//------------------------------// // 252 - Here With You // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “You are not responsible for Turbo’s death.” Lex’s declaration – delivered flatly and completely devoid of warmth or sympathy – was enough to quiet Fencer, causing her to look up at him with eyes filled with confusion. His tone of voice hadn’t sounded like he was trying to cheer her up, but she couldn’t imagine any other reason for him to say that. She quickly glanced at her friends, but she could see the same expression of incomprehension mirrored on their faces. Returning her gaze to Lex, she hesitated for a brief moment, worried about arguing with him, but the overwhelming guilt she felt wouldn’t let her stay silent. “Yes I am,” she sniffled. “I was the one who sent him th-” “I was the one who sent him there,” interrupted Lex, his tone making it clear that he wouldn’t hear anything to the contrary. “I might not have chosen him personally, but I was the one who decided that an expedition back into Vanhoover was warranted. I was the one who elected to have other ponies go in my place. I was the one who…” For a second his voice faltered, and his ears folded back as a look of recrimination passed across his face. But then it was gone, and he continued speaking. “I was the one who failed to properly ascertain the full scope of the threat to their safety. The blame for their deaths is mine, and mine alone.” Apparently that was the end of the conversation, because Lex turned and stumbled away before she had a chance to so much as open her mouth, Sonata immediately moving to support him. That was just as well though, because Fencer had no idea what to say in response. He probably would have cursed me again if I’d said any more, she sighed to herself, still feeling miserable. “Um, does anypony know what just happened?” asked Funshine in a hushed tone, glancing at where Lex and Sonata were moving away from them. They weren’t headed toward anywhere in particular that he could tell, just walking away from Garden, which was fine by him. “I think he was trying to be nice,” volunteered Hopscotch, forcing herself to smile as she looked down at their injured friend. “He’s not wrong about what happened not being your fault.” “It doesn’t feel that way,” Fencer murmured, unwilling to let the point go but too tired to protest any harder. “What did he mean, before?” interjected Slip ‘n’ Slide. “That part about ‘failing to properly ascertain the full scope of the threat to their safety.’ Did that sound weird to anypony else?” “He probably just meant that he didn’t realize how many ghouls there were,” answered Granola Bar off-hoofedly, moving on to what she felt was the more important point. “Listen, Garden-” “Fencer,” corrected the other mare, somehow managing to slump despite lying on her back. “I’m still Fencer.” Granola Bar didn’t miss a beat. “Alright, Fencer. I don’t know if you heard, but Lex said that as soon as Aria and that scythe of his get back, he’s going to call the doctors over. In the meantime, is there anything we-, oh geez!” She grimaced as the obvious concern came to her, before backing away from Fencer. “You guys, get away from her! We’re activating her curse!” The others immediately stumbled backward, Hopscotch actually tripping and falling over in her haste to stop causing her friend any discomfort. It was only after they’d all gotten a safe distance from her that they realized that Fencer was shaking her head slowly and waving a hoof at them. “It’s alright. I’m not cursed anymore.” It took a moment for that to sink in, with Slip ‘n’ Slide being the first to react. “Say what now?!” “You mean…?” gulped Hopscotch, taking a tentative step forward. “I don’t believe it!” Despite his words, Funshine apparently had far fewer reservations than the others, immediately rushing back over to Fencer and grinning down on her, almost prancing in excitement. “This is great! How did you pull this off?!” “I didn’t,” murmured Fencer softly as the others moved back in. “Lex removed them after the fighting started.” One hoof came up to brush her cheek, where the blood-mark of a scythe had been previously. When she pulled her limb back a second later, there was a dark smudge on the end of it. While she knew that could have been from the copious amounts of gore she’d been splashed with during the fight, that wasn’t what her gut told her, and she turned her eyes up towards the others in a silent question. “It’s gone,” nodded Granola Bar, a small smile gracing her lips. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize that until just now.” “A lot of stuff happened,” noted Slip ‘n’ Slide wryly, giving her a sympathetic look. “So Lex really was being nice,” smiled Hopscotch, this time much more genuinely. “First he took away those curses, and now he was trying to make you feel better.” She pointed to Lex’s cloak covering Fencer’s body. “He even gave you a blanket.” “I dunno.” A skeptical look crossed Funshine’s face. “I mean, he might have just done what he had to do to make sure Gard-, er, Fencer could finish what he started. Honestly, I’m kind of amazed he didn’t put those curses back just now.” “I don’t care,” muttered Fencer, closing her eyes. “It doesn’t make any difference to me now.” “Don’t say that.” Despite the rebuke, Granola Bar’s voice was kind as she sat down next to Fencer. “Turbo wanted those curses removed more than anything. He’d be happy for you if he were here right now.” “Well he’s not, is he?” Opening her eyes, Fencer looked straight upward, unable to bring herself to make eye contact with anyone else. “Lex can say whatever he wants, but I was the one who wanted to go back, and that’s what made Turbo go in my place. If I hadn’t insisted on that…” She couldn’t go on, feeling a fresh round of tears threatening to start up again. “…I encouraged him,” said Granola Bar softly. She didn’t meet the other mare’s eyes as Fencer turned to look at her, instead gazing forward, staring at nothing. “The first night we got here, after we left the city...” She swallowed, letting out a slow breath before she continued. “He saw how much you were suffering, and he wanted to find a way to lift your curses, and I told him that wasn’t what you needed. I encouraged him to do something to help with how guilty you felt…about the things you’d done back when we were all trying to survive.” Another slow breath, this time shuddering. “Maybe if I had kept my mouth shut, if I’d just let him think about lifting your curses instead, then maybe…maybe he wouldn’t have…” She couldn’t finish, pursing her lips for a moment before forcing herself to look at Fencer. “I’m so sorry.” For a second, Fencer didn’t reply. Then she reached out, and Granola Bar had just enough time to flinch before the other mare grabbed her…and pulled her into a hug. That was all it took, and Granola Bar couldn’t hold back anymore, sobbing softly on her friend’s shoulder. Sniffling, Hopscotch took a tentative step closer to the pair, and when Fencer nodded at her she all but threw herself at them, hugging both of them and weeping. Funshine joined next, with Slip ‘n’ Slide following a moment later, both of them already crying. Together, the five of them began to mourn for the friend that they’d lost. “So when you’d become Mister Warm and Fuzzy?” asked Sonata, only half-joking as she helped Lex walk away from the others. “I mean, I get letting Nosey hang off of you after what she went through, but then being all nice to Aria, and now ‘Garden Fencer’ back there?” She tried to smile to make it clear that she wasn’t being serious, but for some reason her face didn’t want to cooperate, the corners of her lips barely turning up. “What’s next, you and Princess Celestia become pen pals?” Lex didn’t answer right away, just walking away from the others, until he finally came to a stop. Even then, he didn’t say anything, and Sonata could feel herself starting to get antsy. After another few seconds, it occurred to her maybe that he hadn’t been listening at all, simply being lost in whatever big, important thought he was no doubt having. It was probably about how to feed everyone now or making a timetable for moving back into the city or something else that was all super serious, not something as dumb as thanking his own girlfriend for everything she’d done- “I’m just so sick of it all.” “Huh?” Sonata blinked, as much at the despairing tone in his voice as the words themselves. Fortunately, they were far enough away from everyone and he was speaking softly enough that she was sure no one could overhear him. But that only made her feel slightly better as she gave him a worried look. “Sick of what now?” “This. All of it. Everything.” He nodded in a direction that she thought was toward the city before continuing. “Vanhoover was just supposed to be having trouble recovering from a flood. All we had to do was procure resources and administrate the recovery. That’s all the city was supposed to need, and then we could focus on making it better. Instead, we got this. Monsters and monsters and more monsters. And no matter what I do or how many of them I kill it’s never enough, and my little ponies are the ones who suffer.” The depression in his voice had changed to bitterness then, and Sonata wasn’t sure what to say in response. It didn’t help when, a second later, the sound of grieving came from the ponies they’d just walked away from. Lex didn’t say anything, but she felt him shudder at the chorus of sobbing, and she saw him glance at his side, fumbling with a saddlebag just long enough for her to get a glimpse of a ruby inside of it before he stopped, closing it with a sigh. The sight of him being so down was heartbreaking enough that Sonata, her jealousy forgotten, said the first thing that came into her mind. “We could leave.” He gave her an incredulous look then, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. “Lex, you’ve already done so much. No one would blame you if you said ‘enough.’” She waved a hoof in what she felt pretty sure was the opposite direction of Vanhoover. “You could write to the princesses and tell them what happened here, let them know that they should totes do their jobs, and let them handle the rest. We could go to Canterlot or that Las Pegasus place you mentioned or even back to Everglow if you wanted.” She lowered her voice as she leaned her face closer to his, her raspberry-colored eyes locked onto his brown ones. “No one would blame you.” “I would blame me, Sonata.” He didn’t hesitate even slightly before he answered. “I would blame me for the rest of my life.” His reply seemed to energize him, and he took a deep breath, straightening up just a little. He looked around then, slowly sweeping his eyes across what was left of the camp. “I’m not going anywhere,” he announced softly, his voice having regained the strength she’d grown used to hearing. “I’m going to fix this city. My city. I’m going to change it back into a place where everyone can be safe and happy, and nothing will stop me.” “Hm,” she smiled, glad that he was back to his usual self. “Well, if you’re going to stay here, then I guess I’ll have to stick around too.” “Good.” He looked back at her then, and she almost gasped as he smiled in return. It was a real smile, the kind that actually reached his eyes, something she’d seen on his face only a few times before. It was an expression she’d never seen him give to anyone but her. “That’s what I need to be happy.” When he leaned forward and kissed her a moment later, Sonata couldn’t remember why she’d ever been jealous in the first place.