//------------------------------// // 291 - Tension, Turmoil, and Trust // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Aria practically bowled Lex over as she rushed toward him, flinging herself across the lobby with a joyous expression on her face. “Give it to me!” she whispered frantically, her eyes wide with glee. “Hit me with it right now!” Mildly annoyed at her antics – he’d always found that level of anticipation to be undignified – Lex shook his head. “The application of this magic is more complicated than that. Follow me.” He didn’t bother to say anything else, instead turning and walking out of the building. “What does that mean?” In contrast to how she’d sounded a moment ago, Aria’s whisper was sharp as a knife now. “Can you fix my voice or what?” “Of course I can,” snapped Lex peevishly. “But a transmogrification of this magnitude is ill-suited for instantaneous utilization. Forcing your body to retrace its original pattern of physical development to a more mutable state and then reversing the process while correcting for the X-factor that caused your mutation into your current form so that you’ll have a proper pony body instead is difficult enough. Trying to make it happen in a few seconds would place your system under extreme strain, and compensating for that to the point where your life wouldn’t be in danger would require further-” “But it’ll work, right?” interrupted Aria, not being able to wait any longer. “I don’t care if it takes a few minutes-” “Hours,” shot back Lex, leading her around toward the back of the train station. “A few hours?!” repeated Aria, mildly horrified that she was going to have to wait even longer, before managing to recover. Eyes on the prize, she reminded herself. “But it’ll work, right?” she repeated. “When it’s done, I’ll be a pony with a working voice?” Lex nodded. “Yes. With the information I’ve gained from you, Nosey, and Sonata over the last few days, I’m confident that I can induce the formation of the proper physiothaumic structures when the alteration part of the process begins, including your vocal apparatus.” “You had me at ‘yes,’” grinned Aria, shivering with excitement. A moment later they rounded the train station, and Aria wasn’t too surprised to see Sonata and Nosey waiting for them. The four of them had been spending so much time together lately that it would have felt weirder if they hadn’t been there. In spite of that, she frowned at the sight of them, not wanting those two to think that she actually wanted them there or anything. “What’re they here for?” “I’m gonna totes knock you out!” Sonata’s grin radiated self-satisfaction, waggling her eyebrows in a smug manner. “Just like, boom, and then you’re on the ground chasing sheep!” “Counting sheep, Sonata.” Nosey let out a breath that could have been a sigh or a stifled giggle. Possibly both. “The expression is counting sheep.” Sonata’s smile faded in favor of a look of confusion. “I…huh. You know what, that makes more sense. I mean, it’s hard to chase sheep if you’re snoozing. Not that you can really count them either-” “What are you two idiots talking about?!” snapped Aria, too wound up to put up with their stupidity any longer. Nosey seemed to have expected that response, stepping toward her. “Sonata is going to cast a spell to put you to sleep before Lex starts casting the spell. After that, she and I will be working crowd-control, to make sure that anypony who sees what Lex is doing won’t have a chance to interrupt.” She glanced at Lex then. “I still think we should do this inside, if you’re worried about that.” “For something this delicate, I want as few potential obstructions or hazards in the vicinity as possible. You two can keep everypony back far easier than you could move the walls of that building. Now, let’s begin.” Lex pointed to a nearby spot on the ground. “Aria, lay down there, and Sonata will-” “No! Absolutely not!” Aria shook her head, backing away as she shot a baleful glare at her sister. “I won’t let her do that to me!” “Then this won’t happen, and you won’t be able to speak again.” Lex’s tone was one of finality, making it clear that this wasn’t a point that was open to negotiation. Aria, however, wasn’t ready to let it go, turning to give him a desperate look. “Look, I don’t care how painful this’ll be! I can handle it!” But Lex only shook his head again. “This isn’t a question of pain. I made certain that one of the initial effects will be to deaden your tactile nerves, making it impossible for you to feel anything until it’s over.” “So what’s the deal with me having to be asleep, then?!” “The deal,” intoned Lex darkly, clearly losing his patience for her recalcitrance, “is that this is extremely delicate and invasive magic. If you try and resist it, even for a moment, it will fail. Possibly with catastrophic consequences for you. Being unconscious voids that risk, and Sonata’s magic is the easiest way to make that happen.” “Then I just won’t resist!” There was a slightly crazed tint to her words now, obvious despite them being whispered. “I’ll let whatever happens happen, so there’s no need to make me sleep through it!” The sight of Aria breaking down was enough to cause Sonata’s smile to fall away again, but this time it was replaced with a look of concern at how much of a fuss her sister was making over this. This isn’t right, she knew. Aria had wanted this too badly for too long to start protesting this much at the last second. “What’s wrong?” “What do you care?!” hissed Aria, baring her teeth at her. “It’s not like you were ever concerned about me! You’re probably hoping that something goes wrong and I kick the bucket, then you’ll be rid of me all over again!” “That’s not true, Aria.” Nosey’s voice was soft as she moved closer to her again. “I know you two bicker a lot, but Sonata does care about you. So do I. So does Lex.” She gestured to each of them in turn as she said their names, giving Aria a soft smile. “We’re doing this right now because we know that having your voice back will make you happy, and we all want that.” “Yeah, Cozy gave me that same shtick, going on about how we were a team and she’d have Princess Whatshername fix me,” spat Aria, her whispered words now dripping with venom. “Then she ditched me, just like Little Miss Doofus here did. So forgive me if I’m not willing to let her,” she jabbed a hoof at Sonata accusingly, “or anyone else put me to sleep so they can mess around with me while I’m helpless again!” Nosey’s ears perked up. “‘Again’? What do you mean, ‘again’?” “Nothing!” hissed Aria, shoving Nosey away. “Leave me alone!” She turned back to Lex. “Look, can’t you come up with some other way to-” “No.” Unlike Sonata and Nosey, Lex’s face showed only irritation. “A total physical transformation that’s permanent and has no deleterious effects on your mind is an inherently fragile operation. If you experience even a moment’s hesitation or doubt or reluctance, that could cause your body’s extant magical channels to tense up, interfering with the process, and I don’t know what will happen to you then.” He paused to let that sink in, before adding one more thing. “And given the manner in which you’re acting now, I have no confidence that you could maintain the requisite level of calm necessary to undergo this procedure while conscious.” “This isn’t fair!” growled Aria, slamming her tail on the ground angrily. “If you had told me that I’d have to lie down and make myself helpless-” “Aria.” “-like this I would have told you that wasn’t acceptable! Bad enough that you want me to be at the mercy of someone who’s ruined-” “Aria!” “-my life once before, but now you’re telling me that it’s the only way to get my voice back?! That there’s nothing you can-” “ARIA!” Her last shout seemed to get through, causing her sister to look at her, and Sonata took a tentative step closer to her. “I’m sorry.” Aria went rigid at that, her eyes widening and her lips pulling back from her teeth in a snarl. “What?!” “I’m sorry,” repeated Sonata, her ears folding back. She looked at the ground for a moment, before raising her eyes to meet Aria’s. “I don’t regret that I left you and Adagio when I did, because it’s what brought me to where I am now, but I’m sorry that you went through…all the stuff you went through, because of it.” “‘All the stuff I went through’?” Repeated Aria, shaking with rage. “‘All the stuff I went through’?! You don’t even know what I went through! You think that having to live like an animal with the sahuagin was awful?! They were monsters, but at least they didn’t want to be around me as much as I didn’t want to be around them! But those ponies back on Everglow…that heartless, miserable, evil queen…” She couldn’t finish, too overcome to keep whispering, squeezing her eyes shut as she clenched her jaw. Seconds passed by as Aria stayed like that, no one saying anything, until her eyes flew open, and the look in them wasn’t anger as she looked at Sonata again, having changed into something much more raw. “I begged her not to do this to me!” she rasped, shaking worse now. “I cried and I sobbed and I begged her not to take away my voice, and she did it anyway! I humiliated myself and she still…!” She was still snarling, but there were tears pooling in her eyes now, the words spilling out uncontrollably. “She got the wife of one of the guards we enchanted, pointing her out like we’d made her into a freaking widow or something, and said that she was a doctor and she’d be the one to cut my voice out of my throat, and I pleaded for her not to do that to me, that I didn’t deserve it, for anything else but that…” Again she had to stop, breathing so harshly she was almost gasping. Across from her, Sonata looked horrified, holding one hoof over her open mouth, while Nosey’s face was tight with forced composure, not letting herself break down. Only Lex looked to be unaffected, gazing at Aria dispassionately. Almost a minute later, the Siren found it within herself to keep going. “But that pony queen wasn’t completely merciless, though. Oh no, not at all. She decided, after seeing me demean myself like that, that she’d show me mercy. And you know what that was?” She shot Sonata a look of pure bitterness then. “She used her magic and put me to sleep before she had that quack cut my voice out.” She sniffled then, and rubbed a hoof across her nose savagely. “So now you understand why I’m not letting you or her or anyone else ever do that to me again!” Sonata had tears running down her cheeks, a stricken look on her face. “I-I didn’t know. Aria, I-” “Do it anyway.” Lex’s statement, delivered casually and quite clearly directed at Aria, caused all three girls to turn and regard him with wide eyes. “Lex, you can’t be serious!” gawked Nosey, horrified at how insensitive he was being. Aria seemed much the same. “Did you even hear everything I just said?!” “I heard you,” replied Lex flatly. “Now you hear me. Lie down,” he pointed to the ground in front of her, “and let Sonata use her magic to put you to sleep.” “Why?!” Although the question had been directed at Lex and not at her, Nosey couldn’t help but wince. In that one word, she could hear everything that Aria was asking him. It wasn’t just “Why should I do what you tell me?” It was “Why would you say that to me after what I just told you?” It was “Why should I trust you?” It was “Why do you care?” It was Aria at her at her most vulnerable, her most honest, and if Lex said something mean or callous like “because I said so” to her now, or worse, used that mysterious power of his to force her to do what he wanted without even answering her, Nosey knew that Aria would never trust him again, even if he fixed her voice. Lex, please, she begged silently. Please, just this once, focus on what’s meant and not on what’s being said. The response to her silent plea came a moment later. “Because I’m going to fix you,” answered Lex. Aria blinked. “You’re…what?” “I’m going to fix you,” he repeated evenly. “And not just you. The ponies here. Vanhoover. Everything. All of it. I’m going to repair all of the damage that’s been done to my world and my people, whether from monsters or disasters or negligent leadership, and then I’m going to make sure it never happens again. And I’m going to do it all on my terms, without sacrificing anyone or anything.” He didn’t smile as he spoke. He didn’t try to hug her or dry her eyes. He simply looked right at her, his face and his voice brimming with absolute conviction. “Right now,” he continued, “that means restoring your voice, and turning you into the pony you always should have been. If that’s not what you want, if you’d prefer to stay the way you are right now, that’s your choice. But if you want me to fix the parts of you that are broken, lie down and close your eyes. I’ll do the rest.” “You…” The look on Aria’s face at that moment was completely unlike her usual self. Gone were all traces of snide derision or smug superiority. Instead, she looked like a terrified little girl, desperately trying to muster up what courage she possessed. “You mean it?” “I do,” answered Lex without hesitation. Aria swallowed, before the barest trace of a smile touched her lips. “Okay.” Lying flat on the ground, she took a long look at Nosey, then Sonata, and finally Lex before shutting her eyes. She could still feel herself shaking a bit, but she had it under control now. The last time she had done this, her life had taken a turn for the worse, but now she had a reason to believe that this time things would get better. Because now, there was finally someone who cared about her.