//------------------------------// // 244 - Wishes and Miracles // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “Should…should we go help them?” Ocean Spray’s voice was thick with uncertainty, unable to tear his eyes away from what was happening in front of them. Even as he watched, the unicorn mare that Lex had publicly condemned lashed out again, plunging her knife up under a ghoul’s chin and preventing it from opening its mouth as it leaned in to bite her. Nor did she stop there, wrenching her knife to the side and using the leverage to drag the impaled ghoul along with it, making it stumble into the path of another undead pony that was trying to flank her. Even while that was happening, Sonata crept up behind her, singing a quick spell before reaching out to tap the vermillion mare on the rump before turning and rushing back to Lex, who was fumbling with one of his saddlebags. “You can’t be serious!” sputtered Scrubby, giving Ocean Spray a horrified look. “We’d be killed!” “Maybe, but…” Ocean Spray grimaced, biting his lip as he watched Garden Gate continue her furious assault. For some reason the sight made his chest ache. “We can’t just do nothing!” “Nothing is all we can do,” protested Scrubby weakly. Ocean Spray shook his head, feeling more and more certain as he spoke. “That’s not true. We helped out when those sea creatures attacked a few days ago, remember? If we all rush out now-” “We would only make things worse,” cut in Compass Rose. Scrubby let out a relieved sigh at that, but Ocean Spray turned to give her a shocked look. “How can you say that?!” He pointed at Garden Gate. “She ran out there and now she’s fighting off those monsters all on her own! If we back her up-” “It wouldn’t work,” interrupted Rose again, shaking her head grimly. Ocean Spray opened his mouth to protest, but she didn’t give him a chance. “You heard what Lex said a moment ago, right? How he told Sonata to use her magic to enhance her?” Adjusting her glasses, Rose gave her crewmate a hard look. “That’s why that mare, Garden Gate, is doing so well now. She had the advantage of surprise at first, but once that wore off you saw how she was almost killed. It would be the same for us. We might be able to get the drop on those things for a few seconds, but then they’d turn the tables on us.” Ocean Spray stomped a hoof, suddenly angry. “You don’t know that!” “Yes, I do.” Rose’s voice was calm, refusing to get into a shouting match. “When we fought those other monsters on the wharf, Lex made weapons and armor for all of us, and then he and Sonata used their magic to make us stronger. Plus, we weren’t fighting to try and kill those things; we were just trying to get Lex and Cloudbank far enough to where they could take out their leader, which got rid of the rest of them. None of that’s true here.” She swept a hoof out then, indicating the ponies around them, several of whom had turned an ear toward their conversation. “More than that, if we went out there now we’d be putting everypony here at risk.” “Yeah!” piped up Scrubby with a vigorous nod. Ocean Spray shot a glare at the other stallion, frowning. “How?” “Um…” Scrubby paused for just a second before looking back at Compass Rose. “How?” She answered without missing a beat. “The ghouls don’t seem to have realized where Garden Gate came from. But if more of us left the illusion Lex conjured, they might. If that happens, they’d stop funneling themselves toward those three,” she nodded toward Lex, Sonata, and Garden Gate, “and start trying to go around them in order to attack the rest of us. If that happened, I don’t think they’d be able to hold them all back.” Ocean Spray was silent for a long moment, watching the fighting as he digested what he’d been told. Although he knew that Rose was correct, that knowledge didn’t make him feel any better; if anything, it had the opposite effect. “So that’s it, then?” he finally asked, the anger in his voice having changed to bitterness. “Garden Gate gets to go out there and avenge her friend, but we don’t get to do the same for Sandbar and the captain?” Scrubby winced at that, and a mournful look crossed Rose’s face. But it didn’t prevent her from replying. “No, we don’t. All we can do is stay here and watch them fight.” “It’s not a fight.” The new voice cut through their conversation, and an instant later Nosey Newsy emerged from the crowd, standing between Ocean Spray and Compass Rose. “It’s not a fight,” she repeated. “That’s too small a word for this. What we’re seeing right now isn’t a battle, or a conflict, or a war.” “…then what is it?” asked Scrubby hesitantly. For a moment, Nosey didn’t answer, her gaze locked onto Lex. “A miracle.” It was far more of an effort than it should have been, but Lex was finally able to withdraw the scroll from his saddlebag. Next to him, Sonata had finished casting enhancement spells on Garden Gate, and had started singing. Garden Gate herself was quite clearly benefiting from the magic, her combat prowess having surged compared to when she’s started her surprise assault. Even as Lex watched, she fell into a crouch, avoiding a rotted hoof to the face even as she surged forward, still ducking down. In an instant, she darted underneath the ghoul, emerging from between its hind legs and standing up again as she moved on to her next opponent. Behind her, the undead pony she’d passed beneath trembled, and a second later the bottom of its torso opened up, disgorging a flood of offal and rotted viscera onto the ground. The ghoul took a single, shaky step before it collapsed lifelessly. In the instant that she’d rushed below it, Garden Gate had jabbed upward with her knife and opened the thing from sternum to groin, letting its innards fall out. But the flood of enemies was unending, and Lex knew it was only a matter of time before she became exhausted, or lost her weapon, or was finally felled by an unlucky strike. The magic that Sonata was using might hold that off for some time, but with the difference in numbers being weighted so heavily against them, and Severance apparently unable to stop the inexorable trickle of enemies getting past it, their loss was still a question of when, not if. Which meant that he needed to take matters into his own hooves. Unrolling the parchment, Lex looked over it again. It had originally contained eleven spells, but now there was only a blank space where the words to the illusion spell had been, the writing having vanished as it shaped and directed the energy he’d fed into it in order to hide everypony. Of the remaining magic, none of them had any immediate usefulness that Lex could see…except one. It was, without a doubt, the single most versatile spell he’d ever seen. Rather than having a strictly-defined effect, its applicability was open-ended, allowing for potentially any outcome to be dictated. But that was only in theory. In practicality, its effects were starkly limited. They had to be; the spell was only able to utilize so much energy, which necessarily meant that it could only do so much. Worse, attempting to achieve an outcome that was beyond what it could easily do would likely result in the energy simply dissipating, or even create a backlash. Even then…directing the magic required issuing verbal instructions – phrased in the form of a wish, for some reason – after the casting was complete, which ran the risk of making a misstatement and causing an unintended result. It was, in other words, the sort of spell which required careful consideration under the very best of circumstances; to use it in their current situation would be to court disaster. Except disaster is already here, Lex knew, which meant that there was no practical alternative but to utilize this spell before their last chance of victory was completely snuffed out. Which left only one consideration: what should he use the spell for? The optimal answer was to have it restore his magic, but Lex knew that wouldn’t work. This spell couldn’t do more than its total energy output permitted, and although it was strong it was still just one spell. Trying to have it replenish his full complement of magic was like telling someone to use a gallon of water to fill a swimming pool. Likewise, using it to heal his injuries and exhaustion so that he could take up Severance and return to fighting seemed like a good idea, but was unacceptably risky. He still didn’t know precisely how healing magic worked, which meant that if it only temporarily suspended his injuries, or only healed him enough to fight for a few minutes before he collapsed again, then they’d be no better off than before he cast it. Lex wasted several seconds thinking through various options, weighing the flaws, risks, and potential gains for myriad potential applications of the spell, knowing that he’d only get one chance at this. Finally, he made a decision, knowing that it was the best chance they’d have. Slowly, he raised the scroll in his telekinesis and began to read the words to the spell, channeling energy through himself and into it as he did so… “Full power! No mercy! Make them feel your f-fury!” Sonata very nearly bit her tongue at the last word, only barely managing to keep singing. A few feet away from her, Lex – still lying on his side – didn’t seem to notice her near-slip, continuing to read his scroll, much to Sonata’s anxiety. What’s he doing?! Doesn’t he remember what that did to him before? Just casting that illusion on everypony had hurt him badly enough that he hadn’t been able to stand on his own; using that thing again couldn’t possibly be safe. Worried, she glanced over at where Garden Gate was still fighting, but the green unicorn was still holding her own. So why was Lex pushing himself if everything was going okay? I swear, if this is because he wants to look good in front of everyone, I’m totes going to smack him, she thought as she glanced back at the big fake hole behind her. She could understand wanting to show off for their audience, but this was ridiculous! A moment later the scroll fluttered to the ground, Lex’s purple aura winking out. It had barely touched the ground when he started to convulse, a strangled groan escaping his lips as his body shook uncontrollably. “Lex!” Sonata immediately rushed over to him, abandoning her song; she didn’t spare a second thought for Garden Gate, knowing that the magic from her song would last for a little bit even after she stopped. Instead, she knelt beside her boyfriend, who was still thrashing wildly. Not knowing what to do, she laid down next to him and wrapped her legs around him, trying to at least stop him from hurting himself. It felt like forever before his shaking finally stopped, and she bit her lip as she looked him over. He seemed to have lost consciousness, his eyes closed and breathing shallowly, trickles of blood running from his nose and mouth. “You’ve really gotta stop doing this to yourself,” she muttered, not realizing she was speaking out loud. The sound of her voice seemed to rouse him, however, causing his eyes to flutter open. The sight caused her to release an explosive sigh of relief. “Hey! Oh wow, you had me, like, seriously worried there for a moment! Are you okay?” He didn’t reply, his eyes darting to where Garden Gate was still fighting, and then to the illusion hiding everypony, before finally looking up at her. Except, no, he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking up at those magic jewels still circling his head. Slowly, his lips moved. “I wish…I had enough magic…to empower…those gemstones...”