Guiding everypony through Vanhoover had gone better than Lex had hoped.
The sun had been low in the sky when they’d set out, and although Vanhoover was west of the mountains, the buildings had still cast long shadows as they’d left the warehouse. While not truly dark, Lex had still been concerned about ghouls attacking them, instructing everyone on what to do to minimize the threat. Unfortunately, that hadn’t included making more black crystal weapons and armor for everypony; doing so required that he channel additional magic through his body to enhance what he could create with his dark magic, and he’d exhausted his ability to do that while cursing Garden Gate. But there were other ways to increase their safety.
Every pegasi had been directed to stay in the air, keeping above the buildings wherever possible while shadowing their progress from the sky, both to stay out of harm’s way and to maintain a lookout. On the ground, Lex had instructed everypony to march in a tight formation, allowing their number to be split into two groups: outer and inner. The outer ponies were lightly encumbered, carrying nothing that would hinder their movement, as well as being equipped with some sort of weapon. Most of those were makeshift, being a wrench or a length of pipe or – in the case of that earth pony with the scar on his neck – an actual board with a single oversized nail through it. For these ponies, their role was to stand firm against any incoming attack and safeguard everyone in the inner group.
Those ponies that were part of the inner group were those Lex had judged to be the most in need of protection, whether because they were more vulnerable than their peers or because they were more useful in a noncombat position. The latter consisted of quite a few of the medical ponies, as well as Cozy; if they were attacked, Lex knew that her healing powers would be invaluable. The former, on the other hoof, were mostly ponies that were overburdened with more than their fair share of provisions. Although they’d needed to leave a substantial amount of equipment behind, sitting in the warehouse for when they could go back and retrieve it – after all, without any wagons or carts, much of it was simply too heavy or too bulky to be easily transported – a great deal of it was being carried on backs, in mouths, and in many cases in telekinetic auras. The sheer degree to which those ponies had been loaded up meant that if they were attacked, they’d be hard-pressed to defend themselves, and so were given safer positions alongside their medical counterparts.
The only pony that had been part of the inner group without being a healer or transporting equipment was Garden Gate, lying limply in her cage due to her curse. Carried along by four members of her old gang – including that upstart Turbo, who had flatly refused to be separated from her (an attitude that Lex countenanced only because he’d decided that one less pegasus in the air would make no substantial difference) – Lex had placed her at the very center of the inner group, where she would be safest.
With the formations arranged, the next priority had been communication. Although Lex typically used the spell that carried whispers at a distance exclusively with Sonata, who was placed safely in the inner group, this time he had included several other individuals within its effect. Cloudbank, who had been given nominal command of the pegasi if things went badly, was one such pony. Others were Aria, who was maintaining the left side of the outer group, and C. Shells on the right. A few others, such as Aisle and House Call in the interior of the group, had rounded things out. He’d wanted to include Cozy as well, but for some reason she had refused to speak to him, much to his frustration.
With everything else in place, Lex had tasked Severance with guarding their rear, ordering it to follow at a short distance and cut down anything that tried to pick them off from behind. That had left only Lex himself, taking up the job of charting the path forward. Doing so meant that he’d spent the entire journey in shadow-form, darting ahead to scout the places that the pegasi couldn’t see. Silent and insubstantial, he had darted between the buildings lining their path, slipping between walls or down into the sewers to make sure that nothing was lying in wait for them.
It was a good thing that he had.
Even though he hadn’t had time to check the entirety of each building, instead just rushing through a few of the rooms that were closest to the street, he still stumbled upon no less than three groups of ghouls – none with more than four members – that were clandestinely watching them pass. Although there had been no indication that the things were planning on doing more than observing them, Lex had nonetheless used his dark magic to make black crystals block off any nearby doorways before quickly dispatching them. Given that undeath was a hideously unnatural state that warped the minds of those afflicted with it, he had no compunctions about destroying the ghouls without provocation. As far as he was concerned, he was releasing them from a torturous existence.
Still, tearing apart the undead ponies he’d found hadn’t relieved Lex’s tension; if anything, it had heightened it, worrying that for every group of ghouls he’d stumbled upon, more were waiting in the wings. It didn’t help that his communication spell was limited; not only could it not transmit or receive whispers if he was more than two hundred feet or so away from the others, it wouldn’t work if he was inside a building due to the intervening walls. But that was a risk that was unavoidable; the threat of a communication breakdown was less than that of an ambush. After all, he, or rather Sonata (she’d been strangely adamant that she relay all of his instructions to everypony on his behalf, no matter how brief), had warned everyone that they absolutely couldn’t break formation; that if they panicked and ran blindly away from the group, they would almost certainly die.
Even so, Lex had been concerned that a large attack, especially if it came from multiple directions simultaneously, would be enough to overwhelm everypony’s courage. Sonata had assured him that if that happened she would sing and keep everyone calm, buying him enough time to get back and reassert control over the situation, but while Lex had to admit that what she’d done during the nighttime battle against the kraken’s minions was a testament to her abilities – no one had broken and run then, after all, and that situation had looked far worse than a daytime march through Vanhoover – he still had no desire to put her assurances to the test. One dead pony on his watch was more than enough; he had no desire to see another.
But in spite of, or perhaps because of, his many precautions, no attack had come.
Instead, the edge of the city now lay before them, the urban sprawl ending abruptly a mere three blocks away. The sight was enough that Lex – returning to corporeal form and moving so that he was marching at the front of the formation – let out a sigh of relief. For the first time in a while, things hadn’t gone as poorly as possible! Hopefully that would be the case from now on.
“Lex.” Cloudbank’s whisper sounded as though she was right at his side, rather than flying above him. “I can see ponies up ahead, past the city. They’re looking this way.”
“How many?” he whispered back. If what Cozy and Garden Gate had said was even remotely accurate, then they were about to meet with hostility that had nothing to do with ghouls.
“Not many, five or six,” replied Cloudbank. “No, wait…one of them is running off somewhere.”
“Good. That means they’re not completely stupid,” Lex snorted, knowing that the pony that was fleeing almost assuredly going to bring reinforcements. Exactly what sort of force showed up, and how quickly, would be telling. After all, the very idea of a half-dozen or so ponies acting as a patrol, or perhaps a token guard, for this stretch of the city limits was laughable, just as he’d thought it would be. A group that size might be able to drive away a few starving survivors, maybe even a ghoul or two, but any larger force would easily overrun them. And unless they had a massive array of floodlights or something similar, nighttime would erase what little efficacy those ponies had anyway. In fact…Lex looked carefully ahead, confirming the complete and utter lack of impediments in their path. Although he’d known that cordoning off an entire city was an impractical task at best, the fact that they hadn’t done anything further confirmed that this entire “blockade” was little more than a farce. But if that was the case, why bother with it at all…?
“Stop right th-there!” came a voice from one of the ponies ahead of them. Its owner was a skinny-looking unicorn stallion with a dark brown coat and a blond mane and tail. Gulping, he lifted a rock in his telekinesis, cocking it back in what was probably supposed to be a threatening gesture, though his tremulous voice and repeated swallowing made it hard to be certain. “You all turn around right now!” he continued, eyes sweeping over the ponies in front of and above him. “You go back in there before you infect us all!”
Lex gave the barest of glances backward, raising a hoof. Although they were less than a block away from the edge of the city now, everypony that saw his gesture instantly came to a halt, with the rest quickly catching themselves. On his own, Lex strode forward, until he came to the very edge of the city limits. As he did, the rock-toting pony took several steps back, his visible nervousness growing, and behind him his companions were doing the same. For a moment Lex marveled at how weak-willed they were, to be so easily intimidated, until he noticed that their eyes were looking down. Following their gazes, he realized that they were looking at his shadow, stretching out ahead of him in a direction that was completely perpendicular to the way all the other shadows were falling in the late light. The sight almost made him laugh, having grown so used to the unusual occurrence that he had completely discounted it. Brushing his humor aside, he took a long look at the five ponies standing in opposition to him before speaking. “I want all of you to listen to me very carefully, I-”
“Wait!”
The frantic whisper in his ear left Lex confused for a moment, only to realize what was happening as he heard the sound of pushing from behind him. “Sonata, stay there! I can handle this on my own!” he whispered back. What was she doing?! They weren’t completely out of danger yet!
“Like, no way! You need me there to help!” A moment later she pushed past the ponies in the outer group and galloped forward, until she was standing alongside him. “Okay!” she exclaimed, using her normal voice again, “spokespony powers activate!” She glanced at the worried-looking ponies in front of them before turning her attention back to Lex. When he didn’t immediately respond, instead giving her a look of exasperation, she elbowed him lightly. “That means you start telling me what to say now.”
For a moment he wanted to berate her, but knew that there were more important things he should be focusing on…and that it would likely be futile anyway. Instead, he gave a long-suffering sigh before telling her to communicate that he was here to help, that he had food and medicine, and that they needed to take him to whomever was in charge so that they could be apprehended for how grossly they’d mismanaged things.
“Okay!” Despite the dour contents of his message, Sonata was practically bouncing with enthusiasm. Now she’d be able to introduce Lex to a whole bunch of people who hadn’t seen him curse Fenc-, Garden! This was great! “So, this guy right here,” she stepped forward and pointed at Lex, “is, like, a super-duper hero who’s totes come here to save everypony! He’s got a ton of supplies and some majorly great ideas for how to turn everything around! Once the big cheese of this place is ‘apprehended,’ whatever that means, Lex is gonna-”
“You’re going to arrest the commander?!” The blond stallion spoke up, eyes widening.
“Huh?” Sonata blinked, not sure where that idea had come from. “Hang on, that-…” She trailed off as Lex whispered something to her, causing her to smile with relief. “No, no, you’ve got it all wrong. Your commander is going to be ‘indicted’ for what they’ve done. That’s good, right?”
“Get them!” The stallion immediately threw his rock, as did the others, aiming right at Sonata.
“Guess not!” she yelped as she turned and ran back towards her companions.
“SEVERANCE!” bellowed Lex, and the scythe responded immediately. It rocketed forward, tumbling end over end as it moved past the regimented ponies, past Lex, past Sonata, to cut the rocks out of the air, slicing them to pieces as though they were made of snow rather than stone. It was enough to send the ponies that threw them scampering backward, eyes bugging out at the sight of a flying scythe demolishing their attacks.
Between that, the odd-looking pony with the frightening shadow, and how badly they were outnumbered, it was enough to cause their courage to fail completely, and all five of them turned tail and ran. Severance started to float after them, but Lex’s telekinetic aura sprang around it a moment later, pulling it back. “No, let them go. The more of an alarm they raise, the quicker their ‘commander’ will make his or her way here.” It galled him to let anypony go after they’d dared to attack Sonata, even if he’d doubted she’d been in much actual danger. He’d just have to hold it against whoever was managing this operation.
Off to his side, Sonata tilted her head as she considered what had just happened. “Okay, like, mental note. ‘Indictments’ or ‘indictations’ or whatever they’re called aren’t popular in Vanhoover. Maybe they’re more of a Tall Tale thing?”
She blinked at the pained look Lex gave her in response. “What? I’m just saying.”