//------------------------------// // 533 - The Little Things // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “…and after we did, like, the fourth or fifth village, I started getting sooo bored! I mean, I barely even had to do any singing! Everypony just came for the clouds, I told them Vanhoover was totes open for business again, and then we had to move on! It was the worst!” On her portion of the bed, cuddled up at Lex’s side across from her sister, Aria snickered. “I bet the ponies traveling with you thought that you were the worst.” She’d thrown that label at Sonata more times than she could count over the years, but this time it came out differently. Gone was the harsh, mocking edge that she knew got under her sister’s skin, replaced with the teasing lilt of a shared joke. She knew Sonata heard it too, since she giggled in response, sticking her tongue out at her before turning back to Lex. “So then I got this super-smart idea! I mean, this was a total Lex moment!” she gushed. “Instead of going around to all these little towns and passing out clouds, why not make them come to me at once? So I had those pegasus ponies you sent with me spread out and deliver one cloud each to all the villages nearby, telling them to come to where I’d set up – which was some old dump called Hollow Shades – and they’d get more! And they did! I even made a whole big concert out of it!” “That was a good idea,” admitted Lex. “I’m impressed that you thought of it.” Aria rolled her eyes, giving Lex a light jab in the ribs at the backhanded (or was it “backhoofed” now?) compliment, earning a confused look from him. But Sonata didn’t even notice, squealing in delight. “I know, right?! We only missed a couple of really tiny villages, which we mostly hit on the way back.” She let out a sigh then, her smile diminishing as she laid back down. “One of them was Starlight’s.” Aria tuned Sonata out then, having heard the story last night. The hours that they’d spent by Lex’s side had seemed interminable, and while several other ponies had joined them at various intervals, they’d still had long stretches of time where it was just the two of them, waiting at Lex’s bedside in fear that each breath he took would be his last. More than once the silence had grown too oppressive to bear, driving them to talk, at first by filling each other in on what they’d been doing during their time apart before moving on to other things. From memories of their time on Earth, to wondering how Adagio was doing back on Everglow, to what they’d do to the next person who tried to hurt the guy they’d both fallen so hard for, the two of them had poured their hearts out to each other during the long countdown to midnight. For the longest time, Aria had convinced herself that she’d merely tolerated Sonata’s presence, not realizing how much she needed her – needed both of her sisters – until they’d been forcibly separated. Even then, she hadn’t been able to admit it, not until Sonata had pressed the issue after Lex had taken her voice away. But once she had, as gut-wrenching as the confession had been, Aria had started to feel better. She’d been suspicious of that, at first. The sensation of not needing to keep her guard up around someone she needed in her life was as unfamiliar as it was intoxicating, and Aria had been hesitant to trust it. But after last night, when she’d opened up to Sonata – really opened up to her – for the second time, and she’d done the same, the last of her misgivings had faded away. For the first time in her life, a life that had spanned over a thousand years, Aria Blaze could admit she loved her sister. And it’s all because of you, she thought, looking up at the stallion who was sitting up in bed, listening attentively as Sonata filled him in on what had happened during her sojourn to Starlight’s village. You rescued me. You healed me. You loved me. And then you brought me and Sonata back together. Leaning her head on his chest, she closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat. All just because you were being you, the whole time. The sheer intensity that Lex brought to everything he did had allowed him to force his way into her heart without even trying. That he’d rescued her from the sahuagin, restored her voice, and given her a place in his newly-reclaimed city had been incredible. That he’d done it with no expectation of a reward from her had been unbelievable. That he hadn’t been able to see her growing attraction to him – at least until she’d flung herself at him – had been adorable. And that he’d finally responded to her, showing her what it felt like when he turned his passion for his work into passion for her, had been irresistible. And after that… She still wasn’t sure at what point her feelings had turned into love. Certainly by the time they’d had their first real fight, when she’d pushed him too far and he’d briefly taken away her voice. She’d been unprepared for that to hurt so much, and only his apology – something she’d never thought he’d give her – and his confessing that he had feelings for her had made that go away. And realizing exactly what he meant to her hadn’t been the only effect of their falling out, since that had been what precipitated her and Sonata reconciling. You gave me all of this. Not because you wanted something for it. Not even because you meant to. Just because that’s what you do. Who you are. And that’s why… Turning her head just a little, she pressed her lips to Lex’s chest, just over his heart. I’ll love you forever. “Aria?” Hearing Lex call her name made Aria’s eyes flutter open, going rigid in embarrassment. Despite not having said anything out loud, and knowing that he was way too thickheaded to intuit what she was feeling, she could still feel her face turning red. And worse… “Wow!” tittered Sonata, a knowing grin on her face. “Looks like someone’s getting all lovey-dovey, huh?” “Sh-shut up!” Huffing, Aria scrambled for a rebuttal, only to realize that she had no idea what to say to make Sonata put a sock in it. Flailing, she turned to Lex, giving him an irate glare. “Why’re you sitting up?! You’re supposed to be resting! Lie back down right now!” Lex blinked once, the blank expression on his face making it clear that he had no clue what was happening. “The stipulation was that you two would stop harassing me if I returned to bed and worked from here, which, I’ll reiterate,” he added with a trace of irritation, “is entirely unnecessary. As to my specific posture-” “Master Legis?” Opening the door, Feather Duster stuck her head in. “Miss Bank is here to see you.” “Send her in.” His command caused Aria to sigh in relief, glad that he wasn’t paying attention to her for once. Though that was only modest comfort; on his other side, Sonata was still grinning at her, and Aria knew she’d be teased about this later. “We got it all!” River Bank, on the other hoof, was looking more full of herself than usual as she strode in, waving a piece of paper triumphantly. “I got Blueblood to agree to everything you wanted!” Lex raised a brow, a skeptical look crossing his features as he took the paper from her and looked it over. “His representative didn’t contest any of my conditions?” River shook her head, still looking inordinately pleased with herself. “He barely had anything to say about them! And it wasn’t just that valet not knowing what he was doing either. He ran back to check in with Blueblood more than once, and he still didn’t object to your terms! The only reason it took so long is that he kept revising his own.” She snorted derisively. “Most of those weren’t even important either. All but one were ridiculous details, like how Blueblood would be formally referred to during the duel. He went from ‘Prince Blueblood’ to ‘His Royal Highness Prince Blueblood’ to ‘His Most Illustrious Highness Blueblood, Royal Prince of Equestria’ to ‘The Royal Personage.’” “Wow is he dumb!” It was Sonata’s turn to snicker as she laid her head on Lex’s shoulder, cuddling with him as he read. “He made the last one shorter instead of longer! I would’ve wanted to be called ‘Sonata Dusk, also known as Princess Hot Plot the Steamy Siren-’” “What were the big changes?” cut in Aria, knowing that Sonata would have kept going for some time if not interrupted. “Well, in the event that he wins the duel,” – all the mares couldn’t help but chuckle at that, with only Lex being silent – “Blueblood originally wanted one hundred thousand bits, a written statement of apology, and, um…” For a moment River paused, her smile faltering as she glanced between Sonata and Aria. “…the two of you.” “He wanted what?!” “Are you kidding?!” River winced a little at both outbursts, but it was Lex’s reaction that made her swallow nervously. Despite being totally silent, his eyes slid over from the paper to meet hers, green and purple light bursting from them. “It’s okay, he dropped that! In fact, he dropped all of those! Now he wants you to restore Luna, rescind your, um, ‘declaration of rebellion,’ against the Royal Sisters, and pledge to open an ongoing line of dialogue with them about how you can work together to improve Equestria.” She smiled at that, clearly thinking those were better, and Aria was inclined to agree. But the news didn’t seem to calm Lex down. His eyes continued to blaze as he slowly lowered the paper in his hooves, never removing his gaze from River. “Who else was there?” Aria shot Sonata a confused glance, but she just shrugged in response. For her part, River looked completely at a loss. “What? It…it was just me and that valet. We negotiated everything in the conference room on the topmost deck. I didn’t get his name, but he was the same stallion who Blueblood designated when he-” “Not in the room with you,” interrupted Lex, his tone clipped. “On the yacht. Who else was there?” Completely mystified, River shook her head. “No one. I mean, there were a bunch of Blueblood’s servants, but I didn’t see anypony else.” “Lex?” called Sonata softly. “What’s wrong?” “These terms are what’s wrong!” he hissed, throwing the paper onto the bed. “This is a trap, and a clumsy one at that! If I were to agree to these, I’d find myself in a duel with Twilight Sparkle!” A round of alarmed looks were exchanged, with Aria being the first to recover. “You old nag,” she snarled, climbing out of bed and stalking toward River. “You betrayed us!” River backed up, turning pale, but didn’t get a word out before Lex cut in. “Aria, sit down! River did nothing of the sort!” Aria stopped advancing at that, but neither did she sit back down. “You said she brought that prince guy here in the first place! And Sonata said that she volunteered to be your negotiator or whatever! How do you know she didn’t plan this?!” “Because these terms offer no tangible gain for her,” replied Lex easily. “In the event that I fought this duel and lost, nothing in here restores River’s funds, nor prevents me from punishing her if I found out she’d been colluding with the princesses!” The admission seemed to appease the worst of his anger, and he let out a slow breath, his eyes returning to normal. “River’s special talent is finance, which means contracts, and I find it difficult to believe that she’d risk so much in order to secure one that gains her nothing.” White as a sheet, River nodded quickly. “That’s right! I’d never betray you for so little!” A moment later she heard what she said, and her eyes widened in horror. “I mean at all! I’d never betray you at all! For anything!” The slip earned her a dark look from Aria. “You better not,” she muttered as she turned and crawled back onto the bed. A tense silence hung in the room for a moment, until Sonata spoke up. “Well, she’s totes not enchanted,” she added, giving River a kind look. “And besides, I don’t think she’d do that anyway. River’s like you” – she gently poked Lex’s ribs – “all hard and tough on the outside but a big old softy on the inside.” She leaned in to nuzzle him, which Aria knew was an effort to get him to calm down, before her expression turned quizzical as she picked up the paper with the terms of the duel written on it. “What I wanna know is, how do you know this is a trap?” “Because it utilizes only the barest application of subtlety,” he snorted. “Leaving aside that Blueblood’s current place of residence is one of the more obvious locations for Twilight Sparkle to fall back to-” “I thought,” began River, before realizing she’d cut him off. “I’m sorry! It’s just…I’ve heard that Princess Twilight can teleport. I thought maybe she’d used that to go back to Canterlot with her friends, at least until they were ready to attack again.” “She's not from Canterlot, she's from Ponyville, a village that sits near the base of the mountain Canterlot rests on,” corrected Lex. “As for her being able to teleport herself and the rest of her assemblage there, that’s possible, but unlikely. While Twilight might have studied how to use long-range teleportation via thaumaturgical spellcasting during her time on Everglow, even a pony of her intellect would find it to be impossible to maintain the necessary conceptual constructs after only a few months of practice. Barring her procuring some sort of magic item with the same capabilities, which their economic market would price as being hideously expensive, she’d need to use native Equestrian magic to teleport. And transporting that many people that far would be difficult, since the standard usage of the spell doesn’t have the necessary range nor the capacity for so many passengers. Even if she were to augment the spell somehow, the way Celestia and Luna did to their magic, she’d still likely experience a drain significant enough that fighting a duel on top of it would be prohibitive.” Sonata’s eyes had already glazed over, but Aria had gotten the gist of what he was saying. “Okay, so instead of running home she’s shacking up with Bluebeard or whatever his name is, what’s that got to do with the duel?” Rather than answer her, Lex turned to River. “When you informed me of your interactions with Blueblood, you noted that he was aware that I’d ‘insulted’ Celestia and Luna. Did he ever go into specifics regarding the nature of my supposed offense?” River paused for a moment, her expression turning vacant, before she slowly shook her head. “No. But I just thought that was because he was an idiot. Are you saying he didn’t know?” “All evidence to date suggests that he’s highly invested in Equestrian royalty as an institution,” answered Lex. “For him to be so late in demanding that I reverse Luna’s unbecoming an alicorn would only make sense if he wasn’t aware of it. But Twilight Sparkle would be, since Garden Gate previously informed me that she was called back shortly after I defeated the Royal Sisters.” Aria raised a brow. “You got all that from him not saying anything about fixing that Luna lady until the last minute?” Lex shook his head. “There’s also how this specifically calls for me to rescind my original declaration of rebellion. Twilight and Celestia were both there for that. Blueblood wasn’t.” Sonata shrugged. “Maybe they told him later?” He raised a brow at her in response. “Then there’s the matter of his titles. As you noted, each one was longer than the last, until the final one. But there’s another point of differentiation: each of the previous titles uses his name specifically, with only the final one omitting it. So if I agree to fight a duel with ‘The Royal Personage,’ then that means-” “Your opponent can be anypony who’s royalty!” River’s eyes widened in horror at the thought. “I thought his valet just talked him down in order to keep him from sounding ridiculous!” Gulping, she reached for the paper. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize this! I’ll go back and press for a change of terms immediately! I’ll make sure that Blueblood and Blueblood alone is the pony you’ll be fighting! There won’t-” “No.” Lex’s voice was grim as he shook his head again. “Tell them that I accept the terms.” Sonata’s eyes widened. “Wait, you what now?!” “You just said it was a trap!” snapped Aria. Lex didn’t look at either of them as he replied, instead glancing down at the terms of the duel balefully. “It is. And it’s one that I have no choice but to walk into.”