//------------------------------// // 298 - Carrying a Grudge // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// As Silhouette gave the order for the guards under his command to move in, Sonata began to sing. The golden-clad stallions had already started moving toward her when she tilted her head back, eyes closed as she began to vocalize softly. In contrast to the harsh chanting coming from Lex, Sonata’s melody was slow and wordless, the sound almost unearthly in its beauty. As one, the guards stopped in their tracks, jaws slack as they were captivated by what they were hearing. For a brief moment they hesitated, then moved toward Sonata again, but without the determination they’d had mere seconds ago. Now, their movements were sluggish, their eyes glazed as they came to within a few feet from her and stopped, simply standing in place and gazing at her with stupefied expressions. Nor were they the only ones, as Nosey joined them a moment later, caught up in the magic of her friend’s voice. A small part of her insisted that she tear herself away from what Sonata was doing, that she needed to be taking action to secure their situation, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Sonata’s song was too wonderful, too rapturous for her to do anything but bask in it, literally spellbound by what she was hearing. She barely noticed as several members of the crowd, ponies of all ages and tribes, joined her, forming a small gathering around the singing mare. Further back, Lex’s eyes flared green-and-purple as the dark magic of his horn rose to his defense of its own accord, thwarting the magical enchantment of Sonata's song before it could even attempt to ensnare his mind. That was exactly as he'd expected, of course; so long as the power in his horn wasn’t expended, it would automatically protect his mind against all forms of intrusion. Even if it hadn’t, Lex was certain that he would have been able to continue the ritual anyway, overcoming Sonata’s magic through sheer force of will. Which was apparently what Silhouette was doing right now. The stallion was gritting his teeth, cradling his head in his hooves with a look of intense concentration on his face, clearly fighting the effects of Sonata’s magic. A second later, he let out a shaky breath, lowering his hooves as he raised his head, directing a hateful look Sonata’s way. “You…” he breathed angrily. “What are you doing?!” When she didn’t bother to answer him, continuing to sing, his eyes turned the Royal Guard members around her, still staring at her in a blissful stupor. “Pull yourselves together!” he yelled. “She’s using magic on you! Fight it!” But his shouting had no effect, save to make Sonata open her eyes and look at him, the corners of her lips curling upward in a triumphant smirk. Silhouette’s nostrils flared at the sight, but he gave no other expression of his anger save to glare at Sonata coldly. “You are not the one we came here for,” he announced. “So I will give you one chance. By the grace of Luna, goddess of the night, I swear that if you release your spell and stand aside immediately, you will be forgiven for this transgression. Fail to do so, and you will share the fate of Lex Legis for defying the divine will.” He paused then, waiting for Sonata’s response, but her only reaction was to give an exaggerated roll of her eyes and keep singing. Silhouette’s eyes narrowed dangerously in response. “So be it then,” he intoned darkly. “Your foolishness has sealed your fate. I was saving this to deal with that traitorous stallion, but it should work just as well on you.” Then, with no further preamble, he raised a foreleg and began to gesture and chant. Lex, still performing the ritual with absolute precision, couldn’t help but frown as he heard Silhouette begin casting a spell. It wasn’t effort that made him scowl; performing the exacting ritual while simultaneously paying close attention to Silhouette’s own words and gestures was something that came easily to him. Rather, it was because the spell the other stallion was casting wasn’t one that he was familiar with. Nevertheless, the verbal and gestural components almost made it seem like the spell was designed to…to… His eyes widening in alarm, Lex immediately began backing away from Silhouette. He could only go so far, however, since the ritual required him to remain a fixed distance away from Aria; any further and he wouldn’t be in a position to control the magical energies being directed into her body. Still, he put as much distance as he could between himself and the other stallion, mentally screaming a warning at Sonata that he knew she couldn’t hear. A moment later, Silhouette finished his spell…and Sonata instantly stopped singing. Her silence quite clearly wasn’t voluntary on her part, her lips continuing to move even as a shocked look crossed her face, one hoof reaching for her throat as though she could figure out what had happened by touch. Around her, the ponies that had been held in thrall by her voice started blinking, shaking their heads as they came out from under her spell. Several raised their own voices in confusion, or at least they tried to; none of them made a sound either. Nor was anything else they did audible. The shuffling of hooves, the impact of metal on metal as two guards bumped into each other, and every other bit of background noise were all completely absent. The entire area around Silhouette had fallen supernaturally quiet. Taking advantage of the confusion, Silhouette strode forward boldly, his crippled back leg slowing his movements only slightly. Pushing his way past the confused ponies from the crowd of bystanders that had been caught in Sonata’s spell, he made his way to the closest member of the Royal Guard, cuffing him across the flank to get his attention. When the guard looked at him, Silhouette scowled and twirled a hoof, giving the other stallion a knowing look. Nodding shakily, he turned and nudged the next guard over, repeating the gesture. The other ponies that had gathered around Sonata were moving away from her now, either intimidated by the silence or realizing that the guards were about to do something. As they hurried back toward the crowd of onlookers watching the unfolding debacle, Lex – far enough away from what had happened that he was able to continue chanting without his words being muffled by Silhouette’s spell – heard as their hooffalls suddenly became audible again. That confirmed it; Silhouette’s spell was proximity-based. It was actively silencing a particular area, and anypony who exited that area ceased to be affected by it. Get out of there! he raged silently, his eyes locked onto Sonata. Fall back, and you’ll be able to use your magic again! But Sonata wasn’t even looking at him, her face screwed up in confusion as she tried to figure out what had happened. Even as he watched, she raised a hoof to her ears, checking for any sort of obstruction that might be impeding her hearing. Next to her, Nosey was still looking around, bewildered. A second later her eyes met Lex’s, and he stared at her intently, desperately trying to will her to understand what she needed to do. He had no idea if she got the message or not, but he felt a sliver of hope as he saw Nosey’s face become clouded with worry, her hoof reaching out to nudge Sonata… And then it was too late, as the Royal Guard fell upon them. Both mares instantly went down as they were tackled by three stallions each. Unable to do anything, Lex could only watch as the two of them were easily wrestled to the ground, kicking and thrashing futilely. Ropes were produced, and although the girls didn’t cease struggling, they were helpless to stop themselves from being tied up, the guards working together in quick, efficient motions. It took only a few moments for them to be completely subdued, forelegs bound to their sides as the guards continued to pin them down for good measure. Watching the entire affair with a look of immense satisfaction, Silhouette tapped one of the two guards that wasn’t occupied with Nosey and Sonata. When the other stallion looked at him questioningly, Silhouette motioned to his own mouth for a moment, then pointed at Sonata, shaking his head. The guard nodded, taking a length of cloth from an inner pocket and approaching the captive mare. Her lips were moving wildly in what was either an attempt to cast a spell or a series of profanities, but which served only to give the guard an opportunity to shove the cloth in her open mouth, making her eyes widen as she shook her head, trying to dislodge the gag. It was no more successful than her other struggles had been, however, as the guard – a unicorn – telekinetically yanked the ends of the cloth around the back of her head and tied them off. With that done, the guard returned to his position flanking Silhouette, leaving the two mares completely overwhelmed. Lying on her back, Sonata was still trying to thrash for all she was worth, but with one guard pressing down on her back legs, another keeping a hoof firmly on her middle, and the third holding her head securely, she was unable to do much more than twitch. Nosey was in much the same position, except face-down in the dirt, one of the guards making sure to keep a hoof on her horn so that she couldn’t use any magic. It had taken less than thirty seconds for the girls to be completely defeated. “I warned you,” chuckled Silhouette, making both mares start in surprise as they realized that the magical silence had been lifted. Indeed, Sonata’s muffled grunts and the clatter of the guards’ armor were now all clearly audible. The guards themselves didn’t seem surprised, continuing to focus on keeping their captives immobile. “Needless to say, you’re both under arrest.” “HNGH HOOGH!” growled Sonata through her gag. “NIGHM GNNGH HRLL HOOGH!” “L-Lex!” sobbed Nosey. “I’m sorry! I-” “Be quiet!” ordered the guard holding her down, before his voice softened slightly. “Just make it easy on yourself.” “They had their chance to make it easy on themselves,” snorted Silhouette. “But they failed to heed the will of the goddess, so now they’ll pay the price.” The guard who’d spoken looked uneasy at that, but didn’t contradict him. “Yes, sir.” Silhouette didn’t bother to reply, seeming to have lost interest in the girls. Instead, he focused his gaze back on Lex, his smirk widening at the look of abject hatred the other stallion was giving him. He stepped past the mares, the remaining two guards flanking him as he approached his next target. “I don’t know if you remember, but we’ve met before,” he began, his voice conversational. “It was a few months ago, in Canterlot. You were having an audience with Princess Celestia, telling her why she and the Mother of the Night were unfit to rule.” His features darkened at that last part, spitting the words out as though even the act of speaking them disgusted him. “Even if the goddess herself wasn’t there at the time, I was. I heard you speaking that blasphemy about how you – a no one from nowhere – thought that you were more worthy of ruling than she or her sister were.” He came to a stop then, separated from Lex by no more than ten feet, the two guards standing behind him. “I knew right then that you were a traitor to Equestria, and worse, an apostate as well. So I stepped forward, using the magic the goddess had given me to empower the guards that were on duty at the time. I wanted to make sure that they had what they needed to bring you to justice, because I knew that for all your self-aggrandizing garbage, you were nothing more than a petty tyrant, cloaking your tyranny under a blanket of lies and misdirection.” Silhouette managed to regain his smile then, but it was a cruel expression, filled only with spite. “And I was right, too. When you realized that you wouldn’t be given all of Equestria on a silver platter, you attacked Princess Celestia. And when that didn’t work, you turned and fled. Like a coward. The same way you let those mares do your fighting for you just now, while you do,” he gestured up at the glowing form that was Aria, “whatever that is. Some evil magic, no doubt.” He paused then, watching as Lex continued to gesture and chant, and his eyes narrowed. “You can’t stop, can you? Those mares said that whatever you were doing was delicate…and that there might be injuries if you were interrupted.” His grin widened. “But then, that’s the way with evil magic, isn’t it? You try to do something horrible, and all it does it come back to bite you once the forces of righteousness show up and disrupt it.” “No!” wailed Nosey. “He’s trying to turn our friend Aria into a p-” “Silence her,” snapped Silhouette. The guard holding Nosey seemed to have expected that, pulling out a piece of cloth and gagging her just like Sonata. Nodding, Silhouette turned to the two guards with him. “I want you to move all of these other ponies back,” he ordered, waving a hoof at the wide-eyed crowd, still watching the exchange. “They don’t deserve to be caught up in whatever happens when I disrupt this one’s spell.” The pair glanced at each other, but hesitated, one of them speaking up. “Sir, is this a good idea? We were just supposed to bring him to the princesses, not…all this.” Silhouette’s expression turned icy. “Would you rather bring the goddess,” he hissed the word, “and her sister here, where this malcontent is casting a spell of unknown effect, and which could injure them when it’s interrupted?” Both guards cringed at the rebuke. “…no,” answered the one who’d objected a moment before. “Good,” snapped Silhouette. “Then carry out my orders, before I decide when you’re being insubordinate or blasphemous.” Nodding, the two ran off toward the crowd, starting to usher them back. Behind him, the remaining guards started to drag Nosey and Sonata away, leaving Silhouette standing across from Lex. “For what it’s worth,” commented the earth stallion, his tone conversational once again, “you’ll at least serve Equestria in one way. Whatever horrible fate you suffer from having this spell broken will serve as an object lesson about what happens to those who turn against the Mother of the N-” “HOLD IT!” Tensing at the voice from the crowd, Silhouette glanced over sharply as he saw a pony break past the guards and start running toward him. But he relaxed a moment later as he realized that it was just a child, the earth colt galloping over – or at least, trying to, since one of his forelegs seemed to be injured – and placing himself directly between him and Lex, defiance written all over his face. “You better back off right now if you know what’s good for you!” Silhouette snorted at the display of bravado. “Get lost, kid. I’m here on behalf of Luna, the goddess of the night, to put a stop to whatever evil magic this traitor is casting. Don’t get in my way.” But rather than looking intimidated, the colt bristled, pointing a foreleg – one that had several new-looking scars on it – at him. “My name is Fruit Crunch, and I’m the leader of the Night Mare’s Knights!” Silhouette frowned. “The what?” “And on behalf of the real goddess of the night, I’m taking you down!”