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.
Sonata had finally fallen asleep next to him.
Lex couldn’t resist giving a soft sigh of relief as she finally dozed off, and not just because she’d been trying to convince him that he should go out and play some games with everypony, apparently as a method of bolstering his public image, once he was feeling better. It had been all he could do to refrain from flatly stating that such a thing would be a complete waste of his time.
No, as much as Lex loved the sound of Sonata’s voice, and the way she was pressing against him even now warmed him in more ways than one, he didn’t want to speak to her right now. Not this soon after the harsh words that had passed between them so recently. Only by focusing on pragmatic issues – bending his thoughts towards concrete problems such as the need for an emergency supply of rainclouds or why Cloudbank should have been given Sonata’s extradimensional receptacle – had enabled him to ignore his emotions and carry on the semblance of a normal conversation with her. Even that had taken a great deal of self-control, and in his current state it had been almost more than he could manage.
Even now, looking at her sleeping face, it was all he could do not to wince. For a moment he tried to push the memory of what he’d said away, but the emotional impression was undaunted, rendering the attempt futile. He ceased bothering a moment later, letting the words replay themselves in his head:
“I don’t need you anyway! You’re a burden more often than you’re helpful, so if you don’t like how I’m doing things here then YOU SHOULD JUST LEAVE!”
This time he did wince, and the shame he felt was so powerful that he couldn’t bear to look at her anymore, turning his head. For a moment he could only lie there and struggle with the feeling, and minutes passed before the recrimination slowly began to ebb, leaving him to wonder how he could possibly have said that to her. What if she hadn’t refused?! he raged at himself silently. What it she HAD left right then?! The thought was enough to send cold shudders down his spine. He didn’t want her to leave; of that he was absolutely certain. Not only did he have no desire to go through another painful separation from her, but the mere prospect of her permanent absence from his life was enough to make the future – no matter what intellectual breakthroughs or political ambitions he might achieve – seem bleak in the extreme. Indeed, that was a recurring theme in his nightmares. So why had he said that?!
But even more maddening was the utterly illogical feeling of relief that underlay his self-reproach over his conduct. As horrible as saying that to her had been, giving voice to those words had felt like a burden being lifted from his shoulders, which made no sense whatsoever. He’d been actively concerned that further upsetting her would drive her away ever since their altercation with Nosey that morning, and he had been trying to minimize the potential for such a thing to happen in his further interactions with her. Openly daring her to leave him ran completely counter to that strategy; it accomplished nothing except make that untenable occurrence more likely.
No, he realized an instant later. That’s not correct. His brow furrowed as he realized that giving voice to that particular anxiety had accomplished something. In fact, goading her to leave him had ended up producing the exact opposite effect, causing her to not only restate her love for him, but to repudiate the very idea of ending their relationship again. Moreover, that had been what had caused them to turn the metaphorical corner just now, with her heartfelt words causing him to want to reciprocate her feelings, and so acquiescing to her request to resume his corporeal form…
Lex was still trying to think through the implications of what had just happened when a soft voice came from beyond the tent flap. “Sir?” A moment later it parted slightly, and he caught a glimpse of a stallion’s face beyond it, making eye contact. Seeing that Lex was awake, the pony stepped inside, faltering as he caught sight of the slumbering mare by his side. “Is now a good time?” he asked softly.
Recognizing the stallion as one of C. Shells’ crew, Lex scowled at the stupidity of the question. As though personal convenience matters during a crisis situation. “What is it?” he asked, though he kept his voice down as well.
“The doctors have finished with Spit Polish. We’re going to put him in that cage like you said, but-”
“But you can’t get the lock open,” finished Lex, causing the stallion to nod in reply.
“He’s barely moved since we dragged him there, so I don’t think there’s any rush, but if you want-”
“Wait outside,” ordered Lex dismissively. For a moment the stallion paused, not expecting to be so abruptly sent away, but turned and left a moment later.
For a few seconds, Lex regarded his sleeping girlfriend, trying to put his thoughts in order. He knew they hadn’t resolved any of the underlying issues that had caused them to fight, and he wanted those dealt with so that they could resume the more pleasant aspects of their relationship. But now…for some reason he suddenly felt optimistic that they’d not only be able to work things out, but sooner rather than later. It was enough to make a rare, gentle smile cross his face as he looked at her. “I’ll be right back,” he murmured quietly, brushing his lips across her forehead. “I don’t want to leave you either.”
With that, he gingerly pulled away from her before calling upon his dwindling reserve of dark magic, changing back into a shadow as he floated through the tent flap, causing the stallion outside to jump in surprise. “Let’s go.”
Spit Polish looked, in Lex’s estimation, like a broken wreck of a pony.
Lying on his back on a makeshift exam table inside the medical tent, all four of his hooves were bandaged. His right foreleg was wrapped further up than the others, and was in a sling to prevent him from using it. A huge bruise marked his front, turning his entire chest yellow and purple. And his eyes, red-rimmed and puffy from crying, were downcast, refusing to look at the green-and-purple-eyed shadow hovering nearby. “What’s going to happen to me?”
His voice was weak and pitiful. Much like that wretch of a pony himself, thought Lex vindictively. “You will remain confined until I formally sentence you for your crimes.” As he spoke, he reached out toward the makeshift cage that had been placed in the corner – the same one that had so recently contained Garden Gate – and brushed the lock with a shadowy tendril. It immediately fell open, and the stallion that had retrieved Lex (Ocean Spray, he remembered now) opened the cage, looking at Spit Polish expectantly.
Spit Polish made no move toward the cage. “What will…” he started, only to trail off. Swallowing nervously, he tried again, still looking at the ceiling. “What will my sentence be?” The fear in his voice was matched only by his despair.
“You’ll find out very soon,” promised Lex darkly, and he didn’t miss the shudder that went down the other pony’s spine at the words. As soon as he’d recovered enough to channel additional magic, he fully intended to punish the miserable worm with a curse so harsh it would make Garden Gate’s fate seem pleasant by comparison. But until then, let him writhe in ignorance and wonder what I’ll do to him, he thought spitefully. Although he didn’t believe in cruelty, letting a criminal worry about their fate struck Lex was being perfectly acceptable. “Now, get in the cage.”
Off to the side, a mare in a lab coat – Lex almost thought it was the one Sonata had enchanted, but she was different – looked up. “He needs to stay off those hooves as much as possible. Even short-term weight-bearing could inflame his injuries.” She hesitated for just a moment as Lex turned to look at her, licking her lips before continuing. “I think we should try to cushion the floor of the cage, in case he does try to sit or stand.”
“Do it,” ordered Lex coldly, and the doctor hastened to obey.
A minute later, she’d spread a blanket and some pillows on the floor of the cage. “This should do.” With that taken care of, she glanced at Ocean Spray. “Help me move him?”
“Right.” Nodding, the pegasus stallion followed her over to Spit Polish. A minute later the pair managed to transfer him to the cage, managing to set him down relatively gently on the floor of it. As soon as they did, Ocean Spray shut the door, setting the lock around it, which immediately sprang closed of its own accord. With that done, he turned to look at Lex. “Um, should we leave him here, or…?”
“I don’t care.” Lex floated over to the cage to peer hatefully at the pony within. Spit Polish still didn’t return his gaze, his ears down as he looked at the ground with a miserable look on his face. After a long moment, Lex spoke up. “Just so long as he’s comfortable.” He punctuated the statement by telekinetically picking up the pillow he’d brought from his tent – the same one that Spit Polish had tried to murder him with – and shoving it through the bars to plant it directly against the trapped pony’s face. Spit Polish let out a muffled cry of alarm, raising his bandaged hooves to try and push the pillow away, but Lex refused to let up…for three seconds. Then the purple aura around the pillow disappeared as he released it, falling to the ground as Spit Polish gasped for air. “He does appreciate a good pillow, after all.”
Spit Polish reflexively turned to look at him then, and while Lex didn’t believe himself to be a petty individual, the sight of the other pony in that moment – clearly terrified, shaking like a leaf as he panted for air, his eyes filling with a new round of tears – was deeply satisfying.
As he left the medical tent, Lex’s good humor was already starting to fade.
Although he’d survived Spit Polish’s assassination attempt, the fact that another pony had tried to kill him was a sobering reminder that he’d been foolish to let his guard down so much. In the wilderness he never would have rested without casting at least a few warding spells, no matter how injured he’d been. But despite the fact that Garden Gate had shown him firsthoof how some ponies could cross lines that would, under normal circumstances, be unimaginable in Equestria, he had foolishly left himself vulnerable. If that wretch had used a knife instead of a pillow… The permanent defensive spells on his body could protect him even in his sleep, but they had their limits.
The obvious solution was to always make sure to place additional protections around himself – and, for that matter, Sonata – before sleeping, regardless of their circumstances. But that ran into issues of practicality, which was why he’d been forced to leave Sonata unguarded just now; he didn’t currently have any such spells prepared, having prepared almost all battle spells in anticipation of leaving Vanhoover. Worse, with Severance currently being used by Cloudbank, he couldn’t rectify that particular oversight…and he knew he needed to rest and recover his strength as soon as possible.
That left only one viable option: to retain the services of a guardian. But such an individual would not only need to be strong enough to serve in such a capacity, but also trustworthy…or at least controllable. Unfortunately, there was almost no one here who managed to fit both criteria; even Severance was ineligible, since Lex felt sure that tasking the weapon to guard his life while he slept would definitely have tripped its warning about overreliance. As loathe as he was to admit it, there was only one viable candidate.
As he flowed through the camp, drawing looks and whispers – but also some smiles and even a few tentative waves, all of which he steadfastly ignored – Lex finally found that candidate resting on the far side of the train station. Stretched out on her back and with her eyes closed, she appeared to be enjoying the same sort of carefree sleep that he had so recently taken for granted. At least, until he approached her; despite making no noise as he slid closer to her she crooked one eye open. Perhaps she hadn’t been quite so carefree after all.
“Now this is a surprise.” Stretching languidly as she rolled onto her belly, Aria gave Lex a naughty grin. “What’s going on?”
Lex reacts to several recent developments, with his usual mixed results.
Is having Aria guard him in his sleep a good idea?
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I should probably put this in a blog post instead of here, but I like to keep those about the story itself, rather than about me, so I'll put this here.
290,173 words.
That's the total amount that I've written for this story in 2017. And that doesn't count blogs or author's notes, let alone all of the comments I've replied to. I can't help but find that mind-boggling.
In 2015, when I started writing Lateral Movement, I wrote a grand total of 52,514 words, almost all of which were written as part of my first attempt at NaNoWriMo; only a single chapter was written in early December, after which I put this fic down for almost eleven months. It wasn't until November of 2016 that I started it up again, using another NaNoWriMo to give me the structure I needed to get back on the proverbial
horsepony. I overshot the fifty thousand word total for November by quite a bit, and moreover was able to set my current schedule of one chapter every three days. By the time 2016 ended, I'd added an impressive (for me) 91,314 words to this story.But 2017 was the first year where I wrote continuously throughout the entire year. I deviated from my one chapter every three days rule only twice: the first was to take a short vacation in August (missing two chapters as a result) and to write fifty thousand words during November again (in what will probably be my last NaNoWriMo; succeeding in three out of three attempts is enough to convince me that I can do this at will, and so don't need to prove it to myself anymore). The result is 290,173 additional words spread across one hundred thirty-two new chapters, averaging just shy of 2,200 words per chapter (or almost 800 words a day every day for the entire year).
I can honestly say that I had no idea that I'd accomplish so much when this year started, and if I had known ahead of time just how much I'd end up writing - let alone that the story wouldn't even be finished yet! - I'd have been filled with disbelief (and quite likely extremely intimidated). It certainly wasn't easy; new job responsibilities as the year progressed made it harder for me to steal free time to write new material while I was at work, and I ended up pulling several late nights in order to meet my self-imposed deadline. But I can honestly say that it was worth it each and every time. Being able to create something, particularly such a sprawling epic, has been the most creative endeavor that I've undertaken, and I'm absolutely thrilled to have accomplished so much.
I especially want to thank everyone who's followed Lex's journey along with me; knowing that you guys are reading (and, hopefully, enjoying) my work has been a huge part of what's kept me going. In particular, thank you to everyone who's left a comment, with special thanks for those of you who've been leaving comments regularly. Like all authors, I look forward to seeing what you think each time I post a chapter, and I'm always thrilled to see that little notification icon indicating that a new comment has been left after I've posted a chapter. Thank you all so much!
So what's next for Lateral Movement? Well, quite obviously the story isn't finished yet! A year ago today, I had just posted the first part of a two-chapter interlude after the prologue had finished (fun fact: I was worried at the time that Lex's adventure in Vanhoover would be less than sixty chapters - that concerned me because I thought that having a sequence that was shorter than the prologue would be lame. Wow was I wrong!). Now, Lex is hopefully drawing closer to finally saving Vanhoover from the last of the forces plaguing it. And if he does, what then? I don't want to say too much, since as I just mentioned my long-term predictions for this story can be (sometimes wildly) inaccurate, but I'll say that I'm not planning on ending things when Vanhoover is saved. After all, as Lex himself has said on numerous occasions, there's more to governance than managing a crisis.
And after that...well...I'm thinking maybe there might be another trip to Everglow in his future. But don't quote me on that! Like I've said before, I've been surprised by where the story has gone as well, so there's no guarantee how things are going to turn out!
Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll all look forward to more of Lateral Movement in 2018!
Oh man, Aria is totally going to use this for innuendo against Sonata.
First off, congratulations on making it this far and damn that's a lot of words, even moreso if one includes your near constant updates. I am glad that Lex's story won't end after the crisis in Vanhoover is dealt with. While I do enjoy stories that have endings that are open to interpretation, I personally feel that it would be an injustice for Lex's story to end that way.
Of course, given the length of the story of within such a short amount of time(storywise), I can scarcely imagine the final word count when it is complete. As such, writing a second book might be prudent, especially if you go through with Lex going back to the Everglow.
Now back to the chapter. Lex's inner thoughts this chapter was fun to read as was his interaction with Spit Polish. Lex could have denied the doctor's request to pad the floor of the cell but his moral code likely had a hand in allowing it. Of course, this didn't stop him from mentally torturing Spit mainly out of pettiness. While his moral code prevents him from permanently harming an innocent, I can't help but wonder if it would apply for mentally torturing someone, especially if they're a criminal. Lex's inability to understand ponies could potentially lead him to driving someone mad by delivering too much of an emotional blow to their psyche.
Putting that aside, I can see why Lex sought Aria out to be his bodyguard. She has the skill and power to protect him from any future attempts on his life and him being her ticket to restoring her voice ensures that she would do everything in her power to protect him. Of course, given her master plan and intentions, her presence could serve as another potential reason for Lex and Sonata to disagree over. Even if Lex would be wary of losing Sonata again, the threat of another assassination attempt isn't something to be ignored.
How many more are going to fall before the puppetmaster slips up enough for Lex to realise even roughly whats occuring, or when Cloudy etc get back with an unconcious Nosey?
I think Aria is annoyed because Sonata doesnt Have to suck up to Lex in order to serve him.
Write a little at a time and its suprising how much it builds up over the years. Im extreamly sure Ive typed up far more in comments than in story, but currently theres no treating comments as chapters and so tracking rate, amount, responses and likes etc.
8640246 Yeah, there's really no way she won't be milking this for all that it's worth, in terms of teasing her sister.
8640501 Unlike a lot of Lex's previous foes, this one seems to have no particular impetus to reveal itself, let alone force any sort of out-and-out confrontation...notwithstanding what just happened with Cloudbank and the others. Hopefully, Lex will stumble upon some clue or something that will alert him to what's going on.
I personally don't see Aria as being annoyed, but more like eager to start fooling around with Lex as a way of irritating Sonata, which seems to be one of her (Aria's) primary forms of entertainment. Though, to be fair, "bitchy" does seem to be her default personality.
But yeah...that I'm closing in on a half-million words is completely blowing my mind.
8640453 The thing about writing this story is that I keep imagining various scenarios and circumstances for Lex that I think would be really cool to write, and so I want to keep going until I get to them. That scene where he casts a huge spell when fighting the dragon, and we then cut to Sonata's having a flashback of the end of Rainbow Rocks - i.e. the end of chapter 29 and the beginning of chapter 30 - was one that I spent months thinking about during that eleven-month hiatus I took. I wasn't working anything out about it, I just thought it was awesome and couldn't get it out of my head. I would watch the "Got the Music In Our Hearts" song on my phone while getting ready for work in the mornings and think about that scene in my story. All of which is to say, I'm writing this because I have things that I still want to do and can't bring myself to stop (nor do I really want to).
Part of the reason this story is so long, though, is because - to my mind - one of the worst things you (in the general sense of "you") can do as an author is to try and skip right to the "cool stuff" without first laying down the necessary groundwork. If I had introduced Lex by having him fighting a dragon, skipping all of the various preceding materials about who this guy was and what he could do, then it would have been easier for me, but I have no doubt that it would have been far less interesting to read about, as well as far less satisfying overall. Payoffs need to be earned. To that end, I feel like there's a lot more to do; Lex doesn't want to just stop at saving Vanhoover, and neither do I. There are still more "cool scenes" left to write, which means that I need to keep laying down the foundations for when they happen.
Having said that, I'm honestly not too keen on the idea of concluding Lateral Movement and continuing the saga in a new story. I know that the story description makes that sound rather appropriate, since it frames the tale in terms of his ruling this city, but that's largely because I had to write the story description before anything else and I wasn't sure where the story was going to go. Ultimately, this is really the tale of Lex and his adventures, so I'm comfortable keeping everything under the this story. Though, of course, I might see things differently later on.
But turning my attention back to this chapter, the first sequence here was Lex very clumsily examining the idea that it's better to talk about relationship problems instead of trying to manage them all on his own. The reason he said what he did to Sonata was because he was afraid that she was going to leave him again (hence his shadow tormenting him with that possibility in chapter 154), and he was too injured and too exhausted to keep that fear contained anymore. The reason he felt relieved was because he finally got that out in the open, and Sonata assuaged his fear, telling him that she wouldn't do that. It's an elementary lesson for everypony else, but for him he's just now managing to fumble onto that idea, largely thanks to her.
As for his interaction with Spit Polish, well, Lex would never classify that as torture. That's largely because he's so used to mentally and emotionally castigating himself for his failures - both real and perceived - that he's unable to conceive of living any other way. To his mind, it's completely normal to deal with regret and recrimination over the things you did wrong for the rest of your life. As such, he doesn't think of how he treated Spit Polish as being torture, per se; to him, that term has very clear terms for what it means, and rubbing someone's face in their crimes (literally, here) doesn't meet that criteria. Of course, he's extremely wrong to think that everypony can handle that level of personal angst and still function the way he can, so he might very well be setting himself up for an unpleasant surprise in the future.
And as for that last sequence, you're exactly right that Lex is turning to Aria because he knows that he can control her via the fact that only he can give her what she wants. He knows she's strong, and until he can change her into a pony she has little choice but to do what he says if she wants her voice back. He fully intends to leverage that, at least for the time being. He has no idea that this plays right into Aria's (rather petty) plan to needle Sonata by trying to seduce him...though she might have her work cut out for her there. Then again, being a pony would certainly help with that.
Spit Polish.
Lex needs to make this punishment fast and clean.
if he keeps using his dark magic the pony's are going to start to fear him.
i am not saying kill him but this was attempted murder of a leader.
8641765 Lex would have punished him immediately, but he needs to recover enough to channel additional magic so that he can lay a curse of appropriate strength on him.
That said, Lex's traveling around the camp in shadow-form - which is an unambiguous use of dark magic - was met with less than outright fear by the ponies there, which is a good sign. Of course, he ignored the few smiles and waves that he got, but the fact that he received them in the first place is hopeful. Naturally, that's entirely due to Sonata's speech a few chapters back.
Not only be able to
9185703 Fixed now! Thanks for catching that!