//------------------------------// // 222 - The Presumption of Stupidity // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “This is gonna be awesome!” Sonata couldn’t help but grin as she exited the train station, surging ahead of Lex and Nosey and practically skipping down the front steps. Of course, her dizziness quickly made it apparent why that was a bad idea, but she was still beaming as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. “Like, super awesome!” At that point she was smiling so widely that her cheeks were starting to hurt, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop, whirling in place to look at her boyfriend. Lex was wearing his usual sour expression, but Sonata didn’t let that bring her down for even a moment. He had asked for her help! He had finally, finally gotten it through his head to let her do her job as his spokespony! After all the fighting and hurt feelings, she’d finally gotten through to him! That’s right, she congratulated herself, he just needed to stew over it for a little while, exactly like I thought. Who’s the mare? I’m the mare! She couldn’t help but rear up on her back legs, swinging her hips as she gave in to the urge to do a little victory dance- “Sonata, stop that at once!” hissed Lex, glancing around self-consciously. “It’s unseemly to be so jubilant in the wake of several ponies having lost their lives!” Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be many ponies hanging around now…though that was likely as a result of what had happened with C. Shells’ crew. “Huh? Oh! Oh yeah, whoops!” chuckling in embarrassment, Sonata fell back onto all fours, her mirth only slightly diminished. “Sorry, I totes forgot.” She felt bad about Cloudbank and those other ponies; they had all seemed like really nice people. But it wasn’t like she’d known them really super well or anything. And besides, there was nothing they could do about it anyway, so it was better to focus on what they could do, which in this case was the best she could at getting everyone to listen to her! “I just wish I had a chance to finish that new song I was working on.” “New song?” asked Nosey, sounding relieved to talk about something besides what had happened to her. “What about?” “Oh, I wanted to do this biiig,” she stood up again, spreading her forelegs widely, before putting her hooves back on the ground, “production about all the adventures we’ve had, so everypony would know that they’ve got a real live superhero here who’ll totes always help them out.” She sent a pointed smile Lex’s way, before giving Nosey a sheepish grin. “But then I kinda fell asleep, so it’s not ready yet.” “That’s too bad. It sounds like it would have been great.” Sonata was all set to agree, but faltered as she saw that Nosey’s eyes had slid over to Lex as she’d spoken. The sight sent a flicker of anxiety through her, and it wasn’t the first time she’d felt that in the last few minutes. The first few times had been from seeing how horribly shaken Nosey had looked, acting as though she was going to start sobbing if she didn’t stick right next to Lex. That had been downright frightening; Nosey was one of the most confident, outgoing ponies Sonata had ever met. But then she’d used her magic to calm her down, and Nosey had managed to tell her what happened. At that point, Sonata had felt a different kind of worry. Nosey hadn’t exactly had a bad impression of Lex before; she’d eagerly talked about how much she wanted to write newspaper stuff about him. But once she’d started talking about how Lex had rescued her, she’d sounded different, like she was really, really grateful to him. And the way she was looking at him now… “I’m more concerned with immediacy with which this takes place than I am with the specifics,” growled Lex, who for some reason looked uncomfortable, his ears folded back before he stalked in the direction of the field hospital, apparently expecting them to keep up. “Now, as I was attempting to convey before, it’s imperative that both of you avoid mentioning anything related to Xiriel’s existence, subject to reasonable limits. For instance, Nosey, I doubt the doctors will ask you anything that would require that you divulge the truth about what happened to you, but in the event that they do I want you to prioritize your health over everything else. Is that clear?” “Mm-hmm.” Sonata stared at the bespectacled mare as she smiled and nodded, searching for any sort of hidden meaning there. A second later Nosey glanced at her, and Sonata just barely managed to jerk her eyes away an instant before they made contact, belatedly realizing that Lex was talking to her. “-ake it clear to everypony that this is for their safety in general, and not a reaction to what happened with Cloudbank and the others.” Sonata’s ears perked up at that. “Ooh, that reminds me. We should say something about that, right?” Lex glanced over his shoulder at her, frowning in confusion. “What do you mean?” Sonata blinked, not sure what he didn’t understand. “Huh? You know. We should clear up the rumors about what happened. Tell everypony that our friends died, and that we’re totes sad about it, especially you, and-” “No.” Lex didn’t growl or snarl or hiss the word, but Sonata could feel the force behind it, and she halted as Lex immediately stopped walking and turned to look at her, his expression dark. “Absolutely not.” Sonata paused, realizing she’d tripped another landmine with him. Great. Two steps forward, one step back. “Lex,” she said slowly, “I really really think we should do this. You said that C. Shells’ crew was-” “We’ll make a statement about what happened,” spat Lex, his features still tight. “I have no problem in that regard, or in acknowledging that their deaths are unfortunate. But there will be nothing about my being ‘especially sad’ about it.” “Yeah, but…you are, right?” “Of course I-, that’s not the point!” He glared at her then, but Sonata didn’t flinch, too bewildered to be intimidated. “Suggesting that there needs to be some display of grief on my part is obscene!” “Lex.” Nosey stepped forward tentatively, licking her lips before speaking again. “I know how you feel.” Lex’s eyes narrowed dangerously at that, but Nosey kept going. “But Sonata’s right. You need to let everypony know that you care.” Lex gave her a look of incredulity, as though he was waiting for the punchline. When none was forthcoming, he turned to Sonata, silently seeking a second opinion. Biting her lip at the explosion she knew would result, she nodded in agreement. Sure enough, he erupted a moment later. “Why?!” Sonata shrugged. “Because that’s, like, how it works.” But that only seemed to make Lex angrier. “That’s not an answer! Why does it work that way?!” He waved a hoof in the general direction of the camp. “Ever since I’ve arrived here, everything I’ve done has been for the sole purpose of alleviating the deplorable conditions that the ponies here have been forced to live in! My actions in pursuit of that goal have been just by any measure! So why is it that a public display of sentimentality is called for before everypony will recognize my commitment to their welfare?!” “That’s-” Nosey tried to speak up then, but Sonata held out a hoof in front of her. Okay. I got this, nodded Sonata. She just had to remember: don’t argue, just point stuff out and let him chew on it. “Okay, look. You’re, like, super-smart, right?” Unable to follow the sudden shift in topic, Lex’s eyes narrowed again, this time in obvious suspicion. “What?” “C’mon, humor me for a sec. You’re a real mega-genius, right? Super huge brain, thinks math is fun, can say the alphabet backwards, that sorta thing?” “Get to the point, Sonata.” “My point is…” A cocky grin broke out on her face then, sure that she was about to knock his socks off. “That you totes need to treat everyone else like they’re stupid!” Both ponies regarded her announcement with stunned silence. Lex’s face had lost most of its anger in favor of shifting back to confusion, whereas Nosey looked baffled and a little horrified. “Um, Sonata? I don’t think that’s-” “No, for realsies!” interrupted Sonata, keeping her eyes on Lex. “Don’t ever forget that everybody-, darn it! That everypony is a big dummy compared to you!” “I can assure you, Sonata, I’m keenly cognizant of that at all times.” Lex couldn’t keep the wry element out of his voice, giving her a flat look. “Yeah, but you need to treat them that way! You see?” Lex’s only response was to blink, and Sonata realized she wasn’t getting through to him. Pouting for a moment, she tried again. “I mean, think about it. You don’t expect a bunch of dim bulbs to do stuff right, you know? So when they do stuff the wrong way, you should just expect that from the beginning and not get angry when it happens. It’s like that, but for this. That’s why you should totes tell everypony how sad you feel about what happened to Cloudbank and the others.” Lex let out a sigh, frowning as they came back around to the topic at hoof. “Sonata, I don’t understand the point you’re making, and quite frankly I’m beginning to-” “Wait, I’ve got it!” Nosey’s eyes were wide with understanding. “I know what she’s trying to say!” “And that is?” snapped Lex testily. Flashing Sonata a quick grin, Nosey turned her attention to Lex. “What she means is, if you know you’re operating at a higher level than everypony else, you should adjust your expectations of them accordingly.” She took a step closer to him then, almost within foreleg’s reach. “You’re right, you shouldn’t have to tell everypony how you feel about what happened to the others in order to earn their trust. You’ve done so much good since you came here that they should give it to you freely now. But Lex…even if these ponies weren’t already at their wit’s end after everything that’s happened, they don’t have half the wits you do anyway.” For an instant, Lex just looked at her, completely nonplussed. “That’s not-” Cutting himself off, he returned his gaze to Sonata, remembering that she was the one who had initially advanced this argument, albeit incoherently. “I refuse to hold everyone else to a lower standard of personal conduct than I hold myself! I want everypony to strive to improve themselves, to say nothing of the world around them, and demanding anything less from one who would rule borders on moral turpitude!” “That’s not what Sonata was saying,” replied Nosey smoothly. “Yeah!” echoed Sonata, before looking at Cozy. “So, um, what was I saying?” “You were saying,” replied Nosey, before switching her response to Lex, “that no one is asking you to compromise your standards. She’s just saying that you’re exceptional, and that even if other ponies do push themselves past their limits, they’ll never achieve what you have.” Nosey smiled, taking another step closer to him, putting herself right on the border of his personal space. “She’s saying that you’re special.” Lex’s face was skeptical then, his eyes darting between the two of them as though expecting them to declare that this was all some sort of joke at his expense. When that didn’t happen, his expression turned pensive. “…this is a waste of time. I want to get this done before the sun sets.” He turned and walked away without another word, his ire quelled. Nosey turned to Sonata and gave her a congratulatory smile before following after him. But Sonata didn’t return the cheery expression, watching her best friend follow her boyfriend with a renewed sense of worry. Although she’d gotten the point across to Lex, somehow it didn’t feel like the victory she’d thought it would. If anything, it felt like the opposite. Biting her lip, Sonata ran after the two of them.