“You’re sure you’re alright?”
Garden Gate nodded, though Turbo was close enough to her that he didn’t miss how she slowed down slightly as she did, as though trying to walk and nod simultaneously was a strain. “Really, I’m fine. You don’t have to keep asking me that.”
Trying not to wince at how lifeless her voice sounded, Turbo replied a little too quickly. “I know, I just...everypony here would understand if you wanted us to give you some space.” Turbo glanced around, receiving immediate nods from the rest of the group before he turned back to Garden, his face radiating earnestness. “For that matter, it wouldn’t be any big deal if you wanted to go back and rest. I’ll personally guarantee that we’ll be able to bring you some provisions before Piggy eats them all.” That earned a round of chuckles, all of which went unchallenged since the fat little earth stallion had run ahead of them a few minutes ago, worrying that their slow pace would mean they’d miss out on getting any food. Even Granola Bar wasn’t able to suppress a smirk, giving a genial roll of the eyes when Turbo glanced at her.
But Garden didn’t smile; if anything she seemed even less animated than she had a second ago, looking at the ground as she shook her head. “I’d rather go with you all.”
Turbo was about to try and persuade her that she didn’t need to do that – just the thought of her being around so many strangers in her weakened state, the same strangers who had kept them isolated in that deathtrap that Vanhoover had become, was enough to put him on edge – but the words caught in his throat as his eyes lingered on Granola Bar, remembering again what she’d told him last night.
“While we were in Vanhoover, Fencer was your secret weapon. Now that we’re out, Garden Gate needs you to be hers.”
Her message had been extremely easy to decipher; so much so that Turbo had felt embarrassed that he hadn’t put it together himself; they’d all seen Garden break down right before Lex had cursed her, after all. She’d flat-out said how horrible she felt about all of the things she’d done. But I didn’t hear it, he chastised himself ruefully, before correcting himself an instant later. No, I didn’t WANT to hear it. It had been easier to focus on what Lex had done to her than to deal with the mare he’d admired so much having suddenly gone to pieces. Even now, he’d been falling back into old habits, worrying about her physical safety instead of what would make her feel better.
Now if only he knew what would make her feel better!
He was certain she’d had nightmares after falling back asleep last night – he’d seen her toss and turn intermittently throughout the night, and a few times he’d heard what sounded like pained groans coming from her – but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask her about them when morning had rolled around. What was he supposed to say? “So, what horrors did you dream about last night?” At the time he’d thought it was better to let it go; she had to have nightmares while she was asleep, so it was better, he’d reasoned, not to make her think about them while she was awake too. And besides, she hadn’t mentioned them once so far. Surely she’d have said something if she wanted to talk about them, right? He’d thought so before, but now – seeing her downcast eyes and miserable expression – he felt uncertain that he’d made the right call.
Or maybe it doesn’t matter either way, he thought bitterly as they reached the edge of the crowd. However you slice it, I’m not helping her. He knew he was being too hard on himself, that it was beyond unrealistic to expect to completely cheer her up less than an hour after waking up, but he couldn’t help it. The idea she was in pain and that it was his job to help her had left him anxious to take action, even though he had no idea what to do.
“You think they’ll have any pie?” Funshine’s voice interrupted Turbo’s recrimination, making him blink as he looked over at the other stallion.
“Pie?” Slip ‘n’ Slide’s face reflected the mild incredulity in his voice as he looked at his brother. “Who are you supposed to be? Piggy?”
Funshine shrugged. “I’m just saying, if there’s going to be enough food to feed this many ponies, it’d be great if they had some pie as part of it.”
“We were eating wet cardboard at one point,” shot back Slip, looking as though he couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. “As long as what they serve is, you know, actual food, who cares if there’s any pie?”
“I’d love a nice salad, myself,” chimed in Granola Bar.
Slip’s eyebrows went up, his face now showing open disbelief at what he was hearing. “Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah,” nodded Funshine. “Of all the foods you could have after all this time, you ask for a salad?”
Slip ‘n’ Slide put a hoof to his face, giving a pained groan.
“What about you, Turbo?” Granola Bar was smiling slightly as she looked at him. “What are you hoping for?”
“Um…” Turbo glanced at Garden again, barely paying attention. “Anything’s fine, I guess.”
“Thank you!” exclaimed Slip.
“I, um…I’d like a hayburger,” spoke up Hopscotch from her usual place in the back of the group. “One with lettuce, and pickles, and ketchup, but no onions.”
“If they have any onions, I’ll take them,” smiled Granola Bar, before looking past Turbo. “Garden, what about you?”
“….huh?” Garden’s ears flipped up, a surprised look crossing her face, clearly not having expected to be asked. It was the first time all morning Turbo had seen her not looking completely depressed…and then he suddenly understood why Granola was asking her.
“M-macaroni!” he blurted suddenly, causing all of the nearby ponies to look at him. Fighting down a blush, he glanced around self-consciously. “My mom used to make macaroni and cheese for dinner when I was a kid. I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. She used to say that I’d get macaroni for a cutie mark because of how much I loved it.” He let that hang in the air for a minute before turning to Garden. “Your turn now.”
“I…I don’t know,” she muttered, looking back down.
“C’mon,” pressed Turbo. “We said what ours was, now it’s your turn.”
“I guess…” Garden paused then, pursing her lips and staying silent for a long moment before speaking again. “I guess I’d like it if they had rolls.”
“Rolls?” asked Funshine.
Garden nodded. “My dad…he would bake these rolls whenever there was a special occasion. He’d always glaze the bread so that it tasted like honey, and when you put butter in the middle of them…it was the best thing ever.” She let out a shaky breath, and blinked her eyes a few times, but the corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly. The sight made Turbo’s heart soar, and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Hey, look at that!” yelled Hopscotch, causing everypony to look back at her. Their heads all swung back around as they saw that she was pointing towards the front of the crowd, where a pegasus mare – Turbo’s brow furrowed as he realized that she was one of the ones from Lex’s group – was hovering, looking over them with a nervous expression on her face. As she opened her mouth, Turbo found himself looking away, glancing back at Garden again. If they have even one roll, I swear I’ll get it for you, he vowed silently.
Slightly ahead of him, Slip ‘n’ Slide was pouting as the white-and-pink pegasus mare began talking. “...peanut butter and jelly with the crusts cut off…”
“No way!” exclaimed Sonata. “Like, absolutely positively no way nuh-uh not gonna happen!”
“Look, this isn’t just for Cozy’s sake!” insisted Aisle. He’d spent the last few minutes telling Sonata what had happened with Cozy, and why he needed her help now. So far she was adamantly opposed to the idea, but Aisle wasn’t ready to quit yet. “I’m telling you this for Lex’s own good too!”
Sonata frowned at that, confusion and skepticism mixing on her face. “How is having me break one of Lex’s, like, most important rules, and doing it to make someone else lie to him, for his own good?”
“Because if he punishes Cozy now, it will make everypony hate him!” Aisle’s look was pleading, though even he wasn’t sure if it was for her to understand or simply to agree. “Think about it. If he finds out that Cozy didn’t help treat those sick and injured ponies, he’ll definitely hold that against her. Now imagine that he decides that she needs to be punished for…I don’t even know what he’d call it.” He waved a hoof in the air, too anxious to keep still. “Dereliction of duty or something. Can you imagine how that will make him look?” He paused for a moment to let that sink in. “A grieving widow, her husband’s body barely cold, and Lex goes ahead and uses his magic to make her life even more miserable just because she wouldn’t follow his orders.”
Suddenly uncomfortable, Sonata shifted on her hooves. “That’s…”
Aisle pressed ahead. “You can’t tell me that’s not something he’d do. Not after what happened with Garden Gate.”
Now it was Sonata’s turn to throw her hooves into the air, very nearly knocking down the tent they were in. “Garden Gate killed a guy! Why does everyone always forget that part?! It’s not like Lex just decided, ‘hey, I don’t like that girl’s face. I’m totes gonna curse her for it,’ you know!”
“She said she was sorry!”
“So that’s all it takes?! You just say sorry, and no matter what awful things you’ve done you’ll totes be forgiven right then and there?! Well gee, I wish me and my sisters had known that before we got tossed into that awful dimension for, like, a gazillion years!”
“That’s what’s important!” yelled Aisle, his voice raising as he reached his breaking point. “That’s what-” He stopped suddenly, sitting back and burying his face in his fore-hooves, and Sonata heard him make a noise that sounded distinctly like a sob.
It was enough to break her out of her anger, ears folding back in guilt. “…listen, I wasn’t trying to…I didn’t mean that Cozy deserves whatever happens to her, I just…it’s not fair that everypony is treating Lex this way. Not after everything he’s done.”
Part of her wondered why she was sticking up for him after what a jerk he’d been, but she didn’t have a chance to figure it out before Aisle spoke up again, lowering his hooves from his face. “I know,” he said, both his face and his voice filled with resignation and despair, as though he just wanted this to be over. “But Sonata…that is what’s going to happen. We both know that Lex will curse Cozy, and everypony will hate him for it.” He took a step closer to her. “We have to be the ones who stop it. You and me. We have to save both of them from themselves. Right now we’re the only ones who can.”
Sonata looked down at that, biting her lip. Maybe…maybe just once would be okay. I mean, Lex said to use my powers if there was ever an emergency, and I guess this is an emergency. Besides, she’d already cut a deal with Aria, hadn’t she? Lex was going to go ahead and make her into a pony in a couple of days, and then Aria would keep up her end of the bargain and enchant ponies to like Lex anyway. So really…this was just keeping everything running smoothly until then. Someday I’ll tell him about this and we’ll laugh, she thought, trying desperately to make herself believe it. Licking her suddenly-dry lips, Sonata lifted her head to look at Aisle.
“Okay…I’ll do it.”