380 - Apprehensions and Revelations
“Lex?” called River softly as she poked her head into the station lobby. “Sonata said you wanted to see me?”
She didn’t wait for an answer as she stepped inside, closing the door behind her. Despite the fact that she already knew what she'd been called here for – even if she wasn’t entirely sure why Lex wanted to send her to Las Pegasus – she couldn’t help the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. She’d assuaged the memory of her first, disastrous meeting with Lex by reminding herself of how quickly she’d been able to convince him to rescind her punishment, congratulating herself on having figured out how to manipulate him. But seeing what he’d done to the Royal Sisters had punched a hole in her burgeoning confidence, reminding her how he would almost certainly react if he ever suspected that she was trying to exploit him.
But her worries suddenly fled as she stepped further into the lobby and spotted Lex, with one of his inamoratas lying alongside him, staring at the largest ruby she’d ever seen. The sight made River’s eyes widen and her mouth water, unable to help but gawk at the gemstone. She’d worn enough jewels since she’d married into the Banks family to know that was no mere ornament! The size of it alone made it unlike any of the common jewels that could be dug out of the ground, and the luster-
“I’m sending you to Las Pegasus,” announced Lex, not looking up from where he was studying the ruby.
“Huh?” grunted River, before shaking her head, trying to regain her equilibrium. Losing her composure around Lex ran the risk of far worse than mere embarrassment. “I mean, yes. Sonata mentioned that you wanted me to go there, but she didn’t say how, let alone why.”
“Your-” Lex cut himself off as the mare behind him – River belatedly recognized her as that reporter pony, Nosey something-or-other – grunted softly in her sleep, fidgeting for a moment before settling back down. That was enough to make Lex tear his eyes away from the gem, flickering back toward Nosey before regarding River for a moment.
Heaving a sigh, Lex slowly rose into a sitting position. The process took several seconds, and it didn’t escape River’s notice that he had to go about it in stages, taking brief rests between each motion before attempting the next one. When he was finally upright, he gingerly got onto all fours, and it was only then that he levitated the ruby back into his saddlebag, concentrating with visible effort on getting it there. Even when he did, the action left his breathing labored. But River didn’t say a word, suspecting that Lex wouldn’t appreciate an offer of assistance.
She must have been correct, because his only reaction to her silence was a glance. “Follow me,” he ordered, heading for the far end of the lobby. His pace was slow, being more of a shuffle than a walk, but River matched it without comment, trailing behind him. It was obvious by now that Sonata had been correct that Lex had injured himself quite badly; there were no wounds or injuries on him that she could see, and yet he was moving like he’d just crawled out of his deathbed.
For a moment River found herself wondering if Lex could even defend himself if somepony attacked him now. But she hurriedly pushed that thought away before it could lead to any ill-considered ideas. Even if she hadn’t been cursed herself only recently, she’d heard about what Lex had done to that pony who’d tried to ambush him in his sleep. That wouldn’t be her fate, not again.
When Lex finally reached the corner of the lobby he sat down, and River did her best not to notice how fatigued he looked. “Your yacht is currently en route back here,” Lex began unceremoniously. “Once it arrives, I want you to head to Las Pegasus immediately. Upon reaching the city, I want you to assemble as many of its richest personages as you can and bring them here, quickly.”
River’s eyebrows rose. What Lex was talking about was no small feat. She had left Vanhoover almost three weeks ago now, and her social capital had been at its nadir at the time. Everypony who was anypony had known that her money was running out by that point, and with it her ability to participate in the glamorous lifestyle that Las Pegasus’ elite regularly engaged in. Although she’d managed to leave with her dignity only slightly bruised – having elected to take her chances returning to Vanhoover before poverty had been able to turn her into one of the riff-raff – River knew she’d be hard-pressed to receive any favors from the city’s richest ponies if she were to return now.
Licking her lips at the enormity of the task Lex had just given her, River tried to find something she could use to her advantage. “Can I tell them why?”
Lex was silent for several seconds, either not wanting to answer her question or because he was still trying to get his breath back. River was about to withdraw her question when he finally spoke up. “My government intends to negotiate with them for a loan in order to acquire sufficient funds to rebuild Vanhoover.”
If River had been daunted by what Lex had said before, she was downright dismayed now. “A loan? From those ponies?” More than any other city in Equestria, Las Pegasus’ upper crust were ruthless when it came to matters of finance. Whatever loan they made – if they even agreed to make one at all, which was by no means guaranteed – would no doubt have terms so punishing that it would make a griffon blush. Having spent her entire life trying to amass money, the thought was enough to send chills down River’s spine. “Lex, borrowing money from those ponies isn’t-”
“Just,” interrupted Lex, the faintest trace of an angry hiss filling his voice, “bring them here. That’s all you need to worry about for now.”
River swallowed a mouthful of objections, her throat having suddenly gone dry. “R-right.” Forcing herself to simply consider how to get several of Las Pegasus wealthiest ponies here, River knew the task would be difficult, but not impossible. It’s not like they need to know about the loan ahead of time. I can just make this sound like I’m inviting them to come vacation at my mansion, or maybe say something vague like “there’s a business opportunity we can discuss.” That could work, at least for a few of them. And as for the rest, I can just lure them onboard and cast off before they have a chance to leave. What’s a little kidnapping when you’re working for the pony who crippled the princesses?
As if he’d heard her thoughts, Lex gave her a cool look. “And River, since you’re acting on my behalf, I expect you to hold yourself to a level of conduct that I’d endorse. That means that you’re not allowed to bring them here via underhooved means.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “If you use blackmail or threats, if you bribe them, if you bring them here against their will, if you do anything that I don’t approve of…” His eyes turned green then, trailing purple from their corners, and it was all River could do not to shriek at the sight, wondering how she’d ever entertained the slightest notion that Lex was too hurt to be dangerous. “I’ll be very upset.”
“I won’t!” Somehow, she didn’t scream the words, and she forced herself to muster her courage. “I won’t do anything that will make you regret sending me there. I’ll bring them here, and then we can figure out how to make them loan us – loan you – the money.”
Lex nodded, his eyes returning to normal. “Good.”
River slowly counted to ten, making sure to keep her breathing steady and regular, reminding herself that this was all going very well. Lex was confiding in her, making her part of his plans; he hadn’t objected when she’d said “we can figure out” how they’d acquire the loan he wanted. This was progress. Now, instead of bolting out of here like a scared little filly, she needed to build on it. “Would you like to go over the Banks’ family finances now?”
“There are more important things that require my attention,” replied Lex dismissively, already heading back toward where Nosey was still asleep on the bench. “Your ledger indicated that you have enough liquid wealth to sustain this camp for the immediate future, which is the most pressing concern. We can review the rest of it after you return.”
“Of course,” nodded River. But she didn’t head toward the door. There was one more topic that needed to be discussed, if for no other reason than it was an opportunity to further integrate herself into Lex’s life, one that would vanish if she waited until she got back from Las Pegasus. “I should tell you that Aria’s currently at my mansion.”
The words made Lex miss a step, and it was a miracle that he managed to avoid falling over, catching himself before slowly turning and looking at her, his expression neutral. “…and?”
“We spoke for little while.” River paused there, knowing that this was her last chance to abandon this topic and leave. Any further than this would plunge her deep into personal territory for Lex, a pony whose temper already seemed volatile at the best of times. If she crossed a line here, it was entire possible that she’d be heading to Las Pegasus with a new curse or three. But if she didn’t…then this might very well be the best that she could hope for: being Lex Legis’s errand mare rather than his confidante, or even closer. It was a risk – another high-risk, high-reward scenario; just the sort that her late, idiot husband had loved – but one that she knew she’d already decided to take, back when she’d decided to throw her lot in with Lex. This was simply part-and-parcel of what she’d already signed on for.
Hoping that she was making the right choice, River chose her next words very carefully. “She’s heartbroken, Lex.”
She’d tried to make that sound as non-accusatory as possible, but clearly it hadn’t worked, because the look on his face darkened. “Her continual belligerence crossed the line into misconduct, and the reprimand I gave her was entirely warranted.”
“I’m not saying she didn’t deserve what happened to her,” replied River, forcing herself to say the words slowly so as to not sound combative in the least. “Believe me, I fully understand that calling her ‘unpleasant’ is an understatement. I’m just trying to communicate that she doesn’t see it that way.”
Lex’s frown deepened, but to River’s relief there was an element of confusion there now. “What do you mean?” he snapped. “She misbehaved, and I punished her for it. What other way is there to see it?”
“Lex, Aria is in love with you, and she thinks that you don’t love her back.”
The look of shock and incomprehension that crossed Lex’s face at that told River that she’d gotten through to him. The tension flowed out of her then, and she kept going. “Taking away her voice like that hurt her deeply. It wasn’t just because of what she went through, but because you were the one who did it. She thinks that means you were trying to be hurtful, and that the only reason you’d be that hurtful is because you don’t have feelings for her-”
“Stop!” snarled Lex, suddenly agitated. “Just-, stop!” He moved as if to start walking again, but aborted the motion before he’d moved more than an inch, one hoof lifting only to come down sharply. He was breathing heavily again, teeth clenched, and this time River knew it had nothing to do with how tired he felt.
She stayed silent, waiting for him to ride out the wave of emotion that he was quite clearly in the grasp of. “She said all this to you?” he demanded sharply a few seconds later. “She said all of those things about…heartbreak, and…everything else?”
“Yes,” replied River simply. It wasn’t a lie; while Aria hadn’t used those precise words, that had quite clearly been what she’d meant.
Lex turned away from her then, staring at the far wall of the lobby with his face twisted in a scowl, and River fell silent again. This was quite clearly a major revelation for Lex, and she could see him struggling to figure out how to react to it. Ideally he would have asked her what he should do to make it up to Aria, but River knew that was hoping for too much. Instead, she started toward the door, knowing that he’d probably be considering this for a while. “I’ll go get packed for Las Pegasus,” she murmured.
Lex’s only reply was a grunt, not even bothering to look at her. That was fine though. She’d already proven that her usefulness went beyond money management.
Her gamble had paid off.
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I will admit my mind briefly conjured up a scene of Lex trying to apologize to Aria in a romantic fashion before it remembered it's Lex here and promptly shoved the thought into the void of my subconcious.
That is until I remember the passionate words he said to Sonata after Fireflower's own confession back in Vanhoover so who knows what might happen.
As for River, guess she'll need to think of how to wrangle as many of Las Pegasus' rich elite without inciting Lex's wrath though I am curious on how he'll convince them to actually loan him the capital for his new kingdom.
At first I thought he might have Sonata 'sing' to them if they dis miss him but Lex's talents lie in administration which involves book keeping, so perhaps he could provide details of how much they stand to gain once Vanhoover is back on its feet. Not exactly Lex's style but certainly within his ability.
Lex has a few things to think about, will he turn to the other girls or just mess things up more?
Could Lex trust River to be telling the truth about Aria, given she isnt exactly truethful in many other ways?
As for the crew in Las Pegasus.
Les would like to talk to them about a loan. If they dont want to talk to him, in return he is offering his skills in book keeping.
To Audit them.
So River is making herself that much more useful. She Hope's.
River has been given quite a tall order. It's very hard to imagine if River does her job exactly as told by Lex, she will succeed. If she's being honest, her pitch would go like "Vanhoover is now under the rule of a dark wizard who has attacked the Princesses and stripped Luna of her alicornhood. It is also almost totally ruined, reduced to a refugee camp several hundred strong. I'd like you to travel with me to Vanhoover, where said wizard, who has a fiery temper and a penchant for putting curses on anyone he thinks deserves to be punished, resides. We'd like you to offer us huge loans to rebuild this city, which has lost most of its population and a lot of its infrastructure. And lest you think that sounds like a risky bet that deserves a high rate of interest to compensate, Lex probably believes attempted usury is a cursable offense, and he'll decide on the spot whether or not your offer warrants a curse."
The only way I can imagine this plan succeeding is A)River sticks with her idea of tricking/kidnapping Las Pegasus elites to come to Vanhoover and counts on them being too afraid of Lex to complain about their treatment to him, then B)River works together with Sonata and Aria to imply to these Las Pegasus elites that if they don't make huge loans at low interest rates, they're going to be cursed for criminal failure to provide for the common good, or something like that, and at the very least they won't be provided transportation out of the city until they agree to Lex's terms.
9752345 Now that Lex realizes that he hurt Aria rather badly, it'll be interesting to see what his reaction to that is. While his track record in this regard is pretty bad, he has had occasional moments of managing to blunder into the right response. Of course, he was counting on that when he tried to talk to the girls that morning and it all went wrong, so there's that.
As for how exactly Lex plans to secure a major loan from Las Pegasus' elite, well...at the moment the major trial is going to be for River to even get them there to hear Lex out to begin with. It seems fairly obvious that Lex wants everything to be aboveboard, but River seems very dubious that what he wants can be accomplished that way. So either there's going to be a serious uphill negotiation, or Lex might have to find a way to be a little more flexible about getting what he wants. Or somepony could try and fix things behind the scenes. Or, of course, it could be a total disaster. It wouldn't be the first time.
9752475 He could very well do both; that's kind of how he got into his current mess to begin with.
9752805 So far she seems to be doing a good job. But now she has her work cut out for her.
9752523 Well, she has an ulterior motive, but otherwise River has been fairly forthright in her dealings since Lex cursed her. In a way, he was right to show her who's boss. He made it clear that he was not to be trifled with, and now she's trying to curry favor with him. It's a very effective master/servant relationship. I suspect the Night Mare approves...
As for the rich ponies of Las Pegasus...well, we'll see how that goes.
9754470 In terms of both getting the rich ponies of Las Pegasus to come to Vanhoover, and striking a bargain with them (i.e. a loan), Lex and company are very much arguing from a position of weakness. But Lex doesn't really do weakness, and is hellbent on making this happen...but also in making sure that it happens in the right way. To that end, things look like they're going to go sharply south when the rubber meets the road, even if River can somehow get everypony to come with her to Vanhoover, which is not at all guaranteed. Somehow, I suspect that she'll be less than truthful about what she wants them to go there for. After all, Lex just said to get them there.
As for the details of the loan Lex wants to strike, you might remember that he already let it slip (quite a while back) that he intends to use this as a method of drawing Las Pegasus into his sphere of influence for when he intends to break away from Equestria. So the terms of the agreement are going to be very important. That doesn't compromise how vital the loan will be for rebuilding Vanhoover, of course, nor the importance of his adhering to his moral code when he secures it, but the combination of those things means that he's setting the bar extremely high. And all against the backdrop of the alicorns sounding the alarm about what's happened and Twilight Sparkle coming back to deal with things.
There might not be another battle on the immediate horizon, but the stakes are certainly being raised!
9754556 Ok, so if Lex's code prevents him from intentionally misleading others, then add on to what I said "Also, this loan will hopefullly help me annex your city and help pull it away from Equestria, while tourism is your biggest industry."
I'm not sure how close this show hews to canon, and how much Las Pegasus has been changed by the elemental bleed attacks, but I just remembered who the Las Pegasus elites that we know of are: Gladmane before Season 6, and the Flim Flam Brothers afterwards. I confess I would love to see how the Flim Flam Brothers get along with Lex!
9754972 Lex doesn't like deception – relating to others is hard enough without people intentionally being duplicitous – but it's not one of those things that his code of ethics absolutely forbids him from engaging in. It has its place, particularly when engaging with a hostile force; Lex might be ultra-Lawful, but he's not stupid. Nor is it purely limited to dealing with enemies; there are some things that other people shouldn't know, for the safety of themselves and others. Hence why he's kept Xiriel's existence a secret so far.
Of course, the more notable caveat is that Lex sees a line between lying (saying something he knows not to be true) and saying a truth that simply isn't the whole truth. If he tells a bunch of rich ponies from Las Pegasus that their money can make the difference between Vanhoover recovering or dying, that's entirely true. There's no need for him to further volunteer how such a loan can be used as leverage when he breaks away from Equestria in order to make them join his fledgling country.
To put it another way, Lex knows that truth is important. He also knows that it's not the most important thing, at least when it comes to governing. He's not alone in that either. It's rather notable that Princess Celestia never said "Twilight, your cutie mark matches the symbol on the Tree of Harmony, and I'm maneuvering you into making friends with a group of very special fillies in hopes that you'll redeem my lost sister, and eventually become an alicorn yourself."
As for the rich Las Pegasus ponies in question, we're still technically predating season five, so the Flim Flam Brothers won't be part of them. Which is probably good for them. There are other forms of deception that Lex very much disapproves of, primarily among them being the kind used to the manifest injury of other ponies! (And no, that doesn't count for bringing Las Pegasus under his umbrella; remember, Lex firmly believes that everypony will be better off under his rule.)
In other words, deception is just a tool, no different than a sword or a spell. It can be used to do good or do harm. When Lex judges the morality of an action, he looks at the nature of the action unto itself, not what tools were used in conjunction with it.