Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

250 - The Last to Leave

It was the dead versus the undead.

Lex could only stare numbly as the ghouls did battle with the phantom ponies from his nightmares, all of them figures he’d known in his youth that were now long deceased. Brush Stroke barely managed to duck under a wild punch from a ghoul, retaliating with a blow to its rib cage that caused its chest to cave in as bones snapped. A few feet away, View Point wasn’t quite as fast, getting half her throat ripped out by an emaciated unicorn stallion. But the thing’s howl of triumph changed into one of shock as it looked down as its suddenly-empty mouth, its jaws devoid of blood or flesh. “Not real!” it howled. “They’re not rea-” But its cry was aborted as View Point, paying no mind to the bloodless hole in her neck, reached out to grab the ghoul’s head and begin pulling, trying to tear it from the thing’s shoulders.

A short distance from them, his grandfather was warding off blows from the fallen ghoul under him as he tried to bludgeon the thing to death, his hoof raising and falling in an attempt to reduce the creature’s head to so much pulp…an attempt that ended abruptly as a heavy buck from another ghoul crushed the elderly stallion’s head completely. His body tottered for a moment, and then vanished as quickly as a patch of mist in the morning sunlight. Both ghouls wasted a second gaping at their enemy’s sudden disappearance before snarling, angry at being denied a hard-won meal.

That was all the time Garden Gate needed to strike. Still favoring her wounded leg, she barreled forward into the ghoul that had bucked the phantom pony into nonexistence, sending it staggering forward and tripping over its fallen companion. Snarling curses, both ghouls immediately moved to right themselves, but not before Garden fell on the closer of the two, teeth gripping the filthy handle of her knife as she sank its blade directly into the thing’s ear. The creature screeched, but only thrashed harder, trying to twist its head around to bite at the mare. Garden responded by sawing her knife back and forth, trying to work it through the ghoul’s skull as it struggled. A few feet away from her, the other ghoul was about to pounce, but she glanced at it and her horn glowed, a matching aura springing into being around the undead pony’s right foreleg just before she yanked hard on it, causing it to stumble.

But concentrating on two enemies at a time left her unable to land a decisive blow on either of them. With a hiss the ghoul underneath her managed to draw its rear legs up and under her, and before she could react it kicked out heavily, knocking her off of it. Worse, the blow tore the knife from her teeth, leaving it embedded in the side of the ghoul’s head as she landed heavily on her back a few feet away. Groaning, Garden immediately moved to right herself, but fatigue and multiple injuries made it impossible to move as quickly as she wanted, and she hadn’t gotten even one of her hooves under her when she saw the two ghouls fling themselves at her…

…and then their heads exploded as two darts of light tore through each of them, courtesy of Aria.

The reprieve was short-lived, however. Even as Lex watched Garden telekinetically pick up her knife, the ghouls were quickly dealing with the remaining nightmares. Brush Stroke hadn’t quite managed to finish off the ghoul she was fighting when it swung its hoof at her with enough force that it literally punched through her, the filthy limb sinking knee-deep into her torso and causing her to wink out of existence a moment later. Barely a second after that, View Point succeeded in tearing her ghoul’s head free before she was tackled by a newly-arrived ghoul, landing on her back and digging its filthy teeth into her neck, making short work of her. Behind it, two more undead ponies moved to join the fray, grinning at what looked like imminent victory.

“Lex, whatever those things were, we need some more of ‘em!” muttered Sonata, brow still furrowed as she concentrated on maintaining her spell of anger-enhanced strength on Garden. “Just, you know, maybe without the trash-talking!” She wasn’t sure why those weirdo ponies were being jerks to him – especially since she’d felt him use whatever magic had summoned them – but it sorta sent mixed messages. Here’s hoping no one else heard what they were saying, she thought, shooting a quick glance back at the hole that was hiding everypony.

For his part, Lex almost shook his head in reply, mortified beyond words at the prospect of everyone – especially her – getting a glimpse of the extremely personal torment he went through on a nightly basis. But he knew she was right; despite having been defeated with relative ease by the ghouls, the appearance of those phantoms had managed to turn the tide of the battle for at least a few moments. No matter how humiliating he found it, more reinforcements were needed. Gritting his teeth, he turned his eyes back toward his shadow. More, he thought, pushing down the conflict he felt about calling up more of his nighttime demons. Send more!

There was another hesitation for a second or two, and then he again felt a rush of magic. Biting his lip at the prospect of who the thing would show him next, Lex turned back to the battle. A moment later he had his answer, as two more warped ponies appeared.

“So much for that better magic you were gonna make, know-it-all,” snickered Gloaming Sheen, the unicorn’s voice immediately setting Lex’s teeth on edge. His old classmate had never missed an opportunity to make fun of him when he was alive, and the same was true now. But even as the words left the phantom’s mouth, he threw himself forward to intercept the ghouls that were running at Garden Gate.

“You’re going to fail everyone. Again.” This time Lex couldn’t help himself, wincing and looking away at the accusatory voice of Salt Lick. The earth pony mare had been one of the first ponies he’d met during his time on Everglow, and watching her die had driven home just how savage and brutal that world was. That her corpse had been subsequently defiled by being turned into an undead monstrosity was one of his worst memories, with the knowledge that he’d later released her from that state being cold comfort. Even now, as she waded into the press of ghouls, he felt almost nauseous. No matter that she was just a phantom from his mind and not the actual person, the very idea that he had conjured her up purely for utilitarian purposes the same way those self-centered monsters had was-

“Look!” Sonata’s voice provided a welcome respite from the emotions threatening to overwhelm him, and he immediately turned to look at her. But she didn’t meet his eyes, instead peering ahead. “The ghouls!” Following her gaze, he looked out at where Severance was still fighting, his eyes widening an instant later.

No more ghouls were pouring out of the darkness.

His breath catching at the sight, Lex pushed everything else out of his mind as he took that in. Even as he watched, the last few ghouls followed their brethren toward Severance, with no more undead ponies trailing after them. For a moment he tried to keep his hopes in check, wondering if there was simply a gap in their ranks, or if maybe some of the ghouls had managed to retain their wits enough to circle around Severance instead of charging directly toward it. But as the remainder of the undead ponies failed to appear, he realized that this was it…they’d finally done it! They’d outlasted the ghouls!

After that, it took only a few seconds for the last members of the undead army to exterminate themselves on the end of Severance’s blade. Swinging in its customary wide arc, Severance lashed out once, then again, and then a third time. A fourth and final swing followed, and then there were no more enemies in front of it, the western edge of the camp suddenly silent and still. Slowly, Severance ceased its endless swinging, turning back to an upright position as it hovered in the air, its blade pointed toward Vanhoover in silent vigil.

Garden’s scream of pain drew his attention back to her.

A few more ghouls had managed to engage her in the short period that he’d looked away, and the phantoms had done a poor job fighting them off. Even as Lex watched, Gloaming Sheen dissolved into nothing as a ghoul tore his stomach open. Not far off, Salt Lick was surrounded by three ghouls who quickly knocked her off her hooves before closing in and bludgeoning her until she was no more, the sight making Lex feel sick again. But worst was Garden, who left foreleg was extended outward, trapped in the hooves of a ghoul that was currently sinking its teeth into the meat of her leg with a rapturous moan. Even as he watched, she brought her knife down onto its head, but the blade didn’t penetrate its skull, and it kept gnawing on her, heedless of her attempt to harm it.

“Aria!” Lex snapped.

The Siren unleashed another volley of magic missiles, the darts of light streaming toward the ghoul sinking its teeth into Garden. A second later they pierced the thing, and it instantly collapsed…and so did Garden, her body rigid and unmoving. Lex’s eyes widened as he realized that her luck had finally run out, that last injury having paralyzed her.

The four remaining ghouls realized it too, voices raised in screams of hunger as they rushed to cross the few feet separating them from her.

Off to his side, Lex could hear Aria whispering the words to another magic missile spell, but he knew it would never be able to stop all four of the creatures. On his other side, he was cognizant of Sonata babbling something about not being able to use her only remaining attack spell without hitting Garden too. But he wasn’t listening to either of them, instead reaching out with his telekinesis and grabbing Severance, bringing the weapon around as fast as he possibly could.

In his current state it felt like he was trying to lift every building in Vanhoover at once, but he ignored the strain, arching his back as he swung the blade, silently screaming for it to make it in time. The lead ghoul was galloping toward her as fast as it could, its jaws slavering as its tongue lolled out obscenely, and Lex was suddenly reminded of a few days ago, when a nearly-identical situation had occurred in the warehouse where they’d found Pillowcase. The memory upset him, reminding him of how badly he’d misjudged Garden's reform, and he turned that extra burst of anger into strength, his purple aura around the weapon flaring as he brought Severance to the apex of its swing…

...and cut the last four ghouls to ribbons, less than a second before they reached Garden’s immobile form.

The weapon’s cutting arc, still projecting past the end of its blade, passed over Garden’s prone body by inches, just as Lex had calculated it would. But that left it at the perfect height to hit the ghouls dead-center, causing them – like so many others of their kind that Severance had cut down that night – to be immediately obliterated. What was left of them hit the ground a moment later, and Lex’s aura sputtered out as his last burst of strength ebbed, leaving Severance floating under its own power.

The silence that followed was complete as everypony held their breath, almost afraid to hope that what they were seeing was true. But as the seconds passed, the reality slowly sank in: there were no more ghouls. It was finally over.

Vanhoover had been saved.

Author's Note:

Pulling out all the stops, Lex and the others succeed in wiping out the ghoul army!

Is this where things finally start to turn around for everypony?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Now I'm half expecting to hear a train whistle by sunrise, signaling Ticket Stub's arrival with the train's cargo of materials and supplies Lex could use towards the city's recovery...but given how everything, from Ticket being turned away from the pass by Xiriel's hypnotized puppets to the demon's defeat, took place in a short span of time, it's unlikely to occur.

As such, after the Garden is brought to the doctors to attend to(Cozy's healing magic would be pretty useful when she gets back), Lex will most likely bring up the subject of reclaiming the city. Well, after he goes about procuring some much needed food from the nearby farms as he had initially planned. Though given his exhausted state, I think a good long rest is in order while Sonata deals with the ponies still huddling behind the illusion.

[Booster Spice]

Abruptly, the sound ceased.

[Alzrius]

9008349 What happens after this remains uncertain, but at the very least things should start to turn a corner now that there are no enemies left to fight. (There are no enemies left, right?) Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that things will be easy. Rebuilding Vanhoover and seeing to everypony's well-being are likely to be herculean tasks unto themselves, though (hopefully) not as violent. But in the immediate future, Lex needs to let himself recover from everything he's been through, and put some food in the mouths of hungry ponies. In theory, there's no barrier to that happening now...

As the saying goes, the reward for work done well is the opportunity to do more.

[Alzrius]

9008502 But why?

[howard035]

A sweet victory indeed. I'm guessing the tulpas are similar to the phantoms of the spiritualist class ability, but they could also be shadow conjuration versions of summon monster. Hard to tell.

Heck, this is fantastic. Now the refugees can move from their filthy camp back into the city itself. (Though it seems improbably that at least a few ghouls didn't wander off somewhere else at some point. Lex might want to use divination magic on this.)

[Alzrius]

9009764

A sweet victory indeed. I'm guessing the tulpas are similar to the phantoms of the spiritualist class ability, but they could also be shadow conjuration versions of summon monster. Hard to tell.

The second one. I'm impressed, and pleased, that you were able to tell.

Heck, this is fantastic. Now the refugees can move from their filthy camp back into the city itself. (Though it seems improbably that at least a few ghouls didn't wander off somewhere else at some point. Lex might want to use divination magic on this.)

I suspect that Lex won't be so quick to presume that all of the danger has passed, if for no other reason than how incredibly difficult it's been to reclaim Vanhoover so far.

[howard035]

9011041
I loved how pissed the ghouls were when they couldn't eat the tulpas.

[James Fire]

Still favoring her wounded leg,

Wouldn't she be favouring her non-wounded leg?

Worse, the blow torn the knife from her teeth,

And it was tense.

His old classmate had never missed on opportunity to make fun of him when he was alive,

An opportunity.

Slowly, the Severance ceased its endless swinging

The Severance is best.

Finally. Just took 4 chapters to do, what, 30 minutes?

[Alzrius]

9220995

Wouldn't she be favouring her non-wounded leg?

Actually, no. I might be wrong about this, but from what I've come to understand, "favoring" - when referring to a wounded limb - doesn't mean "relying more on," but instead means "treating gingerly" or "utilizing less." The idea is that you "favor" your wounded limb by not putting as much stress/pressure on it so that you don't aggravate the injury (and cause yourself less pain).

That said, the other things you found have no such excuse; they were just typos, and have been summarily dealt with!