For the first time since he’d returned to Equestria, Lex found himself completely without a plan.
In the few seconds that had passed since he’d dropped into the ground, he’d tried to come up with a course of action, but no matter how fiercely he’d concentrated, no effective strategies had come to mind. All of his methods of attack relied on spellcasting, and that monster’s spell resistance was virtually impossible to break through. Nor could he simply cause crystals to grow from the ground to try and impale it again; even if he hadn’t expended the last of his dark magic changing into shadow, the creature’s speed and ability to fly would have made that an iffy proposition at best. Worse, it was smart enough that it would certainly have moved so as to keep him from easily targeting its location.
For the barest fraction of a second, thoughts of retreat flitted across his mind, but Lex knew that was no plan at all. Even if he could have countenanced letting that abomination live, falling back now would have been worse than useless. The entire point of a retreat was to withdraw and regroup, but with Severance gone there was no way for him to easily regain the thaumaturgical spells he’d already expended. Besides, there was nowhere that he could retreat to that this thing, in all likelihood, wouldn’t be able to follow. If it could move so easily between dimensions, then mere physical space would almost certainly be nothing to it.
The only option was to go on the offensive, but doing so offered little hope of victory. He still had several attack spells left, but knew he was only going to get a chance to cast one of them, since he’d have to rise above the ground in order to target the monster. Since it doesn’t know exactly when or where I’ll emerge, I’ll likely be able to finish casting before it can react, he felt certain. But once it does, it will attempt to dispel my shadow-form again. That attempt, he knew, would almost certainly succeed. And once it does, I won’t be able to cast another spell. Not when I can barely breathe with the wounds I’ve taken. Which meant that his next spell would have to either kill or incapacitate the creature. Anything else would be insufficient to stop it from tearing him apart.
He was going to have to bet everything on a single spell which likely would never reach the creature.
The thing’s spell resistance wasn’t an absolute barrier; of that he felt reasonably confident. While he wasn’t completely certain, it was reasonable to presume that if he could dispel the magic it was using to possess Nosey, he could force his way past its spell resistance as well. But even if he was right the odds were decidedly against him, given how he’d failed to affect the monster since then. Worse, although he had more than a few attack spells remaining, almost none of them were powerful enough to have any hope of stopping the creature in its tracks even if they got through. Only three of them had any viability in that regard: a spell to seal the target in a cocoon of ice, an asphyxiation spell, and his remaining disintegration spell. The others might wound the creature if they reached it, but had no hope of incapacitating or slaying it outright.
It took only a moment for Lex to decide on trying to disintegrate the creature again. He had no idea if this thing needed to breathe at all, and sealing it in ice wouldn’t be of much use if the monster could shift through dimensions. I’ll channel as much additional magic as I can through this, he decided silently. If it gets through, it might be enough to reduce that thing to dust, and if that doesn’t work… He tried to push that thought away, but for once he couldn’t do so, not when he knew that the results wouldn’t stop with his own death. That thing would possess Nosey again, then resume whatever machinations it had been pursuing back at the camp, and everypony there would be none the wiser for it. Sonata would have no idea what had happened…
Despite his bodiless state, a cold shudder ran through him then, and Lex found himself casting another spell. It wasn’t a defensive enchantment; given how the thing’s dispelling magic had punched through multiple spells at once, that wouldn’t survive his being turned corporeal again. Instead it was a tactical spell, one that he’d almost certainly not be able to use, but he wanted as many options available as possible, no matter how minor they w-
Then Nosey started screaming.
The sound was audible even through the ground, and it made Lex’s immaterial blood run cold. Instantly, he realized that he’d stayed underground too long, that the thing had turned its attention to Nosey in an effort to cajole him into emerging. The thought was more than he could bear, and it didn’t occur to him to wonder why all he felt at that moment was guilt and fear rather than the righteous rage he would have expected. NOSEY! Surging upward, Lex didn’t have to think to focus on the source of the screams, comparing it to his mental map of the battlefield and realizing that she was right next to the acid cloud, calculating the most likely position for the creature to be in. Chanting and gesturing before he cleared the ground, Lex forced as much extra magic into the spell as he could, maximizing its destructive potential as he emerged…
Right through the middle of the monster’s body.
Lex heard its voices chorus in a shriek of surprise, the sound almost drowned out by Nosey’s screaming behind him. Its body immediately shifted, trying to exit the space he was occupying so that it could target him easier, and even as it moved Lex’s magical sense felt it gather and release its dispelling magic at him. It took barely an instant for the creature to accomplish both of those goals, wriggling to the side with incredible speed, its heads turning to look at him as its magical attack tore his dark magic apart. But even as the shadows that made up his body changed back into flesh and blood and he collapsed to the ground, Lex finished the last syllable of his chant, stretching his one good foreleg out towards the monster as he unleashed the thin green beam of his disintegration spell, the super-charged ray sparkling with a dazzling radiance.
But Lex didn’t watch the beam cross the few inches separating his hoof from the monster. His eyes were already turning toward the mare wailing in agony a few feet away from him, the sound of her screams more painful than any of the wounds he’d taken so far. In that moment, Lex fully appreciated that this wasn’t some random pony whose name he barely knew; that seeing her being tortured like that was more than some abstract violation of his principles.
“Oh come on, he and I go way back! I’m practically family!”
This was somepony he knew personally. Who had been there alongside him almost since he’d come back to Equestria. Who had decided, unlike so many other people, that she wanted to be around him.
“Stop pushing yourself so hard all the time,” agreed Nosey. “Blowing off some steam and resting for a few hours won’t change the city, and it’ll do you a lot of good!”
More than that, she had supported him. She had been the one to convince him to rest and replenish himself before exploring Vanhoover, ensuring that he’d been at his best before he’d faced Lirtkra. She had been the first one to call for doctors when he and Sonata had staggered back in from that fight. He had met her when she’d found him collapsed on the street and taken it upon herself to shelter and feed him.
“I really felt like we’d become a group, instead of just a bunch of ponies who happened to be traveling together. And that was because of you, since you made me participate.”
When he’d first met her, Nosey had been nothing but an annoyance, a self-serving reporter who wouldn’t leave him alone. But somewhere along the line, that had changed. Without his realizing it, she had become important to him, not because of what she could do or what she knew, but simply because of who she was.
Nosey Newsy was his friend.
The realization was enough to completely break Lex’s heart. Nosey was his friend…and he had failed her utterly. Not only had he not realized that she had been possessed before now, but he hadn’t been able to protect her from that monster. No matter the circumstances, no matter the reasons, he had let one of the few ponies who actually meant something to him be injured so terribly…and now, if this didn’t work, she’d have to suffer even more.
Nosey…I’m sorry…
The voiceless words slid through his mind again, and this time he registered them, recognizing that they were from the same source that so often tormented his waking hours and turned his dreams into nightmares. But the maelstrom of emotions going through him didn’t give Lex any time to process that, instead trying to speak through bloodstained lips. “Nosey…I’m s-”
Then the green ray struck the creature…and it voices rose in a scream that drowned out Nosey’s completely.
The chorus of voices rose in a cacophonous wail that was hideous to hear. The thing’s body thrashed wildly as the green radiance of the beam spread to encompass its entire body. Its tongues whipped back and forth, spasming madly as its cries somehow managed to grow even worse, and the one holding Nosey began to uncoil from around her throat. For a brief instant Lex had a horrifying vision of her being flung bodily into the acid mist, but an instant later she went flying in the opposite direction, tossed over the creature’s heads and knocking several of its floating gemstones out of their orbit, scattering them across the ground.
The monster barely seemed to notice, still shaking as though it were trying to physically cast off the spell Lex had hit it with. But suddenly its shaking stopped, and an instant later its screaming did also. For a brief second, the creature held perfectly still…and then a foul black substance began to spray from its mouths. As Lex watched, the substance erupted from the creature’s heads and maw, gushing out with such intensity it was as though the thing had just been stomped on by a giant, invisible hoof. In fact, that seemed like an apt analogy, as the creature’s slug-like body was – for lack of a better word – deflating, its form flattening out as the ichor inside it continued to spew out.
I disintegrated its organs, Lex realized with a sense of grim satisfaction. Whatever guts that thing had, the spell destroyed them. The black substance, therefore, had to be a combination of blood and whatever was left of its innards. I hope it hurts, he thought with sudden viciousness. I hope it’s worse than anything you’ve ever done to anyone else!
After a few moments the discharge of black sludge began to ebb, and the monster collapsed. Its body shuddered as the flow slowed even further, becoming a trickle before finally stopping altogether. As it did, the creature gave one last convulsion and went still, staring upward silently.
For a long moment Lex just stared at it, still fighting to draw breath. It was only after several seconds that he turned and started to crawl away from the creature. “No…sey…” he wheezed, looking toward where the mare had fallen. It wasn’t very far, but he couldn’t seem to get his hooves under him, and dragging his injured chest and stomach across the ground was intensely painful…but he had to know she was alright, had t-
“tHaT…wON’t…KiLl…mE!”