Willow stood up, nodding at little Blue. "This has been... educational, but we really should get to the children. They must be worried about us by now."
Blue looked concerned. "I didn't know there were kids waiting. Good luck then, and I hope you allow the magic of friendship into your heart." She flashed a bright smile and trotted off, leaving Willow and Applejack alone.
Willow glanced aside at Applejack. "They have a religion about friendship?"
"Ayup." Applejack nodded lightly. "Apparently she's also big into magic, oh and reading too. Reminds me a bit of mah friend."
Willow shook her head. "Well, alright. If nothing else it shows you pony folk are serious about it."
Applejack smiled lightly. "We are. Nothing like being a good neighbor to make things go smoother, ah reckon. Not ta say there ain't a few bad apples, cause there always will be, but ah'd trust the average pony ta be civil at least. Let's get to the Drowsy Mare. Ah want ta be sure the girls're fine."
They departed as one, weaving their way through the streets of Viljatown.
Sonata wiped her face on a provided cloth, returning to her cleaner self. "Well, if they don't show up, you can, like, totally sleep here. We can have a sleepover!" She grinned happily, her dreams of revenge instantly replaced with much more benign shenanigans.
Sweetie tilted her head along with the others. Sonata was a little confusing to them, but with a shared glance, they decided she was also fairly harmless. She raised a hoof. "Sure thing, Miss..."
"Sonata's fine, but if you have to, Sonata Dusk. Sorry about the whole, you know, making you wait thing. No hard feelings?" She smiled at the children warmly.
Lex's reaction could not have been more opposite. Finishing the oats he'd been eating, he turned for the door. "I'll be in my room. Alert me when the adults arrive." He didn't wait for a response before exiting, apparently done with them.
Sonata frowned at Lex's sudden departure. "Don't be a sourpuss. Besides, you don't want Applejack to hear you were rude to her kids, right?"
Apple Bloom raised a hoof. "Ah'm the only blood relation, and we're sisters."
"Same difference." Sonata grabbed up a little fried oat cluster and crunched on it.
Now it was Lex's turn to frown as he glanced back at her. Why was she pushing him to stay? There was nothing else for him to do here, and he already felt uncomfortable enough as it was. He had enough trouble talking to adults; children were even harder to understand.
"I don't care what that mare thinks of me. Besides, if I'm really such a 'sourpuss' then wouldn't it be better if I left?"
Sonata rolled her eyes. "Like, oh my god. You're being a sourpuss by refusing to sit down and just, you know, talk? You're not doing anything that important right now." She looked back at the kids and focused on Sunflower with a smile. "Got a new girlfriend?"
Sunflower lit up instantly. "Uh!"
Sweetie tilted her head. "New?"
Still standing in the doorway, Lex gritted his teeth, but swallowed his indignant response. Slowly, he turned around and re-entered the room, sitting down near Sonata and facing the children. Giving his companion a sour look, he tried to make sense of the situation she had baited him into joining, watching the others converse.
Sonata leaned over into Lex warmly, giving silent thanks to his capitulation.
Sunflower shook his head quickly. "I, uh... kinda... liked Sonata before, but we weren't together."
Sonata stood up for him. "It's true, you two look much cuter together."
Sweetie blushed and smiled, accepting the praise as offered.
Scootaloo pointed at Lex. "Why's your horn all weird?"
Apple Bloom tilted her head, now looking at the red thing and its grey base. "Were ya born like that?"
He didn't reply for a moment, silently luxuriating in the feeling of Sonata pressing against him, before turning his attention back to their question. Seeing no harm in it, he answered. "No, I wasn't. This isn't my original horn. It's a graft, a replacement."
Scootaloo grinned. "Cool! Does it, uh, give you super powers?"
Apple Bloom nudged Scootaloo. "That's stupid. Maybe he got his original hurt and this is a replacement."
"You're both correct," interjected Lex. "My original horn was irreparably damaged, or so I thought at the time, and so I replaced it with this one, gaining the dark magic of its previous owner."
Sweetie perked an ear curiously, but it was Sunflower that spoke up, "Dark magic?"
Scootaloo brightened. "Oh! It's like from the comic books. You're a dark tortured soul seeking justice through powers he never asked for!"
Apple Bloom blinked softly, looking between Scootaloo and Lex. "Is that it?"
"What? No! I mean..." caught off-guard by the uncanny description of himself, Lex struggled to find a way to refute the childrens' simplistic summary of him. "...I have other powers that I worked very hard to attain," he finished lamely, ears folding back.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom united in excitement. Bloom grinned hugely. "Ah never met a real life superhero before! What can ya do?"
Scootaloo pointed at Lex. "I bet you have a ton of super villain nemesises... nemesi? Bad ponies that try to foil you!"
Sweetie Belle seemed more reserved. "Are you really a superhero?"
Lex gave Sonata a long-suffering look, as if silently asking if this was the conversation that she thought it was so important that he stay and have, before turning his attention back to Sweetie Belle. "I'm not a superhero." He put a hoof to his head, rubbing it for a moment as though he couldn't believe what he'd just said. "I'm just a pony, trying to do the best that he can to help Equestria and its ponies."
Looking at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, he continued. "I have command of several different forms of magic, but those are less notable than the ideas I have. Unfortunately, those ideas have been branded treasonous by Celestia and Luna, and so I've been left with no choice but to take up forelegs against them. They are my nemeses."
Scootaloo snorted. "No superhero says they're a superhero. It's part of what makes them a superhero."
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Celestia and Luna are nice ponies. Why would you want to have them for nemeses?"
Sweetie pointed at herself. "Luna helped me when I was about to hurt my big sister. I'm glad she talked some sense into me."
Sonata looked a little lost, but stayed where she was as silent support for Lex. She returned his look, gently urging him with a rub to bear with it.
"I don't doubt that they are nice ponies, nor that they perform important functions, and I certainly don't want them as my enemies. I spoke to Celestia at length trying to avoid that very thing." He paused as he noticed how they were listening raptly. Maybe this wasn't a complete waste of time after all. Maybe he could teach these foals something.
"I believe that government should actively help its ponies, that a ruler should implement policies that work proactively to make life better for them, rather than just sit back and not do anything unless there's a crisis. Like..." he paused, trying to think of an example, when an idea came to him. "Twilight told me that your sister is a farmer, right?" he asked, pointing at Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom nodded her head. "Sure as rain. She's tha best apple farmer there ever was!"
Sunflower leaned in to whisper to Sweetie Belle, "I never understood this stuff." A position that Sweetie Belle seemed to sympathize with.
Applejack and Willow arrived at the Drowsy Mare, to find Drowsy collapsed over the counter, though she awoke upon the door opening. "Welcome... oh." She smiled lightly. "I thought you might arrive. Have your travels been well?"
"Just peachy," replied Applejack as she stepped into the inn. "What room're the girls in? Did ya get them some food? Uh, sorry ta be pushy, just worried about them is all. No offense or nuthin'."
Drowsy gave a sedate nod. "There is nothing to be sorry for. What will this conversation mean in the end? Your kin is that way." She pointed down the hall. "Second on the left. Knock first, lest you offend someone more easily bothered than I." Advice given, she rest her head on the soft cushion, and surrendered to the little death of slumber.
Willow nodded to Applejack as they shared a glance and moved purposefully to reunite with their family.
Lex glanced at the two, flicking an ear in irritation, but let the comment go, looking back at Apple Bloom. "One of the core ideas I have is that the government should collect a little bit of money from everypony - a little more from the rich and a little less from the poor - and then use that money to provide help where it's needed."
Trying to decide which details to gloss over and which to expound upon, he continued. "For example, working a farm typically doesn't pay very much. That means that if something happens, like an infestation or a disease that hurts apple trees, or..." inspiration struck then, "or if you and your sister aren't there to work the farm, then you won't make enough money, and you'll lose your farm. Worse, think of all the ponies that rely on your apples for food, or who take them and sell them in other cities. They'd suffer too."
Pausing to let that thought sink in, he picked up again. "What I would do, if I ran Equestria, is use that money I collected from everypony and pay your family a small amount each month, in what's called an 'agriculture subsidy,' just to keep growing your apples. That way, you wouldn't go broke if there was an emergency, and everypony else wouldn't lose your apples."
Clopping a hoof on the ground for emphasis, he wrapped up. "Because I have these ideas, these visions of how much better Equestria could be, I believe that I can do a better job running it than Celestia and Luna, and I told them such. But they seem to think that such ideas, and simply having this horn, make me a tyrant. So you see, there's little choice left but to take over by force if I want to help Equestria," he concluded, "including your farm."
Apple Bloom looked appalled. "We're gonna lose the farm?!"
Sweetie Belle quickly shook her head. "My sister and the rest of the girls would never let that happen."
Scootaloo hastily agreed. "The ponies of Ponyville wouldn't ever let the Apple family lose the farm."
Sweetie tapped a chin. "Didn't they that one time?"
"Ixnay on the, uh, lim fay rother bays." Scootaloo grinned as she poorly passed her code.
Apple Bloom was not soothed. She hopped up to her hooves and gave her own stomp. "Ah don't want granny and mah brother thrown out on tha street!"
"Neither do I," added Lex, kneeling down so that he was at eye-level with Apple Bloom, "and while I doubt that your family's friends and relatives would stand by and do nothing if something were to happen, how long could they keep providing support without compensation? Could they work your farm as well as your sister? Could they do it for a week? A month? Could they help buy an acre of new trees if there was an apple tree disease?"
He shook his head. "Celestia and Luna would sit back and let things like this happen, not interfering unless it was some sort of disaster that threatened all of Equestria. I, on the other hoof, would spend every day working to stop problems like that before they happen. That's why I need to be the one to run things. I don't want to hurt anypony, including the princesses, but I need to take over, for everypony's sake."
Apple Bloom frowned with thought, tapping her chin. "But if ya were all the way up in Canterlot, how'd ya hear about mah farm's problems before we got kicked out?"
The door swung open just then, revealing Applejack and Willow. Applejack started warmly. "We're he--" She cut off as she spotted Lex and frowned a little. "Ah... trust everypony's alright?"
Apple Bloom smiled brightly. "Hey Sis!" She pointed at Lex. "He was just tellin' us how he'd save tha farm."
Scootaloo nodded her head. "And he's totally a superhero, even if he says he isn't."
Standing, Lex turned to regard the pair. "It's good that you're here," his voice was neutral, which was warm for him. "We have much to discuss."
Lets see how happy this little reunion turns out to be.
Only need one of these.
She's got you there.
5999816
Not really. Twilight talked about her friends quite a bit when she and Lex were on their date (though that part was glossed over, but really, what else would she have to talk about when they were eating dinner, or taking an evening stroll, or stargazing?). Between that, bits and pieces that he overheard the last time he and Applejack were adventuring together, and some inductive reasoning (since mentally modeling the economics of running a small business is right up his alley), it wasn't that hard for him to put the pieces together.
6000120 Apple Bloom just pointed out that a central government cannot properly identify with the problems of individuals. That is why the nanny state will always perform badly.
Ah, Lex's philosophy. We meet again. Though, admittedly, he's starting off with the better ideas here. Still, I find it very hard to believe that Equestria has neither taxes or disaster relief funds. Without the one, the government would have none of the money needed to function. Without the other, Ponyville couldn't exist. (Of course, Lex's backstory alone makes me rip my hair out in frustration. I swear, this stallion has to render everything around him idiotic in order to make himself look even slightly sympathetic...)
Ahem. Anyway, AJ running into him should be interesting. Especially when she provides an alternate perspective to his royal audience. What will win out, the first impression or Applejack's word? Should be interesting.
The only typo I found has the opposite of smiling:
Gritted.
6000147 I lay the blame at the hooves of a certain unicorn.
6000136 I think you're mischaracterizing Apple Bloom's question. She's not asking a "what if" about how he would know about a disaster, she's asking about how he knew as much as he did already.
Even if that were the case though, it's a moot point. The entire purpose of having an agriculture subsidy is that it gives them a supplemental income so that they can handle an unexpected financial burden, preventing it from becoming a disaster in the first place. That's why the reasoning of people who call such things a "nanny state" will always be explained badly.
6000166 Lex's system has been tried many times before, including right now in the USA. It sucks. You can argue the theory as much as you like, but when real people really do it, it doesn't work the way he says it will.
I suspect we will have occasion to argue politics in every chapter that Lex appears in, but that's not fair to David.
'She branded these idea treasonous!'
Um... she branded the idea 'because I think I know better than you how to run the country, you must turn it over to me or I will take over by force' treasonous. The rest she just thought were a bad idea.
Maybe he's just simplifying for the children. Or finally learning how to distort the truth to convince people?
(CHA: 6, ranks in diplomacy: rising!)
Well Lex is trying to do things his way, he could take the hard route and try and get into politics and change things by showing that it works, but he walked in gave his ideas and demanded they make him in charge. In any system of government you be laughed out or in a number killed on the spot.
He's going to be one of them characters you like or hate don't thing there is going to be much of middle ground.
6000147
I'm working off of what we see in the show, without assuming that anything that we don't see must exist; in other words, I don't presume that taxes exist.
Moreover, I was struck by how, in The Last Roundup, Mayor Mare noted that Applejack's prize money from the rodeo would be going to fix town hall. From what we're told later, it's implied that this is the only method they have of fixing the place ("Applejack, we can always find a way to fix that hole in the roof."), despite the fact that a town hall would be a municipal building, and so funded by public taxes. Ergo, there don't seem to be taxes.
What functions does it have, that we've seen in the show, that would require funding? I honestly can't think of any.
I'm not following what you mean, here.
Again, I don't understand what you mean by this.
Actually, no. "Grit" is one of a small group of irregular verbs that end with "t" that have the same past tense and past participle form. That's why you'd say "he knit a sweater" when describing an action that was taking place, rather than "he knitted a sweater."
6000186 In fact, it works very well in the USA, though it would work better if there weren't a large group of people actively trying to tear it down. In countries that don't have these misguided (and I'm being generous in characterizing them like that) saboteurs, it works even better.
That said, if you don't want to publicly argue political philosophy with every chapter, my advice would be to, well, not do so.
6000195 Her repudiation of him as treasonous was also her repudiation of his ideas; she listened to what he had to say, rejected it, then recognized his horn and said that they "would never submit to his tyranny." As such, it's pretty easy to see how he could have taken that the wrong way.
6000199 No doubt. Lex's inability to compromise is one of his greater weaknesses; had he not pushed for everything or nothing, things would likely have worked out much better.
Lex really needs to work on how to not make his extensive spying and snitching network sound worse than it already is.
He also should be glad that because its Drowsys inn, and because of his behaviour, that AJ dsidnt wait to say hello, except for Billy and Kicks to punch him out of the room. Through the wall. I mean, how can he possibly complain. Its not like it would seriously hurt anyway.
6000200 I think he's talking about how Ponyville gets destroyed and rebuilt every other episode.
They might not have taxes, but they do have community service. I'm not sure if it's mandatory or what? It seemed to be mandatory for pegasi during Hurricane Fluttershy. So maybe they rebuild the town with voluntold labor, but the Town Hall is more expensive to rebuild because it's not made out of mud and straw?
6000200
My complaints can be summarized as your headcanon and mine being almost diametrically opposed. I don't think there's much either of us can do about that.
Also, both "gritted" and "grit" seem to be acceptable past tense forms of the verb.
6000260 It's hard to sympathize with a guy who's protesting his own headcanon
6000252 I highly doubt it's mandatory; when Fluttershy refused to help move the water in Hurricane Fluttershy, there was no particular penalty looming over her - everypony just tried anyway without her. Luckily, she changed her mind at the end, and it all worked out, but I didn't see any hint that she was going to face any sort of sanctions if she didn't participate.
6000260 I loathe the term "headcanon," since I find it to be oxymoronic in the extreme - the entire point of having a canon is that it's official regardless of what's in your head. That said, we can agree to disagree, though I don't think that the degree of assumptions we're making are completely comparable (that and I literally don't understand some of your complaints).
6000348 Almost as hard as sympathizing with someone who grossly misstates the situation.
6000354
6000260 Headcanon is a thing because people come up with ideas based off the 'core' canon. Does Celestia prefer carrot or chocolate cake? The moment you decide, you made headcanon, as there is no core canon support for either decision.
So for a little while now, I've had a personal policy of not giving chapter reviews for chapters that contain anyone's OC or are a crossover with anyone else's fic. That's because it felt hypocritical to me to critique someone else's personal interjection into David's fic when I'm the one who's done that the most. However, I've had people tell me that they'd prefer that I did, since they'd appreciate the feedback, positive or negative.
That's a fair point, and while I have yet to go back and offer after-the-fact reviews of anyone else's crossover materials so far, I plan on doing so in the future. By that same token, I've decided to cease withholding my reviews of the chapters that my OC, Lex Legis, appears in, starting with this one. While I doubt that anyone who's read the comments in the chapters that Lex appears in needs to be told this, I make no particular claim of objectivity here - that's simply not possible when I'm writing about what is, in part, my own work. Hence, please take this with a very large grain of salt.
First, it was an unexpected treat to get to see Blue again! Given that we'd already had Sonata, Lex, and Drowsy reappear, this really felt like the old gang was getting back together. Between that and the child-centric nature of this fic, plus how the group could really use a divine spellcaster, I felt sure that she was going to come up with an excuse to join the party. Maybe she will yet (that'd make the group's size roughly comparable with the party size at the end of A Dangerous Sparkle), in which case this would really seem like the band is getting back together. Heck, throw in Drowsy too, while we're at it (though here, I suspect I may be dreaming...narcoleptic pun intended).
That said, the main thrust of this chapter was Lex's introduction to the CMC in particular, and the fic in general. One thing that I liked the most about his reappearance was the hint of the rapport we're seeing develop between him and Sonata. She was quite willing to kidnap the children in a fit of vengefulness towards Twilight and company, only to quickly abandon that idea when Lex dismissed foalnapping as being immoral (though to be fair, she didn't seem dead-set on it anyway). By that same token, she was quick to pull Lex back when his misanthropic tendencies were leading him to withdraw from the group, bringing him back to talk to their guests.
That's the sort of relationship balance that I think shows a hint of how they could possibly end up, were they to become a couple. He grounds and tempers her mercurial attitude, whereas she soothes his lack of social graces. In other words, they tend to shore up each other's weaknesses. The scene where she gently nuzzled him in appreciation of his accepting her suggestion that he stay, and his silently and subtly taking comfort in that small gesture of affection from her, seemed very profound. This is an instance of opposites attracting and being stronger for it.
More amusing was how the children related to him. While it was from the previous chapter, I was struck by how Sunflower called Lex "sir." He really seems to have internalized the idea of Lex as a larger-than-life figure, which makes sense given the role that Lex played in saving him, his mother, and several others. I've wondered for a while now if Sunflower, who grew up without a father, would look to "collect" father-figures...if so, this might be a case of that happening.
It was on that same token that it was amusing to see the CMC dub Lex to be a "tortured superhero." That was a laugh out loud moment, mostly for how chagrined Lex was that a group of kids had summarized how so well without really knowing anything about him, and as character trope, no less! Appropriately, Scootaloo was the most taken with the idea, followed by Apple Bloom, while Sweetie Belle didn't seem very enamored of the idea (which made me think of her line from For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils, "I prefer show-tunes." - she really doesn't care much for pop-culture in any form, does she?).
In contrast to that was Lex explaining his philosophy to the girls. It was interesting that the ones who seemed the most receptive were Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, though in the former case it was because Lex knew to tailor his philosophy to Apple Bloom's circumstances, rather than being totally abstract. So far they seem to be quite keen on what he said, but then (as someone else noted), that's because Lex put his ideas in the best light possible. It will be interesting to see how Applejack characterizes it, since she likely has a very different take on his declaration of rebellion, and subsequent attack, on Princess Celestia. On the other hand, Applejack also fought alongside Lex to rescue Blue and Yellow, saw him donate to their care, and even helped him get together with Sonata...so maybe she won't be so quick to judge? It's hard to say either way.
Of course, all of this is occurring against the backdrop of Viljatown, where the group is essentially stuck waiting for help that may or may not come. It seems likely that they'll all be staying at the Drowsy Mare, so who knows what will happen when they all have to spend an extended period of time together?
6000479 Good to hear from you, especially since other things were going on besides your character's actions. The last few chapters have been very... I want to say cute is the word. Blue was a bundle of adorable, the reactions of the CMC to Lex was pretty cute. Sonata was adorably dense and mecurial in her way. She was evil for a hot second before she dropped that ball the moment it got hot and returned to her usual status quo of just wanting to be part of the social flow.
How will they signal Twilight? Are their friends watching them? They have no idea! It may be a good time to know.
6000449 It's not 'any decision you make' or even 'anything you say is true for the sake of a story'. Headcanon is 'I believe that this is the real explanation'. In your head, it's canon. You will be surprised if it gets contradicted by the show.
6000585 Huh, I don't have a lot of headcanon then, seeing as I just expect the show to mock me at every opportunity.
I just saw this:
"Sweetie Belle" quickly shook her head.
6000807 Fixed!
Okay, firstly, Lex has been on Everglow long enough he'd say take up arms. But secondly, and more importantly, it's not arms as in the things between your hands and your shoulders, its short for armaments, i.e. weapons.
6001364
I disagree, and I wrote the character.
You're not wrong, but I consider that less important, since it's an acceptable sacrifice towards the larger goal of sounding humorous for the audience to read.
6000216 well if he didn't push for everything then it wouldn't be Lex and if things ended all friendly then wouldn't be as interesting in the long run.
I think one of Lex's main issues is, and I'm not sure of the term here, that he can't see himself from another's point of view. For starters, and this is something he keeps observing but just doesn't get, he can have the best ideas ever, but if he comes off as a condescending douche when explaining them, no one's going to want to listen. He may be a Vulcan in pony form, but the majority of them still have emotions.
Secondly...anouncing yourself as the heir of one of history's greatest monsters isn't helping his case at all. Even if the horn isn't influencing him at all, even if the side effects of his dark magic use are purely physical...claiming any sort of relation to a guy who became a crystal happy slaver is gonna make anything you say suspect. It'd be like demanding control of the country after claiming to be Hitler's heir...in Germany.
Finally...there's no compromise. His entire plan requires HIM to be in charge, and him alone. If he'd presented his ideas to Celestia witbout the caveeat of '...but you have to give all power to me because I know better,' she might have been more willing to listen, maybe even worked WITH him to implement some or MAYBE even all of them. Instead he just comes off as the next villain out to conquer Equestria, especially after being rejected and essentially going 'If you won't give me control I'll have to kill you and your little sister too!' And thus, NONE of his ideas get to help anyone.
As a note...what does he think would happen if he takes power by force? It'd be hard enough even with the Princesses' approval, but if he actually killed them? Aside from the fact that Equestria would probably be doomed without them to move the sun and moon...the whole country would probably be in rebellion within a week, if that. He'd certainly almost immediately lose the Crystal Empire, especially with his 'Heir of Sombra' schick. And given Twilight's relationship to Celestia, Ponyville would be next to follow. I don't see anything happening this way except the destruction of the very nation he wants to help.
6180443 You bring up a number of very cogent points, so I wanted to respond to them each in turn.
You're right that Lex can't see himself as others see him. Part of this is, as you noted, because he keeps prioritizing the content of a message above the way that it's presented. To his mind, the substance of an idea is far and away more important than where it comes from or how it's communicated, so if his plan is a good one then he can't understand why everyone else doesn't agree, even if he presents it in the context of them being idiots for not coming up with it themselves. If there's a "right way" and a "wrong way" to do something, how could anyone do something the wrong way just because they got emotional about it?
To be clear, Lex has emotions; indeed, he's quite emotional himself. However, unlike a Vulcan, he can't really repress what he feels, and so his frustration and bitterness at not understanding why his attempts at communication keep failing so badly continually leak out...which, in turn, make his attempts to engage with others even worse.
This is more of his stance that something should be judged on its merits, not on its associations or manner of presentation. He doesn't understand, or respect, that others will rely on emotion and intuition to make decisions, even critical ones, rather than rational examination. That he's using Sombra's dark magic isn't something he thinks should be a big deal; rather, he thinks that how he's using it is more important, and it frustrates him greatly that other ponies don't see it that way.
Very true, except for the "killing" part. Lex is an absolutist, and while he doesn't have any problems - in theory - with sharing authority with someone who is as rational and effective as he is, he's never met someone else who meets that lofty standard, and he probably never will (since he's basically looking for another instance of himself). As such, why should he share authority with someone that is only going to water down his ideas, ideas that need to be implemented - in full - for the common good?
Obviously, as you said, it would have been more effective if he'd operated in moderation, but that's where his absolutism works against him. Why "moderate" doing the most good possible? If you know that something is good, and then don't do it, you're acting immorally (that's an abridged version of his philosophy, but it's the basic gist of his argument here). Since Celestia and Luna obviously won't implement all of his policies exactly as he lays them out, then they're corrupt, and need to be removed from the equation for everyone's good.
For what it's worth, I don't think that he ever said he wants to kill the alicorn princesses.
I'm honestly not certain that a country-wide rebellion would be in the cards. Notwithstanding the fight with the buffaloes in Appleloosa, the ponies don't seem to have any real capacity for large-scale violence, hence why their reaction to everything is to panic in fear when things get dangerous. This is why King Sombra was able to conquer the Crystal Empire all by himself, even though he was just a single individual. While Twilight or some other influential pony might be able to organize a rebellion, that's entirely dependent on such exceptional individuals, rather than tapping into any sort of massive groundswell of popular anger.
Given that Lex really does want to implement policies that would bolster the common good, it's questionable how much the general population would protest his rule once it became clear that he wasn't going to cause any wide-spread negative impact on their everyday lives. While they might not like the idea of something bad happening to the princesses, it's a hard sell to say that they'd stir up trouble on their own when everything really does seem to be peaceful, and even prosperous, under Lex's rule. (The crystal ponies might be an exception here, but that's because the suffering they endured under Sombra's reign would make anything even remotely connected to him too traumatic to bear.)
Tragic villainy is tragic.
Not a typo, but a bit of minor editing, if you don't mind the suggestion:
He's later said to be "Still standing in the doorway"... but the narration here implies that he has already left by the time Sonata speaks to him, a very awkward contradiction. A little bit of word tweaking could solve that. For example, she could have "frowned and interrupted Lex's sudden departure."
6000831 he is a damn socialist... and trying to trick children... we all know someone who does that the Obama ministration and bernie sanders trying to tell them thy will get free stuff and the government will protect them, equestria has an excellent eco with beautiful land and every freedom their is besideds for killing, drugs and electing a high ruler but the high rulers are extremely benevolent and lets them govern them selves
7070708 Yeah, no, you're completely mischaracterizing...well, pretty much everything.
First, to say that Lex - who wants to assume control of a monarchy and centralize its power even more - is a socialist is to demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of the term. His idea regarding subsidizing agricultural production has absolutely nothing to do with social ownership of said production. Moreover, there's no "tricking" going on, since he's explaining what he believes and why he believes it.
Insofar as "free stuff" goes, it's not free insomuch as its paid for by taxes. Likewise, he does believe that a government should proactively protect its citizens; that's one of his main complaints towards Celestia and Luna, since to his mind they don't do enough in that regard.
Now, one could make an argument as to just how pressing the need for these reforms is, since Equestria is already idyllic, but that's a non-starter with Lex. To him, the fact that more good can be done is reason enough that it should be done.
7070822 comment outside of the story and it chose the last chapter
7070917 First things first, you cite real-world history for several of your points, which I believe is a fairly poor point of reference with regard to Equestria. Things are different enough there, in quite a few regards, that holding to the real world as an example of how things could or should go in Equestria is just asking for problems to crop up insofar as what assumptions are being made.
Secondly, I'm having a hard time parsing your statement due to the lack of punctuation.
Insofar as taxes go, while you might have a higher net total of money earned, that's a shortsighted view. The taxes that are collected aren't simply hoarded away from the greater market; they're used to pay for government services and projects that are ultimately to the benefit of the public, and so save them money indirectly. Even if we leave aside that a government that undertakes various projects will need to pay people to actually work on them, these projects also save the greater public money. If Lex's government pays for a paved road where there's only a dirt one, for example, wagons will need repairs less often, saving travelers money in that regard. Take that idea and spread it across many aspects of daily life, and you can see why his idea isn't a bad one.
Lex's government would, in his estimation, be able to deal with "every" problem that comes up, because he'd set up a regulated series of processes by which problems can be received, analyzed, and handled. It wouldn't be by himself either, since he'd expand civil service positions. That the government would be expanded isn't a flaw in the system, but rather its central feature. Insofar as such civil servants would go, they'd receive a salary and pay taxes on it the same as everypony else (after all, they'd also be using government services in their private lives; being employed by the government does not make you automatically tax-exempt). Likewise, there's no "representation" in Lex's government, or Celestia's for that matter; there's no real pony legislature to be found, unless you count the voting at Ponyville's school for student pony president - even Mayor Mare seems to be mayor because it's her destiny (e.g. her cutie mark). I don't see taxes changing that very much, since that relies on an ideological position that the ponies don't seem to have.
The Crystal Empire is an "empire" in name only, it's pretty clear. Even if we leave aside that an empire is, by definition, a single government ruling over multiple distinct cultures, ethnicities, or political entities. By contrast, what we see in the show is a single city and what seems like some surrounding farmland. It's more of a Crystal City-State.
I’m noticing that the big problem with Lex’s form of government is that it’s heavly dependent on ponies not being assholes and seems really vulnerable to corruption
9405451 I'm honestly not sure what you mean, since that sounds like exactly the opposite of what's on display in this chapter. His form of government is decidedly not dependent on goodwill, since it relies on having infrastructure that utilizes systems and processes for making things function, taking the personal aspect out of everything to a great degree. That's the sort of thing that fights corruption, since it removes aspects of personal interest or gain from the equation. Hence why he described a system whereby Sweet Apple Acres wouldn't keep being on the verge of insolvency the way we keep seeing it be in the first few seasons of the show:
From The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 (season two, episode fifteen);
From Magical Mystery Cure (season three, episode thirteen):
From Bats! (season four, episode seven):
Now, admittedly, that last one is more of an inference than a direct reference, but the overall point is that the farm is one disaster away from being lost, apparently due to bankruptcy. That necessarily implies that they don't have any savings to fall back on in the event of an emergency; the Apple family is basically living paycheck-to-paycheck (metaphorically speaking). What Lex is describing is a system that would prevent them from losing their home in the event of a disaster, without relying on the goodwill of the community.
The irony, of course, is that the ponies of Equestria are benevolent by nature, which means that he's proposing seems completely redundant.