//------------------------------//
// 538 - Horrors Old and New 
// Story: Lateral Movement 
// by Alzrius 
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So that’s Lex Legis.

The sight of the unicorn who had done such horrible things to Princess Luna and Starlight Glimmer and probably a lot of other ponies sent chills down Fluttershy’s spine. Despite all the ponies who’d expressed praise and admiration for him when she and Pinkie had gone through the half-constructed village yesterday, and all the stories she’d heard about him vanquishing deadly monsters, just looking at Lex Legis now made her want to turn and run for the hills. How can anypony think that someone who looks like that is a good guy?!

Everything about him screamed danger. From the hideous way his shadow stretched out in front of him despite the sun being high overhead to the gruesome way a strand of barbed wire was wrapped around one of his forelegs, Lex’s appearance seemed like a deliberate attempt to intimidate everyone around him. Nor did his fearsome nature end with his more supernatural aspects. Even his stride seemed aggressive, stalking forward slightly faster than a normal walk, as if he was planning on bursting into a gallop at a moment’s notice. His expression was no less fierce, his jaw set and his eyes narrowed, scowling deeply as though he was just barely holding back a torrent of anger.

But it was Lex’s horn that frightened Fluttershy the most. 

She’d recognized it immediately. How could she not? It’s blood-red color and lack of a spiral pattern pulled her memory back to the thankfully-brief glimpses she’d gotten of its former owner, King Sombra, during the power-mad pony’s attempt to conquer the Crystal Empire. Except where King Sombra’s horn had been crimson in its entirety, the same couldn’t be said for Lex, the base of it being the same slate-gray as the rest of his coat; grisly proof that he’d grafted the tyrant’s horn onto himself. And he’d done that on purpose…?

Fluttershy could feel her stomach churning, her breakfast threatening to come back up as the full horror of what she was seeing washed over her. King Sombra had been a monster in the form of a pony. The idea that someone had willfully mutilated themselves, attaching a piece of his body onto their own, because they actually wanted to be more like him…

Whimpering, Fluttershy started backing away. The fact that Lex wasn’t looking in her direction, and that there were several ponies between him and her did nothing to calm her down. For a brief instant she considered flying, but immediately rejected that notion, since putting herself in the air would mean that there’d be nothing obstructing his view of her, and-

Fluttershy bumped into something at the same time as she heard an irritated voice. “Ow! Watch it!”

Choking down a scream, Fluttershy whipped her head around…to see Starlight Glimmer frowning at her.

Several feelings ran through Fluttershy then, one of the strongest of which was shame. Here she was panicking at the sight of Lex Legis, when her new friend had to be going through so much worse! After all, poor Starlight had been seriously hurt after the fiend had attacked her, and he would have tortured her with curses afterward if she, Soft Mane, and Pixie hadn’t rescued her! And yet she’d come out here anyway to cheer Twilight on! 

“I…I’m sorry, Starlight,” she murmured, looking down. “I saw Lex for the first time now, and I was just so scared…” Biting her lip, she glanced back in Lex’s direction, shuddering. “I wish I could be as brave as you.”

The comment caused Starlight to pause, glancing in Fluttershy’s direction as she raised the hood on the cloak that Rarity had loaned her before they’d left the yacht. “What do you mean? I’m not any braver than anypony else.”

“Really?” Fluttershy couldn’t help but be surprised by that. “I know that if Lex had almost killed me, and then had his minions drag me away so that he could put all sorts of horrible curses on me later, I’d be too afraid to go anywhere near him ever again! But just one day after he did that to you, you’ve come out here to cheer on Twilight while she fights that monster.” Peeking out from behind a strand of her mane, Fluttershy looked at Starlight with open admiration. “That seems really brave to me.”

Starlight blinked, looking like she was trying to figure out whether to accept the compliment or brush it off. But she didn’t have a chance to do either as a new voice suddenly made itself known.

“There’s a difference between bravery and foolishness,” pronounced a pegasus colt with an off-white coat and green mane and tail, dropping out of the sky and landing several feet away from them. Holding one foreleg out parallel to the ground, a large eagle came down and settled on it a moment later. Although the bird tucked its wings in, the colt kept his flared, giving Fluttershy a quick scowl before looking at Starlight, his gaze deepening into one of open hostility. “And coming back here was definitely the latter.”

Narrowing her eyes, Starlight pulled her cloak around herself tighter, even as she maintained a thin smile. “Well well well, looks like I’m not the only one up and about,” she mocked, glancing at the eagle. “Find a new bird already, kid?”

The words made the colt bristle. “You don’t have what it takes to put Altaer, or me, or any of the Knight Mare’s Knights down for the count! And if you try to inter-”

“Oh my, how adorable!”

“-fere with…” Blinking, the colt turned to look at Fluttershy. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized reflexively. “I just couldn’t help but admire your bald eagle! Did you say his name was Altaer? That’s so majestic!”

Clearly thrown by the flurry of praise, the colt glanced between her and Starlight warily. “Yes, well, um…”

“My name’s Fluttershy.” Moving forward, she held a hoof out in greeting. “What’s yours?”

But rather than the friendly greeting she’d been anticipating, the colt scowled at her again, refusing to shake her hoof. “I’m Straightlace,” he answered, the unfriendly tone returning to his voice. “And I’m one of the Night Mare’s Knights, the personal students of Lex Legis, who’s about to kick that coddled prince of yours all the way back to Canterlot!”

Fluttershy froze, but not because of the colt’s speech. Rather, what stopped her cold was how, as soon as Straightlace had finished speaking, his eagle – Altaer – had ruffled its wings again, giving a soft screech.

A screech that had been completely unintelligible to her.

In the background, Fluttershy could hear raised voices. Blueblood’s valet was one of them, and she distantly recognized the other as River Bank’s, the mare’s voice being the same one she’d heard while hiding under Starlight’s bed yesterday. But at the moment Fluttershy couldn’t process any of that, all of her attention captivated by – for the first time since she’d gotten her cutie mark – being unable to understand what an animal was saying.

She was so out of it that she barely noticed when another pegasus foal joined them, a filly with a yellowy coat a little brighter than her own whom she dimly remembered was the one who’d bowled Rarity over while they’d been waiting in that parlor yesterday. “Straightlace, what’re you doing?!” she snapped, giving the colt a look of incredulity mixed with anger. “Lex said we’re supposed to keep Starlight from interfering, not start another fight with her!”

“I’m not starting anything, Cleansweep,” huffed the colt, glaring at Starlight again…who, Fluttershy belated noted, actually looked concerned, her eyes flickering back and forth between the foals. “I’m just letting her know that if she so much as looks at Lex wrong, we’ll be on her before she can even think about casting a spell.” He tore his gaze away from the hooded unicorn to direct it at Fluttershy again. “And that goes for you and your friends as well.”

Cleansweep looked like she wanted to protest for a moment, but her expression darkened as she looked between Starlight and Fluttershy. “I guess that works,” she admitted.

And that was when Fluttershy had another shock to her system, as a snake – one that she hadn’t noticed was coiled around Cleansweep’s middle – stuck its head forward, its tongue flicking in and out. A second later, the filly nodded. “I know, but she’s here too, so we might as well.”

I can’t understand those animals! The thought made Fluttershy dizzy, too shocked to even feel frightened by what was happening. I can’t understand them, but those foals can!

Her eyes immediately traveled down to the children’s cutie marks, noting how neither the vacuum cleaner on the filly nor the striped necktie on the colt seemed to be animal-related. After a moment, she glanced back at her own, finding the familiar three butterflies on each of her flanks. Everything was right where it was supposed to be, so why…?

Ignoring everything else going on around her, Fluttershy looked at the ground, needing more reassurance. A few seconds was all it took for her to find what she was looking for, kneeling down. “Excuse me, Mister Grasshopper,” she whispered as she put herself at eye level with the insect she’d spotted. “I hope this isn’t too forward of me, but can you understand what I’m saying right now?”

Looking up from the blade of grass that it was munching on, the grasshopper chittered its mandibles in an affirmative, and Fluttershy let out a deep breath of relief at finding its response to be comprehensible. “Thank you! And I’m sorry I interrupted your lunch. If it’ll make up for it, there’s a nice patch of dandelions south of here.”

“Fluttershy,” murmured Starlight, her voice tense. “Maybe it’s not the best time to have a tea party with some bugs.”

“Sorry.” Standing back up, Fluttershy took a half-step toward the two foals, only to stop in mid-motion as they both frowned at her. “Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but if it’s alright I’d like to ask you something.”

“Forget it,” answered Straightlace immediately. “We’re not here to answer your questions.”

“We’re here to make sure that you don’t try to ruin Lex’s duel,” finished Cleansweep.

“What she said,” came a new voice, as an earth colt approached, a wolf at his side.

“Hey, Crunchy,” called Cleansweep, her voice deceptively casual. “Glad you could make it.”

“We can’t all fly, Dust Bunny,” called back the colt in the same tone.

By now several nearby ponies were looking at them, and Fluttershy grimaced as snatches of nearby conversations reached her ears.

“…those’re Lex’s students…” 

“…Rainbow Dash’s friend…” 

“…bet she’s up to something…” 

“…can’t trust those princesses…”

“…in the cloak looks familiar…”

“Darling, are you alright?”

That last one came through clearer than the rest, and it took Fluttershy a moment to realize it was Rarity, the unicorn trotting toward her only to slow down as she spotted the foals confronting her. “What’s going on here?”

But no one had a chance to answer as a new voice, loud and harsh, cut through the air.

“There will be no reconciliation,” announced Lex, his voice immediately silencing the crowd. “Since you’ve made clear your intent to press your challenge, then allow me to make mine equally unambiguous: I intend to meet it. In combat.”

For a second silence reigned, only to be broken a moment later by the sputtering voice of Prince Blueblood. “B-but that’s…that’s preposterous! I’m a prince, you dunderhead! A prince! Royalty! Do you not understand what that means?! Already you’ve tarnished your name with your repeated transgressions against my noble self! Did nopony bother to explain to you what you're doing, or are you simply mad?! Going through with this will irreparably-”

“ENOUGH!” thundered Lex, causing everypony – including Blueblood – to jump. “This final attempt at mediation has failed! Now, either take your position…” Everypony held their breath as Lex’s eyes suddenly lit up, shining green and purple. “…or send in Twilight Sparkle to do your fighting for you.”

Fluttershy’s stomach had twisted itself into knots at the sight of the familiar glow in Lex’s eyes, but when she heard her friend’s name come out of his mouth, her insides felt like they’d collapsed in on themselves altogether. In that moment, her worries about meeting animals that she couldn’t communicate with were completely forgotten, replaced with an all-consuming fear for what was about to happen to one of her dearest friends. He knew! He knew she was going to take Blueblood’s place! How?!

But no answer presented itself as Twilight slowly stepped forward…