Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

752 - Bare Necessities

“I think I see something!”

Solvei paused for just a moment, eyes narrowing as she peered out from between the trees that marked the edge of the forest, staring at the lights that dotted the walled town in front of them. “There, approaching the gate! See?”

“A line of ponies,” murmured Akna, staring at the equines approaching the only visible entrance to the settlement that lay beyond the walls. At that distance, it was hard to make out any details, but they looked like a mix of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, all dressed in tattered clothing.

Frowning, the shaman leaned further forward, staying careful not to emerge past the last line of foliage. “Are they...roped together?”

“Chained,” corrected Lex, spotting the dull glimmer of light bouncing off of the fetters that connected each of the ponies’ hooves to metal links stretching between them. “They’re chained together.”

Solvei tilted her head, glancing at Lex as he registered curiosity from her. “Does that mean something special?”

“It means there’s a concern that they’d run away, or otherwise act beyond whatever parameters have been imposed on their behavior, if they weren’t shackled,” answered Lex tonelessly.

“Then why give them weapons?” muttered Akna, still staring as the chained ponies trudged up to the gate. “Although I suppose those piddly little axes they’re carrying aren’t that dangerous.”

“They’re not meant to be,” answered Lex easily as he watched the line of ponies come to a halt.

Solvei frowned in confusion, looking between him and the ponies they were observing. “Why not?

Lex didn’t answer immediately, knowing that Solvei would wait for his reply while he continued to observe the returning band.

Standing just outside the brightest area of the magical lights – their lack of any visible flame or even any flickering made it clear that the pair of glowing spheres hanging from posts that jutted out above the gate entrance were enchanted rather than lit with any mundane fuel – the dozen or so ponies that were shackled together all passed their weapons forward one at a time, the front-most pony depositing them on the ground a short distance from the guards – a pair of pegasi wearing suits of armor – who stood outside of the town’s entryway.

It was only after all of the axes had been put down, and the lines of ponies awkwardly shuffling back, that one of the guards stepped forward. Although too distant to let Lex hear anything, he could make out the guard nudging the pile with one hoof, presumably counting to make sure they were all there. Apparently satisfied, he motioned to his partner, who in turn yelled something back toward the gate.

A moment later, the massive portcullis that barred the entrance began to rise up, and a third guard came out. Unlike his fellows, who casually carried lances and sported crossbows hanging from their sides, this one had no visible weapons, instead pulling a small cart behind him. Trotting forward, he collected the axes that the shackled ponies had deposited, tossing them carelessly into the conveyance he was pulling. Once he’d retrieved them all, he turned and headed back through the gate, and it was only after he’d disappeared inside that the guards waved the shackled ponies in, the portcullis lowering after them once they’d entered.

“They were a work crew,” answered Lex at last, watching as the two guards resumed their positions outside of the entrance. “One sent to cut down any trees that this place’s rulers decided were growing too close to the walls.”

“To get rid of cover from the forest,” snorted Akna in realization. “They’re making sure that anything which wants to attack the city will have to cross a stretch of open ground before it can get close.”

“And the lights will make it easy to see them when they try,” finished Solvei. “Now I get it.”

Lex didn’t say anything, declining to point the hazardous conditions that those ponies had been operating under. Chopping away at the forest was an extremely dangerous activity, since not only were they at the far edge of what the lights along the wall could illuminate, but logging was an inherently noisy undertaking, one which would likely draw the attention of any nearby monsters, presuming the trees themselves didn’t fight back. That those ponies had been wearing fetters – as well as their lack of armor, better weapons, or even an escort – suggested that they were considered expendable by whoever had sent them out there.

That thought should have filled him with righteous indignation. The idea of pony lives being treated so callously ran counter to everything he’d believed in; even if those ponies were criminals who’d broken the laws of that town, their safety should still have been a priority.

But once again, all Lex felt was a dull emptiness where his anger would normally have been.

Instead, he turned his attention to the wall itself, observing it in silence the same way the three of them had done for several minutes now.

Set several hundred feet back from the edge of the forest, the barricade was a formidable one. Made entirely of stone and mortar, it reached over thirty feet high, and judging by the guard patrols – two ponies marching side by side – that moved along the top of it, was quite thick as well. With more magical lights set at regular intervals along the top of the wall, the entire place was well-lit, standing out vividly against the backdrop of Darkest Night’s perpetual gloom.

What was more notable was just how much the wall extended in either direction. It stretched out far to either side, exhibiting only a gentle curve to denote how it enclosed a settlement within. Presuming that its arc remained consistent, it was easy for Lex to imagine that the town within was the size of Ponyville, perhaps slightly larger, containing a population of at least several thousand.

And there was no doubt in Lex’s mind that this was a population center. That was confirmed by the large spires jutting up from behind the walls, well within the enclosed area. Each one had thin wires he could see radiating out from them, connecting to form a covering that crisscrossed the area above the walls.

The “wire spires,” as he’d heard them called back on Everglow, had been new to Lex when he’d first been sent to that alien world. But he’d quickly come to understand their purpose. Much like the walls that were ubiquitous when it came to any of that world’s urban areas – even hamlets and thorps that were too small to warrant a proper wall had fences, ditches, and other defensive measures in place – the wires that were spread out like webs over towns and cities were defensive measures.

Usually made of the strongest material available – typically twine, though places that could afford them would sometimes use metal wire – and stretched between spires placed at various points throughout the town, the array would catch the wings of anything that flew into them. While that did little damage on its own, since they typically had sufficient slack and thickness that the wires couldn’t slice off limbs or cut ponies in half the way some of Everglow’s locals liked to gossip, it was usually enough to assure that anything which got tangled in them would be unable to remain aloft, plummeting painfully to the ground.

That didn’t mean that the makeshift netting covered each town completely, though. Most locales deliberately left gaps of various sizes over certain areas, allowing for aerial transportation of goods to go through unimpeded, albeit still watched over by various officials. Which was the other reason why the ponies of Everglow went to such trouble to restrict air traffic over urban territories: money.

Unlike on Equestria, where ponies were free to come and go between cities as they liked, whether by trains, airships, boats, or simply by hoof, any city that had walls and wires invariably used them to level fees against anyone who wanted to enter their territory. While usually not expensive to enter – most places charged only two or three copper coins, the smallest denomination of currency in the Pony Empire – costs of up to a silver piece per traveler weren’t unknown, particularly during festivals or market days.

But while all but the poorest of ponies could easily afford such costs, anyone bringing goods into the city – particularly merchants, but also farmers, tradesponies, and adventurers – were hit with commensurate surcharges. And since a third of the population had wings, issues of pegasi waiting until nightfall and simply smuggling their wares in under cover of darkness was a constant issue for the city officials charged with collecting fees that helped keep the coffers filled. Hence why virtually all localities that could afford to do so made use of wire spires.

Of course, magic could have achieved much the same effect with far less imprecision, but only in theory. In actuality, covering an entire city in some sort of protective spell – much less one that could operate for any appreciable length of time – was required extraordinary power. Not so much as to be unthinkable, but still an amount that even Lex would have been impressed by.

Of course, Shining Armor, Princess Cadance’s husband, had done exactly that for Equestria’s capital city. In Lex’s estimation, that could only have been possible because he had a cutie mark to that effect, likely undergone what had to have been extensive instruction from Canterlot’s top wizards, and certainly undertaken extraordinary training to keep his body (and, by extension, his body’s magical channels) in peak condition. Even then, Lex suspected that he’d been receiving some sort of assistance from the princesses; despite having every conceivable advantage, it was hard to countenance the idea of Equestrian magic being capable of such a feat otherwise.

Master, came Solvei’s voice in his mind, making him realize that his thoughts had been wandering again. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to try and go around this place? I’m worried that trying to go through it might slow down finding the way back to your body.

The question made Lex glance at the lifeline emerging from between his shoulder blades. It was still pointing toward the walls, the same way it had been this entire time. Circumventing an area of this size would take hours, and that’s presuming a best-case scenario. If the walls branch out, or if there are natural barriers like a ravine or a crevasse, it will take even longer. Not to mention that traversing the forest will slow us down more, and expose us to further monster attacks.

He didn’t bother addressing the possibility that three-dimensional outlines that represented his and Akna’s bodies were within the township itself; if that were the case, someone likely would have found them in short order, in which case – according to the adlet – their lifelines would have ceased pointing. More likely they’d need to move past the city, and that meant that the quickest way was through.

Of course, that was only if he wanted to leave Darkest Night behind...

“We’ll need to hide these if we’re going in there,” noted Akna quietly, indicating her own lifeline. “I don’t know how often the ponies here see people with lifelines, but if they recognize them, it’ll be like holding up a sign saying that our bodies are out there somewhere, free for the taking.”

“The good news is they’re not very long, but them being made out of glowing wisps is kind of a problem,” agreed Solvei, glancing between the two of them. “I think Master should be okay if he bunches his cloak up a little,” she decided after a moment. “But I’m not sure what to do about you.”

But no sooner had the words left her mouth then Solvei’s eye lit up. “Wait, I know! Turn back into an adlet, and then your hair will cover it! It did when you were climbing that tree!”

Akna – who had turned back into her winter wolf form as soon as she’d come down from said tree – scowled. “If I do that I’ll be naked!”

“So?” Cocking her head to the side, Solvei glanced Akna over. “You’re naked right now.”

“That’s not the same!” protested the shaman, though her tail flattened against her backside as she spoke. “Being like this isn’t...”

“Isn’t what?” Solvei frowned, and Lex registered discontent from her then. “Are you saying there’s something wrong with being an utvalgte?”

“That’s not what I meant,” huffed Akna, pawing at the ground in frustration. “It’s just that I only got the ability to take this form a little while ago, and I haven’t used it very often. This isn’t...it feels more like a costume more than the real me, does that make sense? But if I turn back into an adlet...”

Squirming at the thought, she gave Solvei a pointed look. “What about you? Ponies all wear clothes, and you have a pony mark on your flanks! I bet that if you go in there without anything on, you’ll cause a stir!”

“Like I care!” Lifting her nose in the air, Solvei smirked. “This is my master’s mark, and I’m proud of it! I hope everyone gets a good look! Besides, where would I even get any clothes?”

“Both of you, shut up,” cut in Lex before either could say anything further. He’d been ignoring their pointless bickering in favor of putting more thought into what he wanted to do, but that had been a futile endeavor with how they wouldn’t stop talking. “I have enough clothes for each of you.”

“You do?” Akna blinked, then narrowed her eyes. “And you let me climb that tree completely bare?!”

“Master, if it’s really important to you that I cover up, I could just wear my armor,” offered Solvei.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Lex addressed Solvei first. “That would be a waste of power, especially if we’re there long enough that you’ll need to renew it. And as for you,” he turned to Akna, giving her a flat look, “I didn’t offer you any clothing before because it wasn’t necessary at the time, and now it is.”

Both protested, with Solvei saying that she’d have plenty of power to spare either way and Akna asserting that yes, it was necessary at the time, but Lex ignored both of them. Instead he stepped back further into the forest, making sure the glow from his eyes and horn wouldn’t be visible to the guards on the walls as he telekinetically opened his saddlebag.

Although his body was back on Everglow, his incarnation here included everything he’d had on him at the time he’d undergone the Rite, including the extradimensional bag he’d received from Solvei’s mother. While he’d paid little attention to the various outfits it had contained when he’d initially taken possession of it, focusing instead on the magic items it contained, the plethora of clothes were still there, and he started taking them out now.

“Find something that fits and get dressed,” he ordered brusquely. “Once you’re done, we’re entering that town.”

Author's Note:

Lex, Solvei, and Akna prepare to make contact with the ponies of Darkest Night!

Will they be able to enter the settlement peacefully and without any issues? Or will further difficulties arise?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

You know, I completely forgot about the loot Lex got from Solvei's family though its contents are certainly coming in handy now though I wonder if it would draw more attention to them considering the state of the other ponies' clothes. Granted, from what I recall of the Night Mare's religion, they're probably from the lowest caste of the hierarchy so while Lex and his group will stand out, it would be better than to be mistaken for a slave/worker and treated as such.

Also, as shocking as the lack of indignation from Lex is, him not reacting and causing trouble will probably be essential given how vulnerable they are right now. All it would take is one lucky or desperate denizen of the Darkest Night to find out and poof, they're stuck here though Lex's apathy towards such an outcome is still an issue...

[Booster Spice]

At least Lex average male fasion sense wont be as bad as Doc Browns?

[Alzrius]

11353976 But he had great fashion sense, I thought.

[Alzrius]

11353938 Certainly, none of the clothes that were among the many items contained in the magical pack Lex received back in Chapter 643 seemed like rags, so at least Lex and company won't look like they're indigents crawling in out of the wilderness. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll have an easy time of it; while it might be large enough to contain an entire town, the place is still very clearly careful about who has access. I suspect that dealing with the guards might be a sticking point, since I doubt Lex's despair has made it any easier for him to relate to others.

Though I suspect you're right that it might turn out to be a boon if they do get in, simply because he doesn't seem to feel the need to try and fix every problem that he comes across. Given that Akna is probably right that revealing their lifelines would be disastrous for them, this might turn out to be a good thing...though not if Lex decides to abandon everything and simply stay in Darkest Night.