“Oh hush, mon cher,” he admonished, raising a hoof to stop her struggling and gesturing his head to his sheathed sword. “If I was going to harm you, I would hardly attack you with a bolt of cloth, no?” Thorax eyed the covered blade for a moment, uncertain. When he moved again, she instinctively activated her horn to do… something, anything to prevent the pony from coming near her in her undisguised state. All she got was a splitting pain at the base of her horn and a shudder running through her body as her magical fatigue momentarily robbed her of vitality. She closed her eyes as he came closer, bracing herself for the inevitable.