Lateral Movement

by Alzrius


310 - What's Wanted

“We’re all going to Tartarus.”

Granola Bar shot Slip ‘n’ Slide an exasperated look, one foreleg pausing in mid-motion as she reached for the basket of fruit on a nearby table. “Nopony’s going to Tartarus.”

“We all just confessed to murder,” shot back Slip, his voice overflowing with cynicism. “What do you think Princess Cadance is going to do? Make us all write ‘I will not kill other ponies’ a hundred times each?” He threw himself into a large chair, his expression despairing as he sank into the cushions. “No, we’re all going straight onto the express train to the bottom of Tartarus, where we’ll spend the rest of our lives dealing with the freezing cold and the giant spiders.”

Across the room, Hopscotch sat up from where she’d been reclining on a couch lined with red velvet. “There are giant spiders in Tartarus?” she asked, eyes widening in horror.

“It’s what our mom used to tell us when we’d misbehave,” answered Funshine, cutting off Slip ‘n’ Slide before the other stallion could reply. “If we wouldn’t go to sleep after she’d tucked us in, she’d get mad and say that rowdy little colts who wouldn’t settle down got sent to Tartarus.” He corners of his lips turned up at the memory, and he tore himself away from the magnificent view of Canterlot that was out the window to look at Hopscotch. “Slip always hated the cold, and I was scared of spiders when I was young-”

“Right,” interjected Slip ‘n’ Slide with a sarcastic snort. “When you were young.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a guy who still bursts into tears if he gets hit in the face with a snowball,” retorted Funshine.

“Hey!”

Ignoring his brother’s yell of indignation, Funshine continued with his story. “So anyway, our mom put the two together, saying that it was a place where it was always freezing and was full of giant spiders. But it was just something she made up to get us to quiet down and go to sleep; it’s not really like that there.”

“Oh.” Hopscotch started to settle back down, a relieved look on her face, before something occurred to her. “So, what is it like in Tartarus?”

Slip ‘n’ Slide smirked, watching as Funshine froze in place, trying to come up with an answer that he didn’t have. “Er, well, um, it’s…it’s bad, obviously. I mean, even without all the monsters imprisoned there it’s still, you know…bad.”

Funshine’s last word was uttered in conjunction with a glance at Granola Bar, silently asking for help. Taking pity on him, the other mare sighed, swallowing a mouthful of grapes before going and next to Hopscotch on the luxurious couch. “Nopony knows what Tartarus is like, except for the princesses and maybe some of the Royal Guard. And we’re not going to know what it’s like either, because Princess Cadance isn’t going to send us there, so you don’t need to worry about anything.” She punctuated her declaration by reaching out and tousling the younger mare’s mane, causing Hopscotch to giggle lightly.

“Maybe she should.”

The statement, uttered by Fencer, was enough to draw all four of her friends’ attention. In the ten minutes since Princess Cadance had dropped them off in an extravagant waiting room in one wing of Canterlot Castle, Fencer hadn’t uttered a word nor helped herself to any of the amenities available to them. Instead, she’d gone to a corner of the room and silently brooded, her expression downcast. “Maybe Tartarus is where we belong,” she continued. “Or at least, where I belong.”

“Oh, not this again!” snapped Funshine. “Look, Fencer, I get it. It’s awful that Princess Cadance can’t bring back Turbo, or anypony else from Vanhoover, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep beating yourself up like this!”

He was going to say more, moving toward her, but Granola Bar reached out and extended a hoof, barring his way. Giving him a warning look, her features softened as she turned back to Fencer. “I think what Funshine’s trying to say is that you’ve already made all the amends you possibly could. You publicly apologized for everything you did when Lex sentenced you, and you apologized to Cozy just now. You bore those horrible curses with more grace than anyone else could have. You guarded all of those sick ponies on the way here. And do I need to mention your heroics against that horde of ghouls?” Sliding off the couch, she made her way over to the taller mare’s side and put a foreleg around her. “Fencer-, no, Garden, you’ve worked incredibly hard to redeem yourself. I’m sure that Princess Cadance will see that.”

“That’s right!” piped up Hopscotch, following after Granola Bar and moving around to Fencer’s other side. “Even Lex forgave you, remember?”

“And even if we do get thrown into Tartarus, at least we’ll all be together.” Slip ‘n’ Slide’s voice was flippant, but the look on his face made it clear that the sentiment was genuine.

“You guys…” Fencer shook her head ruefully, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “I hope you’re right, but if it goes the other way-”

“Garden…”

Holding up a hoof as Granola Bar started to protest, Fencer kept going. “Look, I don’t…maybe you’re right. Maybe I’ve done all that I can do to try and make up for what I did back in Vanhoover.”

“What we did,” corrected Funshine.

“But even if that’s the case,” continued Fencer, “I’m not going to protest if Princess Cadance says that I still deserve to be punished, and if that happens I don’t want you guys to do what you did back at the station, do you understand me? I don’t want anypony else to sacrifice themselves for me.” The words “like Turbo did” hung in the air, unspoken but obvious.

“No,” protested Hopscotch. “If she-, if Princess Cadance asks us who was responsible for what happened to that stallion, I’m still going to say it was me.”

“So will I,” added Granola Bar.

“Me too,” chimed in Funshine.

“…eh, once you’ve confessed to murder once, what’s a second time?” sighed Slip ‘n’ Slide, before putting his face in his hooves and giving a low moan of despair. “Sweet Celestia, we’re all gluttons for punishment.”

His melodramatics were enough to earn a brief chuckle from Fencer. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure that by now the princess knows you all were lying.”

Hopscotch frowned, tilting her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Fencer’s smile took on a resigned edge. “Where do you think Princess Cadance is right now?”

“Well, she looked pretty worn out after using all that magic,” offered Funshine. “Maybe she’s taking a power nap or something before she gets around to questioning us?”

“I’d guess that she wants to make sure that Cozy is okay, along with…” Granola Bar stopped speaking suddenly, her eyes going wide as she realized what Fencer had been getting at. “Oh no!”

Her sudden exclamation made Slip ‘n’ Slide sit bolt upright. “What?! What is it now?!”

“She brought him back to life!” moaned Granola Bar.

Slip ‘n’ Slide looked confused for a moment, then his eyes widened as well. “Oh…”

“Hang on? You mean that Pillow guy, Cozy’s husband?” Funshine blinked, trying to figure out what was going on. “So the princess brought him back. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Yes,” admitted Granola Bar. “But now it doesn’t matter that we all confessed to killing him. Princess Cadance can just ask him which of us it was!”

Now it was Funshine’s turn to have his eyes go wide, with Hopscotch doing the same an instant later. The latter threw both of her forelegs around Fencer, as though worried she was going to be snatched away at any second. “That’s not fair!”

“It’s more than fair,” replied Fencer gently. “This is what’s supposed to happen. I’m the one to blame for his-, for Pillow’s death.” She forced herself to say the name of the pony she’d killed. “I appreciate what you all were trying to do for me, but now that it’s been undone I’m telling you: please don’t try anything else like that. I don’t want to avoid what’s coming to me, and I don’t want any of you to get caught up in it.”

“What do you want?”

Slip ‘n’ Slide’s sudden question made Fencer blink, not having expected that. “I’m sorry?”

“What do you want?” he repeated, climbing out of his cushioned chair. Walking toward her until he was almost within foreleg’s reach, he gave her a serious look. “This whole time you’ve been talking about what you don’t want to happen or what you think you deserve, but you haven’t said what you actually want for yourself.”

Fencer actually recoiled from the words, shrinking back as though they were painful to hear. “I…that doesn’t matter,” she protested.

“That’s all that matters,” countered Funshine. “Right now, this moment, what do you want to do?”

“Don’t think about Princess Cadance, or where we are, or anything else,” added Granola Bar. “If you could do anything you wanted, without worrying about the consequences, what would you do?”

Hopscotch, still holding Fencer around her middle, didn’t say anything, but she gave her a gentle squeeze, smiling up at her.

For a long moment, nopony said anything. Fencer’s ears folded back as she looked at each of her friends in turn, knowing from the expressions that they wore that they weren’t going to let this go. That knowledge made her heart ache, and before she could stop herself the words came tumbling out.

“I want to go back to Vanhoover.”

Another pregnant pause ensued, as each of Fencer’s friends had a different reaction. Granola Bar wore a smile. Hopscotch looked curious. Funshine’s jaw was hanging open. Slip ‘n’ Slide was biting his lip, a pained look on his face as one eye twitched madly.

Granola Bar was the first to speak. “Okay,” she said simply. “Why?”

Fencer slumped in place, as though admitting to something shameful. “Because I want to help everypony there.” Heaving a sigh that seemed to come from her hooves, she picked herself up, forcing herself to make eye contact with the others. “I don’t know if I’m just trying to make myself feel better, or if I’m still trying to atone, or something else, but these last few days…when we were guarding those sick ponies on the train…when Lex said that he wanted me to do this, to protect Equestria…then everything, all of this…it didn’t feel so bad. If I can still help everypony there, if I can do anything to try and make things a little better for everyone still living there, then that’s what I want to do.”

She watched nervously as the other four glanced at each other, knowing looks passing between them. “Alright,” said Hopscotch at last, disentangling herself from Fencer before proceeding to a nearby window and peering out it. “I’m not sure,” she said after a moment, “but I think the train we came in on is still there.”

“We’ll need to make sure we don’t alert any of the guards.” Funshine glanced at the room’s only door as he spoke. “I didn’t hear any hoofsteps outside the door after the princess left, but there are probably some at the end of the hall.”

Fencer blinked. “Hang on…what are you talking about?”

“How to get back to Vanhoover, obviously.” Granola Bar’s voice was matter-of-fact, as though the answer was a foregone conclusion. “We’ll need to get moving fast, before Princess Cadance comes back. Maybe we could make some sort of diversion, draw her attention elsewhere?”

“What are you-, no!” Fencer stomped a hoof, agitated. “This isn’t what I wanted!”

“You literally just said exactly the opposite,” pointed out Slip ‘n’ Slide, going over to another window and looking up. “I don’t see any pegasus guards outside, but it’s pretty dark.”

The calm retort made Fencer sputter. “Yeah, but-, no! Listen to me! There’s no need for us to break out of here! Princess Cadance isn’t going to punish you guys for anything! You just said that she might not even punish me for anything!”

“And you said she might,” replied Funshine. “That’s not a chance we’re willing to take, so we’re doing this.”

“But…!”

“Garden.” Granola Bar put a hoof over her mouth to keep her from protesting. “The reason we’re here is because of you. You got us out of Vanhoover safely. You fought off the undead ponies. You suffered alone for the things that we all participated in. If you say that going back is what you need to try and be happy again, then we’re going to get you there. That’s all there is to it.”

Through her tears, Fencer saw the others nod, the sight leaving her unable to speak. “I…”

“C’mon,” urged Slip ‘n’ Slide, “less yapping, more planning! We need a quiet exit strategy on the double!”

“We’ll figure it out,” smiled Hopscotch. “We gave those ghouls the slip plenty of times, the guards should be easy!”

“We’ve been in worse spots and come through,” agreed Funshine.

Granola Bar nodded, her eyes fixed on their leader. “What do you think, Garden?”

Fencer – or was it Garden now? – sniffled, wiping a foreleg across her eyes. All of a sudden all of her doubts were gone, melted by the incredible warmth spreading through her. “I…” I love you all. “I have an idea…”