Lying next to Fluttershy underneath Starlight Glimmer’s bed, Soft Mane couldn’t help but smile at how things were going.
As much as she didn’t like the idea of helping the stallion who’d so brazenly insulted her parentage, she knew that Twilight was right. Lex Legis might be an awful pony, but that didn’t change the fact that he had – based on everything she’d heard since coming to Vanhoover, and even before then – saved a lot of lives. While Soft Mane couldn’t imagine that she’d ever like him, she couldn’t bring herself to be so cold as to refuse to help someone who had done so much for so many other people.
But the icing on the cake had been what Spike had told her (before he’d let his jealousy over Rarity chatting up that Sandbar guy turn him into a jerk): that she’d be able to rub Lex’s face in the fact that the girl he’d disparaged as being a freak had been the one to save his life. And while Soft Mane knew that was a petty reason to help someone, she had to admit that it put a smile on her face. Even if healing him didn’t change Lex’s attitude the way Twilight hoped it would, Soft Mane was content knowing that the arrogant stallion would hate having needed her help.
And now she’d be able to tweak Lex twice over by rescuing Starlight right out from under his nose!
He’ll be so mad when he finds out she’s gone! she snickered silently. But he won’t be able to do anything about it!
Of that she felt quite certain. While Twilight probably wouldn’t be happy when they came back with Lex’s prisoner in tow, Soft Mane was sure that the youngest alicorn would agree with Fluttershy that abandoning Starlight to whatever harsh fate Lex would no doubt inflict on her was simply too cruel. Which meant that even if Lex demanded that Starlight be turned back over to him, Twilight would refuse, to the point of fighting to protect her if Lex was ungrateful enough to attack the ponies who’d just saved his life (even if Rainbow Dash had been the one to put the hurt on him in the first place).
And if things did come down to a fight, well…Soft Mane didn’t plan on healing Lex that much, whereas Twilight and her friends were all fresh, and had the advantage of numbers if Sonata got involved. It wasn’t like Lex himself would be able to do much anyway; as a spellcaster herself, Soft Mane was sure that he’d need at least a day to recover the magic he’d expended defeating Starlight in the first place. That was more than enough time for Twilight to teleport them all back to Canterlot, Starlight included.
One way or another, Starlight Glimmer was going to end up beyond Lex’s reach.
It’s exactly what he deserves! smirked Soft Mane to herself. Now we just have to wait for that doctor to get here, finish his exam and leave, and we’ll be home free!
As if summoned by her thoughts, there was a knock at the door, which opened a moment later without waiting for a reply.
Holding her breath, Soft Mane watched as four hooves walked in…followed by a second set of hooves.
The sight made her frown, and she shared a confused look with Fluttershy and Pixie. The nurse had only mentioned sending one doctor. Who was the second pony?
“Miss Glimmer,” came a male voice a second later. “My name is Doctor House Call. How are you feeling?”
“Is this the part where I’m supposed to make a joke about how I’d shake your hoof, but I’m a little tied up at the moment?” Starlight’s voice was an equal mixture of sarcasm and bitterness. “And who’re you supposed to be? Aria’s wicked stepmother?”
“My name,” came an icy female voice, “is River Bank.”
You’ve gotta be kidding me! It was all Soft Mane could do to hold back a snort at the irony. The mare they’d been looking for was suddenly right in front of them, and they couldn’t say or do anything to catch her attention!
Having no way of knowing they were there, River kept talking. “And I recommend you not mention Aria again. Both Lex and Sonata are furious about what you did to her.”
Frowning, Soft Mane glanced at Fluttershy and Pixie, the two mares looking as befuddled as she felt. According to what they’d heard, Lex was severely injured, with Sonata keeping vigil over him. So why was River talking like he was just fine? A bluff, decided Soft Mane. She’s trying to intimidate Starlight for some reason. But why…?
“She attacked me!” snapped Starlight indignantly.
“That’s not what the ponies who saw your fight said,” retorted River. “Even those rubes you brought with you say that you fired first.”
“Of course they did.” Starlight’s voice was filled with disgust, but a moment later it changed, becoming accusatory. “Lex threatened them, didn’t he? He told them that he’d curse them unless they sold me out.”
“They didn’t need to be threatened.” The sneer in River’s voice was audible. “After how you lied to them about giving up your own cutie mark, not to mention seeing all of the atrocities you tried to commit here, they disavowed you the first chance they had. And I suspect that everyone else in your little village will do the same once they find out the truth about you.”
“You-”
But Starlight’s voice was cut off as House Call suddenly spoke up. “Miss Glimmer, please look straight up so I can check your pupils.”
“Forget my pupils!” growled Starlight. “Are you saying you sent them back-”
“Miss Glimmer, I need to check you for symptoms of brain trauma,” interrupted House Call. “We’re not working with hospital-grade equipment here, so it’s very important that you let me look you over as best I can so that we can try and catch any potential-”
“Okay! Fine!” Starlight quieted down only for a moment, however. “Are you saying you sent those turncoats back to my village?”
“They left a few hours ago, right after their statements were taken” answered River, her voice smug. “They apparently wanted their cutie marks back quite badly. Almost as badly as they wanted to tell everyone else there about how your little philosophy was based on a lie.”
“IT WASN’T A LIE!”
“Miss Glimmer, settle down! I can’t examine you when you’re thrashing like that!”
A tense silence followed, but it only lasted a few seconds before Starlight broke it. “It wasn’t a lie. Yes, I kept my cutie mark, but only because I needed it in order to free other ponies from theirs. Everything else was real. Cutie marks cause division and disharmony. Giving them up brings ponies closer together.”
“I doubt the ponies here would agree, considering how you brutalized them in order to take their marks against their will,” scoffed River. “Which leads us to why I’m talking to you right now. The fact of the matter is that you don’t have anyone supporting you at the moment. Not the ponies from your village. Not the people who saw your little rampage this morning. No one. Which means that when Lex puts a curse on you that’s so horrible that it makes death look like a better alternative, nopony’s going to speak up on your behalf. Your only chance at making things even a little easier on yourself is to answer my questions.”
“Oh here we go. So now you’re-, OW! Easy on the hoof!”
“Sorry,” murmured House Call in a distracted voice.
Giving a sigh, Starlight started again. “You really expect me to believe that if I tell you whatever you want to know, Lex will take it easy on me?”
“Let me put it this way,” retorted River. “If you don’t cooperate, there’s no chance whatsoever that he’ll show you leniency. If you do, you might be able to make things a little better for yourself.”
Starlight gave a hollow laugh. “Right.”
“It’s your choice, but remember what I said: you’ve got no one else in your corner now, so if you want there to be any hope of digging yourself out of the hole you’re in, you need to make it yourself. So, let’s start with something simple, shall we?” River paused for a moment, and when Starlight didn’t protest, kept going. “In the last two months, have you had any contact with any of Equestria’s princesses, or any proxy acting on their behalf?”
“…what?”
What? Soft Mane’s brow furrowed, not understanding why River would think the princesses had anything to do with Starlight.
“Have you?” pressed River.
“Are you kidding me?” Starlight’s reply came amidst a round of incredulous chuckling. “No, of course not. Why would you even think that?”
“…I see.” River, in contrast to Starlight’s disbelieving laughter, couldn’t have sounded more serious. “Let’s move on then. Why did you attack this place today?”
“I was trying to tell ponies that they can live better lives without their cutie-”
“Yes, yes, I know that part. But why today, specifically? Why didn’t you come here yesterday, or next week? What made you decide that this was the day you were going to attack our town?”
Starlight couldn’t have sounded more perplexed when she answered. “What are you talking about? First of all, I didn’t come here to attack any-, look, I didn’t even know anything had happened here until Sonata showed up in my village to deliver some rainclouds. She-”
“Miss Bank, I need to speak with you,” interrupted House Call.
“In a moment, Doctor.”
“No. Now.”
“…fine.”
Soft Mane was beginning to feel dizzy from how bewildered she felt. The tension in House Call’s voice had been audible, and as he and River walked to the far corner of the room, lowering their voices to whispers, she strained her ears to try and catch what they were saying. What had happened to make the medical pony so upset?
But the whisper she overheard a moment later didn’t come from River Bank or House Call.
“…oh no…”
Pixie’s quiet gasp of dismay made Soft Mane look over at the other pony, blinking as she saw that the mare had produced a piece of paper from somewhere and silently folded it into a cone, aiming the larger end toward the corner of the room where River and House Call were while sticking the shorter end in one of her ears. It was a brilliant idea, but whatever she’d heard was already making her turn pale. Between them, Fluttershy gulped, clearly unnerved by the other mare’s rising nervousness. Soft Mane felt the same way, but at the same time her curiosity soared. What had Pixie heard?
“We’ll continue our discussion at a later time,” announced River suddenly, the door opening before she was halfway done with her sentence.
The abrupt declaration caught Soft Mane off-guard, and it was clear that she wasn’t the only one. “Wait, you’re leaving?” asked Starlight, her voice thick with confusion. “Just like th-, hey! Hey!”
But the only answer she received was the door closing behind them as River Bank and House Call left.
The sound of the latch clicking into place was still hanging in the air when Pixie began to wriggle out from under the bed. “We’ve gotta go!” blurted the blue-furred unicorn.
“Wh-what do you mean?” whimpered Fluttershy. “What happened?”
“You used your magic, didn’t you?” Pixie’s question was directed toward Soft Mane, the half-pony already halfway out from under the bed. “On Starlight, while I was out in the hall. You healed her?”
“Wait,” began Starlight. “Slow down and tell me what’s happening. You-”
“I did,” nodded Soft Mane. “Why? What did they say?”
Pixie let out a groan. “That doctor knew it.” She pointed at Starlight. “He looked at her wounds and realized they were healing too fast. That’s what he was saying to River, that there was no way she could have recovered that quickly on her own.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “And…and we’ve spent most of the afternoon telling River’s servants to tell her that we have healing magic that we want to use on Lex.”
Starlight gaped at that. “You what?!”
“She knew.” Soft Mane felt a shudder run down her spine then. “She knew we were here.”
“I think she was suspicious from the beginning.” Pixie was already circling the bed, her horn lighting up as she started to work at the knots binding Starlight’s legs. “Remember how she asked if Starlight knew the princesses, or why she attacked today, the same day that you guys and Princess Twilight arrived?” She looked at Starlight then, already having gotten one of her forelegs free. “She thought you were already in cahoots before, and now she’s sure of it!”
“But that’s crazy!” Starlight sat up as soon as Pixie had her other foreleg free. “I’ve never even heard of you guys before today! Besides, if she knew you were here, why didn’t she check the room? It’s not like you would have been hard to find.”
“Because River’s a thinker, not a fighter, and you guys have a reputation for defeating even powerful ponies like King Sombra and Nightmare Moon,” answered Pixie, working on the knots binding Starlight’s hind legs. “She probably thought you’d jump her if the jig was up. Instead, she’s probably going to get whatever reinforcements she can, which means we have to make tracks right now!”
Biting her lip, Soft Mane felt her heart sink as she realized the full implications of what had just happened. With River apparently under the impression that Starlight had been working with them from the beginning, and her finding out that they were in the middle of rescuing her now, the odds of her talking Sonata into letting them heal Lex had just shrunk to nothing. Worse, the entire place was likely to be crawling with ponies looking for them in the next few minutes.
So much for being home free once Starlight’s exam was over.