//------------------------------// // 374 - Cold Hard Facts // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “…ces…esti…” The words were like pinpoints of light against an utterly black backdrop, dimly reaching out to her as if from a great distance. “…cess…lesti…” She knew the voice wanted her to follow it, that it was calling out to her to make the effort to head toward it. But the very idea was upsetting, knowing that the journey would be difficult and painful. It would be so much easier to keep resting. “…incess…lestia…” But she couldn’t. The voice was growing louder, more insistent. Worse, she was starting to remember that something had been going on. Something important. Something frightening. Something that she needed to know, because not knowing was unbearable. “…rincess…elestia…” This time she fought to follow the voice. It was hard, like trying to fly upward through murk so thick it was almost solid, and the more she struggled the more she became aware that she was in pain, deep aches making themselves known all over her body. But she didn’t stop fighting, knowing that the answers she needed would be found if she could just follow that voice that was calling her name… “Princess Celestia!” Her eyes snapping open, Princess Celestia drew in a sharp breath as she returned to consciousness. With it came her memories of what had happened. Lex Legis’s surprise attack. Silhouette’s death. Those foals interfering. The guards moving to hold them off. And then…and then the battle had taken a turn for the worse, and Lex had gotten the drop on her, and after that there was nothing. Which meant- “Luna!” Panic surging through her at the thought of what had become of her sister, Celestia tried to sit up, only for pain to explode through her as soon as she made the attempt. At the same time, a multitude of hooves pressed themselves against her body, forcing her to lie back down. For a second, she struggled against them, trying to get up so she could find out what had happened to her precious little sister, but the pain grew so bad that she couldn’t find the strength to resist as she was pressed back down onto the bed- Wait. The bed? “Princess Celestia, please calm down!” Letting herself go limp, Celestia didn’t fight the ponies around her as they held her down, instead looking around. She was in an opulent-looking bedroom, lying on a four-poster bed that had been stripped to the sheets. A glance down at herself showed that she had bandages covering large portions of her body. Gathered around her were several ponies that she didn’t immediately recognize, all of them wearing lab coats or medical scrubs, as well as worried looks on their faces. Doctors, she realized belatedly. They’re the medical ponies from the refugee camp that I spoke to earlier. Relaxing, Celestia managed a small smile. “My apologies,” she murmured, her voice slightly hoarse. “I’m alright now.” That was true in more ways than one; if she was here, being treated by a group of doctors, then it could only mean that Luna – despite the odds being so heavily against her – had somehow managed to defeat Lex Legis. There wasn’t a doubt in Celestia’s mind that, if Lex had won the battle, she’d be waking up in far less hospitable circumstances…presuming that he’d have let her wake up at all. Lex’s original goal had been to kill Luna, after all, and Celestia felt certain that if he’d succeeded, she’d have been next. But that didn’t happen, she reassured herself. Luna won, and Equestria is safe once again. The thought was uplifting, and not just because Lex and his evil artifact had been eliminated. Luna had needed something to feel proud of for a little while now. Despite assuring her multiple times that she’d been completely forgiven for what she’d done as Nightmare Moon, Celestia had been able to tell that Luna still felt guilty over what had happened, and the thought that her sister was still privately torturing herself over her mistakes – mistakes that Celestia still considered to be partially her own, since she’d been blind to just how badly Luna had felt unappreciated – was painful to consider. I’m sure that’s why she started overcompensating by trying to become a goddess. But now, hopefully, she’ll realize that she doesn’t need to be anything other than Luna to make a positive impact on Equestria and its ponies. With that established, Celestia turned her attention to other considerations. “Where am I?” A blue unicorn stallion – Dr. House Call, Celestia recognized – stepped forward. “You’re in one of the guest rooms in River Bank’s mansion, Your Highness. We brought everypony here after…after the fight was over.” He paused for a moment, before continuing. “One of the nurses here said you groaned when she was checking up on you, so I started calling your name in hopes that you’d regain consciousness.” He put a smile on then, but Celestia hadn’t missed the way he’d hesitated before, her own smile falling way under a sudden rush of concern. She and Luna hadn’t been the only ponies out there. “Is everyone else alright? Our guards and those foals?” “They’re fine,” replied House Call with a reassuring nod. “We’ve put those foals in another bedroom. They have some scrapes and bruises, but honestly it’s not much worse than anything you’d see when children roughhouse.” He gestured to a nearby mare in scrubs, and she passed him a few sheets of paper, which he telekinetically took and started to glance through. “We’ve converted one of the downstairs dining rooms into an area for the Royal Guard members to recover. Several of them have notable injuries, but nothing particularly serious. There are a few concussions, some deep bites, and a few of them have been poisoned due to what look like snake bites, apparently…” he ruffled through a few pages, “from one of those foal’s pet snake. Unfortunately, she says that the snake in question is gone now, so she can’t identify its type so that we can look for the proper antidote in Vanhoover’s remaining medical supplies. The good news is that it seems like it’ll run its course in due time without any permanent injuries.” Celestia closed her eyes in relief. “So everypony’s going to be fine,” she murmured. Unseen by Celestia, the medical staff shared a round of uncomfortable looks. House Call cleared his throat. “Yes, well…” “Except for Silhouette,” sighed Princess Celestia. “I know.” She glanced at the room’s window, where sunlight was streaming in. “We’ll need to get him to Cadance immediately, and…” She paused as she glanced at the angle of the sunlight coming in, realizing something. “What time is it right now?” House Call, able to guess why she was asking that question and what she’d do with her answer, opened his mouth to tell her not to worry about it. But he didn’t have a chance before another pony, quite clearly looking to score some points with the princess, pulled out a pocket watch. “It’s quarter to three, Your Highness,” he chirped. The answer made Celestia groan. That wasn’t quite enough time for everypony in Equestria to notice that the sun was still directly overhead, but it was getting close. It would need to be taken care of before all of Equestria fell into a panic. “I need to move the sun,” she grunted, trying to climb out of the bed. But House Call was already there. “Your Highness, you need to lie down! Your entire body received considerable blunt force trauma from that fall you took, and you’re showing symptoms of heightened intraluminal pressure in several of your internal organs! You also have multiple contusions to your ribs, spine, and pelvis, and while your electrical burns haven’t caused too much epidermal damage, the musculature in all six of your limbs are still suffering from periodic seizures due to involuntary contractions! And if we had proper diagnostic equipment I’m sure we’d find a lot more injuries as well!” Princess Celestia’s smile was understanding but firm at the same time. “Then I suppose I should ask if you’d mind helping me up, because this needs to be done.” House Call rolled his eyes. “One day I’m going to have patients who’ll listen to me again,” he muttered ruefully, but found himself already trotting forward to help the princess up, several other members of the medical staff doing the same. It took a few minutes for them to lift the princess and gently ferry her to the window. Once she was there, she looked up, considering the sky for a moment before her horn began to glow. Taking it extra slowly so as not to strain herself, and hopefully to cut down on the number of ponies who’d notice the sun’s accelerated movement to a new position in the sky, Celestia let out a breath once she was finished. “Thank you. That should do it for now.” Taking their cue, House Call and the others brought her back to the bed, laying her down and looking her over to make sure she hadn’t exacerbated her injuries. For her part, Celestia simply watched them fuss over her with a bemused smile. “I’m a little surprised that Luna didn’t move the sun herself,” she remarked idly. “Since I moved the moon while she was gone, I thought for sure she’d want to see if she could move the sun on her own. Or is she too busy making arrangements for us to hurry back to Canterlot?” The question caused a new round of uncomfortable looks to be passed between everypony, but this time Celestia saw them, frowning. “Is everything alright?” Several ponies winced in response, and none of them were able to look at her. It was enough to make a knot of tension form in her stomach, and she found her breath quickening as she looked around the room. “Somepony, please tell me what’s going on.” “Your Highness, you should try and get some rest,” pleaded House Call. But Celestia was having none of it. “Doctor, if you want me to rest then please tell me why everypony is acting as though they’re hiding something from me. Is it about Luna? Did she get hurt defeating Lex Legis?” A confused look crossed House Call’s face. “Defeating?” he echoed dumbly, before he seemed to realize something, turning pale. “Y-Your Highness,” he stuttered. “I’m afraid there’s been a mistake…Lex Legis was the one who ordered that you and your sister and everypony else be given medical attention. He personally gave me the order to bring you all here a few hours ago.” Celestia felt her blood run cold. “What do you m-” No, there was a more important question that needed to be asked right now. “Where is Luna?” Several members of the medical staff had already begun creeping toward the door, but Celestia ignored them, keeping her eyes focused on House Call. “Where is Luna?” she asked again when he hesitated. Swallowing, it took House Call another few seconds to find his voice. “Princess Luna’s injuries were considerably worse than your own,” he managed to say. “We’re doing our best to treat them, but…” He shook his head helplessly. “The worst of her…wounds is, well…it’s not something we can do anything for.” Fighting down a surge of panic, Celestia forced herself to stay calm. Whatever had happened to Luna, Cadance would be able to fix it. She could even bring the dead back to life, and according to House Call Luna was still alive, so there was nothing to be worried about. But despite knowing that to be true, Celestia could feel herself breaking out in a cold sweat. “Take me to her.” “Your Highness,” protested House Call weakly, “you shouldn’t-” “Take me to her.” The look on Celestia’s face now was a far cry from the warm smile she’d had a minute earlier. “Now.” “A-alright,” gulped House Call, grabbing a few of the medical ponies who hadn’t managed to make it out the door yet. Together, they managed to get Celestia on her hooves, shouldering as much of her weight as they could as they helped her out of the room and down the hall. Their destination was only a few doors down, and inside revealed another bedroom almost identical to the one she’d been in. There were several more medical ponies there, all of them looking up with wide eyes as Celestia and the others came in. But she ignored them, focused on the bed; unlike the one in her room, the curtains had been drawn, obscuring the sight of the pony within. “We thought it would be best to keep her out of sight as much as possible in her…condition,” muttered House Call. “Word is already getting around about what happened to her.” The words made Celestia’s worry peak, and she pulled away from the ponies supporting her, telekinetically yanking the curtains aside as she stumbled toward the bed. A moment later her despairing wail echoed throughout River’s mansion.