29 - Opening Moves
“You’re that mare who was interviewing those ponies that had been attacked! Newbie something-or-other!” Sonata felt hope swell in her chest. Even if she had been too in-your-face – Sonata remembered how she’d made Fireflower angry, which wasn’t easy to do considering what a sweetie he was – she was still quite obviously a newsmare. Maybe she’d know which way everybody had gone.
“Nosey,” corrected Nosey. “And you’re that mare who was with that stallion that was defending them, right? I don’t suppose you know which way everypony went for the evacuation?” She doubted it, since she’d seen her arrive just now, but she had to ask.
Sonata’s face fell. “I was hoping that you knew where everyone had gone.”
“I just got here myself,” answered Nosey, despair written all over her face. This couldn’t be happening! The story of the year, and she was going to miss it! She glanced around again, as though a clue would suddenly make itself known if she just kept looking. The other mare did the same, turning her head back and forth.
“…newspaper…” came a panting voice from behind the pair.
“Huh?” Sonata turned around first, looking over at where Fireflower, still struggling to catch his breath after running there at full tilt, staggered up to the pair.
“The newspaper…the one you were reading last night…where did it say they’d go?”
Sonata screwed up her face in a look of concentration. She’d been exhausted last night when they’d gotten to their hotel room, and although she’d flipped through the newspaper, she’d fallen asleep a few minutes after she’d started. “I don’t remember.” Biting her lip, she made a quick decision. “Okay, we need to run back to our room and get the paper-”
“The dockyards.” Nosey’s voice cut Sonata off in mid-speech. “They’re supposed to be taken to the dockyards, west of the city.”
“Great!” Sonata rounded on Nosey, all smiles again. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
But Nosey was already shaking her head. “It’s not enough to just head in the same direction, we have to take the same route that they’re taking.”
“Huh?” Sonata canted her head to the side. “Why?”
Nosey bit her lip for a moment, her reporter’s instinct to hoard information kicking in before she decided to share what she knew. It was just a hunch, but these two didn’t look like they were going to steal her story. “Because the whole thing with there being ships that are supposed to take everypony to safety is a sham, which means that everypony in that group probably is never going to make it there. If we end up taking a different route there and bypass them, we might miss them entirely.”
Sonata blinked. “‘A sham’? So…you know about the dragon?”
Behind her glasses Nosey’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “There’s a dragon?! Is that what everypony that was evacuated is going to be attacked by?! Does the mayor know that?! How do you know that?!” Even as she spoke, Nosey put her camera down and whipped out a notepad and pencil, scribbling furiously.
Momentarily faltering under the barrage of questions, Sonata answered reflexively. “Er, the mayor knows...”
“So it’s definitely a conspiracy!”
Nosey’s squeal of delight at achieving her personal gold standard for newsworthy material was enough to snap Sonata out of her momentary confusion. “Hold on! The dragon put the mayor under an enchantment! She thought that it was going to help!”
Nodding, Nosey continued writing as fast as she could. “This is great! And you’ve seen this dragon personally?”
“Well, no…”
“I have, and we’re wasting time,” interjected Fireflower, finally having gotten his breath back. “Right now we need to figure out which way everyone went, otherwise a lot of ponies are going to die. What if we just head west until we’re outside of the city, and then look for them? At worst we’ll see them when the sun comes up.”
“But that might be too late! For all we know, sunrise is when they’re going to be attacked.” Sonata bit her lip, wracking her brains. “They must have had lights with them, right? I mean, it’s still dark out, and they’re going a long way, so they have to have some. Why can’t we see them?”
“It’s because of all the buildings,” answered Nosey, stowing her notes now that her impromptu interview had concluded. Gesturing around with one hoof even as she lifted her camera in her telekinesis, she continued. “Even if we’re not that late, they’ve gotten enough of a head start that the buildings are blocking any lights that they’ll have. It’ll probably be the same outside of the city too, since Tall Tale is surrounded by trees.”
“I’ve got an idea,” piped up Fireflower. “If I can get someplace high up, I might be able to see the lights they have from up there.”
“That would work great if we had a pegasus here,” replied Nosey, “but you’re an earth pony. And besides, none of the buildings here are very tall.” She gestured at the buildings around them, all of which were only three to four stories tall.
“It’s still the best idea we’ve got,” shot back Sonata. “What’s, like, the tallest buildings in town?” She directed the question at Fireflower, but his only response was a helpless shrug.
“Hang on, I think I might have something that can help with that.” Nosey dug into a pocket, and a moment later produced a tourist map of the city, spreading it out. “I think…” she trailed off, squinting at it in the poor pre-dawn lighting. “Do either of you have a light?”
The response that she received was completely outside the realm of her expectations. Fireflower chanted a word she didn’t understand, making a quick gesture, and then moved over to touch a hoof to her camera, still held aloft in her grey aura. As soon as he did, it began to glow, shining as brightly as a lamp.
“I-it…that’s, that’s magic!” sputtered Nosey, her jaw dropping. “I mean, real magic, not just the stage kind, right?!” She turned to look at Fireflower, her eyes shining with amazement. “You’re not a unicorn…how did you do that?”
“Nosey! Focus!” Sonata’s agitation was palpable. “Every minute we stand here is a minute they’re getting further away!”
“Oh, um, right.” It was with some effort that Nosey managed to turn her attention back to her map. By itself it was just a map of the city, but tucked around its edges were several blurbs about various attractions and pieces of history. After a few moments’ perusal, Nosey pointed a hoof at one of those. “Here! This says that this lumber mill is the biggest one in Equestria.”
“Great!” cheered Sonata. “Where is it?”
“It says here that it was built at the southwestern edge of the city so that it could be near some of the logging sites, which means that we need to go…” Nosey trailed off as she turned her eyes back to the map, trying to orient herself.
It took almost a minute to figure out, but eventually Nosey nodded and pointed a hoof. “…that way!”
Sonata’s reaction was immediate. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” She immediately took off, Nosey and Fireflower right behind her, the latter giving a groan at having to run again.
Turning to look at the panting stallion as they hurried, it occurred to Nosey to ask something. “Listen, that magic from before was impressive and all, but once we get to the mill how are you planning on climbing it? Another spell?”
Sonata smiled, remembering how Fireflower had turned back into his spider form when he’d needed to climb the fire escape so that they could break into city hall. “It’s something like that.”
Seeing Nosey shoot a curious look her way, Sonata grinned wider as she kept running. “Let’s just say that if you thought his making your camera light up just now was impressive, this will really knock your socks off.”
Carrying a lantern in her mouth, Breezyleaf glanced behind her for what felt like the thousandth time as she led the group forward. Just as they had every other time, the mass of ponies were still there. Several of them, unicorns all, had generated a light at the end of their horns, helping to light the way.
Those wouldn’t be needed for much longer though. They had been walking briskly for well over an hour, by Breezyleaf’s reckoning, and had emerged from the forests surrounding Tall Tale a few minutes ago. Now they were on an open stretch of land, and she could see that the eastern sky, directly behind them, was turning a heavy shade of pink, indicating that dawn was imminent.
Although she couldn’t see him at the back of the group, she knew that Rockwood was there, carrying another lantern and making sure that everyone stayed together. Shadowvine was probably back there with him, since she’d been assigned to act as a go-between, running messages from the front of the group to the back and vice-versa.
As though she’d heard her sister’s thoughts, Shadowvine trotted up to join her. “Rockwood says that it’s time,” she said without preamble.
Breezyleaf blanched. “Right now? But it’s not dawn yet.” Her voice was feeble, knowing that she was just trying to delay the inevitable.
Shadowvine shook her head. “It will be by the time you send your report and it gets here. We’re out of the forest, and out of sight of the city. Zee,” she gave her sister a sympathetic look as she called her by her nickname, “it’s time.”
“O-okay.” Breezyleaf felt her stomach twist in knots as she looked back at the ponies who’d put their trust in her. “Everypony!” she called, forcing her voice to sound steady. “We’re making good time, so we’re going to stop and rest here for a little while. But please stick close together, just to be safe.” A chorus of relieved sighs was her answer as the assembled ponies relaxed, most of them sitting down immediately.
Stepping away from them, Breezyleaf made sure to place Shadowvine between herself and the group. She doubted they’d be paying too much attention to her now that they’d been given a chance to rest, but she didn’t want to take a chance.
As quietly as she could, she chanted her spell, forehooves waving as she made the necessary gesticulations. A moment later a breeze sprang up around her, causing her mane and tail to flutter. “We’ve brought them,” she spoke softly. “We’re on the flatland outside the woods. We’ll use our lanterns to signal you when we can see you.”
As she finished speaking, the wind stopped, or at least it seemed to. In fact, Breezyleaf knew that it was even now speeding its way towards the dragon’s cave, where it would carry the sound of her voice and relay her message.
Sagging as she realized that there was no turning back now, Breezyleaf moved back towards Shadowvine, sniffling as her sister – usually so prickly – hugged her close. A moment later, Rockwood joined them, wrapping his forelegs around the two of them.
It would all be over soon.
Lex glanced around suspiciously for what had to have been the twelfth time. But just like every other time, there was no indication of any threat, imminent or otherwise. Instead, the surrounding ponies continued to relax amongst themselves, as they had ever since this break had been called.
His plan had so far gone off without a hitch. He’d followed the group of evacuees in his shadow form until they’d left the city. After that, when they’d been making their way through the forest with only their pitiful collection of lights to guide them, it had been simplicity itself to change back into his corporeal form and blend in.
Just like he’d expected, nopony had questioned his presence, thinking that he must have been there from the start. With the hood of his traveling cloak covering his horn, and the darkness hiding his shadow, all Lex had to do was refrain from spellcasting so that his eyes didn’t glow, and nopony was the wiser.
Since then, he had been quietly observing the group, eschewing all attempts by anyone else to make conversation. It seemed likely that the three ponies who were leading everyone were likely Fireflower’s siblings, the “spiders” that were the cause of the city being abandoned. That only reinforced Lex’s certainty that they were being led into a trap.
But where was the dragon?
He had expected the creature to ambush them while they were in the forest, since between the darkness and the trees it would have had ample cover to do so, but no attack had come. It was enough to leave Lex disconcerted; he’d prepared his spells for this encounter very carefully, including an array of defensive spells, but their short duration meant that he couldn’t begin casting them until he was certain that combat was imminent.
“What’s that?”
The question was enough to draw Lex from his thoughts, and he looked at the pegasus mare who’d asked it. Her eyes were wide with confusion, pointing westward, drawing the eyes of Lex and several other ponies in that direction.
At first he couldn’t tell what she was pointing at, but then he saw it. There was a shape in the distance, hanging low in the air to the point of being almost level with the horizon. It was moving in a bobbing motion that suggested flight, but any further details were obscured due to its distance and the fact that it was west of them, where the sky was still darkest.
The crowd broke out into a murmur, not sure what they were seeing. To Lex, however, the answer was obvious. Indeed, it was what he’d been anticipating for some time now.
The dragon was about to arrive.
Lex had already raised a hoof and was about to start chanting his first protective spell when he suddenly paused, hearing another voice doing the same thing. Looking over, he saw that one of the ponies that had been their guides – the stallion with the brown coat and dark gray mane and tail – was casting a spell!
For a moment, Lex tensed, thinking that he had been discovered somehow. He didn’t want to attack Fireflower’s siblings – the knowledge of what attacking Fireflower himself had cost him was still fresh in Lex’s mind, and from what Fireflower had said his siblings were almost certainly being forced to do the dragon’s bidding against their will anyway – but he would if he had to. But as he listened to the words that the brown pony was speaking, Lex realized that the spell wasn’t directed at him.
A moment later, the spell went off, and the grass under everypony’s hooves suddenly grew two feet and began waving around in a frenzy, wrapping around everypony tightly. This instantly caused the crowd to descend into panic, shrieking and yelling as they tried to free themselves. Several managed to avoid being immobilized, but the spell had affected a wide area, and nopony got very far before their limbs were entangled, keeping them from moving.
Ignoring them, Lex let his gaze linger on the stallion who’d cast the spell, unconcerned with the grass binding his limbs. There were several ponies between them, but from what Lex could see the other stallion wasn’t casting any further spells. Behind him, a green mare was sitting with her back turned towards them, head lowered in what looked like remorse. Next to her, a purple mare was…waving a lantern above her head? Ah, Lex realized, she’s signaling our location to it.
That settled it then. This entangling spell had merely been to keep them from fleeing when the dragon got closer. Besides that, it seemed unlikely that they’d interfere further. Still, it would be best to make sure of that.
Casting a quick spell – the grass around his foreleg had enough give that Lex had no real problem making the necessary gestures – Lex conjured a force field around the three of them. It was barely big enough to contain them all, and he knew it would only last for a little over ten minutes, but that would be sufficient.
“IT’S A DRAGON!”
The sudden scream drew Lex’s attention away from the trio that he’d just captured, and back to the dragon. In the less than thirty seconds that he’d spent assessing the situation and dealing with the other araneas, it had gotten notably closer, to the point of its identity being discernable as it flew towards them, still only what looked like a few dozen feet off the ground.
Without any further delay, Lex began casting his defensive spells. One to toughen his skin. Another to increase his speed. A third to let him better resist disadvantageous circumstances of any sort. It was closer now, but Lex kept casting. Another spell to toughen his body, this one strengthening his muscles and bones. One that was a literal good luck charm for avoiding wounds in battle. And finally, a powerful ward against fire, one that would completely ablate any fire damage from reaching him until it was expended.
The dragon had almost reached them, and the screams of the ponies around him had turned into full-fledged wails of terror, struggling futilely to escape their bonds. It hadn’t slowed down, still speeding towards them with spread wings, flying low to the ground. In fact, as Lex watched, it flew even lower, opening its huge jaws.
In that moment, Lex realized that it wasn’t planning to stop. It was going to fly right over them and simply grab some of them in its maw as it did. They were going to be devoured without it ever touching the ground.
As the dragon flew to within two hundred feet of them, its open fang-filled mouth approaching at tremendous speed, Lex felt a sudden terror squeeze his heart. For just a moment, the very idea of fighting this…this monster seemed like sheer suicide. The dragon, he could clearly see now, was huge, the size of a large house. It wasn’t the size of a small mountain the way he’d heard that some dragons could be, but it was still far larger than any pony. It was death incarnate, and it was headed directly towards him.
But Lex had faced death before, and he knew how to handle the fear of it.
Forcing his feelings aside, Lex concentrated on the plan he’d come up with days before, back when Fireflower had first confirmed that their foe was a dragon. The first thing he had to do was ground the creature; its flight speed, combined with the limited range of most of Lex’s spells, made that an absolute necessity. Luckily he had just the spell for that.
Smirking to himself despite the dragon being only a hundred-fifty feet away, Lex began casting again. Silently he reflected that Fireflower had done him a good turn: that the aranea had survived this spell had reminded Lex of the danger in relying on any single “sure-kill” magic. Far better to fight smart, rather than relying on brute force.
Completing the spell, Lex felt a burning pain spread through his abdomen that he knew was internal bleeding. The energy that this spell required was beyond what he was capable of encapsulating in a thought-form, and so should have been beyond his ability to utilize. But Lex had learned several new tricks during his time on Everglow, one of which was that the innate ability to gather magical energy through his body – the foundation of the native Equestrian spellcasting that he’d long looked down on – could be used to supplement the thaumaturgy that he’d developed, in this case by using that to supply the remaining necessary energy.
Of course, doing so placed considerable strain on his body, since it wasn’t supposed to use the gathered energy that way, but as far as Lex was concerned that was a small price to pay.
Finished casting, Lex held a foreleg out towards the dragon. Instantly, a thin green beam sprang out. He imagined that he could see the dragon’s eyes widening as it impacted the creature’s left wing…which then disintegrated. The dragon’s scream of pain was lost as it immediately crashed to the earth, tumbling end over end before coming to a stop a few dozen feet away from the collection of ponies.
Ignoring the looks of amazement being directed his way, Lex immediately began casting again, knowing that he’d only wounded the creature. As soon as it got its legs under it, it would be on them in a rage.
But Lex fully intended to meet it head-on when it did, pulling magic in through his body again even as he chanted.
It was time to play his trump card.
After Fireflower had scaled the lumber mill and caught sight of the evacuees’ lights as they were led out of the city, they’d managed to rush after them, a frantic Nosey – now having seen Fireflower’s identity as one of the spiders – peppering them with questions all the while.
Now, as the three of them emerged from the forest, they were just in time to see the dragon be struck down by a green beam.
“That spell…it’s him!” exclaimed Fireflower.
Sonata didn’t have to ask who he meant. “Lex!”
Nosey did a double-take, torn between the incredible spectacle in front of her and what her travelling companion had just said. “Wait a minute, you know Lex?!” It was enough to make her head spin; these two were involved in everything that was going on!
Sonata opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment Lex completed his next spell.
The result caused everyone – the ponies, the araneas, and even the dragon, which had just righted itself – to stop and gape in shock.
But had anyone looked at Sonata’s face at that moment, they would have seen something else:
Recognition.
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Looks like Lex just targeted the dragon as calling a head shot couldnt gaurentee going down the throat?
I suspect something very messy is going to happen next.
Well, at least the dragon won't have anymore control over the skies anymore though it did little to decrease its lethality.
I'm really curious on what spell Lex just used that would have shocked the dragon...guess I'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out.
7700316 You've pretty much got it. Lex knew that his disintegrate spell wasn't a sure-kill spell, since Fireflower had survived it, so instead he focused on negating one of the dragon's biggest tactical advantages rather than trying to end things in one shot.
7700352 Well, I did give a little bit of a hint there at the end, since it was something that A) shocked Sonata as well, and B) was something she recognized.
As a note, I'm no longer using asterisks to indicating a break between one scene and another, as I've just now figured out how to use a horizontal rule instead.
They've been edited into this chapter as part of a successful test-run.
The crusade continues...
I think you got an extra something there.
7703949 Typo fixed. Thanks for catching that!