//------------------------------// // 590 - Work-Life Balance // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “I’m going to Sweet Apple Acres!” “Did you finish all your homework?” “Yes!” “Did you clean your room like I asked?” “Yes!” “Did you remember your costume?” “Ugh!” Willow could almost hear her son rolling his eyes as he trudged into the living room, not looking up from her newspaper as he moved to stand across from her, pouting, the ensemble in question bunched up in his paws. “Can you please just let me use the magic stuff I brought here from back home?” he begged. “It’s so much cooler than this dorky outfit you made me!” Raising an eyebrow, Willow slowly folded her paper, giving him a cool look as she put it down. “I think you look very handsome in that costume.” “Mom!” Sunflower whined, managing to make the word several syllables long. “The armor is made out of tinfoil, the cloak is an old quilt, and the mace is a soup can glued to the end of a broken fishing pole! I look like a kid playing pretend!” “That is the point of a school play, last I checked,” pointed out Willow, trying not to sound too bemused. “It’s not a play,” huffed the younger purrsian, his wings flaring in childish indignation. “It’s our entry for the school talent show! Me and the Crusaders are putting on a reproduction of the adventures we had together back home! I need the real stuff to make it look authentic!” “First of all, it’s ‘the Crusaders and I,’” corrected Willow. “Second, Equestria is home now. And third, I’ve told you before, using real weapons and armor is not only unnecessary in a place as peaceful as this, but also runs the risk of upsetting the neighbors. So unless there’s some sort of emergency, they’re staying under lock and key where they belong.” “Great,” huffed Sunflower miserably, his wings drooping as a sour expression crossed his face. “So not only do I get to be the only one who can’t cast spells, I don’t get to have magic equipment either.” Willow resisted the urge to sigh. Sunflower’s desire to become a spellcaster was looking less and less like a phase that he’d grow out of, and more and more like a serious interest. The fact that the fillies he spent most of his time with were all dabbling in various spellcasting traditions that they’d picked up while on Everglow was likely exacerbating matters, inadvertently reminding her son of his own deficiency in the arcane arts. Of course, Willow knew why he really wanted to study magic. The framed newspaper article about Lex Legis, showing him inside an astral construct as he stared down a dragon, still hung on the wall of Sunflower’s bedroom. Her mood falling at the thought of the stallion who was trying to ruin the idyllic society where her son could grow up safe and happy, Willow let her cool gaze turn into a steely one, long years of practice allowing her to keep her thoughts from showing on her face. “Do you want to have this discussion again now?” she asked pointedly. “Or do you want to go practice your act for the talent show with your friends?” Grimacing, the younger purrsian looked down, his expression defeated. “I gotta get going,” he mumbled, turning and heading toward the front door. For a moment Willow watched Sunflower go, her features returning to their usual neutral expression, hiding how much she hated making her son look so upset. Fortunately, she’d been his mother long enough to know what to do about it. “And make sure you actually do your share of the work,” she called after him as she turned back toward her newspaper, acting as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “Don’t spend all of your time making out with Sweetie Belle.” The gentle admonishment had the desired effect as Sunflower whirled in place, his cheeks red beneath his fur and his eyes wide with childish embarrassment. “MOM!” It took all of Willow’s self-control to fight down the sudden laugh that bubbled up inside her then. “I’m not saying the two of you can’t sneak off for a little while, just not the entire time. And make sure to wash your face when you’re done, just in case she’s wearing her sister’s lipstick again. Unless you want the other girls to tease you some more, that is.” Sunflower’s response came in the form of a mortified shriek as he rushed out the door, slamming it behind him. Once he was gone, Willow stopped holding back, chuckling at how adorable her boy was. But the moment ended all too soon, her good humor fading away as she turned back to the problem that she’d been wrestling with for the last several days. How to kill her son’s idol, Lex Legis. It was a task that she was no closer to accomplishing now than she was when she’d been asked to do it by Princess Celestia three days ago. And while neither the princess nor Prince Shining Armor – the only other person who had been privy to the clandestine request for Lex to be dispatched – had specified any sort of timeframe, Willow knew that waiting was doing her no favors. Not when Lex was continuing to shore up his powerbase. That much was evident from what Princess Celestia had told her during the meeting. Not only had Lex taken a royal title for himself, along with all of the perks and privileges that it commanded, but he was apparently also working hard to empower others to fight on his behalf. Although the fight between his lackeys and Twilight Sparkle’s new student, Starlight Glimmer, had apparently ended in the latter’s victory, the tale of the battle – relayed to her by Princess Celestia – had sent cold shudders down Willow’s spine. Though that had less to do with the various abilities and aptitudes his followers had displayed than it did with how several of Lex’s most devoted minions were apparently children no older than her son. As it was, Willow had accepted the commission from the princess – which mandated only that the deed had to be done as secretly as possible and that no one else was to be hurt in the process – because she firmly believed that Lex needed to be taken out of the picture before he could irreparably damage the fabric of Equestrian society. But that didn’t mean she had a plan for how to go about it. Even with Princess Celestia relaying Twilight Sparkle’s belief that something was wrong with Lex’s arcane spellcasting, Willow had no illusions about who would win if she were to fight the newly-crowned prince head-on. Certainly, her own skills as a summoner weren’t up to the task. Although she was able to conjure a wide variety of planar denizens, all of them were of modest power and limited intellect; indeed, most of them were lacking in sapience altogether, being little more than beasts. Even those that were capable of intelligent thought were still among the weakest creatures of their realms. But then, that was only to be expected. As a summoner, her magic focused heavily on controlling the creatures that she called forth, to the point where they were infallibly bound to total obedience. It was the greatest strength of her spellcasting style, but also the greatest weakness, since focusing so heavily on control meant that not only was there little power left to actually ensnare the creatures she pressed into service, but they couldn’t remain under her control for very long. Five or six minutes was the most she could currently manage, which made her summoned monsters good for little more than backup during a fight. The sole exception was Kalik, the fire elemental whom she’d formed a soul-bond with back when she’d desperately needed a protector she could trust utterly. The connection between them was much stronger, to the point of allowing her to call Kalik forth with nothing more than a minor ritual, after which she could remain by her side indefinitely. The downside was that Kalik retained her independence, and although she was well-disposed toward Willow, she couldn’t be ordered to do anything she didn’t want to do. Even then, as far as elementals went, Kalik was notable more for her intelligence (which was high for one of her kind, even if it was less than impressive by mortal standards) than her destructive potential. While Willow knew it was possible to augment the elemental’s power – enhancing her summoning magic had been the focus of her studies right before she’d found herself caught up in the events that had brought her and her son to Equestria, and the soul-bond between her and Kalik allowed her to increase any such augmentation several times over – she also knew that would the slow cultivation of her own meager magical skills. Like everything else she’d achieved in her life, her magical prowess was the result of long, hard work rather than inborn talent. It was a stark contrast from Twilight Sparkle, who after only a few tutoring sessions in summoning magic was already outperforming Willow. Of course, Twilight had elected to disable the forced obedience controls built into the summoning spells Willow had taught her (and the fact that she had been able to isolate, alter, and rework the underlying structure of those spells so easily had been incredible all on its own), redirecting the freed-up energy toward summoning stronger creatures – like that hound archon, Behemiel – and trusting in friendship, rather than any sort of compulsion or ritual bonding, to see things through. Fortunately, Twilight knew to restrict herself to creatures of a benevolent disposition, such as angels, archons, and similar denizens of the empyreal realms; Willow didn’t want to think about what would happen if Twilight was stupid enough to summon a demon or something similarly malicious without being able to control it. Of course, that didn’t help Twilight in her duel, noted Willow silently as she stood up, tossing her newspaper – a reprint of Princess Luna’s tell-all from several days ago, along with some supplementary information about Lex – onto the table as she headed toward the front door. Summoning wasn’t the only magic that Willow had available, but it was the majority of it. She’d picked up a few other spells over the years, mostly a smattering of defense and utility spells, none of them very powerful. The same was true for the bits of enchanted gear that she’d collected; other than Sunflower’s mace being ensorcelled to be able to strike incorporeal creatures as if they were solid – found while he and those fillies had risked their lives exploring an old ruin on Everglow – they were little more than armor that had received minor magical strengthening, mildly apotropaic cloaks, and a few other trinkets, none of which would be more than marginally helpful against Lex. Not when he could create a small mountain of black crystals and drop it on someone. And that was with his strongest magic supposedly being crippled somehow. Stepping outside, Willow adopted a smile that was in direct contrast to her mood as she made her way through Ponyville, knowing that her typical reserved expression would stand out in the cheery town. She’d made that mistake once before, and it had resulted in Pinkie Pie following her around all day trying to “cheer her up,” which had entailed everything from serenading her with some sort of one-mare band contraption to an impromptu food fight. It had taken hours for Willow to wash all the icing out of her fur, and it wasn’t an experience she cared to repeat. Instead, she strolled leisurely through town, smiling and waving at various ponies who were her and Sunflower’s neighbors, none of whom were useful to her at the moment. Equestria didn’t have any sort of assassins’ guild or mercenary force that she could subcontract to kill Lex for her. And while there were magic items for sale, all of them were horribly weak, which made it just as well that they weren’t meant for combat anyway. The only place that had any chance of having something stronger – whether of local make or brought back from Everglow – was Twilight’s residence. While Willow didn't know if there was anything there she’d need to appropriate in order to kill Lex, she doubted it would be too hard to convince one of the purple pony princess’s houseguests to let her inventory what was available. Princess Celestia let it slip that Twilight was feeling guilty over her student being caught up in a portal that she’d foolishly left open, reviewed Willow as she made her way toward the crystal castle. It shouldn’t take much to convince whoever’s there that I just want to look at whatever other magical knickknacks she’s lying around in order to make sure nothing like that happens again. After all, I’m her summoning tutor. She was still going over her story as she knocked on the front door of the castle. It wouldn’t do to take anything now, of course, but she’d at least be able to catalog if there was anything useful- “Willow?” Spike looked pleasantly surprised as he opened the door. “Wow, heard the news already, huh?” Willow blinked, her cover story momentarily forgotten. “The news…?” Nodding, Spike held his arms out in joy, a toothy grin on his face. “Twilight’s back! And she found Starlight too! They both suddenly reappeared less than a half-hour ago, so I’m letting everypony know!” Clearly overjoyed, he ushered her in. “Come on, you’re the first one to arrive!” “I…I see,” murmured Willow, trying to figure out what to do now. “Do me a favor,” continued Spike as he led her into the kitchen and shoved a bowl into her paws. “Would you bring them these cauliflower chips I made? Soft Mane’s out with her mom, and I’m still sending everypony letters to let them know that Twilight’s back while I whip up a few more dishes.” Without stopping to look at her, he took a cake pan out of the oven, setting the steaming confection aside before replacing it with what looked like some sort of cheese dish, moving to grab a piece of paper from a stack that had been set on a nearby countertop along with a quill and inkwell. “They’re talking to their new friend in the map room.” Willow’s brow furrowed as she tried to process the sudden rush of information that was being thrown at her. Especially that last part. “…new friend?” “Yep! In the map room,” answered Spike distractedly as he rolled the letter up and breathed on it, the paper turning into a collection of sparkling motes that whipped through the air and toward the door. Watching them go for a moment, Willow glanced back at the baby dragon, seeing him adjust the temperature on the oven before starting another letter as he happily hummed a cheerful tune. Raising an eyebrow, Willow wandered away, having been here often enough for Twilight’s summoning lessons that she knew where the map room was, knowing that her plans were likely scuttled but that it would raise questions if she ducked out now. Heading down the hallway that led to her destination, Willow slowed down as voices floated out from behind the closed doors. There were three of them, all female, and they sounded…not happy. Curious despite herself, Willow crept closer, making sure to step lightly. “…-not ungrateful for your help,” came Twilight’s voice, sounding more subdued than Willow could ever remember her being. “I just don’t think you needed to go that far. Those guards had already surrendered!” “Come on, Twilight,” came a second voice, this one conciliatory in tenor. “She did what she had to do. It’s not like we were in a position to take prisoners or anything. If we’d let them go, we never would have gotten out of there! Besides, we helped a lot of ponies escape.” A sigh then, and the voice turned sour. “Even if Silhouette was one of them.” “I know, Starlight,” came Twilight’s voice again, not sound reassured at all. “I’m just wondering if there was a better way.” “There wasn’t,” replied a third voice coldly. “Not unless you wanted someone to raise an alarm, in which case none of us would have gotten out of there.” But Twilight didn’t sound ready to accept that reasoning. “You could have knocked them out-” “And if they’d recovered before we were done, that would have been it,” interrupted the third voice. “And I’m through talking about this. It’s over, and I kept my end of the bargain, so now you keep yours.” “Alright,” sighed Twilight. “Give me a day or so to get the money together. I don’t usually have to ask for royal funds.” “One day,” answered the third person flatly. “Now, you can keep wringing your hooves if you want to. I’m going to find something to eat.” Engrossed in the conversation, it took Willow a moment to realize the implication of those words, and before she could react the door was thrown open and someone collided with her bodily, sending the two of them spilling to the floor along with the bowl of cauliflower chips. The newcomer sprang away immediately, rolling back and coming up in a fighting stance, reaching for a sheathed hilt around her middle. Willow reacted slower, surprised to find that the newcomer wasn’t a pony like she’d assumed. Instead, she was a griffon. Her front half was completely black, having the appearance of a crow. Her back half shared her inky coloration, being feline in nature but otherwise harder to place; it could have been anything from a jaguar to a housecat. Her clothes were in the same style, with her cloak, tunic, belt, and large collection of pouches, bandoliers, and short blades all dyed ebony. Including the buttoned purse at her side that had spilled open in the commotion, causing a set of thin, eyeless needles to spill to the ground. Willow’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of them. She knew what those were, having spent enough time dealing with the underworld elements of her hometown, Murrage, to recognize that they were no ordinary sewing implements. They were quieting needles, made to be inserted into the vital areas of a dead body and remain there unseen so that, if the corpse was resurrected, the unlucky person would immediately suffer fatal injury and die again in seconds. The tools of an assassin. Willow blinked, unable to believe her luck, as Twilight and a purple pony who matched Princess Celestia’s description of Starlight Glimmer moved up to look at them both. “Willow?” asked Twilight, clearly befuddled, before shaking her head. “I suppose everypony’s starting to arrive, so we should probably take a break anyway. Let me introduce you to our new…friend.” Willow didn’t miss the way Twilight’s voice fell on the last word before continuing. “Her name’s Dark Streak, and she’s the reason Starlight and I made it out of Cuachan alive.”