//------------------------------// // 33 - Last Legs // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Sonata hadn’t been particularly concerned with saving any of the other ponies that were on the battlefield. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about what happened to them, it was just that she was more worried about telling Lex about the dragon’s breath attack. She’d charged straight towards the group of evacuees – who were just standing there for some reason – only because they happened to be along the shortest distance between herself and him. She’d been yelling her head off the entire time, of course, but Lex, contained within the giant magic-pony thing he’d made, hadn’t seemed to hear her. She considered using her magic to enchant herself so that her voice would be magnified and directed towards him, the same magic she’d used to stop him when he’d tried to kill Fireflower in a rage, but even if she’d been willing to use an attack spell – that spell was meant to focus her voice to such a degree that it would injure the recipient – he was too far away for it to reach him. And so she’d done the only thing she could do, which was keep running towards him while screaming what he needed to know at the top of her lungs. She’d almost given up hope of getting her message across when she saw Lex suddenly swing his head around, eyes locking onto her directly, somehow alerted to her presence. Feeling hope swell through her, she raised her voice as loud as she could, putting everything she knew about projecting her voice into her words. “ACID! NOT FIRE!” For a moment he didn’t seem to understand, and Sonata silently willed him to have heard her, to know that she was trying to warn him. Astonishingly, her fervent wish was answered a moment later when his eyes suddenly widened in understanding, a look of alarm crossing his face. In that moment Sonata knew that everything was going to be alright. Then the dragon unleashed its breath weapon at him. Sonata could only watch in horror as the poisonous green cloud blotted Lex from view. Calling his name in alarm, Sonata resumed her furious rush towards him. She had no idea what she’d do when she got there, but that didn’t matter right now. The one she loved was in trouble, so she had to get to him, period! As she reached the crowd of ponies that had been part of the bogus evacuation, Sonata started to push through them, only to immediately fall over with an undignified squawk as her legs suddenly refused to move. Looking down, she saw that the grass under her hooves had suddenly extended and was entangling her, preventing her from moving. “What the-?! Lemme go!” Sonata cursed as she fought to free her legs and push through the crowd. She had to get to Lex! “Sonata!” Turning her head, she saw Fireflower behind her, right at the edge of where the grass had started getting all grabby. He made a beckoning motion towards her. “Come back!” “What are you talking about?!” she yelled back at him. “Lex needs our help! We need to get to him!” “Listen to me!” pleaded Fireflower. “You can’t help him right now! Not unless you’ve got magic that’ll let you fight like him!” The words caused Sonata to flinch, recalling a similar conversation she’d had with Lex a few days ago. “Do you have any spells that can cause physical harm, or defend against damage?” countered Lex. Sonata raised her eyes in thought, and after what Lex thought was far too long of a time, finally shook her head “Nope. Pretty much all the magic I know is about messing with someone’s head.” Sonata could feel tears gathering in her eyes at the memory. At the time it hadn’t seemed like a big deal, but at the time she hadn’t been able to imagine what it would feel like to watch the stallion she loved put his life on the line. Gritting her teeth, she shook her head in sudden defiance. There had to be something she could do! Fireflower watched nervously as Sonata wrenched a foreleg free. He was about to encourage her to turn around and head back over to him, when he saw her turn her head towards the dragon, raising her hoof as she did so. Fireflower’s eyes widened as he realized that she’d taken what he’d said completely the wrong way. “No! Stop!” he yelled in a panic. Despite his earlier determination, he had no illusions about his ability to protect her. The only thing keeping her safe from the dragon right now, he knew, was that it didn’t consider them to be a threat. If she started casting spells at it, that might change in a hurry. Worse, he still couldn’t see if the giant pony that Lex had summoned had survived the misty solvent that had been breathed on it. If it hadn’t, then there’d be nothing to stop the dragon from turning its attention on them. Sonata, however, wasn’t paying attention, focusing all of her thoughts as she waved her hoof, chanting a soft lullaby. She knew that the dragon wouldn’t be able to hear her over the general roar of the fight and all of the other terrified ponies around her, but it didn’t need to in order for her spell to put it to sleep. Completing her spell, Sonata waited for the giant lizard to fall unconscious. But no such reaction was forthcoming. In fact, it hadn’t even seemed to notice her spell, still looking at where the green fog that it had breathed was thinning out, chanting some spell of its own. Ignoring the revelation that the dragon could use magic too, Sonata tried to figure out what had gone wrong with her magic. Was it immune? She hadn’t felt anything to suggest that her spell hadn’t been cast correctly. It was more like…like it was just too powerful for her magic to work on it. She had just enough time to start to feel depressed when the last of the vapor dispersed, and she suddenly felt her spirits rise to see that Lex’s giant pony-thing was still there, damaged but still standing. He was okay! She couldn’t help but let a cheer slip as she saw him counterattack, firing a bolt of lightning at the dragon. “Sonata! Listen to me!” came the voice of Fireflower from behind her. “You need to get out of there!” “But Lex is okay! He’ll beat that dragon! I know it!” she called back over her shoulder, a confident smile on her face. Fireflower’s was about to respond when the dragon froze over. The sight was enough to leave him gaping, and for a moment he dared to hope that she was right. Maybe Lex was powerful enough to defeat the monster that had so terrified him. Maybe he- His thoughts were interrupted as the dragon burst free of its frozen prison, roaring. The sight was enough to shatter Fireflower’s hopes, and he turned his gaze back to Sonata…but she’d already returned her own to the fight, ignoring him again. He bit his lip in frustration. He would have just grabbed her and hauled her away, but he recognized this spell, having seen Rockwood use it countless times, and he knew that if he went inside its range it would…would… Spinning on his hooves, Fireflower turned back towards where his siblings were imprisoned. “Rockwood!” he shouted. “Undo your spell!” Even from this distance, he could see his sibling’s eyes widening at the request. “But it’ll kill us if I do!” “It’ll kill us anyway!” screamed Fireflower in return. “W-” The rest of what he was going to say was cut off as the ponies behind him suddenly began screaming louder, drowning his voice out. Spinning around to see what had happened, Fireflower’s heart leapt into his throat at the sight that greeted him. The dragon had turned its face toward them, its jaws wide. Nearby, Sonata felt the blood drain from her face as she realized what was about to happen. She had thought she’d been afraid before, when she was worried about Lex, but suddenly being brought face-to-face with death was a whole new kind of terror. She had been in fights where she’d been hurt, and a bad train wreck (though her memory of the actual wreck itself was fuzzy), but none had ever caused her to experience the sort of fear that she felt right at that moment. It was horrible enough that for the first time in her life, she couldn’t find her voice. She couldn’t even look away as it breathed swirling green death towards her. Only a single, odd thought floated through her mind at that moment. So much for being a dragonslayer. But all of a sudden there was something between her and the horrible death that had been surging towards her. For a moment she was too shaken to realize what had happened, before understanding suddenly dawned on her, making her gasp. It was Lex. He’d hurled himself, inside his giant magic-pony thing, between the breath attack and her. He was protecting all of them. The thought was enough to jolt her out of her terror-inspired muteness. “No! Lex, get out of there!” She could already see that thing he was in melting, the acid mist flowing over it liquefying its substance incredibly fast. He was going to die! Again she tugged at her bonds, filled with that same irrational desire to run to him. He had to have a spell for teleporting or…or stopping time or something to get out of there! As the last of his giant grey pony that he was using as armor vanished, Sonata saw Lex meet her eyes and thrust out a hoof towards her, the cloud of death already surrounding him, spreading past him towards the rest of them as well. His eyes suddenly lit up the way they did whenever he was using magic, and for the second time Sonata was sure that he was about to somehow make everything okay. A moment later a gigantic black wall sprang up in front of her from out of nowhere, and Lex was gone. For a moment, Sonata just stared, again reduced to stupefied incomprehension, which slowly gave way to horrified disbelief. “No…” She didn’t even realize that she’d said it out loud until she belatedly realized that she could hear her own voice, the only thing to be heard as everyone had been stunned into silence for the second time since the fight had started. A moment later the full weight of what had happened settled over her, and Sonata let out a wail, realizing that she had in all likelihood just watched her most important person die. Moss smirked as he heard the horrified keening from the opposite side of the wall that the mage had conjured up. No doubt it was the sound of one of the ponies there realizing that their champion was dead, with themselves soon to follow. It was a sound that was quite pleasing to his ears, and he had every intention of making them emit more before he devoured them. But that was for later. Right now he had to confirm that he’d finally killed the pony that had given him so much trouble. To think that a mere mortal – a creature with no greater purpose than to be his food – had been able to injure him so badly! His breathing was still labored from the hits to the abdomen that he’d taken, and he was covered with bruises, as well as a laceration on his left side and patches of severe frostbite on his belly. He could already feel the pain of his collected wounds beginning to increase as the adrenaline from the battle started to ebb. Fanning his remaining wing, another severe injury that he’d been dealt, Moss moved forward to look for the pony mage’s corpse. Or at least, he intended to. What happened instead was that he stumbled and fell forward, his hind legs refusing to support him. Glancing back in confusion, Moss blinked as he realized that they were still covered in ice from that last spell he’d been hit with. He hadn’t realized it because they didn’t feel cold. In fact, he realized with growing concern, they didn’t feel anything at all. Pushing his sudden concern down with a wave of anger, he reached back and raked his talons over the ice covering his legs. It took several scratches to free them, and it was only after he had that he returned his attention to the where the mage’s body should have been… There was nothing there. It was enough to make Moss glance around in concern. He had used his breath weapon on plenty of creatures over the years, and he knew that there should have been something left, even if it was just a bloody smear on the ground. Had he used magic to transport himself away? Moss pondered for a moment, but thought it unlikely. He had turned his acid breath on the gathered ponies because he had remembered how his pawns had been so concerned over their broodmate, and had gambled successfully that the pony mage might feel the same way about his own kind. That made it unlikely that he would have abandoned them. Or perhaps he had seen that death was imminent and decided that the others weren’t worth giving his life for? Moss took another look around him, uncertain. But his eyes, far sharper than any mortal’s and abetted by the sun now having risen above the horizon, found nothing no matter where he looked. Nor could he smell any out-of-place scents that would have betrayed an invisible presence. Perhaps he’d transported himself behind the wall he’d created? That seemed more likely, since he knew that mortals were driven to band together to compensate for their inherent weakness. Which made it imperative to hurry there and attack again before the mage could mount a counterattack. With the condition that he was in right now, Moss wasn’t sure how much more he could take. Indeed, his condition was bad enough that, while he normally would simply have climbed over the wall in front of him – he didn’t dare just stick his head over, in case the mage was there with a spell ready – he knew that he didn’t have the strength to do so in his current condition. He would need to go around instead. As he started to move towards the edge of the wall, Moss tensed, knowing that if the mage was hiding somewhere else, attacking the other ponies would be certain to draw him out. He was proven right a moment later as he heard a voice chanting a spell – from behind him! Whirling, Moss spun around just in time to see three large orbs of lightning form in mid-air and rush in at him. He twisted in time to avoid the first, but the second and third impacted with him directly, getting past his innate spell resistance and causing him to roar in pain. “I’ll kill you!” Moss heard the words and forced himself to look past the pain and dizziness, to focus on where the voice was coming from. Slowly, he followed it down to where his shadow was stretching behind him. Except…there was a patch of it that was darker than the rest. And as he blinked, Moss realized that patch was looking back at him, with disembodied eyes that were glowing green and sprouting purple flames from their corners. “For trying to hurt Sonata, I swear I WILL KILL YOU!”