“You've done well, my champion.”
The words lured him back to awareness, penetrating the haze of dormancy that had settled over his consciousness. First came the recognition that he was hearing something, followed by the dim recollection that the sounds weren’t random, each possessing a particular meaning. Then the meanings made themselves known, first for each phoneme, then in combination to form words, and finally those words created an entire sentence, comprehensible as his awareness finally returned in full.
His other senses were similarly goaded back to alertness as well, though there was little for them to register. The ground beneath him was pure blackness, and while he was standing on something solid, the bottoms of his hooves registered no tactile input. The air was entirely still, having neither a scent nor even the softest hint of noise, notable only for the faint chill that it carried. The source of that coldness was obvious, as the ring of blue fire that surrounded him – at a distance, though without other markers it was difficult to be certain exactly how far away it was – flickered and writhed, casting a wan light that concealed more than it revealed.
The sight made Lex Legis scowl, recognizing the voice that had spoken to him. “I didn’t summon you.”
Rather than take offense at his impertinence, the Night Mare only laughed, her voice coming from behind him. “Nor did you summon my acolyte to assist you in battle, and yet she and her lover came to your aid anyway. As did several others.” Although he couldn’t hear her moving, Lex had the distinct impression that she was circling him then. “Indeed, even before you took to the field, your plaything and your admirer took it upon themselves to defend your territory from that fool and her misbegotten creed, with my Knights following them. Even that other toy of yours lent you her aid, despite having been ensorcelled to betray you.”
The disparaging remarks about Sonata and Aria made Lex grit his teeth, but he bit back the urge to rebuke the goddess. The Night Mare had demanded that he sacrifice formal romantic relationships in exchange for removing Severance from Equestria. While he had created a pretext for keeping the two Sirens as his lovers, he knew full well how thin it was, and that objecting to the tawdry characterization of his involvement with Sonata and Aria now would only weaken that excuse even further. “Get to the point.”
A dark chuckle came from off to his right, just beyond his peripheral vision. “As brusque as ever. You’re not even going to ask if you’ve died?”
Lex snorted, holding his wire-clad foreleg aloft. “You expended a portion of your own power to give me this. If I was dead, you would have reclaimed it.” He lowered his foreleg then, not bothering to turn his head toward the sound of her voice. “This is a dream.”
“An astute observation,” mused the Night Mare, still outside of his field of view. “And another cause for satisfaction. The victory you’ve won this day is pleasing to me. You put the lie to the idea that conformity is stronger than exceptionalism, and in so doing revealed that sniveling mare to be a hypocrite. It’s a triumph made all the greater for how you succeeded. Not only did you demonstrate your power once again – even with how much your combat potential had been eroded – but the actions of your followers further legitimized my dogma: that having the strong rule over the weak is to the benefit of everyone.”
She strode in front of him then, her stature as gigantic as ever. Her dark armor was lusterless, refusing to so much as glint in the soft light of the azure flames. The same could not be said for her teeth, bared in a predatory smile as she gazed down at him. But it was her eyes that were most notable, shining with a red glow that stood out sharply against the endless expanses of blue and black surrounding them.
“The diligent struggles of those ponies whose loyalty you’ve secured, whose resilience you’ve cultivated, and whose strength you’ve nurtured, all so that you could overcome your enemy, are a greater tribute to me than any prayer. My religion was already growing more popular among those living under your authority. After seeing how you’ve taken foals and felons and turned them into a force for stability and order, strengthening your control, the ponies in your region will turn to me in greater numbers than ever. Especially since you’ve finally brought Cloudbank back to life so she can guide my new adherents.” Her grin widened then, and she stretched her leathery wings out wide. “Perhaps a reward is in order…”
Refusing to take the bait, Lex's lip curled. “Is that all you’re here for? To brag that my defeating Starlight Glimmer will make you look good?”
The goddess leaned her head down toward him in response, her smile undiminished even as her eyes narrowed. “I’m here, my champion, to congratulate you on finally understanding what I’ve been trying to tell you for some time now.”
Lex didn’t need to puzzle out what she meant. “You’re referring to my shadow.” He waved a hoof carelessly, indicating the dark shape he couldn’t see but knew was there. “The activation conditions weren’t difficult to figure out once there was sufficient data to analyze. The operations of that fragment of my mind that you’ve partitioned specifically deal with self-referential negativity, so when my greater consciousness is in a matching state – experiencing acute doubt and anxiety with regard to being able to assist Equestria’s development – then the separation between it and the rest of me is partially bridged.”
His explanation earned another chuckle from the Night Mare. “I should have expected you to put such an arrogant interpretation on the answer.” Straightening up, she folded her wings back in as she regarded him with open amusement. “But since you’ve done such a good job demonstrating the truths that I teach, I’ll be generous and correct your mistake.”
Lex frowned at that, but didn’t have a chance to object before the Night Mare spoke again.
“The tulpa in your shadow acts to help you when you experience intense fear for your sense of self,” pronounced the goddess. “And as much as your need to protect your people and make your mark on your homeland is part of that, it’s not all there is to your identity.”
The words made Lex clench his teeth, and he found himself taking a step toward the Night Mare in sudden fury. How dare she make his noble aspirations sound so petty?! How dare she impugn-
“But in fact, I wasn’t referring to your shadow just now, when I said that you’ve finally understood what I’ve been trying to tell you,” smirked the Night Mare.
The words made Lex pause in mid-step, gnashing his teeth as he stared at the gigantic alicorn. But as much as he wanted to rage at her for daring to be so flippant about something so important to him, the urge to move away from that topic was equally strong, not wanting to continue dwelling on something so personal. That, combined with how he knew he couldn’t actually do anything to her, gave him the strength to force his anger down and focus on the change of topic. Barely.
“Explain,” he hissed.
She paused then, and for a moment Lex wondered if she’d object to his telling her what to do. He found himself almost hoping she would, if for no other reason than it would give him the opportunity to spite her by remaining defiant. But to his mild disappointment, she seemed content to let the insult pass. “You’ve come to appreciate what it means to have subordinates.”
“What are you babbling about?” snapped Lex peevishly. “I’ve always had full cognizance of the necessity of having ponies in my service!”
“Yes, and you’ve always begrudged it. You refused to look at those you control as resources that can be exploited unless you were forced to, berating yourself for not being powerful enough to do everything on your own.” Her eyes narrowed again, but this time without any show of mirth, as though simply recalling that displeased her. “Such unilateral individualism might be considered holy among the faithful of Blaze the war goddess, but in my religion it’s iniquity.”
Her frown eased then, her anger dissipating as quickly as it had come. “But when that pegasus you resurrected plucked you out of the sky, you at last came to see the full scope of what you can accomplish when you make use of those under your command.”
Lex stared up at her silently, his lingering bad mood making him want to throw the Night Mare’s words back in her face. But he couldn’t. As much as he wished he could say that he was capable of doing it all on his own, he knew that would have been a lie. Even for something as simplistic as fighting monsters and defeating the other ponies who had challenged him, he’d always found himself relying on others to some degree.
When he’d fought that dragon outside of Tall Tale, Sonata had been why he’d survived, her friendship with Fireflower driving the aranea to have his brother to heal him.
Sonata had played a more direct role in his first serious fight in Vanhoover, intervening right after he’d killed Lirtkra, and in so doing preventing Monitor and Aria from killing him.
Nor was that all Sonata had done, as she, along with Aria, Cloudbank, Thermal Draft, and so many other ponies had been the reason they’d defeated Tlerekithres and his horde of monsters.
One of those ponies had been Nosey, who even after the torture Xiriel had put her through had still found it within herself to act at a critical moment, throwing him the belier devil’s magical gems when he’d been on the verge of defeat.
Garden Gate’s entrance into the fight against the ghoul army had been even more critical, alongside Sonata and Aria, turning what would have been a catastrophic loss that would have cost everyone their lives into a narrow victory.
Fruit Crunch and his friends had likewise intervened at just the right time, on two separate occasions, preventing Silhouette from ruining his ritual with Aria and later coming to his aid when the princesses had overwhelmed him early in their fight.
And all of the ponies who had stepped up to help him before, during, and after his fight with Starlight Glimmer and Rainbow Dash…
“Those who bend to your will shall be as your limbs, serving as extensions of yourself,” recited the Night Mare, her voice resonant. “Their eyes are your eyes. Their hooves are your hooves. Their magic is your magic. To fail to make use of their strength is to fail to make use of your strength, limiting what you can do. For the strong do as they wish, while the weak suffer what they must.”
Folding his ears back, Lex found himself looking anywhere but at the goddess. “And you think the ponies I oversee appreciate my needing their help in protecting them?” For some reason, the question came out sounding less bitter than he’d intended.
“Ask them yourself,” replied the Night Mare. “Now that the darkest hour has arrived, I’ve granted Cloudbank the healing spells she’s been praying for, which I suspect means that you’ll be rejoining her and the rest of your servants very soon.”
The news made Lex’s ears perk back up. It hadn’t escaped his attention that Rainbow Dash’s arrival likely heralded that of Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends, something which potentially boded ill for all of the ponies who’d sided with him. If the Night Mare was right, and Cloudbank was already in the process of healing him, that meant that the situation wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.
“And there it is,” murmured the Night Mare. Her words were still hanging in the air as the blue flames began to die down, shrouding everything in blackness. Even as Lex watched, the darkness grew deeper, obscuring the goddess from sight…save for her red eyes, which continued to stare at him, shining brightly as the cerulean fires sputtered and dimmed.
“Go now, my champion,” called the goddess as the flames finally went out, plunging everything into absolute darkness. “I’m looking forward to what you’ll do next.”