Broken

Broken: Chapter 3

"Panic"

Lavender had been shocked so many times in the past two days that this one came as little more than a blink-worthy hiccup on a long and lonesome road. Silver's information came to him from just yesterday, and he had to remind himself that this grey unicorn Pestle Stone was actually 'Mistress' Moonbeam. One of the two that Lily had mentioned had trained her.

And Ingot. Ingot... Ignatus... Silver had told him that the mayor was Pestle's 'partner,' so it wasn't entirely outside of the realm of possibility that he was standing in a room with two bucking slave traders.

"Good to meet you, Lavender." Ingot's voice was deep and low, fitting his stature almost all too well. He wrapped his hoof around Lavender's firmly, giving it a bone-jarring shake. Lavender's smile turned into a grimace as Ingot chuckled. "Pardon me, that was rude. Old habits die hard, I suppose."

"Quite." Lavender grimaced, turning to Pestle Stone. He offered a hoof, but she brushed past him immediately.

"We've come today to offer an interview with the city staff. Miss Ink Quill had some questions about our proceedings in the last town meeting and humbly requested an audience with us."

"That's right." Silver offered with a faint smile. Lavender knew that smile anywhere. 'I am so bucked.' He swallowed hard in an attempt to still his beating heart, turning back to Ingot who was watching Silver and Pestle trade back-and-forth like a tennis match. The stallion was smiling, and lifted a shoulder at Lavender as if to say 'Women. What are you gonna do?'

"Well then." Lavender cleared his throat, opening the briefcase he had brought with him. "This is news to me, but interviews are something of a specialty of mine. I'd be happy to formally ask you any of the questions Silver wanted." He looked to the Editor, noting the muscle along her jaw flexing. He'd like to have imagined he heard her teeth grinding together, but that could just as easily have been attributed to the architecture.

"We'll begin with the minutes from last week's meeting..." Silver offered, sweeping behind her desk. Silver took his place on one side, leaving Pestle and Ingot to sit opposite Silver. Maybe it was just him, maybe it was the presence the two offered, or maybe it was the fact that he had a runaway sex slave at his home, but Silver could almost feel the tension in the air. He tried hard to focus on transcribing the interview as they went about asking dull, boring questions back-and-forth. For the most part, it was Silver who did the talking, while Pestle offered the minimal amount of information in such a way that would inconvenience her the least. Lavender could appreciate a good interviewee when he saw one, and Pestle was certainly formidable.

Ingot, for the majority of the interview, remained quiet. He perked up once to offer a clarification to something Pestle had said, but aside from that, he spent the entire time watching Lavender write. That much, Lavender could understand. His talent seemed to encompass much of anything that involved scribing. Be it free-flow novel ideas, transcribing an interview such as this one, or even copying a speech somepony was giving, Lavender had found his talent in writing with magic.

Wielding quill, ink, and parchment skillfully, Lavender wrote every word exchanged between the two. Granted, he would edit what was spoken later, to both Silver and Pestle's specifications, but for now he copied them verbatim.

"I do believe that's everything." Silver said, snapping Lavender from his scribing funk. He had even started to write those words down when he caught himself, scratching the last few words off of the page.

"Fascinating." Ingot drew everypony's attention, his eyes fixed on the page in Lavender's silvery magic glow. "You wrote everything down perfectly."

"Huh? Oh, yes, it's my talent." Lavender offered weakly. Before him were several sheets, each numbered in order, of the entire interview process. Out of habit, he had even copied the pauses in sentences, filling them in with 'uuh,' or 'eer,' as per whatever either mare had said.

"Quite the talent, my boy! It certainly beats metallurgy." Ingot gestured to his flank, showing off a golden-colored block of gleaming metal. "It's always intriguing to see ponies with wonderful talents like your own."

"Th-thank you, sir, it's nothing major." Lavender flushed. He was a sucker for compliments. For the umpteenth time since he had met Lily, he was thankful for his pigmentation. "I'm sure there are plenty of ponies out there who can write like I can."

"Ah, but none to this extent!" Ingot unceremoniously took the sheaf of paper, shuffling through to the middle. "He even got your facial expression down! Though if you don't mind my asking, what's an 'indignant scowl'?"

"Well thank you for coming in today!" Silver stood up immediately, snatching the transcript from Ingot's hooves. "We'll be sure to send the first edit of our interview to your office the moment it's done." She ushered them towards the door, shovelling the papers into Lavender's hooves with a quick scowl that said 'we're going to have a long talk after this.' Knowing all too well he was going to need a dozen chocolates from the store before lunch that day, Lavender nevertheless tucked the pages containing the interview away before Ingot could make a second pass at them.

Pestle, for all her simplicity, could muster an ugly look when she wanted to. Lavender had to swallow his fear as she and Ingot left the building. Silver stood at the entrance of her office, waving at them until they were out of sight. The moment the front door closed on them, she wheeled on Lavender, eyes aflame.

"'Indignant Scowl?!' Are you mental?!"

"You know I can hardly control that!" Lavender raised his hooves defensively. "It's not like I can stop her from moving the muscles in her face! Well, I could, but that'd involve assault and I don't feel like going to prison today!"

"UGH!" Silver whipped about once more, her tail lashing out to catch him in the face. Lavender sputtered as the silvery-grey strands flooded his eyes and mouth, making him cringe.

"When was the last time you washed your- OW!"

"Shut up! And for pony's sake, if you say another word before we get to where we're going, I'm gonna-"

"Fine, fine, sheesh." Lavender fetched his briefcase and looked at Silver indignantly. "Lead the way."

"Come on." She turned into the building, away from the front doors that Ingot and Pestle had disappeared through. Deeper into the heart of the Trottingham Observer. Through the foyer was the correspondence floor, a loose conglomeration of walls that cordoned off miniature offices of bustling ponies. Lavender had got his start on that very floor, coming and going at all times of the day to pursue leads, write reports, and send articles up to one of the respective editors. On the far end of the floor was his office, nestled comfortably between one of the newspaper's other four daily columnists. He peered longingly at the worn oak door, behind which he knew he would be able to find his typewriter, and a much-desired stash of coffee cake.

Instead, Silver led him towards the stairwell and up into the production line of the newspaper, where the printing press and bindery was busy putting the next day's issue together. Above that were the corporate offices, where her boss and the other higher-ups in the newspaper kept their offices. They stopped on the third floor, entering a small hallway that led into a moderately-appointed welcoming area. The secretary there was a bored-looking pegasus mare who had her nose buried in a magazine about fashion or some such nonsense. Silver brushed straight past her and into the first office.

"Good morning, Ink Quill." She said cheerily, herding Lavender in before shutting the door behind them. Ink Quill was a dark-coated unicorn mare that Lavender was known for having a crush on. Certainly, he was a helpless stallion, with better luck winning the jackpot at the casinos of Las Pegasus than getting with the CEO of the paper company, but he could still dream. She turned in her office chair to face them, tenting her hooves and resting her muzzle on them to peer at them with cold, calculating eyes. Her dark coat was all the more offset by a strikingly-white mane that she kept pulled back and into a whip-tight braid at almost all times. All of that even more shadowed by the brilliant pair of amber eyes that bored into the two ponies that had just stepped into her office.

"How did the interview go?" She asked immediately, cutting straight to the chase. Lavender stuttered a bit as he pulled the manuscript out.

"I-it went well! They were very forthcoming with the information Silver asked of them," He passed the pages off to her, thankful (once more!) for his dark coloration. Ink Quill barely even blinked at him as her bright white glow overrode his silvery one, taking the pages smoothly.

"Thank you, Lavender. I'll be sure to give this the first read-through before sending it back to you, SIlver." She turned her back to them once more, though Silver didn't move. Lavender felt the beginnings of a panic attack set in as Silver fixed the back of Ink Quill's chair with the same look she had given him earlier. He would just as soon have ran for home than stayed in that room a moment longer.

"Ma'am?"

"Yes, Silver?" Ink muttered, not even bothering to turn her chair around to face them.

"Why didn't you tell me that Pestle and Ingot were visiting for the interview today?"

The whole world could have frozen in that moment. Lavender's jaw dropped as he looked at Silver, who still had the back of Ink Quill's chair locked in her death stare. From the corner of his eye, he could see Ink Quill's head raise up, but she didn't turn to face them. Instead, he heard a soft noise that could have been her flipping a page over.

"Thank you, Silver. I'll have this on your desk by tomorrow morning, I assure you."

Lavender knew that tone. It was one that said 'I'm not going to answer your question, and if you want to insist, you can clean your desk out.' Silver knew defeat when she tasted it, but nopony could have missed the venom-filled glare Silver shot the CEO before turning to leave the office. She waited until they were back downstairs and safely in Lavender's office before she spoke.

"That bitch!"

"You mean you didn't know about the interview either?!" Lavender collapsed into his chair, feeling for all intents and purposes like he had just had a brush with death itself.

"No! I had barely had the time to grab a cup of coffee before those two just showed up at the desk, saying they had an appointment!" Silver leaned back against the door, her head hitting the wood with an audible 'thump.' "I feel like I'm going to die..."

"You and me both." Lavender groaned as he held his head in his hooves. The implications were astounding. Typically, high-profile interviews like that were arranged through the CEO's office, since it was a major deal. Otherwise, Silver's office could arrange them with ease. For them to conduct an interview with the mayor himself had to go through the top first, and then it'd come down to them. Obviously, Pestle and Ingot had been arranging the interview for weeks beforehand with Ink Quill, but had neglected to tell either Silver or Lavender.

"But why?" Lavender growled, half to himself, half to Silver. "Why would they not tell us about such an important interview? And at such a rotten time!"

"It's got to be coincidence." Silver surmised. "There's no way they'd have been able to tell the girl ran to your place. I know for a fact that at least Pestle was at one of those functions on Saturday, and the mayor was with her. She showed up at your door that morning, right?"

"Eer, not that morning... It was Sunday morning at one when she showed up."

"So it was the night Pestle and Ingot were at that function..." Silver tapped her lower lip in thought, looking intently at the ground. She was thinking intently on something. "That might explain why she was able to escape. You said she ran away from her master's home, right?"

"That's what she told me. She said she had managed to get the door open, and ran from the house she was at."

"Damnit. Okay." She rose to all fours and looked to Lavender intently. "There's no way of knowing whether or not Pestle was her mistress at the time she ran away. But we do know that both Pestle and the mayor, whether or not he's Ignatus, were too busy to know that she had escaped. So, there's two possibilities. One, she escaped from either of them, and they found out she was missing Sunday morning at the earliest. Which would mean this meeting was pure coincidence. Two, she escaped from somepony else, and they know she's been gone and have been looking for her since Saturday evening at the earliest. That still means this meeting was coincidence."

"Well that's a comforting thought." Lavender groaned, holding his head in his hooves. "I honestly thought they were here because they had somehow bridged the gap-"

"Well, there's nothing saying they haven't." Silver cut him off. "It's not entirely outside of the realm of possibility that she was followed, or otherwise discovered, at your place." Lavender felt the blood chill in his veins. "If that's the case, then this meeting was just a convenient way of meeting you face-to-face, since it was already planned. But either way, it doesn't explain why they didn't tell either of us that it was happening this morning." Silver growled and stomped a hoof. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"Alright, look," Lavender beckoned her close, laying a hoof on her side to calm her down. "There's no sense in getting flustered. The interview's done and over with, and from what I could tell, they were both genuinely happy - or at least as happy as Pestle can be - with the result. Either that, or Ingot's a damn good liar." The mayor had certainly seemed happy with Lavender's ability and the interview in general. He even wore a smirk on his lips as he and Pestle had left.

"So?"

"So we move forwards as cautiously as possible. Worst-case scenario, they know the girl's at my house, and are moving to take her now. Second worst-case scenario is they know she's at my house, but are either waiting to take her, or waiting for us to make the first move. We can't do anything about the first, but-"

"But we can make the first move." Silver perked up. "So, what, are you saying we try to return her-"

"Tonight." Silver nodded. "We get ahold of them and tell them we've found a runaway. If they ask why it took us a whole day to get her back to them, we say it's because I-"

"Right. Sampling the goods and whatnot." Silver waved him off with a wing, turning to his door. "I follow you. But, do me a favor?" She turned to look back at him. "Take the day? Go make sure that the first worst-case scenario didn't happen?"

"That sounds like a good idea." Lavender grimaced. The thought of those ponies in his home, taking Lily back, likely in any manner of violent ways, sent a chill up his spine. The dread of the entire situation was quickly catching up to him, and he hated the feeling it spawned in his gut. Any number of these scenarios, good or bad, didn't look well for him at that moment. Worst-case, he got home and she was gone. Best-case, he got home and she was there, but they'd have to go through with their plan immediately.

"Lav?"

"Hmm?" He perked up, looking back to Silver.

"Be careful." She said, opening his door and leaving without another word.

His home was quiet, the curtains on both floors drawn closed. That could either be very bad, or incredibly good, as one of the things he had told Lily to do was draw the curtains. It wasn't the first time Lavender had taken a Monday off thanks to 'feeling ill,' but it was the first in a while. He was thankful for that much as he left the office, catching a stray question or two thrown his way during the departure from the Trottingham Observer's office. Now, as he opened the front gate and approached his home, he felt a strange chill down his spine.

Inside, he would either find nothing, Lily, or Lily and some of her associates. Only one of those scenarios played out well in his head, and even then, it came with some implications he didn't much care to think about. The memory of waking to Lily with her hooves wrapped around his midsection, her face tucked up against his belly was still fresh and came to the foreground of his thoughts as he worked the key in the lock.

"Hello?" He called cautiously upon opening the door. Lavender had never been a very studious unicorn, but he did know a few basic defense spells. He called them to mind readily as he entered his own home, fearing an attacker. Instead, he was greeted with something that was altogether reassuring and debilitating.

"Master!" Lily emerged from the study immediately to his right, throwing her forelegs around him exuberantly. He had avoided casting the defensive spell that would have sent her flying backwards into the wall, but only on account of her lips pressing snugly to his own.

"Lily!" He choked, kicking the door closed behind him. "Stop kissing me!" She giggle and spun away, sitting obediently on her haunches and looking to him with bright, happy eyes.

"Welcome home, master!"

"What did I tell you about that?!" Lavender glowered, looking out of the miniature window set into the front door to see if anypony had noticed. There was no one on the street or looking out of their windows. Likely thanks to the fact that it was just after eleven in the morning on a Monday.

"S-sorry, Lavender." Lily whimpered, kicking a hoof out of embarrassment. "I just got so excited that you were coming home early."

"It's fine, Lily. I'm just glad to see you're okay." Lavender sighed, laying a hoof on her shoulder. She smiled at him, a genuine, happy thing that lifted his spirits. The memory of that morning clouded the gesture, though, as he lifted her chin. "I have a serious question to ask you, Lily. About your old masters."

"Okay...?" Lily blinked, obviously curious.

"One of them, Mistress aah... What was it again,"

"Moonbeam?"

"Right. Moonbeam. Is she a grey unicorn? Has a pestle and mortar for a cutie mark?"

"Yes." Lily nodded immediately, a smile on her face. "Mistress Moonbeam is a grey unicorn, not much shorter than you are, ma-Lavender."

"Right." That settled that much, then. Not that he didn't trust Silver's intelligence, but it was nice to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. "The other one, Master Ignatus... Was he an Earth Pony, very stocky, with a golden ingot for a cutie mark? Brown coat?"

At that, Lily balked.

"No. Master Ignatus was also a unicorn. At least, I think he was. He was always wearing a cape and a hood whenever I saw him. He was very small, too, smaller than you or me. And his magic was colored green."

"Huh." That certainly flipped the tables a little bit. So Ingot wasn't Ignatus. At least, not unless he knew a very potent disguise spell. Still, Silver had said he was Pestle's 'partner,' so he was in on this whole deal. What was important at that moment was that Lily was safe.

But that didn't mean they weren't still coming for her. Silver had mentioned that she'd check in on her contacts, and see about arranging something for later on that night. But that night was that night, and not the afternoon. Feeling suddenly more scared than he had walking home, Lavender pulled Lily along with him.

"Come on." He turned towards the stairs with the blue slave in tow. "We need to keep you safe."

"Mast-Lavender, why are we going upstairs?" She didn't object, coming along with him easily. He glanced over his withers at her, and she brightened. "Are we going to sleep?"

"What? No!" Lavender shook his head, releasing her hoof. He paused on the stairs to look at her seriously. "Do you know why I came home so early, and why my first question was about your masters?"

"I don't." Lily admitted. Lavender took a breath.

"Mistress Moonbeam came to my work today for an interview. We panicked, thought she was there because they had tracked you somehow. The only reason I'm back home right now is to keep you safe." He beckoned her upstairs, turning to his bedroom. "Do you understand?"

"I do." Lily said, her tone suddenly somber. Lavender feared to look at her in that moment, else he be smitten by a doe-eyed look of melancholy pleading or some sort. Instead, he focused on the task at-hoof, and it involved a long-buried bit of text he hadn't used in a long, long while. They arrived in his bedroom, a place that Lily had only visited once before, and that hadn't been at Lavender's invitation, either. How she had managed to slip into his bed without his knowing was still beyond him. Then again, he had never been a very light sleeper to begin with. Rather than focus on the stressful morning, Lavender approached the small bookshelf he kept here, only for the miniature collection of magical books he kept there.

"Lily," He muttered, perusing the titles. "Do me a favor and look under the bed for me."

"Yes, Lavender." He could hear her hooves happily approach the bed.

"I'm looking for a small trunk. There are two under there, one black and one green. The green one is what I need."

"Alright," Lily's voice came to him a little muffled, and he heard the light thumps as she began hauling the trunk out. He found the book he had been looking for, and pulled it from the shelf readily. Turning back to his bed, Lavender was suddenly smitten.

It happened in a rush, one that he couldn't possibly have controlled. Lily's haunches were immediately before him, and the poor mare had done what he presumed she'd been instructed to do whenever she bent over to such an angle. Her tail was flipped up over her back, exposing all of her marely glory to Lavender.

Before he could stop it, his cock emerged from its sheath. The familiar haze of lust descended over him, and his nostrils flared, inhaling her scent. 'How could I have not noticed it before?' Lavender groaned, fighting the internal urge that ran rampant through him. 'This smell, and-' as he watched, Lily's clitoris flicked in and out of its hood. 'And- and that... By the heavens, I should have seen it. Her tail's been twitching since this morning.'

No doubt about it.

Lily was in Estrus.

And Lavender was going to have a hell of a time dealing with her in his current state.

'What do I do? Do I have her leave? Not with the potential of those thugs coming to take her away... I can't ask her to stay, I'll go insane! Do I- no, I can't. Not with her. Not now.'

"Lavender?" Lily's voice broke him out of his reverie, and he blinked at her. 'Big Mistake.' She was looking back at him, one hoof riding high between her thighs, her clitoris still winking at him as if to say 'look at this right here!'

"I..."

"Lavender, please." She cooed, her voice full of lust and desperation in equal measure. "It feels like it's been so long..."

"I... Lily, are you sure?" He asked, thanking the powers that be for the one moment of clarity in this haze of hormone-fueled emotion.

"Please." She nodded, her thighs quivering. He could see her oozing, the core muscles of her abdomen flexing hard enough to make her entire core pulse and drool liquid onto her thighs. The scent hit him again, washing over his face like a tidal wave. "I feel so hot, like I'm going to burst..." She was panting now, emitting a thin, low whimper from the back of her throat every now and then. The tiny nub of flesh continued to pulse, even though it was shrouded in her arousal. Lavender felt his own sex respond in kind, throbbing in time with his ever-quickening heartbeat. A thin stream of pre dribbled out of his head, falling to the floor between his legs.

"I... Okay." He gasped, slowly stepping forwards. No stallion could resist this way. She was so eager, and by the stars the smell of her. Mares seldom went out when they reached their estrus cycle, so it was as new and exciting to Lavender as discovering his first auto-pleasuring spell. He inhaled her scent again, making his member throb in excitement once more. Awkwardly, he placed his hooves on her rump, rearing into the air, aligning himself with her.

He could hear her draw a shuddering breath, releasing it with another long, low groan of anticipation and desire. When she inhaled again, her eyes met his, glimmering faintly in the low lighting of his bedroom.

"Thank you... master."

Like a cold bucket of ice.

Lavender slid down off of her haunches, closing his eyes slowly. His erection faded away instantly, gone on the winds of self-loathing and shame.

"Lily."

"Wh-what? What did I do wrong?"

"N-nothing... Just... Come take a shower with me."

"Ooh, I like doing this in the shower!" She practically skipped towards his bathroom, leading him inside. Lavender hauled himself to his hooves and entered after her, offering a weak smile as she climbed into the tub. He crawled in after her, sitting on the cool tile floor behind Lily. She still had her tail flicked up over her haunches, exposing herself to him.

He allowed one last, longing look at her nethers before cranking the cold water on high.

"Oh Lavender. You didn't."

"Of course I didn't." Lavender groaned, nursing a strong cup of coffee. "She's just... You know... Cycling."

"Oh. So that's why it smells like a cheap whorehouse in here." Silver's arrival that evening had found Lavender sitting dejectedly at the dining room table, with Lily curled up in plain sight, just through the door and on the den's couch. Silver brushed past him into the den, going up to Lily immediately. They had a hushed conversation between the two of them, but when both mares returned, Silver looked less like she was going to rip his head off. "Lily here told me what you did. That was awfully chivalrous of you, Lav."

"Since when have I been anything but?" Lavender retorted, glowering at the pair.

"True, true... Still, she said you were harder than diam-"

"Oh give me a break." Lavender collapsed onto his forelegs, burying his muzzle between his hooves. "It's hard enough smelling that without you poking fun at me."

"I'll say it's hard enough!" Silver guffawed, nudging him playfully. "Still, good job. I honestly didn't know if you would have been able to hold out."

"Yeah, well, I- wait a moment." He glared up at her. "You mean you could tell?" Silver gave him a devious grin.

"Maaaaaaaybe..."

"You bitch." Lavender went back to his coffee, somehow finding it in his heart to hate Silver a little more.

"You made it two whole days without molesting an eager sex slave. I wouldn't exactly call that an accomplishment, mister."

"You're not the one with the cock." Lavender muttered under his breath.

"I heard that. But hey, I managed to set something up. Buck up and go whack off now if you need to, mister." Silver slid a thin slip of paper across the table to him. Lavender picked it up and peered at the text curiously.

"We're going to the strip club."