Familiar Faces

by GlitchyProductions

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen: Lying over the Truth

"Right..." The ranch owner huffed, placing his hand under his chin and putting his elbow on the edge of his knee to support him from falling. "What are ya' doin' here? Ah'm not gonna shout or anythin' ah'm jus' wantin' some answers..." The ranch owner’s tone of voice quickly changed from a rough insensitive yell to a soft and calm friendly whisper.

There was a small pause, Dinky didn't speak, and she covered up her face with her arms while Luna sat down next to the sobbing child in an attempt to comfort her. The blue mare nuzzled Dinky's face and calmed her sobbing down to a slight sniffle; Dinky placed her hand on Luna's head and stroked her fur while still looking away from the ranch owner.

"Are ya' here for them fancy headbands? Has some fancy man told ya' t'look fer' me an' take ma' treasures away?" He asked Dinky, she still didn't reply.

"Ah' see..." He nodded up and down. "Yer' jus' a kid that stumbled onto ma' horses, funny. Ah' saw you earlier t'day an' you were havin' the time of ya' life, sittin' on top'a Ditzy like that." The ranch owner gave a small smile, even though Dinky wasn't able to see his smile.

"Does yer' mama know yer' here or not?" He asked. "Ah'm sure she is lookin' for ya' right now as we speak." He added.

"Don't wanna talk..." Dinky mumbled under her breath, still keeping no eye contact from the ranch owner so what.

"Ah' know that ya' are interested in ma' horses, jus' tell me what yer' doin' in ma' stables an' ah'll maybe... not tell yer' moma, that ya' been in here." He said to Dinky, she cupped her hands and covered up her ears so that she wasn't able to hear him.

"If ya' don't wanna talk, ah'm gonna have ta' call th' police, girly, ah' don' wanna arrest ya' fer' tresspassin' now do ah?" The ranch owner got up from his box and stood still looking down at Luna and Dinky both crouching together in the corner, He crossed his arms and waited for Dinky to turn her head around in the slightest.

"If ya' listen' ah' will tell ya' why ah'm using these fancy gold headbands on ma' horses." He coaxed her out of her hiding. "Maybe even, ah'll give ya' a little souvenir." He temped Dinky to talk, she really wanted to shout at him, but she was so scared and angry that she didn't want to even make eye-contact with him for doing bad things to Ditzy.

"What did you do to Ditzy, you evil man!" Dinky moved her hands and turned around to look at the ranch owner, not giving him eye-contact, but looking at his feet so that she wasn't able to see his silhouetted face.

"Ah' didn't do anything... all ah' did was put the fancy headband on her purty head." He answered back to Dinky's question, ignoring her childish insult. "Maybe if ya' calm down, ah'll tell ya why ah' did it." The ranch owner slowly took small steps towards Luna and Dinky, towering over them with his shadow.

"Ma' name is Lancie, John Lancie." He said. "An' yours is Dinky." He added.

"So?" Dinky childishly replied.

"Why were ya' in ma' stables lyin' with ma' horses?" John asked, he kneeled down right in front of Luna and Dinky and politely asked the child.

Dinky didn't reply, she turned her head away from John and proceeded to hug Luna to comfort herself.

"Oh..." Johns smile slowly disappeared, looking unsatisfied with the answers he got from Dinky. "It seems that ah'm going to coax them answers outta ya'." John got back up and walked over to the other side of the shack, from what Dinky was seeing, he was picking up a strange metallic object that was covered in very old wood. Hearing it click a few times while John put a few red batteries inside of it and clicking it one more time to make a loud cocking sound. He turned around and walked back over to Dinky holding the stick just like a gun.

"Are ya' gonna start talkin'? Ah' wouldn't mess around if ah' were ya' right now." John put his hand under the contraption and cocked it loudly, the sudden realization what just hit Dinky would be enough to kill her tenfold. He was holding a shotgun, Dinky's heart began to race even faster and more sweat became visible. Dinky's breathing pattern started to loosen itself and her breathing became irregular, she knew that she had to talk now even being scared out of her wits.

"So... what are ya' doin' in ma' stables?" John asked Dinky once again.

"Don' lie t'me Dinky, ah' don' want t'do anythin' unnecessary." John spoke to Dinky, not shouting or raising his voice in the slightest. His voice was still calm and collected as if knowing that anything bad was going to happen then he could just use his dangerous weapon to solve it.

"D-Ditzy brought m-me here..." Dinky mumbled under her breath, keeping her eyes locked on the shotgun for her sakes.

John leaned back with the shotgun on his lap, putting his hand on his cheek and starting to rub it pondering on what she had just said.

"Hmm..." He grumbled. "An' how did she bring ya' here?" John asked Dinky, still keeping the dangerous weapon on his lap.

"I s-sat on t-top of h-her..." Dinky quickly replied to him.

"An' she brought ya' here... interestin'." John paused for a moment. "Thas' all ah' need t'know, but ah'm gonna give ya' some answers. Yer' jus' a dumb kid an' yer' wonderin' what ah'm doin' t' suck out the colour from ma' horses by accident..." As soon as John said the word "Accident", Dinky rose up from her hiding place in the corner of the shack and stood up, not looking very pleased with what he just said.

"Accident?" Dinky said.

"Yes." John bluntly replied.

"Why would an evil man do something so bad to a horsey like Ditzy?" Dinky began to raise her voice, ramming her fist up into the air in anger.

"Ah' said it was an' accident." John repeated; sounding a little irritated that he had to explain to Dinky again.

"No it wasn't! You are really evil!" Dinky shouted, walking even closer to John losing her fear and standing up to the evil rancher.

John instantly picked up his shotgun and pointed it and little Dinky, her expression and reaction almost caused her to throw herself back down to the floor. Freezing in place with the edge of the barrel pointed at her she immediately slowly walked back a few steps with her hands up in the air, away from the rancher and his powerful weapon.

"Listen Dinky, ah' don' wanna do this, an' ah' don' even wanna' fire from this. Jus' gimme' some answers an' ah'll let ya' go... that is... if ya' decide t'leave after what ah' tell ya'." John lowered the shotgun and placed it on his lap, letting the edge of the barrel face away from both Dinky and Luna to make sure they were safe from any gunshot blasts.

Dinky moved back even more to where Luna was lying down and she lowered herself so that she could stroke Luna's mane, feeling scared again she made eye contact with John under the silhouette covering his face. Feeling that if she didn't answer a single question, he would most definitely point the shotgun at her.

"Okay..." John grumbled, putting his hand on his chin to ponder. "Do ya' wanna explain why ya' were in ma' stable with ma' horses now?" He returned to a soft and calm tone of voice to speak to Dinky, knowing that she just got the shock of her life from just having a shotgun pointed at her.

"So..." John started off nice and slow. "Who brought ya' here? C'mon, be honest." John encouragingly spoke to Dinky, lowering his angry tone of voice and speaking calmly to the scared child.

"Ditzy... she brought me h-here..." Dinky wrapped her arms around Luna's neck and proceeded to tell her answers to John.

John didn't react to what Dinky had said; he just looked at her and rubbed his chin. Knowing that the horses he had in his captivity were very strong and intelligent creatures but he never expected one of them to actually bring a human and convince her to come to the stables. He now knew something was going on, he didn't want to show his reactions to any one inside of the stables and he needed more information and time to make his decision an absolute.

"Okay." John nodded. "How did she bring ya' here then? Don't suppose that ya' walked here, ya' got no shoes t'start with." John pointed at Dinky's pale bare feet and she picked up a small handful of hay and covered her feet up, as if he said something very bad about them.

"She carried me here!" Dinky regained her childish tone and answered to John, still keeping a firm grip on Luna's neck so that she didn't go anywhere. Luna rested her neck on Dinky's lap with her whole body lying down. It was an uncomfortable feeling since of the leash around her neck pulling on her and occasionally stopping her from breathing.

"An ya' just followed her orders?" John replied back, ignoring Dinky's childish tone and continuing on with his little investigation.

"She gave me a letter saying that you're evil!" Dinky childishly called out once again, yelling even louder than the last time.

"Do ya' still have it?" John leaned forward a little, starting to get a little worried and interested in the situation.

"It's at home..." Dinky lowered her head, feeling like she was about to get in trouble with John because of her not having the letter.

"Okay... ah' guess ah' can trust ya' for a while, but ya' can't tell anyone 'bout what ah'm doin' here." John sighed; he knew getting the answers out of Dinky was going to be a good waste of his time. Instead jumping ahead a stage and needing to trust Dinky and tell her what he is doing in Rumsville, even getting a little assistant to help him with the golden hand band.

"Trust me for what?" Dinky replied; confused at what was going to happen next.

"Do ya' promise not ta' tell anyone?" John's tone of voice was still soft and calm, but he had a small tone of seriousness deep within his voice.

"Oh... um... okay..." Dinky was a little confused at the change in pacing to what John was saying, first it was questions and now it was down to the point of just trusting him. She didn't know anything about his life or anything but she knew that she had just trust him for the moment.

John didn't talk for a moment; instead he walked over to one of the cabinets on the other side of the shack and moved up to the front of a small wooden cabinet that was attached to the wall and opened it to reveal a very shiny large golden tiara that silenced everyone in the room.

Dinky's eyes widened at the sight of John walking back holding the large tiara studding with perfect blue diamonds in the middle of them, at the very top of the tiara is a strange star shaped diamond that is colored a perfect purple. Dinky noted that Luna didn't look very happy when John was holding the strange tiara; she even got to the point where it sounded like Luna was quietly growling at him like a dangerous animal.

John had the tiara in one hand and he sat himself down back on the box, all Dinky could do was look at the tiara's perfection and how pretty it was. He placed his shotgun back on his lap and looked at Dinky.

"Y'see... ah' found this lil' contraption a week ago." John held the golden tiara in one hand and turned it around from side to side, allowing Dinky to have a good look at it.

"What is it?" Dinky let go of Luna and slowly crawled forward to John to get an even better look at the strange golden tiara.

"Ah' don' know, ah'm tryin' t'figure it out." John said. "Ah' found this lil' head band thingy in th' Rainforest, it's also where ah' found ma' horses." He added.

John reached over to one of the tables next to him and picked up a large glass bottle, on the front of the bottle there was yellow text saying "WHISKEY". Using his spare thumb to open up the cap at the top he quickly plummeted the liquid down his throat and then taking a massive gasp for air.

"I don't get how you really found the golden hand band thingy..." Dinky copied John, using his words for the golden tiara.

"Gimme a' sec' an' ah'll tell' ya' all about it..." John quickly pushed down another swab of whiskey down his throat and gasped for even more air. Luna didn't like what he was doing, wishing to protect Dinky she raised her head and reached out for the back of her t-shirt. Grabbing the child from harm and pulling her back to the base of the hay pile where she was lying down.

To be continued.

Comments

[GlitchyProductions]

Please excuse the short chapter, my recent College application is going through and it hasn't been generous to my free time on my stories and other projects.

[Carpinus Caroliniana]

Uh oh, SHIT GOT REAL!

I knew it! The rancher was Discord!

Oddly enough, I imagined a Humanized Discord as a stereotypical voodoo priest.

[Mush]

"My name is John Lancie."

I see what you did there.

[GlitchyProductions]

689484

A James Bond introduction is a good way to show off your villain.

[Elzipper7]

So to recap:
- Human version of Discord
- Has Luna, Fluttershy, Scootaloo and Ditzy/Pony!Derpy.
- And the Element of Magic
- but doesn't know how to use it.
- Dinky is listening to his "expose"
- While Human!Derpy, Lyra and Bonbon are looking for her.
Seems legit.

[Paladin Redflare]

Oh John Lancie... THAT JUST SLAPS ME ON THE KNEE... SO fuckin' funny.

[Starry]

John Lancie... John De Lancie?? This slaps me on the knee!
708532 Oh, Spy pwns heavy :3

[Spot Light]

It's John DeLancie.