Feather Duster’s eyes widened, clearly horrified by what she’d just been told. “Y-you’re sending me to work for that, that, that…scoundrel?!”
River snorted. “Don’t try and talk as though you’re sophisticated, it’s an insult to those of us who actually are. And yes, you’re going to serve as his personal maid from now on.”
Feather Duster shook her head, a motion that came easily as the rest of her was already starting to shake. “No! I don’t want to be anywhere near him! He’s some kind of monster, I’m sure of it!” She pointed back toward the train station, her hoof trembling. “I don’t know if you saw, but that magic he was using just now? The one that made the all the light? He was changing some sort of, of…creature into a pony!”
“He certainly did,” murmured River, glancing back in the direction indicated. Just the thought of how ravishing Aria had become was enough to make her fantasies take flight once again, imagining herself in the other mare’s place. Certainly, that was a far more enjoyable use of her time than listening to some little nitwit having a panic attack. “And I-”
“Don’t you see?!” cried Feather Duster. “If he can change her into being a pony, then that means that he must be something else too!” She shot a fear-filled glance at the building, as though worried that Lex would hear what she was saying and come after her. “He’s some sort of creature that only looks like a pony! That’s why his magic is so different from a normal unicorn’s! Why he’s so awful to be around!” She shivered, turning a pleading glance back at River. “Please, Miss, don’t send me to work for him! No one here has seen Tryout, and if he’s gone, then I’m all that Cleansweep has! The foals she’s hanging around with now-”
But she couldn’t continue as River took a step closer to her, the expression of icy fury on her face making Feather Duster flinch. “Now you listen to me, you empty-headed little nopony. First, don’t you ever interrupt me, do you understand? While I’m speaking, you are to remain silent until I’m done, no excuses! Second, I don’t care if Lex is a horror from the bottom of Tartarus, you are going to go to him and give him whatever he wants from you.”
The phrasing made Feather Duster’s eyes widen, picking up on the undercurrent. “Wh-whatever he wants from me…?” she echoed.
River smiled, and the expression was cruel. “That’s right. If he tells you to lick the mud from his hooves, you’ll do it for him. If he wants to pluck the feathers from your wings for a spell he’s working on, you’ll give them to him. And if he tells you to bend over and raise your tail, you’ll do that too.”
Feather Duster took a step back, lowering her tail over her rump protectively as she gave River a look of horror. “N-no! I won’t!”
River didn’t let her get away, moving forward as Feather Duster backed up. “Yes,” she replied softly. “You will.”
Feather Duster’s eyes watered, her lip quivering for a moment before she suddenly seemed to find her courage. Mustering herself up with visible effort, she straightened her posture, set her jaw, and furrowed her brows. “No I won’t!” she repeated, her voice louder now. “I don’t work for you anymore, and I don’t have to do what you say!” She licked her lips, breathing deeply as though it had taken everything she’d had to force those words out. “I’m taking my daughter and I’m leaving Vanhoover. We’re going to go live someplace else, and there’s n-nothing that you can do about it!” She flared her wings at that, giving River a look of resolve before turning and marching away, head held high.
River knew that the smart decision was to let her go. If that lowlife was afraid of Lex to the point that it made her so recalcitrant, then she wouldn’t make a good plaything for him anyway. Far better to let her remove herself from the picture entirely. There were still several maids in her employ back at her manor; surely one of them would be more amenable to her plan. It was the smart, logical course of action.
But at that moment, logic was the furthest thing from River’s mind.
“Who exactly do you think you’re talking to?” The words were spoken at a normal volume, but the sheer vitriol in them made Feather Duster jump, turning and looking back at River in alarm. She was right to be concerned: River was slowly stalking toward her with a look of utter fury twisting her features. “I am not some shopkeeper that you can just turn your back on, you miserable little ingrate! You don’t just say you’re taking your business elsewhere! I’m River Bank! I buy and sell ponies worth a dozen of you in an afternoon! You think that you can say no to me? You think that you can just walk away from ME?!”
Feather Duster’s wings spread, but she couldn’t bring herself to fly away. She knew she wasn’t the bravest of ponies – that was part of the reason she’d been so attracted to Tryout, since he’d never seemed to be afraid of anything – but she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this frightened. Terror kept her rooted in place, unable to move as River advanced on her like a serpent about to devour a mouse.
River saw the other mare’s fear, but it wasn’t nearly enough to assuage her anger. Weeks, she thought to herself in a rage. Weeks of having to cut corners and stretch funds in Las Pegasus, with everypony there knowing it and laughing at me behind my back! Just the memory was enough to make her bristle, remembering each snide remark and knowing glance. She knew that in their eyes it had marked her as a pretender, a low-class pony with pretensions above her station, and the memory was like a knife in her spine. Then I come home, and what do I find? Everything I’ve spent my life building, gone! That had been bad enough, but she hadn’t even had time to process it before the next disaster had struck. And THEN Lex curses me to not be able to enjoy what little I have left, only to turn around and start parading my heart’s desire right in front of me! And now this piece of gutter-trash, this weak-willed little failure of a pony who isn’t fit to grovel in my presence thinks that I’m so beaten that she can refuse my orders?!
It was the last straw, the final insult that was more than she could bear. It wasn’t about giving Lex a pretty girl to play with anymore; it was about putting this little upstart in her place. And River knew just how to do that. “If you leave,” she hissed, “I will do everything I can to make you suffer for it. You and your little girl both.”
The way Feather Duster’s eyes widened still wasn’t sufficient to soothe the rage coursing through River’s veins, and she kept going. “I have friends and associates in every city in Equestria, and I can ruin you with just one letter to them. I’ll tell them that your work was sloppy, that you were unpleasant and unreliable, and that I fired you because I caught you stealing. And I won’t stop there, either. I will drag your name through the mud across all of Equestria, until everypony knows that Feather Duster is someone they don’t want to be around!”
Feather Duster’s eyes filled with tears. “But, but that’s not…!”
“True? Trust me when I say that I’ll make it true!” growled River, now nose-to-nose with Feather Duster. “I’m a pillar of this community, and you’re somepony that no one’s ever heard of! And I promise you, I will ruin you before you can even arrive at another city, and you’ll find it impossible to work as a maid ever again by the time I’m done.” River didn’t bother to entertain the idea that Feather Duster would ever bother trying a different line of work; her cutie mark made it very clear that she was meant to be a servant. “What do you think will happen to your little girl then, hm? She’ll spend the rest of her childhood living just like she is now, homeless and hungry because her mother can’t find work. And she will know that it’s because of you, and she’ll grow to hate you for it.”
Uncertainty was written all over Feather Duster’s face now, and River knew that she was thinking about the fight she’d just been having with her daughter. “N-no, she…”
Seeing her wavering, River moved in for the kill. “How long do you think it will take before she never wants to speak to you again, hm? How long before she starts wishing that her father was still here and you were the one that hadn’t made it? How long,” she leaned in closer, putting her lips next to Feather Duster’s ear as she whispered the final threat, “before she decides that she has no mother, and you never see her again?”
She could almost hear the little nag’s heart breaking, a sob escaping Feather Duster’s lips. But there was still a flicker of defiance in her eyes as she backed away from her. “I’ll tell the princesses,” she whimpered. “I know they’re here. I’ll tell them that you threatened me-”
River laughed in her face. “Go right ahead. They’re staying in my manor,” she gestured back toward the building. “Of course, when I tell them you’re unhinged and a liar, who do you think they’ll believe? Me, a famous pony who spent the last few hours telling them how I want to do everything I can to help restore my home? Or you, the hysterical mare that’s carrying a grudge against me because I fired you?”
The light of hope in Feather Duster’s eyes died then, drowned by a fresh wave of tears. “How can you do this?” she hiccupped. “How can you be so horrible like this?”
A shudder of satisfaction ran down River’s spine. She’s broken. The despair and hopelessness in the other mare’s voice was what she had been waiting to hear. It settled over her like a warm blanket, reassuring her that she was still the strong and powerful pony that she’d built herself up to be over the years. “You’re the one doing it. However awful Lex is, a real mother would jump at the chance to sacrifice herself if it meant securing a better future for her child. Your selfishness in trying to run away is what’s to blame, not me.”
She leaned back then, having to fight the urge to smile as she saw the tears running down Feather Duster’s cheeks. “B-but I don’t want-”
“You see?” cut in River. “Your home has been devastated, your husband is gone, your friends and neighbors are homeless, and your daughter barely has enough food to eat…and all you can do is talk about what you want.” She let that sink in, giving River a look of righteous condescension for several seconds before she spoke again. “Go work for Lex. Take the money. Do what a mother is supposed to do and provide a better life for your daughter. Or be selfish and suffer the consequences. It’s your choice.”
Feather Duster slumped in place then, continuing to cry softly. River didn’t press her for an answer, able to find it within herself to be magnanimous now that she’d won. Her patience was rewarded a minute later when Feather Duster looked up, all signs of resistance gone from her face. “Alright,” she sniffled meekly. “I’ll do it.”
“Good girl,” purred River. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up before I present you to your new boss. And while we do, I can tell you what you’ll be doing for me in the meantime…”