It was noon by the time Sonata finally found Lex.
That hadn’t been for lack of trying, of course. She’d woken up a few hours ago to find that, rather than cuddling her boyfriend in her sleep, she’s been nuzzling Nosey’s flank instead, with Lex nowhere in sight. The yelp of surprise she’d given at that had been enough to wake the other mare, as well as Aria, who for some reason had been curled up around them both as well. Normally Sonata wouldn’t have cared about any of that – she’d shared a hammock with Nosey on the boat trip here, after all – and she doubted the other two would have either. But after last night, it had been the most awkward morning ever. No, scratch that. It had been the Most Awkward Morning Ever!
That Lex had apparently skipped out on them hadn’t made things any better. Nothing about last night had seemed any clearer after getting some shuteye, and the pony responsible for it being gone had only made things more confusing. Was he trying to avoid taking responsibility? Or was this part of whatever game he’d been playing? Or something else entirely?
The prospect of trying to puzzle things out on their own was one that Sonata hadn’t found appealing – they’d tried that last night, and it hadn’t exactly worked out so well – and a glance at the other two had made it clear that, thankfully, they felt the same. Instead, she and Nosey had left the train station (Sonata making sure to use her magic so Nosey wouldn't freak out), with Aria staying behind. Although not a word had passed between them, the mutual understanding had been acknowledged by all: find Lex and get some answers.
But the elusive stallion had already made his getaway.
Or at least, that was how Sonata had thought of it. The truth of the matter was that he’d gone back into Vanhoover, with multiple ponies describing how – after he’d apparently issued instructions about when everyone could eat, and checking in with the doctors and gravediggers – Lex had put out another call for volunteers to accompany him back into the city. As before, he’d managed to gather several dozen ponies, and they’d set off immediately.
On any other morning, Sonata would have felt happy, or at least relieved, at what she’d heard. Lex had not only made a public announcement without alienating everyone too badly (the witnesses to his speech had described it as being “fearsome, but considerate” and “kinda scary, but making sense”), but he’d had a whole bunch of people demonstrate their faith in him by offering to accompany him back into the city. It was more proof that he was making progress getting everyone to see him the way she saw him, as a hero rather than a creepy weirdo.
Except right now, I see him as being all “wham bam thank you ma’am,” except without the bam after the wham, she’d thought darkly, convinced by that point that Lex was deliberately avoiding them. But he’d be back at some point; he’d made that very clear two nights ago, when he’d told her that he had no intention of leaving Vanhoover. Until then, though, there’d been nothing for Sonata to do but settle down and try to cope with her lingering confusion, simmering jealousy, and latent arousal, letting those feelings mingle and mix as the hours passed. She’d said more than a few prayers to Kara in that time, but hadn’t received a response, leaving her hanging until finally…
“There you are!”
Sonata leapt to her hooves as she caught sight of the returning group of ponies, Lex in the lead, and barreled toward him as though intent on tackling him to the ground. She very nearly did, only barely managing to stop herself. “You tell me right now! What exactly was that all about?!”
Lex frowned at her, as though she were the one being unreasonable. “Additional supplies were necessary,” he replied curtly. Then, as though that wrapped everything up, he turned back to look at the ponies he’d been leading. “Those of you with bits, go and deposit them on the other side of the train platform, away from the provisions. Those who gathered shovels and other material supplies, leave them behind the outpatient tents.” He glanced upward then, giving the sun a brief look of consideration. “Food will be distributed in fifteen minutes.”
Everypony nodded or murmured their assent, breaking up to complete their assigned tasks, and it was only then that Lex turned his attention back to her. He must have noticed the look on her face, because he cocked his head slightly and asked, “Is something wrong?”
“YES!” Sonata had reached her breaking point, unable to contain herself any longer. She was vaguely aware that more than a few of the passing ponies had stopped to stare at her in the wake of her outburst, but at that moment she couldn’t have cared less. “Lex, what was last night all about?! I mean, you just…from out of nowhere you were all…” she sputtered, so worked up that for a moment she couldn’t speak properly. “And with all three of us! And then you just went to sleep afterword like it was no big deal! What the heck?!”
More than a few of the nearby ponies’ eyes widened at that, but Lex only furrowed his brow slightly, as though he couldn’t figure out why she was so upset. “I was gathering data-”
“On what?!” she interrupted, not even slightly satisfied with that answer. A small part of her registered that he hadn’t finished speaking yet, but it was drowned out beneath the weight of everything she was feeling. Her need for answers was barely keeping even with her need to let him have it for messing around with the others right in front of her. “On whether or not I’d say anything while you were all over Nosey and Aria?! Because guess what buster!” She stepped forward and jabbed him in the chest, glaring at him. “I was totes about to call foul on you playing with other girls like that!”
By now the assembled ponies had all stopped in their tracks, unabashedly watching the unfolding exchange. Out of her periphery, Sonata could see numerous faces turned toward them as whispers and soft comments were exchanged. Lex noticed also, sweeping his gaze over the crowd irritably. “All of you, disperse! You have your instructions!” He didn’t wait for his orders to be carried out, immediately turning back to her. “Sonata, I was examining the three of you in order to compare the magical channels in your bodies-”
“So you could do what, make another super-sexy bedroom spell?! Is that what that was about?!” She saw Lex wince slightly at that, his eyes sliding back to the crowd self-consciously, and she felt a surge of vindictiveness. Now it was his turn to be embarrassed about something! He started to speak, but she kept going before he could, not nearly finished yet. “Because you know what?! That’s fine! I don’t think you need it, ‘cause that one you used on me before was, like, ‘scream for mercy’-good, but whatever! If you wanna spice things up even more then I’m totes in favor of it! But you don’t need to play doctor with those two for that! You can just use me!”
“Sonata, listen to me!”
“No! You know what?! No! You listen to me!” She took a step forward, getting right in his face until their noses were only inches apart. “I don’t know when you became such a chick magnet, but you don’t need Nosey or Drafty or Aria or anyone else. I’ll do whatever you want, anytime, anywhere, okay? You do that whole ‘alpha dominant’ thing from last night again, and I promise you, I can’t tell you no.” Her voice was quieting as she spoke (causing the crowd to quiet down so that they could keep listening), but the intensity in her words only grew, her anger having changed to passion at some point.
Last night had been, hooves down, the single sexiest night of their relationship. Their first time together had been magical, and the second time had been incredible, but last night Lex had been seductive in a way she’d never known he could be. He’d turned his whole “take charge” bit up to eleven, and it had set her on fire, overwhelming her to the point where she hadn’t been able to object to the others being there too. It had only been after he’d ended things so unexpectedly, denying her the happy ending she’d been craving, that Sonata had calmed down enough to fully appreciate what had almost happened, letting jealousy and confusion set in.
But now she could feel herself heating up again. Telling him just how much she wanted him was reminding her that she hadn’t been fulfilled last night, and it was eroding her anger. Instead, she shifted her weight between her back legs, making her hips sway lightly as she tried to let him know that she was his for the taking. Literally. She needed-
A hoof touched her side. “Sonata.”
“Huh?!” Sonata jumped at the unexpected touch, looking over and seeing that it was Nosey making contact with her. Where had she come from? “What…?”
Red-faced, Nosey canted her head back toward the train station. “Maybe we should go.” She glanced over at Lex. “We need to talk. All four of us.”
Sonata blearily glanced back at her boyfriend just in time to see him nod, his expression perturbed. That didn’t match the other ponies’ faces though; they just looked disappointed that the show was over. It was enough to make Sonata fold her ears back as they started to trudge back toward the station.
“…so that’s what that was all about?” asked Nosey incredulously. “You were doing that to try and figure out how to change Aria into a pony?”
Aria rolled her eyes. “And it didn’t occur to you to actually tell us that before you started getting up close and personal?” Despite the biting tenor of her whisper, the corners of her lips were turned up.
Lex scowled, still blushing now that he knew what his experiment had been like for the girls. “I wasn’t sure it was going to work,” he muttered. “When it did, the amount of data was unexpectedly high. It required my full attention.” It was a poor excuse, and he knew it, but he didn’t have any other.
“Well, at least we know what was going on now,” sighed Nosey, closing her eyes for a long moment before turning back to Lex. “Are you going to need to do that again?”
He hesitated for a moment, before nodding wordlessly. The gesture made Aria grin wider. “Fine by me,” she whispered, shifting so that what curves her body possessed were emphasized, “since it’s for getting my voice back.”
Now it was Nosey’s turn to roll her eyes, before turning to her best friend. “Sonata? You okay?” The other mare hadn’t said a thing since Lex had explained why he’d done what he had, just looking at the ground quietly. It was enough to send a pang of guilt through Nosey; she’d gone to the river to quench her thirst while they’d been waiting for Lex to come back, and when she’d returned she’d overheard Sonata ranting at him. It had driven home just how much everything that had happened had rattled her. And part of that is because of me, she knew. “Listen, this doesn’t mean-”
“I know what it means,” murmured Sonata quietly. “I’ve seen this before.”
That was enough to make Nosey blink, looking around, but both Lex and Aria seemed confused by that. “You have?”
“Yeah.” Sonata looked up then, her expression distraught. “We’re in one of those pervy cartoons!”
“…huh?”
“The kind where all sorts of naughty misunderstandings keep happening! Now Lex is gonna do stuff like walk in on us while we’re changing, or see us when we’re taking a bath, and we’re all gonna be like ‘Lex, you baka!’ and hit him with a big hammer, and that’s when it happens!” she wailed. “That’s when we realize that what we’re saying doesn’t match how our lips are moving!” She put a hoof to her mouth, as though horrified at the thought. “Do you know how dumb I’ll look trying to sing like that?!”
“Oh, I don’t think you need to worry,” sneered Aria. “You couldn’t possibly look any dumber than you do right now.”
“Hey! You take that back!”
“Make me!”
As the two sisters started to bicker, Nosey glanced back at Lex, who snorted at the spectacle and turned to leave. The sight made the blonde mare smile. She’d been concerned that things would be different between all of them after what had happened, but now she felt confident that she’d been worried for nothing.
They were going to be okay.