//------------------------------// // 468 - Triple Threat // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// For River, the next several hours passed in a blur, causing the morning to arrive far too quickly for her liking. After Prince Blueblood’s casual announcement, dinner had been a tense affair. Or at least, it had been for her. Blueblood, on the other hoof, had been quite relaxed the entire time, apparently seeing his impending battle with Lex as having the same level of danger that most ponies associated with brushing their teeth. Indeed, he’d made it exceedingly clear that as far as he was concerned, there was nothing to worry about. “Why, I’m certain that the miscreant will throw himself to the ground and beg for forgiveness when he sees my stately self glowering at him!” had been Blueblood’s answer when she’d broached the possibility that his intended course of action could be dangerous. “Most ponies don’t know this about me, since I’m such an easygoing fellow, but when somepony oversteps their boundaries I can become quite cross with them!” Although River had known that he’d intended for that to be reassuring, she’d found his answer to have exactly the opposite effect. “But, Your Highness, what if the, er, ‘miscreant’ doesn’t back down?” Blueblood had given her a bemused look then, as though he couldn’t believe that she would seriously countenance the idea that there was an enemy that wouldn’t be intimidated at the prospect of facing him. “I see that it isn’t just fair young maidens whose hearts flutter at the thought of a handsome prince charging into battle,” he’d chuckled, his expression changing to one of patronizing calm. “You needn’t worry. Should that lowlife have the temerity to persist in his malfeasance, then I’ll simply lay him low in honorable combat.” And that had been that. With the unquestioning certainty that he’d prevail in the fight he was about the pick, the prince had little more to say on the subject, instead changing to topics that he’d found more to his liking. Prominent among them had been Shining Armor having temporarily closed down Canterlot to hunt for some escaped criminals (“He still acts like a mere guardpony instead of a prince!”), the upcoming Grand Equestria Pony Summit (“Can you believe that they’re going to let just anypony attend?”), and Princess Twilight’s new castle (“I’ve heard it’s a gaudy-looking eyesore!”). By that point, River had recovered enough to start fishing for information about the prince’s strategy for when he faced Lex. Despite being horribly conceited, Blueblood was still royalty, which meant that it wasn’t completely implausible that he’d had some sort of advanced education in martial or magical combat. Not that River thought it would seriously make a difference – Lex had defeated both of the Royal Sisters at once, after all – but she couldn’t help but be morbidly curious. Fortunately, finding the answers was easily done, since Blueblood’s favorite topic of conversation was himself. But what he'd told her had been anything but reassuring, however. No, he’d never served in the Royal Guard. No, he’d never been to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. No, he hadn’t studied anything as crass as fighting; his education (delivered entirely by expensive private tutors) had focused around important things such as history, poetry, classical music, stately dances, art appreciation, proper speech, elegant sports such as croquet, and everything else that had to do with gentility befitting a royal. Meaning that he didn’t know anything which could possibly help him go up against Lex. His boundless confidence, it seemed, came entirely from his inability to imagine that he could actually lose. Which means that Lex is going to kick his flank so hard he’ll probably knock his cutie mark right off, had been River’s conclusion as dinner had ended. She’d kept that thought, like so many others she'd had over the course of the evening, off her face as she’d bid the prince goodnight, making her way back to the Galloway Bay Resort and going straight up to the room that Penny had set aside for her. But despite the amenities being glamorous and the bed being large and comfortable, sleep hadn’t come easily to River. Blueblood had been a boor of the highest order, and each passing hour spent in his presence had been more aggravating than the last. But despite how much of a royal pain the prince had been, the thought of Lex tearing him apart didn’t make River feel good about what was going to happen. Quite the opposite, it filled her with dread. No matter how unpleasant he was to be around, Blueblood was still royalty, which meant that Equestria’s high society followed the trends he set. Part of the reason River had rushed this errand as much as possible was so that she could round up the richest ponies in town and bring them to Vanhoover to speak with Lex before they found out about what he’d done to Celestia and Luna. Once they’d given Lex a loan – however he planned on making them do that – then he’d have them by the purse strings, giving him considerable influence over them if they ever wanted to get their money back. But if she were to bring Blueblood to Vanhoover alongside the other ponies she’d recruited, River knew there’d be no hope of ever getting so much as a single bit out of them. Not when Blueblood announced his opposition to Lex, and definitely not when Lex beat the living daylights out of him, or worse, hit him with some horrible curse. The ponies of Vanhoover and Tall Tale might see Lex as a savior who’d swooped in to save the day after the alicorns had all but abandoned them, but Penny, Razzle, and everypony else from Las Pegasus wouldn’t feel the same way. They’d react to a condemnation from royalty with horror and revulsion, to say nothing of seeing a prince be mauled right in front of them. And River had no doubt that Lex would do exactly that. She vividly remembered the towering fit of rage he’d flown into when she’d tried to stand in his way. She couldn’t imagine that Blueblood would provoke any less of a response. But at the same time, not taking Blueblood back with her wasn’t an option either. Too many people had seen them dining together, which with how fast information got around meant that the entire city probably knew that she was escorting him to Vanhoover by now. Even if she hadn’t already dangled lures in front of Pretty Penny and Razzle Dazzle, that would be more than sufficient to make the city’s richest and most influential ponies flock to her, finding some excuse to ask if they could accompany her back to her city…which meant, in turn, that if she blew Blueblood off, they’d want nothing to do with her, not wanting to be tainted by associating with the pony who had skipped out on a favor to a prince, meaning that taking a trip with her to Vanhoover would be out of the question. Her mission for Lex would be a complete and utter failure. Ultimately, River realized she didn’t have a choice but to give Blueblood what he wanted. After all, that was technically what Lex wanted also; he had simply told her to bring back as many rich ponies as she could, and leave the rest to him. So if he found himself facing a stuck-up stallion who wouldn’t leave well enough alone, but couldn’t be rebuked without driving off the ponies whose money he needed, he couldn't possibly consider it to be her fault. I hope… The worst thing, reflected River silently, was how well everything had been going up until then. Her luck had been on a massive roll, allowing her to rack up victory after victory. Even the disaster with Pixie had turned out for the best, capping her successes with what had looked like the perfect crowning achievement. So how had she suddenly found herself facing failure no matter which way she turned? It was almost like she had been set up. She knew that thought was ridiculous, of course; nothing could possibly have manipulated events to go in such a way as to put her in this horrible position. It was all simply an unfortunate coincidence of the highest order. But later, as the sun rose to mark the hour of their departure, she still couldn’t quite shake the feeling that there was something deeper going on… “Let’s go through this one more time.” In the main chamber of Twilight’s castle, Rainbow Dash groaned as she plunked herself down onto the throne that had a copy of her cutie mark emblazoned on the back of it. “We’ve been over it like a million times, Twilight! An evil wizard is working with a dark goddess to take over Equestria! End of story!” In her frustration, she didn’t notice the cloud-and-rainbow-lightning-bolt image begin to glow. Neither did Twilight, her ears folding back at Rainbow Dash’s curt – but not entirely wrong – summary. “I know Princess Celestia and everypony else think that Lex is a threat after what he did to Luna, but there’s still so many things that don’t make sense! Why didn’t he use Severance during their fight? Why did he let Celestia and Luna go after he defeated them?” “Look sugarcube,” began Applejack gently as she climbed onto the throne with the three apples on it, “I agree with ya that somethin’ ain’t right about all this, but just sittin’ here spinnin’ our wheels ain’t helpin’ anypony. Maybe we should take a break, or at least focus on somethin’ else for a little while.” Above her, the symbol of her cutie mark lit up as well. “Applejack is right, darling,” added Rarity, likewise taking a seat on the splendid-looking chair, not seeing her cutie mark symbol on it begin to shine. “Why, after everything that’s happened we haven’t even had a chance to start decorating your new castle! In fact, I think this is the first time all six of us have even been here together to appreciate how divine it looks!” “Ooh! We should have a housewarming party! No, wait! A castle-warming party!” whooped Pinkie, bouncing up and down on her throne in excitement, the balloons on the back of it gleaming with a pink radiance. “I agree with Pinkie Pie,” announced Fluttershy quietly as she took her seat, likewise not seeing the replica of her cutie mark glistening as she did. “And Rarity, and Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, and Twilight. Oh, and probably Spike too,” she added, pointing at where the baby dragon was asleep in his chair. “I suppose you’re right,” admitted Twilight, before forcing a smile onto her face as she glanced at the bare walls. “Between trips to Everglow and emergency summits and everything else, decorating this place has been the last thing on my mind. I guess I should try to make it more comfortable, especially since Willow’s going to be coming over to teach me what she knows about creatures from other planes later on.” “Darling, you can’t have guests over before you’ve settled on the proper décor!” gasped Rarity, appropriately horrified at the thought. “You should go over to her place for your lessons until your castle is at its most fabulous!” “Actually, she insisted that we not do it at her house,” admitted Twilight sheepishly, climbing onto her own throne. Above her, the image of her cutie mark began to shine. “I think she’s worried about Sunflower eavesdropping, since she’s still not sure if she wants him learning to cast spells or not.” “Right, ‘cuz he admires Lex,” snorted Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes. “You’d think all the problems this guy’s causing would get a reaction out of the Tree of Harmony. If it can help us out with Tirek, why can’t it do something-” Before Rainbow Dash could finish speaking, each of the cutie mark symbols on the thrones suddenly flared brighter. Gasps rang out as six colorful beams of light lanced down onto the floor between the six of them, causing glittering crystals to form. Growing in rapid succession, they piled atop each other, growing larger even as a round, smooth surface began to form on top of them. A few seconds later, the glow faded, leaving everypony staring in astonishment at the new table sitting in the middle of the room, its surface glowing with a holographic map of Equestria. Yawning, Spike sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily as he looked at the new addition to the chamber. “Is that new?” he asked innocently. “I like it!” Hauling himself onto the table, he started walking across it, peering closer at the various places on the map. “This is incredible!” he announced a moment later. “It’s got all of Equestria on it!” “Hi Mom and Dad!” called Pinkie, smiling as she looked at the tiny copy of her family’s rock farm…until Spike stepped on it. Twilight licked her lips, but before she could say anything felt an odd tingling in her cutie mark. Glancing over at it, her jaw dropped for the second time in less than a minute as she saw that her cutie mark was glowing! No, not just glowing…pulsing! And not just her! Each of their cutie marks was brightening and dimming in a regular pattern, with additional marks around them appearing and disappearing at quick intervals! A second later things got even weirder as copies of their cutie marks flew off of their flanks, zipping over to hover above the map in tight formation. Breathless, everyone watched as the six symbols settled over Ponyville, only to move a second later. And their destination… “Is that where I think it is?” asked Applejack a moment later, after the cutie marks had come to a halt. Twilight slowly nodded, her mind spinning by what had just happened. “Yeah.” “So, the map wants us to go there?” asked Fluttershy nervously. “Aw yeah!” cheered Rainbow Dash. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” “Well, I was planning on organizing my baking sheets,” giggled Pinkie. “But okay!” “Oh, very well,” sighed Rarity. But despite herself, the corners of her lips turned upwards. “I suppose I have been a little sad about missing out on everyone’s adventures lately.” “Then it’s settled,” announced Twilight. “We’re going to Vanhoover.” “We’re almost to Vanhoover,” announced Sonata. “You can totes see it if you squint a little bit.” “That’s wonderful!” replied her companion gleefully. “I can’t wait to meet this pony you’ve been telling me about! I just know he’ll love learning all about our philosophy!” “Hehe, yeah,” laughed Sonata, doing her best not to look uncomfortable. “That’s Lex. He just loves learning new things.” The other pony picked up on her distress, however, giving Sonata a cocky smile in response. “Don’t worry, I know that some ponies can have a hard time accepting that this is for the best, but I’m sure he’ll come around. After all, you did.” Sonata fought down a wince at that, instead forcing herself to give a toothy grin as she nodded. “Yep!” she chirped, glancing back at her flank. “I sure did…” It was a struggle to keep herself smiling. Until recently, the symbol there had been a jagged blue musical note in front of a heart. She hadn’t had it very long, only since she’d become a pony, but she’d grown quite fond of it during that time. But now… Now all that was there was an equals sign.