspear's protective dome. Now that the four of them were all there, and since nopony had started an actual fight, the corporal had a brief moment to size up the situation.

Before her, the old batpony colt was still cackling with amusement, his blind eyes looking aimlessly forward. Glamerspear had a look of utter incomprehension on her face as she maintained her protective shield. And sprawled out on the sand under Glamerspear's dome, still completely exhausted and out of breath, Sergeant Ebonshield struggled to maintain consciousness. There was a dark stain on the sand near her wounded leg, too, although Honour couldn’t see the injury itself.

The 'Balladeer of Ghosts' adjusted the crutch underneath his left shoulder, and his laughter slowly drew to a close. "Oho..." Looking slightly off to one side, he licked his lips, before speaking in a raspy voice. "Jour camaraderie is commendable, unicorn, but ill-founded. I did not charge blindly - hah! hehe! - down from the minbar just to assault my dancer. And besides, what do jou imagine I can possibly do to her?"

Punctuating his point, he re-shouldered the crutch, then flexed his wings slightly open. They were disgusting, gaunt, shrivelled things, and Honour couldn’t imagine they were the slightest bit useful for flying.

Glamerspear was still too shocked by the magician's blindness to do more than gape, but on the ground, Honour spotted Ebonshield swallow and whisper between pained breaths.

"Specialist.... it is alright..."

The unicorn specialist glanced down at her comrade, then over to the corporal. Honour gave her a nod, and the shield faded out. But, critically, her horn remained lit -- the sign of an active draw of mana.

She was staying alert to possible treachery; probably a good idea.

The moment her barrier winked out of existence, the withered old musician-mage stood up on all fours and hobbled towards the sergeant, sitting down again just in front of her. With her face damp with tears from pain and exhaustion, all she managed to do was whimper out his name.

"... Ignacio ..."

Laying down his crutch, the batpony sorcerer bent over and appeared to delicately inspect their comrade. "Tut-tut-tut-tut, shhhh, quiet now... Ah, mi angelita de la muerte, what have jou done to jourself?" He reached out a probing hoof, and after a few seconds spent blindly searching, laid it gently on her injured leg -- but not gently enough that it didn’t aggravate the wound.

"EEEEEEHH!"

After that painful cry, Ebonshield shut her eyes and her breathing became panicked.

Ignacio leaned in close to her snout, still keeping one hoof delicately on the site of the injury. "Shhh-shh-shhh.... Listen, listen..."

Placing his lips almost right up to her ear, he began to sing. "Estrellita, ¿donde estás? Me pregunto qué serás..."

The soothing, simple melody had the tempo of a lullaby, and the sergeant began to calm down.

"...En el cielo y en el mar, un diamante de verdad..."

Honour could tell that it was more than just a simple song, though, and even Glamerspear's eyes grew wide as they all stared down at the Balladeer's hoof -- a hoof which was glowing with a pure-white light.

"... Estrellita, ¿donde estás? Cuando nada brilla más..."

The glow intensified and spread, covering Ebonshield's injured leg.

"... Tu nos muestras tu brillar..."

Almost as quickly as it spread, it dissipated, and the sorcerer withdrew his healing touch, slowing the melody and bringing the song to an end.

"... brillas, brillas, sin parar."

On the ground, the Sergeant's breathing returned to a normal rate, and she opened her eyes, flexing her newly-restored leg. Ignacio said nothing as he gathered his crutch and sat up straight. Without further aid, Sergeant Ebonshield slowly got up onto her four hooves.

Honour spotted Glamerspear silently mouth 'No way!' beside her.

After dusting the sand off of herself, their batpony comrade turned and bowed to the strange old mystic. "Gracias, Ignacio."

The Balladeer just sat there for a moment, facing slightly the wrong way to be looking at her. Then he shook his head, speaking slowly and softly. "Mmmm... Have I ever tol' jou how beautiful jou are, Pureza?"

Ebonshield rose out of her bow. Her cheeks weren’t rosy, but something about her eyes told Corporal Bound that she was a little embarrassed by that comment.

But her reply was playfully friendly. "Only every time we meet."

He nodded, looking off to one side. "Ah! ..."

The nod changed into another shake. "... Not often enough."

Now there was a tiny bit of redness on her face.

The old colt grinned, as if realizing his success at having unsettled her. But before she could say anything, he continued on. "Now, who are these friends of jours, eh? Why jou take so long to introduce me? Come on!"

With a sigh, Ebonshield glanced back at the four of you. "Umbrío, these are-"

The blind batpony cut her off. "Tut-tut-tut-tut! I have descended down from here as Ignacio, not as a title." He curled his wrinkled lips up, exposing his withered teeth. "A title would have left jou in the circle to make jour own way out."

Ebonshield stared at him, then swallowed and continued. "Ignacio, there are first the members of my cuaternio: Corporal Bound, Specialist Glamerspear, and Specialist Sparkshower."

Again he interrupted, his head darting left and right as if he were trying to follow the meanderings of a housefly. "Which of them is the unicorn?"

"That is Specialist Glamerspear."

Ignacio nodded. "Ah!"

His head swiveled to point straight at the unicorn in question. "Jou can see that we are all friends now, jes? There is no need to continue to channel in this way."

Honour looked over at Glamerspear, and she was just as startled -- again -- that he knew her horn was still lit up. As her horn dimmed, she leaned over towards Ebonshield.

"How'd he know that?"

Before she could answer, Ignacio barked out. "I am blind, not deaf! And I could hear that ridiculous buzzing noise jou were making."

Now it was Sparkshower's turn to scrunch up her snoot in confusion. "I didn't hear anything!"

Ignacio turned to the newest source of sound. "Jou are the pegasus, jes? Jou have not the ears to hear the noise of which I speak."

Glamerspear squinted and shook her head. "But I didn't hear anything either."

Ignacio turned back towards her, arching his eyebrows. "Then that is a shame, as jou do have the capacity, if not the skill."

Clearly, 'ears' was a metaphor for some aspect of magical abilities. Could this withered old batpony mage somehow sense magic in a way that unicorns like Glamerspear couldn't?

Licking his lips and twitching his nose, the Balladeer resettled himself on his crutch. "I understand jour defensiveness, of course. But I am surprised at jour eagnerness to escalate. Are we viewed so disfavorably on the surface?"

Ebonshield answered. "I think her reaction is not so much the attitude of the surface as it was the reception we received outside the Cave of Pillars."

The old colt arched his bushy white eyebrows, nodding. "Ahh... Of course, now is the morning shift -- València, I think?"

"Yes."

"Hmm... A poor hostess indeed. In this case then, I welcome jou, señoras, into the Rookery of the Canterlot Mountain. Nuestra casa es su casa -- our home is jour home. Figuratively -- and literally also, given this location."

Leaning on his crutch, he gave a crude approximation of a bow. Ebonshield just stared at him in utter disbelief. Ignacio collected himself, waiting for her to continue. When he realized the silent gap, he turned his head towards her. "... What?"

The Sergeant just shook her head. "Nothing... I just thought... Never mind."

The Balladeer furrowed his brow, drawing himself up. "What?"

Ebonshield shook her head. "I thought you were in a bad mood."

Ignacio pursed his lips as if wounded by an insult. "No, no. Why would jou think this?"

Nodding towards the musicians' perch, she replied. "The way you treated the poor director and his musicians, for one."

Sneering, Ignacio shook his head. "That banda de rocas? Jou are going to judge me in a bad mood because I do not enjoy being waken up rudely to their loud música moderna? Come now, Pureza -- be serious."

Laughing out of a sense of sheer incredulity, Ebonshield rolled her eyes. "Bof! Even in a good mood, I also did not expect you to act polite with the visitors."

Ignacio indignantly tapped his crutch on the ground. "What! I can be polite!"

"I have never seen you be polite, Ignacio."

At this, the old batpony grinned. "That is because jou have never brought me anypony worth being polite to! Haha!"

After a brief chuckled to himself, he squinted his blind eyes, sniffing the air. "Jou are upset with me, Pureza. Why? What have I done?"

The sergeant swallowed. "You made me kill the one I am supposed to be protecting."

Ignacio nodded. "Ah! Ahh... So there was something unusual about that one, eh? He put up quite a fight."

Ebonshield continued sardonically. "And he is here in person." As the Balladeer frowned, she pointed a hoof at their VIP. “I present to you the other member of my group, Anonymous, By Appointment to Their Majesties the Princess Celestia and the Princess Luna, the Engineer Royal of Equestria."

Still frowning, Ignacio turned his head left and right. "¡Caramba! I thought I heard somepony else over the clatter of the armor of the pegasus and the buzzing of the horn -- but this Be-Ay-Pee, he is not a pony?"

Anonymous spoke up for himself. "No, I'm not."

Frowning and squinting, Ignacio tried to orient his head towards the source of the sound. "Are you floating in the air? How high up are you?"

Ebonshield answered for their VIP, stepping closer. "He is approximately six hooves tall, Ignacio. A biped -- a distant relative of the monkey."

"Ah... I have never heard of such a creature. Strange."

Ebonshield stepped over to the confused-looking mage. "You made me execute him, Ignacio."

The old colt's confusion was almost instantly replaced with a wry grin, and he swiveled his ears toward the Royal Engineer. "Did I? Oh, well, there is no need to thank me for this service, señor."

‘This service?’

"Now jou will know what to do if the Madre-de-Estrellas ever decides that jou have outlived jour usefulness, haha! And although I was of course focused on the music, I am sure that the 'dancing' was quite entertaining also, hehe."

Glamerspear couldn’t take any more, and burst out. "Just how the Tartarus did you direct a fight you weren't even paying attention to? What the heck kind of magic was that?"

Ignacio turned his head towards Glamerspear. "Ahhh... We have only been introduced for a few minutes, and already the unicorn wishes to know my secrets, hehe."

Honour shot a disapproving glance at the loud-mouthed specialist. She had promised to keep her mouth shut under here.

Glamerspear lowered her head slightly, looking sheepish. "Sorry, Corporal."

Ignacio turned to the earth pony and waved a hoof in the air. "No, no, Caporal -- it is alright. The curiosity about such things, she is only natural."

Collecting himself again, he faced Glamerspear with a grin. "I will indulge jour questions, unicorn..." That same grin turned remarkably sinister. "... if jou will indulge me."

Honour did not like the sound of that.

If Glamerspear said 'yes', just what would she be getting herself into?

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Suggested interlude music: Eric Serra - 'Akta', from 'The Fifth Element' [1997]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K-J1WSwvkQ

Next Chapter: Chapter 72 Estimated time remaining: 23 Hours, 23 Minutes