Bastion shook his head slightly after Gleam said Bastion might have 'accidentally' shown wisdom. Crotchety old coot indeed. He wondered momentarily if the stallion had forgotten to take his medicine that day, before perking his ears up and turning his attention to Celestia when she responded. Being the obedient soldier he was, Bastion deferred to her wisdom and bowed his head in acknowledgement, before shaking his head after he was asked if there was anything else. This was then followed by him exiting the  room alongside Blossom, an excited grin having been unable to be kept from his face. He glanced over to Blossom as she spoke before snickering at her words, unsure if she meant to mess them up as she did. "I dunno, Salmon," he whispered back, glancing around the immediate area for a moment to make sure there were no prying ears before continuing.

"It could literally be anything. A magical focus, a key to something else, an object for scrying, something imbued with some kind of spell, a power source... I mean, it's an object from the old castle. The possibilities are really endless. Who knows what sort of treasures are in that vault? Secrets long buried? We'll be the first in years to see it. We'll be unearthing history. It's just a shame we'll only be retrieving the one item... But, orders are orders," he said with a shrug before playfully smirking to her. "As for whether I'm the only one excited for this... That's a good question. Are you excited for this?"

Blossom smiled at Bastion, "You have no idea how excited I am for this Bastille. We are finally doing something other than guarding a door for hours on end, something that the princess specifically chose us to do, and..." she trailed off as she saw the door starting to open again, instinctively snapping back to attention. Was the princess already coming out to see them so soon? Nope, it was just Instructor Gleam, muttering to himself about how the two of them were not asked to get anything else from this vault. He didn't even glance their way as he left the room, which didn't bother Blossom at all. He was just being salty. The only other mare to come from the room was the mare who kept track of everything that was said during these little meetings, and seemed to follow Celestia wherever she went.

After watching her go and sit down nearby, Blossom then turned to Bastion again and said, "Only a few seconds to get in the vault and get back out though... that could be pretty hard to do for even one amulet. It is probably for the better that we are only being sent to find one thing. I don't want to think about what it would be like to be trapped in there, with nothing but your own humiliation to keep you company while you wait to be rescued, hoping that you don't starve to death, or worse." After saying that, Blossom looked back at the mare looking over her notepad before deciding to walk over and ask, "Puis-je vous demander, mademoiselle, why is the Princess suddenly so interested in going back to the old castle to get this amulet, and even then, why only just the amulet?"

The mare kept her eyes on the notebook when she was addressed, her finishing the sentence she was rereading while simultaneously turning her ears to listen to the questions of the two guards. Once finished she looked up and gave a small smile, the mare then tapping a hoof lightly onto the ground as she closed her notebook and tucked it up against her body.

"Hold on..." she said, continuing to tap as she scrunched up her face a bit in focus, the pony visibly trying to work something out in her head, "... One sec... I know this... Um... Bonjour! Comment... e-est la météo? Où pa... peh... peut-on trouver... um... une salle de... bains?" She giggled a little before taking ok a slight shade of embarrassment.

"Sorry. I'm trying to improve my understanding of some more languages to help with my job. Juuri nyt olen vain tietää muutamia." Another smile, followed by a blink and ending with a another look of embarrassment. "Er... Anyway, about your questions. Princess Celestia has always been trying to make plans for bringing over the artifacts left at the old castle, but something usually tends to divert her attention. Right now though, Instructor Gleam hasn't been giving her a chance to get distracted as he thinks he's found a good use for the artifact and has been bringing it up with the Princess a lot lately. He wants to study it, and she trusts him, so that on top of her desire to bring these things here already seems a good enough reason to bring it home." The mare took a moment to brush a strand of her mane from her face before glancing back at the door leading to the Princess' chambers

"Or, well, that's how it was a couple weeks ago. Originally this wasn't going to be as big of a deal, but since then we've learned that Gleam might not be the only pony who has been looking into this... Gleam actually does have a point about the magic surrounding the vault at the old castle. It is indeed becoming increasingly outdated as the centuries roll by, the power behind the spells and enchantments also losing some of their energy as well and simply weakening with age, so... if other ponies are looking into this star thing and really did want to get into the old vault, we could have a problem... Add all of this together and we get you two here gearing up to solve this.

"As for why only just the amulet gets to be escorted to the city? Well, if we remove the current item of interest from the old vault and put it somewhere where we're sure nopony can ever get to it without us knowing, the Princess hopes that will remove some of the interest in the old vault for now. You know, once news 'leaks' that its safe and sound. Most of what's in there is really really difficult to find any information on, so chances are the possible ponies looking to pilfer for profit won't know about any of the other nasty knick knacks in there, and why risk your life on a gamble, right? If the ponies were smart enough to learn about the star whatchamathing then they are probably smart enough to avoid one of the most dangerous places in the country once said object is no longer within reach. At least, thats what were hoping. Then there's how taking more than one of what's in there would, as the Princess said, draw too much attention. Should a unicorn anywhere near there do a sweep for magical energies you two would light up like a beacon. Best to keep this low key. Especially when you two are carrying a certain key."

Turning her attention to the stallion of the pair, the mare only shrugged slightly.

"Eh. I already know everything they're going to talk about, so she probably just wanted to discuss a few things other than work. Or maybe more work. I dunno. Either way, if there's anything I need to be made aware of for the Princess' convenience I be filled in when they're done. My name is Pen, by the way. Pen Sketch. Some ponies call me Penny, and I'm Princess Celestia's personal assistant. Number one if you want to get playful about it. If I'm right about you two becoming regulars then I'd like to make sure we at least know each others a bit. Bastion. Blossom. Or do you two prefer to be addressed as Aurora Noctem when together?"

Bastion gave a slight nod of agreement as Blossom said Pen could call them either or, briefly shifting his weight on his hooves as he also glanced over to the door with Blossom. He wasn't entirely sure himself why they were still having to wait outside the door as well, but he supposed the Princess had a good reason. Then as Blossom brought up the last time they'd visited Ponyville, Bastion glanced over to her with a grin and a shrug. "It wasn't that bad of a post. Sorta uneventful, maybe, but there were some pretty interesting things for us to do there. I mean, there could be worse places to be sent..." He let that lie with a shrug before shifting his gaze between Pen and the door beside them, obviously growing more anxious by the moment.

Unbeknownst to Pen, the two of them did have quite a tolerance for waiting for things, given the fact that the two of them would be tasked to stand in front of a single door for hours on end. However, there was a difference between standing guard at a door, and waiting outside of a door for the most important individual in all of the land to come outside and discuss things with them. One of them involved expecting nothing to happen the entirety of the day, though still keeping an eye out for suspicious activities or individuals. The other was understandably much more stressful, especially for those who do not stand around the princess all day, since they needed to be on their best behaviour and able to show their best at all times, even if that included waiting, which they were both very good at.

In fact, Blossom did not do much to showcase any sort of impatience, with her four armoured hooves remaining rooted in place after her enlightening chat with Pen, and the banner on her polearm swaying ever-so-slightly as it was balanced against her side expertly. If there could be any sort of impatience seen in the pinkish coloured mare who stood with as much of a sense of honour and dignity as she could, it would be the eagerness to serve her leader in however way she could. "... many worse places, oui." She muttered in response to Bastion before her ears perked up as the doors opened and Mana walked out, levitating a device for the two of them to see. "Non," she said in response, "we have yet to be given any equipment other than our armour and weapons. Assuming that this Blinker was being offered to them, Blossom would take it and look it over before giving it to Bastion as she asked, "but if her Highness wishes for us to carry one, then we shall."

As Blossom took the amulet, Mana glanced back at Thunder, the pegasus unfurling one of his wings to show another of the amulets being held in his feathers. Mana then gave a nod and almost turned to Pen before hearing the question about the item he'd just given the guards.

"It's a distress beacon of a sort," the unicorn explained with a turn of his head towards the anxious pony, Mana having not explained what the Blinker was as he'd just assumed they'd already known, which would have meant that explaining it to someone who knew about it already would have only been an equal waste of time, "just firmly tap it against any hard surface a few times and it will start to flash. Any other Blinkers nearby will begin to shake and flash along with it to call others in for assistance. Thunder and I are going to be in Ponyville while you two are fetching that artifact from the vault, so the Princess wanted to make sure you had a means of contacting us in case things go bad."

"Anyway, you guys can head out," Thunder spoke up, "The Princess said you two are free to make any preparations you may need before leaving, but once you're ready you can go right away. The sooner the better and all that." Thunder turned to trot away while Mana lingered behind to share a few words with Pen.

Bastion nodded once to Mana's explanation of the amulet and how to activate it, keeping it in mind as Blossom thanked them, his own "thanks" and a farewell wave being offered before he turned to follow her through the castle. He shrugged at her disappointment over the princess not talking to them to finish the briefing, before glancing over to her when she asked about Gleam. "I think we should put that behind us, because we're better than stooping to his level. Not quite professional of us to talk about him behind his back. What all do you have to do before we head off to the train station, Salmon?"