16. Who Pulls the Strings
Shim and the musician must have come to some agreement as the very next day there was an announcement made. The crowd whispered excitedly amongst itself at the reveal that Princess Shmarity would be gracing the Provenance Festival with her presence. It would only be for an hour or so, Shim had said, but in that time they would be sure to allow the princess to say a few words and further spread the message of the Great Protector.
The rest of the week was spent preparing for the festival, with Shim and her sister working on a schedule for that day and drafting out the speech Rarity was to give. Whenever she was brought up to Shim’s room, Rarity would find the writing desk covered in sheets of parchment and the floor littered with crumbled wads and empty inkwells. The sermons were canceled, and instead of going out to spread the glory of the Great Protector, Shim and Rarity spent the days practicing and rewriting, changing this word and reworking that phrase. Intonations were directed, emphases replaced, articulations stressed and committed to memory. Shim left nothing to chance when it came to this address, and she made sure that the musician understood that there would be no room for risks or variables this time, no improvisation, no surprises. Keep her under control and stick to the script, Shim had instructed, and with evident reluctance, the musician conceded.
The day before the scheduled festival soon arrived, and at this point Shim was finally feeling satisfied with her speech and Rarity’s performance of it. The final rehearsal came and went, the itinerary for tomorrow reviewed and memorized, the room cleaned and put back into order, and that night, like most other night, Shim and the musician went down to visit them. The bowls of stew and the bread that normally came with them were, however, absent. All that was provided for tonight’s supper was some water.
“Aw, don’t give me that look,” the musician said with a sneer as she pushed in the jug. “They’ll be plenty of food at the festival tomorrow. We just want to make you’ll have the appetite. Well, her anyways,” she added with a motion toward Rarity before turning and grinning at Burgo. “You, we really just don’t like.”
“Indeed.” Shim took her position before the bars as the musician stepped back and secured the vault. “A pity, Mr. Mayor, that you will be missing out on such an important event. From what I gather, the mayor tends to play a significant role in the Provenance Festival.”
Burgo scowled and grunted something under his breath, but the insolence was unmistakable. At this, Shim simply smiled, her face illuminated by the lamp that she had brought down. “You may wish to know that I have had ponies ask of you. Many are wondering if you’ll be there tomorrow, and, well, I had to disappoint several ponies today. Perhaps, had you been a bit more flexible, we could’ve have come to some sort of agreement. You are, after all, still useful.” She shook her head. “Oh well, I suppose there’s always next year.”
The jug smashed against the bars. Pieces of ceramic flew into the room as water splashed onto the floor right in front of Shim. With an amused chuckle, she and the musician left Burgo and Rarity to wallow in their hunger. The last of the water in Rarity’s canteen was shared between them in an attempt to at least take the edge off the pain in their bellies, but it was hardly enough to make a much of difference.
Neither spoke much as the two got ready for bed, making sure everything was in place. For a good while, Rarity lay there on the provided bedroll as her empty stomach and a nervousness regarding the coming day kept her conscious, and from the lack of snoring coming from the cot, Burgo Masters was also struggling to fall asleep. Eventually, however, as the hours went by, their eyes became heavy, and slumber soon followed. Night passed. They awoke as they usually did, without any indication of whether it was really morning or not, and after some stretching and some face rubbing, the two turned to watch the door of the room.
“Are you going to be alright?” Rarity asked after Burgo let out another yawn. He had been fidgeting for some time already.
“Yeah, just, you know, I’m fine,” he tried to assure as he rolled his shoulders and his front hooves against the floor. “I’ll be fine. Just, I don’t like all this waiting.”
His body stiffened as the door swung open, and in stepped Shim and the musician. The mare in the white robes approached the vault’s window. “Good morning, miss, Mr. Mayor,” she greeted with a nod toward each pony as she addressed them. “I hope you are—“
Burgo didn’t let Shim finish. He rushed forward, causing Shim to take an instinctive step back and her sister to pull out a dagger. His foreleg suddenly wrapped around Rarity and pulled her roughly toward the stallion into what might have been seen as an embrace had it not been for the knife Burgo Masters was now pressing against the front of her neck.
“Nopony move!” he barked, holding the knife up higher to ensure that the blade was clearly visible.
The color from Shim’s face drained away. “What are you—“
“I said don’t move!” Burgo forced Rarity’s head up, inciting a pained gasp from her as he hovered the tip of the blade over her exposed throat. “You think I won’t do it? I know just how vital this mare is to your plans. You want to see what happens when your ‘princess’ isn’t around anymore to tell your followers what to believe?”
“Burgo, Mr. Masters, you need to calm down,” Shim said, holding up her hooves. “You don’t want to do hurt her.”
“Shut up!” Burgo looked over to the musician. “Drop your weapon. I said drop it!”
The dagger clattered against the floor. “Alright. Now you’re going to unlock the door,” he demanded, nodding to the vault’s gate. “Then you’re going to let me out, and I don’t want you giving me any trouble. Otherwise.” Burgo made a slashing motion across Rarity’s neck.
Shim and the musician turned to each other, their discomfort evident in the shared glance. Burgo made another gesture. “Alright, alright,” Shim said, nodding to the musician who started toward the gate. “Now please, put the knife down. I’m sure we can work something out.”
“There’s nothing to work out,” growled Burgo. “You’re going to let me out and then—“
“And then what?” Shim asked, her hooves lowering. “You’ll step outside into the crowded streets with her as your hostage? The whole town is out there right now, and keeping in mind that everypony out there believes her to be the princess, what do you think will happen? You won’t even make it out of this building.” Shim slowly started making her way toward the bars.
Burgo raised the knife back up to Rarity’s neck. “Not another step! I know what I’m doing. You can’t trick me.”
Shim stopped her approach. “There’s no trick. There’s no place in Horshire for you anymore, not with how you are now, but if you work with us, I know we can come up with a way that will benefit us all.”
The gate of the vault slowly opened. Burgo, with Rarity still in his grasp, started moving toward the exit only to find the way blocked by the musician armed with her instrument, the last few strums of the lyre’s still vibrating strings continuing to echo through the vault as she started to smile.
“You really don’t want to do this. Drop the knife and let the mare go.”
The mayor of Horshire released both the knife and Rarity. The blade fell to the floor, and as Rarity’s legs gave way, so did she. She brought a shaking hoof up to her throat and looked up at Burgo. The stallion’s expression was a mostly vacant one as he looked to the musician and waited expectantly.
“Good. Now apologize.”
Immediately, he lowered his head, first to the musician, then to Rarity and Shim. “I’m sorry.”
“Well then.” The musician let out a relieved sigh as she went over to retrieve her dagger and, after ordering both Burgo and Rarity to back away, went into their cell to pick up Burgo’s weapon. “That was a close one,” she said, pocketing the knife. “Now, er, let’s see. What now?” She glanced over to Shim. “Hey, Sis?”
Shim’s face was still pale, and the color was only returning slowly as she paced across the length of the room, muttering furiously to herself.
“Sis!”
“What?” Shim snapped. “What is it?”
“Just wanted to know what’re we going to do now. Yeesh, no need to go biting off my head.” The musician gestured toward Rarity. “I mean, I’m guessing that plan of yours wasn’t accounting for this to happen.”
“No, it did not,” Shim grumbled. “Oh, goodness me, what are we going do, what are we going to do?”
“You know, I’ve got another spell left for the day. I could get try and get her under the charm too. We could get them both out there to play the crowd.”
“No, that won’t work,” Shim declared, shooting down the suggestion with a quick shake of her head. “You know the charm only lasts for so long, and we have so much that needs to be done. That other spell slot was to extend its duration. Ugh!”
“Alright, alright, don’t pop a blood vessel,” the musician said. She looked back into the vault and at Burgo. “Maybe we can still make this work. We’ve got the mayor under our control. Let’s just have him do the speech. We can play this off as him recovering his faith or seeing the light or whatever.”
“They’re expecting the princess, not some fat, useless bureaucrat!” Shim exclaimed with a wild wave.
“Hey!”
“She doesn’t mean it. Really, we don’t think you’re useless,” the musician assured, quickly calming Burgo down before turning back to the panicking mare. “Well what else are we supposed to do? Just make some excuse up about her being sick or tired or whatever.”
“It’s not that simple,” Shim said, her voice weighed low with frustration and anger. “Right now, she’s a symbol of the Great Protector’s power. How do you think the town will react if that symbol can’t make even a simple appearance because of some fatigue? Ponies are going to get suspicious and start asking questions.”
“Well I don’t see you coming up with any ideas,” the musician growled, her temper flaring. She turned to Burgo and Rarity. “Come on you two, back me up on this. At least I’m throwing out possible solutions and actually trying to do something, right?”
Burgo nodded. “All your ideas sound fine,” he said. “I don’t get why Shim doesn’t like them. I could give the speech, no problem.”
“See? Even the fat, useless bureaucrat, her words not mine,” the musician added with a glance toward the mayor, “gets it.” She turned to Rarity. “And what about, oh, right. You’re not under the charm. Well you could still at least say something.”
“That’s enough,” Shim interjected before Rarity could open her mouth. She had since come to a stop and held a hoof up to her forehead. “Just, give me a moment.” She let out a long sigh and took in a deep breath. A good few seconds passed before she finally exhaled. “Alright. What’s done is done, and there’s no way around it. The mayor will just have to give the speech, and we’ll just have to deal with whatever comes after. There’s no time to rework the speech so just, have him act mayoral or something.”
The musician nodded. “Hear that?” she said to Burgo. “You get to play mayor again.”
At this, the sole stallion in the room smiled. “Get him shaved and looking presentable,” Shim instructed with a sniff. “And do what you can about the smell. We might have some perfume still lying around somewhere. I’ll see what I can do to minimize the inevitable resulting backlash.”
“Got it. The musician tucked away her lyre and motioned Burgo over to her. “Come on, let’s get going,” she said, and at her command, the stallion stumbled toward the vault’s entrance.
“Wait.”
Burgo did not stop, but Rarity’s exclamation did draw Shim and the musician’s attention and give them noticeable pause, and when the two turned to her, they wore looks of surprise and confusion. Rarity got up off the floor and in a shaking voice, she said, “I-I have something to say. Please.”
Shim and the musician shared a glance before turning back to Rarity. “Very well,
but make it quick,” Shim said, motioning her to continue. “What do you want?”
“I—“ Rarity steadied herself with a quick inhale. “Please, let me do the speech.”
A long silence answered her before Shim did. “I’m sorry, what was that?” she said with an eyebrow cocked.
“I, I want to join you. I thought he was, and he, he tried to, and, I can’t do this anymore.” Rarity’s voice shook once more as her hoof was again lifted up to the spot the knife had been pressed against. “I can’t stand being down here any longer, not if it means being around, him.” Her lower lip was trembling, her eyes pleading. “I can do the speech. We’ve worked so hard on it, and I know exactly how you want it done. Please, I beg you, just let me out.”
Shim turned to the musician. “She’s not under your spell, is she?”
“What? Oh no, no. She’s saying all this willingly,” said the musician with a shake of her head. She broke into a wide grin. “But heck, this is great. Now we don’t have to worry about, hey Mr. Mayor, what was Shim so worried about again?”
“She was worried that if the mare who the town thinks is the princess doesn’t show up at the festival, our reputation will fall and ponies might stop believing in your made-up religion,” Burgo answered before frowning and scratching at his beard. “I mean, I think that’s what she was saying.”
“Right, that,” the musician said, shrugging as Shim pressed her lips together and threw her an annoyed glare. “So that’s all cleared up. The town will still have their ‘princess,’ our reputation stays safe, nothing to worry about.”
“Yes, so it would seem,” Shim said slowly. She had turned her gaze onto Rarity, staring even her sister continued to ramble excitedly.
“And now we’ve got the mayor back under our control too,” the musician cackled. “Oh, this is great. Come on, you two, let’s get ready. We’ll have you both give speeches. It’ll be great. The crowd’s going to love you, going to love us, and—“
“That wasn’t the plan,” Shim interrupted, her eyes narrowing. “We both agreed, no sudden changes, no improvising, no surprises, not today.”
“Yes, well, it’s a little late for ‘no surprises,’” the musician said with an exasperated wave at Burgo before letting out a sigh. “Look, I know how important this is, I’m the one who pushed for her giving the big speech, remember? I get that there’s a lot on the line here and that you really wanted everything to be perfect and without any risks and everything according to plan. You’ve been like that since we were foals, but sometimes we’ve got to work with what we’ve got, and right now, we’ve got both the princess here to preach your message and the town’s mayor to announce his renewed allegiance to work with. If anything, we’re in an even better position than before. I mean, you see what kind of opportunity we have here, don’t you?”
“I do,” Shim answered with some reluctance in her voice after a moment of silence.
“And you’re not seriously going to let that opportunity slip away just because it wasn’t in the plan, are you?”
Shim sighed. “No. No, you’re right,” she said. “Alright then. We’ll do it your way and have them both speak at the opening ceremonies. Just,” she added with a wince, “make completely sure that he’s under control. We won’t survive this if anything like the last time we had him out in public happens.”
“Don’t worry,” the musician said as she again beckoned Burgo Masters toward her. “I’ll make sure.”
She and Burgo soon exited the room and left Shim and Rarity with only each other. A couple of seconds passed in uncomfortable stillness before Rarity dared to take a wary step toward the vault’s open entrance. She stopped when Shim turned to face her, as if the mare’s line of sight had paralyzing properties, and for a good long moment, the two stood there, staring at each other.
“May I?” Rarity finally requested, pointing to the opened gate.
“Hm? Oh, yes.” Shim cleared her throat. “Right. Come along then. There’s still much to be done.” And with that, she led Rarity out of the room, to the staircase, and up to the ground floor, looking over her shoulder every other second or so to make sure Rarity was keeping up. Neither spoke until they had entered that familiar hall, when Shim suddenly stopped and turned to Rarity with a frown on her face.
“Would you, by any chance, happen to know how the mayor managed to get that knife?”
The question came with an uncomfortably intense stare that left Rarity’s mouth dry. She quickly swallowed before answering. “It, was mine,” she admitted. “I had it in my saddlebags.”
“Saddlebags?” Shim repeated, her frown deepening with confusion. “Did you have, ah, I can’t remember. And where are these saddlebags now?”
“Under the bed in the vault.”
“Hm, is that right?” Shim hummed, more to herself. “We’ll need to take a look later. Until we can ensure there’s nothing else in them that’s, suspect, consider those belongings of yours confiscated.”
“I understand.”
“Good.” They continued their way down to the end of the hall and reached Shim’s personal room. “I apologize if I am appearing short with you. With everything that’s happened already today, my patience has been, tested.” She reached for the door’s handle. “Rest assured, your cooperation is very much appreciated. It is a little late, but you will be rewarded accordingly.”
The door was opened, but neither stepped inside as the messy, ransacked state of the room was revealed. The floors, which had been clear when Rarity had last seen them yesterday, were once again littered with sheets and balls of paper and bits of trash and anything else that might have been swept off of the writing desk onto the ground. The nightstand’s drawers were ripped open, and Shim’s wardrobe was ajar. The contents of both could be found scattered about, with small personal effects like cloth handkerchiefs and gold necklaces on the floor and robes tossed onto the unmade bed and over the head of the stallion who stood in the center of the room with a dagger in his grasp and a bowl of water at his side.
“Oh good, you’re finally here,” the musician called from her position sprawled on the floor. She pulled her head out from the space beneath the bed. “What was taking you so long?”
Shim stared the blade the stallion was holding. “What’s going on?”
“Huh? Oh, you know, just looking for that perfume you mentioned,” the musician answered before sticking her head back under the bed. “And also some bandages.”
“Bandages?” Shim slowly inched into the room, keeping an eye on the armed stallion. “What happened?”
“Eh, nothing to worry about,” the musician assured. “I couldn’t find a razor in here and didn’t think there was time to go out to get one so I just gave the mayor my dagger. It, ah, didn’t really work, but I wouldn’t worry, it probably won’t leave anything we can’t cover up.”
Through grit teeth, Shim groaned as she snatched the dagger out of Burgo’s hold and removed the cloth from his head. “Alright, stop.” She made her way into the room and, after some rummaging, gathered a couple of brushes and combs into a bag and picked out a set of clean robes that were still hanging in the wardrobe. “Give me the key to the mayor’s old room. I’ll get her started over there then come help you with getting him ready. Just, stop making a mess.”
The musician got up, and, with a shrug, she dug out a ring of keys from her colorfully decorated vest and tossed it over to Shim. Shim, not bothering to even attempt a catch, picked the keys off the floor and exited the recently disheveled room. Rarity followed her back a little ways to a new door, and there she watched Shim first undo a chain latch and a set of bolts fastened to the door and its frame before taking a key to the locked handle.
“Here we are,” Shim announced as she opened the door and motioned Rarity inside. The room they entered was similar to Shim’s own, with an adequately size bed and a nightstand to its side, a small desk against one wall and a personal bureau with a cracked mirror at the one across, and even a shaggy red mat in the room’s center. The room was lit with the natural sunlight streaming through the glass window.
“This room was once the mayor’s,” Shim was explaining as Rarity walked around and absorbed her new settings. “He’s, ah, left his mark in some places,” she said, nodding toward the damaged mirror, “but for the time being, I believe you will find it satisfactory. As I’ve said, your continued cooperation will be rewarded, and depending how things go, we’ll see to getting you some additional comforts.”
Rarity pointed to the bed. “Those sheets, have they been washed since the mayor last used them?”
The smile Shim had given Rarity wavered slightly, and there was a short pause before she answered, saying, “They will be before the day’s end.” She set down the bag of brushes and such and the robes. “I’ll be back with some water and a wash cloth. I trust you can get started on your own mane?”
Rarity tossed her mane back over her shoulder and brushed aside a few clinging strands. “Oh, I believe I’ll manage,” she said, and despite her situation and current standing, she couldn’t help but add a little sass to her tone.
If Shim noticed any of the remark’s snideness, she didn’t show it. “Good,“ the mare said, and she turned and left the room. The door closed behind her, and there was the clicks of the lock being closed and of the bolts sliding back into their slots soon after. The sound of Shim’s hooves against the wood floorboards as she walked away slowly dissipated until there was nothing else to hear from the door’s other end.
Rarity grabbed the bag and the robes and brought them over to the dresser and the mirror before making her way to the window. Any thoughts of escaping through there were abandoned at the sight of the metal bars on the other side of the glass, and as she looked into a dark and dingy alleyway, the kind of unattractive space found between buildings that led nowhere and was largely just there to accumulate trash, Rarity recognized just how improbable the idea of flagging down a passing pedestrian for help would be.
If it really were that simple, Burgo Masters would have long since gotten free. Rarity tore herself from the window with a small sigh and walked back to the mirror. As she spread her supplies out on the dresser’s surface, she look up at her reflection for the first time in a long while. It wasn’t a perfect representation of her appearance, the branching crack that ran all across the reflective glass having left some details obscured, but it was certainly better than trying to catch a glimpse of herself in a pool of water.
Her reaction to her own appearance was mixed. The mare staring back at her was far from the standards Rarity held herself to, but it could have been much worse considering that she had spent about a week underground in an unventilated vault and the week prior on the road.
How long had she been away from home? It must have been close to a couple of weeks now at least, a stretch of time that had already exceeded the lengths of any of her previous missions and adventures. Rarity’s thoughts started wandered and turn to those of Ponyville. She wondered how her business was doing in her absence, how her family must have worried from not hearing from her for so long, how her friends must be working tirelessly for a way to bring back not just her but also Spike and Discord.
That is, if the rest of them hadn’t also been brought to these strange, foreign lands. Rarity shook herself mentally and refocused herself. Concentrate on saving Spike and Discord first. Then, with the draconequus’s nigh limitless magic, the three of them could figure out what to do after, whether it be to locate the rest of their friends or simply return to Equestria.
Rarity turned her attention back to her reflection. Those washes she had been roughly subjected to had kept her face clear of dirt at the very least, though she could have used some moisturizing soap or maybe even a mud mask and would most definitely be taking a facial treatment at the first spa she’d come across. What was far more concerning was the condition of her hair. Just as Rarity thought, Shim’s attempts at styling her mane, while successful in removing the tangles and keeping it neat and presentable, had left it dull, flat, and lifeless. Rarity immediately picked up a brush and got to work, and slowly, as she continued to brush and comb and caress, some of her mane’s luster had returned. The color was revived, its volume brought back, and there was now a shine and a brightness that had been missing before. It wasn’t perfect by any means, and she was still missing much of her signature curls, but it was the closest she could get to her mane’s former glory with the tools she had to work with, and with that, Rarity was content.
The Rarity in the mirror was now looking more like the Rarity she remembered herself as, sans the massive crack that split her face in two and left her eyes uneven and her smile crooked, and so she moved to the robes. Rarity removed the ones she had been wearing and quickly sniffed at the cloak she had underneath it and made a face. There was a slight sour smell to it. Again, it could have been much worse considering how long it had been on and the conditions it had been through, but she would need to give it a wash before much longer. And speaking of which, as much as she’d like to deny it, Rarity would also be needing a bath quite soon.
She heard the undoing of the door’s locks as she was just getting the new set of robes on. In stepped Shim with a large bowl and a towel who stopped and stood there blinking when Rarity turned to face her. “We should have had you fix your own mane to begin with,” she said, quickly recovering. “I have to say, you’ve done an impressive job capturing that regal style.”
Shim placed the bowl and cloth down at Rarity’s side and stepped back to give her some space to wash up. Once Rarity had finished thoroughly wiping down her face and neck, the two mares left the room, leaving the used towel and the basin behind to be cleaned up later. Instead of returning to Shim’s room, however, they continued to the bank’s front lobby where there was already a bit of a gathering as robed ponies ran about with baskets and bouquets. Those who saw Shim and Rarity stopped whatever task they had been doing and instead rushed over to them to give excited greetings and overly enthusiastic compliments. The crowd around Rarity quickly grew as more and more ponies took notice.
Shim clapped her hooves together loudly. “That’s enough. Everypony, back to work. There’s still much to be done. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time to talk later,” she assured over a few raised protests. “There’s been, a change in plans, and the princess might have some more free time than expected.”
At this, the crowd’s excitement grew with fervor that carried on even as the ponies dispersed and returned to their duties. Shim stopped one of the passing stallion with a request for some food. “Something light, for the princess,” she instructed, and soon Rarity had herself a modest breakfast consisting of a bread roll and a bit of cheese that was enough to at least quiet her empty stomach. As she ate, she watched the ponies finish their work and begin to leave. Some tried to linger or even approach her, but those were quickly sent away by Shim until she and Rarity were the only ones remaining.
They were going over Shim’s speech, making sure Rarity could perform without being under the influence of the musician’s spell, when the musician walked into the lobby with Burgo Masters in tow. Well, Rarity could only assume that the stallion following the musician was Burgo. That scruffy beard of his had been shaved off completely, leaving his drooping, chubby cheeks smooth and bare and him with a face more fitting for an infant than a full grown stallion.
The way he polished off the rest of food was unmistakable Burgo, with his mouth hurriedly stuffed and crumbs flying everywhere. Rarity forced herself to ignore the utter disregard of table manners, something that was much more easily down when they were in the dark, as she continued to run through the speech Shim had prepared. “That’s enough,” Shim finally said, stopping Rarity with a raised hoof. “Good, good. Stay on script, and you’ll do fine.” She turned to musician. “And the mayor, is he ready?”
“Yeah, sure.” The musician tossed a rag at Burgo. “Clean your face. You’ve got crumbs all over it,” she instructed before turning to Shim. “Quit worrying, Sis. We’ve got this.”
The look Shim gave lacked any of the confidence the musician was exuding, but after a sigh, she nodded and got up. “Alright then. It’s time to go,” she announced, and the rest of them followed her out of the building.