//------------------------------// // 347 - Question of Intent // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “Lex Legis!” Although he recognized the voice of Princess Celestia, Lex didn’t so much as turn his head in response to her calling his name. Almost as soon as he’d left the train station he’d seen her in the distance, talking to a group of ponies that were gathered around her, and the sight had made his lip curl in contempt. No doubt she’s regaling them with some banal aphorism on the merits of cooperation rather than actually taking action herself, he’d thought darkly. But there was no point in chastising her about it now, not when he’d have the chance in a few hours. He might have been forced to abandon his plan to arrest the alicorn sisters for their disgraceful conduct, but there was no reason he couldn’t castigate them for it. Besides, with the misery that he’d expected to feel over his alienating the mares in his life beginning to make itself known, he wasn’t in the mood for Celestia’s self-righteous hypocrisy right now anyway. His decision made, Lex had put her out of his thoughts and instead focused on going to retrieve Severance. But Princess Celestia had other plans, apparently. Only a few seconds after she’d called his name, there was a fluttering of wings, and a moment later she alighted on the ground a stone’s throw in front of him, blocking his path. “I need to talk to you.” “We’ll talk at noon,” snapped Lex curtly. “I have other tasks that require my attention right now.” But despite his words he made no move to go around her. The ponies Princess Celestia had been addressing were already turning their eyes toward the two of them, and Lex had no idea if his adjusting his course to avoid her – rather than having her make way for him – would be interpreted as a sign of weakness on his part. But it might not matter anyway, he realized; several of the ponies from the crowd that Princess Celestia had left behind were members of the Royal Guard, now rushing over to position themselves on either side of her. Going around her wouldn’t be something so easily accomplished now. Celestia herself barely seemed to notice the guards. “I need to speak with you before our conference,” she pressed. Lex didn’t answer for a moment, wondering if he should use this opportunity to augment his circlet and examine Celestia’s magical capabilities again. But it took only a moment for him to decide against it. Channeling additional magic through his body always resulted in considerable physical strain; forcing that magic into a magic item, whose functionality wasn’t designed to receive the increased power, was even harder to do. Given that his injuries weren’t fully healed yet, and that he’d already exerted himself in his failed effort to move the sun just a few minutes ago, it was more economical to wait until Celestia and Luna were together before going through the effort of heightening his circlet’s functionality again. With that decided, he turned his full attention back to whatever petty emergency the princess was having, his curiosity about whatever was upsetting her warring with his irritation at her insistence. “You have thirty seconds,” he growled. The guards surrounding the princess glared at him, clearly not liking his disrespectful tone, but Princess Celestia herself didn’t seem to care. Instead, she took a step forward, a reserved look on her face. “I don’t understand you at all,” she admitted. “You openly advocate that it’s better to govern with force and control instead of harmony and compassion. You’re more comfortable with the dark magic of King Sombra than the magic of friendship. You’re arrogant, belligerent, and I know that you’ve used the evil magic of that horn to curse some of the ponies under your care here.” Lex grit his teeth at Celestia’s unmitigated gall. This failure of a princess thought she had any right to criticize him?! Narrowing his eyes, he managed to swallow his bile, refusing to act as though he had to justify himself to her. “You now have twenty seconds left to get to whatever point you’re making.” Celestia didn’t reply immediately, looking at him in silence as though studying his face before letting out a soft sigh, her features softening slightly. “I’ve spent most of the morning talking to the ponies here, and while they told me about the uglier parts of your rule that Sonata and River Bank glossed over, they also confirmed all the good that you’ve done. About how you fought bravely to protect everypony, worked diligently to provide for them, and mourned for the ones you couldn’t save.” Lex went rigid at that last part, clamping down on the surge of grief-fueled rage that went through him then. Don’t you dare mention Cloudbank and the others to me! he screamed internally. Don’t you DARE! The shame and the anguish he felt over what had happened to them were still raw enough that, although she’d been considerate, the mere prospect of Celestia – one of the ponies whom he respected the least – throwing their deaths in his face was almost more than he could bear. “Ten seconds,” he announced stiffly. Closing her eyes, Princess Celestia shook her head slightly. “I don’t understand you,” she repeated. Opening them, she moved toward him again, stepping forward until she was almost close enough that she could have reached out and touched him. “But I truly believe that you want to protect Equestria and its ponies, just like I do. Even if we agree on nothing else, we can agree on that.” She smiled at him then, but Lex didn’t return the expression. “Five seconds.” Apparently unperturbed by his continued obdurateness, Celestia kept speaking. “You’ve also always been forthright about your beliefs, never using deception or trickery to try and get what you wanted, even when it might have served you better. Because of that, I’m willing to believe whatever answer you give me when I ask you this.” Her smile disappeared then, her expression becoming unreadable, at least to his eyes. “Are you planning on attacking my sister and me at our meeting later today?” Lex couldn’t keep his surprise from showing on his face. How did she know I was considering that?! For a split-second he wondered if any of the girls – in a fit of pique over how he had mishandled things with them earlier – had warned Celestia about his intentions. But that couldn’t be the case; he’d never informed them, nor anypony else, that he’d briefly decided to arrest the alicorns before he’d thought better of it. Was she using some sort of divinatory magic? He knew she couldn’t be spying on his thoughts; he had too many countermeasures in place for any such magic to possibly reach him, at least not without alerting him of what was happening. Or did she have some spell that would let her look into the future directly? If so, then the fact that she’d asked him if he was going to undertake a course of action he’d already decided not to follow was a perfect example of why using such spells was a fool’s errand. Lex had heard about spells that could predict the future during his time on Everglow, and the practical and metaphysical implications of such magic had intrigued him enough to open an immediate line of inquiry into them. He had terminated it shortly thereafter, however, when he’d learned that such spells all – without exception – had some inherent degree of fallibility in their forecasts, returning results that would prove to be correct most of the time, but not all of the time. To Lex, that was enough reason to discount such spells in their entirety; to do otherwise was to place his trust in information that might well turn out to be wildly inaccurate, with no way to tell until it was too late. That was more uncertainty than he was willing to countenance. If such spells can’t be completely accurate each and every single time, he’d decided, then they’re nothing more than guesswork. Which was, almost certainly, what Princess Celestia was engaging in right now. There was no evidence that he was aware of to suggest that she had any sort of precognitive abilities, after all. It was far more plausible that she was remembering the first time they’d met, where violence had broken out when their dialogue had broken down. In fact, if she was concerned enough about that to seek him out ahead of time and inquire about his intentions… Then it means that she’s afraid of me, he realized. The thought sent a flash of twisted pride through him, and he almost smiled, pleased at the idea. No doubt the tales of his escapades that she’d heard from everypony had made her realize that his magical strength exceeded her own, to her anxiety. That’s right, you nag, he thought spitefully. I’ve already surpassed you, not just in moral virtue and governmental aptitude, but magical ability as well. Look upon me, and see your own obsolescence made manifest! All of that went through Lex’s mind in less than a second. Outwardly, his initial expression of surprise at Celestia’s question had lapsed back into his usual sardonic look, and he didn’t hesitate to reply. “No,” he answered coldly. “I have no intention nor expectation that our meeting will involve violence of any sort. Now get out of my way. Your thirty seconds are up.” Out of his peripheral vision, he could see several of the guards bristling angrily at his words, but none of them moved to challenge him. Celestia herself had no reaction save to look at him silently, and Lex locked gazes with her. Utter silence fell as the two of them stared at each other, and Lex made certain not to so much as blink, determined to win what he felt certain had become a contest of wills. He was rewarded a moment later when Princess Celestia nodded, stepping to the side. “Very well,” she said at last. “Until noon, then.” Lex’s only answer was a derisive snort, the corners of his lips turning upward in a vindictive smile as he strode past her. Princess Celestia watched Lex leave, her expression pensive. Her question had taken him by surprise, that much had been obvious. What was less certain was why. Had he been caught off-guard by her asking if he’d planned on attacking her and Luna because he’d found the idea to be ludicrous, or because he’d been planning on doing exactly that? Although Celestia hoped it was the former, she couldn’t bring herself to be completely sure. Still, the important thing is that he said he wouldn’t, she knew. Whether because he’d never planned to, or because her asking about it had unnerved him enough to abandon any plans to do so, Lex had been quite clear about not fighting them. As wary as Celestia felt toward him, she hadn’t been lying when she’d said she was willing to believe him. Whatever else could be said about Lex Legis, his code of honor – warped though it might be – was something that he very obviously held dear. Now that he’d declared his decision not to take action against them, he’d stick to it. Which meant that something else would be what caused her vision to come true. Although she’d lived for well over a millenium, Celestia hadn’t had very many prophetic dreams. On average, she’d had less than one per century. But when they happened, the things that she saw always came to pass. Always. Right now, that meant that something was going to cause Lex to go on a rampage in a short while, and while nothing might be able to prevent that – or the grim fate that awaited Silhouette, her sister’s worshiper – finding out what caused it might give her an edge in bringing the conflict to a swift end before anypony else was hurt. But if Lex wasn’t the one who initiated hostilities in a few hours, then who – or what – was?