//------------------------------// // 65 - Warehouse Cleaning // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “That was so not what I signed on for,” groaned Nosey, flopping down onto her sleeping bag. Sonata cast a tired grin at her friend from her own resting place a few feet away. “Aw, come on. I’m sure you can make a fun story out of this. ‘Getting Down and Dirty in Vanhoover,’ or something like that.” Nosey turned her head to give Sonata a very Lex-like glare. “We just spent eight hours cleaning up garbage. There is no way that anypony would find that to be at all exciting, interesting, or newsworthy.” “Which in no way diminishes its necessity,” came the voice of Lex himself as he approached them. “There’s a lesson in that: events don’t need to be glamorous to be important.” Nosey’s response was to frown at him, before turning her head away with a loud grunt of disapproval, nose in the air. She had initially been excited when Lex had announced, in the aftermath of the attack on their ship, that they were going to immediately go ahead and “establish a forward base of operations.” That phrase had instantly evoked images of him having a secret base in the city, or conjuring a castle out of nowhere with his freaky magic, or something equally fascinating. It had been enough to leave her chomping at the proverbial bit as they’d guided the ship up to the pier. It had been a profound disappointment to learn that he’d meant that they’d be holing up in a warehouse on the wharf. But that had been nothing compared to finding out what the place was like on the inside: Rotting garbage was everywhere. Bugs and rodents were crawling all over the place. Worst of all was the stench, which had set Nosey and several other ponies to gagging when they’d first smelled it. None of which had deterred Lex in the slightest. Instead, he’d simply began issuing instructions as though it were the most natural thing in the world for him, having the crew break open the cleaning supplies they’d brought with them and get to work. The doctors had then been directed to join in as well, and Nosey had been preparing to go settle back into her hammock on board the ship when Lex’s eyes had fallen on her. She had flat-out refused to help at first, pointing out that she was a reporter and not a garbage-pony. Lex had shown no sympathy for that particular argument, and had no reservations telling her exactly what he thought of her recalcitrance. Things between the two of them had, at that point, begun to devolve into a shouting match, and even Sonata’s intervention hadn’t helped very much. In the end, it had only been Lex’s threat to teleport her back to Tall Tale if she didn’t help out – she still wasn’t sure if he could actually do that, but she couldn’t risk it – that had made her don a hazmat suit and get to work scrubbing. They had worked throughout the night, and although it had initially seemed like an impossible task, they had slowly but surely made their way through the structure. Little by little, the garbage had been hauled away, the pests had been chased off, and the smell had been scoured away by numerous applications of disinfectant. Eventually, Lex had declared the place fit for habitation, and despite the fact that everypony looked like they were about to collapse, they had managed a cheer, pleased with what they’d accomplished. Even Nosey had felt good about the results of her hard work. Not that she’d ever admit it to that insufferable jerk who was leading them. The last thing he needed was to have his ego inflated even more by being told that he’d been right to make her help out. At that point, Lex had conjured food for everypony, and that had been enough to momentarily make Nosey forget that she was annoyed with him. At least until she realized that he’d created bowls of some mush that looked like wet cardboard, and had tasted about as good, with nothing but cups of plain water to wash it down. She’d meant to complain, but apparently had worked up more of an appetite than she’d realized, because she wolfed her serving down with gusto despite its lackluster flavor. After everypony had eaten, the final task had been to unload the remaining supplies and bring them into a small interior area that was separated from the rest of the warehouse. Judging from the tables and chairs that had initially been there, it had been used as some sort of rec area. Now that it had been cleaned out, it was serving as a communal living space, with lanterns arranged around it as sleeping bags and pillows were laid out. Naturally, Nosey had been the first to fling herself down onto one. She’d been all ready to settle in and fall fast asleep when Lex just had to come over and start lecturing her. Sure, he had no doubt come over to see Sonata, but he just couldn’t resist throwing a barb her way before the two of them got all lovey-dovey. Big, stupid jerk. Keeping her head turned away from him as she settled back down – hoping he noticed how she was ignoring him – she couldn’t help but hear the two of them speak. “I’ve laid down wards to keep this place secure. They should last for roughly twenty-four hours,” murmured Lex softly. Despite herself, one of Nosey’s ears twitched as she heard that, wanting to know more. Apparently Sonata felt the same way, because a moment later she asked, “Oh yeah?” “The first is an abjuration designed to impede intruders with a series of effects,” he replied. “Right now, outside of this room, the corridors of the warehouse are filled with a thick fog, which at certain key locations has been set to be noxious. Each intersection has a minor illusion designed to confuse intruders about which direction they take. The stairs to the second level are completely covered by thick webbing. And last of all, all three doors into the warehouse itself, and the one into this room, have not only been magically locked and reinforced, but also covered with an illusion to make them look just like the surrounding wall.” Although the effects he was listing were interesting, Nosey found herself captivated by Lex’s voice. It had softened to a pitch that she’d never heard him use before, losing the harsh edge that she’d always heard before. He almost sounded…normal. “Wow. That’s like, super impressive,” giggled Sonata quietly, and Nosey suddenly comprehended what was going on. The two of them were flirting! He was trying to impress her by bragging about what he could do, and Sonata was eating it up! For some reason, Nosey could feel her face heating up as she realized that. Nosey had roomed with the two of them for days, and she’d never heard them talk to each other like that. Or at least, she’d never heard Lex talk like this; Sonata was bubbly and playful virtually all of the time. Maybe they’d done it after she’d fallen asleep? That would make sense, since even she was surprised she wasn’t asleep already. But even so, they were in a room full of ponies…except that a surreptitious glance around confirmed that everypony else was on the opposite side of the room, apparently trying to give the couple their space. “That’s not all,” continued Lex, his voice still making that husky purr. “I laid down a second ward to prevent spying. Nobody outside this room can hear anything from inside it. They wouldn’t be able to see inside it either, if there were any windows. Even magic sensors won’t work.” “Hmm.” Sonata’s grunt conveyed that she was impressed, and Nosey could hear her shifting around on her sleeping bag. Was she making room for him to lie down next to her? “So now that you’ve gotten us all tucked away safely, what are you going to do?” The invitation in her voice was unmistakable, and Nosey could feel her heart starting to beat faster. There was no way they were going to do anything right here, right? No, that was preposterous; they were right in front of everypony! Even so, Nosey held her breath as she waited to hear what Lex was going to say. “I’m going to go scouting.” Nosey blinked. What? “What?” Sonata’s voice sounded exactly the same way that Nosey felt right at that moment. “I’ll leave Severance here,” Lex continued in the same soft tone, as though he hadn’t just completely ruined the mood. “Since the defenses I set up are based around confounding potential enemies rather than defeating them, it’s better for it to stay with everypony in case they’re breached or bypassed. I doubt that I’ll be gone more than a few hours, but I’m not willing to take any chances.” “You, like, can’t be serious.” Sonata’s voice was a complete deadpan. Unnoticed, Nosey nodded at her friend’s words. It was one thing to try and impress his girlfriend, but this was going too far! “Of course I’m serious,” came the entirely-unsurprising answer, making Nosey roll her eyes. “The sun has just risen, so if I head out now I can maximize the amount of time that I can spend searching the surrounding environment before-” “Oh for cryin’ out loud!” yelled Nosey, sitting up suddenly and causing both of them to jump. “Nosey? What-” “Oh shut up! Honestly, I can’t believe you!” Ignoring the way that everypony was looking at her now, Nosey sat up, glaring at Lex with undisguised anger. “What kind of tough guy act are you trying to pull?! You’ve gone almost an entire day without sleeping, you barely touched that tasteless drek you call food, and now you’re going to go wander around a dangerous city, all alone, without your strongest weapon?! Are you trying to get killed?!” “That’s not-” “No! You know what? Just no!” Standing up, Nosey clamored out of her sleeping bag. It was the sort that could be unzipped across one side and the bottom, letting it unfold into what was effectively a large blanket, and she did that before dragging it right next to Sonata, who looked at her in confusion. Lex was about to ask Nosey what she thought she was doing, but didn’t have a chance as she suddenly lunged at him, wrapping her forelegs around his neck and immediately flinging herself down onto her sleeping bag, dragging him with her. Squawking at the unexpected assault, Lex couldn’t avoid being pulled down onto the makeshift blanket. “Let me go!” “No! Sonata, help me out here!” yelled Nosey as she held onto the struggling stallion. For her part, Sonata was just staring, dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events…before an idea came to her. Turning away for a moment, she grabbed the corner of her pillow in her teeth and swung it around, right into Lex’s face with a thick whumping sound. “Pillow fight!” she announced with glee. “Sonata!” yelled Lex. “What are y-” He was cut off as another pillow collided with his face, this time wielded by Nosey. The sight set off a round of laughter among the rest of the ponies watching the spectacle, which was immediately followed by pillows starting to fly in every direction. In a few moments complete pandemonium had broken out, as whoops of excitement and shouts of joy filled the room. Turning into shadow to avoid the impromptu melee, Lex’s green-and-purple eyes glared at the mares that had started the brawl. “Have you two completely taken leave of your senses?!” he hissed at them. “Aw, come on, Lex! Change back!” pleaded Sonata. “Everyone else is having fun, so why can’t you?” “Stop pushing yourself so hard all the time,” agreed Nosey. “Blowing off some steam and resting for a few hours won’t change the city, and it’ll do you a lot of good!” For a long moment, Lex didn’t respond, staring at the two of them and weighing their words. Then, without warning, he telekinetically yanked Sonata’s pillow away and whacked Nosey with it, returning to physical form as he did so. “You’re both so dead,” he promised darkly, but the corners of his mouth were turned ever-so-slightly upwards. Fifteen minutes later, things had settled down, and the tension in the room was notably lighter, with the atmosphere now resembling a big slumber party rather than a siege. Several ponies were having hushed conversations, a few had produced a deck of cards from somewhere and were playing a game, while others were swapping stories. For his part, Lex had fallen asleep, Sonata slumbering on one side of him…and Nosey on the other.