//------------------------------// // 461 - Miss Fortune // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// The future, River decided, was looking brighter than ever. When she’d been forced to flee Vanhoover, she’d only been able to hope that the Hoofingfords and the McNeighs would fare worse than her. When she’d come back, she’d been horrified at the sheer scope of the damage that had been inflicted on her city. And when Lex Legis had cursed her, she had felt like she’d lost everything she’d spent her life achieving. But true to form, she had turned things around. With nothing but her wits and her charms, she had stepped back from the brink, and positioned herself to not only recoup what she had lost, but earn more than she’d ever dared to dream. First had been getting Lex to forgive her and remove that horrible curse. Then she’d ingratiated herself into his budding regime, voluntarily turning over her wealth and resources before he could simply seize them, and in doing so buying herself a position at his side. And now he’d placed her in charge of a mission of dire importance to him, sending her to Las Pegasus in order to secure the funding he’d need to bring Vanhoover back to life. “And that,” she smirked to herself as she twisted and turned in front of the full-length mirror in her cabin’s dressing room, the magnificent music of Ponygliacci playing on her phonograph, “couldn’t be going better.” Indeed, ever since she’d departed for Cloudsdale, everything that could possibly go right had, starting with procuring proper transportation. While anypony could simply take a balloon or an airship or some other form of common transportation into Las Pegasus, River was well aware that her method of conveyance would be the first thing that the city’s upper-crust would judge her on, which meant that only the finest aerial yacht would do. But while River had previously ventured to Las Pegasus in just such a ship before – a rare and fantastically-expensive convertible unit that could switch between nautical- and skyborne-travel – she’d been forced to sell it once her cash-on-hoof had started to run low, a humiliating move that in hindsight had marked the beginning of the end of her time in Las Pegasus. As such, she knew she could only return to the city now in a vessel of proper opulence in order to showcase to all and sundry that her fortunes were on an upswing. Cloudsdale, of course, was the perfect place for that. The city was replete with airships, since it needed to import virtually everything from the ground-based cities it drifted over and the city’s leadership had long since figured out that it was more convenient to have their own vessels available to move heavier things that a team of pegasi couldn’t manage on their own. So all River needed to do was find an airshipwright with a halfway-decent yacht and have them modify it to her needs. Of course, she’d known that would likely delay her departure by several days, but it couldn’t be helped. While Cloudsdale’s pegasi could be artful enough when it came to the weather or their trite little sports competitions, most of their work was horribly dull when it came to their airships, designing them for serviceability rather than elegance. She’d been sure that she would need to walk them through the various designs she wanted, listening to them complain about how she was sacrificing function for form. Instead, she’d found a yacht that was almost perfect on the very first shop she’d tried! It had been a beauty. Over one hundred-fifty feet long and sporting four decks, it had everything necessary for her grand return to Las Pegasus: a theater, workout gym, solarium, dining hall and four-star galley, sauna, dance hall, beauty salon, recreational center, sky lounge, and quite a few other amenities. Not to mention a half-dozen VIP suites that each contained a master bedroom, study, personal stateroom, jacuzzi, and living area, along with twice that many more modest suites in addition to the crew quarters below deck. It was in every way superior to the dinky little watercraft she’d limped back to Vanhoover in. And best of all, it had been priced to move! In fact, the low price had initially put River off, certain that it had to be indicative of some sort of serious flaw with what was otherwise a gorgeous cruiser. But the proprietor had assured her that wasn’t the case. Rather, this particular ship had been commissioned by the mayor of Fillydelphia, apparently in hopes that making a show of ostentatiousness at the Grand Equestria Pony Summit that was coming up in a few months would convince ponies to bring their business to her city. That, however, had turned out to be an incredibly poor decision on the Fillydelphia mayor’s part. While that silly little twit had been hoarding her city’s budget to pay for her yacht – throwing festivals and bake sales and donation drives in order to get the citizenry to turn over the bits that were the only ways for a local government to raise money – the on-again/off-again para-sprite problem that her city had been dealing with for the last several years had shifted back toward on-again. The result had been a groundswell of outrage when the Fillydelphia ponies had found out that their mayor had earmarked the city’s finances to pay for a luxury yacht, which she as the mayor would of course maintain possession of once the Summit was over, instead of paying to put the para-sprite problem to rest once and for all. The result, according to the proprietor, had been that the mayor had been forced to reallocate the city budget to try and deal with the pests and appease the masses. Of course, that meant there wasn’t enough left over to pay for the splendorous luxury vessel she’d commissioned. The airshipwright, left with an extravagant item that had cost his business quite a lot of money to build and now had no buyer, was now simply trying to recoup his losses. It had been the perfect scenario for somepony who had enough bits to swoop in and take advantage of the incredible deal. And River had done exactly that. It would have been a bargain at twice the price, all the more so considering that River had initially been looking to rent a ship rather than buy one outright. But while the yacht had been more bits than she’d intended to spend upfront, she was sure it would be worth it in the long run. After all, once she completed Lex’s errand, he’d doubtlessly have more that he’d want to send her on; really, this was an investment in her future by his side. And of more immediate use, she’d been able to cancel those expensive hotel rooms she’d been forced to take out for herself and her staff when they’d headed up to Cloudsdale, moving into the living quarters on her new airship instead (though she’d made it clear that the staff were to only use the crew quarters below deck; even with nopony else on board, the VIP and guest suites were too good for them). After that, there had only been a few things left to take care of. Primarily that had revolved around outfitting the yacht with the necessary amenities (the most expensive of which had been food, since Cloudsdale apparently had very little to spare) and hiring a crew to operate it, since her servants and staff were too few to run a ship this large. Besides, having more ponies in her employ would look better anyway when she arrived. And of course, the thing needed a new coat of paint, since it had been done up in the utterly garish colors of Fillydelphia. But that had all been taken care of in short order, after which they’d taken off on a course for Las Pegasus. Arriving mid-morning, River had sent her staff out to acquire the remaining provisions her new yacht needed. She’d also told them to keep their ears open for any juicy gossip, since she needed to know the lay of the land if she was going to have any chance of convincing the richest of the city’s rich ponies to come back to Vanhoover with her. Here, once again, luck had been with her. The first of the servants she’d dispatched had come running back with a newspaper in hoof, eagerly showing her the headline: “Cheating Scandal Rocks the Bardigiano!” Recognizing the name of one of Las Pegasus’s most famous casinos – one that, she recalled, was owned by that two-faced stallion Gladmane – she’d snatched the paper and eagerly dug in. Apparently one of the dealers (a buffalo, of all things) at the casino had been caught conspiring with an unnamed pony to defraud the place, dealing him winning hooves over several days which they would then later split. While the pony had since escaped with his ill-gotten gains, the buffalo had been caught, spilling the beans about the entire scheme. Although it had apparently happened a few weeks ago, it was only now hitting the papers. The story had been enough to make River snicker, particularly when she’d gotten to the part about Gladmane’s reassuring everypony that his casino had taken strict measures to make sure nothing like this would ever happen again. By which he means he’ll work extra hard to keep his employees at each other’s throats so none of them will ever try and work together to rip him off, she knew. That was Gladmane’s style: to convince the ponies who worked for him that he was their only friend, and that their colleagues were plotting against them. It struck her as deliciously ironic that now his scheme was working too well, with the bad press making potential customers avoid his casino because they thought his employees were working to undermine them as well. With any luck, this little setback would make it easy to convince him that there was a new opportunity in Vanhoover that he could invest in. More good news had come in later. Razzle Dazzle, the old nag who ran the Palace of Prance, Las Pegasus’s highlight theater, and Pretty Penny, the hotel magnate, were apparently feuding. Interestingly, she’d heard that particular story from two different members of her staff, with each of them giving a different reason for what had happened. According to Razzle, Penny’s son had been attending the Palace with some friends and had wandered backstage, where he’d proceeded to get a little too fresh with some of the dancers and had to be removed by force. Conversely, Penny had recently had a lucrative real estate deal fall through, and was convinced that Razzle was to blame for it; apparently, several dancers from the Palace had thrown a party at one of Penny’s hotels, which had been rowdy enough that it had upset a business partner of Penny’s who’d been staying there to the point of his breaking off their dealings. Penny was apparently convinced that Razzle had orchestrated the entire thing. River couldn’t have cared less about which story was true, though in her estimation, likely both of them were. What mattered was that the two of them would be looking to get a leg up on each other. If she played her cards right, River knew she could convince one or even both of them that the way to outmaneuvering the other was waiting back in Vanhoover. Finally, there’d been a delightfully sordid rumor going around that Jack Pot – one half of the city’s premiere magic act, along with his partner, Big Bucks – was divorcing his wife, Pixie. There was nothing to say it was even true, let alone why, but speculation was running wild. The leading theories at the moment were that Jack had fathered an illegitimate daughter that his wife had just found out about, or that he had walked in on Pixie and Big Bucks in flagrante delicto. Either way, the stallion was one of the most famous performers in all of Las Pegasus, which meant he likely had enough money to be worth considering as a potential investor in whatever plan Lex had dreamed up. And speaking of Lex, thought River as she glanced out a nearby window. The sun had set a little while ago, which meant that if that little idiot Feather Duster knew what was good for her, she’d be in Lex’s room right now, shaking her hips and moaning in a sweet voice. The thought made River chuckle, examining herself in her mirror again. “First girls, then money, then whatever else he needs. It won’t be long before Lex realizes that I’m his biggest supporter,” she purred to herself, the music from her phonograph masking her words in case anypony was listening at the door. Eventually she’d do enough for him that his sense of honor would push him to offer her a reward, and when he did… River gave herself one final lookover. Her mane and tail were perfectly coiffed, her makeup was exquisite, and her outfit, accessories, and scent were all in perfect coordination. But the lines around her eyes were still there, the one sign of aging that she couldn’t conceal. Before, that would have made her scowl, feeling her youth slipping through her hooves irretrievably. Not anymore, since what she planned on asking Lex for was to use an age spell (which, as a wizard powerful enough to defeat Celestia and Luna, he’d surely be able to master if he hadn’t already) to give her back her youth. Maybe he could even do it permanently, a thought that sent a pleasant tingle running down River’s spine. Sneering at the old mare in the mirror, certain that soon she’d never have to look at her again, River turned and trotted out into Las Pegasus.