• Published 2nd Nov 2015
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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.

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352 - Perilous Palavering

River sighed as she closed the door to Piggy’s room, rolling her eyes for what had to be the twentieth time in as many minutes.

After Lex’s abrupt dismissal, she’d returned to her manor, having barely made it in the door when Trotsworth informed her that her son hadn’t come down to breakfast. That had been plenty unusual in and of itself; Piggy never missed a meal unless something was wrong. But the fact that he’d apparently barricaded his room had been enough to leave the staff at a loss, which explained why Trotsworth would bring something as mundane as a simple parenting issue to her attention.

In another circumstance she would simply have told him to have some of the servants force their way into the room and deal with whatever tantrum her son was having, but under the current circumstances that would have been a bad idea. While River had seen Princess Celestia out and about on her way back to her manor, Trotsworth had confirmed that Princess Luna hadn’t left. If the staff had to break down the door or if Piggy made a ruckus then the princess might be disturbed, and that was something River wanted to avoid if at all possible. Even with Vanhoover’s old power structure gone, it was still prudent to save face in front of the alicorns if at all possible, especially since she didn’t want them looking too closely at little things like why she didn’t have the scythe-shaped mark on her face anymore…

So she’d resigned herself to personally dealing with whatever problem Piggy was having. She’d known that it wasn’t really a waste of time; since Lex had dismissed her, she was basically just waiting for him to call on her again so that they could go over the ledger of the Banks’ family finances. But it had still been irritating that she’d needed to deal with such a minor inconvenience all by herself.

That feeling had been compounded by how it had taken nearly five whole minutes of coaxing to get Piggy to let her in, and then another ten to get him to open up about what was bothering him. “The p-p-princesses are g-gonna throw me in-T-T-Tartarus!” he’d wailed, before recounting how he’d apparently fallen in with some kind of street gang after the floodwaters had receded. River hadn’t known whether to be horrified at the knowledge that her son had apparently become some sort of thug in her absence or burst out laughing that he thought that Celestia and Luna had come here specifically to punish him for it.

Of course, she knew better than to do either; after all, his staying in his room like this nicely kept him from being underhoof while the princesses were here. That, and this was a chance to remind him of who the most important mare in his life was, in case that Granola Bar tart dared to show her face here again. Thus, she’d gently reassured him that the princesses wouldn’t do anything to him so long as she was here, wiping his eyes and tousling his hair and asking a few pointed questions about the ruffians that he’d fallen in with. She hadn’t been able to learn much about Granola Bar though, since she’d avoided asking about her directly; she’d already intercepted and countermanded Piggy’s order to the staff to tell him if that mare ever showed up again, so there was no reason to broach the issue otherwise.

After a few minutes she’d managed to calm Piggy down to where he was no longer trying to turn his room into a fortress, but was still too intimidated to venture outside, instead asking for food to be sent up to him until the princesses left. That was an arrangement that River had no problem with, since it kept him from being underhoof while she tried to manage things. “Speaking of which…” she muttered to herself as she caught sight of a nearby grandfather clock. Looking at it for a moment, she turned down a nearby hallway and made her way toward the guest quarters. Her manor was spacious enough that it took her a minute to reach her destination, but as she rounded the last corner she came to a halt.

A black-and-white stallion with a withered hind leg was standing guard outside of the princesses’ room.

Slowing her pace just for a moment as the two-toned pony looked at her, River plastered a smile across her face as she strode up to him. “Hi there,” she began, her voice warm and easy thanks to years of practice. “You’re Silhouette, right? I’m River Bank, and-”

“Keep your voice down,” interrupted Silhouette. “The goddess is resting, and I won’t have you disturbing her.”

River chuckled in a manner that had nothing to do with humor and everything to do with showing him how little she thought of his warning. “That’s the thing. You see, it’s going to be noon in a little while, and Princess Luna has an important meeting then.”

“I’m fully aware of the time,” replied Silhouette, the disinterest in his voice making it clear that “fully aware of” meant “couldn’t care less about.” “Now,” he continued, “if you have no other business here, you’ll need to leave.”

If things had been how they were before Vanhoover had flooded, River wouldn’t have hesitated to tear the little twerp a new one for thinking that he could order her around in her own home. But she had already made the mistake of thinking that way with Lex, and it had resulted in her being cursed horribly. She wasn’t about to make that blunder a second time. “You’re not concerned that she’ll be late for her appointment?” she asked, putting just enough of an edge into her words to make clear the implication that if that happened, it would be his fault.

But Silhouette merely snorted. “She is the goddess Luna. If others have to wait for her to grace them with her presence, then they should do so thankfully. Anypony who thinks that she should inconvenience herself for their benefit…” He turned so that he was facing her directly then, taking a single step in her direction, “…will have to answer to me.”

A single, mocking laugh was River’s response. She had learned her lesson about throwing her weight around so carelessly, but that didn’t mean that she needed to roll over either. “And I’m sure you’ll do a very good job of it, unless you have to deal with a group of unarmed children.” She hadn’t seen last night’s debacle, having arrived shortly after it had ended, but Sonata and Nosey had been happy to tell her all about it over breakfast that morning.

Silhouette stiffened in indignation, the barb quite clearly striking a nerve. “You need to leave,” he growled. “Right now.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Putting a hoof to her chin, River pretended to consider his words. “I certainly wouldn’t want to defy a member of the Royal Guard.” She looked him over then, slowly and deliberately. “I mean, you are a member of the Royal Guard, aren’t you? You were wearing that armor last night…”

The look of outrage that crossed his face then was priceless, pearly white teeth appearing as his lips curled back in a snarl. “You…!”

“I suppose I’ll be off, then. Do give the princess my regards when she wakes up, won’t you?” Her voice was sweet, but the smirk that River gave Silhouette was one of pure triumph as she turned around and began walking away. She didn’t think that he’d actually use his magic on her – Nosey had emphasized how Luna had taken him to task for going too far last night, hence why he wasn't dressed like a member of the Guard anymore – but it was better to play it safe. Besides, even if he had kept her from scoring any points with Princess Luna by making sure she was able to get to her conference with Lex on time, River knew full well that she’d won the exchange they’d just had. I might not have any magic, she congratulated herself silently, but I’m still somepony you don’t want to take lightly.

She was still smiling about what had just happened as she walked through the hallways, turning a corner-

And almost colliding with Princess Celestia.

Her eyes widening at the near miss, River immediately bowed. “Your Highness, forgive me. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

Princess Celestia’s smile was genuine, rather than the belittling smirk that River so often used. “It’s perfectly alright, River, I'm just as much at fault. I admit that I was having a little trouble finding my way back to the room you so generously lent to Luna and me.”

That was enough to make River frown slightly. “I apologize. One of the servants should have offered to show you the way. I’ll have a word with Trotsworth about this.” Someone, in all likelihood, would lose their job over this.

But while she hadn’t let her emotions show on her face, Princess Celestia seemed to know what she was thinking, a look of mild concern crossing her face. “Actually they did, but I said that wasn’t necessary. I didn’t want to take them away from what they were doing.” Her expression changed into one of mild embarrassment then. “Though I suppose that’s why I got lost.”

“I understand,” replied River diplomatically. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that the princess had just indicated that she didn’t want anypony disciplined over this incident, and River had no intention of denying her such a small indulgence. “Your room is down this hallway,” she pointed behind her, “and to the left.”

It didn’t escape Princess Celestia’s gaze that River was pointing out the hallway she was coming from. “Is everything alright with Luna? I thought she was sleeping.”

“Oh, she is. I thought she might need to be woken up, but Princess Luna’s, er…retainer, Silhouette, is there and, well…apparently I’m not welcome.” River made sure to give a pained smile at that, wanting to make sure that Princess Celestia picked up on the impropriety of one of her entourage denying her access to her own house.

Apparently she succeeded. “Please allow me to apologize for Silhouette,” insisted Princess Celestia. “He cares about my sister a great deal, but he can get a little…overzealous at times. I’ll have a word with him.”

River bowed again. “Thank you, Your Highness.” She kept her head dipped until she heard the princess pass her by, glancing back just in time to see the princess turn the corner. For a moment River was tempted to hang back and listen to the exchange between the Princess Celestia and Silhouette, but she pushed that urge away. There was no need to be petty in victory, and besides, if Princess Celestia told Silhouette to get lost, she didn’t want him to bump into her in the hallways, at least not without plenty of witnesses around in case he tried something.

Now all that’s left to do, River decided as she headed back toward the dining room in search of an early lunch, is to figure out if I should ask Lex if I can join in this noontime conference of his. He’d woken up in a bad mood for whatever reason, and the last thing River wanted to do was tick him off more, but at the same time this was quite clearly going to be an important meeting. Missing out on it would be missing an opportunity to make herself relevant in Lex’s future plans. But I probably shouldn’t attend unless he asks for me, decided River. Now that I’ve repaired my relationship with him, it’d be smarter to play it safe for the time- Her train of thought came to an abrupt halt as she walked into the dining room and saw the scene in front of her.

Sitting at the head of the table – the space that was reserved for River herself – was a very familiar-looking mare. Sitting back with her hind legs up on the table, a half-dozen servants dancing attendance on her, making sure that her every need was met and then some. One was massaging her shoulders over the back of the chair. Another was gently rubbing a file over one of her fore-hooves, giving her a hooficure. A third was combing her mane, while three others concerned themselves with the meal set out in front of her, making sure the food was cut into bite-sized chunks and spiced correctly before carefully raising the fork to her mouth. Altogether, it was the very picture of opulence…and it was happening to somepony who wasn’t her, in her own house.

“What exactly is going on here?” River snapped. Her irritation skyrocketed when the servants barely seemed to hear her, continuing to lavish attendance on the pony seated in their midst. The only one who paid attention to her was that pony herself, opening her eyes and giving her the same mocking smile that River herself had so recently given to Silhouette.

“Hey there, older uglier me,” smirked Aria. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Author's Note:

River deftly deals with Piggy, Silhouette, and even Princess Celestia as she works to secure her status.

But will she have as much success with Aria?

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