//------------------------------// // 481 - Value Judgment // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “We’re approaching the edge of Vanhoover now, Your Highness,” noted River. “Once we’re past the city limits, my manor is only a little further.” “I can only hope that the accommodations there are more suited to my royal presence than this dilapidated hamlet,” sniffed Prince Blueblood, looking around the filth-strewn city with naked disdain. “Really, I knew that Vanhoover was a backwater, but I never imagined that it had so little community spirit!” Clustered around the prince, Las Pegasus’ elites nodded their heads and murmured their collective assent. Some more loudly than others. “I reckon that everypony’ll start takin’ more pride in their town once they realize that you’ve come to visit, Your Highness.” Gladmane’s smile was as slick as his mane, which had so much product in it that it practically glistened in the sunlight. “Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time you left, this place’ll be spic and span, all thanks to you inspirin’ the folks who live here!” The compliment made Blueblood nod sagely. “I do have that effect on ponies,” he admitted, a self-satisfied smirk crossing his lips as he gave his mane a toss. But it only lasted a moment as he spotted a moldy rag in his path, grimacing. “Ugh! Valet!” The bellow brought an effete young unicorn stallion scurrying over. Dressed in a modest suit with a black bowtie that matched the image of his cutie mark, the unicorn stood at attention. “Yes, Your Highness?” Blueblood pointed to the mess in front of him, turning his head as though unable to bring himself to look at it. “There’s filth in my way! Again!” “I’m sorry, Your Highness!” Bowing obsequiously, the stallion’s horn lit up as he pushed the offending material to the side, before pulling a cloth and spray bottle out of a pocket and giving the ground a quick scrub. Inspecting it carefully for a few seconds, he put his cleaning implements away as he turned back toward where Prince Blueblood was waiting. “There you are, Your Highness.” “Finally,” sighed Blueblood. “Honestly, is every city like this when they don’t know that royalty is visiting? Because if so, I’m never making an unscheduled appearance anywhere ever again.” He glanced at the recently-cleaned patch of ground suspiciously, before finally deciding that it was fit for him to step on. “Valet, make a note of that. No more spontaneous appearances. From now on all locales that I grace with my noble presence will be informed of my coming ahead of time so that they can prepare a proper venue.” “Understood, Your Highness,” nodded the servant, already writing the prince’s instructions down. “I still don’t understand why there aren’t any carriages available,” complained Checkered Cab. “We really have to walk-, I mean, we really have the make the prince walk the entire way there?” It took River several seconds to realize that the question had been directed at her, instead of being the idle complaining that the entire group had been voicing (largely at Blueblood’s direction) ever since they’d disembarked and headed into Vanhoover. “They’re all in use at the moment.” “All of them?” snorted Razzle Dazzle. “Every single one?” “All the ones that are left,” answered River. That was technically true, since Lex had allocated what vehicles were still serviceable for the recovery effort. Carriages, carts, wagons, wheelbarrows, and virtually everything else that could be used to transport goods were now being put to use by teams heading into the city to help restore the place, transporting goods in from the docks, moving food around the burgeoning camp-turned-village, or performing similar tasks. But that wasn’t the only reason that everypony was walking to her manor now. Civic duty, River repeated to herself dully, the words having echoed through her mind since Lex had said them earlier that morning. He wants everypony here to loan him a collective total of one hundred million bits…out of their sense of civic duty. The prospect was so ridiculous that it made her feel almost dizzy with disbelief. River had tried to explain to Lex, when he’d told her that he wanted to take out a loan from Las Pegasus’ richest ponies, that the individuals in question would be extremely averse to the proposition unless it was heavily slanted in their favor, and that even then it would be difficult to secure. But Lex had made it clear that he didn’t want to hear it, telling her that the only thing she needed to worry about was bringing them back. At the time, River could only guess that Lex was either planning on browbeating them into it – something she knew he was easily capable of after his spectacular defeat of the Royal Sisters – and justifying his actions with his arcane philosophy, or that he had some sort of fiendishly clever plan the likes of which she couldn’t begin to guess at. But a few short hours ago, after he’d postponed her punishment for what had happened with Feather Duster in favor of her telling him about the ponies she’d brought back from Las Pegasus, he’d finally revealed his plan to get the loan he wanted: by appealing to the rich ponies’ sense of moral obligation to address the equinetarian crisis in Vanhoover. That was the reason she and the others were all walking through the ruined, empty city now. River had asked Lex to lend her some sort of conveyance to bring everypony from her yacht to her manor, but he had refused. He’d wanted them to witness what had become of Vanhoover, to get a firsthoof look at how its people had lost everything, apparently in an attempt to shame the Las Pegasus delegation into being generous with their money once he proposed having them give him the funds he needed to rebuild the place. In River’s opinion, that was about as likely to happen as Blueblood trouncing Lex in a fight. She hadn’t said that, of course, but at the same time she hadn’t been able to keep silent either. Although Lex had said that her eventual punishment would be dependent on Feather Duster’s recommendation – which River knew would be for the harshest possible sentence; after all, what servant wouldn’t want to see one of their betters brought low? – River knew her only hope of mitigating the fate that awaited her, or at least securing some measure of leniency, was in making Lex’s wish for a loan into a success, if for no other reason than failure would undoubtedly put him in an extremely foul mood when he decided what he was going to do to her. As such, she’d known that she needed to convince him to change his approach. But Lex had proven to be just as intransigent as she’d feared, even when she’d revealed that Prince Blueblood was among the ponies she’d brought, that he was intent on picking a fight to avenge the Royal Sisters, and that his opinion carried a great deal of weight with everypony else. None of which had deterred Lex in the slightest. “The ponies of Vanhoover are suffering,” he’d stated flatly. “The ones you’ve brought have the means to help alleviate that. Even Celestia and Luna, as indolent and irresponsible as they are, were moved to offer what pitiful assistance they could bring themselves to pledge once they saw what’s happened here. If this ‘Prince Blueblood’ wishes to present himself as a moral figure, then he’ll have no choice but to do the same.” “I understand,” River had agreed quickly, mostly because she didn’t want to seem too contrarian by underlining just how full of himself Blueblood was. Instead she’d turned to another area that she knew would be a sticking point. “But the money-” “Will be repaid to the lenders over time, with interest,” dismissed Lex, refusing to even hear the full scope of her concerns. “This deal will result in a net profit for them, which should alleviate any concerns about cupidity preventing them from providing financial assistance. It’s one of the reasons why I want a loan rather than donations.” River had bit her lip at that, unwilling to tell Lex that he was dreaming if he thought that would be enough to guarantee everypony’s cooperation. Even overlooking the issue of Blueblood’s endorsement, or lack thereof, rich ponies, River knew from personal experience, were suspicious and cynical by nature. It was how they stayed rich, since hucksters and con artists were constantly trying to separate them from their hard-earned bits, to say nothing of misguided ponies like her late husband, who had repeatedly sunk money into business ventures that had failed to pan out. The result was that the Las Pegasus contingent would look at any proposal that had them shelling out money with extreme skepticism, especially when it was put forward by somepony they’d never met before and with no obvious collateral. Even her having pledged her estate and her fortune to Lex would give him only a little credibility; they’d think she was just providing him with cover, probably in exchange for a cut of the money. In fact, his entire plan was so audacious in its presumptuousness that she’d only been able to think of one way for it to actually work. “I suppose that if they refuse, you can always penalize them for refusing to help out, right?” she’d asked, certain that had to be his real angle. “Then they’d have to agree to the loan if they didn’t want to be cursed.” But Lex had frowned sharply at her then. “Absolutely not. While it might be morally incumbent on these ponies to provide financial assistance with Vanhoover’s recovery, that is beyond the realm of what my administration can justifiably mandate.” River hadn't been able to hide her surprise at that. “But…when we first met…” “When we first met, you were threatening to interfere with the recovery process, which was credible enough that it merited my taking punitive action against you,” explained Lex. “These ponies are engaging in no such activity. And while there is a legitimate basis for a government periodically levying a compulsory financial charge on its people in order to fund its expenditures toward the common good, this isn’t a situation where I’m able to exercise such prerogatives. Not when I have no claim of sovereignty over Las Pegasus beyond a general declaration of rebellion against the princesses.” It had taken River a moment to parse that. “So if they don’t want to give you a loan, you’ll just let them go?” “Yes.” Lex’s answer had come without hesitation. “To do otherwise would be unjust.” In some other context, River might have found that sentiment noble. Hideously naïve, but still noble. Right now, however, all she could think of was how, in his own way, Lex was just as deluded as Blueblood was. That had been showcased when she’d made her way back to her yacht. Arriving just as the prince had woken up (and promptly started dropping not-so-subtle hints about how he hoped that her manor was more conducive to his “beauty sleep” than the “threadbare lodgings” on her yacht were), River had waited until after breakfast to lead everypony through the city. She’d dutifully entertained questions about why the place was so deserted and filthy while doing so, reiterating how the city had not only flooded, but that the city had been occupied by monsters, some of whom might still be lurking. The results of her explanations had made it clear just how far off the mark Lex’s estimation of these ponies’ virtue was. Rather than horror and sympathy at the sorry state of the city, the prevailing sentiments had been disgust and derision. A few ponies, such as Pixie, had seemed more disturbed than disdainful – though whether by the scale of the devastation or the prospect of a monster attack wasn't clear to River – but Prince Blueblood’s obvious contempt for Vanhoover’s situation had quickly quieted them. No one wanted to contradict one of the most important ponies in all of Equestria. Which meant that Lex’s chances of getting the loan he wanted were nil, River knew. Just like the chances of her receiving mercy when Lex finally got around to cursing her. “Is there some sort of festival going on?” “Hm?” Pretty Penny’s question dragged River out of her silent bout of self-pity. “What?” “Over there.” Following Penny’s hoof, River peered at the distant camp. Although it was hard to be sure, thanks to the multitude of simple houses that had been erected, it looked like a crowd had gathered. “It looks like there’s an assemblage going on.” “Maybe we could stop over and visit?” asked Pixie hopefully. “It might be nice to see how the ponies here are doing after everything that’s happened.” River nodded, eager to delay the inevitable fallout from when Lex and Blueblood met. “I think that’s a good idea. Why don’t we-” “Oh, you can’t be serious!” huffed Blueblood, exasperated. “First I have to put up with those substandard quarters on your dingy little boat, then walk through that disgusting city like a commoner, and now you want me to mingle with plebeians having some ghastly carnival? Have you no class, River Bank?” Frowning, he gave her a look that was probably supposed to be an intimidating glare, though compared to Lex’s it looked more like the prince was having mild indigestion. “I demand that you take me to your manor this instant!” River sighed, her ears folding back. Maybe it’s better to just yank the band-aid off, she decided, suddenly recalling how tired she’d felt right before Lex had suspended her sentence. This was going to be a disaster one way or another. She might as well get it over with, and start learning to live with whatever Lex was going to do to her. Turning in the direction of her mansion, River trudged forward. “Right this way, Your Highness…”