//------------------------------// // 536 - The Challenger Approaches // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “Don’t you think we’re cutting it a little close?!” Spike’s question had been directed at Twilight, but Rarity couldn’t help but add her own opinion as well. “I have to agree. While I’m normally all for being fashionably late, giving ourselves only fifteen minutes to spare seems a trifle shortsighted considering how important this duel is.” “It couldn’t be helped!” explained Twilight, leading the rest of her friends as they galloped toward the array of hastily-built houses that marked the edge of the camp-turned-village where Vanhoover’s survivors were living. “If Lex doesn’t know that I’m going to be fighting him on Blueblood’s behalf, then somepony telling him that we’ve shown up at the site of the duel early might clue him in! At least this way there’s a chance he won’t be completely prepared!” “He wouldn’t have been prepared if you’d finished him off last night!” growled Starlight, giving Twilight a dark look. “But no, you just had to let him rest and recover first, didn’t you?” “It’s called a fair fight,” shot back Applejack, her voice pointed as she frowned at Starlight. “And for that matter, it ain’t to the death, which means it’s a lot safer than what you were talkin’ about.” But her frown was directed toward Twilight a moment later. “Even if tryin’ to settle things by getting into a scrap all by your lonesome wasn’t exactly the brightest idea, sugarcube.” “Seriously!” huffed Rainbow Dash, barely having to flap her wings to keep pace with everyone else. “After everypony and their mother gave me a hard time about running off and fighting Lex all by myself, this was your big idea?!” “Give her a break,” snapped Soft Mane, trailing everyone else at the back of the group. “She told you guys before we left: there wasn’t any time to talk things out. That Blueblood guy was already almost done with settling the terms when Twilight thought of this, and River Bank was demanding that it happen as soon as possible.” “And then Lex would have called Blueblood’s bluff, beating him up and becoming a prince before anypony could stop him,” winced Fluttershy, unnerved as much by the prospect of violence as somepony so awful becoming royalty. “So now it’s a showdown at high noon!” Bouncing gleefully alongside her friends, Pinkie jumped up high enough to momentarily leave everyone’s line of sight, somehow wearing Appleloosan fashions when she landed again. Fighting down a toothy grin, she hurried in front of Twilight – before turning around to face her, effortlessly running backwards – as she adopted a pretend-glare. “This’ll be so exciting! You’ll stalk down the empty street, staring at your enemy in tense silence as everypony watches from hiding! A tumbleweed will blow out of nowhere, and the music will get really intense! That’s when you throw back your poncho and yell ‘draw pardner!’” Reacting to her own cue, Pinkie whipped out a sketchpad and pencil from out of nowhere, scribbling furiously for a second before tossing the writing implement away and turning the pad over, revealing a shockingly-detailed (and, somehow, full-color) picture of a smiling Twilight. “And whoever draws the best picture of their dueling partner wins!” Although her tension had been skyrocketing as the appointed time approached, Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at Pinkie’s incredibly inaccurate description of what was about to take place. “That’s not actually how it’s going to go, Pinkie. But it would be nice if it was.” Ahead of them, a crowd could already be seen forming, attracted by Prince Blueblood and his entourage. Slowing down, Rarity couldn’t help but grimace as one of the ponies from Las Pegasus said something to the prince, causing him to give his mane a shake and raise his nose in the air, the haughtiness oozing off of him even if they were too far away to hear what he was saying. “Honestly, as awful as everyone’s said this Lex character is, I can’t say I’d be entirely sorry to see Blueblood lose his title; he’s such an affront to the idea of royal elegance. Not that I’m rooting for you to lose, Twilight darling,” she added quickly. Twilight shook her head. “It’s alright. After spending this much time with Blueblood, I completely understand. The only reason he even agreed to let me take his place in the fight is because he thought there wouldn’t be a fight. He kept insisting that Lex would back off before it started.” Rolling her eyes, her voice turned wry. “He actually congratulated himself for ‘indulging’ me.” “Now there’s somepony who’s full of himself,” snorted Applejack, “Not that those ponies from Las Pegasus are much better. I bumped into this one mare this mornin’ who seemed nice enough, but as soon as I mentioned Sweet Apple Acres to her, she started tryin’ to talk me into sellin’ it to her so she could tear down my family farm and put up hotels!” “At least you were offered money,” grumbled Rainbow Dash. “I ran into some creep who kept begging me to endorse his casino in exchange for free chips! Like I’d want to go on vacation just to play boring old cards or dice games!” Fluttershy moved to the back of the group, putting her friends between herself and the ponies gathered around Blueblood. “I got cornered in a hallway by an old lady who kept insisting that I come work for her as a dancer,” she murmured. “She kept saying I could be a ‘palace girl,’ and wouldn’t take no for an answer! I was about to agree just to make her leave me alone when Pinkie rescued me.” “I still don’t know why she ran away like that,” added the pink pony in question. “I tried to tell her that I made up a new dance, the Pinkamena, and that it’ll be the biggest hit ever! I even made up a song to go with it!” Standing upright, Pinkie started moving her forelegs rhythmically. “¡Dale a tu fiesta alegría, Pinkamena! ¡Que tu fiesta es pa’ darle alegría y cosa buena! ¡Dale a tu fiesta alegría, Pinkamena! ¡Eh Pinkamena!” “Huh, that is kinda catchy,” admitted Spike, starting to sway to the singing. Pinkie’s eyes lit up at the compliment, but she didn’t have a chance to go any further as Rainbow Dash suddenly touched down, having circled overhead for a moment. “I spotted Lex,” she reported, her voice grim. “He’s got his own crowd of admirers, and it looks like they’ll be here any minute.” Twilight let out a slow breath. “Okay. Once he and Blueblood formally declare that their disagreement is irreconcilable, and that they’re both resolved to go through with this, that’ll be my cue.” Soft Mane knelt down next to Twilight, giving her a reassuring smile. “I’ve got plenty of healing spells ready, so don’t worry about cutting loose, okay? I can patch you up as soon as you win.” “And we’ll make sure that everypony here’ll stay a safe distance back,” added Applejack. “You won’t need to worry about hittin’ any innocent bystanders.” “You should also keep a close eye on those ponies Lex brought with him.” Despite not having cracked a smile since they’d brought her onto the yacht, Starlight’s expression managed to sour even further. “I wouldn’t put it past them to try and cheat somehow if he starts losing. Probably by casting some spells of their own to help him out.” “Aw, Sonata wouldn’t do that!” insisted Pinkie. “I bet she’ll be too busy cheering her head off, just like we will!” “Just be careful, Twilight,” murmured Fluttershy, already starting to tremble. “I’d rather see Lex become a prince than see you get some horrible curse like what happened to Luna!” “It won’t come to that.” Spike’s voice was one of absolute conviction…for all of three seconds, before he looked at Twilight fearfully. “Will it?” “I don’t think so.” Pulling on the Everglow-made magical gear that she’d brought with her, Twilight glanced in the direction Rainbow Dash had said Lex was coming from. “In fact, if I’m right, I don’t think it’ll come anywhere close to that.” That caused several of her friends to exchange inquisitive looks, but Rainbow wasn’t one of them. “This is gonna be great!” she cackled. “I can’t wait to see the look on Lex’s ugly face when he realizes that he’s facing off against the pony who represented the Element of Magic itself!” “Say it a little louder, why don’t you?” shushed Soft Mane, glancing around despite her limited vision. Applejack, however, wasn’t about to let that tidbit go. “Twilight, you know somethin’ we don’t?” Twilight didn’t answer immediately, sending another glance toward where Blueblood was waiting. He’d obviously gotten word that Lex was coming, because he’d turned his back toward the direction the other stallion was approaching from, making an obvious – and rather childish – show of disdain for his opponent. However, Twilight was less concerned with the prince’s petulance than she was with how the valet that Blueblood had designated as his representative hadn’t started speaking yet. Once that happened, she’d need to be ready to announce herself. But until it did, she had time, and she’d already gone ahead and set this up without consulting her friends. Letting them in on her theory now was the least she could do. “I’ve been going over what Starlight told me about her fight with Lex, comparing it to what we heard from the Royal Sisters, and it just doesn’t add up,” she admitted, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “I don’t know it for sure, but the best explanation I can come up with is that Lex is suffering from some sort of magical backlash as a result of what he did to Luna.” Jaws dropped and eyes widened, with Starlight being the first to recover. “That’s what you meant when you said you thought Lex was holding back against me!” “It’s just a theory,” cautioned Twilight. “But Lex used a lot of powerful magic when he battled Celestia and Luna. So why did he stay on defense for almost all of his fight with you? Why did most of his attacks consist of punching instead of miniaturized tornados or electrical orbs?” “So he really did defeat the princesses,” murmured Starlight, more to herself than in reply. “I thought Sonata was exaggerating about that, since she was so obviously hung up on him.” Fluttershy bit her lip, looking like she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe that things would be that easy. “But why would he agree to get in a fight if he’s lost most of his magic?” The answer came readily to Rarity. “Because he thought he’d be facing that pushover of a prince, obviously. Blueblood would run away in terror if somepony so much as sneezed too close to him.” But Rainbow Dash seemed skeptical as well. “I dunno, Twilight. Even if Lex is powered-down, he still had enough juice to mess up my wing.” Landing, she gave Twilight a pointed look. “If he does the same thing to your horn…” “She doesn’t need her horn to use her magic,” interjected Applejack, giving Rainbow a nudge. “Or at least not all of it, the same way I can cast a few spells even though I’m an earth pony, remember?” She didn’t wait for an answer, turning to Twilight instead. “Sugarcube, I hope you’re right about this, but don’t put all your apples in one basket. No matter what he’s got goin’ on, Lex ain’t an opponent you should take lightly.” “I know,” nodded Twilight. “But if I’m right-” The rest of what she was going to say was lost as an effete voice suddenly cut through the conversation. “Fillies and gentlecolts! I must ask you to fall silent as we prepare to resolve the ongoing feud between His Royal Highness, Prince Blueblood, and the knave who calls himself Lex Legis!” “It’s time,” sighed Twilight, turning toward where Lex and his entourage had arrived, standing across from Blueblood. “Wish me luck.” With her friends’ heartfelt replies sending her off, Twilight began making her way toward the crowd.