Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.
“This is gonna be awesome!”
Sonata couldn’t help but grin as she exited the train station, surging ahead of Lex and Nosey and practically skipping down the front steps. Of course, her dizziness quickly made it apparent why that was a bad idea, but she was still beaming as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. “Like, super awesome!”
At that point she was smiling so widely that her cheeks were starting to hurt, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop, whirling in place to look at her boyfriend. Lex was wearing his usual sour expression, but Sonata didn’t let that bring her down for even a moment. He had asked for her help! He had finally, finally gotten it through his head to let her do her job as his spokespony! After all the fighting and hurt feelings, she’d finally gotten through to him! That’s right, she congratulated herself, he just needed to stew over it for a little while, exactly like I thought. Who’s the mare? I’m the mare! She couldn’t help but rear up on her back legs, swinging her hips as she gave in to the urge to do a little victory dance-
“Sonata, stop that at once!” hissed Lex, glancing around self-consciously. “It’s unseemly to be so jubilant in the wake of several ponies having lost their lives!” Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be many ponies hanging around now…though that was likely as a result of what had happened with C. Shells’ crew.
“Huh? Oh! Oh yeah, whoops!” chuckling in embarrassment, Sonata fell back onto all fours, her mirth only slightly diminished. “Sorry, I totes forgot.” She felt bad about Cloudbank and those other ponies; they had all seemed like really nice people. But it wasn’t like she’d known them really super well or anything. And besides, there was nothing they could do about it anyway, so it was better to focus on what they could do, which in this case was the best she could at getting everyone to listen to her! “I just wish I had a chance to finish that new song I was working on.”
“New song?” asked Nosey, sounding relieved to talk about something besides what had happened to her. “What about?”
“Oh, I wanted to do this biiig,” she stood up again, spreading her forelegs widely, before putting her hooves back on the ground, “production about all the adventures we’ve had, so everypony would know that they’ve got a real live superhero here who’ll totes always help them out.” She sent a pointed smile Lex’s way, before giving Nosey a sheepish grin. “But then I kinda fell asleep, so it’s not ready yet.”
“That’s too bad. It sounds like it would have been great.”
Sonata was all set to agree, but faltered as she saw that Nosey’s eyes had slid over to Lex as she’d spoken. The sight sent a flicker of anxiety through her, and it wasn’t the first time she’d felt that in the last few minutes. The first few times had been from seeing how horribly shaken Nosey had looked, acting as though she was going to start sobbing if she didn’t stick right next to Lex. That had been downright frightening; Nosey was one of the most confident, outgoing ponies Sonata had ever met. But then she’d used her magic to calm her down, and Nosey had managed to tell her what happened.
At that point, Sonata had felt a different kind of worry. Nosey hadn’t exactly had a bad impression of Lex before; she’d eagerly talked about how much she wanted to write newspaper stuff about him. But once she’d started talking about how Lex had rescued her, she’d sounded different, like she was really, really grateful to him. And the way she was looking at him now…
“I’m more concerned with immediacy with which this takes place than I am with the specifics,” growled Lex, who for some reason looked uncomfortable, his ears folded back before he stalked in the direction of the field hospital, apparently expecting them to keep up. “Now, as I was attempting to convey before, it’s imperative that both of you avoid mentioning anything related to Xiriel’s existence, subject to reasonable limits. For instance, Nosey, I doubt the doctors will ask you anything that would require that you divulge the truth about what happened to you, but in the event that they do I want you to prioritize your health over everything else. Is that clear?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Sonata stared at the bespectacled mare as she smiled and nodded, searching for any sort of hidden meaning there. A second later Nosey glanced at her, and Sonata just barely managed to jerk her eyes away an instant before they made contact, belatedly realizing that Lex was talking to her. “-ake it clear to everypony that this is for their safety in general, and not a reaction to what happened with Cloudbank and the others.”
Sonata’s ears perked up at that. “Ooh, that reminds me. We should say something about that, right?”
Lex glanced over his shoulder at her, frowning in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Sonata blinked, not sure what he didn’t understand. “Huh? You know. We should clear up the rumors about what happened. Tell everypony that our friends died, and that we’re totes sad about it, especially you, and-”
“No.”
Lex didn’t growl or snarl or hiss the word, but Sonata could feel the force behind it, and she halted as Lex immediately stopped walking and turned to look at her, his expression dark. “Absolutely not.”
Sonata paused, realizing she’d tripped another landmine with him. Great. Two steps forward, one step back. “Lex,” she said slowly, “I really really think we should do this. You said that C. Shells’ crew was-”
“We’ll make a statement about what happened,” spat Lex, his features still tight. “I have no problem in that regard, or in acknowledging that their deaths are unfortunate. But there will be nothing about my being ‘especially sad’ about it.”
“Yeah, but…you are, right?”
“Of course I-, that’s not the point!” He glared at her then, but Sonata didn’t flinch, too bewildered to be intimidated. “Suggesting that there needs to be some display of grief on my part is obscene!”
“Lex.” Nosey stepped forward tentatively, licking her lips before speaking again. “I know how you feel.” Lex’s eyes narrowed dangerously at that, but Nosey kept going. “But Sonata’s right. You need to let everypony know that you care.”
Lex gave her a look of incredulity, as though he was waiting for the punchline. When none was forthcoming, he turned to Sonata, silently seeking a second opinion. Biting her lip at the explosion she knew would result, she nodded in agreement. Sure enough, he erupted a moment later. “Why?!”
Sonata shrugged. “Because that’s, like, how it works.”
But that only seemed to make Lex angrier. “That’s not an answer! Why does it work that way?!” He waved a hoof in the general direction of the camp. “Ever since I’ve arrived here, everything I’ve done has been for the sole purpose of alleviating the deplorable conditions that the ponies here have been forced to live in! My actions in pursuit of that goal have been just by any measure! So why is it that a public display of sentimentality is called for before everypony will recognize my commitment to their welfare?!”
“That’s-” Nosey tried to speak up then, but Sonata held out a hoof in front of her.
Okay. I got this, nodded Sonata. She just had to remember: don’t argue, just point stuff out and let him chew on it. “Okay, look. You’re, like, super-smart, right?”
Unable to follow the sudden shift in topic, Lex’s eyes narrowed again, this time in obvious suspicion. “What?”
“C’mon, humor me for a sec. You’re a real mega-genius, right? Super huge brain, thinks math is fun, can say the alphabet backwards, that sorta thing?”
“Get to the point, Sonata.”
“My point is…” A cocky grin broke out on her face then, sure that she was about to knock his socks off. “That you totes need to treat everyone else like they’re stupid!”
Both ponies regarded her announcement with stunned silence. Lex’s face had lost most of its anger in favor of shifting back to confusion, whereas Nosey looked baffled and a little horrified. “Um, Sonata? I don’t think that’s-”
“No, for realsies!” interrupted Sonata, keeping her eyes on Lex. “Don’t ever forget that everybody-, darn it! That everypony is a big dummy compared to you!”
“I can assure you, Sonata, I’m keenly cognizant of that at all times.” Lex couldn’t keep the wry element out of his voice, giving her a flat look.
“Yeah, but you need to treat them that way! You see?”
Lex’s only response was to blink, and Sonata realized she wasn’t getting through to him. Pouting for a moment, she tried again. “I mean, think about it. You don’t expect a bunch of dim bulbs to do stuff right, you know? So when they do stuff the wrong way, you should just expect that from the beginning and not get angry when it happens. It’s like that, but for this. That’s why you should totes tell everypony how sad you feel about what happened to Cloudbank and the others.”
Lex let out a sigh, frowning as they came back around to the topic at hoof. “Sonata, I don’t understand the point you’re making, and quite frankly I’m beginning to-”
“Wait, I’ve got it!” Nosey’s eyes were wide with understanding. “I know what she’s trying to say!”
“And that is?” snapped Lex testily.
Flashing Sonata a quick grin, Nosey turned her attention to Lex. “What she means is, if you know you’re operating at a higher level than everypony else, you should adjust your expectations of them accordingly.” She took a step closer to him then, almost within foreleg’s reach. “You’re right, you shouldn’t have to tell everypony how you feel about what happened to the others in order to earn their trust. You’ve done so much good since you came here that they should give it to you freely now. But Lex…even if these ponies weren’t already at their wit’s end after everything that’s happened, they don’t have half the wits you do anyway.”
For an instant, Lex just looked at her, completely nonplussed. “That’s not-” Cutting himself off, he returned his gaze to Sonata, remembering that she was the one who had initially advanced this argument, albeit incoherently. “I refuse to hold everyone else to a lower standard of personal conduct than I hold myself! I want everypony to strive to improve themselves, to say nothing of the world around them, and demanding anything less from one who would rule borders on moral turpitude!”
“That’s not what Sonata was saying,” replied Nosey smoothly.
“Yeah!” echoed Sonata, before looking at Cozy. “So, um, what was I saying?”
“You were saying,” replied Nosey, before switching her response to Lex, “that no one is asking you to compromise your standards. She’s just saying that you’re exceptional, and that even if other ponies do push themselves past their limits, they’ll never achieve what you have.” Nosey smiled, taking another step closer to him, putting herself right on the border of his personal space. “She’s saying that you’re special.”
Lex’s face was skeptical then, his eyes darting between the two of them as though expecting them to declare that this was all some sort of joke at his expense. When that didn’t happen, his expression turned pensive. “…this is a waste of time. I want to get this done before the sun sets.” He turned and walked away without another word, his ire quelled. Nosey turned to Sonata and gave her a congratulatory smile before following after him.
But Sonata didn’t return the cheery expression, watching her best friend follow her boyfriend with a renewed sense of worry. Although she’d gotten the point across to Lex, somehow it didn’t feel like the victory she’d thought it would. If anything, it felt like the opposite.
Biting her lip, Sonata ran after the two of them.
As they prepare to address the camp ponies, Sonata and Nosey manage to talk Lex down from another socially-inept mishap.
But Sonata is quite clearly of two minds about Nosey's assistance.
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I suspect Kara is about to get an urgent message.
Lex is rather adamant about maintaining the steadfast leader image he seems to believe himself to possess, which is typical. At least Sonata is learning how to work around his stubborn nature. While Sonata's delivery on her idea isn't very appealing to Lex(I'll admit, I was just as stunned as Lex and Nosey when I read that line), it has its merits since we've seen Lex being more patient with a foal than an adult. Then again, this could lead to Lex coming off as more condescending than empathetic which could lead to more public outrage. I just hope Sonata doesn't become too distracted by Nosey's growing attention on Lex.
Speaking of Nosey, I found the interactions between her and Sonata in this chapter rather amusing, especially the way she translated Sonata's idea for Lex while also turning it into a compliment. I can see Nosey is trying to endear herself to Sonata by supporting her desire to improve Lex's public image though it's obvious that it has the opposite effect here.
Regardless, having an ace reporter in Lex's corner would be beneficial to his public image. Sure a reporter needs to maintain an unbiased opinion but I doubt Nosey won't have any problems bending the rules a bit for her 'hero'.
INT 18, WIS 3, CHA 3?
8838934 Sonata lacks the intellectual prowess of your average pony, let alone someone like Lex, but she's highly gifted at social interaction, which includes reading the mood. She was able to pick up that Drafty had a thing for Lex, for example, and so it's unlikely that she's missing much of what's going on with Nosey with regard to Lex.
...of course, that presumes that Nosey is aware of how she's acting herself, considering everything that she's been through. Plus, Nosey is Sonata's best friend, so that's a bit of awkwardness right there. Sonata might be able to read the mood, but she's no social mastermind either; if she's not using her magic to manipulate people, managing a situation isn't exactly her strong suit.
8839279 Lex's stats are more varied than that, though you got two out of three mostly correct. I'll add, however, that he actually has a very high Wisdom, which is why he hasn't tumbled completely off into an "I'm oppressing you for your own good"-style of tyranny.
8839062 What Sonata was trying to do was the same thing she did before, when Lex was lashing out at Spit Polish: check his anger by agreeing with him, and then turn things around. What she wanted to convey was "you're right, everypony here should believe in you. But remember that you're dealing with people who are your inferiors. That means that if you want to communicate with them, you need to lower things to their level, even though you're not wrong." Unfortunately, her delivery in that regard was rather...off. Fortunately (?) Nosey figured out what she was trying to say, and was able to translate it relatively well.
Of course, Lex didn't like that bit at all, since lowering himself goes against his principles. A core tenet of his desire to rule is that a leader should encourage others to strive to become more than they are, improving themselves and their community, rather than suggesting that things are just fine as they are and allow advances to cease in the name of personal satisfaction. But Nosey was able to talk him back from digging his hooves in on that front...at least for now. Of course, that seems to have left Sonata quite worried...
Exactly what all this means for them going forward remains markedly unclear. (Of course, I know where I think it's going, but as I've said before, I've been surprised numerous times over while writing this. I didn't think Nosey would survive the battle with Xiriel, for instance.)
it looks as if Sonata and Nosey have put things in a light that even Lex can understand.
it is funny that the smartest people are most times the bummest.
8842774 It's somewhat more complicated than smart or dumb, in this case. Lex isn't technically wrong per se, which is why acknowledging that is what let Sonata and Nosey get through to him. Rather, it's an issue of pragmatism versus principle.
Lex's refusal to compromise his principles is a source of great strength for him, right up until it becomes a weakness.
Sounds like she needs both of them.
9219009 I suspect that the problem is that she let her hair down. At least doing that didn't make her lose all of her memories.