• Published 2nd Nov 2015
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Lateral Movement - Alzrius



Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.

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518 - Hurts and Scars

“Turbo,” moaned Garden Gate tearfully, using her unbandaged foreleg to hold the pegasus in question close. “It’s really you!”

“It’s really me,” murmured Turbo, eyes closed as he quietly cuddled the one member of his group whom he hadn’t had a chance to reunite with before now. “I’m here, Garden, and I promise I’m never leaving again.”

Hopscotch sniffled, the heartwarming sight threatening to send her into a fresh round of sobs. Garden had finally woken up ten minutes ago, and Turbo – who had joined Hopscotch, Granola Bar, Funshine, and Slip ‘n’ Slide in waiting at their leader’s bedside for her to recover – had been the first pony she’d seen. At first she’d been confused, then alarmed, thinking that she hadn’t survived her encounter with Starlight Glimmer. It had taken the rest of them a few minutes to convince her that she wasn’t dead, but rather than Lex had brought Turbo and several other ponies back to life. At which point Garden had broken down completely, dissolving into weeping as she’d pulled the resurrected stallion to her.

As if that was a signal, they’d all piled on for a group hug. For Hopscotch, although she and the others had reunited with Turbo earlier in the day, that hug just now had been when she’d really felt like they’d actually, truly gotten him back. Embracing him and all of her friends at once had perfectly paralleled what had happened in the immediate aftermath of the attack by the ghoul army, when they had hugged Garden while she’d cried her eyes out over Turbo having gone on his fatal mission to Vanhoover in her place.

And now, against all odds and overturning all logic, he was back. He was back and Garden was okay and they were all together again.

Hopscotch couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so happy. The intensity of it was almost frightening, and it didn’t surprise her how Garden kept her foreleg curled tightly around Turbo’s chest, refusing to let him go. As it was, Hopscotch was hugging Granola Bar tightly, the other mare gently stroking her mane as she watched the reunion with wet eyes. On the other side of Garden’s bed, Funshine and Slip ‘n’ Slide had a foreleg around each other’s shoulders, blinking back tears as well.

It was only after several more minutes had gone by that Garden slowly calmed down, her breathing growing more regular as she finally let Turbo go, though only far enough that he could take a seat on the edge of her bed. Even then, she kept her eyes on him, as though afraid that he’d disappear if she looked away. “How?” she asked finally. “I mean, I know you said that Lex did it, but…how? Even Princess Cadance said she couldn’t…”

Turbo shook his head. “I don’t know all the details. Just that he used his magic. I think he said the Night Mare had something to do with it…and he can’t do it again.”

Garden tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“He brought back all of us,” explained Turbo. “Me, Cloudbank, Thermal Draft, C. Shells, and that kid, Sandbar. The ponies who went into Vanhoover to retrieve bits from that bank. But he said that he can’t resurrect anyone else now. We were it.”

Hopscotch watched the emotions play out over Garden’s face at that, seeing amazement turn into gratitude and then reverence, the vermillion mare letting out a slow breath as she leaned her head back, finally taking her eyes off of Turbo as she looked up at the ceiling. “I’ll never be able to thank him enough…”

“Lex?” There was a slight catch in Turbo’s voice.

But Garden apparently missed it, nodding as she continued to stare upward. “He’s…” Her hoof waved weakly, as though making a half-hearted effort to pull the words she was looking for out of the air. “He saved us all from the monsters. He saved me from becoming a monster. He's given us so much and now…now he’s brought you back.” She looked at Turbo then, smiling even as her eyes started to fill with tears again. “How do you thank somepony for all that? How do you even try?”

“…y-yeah,” smiled Turbo weakly. “Well, at the moment I’m just glad you’re okay. If I’d come back just to lose you, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Lose me?” For a split-second Garden’s face was uncomprehending, but then her eyes widened. “Starlight Glimmer!” she blurted. “What happened?! Is Aria alright?! Did-”

“It’s okay,” interjected Granola Bar quickly. “It’s all okay now. Starlight was stopped.”

Garden shuddered at that, visibly relaxing. “It was Lex, right? He showed up and took care of everything?”

Granola Bar hesitated just for a moment, then nodded, causing Garden to laugh in relief. “I knew it. I knew it. Nopony can defeat him.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” muttered Slip ‘n’ Slide.

Funshine shot his brother a look. “Not now, Slip.”

But Garden seemed to take that moment to start paying closer attention to what her friends were saying, her ears perking up. “Did something happen?”

Never a good actor, Funshine froze. “Er…”

The response made Garden sit up, wearing her concern openly now as she looked at her friends, scrutinizing each of them in turn. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked at last.

“Nothing,” answered Turbo quickly. “Nothing you need to worry about. You just need to rest for now.”

“If you want me to rest, then I need to know what’s going on,” countered Garden. “Somepony, tell me what happened. Please.”

A round of uncomfortable looks were exchanged, with no one wanting to be the one to tell her about Lex’s condition. Finally, Hopscotch opened her mouth. “It’s like this…”


“I need to see him!”

“Garden, you can’t!” Turbo did his best to restrain the upset mare without being rough about it, putting a hoof on the shoulder of her undamaged foreleg and applying pressure gently. “You have to stay and let the doctors treat you!”

But she didn’t seem to agree, her horn lighting up as she tried to telekinetically remove his hoof. “Let me up right now, Turbo!”

But Granola Bar was quick to reinforce Turbo’s position, both physically and verbally. “Garden, you need to stay in bed,” she insisted as she pressed the upset mare back down. “Your foreleg is broken in two places, one of your ribs are cracked, you have a concussion, and that’s just what the doctors know for sure!”

“And Lex already has Sonata watching over him, along with that River Bank lady,” noted Funshine, moving forward in a way that made it clear that he’d help to hold her down if he needed to.

“And Aria’s with him too,” added Slip ‘n’ Slide, nodding at a nearby bed which was now empty. “We all heard her wake up a little while ago.”

But Garden didn’t look satisfied by that, still trying to climb out of bed, until Hopscotch moved over to her bedside and spoke up. “Lex would want you to stay here and get better,” she pointed out, giving her friend a small smile.

That was enough to make Garden pause, biting her lip. “…what about that kid with the snake? The one who healed my horn?”

Granola Bar shook her head. “I asked about her when we were waiting for you to regain consciousness. She can’t use her powers unless her animal’s with her, and it got vaporized during the fight.” She held up a hoof to forestall Garden’s reaction, seeing the unicorn open her mouth. “She says it’ll come back tomorrow morning, and she’ll be able to heal Lex, and hopefully you, once it does, but she can’t do anything until then.”

“I think Cloudbank will be able to help sooner than that,” offered Turbo. “When we were breaking into that bank vault, she saved Thermal Draft’s life with a healing spell.” He pursed his lips then, but only for a moment before sighing. “And Hopscotch is right. Lex would want you to stay here and focus on recuperating.”

Garden didn’t say anything for a long moment, but finally sank back down, letting out a slow breath as she did. “I want somepony to let me know when he’s healed, okay?”

“We’ll take care of it,” nodded Turbo, before turning to the others. “Guys, can you give us a minute?”

Garden blinked at that, and another round of looks were shared between the others, before they slowly nodded, filing out. With Aria having already vacated the room, and the others exiting it now, that left just the two of them there. Turbo caught Granola Bar giving him a pointed look before she closed the door, but put it out of his thoughts as he turned back to the mare on the bed, who was giving him a curious look.

Smiling self-consciously, he sat down. “You remember when we thought we’d be out of danger once we got out of the city?”

Despite her uncertain expression, Garden nodded. “And we were right. There aren’t any ghouls here, or whatever those fish-monsters were. We have plenty to eat. Shelter that’s warm and dry. This is what we were hoping to get back to.”

“Except for when you’re fighting an army of ghouls all by yourself,” countered Turbo with a wry grin. “Or escaping from Canterlot right out from under the Royal Guard’s nose. Or fighting some unicorn mare who’s actually more dangerous than you are, which I didn’t think was possible.”

That brought a smirk to Garden’s face. “She got lucky.”

“No doubt,” conceded Turbo with a laugh, but his expression softened a moment later. “My point is, even after everything we went through in Vanhoover, and afterwards with Lex cursing you-”

“He was right to-”

“-there’s still a chance that we might lose you,” he finished, not letting her interrupt him. “That I might lose you.”

Garden didn’t miss the way he’d said that last part. “…Turbo?”

Looking down for a moment, the pegasus stallion collected his thoughts, trying to calm the sudden swarm of butterflies filling his stomach. “You know, right after we got out, Granola Bar told me something interesting. She said that she’d had a secret weapon while we were stuck in Vanhoover, one that kept her going no matter how bad things got.” He chuckled a little then, remembering what she’d told him. “I couldn’t believe it when she admitted that it was Piggy.”

Garden giggled. “I’m not surprised. She always seemed like she had a soft spot for him.”

“Yeah,” agreed Turbo. “But the thing was, she pointed out something I hadn’t realized, which was that I had a secret weapon that kept me going too.” He wasn’t laughing now, looking at her directly to let her know just who he meant. “And now…I don’t want to keep it a secret anymore.”

Garden’s eyes widened, and he could see that she was finally starting to realize why he’d asked the others to leave. “Wait, you-”

Reaching out, Turbo took Garden’s undamaged foreleg in his own, hurrying forward before he lost his courage. “I know that this might not be the right time or place for it,” he began, cutting her off. “But I’m starting to think that maybe there isn’t going to be a right time or place, unless we make it ourselves. So, before some new disaster happens, I’m just going to say it.”

His eyes never leaving hers, Turbo put everything on the line. “Garden, I love you.”

“Turbo…”

“I’ve loved you since before we made it out of Vanhoover,” he continued, the words pouring out of him now. “Since before I knew your real name was Garden Gate. Being with you…seeing you every day was what made it possible for me to keep going, even when it seemed like the world had ended. Even after we got out of the city, seeing you so heartbroken about the things you’d done to help us survive broke my heart too. That was when I realized that I needed more than food or shelter or safety in order to feel like I’d found something worth living for…I needed your smile.”

Bringing her hoof up to his lips, he planted a soft kiss on it. “I don’t remember what happened to me after I died, but I do know this: wherever I went, whatever afterlife was waiting for me, it couldn’t have been a good one, because it didn’t have you.”

A fresh round of tears was welling up in Garden’s eyes by that point, and she swallowed audibly, realizing that he wasn’t going to say anymore…and that his silence was a question.

“Turbo, I…I care about you so much…”

A sinking feeling came over him then. “But…?”

“But I just…this is all happening so fast! I was just fighting Starlight, and then I woke up and saw that you’re back, and now, I…I don’t know what to say…”

“Say what you feel,” he implored, silently begging for that to be what he wanted to hear.

Shaking her head softly, Garden tried to keep her lip from quivering. “Turbo…you’re my best friend. I trust you more than anypony else in the world, and I want more than anything for you to be happy…”

“You make me happy, Garden.”

“I know, and I’m glad. I mean, I’m flattered…what you said means so much to me-”

“I should go.” Unable to look her in the eyes, Turbo slowly let go of her hoof, trying to keep his breathing steady.

“No! No, Turbo, don’t go!” Heedless of what her friends had all said a few minutes ago, Garden sat up, throwing back the bedcovers. “Don’t go, okay? We can talk about this!”

“Talk about what?” laughed Turbo humorlessly, already walking toward the door. “How…” Somehow, he managed to catch himself before saying something that he knew he’d regret later. Instead, he swallowed heavily. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done this now. You need to rest.”

He reached the door a second later, putting a hoof on the handle, but couldn’t bring himself to leave. Not when there was one thought that he suddenly couldn’t let go of. One suspicion that he couldn’t stop himself from giving voice to. “Just tell me...is it because of Lex?”

“What? What does Lex-, NO! Turbo, it’s not like that!” Coming up behind him, Garden reached out with her telekinesis, taking his hoof off of the doorhandle. “Lex is the pony I admire more than anyone, but I promise you I don’t feel that way about him!”

“…or about me.”

It was a question as much as a statement, and when she didn’t deny it he knew he had to get out of there. “I really need to g-”

The door suddenly opened, causing Turbo to reflexively step back as River Bank strode in, her eyes looking them both over in rapid succession. “We’re in an emergency situation,” she pronounced a second later, causing both ponies to blink at the non-sequitur. “I need the two of you to get your little street gang ready to defend this area immediately.”

For a moment, everything else Turbo felt was buried under a sudden wave of confusion and alarm brought on by River’s statement. “Why? What’s happening?”

“Princess Twilight and her friends are in league with Starlight Glimmer,” replied the older mare, her voice grim. “They’re healing her injuries as we speak.”

“What?!” Garden’s jaw dropped at the news. “Are you sure?”

“I confirmed it myself just now,” answered River. “Which means we might have only seconds before they try to finish what she started and kill Lex.”

Author's Note:

Turbo confesses his feelings for Garden Gate, only to find that she doesn't feel the same way. But there's no time for them to try and salvage their relationship as River Bank sounds the alarm!

Will Garden and her friends prepare to defend Lex? Or will they decide that the best defense is a good offense?

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