Everyday Life With Guardsmares
Chapter 79
Previous Chapter Next ChapterLily Glamerspear
Celestia help anything that got between Specialist Glamerspear and her bed -- including the door to the quaternion’s shared apartment, which the unicorn roughly threw open using her telekinesis only a moment before stepping in.
It felt good to be back there, almost a full day since they’d left, and although Lily’s bed beckoned, she found herself pausing to sit for a moment first.
"Finally."
As she removed her helmet in the common room, Artemis and Purity trudged in slowly after her, looking equally worn down.
Once Lily’s head was liberated from its bronze enclosure, she shook her mane and scratched her scalp with a hoof. Blinking her eyes to keep them awake a little while longer, she sighed and vented her frustrations to nopony in particular. "Who'd have thought it was even possible to talk about iron for six bucking hours straight?"
Ebonshield passed Lily and headed straight for the water-jug to pour herself a cup, tipping it back into her mouth with a miserable expression on her face. "*cough* By the shadows, not I."
Having served for that entire period as the two-way translator between the Royal Engineer and the members of the Rookery's guild of blacksmiths, her voice was raspy and thin. As soon as she finished one serving, she immediately took another.
Standing beside Lily, Artemis looked up at the clock. "Gosh... We were gone so long that the mess hall's almost about to start serving morning chow."
‘Damn.’ Lily knew they’d been down there for most of the night -- the red, rising sun peeking through all the eastern windows told her that -- but for it to already be chow-time? Strictly speaking, one of them was supposed to go on duty in less than two hours! Though maybe Honour would have something to say about that when she got up there; after all, the Royal Engineer must’ve been just as worn out as they all were, right?
Then again, maybe not, considering how energetic he seemed throughout that whole incomprehensible discussion.
Lily looked over at the batpony, who had cup-of-water number three currently swishing in her mouth while she rubbed her throat with one hoof to soothe her aching vocal chords.
Artemis stepped over to her. "Maybe you'd ought to go to the infirmary, Estellar--I mean, Sergeant? They can probably give you something to help."
With another wince of pain, the batpony swallowed her drink and then cleared her throat, speaking in a hoarse whisper. "ahem, It is alright. I will be well after a rest. By the blessed Mother, how the Rocks can chatter when the mood takes them."
As Ebonshield shook her head in frustrated exhaustion, Sparkshower generously poured her another cup. "How come the blacksmiths didn't speak Equestrian, anyways? You said all batponies were learning it."
The sergeant nodded. "Starting to, yes. For the Rocks, it is less important than for the Lunars and Stars."
Unbuckling the chest straps of her cuirass, Lily interjected. "Makes sense. Nopony expected them to have to deal with anypony outside of the Rookery, right? Whereas the Stars have to speak it to serve as guards for the palace. And the Lunars are diplomats, so they've got to know it even more."
Ebonshield nodded and took another drink, licking her lips when she’d finished. "Yes, this is so."
Halfway through removing one of her foreleg greaves, Sparks piped up. "Oh yeah, I was going to say, Sergeant: your mother sure speaks Equestrian very well." Returning to her armor, she continued in a voice which was impossibly excited considering the late hour. "Why, to me, she sounded just like a Canterlot native!"
Despite her injured voice, Eb managed a slight chuckle. "Heh. If we should meet her again, be sure that you tell her this. She will appreciate the compliment, I am certain."
"Oh, I will!"
Poor innocent Sparks, not picking up on Eb's sarcastic joke. Although, maybe it wouldn't hurt to lay down some covering-fire compliments if they crossed paths again. Thankfully, the Reverend Mother hadn’t bothered them at all during their midnight expedition to the surprisingly busy Rookery, but if the Royal Engineer wanted more meetings with those blacksmith-ponies, who knew what she might do?
During the pre-mission briefing, Eb had said that there wasn't a thing going on in the Rookery that the Reverend Mother Superior didn't have a hoof in. And although Lily had zoned out for a considerable portion of his six-hour chat with the blacksmiths, it certainly seemed like her VIP was trying to start something big.
Lily nodded towards Purity. "Did you actually understand what they were talking about, Sergeant? It got pretty technical, didn't it?"
The batpony shook her head. "They spoke at length about metal, but the words did not make sense to me. The translation was most difficult. There was the necessity to go back and forth several times to make things clear between them, though I was still confused. This is perhaps why the discussions were so lengthy."
"Yeah."
It had taken a while to get past basic introductions; as Ebonshield had predicted, the Rocks were flabbergasted by their visit, but also pretty curious about the Royal Engineer -- and the rest of them, too. The same could be said about everypony else they’d walked by on the way there, really.
First, there was deference mixed with horror from seeing the master assassin in the vanguard. Then, shock and surprise when they realized what was following behind her. Finally, an insatiable curiosity as to what they were all doing under the mountain, in 'their' forbidden Rookery. By the time they'd even reached the blacksmith's building in the marketplace, there was a sizable following of gawkers.
Lily had to do some actual crowd-control by the end of it, flexing a bit of telekinetic muscle to hold them back.
Sure were a lot of them...
As Eb mulled over her fifth cup of water, Lily eyeballed the batpony in the room. "Just how many of your kind are down in the Rookery, anyways, Sergeant? I mean all of them, not just the soldiers."
She'd said there were three hundred Stars on station at the Rookery. And that all their food was imported, some from the Moon, but most of it straight from the Royal Guard's only logistic network. But she hadn't given a number for the mass of civilians supporting them -- tradesponies, mostly, like the blacksmiths, but also household servants as well. Probably their family-members, too. Not to mention the Reverend Mother and her battalion of moon-worshipping batpony cultists!
Ebonshield eyed Lily warily. "In total, there are almost three thousand."
‘Hot bucking damn!’
Never mind a nest, it really was a whole village of batponies down there!
Even Sparkshower sat up in shock. "Three thousand? Gosh. That's more ponies than live in all of Berry County." Lily didn’t have the energy to snarkily inform Artemis that there were a lot of places bigger than Berry. "And just six blacksmiths between them? No wonder some of the Stars went to visit Bronzehorn for extra work."
Pausing at the final buckle for her cuirass, Lily squinted over at Sparkshower. "What are you on about, Sparks?"
She'd barely gotten two of her greaves off, her coat all matted underneath them; Lily felt itchy just looking at it. "Oh, don't you remember, Lily? Mister Bronzehorn said he'd done work for a batpony or two."
‘He did?'
All Lily could remember was his quip about her hip size.
Sparkshower continued eagerly. "But it makes sense; a battalion of 300 ponies normally needs five to ten armorers for daily field operations, while those six in the Rookery have to handle not just the soldiers, but probably all of the civilian metalworking jobs, too!"
‘How in Tartarus did Sparkshower know logistics numbers like that?’
"... Although I suppose maybe the ratio is lower for the Stars, since you don't use a lot of metal armor."
Ebonshield shifted within her leather cuirass and put down her mug. "I am not an expert in such things, but there is still much metal to be maintained." Sighing, she yawned and leaned back. "May I use the washroom first? I promise that my shower will be brief."
She was really wasted -- Lily was just tired from being up all night, and a little bored from being unable to converse. Purity had to actually work the whole time.
Lily nodded at the bathroom door. "Sure, Sarge, go for it."
Slowly, she trundled over and entered, lightly tapping the door closed with a hind hoof. Almost immediately thereafter, Lily heard the sound of running water.
Behind her, there was a loud clunk as Artemis finally removed her main plate. "I'm glad the blacksmiths were so friendly. They sure seemed to like the Royal Engineer's funny gifts, didn't they?"
At the sergeant's suggestion, they’d all carried down a selection of tobacco products, some coffee, some tea, a couple of bottles of rum, and, of all things, a basket of avocados from the palace pantry, to serve as a sort of diplomatic lubricant with the Rocks. That canny bat had actually smuggled in some stuff herself earlier, to bribe the musicians in the Grand Hall of Stars! Kind of an underhoofed way of doing business, but if that's what it took to get stuff done among the batponies...
Well, Lily could think of plenty of places in Equestria where greasing a few frogs would get her things normally forbidden.
Lily scowled a bit. "Yeah, they sure smoked up a storm in there with that box of cigarettes. Gonna have to wash that all out of my mane once the Sergeant's done."
The smithy-shack had been unpleasantly smoky, steamy, and hot, and the atmosphere was not improved by the eager puffing of tobacco, but thankfully, once the conversation really started to take off in what felt like the second or third hour -- Lily couldn't be sure without seeing a clock or the sun! -- everypony moved across the street, setting up in the courtyard of that 'horchateria' place. It meant being in public and having to deal with an endless supply of walk-by gawkers, but at least it smelled better.
Lily looked over at her pegasus comrade. "Say, what'd you think of that 'horchata' stuff they served us?"
Artemis was lying on her back with her legs kicked high up in the air, working on her hind greaves. "Oh, I thought it was really tasty! Kinda like a sundae. Did you like it, too?"
The unicorn nodded. "It was all right. I think I prefer actual ice cream, though."
The cream-coated young mare flapped her wings on the ground as she struggled to get the final strap undone, her tongue sticking out of her mouth. Finally, she managed to liberate herself from her bronze encasement, and rolled over to stand up, before shaking herself out as if she'd just emerged wet from the pool.
"Purity told me that the owner, mister 'Hosay,' which is spelled J-O-S-E, makes an even better one with almonds, but they're not in season just yet, so he has a limited supply and runs out early every day."
Lily must've been zoned out when that conversation happened.
"And mister Esautomático, the blacksmith, told the Royal Engineer to send advance notice before coming next time, so they could arrange for a proper reception."
Okay, she definitely zoned out.
"When did that happen? I just remember them talking about... metals and crystals and temperatures and stuff."
Sparkshower fluttered up into the air, and was about to gather up her armor pieces when Lily decided to lend a hoof and just levitate them up for her, directing them towards her bedroom.
"Thanks, Lily! And that was near the end, when they were done talking about smelting and metalworking techniques, but were instead talking about the Royal Engineer's plans." Trotting into her room, Artemis quickly got all her pieces hung up on the little stand that lets them air-dry. "Aren't you excited, Lily? Imagine being able to be part of such a historic event!"
‘What the buck did I miss?!’
"What historic ev-"
Before Lily could finish, the door opened and Corporal Bound trotted in wearing her usual dismissive frown. For some reason, the Royal Engineer had asked her to stick around after dismissing the rest of them. That was a bit curious, but it was even more curious with the way she'd seemed to stick to him like glue ever since the morning's training exercise.
Yesterday morning's exercise, rather.
Buck, it was late.
"What are you two still doing up? Hit the hay, we've all got duty in the afternoon."
Lily nodded towards the door, where the sound of running water had just stopped. "Just waiting our turns to rinse off. What'd the Royal Engineer want with you, anyways?" Deciding to have a little fun, she pursed her lips and wiggled her hips. “He need you to check for bogeyponies under his bed?"
It was a little shocking how big of a scowl that earned her. Honour really must be just as worn out as Lily was.
Sparkshower seemed to be the only one who still had energy. "Ooh, I bet he wanted to talk about his plans to work with the batponies! Did he say when we're going back under the Rookery?"
The Corporal's expression softened, and she looked over at the pegasus. "No. He wants to start the ball rolling up here before meeting with them again. And that means work for us -- starting today."
With a click, the washroom door opened and Ebonshield emerged, but Lily paused before stepping in for her turn. As tired as she was, she still wanted to hear this.
Honour looked over the three of them. "This afternoon, we're going to begin practicing for a private demonstration for Princess Celestia, to be executed A.S.A.P." Pulling off her helmet, she nodded towards the washroom. "So, get cleaned up and then get some rest, because we won't just be sitting around while he does paperwork or hobnobs with dignitaries. We're going to be doing more combat training."
The Corporal pointed a hoof in Lily’s direction, then jerked it back towards herself. "You and me, Glamerspear, are going to serve as the demonstration crew of Equestria's first 'Self-Propelled Air Defense Weapon.'"
That same hoof got pointed at Sparkshower and Ebonshield. “And you two are going to be our target dummies."
‘What the buck is this now?’
Suggested interlude music: Andreas Waldetoft - 'Ride Forth Victoriously', from 'Europa Universalis IV' [2013]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycl0vpbMfWw
