“I don’t require medical attention.”
“Lex, please,” pleaded Nosey from her place at his side. “Those foals weren’t hurt as badly as you are, and you told them that they should have the doctors look them over anyway. This is the same thing.”
But Lex shook his head. “There’s a heightened level of responsibility when it comes to ensuring the care of children,” he pronounced stiffly, his voice still pained, “and my injuries aren’t so serious as to require that resources be diverted away from the other ponies that are hurt.”
“Yeah, I can tell by how you’re actually able to speak without having to gasp for air after every third word now,” shot back Nosey, her guilt rapidly eroding her ability to deal with his stubbornness. “Back me up here!” she snapped at Feather Duster, the only other pony on the station platform with them at the moment. “Tell Lex that he needs a doctor!”
Blanching, Feather Duster dragged her gaze away from where she’d been watching Cleansweep be fussed over by one of the doctors. In an instant, her eyes darted between Nosey and Lex before turning back toward Nosey. “I…I think that Master Legis knows what’s best,” she stammered.
Her eyebrows rising in disbelief at both the answer she’d received and the way the maid was referring to Lex, Nosey just gaped at Feather Duster for a moment before looking back to the stallion in question. He was obviously still in a great deal of pain, and the fact that he hadn’t even attempted to sit up yet – despite how much she knew he hated looking weak – was telling. The sight made Nosey bite her lip, feeling worse by the second. We should have been here, she berated herself silently. I knew Sonata was taking too long, but I let her get carried away anyway. The result was that Lex was severely injured, Celestia was unconscious, Luna had lost her alicornhood, and Silhouette – as she’d discovered when she’d fetched the doctors – was dead.
Intellectually, Nosey knew that she was jumping to conclusions, and that she should have been doing what she’d decided to do a few minutes ago and interview everypony about what had happened here. But the thought of leaving Lex lying there in agony while she chased down a story was too similar to how she’d acted back when he’d fought that dragon in Tall Tale, and she couldn’t bring herself to do that again. Not that I’m doing anypony any good now, she thought miserably, watching as Lex took more shuddering breaths.
I should never have stayed here this long, she decided. I should have insisted on going back with those ponies on that train when they left. Or maybe she never should have come to Vanhoover in the first place. After all, what had she really accomplished since she’d gotten here? She’d ended up being Xiriel’s hostage, interfered with Lex’s relationships with Sonata and Aria both, and now made it so that Sonata hadn’t been present at a meeting where she’d been desperately needed. But hey, I got some great stories out of it, so who cares who else got hurt in the process? The thought was a bitter one, knowing that it wouldn’t have been sarcastic even a few weeks ago. But now-
“All done!” announced Sonata. Trotting back up onto the platform with a grin, she sat down on Lex’s other side. “I made sure that nopony is totes going near Severance!”
Lex turned his head to look at her, and even that action produced a grunt of effort on his part. “How?”
Sonata’s chest puffed up with pride. “I said, ‘stay away from Severance’ to all of the doctors, and they said ‘okay.’” Her grin faded after a moment though, and she put one hoof to her chin in thought. “Well, actually they mostly said stuff like ‘I wouldn’t go anywhere near that thing even if you paid me’ and ‘Miss, please, we’re trying to work,’ but that’s pretty much the same thing, right?” She didn’t wait for an answer as her eyes suddenly widened. “Oh yeah! And whatshisname, House Call, wants to talk to you!” Without waiting, she turned and waved a hoof toward the doctor in question.
Following Sonata’s gaze, Nosey looked at where the doctor in question was speaking to a pair of his colleagues. Catching sight of Sonata’s signaling him, he sent a brief wave of acknowledgment in return before looking back at the other two, nodding at them as he turned toward the train station. But he hadn’t gotten more than two steps before one of the medical ponies he’d been talking to, seeing where he was going, moved to block his path. Her eyes wide, the mare glanced fearfully toward Lex before she looked back at House Call, shaking her head as her lips rapidly moved, quite clearly telling him not to go.
The sight sent a burst of rage through Nosey, knowing full well what was happening. Although it hadn’t taken her more than a few minutes to collect the doctors and come back here, several of them had still peppered her with questions about what had happened to Silhouette. More specifically, they’d asked her if it was true that Lex had killed him. At the time Nosey had scoffed, knowing full well that Lex would sooner kill himself than another pony, even someone he hated. But now she was seeing red. What does that nag think she’s doing?!
She had just climbed to her hooves, intent on teaching that interfering mare a lesson, when House Call pushed past the pony in his way. Frowning deeply at her, he said something that made her recoil before trotting by her without another word, approaching the edge of the train platform and climbing the stairs. “Mr. Legis,” he began. “I wanted to-”
“Lex is in a lot of pain,” blurted Nosey. “Can you do something about that?”
Sonata winced at the exclamation, her ears folding back as she looked at Lex. “Is it really bad?”
But the stallion in question was too busy glaring at Nosey to answer. “I told you, I can handle this!” He didn’t wait for her to reply, instead looking at House Call. “Whatever treatment you think I need, I’m refusing it,” he spat, though by now it was clear that even speaking that much was pushing his limits. “I want you to…prioritize everypony else…”
“I knew you’d say that,” sighed House Call. Despite how unhappy he looked, he didn’t push the issue. “I came over here to say that we don’t have enough tents for everypony. We’re going to need to move them inside the train station, and it’ll likely take up most of the available space, so if you have any…I don’t know the term, ‘wizardly things’ in there that need to be moved…”
Sonata tilted her head. “What, you mean like those flying gems? ‘Cuz he put those away already,” she noted, pointing to where Lex’s saddlebag had been set beside him. “And Severance is already out here, so I think that’s everything.”
“Hold on!” Nosey stomped a hoof as she glowered at House Call. “So that’s it?! You just ignore somepony that needs help just because they say they’re fine, even when they’re very clearly not?!”
House Call’s answer came with a helpless shrug. “We can’t treat people against their will. And even if we were willing to do so, I really don’t think it would work where Mr. Legis was concerned.”
“It wouldn’t.” Despite how raspy it was, Lex’s voice was full of malice. “And you can’t use the train station.”
A surprised look crossed House Call’s face. “Mr. Legis, we can’t leave everypony exposed to the elements, especially since Princess Celestia is in no condition to move the sun from its current position.” He pointed upward, where the sun was still at its zenith. “Since we don’t have enough tents for everypony, this is the next best thing.”
“You can’t use the train station,” repeated Lex, baring his teeth in what was either a snarl of anger or a grimace of pain. “If Celestia or those idiot guards insist on fighting again after they wake up, our supply of food might be damaged.” He had to stop speaking then, taking several seconds to get his breath back before he continued. “Take them all to River Bank’s mansion.”
The instructions made House Call blink. “I don’t know where that is.”
“She does,” replied Lex immediately, his eyes turning toward Feather Duster.
Just the feeling of his gaze on her was enough to make the pegasus maid jump. “Y-yes!” she sputtered. “I can take everypony there!”
“I…alright.” Realizing that there was no point in arguing, House Call turned and started walking back down the stairs that connected the station platform to the ground, but stopped midway. “Mr. Legis, some of my colleagues are…concerned, about what happened to that pony, Silhouette. His wounds are consistent with a curved blade-”
But Nosey didn’t let him finish. “Not now,” she growled from between clenched teeth.
House Call paused for just a moment, glancing from her to Lex to Sonata and back again. “Alright,” he said at last, turning back toward the stairs.
This time it was Lex who interrupted him. “Keep the foals separate from your other patients.”
“I’m sorry?” House Call tilted his head, confusion written all over his face.
Sighing in irritation, Lex started again. “Those foals are also your patients, so they’re going with you to River’s mansion. Keep them away from wherever you put the princesses and the guards once you get there. I don’t want them being attacked if those imbeciles try to start another fight.”
“Ah, of course.” When no further instructions came, House Call resumed leaving, Feather Duster in tow. A moment later his raised voice could be heard as he explained the change in plans to the rest of the medical ponies.
Sonata was the first one to pipe up once the three of them were alone. “So, it was the princesses fault, right? They picked a fight, and…I dunno, Silhouette tripped and fell on Severance or something?”
Lex was silent for a long moment before answering. “No. What happened was…”
“…that was when you two arrived.”
Both mares were silent in the wake of Lex’s explanation, for which he was glad. After their fight earlier that morning, the last thing he wanted to hear was more recrimination from them. Because he knew that would be their reaction. How could it not? Not when another pony had died on his watch, because of a weapon that he’d brought into this world and supposedly had under his control.
And it’s still there, came the voiceless words from his shadow, free and unharmed. You swore that your reign would be more just than Celestia and Luna’s, but look at you now. That murdering weapon is openly defying your authority, and you’re powerless to stop it.
The words were more painful than his injuries, and Lex grit his teeth as he tried to rise. Just turning over was an act of titanic effort, the strain on his muscles so great that for a moment all he could hear was his blood pounding in his ears. But he kept going, planting his hooves on the ground and trying to force his weight onto them, feeling like his back was going to break as he struggled to stand-
“Stop! Lex, stop!” Nosey’s voice was near-hysterical, and the gentle hoof she put on his back to make him lie back down felt as though she’d dropped a building on him. “What are you doing?! You need to stay down!”
“For realsies, Lex,” added Sonata, a worried look on her face. “You really looked like you were gonna rent the farm there for a second.”
“Sh-shut up…both of you…” groaned Lex. He didn’t try to move again, too dizzy to make another attempt to get up. “I want…you two to…go get the rest…of the camp ponies.” It took several seconds of deep breathing before he could get another sentence out. “Bring them…back here and…distribute food for…their mid-day meal…” Somehow, he managed to turn his head enough to look at Severance, an aura sputtering around his horn for a moment as another one flashed into being around the scythe. “Come…here…”
His aura gutted out a moment later, but the command had already been transmitted, and Severance began to float lazily toward him. The sight made Sonata cry out, rushing to place herself between Lex and the weapon, while Nosey shot Lex an angry look. “Is that why you’re calling Severance over?” she asked, her voice dark. “You’re going to wait until we’re gone so you can try and fight it again?”
Lex frowned at Nosey’s guess, but knew better than to let her know she wasn’t completely wrong. “Severance…can’t remain…unsupervised,” he muttered. “I’ll…take it…with me…while I go…rest…”
Still keeping herself between Lex and Severance, Sonata glanced back at him. “Like, really rest?” she asked. “Not, you know, Lex-rest, where you only work on three or four things instead of, like, twelve?”
“Sleep,” Lex admitted.
Both mares glanced at each other, Sonata slowly standing down from where she was keeping Severance away from Lex. “I guess that’s okay,” she murmured uneasily.
“You better be serious about sleeping,” sighed Nosey as she leaned down to help Lex up, Sonata moving his other side to do the same. Together, both mares carried him into the station, Severance floating leisurely after them.
Once inside, they managed to get him to the nearest bench, laying him down gently. “Go and…get everypony…else…” he muttered as they put him down.
“I will,” assured Sonata quietly, shooting a look at where Severance had stopped several feet back. “Just, like, as soon as I’m sure you’re snoozing.”
“I’m staying here,” announced Nosey. “Somepony needs to make sure you don’t try and do anything else.” Driving her point home, she climbed on the bench as well, curling up next to him. The look on her face made it obvious that if Severance tried to attack him, it would need to go through her first, the same way Lex had for Princess Luna.
But Lex didn’t answer, already having passed out.
“An impressive display of dominance, my champion. And performed in my name, no less.”
Lex wasn’t surprised by the large and shadowy figure opposite him, nor by the ring of blue fire surrounding them. On the contrary, he had expected exactly this. After what had just happened, it would have been stranger if she hadn’t appeared this way.
“And yet,” mused the Night Mare, her voice sinister in its silkiness, “I can’t help but notice how you struck down that pretender, as I believe you called her, only after you had been left with no choice in the matter. It was almost as though you didn’t care that her claims of divine authority over the night were an insult to me, and an obstacle to the church you swore to found to my glory.” She bared her teeth then, and although the corners of her lips turned upward, no one could have called her expression a smile. “Especially since you offered to use the resurrection spell that I so generously gave you on her worshiper, rather than mine.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “An act of disloyalty, some might say. Particularly in light of how you then sought to destroy Severance, even though such a thing is far beyond your feeble powers.”
Lex remained silent, not bothering to respond.
His lack of reaction was enough to make the Night Mare frown, all pretense of restraint falling away. "Well, my champion? How do you account for yourself?"
Lex waited just long enough to make it clear that he wasn't intimidated, meeting her gaze without flinching when he finally spoke. "Take Severance back."
The Night Mare's helmet couldn't fully hide the way her brow furrowed at that, her lip curling at the unexpected answer. "What?"
"Take Severance back," said Lex again. "I want it removed from Equestria, no, from this plane of existence. Permanently."
Lifting his left foreleg – the one with the barbed wire wrapped around it – Lex pointed his hoof at the Night Mare imperiously. "From now on, that thing is pony non grata in this world."