Lateral Movement

by Alzrius


559 - Shock and Flaw

The sound of Sonata’s moan sent an immediate jolt through Lex.

It wasn’t arousal, despite the amatory tenor of her voice. Nor was it confusion, even though he had no idea what was going on to make her cry out like that. It wasn’t even concern.

Instead, the emotion he felt at that moment was pure jealous rage.

SHE’S MINE!!!

Sonata was his! Her and her sister both! He had claimed them for his own in every conceivable manner! He’d protected them in battle, dominated them in bed, received their vows of love, and presented them to the Night Mare and the public as belonging to him! The right to enjoy them was his alone, and yet now someone else was DARING TO TOUCH ONE OF THEM!!!

His eyes blazed solid green, blotting out any other discernable details as the purple contrails from their outer corners flared brightly. Black crystals erupted from the floor around him, causing the assembled ponies to yelp in fright as they fell out of their chairs, flailing and scooting backward in alarm. The jagged edges rose high enough to blot out several of the windows, causing the lighting in the room to darken even as his shadow remained conspicuously visible, looming abnormally on the wall behind him like some menacing specter.

With terrible slowness, Lex stood.

“River,” he pronounced quietly, the controlled timbre of his voice not matching his ferocious appearance. “Take care of things here. I’ll return once I’ve dealt with this…interruption.”

From off to the side he heard her gibber an assent, but he was only barely listening, his gaze locked onto the far wall where Sonata’s ecstasy-laden voice had come from. Striding forward, he didn’t bother clearing the overturned chairs from his path, instead turning into a shadow moments before he would have collided with them, idly registering the sound of gasps as he changed forms. Without slowing his pace, he reached the far wall and went right through it without stopping.

Just in time to hear Sonata’s voice raised in another sensuous moan.

“MORE MORE MORE!!!

The edges of his umbral form flickered and writhed as his agitation increased, his speed picking up as he noted that her voice seemed louder now. Passing through a drawing room and then an empty guest room, curses ran through his mind by the dozens, each more horrible than the last. Nor were they all intended for whomever had made the mistake of daring to lay hooves on one of his mares. He hadn’t cursed Sonata the way he had Aria because he hadn’t thought he’d needed to, but with how she sounded now it was difficult to imagine her being anything but a willing participant in whatever treachery was occurring. But that was a mistake he’d rectify and then some!

“GIVE IT TO ME! MMMMMM!!!

From the decibel level, he could tell that she was right on the other side of the next wall. His fury reaching its peak, Lex rushed through it. Sure enough, there was Sonata, lying face down on a small table with her legs splayed out as she-

“SO GOOD!!!

“Oh my!” blushed a rather fat unicorn mare as she levitated a plate over to catch the crumbs falling from Sonata’s mouth. “I had no idea you liked cupcakes so much, Lady Dusk!”

“Hah!” laughed another unicorn mare, this one tall and muscular and rearing up on her hind legs as she pressed her hooves down on the base of Sonata’s spine, drawing a ragged groan of pleasure from the limp Siren. “Is good! Strong appetite put more meat on skinny bones! Make you nice and plump for prince!”

“She’s already got all the cushioning she needs,” snorted Aria from the other side of the room, reclining in a cluster of pillows with her back legs crossed, a plethora of clothes strewn around her. “Most of it in the rear. Now, how’s that picture coming? Are you getting my…” She uncrossed her legs on a languid motion, closing her eyes and giving a breathy grunt as she stretched, putting one leg back over the other, opposite to how they’d been before. “…good side?”

“Y-yes!” squeaked the teenage unicorn stallion across from her, holding a shaking paintbrush in his telekinesis, gulping as he glanced between her, Sonata, and an easel set up in front of him, his tail curled underneath himself in an effort to preserve his modesty. “I mean,” he repeated after swallowing, his voice no longer cracking. “Yes, Lady Blaze! But I can’t go any further without knowing which outfit you’ll be wearing!”

“Perhaps something more casual?” In contrast to the sweating teenager, the balding unicorn stallion off to the side seemed entirely composed as he levitated a pair of bathrobes toward her. “Would you prefer velvet or silk, my lady?”

“I think…both,” grinned Aria.

The balding stallion blinked at that, his stoic expression marred by confusion as he glanced between her and the robes. “I don’t understand…how-”

“Your Highness?!” From his position near the door, Stuffed Shirt did a double-take as he looked up and saw the glowing-eyed shadow at the far end of the room. Breaking away from the pair of unicorns he was talking to – a stallion carrying a book of what looked like miniature flag designs and a mare holding a pair of scrolls – he trotted toward Lex, all activity ceasing as everypony else took notice of where his attention was directed. “Is everything alright? I was under the impression that your meeting with the Las Pegasus delegation would take several hours.”

Realizing that he’d badly misunderstood the nature of what was happening, Lex’s rage vanished immediately, leaving only embarrassment to fill the void as he turned back to corporeal form. “There was a…break,” he muttered, fumbling for an excuse that didn’t involve him making a fool of himself. “I mean, we’re taking a break while everypony…makes suggestions.”

Stuffed Shirt cocked his head. “I see. Well, is there anything that I can-”

“Lex!” Hauling herself off the table, Sonata rushed over to give him a quick hug. “You have got to try these cupcakes! They’re, like, the best! Bester than best! And that lady” – she waved a hoof toward the muscled mare, who grinned proudly – “gives the totes most incredible massages! For realsies, it was sooo good, you have no idea!”

“Oh, I think he has some idea,” snickered Aria as she sauntered toward him, grinning as she leaned in for a nuzzle. “Lemme guess,” she whispered as she rubbed her cheek to his. “You heard little miss cupcakes-for-brains here moaning and got all hot and bothered?”

Her guess was too close to the truth for comfort, making Lex recoil. “No,” he blurted immediately, only to realize a moment later that an alternative explanation would be required now that he’d rejected hers. “I was…just…seeing how the evaluations were going.” He had no idea if that sounded plausible or not, resisting the urge to fold his ears back as his discomfort continued to skyrocket. This was far worse than merely being seduced into making a troublesome promise; at least that had happened in private! Now he’d not only been driven to disrupt the extremely-important loan negotiations, but he was also on the verge of humiliating himself in front of his new subordinates! “I need to get back.”

Stepping away from both mares, he turned back the way he’d come, only to realize in mid-motion that he couldn’t go through the wall he’d emerged from now that he was in solid form. That led to another half-second of indecision before he instead aborted the move and pushed past the two of them, heading for the door on the other side of the room, refusing to make eye contact with anyone as he felt his cheeks burning. In his mind, his tulpa was already launching a vicious swarm of cutting remarks, and he knew it would be some time before he’d be able to master his emotions enough to make it settle down, hoping against hope that his chagrin had managed to slip by everyone else unnoticed.

It seemed there were some for which it had, because the unicorns that Stuffed Shirt had been talking to – still standing by the door – smiled as he approached, somehow managing to hold their expression as the two of them engaged in a quick round of trying to nudge each other out of the way in order to be the first to approach him. The struggle only lasted a second before the winner was determined, the mare’s smile brightening as she outmaneuvered her companion. Her proximity earned her the briefest of glances from Lex, noting the cream-colored coat and a mane and tail that were the same deep brown as his own, though in her case the former was done up in a tight bun at the back of her head. She also wore thick glasses that gave her an owlish look, along with a cutie mark depicting three two-tailed shooting stars, overlapping in a way that created a crown design.

“Your Highness,” she began. “I’m Constance Halation, your Royal Magician. That’s ‘Constance’ with an ‘s’ sound; some ponies think my name’s ‘Constant’ Halation, or even ‘Constellation,’ although my family does call me that – ‘Constellation,’ I mean, not ‘Constant Halation’ – along with one boyfriend I had when I was a teenager. Would it be alright if I walked back to your meeting with you?”

“No,” snapped Lex immediately.

“Of course,” she replied, even as she moved to keep pace with him, hefting a scroll. “It’s just that my specialty is non-traditional magic, which technically isn’t a specialty since it covers every sort of magic that isn’t how unicorns normally cast spells, and I’ve been told that you’re using the same dark magic that King Sombra used? I only ask because I wrote a paper on that and submitted it for consideration to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns two years ago, and although my fourth and fifth letters inquiring about their thoughts on it went unanswered, the third one received a response that said they’d found it ‘interesting’ and were ‘looking into’ it, and I was absolutely fascinated by the display you put on during your duel yesterday and was wondering if you wouldn’t mind demonstrating turning into a shadow again sometime since I only got a brief glimpse of that two days ago when you were rushing to go confront that Starlight Glimmer lady, and of course just now, and that would really-, oh! Yes! Just like that!”

The last thing Lex heard before he rushed through a nearby wall – once again incorporeal – was the sound of Constance Halation furiously putting quill to parchment.


“Babe! There you are!”

Tryout couldn’t keep the exasperation out of his voice as he landed, walking toward his wife. While thirty minutes with his boys in an icepack had done wonders for the ache between his hind legs, trying to track down Feather Duster had been another matter entirely. This place was a maze! As it was, the only reason he’d turned down this particular hallway – spotting his wife dancing attendance on a bunch of stuck-up-looking ponies milling about – had been because he’d taken a brief detour while trying to hunt down who’d been making those sexy moans. “We need to talk!”

Glancing back at him, Feather cringed. “Not now!” Without waiting for a reply, she turned back toward some of the snooty-types, plastering a smile onto her face. “Everypony, please, head back inside. I’m sure His Highness will be back momentarily.”

“I’m not sure I want to be here when he does,” muttered one pony.

“If we don’t give him what he wants, will he attack us?” gulped another.

“Prince Legis wouldn’t do that!” frowned Feather, before taking a breath. “He’s really a very kind and generous pony-”

“Yeah, especially when it comes to someone else’s wife!” Stalking toward Feather, Tryout made sure to stay out of hooves’ reach, just in case she was still in a kicking mood. “Feather, how could you?!”

“This isn’t a good time, Tryout,” she shot back, giving him a glare. “Whatever’s bothering you, we can discuss it later.”

“What’s bothering me,” he snapped, refusing to let her brush him off, “is that my wife is some wannabe-prince’s personal assistant, and he’s not very interested in the ‘-istant’ part. Did you even think about Cleansweep? About what this is doing to our…our…oh no!”

In front of him, his wife was giving him a look of anger and confusion, but Tryout wasn’t paying attention to her anymore. Instead, his gaze was fixed past her, on a heavyset earth stallion with a greyish mane and blue coat and a cutie mark of several twinkling bits. A stallion that was staring back at him with a look of shock that was rapidly turning into outrage. A stallion Tryout had hoped he’d never see again.

Frozen in shock, Tryout could only watch as Gladmane pointed a hoof at him and let out a bellow.

“THIEF!”