//------------------------------// // 354 - Going to Confession // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “Oh my gosh!” squealed Sonata. “Kara! I’m so glad you’re here!” Grinning, Kara tossed her mane – or rather, Nosey’s mane – over her shoulder. “Of course I am. You know I’ll always be there for you when you need help with your love life.” “Yeah, but…” Her smile faltering, Sonata looked down for a moment before raising her eyes back to Kara’s. “How come you didn’t answer me when I called you all those times before? I mean, I’m super happy that you’re here now, but I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for a while. You never show up in my dreams anymore, and I asked for your help a whole bunch of times when I was awake and you never answered, and I even offered you pie! I thought…” Her ears folding back, Sonata looked at the ground again. “I thought maybe you didn’t want to be my friend anymore…” “Oh, Sonata.” Wearing an expression as though she’d just spied a homeless kitten in the rain, Kara closed the distance between them, hugging Sonata close and pulling her head to her chest. “How could I ever not want to be friends with somepony as sweet as you?” One hoof came up to gently stroke Sonata’s mane. “I know you’ve been having a hard time of it, and I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you needed me. It’s just hard for me to manifest in this world right now. Just showing up like this took you and Nosey…well, you know.” “But can’t you just appear in my dreams like you used to?” asked Sonata plaintively. Kara shook her head. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t do that anymore.” That answer earned a pout from Sonata. “But why n-” “The important thing,” interrupted Kara smoothly, “is that I’m here right now. But I can’t stay like this for very long.” Gently disentangling herself from Sonata, Kara gave her a serious look. “Nosey’s filling me in on a lot of what’s been going on,” she explained, bringing a hoof up to tap her brow gently. “But I want to hear what’s happened from you.” Sighing, Sonata nodded. “Okay, well, it all started a little while back when we ran into my sister, Aria…” “…and so me and Nosey came out here and brainstormed how to get in touch with you and, well…I guess you know the rest.” Sonata managed a smile as she finished telling Kara what had happened, but it was a small one. She’d thought that getting all of that out would make her feel better, but instead she felt more discouraged now than she had before she’d started. “I just don’t know what to do…” “So basically,” mused Kara, “you’re upset because Lex is cheating on you with your sister, right?” Shrugging nonchalantly, she gave Sonata an easy smile. “That’s not that difficult of a problem to solve. Just go tell Lex that he has to make a choice: Aria or you.” Wincing at the idea, Sonata couldn’t look Kara in the face. “I guess I could do that…” Raising an eyebrow at the other mare’s reticence, Kara cocked her head to the side. “But?” “But what if he chooses Aria?” whimpered Sonata in a small voice. This time both of Kara’s eyebrows went up. “You really think he’d do that?” The question seemed to touch a nerve, making Sonata throw her forelegs up. “I don’t know!” she yelled, her ire clearly not directed at the goddess. “Aria’s, like, the worst! Worser than worst! But she and Lex are a lot alike! They’re both growly and angry all the time, and Aria knows, like, a bunch of super-dangerous magic spells the same way Lex does! Not to mention that she’s just as pretty as me! I mean, not exactly as hot as I am, but really close! And now that she’s got her voice back, she could even be his spokespony too!” She started pacing then, too worked up to remain still. “You know he actually thought of having her do that, once? When he wanted me to go to Las Papayas or whatever it’s called, I asked him who would be his spokespony then, and he said Aria could do it.” A small smile crossed her face as she remembered what had happened next. “I totes dumped a plate of food on his head for that.” Giggling, Kara held a hoof in front of her mouth. “Well, you could try doing that again now, but I don’t think that will fix things.” “I guess,” sighed Sonata, sitting back down. “It’s just…Aria has everything that makes me special, and then some. So if I tell Lex to pick one of us, then he…he might…” She couldn’t finish, sniffling. “I don’t wanna lose him…” Sitting next to Sonata, Kara nudged her gently. “You forgot to list what you have that Aria doesn’t: that Lex loves you dearly.” “Yeah,” snorted Sonata sarcastically. “He loves me so much that he totes got all hot ‘n’ heavy with Aria right after he changed her into a pony.” “Even so, I bet that if you were to go back to him and demand that he choose, he’d choose you, and then Aria would be the one out here all alone, crying her eyes out.” Kara let that hang in the air, and when Sonata didn’t so much as smirk at the thought, she smiled softly and nudged her again. “But that’s not what you want for your sister, is it?” “…she loves him,” admitted Sonata, her voice miserable. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that she just started out being all flirty with him to try and be mean to me, and I didn’t like it, but that was just Aria being Aria. Now it’s the real deal. She’s not just crushing on him or anything; she for realsies loves him.” She was silent for a long moment, and when Kara didn’t say anything, she eventually kept going. “Nosey said I don’t have anything to feel bad about, and I don’t regret leaving Aria and Adagio when I did, but when I think about everything that Aria went through…all that stuff she said last night when she didn’t want to let me put her to sleep for Lex’s ritual…it was really awful.” Her voice was strained, and she rubbed her eyes a little. “I don’t want her to have Lex, but I don’t want her to be miserable anymore, either.” “You could try setting her up with someone else,” suggested the goddess lightly. Sonata gave her an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? Aria would totes walk all over any other guy who tried to get close to her! Like, she’d just have to hum a few notes and they’d be her willing slave, laterally!” “Literally,” corrected the goddess. “And I suppose you’re right. She does need someone who’ll keep her on a short leash, doesn’t she?” “And preferably chained up in a yard somewhere,” added Sonata. The thought made her wonder what her sister would look like if Lex had turned her into a dog rather than a pony, and the thought made her giggle. That’s kinda perfect, she thought to herself, since Aria’s such a b- “Listen, I have an idea, but I don’t know if you’ll like it.” “Huh?” Blinking as she was pulled out of her thoughts, Sonata looked over at Kara. “What is it?” Kara didn’t answer immediately, looking out over the empty plaza for a second before she spoke again. “If you don’t want to take even the chance that you’ll lose Lex, and you don’t want Aria to be unhappy…then maybe you should consider sharing him.” For a moment Sonata just blinked uncomprehendingly, but then her eyes widened. “Wait…you mean, like, letting him have more than one girlfriend?!” “…yes…” Kara’s reply was soft, still looking at nothing. “No way!” Sonata jumped to her hooves, giving Kara a look of disbelief. “That was Aria’s idea! I wanted you to help me fix things with my boyfriend, not help my sister get together with him!” Kara sighed. “I’m a goddess of love, Sonata. I want you and Lex to be happy together, but I can’t just pretend that Aria’s feelings don’t matter either. This way gives you all a chance to learn to be happy together.” “No no no!” Sonata shook her head so furiously that her mane whipped back and forth. “I don’t want Lex to be with anyone besides me!” Kara gave her a flat look then. “You mean like how you were ‘with’ Nosey just now?” Upset with the goddess for the first time since she’d met her, Sonata stomped a hoof. “That’s not the same! That was just, like, some fooling around that went too far!” A shadow went across Kara’s face at that, and she stood up abruptly. The motion made her mane shift, and Nosey’s blonde curls fell across her eyes, obscuring her face from view. “…she was happy…” “Huh?” Sonata blinked, her anger blunted by Kara’s unexpected reaction. “Who was?” “Nosey,” answered Kara, her voice emotionless. “When you and she were together just now…when the two of you made love, she was happy.” “But…but that was just because I put a spell on her and it worked too well,” stammered Sonata. Kara brushed her mane out of her face, turning away so her back was to Sonata before she spoke again. “You’re wrong, Sonata. Nosey…she’s never been with anypony else. She’s never been kissed or gone out on a date or even had someone ask her out. No one wanted to be with a mare whose special talent was gossip, and she was really lonely.” Sonata bit her lip, remembering Nosey saying something about that back when they’d been getting to know each other in Tall Tale. “Yeah, but she didn’t seem that broken up about it,” she protested, wondering why she suddenly felt so defensive. “She was hiding it,” said Kara in a soft, sad voice. “She threw herself into her work, telling herself she didn’t need anything else to be happy.” She gave a hollow laugh then. “She might have even convinced herself of that, the silly girl. And then she met Lex…” Furrowing her brow, Sonata tried to follow what she was being told. “Wait, hang on, Nosey was just following Lex around because he was a good story. You’re saying she lied to me?” “She didn’t lie!” snapped Kara, before continuing in a more somber tone. “She didn’t lie, but things changed the more she stayed around him. She saw that there was more to him than big magic and a bad attitude. She saw that he had a softer side to him, one that he only showed to you, and she started…” Kara paused for a moment before continuing. “She started fantasizing. Wondering what it would have been like if he decided he wanted to be with her instead of with you…” She swallowed then, her voice softening. “Or be with her in addition to being with you.” Sonata just stared, open-mouthed at what she was being told. “You’re saying that Nosey…my best friend…is in love with Lex?!” “No, Sonata.” Turning around, Kara was smiling, but her eyes were sad. “After what just happened, she’s in love with you and Lex both. That’s why I think the sharing option is best…it might have been Aria’s idea to begin with, but it gives all of you a chance to be happy together.” Sonata could only stare at her, completely speechless. “I have to go,” announced Kara suddenly, averting her eyes from Sonata’s again. “I can’t stay any longer.” “W-wait!” yelped Sonata, running forward and grabbing the other mare as though she were about to disappear. “You can’t go yet! I still don’t know what to do!” But Kara just shrugged weakly. “I’m sorry, Sonata. I don’t know what else to say, except that I wish all the best for you, and for the other ponies in your life as well.” Leaning forward, she gently pressed her lips to Sonata’s forehead. “Good luck.” “Wait, Kara!” But the other mare’s eyes fluttered shut a moment later, and a shudder ran through her. A second later her eyes snapped open again, and Nosey jerked backward out of Sonata’s grip, a shaky smile on her face. “Oh! Ah, wow, that, uh, that was really something, huh?” she chuckled, her eyes slightly too wide. Sonata bit her lip, suddenly feeling awkward. “Nosey…” But the other mare didn’t give her a chance to speak. “Oh geez, just look at the time!” She pointed upward, to where the sun was almost at its zenith. “We better get going if we want to be there for Lex’s meeting with the princesses!” Her horn lit up as she picked up her glasses from where they’d fallen off during her encounter with Sonata, sitting them awkwardly on her face. “Better get a move on!” she called as she started to trot towards the far end of the plaza. “Yeah…” Behind her, Sonata walked much more sedately, thinking back over the conversation she’d just had.