//------------------------------// // 480 - Personnel Responsibility // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” laughed Turbo. “So half the guards at the entrance just abandoned their post…because one guy offered them free ice cream?” “To be fair, it was pretty good ice cream,” admitted Slip ‘n’ Slide with a smirk. “Even without any sprinkles on top.” “Oh Celestia, that’s right!” guffawed Funshine. “I forgot to mention the waitress at that place! She would not take no for an answer when it came to sprinkles!” “Don’t forget that she was the reason we had enough ice cream to trick those guards in the first place!” added Hopscotch, clearly worried that the waitress wouldn’t get the credit she deserved. “She might have been a little pushy, but she was really nice!” “I still don’t see why you couldn’t have brought me some ice cream,” muttered Piggy, crossing his forelegs grumpily. “There there,” soothed Granola Bar, knowing that the fat little stallion was upset about not being the center of attention. “How about I ask the chefs if they can make some ice cream for you for dessert tonight.” That was enough to make Piggy’s eyes light up. “Really?” Granola Bar nodded, giving the fat little stallion an indulgent smile. “That way you can have some just like we did.” Piggy’s squeal of happiness made Turbo roll his eyes, grinning ruefully. “Some things never change.” “I’m just glad that Cozy, Aisle, and Pillow are okay,” sighed Cloudbank, leaning back on one of the plush sofas that lined the drawing room, or whatever that old butler had called it when he’d escorted them there. “Especially Cozy. She took it so hard after Pillow died.” “And the same thing happening to us probably didn’t help,” noted Thermal Draft wryly, giving Cloudbank’s ribs a light poke. But her levity had the opposite effect, as an awkward silence fell. The initial reunion between Turbo and his friends had been heartfelt in the extreme. After the initial shock and disbelief at seeing their lost comrade once again among the living, there had been an impassioned round of hugs, laughter, and tears. They had just been collecting themselves when Thermal Draft and Cloudbank had dropped by, the pair having found out that their own group of friends had left for Canterlot (without having subsequently come back, the way Turbo’s had). That had kicked off a new round of discussion, as the three resurrected ponies had shared the story of their ill-fated trip into Vanhoover together, after which Turbo’s friends had started catching them up on everything that had gone on during their…absence. Of course, the full scope of what had happened to the three formerly-deceased ponies was something that no one had been able to bring themselves to broach. Even Thermal Draft looked like she was regretting her choice of words. Death was a hard enough topic to discuss under normal circumstances; how did you bring it up when the person sitting across from you was the one who had actually died? After a moment, Turbo tried to change topics. “So, um…you guys aren’t sure when Fen-, I mean, when Garden will be back?” Granola Bar shrugged. “She’s been patrolling the camp lately. Keeping the peace, making sure nopony’s trying to cheat anyone else at the market, that sort of thing.” “You could go look for her, but it’s needle in a haystack out there,” added Slip ‘n’ Slide. “What with the new houses going up and more ponies coming back and everything.” He paused as his brother elbowed him, giving the larger stallion a glare before sighing. “But I guess we could help you find her if you want to go looking.” Turbo smiled, but shook his head. “I can wait. I’m just glad her curses are gone.” The others nodded, but when no one else had anything to add the silence fell again, the air heavy with the subject that no one was sure how to bring up. Finally, Hopscotch decided to give it a try, clearing her throat. “Do you think this is how it’s going to be from now on? With ponies, you know…coming back?” Cloudbank tilted her head. “What do you mean?” “I think-” Funshine cut himself off, giving Hopscotch an apologetic look. “Sorry, you go ahead.” But Hopscotch quickly shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Really.” “Ah, right.” Licking his lips, Funshine paused before speaking. “I think what Hopscotch meant is that…I mean, Lex is bringing ponies back to life. Princess Cadance is bringing ponies back to life. Is this going to be the sort of thing that, you know, the ponies in charge just do now?” A round of uncertain looks were exchanged, by everyone except for Cloudbank. “I think so. Severance told me before…before we went into the city, that the most devout worshipers of the Night Mare could eventually learn resurrection magic. I didn’t think Lex was able to wield that much of her power, but he is the pony who introduced everyone to her. And I guess that’s true for worshipers of other gods too, what with Princess Cadance being able to do it.” “Yeah, well, they need to pick better candidates when they do,” snorted Piggy, scooping up a hooffull of the hors d’oeuvres – baked mushrooms that had been dipped in a sweet fruit chutney – and shoving them into his mouth, his beady little eyes turning nasty as he directed them at Cloudbank and Thermal Draft. “Like, really mean mares who treat hardworking stallions badly probably shouldn’t make the cut from now on!” “Piggy!” gasped Granola Bar. Nor was she alone in her outrage, as Turbo, Funshine, Hopscotch, and Slip ‘n’ Slide all voices their objections to the corpulent stallion’s words. Cloudbank actually climbed to her hooves, her expression dark, and Thermal Draft was wearing a look that made it clear she couldn’t believe Piggy had actually said that. But the stallion in question simply stamped his hoof. “Oh come on! That mare” – he pointed a hoof at Cloudbank – “used some sort of weird magic on me back when we were in that warehouse, when all I was trying to do was be friendly! And that one” – he indicated Thermal Draft next – “tricked me into giving her the combination to one of mama’s vaults so that she could steal the money for Lex!” “Which your mother later told Lex he was welcome to,” growled Funshine. Piggy faltered for a moment at that, before apparently deciding to ignore that particular detail. Instead, he stamped his hoof again. “And now they’re here in my house-” “Which, according to that old butler, is also technically Lex’s now,” snorted Slip ‘n’ Slide. “-and eating my food-” “Actually, they haven’t had any of those mushrooms yet,” noted Hopscotch. “-all without saying they’re sorry!” “That doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to say that you wish they hadn’t been brought back to life!” Granola Bar gave Piggy a deep frown then, shaking her head at him. “I’m honestly very disappointed in you, Piggy.” The rebuke made the pudgy pony gape, his jaw falling open in shock. “Wha-, this is so unfair! I got you guys through Vanhoover that whole time! You should be on my side!” Turbo couldn’t help his snort of derision. “Piggy, if you actually think that you-” “If everypony is against you,” interjected Granola Bar, not letting Turbo finish. “Then maybe you should spend some time thinking about why that is. Until you do, you can forget about that ice cream, mister. And another thing-” “LEX!” But it was Granola Bar’s turn to be interrupted then, as the door to the room suddenly burst open and a pegasus filly burst inside. Bright yellow, except for the colorful snake wrapped around her middle, and with a cutie mark of a vacuum cleaner, her little wings were flapping heavily as she zipped around the room. Not finding who she was looking for, she turned her eyes back toward the door. “HE’S NOT HERE!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, before it occurred to her to look at everyone else in the room. “Have any of you guys seen Lex?!” Stunned, it took everyone else a second to react to what was happening, with Thermal Draft being the first to recover. “Why? What’s going on?” Barely able to stay still, the filly shook her head. “No time! We have to-” She cut herself off as she glanced at the snake coiled around her. Cloudbank leaped backward a second later, her wings unfurling in alarm as she stared at the little girl’s serpent. “That thing talks?!” The filly’s head snapped back around to look at her, eyes wide. “You can hear Venin?!” “Somepony please tell me what’s going on!” Turbo’s voice was tense, trying to make sense of the chaos that had suddenly descended. “Right, we weren’t here for this part, but apparently Lex took on some apprentices while we were in Canterlot,” explained Funshine. “They’ve been living here in the manor too,” added Hopscotch helpfully, offering the filly a hesitant wave. “But this place is so big that we haven’t gotten to see them very much.” “I still don’t see what’s so great about them,” huffed Piggy, clearly still dejected about not getting ice cream later. “They’re just kids with pets.” Once again, Piggy was saved from the consequences of his griping as another foal ran into the doorway, this one an earth pony colt with a cutie mark of a hoof stomping on some fruit. But it was the sight of the full-grown wolf right behind him that caused Turbo to yelp, flinging himself behind the sofa as Cloudbank and Thermal Draft both flew upward in fright. But the colt barely noticed, giving the pegasus filly a frantic look. “What’s the holdup?!” “I’m asking them if they’ve seen Lex!” shot back the filly, before pointing at Cloudbank. “And she can hear Venin!” The colt blinked at that, glancing up at Cloudbank before shaking his head. “Dust Bunny, we don’t have time for this! We have to find Lex, pronto!” “He was in his room this morning, when he brought us back to life, but that was hours ago. I don’t think any of us have seen him since.” Turbo looked at the others, who all shook their heads. Hopefully that would be enough to make the kid take his dangerous-looking wolf away. Unfortunately, the news had the opposite effect, the colt’s eyes going wide. “Wait, he brought you back to life?!” He looked around, before his eyes settled on Cloudbank again, and his jaw suddenly fell open. “Wait a sec, I remember you now! You’re that lady who made that big announcement about the Night Mare a while back! You were the one who told us we could get magic powers if we had enough faith in her! I-” He paused then, glancing back at the wolf despite it not having done anything. A second later he grimaced, shaking his head as if to clear it. “Right, focus. Gotta find Lex.” Cloudbank’s eyebrows shot even further upward. “The wolf talks too?!” Slip ‘n’ Slide gave the other mare a frightened look. “Lady, the animals aren’t talking.” But the pegasus filly – “Dust Bunny,” apparently – spoke before Cloudbank had a chance to, rushing over to her friend. “Crunchy, c’mon! These guys don’t know where Lex is, so we gotta hurry!” He nodded, and both foals started to gallop out, only for Thermal Draft to call after them. “Wait, what’s happening that you need to find Lex?” “Some crazy unicorn lady is attacking the camp-, village-, whatever it is now!” yelled back the colt who was apparently named Crunchy, already turning to go. “Miss Aria and some mare with knives were trying to fight her off, but they lost, and now we have to find Lex so he can-, WAIT!” He skidded to a halt, almost causing the filly to collide with him. “I just had an idea!” The pointed at the adults, looking at his friend. “These guys can go find Lex! There’s enough of them that they can search faster! Meanwhile, we’ll go out there and take that evil sorceress down!” “What do you mean, ‘some mare with knives’?!” Turbo found himself suddenly scared of something far worse than a wolf, landing and rushing over to the fillies without concern for the large animal that was now just a few feet away from him. That’s how Fencer always preferred to fight! “A unicorn?!” “Feathercap said she was,” answered Dust Bunny. “He saw her through Ulespy’s eyes.” “Garden!” whispered Granola Bar, her face turning pale. “We’ve gotta go help her!” Turbo looked at the rest of his friends. “Everypony follow me! I’ll fly up and try and spot-” “No!” interrupted Crunchy. “We’ll handle this! You guys find Lex as fast as you can!” Turbo grit his teeth, not having the patience to argue. “Look, kid, I understand that you want to help, but some foals and their pets-” “My name is Fruit Crunch,” snapped the colt. “And we’re the Night Mare’s Knights! And Lyden and the others aren’t pets! They’re our spirit animals!” “I’m starting to believe that,” murmured Cloudbank, looking back and forth between the wolf and the snake, her expression having turned from shock to amazement. Letting out a slow breath, Turbo tried to remain calm. “Look, I’m sure your Night Mare Fan Club or whatever is great, but right now our friend is in trouble, so-” “I have healing magic,” announced Dust Bunny suddenly. “If we go there now, I can use it on your friend.” “If you really want to help,” added Fruit Crunch. “Do what I’m telling you and find Lex! The quicker he gets there, the quicker he can put an end to whoever that is that’s attacking! In the meantime, leave the rest to us!” Turbo opened his mouth, but the conversation was apparently over as the colt turned and ran out of the room, bellowing about a change of plans, his wolf and the filly taking off after him. For a moment Turbo was tempted to follow them, but instead made himself keep a level head, remembering how, back in Vanhoover, panicking was too often a prelude to disaster. Instead, he turned to regard everypony else. “Is it true that those kids have magic powers?” Funshine shrugged. “Supposedly they took on a squad of Royal Guards. And won.” “And those animals were definitely talking,” added Cloudbank, looking around. “No one else could hear them?” Several heads shook, but Turbo’s wasn’t one of them, focusing on more important things. As much as he hated being told off by a pre-teen, he hated the thought of letting Fen-, of letting Garden down even more. “Okay, let’s split up and see if we can find Lex. If that guy can really fight dragons and all sorts of other monsters – and the princesses, for that matter – then he should be able to handle one evil wizard.” When everypony nodded, Turbo turned and flew through the doorway as fast as he could, knowing that the others were right behind him. Or at least, most of the others. The last thing he heard as he left the drawing room and headed deeper into the manor was a single voice, raised in a rapidly-receding whine. “What about my ice cream?!”