• Published 2nd Nov 2015
  • 4,031 Views, 10,118 Comments

Lateral Movement - Alzrius



Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.

  • ...
36
 10,118
 4,031

PreviousChapters Next
318 - Dropped Guard

“What do you mean they’re gone?!”

The guard struggled not to flinch at Shining Armor’s tone. “Exactly that, sir. When I went to go see if Spearhead had anything to report, I noticed that he wasn’t at his post at the end of the hallway. Since it’s not like him to go on break without reporting it first, I decided to check the room where the, er, ‘guests’ were being kept. There was no response when I knocked, and when I entered the room-”

“They weren't there,” finished Cadance grimly.

The guard nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty. And there was no sign of Spearhead either.”

Cadance shared a worried look with Shining Armor, who let out a slow breath as years of training came back to him. “Alright. Who else knows about this?”

“Sir, I alerted the nearest two guards as to what had happened before I came here. They’re searching the room for clues right now.”

Shining Armor nodded crisply, mentally reviewing patrol routes and checkpoints that the guards on duty would be keeping at this time of night. While he hadn’t been Captain of the Royal Guard for a little while now, he’d been back in Canterlot long enough to see that things hadn’t changed since he’d left. Which means that the two guards in that room right now are the closest ones to our current position. That made it easier to decide what to do. “I’m going to head there now,” announced Shining Armor. “Cadance-”

“I’m coming with you,” she said immediately. “I still have some healing spells left. If we find Spearhead and he’s hurt, I’ll be able to help him.”

A flicker of relief went through Shining Armor at that, nodding. He’d been worried that Cadance would want to stay with Pillowcase in case those five ponies that had killed him before were trying to finish the job now. But while Shining Armor was worried about that too, his first concern was that they’d hurt Cadance if they came across her. Even if she was an alicorn, combat wasn’t his wife’s forte, and those ponies apparently had some experience where attacking their own kind was concerned. Far safer for her to remain with him, where he could protect her.

Splitting up during a crisis was a mistake that they’d made during the elemental bleeds, after all, and it had cost them dearly…

Pushing the morbid memory away, Shining Armor made himself focus on the crisis at hoof. He’d already determined what both he and Cadance needed to do. Now he just had to secure the safety of everypony else in the immediate vicinity.

But Cadance was one step ahead of him. “You stay here,” she ordered the guard, pointing at the door to the guest room where Cozy, Pillow, and Aisle were. “Don’t let anypony in, and don’t let the three ponies in there leave until things calm down.”

The guard immediately straightened up at the royal command. “Yes ma’am!” He was already moving as he spoke, placing himself in front of the door protectively.

Catching his wife’s eye, Shining Armor shared a nod with Cadance, not needing words to confirm that everything was ready. Turning, the two of them galloped down the hallway side-by-side. Shining Armor eyed every corner nervously, half-expecting the killer ponies to leap out at any second, but each intersection was clear, and after a few minutes they arrived at their destination.

Slowing down as they approached the guest room, its door now hanging open, Shining Armor stopped a few feet from it. Despite knowing that the guards were in there searching the place, he glanced back at Cadance, suddenly cautious. “Let me go first.”

Having already been tired before they started running, Cadance didn’t reply verbally, too busy trying to get her breath back. Instead, she nodded, motioning him to go ahead with one wing. With one last glance around to make sure the hallway itself was clear, Shining Armor moved into the open doorway. “What’s the situation? Is there any sign of Spearhead?”

“Sir! No sir!” answered a unicorn guard with a brown coat, looking up from where he’d been checking underneath the rug in the center of the room. “No sign of anyone at all, sir!”

“But we haven’t finished checking the premises yet,” warned the other guard, an earth pony with a white coat, before turning a suspicious gaze back to the large potted fern in the far corner of the room that he’d been examining. “They might still be lurking about somewhere.”

While their report wasn’t unexpected, Shining Armor couldn’t help but clench his jaw anxiously. He’d gotten to know Spearhead pretty well during his time as a captain, and he was a good guy. While not the most disciplined member of the Royal Guard, Spearhead more than made up for it with his camaraderie and easy sense of humor, to say nothing of his outgoing attitude. He’d never once thrown his weight as a member of the Guard around that Shining Armor had seen, being much more likely to help someone out than to berate them.

That must have been how they got him, Shining Armor realized grimly. If one of the ponies that was in here had leaned out into the hallway and said they needed help with something, Spearhead would have come running. And then the other four… He couldn’t finish the thought, instead turning to look around the room. He knew they didn’t have time to search the place, that they needed to put out an alert so that all of the guards in the castle would know what had happened, but if there was just one clue…one bit of evidence about what had happened to his friend…

Having heard the exchange between Shining Armor and the guards, Cadance was already looking around as she entered the room, pausing as she looked at a nearby armoire. “What about here?” she asked as she focused her telekinesis on the handles.

“Your Majesty, be careful!” yelped the unicorn guard. “We haven’t checked there-”

Cadance yanked the armoire open, causing the unmoving form of a pony to come spilling out and tumble to the floor.

“-yet,” finished the guard, blinking in surprise. “Huh, you know, we probably shouldn’t have saved that for last, what with it being big enough to hold a pony and all.”

But Shining Armor was less concerned with the guards’ oversight than he was with the identity of the pony his wife had just found. “SPEARHEAD!” In an instant, he was at his friend’s side, looking him over nervously. “Hang on buddy…!” Tied up and missing his armor, the pegasus stallion didn’t reply, and for a moment Shining Armor found himself fearing the worst. But a second was all it took to confirm that Spearhead was still breathing, causing Shining Armor to let out a sigh of relief. “He’s alive!”

Cadance was already kneeling down next to the unconscious stallion. “Hurry and get him untied. I’m going to try and revive him.”

“Right away, Your Majesty!” The earth pony guard moved in to start undoing the bindings around Spearhead’s limbs, only to pause, eyes widening as he realized what had been used to secure his fellow guard. “They tied him up with leaves from that fern!” He turned his head, glaring accusingly at the plant. “I knew it had something to do with this!”

“Just get them off him.” Shining Armor held Spearhead steady as the guard went back to work, Cadance already gesturing and murmuring a liturgy to Lashtada. Looking at the sole remaining guard, Shining Armor nodded towards the open door. “Go let the rest of the Guard know what’s happened. Make sure they know that there are five criminals in total, three mares and two stallions, and that they’re to be considered extremely dangerous. Don’t try to apprehend them unless you have overwhelming numbers, otherwise fall back and sound an alarm.” He looked back down at his friend as he finished speaking. “Spearhead was lucky. These ponies aren’t afraid to kill.”

Finishing the words to her healing spell, Cadance didn’t say anything else as she reached out and touched a hoof to Spearhead’s brow, seeing the guard salute and rush out of the room to carry out his orders. But privately, she wondered if Shining Armor was right about that last part. Once Spearhead regained consciousness he’d be able to tell them exactly what happened, but it seemed to her that those ponies could have killed him if they’d wanted to, rather than knocking him out and tying him up. And we still don’t know exactly what happened that led to Pillowcase’s death, she remembered. Things had been moving too fast for them to sit down and get a proper accounting from everyone. And now this…

It simply didn’t make sense to her that those five could be murderers. It wasn’t just that they’d all confessed to that crime in what had obviously been an attempt to cover for each other, which by itself was an act of friendship that she couldn’t see cold-blooded killers doing. It was also that she’d seen the bonds of love between them. The two stallions had shared a deep purple thread, the color of familial love, and the rest of the group had connections that were dark red, indicating friendship that had grown so strong that it had grown into love akin to family. In all cases, the light from the threads had glowed brightly and with uniform distribution, indicating that their feelings were strong as well as reciprocated between each of them. If she’d had to guess, she’d have said that they weren’t bad people at all.

And yet they’d done this to Spearhead, whose eyes were just now fluttering open as Cadance’s healing magic flowed through him. “Ugh…what…?”

“Easy, buddy,” said Shining Armor soothingly. “You’re alright.”

“I am?” Spearhead blinked, lucidity returning to his eyes as he pressed a hoof against the side of his head gingerly.

“You should be,” confirmed Cadance. “I used a healing spell on you. How do you feel?”

“I…huh. I feel great.” He slowly climbed to his hooves, still marveling at his apparent lack of pain, glancing back at his left hind leg as he confirmed something. “Wow, even my trick knee feels better! That stuff’s topnotch!” He gave Cadance an appreciative smile, as though commenting on an exercise routine instead of a miraculous new type of magic.

Cadance blinked, nonplussed at the casual thanks, but Shining Armor was more used to his friend’s easygoing attitude. “Spearhead, focus. What happened to you?”

“Oh, right.” Spearhead put a hoof to his chin, thinking back. “I was guarding that hallway like you said, watching in case any of the ponies in here tried to go anywhere or do anything. For a while nothing happened, but then the door opened and one of them – that earth mare with the whole ‘kid sister’ vibe to her – said that one of her friends had fallen and he couldn’t get up. I went to go see if I could help, and when I walked in the door…” He frowned, cocking his head. “Huh, you know, I’m not sure what happened after that. I guess I must’ve gotten clobbered, because the next thing I know, I’m here with you guys and those other ponies are gone.”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s about what I figured.”

But Cadance frowned, realizing something. “You were still wearing your armor when this happened, right?”

Blinking, Spearhead nodded. “Yeah, why-, whoa! My armor’s gone!” He glanced back at himself, turning in a circle and checking under each wing to be absolutely certain. “What the heck happened to it?”

“They took it.” Shining Armor traded a look with Cadance, having another moment of perfect understanding with her before turning to look at the remaining guard. “Go amend the alert that’s being passed around,” he ordered.

“One of the escaped ponies is disguised as a member of the Royal Guard.”

Author's Note:

Fencer and company have escaped, and now the Royal Guard are after them!

Will they get away before they're recaptured?

PreviousChapters Next