//------------------------------// // 16 - From Regret, Resolve // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// In his dream, Fireflower was home again. His brothers and sisters were laughing and running alongside him, racing each other from the lakeshore to the edge of the forest in a way that they hadn’t done together since they were little. Breezyleaf was in the lead, and Shadowvine was accusing her of using her wind-magic to cheat, causing Brightrose to shoot Fireflower a look of mock-exasperation at their sister’s perpetually-sour mood. Behind him, he could hear Rockwood teasing Waterlily about falling behind. Even though they’d all been born at almost exactly the same time, Lily had always been the baby of the group. Suddenly the dream changed, and they were in the forest now, with Fireflower was at the back of the group as they scrambled over legs and jumped over gullies. The laughter and the banter were gone, replaced by desperate panting as they ran as fast as they could. It wasn’t a race anymore. Instead, they were running for their lives. Behind him, Fireflower could hear the sound of something heavy chasing them, interspersed with the flapping of large wings. He didn’t dare turn around though, knowing that if he did there’d be a dragon there, and it would get him. He tried to push himself harder, but he could feel himself slowing down, his muscles not responding to his efforts. But he wasn’t the only one. Around him, his siblings were also failing to keep up, trading looks of terror as they all realized that there was no escape. Fireflower tried to yell, to call out to them, but his voice wasn’t working right. Waterlily was the first one to fall behind, giving a loud, horrible wail that suddenly cut off. Then the same thing happened to Brightrose. Then Shadowvine. Then Rockwood. Each time they fell from his field of vision, Fireflower felt panic and anguish tear at his heart. Only Breezyleaf was left now, panting as she continued to lose ground. In another moment she’d be gone, and then…then it would get him. But in the instant before she fell back, Breezyleaf stretched out a hoof – why was she a pony now? – and brushed Fireflower’s side. Suddenly he was moving faster, and he realized that she’d used her magic to save him at the cost of herself. “No!” he screamed, his voice came back to him, too late. Her last words floated to him as she fell back, where he knew she’d be gone forever. “Go, Fireflower!” “Fireflower!” “Hah?!” He sat up suddenly, shaking and panting in momentary incomprehension. A second later, his awareness of his surroundings kicked in, and he slumped as he realized that he was with Sonata, camping out in the forest. She put a hoof in his back, rubbing gently. “You were having a nightmare. I could hear you crying out in your sleep.” He flushed with embarrassment. Why did she have to see that?! “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” “Oh, you didn’t,” she reassured him. “I had a pretty intense dream myself, and I’d already woken up from that.” “Okay.” Silence fell for a moment, and Fireflower glanced at the sky. It was still pretty dark, but he was sure that he could see the faintest tinges of color coming from the horizon. “I need to-” “-go back.” Both of them stopped, sharing a surprised look as they realized they’d spoken in unison. It was bizarre enough that Sonata let out a snicker, and that seemed to act as a trigger because suddenly they were both laughing. For a full minute neither could do anything except laugh at the sheer absurdity at what had just happened, and how perfect it seemed in light of all the other absurdities they’d gone through. Finally they calmed down, Fireflower rubbing his eyes as he managed to get his mirth under control. Even then, he couldn’t help but smile, suddenly feeling a lot better. “You go ahead,” he gestured to Sonata. “I interrupted you.” She shook her head, her mood also improved. “Like, no. You say what you were going to say. I insist.” “I-, alright.” Fireflower had been about to argue the point, but changed his mind suddenly, feeling like he should be more assertive. “I have to look for my brothers and sisters. You said some of them might have gotten to Tall Tale. If they have, I want to find them.” His smile slowly faded as he spoke, but it was in favor of a look of resolve. Sonata nodded. “I need to go to Tall Tale too. I…” for a moment, she seemed to waver, her eyes dropping to the ground. Heaving a sigh, she forced herself to pick her head back up. “I want to find Lex.” Fireflower had been able to guess that that was what it was, but he was surprised by how easily he accepted her statement. He’d thought that he’d be scared of seeing the brooding stallion again, or upset that Sonata still seemed to want to be with him after everything that had happened. But instead he felt…okay with it. It’s because I’m the same as her, he realized suddenly. Even if it seems like a bad decision, we both want to find the people important to us. Sonata must have taken his lack of reaction the wrong way, because she began to elaborate. “He’s not a bad pony. Even if he acts really super awful sometimes, I know that he wants to do good things. He just makes mistakes, is all, and…I want to be there to help him when he does.” “Okay.” Fireflower’s one-word statement was accompanied by a warm smile, and although Sonata didn’t understand why he was so okay with her going after the pony that had tried to kill him, she was grateful for it nonetheless. Pausing just long enough to make sure that the campfire they’d started last night was thoroughly quenched, the pair set off in the direction of Tall Tale, moving quickly to make up for lost time. It was the pancakes that caused Lex to finally snap. For the last five minutes, he had been trying to ask Tender Tree about what had been happening in the city, but the pegasus mare had proven to be unrelentingly loquacious, and he hadn’t been able to get a word in edgewise. That would have been fine if she’d been providing him with useful information, but every word out of her mouth had been utterly inane. So far she had told him about her sister’s bed-and-breakfast, her extended family, the family business, and now things were coming full circle as she began to talk about her sister’s place again. “But when I say that she has the comfiest featherbeds this side of Canterlot, I’m not just spinning a yarn, no sir! That’s actually a quote from Trenderhoof himself, can you believe it? He actually wrote that! Ever since then, business has been booming! I mean, before things got bad-” Lex attempted to interrupt here, but Tender was on a roll. “And she made sure to soundproof the walls really well too! Otherwise you’d hear ponies sawing logs inside and outside! Get it? Sawing logs!” She burst into momentary laughter before immediately moving on. “Say, do you like pancakes? My sister can whip up the best-” “You…blithering…imbecile!” Tender froze at Lex’s outburst, silenced at last as her eyes widened in shock. For his part, Lex was glaring at her, a snarl contorting his features as everything he’d endured in the last twenty-four hours – the heartbreak, the stress, the exhaustion – boiled over all at once. “Pancakes? This city is being threatened by dragons and spiders and who knows what else, and you’re wasting my time with pancakes?!” “Uh-” “Shut up!” he roared. “From now on do not speak unless it’s to answer my questions! Now-” his telekinetic grip fastened around the collar of her flannel shirt, and he yanked her closer until she was practically nose-to-nose with him. “Tell me everything you know about what’s happened to this city! NOW!” Lex’s outburst had been enough to unnerve her, but seeing his eyes erupt in green and purple as he dragged her closer to him was enough to make Tender Tree descend completely into hysterics. “H-help!” she screamed, starting to thrash. “Somepony help me!” Lex started to tighten his grip on her, her failure to comply only fueling his rage and causing him to wonder what he’d need to say to make her realize that he was acting in her best interests, when one of her flailing hooves caught him across the face and he instinctively let her go, almost falling over. Instantly, Tender took to the air, flying back towards the train station in fright. For an instant, Lex considered going after her, but as the adrenaline rush that had accompanied his anger wore off he slumped over, almost collapsing before he started to drag himself into the city proper. You just accosted a pony for being too enthusiastic in wanting to help you. Even without a voice, the words were thick with disdain in his mind. “I needed to stop her prattle and get her to tell me something useful.” Lex hated how dejected his voice sounded right then. And you failed miserably. Had you not thrown away the only pony that actually cared about you, Sonata would have had that mare eating out of her hooves, and you’d have had all the information you wanted right now. Lex had no answer for that, and kept trudging into the city. It vaguely occurred to him that he was pushing himself too far, that he needed to rest…but he couldn’t afford to do so. Not when he only had the rest of the day to figure out what was going on. After that was the equinox, the only time he could replenish his magic, and by that time he’d need to know what he was dealing with so that he could prepare the right spells. Pausing beneath a streetlamp to consider what to do next, Lex blinked as it suddenly turned off. Looking up at it, he realized that the sky was growing lighter, with sunrise not far off. The city would be active soon…which meant that there’d be more ponies out and above, making it more likely that he’d be able to find somepony who had some answers. Slowly, Lex got to his hooves and kept walking. A block behind him, a figure peered out of an alley before it continued to follow him.