“Home sweet home.”
Murmuring to herself as she approached her manor, River couldn’t help but sigh as she slowed down, taking a moment to compose herself. She hadn’t had a chance to do much of that over the last few days, and years of experience taught her that there would likely be even fewer chances in the days ahead. Especially with how dead-set Blueblood was on pushing a confrontation with Lex.
“With emphasis on the ‘dead’ part,” she muttered, doing what she could to fix her appearance. A glance at the mountains showed that the sun was just starting to peak above them, which meant that Lex was probably already awake. As much as she doubted he’d notice, let alone care, about how she looked, long-ingrained habit made River want to be at her best before going into an important meeting, particularly after how frazzled the last few days had left her.
As she’d predicted, her meeting with Prince Blueblood had spread through Las Pegasus like a wildfire. By the time she’d woken up the next morning, River had received over a dozen messages at the front desk of the Galloway Bay. But she hadn’t had a chance to read them, since Pretty Penny (who had clearly alerted her staff to inform her when River emerged from her room) had been waiting to invite her to breakfast, where she’d eschewed any pretense of subtlety in favor interrogating her – with all the enthusiasm of a schoolgirl wanting to hear how her friend’s big date went – about her meeting with the prince.
Or at least, she’d tried to. Their breakfast had been crashed by several important ponies, ranging from Checkered Cab, who was in charge of the city’s largest taxi service, to Rant ‘n’ Rave, one of the most famous show reviewers in Las Pegasus. Each pony just so happened to have business with Pretty Penny that couldn’t seem to wait, and was absolutely delighted to find that River was there as well since they’d all heard the most interesting rumor about her and Prince Blueblood taking a little jaunt up to Vanhoover.
And that had just been a preview of what was waiting for her when she’d made her way back to her aerial yacht.
There had been close to a dozen ponies of note – including Razzle Dazzle and Gladmane – lingering around where her airship had been parked, trying hard not to look like they were waiting for her to show up. In addition to almost a half-dozen who had followed her there from the Galloway Bay Resort, nearly everypony who was anypony in Las Pegasus had been there. Everypony except Pixie. She had already been inside, sleeping off the effects of her overindulgence the previous night, and had gone unnoticed by River until after they’d taken off.
Apparently, River had learned later, when she’d dumped Pixie in her carriage and told the chauffeurs to take her home, she had – in her excitement to meet Prince Blueblood – forgotten to inform them exactly where Pixie’s home was. Since none of the stallions had recognized Jack Pot’s soon-to-be-ex-wife on sight, nor were privy to River having gotten a room at the Galloway Bay, they’d taken Pixie the only place they could think of: back to the airship where they’d started the evening. Certainly, Pixie had been in no condition to tell them otherwise. And the servants waiting back on the yacht had, for better or for worse, had taken one look at the semi-conscious mare stumbling out of the same carriage their employer had left in and taken it upon themselves to tuck her in for the night, figuring that she was their boss’s guest.
Fortunately, Jack Pot and Big Bucks hadn’t been among the ponies who’d been waiting to try and secure a place on her yacht. Apparently, one of the servants had told her, the duo had a new assistant whom they were working hard to bring up to speed. River, knowing that hearing that would likely set Pixie off again, had subsequently warned her staff not to speak of that again if they valued their jobs.
Of course, the star of the scene had been Prince Blueblood, who had arrived a few minutes after River with a bevy of servants all his own.
Refusing to be upstaged by the crowd, who had quickly turned their attention to the arriving royal, River had made sure to greet the prince in a flamboyant manner. Laying it on as thick as she could, she had lavishly welcomed him aboard her yacht, thanking him profusely for accompanying her back home even as she lamented that her accommodations weren’t of sufficient grandeur for a pony of his noble stature. But as aggravating as it had been when Prince Blueblood had clucked his tongue and agreed that her “dingy little barge” was beneath him, River had grinned and borne it graciously. After all, her presentation hadn’t been for him; it had been to make it clear to all of the other ponies that she was the one running the show, which meant that when she invited all of them to come along on their little excursion after the prince had boarded, it was with one very clear understanding:
You owe me.
Of course, River knew her ability to collect on that would depend very much on what happened when Blueblood met Lex…
But that was largely out of her hooves now. When they had cast off, she knew full well that for all intents and purposes, it had marked the end of her mission. With no stopovers or detours planned, everypony was now committed to the journey back to Vanhoover.
She had succeeded.
But knowing why Blueblood was making the trip dampened her enthusiasm. As much as she was certain that Lex had to have a plan to secure the loan he wanted, she could only hope that he’d find the presence of a prince – even one that was stuck-up and belligerent – to be an opportunity rather than a derailment. Or if not, that he at least wouldn’t blame her for it…
Her persistent anxiety made getting home feel like it took forever, and Blueblood’s rampant narcissism didn’t help. Although River knew she could have avoided the latter if she’d stayed in her suite for the entire trip back, not playing the attentive hostess would have been a major faux pas. That, and she needed to tacitly monitor the prince’s conversations in case he mentioned anything about the “hoodlum” in Vanhoover who had “upset” Celestia and Luna. The odds of that were slim; Blueblood’s favorite topics were himself and his shallow interests, and everypony else was all too eager to feed his ego or try and talk themselves up, but River forced herself to remain vigilant nonetheless. The looming meeting between Lex and Blueblood was one that struck her as destined to end in spectacular failure, but if that happened it wouldn’t be because she hadn’t done everything she could!
That was why, when they’d finally made port at Vanhoover in the pre-dawn hours of the morning, she’d rushed off the instant her staff had deployed the naval-conversion unit. Leaving them with instructions to entertain her guests before disembarking, River had summoned up all of her courage to venture into the dark, empty city, her recent encounter with one of those ghoul monsters still fresh in her mind. Fortunately she hadn’t seen any hint of them during her mad dash through the silent streets, slowing her pace only when she’d emerged from the other side of Vanhoover.
And now…now she was finally home.
But River’s relief was cut short as the front door opened and a pony emerged. Pausing to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her in the low light, River scowled as the pony began to sweep the front steps. But it wasn’t the action that upset her; it was the identity of the pony that made her frown. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The pony – a very familiar mare clad in a maid uniform – jumped at the sound of her voice, wings flaring as she nearly dropped her broom. “Wh-, Miss Bank?!”
“What,” growled River, striding right up until she was right in Feather Duster’s face, “do you think you’re doing?!”
“I’m, uh…” Pausing as she collected herself, Feather Duster gathered her broom up with her wings, holding it in front of herself as though it were a shield. “I’m cleaning,” she answered at last.
River’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t get cute with me. Why are you out here now?” Even if Lex was an early riser, River knew that for a maid to already be up and about this early, she must have spent at least an hour waking up, having breakfast, and getting ready before starting work. That meant she would have had to have slunk out of bed quite a while ago, which seemed unlikely if Lex and his collection of coquettes had spent the night putting her through her paces. Nor was that the only thing wrong with this picture. “And why are you dressed like that?!”
Feather Duster was wearing a normal maid uniform, which was exactly the problem: a normal maid uniform, with a skirt that was almost ankle-length, rather than stopping at her waist and showing off her cutie mark. It wasn’t an eye-catching ensemble the way her old outfit had been. That, combined with her being up and about so early, pointed to an upsetting conclusion. “Did you not sleep with him?!”
Feather Duster flinched. “I-”
“I don’t believe you!” hissed River, the other mare’s face telling her everything she needed to know. “Didn’t I tell you what would happen if you didn’t put out for him?! Didn’t I?!”
“Yes, but-”
“I gave you one job to do!” After several days of having to suck up to that conceited prince, to say nothing of worrying about what would happen when he and Lex met, this was the last straw. River had assigned Feather Duster the job of warming Lex’s bed not because she thought the stupid mare would be a good lay – compared to Sonata and Aria, she doubted the little ingenue knew how to do anything except put her head down and her tail up – but because she wanted to extend Lex every possible hospitality in an effort to make herself as indispensable as she could. And having her staff cater to his every whim was an important part of that. And now this pathetic excuse for a maid was jeopardizing that all because she’d gotten cold hooves! “One job! And I made it clear what I’d do to you and your brat if you failed!”
“Miss Bank, please! I-”
“Shut up!” snarled River, suddenly furious. For a moment she wanted to indulge herself in tearing this disobedient little nopony to pieces. Who did she think she was, acting like she was too good to use her body to get ahead?! But River knew she didn’t have the luxury of losing her temper now, not when she needed to hurry and inform Lex about exactly who she’d brought back to Vanhoover with her.
Closing her eyes, River counted to ten, forcing herself to calm down. It was only after she’d regained control of herself that she opened them again, giving Feather Duster an imperious glare. “Go pack your things,” she ordered coldly. “You’re no longer welcome here. And when I’m through with you, you won’t be welcome anywhere.” With that dark promise, River turned to march into her manor.
But Feather Duster’s voice stopped her before she made it to the door. “Miss Bank, wait! Master Legis told me that he wanted to see us when you arrived!”
River immediately homed in on which part of that sounded wrong. “‘Us’? What do you mean he wanted to see ‘us’?”
“You and me,” replied Feather Duster. “He said that as soon as you got back, he wanted to see us both.”
“About what?” demanded River, a fresh round of anxiety suddenly coming over her.
Her tension worsened when she glanced back and saw that Feather Duster’s expression, far from looking terrified the way she would have expected, was oddly composed. “About what you told me to do for him.”