//------------------------------// // 509 - Lying in Wait // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “You have who waiting in the front foyer?” croaked River Bank, not believing what she’d just been told. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, madam,” answered Trotsworth quietly, his reply delayed as he waited for a few medical ponies to rush down the hallway past them, recognizing the sensitive nature of the news he was relaying. “Along with her companions, a Miss Rarity, Miss Applejack, Miss Fluttershy, Miss Pinkie Pie, and Miss Rainbow Dash. Additionally, their company includes a young dragon by the name of Spike, and a most unusual young lady who calls herself Soft Mane.” For a second River could only stare, struggling to process just how bad this was. Prince Blueblood was one thing; take away his royal title and his admittedly good looks, and he was about as threatening as her son. Less threatening, in fact, since River doubted Blueblood could have defeated a ghoul the way Piggy had. For all the influence Blueblood wielded in high society, he wasn’t truly dangerous, which was what made his challenging Lex to a duel such a laughable action on his part. But Twilight Sparkle was another matter entirely. She and her friends were famous for the challenges they’d overcome, having defeated monsters right out of legend such as Nightmare Moon and Discord. While River had no way of knowing if they were more or less powerful than the Royal Sisters, she knew that at the moment it didn’t matter; Lex – the pony whom River had quite firmly tied her own fate to – was in no condition to so much as tell someone off, let alone enter combat again. Which meant if Princess Twilight was here to finish what Celestia and Luna had started… Turning away from her butler, River took a few seconds to gather her thoughts, counting to ten as she took a moment to remember the soothing tones of Ponygliacci. “Did they say what the purpose of their visit is?” she asked at length. “Apparently, Miss Soft Mane is in possession of magic that can ameliorate Master Legis’s injuries,” answered Trotsworth. “The princess was quite emphatic in expressing her desire to help at the earliest available opportunity.” “Oh, I bet she was,” laughed River darkly. That was the oldest trick in the book: create a problem for someone so that you could then turn around and offer them a solution…for a price. And while it was usually done more subtly than having one of your subordinates beat someone unconscious so you could offer to heal them, River could already imagine how Princess Twilight would solve that little dilemma. She’ll use the same excuse that Lex did for that Severance weapon of his, River felt sure. She’ll say she had no idea what Rainbow Dash was going to do, that she didn’t approve of it beforehoof and condemns it now. Maybe she’ll even throw in a nice little forced apology from that multicolored menace as a show of sincerity. The difference was that, where Lex had been honest in not knowing what his scythe was going to do – something River hadn’t believed at first but did now, having spent enough time in her new ruler’s presence to know that he was scrupulously forthright in everything he did – River couldn’t find it in herself to believe the same of Twilight Sparkle. Years of political maneuvering had taught the Bank family matriarch that coincidence was the pretext that the powerful used to legitimize their schemes. That Rainbow Dash had arrived at just the right moment to deal a critical injury to Lex – a pony who was otherwise very nearly invincible, if even half of the stories she’d heard about his exploits were true – with Princess Twilight appearing just a few hours later with a remedy for his wounds was simply too convenient to be believed. In fact, it was so convenient that River couldn’t help but wonder just how those circumstances had come about in the first place. While it was easy to think that Blueblood was involved somehow – since he and Twilight Sparkle were both royalty – River couldn’t see how that was possible. Even if his spoiled prince routine was just an act to disguise his true intentions, his being here had no real impact on anything, unless his role had been to distract Lex so that Rainbow Dash could get the drop on him. And besides, it hadn’t been Blueblood who had brought Princess Twilight to her manor just now. According to Trotsworth, that had been the work of Tryout, Feather Duster’s husband. No matter how much River wracked her brain, she couldn’t see how that could possibly be part of some larger scheme on the maid’s part. While River knew that Lex’s defeat would also see her own fortunes plunge, Feather Duster wouldn’t need to go to such extreme lengths if she wanted revenge on her old boss. A harsh recommendation to Lex would be plenty sufficient there, and wouldn’t run any risk of her daughter being caught in the crossfire the way she apparently had been during the fight with that Starlight Glimmer mare. In fact, it was Starlight Glimmer – the pony who showed up out of nowhere right before Princess Twilight arrived, and who wield powerful magic of her own – whom River found the most suspicious. Based on the tidbits of information she’d gathered since they’d brought Lex back to her manor, River had managed to put together that Sonata had met her a short while ago in a small village nearby, where Starlight had been using her magic to remove the locals’ cutie marks as part of some bizarre equalist philosophy that she’d dreamed up. To River, it had all the hallmarks of being a cover story. Why would somepony so powerful focus on something as banal as equality? Why go to some tiny village in the middle of nowhere if she wanted to spread her philosophy to the masses? Why fight her way through waves of successive enemies, refusing to retreat despite how eyewitnesses had described her as growing progressively more tired, in order to draw Lex out? The entire thing reeked of a conspiracy, one that involved Starlight Glimmer softening up Lex – and his extended network of allies – as much as she could, with Rainbow Dash swooping in to deliver the finishing blow. All at Princess Twilight’s behest so that she could show up after everything had concluded, offering to fix things with her opportune use of a healing spell in order to…what? Demand political concessions from Lex? Force him to renounce his religion? Make him teach her how his style of magic worked? Or perhaps Princess Twilight had no intention of healing Lex at all. Maybe Starlight Glimmer and Rainbow Dash hadn’t been trying to wear Lex down, but kill him outright, and now that they’d failed Twilight Sparkle was stepping in with a benign-sounding lie in order to finish the job personally. “Madam?” Trotsworth’s voice intruded on her thoughts, making River realize that she’d been standing there in silent contemplation for almost a full minute. “Madam? What shall I tell the princess?” “…I don’t care what you tell her,” River decided after a moment’s consideration. “Just find some way to stall her for as long as you can. Her and her friends. Do whatever you have to in order to keep them right where they are. No tours of the manor. No moving them to more comfortable accommodations. Just delay them until I tell you otherwise.” “Very good, madam.” River let out a slow breath as Trotsworth turned and left, knowing she’d bought a little time. The fact that Princess Twilight and her friends had arrived via the front door and formally asked to see Lex instead of simply storming the place meant that they were concerned about appearances. They wanted whatever they were going to do to look legitimate to everypony, probably to avoid a local uprising when they did it (suggesting that if this was an assassination attempt, they’d probably try to make it look like an accident…maybe by saying that Soft Mane’s “healing spell” went awry somehow). But that meant that so long as the possibility of being able to see Lex without raising a ruckus seemed possible, they’d be reluctant to eschew it. “Now we just need to figure out what to do in the meantime,” murmured River to herself as she turned and walked back down the hallway. This particular wing of her manor had become the new field hospital for Vanhoover. With various rooms set up specifically to hold supplies, dispose of medical waste, conduct examinations, perform surgeries, provide living quarters for the medical ponies, and act as recovery and observation rooms for patients – something which took up considerable space all on its own, since Doctor House Call had insisted that patients needed to be kept a certain distance apart in order to minimize any risk of infection spreading between sick or injured ponies – the area had been at maximum capacity for some time. That had changed a few days ago, when work on a new cloud storage facility in the village had finally allowed for some of the rainclouds that Lex had procured from Cloudsdale to be moved out of the manor at last, freeing up needed space. That space was being put to good use now, as medical ponies were rushing about, doing their best to deal with the influx of patients that they’d received as a result of Starlight Glimmer’s rampage. A glance at one of the open doorways on her left let River glimpse a nurse saying something to a pair of bandaged pegasi mares whom she didn’t recognize, one shaking her head in response to a question while the other cradled her companion protectively. Another room had Feather Duster holding a crying infant as she fussed over her daughter, who was apparently refusing to go back to her bed as she instead flittered between where her friends were resting. But it was the room at the end of the hall that was River’s destination, and she took a deep breath before she knocked, not waiting for an answer before she opened it and stepped in. “-important thing is that he’s stabilized for now,” said House Call, giving River only the briefest of glances as he kept talking to the pony sitting alongside the room’s only other occupant. “Considering that his heart stopped twice on the way back here, that’s an encouraging sign.” From the look on Sonata’s face, she didn’t seem very encouraged. Given the state that Lex was in, it was easy to see why. Lying unmoving on a hospital bed that had been brought back from Vanhoover, half of his face was completely covered by bandages, the white cloth smelling of antiseptic and blood. Similar dressings dotted his torso and legs, but they couldn’t hide the massive number of cuts, scrapes, and bruises covering his body. Only his left foreleg was completely clear of bandages, instead being where a syringe had been inserted into his arm, connected to several bags of liquid hanging from an intravenous pole. But as bad as his external wounds looked, River knew that the ones she couldn't see were worse. Between the internal bleeding, dangerously low blood pressure, and multiple bouts of heart failure, it had looked like Lex wouldn’t survive the trip back to the manor. That he had was a testament to House Call’s skill, but while River hadn’t understood the full extent of the medical jargon that had been thrown around once they’d arrived and the doctors had begun treating Lex in earnest, she’d still been able to make out the bottom line: that the equipment and supplies they’d gathered were woefully inadequate for providing the care he needed. Moving around where House Call was continuing to reassure Sonata that Lex still had a chance, River glanced down at the clipboard that the stallion was holding, noting that he was angling it away from the other mare’s line of sight. While the majority of it was numbers and technical terms, she could still make out what was written near the bottom. “Condition: critical.” Princess Twilight might very well have been there to end Lex's life, but River knew that there was a very real chance that would happen even without her doing anything. In which case, the possibility that the alicorn was being genuine with her offer of healing magic had to be seriously considered. Concessions, no matter how heavy they might be, were better than death. But that was a decision River knew better than to make on her own. “Doctor,” she interjected when House Call paused. “Can you give us a moment?” House Call raised a brow at that, glancing between River and Sonata, before giving a crisp nod. “I’ll go check on Aria,” he announced. “She should be awake soon.” River nodded, waiting until the door had closed before turning her attention to Sonata. She looked awful. Her eyes were red from crying. Her coat was dirty from falling over several times during their mad rush back to the manor. Her mane was disheveled, the result of her savagely undoing the braids she’d styled her hair in before. But it was the heartbroken look on her face that looked worst of all, staring at Lex in a way that made it clear she was silently begging for him to be alright. “Sonata,” began River softly. “I need to tell you about something that’s just happened.”