Everyday Life With Guardsmares
Chapter 96
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Sergeant Purity Ebonshield’s eyes snapped open in the darkness. It was still night outside.
Good.
She crept stealthily out of her bed -- leaving it empty, alas. Her Leónito, that young stallion full of life, she’d had to refuse company for tonight, because tonight was not a night for pleasure. Tonight, Ebonshield was going to work.
Slowly pulling open her bedroom door, the batpony peeked out and glanced up at the clock on the wall in the common room. One-thirty in the morning.
‘Bueno.’
She had slept the ninety minutes as she planned.
Without pausing, she shut the door silently, crossed her room, threw on her cloak, and opened her window. She took to the air and pushed the window closed, leaving only a fluttering of leathery wings barely audible against the gentle mountain breeze blowing across Canterlot. She needed only a few minutes to arrive at the orchard garden-shed which served as the border post run by the Royal Undermountain Constabulary, the Military Ponice who guarded the secret gates between Equestria and the ponies of the Moon.
Ebonshield’s favourite RUC Lieutenant, the handsome young Rounds Rapid, had just arrived on duty, and he quickly cleared her for transit into the undermountain as he had done so many times before. However, as he floated over her papers in his unicorn-grasp, he looked up with an air of curiosity.
"By the way, is it business or personal this evening, Sergeant Ebonshield?"
She took the Royal Warrant which granted her full and complete access to both the surface and subterranean worlds and placed it back in one of the small concealed pockets sewn into the inside of her cloak. "Tonight, señor Rápido, this is business."
The unicorn appeared concerned, and tensed up in his chair. "Business for your VIP, I trust?"
Her other kind of business, she knew that he did not endorse. And he was certainly not alone in this.
"Yes, it is for the Royal Engineer. I am conducting some diplomacy on his behalf."
'Diplomacy' was a word which could mean a great many things. Either the lieutenant had not yet learned this, or else he trusted her perhaps too much, for her answer appeared to reassure him. She saw him relax, his back slouching almost imperceptibly.
"Very well. Good night, Sergeant."
Bowing, Ebonshield backed away towards the Rookery entrance. "Buenas noches, teniente. I will return shortly, I hope."
He nodded, and the other RUC guards pulled open the doors to let her in.
Unsurprisingly, Ebonshield did not encounter any checkpoint on the other side. Which was not to say that there were no guards -- she spotted two Righteous Hatchets, lurking in the stalactites just before the Cave of Pillars, carrying on idle conversation by whispers. They saw her too, but far too late, when she had already flown them by.
‘Slothful, slothful, slothful!’
Still, nopony would have expected an incursion into the Rookery at night -- without torches or lights, or even the sound of hoofsteps. The Hatchets were more vigilant during the day, and when the Night Guard shifts changed. But at almost two in the morning, long after the Night Guard midnight meal? No, the guardians were as sleepy as the rest of the Rookery would be.
After coasting around the waterfall, soaring through the Cave of Pillars, and then flapping her way to the bazaar, Ebonshield was unsurprised to see the caverns almost completely empty of any Children. Many of the stalls were even closed for the after-midnight, to reopen in the evening when the contingent of Night Guard returned for supper -- their most valued customers, paying in Equestrian bits and often in smuggled Equestrian goods. However, after flying past a few sleepy rows, she could see that her destination was still open, to a degree.
She landed silently just in front of the store-front’s counter. Behind it, sitting on a stool with his back slouching against the wall, his head propped up in his hooves, and his wings wrapped around himself, the middle-aged proprietor of the establishment was snoring gently.
Ebonshield addressed him in her native tongue.
«Good after-midnight, Joseph.»
With a startle and a snort, José woke up, looked at her, glanced around to see that she was alone, then coughed twice as he got off his stool. «Good after-midnight, Madam Star-Phase. Welcome to Horchateria Joseph. What may I serve you tonight?»
She slithered up one of the raised chairs at the counter and looked the square-jawed batpony colt in the eyes. «What dost thou have?»
José licked his black-mustached lips and reached down for a rag, then proceeded to idly wipe the counter, shaking his head. «The horchata is made fresh this evening, with tiger nuts delivered only yesterday. I also have some small breads and pastries left-over from breakfast.»
Ebonshield nodded amiably. «Then I shall have a small horchata to begin with.»
The proprietor turned around towards the drink-jar, picking up a ladle in his hoof, his heavy black mane brushing against the top of his red-embroidered black vest. «Certainly, madam.»
As he returned to face the sergeant, placing a small glass of the thick drink on the counter with a cork coaster underneath, José looked her warily in the eyes. Looking him right back, she picked up the glass and took a tiny sip of the cool, refreshing beverage. She licked her lips and placed it back down on its little saucer, withdrawing her forehooves into her cloak.
«... Is it to Madam's liking?»
Frowning playfully, she tilted her head back. «It requires some accompaniment, I think.»
José rolled his head to the side slightly. «Would Madam care for a pastry? Or a biscuit to dip in it, perhaps?»
Ebonshield shook her head, lowering it down again. «No... But I understand that conversation goes well with drink.»
The black-maned colt sat back on his stool, folding his forelegs in front of him and his wings behind him. «Ah. And about what subject would it please madam to converse?»
She sat back in her seat, placing one forehoof confidently on the counter. «I think, perhaps, I should enjoy it if we could speak on history.»
His eyes narrowed. «If Madam Star-Phase is curious of history, then she should seek out a Lunar. Rocks such as myself are not permitted authority in these things outside of our own professions.»
She took another sip from her glass. «This is true. Yet I believe thou art an expert in the particular item of interest to me this night.»
José licked his lips. «And what item might that be?»
Ebonshield fixed him in her gaze. «The Reconquest.»
There was a long pause before he answered.
Doubtless, he wondered why she had come today to ask this question. Was this her motive which concerned him? Or, perhaps he was merely considering how to answer her while keeping his obligation to his Phase.
José shook his head. «This is a very old subject, Madam. She is not a very current event.»
An evasive answer; she pressed on. «Dost thou deny having familiarity with her?»
His obligations to his own Rock Phase required him not to speak with authority on the subject of historical events. But his obligations to Phases above his required that he be obedient to his betters. The horchateria-tender chose to fly with his wings held close to his chest.
«This is a horchateria, Madam. I serve horchata, baked goods, and omelettes. Not lessons in history.»
Ebonshield leaned in to force the confrontation, placing her brow close enough for him to easily butt hers, if he dared to. «I have questions about the Reconquest, Joseph. And I am not leaving here until thou answerest them.»
José met her brow, but did not challenge her. Instead, he glanced down at her half-empty cup.
«In that case, I fear madam will be drinking rather a lot of horchata tonight.»
‘Ay!’
The reputation that this colt was stubborn and witty was well-deserved.
Picking up her glass, Ebonshield took another small sip and then put her forehooves down on the table quickly and with some force, so that her blades clattered against the counter. A cheap tactic to draw attention, but José did not even bother to look down at her weapons. He only shook his head, his brow inches from hers.
«...I know nothing worth somepony paying for my name to appear in your famous book, Madam of the Shining Stellar Dance.»
She raised her eyebrows. «Do you not? Why else art thou kept around here, then, Joseph?»
Her insult garnered her a swallow and the beginning of a frown. «Madam would have to consult with the Reverend Mother for the answer to this question.»
With a grumble, he leaned away from her, then got off his stool and stepped out from behind the bar, heading to one of the tables behind her with a cleaning-rag in his wing-arms. «... If madam will excuse me a moment, I must prepare for the morning business.»
Surprised, she turned and watched him go.
Just like that, he backed out of her challenge?
It was certainly his right, as a Rock engaged by a Star. However, this was not in keeping with his previous reputation. Not that Ebonshield had ever known him personally, but there was disappointment to see how far he had fallen.
She decided to try a compliment to offset her earlier insult. «I do believe that the Engineer Royal enjoyed thy hospitality on Wednesnight.»
In the middle of wiping down a wooden chair, José nodded. «Then madam may convey to him my deepest thanks for his generous business.»
Frustrated, she took another drink of the horchata, emptying the glass but still holding the container in her hooves. She may as well get some other business out of the way while she was there -- and while he continued to block her efforts.
«Wouldst thou be willing to host another conference between him and the ferriers?»
«Certainly, Madam. Though, a little advance notice would be appreciated.»
‘All right, then, good.’
‘Now, enough games.’
«Joseph, I want to know what happened to thee during the Reconquest.»
He did not even lift his head up from his work cleaning a table and setting its chairs. «That story is known to the public already.»
Pawing over the empty glass in her hooves, she swung around one of her wings and batted it up into the air behind her. The glass landed heavily on the counter, rolling on the base before settling down.
«There are certain details which have been kept private.»
A degree of anger crept into his voice -- or was this merely frustration? «Those details are now the property of the Mother Superior. Seek her out if you wish them.»
That would be an interesting conversation, to say the least.
Ebonshield shook her head, grinning, though he was still turned away from her. «I fear that I am not on good terms with the Reverend Mother any more.»
That comment, more than anything else she’d said so far, seemed to give him pause, and he stopped cleaning tables for a moment.
José squinted and looked her up and down, then nodded. «That is surprising, considering the debt Her Reverence owes you.»
‘So, he thinks that Carmen owes me for what I did?’
‘Or, perhaps he thinks I am still her stooge?’
«Names are written in the Book only with payment -- and this payment, he was received long ago...» With nopony about, she decided to relax and speak freely. After all, such free speaking is no less than she was asking from him. «... To the Reverend Mother, the Temple of the Shining Stellar Dance is a tool to be used like any other -- and to be discarded when the tool no longer serves her purpose.»
José narrowed his eyes further, and frowned with his heavy black eyebrows, stepping closer. «Such words are not what I would have expected to hear from the daughter who is most responsible for the present position of her mother.»
In his admission she saw an opening to further shatter his expectations. «Neither is thy misunderstanding of the situation what I would have expected from a colonel of the Howling Wolves.»
His eyes opened wide again, and she could see the fire-red color which was once so famous and so widely admired. With a brief ferocity, he took a strident step towards her, then stopped and glanced, with a certain bitterness, at the cleaning-rag on the table.
His cleaning-rag.
And his table.
«Madam has perhaps forgotten that her humble servant is a colonel of the Wolves no longer.»
Curious, accusing her of doing what he himself had just done.
Still, he clearly held misconceptions that must be dispelled if Ebonshield was to have her answers. «And has demotion of rank and Phase diminished also thy intelligence? Dost thou think I am sworn in allegiance and servitude to the Reverend Mother Carmen, because of blood and milk, and because also that my Temple once provided her a service?»
José grit his teeth.
«That was a service considerable.»
She hopped off her chair and stepped forward, nodding. «And the cost to the House of Vapors was equally considerable; I understand that the Lunar treasury is still empty, the debts to the Rocks still being repaid.»
He marched forward, his thick black mane bobbing against his neck. She met him, and stood, muzzle-to-muzzle and brow-to-brow.
Facing each other as two Stars should.
José growled. «You are still her daughter.»
The argument was so ridiculous that this was almost insulting. Unlike the laconic soldier, the obedient dog who was sworn to howl upon command for his Great Mother, Ebonshield had no attachment to brevity, and poured out her own defenses against him.
«Do such ties truly matter to the Children? Did you obey your parents? Do your own progeny obey you? And this accusation, after I disobeyed her in front of the Great Mother! While my brother cries against me from the bottom of every crater since!»
The heat of passion in his red eyes smoldered. «You disobeyed her? How?»
Ebonshield inhaled, flexing her wings. «The Great Mother wanted a Star to serve as bodyguard to the Engineer Royal. Carmen demanded we force her to choose a Lunar. I chose one Mother over the other.»
José had no answer to this, though she could see the little hooves of thought galloping away behind his eyes.
She pressed her final attack in his confusion. «I do not serve the Reverend Mother Carmen, Joseph, not any more, not since I have come to know her heart. She has forced me to choose to serve the Mother-of-Stars alone.»
Finally, Ebonshield took a step back, deliberately ceding ground before him. «I do not require that thou bowest to me or even that thou 'you'-est to me, but I do need to know what happened to Colonel Alcazar and his Howling Wolves on the night when the Mother-of-Stars returned to her Children.»
José Alcazar, former colonel of the Howling Wolves, demoted to Rock Phase for his failure on the night of the Reconquest, took a deep breath, before neighing the air out softly.
«What dost thou wish to know?»
‘Finally.’
Ebonshield had not participated in the Reconquest; she had remained on the moon. With the great defeat, the nature of the batpony assault on Equestria was known only to Princess Luna, the inner circle of Lunar councillors who had advised her, and the Star-soldiers themselves.
And most of those had been killed in the invasion.
Before her stood one of the only survivors. And of them, the only one who had not been banished to the Shadows darkest and deepest by the Reverend Mother Superior, her mother.
«Where, exactly, did your Howling Wolves strike on that night? How did you fail? And what happened afterwards?»
Sighing, he nodded at one of the chairs.
«Take a seat, and I will tell thee.»
It was just before ten in the morning. Sergeant Purity Ebonshield had woken late; she planned to be up an hour ago. Was she too tardy to deliver her message? Charging down the hallway, the sergeant stopped before the doors of her Royal Engineer, and knocked.
The Corporal Bound answered within moments. "Sergeant? What are you doing here? We didn't need you for the trip to the Watchtower."
Somewhat short of breath, she spoke quickly. "I have a message urgent to deliver to the Engineer Royal before he leaves."
Frowning, she drew her head back in confusion, then nodded and opened the door. "Sergeant Ebonshield, sir. She's got something to report."
Ebonshield stepped inside, and saw her VIP was standing just inside the door, putting the finishing touches on his necktie in front of his mirror.
‘Ay, I have cut things very close indeed.’
Behind him sat the Specialist Glamerspear, looking confused as well.
The tall biped looked down at Ebonshield. "What is it, Sergeant?"
She sat down on her haunches and folded her wings. "Great Lord, this is imperative that, during your meeting with the General Hoofstrong, you make no mention of your plans to work with the batponies."
Anonymous shot a confused glance at Corporal Bound, then back at Sergeant Ebonshield. "To be honest, I wasn't planning on bringing them up. Wouldn't she be subject to this 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' rule, anyways?"
She shook her head. "Not with you, Great Lord, for you are not in the Guard Royal. She will undoubtedly know that you have a batpony in your quaternion. So she may ask you about me, or the rest of the children. You must not admit to having visited the Rookery, or to having learned of their past, or to having had any dealings with them at all besides me, and even with me you must not mention your training in the arts martial. To do otherwise may cause you difficulties in your negotiations."
His tie half-done, he lowered his hands to his sides. "Why? I gather that batponies may not be well-liked, but your people are still trusted to guard Canterlot palace half the time, aren't they? The Night Guard?"
She nodded. "Yes, but this trust is most fragile; only by the will of the Princesses does the Royal Guard allow this sharing of duties."
The Engineer Royal shrugged. "All right. So what's the problem with Hoofstrong, then?"
Ebonshield took a deep breath. What she was about to say may exceed even the openness desired by the Great Mother.
"The reason there is the 'D-A-D-T,' Great Lord, is because when Princess Luna returned to Equestria as Nightmare Moon, she was accompanied by batpony soldiers. And while our then-leader sought to neutralize the Elements of Harmony which had beaten her before, her Stars assaulted the Royal Guard. On that night, between ponies there was a violence without compare."
He looked suitably concerned, and she continued.
"But after Nightmare Moon was defeated and Princess Luna took her place, this was decided that the only way to begin reconciliation between the two races was to make secret all the horrors of that assault. So the combatants were sworn not to speak of the night, and the casualties concealed, and the battlefield cleansed of any evidence."
The sergeant pointed her hoof at the door through which her VIP intended to step momentarily, unaware of this latest danger which opposed him. "But that battlefield, he was The Watchtower of Canterlot. And the commandant who led the defense of that place, the Equestrian who defeated the attacking batponies but lost so many of her soldiers in the doing, she was the Major General Hoofstrong."
Suggested interlude music: Denez Prigent - 'Gortoz A Ran', as featured in 'Black Hawk Down' [2001]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nl1WK-uKxw
