//------------------------------// // 323 - Collision Course // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Frozen in shock, it was all Pillowcase could do to speak. “You…” “Who?” Aisle leaned out the door. “Shoo.” But the guard tried to wave him back inside. “Oh poo,” muttered Slip ‘n’ Slide weakly. “My crew!” squeaked Funshine. “We’re through…” moaned Granola Bar. “What do we do?!” whimpered Hopscotch. “Withdrew! I mean, withdraw!” yelled Fencer. “Run for where the stairs are! Go!” She darted into the intersection as she spoke, intent on making a hard right and rushing past Pillowcase. It’s not like I’m trying to avoid him, she swore silently as she dashed forward, trying to ignore how the crystal stallion was already attempting to lurch backward in an effort to keep away from her, babbling incoherently as his features twisted in fear. I just need to get my friends out of here before more guards arrive! Except, she realized an instant later, Pillowcase wasn’t babbling incoherently. He was calling out to Lashtada in some sort of liturgical chant, similar to what Princess Cadance had done in her initial, unsuccessful attempts to heal the ponies they’d brought here via the train, before she’d used Lashtada’s power directly. He didn’t do that when we attacked him before! But there was no time to think about that now; she was already in the middle of the intersection – only a few feet from Pillowcase – and was just starting to lean her body in favor of turning, hearing the hoofsteps of her friends behind her- At that moment Pillowcase’s chant finished, and he immediately shrieked a command. “Approach no closer!” Fencer had just enough time to think that he’d phrased that rather oddly as she started leaning into her hard rightward turn…and then, completely contrary to what she’d intended to do, she flung herself in the opposite direction, hurling herself toward Pillowcase in an off-balance lunge. Her eyes widening in confusion and alarm, she had just enough time to see the same expression on his face before she crashed bodily into him. It was only blind luck that kept her from smashing her injured horn against his face, and Fencer was helpless to control her momentum as the two of them hurtled into the guard – who hadn’t had enough time to do anything other than glance back at them in surprise – sending the three of them into the half-open door where Aisle was waiting, slamming it open and knocking him to the ground, all four of them collapsing into the room in a heap. The four of them had barely hit the ground when Funshine skidded into the room, making his way over to Fencer’s side. “Garden! Are you okay?!” “What’re you doing?! We gotta go!” Slip ‘n’ Slide was clearly struggling not to scream, glancing between where his brother was helping Fencer to her hooves and the open door. But he turned his full attention to the door a second later as Hopscotch and Granola Bar rushed in, the latter slamming the door closed and leaning against it. “What’re you doing?! We need to leave!” “It’s too late for that!” snapped Granola Bar. “We need to-, oh no!” Following her gaze to the room’s only bed, Slip ‘n’ Slide’s eyes widened as he saw a familiar crystal mare sitting up and rubbing her eyes blearily, a pained expression on her face. “Ow. Whaz goin’ on?” muttered Cozy, looking around the room blankly. But when she saw Funshine helping Fencer off of Pillowcase, her eyes suddenly grew to the size of dinner plates, blind panic replacing her sleepiness. “PILL-” But she didn’t have a chance to finish wailing, as a cerise-and-maroon blur leaped at her, knocking her back onto the bed and holding her down. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry please don’t scream please don’t scream please don’t scream!” whispered Hopscotch, looking like she was about to cry. But despite the fact that she was smaller than the struggling crystal mare, she was managing to hold her down and even keep a hoof over Cozy’s mouth. Barely. Meanwhile, the guard was groaning as he climbed to his hooves. “My head,” he moaned. “These helmets do noth-, wait…hang on.” Blinking, he finally put two and two together as he looked at the mass of ponies now occupying the room. “You’re those guys who went missing!” Turning, he gave Funshine a look of resolve. “Rookie, go get help, quick! I’ll hold them off!” He punctuated his statement by grabbing Slip ‘n’ Slide in a headlock, the smaller stallion caught completely off-guard as he was seized. But Funshine was still helping Fencer get up, giving the guard a blank look. “Huh? You mean me?” Now freed from where the guard had been lying on top of him, Aisle immediately focused on how his most important pony was being attacked, rushing toward the bed. “Let go of Cozy!” he roared. But he hadn’t taken more than two steps before he found his path blocked, Granola Bar standing in his way. “Calm d-” But she didn’t have a chance to say more before Aisle plowed into her, the two of them collapsing in a tangle of limbs next to the bed. “Please, don’t do this!” Lying on the ground, Pillowcase didn’t even try to get up, giving Fencer a look of terror. But his voice was pleading as he spoke. “Let Cozy and Aisle go, I’m begging you!” Her heart wrenching as she realized that he’d been afraid for them and not himself all along, Fencer shook her head, trying to tell him that he had it all wrong, that she wasn’t the same pony anymore. “No, I-” But that was enough for Cozy. “Pillow, run!” she screamed, managing to get her face clear of Hopscotch’s flailing hooves. “Leave us and run!” Fencer clenched her eyes shut, trying to stop her feelings of guilt from overwhelming her. “Stop! I don’t-” “Cozy!” yelled Aisle from where he was fighting a pitched battle with Granola Bar, neither of them able to gain an advantage over the other. “Hang on!” “Everypony stop!” muttered Fencer, the words coming out along with a strangled sob. But nopony listened; even Funshine started toward the guard, clearly intent on freeing his brother. Realizing the brawl was about to get worse, Fencer wiped her eyes, taking a deep breath before yelling at the top of her lungs. “EVERYPONY STOP!” In the close confines of the room, her voice was deafening, and everyone reflexively came to a halt, pausing in mid-motion and turning their eyes toward her. Breathing heavily for reasons that had nothing to do with her yelling, Fencer looked back at Pillowcase, trying to put her feelings into words. But what could she say? “Sorry I killed you”? “I feel really bad about having tortured you and left you for dead”? Nothing seemed appropriate, and after several seconds she gave up, her shoulders slumping as she turned to look at Hopscotch. “Let her go,” she muttered weakly. Giving Fencer a sympathetic look, Hopscotch complied immediately, sitting up and releasing Cozy. The crystal mare instantly sprang into action, leaping out of the bed and flinging herself at Pillow, holding him close even as she placed her own body between him and Fencer. “Please don’t hurt him anymore,” she begged, looking at Fencer with tears in her eyes. “I can’t lose him. Not again.” A shudder ran through Fencer, remembering how Cozy had said almost the exact same thing a few days ago, when she’d held Pillowcase hostage in exchange for Lex’s horn at the warehouse on the docks. The memory made her want to throw up now, horrified by how callously she’d acted. I would have done it, she realized with a detached sense of revulsion. I would have killed him if Lex hadn’t stopped me. The fact that he’d later died anyway, of the wounds she’d inflicted on him before that, only made the memory worse, and she swayed on her hooves, suddenly dizzy. “Garden…” murmured Granola Bar, her voice pained as she realized that her friend was going through something awful. Intuiting what seemed like the best course of action, she pulled back from Aisle, letting the stallion get to his hooves. Glancing at the mare he’d been fighting just long enough to be certain that she’d let him go on purpose, Aisle made his way to Cozy and Pillow’s side. But he didn’t join their embrace, instead standing close to them protectively as he let out a slow breath. “Let’s everypony relax,” he announced, his voice tense. “Take a deep breath. Calm down.” When no one contradicted him, he seemed to heed his own advice, swallowing audibly before looking at the guard. “Let him go,” he instructed. The guard frowned, his forelegs still wrapped around Slip ‘n’ Slide’s neck from behind. “But-” “Please,” insisted Aisle, giving the guard a firm look. “Just…let him go, okay?” Huffing unhappily, the guard seemed to realize that they were outnumbered, releasing the smaller stallion. Coughing, Slip ‘n’ Slide moved away from him, Funshine helping his brother stand while he got his breath back (and earning a look of confusion and disapproval from the guard as he did so). “Thanks,” wheezed Slip as he shot Aisle a brief nod of gratitude. Returning the gesture, Aisle looked at Fencer. “Okay,” he said slowly, the word carrying audible relief that things were going as well as they were. But there was still more that had to be dealt with. “Why’re you here?” The question wasn’t an accusation, but Fencer flinched anyway, still struggling under the weight of what she’d done. “We weren’t…this wasn’t…” “We’re going back to Vanhoover,” piped up Hopscotch, still sitting on the bed. Aisle frowned a little, not having expected that. “What?” Still on the ground, Cozy and Pillow looked slightly surprised as well, but neither said anything, nervousness still radiating off of both of them. “It’s true,” nodded Granola Bar. “We’re not sure what Princess Cadance is planning on doing to Gar-, to Fencer, so we’re taking her back to Vanhoover before she has a chance.” “At least until we ran into you guys and she charged in here,” muttered Slip ‘n’ Slide hoarsely. Pillow winced at that, a look of regret mixed with embarrassment crossing his face. “That was my fault…” Cozy gave him a worried look, as though just by speaking up he was placing himself in danger, and he petted her mane soothingly. Glancing up at Fencer for just a second, he returned his eyes to the ground as he sighed. “When I saw you, I panicked. That spell was one that I’d prepared back before…before.” No one needed to ask what he meant by “before,” and he kept going. “It lets you issue a single command to whoever you cast it on, and although it only lasts for a few seconds, they have to follow it.” Funshine’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Yeah, but you said ‘approach no closer.’ I heard you.” Pillow nodded, not looking up. “Yeah, and that’s where I messed up. The spell only lets you give a one-word command. So when I said ‘approach no closer,’ the spell latched onto the word ‘approach,’ and made her move toward me.” He rubbed his face with his free hoof, sighing again. “It was a stupid mistake. I wasn’t thinking clearly.” An awkward silence fell at that, as everypony glanced at each other, uncertain what to say or do next. The silence was finally broken by the hesitant voice of Hopscotch. “I, um, didn’t know you could use magic,” she ventured timidly. “You didn’t…” She trailed off, but the words “when we attacked you,” hung in the air, unspoken but clearly understood. Surprisingly, the corners of Pillowcase’s lips turned up slightly at that, a self-deprecating smile crossing his face. “I did, actually.” He gave another fleeting glance at Fencer. “I’d prepared two uses of that spell, and I tried to use one on you…back then.” He shook his head, sighing again. “It didn’t work.” Both Fencer and Hopscotch blinked at that, ignoring the surprised looks from their friends. “You did?” Fencer didn’t even try to keep the surprise from her voice, the new information distracting her from her bout of self-loathing. “But I don’t…” Her protest died partway through, remembering the way Pillow had called out to Lashtada as she was tormenting him, right before he’d yelled at her to stop. At the time she’d thought it was just some sort of weird religious mania, attributing the sudden twinge she’d felt to disgust for how weak he was. But now… “The spell doesn’t always work,” confirmed Pillow. “Even against the same person, it can be resisted if they marshal their will. I guess you were just feeling out of sorts this time, huh?” The lilt in his voice made it clear he was making a joke, but nopony laughed. For her part, Fencer recalled how off-balance she’d felt when she’d tried to run away just now, the way she’d tried to turn her thoughts away from how seeing Pillowcase made her feel. Was that why his spell had affected her now when it hadn’t before? “But…” Granola Bar glanced around self-consciously before speaking up again. “But if you can use magic, why didn’t you heal yourself after Garden and the others left?” Cozy gave the other mare an upset look, indignation momentarily overcoming her trepidation. “You say that like it was his fault he couldn’t save himself.” Granola Bar held up a hoof defensively. “That’s not what-” “It’s okay,” cut in Pillow, stroking Cozy’s mane some more. “It’s okay.” When his wife had settled down, he looked at Granola Bar. “Cozy is far more devout than I am, and has more of Lashtada’s favor because of that. She can spontaneously generate curative power all around her, or even convert other spells she’s prepared into healing energy. But I can’t do that. If I want healing magic, I have to pray for spells that do that, the same way I would for any other spell.” Despite his answer, Granola Bar didn’t look satisfied. “Okay, but then why didn’t you? After you...were injured, couldn’t you have done that?” She’d been worried that the question might upset him, but Pillow was calm as he shook his head. If anything, speaking like this seemed to ease his anxiety rather than stoke it. “I couldn’t. In Lashtada’s religion, you’re supposed to pray for spells right after sunrise, and it was the middle of the day by then. Not to mention that it requires an hour of comfortable and relaxed focus, neither of which were available when I was hiding in that warehouse from all the ghouls.” He shuddered, but otherwise maintained his composure as he continued. “By that time I was in and out of consciousness, hungry and thirsty and hurting, with no idea what time it was or how long had passed…I couldn’t replenish my magic like that.” No one said anything in response to that, and silence fell over the room for long moments. Sensing that the conversation had reached another turning point, Aisle licked his lips, looking at Fencer. This next question, he knew, was the most important. Fighting down a sudden resurgence of nerves, he sent a silent prayer of his own to Lashtada and spoke. “So what happens now?”