116 - Who You Were Then
It was all Fencer could do not to snort at Lex’s pronouncement. His dancing girl was going to make her talk? And with magic? The little airhead wasn’t even a unicorn! What was she going to do, seduce her? The prospect was ridiculous enough that it was almost funny.
But despite her disdain, Fencer could feel herself tense. Lex was the pony that had defeated her entire group by himself, in a manner that made it seem like he was barely even trying. More than that, what she’d seen of him suggested that he was utterly without humor. He wouldn’t have told his mare – and Fencer was sure they were together from the way they’d nuzzled each other – to get information out of her unless he thought she could do it, as unlikely as that seemed. But how?
Despite her inner tension, Fencer kept her face impassive. She’d learned the hard way that no matter how bad the situation got, panicking would only make it worse, and she would never make that mistake again; self-control had saved her before, and it would save her now. Even so, she couldn’t help but curse the rest of her group in her mind. If only they’d worked with me instead of giving up so easily! But apparently a round of medical care, fresh food and drink, and a party had been all that was necessary to make everypony in her group completely give up on the idea of escaping, let alone escaping with something to show for it. Even Turbo, that turncoat. He was talking about escaping before we ever set hoof inside that place, and now he doesn’t want to leave!
If they had all just followed her lead, even just a few of them… But no, they were all content to pretend like they could just go back to their old lives again. Fencer knew better; after what they’d done – what they’d had to do – they could never go back. Even if Vanhoover was completely restored, they had changed, and she had no intention of pretending otherwise. After what she’d been through, being some weak little nopony was unthinkable. Instead, she would keep getting stronger, strong enough so that nothing could ever hurt her or make her afraid again.
And she knew exactly how to do it. Now if she could just find a way to pull it off…
“Seriously?” Sonata’s blinked at Lex’s request. She glanced over at Fencer – still standing there impassively – before turning back to look at him. “What happened to all that stuff about my magic being immoral and everything?”
Lex shook his head. “The circumstances are different. By deliberately withholding information as to the whereabouts and well-being of somepony that’s missing in a dangerous location, and demanding something in exchange for that information, she’s effectively taken Pillowcase hostage. That’s a criminal action, and as the lawful authority over this city, it’s my job to levy the requisite penalties against her for that. As such, I can exercise my administration’s monopoly on what constitutes a legitimate use of force to punish her, even if that violates some of her inherent rights, so long as such an exercise holds to the principles of applying only the minimu-”
“Right, different circumstances. Got it.” Sonata rolled her eyes as she turned away from Lex, knowing that he’d have continued droning on for quite some time if she hadn’t cut him off.
“I’m going to go talk to the other ponies from her group,” announced Cozy. “If they were with her when she saw Pillow, they might be able to tell us where to look.” Lex nodded at her, and she took off back into the shelter.
“She’s wasting her time.” Fencer’s voice was light, despite Severance hovering close by her. “They won’t tell her anything.”
Lex frowned, but Sonata looked confused. “How come? Cozy’s nice, and she’s really worried about her husband, so why not tell her where he is?”
Fencer gave her a thin smile, but her eyes were on Lex. “Because you’ve given them what they wanted most.”
Sonata furrowed her brow. “Huh? What’s that? And wouldn’t that make them more likely to want to help?”
Fencer pointed at the shelter. The gesture was enough to make Severance swing closer, its blade curving in a threatening arc, but she ignored it. “Right now, everypony I was with is in there, acting like the last few weeks have been a bad dream that Princess Luna overlooked. They don’t want to remember what they saw,” she lowered her hoof, and gave Sonata a pointed look, “and they don’t want to remember what they did.”
“What they did?” echoed Sonata, tilting her head. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” said Lex darkly, “that this mare and her companions didn’t just catch a glimpse of Pillowcase somewhere. They did something to him.”
“We did what we had to do.” There was a sharper edge in Fencer’s voice. “Out there, the first rule is to survive. Everything else, including harmony, is a distant second.” She paused then, closing her eyes and letting out a slow breath, before opening them and continuing once her equanimity had been restored. “None of them will want to admit to that, least of all to a group that might see fit to throw them out if they knew about it.”
“Unlike you,” noted Lex coldly.
“Unlike me,” nodded Fencer, meeting his gaze directly. “I make no apologies for refusing to be a victim, nor will I ever be one again, no matter what it takes.”
Lex didn’t reply, and he and Fencer continued to stare at each other in silence, neither being willing to look away first. Feeling the tension in the air, Sonata glanced back and forth between the two of them. “Okay, first of all, wow. Secondly,” she looked at Fencer, “why does lending Cozy a helping hoof mean that you’re a victim or whatever all of a sudden. Isn’t it just a nice thing to do?”
This time Fencer did snort. “Your stallion ordered me to tell him what I knew, without making any offers or guarantees about what I’d receive in return, as though he had authority over me.”
“I have authority over everypony in Vanhoover, including you, whether you recognize it or not.” Although he knew that he was in the right, and that Fencer had no choice but to acknowledge what he was saying, Lex couldn’t resist the urge to rub her face in it. “I believe I conclusively demonstrated that before, when I easily crushed your little band of thieves.” Her only response was to narrow her eyes a fraction of an inch, but he took that as a sign that his barb had hit home.
It was at that point that Sonata hit her limit. “Okay, like, that’s enough!” She turned to Lex, exasperation written all over her features. “You wanted me to get her talking, right? So why don’t you skedaddle and let me do my job?” She saw the objection written all over his face, and kept going before he could give voice to it. “I’m not even kidding. I can’t do my stuff when you two,” she nodded towards Severance, still floating close to Fencer, “are here keeping things all doom and gloom, so go back inside and leave this to me.” Her expression softened, knowing that he was worried about leaving her alone with the other mare. “Trust me, I’ll be fine.”
Lex paused for a long moment before nodding. “Alright. But with one precaution.” Turning to look at Severance, he pointed at Fencer. “Remove her clothes.”
Both mares’ eyes widened, but neither had a chance to say anything before Severance swung its blade around in a smooth motion. Instantly, the tattered remains of Fencer’s dress fell to the ground…only to be enshrouded in a roiling purple aura as Lex snatched them away. As he did so, his eyes went to her flank, seeing the image there. “A white picket fence,” he murmured, his lips curling up in a mocking smile. “Fencer. How droll.”
For her part, Fencer was struggling to maintain her calm façade. “How dare-”
“What do you think you’re DOING?!” The angry roar stopped both Lex and Fencer in their tracks, turning their eyes to Sonata, who was currently glaring furiously at her boyfriend. “I can’t BELIEVE you! You can’t just tear a girl’s clothes off like that! That’s, like, the worst thing you can do! Worser than worst!” She stomped a hoof. “You give her back her dress right now!”
For an instant Lex looked surprised, but recovered his poise a moment later. “No. Not until I’ve checked it for additional knives.” The memory of Fencer holding a blade to his throat was still fresh on his mind, and he had no intention of giving her the chance to pull something similar with Sonata, especially after her little speech just now. Without giving his girlfriend a chance to raise another objection, he turned and walked away, the ruins of Fencer’s dress held tightly in his telekinetic grip. Severance followed after him a moment later, leaving the two mares alone.
“Honestly! That was totes awful of him!” huffed Sonata, before turning back to Fencer. “I’m, like, super sorry about that. I swear, I love him more than anything, but sometimes he just drives me crazy.”
“I can imagine,” muttered Fencer, glancing back at her cutie mark uncomfortably. She had changed her name to “Fencer” when she’d decided that she would survive no matter what, since that was a name that sounded powerful while still being a sly reference to the pony she had been. But she couldn’t change her cutie mark, which clearly showed that her special talent was building and repairing fences, rather than fighting with bladed weapons. Covering it up had been the next best thing, and nopony had seen it since she’d reinvented herself… until now. She was so distraught that she only half-heard Sonata sing a quick snatch of something. “What was that?”
Sonata smiled, feeling her charm spell fall into place. “Oh, nothing. Just a little something I do sometimes.” She might be a little miffed at Lex for being totes insensitive, but she hadn’t forgotten that this mare still had information about Cozy’s husband that they needed to get. That and she’d held a knife to Lex before; the fact that he hadn’t been in any real danger was the only reason Sonata wasn’t holding a grudge, but she doubted that she and Fencer would ever be besties…even if her spell was making the taller mare believe otherwise. “So, let’s you and me have some girl-talk.”
“I wasn’t kidding you know,” grinned Piggy as he shoveled another hooffull of nuts into his mouth. “Once my mom gets back and Vanhoover is repaired, I can set you up in whatever job you want. In fact, I’ve actually been looking for a new,” he made a wheezing sound that vaguely resembled a chuckle, spraying bits of food from his mouth, “personal secretary.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Cloudbank struggled to keep a polite smile on her face. The little slime ball had been following her around for the last five minutes, trying to talk himself up to her. She’d dropped every hint she could that she wasn’t interested, none of which he was picking up on. Only the fact that she didn’t want to make a scene had kept her from tearing the little creep a new one, but now she was at her wit’s end.
“Say, Piggy,” she drawled, giving him a sultry grin as an idea came to her. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to try for a little while now, and I think you’re just the stallion for me to…experiment with.”
“E-experiment?” His eyes widened, clearly intrigued.
She nodded coyly. “I mean, I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m a little nervous, but you’ll help me out, right?”
Piggy nodded so fast his head almost blurred. “Absolutely! Whatever you need me to do, I’m your stallion!”
Giving a giggle, Cloudbank batted her lashes at him. “Then, go ahead and close your eyes…”
“Close my…right here, in front of everypony?” He looked around the rest of the shelter, where the party was still going strong.
“Sure, why not? Unless you’re not the stallion I thought you were…” She gave him an exaggerated frown, as though disappointed.
“No no! I’m definitely the stallion you want!” Eager not to let this chance slip away, Piggy summoned up his courage and closed his eyes, breathing heavily in anticipation.
“Now, stay just like that, okay? Whatever you do, don’t open your eyes.”
“R-right!” His heart felt like it was going to pound out of his chest, and he was already starting to sweat. Swallowing nervously, he tried keep himself from trembling. What a wild girl!
Backing up until she was more than twenty feet from Piggy. Cloudbank allowed herself a dark smile as she chanted a prayer to the Night Mare, making the necessary gestures to invoke the fear spell she had prayed for that morning as part of her efforts to learn more about the magic the goddess had given her. An instant later, Piggy’s eyes popped open as he let out a surprisingly shrill screech of terror. His little legs pumping, he ran around the room randomly for a moment before spotting the door and rushing out it, his cries receding into the distance. As everypony stopped and stared blankly at where he’d disappeared, Cloudbank couldn’t resist making a comment.
“I guess he’s going wee wee wee all the way home.”
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Oh dear. Piggy just went running screaming into Severance.
And we'll probably see Piggy again as a ghoul or something...if we're lucky. If not, he probably DID go running to mama, and we're about to have a turf war come down on Lex and co.
8244033 Pork chops?
8244037 Well, bear in mind that he ran out of the shelter, into the wider warehouse. It hasn't been confirmed that he ran outside from there.
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/211585/reviewers-caf/thread/308771/reviews#comment/5995001
8247187 Thank you SO MUCH for that review! I don't know what to say, except that I'm really glad you're enjoying my story so much!
8247480
Just doing my job and enjoying it.
Huh, so Fencer isn't what I thought her to be. Eh, cest la vie
From the way she mentioned not wanting to be afraid again, I believe she might have been attacked by another group of ponies over her supplies. She must have gained her 'survival of the fittest' mentality from that and perhaps her preferences for knives as well, if her unwillingness to speak of what she and her group did to Pillowcase is anything to go by.
Looks like Cloudbank is liking her new abilities as an acolyte and I am too given her use of it.
Though I wonder how someone like Piggy survived this long on just empty promises. Though considering who his mother is, I'm guessing some ponies were trying to curry some favor with her by ensuring her son is kept safe and fed.
8251496 Fencer has quite been through a bad place, and while it hasn't killed her, it's quite clearly left a mark on her...one might cut far deeper than any of her knives. So far it seems to be causing her to have a hard time reintegrating into society. Maybe Sonata can help her out with that?
Cloudbank, on the other hoof, seems to be doing just fine with how she's needed to adapt, unlike Piggy, who seems to think that he can get by on status alone. How indeed did he ever survive as long as he did? I'm betting on "the vestigial importance of his family name."
A very obvious and painful typo.
Here it is. Burn it with nuclear fire.
8382994 Typo scoured from the face of Equestria!