Lateral Movement

by Alzrius


155 - In the Details

The sun had barely risen above the mountains by the time Lex made his way back to the other end of the camp.

It had taken him an unusually long time to make the trek back. After Aria had left, satisfied now that there was a firm timetable for her transmogrification, Lex had started to return to the field hospital that had become the de facto center of the relief operations he was conducting, his mind awhirl with what had happened between himself and Sonata. He’d been so preoccupied that he’d made it almost halfway back before realizing that he’d left Block Party’s body completely unsecured.

Horrified that he’d made such an oversight – for all of Scrubby’s cowardliness, he hadn’t been entirely wrong; a pony whose body was the focus on a necromantic spell of not-inconsiderable power, and who then died under mysterious circumstances, right outside a city full of ghouls quite clearly needed to be treated as a potential threat – Lex had rushed back to the train station. Fortunately, Block Party’s body still showed no signs of activity, nor magic that Lex could detect, and Cloudbank had likewise said that things had been quiet.

Relieved that his lapse in judgment hadn’t resulted in any serious consequences, Lex had used his dark magic to create black crystal cuffs around Block Party’s legs. Unfortunately, it was at that point that the doctors he’d requested had arrived on the scene, led by Scrubby. Although the earth stallion had been pleased to see the dead body shackled, the doctors hadn’t shared his enthusiasm, with several insisting that such treatment was tantamount to disrespectful treatment of the dead. “If Block Party animates as an undead pony, your consideration won’t prevent him from slaughtering you,” Lex had countered coldly, shutting down their objections.

As they’d prepared for transporting the corpse back, Lex had left ahead of them, wanting to be alone to think. And now, having reached the other end of the camp, he’d come to a firm conclusion: whatever had prompted Sonata’s temper-tantrum, it was going to have to wait. He had bigger problems to deal with than her fit of pique.

Much bigger, he thought to himself grimly as he looked over the whole of the camp, now illuminated by the rising sun. It had been impossible to make out the full extent of the beleaguered ponies living in the camp’s wretched conditions last night. But now, revealed by the daylight, he could see clearly what he’d only glimpsed before.

There were at least a thousand ponies living here. More than that, in all likelihood.

Even as Lex watched, a veritable town composed of torn tents and ramshackle lean-tos was starting to come to life, with ragged-looking ponies blearily emerging to nudge at the ashes of last night’s campfires or begin to trudge in the direction of the river, dented buckets and dirty mugs clenched between teeth or held in glowing auras. Others were hobbling towards the field hospital, or helping those that couldn’t quite make it on their own, queueing into a line to wait to see a doctor…a line that had only somewhat diminished since last night. A few simply came out and looked upward blearily before heading back into their meager dwellings, as though simply wanting to confirm that the sun had still risen…to confirm that Princess Celestia must still be there to move it, realized Lex.

Normally, thinking about the princess whom he aspired to replace would have filled Lex with disdain and frustration. But now those emotions failed to manifest. Instead, all Lex could do was impotently curse her and her fellow princesses for having given him such woefully inadequate information regarding the sorry state of Vanhoover’s ponies. If he’d realized just how uninhabitable the city had become, and how many of its citizenry had been left displaced and destitute, then he wouldn’t have had to grapple with the new problem that he’d just discovered.

I can’t create enough food to feed everypony here!


“Sonata, really, I’m okay.”

“I know, but we should check just one more.” Frowning as she spoke, Sonata looked around at the gathering of tents spread out around her, each of which contained a patient that the doctors considered too serious to be left without supervision.

Set up beside the field hospital, the small forest of dark-colored tents stood in stark contrast to the threadbare ones that made up the remainder of the camp. In addition to being pristine, they were set up in neat lines that were several rows deep. Further, each one had a small piece of wood – which looked suspiciously like planks from deconstructed crates – with a number penciled on it planted in the ground next to its entrance flaps. The result was an orderly array of temporary dwellings that were easily distinguishable from each other, despite their uniformity.

It was obvious, at least to Sonata, that Lex was responsible for the entire arrangement. The knowledge made her sigh as she tried for what had to be the fifth time to find a tent that wasn’t full to capacity for Nosey to rest in. Given that there wasn’t any food to be had, and wouldn’t be until Lex got around to creating some with his magic, Sonata was determined to at least find her best friend a place to rest. “Maybe…let’s see here.” She peered at the number beside another tent that she’d selected at random. “Number J7. That totes sounds lucky!”

“These tents are for ponies that the doctors need to keep an eye on,” protested Nosey, the same way she had each time Sonata had tried to find a place for her to rest. “I don’t mind taking a nap outside. It’s still summer, after all.”

“No way!” Sonata shook her head vehemently at the idea. “I can at least find you a place to get some shut-eye until Le-, until the food’s ready, and I’m betting this will be a winner!” Unzipping the tent flap, Sonata stuck her head inside. “Excuse me, can we-, whoa!” Immediately, she yanked her head out, looking slightly green. “Uh, sorry!” she called to the occupant as she hastily zipped the flap back up. “You just try and recover from…whatever that is! Nevermind us! I’ll get one of the doctors to come check on you super fast!”

Nosey blinked. “What was-”

“Nothing!” replied Sonata with a rictus grin, nudging Nosey away from the tent. “C’mon, let’s go check somewhere else!”

But Nosey shook her head, planting her hooves firmly on the ground. “Sonata, seriously, that’s enough.”

“But we can just-”

“Hey, listen to me.” Nosey reached up to put her hooves on Sonata’s cheeks, turning her head to make the other mare look her directly in the eyes. “I’m okay. You don’t need to do anything else.” She gave her a tired smile. “Just you standing up for me like that was enough.”

Sonata’s ears folded down as she took a step back, moving out of Nosey’s grasp. “I just…I feel terrible about how Lex was treating you.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” replied Nosey, before smirking. “That’s what you were telling me before, right? Block Party wasn’t my fault, and Lex wasn’t your fault, so let’s both of us stop feeling bad about things we couldn’t control, okay?”

That managed to get a wan smile from Sonata, and she sighed. “I guess. But-”

“No buts,” interrupted Nosey, still giving Sonata a friendly smile. “Now, I’m going to go lie down somewhere and rest, so you go do whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing, okay?”

Sonata looked like she wanted to protest for a moment, but then gave a resigned sigh. “Okay. Want me to come get you when its chow time?”

“How about you save me something for after I wake up?”

“Deal.” Sonata’s smile was a little wider as she trotted off, giving Nosey one last wave before she disappeared out of sight.

Sighing, Nosey slowly picked her way through the rows of tents, exiting them and circling around the central area where the field hospital itself had been set up, before coming around near where the supplies had been laid out. Picking her way through the stacks of materials and sundries, she paused as she saw a certain turquoise crystal mare sitting alone…or rather, near a wrapped bundle that looked suspiciously like a pony. Slowly, Nosey made her way over to her. “Hi.”

Cozy looked up from where she’d been staring at the ground, her face completely passionless, before dropping her gaze again. “If you’re looking for Aisle, he went to go talk to…somepony,” she murmured listlessly.

Nosey shook her head. “No, I was just…” She paused for a moment, her eyes flickering to the sheet-wrapped body beside Cozy before returning to the crystal mare. “I wanted to say how sorry I was about what happened to Pillowcase. I didn’t have a chance to express my condolences on your loss before.”

Cozy didn’t look up at her, muttering something that might have been a thanks.

Another long pause ensued, before Nosey spoke up again. “Did he worship Lashtada, too?”

That was enough to rouse Cozy’s attention, and she met the other mare’s eyes again. “Huh?”

“I mean, you’re a priestess and all, but did Pillowcase share your faith?”

Confusion could be seen on Cozy’s face, pushing past her malaise. “…yeah. I mean, I was the only one who got spells or anything, but we would both pray to her.”

Nosey gave her a tentative smile. “Well then, it’s not like you’ll never see him again, right?”

Cozy furrowed her brow. “What?”

“You know. In the afterlife.”

Cozy shook her head, an uncomprehending look on her face. What was this mare talking about? What was an “afterlife”?

Nosey’s smile fell away. “I’m sorry, I thought you knew.” Looking uncomfortable, she started to walk away.

“No, wait.” Cozy climbed to her hooves as she held out a hoof toward Nosey, who stopped in response. “What do you mean we can be together again? What does that have to do with both of us having worshipping Lashtada?”

“Well…before anything else, I want to stress that I don’t know that this is absolutely true or anything. It’s just something that I heard from Lex back in Tall Tale, when I first met him.” Reaching a hoof into one of her saddlebags, Nosey fished through it for a moment before withdrawing a notepad, flipping through several pages before she started speaking again. “Here we go. According to what he said, these ‘gods’ make it so anyone who worships them while they’re alive are reborn alongside them after they die.”

Cozy’s eyes widened, not having heard that before. “What…what does that mean? ‘Reborn alongside them after they die’?”

“Um…” Nosey flipped a page over with her hoof, scanning it quickly before flipping it back again. “I guess it means exactly that. If you worship a god when you’re alive, then when you die you reappear wherever your god lives. I think the implication is that you stay there forever.” She put the notepad away then, giving Cozy another tentative smile. “So that’s at least a little good news, right? He worshipped Lashtada, and so do you. That means that when you die, you’ll be together again.”

Cozy didn’t answer, just standing there with a shocked look on her face.

Several seconds passed, before Nosey bit her lip and canted her head behind her. “Well, um, I’m going to go find a place to rest. You take care of yourself, okay?” Receiving only a vacant nod in reply, she turned around and trotted away.

Cozy barely heard her leave, her mind whirling with what she’d just been told. Long minutes went by before she slowly turned to look at the shrouded bundle that was Pillowcase’s body. She’d been planning on taking him back to the Crystal Empire, hoping against hope that Princess Cadance would be able to restore him to life somehow. It had been a feeble, desperate hope, one that seemed more and more remote with each passing hour, but which she’d clung to simply because she couldn’t bear to face the thought of her beloved being gone forever. But now…

“When I die,” she whispered to herself, “we’ll be together again.”