//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty Four: Vix-Lei, Night Blade // Story: The Pieces Lie Where They Fell // by Evilhumour //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty Four   Vix-Lei   Vix-Lei let out a sigh as she stood up in this thankfully tall room, stretching her arms up above her head as far as she could and rolling her head back and forth to get the kinks out of her neck before glancing to see what got everytaur’s attention. “What do you see Rexy?” she asked as she walked towards the door where they were all standing in front of before almost falling over. “Whoa!” she shouted, placing a hand on the wall to steady herself. “You okay Vix-Lei?” Page asked her, turning around to face her first. “Yeah just need to get some feeling back into my legs,” she waved them off, sitting down on a nearby box and started to rub her right leg. She really hated how ponies never had proper chairs for ’taurs and how she had to perch on the box to make sure her skirt still covered herself which really was a pain in the ass considering how sore her ass was. Why pants never took off was beyond her but the next chance she got she was going to buy herself some. Rubbing her left leg as best as she could, she forced herself upright and walked over to the door Rex opened and saw shaded daylight. Turning her head in confusion to Rex, she was about to ask him what could get him so excited when Night leaned his head against her waist and let out a gasp. “We’re in the Lower East-South Quarter!” he almost shouted before he dropped low and darted his head around in case anytaur heard him. “How can you even tell?” Vix-Lei asked him in a hushed tone as she squirmed her way around Night, eyeing the buildings with a frown. They were all slapdash, haphazard and rundown; she wasn’t talented in building stuff but it still bothered her and stirred an itch in her to knock them down and build them proper like. “Look at the tiles on the ground, see how they are a mixture of the sun and moon?” Night said, pointing at the cracked tiles on the ground. “They only mix when you get into the Quarters. The West-South has the heart mixed with Luna’s moon and the Quarters with the North have the Magi’s symbol.” “Neat, never noticed that.” Vix-Lei squatted down to look at it, seeing the sunburst cut diagonally with the full moon on the other end. She ran her fingers over the tile in front of her and shook her head; despite how unkempt these streets were, even worse than those back up top in the West-North, each of these tiles had been detailed with care and they weren’t made en masse as they were not the same design over and over again. She let out a low whistle as this was the kind of work that would get you high praising back in the Minos lslands. Hell, if she was half this talented, her father would have overlooked all of her quote unquote eccentricities and not have dismissed her as a mindless girl. “How old are these tiles, by the way?” “I do believe that these were first set when the city of Canterlot expanded downwards from the original city limits in the West,” Rex said as he rubbed his paw along the ground. “But I have no idea as to their exact date.” “This is neat and all but do we have any idea where we are?” Xvital asked, looking up at the sky, almost blocked by all the clotheslines, power lines and other things that ran between the buildings. “I do not know Xvital as I never strayed into the Lower East-South Quarter before,” Rex turned to face Night, Page and Wind. “Have any of you ever been in the Lower East-South Quarter?” “Never,” Page shook her head with Wind and Night shaking their heads, looking down the street with frowns on their faces. “I’ve stayed in the Upper West my entire life.” “Same here; never left the Upper West at all,” Wind said, shuffling on his feet and turning his head towards Night. “You?” “I sometimes travelled with Father and Mother on their business trips to other cities when I was younger but I was told to keep within my cabin most of the time and I was to stay by my nannies’ sides when I did go out,” Night said a soft tone, looking down the twisting streets with a deeper frown on his face. Whatever was bugging him was also bugging Wind as the griffon didn’t take the chance to rib the bat pony which Vix-Lei was positive he would have done due to their little horn contest still not being resolved. Seriously, when would they finally get it out their systems? “You guys okay?” Vix-Lei asked, causing the three to jump a bit before staring down the street again. “I think so,” Wind said while he was fluttering his wings, which Vix-Lei guessed was his way of wringle his fingers. “I just don’t know why looking down this street has me so antsy.” “I have a theory to why,” Rex said as they began to move to what looked like an alleyway but turned out to be entrance to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Quickly pulling away from that to keep eyes off of them, Rex pulled them into a proper alley, where he finished what he was saying. “The Upper has all of their streets planned out in neat, perfect lines and you are used to it, correct?” “Well, yes; that’s where we lived for our entires lives,” Page said with a frown in her voice. “I get it,” Vix-Lei snapped her fingers. “If you’re used to one thing your entire life, then something completely opposite would mess with ya guys, right?” Rex blinked at her in surprise before saying, “That’s my thoughts exactly, Vix-Lei.” “Whatever the reason is guys,” Xvital said, drawing their attention to the ahuizotless. “We need to figure out where exactly we are right now… and I’ve got a plan.” She then wrapped her tail hand around Night and tugged him over as she began to ruffle his coat and mane. “Hey, what the!” Night tried to shout, but was silenced when Xvital slapped her tail hand over his mouth. “Shut it, we’re trying to stay unnoticed,” she hissed before letting go of him. “There we go; you look like a drunk now; all you need is to borrow one of Wind’s bottles and you can fake being a tourist and get us directions.” Night glared at her, huffing and puffing his chest out. “Why don’t you do this, Xvital?” “Because I stand out, I’m unique, and you’re not,” she said, pushing a finger into his chest. “Rex is a diamond dog; you don’t see them walking around. Wind Breaker is a lot smaller than most griffins -” “Hey!” “And he has different coloured eyes. Vix-Lei is a freaking minotaur with two massive hammers on her back. And Page Turner is an unicorn, again something that stands out. You’re just a batpony and thus the most unremarkable-looking of us. So do this for the group, okay?” NIght’s coat bristled, giving him an even shaggier look now before he stormed his way over to Wind Breaker’s saddle bag and grabbed a bottle out from it. He shot a look at Wind as if he was going to say something before he shook his head and went out of the alley. Page narrowed her eyes at Xvital, shooting her a very dirty look which she saw.   “Hey, I was doing my best to optimize everyone here; you do stand out with your yellow coat and green mane and Night has very common batpony colours. He won’t stand out and if shit does go down, he can defend himself far better than any of us,” Xvital said with her hands up. “I’m not that much of a bitch.” Page simply turned her nose up at this, and went to sit by the entrance of the alley as if to wait for Night come back. Night Blade Night huffed as he placed the bottle to his lips and began doing his best to act like a drunk. He had little to no idea what he was doing and he had no idea why Xvital was making him do this beyond the fact that she hated him for some reason. Still, the last thing he wanted was to have her bitch at him for not helping out so he had to try… or deal with her yelling at him for failing to figure out where they were. He let out a sigh before shaking his head, wondering what he was doing? Talking to others, asking for help, this wasn’t his strength at all. Was this her plan from the get-go, humiliate him and force him to go back to her empty-hoofed and admit he couldn’t do this sort of thing? Using his wing to uncork the bottle, Night was about to drink from it when somepony called out to him. “Isn’t it a bit early to start drinking,” a light blue pegasus mare with a white mane called out to him, flashing him a concerned smile. She walked over to him and moved to sit down next to him. “Yeah,” Night said, nodding his head before holding the bottle up. “I’m just holding this for somepony.” “I believe you, you don’t seem the drinking type,” she chuckled softly. “My name is Sound Mind and I work with ponies that need somepony to talk to, and I can usually tell who those ponies are.” She twisted her flanks to show off her reclining couch cutie mark which Night had to chuckle at. “So do you want to chat?” “I thank you but don’t you need to be somewhere?” Night shuffled on his hooves; despite how much he wanted to trust her and talk to her, he couldn’t do that as it would put Page in danger. “Not really; due to the blackout that happened yesterday I had to cancel most of my appointments today for safety reasons but my wife was kind enough to get me an opening in one of the hospitals in the Lower so I can help out today,” Sound smiled at him. “So can I help you out?” “Thank you, but…” Night began to dismiss her when he stood up with a start. “Actually, I could use a bit of help with figuring out where I am right now.” She looked at him before a smirk broke out on her face. “I don’t believe you are asking me to help that way; got lost in the literal sense?” Night let out a little laugh and smiled, nodding his head. “How could you tell?” “Trust me, I know ponies with greater poker faces than yours; I’ve had to learn how really read faces when my wife is up to no good and is doing her best to hide the fact,” she chuckled to herself, placing a hoof to her chest. “I mean, for a week she was acting all normal like but there was something off so I chipped away and found out that she caused a minor flood in my study and was doing her best to replace all the damaged books without me noticing.” Leaning in close, she said through her laughter. “Needless to say she slept on the couch for a week after that little number.” Snorting, Night managed to ask her, “Were they important books that got her in trouble?” “Oh goodness no,” she said, pawing the air with her hoof. “The fact she tried to hide it from me was what got her banished from the bedroom.” Snickering, Night shook head, feeling the knot in his chest loosen up a bit. Maybe.... “Here you go, young stallion,” she said as she gave him a map of the East-South Quarter before hoofing over a card. “And please take my card; just in case you ever want to talk, okay?” “Thank you,” Night said, taking both and placing them into his saddlebag. “Have a good day ma’am and give your wife my thanks for letting us meet.” “I will do so, young stallion,” she smiled, bobbing her head and Night could have sworn he saw two wedding bands on her wing. “It will be quite the topic when I get home to my partners. Have a good day!” She said over her shoulder, walking off with a happy whistle on her lips. With a big smile on his face, Night went back to where the others were waiting, dropping the bottle into the garbage as he didn’t need it and Wind Breaker didn’t need the temptation- if they weren’t going to get the griffon sober, then Night would do what he could to help, even if it would get him nothing but grief and another round of everypony shitting on him. Night let out a sigh, his good mood already gone as the knot in his chest began to tighten again. Shaking his head, Night forced his way forwards. The sooner he was done with all this, the sooner he and Page could be safe again.