285 - Slumming It
“Aaand here we are!” Sonata’s voice rose as she reared up onto her hind legs, giving a little twirl as she swept a foreleg out to indicate the sight ahead of them. “Camp sweet camp!”
River barely heard her, staring in horror at the sight in front of her eyes. She’d been able to see it as they’d gotten nearer to it, of course, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to believe it, certain that it would look different once they’d gotten closer. But now they were here, and she had to accept the reality in front of her. Vagrants, she thought dazedly. Everypony is living like they're vagrants.
There was simply no other way to describe it. The ponies walking around were all filthy, hooves covered with dust and manes unkempt. In a complete reversal of normality, those who had clothes on actually looked worse than those who didn’t, wearing shirts and dresses that were ripped and stained. Nor was the locale any better. The entire place consisted of nothing more than dirty tents and rickety hovels so decrepit that calling them “shacks” would have been giving them more credit than they deserved. The most notable feature was the huge hole to the north, which had a large group of ponies shoveling dirt into it for some reason. Even the ground was ugly, the grass having been trampled down to nothing, leaving everyone to walk over dry, cracked earth. Empty, scorched fire pits completed the dreadful ensemble, making the entire place look like a monument to misery. She couldn’t imagine anyone living here voluntarily.
“It’s pretty great, isn’t it?” grinned Sonata. Thankfully, she was looking toward the place, so she didn’t see the horrified look River gave her. “Just a few days ago, everypony was hurt and hungry. But look at them now.” She gave a happy sigh. “They’ve got someone looking out for them, and they know it.” Smiling, she fell back to all fours, turning to look at River. “Lex is probably at the station. C’mon, I’ll introduce you.”
River nodded, having just barely managed to plaster a smile onto her face in time. “Lead on.”
She found herself regretting the words almost immediately, cringing as she followed the other mare at a trot. No matter how lightly she tried to step, she could see dirt clinging to her beautiful shoes, and she could practically feel the dust in the air colliding with her dress. It was all she could do not to yank her hat off her head and try to fan it away, but she knew that would have ruined her dignity far more than it would have saved her clothes. Poise. I still have my poise, she assured herself, raising her nose in the air.
But her poise almost collapsed as one of the vagrant ponies walked toward them, causing her anxiety to spike at the sight of the dirty stallion drawing near. “Hey, Sonata,” called the green pegasus. “What’s the word about the boat?”
“Hi, DJ!” waved Sonata, as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “It was hers,” she jerked her head back, indicating River. “She totes lived here before, and now she’s come home.” Smiling as though she wasn’t conversing with someone who looked like he’d never heard of shampoo, Sonata turned to River. “This is Disc Joker. He’s been super helpful with getting food for everypony.”
“Disc Jockey,” corrected the pegasus with a pained expression, holding out a hoof. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss…?”
“Bank,” offered River, against her better judgment. I can’t let him think I’m afraid of him. I’m sure his kind can smell fear. “River Bank.” Despite her refusing to back away, she made no move to touch hooves with him, certain that he had to be covered in germs.
For his part, Disc Jockey didn’t seem to notice that he’d been snubbed, lowering his hoof even as his eyes widened. “River Bank? As in, the Banks family’s River Bank?”
River nodded stiffly, and was pleased when the stallion backed away, running a hoof over his mane in a futile attempt to straighten it. That’s right, you derelict, she thought with cold satisfaction. Don’t try to be so casual with me.
“Oh, ah, sorry…I didn’t realize…” Disc Jockey muttered as his ears folded back, eyes falling to the ground.
“Huh? Realize what?” asked Sonata, looking back and forth between the two of them in confusion.
“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.” River made sure not to take her eyes off of Disc Jockey, making sure to project strength and confidence as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Now, let’s go see this stallion of yours, shall we?”
“Um, okay…” Still not sure what was going on, Sonata sent a querying look at Disc Jockey. But he didn’t return it, instead turning and walking away, causing Sonata to frown for a moment before shrugging and heading back toward the train station.
For her part, River let her gaze linger on the retreating pegasus. She could already see him starting to head toward another group of dirty ponies gathered around a fire pit, no doubt to tell them who she was. Good, she decided. Make sure everypony knows that River Bank is back, and that things are about to go back to how they’re supposed to be.
They were nearing the station when River heard a familiar voice.
“MAMA!”
The sound made River whip her head around, her eyes widening and jaw falling open as she saw a fat little earth stallion running toward her as fast as his pudgy legs would allow. Lowering her face just enough to peer over her sunglasses, she blinked, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her. “Piggy?!”
“MAMA!” Too late she realized that the colt didn’t intend to stop, and a moment later he’d bowled her over completely as he hugged her, burying his face in her chest. “Mama mama mama!”
Sonata cocked her head, her eyebrows rising. “Wait a sec, you’re Piggy’s mom?”
Ignoring the inane question, River struggled to get out from under the bawling colt. “Piggy, get off of me this instant! You’re ruining my dress!” Not to mention the fact that her ribs felt like they were ready to cave in under the weight of his bulbous form. “Honestly, what’s gotten into you?! You were raised better than this!”
“S-sorry Mama,” sniffled Piggy as he climbed off of her, smiling as he rubbed his eyes. “I’m just so happy to see you! I knew you’d be back! I just knew it!”
“Of course I’ve come back,” huffed River irritably as she tried to undo the damage her son had so thoughtlessly inflicted on her outfit. “It’s not like I could just stay in Las Pegasus forever.” A moment later she gave up on trying to fix her clothes, sighing as she picked up her hat and placed it back on her head. She’d just need to wait until she returned to the manor to try and freshen herself up again. Speaking of which… “Piggy, what are you doing here with these….other ponies? Why aren’t you at home? And where’s your father?” She looked around, half-expecting to see Mounte giving her his usual sheepish expression the way he always did when he’d done something foolish. “Honestly, even for him letting you run around in a place like this is irresponsible. Just look at how filthy you are!”
“We couldn’t stay at the manor, Mama,” protested Piggy, sounding like he was protesting being grounded. “After it was overrun, we tried to find someplace to hide, but Dad couldn’t-”
“Don’t whine!” snapped River, glancing around self-consciously before looking back at her son. “There’s nothing more unattractive than a stallion who whines. And what do you mean the manor was ‘overrun’? Was there some sort of infestation?” There better not have been, she paid good money to have the exterminators come out and check the place twice a year. If they’d done such a shoddy job that vermin had taken over the place the instant there’d been a disaster then she’d take her business elsewhere.
But thankfully, Piggy shook his head. “No, Mama. It was overrun by the ghouls.”
“Ghouls?” echoed River, blinking.
Piggy nodded. “Yeah, you know. The undead ponies.”
“Duh,” added Sonata helpfully.
For a moment River couldn’t speak. Sonata had told her about those so-called ghouls on the trip in, but River hadn’t been able to bring herself to believe what the little airhead had been saying, certain that she’d tricked by that Lex person, or perhaps was helping him to float a ridiculous story, or even that she’d just mistaken very dirty, uncouth ponies for something out of a cheap horror story. But to hear it from her own son…Piggy was an idiot, but he wasn’t stupid, and he certainly knew better than to lie to her. But that meant… “Piggy, are you certain about that?”
He nodded rapidly. “Yeah. That’s what I was trying to tell you. Dad couldn’t fit through the dumbwaiter, so he pushed me down through it to get away from them and said that he’d get out another way. I didn’t see him after that, but all of the carriages were gone after I got out of the house, so he probably went up to one of the farming villages up north by himself.”
Privately, River was less than certain about that. Mounte had been corpulent enough that just getting into a carriage had meant that a full team of earth pony stallions would be needed to haul it, and even then they’d have had their work cut out for them. The idea of him having gotten all the way to one of the villages in the northern plains was difficult to swallow, which meant, if there had really been cannibal monsters running around…
“Mama, are you alright?” whimpered Piggy, seeing the blood drain from River’s face. “You look pale.”
“No, I…yes. Yes, of course I’m fine,” nodded River, belatedly realizing that she was bobbing her head up and down too quickly. “I, um...I’m sure your father is making a nuisance of himself at one of those awful little towns right now. Probably eaten the entire place out of house and home and told them all to send me the bill.” She fumbled with Piggy as she spoke, trying to flatten his mane and smooth out the wrinkles in his shirt and scrub the dirt off his cheeks all at once.
Piggy fidgeted under the preening, but knew better than to protest, instead moving on to something more important. “Oh! Mama! That reminds me, Lex stole our money!”
River’s hooves instantly came to a stop. “What?!”
“Whoa! Hang on there!” Sonata’s eyes widened at the accusation. “Lex wasn’t stealing anything! He was doing what he had to do to-”
“He had a bunch of ponies go to one of our family’s banks and cut open the vault! Then he took all the money there and spent it on food,” Piggy waved a hoof to indicate the huge mountain of food on the train station platform, “all of which he's just passing out to everypony for free! And then he robbed another one of our banks yesterday! And then he had a bunch of ponies just go and give away some of the money to those farm ponies nearby! He didn’t even ask me if he could!”
Outwardly, River’s expression didn’t change, but she grit her teeth at the news, latching onto it and pushing everything else away. The McNeighs, she realized. If he’s taking our money and using it for food and farmers, then the McNeighs are behind this. Agriculture and farming had always been their business, and now it looked like they were using the flooding to try and take over, using this Lex pony as a tool to do it. But I’m going to put a stop to that. “You did well to tell me about this, Piggy. Mommy will take care of it from here.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not like that!” protested Sonata.
“I’ll be the judge of that, thank you very much,” rebuked River. She fixed Sonata with a harsh look, her earlier dislike of the mare suddenly coming back in force. “Now, take me to Lex Legis, if you’d be so kind.”
“Yeah!” grinned Piggy, clearly eager for his mom to give Lex what for.
Sonata looked ready to protest some more, but when she saw the look on River’s face she sighed, then shrugged. “Okay, if that’s how you want to play it.”
“I do indeed,” replied River firmly as Sonata turned and started walking.
“You go get ‘im, Mama!” cheered Piggy.
The cry was enough to stop River in her tracks, and she turned and advanced on her son. “Piggy.”
He flinched, not sure what he’d done. “Y-yeah, Mama?”
Piggy’s surprise was complete as River reached out and wrapped a foreleg around him, pulling him close. “I’m glad you’re alright.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.133 seconds
Total duration
964 users online
1,272,285 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Fortunately for River, Lex isnt the type of person to just idly dispose of anyone getting in his way.
Unfortunately for River, Sonata and Aria are?
Oh the rich and their status quos. I'm curious why someone of her intellect can't see the reality of the situation or is this just a case of wealthy individuals being so mentally removed from reality that they can't understand the situation?
Anyways, if there's one thing I'll give Piggy Bank is that he's a persistent little bugger though his faith in his mother, while endearing, just put a monkey wrench into the negotiations. Still, speaking of negotiations, I wonder how the straightlaced Lex would react to River if she decides to talk in a roundabout fashion like she did when she fired Feather Duster in order to needle out his 'ties' to the McNeighs.
If Sonata and Nosey aren't going to be around to act as interpreters then it would have been a perfect recipe for a funny comedy of errors, even if it does end badly for the Banks.
Though after what Piggy told her, I think she might be more upfront, which isn't going to do her any favors if she's confrontational about it. Then again, she is the head of the Banks family so she would have a better head on her shoulders than either her husband or son do.
Well River is about to be disappointed.
Looks like this little Piggy went home... to mama.
I'm going to bet against experience and say that Lex will actually be able to speak to River better than Sonata. It sounds like she understands hierarchies, and will be able to see he's now on top, especially if Severance is hovering around.
9231932
Because in people with egos that large it's squashing most of the parts of the brain responsible for intelligence or common sense except for ways which seemingly only benefit them.
9231907 I've been dropping the occasional cryptic hint about that. The fact is, Sonata is willing to play by Lex's rules because she's far more passive than he is, and so is willing to follow his lead. But those rules are ultimately not hers, and if push comes to shove she's fine with doing things that he never would.
9231932 One thing to remember is that what Sonata has been describing, about the multiple disasters that have rocked Vanhoover and the body count that's been the result, are things that normally don't happen in Equestria. Even in the show (which focuses on the local equivalent of a superhero team), upheavals are few and far between, and always resolve themselves without anyone being seriously hurt, let alone killed. So the idea of thousands of ponies having died, others turning into undead monsters, all while the survivors huddle in filth and just try to eke out another day, is simply beyond her experience.
That or, as Spiritus Arcane suggested, she's a shallow, self-absorbed, egotistical nag who refuses to see what's right in front of her because it conflicts with her outlook. Either or.
As for Piggy, he had his faith in his mother rewarded, at least so far, which kind of makes me wish that Granola Bar was there. Still, he did manage to let River know that Lex has been taking what she considers (not incorrectly) to be hers; I somehow don't see this helping her first meeting with Lex go smoothly. Though River might still surprise us all in that regard; for all her faults, she doesn't seem like an idiot, so maybe she'll figure out how to keep things from going down a path that she'll end up regretting?
9231987 So far the outlook for her first meeting with Lex isn't good.
9232581
But then the question is, for her or for him?
9232151 In theory those are some very good points. From what we've seen of her, River has qualities that Lex could appreciate, though they're buried under a rather unpleasant personality...also like Lex.
Could this be a match made in, er, Equestria?
9232583 Good question. Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out!
i give it 10 minutes before severance is pointed at her cold black hart.
9232626 Hey, that's nine minutes more than a lot of folks seem to think!
9233593
i am thinking it will be a bit till Lex really gets fed up with her being a total snob.