Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

218 - Remedial Lesson

“Is it true?!”

Lex resisted the urge to sigh as he looked at the group of ponies in front of him. Although he didn’t know their names, save only for Scrubby, huddling in the back, he still knew their faces well enough to know that these were the ponies from C. Shells’ crew. Glancing left and right at how they’d moved to surround him, Lex wondered if this was their attempt at being intimidating. If so, it left much to be desired. “Is what true?”

The apparent leader of the group, a redheaded mare with glasses and a compass cutie mark, frowned at him. “You know-” She cut herself off then, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before breathing out slowly. Opening her eyes, her voice was level when she spoke next. “You know what. There’s a rumor going around that everypony that you sent into Vanhoover yesterday…that the Captain and Sandbar-”

“It’s true,” interrupted Lex, suddenly wanting this over. It wasn’t just that they needed to start making preparations for a possible mass assault by the ghouls; this conversation was already taking more energy than he felt he could spare. “C. Shells and Sandbar, along with the other three ponies who went into the city, all died there.” He paused for just a moment, not bothering to pay attention to the gasps and stricken looks from the ponies around him, before adding the requisite phrase that was expected when an individual had passed away. “My condolences on your loss.”

The redheaded mare had gone pale, and didn’t seem to be able to respond, and Lex moved to walk past her. But before he could, the mare seemed to rally, swallowing before deliberately stepping to the side, interposing herself in his path again. “Where…their bodies. What happened to them?”

“Rose,” murmured Scrubby from the back of the group, “don’t. He’ll curse you.”

But if the readhead – Rose – heard Scrubby’s warning she gave no sign. “We checked with the field hospital before, and there weren’t any bodies there,” she continued. “So we thought…we thought that maybe it was all just a rumor. But now…” She reached a hoof up, pushing her glasses up as she rubbed one eye for a moment before letting them fall back down. “What happened to them?”

The question gave Lex a moment’s pause. Getting too deep into how Cloudbank and the others had died was a dangerous issue. Although the ponies in front of him now had been at least somewhat battle-hardened by their experiences with the sahuagin, the same could not be said for the rest of the camp ponies. That meant that putting everypony to work on defenses would risk a general panic, since even the dimmest of individuals would be able to figure out that the only reason to take such precautions was that the ghouls were expected to invade. Such a breakdown of what order this place possessed had to be avoided at all costs, lest it cripple any hope of protecting everypony if and when the ghouls did attack. Assuming that Xiriel’s words were true, he thought to himself. But he knew that he had no choice but to assume that they were. The devil had been an adept liar, but had liberally mixed truth with falsehood, such as how it had openly admitted to killing Cloudbank and the others. With no way to be certain, Lex knew that the only acceptable choice was to treat the threat as though it were a certainty.

In the meantime, the knowledge that there had been a body-snatching monster dwelling among the camp ponies, working to ensure their demise, needed to be suppressed. Bad enough that the knowledge of the recent fatalities was quite clearly resulting in a blow to everypony’s morale; Cozy’s reaction had been proof enough of that. Dealing with the possibility of an invasion of undead ponies while simultaneously coping with the horrifying truth about this place’s former leader was, Lex felt certain, more than the camp ponies could handle.

That was only temporary, of course. Once the crisis had been averted, Lex had every intention of making Xiriel’s existence public. He had to. Otherwise, Block Party would be remembered as a monster despite the fact that he had been a victim, as much a casualty of Xiriel’s ruthlessness as Cloudbank or C. Shells, and that was hideously unjust. Setting the metaphorical record straight was the very least that he deserved…but it would have to wait until he’d dealt with everything else first, including the ponies in front of him right now.

It took only a second to process all of that and come up with an answer that was, hopefully, acceptable. “Based on what I witnessed when I went into Vanhoover earlier, the ghouls got them.” It was bending the truth, but still within his ethical guidelines. “Now, I have another task I need you all to perform. Go to the western edge of the camp, and begin digging a trench. Its minimum dimensions need to be at least ten feet deep, five feet wide, and sixty feet long. Make sure you pile the displaced dirt to the east of it, so that it can be shaped into berms, and-”

“What, so that’s it?!” came an anguished cry, and Lex glanced to his right. It took him a moment to put a name to the face of the pegasus stallion there. Ocean Spray, that was it. “We lose our captain, and our friend, and you just shrug and say ‘it’s sad, now get back to work’?!” There were unshed tears shimmering in his eyes, his voice heartbroken.

“I regret the loss of life very deeply,” replied Lex evenly, reusing the same line that he had with Cozy. As with his statement of condolence, it was something he’d learned was standard when the topic revolved around an untimely death. “I consider their deaths to be a tragedy of unmitigated proportions.”

But Ocean Spray didn’t seem to be mollified by the statement. If anything, he seemed to become more agitated, giving Lex a look of open-mouthed incomprehension. “Are you-, is that some sort of-, of…stock line?”

Lex blinked once, unsure why his observance of the proper social decorum wasn’t having the intended results. Ignoring the familiar knot forming in his stomach, he decided to change tactics. Explaining his reasoning in greater detail had a very low rate of success in these situations, but it was still the best option. “I’m attempting to convey that, while their deaths are unfortunate, there are imminent concerns which preclude becoming preoccupied with displays of remorse. Once our situation has stabilized, whatever maudlin sentiments you feel are approp-”

“What are you talking about?!” The words came from Scrubby this time. “The Captain believed in you! She believed in what you’re doing here!” He stepped out from behind Rose, glaring at Lex angrily. “Did you know that, before she went back into Vanhoover, a bunch of us told her that we just wanted to go home? There she was, getting ready to throw herself into danger for a bunch of ponies she barely knew, all on your say-so, and all we could think about was that we’d had enough. And you know what she said to that? She said-” He choked up then, but forced himself to continue a moment later. “She said she was proud of us. We want-…I wanted to leave, to abandon everypony here, and she still said she was proud to have us as her crew.” He took a step forward then, and although he was shaking, he pawed at the ground in an aggressive gesture. “And all you can say is that being upset that she’s gone is a ‘maudlin sentiment’?!” The words caused several of the nearby ponies to rumble angrily. Further out, Lex could see that quite a few other ponies were watching the exchange, their faces dark.

Lex grit his teeth, knowing that he wasn’t getting through to them. “There are tasks that need to be undertaken with all possible haste in order to secure the general welfare,” he growled. Explaining why everypony else was wrong virtually always predicted failure of social engagement, but he didn’t know what else to do. “I understand that grief is making it difficult for you to act rationally, so I strongly recommend that you defer to my judgment until such a time that you’re able to marshal what wits you possess, and-”

“If you want a hole dug,” interrupted Rose, her voice thick with disgust, “then I suggest you go do it yourself. And when you’re done, you should do us all a favor: jump in and pull the dirt down on top of you.” She didn’t wait for a reply, turning her back on him then and walking away. The rest of the crew turned to follow her, shooting Lex dirty looks as they left.

Lex watched them go, seething. Again! Again he was doing the right thing and receiving nothing but odium for it! The unfairness of it all was galling, particularly coming from these ponies who knew better than anyone else in the camp what he’d done to secure everypony’s safety and prosperity. All the monsters I slew. All the times I sheltered and fed them. Bringing medicine and doctors and supplies to this camp. I did all of that, and they’re STILL not willing to trust my judgment! “You wretched, cowardly, stupid fools!” he hissed, and it was only the lingering vestiges of his self-control that managed to keep his voice down to a whisper instead of roaring at the top of his lungs. “You should be tripping over yourselves to carry out my orders!” He didn’t expect a reply, but one came anyone…but not from the departing ponies.

What did you expect? came the voiceless, hateful words into his mind. Lex’s eyes widened as they cut through his thoughts. The last ponies that followed your orders died. Why would anypony be willing to listen to you after that? Unable to reply, Lex slowly sank into a sitting position, almost dizzy from the scathing psychic taunt. But for once, his reaction had nothing to do with the words themselves. Rather, it was from the implication that they held.

During his fight with Xiriel, the tulpa that resided in his shadow had – in complete defiance of its behavior up until then – aided him in battle. Its words had portended not only sudden spikes of magical strength, but even the casting of spells that Lex himself hadn’t realized he’d prepared. In essence, the rogue portion of his mind had temporarily worked in concert with him, rather than against him. Or at least, that was his hypothesis.

But now, with the errant mental construct returning to its old habits, whatever stimulus had caused its aberrant behavior was assuredly over...which meant that, unless he somehow managed to puzzle out the conditions that had caused it become helpful, he wouldn’t be able to count on his assistance in any future conflicts. More than that, it would assuredly continue to torment his dreams from now on. Although Lex had long since resigned himself to dealing with nightmares for the indefinite future, that realization was enough to make his shoulders slump.

After several long moments, Lex slowly stood up, forcing himself to stop thinking about his psychic troubles. There were more important things that needed his attention, like defending the camp. Maybe I should tell them about the ghoul threat right now, he thought to himself. He’d planned on delaying that as long as possible, likely until they’d started to figure it out on their own, but perhaps…perhaps the better option was simply to present that information preemptively, even if it wasn’t completely certain.

But that was no simple matter. Doing so would require that the news be given in a way that minimized the chances of causing hysteria. It would require focus on the manner of presentation as much as-, no, more than the substance of the message. It would require an incredibly high degree of social acumen, with a focus on engaging with a large number of ponies at once.

It would require a spokespony.

Turning around, Lex headed back toward the train station.

Author's Note:

Lex once again tries to handle public interaction on his own, and unsurprisingly fails at it rather badly.

As he plans to try again, he decides to utilize Sonata's talents! Is he finally learning?

Comments

[howard035]

Lex makes Sonata's job so much harder by only bringing her in after he's already made a mess of things. In this, he is similar to many real-world leaders.

[Booster Spice]

Lex, when burning your bridges its generally not a good idea to use so much explosives that not only do you leave a lake of lava behind but the expelled material bombards the extended surroundings into inchaoate oblivion also.

If people are going to cause panic and hurt and damage when you tell them the end of days are coming, then you tell them first you dont want to make them panic up front, then tell then everythings ending, then when they panic, its because thats how they respond, as well as you not having a clue. After all, they die now in the panic, or they die unprepared in the ending. Some will blame you no matter what you do, at least a warning gives some a chance.

[Not so New Brony]

Using stock lines like he did to 'congratulate' his group didn't work too well in consoling the crew's loss of C.Shells and Sandbar. Still, this tells me that only C.Shells understood Lex while the rest of the crew only followed her lead. Not surprising since he rarely interacted with the crew.

Once again, I agree with howard035's sentiments. Lex here feels like he's pawning off the mess he made onto Sonata and is like expecting her to work a miracle with it but at least he's learning so that's a plus, right? Though given the short time since he's left, I doubt Nosey would be finished bringing Sonata up to speed and given his rush to set up defenses around the camp, I don't think he'll be doing anyone any favors by pulling Sonata away before she's full informed.

Hopefully Sonata puts her hooves down again and make Lex stop and share his thoughts so they can formulate a proper plan of action that doesn't potentially lead to ponies forming an angry mob against him. Even in his weakened state, he's rather well protected with Sonata and Aria by his side, though I still think the latter is going to cause more problems soon.

As for the tulpa, it returning to its previous routine of taunting Lex feels natural since the conditions for it to help Lex seems to require that Lex's mentality to align itself to that of the tulpa, or more specifically, it's creator, Night Mare. My best guess is that Lex would need to want to do whatever is necessary to carry out a goal, even if it goes against his morality, such as utilizing the spell the tulpa fed him on Xiriel to gain the tulpa's aid.

So the more ruthless Lex is in the execution of his goals, the more likely the tulpa will help while also egging him on to be even more ruthless. In essence, Lex will need to be more like Sombra, or at least a version of himself that's not held back by his morality. At least that's how I see it.

[Alzrius]

8812372 The problem, of course, is that Lex is still trying to be the sole solution to everything. While he acknowledges that he's bad at interpersonal relations, he simply can't bring himself to view that as being important to what he does, which is why he keeps downplaying Sonata's role as a spokespony. That's why she was the one to propose that arrangement in the first place, to say nothing of his continually neglecting to utilize her skills throughout the story (which she recently got on him for, you may recall).

Now, he's finally recognized that there's a situation where messaging is extremely important, and has proactively decided to put Sonata forward after confirming – again – that he's really, really terrible at that. So it's progress, albeit after a few steps backward.

[Alzrius]

8812537 Or, you know, try to actually avoid causing a panic, and managing it if and when it occurs, rather than trying to establish a reason for why you're not responsible. That's the upside to Lex's lack of concern about his public image or popularity; he's concerned with actually doing what's best, paying no thought to the social repercussions thereof. So issues of making himself seem to be right aren't a factor, as he wants to actually be right.

[Alzrius]

8812554 It was fairly inevitable that Lex would fail at his attempt to be sensitive to the grief of everypony else; that's one of the more delicate aspects of dealing with people, and given that he hasn't mastered even the basics, there was really no way he could not screw that up. He still doesn't recognize the virtue of a leader making a demonstration of caring. To his mind, actions speak much louder than words, and I suspect that he also thinks that a staunch, unflappable image is more reassuring anyway. The fact that he didn't ever connect to any of C. Shell's crew – as you correctly noted – certainly didn't help matters. There were a few ponies who got to know Lex well enough that they can look past his unpalatable persona, but none of them are among the crew.

With regards to Lex "pawning" this off onto Sonata...that's partially true, since he's going to be operating from a deficit of public sympathy. However, I suspect that he sees the next topic ("there's a strong possibility of an attack by ghouls") as being different from the previous one ("several of your friends have died. It's tragic."), and so unrelated to how everypony takes the former message. That, of course, isn't likely to be the case; if people don't like you for how you handled Topic A, they're going to be less inclined to listen to you on Topics B – Z. Sonata, on the other hoof, knows that, and I suspect that she'll try to point out to Lex that actually telling everyone that he cares – in a way that actually feels genuine – is likely to help get the results he wants. Naturally, Lex is likely to hate being told that.

As for Lex's tulpa going back to its old tricks...well...that's still a mystery. How much longer will it remain so? We'll just have to see.

[James Fire]

unless he somehow managed to puzzle out the conditions had caused it become helpful,

That had.

Lex is finally realizing Sonata is actually very useful.

[Alzrius]

9218536 Typo eliminated!

It's funny how Lex is acting now. Almost like he's starting to realize that he can't solve every problem by himself...