//------------------------------// // 406 - Counterrevolutionary Ideas // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Just over a minute later, Lex knew what he had to do to win. That knowledge brought him little comfort, however. Instead he felt vaguely appalled, not only because of how long it had taken him to come up with a course of action – he had successfully developed a strategy to take down Celestia and Luna in a fraction of that time – but also because of the major concession he’d been forced to make in order to formulate a viable strategy: there was no path to victory that didn’t involve injuring Sonata and Aria, quite possibly severely. That was the main reason that he’d needed so long to come up with a plan, and although doing so didn’t violate his ethical code of conduct – the girls’ unprovoked assault, combined with his inability to avoid this situation since he couldn’t chance them disrupting the ceremony he needed to hold in the Night Mare’s honor, meant that this was quite obviously a case of self-defense – the prospect of deliberately harming the mares he loved nevertheless made him feel ill. But there was no other viable course of action now that he’d determined that they most likely weren’t being magically manipulated. He had confirmed that after returning to corporeal form on top of the train station. Doing so had been a calculated risk, but a comparatively small one; although Aria’s fireball and Sonata’s magical scream had dealt enough damage to the roof that it could be seen from the outside, it hadn’t been enough to completely punch through it. And since he’d seen no evidence that either of them had any sort of magic that would let them fly or walk up walls or otherwise easily follow him up here, Lex had put the cover his current position had given him to good use, returning to physical form and activating his circlet, peering down into the station lobby. Fortunately, the roof wasn’t of sufficient density to block his line of sight in the magical spectrum. Had it been made out of stone instead of wood and tiling Lex would have needed to find another vantage point, but instead he’d been free to concentrate on what magical auras were radiating from within the building. The results had been simultaneously heartening and discouraging. Heartening because there’d been no obvious evidence of them being under some sort of malign influence; there had been no auras of necromantic magic clinging to them like there had been around Nosey. Discouraging because he didn’t entirely trust what he was seeing; the combination of what had to be the enchantments that he’d presupposed the girls had cast on themselves in preparation for this fight, the lingering emanations of the various attack spells that they’d been using, and the radiant coronas of the various gemstones in his saddlebags – which were still tucked away near their sleeping bench, apparently forgotten by the girls – meant that the area inside the station was a mess of auras. Like smoke in the air, they billowed out and bled into each other, making it difficult to tell where one ended and another began. Worse, there was the very real possibility that they were obscuring telltale signs of subtler magic, making his conclusions less certain than Lex would have liked. But there was little that could be done about that. Without channeling additional magic into his circlet, there was no way to sharpen the view of the magical spectrum that it granted him. Doing so, however, was out of the question; he’d already expended what little energy he’d regained in his ill-fated attempt to silence Sonata’s voice. Channeling additional magic through his body now was out of the question. Except, of course, that it wasn’t. Although the Night Mare hadn’t given him much in the way of divine magic, the little bit that she’d granted him included a spell that relieved physical strain, alongside the weak healing spell that he more typically used. Indeed, those had been the primary reason that he’d turned down Cleansweep’s offer to heal him last night; although the filly’s newfound powers to alleviate harm easily surpassed his own, having another pony with curative magic in the camp meant that Lex could more readily use what little he had on himself, without needing to worry that he’d be devoid of medical magic at a critical moment. He’d made use of both of his restorative spells in the last sixty seconds, fully aware that he couldn’t take another series of hits like the ones Sonata and Aria had subjected him to. Moreover, he’d cast them both in conjunction with his circlet’s secondary function, drawing on its miniscule reservoir of magical power in order to preserve both spells even after he’d made use of them, allowing him to immediately turn around and cast both spells on himself a second time. The results had been dramatic: although he still felt the pain of the girls’ attacks on him, and his body still ached from all of the abuse that it had endured, he still felt worlds better than he had before. It was enough that he felt confident that he could channel additional magic through his body anew…though only twice, he decided, before he’d overtax himself again. His first instinct had been to feed more power into his circlet so that he could better ascertain the situation below, but he’d put that idea aside. With so few attack modes left open to him, it was self-evident that any battle tactics he came up with would require judicious use of his ability to throw more power around. Given the overall unlikelihood of finding any more useful information, Lex knew that he’d simply have to make do with what data he had. With that having been determined, his next idea had been to continue trying to silence the rebellious mares. Two additional uses of empowered magic meant two enhanced curses, after all: one to take each of their voices away. But that was a poor idea as well. Such a plan left him with no margin for error, and after how Sonata had managed to resist his attempt to quiet her there was a very real chance that one or both of them would pull that off again, leaving him right back where he’d started. Instead, he’d formulated a different strategy. It was one he felt confident would turn the situation around, but it would still carry a not-inconsiderable cost, even aside from how much it would damage it would inflict on both of them. But with no alternatives coming to mind, Lex knew that he had to act; the barbed wire around his foreleg – alone among his numerous injuries – had showed no improvement despite his liberal use of healing magic. If anything, it felt even worse now, as though the wire had contracted to the point of being wrapped around the bone. Without further ado, Lex called upon the dark magic of his horn and changed back into a shadow… “Anything yet?” sighed Sonata. Aria’s breath came around gritted teeth, not taking her eyes off of the ceiling. “Like I said before: I’ll tell you when he starts moving.” The answer earned an unhappy huff from Sonata, but she didn’t press the point. Even so, only a few seconds went by before she spoke up again, her voice small. “You think maybe we went at him too hard?” “Sonata, he’s fine.” Aria forced certainty into her voice, refusing to acknowledge any other possibility. “He might still be a little worn out from yesterday, but so what? We let him sleep in, which means that he had plenty of time to rest up and restore all of his magic. We caught him by surprise just now, but any second he’s going to come back down and then we’ll be dealing with force fields and floating balls of lightning and acid-filled pits and whatever else he can do. That’s when the real performance begins.” “I guess. He’s still gonna be really mad when all this is over, though.” “That’s the point.” Risking a look over at her sister, Aria fought down a rising sense of irritation with how half-hearted Sonata was being. “Look, I know how you feel, but even if she’s not going along with it blondie still said this might work, remember? All we have to do is ambush Lex, tell him that we’re trying to overthrow him-” “And then he beats us up,” chimed in Sonata smoothly. A smile crossed her lips as she recited the next part. “And when he goes to punish us for being totes naughty-” “He’ll sentence us both to serve him, probably for the rest of our lives,” finished Aria, also grinning at the prospect. She felt absolutely certain that’s what would happen, since Lex had done something very much like that before. Aria could still remember how, after he’d dragged her back to his warehouse hideout in the wake of his victory over Lirtkra and Monitor, Lex had ordered her to work for him. He’d left her no real choice in the matter, but had still seen fit to sweeten the deal by telling her how he’d fix her voice and make her into a pony. Promises that he’d ultimately kept, paving the way for everything that had happened between them since, culminating in all of the passion they’d shared last night. This, she felt certain, would be just like that. “Lex isn’t the sort of guy who’ll take slaves,” she mused, “but give him an excuse to call it something different, and he’ll jump at the chance.” “This is gonna be so much fun!” giggled Sonata, prancing in place. “You think he’ll do, like, a sexy strip search on us?” Aria blinked, before slowly turning her head to give Sonata an incredulous look. “We’re already naked! How could he possibly-” She didn’t have a chance to finish as she suddenly whipped her head around. “He’s moving!” Sonata tensed. “Where?” “Downward.” Pointing a hoof at where her spell was telling her Lex was, Aria slowly followed his movements. “He’s coming down on the other side of the far wall, between the windows.” She narrowed her eyes, preparing the next spell she was going to throw at him. “Remember, he’s probably going to come at us with everything he’s got, so be sure to-, huh?!” Glancing between her sister and she spot she’d indicated, Sonata tried not to look as alarmed as she suddenly felt. “What’s wrong?” But Aria was already recovering. “He’s still descending.” She pointed again, and this time her hoof was at a low angle, indicating that Lex was below ground level. “And now he’s getting closer!” She stepped back as she felt Lex moving toward the center of the lobby, still beneath the ground. “Get ready! He’s probably going to come up right in the middle of the place!” Sonata had already moved in the opposite direction, positioning herself so that she and Aria could catch Lex in the crossfire. “Right!” Spells at the ready, both Sirens waited for their target to make his appearance… And waited… Waited… “Where is he?” muttered Sonata, shifting her weight between her legs anxiously. “Why isn’t he coming up?” “I don’t know!” snapped Aria. “Maybe he’s trying to get in our heads, make us nervous before he suddenly jumps- WHOA!” Aria nearly fell over as five feet to her left, a sudden stalagmite of black crystals erupted from the floor of the lobby. The spike was several feet long, aimed at a forty-five degree angle, and punched upward with devastating force. Thankfully, its aim was off, shooting over her head and missing her but striking one of the lobby’s central columns, shattering the wooden beam easily. Nor was it the only one… Across the lobby, similar scenes were playing out as massive black spikes shot forth from the ground. In seemingly random spots around the lobby, more dark stalagmites were lancing upward, and each time they did a column or a doorway or a portion of the wall was struck, splintering under the assault. Yelping, Sonata stumbled toward Aria. “What’s going on?!” “I think he’s firing blind!” yelled Aria, trying to make herself heard over the bedlam. “He’s aiming for random spots and hoping he gets lucky!” “That really doesn’t sound like Lex!” yelled back Sonata, looking around as more of the lobby was demolished. “I’m telling you, he-” But Aria’s protest died on her lips as she glanced over and saw Lex’s saddlebags. Or rather, saw where a smaller, smoother series of black crystals were spreading over it, enveloping the bags in what looked like some sort of protective dome. Given how that was happening nowhere else, but only to the one thing of Lex’s that was here, Aria felt her thoughts grind to a halt. “It’s not random,” she murmured, looking around again. The black crystals were still inflicting heavy damage all over the lobby…something which now made a horrifying degree of sense. “We need to leave…” “Huh?” Turning back toward Aria, Sonata blinked in confusion. “We what now?” “We need to leave!” yelped Aria, turning and moving to push Sonata along with her, headed toward the platform exit. But she hadn’t gotten more than two steps before the entire building began to collapse.