//------------------------------//
// One if By Land: Part 16 
// Story: Spike of All Trades 
// by Ariamaki 
//------------------------------//

Checking his Benediction quest as they moved through the halls, Spike was pleased to find that there was progress. He was kinda surprised by how much progress, actually!


 Celestia Sol Invictus, She of The Rising Sun
> Meet with this person of great power and learn their perspective on your potential.
> Learn the nature of Celestia's Benediction from her.


He hadn't thought that she had given her perspective on what she thought he was capable of... At least not until he thought back over exactly what she said at the end there.

"I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job, Spike."

Something about the sheer simplicity of that being enough made him extra proud. Having that kind of faith put in him by Celestia herself was a big deal! Even as the Gamer's Mind kept his head cool, he still kinda wanted to crow his victory out on the rooftops or something equally cliche. He was soon snapped out of that daydream by their arrival at a small meeting room, lined with gently-tinted windows that let in the late morning sun.

"I trust you'll have no problem keeping yourself occupied for a little while? I'll send the word out for your interviewees to meet you here, and they should be over shortly."

"Sounds like a plan! I have plenty of stuff I can practice pretty much anywhere."

Celestia smiled again, the knowing sort of grin she used... almost all the time, come to think of it.
"So I've seen. Girls, shall we?"

Twilight and Pinkie both waved to him on their way out, and he nodded back before leaning back in one of the chairs. The meeting room wasn't opulent by palatial standards, but it was definitely nice: None of the chairs were particularly bigger or nicer than the others, and the dark hardwood table was round to keep everypony on equal footing. The windows were single panes of stained glass in a myriad of pale colors, lighting the room with a subtle gradient rainbow from wall to wall.

The Princess hadn't actually said how long it would take for the experts to get here... In fact she hadn't even said who they would be, although he had to assume she'd pick from among the Guards on duty. Given his location in the castle... He probably had a bit of time to practice more skills!

Spike's newest acquisition was the ability to use 'Moonsetter', the dropping-sinking lunar aspect of Syzygy meditation, while still being physically active through use of Exposure. He started small by just attempting to initiate it while pacing around the room. After a false start he got into the groove without breaking his own focus, redirecting his magic to the beat and rhythm of his own steps.

The earlier warning about abrupt deactivation made even more sense once he actually got rolling. The intense vertiginous sensation of the 'set' in Moonsetter almost sent him stumbling, Gamer or not. This would definitely have to be reserved for times where he wasn't doing anything risky or using bladed tools... Although come to think of it, maybe he could try to force the same upgrade for the Suncycle form?

...

After a few minutes Spike decided no, no he could not try that. The risk of interruption was always on his mind, and while that didn't impact his concentration (Gamer's Mind and all) it did still have a real risk of danger. He was long past the point where mangling and rebuilding his mana channels would make progress towards Internal Alchemy, so he didn't have any interest in that kind of fail. Instead he decided to properly meditate, using Syzygy's third style and messing around with the, uh, 'externalized purified mana clump'.

Even after a few weeks and many trial attempts, he still wasn't sure what this thing was useful for. Maybe it was just an unintended side effect of the meditation itself, and not a useful product at all? That didn't strike him as very likely: His system wouldn't have put emphasis on the 'externalized' and 'purified' aspects otherwise. Actually, he should probably focus less on the object itself and more on those facts: It's outside his mana system, and it's more pure than usual magic power.

It would probably be a useful way to instill magical energy into a... recipe? He could try cooking with it, although he had no clue if mana toxicity was a problem to contend with there. By game logic potions would be an angle, but he didn't know anypony apart from Zecora who did magic that way. He had no clue how magically-charged crystals were made, although this might help there. Actual-factual magical items were the realm of fantasy and ancient history as far as he could tell, but it wouldn't hurt to do research...

By the time the doors opened he had gone through a dozen other hypotheticals in his head while lazily messing with the purified mana. The end result was that his claws were positively coated in the stuff, a thin shimmer of silver-white that constantly dissipated back into the atmosphere before he could do anything with it. He sighed and leaned back in his chair just in time to catch the pair of doors opening to let in two somewhat-familiar ponies.

Spike nodded to the guards: The same guards from that morning to be specific, Zenith Flair and Gibbous Trace. Sending Guards who had the Benedictions themselves to be interviewed was the perfect solution as far as he could tell, and not just because it was mandatory for his quest.

The lanky Day Guard saluted first, followed by his portly bat-winged companion.

"Greetings, Mr. T. Dragon."

He quickly stood up and gave them a little bow back, uncomfortable with the formal address.
"Just Spike, please: How are you two doing this morning?"

Gibbous pulled a wing out to one side and wibbled it in the air.
"Eh. Work is work. You?"

Spike waved a claw in a similar motion and smirked.
"Practice is practice: I don't really have a job unless the stuff I do for Twilight counts."

The Day Guard nodded at that gravely.
"I believe anything where Ms. Sparkle is involved qualifies as a labor worthy of the name 'work'."

"...I can't tell if that was a joke or not."

The unicorn's (presumed) partner rolled his eyes.
"Yeah that's Flair in a nutshell: Come on, let's take seats and hang out a bit. Not like we've got anything critical going at the moment."

Spike sat back down and waited as the other two did the same. The Guards ended up at seats around the circular table in such a way that they were all three evenly spaced out. Zenith Flair looked back and forth between his Night Guard companion and Spike before speaking again.

"Any topic of interest, in that case?"

Not terribly surprising that the Guard would be taciturn, but Spike decided to cut to the chase.
"I'd like to hear about the Benedictions the two of you received from Celestia and Luna."

That brought total silence for a while, whether it was because of his irreverence in referring to the Princesses with their names alone or his bringing up something as secretive as the Benedictions without batting an eye. Eventually they finally spoke back up, almost covering each others' words.

"I suppose we can discuss it, considering the circumstances."
"Figured being who you are meant you'd already know it all!"

Spike blinked at the Night Guard's reaction.
"Do I really have that much of a reputation back here?"

"Among the Guard you're pretty famous, if only because plenty of ponies need to be drilled not to over-react to a sudden dragon sighting. Plus the Twilight Sparkle thing, Elements of Harmony, all that jazz."

"...Yeah that, uh, that tracks. But enough about me!"

Zenith and Gibbous shared a look and then shrugged. Zenith was the one to actually pick the conversation back up from there, his voice neutral and low.
"What exactly do you want to know?"

That... was a pretty good question. According to his quest, what he needed to know was just 'the nature of the Benediction' according to them. Anything else would be in excess of requirements where that was concerned. But as for what he wanted to know?
"I'd kinda like to know everything, really! I mean, not everypony in the Guard is part of a long-time Guard family."

Both of them nodded, and Spike pivoted off quickly: No sense belaboring the point. He waved a claw at the Night Guard in specific, thinking back to when they met that morning.
"And you even said earlier that you used to work in fashion, right? What made you join the Guard? What was the change like? How did this all start, and what... is it, to you?"

"Well, I don't like speaking for my partner-"

Zenith's laugh was so dry and sarcastic it almost seemed more like a cough.
"Hah."

"...fair. But really, I kinda left out that me and him both came from the haute couture scene."

That kind of surprised Spike, although given there were ponies like Photo Finish in the industry maybe a stone-faced unicorn stallion wasn't that odd?

"We've known each other forever, and the Guard thing is relatively new to us. Last three years?"

"Four by the end of this summer."

"Four years! Split me, that long huh? Well yeah then, four years. Before that... Hoo boy."

The two of them began recounting their history together, albeit in what Spike had to assume was a brief and sanitized form. Zenith's contributions were always straightforward, blunt, and clear, while Gibbous seemed like he was embellishing details or focusing on his resonance with past events. It was obvious from how naturally they passed the story back and forth that they had been friends for maybe their whole lives, even if they only told him about their recent exploits.

Zenith Flair worked as the head tailor of a major Canterlot boutique, but he was purely a creator, a 'fabricator' in his own words. Producing perfectly-sewn outfits with insanely meticulous, intricate designs was foal's play... Actually coming up with the ideas for them? Not so much. That's where Gibbous Trace put his hoof in the industry: He worked with Flair, and other creators, as a concept artist and planner. Apparently he'd even been one of the architectural designers for the latest wing added to the Castle before they joined the Guard.

Over time they each had (undiscussed) issues and dissatisfactions with both the industry and their related social circles. Rather than confront those problems head on, they tried to branch out and explore other options. It didn't work: Zenith was shiftless without the challenge of his labors and their intricacy, while Trace felt unfocused after having his passion ruined by the fashion scene. Neither had solutions or direction so they both simply drifted through life for a while.

That all changed with Princess Luna's return to Equestria. Gibbous felt a draw to the revelation of a long-lost alicorn, especially given his moon-based cutie mark. He, quote, 'just kinda decided' to visit the castle one day and show his respect to the new old diarch. Zenith came along to keep his friend out of trouble, which seemed like a running theme for the two of them. 

The two approached the Night Court together, one of the very first Luna held after her return and subsequent recovery. Princess Luna had gotten into the swing of her position well, as far as Spike remembered, and their retelling here seemed to agree. Luna heard their praises (soft-spoken and effusive, respectively) and then calmly asked about them in turn, which they took as simple tit-for-tat. A measure of (possibly sincere, possibly affected) appreciation for the common pony.

But unlike a ruler that was listening solely for the sake of appearances, Luna had seemed troubled by their statements. She asked them, quite kindly, to step aside and stay at Court with her for a little while longer. What initially seemed like a moment for her to collect her thoughts had instead become an hour and then two. 

Neither of them wanted to risk offending everypony by making a break for it, and while the Court attendants were present with water and simple refreshments, the air only grew more awkward as the other querants filtered out. Eventually it was just the two of them left alone with the attending courtiers, the Guards, and Princess Luna. There was a minute or so where nopony spoke...

That was when she called for Princess Celestia and things really got out of hoof.

Spike finally decided to step in and interrupt: Everything so far had been straightforward enough.
"...Huh. So did she see something in the two of you, or in what you told her?"

"Neither."

Neither? But-


Rarity's expression was still mostly confused, but she briefly looked over to him before smiling.
"Of course not dear: Congratulations to the both of you. I just have to say I am a little... surprised."

Luna's smirk came back even wider than before as she looked over them both.
"I for one am not."



Oh, right.
"Dreams."