The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

That's My Heart

Valey held her silence as long as her ears would allow. "So, you're an assassin, huh?"

The air of Felicity's cutie mark lifted from the room. "That's certainly a thing I've said. Would you like to hear about it?"

"Sure." Valey leaned back against the bed. "Just say whatever. Tell me about it."

"A lot of ponies in Gyre, when they want something dead, don't particularly care how it's accomplished," Felicity began with a sigh. "You could hire someone stupid enough to walk up and stab someone in broad daylight, though you wouldn't. You'd just rob them and use the money to hire someone better. Good assassins are the ones that live to tell the tale, and better ones aren't seen at all until they've gotten away. Of course, for some just seeing your target gone is good enough, and you don't care if you have your name written on the crime. But plenty of creatures dislike the idea of having their deeds come back to haunt them. They want to leave as little of a trail as possible."

Valey nodded. "And you were one of the better ones, else you wouldn't know that." Her eyes turned serious. "How much does that bother you? Being paid to go through with someone else's idea of justice?"

Felicity looked away. "I was a little higher up on the pay grade, darling, for when you don't even want it to look like the target was murdered. Unfortunately, that also made it harder to get work, seeing as my tools were far from the industry standard."

Valey raised an eyebrow. "You mean like being a kid?"

"Oh, no." Felicity chuckled. "True, I was approaching fifteen when we left and had been there for nearly a decade, but children can be just as ruthless as adults when the world calls for it. No one trusted a filly." She shook her head. "I mean my brand. When I turn it up as far as it can go after manipulating someone into a carefully calculated situation, it can be... extremely adept at driving creatures to suicide. Hardly an assassination if they're seen throwing themselves off a cliff."

A chill ran across Valey's face. "You can't be fine with that."

Felicity smiled sadly. "Who said I was?"

Valey swallowed, looking down.

"Darling." Felicity reached a wing for her chin. "A few things for thought. While I may have been paid to deliver the justice of others, no one was innocent in Gyre. We all did what we had to to get by, little of it honest and none of it savory. After Senescey's father passed away, our mother became a... ah... a pleasure mare, for example. Kind of a long way for a cleric of the Night Mother to fall, yet at least it let her be upfront about what she did."

"So?" Valey frowned.

"So you learn ways to cope, or else go insane and turn to banditry and never feel anything again." Felicity shrugged. "I've never hidden under the guise of being a good pony. From everything I've seen, I don't know that I'd even argue such a thing exists. Just ones who are better and ones who are worse." She reached up and brushed a lock of mane out of her well-lined eyes. "That pegasus we just picked up is a mercenary, is she not? She gets paid to perform the justice of others too, just much more broadly. I'm sure she'd tell you the same thing."

"So what do you want from me?" Valey put both forehooves on the bed, staring straight into Felicity's sideways eyes. "Look, I know about having dumb stuff in your past. I know you're serious about being friends, and that you really want a chance and to get along. Like, I might have been cautious before, but you got trampled for us down on the beach. You probably don't even trust yourself. I sure didn't. You want me to respect that and not trust you either, but still give you a hoof and a chance."

"You understand," Felicity murmured, blinking. "You can probably also understand that, right now, my siblings and I work for the Night Mother. We have a promised reward. She will restore our bodies, and I'll never have to be bedridden like this... Perhaps we could live without it. We've certainly been working and surviving so far. But you must have had some safety in your past life too, something you did it for and didn't want to give up."

Valey exhaled, close enough that she could have reached out and touched the mare. "Yeah. Everybody had it out for me in Ironridge. Not like a religious or political fanaticism, they just knew I was a jerk. My job gave me diplomatic immunity, so I had the honchos at my back if anyone came to call. For one or two days, I was able to work that to my friends' advantage, but eventually I had to choose them and throw all that away."

Felicity smiled sadly. "That's not a decision I'm able to make, darling. Even if my sisters were here to weigh in as well, I need the Night Mother. I need to know all the chaos we've sown in the Empire at Gazelle's behest was for a real cause. The authority and reward of a goddess is a crutch for me. So as much as I'm inspired by your friends and know which way I'd lean if that choice arrived..."

"You're not there yet." Valey looked away, laying her chin on the bed. "You wanna be a better pony, but you're stuck between us and what you've been doing for years." She hesitated. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, by the way. We try our best to be the good guys, but stuff like that mess we just left behind keeps happening, and there's other bad stuff and... Meh. Look at Sparky's sister. She was like that down there because Shinespark messed up and I didn't help her."

Felicity poked her shoulder, regaining her gaze. "It's like I said. I don't know about any good ponies, but I can certainly see when someone's better than where we are." She slowly sighed. "And that's that. You see completely through me, darling. Aside from a lot of technical specifics on our plans, that's my heart. I have nothing left hidden."

Valey's ears fell. "Yeah, well, I appreciate the introspection. Probably not all that comfortable to get completely laid out before someone you barely know."

"Necessity does come before comfort, I'm afraid," Felicity apologized. "Though I really should pull myself together. I'm not making you feel awkward, am I?"

"Huh?" Valey blinked.

"Emotional vulnerability, darling?" Felicity frowned at her. "A lady bares her heart to you and you worry about my comfort but don't feel the least bit awkward yourself?"

Valey winced, feeling like she was about to get verbally licked. "Uhh... should I?"

Felicity sat upright so that her jaw could drop. "I-I... Rephrase to me the present situation, one more time, please?"

Valey glanced around, realizing she had said something wrong and not sure how to fix it. "We were talking about your past and I was trying to help?"

Felicity's shock turned into focus, and she squinted intensely at her, brain turning. "Hmmmm..."

"Is there a reason you're looking at me like that?" Valey shuffled uncertainly, tilting her head.

"How about this." Felicity crossed her legs, regarding Valey like a scientist. "Do you consider me your equal?"

"Bananas, that's a loaded question..." Valey rubbed the back of her head, looking for an out. "Yeah, sure I do! I just told you I knew how you were feeling, didn't I?"

Felicity broke down into giggles. "Ahahaha! Oh, darling, you're cute when you're embarrassed. Don't worry, I was just messing with you. That conversation broke my comfort zone a little, so fair is fair, right?" Grinning, she brushed a strand of Valey's mane with a wingtip. "Come back and visit me again, won't you? And tell your friends to pay me some attention too! It's dreadfully lonely by myself from time to time."

"Yeah, uh... will do." Still blinking, Valey turned to leave, feeling like she had been caught off guard by a water hose. She made it halfway through the door before her ears snapped back into position and she called over her shoulder, "And I'm not cute!"

Comments

[ZanyZapper]

Sorry Valey, but you ARE cute!

[RoboRed]

"And I'm not cute!"

This statement is false.

[Boopers]

"And I'm not cute!"

Lies, all lies!

[Quinch]

We have it on a reformed windigo's authority that Valey is, in fact, cute.

[sploopy slooder]

"im not cute" says the cute valey.