Everyday Life With Guardsmares
Chapter 9
Previous Chapter Next ChapterHonour Bound
A plain round clock hung on the wall of their shared living room, tick-tocking its way past midnight. Corporal Honour Bound, given that she had the morning shift tomorrow, was up way past her bedtime. But Glamerspear's story about Sparkshower being taken out to a show by her newly-acquired salt-lick, the Royal Engineer, was beyond belief, and she needed to find out what was going on for herself. The pink gossip herself was up, too, lounging on the sofa and reading another fashion magazine, ‘Pride Bazaar.’ She'd said she wanted to see if Sparkshower returned at all -- or if she would wind up spending the night with their VIP downstairs.
In her own faux-scandalized but obviously amused words, "If Sparks bagged the boss this quickly, maybe she's the kind of mare to buck on the first night, too!"
Sparkshower, however, didn't strike the Earth Pony as a typical saltine. Not like Glamerspear, who'd seemed to fully embrace the role. It takes one to know one, though, and Glamerspear certainly seemed convinced, but she wondered if the unicorn wasn't perhaps projecting onto the pegasus. If it was true, then so be it; it didn't really concern her either way. Based on the play schedule published in the Thursday edition of the Canterlot Star, the Royal Engineer and his escort ought to be returning to the castle right around then. Assuming he hadn't taken her for some kind of afters, of course.
"I'm telling you, Corporal, it'll be one in the morning and they won't be back yet, believe me."
Glamerspear clearly had her own ideas about their schedule and itinerary.
"Uh-huh." Honour barely lifted her eyes from the book in her hooves. Her professed indifference did nothing to temper Glamerspear's insistent curiosity. She laid her magazine down on her chest and put one hoof up to her lips.
"I wonder if she had to lead him into it at all. I guess I've only met him twice, but I've got a good sense for these things, and I never got the sense that he was even interested in ponies that way."
Honour wouldn't dignify that train of thought with an answer. She just prayed to Celestia that somepony come to deliver her from the foolishness of young guardsmares.
Just then, she made out the sound of hoofsteps on the carpet outside. Glamerspear must have heard them too, because she jerked her head towards the door, a look of excited anticipation on her face. Slowly, the door-handle turned, and then the door opened inward. Specialist Sparkshower cautiously poked her head into the room, and seemed surprised to see them both there.
"Oh, hello! I wasn't sure if you might be asleep, so I didn't want to wake anypony up."
She abandoned her attempt at stealth and stepped right in, still dressed in her cotillion ball-gown with its puffed sleeves.
It was outdated, just as Glamerspear said, but not so far out of style that it would be embarrassing; certainly not at the theater. As soon as the pegasus shut the door behind her, the unicorn launched right into the questions.
"So? How did it go?"
Patience was clearly not one of her virtues. But the object of her questioning didn't seem to mind her vice at all, because Sparkshower's face exploded into a smile like the fantasy was starting all over again.
"It was AMAZING! Oh, gosh, the costumes, the orchestra, singing, it was all fantastic! And the story was great!"
"Yeah? And how were the seats?"
"OH MY GOODNESS, THE SEATS!..."
There was a vaguely disturbing chain reaction of enthusiasm going over at the sofa.
"... When we got to the theater, the colt in the box office said that the main floor and mezzanine were sold out; all they had left was the balcony and boxes, so Anonymous decided to get us BOX SEATS!"
Glamerspear pumped her hoof like she was working a cash register.
"Nice! Big spender, cha-ching! And did he take you out for dinner, too?"
Sparkshower covered her mouth and giggled like it was a silly question. Honour was not yet convinced one way or the other about the nature of the evening's escapades, and the giggle could have meant anything.
"Oh, no, I'd already had dinner when I ran into you here before I got dressed."
Glamerspear scrunched up her face as if the evening had just been ruined.
"Aw, he didn't buy you dinner? What a cheapskate!"
Sparkshower was still grinning with her mouth, but her laugh in reply seemed a bit forced. Suddenly, Glamerspear's face lit up.
"... No, wait, that's BRILLIANT, Sparks! I see it now!" She tapped a hoof against her temple. "... Colts can't tell you're thirsty if you don't let 'em lead you to water."
Sparkshower still looked like she was forcing the smile a bit.
"... You've really got this down pat, Sparks. I'm impressed. But we've gotta get you into a new outfit before your next evening out -- using Anonymous' bits, of course."
With that, the forced smile was gone.
"What? Why would-- I mean, granted, he was very generous tonight buying me a box seat, but why would he buy me a new dress?"
It was Glamerspear's turn to laugh.
"Oh, Sparks, you poor, innocent, young mare..." She put one hoof on Sparkshower's shoulder, but the pegasus was left bewildered. "... The game isn't just about fancy nights out! Not for the ones you want to hold on to, at least. You're worth so much more -- and a proper colt should know how to treat a lady, after all."
Sparkshower shook her head, brow furrowed.
"I'm--- I'm sorry, Glamerspear. You've lost me. I'm not sure what we're talking about any more."
Glamerspear removed her hoof and laughed even harder.
"Come on, Sparks! I'm talking about the game! You're a player, aren't you?"
It had gotten to the point where the mare in the dress was rubbing her own shoulder uncomfortably.
"I... I don't think so? What game?"
Honour's pink-and-cyan unicorn took a step back, raising her voice and lifting up her forehooves in exasperation.
"THE game! You know, some wealthy so-and-so has a partner but wants a little fun on the side, no strings attached. Or maybe a certain single VIP has needs they need 'serviced', but aren't looking for a commitment. So along comes a bodyguard, one of Equestria's finest, swishing their tail with that won't-ask-won't-tell attitude. So, the wealthy pony buys a few gifts for the guard, takes them out for dinner and a show, and they have some fun together, and mum's the word, wink-wink nudge-nudge."
Sparkshower looked horrified, but Glamerspear still seemed to think that it must all be a joke, and she got right in the pegasus' face about it.
"... Come on, you can't tell me you didn't know!"
Sparkshower's eyes darted left and right like she was looking for a way out, but there was no escaping reality.
"I... I didn't know! Oh, tornadoes and hurricanes..."
Glamerspear had just had her mind blown, while Sparkshower had started to pant uncomfortably.
"You're serious!! You didn't know?! Why else do pretty young things like us even sign up for VIP duty in the first place! Except for the perk of being able to play the game -- whether with our assigned VIP or with any other high-placed pony else we happen to meet -- what is there even to this bum job? It's just a dumping ground for tired, old grumps who are fed up with the regular guard life!"
Honour took a little offense to that last pronouncement. But she had to admit that Lily wasn't wrong.
Meanwhile, Sparkshower seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"I didn't know! I... I have a coltfriend in Berry!"
As Sparkshower moved to cover her face with her hooves, Glamerspear arched her eyebrows and laughed off that last statement like it was the most ridiculous thing in Equestria.
"Mare, please! You're in the game now, filly, and you bagged a big one! The Royal Engineer has got bits for days! What more could you possibly want? You've hit the jackpot!"
No longer on the verge, Sparkshower was actually crying. In-between sniffles, she uncovered her face, looked up at Glamerspear with a miserable expression on her face, and shouted out her reply.
"I'm... I'm not some... SOME WHORSE FOR SALE LIKE YOU!"
'Oh, buck.' Glamerspear looked like she'd just been slapped across the snout, hard. But Sparkshower just sat down, put her face in her hooves, and started to bawl her eyes out right there.
Conversation over.
Speechless, the unicorn took a step back, and, finding no words worth saying nor actions worth taking, furrowed her brow and sulked off to her bedroom, walking right around the sobbing pegasus, and closed the door behind her. Moments later, Sparkshower, still blubbering, got to her hooves and scurried into her own room. In the brief moment where her face was uncovered, Honour could see that her eyes were shot red, and that the hair on her muzzle was soaked with tears. Even with the door closed, she could still hear the pegasus' muffled lamentations. With a sigh, Honour replaced her mark and shut the book in front of her, and placed it on the side-table.
Time for some unpleasant work.
Suggested background music: Jesper Kyd - 'Sanctuary', from Assassin's Creed 2 [2009]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBYK2IvSNSM
Honour stood in front of Sparkshower's door, and behind it, she could hear her uninhibited sobbing. Lifting up one hoof to knock, she placed the other on the door handle.
There was a time for politeness.
This was not that time.
Corporal Bound knocked as she pushed down on the handle, swinging the door open inwards. Inside, Sparkshower was sitting on the floor in the middle of her room, leaning over onto her bed with her face in her hooves.
"At ease, Specialist."
From the bed, the sobbing instantly stopped with a gasp. But she still struggled up to assume 'parade rest.’ Honour closed the door behind her and walked up to the despondent pegasus. Her snout was smeared with mucus and tears, her mane was a complete mess, and it looked like she'd gotten two steps into unzipping her dress down the back before giving up.
Now, it just hung loosely off her shoulders and forelegs.
Although she's holding her mouth shut tight, Honour could see her trying to blink back tears, and her breathing was staccato and irregular. With another sigh, she sat down in front of her and spread her forehooves wide to receive her.
"...Carry on."
Almost before the words were out of her mouth, Artemis collapsed into Bound's waiting embrace and resumed bawling. Giving her a moment to settle in, she started to gently pat her on the back. The tears showed no sign of stopping anytime soon, so she took a look around the room.
The bed's top blanket had a wet spot from where she'd buried her face, but it was probably dry underneath. Across from the bed, on the writing desk, she spied a hairbrush. Leaning over without losing her distressed specialist, she snagged the hairbrush and slipped her hoof into its strap. From there it was a matter of slowly maneuvering Sparkshower over so that she could whip back the covers and hop up to sit on the bed, before gently transferring the care of her head from Honour's shoulder to her lap.
'And now, the waiting game.'
Holding her head in one hoof, Honour Bound used the other to slowly brush her mane, teasing its tangles back into shape. As her curls were tamed, so too did her mood calm. Eventually, with her mane flowing freely, she was no longer crying. Just... breathing slowly, with a runny nose. There was a tissue-box on the nightstand, and Honour leaned over to pluck a hooffull of them out of the dispenser, before proffering them into the waiting hoof of her charge. Lifting her head from the corporal's lap, Sparkshower sat up and took her time to completely clear her nose, even shuffling over and grabbing a few more tissues herself.
At last, her tears were done and her nose was clear. A far cry from being done, but it was a good first step. Honour took the edge of the covers and pulled them back, and Sparkshower slowly clambered up to sit beside her, her wings folded and head hung low.
There was a long wait while she just sat there, staring at the floor. Eventually, she opened her mouth.
"Is... Is it true what she said?"
"Some of it, yes."
Her lower lip started to quiver, and Honour could sense a coming retreat to more tears, so she put one hoof on Sparkshower's far shoulder, drawing her back to lean on the brown mare's shoulder.
"...The 'game' is real."
She could feel Sparkshower shake her head against her.
"But how? How can... How can colts cheat on the pony that they love like that?"
Glamerspear had dropped a lot of knowledge on Artemis in a short time, but it was incomplete.
"A lot of reasons. Maybe the love has gone. Maybe the relationship was a lie from the beginning. Maybe they're bored. But it's not just colts; mares can take partners on too."
Sparkshower glanced up in surprise. "They can?"
"It's about power and money, Sparkshower, not gender. It takes bits to afford a semi-permanent companion on the side."
"Oh."
"There are even married couples here in Canterlot, public figures where both are seen in public more often with their 'saltine' of the month than with each other."
There was no response to that; just more deep, slow breathing, so she carried on.
"... You can probably find a few in your 'Canterlot Match' magazine."
"We never had anything like this in Berry."
Now it was Honour's turn to shake her head. "Then maybe it's something only the big-city ponies get up to. Or maybe even in Berry there were a few who did it, but they kept it discreet. Here in Canterlot, it's so common that nopony bats an eye at it in public."
Sparkshower seemed to press her head more heavily into Honour's shoulder, so she gave her mane another gentle brush.
"...This isn't always the magical city it's made out to be."
Sparkshower stared straight ahead, and the two mares could see eye-to-eye in the small mirror that hung on the opposite wall, above the writing-desk.
"I always thought that friendship was magic."
Honour sighed and pulled her close.
"Maybe it is. But love is something else." She gave her hair another brush-stroke.
"But what about Anonymous? Do you... do you think he plays the 'game'?"
"I suppose that depends on what happened earlier tonight."
Her mouth hung open, like she couldn't believe what had just happened to her. "We went to the theater, saw the musical, and then came home."
"Did you talk at all?"
"Not really. We talked a bit on the way there. But he was quiet during the show. And we didn't talk much on the way home, either."
"What did you talk about?"
"The best way to the theater. The stuff in the playbill -- the history of The Sardinia, the actors and composers. After the show, the costumes and the best songs. He said it reminded him of a particular kind of show from his world."
"Did he talk about himself at all?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Did he talk about you?"
Again she shook her head. "No."
"He never commented on your mane, or your dress, or your tail, or your eyes, or anything like that?"
She took a moment to think, and licked her lips before answering. "Well, when I first went downstairs after getting ready, he asked 'Are you all set?', and I said, 'Yes, sir. Am I dressed well enough?', and then he answered, 'Looks good to me, Specialist.' I remember he smiled when he said it." She smiled, too. But then the smile disappeared in the context of the greater worry.
'Time for the big question.'
"Did he touch you?"
Sparkshower scrunched up her eyebrows and looked up at Honour, like she almost didn't understand the question.
"Touch me?..." She started to shake her head, and didn't stop.
"... No... No, he never touched me at all..."
Honour could see tears start to well up in Artemis' eyes again.
"...What does that mean?"
Reaching out, Honour put her hooves on Artemis' shoulders and tried to give the pegasus a reassuring smile.
"I think it means that he was a perfect gentlecolt tonight, and didn't think of your evening out together as anything other than him simply going to the theater with his bodyguard by his side."
She sniffled, and a tear escaped one eye, and slowly wound its way down her face. Honour brushed one hoof against her face to wipe it away.
"...Remember, the Royal Engineer doesn't know how our society works. He isn't from Equestria. He isn't even from this world." She Shrugged, and shook her head at Artemis. "... Maybe they don't do this on his world. Maybe love really is magic there, and lovers don't cheat on each other like they do here." She lifted her hooves off Sparkshower's shoulders only to rest them firmly down again, looking her in the eyes. "... So don't listen to what Glamerspear said about him. I don't think he meant your night out like that at all."
There was another sniffle, this one hopefully final.
"Are you sure?"
Honour kept her gaze fixed on her eyes. "I could be wrong. But I don't think I am. If it makes you feel better, when I'm on duty tomorrow, if a convenient opportunity arises, I'll discreetly ask him about last night."
"If... If it's convenient, sure. And discreet."
Corporal Bound nodded, and took a deep breath, sitting up straighter as she did so. She was far from happy, but at least it looked like the crisis was over.
Sparkshower brushed her hoof across her muzzle, wiping away the gunk around her mouth, and then licked her lips.
"...How did you learn about this... game?"
Ah.
And there was the question she'd hoped to avoid.
Like an unwelcome guest, Honour could feel sour memories knocking at the back of her mind. The door was firmly shut, but they seeped through the cracks around the frame, like a chill wind in the dead of winter.
"I loved somepony very much. And I thought they loved me like I did them. Even though they could get angry, and mean, I thought it was just something we had to work through, as lovers do."
It was her turn to swallow back a tear.
"... But it turned out they didn't love me like I thought they did. And the few bits I was earning and sharing all with him... were going to other mares that he was keeping on the side."
Sparkshower's eyes went wide, but at this point she'd had them scrunched up so much that they were barely back to their normal size.
"I'm sorry."
Honour removed one of her hooves from her shoulder.
"Don't be. You didn't make him behave that way."
"But... I'm sorry it happens at all."
And Honour removed the other hoof.
"You didn't make Equestria this way, either." She took a deep breath. "... Just be thankful you learned about it like this, as a misperception, rather than by actually getting hurt."
"What about Glamerspear? Does she... know she's hurting other ponies?"
"I'm sure she knows that ponies on the other side sometimes get hurt. But she doesn't think she's doing anything wrong." Honour shrugged. "... And maybe she isn't -- she isn't forcing anypony to do anything. She's not even initiating anything. All she does is make herself available."
Sparkshower listened, but she looked like she was a hundred miles away. Honour pretty quickly figured out where that must be. "...Is it true you have a coltfriend in Berry?"
Artemis looked over at the writing-desk. There was a candle, a quill, a seal with a stick of wax, and a neat stack of blank writing paper and empty envelopes. But leaning up against the wall, there were a solitary pair of post-marked envelopes, their flaps cut open, with letters folded up inside.
"I write to him every week. But he... he doesn't write back so often, or so regularly." Weakly, she motioned towards the two opened letters. "... We talked about me taking the VIP assignment the last time I was on leave. He was supposed to come find work here when I was posted to Canterlot..." She trailed off.
Dealing with one problem had worn the corporal out tonight. She didn't have the energy to deal with another, probably bigger one -- like the trouble a long-distance coltfriend could be.
All she could do was offer platitudes.
"That's not very nice of him. But don't give up. Things could still turn around. And even if things go wrong, the last thing you're going to want is to be second-guessing whether it was your fault..." she got down from the bed and turned around to face Artemis with a remorseful expression. "... Believe me on that count, Specialist."
She nodded, and gave a weak smile. "Yes, Corporal."
Honour began for the door, but before she opened it, she looked back over her shoulder at Artemis.
She was still staring at her letters.
"By the way, Sparkshower..."
She looked up at the corporal.
"... That was a very mean thing you called Glamerspear earlier. She doesn't trot the streets looking for a quick fix like that. You should do something about what you said, when you're feeling up to it."
Sparkshower said nothing, but she watched as Honour left. Closing the pegasus' door, she made her way to the washroom to get ready for bed.
Suggested musical interlude: Major Lazer - 'Be Together (feat. Wild Belle')
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1g4Uoqhhc8
