Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

109 - What Comes Next

It was another two days before Lex managed to figure out how to cure the ponies whose flesh had been warped by the aboleth.

The doctors, to their credit, had given him the idea. Working tirelessly to figure out what was wrong with their fellows, they had come up with a theory. “We think it’s something like a fungal infection,” House Call had said. “That’s what most closely resembles their current condition.” He had then proceeded to babble some medical nonsense about possible analyses and treatments, but Lex hadn’t been listening by that point, instead processing what he’d just been told.

Although the Night Mare had been stingy with giving him healing magic, she had been more generous with other restorative spells. While he could only mend cuts and bruises with modest ability, the selection of divine spells he’d been granted – modest though they were – included numerous other curative spells. One was specifically tailored to curing blindness or deafness, while another could slow, but not cure, poison. There were several others, but the one he was thinking about at the moment was the one he’d used to save Drafty when he’d first met her: the spell that could cure diseases.

Strictly speaking, a fungal infection wasn’t a disease, but given how healing magic seemed to be notably diverse in its applications, Lex had been willing to give it a try. Heading out to where the afflicted ponies were floating in the harbor, Lex had called one of them over and pressed a hoof to their forehead as he intoned the spell. An instant later the puckered, translucent mess that their skin had been smoothed out and became healthy flesh. The pony – a unicorn stallion who looked the same age as himself – had been so shocked that he’d actually started crying, tearfully blubbering about how he’d been sure that he’d never be cured.

Lex had passed the weeping stallion off to the guards to take inside. Since the afflicted ponies were forced to remain outside, several ponies had remained outside at all times – and with numerous torches and fires lit during the night – just in case any more monsters or undead ponies showed up looking for an easy meal. Lex had been uncertain of the merit of that idea, since he saw the ponies around him as still being survivors rather than warriors, but everypony had been surprisingly insistent, so he’d reluctantly allowed it. It meant not using the same wards as before, but there was no helping that; locking the guards outside meant that they’d have nowhere to go if they needed to retreat.

As they’d ushered the newly-cured stallion into the warehouse, the other afflicted ponies had swum close, begging to also be cured. The look on their faces when he’d told them that they would need to wait had been hard for Lex to deal with, but there was no helping it. He only had a small amount of divine magic that he could wield each day, and creating food and water for everypony was already pushing those limits. It was only because of the small reservoir of magical energy in his circlet that he could do that and cure a single pony’s infection in the same day.

Still, this breakthrough meant that the last lingering problems from their battle were finally over, which in turn meant that they could start making forward motion on reclaiming Vanhoover…and not a moment too soon. As the guards hustled the stallion into the waiting hooves of the doctors, eager to examine their miraculously-cured patient, one of them had quietly informed Lex that they’d heard hoofsteps out in the darkness the previous night, but nopony had answered when they’d called out.

Lex hadn’t taken that news lying down, of course. The idea that the undead ponies were sniffing about had sent him out searching the nearby buildings that same day, flitting through walls and floors in shadow-form, only to find nothing. He’d had Aria cast her tracking spell – the one she’d used to track him during their fight – but she had reported that there were no undead ponies for several hundred feet, the apparent limit of her spell's range, in every direction. Lex, still not completely convinced, had ordered her to teach the spell to him, but she’d claimed not to know how it was written since, as with Sonata, her magic was intuitive rather than studied. That didn’t mean that the spell was beyond his reach, of course; with her explaining what she knew of it, he could have reconstructed it independently, but that would take time and resources that he didn’t have at the moment.

But fortunately, there hadn’t been any nighttime attacks by undead ponies hungering for living flesh, and over the next three days Lex had been able to cure each of the remaining patients. When the last one had finally left the water and come back inside, an impromptu party had broken out in the shelter. But although Lex was glad that the hardest-hit ponies had finally recovered, he had little interest in celebrating. Instead, it was time to make some decisions that had been delayed far too long…

---

“Sonata, I need to speak with you.”

“Just one sec!” she called back before returning her attention to the group of ponies that had gathered around her. Lex irritably noted that almost all of them were stallions, and that their eyes lingered on her as she trotted over to him, cheery as could be.

“There’s a decision that I need to make,” he said without preamble as she reached him. “I want to know what you th-”

“Hey, do you know how to dance?” she interrupted, her eyes shining with excitement.

The unexpected query threw him for a loop, and he stared at her for a moment uncomprehendingly. “What?”

She gestured back towards the ponies that she’d just left. “Some of the doctors and sailors put together some makeshift instruments! Isn’t that great?” She grinned as though that were the best news imaginable. “I can totes use my magic on them to get some music cranked up! This is gonna be sweet!” She stood up on her hind legs on that last word and pumped a foreleg into the air before coming back down onto all fours. “We’re gonna have dancing, and games, and we’re thinking maybe a talent show, and-”

“I don’t care, or dance for that matter,” snapped Lex. “I have more important things to be doing.” He knew he shouldn’t be upset, knew that everypony had earned the right to relax and enjoy themselves after how they’d conducted themselves in the battle, but he couldn’t help it. He could see how this was going to go, and he could feel the old familiar tension that always came when he found himself in social situations.

“Aw, c’mon Lex, you earned this!” Sonata wasn’t in the least bothered by his sourness, being too used to it by now. Instead, she leaned in and gave him a knowing smile. “I bet a lot of the girls here want to dance with you, which I’m totes fine with so long as they do it from across the room.” She punctuated her statement by sticking her tongue out at him, but Lex’s only response was to furrow his brows, not sure how serious she was being. Oblivious to his confusion, she rattled on. “But for realsies, you should probably hang out with Drafty a little bit, since she saved your life and all.”

Lex winced at that. He was keenly aware that Thermal Draft had taken a hit meant for him during the battle, when the kraken had temporarily taken control of Cloudbank. Were it not for her, he would doubtlessly have died, at which point everypony else would have also. But he had no idea how to react to that. Thinking back on it raised a mixture of embarrassment that he’d needed to be saved again, gratitude for her sacrifice, humiliation that he’d been so powerless at such a critical moment, admiration for her bravery, and confusion as to what had motivated her to do that for him. It was unpleasant enough that he’d been trying to avoid her for the last few days. At least with Cloudbank his reticence was due to figuring out how to integrate her newfound position and abilities into his future plans. He simply had no idea what to say to Thermal Draft at all.

Unconsciously, his eyes picked her out in the crowd, where she was talking to C. Shells, a nurse, and that pony with the scar on his neck from where the sahuagin had almost torn his throat out. Lex had just enough time to feel slightly surprised that Cloudbank wasn’t with her – the two had been almost inseparable the last few days – and then she looked over and made eye contact with him. The moment she did, her face lit up with a smile so bright that it was almost glowing, and she raised a hoof to wave at him.

Lex froze, his brain instantly kicking into overdrive as he tried to process her gesture and figure out the appropriate response. It was futile, of course; he’d learned that over the course of thousands of such interactions he’d experienced during his life, but he couldn’t help but try anyway.

The most obvious one was to mimic the gesture in return, but what if she’d meant that to call him over instead of sending a greeting? He’d seen that before, and so couldn’t discount the possibility. Or perhaps it would be better to give her a nod of acknowledgment, to let her know that he was aware of her gesture but nothing more? Or was that insufficient for somepony that had saved his life? But why should it be, since he had saved hers when she was dying of a disease when he first found her? Maybe a verbal response was called for instead, but if that was the case what should be said? Her name alone? Perhaps a general inquiry as to her health? Something else?

It had been less than two seconds since Drafty had looked at him, but in that time Lex considered well over a dozen possible replies. But to his mind, there were justifications for – and against – all of them, which made each choice seem equally good or bad depending on the underlying context of the situation…context which everypony else had always seemed to find as obvious as could be, but which he had never once been able to conclusively isolate. Somewhere in there, he was sure, was the right answer. But figuring out how to arrive at it was a process that he was still, after all these years, no closer to mastering.

“Lex?”

He glanced back at Sonata, hearing the uncertainty in her voice, but it was too late. She was already turning her head to follow his gaze, and a moment later her grin returned. “This is perfect! Drafty!” She stood up on her hind legs again and waved at the mare in question. “C’mere!”

Lex gave Sonata a stricken look. He’d originally called for her to solicit her opinion as to whether or not he should call the princesses and inform them about Vanhoover’s situation now that everypony had recovered. Now he wished that he’d simply made a decision unilaterally. As it was, Drafty was trotting over, and Lex was just starting to resign himself to what was almost certainly going to be an awkward and uncomfortable situation when Aisle suddenly burst into the room. “Ponies!” he yelled, a tense look on his face. “There are ponies outside!”

“More of those undead things?” Lex asked with a frown, but inwardly he felt a rush of relief. He had no idea why those monsters would come out in the middle of the daytime, but he was glad for it. Those things had proven to be sly and devious, but weak and cowardly. Destroying them would be easy, and would save him from having to figure out what to say to Drafty, at least for the moment.

But to his surprise, Aisle shook his head. “No! These are living ponies!” The corners of his lips turned upwards as he looked around. “Some more survivors are here!”

Author's Note:

More ponies show up on Lex's doorstep, saving him from the perils of having a casual conversation.

Is this a good thing, or are his fortunes about to take yet another turn for the worse?

Comments

[David Silver]

Waiting for shoe dropping.

[Booster Spice]

There are living ponies out there.

They say theyre from the Ministry Of Change.

[Alzrius]

8198141 But horseshoes always come in fours.

[Alzrius]

8198554 Well, remember that the ponies under Block Party's control were forcing survivors to stay inside the city, so it's not totally unexpected that some might still be alive. Let's just hope that they still want to practice friendship and harmony.

[Not so New Brony]

So when it is mentioned about Lex reconstructing Sonata's tracking spell, is it referring to the way he learned the spells from the Everglow, or rather, replicate their effects with his current repertoire?

Also, I'm a bit suspicious of the newcomers but given Block Party's refusal to reveal himself, I doubt these ponies are from his group so that means that they're the survivors that Block Party turned away...so incoming reunion?

[Alzrius]

8203330 With regards to Aria's spell, Lex couldn't make an effort to learn it at all since she couldn't write it down. There'd likely be some translation involved - he is using a custom method of spellcasting, after all - but his presumption is that it'd be similar enough that he could figure it out. But right now, he has nothing to work from, and so there's little alternative except to reinvent it using whatever information she can give him.

It does seem unlikely that these ponies are from Block Party's group...but other than that, we'll have to wait and see just who they are and what they're up to.

[James Fire]

The typos have been hiding, maybe they will come out next chapter.

[Alzrius]

8380600 I hope not!