//------------------------------// // 22 - Anticipating Disaster // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Fireflower blinked. “What do you mean, ‘she’s been enchanted’?” “You remember what I did to the waiter back at that restaurant? It’s like that,” explained Sonata, gesturing to the empty stage where the mayor had been. “Someone’s used magic to mess with her head.” “I guess that makes sense,” admitted Fireflower. “I mean, her plan for everyone to just up and leave the entire city does seem like an overreaction to…” he trailed off as something occurred to him. “Hang on! Could that be why my family’s attacking the city? Because they’ve been enchanted too?” Sonata shook her head. “I don’t know. I’d need to see them before I could even try to guess.” “But they could be, right?” pressed Fireflower. The idea was one that he desperately wanted to be true. “Then, all we have to do is explain that what they’re doing isn’t their fault, and maybe we can fix all of this!” Sonata gave him an encouraging smile. “Maybe. For now though, I want to talk to the mayor. If we can figure out who enchanted her, or for what, then we might be able to, um…” Sonata paused as she realized that she wasn’t entirely sure what her goal was in pursuing this. She’d come here to try and find Lex, and help Fireflower find his family, and she couldn’t really see how this would help. After all, she felt totally certain that Lex hadn’t been the one who’d enchanted the mayor. He really hated magic that messed with people’s minds. Likewise, even if this had something to do with the mayor’s plan to have everypony leave Tall Tale, that still wouldn’t tell Fireflower where his siblings were. After all, it wasn’t like they could have done this; he’d told her all about them on the journey there, and according to what he’d said none of them had magic like this. That meant that the whole thing was a big mystery, and Sonata had always been bad at those. “Sonata? What’s wrong?” Fireflower couldn’t help but feel concerned, circling around so he was directly in front of her face. “Oh, um, I’m just not sure this is the best idea, is all,” she admitted. “I mean, we know that Lex and your siblings are in this town somewhere, right? Maybe we should keep searching for them instead of figuring out what’s up with the mayor.” Fireflower paused, thinking that over for a minute before shaking his head. “No, I think we should try and figure out what’s up with her. I don’t think that searching blindly is going to get us anywhere. Right now we have a lead, so we should follow it, even if we’re not sure where it goes.” “Huh, I guess that makes sense when you put it like that,” nodded Sonata thoughtfully. A moment later she grinned in approval. “Alright, let’s go check out the mayor!” She held a hoof out towards Fireflower, who looked at it curiously, unsure of what to do. “Er…” “C’mon! Hoof bump me!” Still unclear what she wanted, Fireflower nevertheless lifted a hoof and held it out, letting Sonata touch hers to it with a brief “clop” sound. Putting her hoof down after doing so, she couldn’t help but giggle at the way he looked at his hoof curiously, as though wondering what had just happened. “That was a hoof bump. My friend Pinkie taught me that it’s what ponies do when they’re enthusiastic about something.” “Oh. I get it.” His face didn’t match his words, and she had to stifle another laugh as she headed in the direction the mayor had gone. “C’mon. We’ve got a mystery to solve!” Nosey was grinning from ear to ear as she marched back into her hotel room. “You’re not going to believe what the mayor had to say!” She had learned from a young age that the best feeling in the world was to have news that other ponies didn’t know, but wanted to. The way it felt when they were eagerly waiting for you to speak, listening raptly to your every word, reacting to each and every little thing you said…it was indescribable. And that was just doing it face-to-face! Delivering the news in print was ten times better, she had learned, because even though the reactions weren’t quite as immediate, the impact was so much greater. Writing stories could reach an entire city – or more! – of ponies. It was a rush that never got old, no matter how many times Nosey did it. It was that same rush that she was eagerly anticipating as she waited for her guest to respond to the teaser she’d given him. Except…it didn’t happen. To her growing consternation, he just stayed in the middle of the room, chanting and gesturing the same way he’d been since she’d left that morning, without giving her so much as a glance. “Ahem. I said, ‘you’re not going to believe what the mayor had to say!’” She waited several seconds, but Lex continued to ignore her, droning on in whatever language that was. Letting out an annoyed snort, Nosey went to make herself comfortable, sitting at her desk. “You know, for a guy I’m letting crash in my room, you’re really not acting very grateful.” Again, there was no response, and Nosey sighed. Lex had told her that morning that he was going to be busy for most of the day with whatever it was he was doing, and that wouldn’t have been nearly so bad except for the fact that he had flatly refused to explain to her what it was. It was clearly something magical, that much was obvious, but beyond that it was a total mystery. In that regard, it was a lot like her dour guest. She’d pressed him hard for information during yesterday’s interview, and he’d given her a fair amount, but she was certain that he’d withheld quite a bit as well. She’d find a way to get it out of him, of course – there was no story that Nosey Newsy couldn’t uncover! – but it was going to have to take a backseat to the Tall Tale evacuation story. Pulling out her portable typewriter, Nosey started making up some test drafts of what the final story would look like. Her newspaper, the Canterlot Chronicle, didn’t have an office in Tall Tale, and with the train out it would take a little while to be able to mail the story in, but it wasn’t a big deal. After all, the evacuation hadn’t started yet, so the story wasn’t fully ready to be reported on anyway. The test drafts were just to start arranging things for when she sat down to write up the completed article. It was almost a half-hour later when Lex, ceasing his chanting, turned to her. “What did the mayor have to say?” Nosey pointedly waited until she was done typing up a paragraph before turning to face him. “Oh, now you want to know,” she said sarcastically. If Lex noticed her tone of voice, he didn’t let it show. “I’ve reached a point where I can temporarily stop what I’m doing. If you have news to share, make it quick.” Frowning, Nosey glared at him over the top of her glasses. “And what exactly are you doing? You wouldn’t tell me before.” “And I have no intention of telling you now,” Lex responded flatly. In fact, he had been using the heightened ambient thaumaturgical energies, caused by the equinox, to replenish his primary spellcasting abilities. While it was unfortunate that he had to prepare his spells without knowing exactly what he was going to be facing in the immediate future, the clues he’d gathered so far were enough that he could make enough educated guesses to guide his preparations. That he needed such circumstances to restore his strongest powers was the fatal flaw in his spellcasting, and his single greatest weakness. He had no intention of letting a reporter spread that knowledge all over Equestria. Even Sonata didn’t know that about him. Thoughts of his girlfriend – likely ex-girlfriend now – soured Lex’s mood, causing him to snap at the one who had interrupted him. “And for that matter, you are not ‘letting’ me ‘crash’ here. The only reason I’m still here is because there are no other rooms for rent at this hotel and I don’t have time to look and see if there are vacancies at another one.” Nosey rolled her eyes. She’d had no intention of letting him leave anyway – he’d already given her enough to make it obvious that he was a vending machine of news stories – but wow was he a grouch! “Anyway, the mayor announced her plan for dealing with the crisis. Listen to this.” Pulling the latest draft from her typewriter, Nosey read off what she had so far, covering both the attacks and the mayor’s response to them. When she finished, she looked at Lex expectantly, waiting for his reaction. She didn’t have to wait long. Ten seconds hadn’t passed before he responded. “This ‘evacuation’ is a farce. The mayor is either lying, or she’s being played for a fool.” Nosey’s eyebrows went up. “That’s a pretty serious accusation. Do you have anything to back it up?” “Don’t be absurd,” snorted Lex. “Her so-called plan doesn’t survive any kind of logical scrutiny. Anypony with half a brain should be able to come to that conclusion.” Nosey crossed her forelegs, the only outward sign of her irritation with him. “How so?” “Think about it. She’s using phased evacuations to withdraw from the city, which is exactly the wrong thing to do in this kind of situation.” “Why?” “Because if you’re afraid of a small group of attackers the best response is to keep everypony gathered together. A larger force, if properly directed, will be better able to deter, detect, and defend against a guerilla assault. Her plan, by contrast, will result in smaller groups breaking off on their own to leave town, which will make them vulnerable while they’re en route. Worse, because these withdrawals are phased, that means that the ponies that remain behind the longest will be more and more at risk.” Nosey had started taking notes. She nodded to him, not in agreement but to encourage him to keep talking; these were actually some pretty good points! “But maybe she didn’t have any other choice,” she pressed, wanting more of his commentary. “I mean, she made some good points about not having anywhere else to go, what with the trains being cut off and the situation in Vanhoover being so bad. Using ships to get everypony out of here-” “There are no ships,” interrupted Lex. That was enough to make Nosey look up from her notes, an uncomprehending look on her face. “Huh?” “There won’t be any ships arriving to take everypony out of here,” insisted Lex. Nosey’s expression changed from incomprehension to disbelief. “How could you possibly know that?” Lex grit his teeth, clearly annoyed that she hadn’t figured it out on her own. “Think about it for a moment. Where are these ships coming from?” “I don’t know.” Nosey’s voice made it clear that she had no idea where he was going with this. “They’re taking everypony to Las Pegasus, so probably from there.” “From Las Pegasus?” sneered Lex. “A city several hundred miles down the coast is going to have the first ship in an evacuation fleet arrive here tomorrow morning?” “What’s so hard to believe about that? If they left in time-” Lex cut her off. “When was the first spider attack?” “Um…” Nosey flipped through her notes. “Just under a week ago…” she trailed off as she started to see what he was getting at. “Exactly. How could such a massive operation have been coordinated with a city hundreds of miles away in such a short amount of time? The only answer is that it couldn’t be. Even if she dispatched a ship, or a pegasus messenger, the instant the first attack happened, there’s no way they could have reached Las Pegasus, hammered out a plan, and gotten word back to her in that amount of time.” “But maybe the ships are coming from somewhere else,” protested Nosey, furiously scribbling again. “Vanhoover might have sent them.” “A pegasus messenger could have reached Vanhoover quickly enough,” granted Lex. “But you’ll recall that the mayor said that the situation there was ‘too unstable’ to evacuate to. If that city was in any position to participate in a plan like this, then there’d be no reason not to go there instead of Las Pegasus, since Vanhoover is so much closer.” Privately, Lex also took the mayor’s commentary on the state of Vanhoover to be a bad sign. It verified what Twilight had told him about the state of the city, and underscored that he needed to get there as soon as possible. But that couldn’t happen until he’d resolved things here; abandoning Tall Tale on the eve of whatever disaster was about to occur would be unconscionable. Finishing her notetaking, Nosey looked up at Lex. “I hate to admit it, but I’m impressed that you figured all of that out, and so fast too.” Lex frowned, and it was his turn to have a lack of understanding show on his face. How was any of what he just said not immediately obvious? Nosey continued speaking. “So when those ponies that are in the first evacuation group head out to the dockyards tomorrow morning…?” She let the question dangle, looking at Lex. “That part of town is non-contiguous with the rest of the city, correct?” Nosey dug around in her pack, before pulling out a tourist map, spreading it open. She scanned it for a moment before nodding. “Right. It’s about…huh, it’s about seven miles from the rest of Tall Tale. That’s kind of weird.” Lex shook his head. “No, it’s not. Vanhoover and Tall Tale are neighboring cities. Since Vanhoover is such a major player in maritime commerce, it makes sense that Tall Tale would focus on another area instead of trying to compete with them. That’s why this city focuses on logging, and in order to abet that industry it’s situated a few miles inland, right at the edge of White Tail Woods. But they can’t ignore the sea-trade entirely, because they still need to send exports and receive imports from other coastal communities.” “Oh! I get it!” Nosey exclaimed. “So they still have to have a seaside presence, even though the town proper is further inland.” “Exactly. And since they haven’t been destroyed-” “Whoa, whoa, back up.” Nosey waved her forelegs in a protesting gesture. “Why would the dockyards be destroyed?” “I told you before about the wrecked train tracks that I witnessed on my way into Tall Tale,” sighed Lex, apparently still holding her lack of comprehension against her. “Whatever did that wanted to isolate the city. If it has that level of reasoning and foresight, then there’s no way it would have overlooked the only other major route into and out of town.” “Which means…” “Which means, to answer your earlier question, that when the first group of ponies head there tomorrow morning thinking that they’re going to leave the city,” said Lex grimly, “they’ll be walking right into a trap.”