//------------------------------// // 57 - One Good Turn // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Coming back from the restaurant where they’d celebrated his first full day of governing other ponies, Lex found a surprise waiting in the lobby of their hotel: Nosey was there, apparently expecting them. He was preparing to chastise her for following them when Sonata started waving and trotted over to her. “Hi! I’m glad you found the place okay!” she smiled warmly, as though greeting her best friend. “It was easy,” Nosey grinned back. “You gave great directions.” “What exactly is going on here?” asked Lex with a frown. He hadn’t asked Sonata about what she and Nosey had been up to all day, and he was beginning to wonder if that had been an oversight on his part. Sonata turned back to him. “So Nosey and I were talking before, and she let it slip that she ran out of money and had nowhere to stay,” she explained. Nosey chuckled, raising one forehoof to scratch the back of her head in mild embarrassment. “One of the perils of being an investigative journalist,” she remarked, as though her being broke was a badge of honor. Lex frowned, not liking where this was going. “And?” he prompted. “Well,” answered Sonata, “since she was, like, totes helpful when I was looking for you before, I thought it’d be nice if we did something for her now, so I told her that we’d rent her a room here for a few days.” “It’s just until your big plan to go help Vanhoover is ready,” added Nosey. “Once that kicks off, I’ll be tagging along and reporting on the relief efforts.” Lex’s frown grew more severe. “You are not ‘tagging along’ with us to Vanhoover! We’re going to be working hard to restore order and prosperity once we’re there, and won’t have time to foalsit you!” Nosey raised her chin in defiance. “If I want to go to Vanhoover and write a story about what’s happening there, I can. Unless,” she paused to give Lex a challenging look, “you plan on having me detained for some reason.” Lex growled, knowing that she was baiting him. If he forcibly kept her from going to Vanhoover, she’d immediately write a story that accused him of abusing his power, since the press in Equestria was given free rein to write about whatever they wanted. But there were plenty of ways around that particular problem. “The boat that I’ve chartered to take everypony there is going to be full of personnel and supplies. There won’t be any room for you.” “There might be,” shot back Nosey. “Besides, if worse comes to worst, I’ll borrow somepony’s lifeboat and just tie it to the back of the ship so that you can tow me along!” “Vanhoover is a disaster area,” growled Lex, taking a different tack. “My information says that order has broken down and basic sanitation, shelter, and food are no longer readily available. I won’t be able to guarantee your safety.” Nosey blinked, as though he’d surprised her, before smiling at him. “Thanks, but I can take care of myself. I may not have slain a dragon,” she winked at him, “but you don’t get to be an ace reporter without learning a little something about courage. But it’s sweet of you to be worried about me.” “He worries about everyone,” added Sonata, returning to Lex’s side. “That’s what makes him, like, such a great mayor.” She gave him a quick kiss, before turning her attention back to Nosey. “So, let’s get you all checked in!” The two mares trotted to the counter before Lex had a chance to get another word in, leaving him to stew in his dissatisfaction. Nosey was one of the more irritating ponies he’d ever met. That they were paying for her lodgings while she kept hassling them was bad enough, but now they’d have to deal with her foolishness in Vanhoover too? He’d need to have a talk with Sonata about this. If he’d known that leaving her to deal with that aggravating newsmare would lead to this, he’d have kept the two of them far away from each other! Huffing, Lex turned to where the pair were talking to the receptionist, waiting for them to be finished. But as the minutes ticked by, the two stayed right where they were, still conversing with the uniformed pony behind the desk. Lex’s brow furrowed, this time in mild consternation. What could be taking so long? He was just about to go over to them when they apparently concluded their business, Sonata opening her bag and giving quite a few bits to the receptionist with a sigh. Nosey shifted in place, glancing over at him before saying something to Sonata, who put a hoof on her shoulder in what looked like a reassuring gesture as she replied. Then the two made their way back towards Lex. “So, um, there’s been a little…complication,” said Sonata, trying to grin even as her ears folded down. Lex narrowed his eyes. “What sort of complication?” Sonata licked her lips, her eyes darting to Nosey before moving back to him. “Well…see, it’s like this. Remember how I said that I’d rented our room – yours and mine – before?” She paused there, and waited for Lex to nod before she continued. “Okay, so the thing is, I sorta kinda maybe…didn’t pay for it.” “You didn’t pay for it?” echoed Lex in mild disbelief. “Then how did you…” he trailed off as the obvious answer came to him, and he felt his hackles rising. “Did you enchant the hotel staff?!” “Wh-, no!” she protested. “Absolutely no way nuh-uh not even a little NO!” The words came out in a jumbled rush of denials, but was enough to make his outrage fade back into suspicion before finally returning to his usual bad mood. Internally, she sighed with relief. She knew that he was all super-against using magic to mess with people’s minds and stuff, so she had no intention of volunteering how she’d used her magic on a waiter to score a free meal for herself and Fireflower when they’d first come to Tall Tale. “Then how exactly did you get a room here?” pressed Lex. “Well, um, it was a few days ago, and I’d just figured out that the dragon totes breathed acid instead of fire, and realized that you didn’t know that, so I was kinda freaking out, and, um…Fireflower kinda brought me here and they just sorta let us have it.” She looked down as she finished, suddenly embarrassed about telling him that she’d been sharing a room with the guy who’d had a serious crush on her, even if she didn’t know it at the time. “Uh-huh,” he replied flatly, no happier at hearing that than she was at saying it. Off to the side, Nosey was scribbling on her notepad. At least she was until Lex telekinetically yanked the pencil out of her own magical grasp, causing her to yelp in protest. He ignored her as he snapped the pencil in half and tossed the pieces in separate directions, making her pout at him as she put her notepad away. “So the thing is,” continued Sonata, “apparently the hotel staff is kinda wanting us to pay for the room now, what with the whole ‘evacuate the city’ thing being over, and they wouldn’t give Nosey a place before I did that, and, um…” Her voice trailed off, but Lex could easily foresee where she was going. “Exactly how much money do we have left, now that you’ve paid the charges we’ve been accruing?” Giving him a sheepish look, she wordlessly handed him her purse. Taking it from her, Lex glanced at the meager collection of coins inside, knowing immediately that, although they’d be ready to depart for Vanhoover in just a few more days at the rate things were going, they’d be lucky if they could afford to stay here until then. Sighing, Lex tucked the money away. “We’ll make do,” he pronounced, moving for the stairs. He had only gotten a few steps when he heard Sonata’s voice say “Great! C’mon Nosey!” It was enough to make him stop dead in his tracks. She couldn’t be serious… Turning around, he felt his stomach tie itself in knots as he fixed his girlfriend with a steely-eyed glare. “What?” He asked the question around gritted teeth. Sonata blinked, apparently caught off-guard. “What?” she echoed, blinking. Beside her, Nosey looked equally curious, tilting her head. “Why are you telling her to follow us?” demanded Lex. The answer was obvious, but he desperately hoped that he was wrong. There was no way that she could possibly be suggesting what he thought she was suggesting. “Because we’re going to let her crash with us,” explained Sonata, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Duh.” “No,” responded Lex immediately, shaking his head. “Absolutely not.” “Look, I get it, it’s totes inconventional,” said Sonata, causing Lex to wince slightly at her poor speech. She’d meant “inconvenient,” he knew. “But she’s a friend of ours, and we can’t just let her sleep out on the street, right?” “Besides,” piped up Nosey. “You owe me.” “I owe you?” hissed Lex, his voice a mixture of incredulity and outrage. The only thing he owed this little pain in the flank was a sharp reproach before he showed her the door! Nosey raised a brow, still unfazed by his attitude. She’d been around him long enough to know that he was all bark and no bite. Sure, he had enough magic to bring a raging dragon down, but in the few days that she’d known him she’d never seen him direct anything worse than a yell towards another pony. The talk she’d had with Sonata earlier in the day had backed that impression up, as the other mare had been quite content to gush about her boyfriend’s good qualities, among which was how he was “all hard and tough on the outside but a totes sweetheart on the inside.” It was why Nosey felt extremely confident in what she was about to say. “Yep. I seem to recall you collapsing on the street a few days ago, and a certain ace reporter bringing you back to her hotel room, letting you crash there, and feeding you all the while. Ring any bells?” She smirked as she said it, and Lex ground his teeth at the sight. “You did that solely so you could interview me, which I granted you! I owe you nothing!” “I beg to differ!” retorted Nosey. “We played tit-for-tat on questions, remember? You answered mine only because I answered yours, which means that you still haven’t made up for my giving you a place to stay and food to eat. I did you a favor and now I’m calling it in.” Lex looked apoplectic, but Sonata cut in before he could lose his temper any further. “Look, it’s just going to be for a few nights anyway, right? I mean, we’re gonna go to Vanhoover real soon, so let’s just, like, grin and bear it.” His response to her entreaty was a withering look, but didn’t object. Although he was loathe to admit it, he knew that they were right. Nosey had done him a good turn, even if she’d had ulterior motives, and letting her sleep in their room was ultimately little more than a mild inconvenience…though when he thought about how it would be impossible for him and Sonata to enjoy the newfound carnal side to their relationship with Nosey there, it seemed like a bother of epic proportions. Not trusting himself to speak in his current mood, he turned and trudged towards the interior of the hotel, hearing the pair fall in behind him. As they did, Nosey’s voice called out to him. “So, I never did get that interview after you assumed office…”