Applejack walked alongside Willow as she spoke. "Ah know yer hurting somethin' awful, and that's alright. That just means yer alive, but yer not alone." She perked an ear towards Willow. "Yer so used to being alone. It doesn't have ta be that way."
Willow ambled along on her hind-legs, a less graceful mode of transport, but it freed her paws to worry over each other. "I understand you're trying to help, and I'm flattered, I truly am, but you don't comprehend Everglow life. How could you? Your idyllic world of friendship is too soft."
Applejack took a soft breath. "Sugarcube, my life ain't been peaches and cream. Mah folks left us when Apple Bloom was a little tiny apple on the end of my hoof. We work hard for what we get, every single day. It's tearing me up on tha inside knowing mah brother's working the whole orchard by his lonesome. Ya think we never saw no monster before? We ain't that far from tha home of the timber wolves, and they come by ta say howdy sometimes. Ya ever see a horse-sized wolf made of twigs and brambles?"
Willow raised a brow. "I can't say I've seen that, but you know as well as I that I've seen plenty of other monsters, to say nothing of the wickedness in perfectly 'civil' people." She frowned then. "About your brother. If your way is so great, why is he out of luck?"
Applejack shook herself out. "Ah wouldn't go that far. Ah worry, it's mah job, but he's not entirely alone. We got family, we got friends. If he's really hurtin', ah'm sure he can get a helpin' hoof from one of the girls or a fellow Apple." She paused, and Willow stopped as well, falling to all fours.
"Yes?"
Applejack pointed at Willow. "Ah just got a thought. Did ya know being helpful and trusting can be selfish?"
Willow frowned. "You've lost me entirely. How is selflessness selfish?"
Applejack settled on her haunches on the smoothly cobbled road. "Look at it this way. If ya help people out, they become indebted to ya, and when ya need help, it's a lot easier ta get. If yer nice ta people, they start ta like ya, and that makes it easier to get things out of them. Now, I still think being good and helpful is its own reward, but it's not like it ain't got other benefits."
Willow sank down, facing Applejack. "That logic is simple enough, but it's not enough when we're dealing with... intimate matters. It's not as if I was cold to my lover, nor he to me. He folded when it came time for commitment, despite, not because, of our relationship before then."
Applejack tapped her chin softly. "Say, do ya know where this feller of yers is now?"
A soft squeak distracted the both of them as they looked over. A little pony, small as a filly with little stubby legs came hurrying up to them. She was wearing a bright yellow dress and an equally bright smile. "Applejack!"
Sonata sat in front of the door, watching over the children. Scootaloo yawned softly. "This is boring..."
Sonata nodded lightly. "Yeah... What's taking them so long?"
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Maybe they got lost?"
Sweetie shrank. "Or attacked by vicious monsters?"
Sunflower tilted his head. "In the city?"
Sweetie shrugged. "It could happen."
The hostage situation had lowered in intensity rather quickly, as Sonata insisted they don't leave, but did little else. She yawned. "Oh now you have me doing it! Uh, anyone want a snack?"
Three hooves and a paw went into the air. She nodded quickly and opened the door. "Drowsy! Dinner for five please!" A sleepy noise came back at her, and Sonata closed the door. "She's, like, super keen."
Several minutes later, a knock came from the door. Scootaloo rushed to open it, but on the other side wasn't the food she was expecting. Instead, she found herself staring into the frowning face of a grey unicorn stallion, one with a scary-looking red horn and a shadow that loomed menacingly on the wall behind him, despite the soft light.
Scootaloo fell back with a surprised yelp, allowing the unknown unicorn to step into the room. His severe features tightened as he looked at the assembled children before turning his eyes to the sea pony. "Sonata, what's going on here?"
Sonata smiled brightly. "Hey Lex! They're friends of Twilight, and you remember that one, right?" She pointed at Sunflower.
Sweetie raised a hoof. "Twilight's not here."
Sonata frowned at the news. "How did you get here then?"
"Sonata's question is appropriate," Lex interjected, though the words "for once" hung in the ar, unspoken but obvious. "If you're from Equestria, how did you make the journey to Everglow? For that matter, who are you and how do you know Twilight?"
Scootaloo sat up and glared at Lex as if in defiance of the moment of fear she displayed earlier. "None of your business, foalnappers!"
Sonata smiled at Scootaloo gently. "Oh don't be like that. We're just waiting for your friends. Nothing wrong with that, right?"
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Ah suppose not, but there are better ways ah askin' than invitin' us to a room and lockin' us in."
Sweetie pointed at the door Lex came through. "I don't think it's locked."
"Of course it's not locked," snapped Lex, "you're not prisoners and you're not being foalnapped; that would be hideously immoral. If you want to leave, then by all means, get out."
He paused for a moment, eyes returning to Sunflower. "You're that purrsian from the trainwreck," he murmured. "What are you doing here?" His scowl faded slightly as a thought occurred to him. "Did something happen to your mother?"
Sonata clopped two hooves together, looking nervous. She would never foalnap anyone! Of course not!
Sunflower shook his head quickly. "She's fine, sir. She's with Applejack. How are you?" He smiled and pointed at Lex. "He saved mom and I a while ago from a big accident. He was awesomely cool."
Scootaloo's expression warmed. "Oh, cool!" She tilted her head. "Food's here."
Drowsy End gently nudged her way past ponies to bring in trays of dinner, setting out an impressive spread for the entire room. "Enjoy." She yawned widely and ambled back towards the door. "The energy here got better." Without clarifying her statement, she was gone.
Lex brushed off Drowsy's parting statement, having long since given up on understanding the narcoleptic mare. Instead, he turned his attention back to Sonata. "If Applejack is here, then Twilight must be with her. She's the only one among them that has the potential to cast a spell powerful enough to cross over the planar divide."
He paused to consider that Celestia or Luna might have come instead, but dismissed the thought. They were far too lethargic to do anything that'd require that much effort unless there was a direct threat to them, and though it irritated him greatly to admit it, he hadn't reached a level where he'd rank as such...yet.
"We should be prepared to meet her. Hopefully she's come to her senses and is here to support my vision for Equestria, but if not we'll need to be prepared to fight."
Apple Bloom pulled a plate over and got to stuffing her face in favor of conversing. Sweetie looked at Lex curiously. "Why would you want to fight with Twilight? She's one of the nicest ponies I know, and she's super smart too."
Sonata, who should likely have been involved, also opted to devour food, face sunk against a plate and making a mess with great joy and vigor. Sunflower drew a plate over and scooped up some on a provided spoon before offering it to Sweetie Belle. She went red in the cheeks but opened her snout to accept the offering.
Scootaloo burst into giggles at the sight of Sweetie being fed, but her attention slid back to Lex. "Twilight's not here. Didn't we just say that? It's just us, Applejack, and Sunflower's mom."
"I don't want to fight with Twilight. I want her to display her vaunted intelligence and realize why my philosophy makes me the most qualified pony to rule." He let out a sigh, moving over to the spread of food and picking out some bland oats. "But if she's not here, then I suppose it doesn't matter, for now at least. Still, that doesn't answer the question of how you lot came to be here."
Scootaloo shrugged. "We were playing around one of her exhibits and poof, here we are. Applejack said they could find us here and get us home, so we came all the way here."
Sonata looked up with renewed curiosity, food dripping from her snout inelegantly. "From where?"
Sunflower provided the quick answer for that. "Murrage." The answer didn't seem to satisfy Sonata, as she lapsed into thought, perhaps trying to figure out where that was.
Lex was silent as well, eating thoughtfully as he tried to figure out what all of this meant for his ambitions. Even if Twilight wasn't here now, the fillies were almost certainly right in that she'd show up for them sooner or later, and he did want to see Twilight again...if only so as to determine where she stood on the issue of his assuming command of Equestra.
"You said that Applejack and your mother," he waved a hoof at Sunflower, "were here with you?" When the kitten nodded, Lex continued. "I want to speak to them when they arrive."
Apple Bloom snorted softly. "Yer free ta do so, whenever they show up. What's takin' them so long?"
Applejack smiled at the little blue pony. "Well howdy there. Ah remember you."
Blue bobbed her head. "I can read real good!"
Willow looked curious. "Read?"
"Uh huh. The nice priests showed me how. Mom's got a job too. She's digging again, but they pay her now, and she only has to work a few hours a day."
Applejack perked an ear. "Just a few?"
Blue looked thoughtful a moment. "About a third of the day? They even let her eat lunch. I make it for her every day."
Applejack couldn't help it, and scooped up the little pony. "You are just too darn adorable." She squeezed Blue gently, getting a squeak and a giggle for it. "You be good to yer mother, y'hear?"
"Yes ma'am." Blue wriggled to the ground. "It's good to see you. Who are you?" She looked to Willow with her big eyes.
Willow smiled a little. "Willow Longtail. What manner of pony are you?"
"They said I'm a short leg." Blue tilted her head a little. "I'm going to be a priest."
"Huh, that's a right fittin' name. Priest of what now?" Applejack sat on her haunches.
Blue pointed northerly. "Princess Luminace. She saved us both, so I will save others. She believes in friendship and so do I!"
Applejack pointed at Willow. "Here's your first convert."
Willow recoiled. "What? No!"
Blue trotted up to Willow with a bright smile. "Don't you want to be friends?"
Willow looked at her, ready to spit out a nasty negative, but the small pony was... Ugh. "She really is too adorable." Captivated by the cute pony, she began to get an earful about the wonders of friendship. Applejack settled beside Willow, enduring the cute lesson with her.
Ah, Lex. Still as unable to accept to possibility of being wrong as he ever was. I kind of want to see him philosophize at the Crusaders, if only to see how they react.
And apparently leading people into a room and keeping them from leaving doesn't count as abduction, as long as you don't keep the door locked. They could leave if they wanted it enough!
Meanwhile, Willow doesn't quite grasp that the behavior of one is not indicative of the behavior of all. Nor does she appreciate the power of reciprocity. Not yet, anyway.
And Blue is more adorable than she has any right to be.
5995513 The CR of an aquatic creature quickly becomes misleading when you're forced to fight them underwater, double-so if you don't have any piercing weapons. Applejack was woefully ineffective down there.
5995541 Why piercing? Deeptide horses don't have a damage reduction (unless you changed that in one of the updates)
Lex should be re-evaluating his own vaunted intelligence if a foal has to explain something to him twice. He really needs to see a psychiatrist about his need for validation (because he's not going to get any).
5995580
When they said "Twilight's not here" he thought they meant "here in this inn" or "here in Viljatown" rather than "not here on this plane." Given that Twilight was the one who had the planeshift spell before, it was an understandable mistake to make.
5995569 Underwater combat rules. Non-piercing weapons are at -2 to hit and 50% damage. Casting spells requires a concentration check. Fire spells are even harder, which included the flaming rapier. Being underwater sucks.
5995593 He's just a chronically bad listener. It's been his downfall since before the story started.
5995569 You need to brush up on your underwater combat rules.
5995601 You're way off there. I tried to make it clear throughout the previous story what Lex's weak points are - and several other readers have correctly picked up on them - but this isn't it.
5995610 He has not been persuaded by anyone else. Ever. He is a self-important blow-hard who thinks that he knows everything about subjects he has done no meaningful research in, and he thinks that being right is a justification for violence. He is a fanatical member of the cult of Lex.
5995610
5995619 Blue has words to share with both of you. Please sit down and take deep breaths, the lesson on friendship begins now.
5995599 Now I really wish you guys had tried that route in the cave. I was afraid Brownie would kill the thing by herself (she still might). On the other hand, I would have come off looking stupid, so it's an even trade.
5995629 Yes, yes, she's very cute.
5995619
So his following Willow's advice to tell Sonata that she looks pretty doesn't count? What about agreeing (which AJ suggested he do) to let Sonata be the one to take him out on a date?
Leaving aside the ad hominem nature of the first half of this sentence, can you cite him "thinking he knows everything about subjects he has done no meaningful research in"? Likewise, isn't the entire nature of being "right" that it justifies a course of action, violence included? After all, he's only ever used violence in situations where everyone else agreed that it was the right thing to do (e.g. versus the gnoll slavers).
EDIT: If you're thinking of his standoff with Princess Celestia, he was essentially being threatened by a number of the guards - including a lunar cleric who wanted to arrest him - before he even declared himself in rebellion. He cast that spell to cover his escape.
Buzzwords like "fanatical" and "cult" don't lend your point any more credence. He has reasons for everything he does, and they hold up to scrutiny; if you don't agree, perhaps you can point out some more specific examples and discuss them rationally? It's rather ironic that you're displaying the same condescension that is the hallmark of the character you seem to dislike so much.
5995656
No it doesn't. He had not already formed an opinion.
Throughout the entire fiasco where he was "researching" relationships, he was frequently objecting to the information other ponies provided, based on no data except his personal concept of how things "should" be.
He attacked the princesses, who showed no tendency to violence whatsoever.
Two of the non-negotiable aspects of his plan are that there must be a sudden change (fanatical), and the new ruler must be him (cult).
5995676
This is you changing the definition of what constitutes being "persuaded." If you only look at instances of people changing an existing opinion, you will find plenty of characters that haven't done that over the course of this fic.
This is the second time you've moved the goalposts - that has nothing to do with "already knowing everything," which was one of your salient points. The entire reason he wanted to do research on relationships was because he didn't understand them and he knew it; you don't research something you already know everything about.
As for why he rejected the reasoning the other ponies were providing, it was because he couldn't understand it. This is a point that you continually refuse to grasp - Lex's rejection of other points of view isn't because he doesn't like them, it's because they make as much sense to him as a completely foreign language. When someone can't speak a language that they don't understand, it's not because they "reject" the language; it's that they can't understand it.
See the edit in my previous post, which I added before your post here (though you'd probably already started writing your response). Lex cast that summons and ordered them to attack Celestia because - even before he'd declared himself in rebellion - the guards were drawing their weapons, and that lunar cleric had called for his arrest (and, if I recall correctly, Celestia had stood up and assumed a combative stance). He was covering his escape, using an effect that was essentially the same as a sudden burst of smoke to distract everypony else.
Except your first point is entirely wrong - he called on Celestia to help him with an orderly transition of power; hence, it wasn't sudden - and your second point is...also entirely wrong, since there are myriad other instances of people who want to be rulers that aren't cultists (see every other instance of somebody desiring executive power, ever).
5995704
Not true. He declared his treasonous views loudly and everypony just stood there and waited to see what he would do. He talked for another paragraph, ending with:
Then he attacked her. That is when Rainbow and the guards attacked. There was no provocation and there is no justification; Lex is a villain.
EDIT: (Actually, the guards didn't attack at all, they just shielded Celestia. Rainbow was the only one that attacked.)
5995727
I disagree.
No, they didn't. He said what he believed, at which point Celestia declared him to be Sombra, and the guards began to draw their weapons - a threatening gesture - and the lunar cleric ordered him to stand down and be arrested. Celestia also took a combative stance. It was only then that he declared himself in rebellion against her.
After everything else I described above, yes. But they'd already made their hostile intent - on behalf of a government that he felt was no longer considered legitimate - clear. If someone points a weapon at you, even if they don't use it, that's a threat that justifies responding with force.
See above; there was indeed provocation, and justification, for his actions. When you feel that your government is wicked, and is about to arrest you simply for saying so, using an "attack" that has no hope of success so that you an escape is entirely acceptable.
Whether or not he's a villain is a personal judgment, not an indictment.
EDIT: Even then, it doesn't matter very much. You didn't answer every other point that I raised, which I'm going to presume is you ceding them. If you're hanging your visceral dislike of the character on the single scene that's in contention - which is really more of a case of politics than anything else - then you don't seem to have much in the way of explaining why you think he's in the wrong.
5995752
They were preparing to defend themselves, in response to his inflammatory rhetoric and his apparent allegiance to a known evil. Celestia ordered the cleric not to attack. Even after Lex unilaterally started the violence, Celestia told her guards to look for him but to avoid engaging them. You could argue that Lex's altered mental state made him actually believe he was going to be attacked, but that doesn't really help his case.
5995779
Saying that you were preparing to defend yourself is not a valid excuse for threatening someone else. Pointing your weapons at someone, especially when you outnumber them, is a threat. That's especially true since he said flat-out that he wasn't Sombra.
Yes, she did, and then she said that he was Sombra, and she markedly didn't tell the other guards to stand down when they drew their weapons on him.
See above for why his starting the violence was not unilateral; when you're under imminent threat of harm, violence is a justified response.
That's leaving aside your utterly unfounded assertion that Lex has an "altered mental state." I'd challenge you to back that up, but I already know that you can't.
EDIT: This entire scenario that we're discussing is largely a matter of politics, rather than personality. Given that it seems to be the only point you have left, I'd recommend that you and I take this to private messages, unless there's some other incident you can cite to back up your claims?
5995803
Actually, it is, and it holds up in court. If someone pulls out a knife and shows that they intend to stab you, shooting them in the face is considered a reasonable response. The guards did not attack. They held up their weapons in readiness and deterrence, but that is in no way violent. Lex brought Sombra's horn into the throne room and then declared his intention to see his will done by force.
Altered Mental State
Lex said, "Give me your kingdom."
Celestia said no and even humored him enough to explain why.
Lex called her wicked and other names and tried to murder one of the only unarmed ponies in the room. The fact that he was too weak to succeed does not change what he tried to do.
5995834
In fact, no, it isn't, and it doesn't hold up in court. Violence is justified if you believe that you're in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm, whether or not that belief turns out, after the fact, to have been true. The guards did pull out their weapons - and then pointed them at him - which showed that they intended to attack. The cleric had cast spells that were meant to aid in combat. Celestia had assumed a combative stance.
Moreover, they were not acting in deterrence because there was nothing to deter - they already outnumbered Lex, and he had not taken any action to suggest that he meant to use force, since he only declared himself in rebellion after they'd pointed weapons at him. Likewise, bringing Sombra's horn into the throne room isn't an excuse for their behavior (or Celestia's, for that matter), since that's a part of his body.
You're misapplying that particular definition, and worse, you're doing so deliberately. The way you're using it, anyone who has an emotional outburst or has "poor" judgment (as you apparently define it) is in an altered mental state. Let's see how easy it is to turn that back around:
Lex said "give me your kingdom," and even humored Celestia enough to explain why.
Celestia said no.
Lex explained himself further.
Celestia responded by calling him a tyrant, had her guards draw weapons, and a cleric cast a blessing - which provides a bonus to attack rolls - on them.
Clearly, by your own reasoning, Celestia and the guards were in an altered mental state.
What he tried to do was justified. They threatened him first, so he wasn't wrong to use force as a cover for escaping.
5995882
He has a weapon of mass destruction glued to his face, and anyone who has been paying attention would expect it to have corrupted his mind, since dark magic does that. That is why I say he started it.
The reason Celestia's position is reasonable and Lex's position is absurd is that the status quo has been continuing for a thousand years and nearly everyone is happy. Tampering with that level of peace and stability is insanity.
Edit: Oh right, he also hears voices. Don't forget that.
5995902
Leaving aside the "mass destruction" moniker being questionable, your assertion that "dark magic" necessarily corrupts the mind is self-evidently false. Both Princess Celestia and Twilight were shown to use the same kind of dark magic that King Sombra did, and yet have suffered no mental corruption for it.
Again, that's just a political opinion. You can turn that on its head just as easily by saying that the status quo is not serving people as well as it could, and they can thus be happier; ergo, refusing to do so when the cost would be negligible is insanity.
That's predicated on the idea that those voices aren't real, which has yet to be revealed.
5995928 Lex has arguments with a voice in his head, obviously the dark magic is affecting him. Either that or he is, in fact, Sombra and everything the others suspected him of was true.
5995933
This is a textbook case of post hoc ergo propter hoc.
This is a failure of imagination on your part; in a world of magic, monsters, deities, etc. it could easily be something else entirely. Saying "it's either insanity or King Sombra" is far too limited a guess.
5995946
Perhaps, but Sombra's ability to mess with people's heads makes it a reasonable guess. Whether it's insanity or haunting, Sombra and his magic are still the most likely culprits. Regardless of the source of the voice, someone who is divided in their own head is not stable.
5995946 We've probably hijacked David's comments enough for today. Suffice it to say that when they arrest Lex, the defense should make sure I'm not in the jury.
5995958
Your first two sentences do not create corroboration for your third sentence. If a presumed outside entity is able to contact someone telepathically, then the recipient is not automatically declared to be unstable. They're only unstable if the voice is coming from their own mind all along.
5995974 Spoilers?
5995968 Fine by me. Needless to say, Celestia doesn't have juries anyway - that's the sort of reform that Lex would implement if he were to take over, though.
5995981 Oh, I never give spoilers. (Or do I? )
A nice quiet RnR style chapter, with meeting of old freinds. and cute kids.
Tacogram for Sonata. But Lex isnt a Tacogram.
That Lex thing is a real pain, I cant use Dispell Bomb, Sticky Bomb, Permanent Spell to deal with things like that, or does it require stupid levels?
5996607 Sonata and Apple Bloom could not be stopped from enjoying dinner.
Its good to see some old faces again, lets see what happens when they all cross paths
Deeptide Fishing! Sonata! Blue! Lots of yay this chapter! Woo!
Blue demonstrates the church's new tactic: cute them into converting!