//------------------------------// // 454 - Two Steps Back // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “Wait, wait, hold on,” sputtered Slip ‘n’ Slide. “So you’re saying that you fought Princess Celestia and Luna at the same time, and defeated both of them, all while holding Severance back?” He punctuated the question with a look at the rest of his friends, silently asking if they could believe what Lex hold told them. Garden could understand his surprise; they’d known that there’d been some sort of altercation, but to hear that Lex had overcome both of the princesses – all without taking any serious injuries, no less – even as he’d restrained the same artifact that had slaughtered the ghoul army was staggering. “And you did it all by yourself?” “As I said,” replied Lex flatly. “The Royal Guard was kept at bay by a group of foals.” “The Night Mare’s Knights,” mused Granola Bar, chuckling at the adorable name. “They sound like some very special children.” “They must be, if they’ve got magical powers and spirit animals and Celes-, er, the Night Mare only knows what else.” Funshine gave an apologetic grin as Lex shot him a withering look, hurriedly trying to move on. “I bet they’re a real crack squad of junior achievers.” “DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!” The high-pitched squeal drew all eyes upward, just in time to see a yellow pegasus filly streak out of an open window on the second story of River’s mansion, flying so fast that she was nearly a blur as she raced toward the camp. “My binoculars!” came a shrill cry from that same window, a scrawny-looking unicorn colt appearing a second later. His head veered back and forth wildly before finding what he was looking for, the binoculars in questions still arcing through the air in the wake of the filly’s flight. Leaning outward, the colt’s horn lit up, a matching aura appearing around the binoculars, causing the colt to let out a sigh of relief as he hurriedly pulled them back to his waiting hooves…only to realize that he had leaned too far out the window, giving a yelp of fright as he started to go over the edge. “Quick! Grab him!” yelled another colt’s voice. A second later the unicorn youth’s fall was arrested, three other foals appearing in the window with his tail in their teeth. “Use your super-strength, Fiddleface!” huffed the earth colt who was the larger of the two boys. “If I did that I might yank his tail off, dummy!” snarled the girl. “Don’t yank my tail off!” wailed the dangling unicorn. “Well somepony do something! If we don’t get better leverage we’re gonna drop him!” groaned the earth colt. “Don’t drop me!” howled the unicorn. “You guys pull! I’ll push!” instructed the other colt, this one a pegasus. A second later he released his friend’s tail – prompting a pair of strained grunts and one terrified shriek – and flew out the window, circling down until he was under his friend, grabbing him and flying upward. Or at least, he tried to. But his friend’s flailing hooves managed to hit one of his wings, causing the pegasus to give a pained grunt as he started to fall out of the air…only managing to save himself when he reached up and grabbed the binoculars that were hanging from his friend’s neck, hanging from them as the unicorn colt’s eyes bulged, now being pulled in two directions. Above him, the colt and filly biting his tail groaned as the weight they were holding suddenly doubled, slowly being dragged towards the edge of the window… …until all four were wrapped in the purple aura of Lex’s telekinesis, his eyes similarly glowing as he lifted all four of the children (and the binoculars) and deposited them back inside, closing the window sharply behind them for good measure. It was only after he’d secured it that he glanced at Funshine, who like the rest of his friends was completely nonplussed by the spectacle. “That’s not how I would describe them.” “Master Legis? Forgive me, sir, but there’s a pony here who insists on seeing you right away. He says it’s an emergency.” Lex sighed. It had only been a few minutes since those foals, who had already been granted power beyond most adults and were quite eager to acquire more, had almost gotten themselves killed trying to operate a window. Since then, he’d led Garden and her friends into the manor proper – those four foals (as well as their animals and Tiddlywinks) rushing past them on their way to follow Cleansweep, each of them giving him an embarrassed smile and a murmured thank you – with the intent of debriefing them in the study. But before they’d made it halfway across the parlor, River’s head butler had appeared. Even so, the interruption bothered Lex only slightly. While progress had been made over the last few days, the restoration of Vanhoover had barely begun; it was inevitable that more situations requiring his attention would arise. And since the old butler was announcing whoever was here, it was unlikely that this emergency presented some sort of imminent threat to anypony’s health or safety. But that didn’t mean that he could simply ignore it. Turning, he glanced at Garden. “Is any of what you’ve learned time-sensitive or critical to everypony’s well-being?” The question seemed to surprise her. “Well, no, but-” “Then I want you to stay here while I handle this,” he replied without letting her finish. “Trotsworth, put these five up somewhere until I’m done with whatever this emergency is.” “Very good, sir,” answered Trotsworth with a bow, before turning to Garden and her friends. “If you would be so good as to follow me, I think you’ll find that the northern sitting room is quite comfortable. If you’d like, I can send for some refreshments.” “Anything but apples,” blurted Slip ‘n’ Slide, moving after the old butler. “Do…do you have any hayburgers?” asked Hopscotch timidly. “Forget hayburgers, I want some pie!” blurted Funshine. “Stop it, all of you,” huffed Granola Bar. “This isn’t a restaurant. Tell them, Garden.” She glanced back, only to pause as she realized that their leader wasn’t moving with them. “Garden?” But the mare in question was still looking at Lex. “I’d like to help.” When he gave her a blank look, she kept going. “With whatever this emergency is. I’d like to help, if it’s alright.” “Are you kidding?” whined Slip ‘n’ Slide. “We literally just got back! Can we please sit down and have some real food before we run off to our next misadventure?!” Fighting down a grin at how Slip never changed, Garden shook her head. “You all go ahead. It’s been a long journey and you deserve a meal and some rest. I’ll join you as soon as this is done.” Funshine frowned. “But what if it’s dangerous?” “If it is, then I’ll be right next to the pony who defeated Celestia and Luna all by himself,” replied Garden pointedly, before giving Lex a questioning look. “If it’s alright?” she repeated. Already tiring of the debate, Lex made a dismissive gesture. “Do as you like.” Nodding gratefully, Garden turned back to her friends. “Guys, I’m serious. Sit back and take a load off. Besides,” she threw a wink at Granola Bar. “I seem to recall you have a certain rotund young fellow eager to meet with you.” Trotsworth’s eyes followed Garden’s look to Granola Bar, then to the latter’s cutie mark. “Ah, would you happen to be Miss Granola Bar?” When the mare in question nodded, he smiled. “Splendid! Master Piggy has been quite anxious for you to arrive! As per Miss Bank’s instructions, we’ve prepared rooms for all of you. I’ll have the maids ready them and make an impromptu repast while I inform him that you’re here.” “Rooms?” squeaked Hopscotch. “As in, staying here overnight?” “With real beds?” added Funshine. “As in, with pillows and clean sheets?” “That…does sound lovely,” admitted Granola Bar. “And I have been a little worried about Piggy…” Slip ‘n’ Slide gave her an incredulous look. “Worried? You were worried about the guy living in a manor house with maids and ‘repasts’ while we were dodging princesses and running from guards? Really?” Frowning, Granola Bar opened her mouth, but Garden – seeing the look of rapidly-fading patience on Lex’s face – jumped in first. “Guys, really, go relax for a little bit. You’ve earned it. I’ll be fine with Lex.” “If you’re sure,” nodded Hopscotch. “Just don’t do anything dangerous, okay?” pleaded Funshine. “Please try and finish up whatever this emergency is fast, okay?” added Slip ‘n’ Slide. “I really want to sleep for a few days in a nice bed, and that’ll be hard to do if we’re all worried because you haven’t come back.” “And if something happens and you do need backup, get a message to us and we’ll come running,” promised Granola Bar, moving in closer to hug Garden. The others followed suit, and it was only after the group embrace had ended that the other four finally left, following Trotsworth after the old butler informed Lex that he’d send the petitioning stallion in momentarily. He was as good as his word, as barely ten seconds went by before an earth stallion poked his head in. He was a rustic-looking fellow, having a drab brown coat and a mane and tail that might have been black once, but were now salt-and-pepper with age. His cutie mark was a trio of eggs in a wicker basket, marking him as being a poultry farmer. Or at least that’s what Garden would have guessed. He wasn’t somepony that she recognized, which was a mild relief in and of itself; the last thing she wanted was to run into somepony else that she’d hurt while trapped in Vanhoover. Stepping into the room, the stallion looked at her only briefly before his eyes were drawn to Lex, gulping loudly as he took in the sight of the unicorn’s red horn, unnatural shadow, and wire-wrapped leg. Reaching up, he took a tattered straw hat off of his head and held it against his chest in what was either a respectful gesture or a half-hearted desire to give himself something to hide behind. “M-Mister Lex?” he asked nervously. “Or, sorry, is it Mister Legis? I’m no good at bein’ all formal-” “What is the emergency?” rumbled Lex, clearly caring nothing for formalities. Swallowing, the stallion replaced his hat on his head. “My name’s Egg Basket,” he said, pointing to his cutie mark as though his name required a visual aid. “I’m from Oldenburg, a few days north of here. It’s okay if you haven’t heard of it, a lot of folks haven’t. We’re a farmin’ community, mostly turnips, but we do some other stuff too. My special talent’s getting’ eggs from chickens, for instance.” Even if she hadn’t known Lex as well as she did, Garden would have been able to tell that he couldn’t possibly have cared less about any of that. His expression had tightened, eyes narrowing as he glared at the old stallion. “What,” he began again, “is the emergency?” Gulping, Egg Basket nodded. “Well, a little while ago the prettiest mare I’d ever seen showed up in town. She and her posse brought some rainclouds that we desperately needed, and she sang the most beautiful song I ever did hear. After she was done, she told us that you were fixin’ Vanhoover right up so that it was doin’ business again, so me and some of my kin got our crops together and came down here. And for the most part everythin’ here’s been great. I mean, it’s terrible seein’ what’s happened and all, and I’ve heard plenty of awful stories about what some of these poor ponies have gone through, but everythin’ does seem to be turnin’ around now, thanks to you.” He smiled a little at that, but it faded away when Lex didn’t return the expression. He glanced at Garden, who made a “hurry up” gesture at him. Biting his lip, he turned his attention back to Lex. “Well, you see, we got most of our buyin’ and sellin’ done just fine, but then somethin’ happened…”