//------------------------------// // 97 - Song of Battle // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// As he watched Cloudbank head off with Drafty, Lex struggled, not just to contain his exasperation, but just to remain upright. It wasn’t entirely due to his injuries, but because of the effort that had gone into creating the pile of weapons and armor for everypony. Doing so had not only forced him to expend the last of his dark magic, but had required that he channel additional magic through his body. Normally, he’d never have been able to make such a large cache of materials, even if he’d had his full reserve of dark magic ready; he simply couldn’t use it that efficiently. But his fight against the dragon had taught him that he could overcome that limitation by channeling additional magic through his body, empowering his dark magic just like he could his spellcasting. The result was that he’d been able to equip everypony here, which would hopefully make enough of a difference in the battle to come. Doing so had not been without a cost, however. The further use of that technique had placed even more stress on his body, depleting what little rest he’d gathered. While it hadn’t become so bad as to make his injuries worse, it was all he could do just to walk. Worse was that his entire supply of dark magic had been totally depleted. In the upcoming battle, he wouldn’t be able to turn into shadow, create any more black crystals, lay curses, or any of the other abilities that he’d grown so used to using ever since he’d gained his new horn. He was as close to powerless as he’d been in a long time. But even without spells, even without dark magic, he could still see the path to victory. So long as everything went according to plan… Just like it did when you fought the dragon? The barb made Lex grit his teeth. This time would be different! This time there would be no miscalculations! Unlike then, Lex knew that he wouldn’t be able to turn the situation around if something went awry. But that was fine; if the margin of error was nil, then he just had to make sure that no errors occurred. This will work, he silently assured himself. This time everything will go exactly how I’ve predicted it. Of course, it was hard to be confident when the lynchpin of his plan was currently ignoring her instructions in favor of taking a break with her friend! Sonata glanced at Lex, watching him glare impatiently at where Cloudbank and Drafty were talking in hushed tones. All around them ponies were finishing donning the black crystal armor that Lex had created, and several were taking practice swings with the matching weapons. Only Cozy had refused, an unnerved look on her face as she watched everyone else. “I wonder what her problem is,” she asked, glancing back at Lex. In fact, she didn’t really care about whatever was making the crystal mare uncomfortable; she just wanted to try and get Lex to talk about something so he’d quit being so tense. “Her problem,” he replied darkly, “is that she’s not taking this seriously enough. We have no idea when those monsters will attack this building. Given how important her job is, she should be giving that her full consideration rather than taking the time to chat with her friends.” “Chat with her…” Sonata trailed off in confusion before realizing that he’d misunderstood her. “Oh, I meant Cozy over there.” She pointed at the pony in question, and Lex turned to look at her, his scowl unchanged. “It’s because I remind her of King Sombra,” he corrected himself tersely. “Or maybe some religiou-” He stopped speaking abruptly, and that was unusual enough to draw Sonata’s attention away from Cozy and back to him. There was a surprised look on his face, directed towards where Drafty and Cloudbank were. Following his gaze, Sonata looked at the pair…just in time to see the two of them breaking a kiss. Even as she watched, Cloudbank said something, the details lost over the general noise of clanking armor and weapons, which caused Drafty’s face to color, clearly caught off-guard. But a moment later she smiled said something back before leaning forward, initiating another kiss. “Aww, that’s so sweet!” gushed Sonata. When she received no reply, she glanced over and found that Lex was still staring at the pair, blushing. For a moment his reaction made no sense to her, but then the pieces fell into place and she smirked. Leaning in closer to him, she lowered her voice to a husky purr. “Pretty sexy sight, huh?” “S-Sonata!” He jumped in place, an embarrassed look on his face, and she knew she’d hit bullseye. “There’s no need to be vulgar!” Her response was to grin, both at how cute his overreaction was, and that she’d successfully broken the mounting tension. It was almost enough to make her want to keep teasing him, but she knew that he’d probably be sore at her if she did. Instead, she leaned in to nuzzle him, murmuring softly as she did. “When we’re done with all this, how about you and me, like, do something even more vulgar.” His response was a snort, but there was no real force to it, and she knew he was mollified. A moment later they separated, and Lex pointed a hoof towards the other two mares. “Go get Cloudbank back here. As soon as I finish telling her what to do, we’re moving out.” Two minutes later, everypony had gathered in front of the warehouse doors. From behind the mass of ponies, noticing how they were nervously shifting and glancing at the thin wooden barrier between them and the monster army, Lex spoke up. “Remember, you don’t need to fight to win! Just keep them away from us! Focus on defense!” He was going to say more, but felt Sonata put a hoof on his side, and when he glanced over at her she shook her head. Letting out a breath, Lex glanced at the other two ponies beside him. Although she was pale, Cozy gave him a nod. In contrast, Cloudbank looked determined, giving a sharp nod of her own as she clutched Severance tightly in her mouth. The sight of somepony else wielding the weapon that the Night Mare had given him was enough to fill Lex with worry, but not for himself. Rather, he still remembered what the goddess had said about the scythe altering the mentality of those that wielded it to better suit her liking. Although he had given Severance explicit instructions not to do anything to Cloudbank’s mind, and it had acquiesced on that point, he still felt nervous. Mind-altering magic had always terrified him for how invasive it was, and he had no desire to inflict such a thing on anypony else. But there was no use thinking about it now. Instead, he glanced behind him, where Aria was huddled with a frown. Although she’d obeyed him when he’d told her to use any enhancement or augmentation spells she’d had left on the assembled ponies, she had balked when he’d ordered her to accompany them to battle, pointing out that her magical reservoirs were almost completely expended. Lex had briefly considered forcing her, since every possible asset needed to be utilized in order to give them a chance at victory, but knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on making her obey him once the fighting started. He’d tried reasoning with her, but logic had also failed to sway her. It had only been when Sonata had started heckling her with accusations of cowardice that Aria had grudgingly agreed to take part. Sonata had likewise laid down some enhancement spells of her own on the assembled ponies, further improving their chances, but her last preparation was one that they’d been waiting until the last moment to unveil...and now it was time. Letting out a breath as he realized that there were no more delays to be had, Lex looked over at her. “Do it,” he said simply. “Right!” Taking a deep breath, Sonata held it for just a moment, and then began to sing. “Stand up, ponies! Go and save the day!” She kept singing, her voice projecting an upbeat song of rampant heroism and aggressive pride. The effect was immediate, as the assembled ponies stopped fidgeting, with several bobbing their heads in time with the quick tempo of her song. A few even began to paw at the ground, as though eager to charge outside. It was enough to mildly surprise Lex, even though he’d believed her when she’d told him that she could sing and make everypony fight better. He’d heard her sing before, and it had never particularly moved him beyond appreciating how beautiful her voice was, but Sonata had assured him that her voice had magic all its own. “I’m not a Siren for nothing,” she had said, and apparently her boast hadn’t been an idle one. Realizing that this was the absolute most that they could do, Lex wrapped the warehouse doors in his telekinetic aura, and threw them open. “Charge!” he roared, and the assembled ponies flooded outward, giving a loud cheer as they ran to reclaim Vanhoover. Tlerekithres watched as his slaves rushed towards the pony city. He had few expectations that they’d accomplish much. Thanks to Sitkra’s bumbling, there simply weren’t enough of them to effectively flush the passengers of that ship he’d smashed out of wherever they were hiding. After all, it was unlikely that they were still residing close to the shoreline; no one with even a modicum of intelligence would make their lair so close to a waterline when they knew that there were aquatic enemies nearby. More likely they had crawled inland somewhere and hunkered down. But then, finding them had never been the point of this little exercise… Tlerekithres had initially intended to let his slaves enjoy themselves before he destroyed the city. Given that almost all of them were aggressive predators, and of diverse – and largely xenophobic – species, he knew that they needed to be given outlets upon which they could vent their natural desire to kill, lest it build up to the point where they turned on each other. If that were to happen, it could lead to mass infighting among his slaves, at which point he’d be unable to regain control of them. Better to direct it outward, where it could be put to use keeping potential enemies at bay. To that end, he’d arranged this little expedition. But now it would serve a different purpose; now the sahuagin would collectively pay for the incompetence of their leader. The forty-some of their number who were in the city when the tornado he was gradually conjuring finally touched down and wiped it off the map would serve as an object lesson to the rest of them as to the price of foolishness. Besides, this city's destruction would also serve as an excellent way to formally announce to the rest of the world that this sea was now under his control, and that those who defied him would pay for it with their lives. Of course, that would mean they’d need to find a different coastal city to make into their hunting ground, but such a thing wasn’t a major problem as far as Tlerekithres was concerned. Coastlines were always dotted with cities when there were sapient races involved; they’d simply need to head southward, away from the colder waters north of their present location, until they came across another. Once that happened, his slaves would have a new source of both food and entertainment, and he could concentrate more on expanding his undersea dominion- A sudden commotion from the wharf drew him from his musings. Tlerekithres directed his attention towards the source of it, and couldn’t help but laugh at what he saw. Ponies, a small horde of them, were clashing with his sahuagin. What made it more amusing, however, was that they actually appeared to be holding their own. It was enough that he almost wished he’d let Sitkra live, just to see the look on her face as her “mighty people” were pushed back by herd animals. Unable to resist indulging his mirth more, Tlerekithres moved closer to the edge of the harbor to watch the spectacle…even as the winds grew stronger.