• Published 2nd Nov 2015
  • 4,032 Views, 10,119 Comments

Lateral Movement - Alzrius



Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.

  • ...
36
 10,119
 4,032

PreviousChapters Next
377 - Decisive Determination

Lex could only stare at Sonata in the wake of her announcement, trying to figure out what was happening.

Nor was it only bewilderment that made him hesitate. He was keenly aware of how, a scant few hours ago, his previous attempt to have a discussion with Sonata, Nosey, and Aria about their collective relationship had ended in disaster. In hindsight that wasn’t surprising; he’d approached the situation without any sort of plan, nor with a concrete goal in mind. He’d simply been intent on the four of them sitting down and having a conversation in order to dispel the ambiguities – for lack of a better word – that had developed between them.

That he’d approached the situation with such unpreparedness was mortifying to him now. No matter that he’d managed to stumble into the correct answers to ameliorate Fruit Crunch’s breakdown last night. No matter that he’d been struggling to control his emotions after realizing just how badly he wanted Aria. That sort of unfocused, indecisive attitude was the enemy of accomplishment, and it was utterly unbecoming in someone who would wear the mantle of leadership. He didn’t need to figure out what his relationship was with the mares in his life; he needed to figure out what he wanted it to be and then make it happen!

And what I want is to be with all three of them. Lex knew that now. Just like with Sonata, his feelings for the other two had grown without him realizing it. It had only come to his notice when he’d responded so strongly to Aria, and his kiss with Nosey just now had confirmed it, leaving him sure. He was in love with three different mares; one amorous and cheerful, one wild and passionate, and one tender and warm. Now he simply needed to make all three of them his, in a way that wasn’t unfair to any of them.

And now Sonata had just announced that she was no longer opposed to the idea.

Lex knew he should have been overjoyed at the news. Prior to now, Sonata had been violently opposed to the idea of his being affectionate with anypony except her, in sharp contrast to Aria’s openly pushing the idea and Nosey’s continually avoiding taking a position. Now that Sonata had reversed her stance on the issue, their four-way arrangement was essentially fait accompli. It should have been a weight off of his shoulders. And yet, as Sonata climbed onto the bench and cuddled up next to him, Lex couldn’t help but feel apprehensive for some reason.

Sonata, however, seemed entirely at ease, her usual carefree smile back in place as she beckoned at Nosey. “C’mon. Now that we’re all a couple, we…wait…hang on…” Her expression suddenly darkened, causing Lex’s anxiety to skyrocket as Sonata frowned. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Nosey bite her lip, turning pale.

Oblivious to their reactions, Sonata’s brow furrowed. “If all four of us are together now…” she began slowly.

Lex held his breath. Nosey gulped loudly.

Sonata finally looked up at them. “If all four of us are together now,” she repeated, “does that mean that we’re a ‘couple’? Shouldn’t we be, like, a ‘triple’ or, no, wait…what comes after triple? A triple-plus-one’ll? Something like that?”

Lex felt the tension leave his body all at once, not sure if he was relieved or annoyed by Sonata’s antics. For her part, Nosey tittered nervously, her horn lighting up as she adjusted her glasses. “I, uh…I don’t think there’s a word for this,” she muttered as she crept toward them, still looking unsure if it was okay for her to approach them despite that having been their sleeping arrangements for the last several days.

Sonata cocked her head. “Does that, like, mean that we can make one up then?” Her grin suddenly came back. “Like, instead of just being a relationship, we can call this a relation-pirate-ship! You know why?” She looked at each of them expectantly.

The last of Nosey’s tension melted away as she climbed onto the bench, settling on Lex’s other side. “Because of all the booty?” she asked wryly.

“Aw, how’d you guess?” pouted Sonata playfully. “Okay, how about a relation-treasure-ship, because, um…” Trailing off again, her brow wrinkled as she tried to think.

But Lex had heard enough, the inane turn the conversation had taken eroding his hesitation. It was time to get back to more serious topics. “Sonata-”

“Wait, hang on a sec,” she murmured. “Ship…ship…oh!” She lifted her head then, her eyes widening. “Now I remember! I was supposed to tell you that a ship’s coming here!”

Nosey’s eyes widened, and Lex turned his head as much as he could to look at Sonata. “What?”

Nodding enthusiastically, Sonata nodded in the direction of the harbor. “Yeah! I saw it when I started passing out all that food to everypony.” She paused again, concentrating. “I think it was River’s boat. You know, the one she came here in? Or at least, it looked a lot like it.”

Now it was Nosey’s turn to cock her head. “You mean the one the rest of C. Shells’ crew used to ferry the ponies in worst need of help back to Tall Tale so they could be hospitalized?”

“It’s about time they came back,” growled Lex softly. He’d sent them off more than seventy-two hours ago. Even considering that they’d have needed to carry the sick and injured ponies in their care into Tall Tale proper – since its dockyard was non-contiguous to the metropolitan area – there was no reason for them to have been gone this long. But he was less concerned with whatever had delayed them than he was with what to do now. “Nosey.”

The blonde mare blinked, sitting up slightly. “Yes?”

“Go and bring River Bank here. I need to speak to her.”

Confused at the abrupt change in topic, Nosey shared an uncomprehending look with Sonata. “Right now?” But she didn’t wait for an answer to the question, realizing that Lex delegating that task to her rather than trying to do it himself in his current condition was progress; after all, she’d been the one to ask him to rely on her more right before they’d kissed. Standing up, she carefully climbed down. “Can I tell her why?”

“As soon as that ship arrives, I’m sending her to Las Pegasus,” answered Lex.

Nosey wasn’t sure what to make of that, but didn’t have a chance to ask a follow-up question as Sonata stood up. “Actually, I’ll go. That way you two can get back to kissing.”

Flushing at that, Nosey shook her head. “I don’t mind. I could-”

“Nuh-uh-uh!” chastised Sonata, nudging her back toward the bench. “We’re in a relation-treasure-ship now, so it’s all good.”

“We are not using that designation,” huffed Lex.

“Then I’ll think of a better one!” promised Sonata as she headed toward the door.

She’d almost reached it when Lex called out to her. “Sonata.”

She spun around, slightly too quickly. “Yeah?”

“If you find Aria, bring her back here as well.”

“R-right.” Making sure to keep her smile in place, Sonata nodded before turning and heading outside. It was only after she’d closed the doors behind her and walked out onto the platform that she folded her ears back, letting out a deep sigh. Glancing back at the doors leading into the station, she lingered for just a moment shaking her head. “Right,” she muttered to herself again as she started walking…


After standing awkwardly next to the bench for a few moments, Nosey slowly climbed back onto it, taking her place next to Lex again. For a moment she wondered if he was going to take Sonata’s advice and kiss her again. The thought sent butterflies through her, and she couldn’t figure out if they were from apprehension or anticipation. But as the seconds rolled past she realized that she was being silly. Lex can barely move! He’s not going to…do that, again. Even so, the silence was still wearing down her nerves, so she said the first thing that came to her mind. “So…what’s in Las Pegasus?”

“Money,” answered Lex. “River’s going to bring several of the city’s richest ponies here. Once she does, my administration will negotiate for a loan so that we can purchase the materials necessary to rebuild the city.”

“Oh.” Nosey wasn’t sure what to say to that. The obvious thing would have been to ask him how he planned to do that, especially once word of what he’d done to the princesses got around, but she knew better than to give voice to that particular question. At least he hasn’t asked me what Sonata and I were doing while we were away this morning! She felt sure she’d die of embarrassment if he found out about that!

She was so wrapped up in that thought that it took her a minute to notice that Lex’s horn was glowing. Sitting up, she was about to rebuke him for not asking her for help again when she saw the matching aura surrounding his saddlebags. As she watched, one flap opened and – to her amazement – a huge ruby floated out, surrounding in the purple glow of his telekinesis. “Whoa!” she couldn’t help but exclaim. “Where did you get that?”

She hadn’t expected him to answer the question, so she was surprised when his spoke up, voice a murmur. “The Night Mare.”

That was enough to make her eyes widen a little. “It’s a gift from your goddess?” She looked at it with renewed appreciation, watching as Lex laid it on the bench a few inches from his face, peering intently at it. “Are you going to use this to help get that loan from Las Pegasus?”

Lex shook his head, though only slightly. “No. This has a far more important purpose.”

Nosey waited, but Lex didn’t expound on it. Her first instinct was to ask him what it was, but she held that in check. Whatever he was doing, interrupting him would probably only make it harder, and he was already a wreck as it was. Hopefully he’d relax enough while staring at the ruby that he’d fall asleep. Certainly, she felt like she could; the day was barely half-over, but she felt exhausted from all of the craziness that had happened. And Lex had the worst of it, as usual, she sighed to herself as she laid her head down. Maybe he’ll realize that a nap would be really helpful…

The thought was punctuated with a yawn, and a few minutes later Nosey was deeply asleep.


Lex barely noticed as Nosey drifted off to sleep, his eyes locked onto the ruby that the Night Mare had given him.

Just like the gemstones that he’d stored spells in, the arrangement of the magic within the gem was visible in its facets. It would have been easy enough to simply actualize the energy it held, casting the spell and resurrecting a pony of his choice. Cloudbank had been the one the Night Mare had designated to be brought back, but a casual examination of the spell contained within the ruby made it clear that its recipient wasn’t hard-coded, which meant that he could resurrect whomever he wanted.

But as incredible as it would be to bring a dead pony back to life, Lex wasn’t content with that prospect. Not when he could study the uncast spell stored inside the gem and unravel the secrets of how its resurrection magic worked. If he could decipher the structure and arrangement of the spell inside the ruby and reverse-engineer it, then he’d be able to add it to his mental catalogue of thaumaturgical spells, and even without having Severance to act as a battery, the prospect was a thrilling one for what it would let him do.

After all, he’d been able to achieve incredible results by feeding extra energy into spells and magic items thus far. Which meant that, whether from learning and casting the resurrection spell himself or by activating the instance of it stored within this gem, he could potentially augment its ability to bring the dead back to life. In that case, there would be no need to determine precisely who among Vanhoover’s fallen should be given a second chance at life.

He’d simply resurrect the entire population.

Author's Note:

In the wake of his fight with the alicorns, Lex is determined to act boldly!

Intent on pursuing a relationship with three mares, and on using the Night Mare's gift to resurrect everyone who's died in Vanhoover, are either of Lex's goals realistic? Or is he setting himself up for both personal and professional failure?

PreviousChapters Next