Baltimare didn’t look the same after my trip to Las Pegasus. In fact, it was like a whole new town. It wasn’t, of course, but my perception of it had changed. When I’d been here for officer’s training, this was just a temporary place I’d be. Now it was home. Which, in itself, was kind of daunting.
I didn’t know any ponies here or where to meet them. Hopefully I’d make some friends at work and, if not, I’m sure a few explorations out into the livelier side of town would yield results. Officer or not, I still knew how to turn heads in bars!
That was for later, though! Today was too important to be thinking about finding a new bar to meet ponies. Today was my first day! My first day with a career, a commission, and as a guard. I was going to be a lieutenant in the G9! A staff officer that would be… uh… doing something. No idea what, but I was going to do it and be cute at the same time.
Making a good impression was important so my armor was immaculately clean and polished. It was perfectly fit, too. The quartermaster has been confused when I’d asked her for duty armor. Evidently, she expected me to wear a uniform since I was in the G9. That seemed silly, though!
No, it had to be armor! That is what royal guards wore. With that said, she’d issued me an old, used set for my daily duty. That was fine, I could understand that… I guess. Either way, I’d taken it to a private metal worker and paid to have it entirely revitalized. All within regulation, of course.
Now my golden armor gleamed in the sun and the star on my breastplate was perfectly straight and shiny. Then there was crest. That, of course, was my favorite part! I’d had that redone, too. The artificial plume had looked pretty weak so a hatter had put in brand new silver ones. Yes, I was quite the professional pony now!
The only thing left for me to do was make my grand entrance. I’d scoped out the command building over the weekend to make sure it was where I thought it was. That way I wouldn’t be late.
The Baltimare Command building was very modern and completely different from the architectural aesthetic in Canterlot. Instead of being built to look like a castle or palace, it was a five-story brick structure that fit in perfectly with the surrounding neighborhoods. The only thing that really set it apart was the metal gate around it and the flags hanging from the top story.
I stood outside of it for a moment, just marveling at the fact that this is where I was going to work for a while. Ponies were coming in to work and soon the gates would open for business of the day. Not that the place ever actually closed… just certain, non-critical services. Like G9.
“Well, Sunny, this is it!”
“What? Are you talking to me?” came a sweet voice from beside me.
“Huh?” I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings. There was a pegasus mare standing beside me and she was quite a looker, too, green coat and all.
The mare tossed her mane and it seemed to shimmer an array of colors in the sun. “You called me Sunny. I thought it was sweet,” she replied with a smile and happy ruffles of her wings.
My jaw went slack. I was pretty but she was a hottie! Smoking hot! Midday sun in the middle of summer hot! Burn you on the sto— well she was hot. “Oh! Well, you know, you just look like you have a sunny personality,” I replied smoothly.
She softly laughed and winked. “Well, thanks…” Her eyes went down to my breastplate. “Lieutenant.”
“You’re welcome, ma’am, have a good day.”
“You, too.”
I’m not too proud to say I watched her walk inside. The little music note cutie mark on her flank jiggled in exactly the right way. That mare worked out… a lot, Or, if she didn’t, her parents should be very proud.
A great view is a great way to start the day! Now it was time to get to work. There was important business to be done as a civilian liaison officer. I went up the steps, through the main door and trotted down the hallway until I got to a little sign that read Civil Affairs Division.
The sign was positioned outside of a door that looked pretty simple. It wasn’t wide, gilded, or even double. It was just a plain wooden door. I took the knob in my magic and pushed it open.
The room on the other side was really plain and boring. It had white tile floor and several chairs for ponies to sit in. Opposite of that was a long counter with several clipboards on it and a door to some kind of back area. That is where I’d work… probably.
There was a pony at the counter and she smiled at me. “Well hello, Lieutenant, what brings you to Civil Affairs?” the super-hot mare from outside said. Really? She had to work here of all places?
I trotted over and set my hooves on the counter. “Oh, hello again. I’m supposed to work here. Today is my first day.”
The pegasus mare’s brow lifted and then she grinned. “Oh yeah? Really? Aren’t you a little over dressed?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, you’re wearing duty armor. Although it looks really nice! You’ve done an excellent job keeping it in good shape, but the guards here typically wear duty uniforms. I realize if you’re coming from another command that might be a little weird.”
It was a little. I’d never seen a guard in Canterlot in anything other than armor. In other commands, however, guards were authorized to wear uniforms. That was what they called regional heraldry.
“Oh, it isn’t weird. I just might be a little more traditional. Is that going to be a problem?”
She shook her head. “I don’t imagine so, although you’ll have to discuss it with the vice colonel. So, what’s your name, sweetie?”
“Sunny Day!”
“Sunny Day, huh?”
“Yes?” Oh, right… the thing outside. “So I may have been talking to myself… but you’re still sunny!”
She laughed and offered a hoof. “I’m Mythic Aurora. Let’s get you in the back so you can get to work, alright?”
We shook. “Alright! Say… you’re not in uniform.”
“I’m a civilian,” she replied before heading over to the door near the counter. She pushed it open and motioned me in.
“Oh, I see, that makes sense.” I trotted back into a small office space. There were several desks setup in the central area and a few offices along the back wall. Everypony had stopped what they were doing to look at me. They were gorgeous… they were all gorgeous! Like, every one of them!
Aurora called, “Hey, girls, this is Lieutenant Sunny Day! She’s the newest member of G9!”
“Great! It is about time they sent me an officer to replace Fireball. Come on back, Lieutenant, I’ll get you settled before introducing you to everypony,” a flawless lavender mare said while waving a hoof towards the door to her office.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied before trotting past all the staring eyes. None of them were in armor. Not a single one! Oh well, I made it look good.
Once I was in the office, she closed the door. “Welcome! I’m Vice Colonel Wonder and I’m thrilled to have you with us. I understand you’re a Baltimare Academy graduate?”
“Yes, ma’am, last in my class!”
She laughed and waved a hoof. “Oh, who cares. It isn’t like you’re going to be guarding Princess Celestia or anything. As long as you do your job and get a lot of positive comment cards, I’ll be happy.”
"Ma’am? Comment cards?”
Vice Colonel Wonder looked at me in confusion and then smiled. “Right, they don’t teach this sort of stuff at the academy. Basically, when you do your job, the pony you help gets to fill out a comment card on your service. That is the metric we are tracked on and my team is the absolute best at it, so the bar is pretty high.”
Comment cards… right. That seemed weird. “I won’t let you down, ma’am. What will I be doing, exactly?”
“Right! Fireball used to supervise the glamor girls, so you’ll be doing that.”
What in Equestria was she talking about? “Ma’am, I’m sorry… there isn’t anything about glamor girls in my manual.”
The vice colonel wiggled her forehooves. “Oops, I’m sorry! I get scattered sometimes. We have a lot of terms here you won’t find in your manual. You see, our organization is actually the complaint department. Civilian ponies come to complain about things the Royal Guard does that they don’t like.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah… we do other stuff, too, but that is the majority of our job. So I devised a system to make that easier on everypony! Command sends me the most attractive and well-spoken ponies so we can disarm our customers with charm. Get it? Disarm with charm? Clever, right?”
“Sure…”
“So yes, Mythic Aurora, Van Glorious, Selena, and Canary are the glamor girls. You’ll supervise them and be their point of escalation if somepony manages to still be cross. Not that it happens much. Generally, you’ll just be working alongside them doing the same job.
“Now, first off, I need to get a request put in for a uniform for you. I realize most guards wear armor, but you don’t have to do that here. I’m all about comfort.”
This was not what I was anticipating at all. “Ma’am, will I be allowed to wear the armor? I mean, if I want to.”
Wonder stared at me in confusion. “Wear the armor? Want to? Why— I mean, yes, of course! Regulations are regulations. If you want to wear the armor, that is fine. Different… but fine. Although the helmet is just going to mess your mane up. Maybe you could leave that on your desk?”
The helmet was the best part! Gah… I should have picked a specialty like Blackberry said. I was here because I was pretty. “Yes, ma’am, I think that is fair.”
She clapped her hooves. “Yay! Okay, so again, I know this isn’t regulation but I like my subordinates to look their best… so mane, makeup, glitter, everything! When a customer comes in, they should look at you and drop their jaw. Then they’ll be too blown away to yell and complain. I call that strategy!”
“Yes, ma’am, I understand. So we just sit at the counter all day and take complaints?”
“More or less.”
“Well, then let’s get to it! I’m going to be the best complaint taker in your office,” I said with an excitement I didn’t feel. “Where do I sit?”
“That’s the spirit! You get the office at the other end there. Come on, I’ll get you settled.”
☼
The complaints office for a city this big seemed to get busy in a hurry. As soon as we’d opened our doors, there were ponies filling every seat in the waiting area. That had been intimidating because they all looked angry.
That didn’t phase my team, though. They’d headed right to the counter and started their work as if nothing was amiss. I’d been shadowing Mythic since I knew her the best so far. Plus, I felt comfortable around her.
My helmet was sitting back on my new desk. Imagine that, a royal guard without a helmet. In the academy, that would have been considered out of uniform but, evidently, not here! Ponies needed to make up their mind. It had crushed my mane down and made it look a mess. Around these ponies, that felt extremely awkward since they were all picture perfect.
“Yes, ma’am, we’re so sorry that the guard trampled your petunias. In his defense, he was chasing down a filly’s escaped puppy, but I know that won’t bring your flowers back,” Mythic said to an angry-looking mare.
“No, it wont! She should have been more careful,” the mare replied.
Mythic leaned in, fluttered her eyes, and then asked sweetly, “We all agree you wouldn’t want us to punish a poor guard just for doing his duty, right? So, what can I do to make this right for you?”
The mare blinked. “Punish him… no. I just… well, my flowers. I worked really hard on them.”
“Yes, ma’am, and I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t bring them back, but what can I do for you about them? You tell me how to make it right and I’ll do it. Could I, perhaps, buy you some new seeds for you to grow so you’d have pretty new flowers? Perhaps even better ones?”
“Seeds? Well… I mean that would be nice. I could grow new petunias…”
With a practiced smile, Mythic quickly put in, “And I bet you enjoyed growing and tending them.”
The mare smiled brightly back and replied, “I did. I could start over and do it even better!”
“That’s the spirit!” Mythic set some paperwork on the counter and said, “Sign here, please.”
The mare did so without hesitation.
“Alright, here is your paperwork, here is a comment card that I would be super grateful if you filled out and left in the box outside and, most important of all, here is a voucher. If you take that voucher down to the logistics office, they’ll issue you bits in the amount necessary to purchase petunia seeds. A lot of them! Of course, I have one, teeny tiny little request…”
“What is that?” the mare asked curiously.
“When you grow those new petunias all big and healthy I’d love it if you took a picture and come show me. They happen to be one of my favorite flowers. Just ask for Mythic if you need anything at all or have those pictures.”
“Thank you, Mythic! I will! I promise I will. Thank you so much for all of your help.”
And just like that the angry mare was gone. I had just stood behind Mythic watching the whole time. The mare was a genius. This was how all of the 'girls' operated, it seemed.
Vice Colonel Wonder’s ideas seemed a little odd but this was literally the fifteenth pony in a row that had come in angry and left smiling, and it hadn’t been that long of a conversation! This group of gorgeous ponies was just turning things around at a breakneck pace.
“You’re really good at that,” I whispered to Mythic.
“Thank you, ma’am. You’ll be just as good soon, too. We’ve got a great system. Just greet, be polite, hear them out, do what we can, and move on to the—“ Her voice raised. “—next pony, please!”
☼
My first day was drawing to a close. I’d been given an office, watched my team work the counter, and now we were all sitting in the back doing paperwork. Our doors closed at three but we worked two hours after to do this portion. Well… two hours or until we were done.
Vice Colonel Wonder had already gone home. She’d done her tasks and cut out before we’d even gotten to four o’clock. Rank has its privilege! Not that I blamed her.
Paperwork was not exciting. It wasn’t dealing with ponies. It was all about metrics that the vice colonel expected us to meet because command expected her to do the same. How many ponies had come in? How long did it take to resolve their issue? How many bits were spent to resolve it? Things like that. So many boring things like that!
I sat by Mythic with my chin on my hoof. She was an expert at sorting through all of the work. Actually, she seemed to be an expert at just about everything in her office. It was hard to pay attention, though. Somepony else had caught my eye.
Van Glorious occupied the desk directly across from Mythic’s. He was, without a doubt, the most perfect stallion imaginable. From physique to look, he was the whole package.
It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if he’d told me he worked out every day of the week. His legs were solid, his chest was broad, and I was pretty sure I could have bounced bits right off his glorious, caramel-colored flank.
Of course, beyond the masculinity there was also a certain prettiness to him. From the perfectly made-up blond mane to the immaculate hooficures to the pristine mirror cutie mark on his rump, he was just a looker. Unfortunately, having adult happy fun times with your subordinates was a major no-no.
“Well, girls, I’m all done here, see you all tomorrow?” Van said before stacking his papers neatly and getting up.
The others replied with various, positive acknowledgements. I did, too.
“Off to the gym for me, then. This body won’t keep itself and, after all, we are the G9! Good looking and all nines or more…” Then his eyes fell on me. “Well, most of us anyway! Night!”
My eyes narrowed as I watched him leave. What kind of crack was that? Was it about my armor? Oh, I’d show him.
Mythic sat her hoof on mine and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, sweetie. He’s that way with all the new girls. He just expects everypony to get on his level.”
“I’m pretty,” I replied.
“Yes you are.”
“I am!”
“You are!”
I was pretty! Maybe not as pretty as these ponies, but I didn’t know this was a fashion show. I got up and said, “Good work today, everypony. I’m super impressed! I can’t wait to learn all I can from you and be the best supervisor ever. For now, though, I need to go.”
“Where?” Mythic asked.
To the salon, obviously! I’d show that pompous stallion a nine! Oh, I’d show him an eleven or twelve. I nibbled on my lip before I could spout that off. “Well… I still have to get some things for my new quarters. I’m still getting moved in.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Well, see you tomorrow, ma’am!”
“Yup, you sure will. Bright and early… sunshine,” I teased before heading out.