//------------------------------// // 317 - Love, Not War // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Cadance felt like she was going to be sick. “A field of body parts…?” she whispered weakly, unable to bring herself to picture such a thing. She’d known the situation in Vanhoover had been bad – Pillowcase’s death had driven that home, even if that mare with the picket fence cutie mark hadn’t alluded to further fatalities – but what Coal Hopper was describing was an atrocity on a scale so grand as to be unimaginable. Twilight needs to know about this, she realized. I can send another letter to Ponyville…Spike will get it to her. Then she and her friends- Shining Armor’s voice cut through her half-formed thoughts. “Coal Hopper, are you absolutely sure about this?” The mare in question gave him a dirty look, causing him to hold up a hoof in a placating gesture. “I’m not saying you didn’t see a body-” “Parts of a body,” she corrected, tension making her voice terse. “I believe you,” replied Shining Armor quickly, his voice soothing. “But you said that it was already dark when this happened, right? And the only light around was from the stars and the campfires, which were behind you. Is it possible that you stumbled across…that, and it freaked you out enough that your brain played tricks on you? Like how tree branches outside your window at night can look like the claws of a monster trying to get in?” The oddly-specific example brought a smile to Cadance’s face, despite the macabre subject they were discussing. A little while after they’d started dating, Shining had told her about the time that just such a tree branch had left Twilight – who never would have told that story voluntarily, even (or rather, especially) to her favorite foalsitter – too scared to go to sleep at night. Shining Armor had only found out about it because he’d been going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and happened to hear Twilight whimpering when he’d passed by her door. When she’d tearfully confessed what was frightening her, Shining Armor had volunteered to stand guard next to her bed to keep her safe, even if that meant staying there all night. He’d made good on his promise, despite how exhausted it had left him by the time Princess Celestia had raised the sun. “But it was all worth it when Twily woke up and saw that I was still there,” he’d recounted with a warm smile. “She jumped out of bed and hugged me as tight as she could, and I remember feeling absolutely certain that was what I was meant to do: protect ponies. I didn’t even realize that I’d just gotten my cutie mark until Twily pointed it out a second later.” It had been, and still was, an incredibly sweet story. If Cadance hadn’t already been infatuated with Twilight’s big brother when she’d heard it, that would have done it. As it was, hearing reference to it now was enough to restore a measure of her calm. But the reference was lost on Coal Hopper, who scowled back at Shining Armor. “I know what I saw,” she snapped irritably. It was only a second later that she seemed to remember who she was talking to, flushing in embarrassment as she looked down. “Your Highness,” she added lamely. Shaking off the last of her reticence, Cadance took a step forward. “Did anypony else on the train staff see this?” she asked, her eyes turning to Ticket Stub. But the earth stallion was already shaking his head. “No ma’am, er, Princess. But I completely believe Coal Hopper,” he added quickly. “If she says that’s what she saw, then that’s what was there.” Cadance nodded. “I understand. Thank you both for coming to us with this.” Shining Armor cocked his head at her, hearing the implicit dismissal and clearly not having expected it. But he didn’t object as Coal Hopper and Ticket Stub gave them polite bows before turning and walking away. “So, where do you want to go for dinner?” asked the latter as he looked at his companion. Coal Hopper shook her head. “Uh-uh. No way. I’ve done my part already. Everything else is on you now. You’re going to choose the place, you’re going to hoof the bill, and you had better believe that you’re taking me to a separate dessert place afterward.” Ticket Stub tried to smile as he trotted after the irascible mare, though it came out as more of a worried grimace. “Heh…whatever you say,” he mumbled, reaching back and glancing nervously at a pouch on his belt that looked like it couldn’t have contained more than a dozen bits. “And don’t think that I’ve forgotten about that apology you owe me either, buster.” Cadance couldn’t help but smile as she watched the two of them leave. She could see a thin red thread connecting Ticket Stub and Coal Hopper, the equitable distribution of its soft glow indicating that it was mutual. It wasn’t anything definite, but the potential was there. But her enjoyment of a possible budding romance was cut short as Shining Armor moved alongside her. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to let them leave without telling us more?” he asked quietly. “If we want to verify what somepony else from that train tells us-” “Then we shouldn’t ask those two,” interjected Cadance. “Or any of the train staff. They weren’t in Vanhoover very long, and from what they told us Coal Hopper was the only one who did more than unload cargo and help retrofit one of the cars. If we want answers we need to talk to everypony else.” Shining Armor nodded. “Right. In that case, you should go talk to Pillowcase and Produce Aisle. I’ll go back to the hospital and talk to those ponies that you cured. The doctors might not have found anything wrong with them, but they still wanted to keep them for observation.” He couldn’t keep the wry tone out of his voice; it was easy to forget how, unlike in the Crystal Empire – where Cadance had personally trained a small but significant number of ponies in Lashtada’s worship to the point of receiving spells from the goddess – healing magic wasn’t really known throughout the rest of Equestria. When the doctors at Canterlot’s hospital had heard that the eight ponies that had just been brought in had been healed via magic, there’d been a rush to examine them. But rather than paying that any mind, Cadance was glancing back at the guest room where Pillow and Aisle were now conversing quietly, Cozy still deeply asleep in the nearby bed. After a moment she sighed. “Alright. As much as I hate to make them relive what they went through, especially right now when they’re just starting to figure out how to make their new relationship work, we need to know what happened, for everypony’s sake.” She felt Shining Armor place a comforting hoof on her side. “If you’re worried about Celestia and Luna, don’t be. Even if that Lex guy does turn out to be another King Sombra, they’ve won against a pony like him before. Besides, maybe he’s not really that bad? Ticket Stub and Coal Hopper said he was fearsome, but he didn’t sound like he was hurting anypony.” “Except for Cozy and Aisle when he cursed them.” There was nothing Shining Armor could say to that, and an uncomfortable silence fell for a few seconds before he spoke up again. “Listen, Celestia and Luna will probably send a reply letter as soon as they get yours. That guard you sent to Twily’s castle will probably come running back with a message from them saying that they’re both fine real soon. In the meantime, just focus on Cozy and her stallions, okay?” Finally tearing her eyes away from the open door of the guest room, Cadance gave Shining Armor a tired smile. “Okay. Once you’re done interviewing the ponies at the hospital, and I’ve talked to everypony here, we’ll meet back up and compare notes. Then I can send Celestia and Luna a follow-up letter, and if things look really bad we’ll send one to Twilight too.” But Shining Armor didn’t look reassured by her plan. Quite the opposite in fact, as a perturbed expression settled onto his face. “Wait, Cadance, are you planning on meeting with those other five ponies too? The ones who said they were responsible for what happened to Pillowcase?” “I don’t think they were all involved,” noted Cadance. “The way they were acting made it look like they were covering for each other. I’ll need to ask Pillow about it, if it’s not too painful, but-” “Cadance,” cut in Shining Armor. “You can’t.” The flat statement was enough to make Cadance blink. Although his tone wasn’t imperious or overbearing, it was still rare for Shining Armor to be that abrupt with her. “What do you mean?” “You should just focus on these three ponies. I’ll come back after I’ve talked to everypony else at Canterlot General, and then we can compare notes. After that, I’ll talk to those other five.” “But that’ll take a lot longer,” Cadance protested, still not sure what had brought this on. “This way we’re each interviewing eight ponies, with yours at the hospital and mine here.” “I know,” admitted Shining Armor. “But based on how tired you look, you’ve used most of your alicorn magic, haven’t you? And at least one of those other ponies is a murderer. It’s a lot safer if I be the one to talk to them.” For a moment Cadance wavered between mild exasperation at her husband’s sudden bout of paternalism and feeling warmed by how worried he was for her. But neither emotion changed the fact that he’d been spot-on in his summary of her current condition. She didn’t think that those five ponies would try anything, but if they did… Cadance had never been particularly magically-gifted. Unlike Twilight, she’d been a pegasus before ascending to become an alicorn, meaning that she hadn’t had the early education about spellcasting that ponies with a horn typically received. Even after she’d become a princess, the only type of unicorn magic she’d put much practice into was using telekinesis, which was too convenient not to learn. Besides that, she’d been far more focused on fulfilling her destiny of bringing out the love in ponies around her. In hindsight that had been a mistake, one that she’d needed to learn the hard way. Her lack of even the most elementary combat magic had left her helpless against Queen Chrysalis, and nearly so against King Sombra. Although love and friendship had carried the day against both villains, Cadance had still vowed to learn at least the basics, just in case. It had been a wise decision, since a short while later when Discord had (inadvertently?) caused her and Twilight to get into a fight with a tatzlwurm, she’d been able to fight back instead of having to let her sister-in-law handle everything. When she’d met Lashtada and entered her service shortly thereafter, a pivotal point in her life that Cadance now considered to be akin to when she’d become an alicorn, the goddess had blessed her with numerous new abilities. But none of them were combat-related. She could see the bonds of love between individuals, and cast a number of divinely-granted spells of healing and purification and enhancement, and even invoke Lashtada’s blessing directly, the way she had to heal the sick ponies at the train station and bring Pillowcase back to life – though doing so required her to use her own alicorn magic, the special “magic that enhanced magic” (as Princess Celestia had referred to it) which only alicorns possessed, in order to channel the goddess’s unfiltered power – but directly attacking or defending hadn’t been among the repertoire of powers she’d gained. And she’d already expended virtually all of her alicorn magic a short while ago anyway, leaving her fatigued. She’d regain it after a short rest, she knew, but for the moment there was no time for that. But that meant that if Shining Armor’s fears came true, and those five ponies attacked her… Her worries were interrupted by the sound of hooves. Somepony was rushing down a bend in the hallway, causing both her and Shining Armor to turn toward the sound. As an afterthought, Cadance closed the door to the guest room where Cozy, Aisle, and Pillow were, not wanting whatever was happening to draw them into it. A moment later, a stallion in Royal Guard armor turned the corner, rushing toward them until he was only a few feet away, skidding to a stop even as he snapped a salute. “Your Majesties!” Shining Armor’s time as Captain of the Royal Guard immediately came to the fore, as he gave a matching salute automatically. “What’s going on?” he demanded. The guard hesitated for just a moment. “We have a situation…”